Alright, now he was sure that he couldn’t go on any further, but there was still one more item on his list. He still hadn’t slept since the fire a day and a half ago, he’d been on his feet most of the time. Helping where he was needed, and a few uncomfortable meetings. Both facts were shoved from his mind as he sought out the den he’d left Samara in. He’d seen to her a little bit after the fire, and there had been another healer or two that had checked in on her he made sure, but no one had yet to see her awake.

A zombie on paws the slate alpha wriggled into the entrance after just a bit of a struggle. The scent of fresh herbs overpowered the smell of soot and ash. For that he was thankful. Even if he’d been physically able to stand at his full height in the small den Rhyme wouldn’t have been able to. As he emerged into the main area his body refused his commands and he slumped to the floor beside the tiny she wolf.

He sighed heavily, sure that she was alive but unable to make much more of an assessment. He sighed heavily as he tried to return to his feet. He had to finish here, and go back and den with the pups. Who knew how they were feeling at this point. ”Samara?” He asked softly, wanting her to remain asleep if she was, but if she’d regained consciousness he’d like to make sure she was comfortable. He had been trying to keep his distance, she encompassed all that made him weak, but with the fire… Rhyme had been drawn to her, and knowing she was injured caused him more distress than he wanted to admit even to himself.

Samara Klein Samara had only surfaced from the dark depths of unconciousness earlier that morning, waking to an aching in her lungs, her throat feeling raw like she'd been yelling nonstop for... well who even knew how long? Her eyes stung, watering the moment any amount of light hit them. There had been a sound of scrabling somewhere around her and as the woman had strained to crain her neck a voice she hadn't known had gently told her not to move so fast, a gentle pressure on her head from something smaller than even her own paws. A pair of white paws moved into her vision and she slowly lifted her gaze to see a tall white man gently sniffing at her. A shape leapt onto his back. "How long?" She croaked, her voice breaking with the strain of unuse and something else she could yet place. "A day." The female voice spoke again though she couldn't seem to find it's source. "You passed out in the fire." The fire! Samara was suddenly struck by panic and her body jolted. The man, immediatly placed a gentle paw on her shoulders and a soft weight returned to her stomach, tiny preassure points resting on her skull, strange limbs gently stroking her head. "Shh it's okay." The voice cooed again, this time from her stomach and she was able to figure out the gentle stroking was coming from it's owner. "It's out now. Mr. Ryhme brought you out and we, us and the other healers, have been looking after you. You'll be fine. We need to go check on a few other wolves but we left some Lavender and Meadowsweet, try and get some sleep but they are there if you need them." The voice paused and another shadow indicated it had jumped back onto the man's back. "Mr. Rhyme said you were a healer so you should know how to use them." The man must have retreated then but in truth Samara had already started falling asleep. Since then she'd been in and out of sleep, passing another half of the day before she was suddenly jolted from her rest. A large object nearly colliding with her and the woman would have jumped to her limbs if they had obeyed her, instead her body jolted, eyes snapping open. Then the voice pulled her to reality. "Rhyme?" She croaked, blinking as she tried to allow her eyes to adjust to the dim light. He was sprawled out near her, very near. The man was visibly tired, and she silently wondered if the man had slept any at all since nature's attack on his pack. "You look like how I feel." She said, her voice still harsh from unuse and what she now knew was smoke inhalation, still she managed the barest hint of humor.   "Speech", Thoughts & You

He was only disappointed that she woke up because he didn’t wish to disturb her healing body. Also because he would have fallen asleep right there and right then if she didn’t speak his name. No, he couldn’t fall asleep he had to go make sure the pups were okay.. ”You look like how I feel.” He groaned heavily, forgetting the last time he had groomed himself let alone sat down. She sounded harsh, probably the effects of smoke inhalation. Rhyme was happy to see her so alert though.

”It’s good to see you too.” He muttered tiredly, eyes blinking as he fought to keep them open. ”I just stopped in for a minute, I need to go check.. on. the pups.” His words were growing more difficult, but he felt determined. Rhyme would make his way back to the maple tree with his eyes closed if he needed to. Obviously his paws weren’t obeying his slowing mind though.

Samara Klein Rhyme responded, and Samara released a breath she didn't know she was holding, so he was awake enough to respond though even as it seemed her mind was shrugging off it's weariness Rhyme seemed to be fading fast. He mumbled something about having to get to his kids. "Not in this state you don't." She slowly managed to work her paws under herself. Finding the strenght in her limbs slowly returning. "At best you'll only scare them, at worst you'll be less than useless." The woman meandered over to the deeper part of her den, finding the herbs the strange female had told her were left there. It would have to do. She pulled some of the Meadowsweet away from the bundle. "Chew on the roots." She instructed him, nosing the bundle towards his nose. If he had any pain that'd help some, she'd have rather mixed it with Yarrow to make it more potent but without knowing exactly what was going on with him she didn't want to over medicate him. "Stay awake for me for a bit longer." She implored him. "Talk to me, have you been seen by any healers yet?" Probably not based on how much soot was still in his fur, it'd be hard to check for burns with him still like that. "Talk to me about anything you want... your favorite childhood memory." Some patients needed guiding and keeping him talking would mean he wasn't about to drift off to sleep quite yet. She wanted to make sure he wasn't too badly off before allowing him to sleep as much as it seemed his body craved it. Slowly the woman would begin to try to clean his head, removing layers of soot from his unkempt fur. It was a simple, intimate activity, but she was determined to keep it proffessional, she had to clean his fur of anything that could hide any skin level abrasions, nothing more. In truth, she'd have rather shoved him into the rapids but he didn't seem capable of getting up let alone stopping himself from drowning, so she'd have to take on the task herself, grimacing against the taste and resigning herself to a long process. "Speech", Thoughts & You

Samara was able to stop him in the sense that he wasn’t going anywhere even if she hadn’t forbidden it. Rhyme sighed heavily in defeat as she told him he would be no good to them in this condition. He blinked open his eyes to find her sapphire stare as she brought him a bit of herbs to chew on. He didn’t have the energy to nod and chew so he only did the latter. His tired brain kind of recognized the herb, but he was too sleepy. ”Should I chew or talk?” He teased her as he managed to keep his eyes at least half open.

She guided his train of thought towards a couple of more specific questions. ”No, I’m fine. Tired.” He mumbled as he continued to chew on the roots. He hadn’t realized how close she was until he felt her tongue against his fur. ”Don’t trouble yourself,” he protested weakly, unable to stop her. He could hardly move he was so exhausted. He closed his eyes, but allowed his words to continue. ”Winning my first real spar against my sister.” He muttered, remembering the event well. Not that he’d been able to beat her by much. ”I wish I could go back in time, sometimes” His voice trailed off as he struggled to follow her order to stay awake.

Samara Klein Samara rolled her eyes as Rhyme teased her. "If you're going to be a smartass then I pick chewing, then talking." She would ignore his protests as she began to tend to him, clearing soot carefully from the center of his cranium outwards. Stopping every few seconds to check the skin on areas she'd cleaned, making sure she wasn't missing some injuries she'd need to tend. "If you let me check to make sure you're not injured then I promise I'll leave you alone and you'll be free to get back to wherever your needed." She said, keeping her tone even, solidly logical even if she felt some amount of bitterness over his determination to get away from her. He did aquece to to her suggestion about his favorite childhood memory. The woman bit down on her desire to prop too much into that nugget of his past he'd let loose, something she didn't know about yet. Samara decided she'd ignore his mummbled comment. But she couldn't fail to notice the way his speech trailed off. "Hey! Tell me about your sister." Samara said, moving onto cleaning off his neck and shoulder, though she lifted her voice so he'd wake up again. "Speech", Thoughts & You