Snuffling along like a pig after truffles, Malleus roved wide, lazy circles around the trees. This forest was young and green; the trees still rather small and the undergrowth still somewhat sparse. Clearly something had happened here; most likely a huge fire although he wasn't willing to rule out the possibility that the nearby mountain had something to do with it. In any case, the youthfulness of the forest was good news for him. With no broad trees overhead blocking all the sunlight the small plants on the ground could flourish. Which meant if he just looked a bit harder he might be able to find something of use. Medicinal plants tended to be low growing and easily choked out by trees and brambles, so the timing of his discovery of the redbud oasis was perfect. The titan was on a mission - one that could prove dangerous - and he wanted to be prepared if things got nasty. The last time he'd ventured this far north he'd ended up getting beaten up by a big cat. The Fallen God had seen fit to provide him with what he needed. Malleus had known that the moment he'd entered the Nook. Malleus was grateful for His aid; it further strengthened his resolve in the endeavor. Pausing at the base of a tree, Malleus flicked aside a blob of dead leaves so he could probe the roots of a particularly promising plant with his nose.

Navigation - redbud nook

So, it seemed that there'd been a little bit of a snag in endeavor to return home soon - make that a great big hold up if she was being honest. There she was, happily making her way home to Abaven full of stories of the places she'd been and wolves she'd met on her latest adventure, when what should happen but a rather fiercely determined sticker bush had decided to wrap one of it's many tendrils around her leg. Caelestis' first reaction had been to yank her leg away at the sudden, startling pain. Not a good plan, for as it so happened that was the thing that would make the situation worse as the thorns tore through her skin and left her with some nasty wounds and a few thorns still stuck in her flesh. Maybe she was being a baby, but she didn't really feeel like trying to pull them out of the already tender and inflamed injury.

It was with great care that she now hobbled awkwardly in the rough direction of home. "Strange," she thought, gazing at the short trees and abundant plant life around her, "How suddenly it became home."

Her thoughts were disrupted when she caught the scent of another wolf nearby, slight breeze carrying the scent to her actively sniffing nostrils. It smelled... a tiny bit familiar but so vaguely so that she didn't think much of it. Cautiously she would stalk closer, as silent as she could manage with an awkward, slight limp. Crawling under a particularly large, leafy bush, she would peer out from under it and find a strange, mottled man walking around looking at the plants. Why was he doing that? Taking stock of several faint trails in the immediate area, and selecting one past him that she figured would be a good route back to Abaven, she would emerge from her hidden position, eyeing the man openly.

"Hey, what're you doin'?" she asked, tone bold and fearless as ever. She never was one to beat around the bush! Holding her front right leg slightly off the ground, she stared him down, prepared to try and take off through the trees if she had to but too curious to stop herself from investigating his activities first.

A sharp, unexpected voice startled him, causing the titan to jerk back and whack his nose on the underside of a exposed root he'd been sniffing around. Peeved, he straightened and snapped around to look at whoever had startled him. Having been focused on the plants, Malleus was a bit unkempt. He had little bits of dirt and leaf litter stuck all over his face - which he'd have brushed off if he'd known someone else was nearby, but the speaker's sudden appearance had made him forget about it. He was more concerned with making sure whoever was addressing him was harmless. The stranger was young; he'd known that the moment he'd heard her voice. Youthfulness didn't equal harmlessness though, so he felt his startling was justified...even if once he'd laid eyes on her Malleus was pretty convinced of the girl's harmlessness. She struck him as bold, but a little naive to address a stranger that way, and her defiant gaze was asking for trouble. His eyes were drawn to her raised foreleg. Even at a distance he could see the scratches on it. After considering it a moment his gaze lifted to meet hers. He owed this girl nothing. In fact, he was bit miffed with her, but she smelled like a pack and her connection could become useful so he was willing to set aside his grievance and handle her...a bit more gently than he was inclined to. "I'm trying to identify this plant. I'm a healer and if it is what I think it is, it will be useful to me." Unsure of how to handle her, Malleus eyes her for a moment before asking, "What are you doing? Besides startling busy strangers, I mean."

The stranger looked a bit disheveled and startled when she called out demanding to him. Of course that wasn't super surprising, though she did tense slightly and her ears flicked back for a moment in case he got mad or something. He seemed a little unsure and irritated with her, but that wasn't too unusual for Caelestis. She could kind of be annoying and overly direct, she was well aware of that. "Plants are kind of lame though," she stated, eyeing the leafy thing at his paws wearily, "How's it supposed to be useful?"

Deciding to take on an air of confidence she didn't necessarily feel, but feeling slightly comforted in knowing she wasn't super far from Abaven now and that her pack-mates might just be near enough o help if she got in trouble, Caelestis gazed out over the trees around them, shrugging nonchalantly, "Exploring and stuff. I wanna learn navigating, so you gotta go to lots of places to do that. I was just going to- well, probably find treasure or something super exciting, but then a stupid plant tried to murder me." She almost said she was going home, but she realized she didn't know if she wanted him to know or ask where that was so she caught herself quickly. Stepping closer with an awkward gait due to the soreness of her leg - that evil plant really did a number on it and bending and walking on it pulled at the lacerations making them sting - Caelestis tried to peer at whatever he was looking at and get a better look at it without getting to close to the man himself or looking too interested.

"What's it called?" she asked. Okay so she was kind of curious now that her attention had settled on it.

He scoffed. "You only think they're lame because you don't know anything about them." Sure, they weren't lively or interesting to watch, but they had their merits. The ability to cleanse wounds, induce labor and relieve pain were just a few from a rather extensive list. Malleus might have gotten into his profession out of need, but he rather enjoyed his work with plants. There would always be new techniques to learn, new remedies to discover. The girl described the plant "attack" and Malleus couldn't help but think the irony was perfect. "Did it, eh?" he asked absently as he eyed her injured leg. The girl was feisty, but perhaps tending to her wound would soften her up a bit. "It's called yarrow and this particular 'lame' plant could help with your leg..." She seemed begrudgingly interested. Maybe he could reel her in further. If she trusted him enough to let him treat her wound, maybe he could pump her for information about her pack. He sniffed and eyed her before issuing a subtle challenge. "Unless it's too lame for you."

Caelestis shrugged, unfazed as she huffed, "Maybe, but they still wouldn't be that cool if I did I bet." Stubbornness was a trait clearly passed on from her sire, and boy she just picked it up in spades. The girl was determined to maintain her stance. Plant were dumb. The vicious attack on her leg was evidence enough for her. Maybe this stranger was super lame too since he apparently liked plants. Hah, what a loser. Plant nerd.

She nodded seriously to the plant nerd, no hint of jest in her expression or posture. The attack had clearly been malicious and meant to rip her limb from her body. Okay, now she was exaggerating just a pinch. Her dark brows raised a few degrees at his next words which drew her to unconsciously lean a little closer, suspicion in her her gaze. "Yarrow..." she muttered to herself, ensuring she'd remember the name even if she didn't actually like plants still.

His challenge wasn't a bad idea, but unfortunately this was Caelestis he was issuing it to and she acted as her parents would likely have expected her to if they were bearing witness to this interaction. Tail and chin lifting, she eyes him with defiance as she huffed, "Maybe you're too lame for me." of course she instantly regretted her words as she turned to walk around him and her scratched brushed against the rough twigs growing from a small bush near her. Yelping softly, she lifted her leg and sank back onto her haunches, looking distressed as she sighed, "Okay, what's your plant do?"

Matching the girl's flippant demeanor, Malleus shrugged too. "Perhaps. I mean, what's so cool about a plant that can keep wounds from getting infected or dull pain? It's not like those are useful qualities or anything." He peeked at her curiously, trying to decide if he could turn her opinion around with this approach. This girl was definitely something else. "Maybe you're too lame for me." Something else indeed. He had half a mind to snatch her up and shake her, but recognized - wisely - that doing so would be unethical. Even if he thought she could benefit from a lesson in consequences. He had to remind himself that she was just a child. A rude child, but a child nonetheless. Perhaps the Fallen God had placed her here to test his patience. After all, this was going to be their home now. He needed to learn to handle having his patience tested by mortals. It wouldn't do to smite them all. He was on the verge of retorting when the girl yelped and caved like a rotten apple. Apparently something had gotten caught on her wound and that had changed her tune a bit. He wasn't obligated to try to get the girl to like plants as much as he did, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to try. "Yarrow does all kinds of cool stuff. It stops bleeding, reduces the chances of infection and," he took a few steps away and carefully plucked a few leaves of plantain from a nearby plant. "When paired with plantain, which is this stuff here, make a pretty mean poultice." He cast a sideways glance in the girl's direction. "If you like, we can test these lame plants out on your leg."

The bit about dulling pain did appeal to her in the current situation, but, nah, she'd never admit defeat to the plant-lover! Her tune only changed because of her own pain, and it was begrudging at best. Plants were still dumb, even if they did sort of not lame things. It was a fact.

Listening with interest she concealed well for such a young and feisty girl, Caelestis would admit to herself alone that maybe the plant was okay. It was not cool, but it did sooooort of sound helpful so maybe she'd stop being all dramatic about her dislike of them. Maybe. She eyed him back, holding his gaze for a long moment before shrugging as noncommittally as possible and sighing, "Okay, fine, sure, that sounds okay I guess." After a bit, she added, "What's a 'poultice' and how do you make it?" okay, so she was curious, whatever. Leaning a little towards him, she eyed the leaves he held. They looked lame too.

He took her characteristically teenage response as a sign that he could approach. She had kind of a 'feral cat' vibe going on, so he was going to approach her as if he could get clawed to ribbons at any second...but he was going to approach her. After scooping up his plants Malleus padded over to Caelestis and sat down beside her. "Neither of these plants work as a pain reliever. If your pack has a healer I'm sure they can give you something for the pain, but for now all I can offer is protection from infection and a barrier to keep other things from scratching your cut." He was about to say more when a sunbeam conveniently lit up a nearby plant. "Ah," he said warmly before padding over to the plant. "This is lamb's ear. I'll use it to keep the poultice on." With the lamb's ear in tow he padded back to her and sat down again. "To make a poultice you chew up the plants you want to use," he bite into the yarrow and plantain and began to chew. With his mouth full, he then said, "until they're mush and that's it." He then laid a leaf of lamb's ear on his upturned paw pad and carefully dropped the poultice onto it."All that's left to do is clean the wound and apply the mixture," he said, looking at her expectantly. He wasn't going to put it on her leg until she held it out. "You can clean it yourself if you like. Just lick it until it's free of dirt and blood." Feral. Cat.

She listened to him begin talking about his plants, eyeing the man though her expression was a little less hardened. Great, so she'd still hurt like heck anyways. Joy. Beneath the snark and sass, Caelestis did kind of appreciate the help though. She'd rather not be falling apart when she got home, then her parents would be all worried. Bleh.

The fuzzy plant he pointed out and called 'lambs ear' looked oddly soft like maybe she ought to go touch it though the girl refrained lest she look like the fuzzy leaves weren't totally beneath her.

Expression turned skeptical as he took mouthfuls of plant and started chewing and explaining the poultice concept. Well that was just weird, he was weird! With a single brow raised dramatically and a look of disbelief on her face the girl turned to lap at the wound without replying to the weird man. She winced a bit as she cleaned the cut, but not too much cause she didn't wanna look like a baby in front of plant nerd here. Once finished she held out her limb, though the rest of her body leaned back a bit. She'd never admit it but Caelestis was a little concerned that the application of the poultice would hurt too.

"Okaay..." she mumbled, eyes squinting closed a bit as her bravado melted away.

It seemed like the feral child wasn't going to be an impossible patient after all. Good. If he earned her trust it might be of some use later. By scent he knew which pack she belonged to. In fact, the only reason he was in the area was to pay her pack a visit. While mortal children in general weren't all that useful (presumably they held little sway in their packs) it didn't hurt to plant a seed anyway just in case. One day, somehow, that seed might be of use. Gently he placed the poultice on the girl's wounded leg and then patted it firmly in place. He then striped a small stick of its bark and used the stripes of bark to tie the lamb's ear bandage in place. It took some effort, and his paws were a bit too big and blunt for it, but after awhile he got the bandage secure enough keep it from sliding around. It definitely wouldn't hold up to rough housing, but if she was careful it would stay in place. Once satisfied he backed up a step and then sat down. "Alright, you're good to go." After a moment he offered, "If you want to impress your parents you can do all of that on your own. Remember, lamb's ear, yarrow and plantain." He pointed to each tiny pile of leftover herbs in turn. "I'd leave than on for a day and then take it off. You can either let the wound air dry if it looks better, or make another poultice for it." He thought about it for a second, considering how hard it might be for a novice to confidently identify something like yarrow.  "If you can't find yarrow, chewed up dandelion leaves will work too. Just put a poultice on it once a day for the next two or three days and it will heal up just fine."

She flinched a bit when the poultice was applied, squinting with only one eye open to peer at the goop on her leg before he covered it up with the fuzzy leafy plant. When it was finished the girl eyed his handiwork uncertainly before deciding it could always be worse. At least maybe her cut would get better faster. Maaaybe plant nerd wasn't too lame, but she wasn't gunna say it out loud.

Taking in the directions and glancing over the plants, Caelestis nodded though inwardly all she could think was that there was like a thousand percent chance she'd forget the plants themselves by the time she made her way home. If she remembered the names though, she could maybe ask someone in Abaven to help her. Sparrow did healing things, right? "Uh, thanks, for this." she muttered awkwardly.

She thought about sticking around and maybe asking the guy some questions, but a sudden flighty feeling had the child wanting to kick up her heels so she opted to chrip, "I should probably go home, thanks for the lame plants," before bouncing away without a moments hesitation.

-exit unless stopped-