Spring is here! And, with the slightly warming weather comes an exited Seere. The snow had meant a lot spent in the family den and the small monochrome girl had begun to get cabin fever. But now she is free to run around to her heart’s content! Which is exactly what the yearling is doing. She runs circles, zig-zags, loops, and figure eights, starting at the furthest island of the Ashen Empire and moving until she reaches the shrine. There is nothing like the wind in her fur, the sound of the wind whipping by her ears as she thunders along.

Paws touch the land of shrine and Seere darts toward the nearest tree, intending to make a tight circle around it before zooming back out across the land bridge. The bushes that grow at the base of the trunk do not deter the girl and she happily rushes into them, burrs tugging at her monochrome fur as she goes. As she begins her turn, a sharp pain floods her right front paw and the girl lets out a startled yelp as she goes crashing to the side and rolls out of the bushes. Dazed, she sits up and shakes her head, looking at her paw pad but finding nothing amiss.

Shrugging to herself, Seere moves to stand but, when her right paw touches the ground and she begins to put pressure on it, the pain returns in full force. Letting out another yelp, the girl brings her paw up to once again inspect it and, once again, she doesn’t find anything amiss. Strange…


"Seere  Abraxas-Destruction"

Now that Seere was her own personal student, she felt like she had a vested interest in the girl. She had her black Kite keep an eye on her on occasion, or at least keep a lookout for her whenever the Kite flew over the Empire. So it was a little bit of luck, and a lit bit of foresight that had Kitsune near on hand when Seere yelped with pain.

Making her way over to the much smaller girl, Kitsune found her studying her paw with an expression of confusion on her maw. “Let me have a look?” she asked, holding out her own paw for Seere to place her paw in Kit’s.


"Kitsune"

The monochrome girl looks worriedly at her paw, the lack of blood but obvious spike of pain when she tries to put weight on it, causing her brow to furrow in confusion. As Seere continues to try and figure out what is wrong, Kitsune, her mentor and friend, suddenly appears. Mismatched eyes look to taller Princess with a sad, helpless spark resting in her gaze, a quiet plea screaming out to Kitsune.

Luckily, the more experienced healer requests to look at her paw and the girl’s face quickly morphs into an expression of pure relief. Carefully, she folds her haunches and seats herself, vigilant to keep her injured paw from touch the ground. Once comfortable, she then places her smaller paw onto Kit’s outstretched one. Sheepishly, Seere explains, “I was just going for a run. But… I don’t see anything…?” Her last word trails off, trying to offer help while also questioning why it hurts without being able to see why.


"Seere  Abraxas-Destruction"

The puppy eyes Seere turned her way pulled at her heartstrings. The poor thing was clearly confused, and Kitsune felt a strong desire to help her. She watched as Seere carefully settled down across from her, and then offered her paw to Kitsune.

The Ashen Princess carefully examined the pad. Looking for signs of a bite, or bruising. Instead, what she found was a sharp little burr tucked hidden in the little space between her toes. She ran her finger carefully over the pad, checking there was only one, before coming back to the burr. Yup, that was definitely the problem. “you’ve got a little burr poking into your skin here. On the count of three I'm going to pull it out. Ready?” She asked


"Kitsune"

Settling down in front of Kitsune, Seere offers her paw to her mentor, hopeful that she can figure out what the heck is making her smaller paw hurt. Mismatched eyes watch as the fiery paw lightly feels around her pad and the girl is appreciative of the care that healer takes to be gentle with her touch. She looks on, awaiting the diagnosis and, when Kit announces it is a bur, the monochrome girl lets out a soft groan, saying, “Not another one!”. Burs like to get caught in her coat when she goes running but this one was sneaky. Rude bur. Brows furrow as Kitsune says is going to pull it out and Seere gives her a short nod before steeling herself for the countdown. No way is she going to yelp or cry. Nope. Not today.

"Seere  Abraxas-Destruction"

Seere, the brave young girl, indicated she was ready. Kitsune stretched out her cat-like claws and held them over the bur in a pinching like motion. ”Okay, one… two-” she grabbed the bur and yanked it out before Seere could tense in preparation. She ran her hand lightly over the paw, seeing a tiny dot of blood.

She kissed the pad solemnly. “There we go, all better” she promised, and released her grip. Nodding towards the young girl in an indication for her to try stepping on it. It might still be a little tender but nothing like having the bur repeatedly jabbing her every time she placed her weight on it.

"Kitsune"