The sun was high up in the sky by the time she awoke, the den illuminated by its light. From the entrance stretched rays that reached over a patch of her back, tickling her with warmth. However, she couldn't feel her sister's form leaning into hers or the quiet breathing coming from her family. Well, she could only hear one canine breathing, and as she drowsily lifted her head from her ebony paws she realised that her sister and Athena had already left the den, leaving her other mother behind. She wanted to join them but was too scared to go out by herself, let alone interrupt whatever activity they had planned for themselves. I'll spend time with mama Ama, she thought to herself as she scurried over to her mother's sleeping form and cuddled into matching cream fur. Was it just her or did her eyes feel a little...weird? No, that had to be her imagination. Everyone's eyes probably felt weird. Speak Thought Others

The woman stirred from her slumber slightly when the tiny body curled against her, a soft hum vibrating in her throat. Amalia laid still for a few more moments, cuddled up with her daughter and not wishing to move away from her. But finally her dark blue eyes opened, a yawn cracking open her jaws as her sleepy gaze fell to her doppelganger. "Good morning sweethe-" The tiny woman cut off in an instant, blinking rapidly as her eyes fell on Diana's own eyes. There was crust and puss forming in the corner of one of her eyes, and there was for sure a sign of an infection. "Oh darling, look at Momma for a second. Are your eyes bugging you, love? Which one hurts more?" She asked softly, sitting up slightly to inspect the young girls face closer. Oh dear, this was not good at all. It seemed to be early on still, which was good. Amalia cursed herself silently for not catching this sooner. But it was okay, it was just a minor infection. She had some dandelion roots still, she could use that for the inflammation around her eye, she should also give her some dried elderberry to help strengthen her immune system. Worry filled the russet faced woman, but she tried not to show too much of it. There was no need to worry the girl, at this point it was still rather minor. Speech

At first she was feeling all warm on the inside, snuggled so happily by her mother, though a frown came to her features as her mother cut her own greeting off. Blue eyes met hers, looking as if they were observing and examining her. This was not how her mother normally acted, and an ill-feeling crept up inside of her. Something was wrong, and by what she could infer from the woman's inquiries, it had to do with her eyes. So she hadn't been imagining things at all; there truly was something up with them. Now that she concentrated on the uncomfortable feeling, one of her eyes did feel worse than the other. Nodding, she lifted an ebony paw to touch her left cheek just below the eye to indicate its soreness. "Dis one," she replied, feeling it twitch and bulge. "W-Why?" she then stammered, concern laced with fear in her voice. "W-What's w-wrong? Speak Thought Others

She could see that she hadn't done her best in keeping her worry to herself, watching the girl touch below her left eye. Ama leaned in closer, and could tell that it was more swollen than the other, which was probably irritated from the infection. Diana stammered then, asking what was wrong, and it was obvious that she had frightened the girl. The tiny woman sighed, pressing a soft kiss to Diana's cheek. "There is no need to be afraid my love, its just a little ouchie. Momma Ama is going to take care of it, okay? I just have to go and grab something so you stay right here." She said, rising to her paws and shaking out her pale coat. She didn't want to leave the girl for even a second, but her herb den wasn't far from here, and she knew that Diana wouldn't try to sneak off like Jayne would. With one last glance over her shoulder she quickly slipped out of the den and ran for her herb storage, not caring about the snow that clung to her coat. The tiny woman nearly slid into her herb den, blinking as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. As soon as she was able to see well enough she grabbed some dandelion root and some of her dried elderberries, wrapping them up in a leaf before taking off for Diana again. When she got back to where the girl was waiting, Amalia was panting around the leaf that she set down at the girls paws. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she smiled and nuzzled her cold nose into the girls shoulder. "Okay hun, I just need to rub some of this around your eye, and I want you to eat these berries, okay?" she said, nosing the few, dried balls towards the girl. "But don't just go around and eat random berries, alright? Only eat the ones that Momma gives you." She warned softly, taking a bit of the dandelion root in her mouth and began to chew it into a pulp. Before she rubbed it on Diana's eye, she gently pressed her cold paw pads to the pups inflected eye, knowing that the cold would feel soothing against the swollen skin. Holding it down for a moment, she then pulled her paw back and spat the root pulp on it, moving it around Diana's left eye carefully. She was very careful to not get it into her eyes, but placed it around both of them just in case. "I am going to do this at least once a day, maybe twice if I can. You're doing so well, Diana, you're such a good girl!"" she praised, stepping back to admire her handy work. Once pleased she nodded her head to herself, inspecting the area around her eyes for any sores. When she didn't see any she kissed the girls forehead, folding herself down to a seated position. "Do you know what Momma gave you?" she asked curiously. She knew that the girl had only left the den a few days ago, but she wondered if Diana knew anything about the plants that she was given. Plus, it was in Amalia's blood to teach. None of her boys were really interested in herbs, maybe at least one of her girls would be. Speech

An ouchie? That didn't sound good, and didn't comfort the girl either. What did her eye look like? Maybe it had swelled and was all red and had gooey stuff around the edges...Ewwww! she thought to herself, overwhelmed with nausea, almost gagging at the mental sight. Then her mother left after explaining that she needed to get something. Originally she thought this something was in the den, though was convinced otherwise as her mother exited the den, leaving a stiff girl behind. She didn't like being left alone, especially now that she was stressing over the eye situation. The space had grown quiet, and in those silent moments the cream woman was the only thing on her mind. However, she promptly returned, and the pup could now release a sigh of relief. Strange plants like the ones she had seen growing outside had been brought with her mother and she stared at them curiously. The woman nosed a clump of berries towards her, saying that she needed to ear them. Reluctantly, she lowered her head and slowly slid the berries into her mouth. After a few chews the tart flavour started to kick in, making her scrunch up her face in disgust. Summoning all of her strength, she forced the mush down her throat as her mother began to rub a paste below her eye. "W-Will it hurt?" she squeaked, unable to imagine feeling pain every day when her mother came to repeat the procedure. Then when the woman asked what she had given her, the child was almost taken aback. She hadn't been paying attention most of the time, and wasn't entirely sure herself. "B-Berries?" she inquired in a small voice, scared that she might get it wrong. Speak Thought Others

Amalia knew that the timid girl was fighting with all of this, and she wished that she could comfort her. It really wasn't that bad, but to be a pup that young and have an infection must be rather terrible. Diana asked if it was going to hurt, and the woman shook her head. "The pulp won't hurt your face, it won't sting at all. But your eye might feel irritated and itchy, but you can't itch it, okay? If it really bothers you come and tell me, and I can press some snow to it. The cold will help make the itchy go away and it will bring down the puffiness. Its not that bad my love, its still pretty early on so we can make it go away." Amalia said calmly, her deep blue eyes searching her daughters face. She could understand that Di was reluctant to take the berries, but she was such a good girl and swallowed them anyways. The tiny healer grinned at the girl when she did it, nuzzling her cheek softly. When asked what she had given her, the girl stumbled on her words, making Amalia giggle softly at her simple answer. "Berries, yes. These ones are called elderberries, and they are going to help your body fight off your ouchie. I am going to have to give you a few every few days though, but if the icky taste is too much I can add some honey to make it sweeter for you." Amalia explained, backing up slightly to wipe the rest of the root pulp off of her paw. "Now what I put on your eye was dandelion root. Its that yellow flower that you see outside all the time with the green stem. They grow even in the winter, so its good that there is so much around! I chewed up the root and rubbed it on your eye, and that is going to help the swelling go down, and hopefully not make it so itchy." Amalia tried to speak as slowly as she could, but it was hard to not get excited when she talked about herbs. Speech

It wouldn't hurt, at least not at first that is. She sent an urgent message to her eyes, Don't hurt. Any uncomfortable feelings could be stopped, however, with snow. At the hearing of it she furiously started shaking her head, ignoring the last part of her mother's words. No, snow was bad. She didn't want anything cold touching her skin, and at this point preferred pain over snow. Listening intently to the woman's explanation, she leaned in closer, a look of fascination upon her features. Wow, berries actually had names, like her but not as pretty as the name Diana. They could do so much too, like fight off ouchies, and that was cool. She never thought plants could do so much...they were just plants! When her mother mentioned the icky taste of the berries, the girl instantly could relate to it. In fact, she could still taste them in her mouth before smacking her lips at the thought of something sweet, like this honey that mother spoke of. Next was dandelion, of which the root had been chewed to create a paste to be later rubbed below her eye. It seemed to grow everywhere, even in the winter so it didn't mind the snow. Oh my! How  did her mother know so much? "I'll never be as smart as you," she huffed with sigh, flopping onto her haunches. Speak Thought Others

She watched as Diana shook her head when Amalia suggested putting snow on her eye, and she smiled sadly at her daughter. She wasn't going to push the matter, even if it would help with everything. "Its okay sweetie, we don't have to put snow on it. If the pain gets really bad though, it will really help, okay?" Amalia's words were stern, but she let it slide from that point. After Diana's first outing she knew that the timid girl wasn't overly fond of the cold substance. Being so reserved she knew that if she forced in on her, she would only grow more afraid of snow, and going outside. Amalia nearly let out a squee when Di leaned in to listen to her words, fascination clear on her features. Maybe she was going to finally have a little healer on her hands! It didn't help with the tiny woman's excitement, words spilling over each other as they left her maw. When Diana let out a huff and flopped into a seated position she bit her lower lip, trying not to laugh at her daughters words. "Oh baby, you can learn it all if you want! I would be more than willing to teach you if you wanted. Mom likes to fight and loves to teach that, and I adore herbs and healing and adore to teach about it. Its all up to you, Diana, you have your whole future ahead of you. You don't have to pick now, you can take your time." She said softly, covering her daughters face in loving kisses. Speech

Although her mother's words were somewhat comforting, it still didn't change her view on snow. Hopefully she wouldn't need it. There wouldn't be any pain or nasty feelings, and if there were, she'd fight through them because no cold snow was ever touching her russet face. Yeah, her ouchie would go away all by itself without snow's "help". Almost coincidentally, her cheek started to itch. With her mother's warning forgotten, she raised an ebony paw to rub the nuisance but stopped herself in the last moment. "No touchy," she told her paw, narrowing her emerald gaze. "I'm keepin' an eye on you." On her haunches she stared up at the woman she resembled so much, a look of melancholy in the pup's eyes. As her mother spoke, countless questions ran through the quiet girl's loud mind. How could she ever learn so much? How could she ever remember it? Two herbs seemed enough to commit to memory, but more? It all seemed so difficult, so discouraging for a young child. Although the woman explained she had plenty of time to plan her future, even mentioning that her other mother could teach fighting - whatever that was, she had already made up her mind. "I wanna be just like you!" she sang with a light, melodious voice, lifting her head to touch her mother's nose with her own. "I'll be a...a..." Her vocals faded as she stumbled on the word. Tilting her head, she inquired in a perplexed manner, "What are you?" Speak Thought Others

Amalia's smile only grew bigger and bigger as she watched Diana's paw lift up, only to receive a sharp talking to for going to itch at her face. She didn't want to laugh at the girl, it was obvious that she was quite serious. Her paw was not allowed to touch her face, no matter what. Biting her lower lip she leaned forward, nuzzling her daughters nose with her own in a loving gesture. She adored her kids so much, and she was so lucky to now have one that looked just like her. Her own little mini her. In a lot of waits Di was just like her, except for the fact that the girl was very shy and quiet. That was for sure something that Amalia was not, and had a hard time being. Jayne seemed to pick up on her energy, and she loved that in both of her daughters she saw so much of herself and her wife. At last they had gotten what they had been waiting for, and she wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. The russet faced woman eyed her daughter thoughtfully, she could see the burning desire of questions behind those green eyes. She did the same thing, hold back everything that she wondered so that she wouldn't overwhelm whoever she was talking to. She never forced them out and bit her tongue, but she wished that Diana would ask all that she wanted to know. Amalia was here to teach, to help her spread her wings and find her place here in this world. Diana's sudden song like voice reached her and she snapped back to attention, beaming down at her daughter as her deep blue eyes grew damp. She wanted to be just like her? Really? Amalia chuckled when the girl needed to stop and ask for clarification on what it was that she really did. "I'm a healer, darling. The head healer, actually. I am in charge of training all the other healers as well as helping out anyone in need. And Diana," she said, scooting closer so that she could wrap herself around the growing girl. "I love you so much sweetie. You really do mean the world to me." Speech

Ah, a healer was what her mother was. Of course! It made sense. She healed, therefore she was a healer. Why hadn't she thought of that herself? Well, she wasn't just any healer, she was the head healer. That meant she was the best, and the realisation brought pride blooming in the girl's chest. No wonder she was so smart - no, the smartest. Asides from standing out as the best, she had some responsibilities too. The mention of training deflated the child's optimistic mood, and her gaze fell to the floor. Training sounded so difficult and exhausting; would she be able to keep up with it? Then again, her mother was the teacher, and she quite enjoyed her mother's way of explaining so perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. Just the two of them delving into a world of plants and learning - she could like that. "Yeah, a healer!" she exclaimed with a wag of her cream tail. Would she want to become the head healer once her mother stepped down from the position? It seemed just as hard to be honest. Organising training was one thing, but teaching others? Did that mean she had to talk? Oh there was no way she was doing that. In fact, she was quite happy with a healer position; there was no need to do anymore. As her mother curled around her small body, matching ivory fur intermingling, the girl closed her eyes with a smile upon her features. She loved cuddles and long embraces, and no-one did it better than her mothers. Looks like they were lead healers, fighters and expert huggers. "I love you too mummy," she chirped softly, leaning into her mother's protective form. Speak Thought Others