Just To Hear The Quiet

Svala was returning after exploring the surrounding territories. Now that she had all her herbs safely tucked away in Abaven she'd decided to get an idea of the territories that surrounded her new home. There were a number of interesting territories. She'd been to the Firefly Lake before that lay to the north of the thicket. It was a lovely territory she'd explored before. It would be a nice place to go for a picnic when summer rolled back around. The Stone Steppe was also nearby, across a wide river. She'd been there before as well though it was a strange land. She still didn't know what to make of the rock formations but in the spring and summer the fields of grass was sure to attract various grazing animals. She worked on her course traveling south back into the Rustling Thicket. I felt particularly good to cross the border into Abaven. The border into home. She hadn't expected to be part of another pack bu now that she was she was honestly grateful for it. She was getting old enough to be out on her own and since learning of her sister's passing… Her pace slowed for a minute. It was difficult news to learn.

Svala flinched as she worked her way through the Rustling Thicket. She'd been heading back to Abaven but on the way she'd encountered a black bear. Naturally she ran and she was lucky enough to be able to outrun the bear but the problem was that in her haste to get away from the larger predator, she'd stumbled right into a locust tree. She'd cut her right hip on one of the massive thorns and now she was limping home. She'd lost her bundle of herbs when fleeing from the bear and now she'd need to hunt something down. Thankfully, the thicket was rich in a number of herbs. She just needed to find something that would suit her purposes.

Blood stained her fur and her constant movement wasn't helping the wound to bind closed. She needed to find some yarrow and get a poultice made. The plant would help to stop the bleeding and it had some antiseptic properties that might help ward off infection. Svala had a rough idea of where some yarrow grew, she just needed to find it. She still felt a little foolish but Svala wasn't the kind to take her chances with a bear. Her small size lended well to speed but not to fighting off animals several times her size and besides she hadn't really be trained in the arts of battle. It would've been a hopeless conflict. She could accept dying in a number of ways but being eaten simply wasn't one of them.

Svala put her nose to work as she tried to sniff out the yarrow. It didn't have a strong scent but it was distinct enough for her to be able to track it down. She saw the angular stem and the rough, alternate leaves. It was crowned in small white flowers which were slowly starting to fade. It was a rare plant that bloomed into autumn but by the end of the season it would be as bare as the trees. She had some yarrow ointment back at her den but she hated to use it as she was saving it for more serious wounds and ideally not her own. A poultice would be sufficient enough for her scrape.

Normally, Svala would go through the work of making a proper poultice. She'd start a fire, heat things appropriately, but as it was her cut and her spit she figured she'd just apply something the old fashioned way. Well, the very old fashioned way. When in need one could just pick the leaves off and chew them up into a poultice. Svala reached out to the yarrow plant and started stripping off leaves. She then worked to chew them into a paste before finding a place to lie down. She flopped over on her side then curled around and applied he chewed up mixture to the cut on her leg. She reached a paw around to pat it in and then left it to dry.

It stung at first but as it was left there for awhile she could feel it beginning to help. Some of it was just he evaporation of the water. As the liquid evaporated it cooled the burning wound and the properties of the yarrow were working swiftly to stem the bleeding. She decided to just lay her head on her fore arms and rest for a bit while the yarrow continued to work. Eventually it would dry and she could carefully rinse it off, just as long as she was careful not to disturb the scabs. It wouldn't do to stop the bleeding and then scrape the scabs off and starting the bleeding all over again. That would just be a mess.