Kotori was unhappy. The small  pup had played hard and didn’t want to travel all the way back to the den for a nap.  After rolling about in a patch of grass, kicking up some of the dirt and blades of grass nearby he had finally made for himself a comfortable place for a nap.  Secure in the knowledge no one would ever dare hurt him on pack land he lay down, belly pointed up to the sky to take a nap.  He had woken up some time later with the sun still in the sky but an unwanted itch and stining feeling on his tummy.  Lifting his head up to try and look Kotori ended up twisting his body around so that he rolled over onto his side on accident.  Once on his side though the small brown pup was able to see how his belly had turned a bright red from a sunburn.   His belly approved of not facing the sun now but as he got up Kotori realized that as the legs moved it somehow managed to affect his red belly so that it hurt. The pup wasn’t use to the concept of pain and didn’t care for it much at all.  A keening whine came out as he moved a few more steps then stopped again.  He remembered Io mentioning sunburns to them and that there was a plant that could help.  Somehow he doubted she had planned on them needing to use this knowledge so soon.  What really sounded good right now was water though, surely water would be cooland relief the sting?  Io had said some type of plant ‘alo..something’. With slow wincing steps the pup made his way along in the grass, small enough that it was easy to be invisible in the deep grass.  Stubbornly Kotori decided he wouldn’t cry for help but fix it himself, though with each painful step he questioned his own logic.  A soft whine came out every few strides but he didn’t call out.  The brown pup was sure someone would be near to save him but wouldn’t it be more impressive if he fixed it himself?  Would his sisters tease him if he needed saving? As a boy he had to be tougher than his sisters, it was required. So the plant was suppose to be, well it was a funny looking thing.  Io had shown thema sample of it, fat and thick grassy-like blades with stinging points on the outside.  He recalled that if you tore into it there was a wite gel’sh substance that would bleed out.  With a droopy head he paused after a long distance, at least by a pained pup’s standards he lay back down.  Kotori looked up at the sun and saw it might have actually lowered some.  How long until he needed to get back home.  Why couldn’t he find the dumb plant? He was gonna have to ask for help, it wasn’t possible for him to find one dumb plant in all this grass.  Sourly looking to one side with such dour thoughts Kotori was happily shocked when he found an Aloe Vera plant growing nearby. Dragging himself up the pup made his way to the stinging plant.  There was a reddish flower that didn’t look very soft in the center of it.  Kotori tapped a paw on the plant’s blade as he pondered how to best handle it.  After a bit of his burned stomach angrily reminding him it hurt Kotori just lay down, belly stinging on the ground and bite into the plant to yank off a section of it.  The poky-spots on it were unwanted stinging sensations against his muzzle but didn’t seem to really hurt him.  The plant was a fat thing and it took some chewing to pull it off.  Some of the aloe vera was leaking out and Kotor spit out the blade to try and spit out the white substance.  “yuck!” Kotori smeared some of the of the white stuff on his paw and tucked it up but found a new problem, the front paw wasn’t doing a good job at getting cream to his stomach.  Kotori let out a pleading whine at this point with all this movement stretching the unhappy belly.  Now what? Kotori glared at the plant for a bit processing this new problem.  Finally he started biting into the flat end of the plant more, stopping at points to whipe the white substance from tongue to paw, still icky.  Eventually he had the plant torn open more for a good smeal of the white stuff coming out.   Kotori layed his tummy down on top of it, feeling how the plant itself felt unpleasant and just more painful on the stomach, but on the parts where the white substance connected he felt some relief, but that was only a small portion of a painful belly.  Kotori felt tears sliding down his eyes from all the pain he was causing himself at this point.  The small pup chewed off another section of the plant and with head and tail hung low headed out of the thick grass with his prize.  Kotori would get aunty Io or mom, dad or well just about anyone to help him smear it on.  Getting out of the grass he made it part way back to his den then gave up, he wanted mom or dad.  Tilting his fuzzy head up to the sky he let out a sad puppy howl crying for help.  At least he had the medicine?  Did that count for anything. Kotori then lay down with paws tucked under trying to keep his belly and head on the dirt miserably. Word count: 950

The light cry of a young pup rang out in the crisp Armada air. The Warlord paused his patrolling, tilting his head to listen to the high-pitched sound. A howl formed in a young wolf's throat. He smirked, until he realised the cry was for ‘Io, Mumma, or maybe puppa or anyone?’ Puppa wanted to be the wolf called for, of course. He was a jealous, possessive, doting parent, after all.

Turning from his patrol, he hiked through the grasses and found his tinsy boy. lying in the grass with the scent and smearing of plant juice. Sirius leaned forward to plant a kiss on one each horn-bud and nudged the boy over, inspected the burnt belly. Someone had taught him something, because Sirius reckoned it was Aloe that the young pup had smeared on himself. That would be io’s influence, even some rudimentary healing had rubbed off on the Warlord.

“Well. I guess I’ll have to go bite the sun after this, teach it for biting my boy.’ he teased “Did you need help smearing the rest of this on?”

Dad showing up got the miserable-looking pup's tail to thumping on the ground.  Obviously, Kotori was perfectly tough and now that dad was here it meant he wasn’t about to whimper about a little pain.  Kotori was gonna grow as bad and powerful as dad, so of course, he could handle a sunburn.  He rolled with the nudge, paws tucked into his chest to show off the red tummy with a wavy line of aloe covering a bit of the burn, another area of the tummy just looking irritated at being rubbed along the ground where the aloe hadn’t been. “You should,” stubborn note confirming that of course, his dad could put something as small as a sun in its place. “I found it,” gotta at least show he hadn’t been totally helpless in the predicament right? “Took a while but I got it,” kicking at the bit of the plant Kotori had found before giving his dad that helpless look, “just put the white stuff where it's red,” offering his dad the information they had just learned from their aunt recently.  Maybe next time the folly of sleeping belly up under the summer sun could be included. “Don’t tell anyone I needed help though, ok?”  Being the only boy amongst a bunch of dumb sisters was hard work.  He couldn’t let any of them know he needed dad’s help on something like this.  The giant warlord and father got the best set of pleading puppy eyes that his secret be kept.  It was almost as important as that burn being treated, almost.

Despite the pain of his burn, Kotori’s tail smacked heartily against the earth. Telling Sirius both that the injury wasn’t too bad, and that dad was still a comfort to the boy. He managed to fight down the urge to scoop Kotori up and hold the little one close. That would not do the burn any favours. “Did Auntie Io show you what it looked like?” he asked as he picked up the last of the aloe. Using his cat-like claws he carefully parted the skin. “I think I can manage that, Kot. you did pretty well to find it on your own” he praised. He leaned forward, concentrating on the job as he carefully smeared the white paste across his boy's fur. Taking pains to gently rub it in, to ensure it would reach the skin. When he was done, he knocked Kotori’s nose gently with an extended claw. Not a rebuking, but a tease. “It’ll be just between us” he promised. "Speech"