Surreal Adravendi

Surreal gave a miserable little sniffle, detesting the way her nose ran, hating how stuffy her nose, head and even her eyes and ears felt. It was just a cold, and thus far, only Regulus had caught it, thankfully. She thought she could hear him grumbling and shifting in his alcove. Her younger two were kipped out with Zuriel until She and Regulus were well again. Surreal sniffled again, and bit back a groan, setting her chin between her paws as her eyelids slammed shut of their own accord. A moment later, they squinched shut as a sneeze ripped through her nostrils, shaking her frame. Another followed in quick succession, and then another. The fourth sent her nose careening into the mossy floor of the alcove. Finally, she sagged back into a puddle of irritated, miserable fur. The sooner she was over this cold, the better. From the other alcove, she heard a loud sneeze, followed by a yip of pain, and could only surmise that Regulus had just had an up close and personal, involuntary sniff of his alcove floor, too.

Falk still couldn't quite rationalize, even to himself, why telling his mate about him taking lessons about herbs and healing from Zuriel was causing him so much anxiety. It wasn't that he thought learning healing was a lesser skill or shameful in anyway. In many ways he thought healing was so much more difficult that fighting and hunting, especially now that he had begun to lean these things himself. But... he just hated not being the protector. He hated not being able to say that if someone were to attack his family today he could stand in their way and defend them. However, it seemed that his lessons were going to come into use before he could even come clean about them. With his mate and his eldest son under the weather, Zuriel had been deemed the pup sitter for her younger siblings while he stayed in the trenches caring for Regulus and Surreal. He had double checked what they needed with Zuriel before he padded through the alcoves to where Zuriel kept her store of herbs. Guiding himself by scent, he carefully picked out a two small bundles of Boneset and a few sprigs of Watercress. They were very lucky that his daughter was so diligent about collecting herbs so they still had a good selection of them to use even in winter. Taking the herbs gently between his teeth he backed out of his daughter's usual alcove and then turned to follow the practiced path ways to where Regulus was staying. He just so happened to walk in right when his son sneezed and ended up apparently hurting himself in the process. He couldn't help but smile a bit in a moment of amusement before he set the herbs down. He separated the herbs into two piles, carefully feeling each with his nose and sniffing to double check that he had the right amounts of each. He then nudged the pile of herbs that he had designated for Regulus closer to him. "One to help with the cold one to help with the cough that is sure to come when all those sniffles start running away," he explained simply with a chuckle. Gathering up the bundle that was destined for his mate, he turned to go over to where she was resting. He tried to block out the scent of the herbs enough for him to follow her scent, but luckily her sniffles were plenty to find her by. He padded over to her and settled onto his haunches in front of her before leaning down to place the herbs in front of her. "These are for you, beautiful. Eat up," he rumbled, a small curve of a smile forming on his lips while he tried to process how he might finally come clean about everything to her. Speech Thought Others

Surreal Adravendi

Falk entered, just as Surreal was grasped in the jaws of another sneezing fit. She looked up as he dropped the herbs by her, announcing that they were for her. Ah, yes. That brought up another thing she’d noticed lately, and needed to address. ”Thank you. I see your learning of healing is coming along. When exactly were you going to tell me?” It hadn’t been hard to put two and two together; his going out with Zuriel, and the occasional whiff of herbs on his fur, though that could be explained by him helping their daughter with the plants she gathered. It was the look on his face that had settled it in her head that he was learning healing, and for some bizarre reason, was embarrassed about it. She’d have found it amusing at another time, perhaps. But right now, she was cranky, her nose was stuffy, she couldn’t smell a damned thing, or taste a damn thing, and-- Her nose crashed into the moss as another sneeze ripped through her -- And these damned sneezing fits were enough to drive her into a hostile mood. Licking up the herbs, she chewed, swallowed, and growled at the tickle that still pervaded her nostrils. “By now, you should know better than to think I would ever find your learning healing weak or embarrassing. My mother was the best damned healer on the continent as far as I’m concerned.” That blissful part of long term marriage where one knew exactly what to say to bite the other in the ass and lick the wounds better at the same time. ”I love you, but keep hiding such small things like this, and I’ll have to take you to task about it.” Another vicious sneeze grabbed her, and she spent the next three sneezes with her nose in the moss. Plenty of time for her mate to explain in his own words why he’d been hiding such a small thing like it was a shameful act.

While he was still trying to process his own words, Surreal snatched them right out of his mouth. He gaped at her for a moment before forcing himself to shut his mouth before he looked even more stupid than he probably already did. His ears folded back guiltily. Of course he should have known better than to think that he could hide anything from Surreal, especially something like this. When she mentioned her mother he knew she was right and he really should have come clean at the very beginning, but hind sight was 20/20 after all. "I know, I should have told you before. It's not that I think healing is weak or embarrassing, it's the exact opposite. I especially know now just how hard healing is. I guess this whole transition I've had to do after I went blind just really hurt my pride... I don't know, I just always wanted to be a protector for you and the kids and now I can't be that- at least not as easily. Fighting was always highest priority where I was raised so before now I never could have seen myself as a healer. But... I really needed some way to be helpful and Zuriel offered to teach me what she knew so... now I guess I'm a healer." He tried to give his wife a little smile. Thinking about himself as anything other than a warrior was still hard, but it was beginning to get easier, especially now that his wife knew. "I'm sorry I kept it from you, Surreal, I just didn't know how to say it out loud before now." Speech Thought Others

Surreal Adravendi

Surreal managed to hold back her sneezes while Falk explained himself, and she listened, with moderate patience. Finally, rubbing her nose on the moss, she glared at him, though he’d be unable to see the look. ”You are still a warrior. Just of a different caliber. Healers battle that which can kill. They fight to save lives. Mother fought Death on a regular basis. Sometimes she won, and sometimes she lost to his jaws.” A sneeze ripped into her again, and she groaned. But the sneezing wasn’t as powerful; the effects of the herbs taking hold. ”Never, EVER hide things from me. If you aren’t sure how I’ll react, tell me anyways. Only way to learn is to ask.” Her head lowered to the moss between her paws. There must have been something soothing in there. That or she was getting too tired to hold her head up. She hated being sick. Ever since the plague.

He knew he was going to be in the doghouse for quite a while for this one, but he still felt better having told her. It certainly taught him a lesson not to hide anything from Surreal any more. Her words about how he was still a warrior against death really resonated with him and weather she realized it or not really helped to solidify his decision to make this new line of work his passion. A small, sympathetic smile touched his lips at her sneezing. It was hard to take her anger seriously while she was sick. All he wanted to do was cuddle her and make her feel better. He reached forward till his nose found her cheek and he pressed a small lick to the soft fur there. "I promise I won't hide anything from you again. Now, you need to get some rest, darling. I'll bring you some more herbs in a while." He smiled again and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Surreal." He got to his paws and turned around to make his way out of the den so he could go find Zuriel to help her on her herb hunt and to tell her that he had finally broken the news to her mother. He was sure his daughter was going to be happy to not have to keep this secret for him any more. Speech Thought Others

Surreal Adravendi

She didn’t miss that little smile on his face… She wasn’t sure whether it made her want to hug him, or bite him right at this moment, but the nuzzle and kisses he gave her were accepted, even if she was too miserable to return them, or lift her head, for that matter. She’d come to the conclusion that if she moved, she’d start sneezing again. She was sick of sneezing. His promise was answered with a muttered ”Damned well better keep that promise.” Her eyes fluttered shut, but she roused herself enough to answer his affection before he made his way out of the alcove. ”I love you, too, Falk.” Sleep sounded great. Sleep sounded amazing. All she ever did lately was sleep. Or sneeze. Speaking of… Her nose bopped against the moss again, as yet another sneeze totalled her. ”Uuuuughhh” -End thread.-