He thought he might go crazy. A total of one day had passed since he had been confined to the gully and already it felt like an eternity. The sun was beginning to fall on the first day, and though he was drugged Oxide felt miserable. He should have been off and on to the next sight to add to his repertoire. Instead all he was ‘allowed’ to do was go back and forth from the stream to his little nest. At least he was half drugged up, but it didn’t help as much as he wanted to.

He’d taken to laying on his back most of the day, or at least when he wasn’t in the stream. Standing was okay, and sitting was okay, but most positions were too harsh on his chest wounds to remain in for very long. He was lounging in the last bits of daylight, his rusty fur shining like copper with his deep ruby eyes closed. He might have looked content, but he could hardly wait to heal and get out of the gully.

Already he had tested his boundaries despite Eris’s warning, and he had paid the price. At this point he’d lost too much blood to fight her on it and he’d let himself fall back into his preferred position. Now napping on some mossy stones, wounded chest obvious as he lay with his features to the sky.

It had been uncanny how fate had led them to find one another in the first place, two strangers in a giant world. When he had turned and left in a dramatic huff, she hadn’t been certain she would see him again. She had waited a time, and wondered if she should have followed him, but in the end she had too much to process.

She was certain that decision meant her brother was lost to her, so catching his scent once more was unexpected. She almost thought she imagined it as she took a drink at the stream. She wasn’t much of a tracker, and she paused, head raised, trying to catch where it was coming from. She plowed through the water without care, coming up on the other side. Here she found it stronger, and needed only a short walk to find the man, lying in a patch of sunlight.

Her first impression was of his injuries, and her breath caught, before she also noticed the scent of herbs. She caught the scent of another wolf, and assumed this one to the be the healer - she didn’t think her brother knew much of the craft. As she approached, she noted that the wolf didn’t approach healing the same way as she did, and would have loved to learn from the stranger.

The expert healer stopped before her brother and looked at him, trying to work through her emotions enough to say something. “I wasn’t expecting to see you again” was what came out.

Eris had plenty of fun scouring the gully for new and interesting herbs while Oxide rested. She had amassed quite the little stash back at their makeshift home by the stream, which was the first place she had truly begun to feel comfortable in Boreas since leaving the Sword Tree behind. It was exhilarating - they were truly a pair of intrepid explorers, even if Oxide was on the mend. Fish for every meal, lying close to sleep at night... it was heaven. Eris had begun to think that she was growing on him, maybe just a little. It was a funny feeling. She was used to the unconditional love and approval she received from Ballad and Lament. To work for Oxide's affections felt a touch more fulfilling, as if she had really received a special gift. When she returned to the den site with a bundle of different herbs in her mouth, she was struck by the presence of a stranger. With the aromatics held so close to her nose, she hadn't scented Riva until she was right on top of her. Eris placed her herbs into a slightly disorganized stash, then trotted closer to Oxide's side. She laid a paw on his and quickly tapped the Ademic for confusion, worry. As part of her healing process, she had taught him some basic Ademic. He might have been able to pick up on worry, but confusion was more elaborate and hadn't seemed necessary to teach him. Worry, however, came up a lot, due to the severity of his wounds. "Hello, I'm Eris Pyre of the Ademre... and you are?" she murmured, tilting her head quizzically. With Oxide waylaid, they were both doubly vulnerable. While Eris was typically goodnatured, she had a healthy suspicion of strangers. "Speech." Ademic

His sleep was much needed, his body was drained and he was exhausted from the effort of recuperating. Of course, Eris was doing her best to keep him drugged up. Living an inebriated life made the fact that he couldn’t leave much more bearable. He was also too tired to complain right now. ”I wasn’t expecting to see you again.” Wakefulness took him all at once as his eyes snapped open to see the face of Nysa. His brows knit and his jaws parted to answer her as he heard Eris’ dainty pawsteps. His garnet gaze shifted to her form, herbs overflowing from her dark jaws.

She shifted over him and placed her paw over his and tapped out her emotion. Oxide wasn’t good enough to mimic any comforting emotions yet, but placed his paw on hers to signify his support. "My sister, Riva." He answered for his estranged littermate. He suppressed his reaction to her insult, obviously she hadn’t much hope of her brother stealing away Branch’s pack. "Look, sis, you’ve caught me at a bad time. Maybe we could catch up later..." The last thing he wanted was to be put in such a vulnerable position beside Riva. Already the image he’d portrayed to her would be ruined.

"Speech"

She heard the paw prints of another wolf, and turned to see the small form of a wolf that was smaller than her by a few inches. The occurrence of seeing a wolf actually below her, rather then squinting up to meet their eyes, was astonishing. She stopped for a moment and stared, the little healer, until Oxide spoke, breaking her from her revere. She shuffled her paws, and smiled at Eris. “I’m Riva Nightingale, healer of Kesali” she said, despite Oxide already having spoken her name. “I’m guessing your the healer that tended to him” she said, looking to Eris. “I haven’t seen these used in a healing capacity before, I would love to learn from you some time.” she didn’t recognise a lot of the herbs the woman had used, in fact. Her eyes moving cautiously to her brother again, to the paw that had wrapped in comfort over Eris’s. She felt her loneliness then in a way she never had before. Riva, who had known no love but had been raised to be a healer. Oxide, her harsh, cruel brother who had been so quick to hurt her, he had found love. She was glad, truly, that he had found the capacity to, and that he would know love, it just hurt that he could not spare any such feelings for his lost sister. She blinked, and steadied herself. “I-if you wanted for any other herbs, I have plenty of salves with me” she said, shaking her shoulder and moving her healers pack on it. Speech Duty before Self

When Oxide placed his paw on top of hers, Eris felt a warmth race along her spine. They were presenting a united front - how Ademic of them. Oxide would fit in perfectly. Eris desperately wanted him to meet her brother; maybe once he saw what a capable warrior Lament was, he would be convinced. She could see him progressing through the stones easily, once his wounds were healed. Shaking off her daydream, Eris pressed her body close to his, leaning into his warmth. Sister? Oxide had mentioned his family being difficult, but this stranger seemed very mild mannered. Eris flicked her ears back and forth as she listened, trying to gauge the situation. At the mention of the herbs, her tail twitched a little bit in a self-satisfied motion. She was proud of her skills, and it felt good to receive recognition from a stranger. "Oh, yes, yes. I'd love to trade knowledge and tips. I'm not from around here, so perhaps we do things differently where I'm from," Eris acknowledged, squinting a bit at Riva. With the sun going down, it was difficult to make out her coloring, markings, or eye color. Instead, she could only go off of her voice, which was soft-spoken and sincere. "Catch up later...? Oh, no. She has salves! I didn't have the tools to prepare any here, and couldn't find any honey nearby; please, stay! I can catch fish for everyone tonight," Eris insisted, standing up and running her chin along Oxide's flank reassuringly. "His dressing is about due to be changed. Since you're close, why don't you do it, and I'll observe?" She chirped, totally mistaking their relationship for one closer to her own relationship with her siblings. It was hard to imagine anything different. "Speech." Ademic

Riva mostly seemed to ignore him, she restated her name and generally kept her eyes from him. Her soft blue ones contrasted heavily with the harsh ruby eyes he sported. He ignored being ignored as Eris pressed in closer to him. His gaze remained on the spitting image of his mother as her eyes darted to their paws. What was the emotion he saw in her eyes? He was feeling a little like victory, but then Eris… Eris invited Riva to stay. Even worse she offered his sister a chance at redressing his wounds.

He wanted to offer Eris a stern look, but he knew she wouldn’t see it anyway. He sighed heavily in response, she knew how he felt about his family. Being at the mercy of someone who looked so much like Nysa.. "Isn’t it getting a bit dark? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?" He was mostly saying it so that he didn’t have to be fully subjected to Riva’s administrations. If he could get Eris to go through it tonight maybe he could continue to dodge Riva’s touch.

"Speech"

As Riva stood there, feeling - not for the first, and certainly not for the last - upset in Oxide’s presence, the girl Eris would speak up, bubbly and sweet, and obvious to the undertones in the siblings relationship. “I always love to add to my knowledge” Riva agreed as Eris spoke about doing things differently. This topic was an easier one, and Riva started to relax her tense position, and breathe a little easier. “I would love to” Riva said “I fear i’m terrible at hunting” she would admit a little sheepishly as she came a little closer, and stopped before the biggest wolf in the group. Healing was her forte, 100%, everything else came second to it, even social understandings, which was why she was glad the bright bubbly girl Eris mostly lead the conversation, and ignored the uncomfortable way Oxide and Riva hadn’t really addressed each other yet. She looked timidly up into Oxide’s eyes, then away again as she moved to grab the bandage. “You’ve done a fantastic job of keeping it clean, but im just going to brush some Trillium salt water into this, because it looks like a bite - a medium animal of some sort” she mused “and bites are the worst for getting infected” she explained, before grabbing some trillium, and a moss sponge, and giving the wound a careful sponge down. That done, she pulled out a small jar from her bag and sat it between her brother and Eris. “I scent ginger in your herbs, I use that myself a lot. This salve doesn't have ginger, but it’s got Yarrow, Goldenrod, whihte willow bark and honey. It will stop it from getting inflamed, and boost healing.” she explained to the other healer as she used a clean stick from her back to carefully wipe it over the wound, before tying a bandage sown together with plant fibres, over the wound. “Thanks for letting me help, you seem to know what your doing, but working together we’ll cover all the bases, right?” she said, managing a smile for the sweet girl. Speech Duty before Self

It was only then that Eris began to pick up on the slightly awkward atmosphere. Oxide clearly wanted Riva to leave... but why? She seemed so kind, and incredibly knowledgeable. In fact, Eris thought she could learn a lot from her. How perfect! Not only had she made one friend, he had led her straight to another. How could she let him know to relax without making Riva uncomfortable? "Oh! Thank you for the compliment, I just did what I could with what I had," Eris said modestly. "I do most of my gathering by scent, so occasionally my methods wind up being a bit unconventional," she admitted, twitching her tail. It was true - while some healers could identify herbs and other useful tools by their color and shape, Eris relied almost entirely on her nose to source her materials. It was certainly easier to find some herbs than others by scent alone. Noticing Oxide's increasing discomfort, Eris pressed her much smaller body close to him. She was the smallest one between the trio, but that wasn't uncommon. Eris sniffed at Riva's salve, nodding appreciably. Honey was unmistakably sweet and delicious. Just the whiff of it made her want a lick, even though she knew it was also purely medicinal. "Yes, we'll cover all the bases," Eris said, pressing her paw on top of Oxide's and tapping out the Ademic over and over again for smile. Smile. Smile. Smile. Smile. Smile. "Oh, it's not a bite," Eris added. "We had a run-in with a wolverine." We. She pressed her cheek against him as she said it, thanking him wordlessly with the gesture. "Speech." Ademic

He wasn’t used to being the third wheel, and it was kind of annoying. Though he had to admit Eris was doing her best not to forget him, and the way her body pressed against him and her toes tapped in Ademic gave him the patience to allow Riva her proximity. She glanced at him for only a moment, her eyes like a doe. Did she expect him to snap at her? He had debated for a long moment about lashing out, but he doubted the trick to get Riva to jump would be well received from either she wolf. If he made either of them too upset at him he’d lose his healthcare providers. He certainly hadn’t paid enough attention to recreate whatever they were doing let alone forage for said items.

Riva’s gaze darted quickly from Oxide’s deep ruby gaze as she got to work. She didn’t intentionally cause him more discomfort as she worked, and he may have been a bit biased but Eris’ touch had been much more pleasant. Eris mentioned their wolverine friend and pressed her cheek against him affectionately. He didn’t want to seem too desperate for her touch with Riva standing over him, but he couldn’t help but return the fiery little girl’s affection.

He huffed and laid back as he was fully removed from the conversation. Maybe Riva had some better painkillers, though he knew Eris still had a bit of cannabis hidden away in their temporary home. Their home. The concept was wildly foreign to him, but he could almost get used to the sound of it.

Eris explained what animal had done this, and Riva nodded her head thoughtful as she worked, trying not to think too hard on who she worked on, else she might lose her nerve. She hated to think emotions could compromise her as a healer, but it was easy to feel unsettled in Oxide’s presence, especially feeling his resentment, and watching the way he leaned into Eris’s touch. He had found it in his heart to love, to open up to another wolf, but that didn’t seem to make him any more accepting to the idea of opening up to his sister.

“All done” she said, and took a step back, finding her eyes moving to Eris again, more easily then to those of her brother. The girl seemed to be tapping on her brothers leg, almost like a nervous twitch, or perhaps simply letting out some of the tension she was feeling between the two wolves.

Whatever the reason, Riva didn’t bring her attention to it, instead she sat back on her hunches, and tried to decide if it would be better to excuse herself and leave the two be. Certainly this whole ordeal wasn’t helping her peace of mind - as good as it was to see Oxide being cared for it, it was opening all sorts of wounds Riva hadn’t even known existed.

Their home. Eris smiled up at Oxide as Riva finished up her work, then tapped what she had told him his name was in Ademic. Even if he was uncomfortable, he was putting up a good front. She would have to congratulate him later and figure out what had transpired between the two. "Well, I'm going to get to work on dinner then," Eris said, bumping Oxide's chin with her nose. Before padding to the water, she cast Riva an appreciative smile. With some time to themselves, maybe the tension in the air would dissipate. To catch enough fish for the three of them would be challenging, but Eris often didn't eat much. She would gladly go without to make sure both of their stomachs were full. After how hot the day had gotten, wading into the shallow stream was a welcome relief. Eris stood quietly poised, observing what shadows she could still make out. "Speech." & Ademic

What he didn’t know was that Riva made him uncomfortable because he was ashamed of how he had treated her. The last two days with Eris had molded him more than he wished to admit. He didn’t have the urge to drive the nail in deeper, or to make her cry again. Really he just wanted her to go. Her sad gaze made him want to get up and drown himself in the stream.

Oxide still hadn’t made up his mind about joining the Ademre, but as she tapped out his name and offered him her unconditional affection, he realized the lengths he would have to go through to get there. He sighed heavily, and winced as the sharp pain from his wounds raced over his torso. No noise of protest left him, if he was going to do this he wanted to keep as much dignity as possible. There was no good with out evil, pain without happiness, forgiveness without an apology.

”Riva.” He said, finally addressing her directly. His voice was low, and only for her. He might enlighten his little shadow of his acts later, but more likely he would keep them to himself. Despite his intoxicated state when he’d vowed it, he’d do almost anything for Eris. If she wanted Riva around to learn from he needed to do this. ”I’m sorry for what I said when we first met. I just wanted to see you hurt.” He hadn’t lied up until the part about the pack though. ”Everything about your pack was a lie. I’d die before I led anyone.” He chuckled, unsure how she would react to his attempt as rectifying his wrong. Was this what Fenris wanted from him? ”You don’t have to forgive me, but I don’t want what’s happened between us to affect Eris.” His words were soft as his deep ruby gaze shifted to the tiny white marked fisher.

“Thank you” she said to Eris, who promised them dinner. She trusted that the girl was a decent hunter, despite the issues with her eyes. Riva on the other hand, with a perfectly good set of eyes, was barely parsable at the hunt. The fact that Eris was leaving her and her brother by themselves was something else entirely, and she shifted her weight gently from side to side, a nervous sort of twitch as she didn’t look at him.

He said her name, and her ears twitched, folding towards him so he would know she was listening, though she didn’t loom up. She wasn’t sure she could right at that moment. When he began to apologise, to actually use the words 'I'm sorry’ and to sound regretful?

She looked up slowly, seeking to meet the darker orbs of his eyes. It was clear his apology was for Eris’s sake, but it was such a bold move in the right direction, that for a moment Riva lost her voice. She parted her lips, trying to find the right words to say, before she knew what was in her heart, had been from the beginning. “I forgive you, Oxide” she said softly. “You got something I didn’t, to be raised by mother, and I now know that was more curse than blessing. I know that she took from you more than she gave. I got something you didn’t as well, I got to be free from her right from the start. Don’t be jealous of it, my mentor was not a mother, and she did not love me, either.” she said softly, eyes sliding from his and to the ground again, a little ashamed to speak of her upbringing. She hadn’t told it to anyone before. They didn’t know the truth. “I think she knew who mother was, and wanted me to pay for it, she wanted me to give my life, to redeem who Nysa is to the world.” she was saying to much, it wasn’t necessary to his apology and her forgiveness. She needed to shut up before she ruined the moment. “Anyway I.. I forgive you Oxide, it’s okay, I understand.” she said softly.

Oxide watched as Riva slowly lifted her gaze to him as he spoke. She was quiet as he finished, and similarly subtle as she answered him. ”I forgive you, Oxide” Though he probably didn’t quite deserve it, Ox was glad to hear it. Their tension wouldn’t be offered to Eris and she wouldn’t have to know any better what had happened. It was his turn to watch her as she explained their childhoods as she saw it. Neither of them had been given a great start in life, but here they were. Independant young wolves making their way through life as best they knew how.

He still didn’t much care about her life story, or what she had that he didn’t. He just didn’t want Eris thinking she had to deal with his issues. He fixed it, he’d apologized, it shouldn’t come up again. The air was clear and his little shadow was free to learn from his… sister. ”Good, now stop getting mushy on me. I think she’s headed back.” He turned his deep ruby gaze back in the direction of the stream, expecting to see the small Pyre girl on her way back to them.

In quick succession, Eris managed to bag a few fat fish. It was the tail end of summer and the water in the ravine had been long since and Oxide had arrived. She was especially grateful for the ability to still feed herself and the ones she loved, sending a prayer up to Tor in thanks. What was a wolf who couldn't catch their own dinner, after all? A sorry, sad thing. If it came to it, she hoped the Ademre would not begrudge her needing additional assistance. For now, she was still happily self-sufficient, and she tried to focus on that. The tension had cleared by the time she returned to the pair and there was a palpable change in emotional tone. Eris cocked her head slightly to the side, but didn't say anything. Her feelings on blood relatives were complicated, although it was difficult to tell they were related at all. In fact, their scents were markedly different - Riva had the air of pack about her. Her coat was also much darker, even Eris could see that. From Oxide's cagey comments about his past so far, she thought it best not to pry. He could talk to her on his own time, perhaps when they had some more privacy. "Kesali, you say? Do you know how many packs there are in these lands? I feel like I scent a new one every time I go gathering," Eris chuckled, presenting the two of them with their fish. She settled next to Oxide, digging into her own meal with gusto. Although she was occupied with her food, she made sure to press her body as close to his as possible. This would be a pleasant meal! She would make sure of it. "Speech." & Ademic