I'd rather be dead than live a lie
BURN THE WHITE FLAG!

Evening was falling swiftly, far faster than Lúta had realized. She hoped to be much farther in her travels but it was looking more and more like she'd have to bed down in the woods for the night. Moving quietly through the thick grove of willow trees she searched for a good place to bed down for the evening and that was when she caught a scent that made her hackles stand on end. There was a grizzly bear not too far off. Ok, that changed things. She'd need to find somewhere else to bed down. However, as she started to move away she heard a low roar. Turning she watched a grizzly step through the hanging vines of a particularly large willow tree. It eyed her for a moment then stood up on its hind legs. Her hackles were completely on end, her ears flicking back as she tried to back away from the bear. Lúta's eyes locked on the bears and it immediately let out a roar and dove towards her.

OK, so maybe Pesto shouldn't have been so far from home. Realistically though, she'd only followed the scent of one of Zee and Sirius' children outside the plains towards the weeping woods. Nobody could get mad at her for wandering when she was concerned for one of the pups, right? Even if she was grounded, she was still in training to become a warrior. A warrior wouldn't just wait at the border, they'd go out and make sure the pack member was safe. Even if it wasn't an official pack member, and only a member of Sirius' Armada. Regardless of her logic or reasons, Pesto found herself in the woods. It was quiet, peaceful, and within the first 40 seconds she'd noticed that the pup's trail looped back into the pack lands. She was already here, though. Might as well look around. The silence was broken by a fearsome roar and Pestilence almost instantly prepared to turn tail and run. She stopped herself however, telling herself that she was to be a yearling soon and that a yearling didn't run from a fight. Especially one so close to home, what if the bear was currently eating one of her family members? If it was a family member, Pestilence would be obligated to rescue them. If it was Toxicity... well... Pesto might decide being grounded was a serious punishment and that she'd be better off obeying her mother and returning home. The bear's opponent was neither a loved one nor Toxicity however - it was a strange she-wolf with bright colors. Pestilence once more considered her escape route, then with a large inhale steadied herself to join in on the fight. She was growing larger and larger by the day, though she still could not match the height of the bear. She came at it from behind as it dove for the wolf, grasping it's fleshy rear thigh in time to interrupt it's strike. The bear roared in what was likely more anger then pain, and kicked out at her with it's hind leg. Pesto released it, then curved towards the she-wolf so that the two could work off each other's attacks. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

I'd rather be dead than live a lie
BURN THE WHITE FLAG!

Lúta readied herself, hackles raised, ears pinned and her defenses solidly set. However, before the bear reached her it was distracted by something biting it from behind. She saw a black and white pup, nearly a yearling attacking the bear. Oh no! Lúta wasted no time in getting involved. As the bear turned its head she leapt forward, her claws unsheathed as she raked them down the side of the bears face. It roared in pain and turned to stand on its hind legs, letting out another roar. "Get lost!" She yelled at the beast. Lúta wasn't the sort to fight to the death casually. She'd rather the bear just get fed up and leave the wolves alone. With a snarl the bears claws lanced down and Lúta scrambled to avoid them, throwing herself to the ground just in time.

Pesto immediately realized she may have put herself in over her head. She growled low at the bear while it faced her, and then the stranger delivered a scratch upon it's face that tore it's attention away momentarily. "We need to run!" The girl yelled to her, worried that there was no way she could ever take down such a massive creature. It wouldn't do however to simply turn tail and flee - the bear was likely faster than either of them and Pesto wanted both wolves to make it out of this safely. They'd need to hurt it enough that it'd leave, or cripple it so that it could not chase them down. The bear threw itself at the woman once more, and Pestilence moved forward as it missed it's swipe to land a grab upon it's paw. She crunched it hard between her teeth, trying desperately to hear the crack of bone. She couldn't hold on long however, as she spied the bear's other paw come flying towards her. Quickly she released it and ducked, feeling the tear of flesh upon the top of her head. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

I'd rather be dead than live a lie
BURN THE WHITE FLAG!

Lúta heard the girls call to run but she worried whether or not they could get away. In particular she was worried the young wolf would fall behind. "You go ahead and start running! I'll-" Lúta was forced to duck as the bears fangs attempted to seize her head. She snarled and twisted her head up, her fangs seized around the bear's lower jaw as her front claws tore into the flesh of either cheek. Her hind legs kicked violently at the bear. The two tussled until she was thrown off, landing with a loud thud on the ground. Her head was reeling and for a second she blacked out.

The bear however, was backing up now, shaking its head in pain. It didn't like how aggressive these wolves were. It's jaws hung open, the lower jaw slightly slack as drool dribbled down the bears chin.

Pesto was paralyzed in fear as the stranger tussled with the bear. She'd given her the go ahead to run, but the princess could not bring herself to abandon the stranger who fought so bravely. As Luta was thrown to the ground, Pesto charged forward to place herself between the bear and the grounded wolf. The bear bellowed a low, pained growl as it backed up and Pestilence snarled back. It was already beginning to retreat, though the girl had to be sure it was gone and would not make a lunch of the she-wolf. As it backed, the near-yearling threw herself forward snapping the air and snarling. Her fur fluffed up and she tried her best to make herself appear threatening, although she was not yet full size. With one last move the bear jerked towards her and Pestilence struck a blow upon it's already injured face with her paw. She continued feigning forward, pushing the bear back as it decided these wolves were not worth the meal. It wasn't until the beast had left sight that she turned around to see her companion. "Are you okay?" Pestilence asked softly, her face a grimace of empathy pain. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Lúta blinked and winced as she slowly got to her feet. Thankfully the bear had had enough and retreated, leaving the two wolves alone. She smiled gently at the young wolf then winced. "I think I hit my head pretty good." She glanced about her and tested walking. Ok, she could do that alright. It was probably just a mild concussion and there wasn't much she could do for that other than rest and keep an eye on her symptoms. Something for the pain would be great though, she had a terrible head ache. "Would you be able to help me look for Valerian Root? I think it should grow in this area. It can help with headaches." She was fairly certain it grew in this type of terrain but if she couldn't find any it wasn't do or die. "It'll grow about 3 or feet tall. It's sort of a hairy plant, especially near the base. It should be in flower now. Look for pink blossoms and a strange but not unpleasant smell." She set her own senses searching as she moved delicately along a narrow path between two particularly large willows.

As Pestilence feared, the woman took an injury to her head during the fight. Thankfully, Pesto was not on her own on figuring out how to help her. The woman seemed knowledgeable, and quickly set the near-yearling on a hunt to find an herb that might help. Truthfully, Pesto was out of her element here. She knew of herbs to make people shit themselves, to color them pink, to make them vomit, but none that did real healing. She frowned in thought as Luta explained the appearance of the plant, and then set off looking.

Valerian Root, tall.. hairy... with pink flowers. She didn't know what a 'strange but unpleasant' smell might be, so she pushed that information away and looked for it by appearance. The woods were hard to see through clearly, and she wished they'd had this fight in a field or something. Each time she tried to peer through towards the horizon a tree trunk blocked her way, and she found she needed to do a lot more walking and a lot less looking for the plant in question. When she found a fuzzy looking one, she tilted her head and called over to the woman. "Is this it?" She was unsure, but it did have pink flowers like the healer claimed.

Lúta followed carefully after the pup, letting the girl do most of the searching. She was still a bit woozy and knew better than to push herself so soon after a head injury. Thankfully the girl seemed to pick up quickly. She called Lúta over and when the healer arrived she nodded. Well, she started to nod but winced and spoke instead. "Yes, that's the Valerian plant. Good job. Now we'll dig down to find the rhizome. It'll be a dark yellowish-brown color. About an inch long and a half inch thick. It'll seem like an odd swelling in the root." Lúta began to work at digging down by the base of the plant, inviting Pestilence to help her dig. The rhizome of Valerian was best harvested in the early fall so Lúta was thankful that they were close to the proper season.

Luta continued to instruct her, and Pestilence did her best to be useful. It was difficult trying to swap her mindset to one of herbs and flowers so soon after the bear fight but she also did not want the other woman to suffer because she was too useless to protect her. Now she had a head injury, and Pestilence was determined to do her best to find whatever herbs she'd need. "I see. Okay, rhizome." She repeated the strange word, feeling it on her tongue and grimacing at her botched pronunciation. She quickly moved to the woman's side to help dig, taking glances at her methods to ensure she was not doing anything wrong. A swelling in the root? Pestilence kept her eyes peeled for it, though she couldn't picture what a swollen root looked like.

Lúta smiled as the girl moved next to her to help her dig. "It's alright, you can just call it the root to. I know rhizome is kind of a weird word. Thank you for helping me." The continued to dig until at last the swollen part of the root was in view. Lúta carefully bent her head and snipped the swollen part of the root from the plant, wrinkling her nose. It had an acrid, bitter taste but the juice would help her headache. She carefully took part of it in her mouth and chewed until she felt she'd administered the right amount. She set the rest down to save and shook her head. "Bleck. Medicine rarely tastes good unfortunately. I think I'll take a rest and then I should be good. Thank you again for your help, both with the bear and finding the Valerian."