(Waiting on Eve to post Bass's reaction so I'd rather Bass and Lillianna not post here until I know that.)

Sparrow drank in the cool waters. Even though it had been misty out, Sparrow tried to drink as much water as possible. Her health was still wavering and she was beginning to think this was more than just a cold. She knew she needed to drink water. Even though she had neglected to collect any herbs in her sickness. She hadn't wanted to see anyone in the pack either, so she kept to herself. After the flooding, Sparrow moved her den close enough to the water so that if it flooded again she wouldn't drown, but close enough to where she could keep herself hydrated. She had to, she knew this. Even in the fog of her mind, she knew she had to drink. Even in her sickness she was still a healer at heart. It wasn't easy, and she was beginning to lose faith in her being able to get better. Still, she rose every morning and got water and did some hunting, careful not to exert much energy. She was always welcome to the pack leftovers too. Eat, drink, sleep, repeat.

Navigation - Rustling Thicket

A mauled badger swung from Karabela’s jaws as she maneuvered her way through the thicket.  Winter was moving slowly in and the skies were growing gray and cloudy.  Raba paused to the examine the sky, nostrils flaring as she tried to gauge whether it was going to snow or not.  Seemed like there was a small chance of it, no storms though so that was good.  Though she knew as winter moved in that would change.  The entrance to her den was facing the west but she’d need to check that there were no obstructions to cause drifts.  She’d have built the entrance facing south but in the summer that made her more vulnerable to spring storms.  There was always something.  She grumbled a bit to herself.  Den-keeping was not one of her strong suits.

As she manuevered toward the river to drink she noticed one of Bass’ children… and she grinned, dropping her catch.  “FLAMINGO!  Hey girl, how’s it going?”  She picked up the kill and trotted over to the other before dropping it at her paws.  “You hungry?”

"Speech"

“FLAMINGO! Hey girl, how’s it going?”

Sparrow's ears flattened, her head swiveling to see Karabela trotting gleefully towards her.
"It's Sparrow," she mumbled, not really caring if the girl heard her or not. She guessed out of everyone in the pack, Raba wasn't the worst that could have appeared. She pried her ears off her skull with some effort. The other came and dropped her kill at Sparrow's feet. Sparrow scrambled backwards, "Careful! I'm sick!" She called, suddenly aware of how much she was breathing. She tilted her head away, "I'm not sure how it spreads yet, but- be careful."

Sparrow eyed the kill. She was hungry. She couldn't lie about that. Her minty eyes looked back to the huntress, "What do you need? I'm not keeping herbs at the moment." She had to be sure that Karabela didn't want anything in return for that kill. Sparrow knew she wasn't worth much of anything right now and didn't feel like entertaining the notion that she could help anyone at the moment.

Karabela chuckled as Sparrow’s ears fell flat against her head, the youth swirling to face her. She couldn’t help herself. It was a disease, really. The girl muttered her true name, Sparrow, before scrambling back and yelling that she was sick. Raba’s brow furrowed in worry and she kept her feet planted, head cocking to the side at this new news. She knew there was some sort of illness going around but she’d spent most of her time on border patrols rather than mixing with others in the heart of the territory and thus she was lost on the details of who exactly was sick and who wasn’t. “I guess I’d ask if you’ve seen one of the other healers but that seems pretty obvious, no?” Raba grinned. She was all for making the best of a situation.

Raba was going to break her neck if she cocked it any farther to the side. She chuckled at Sparrow’s question. “Me? What do I need? Hmmm….” She paused as if thinking of the question but in truth it was a question she was rather afraid to answer. What did she need apart from the obvious things like shelter and food? Ah, now that was a terrifying question. “At the moment? Nothing really. I was killing for practice so if you don’t want to eat it you can feed it to the coyotes or something.”

"Speech"

The girl before her held on to her smile, chatting casually. Sparrow ran her tongue over her maw as she listened. She wasn't entirely comfortable with unguarded conversations now, but Karabela hadn't shown any sort of suspicious behavior... yet.

Karabela said she didn't need anything and Sparrow snatched the prey without a second thought. She pulled the fur back and tugged a mouthful of meat. "You know better than to waste prey feeding coyotes," the small girl mumbled around her food, her mint eyes flashing up towards the taller woman for a second. It was something of a joke, even if it didn't sound like it. She swallowed, allowing her eyes to shut for a second and a smile to form at the corners of her maw, "Maybe I should practice hunting more." Sparrow took another bite, chewing it a second before stuffing it into her cheek, "But if you have a surplus of food, you can always feed the Sparrows instead of the coyotes."

Karabela licked her lips lightly, dislodging the remnants of fur from her tongue. She then moved on to cleaning some of the blood off her right foreleg where she’d been bitten. Raba grinned at Sparrow’s comment about wasting prey on coyotes. “Dam straight, I need to find me a pair of coyotes to fight next. Badgers are getting a bit stale to be honest.” She wrinkled her nose as a strange thought entered her head. “Granted I don’t think I’d eat one. You’re welcome to come hunting with me if you want sometime. I’ve just been trying to stay busy.” Any moment she had to herself any more she found her head filled with unbidden thoughts that drifted to her mother… her siblings. What the hell had happened? Every so often it would strike her on her feet, threaten to bring her to her knees and she willed her mind to focus back on Sparrow.

Karabela let out a hearty laugh at Sparrows joke. “Definitely! Sparrows are for more valuable.”

"Speech"

→ just follow your arrow ←

Sparrow listened to Karabela as she ate. She said she wanted to try to fight a coyote next, but that she wouldn't eat one. Sparrow had to agree with that sentiment. The other woman said she was just trying to keep busy and Sparrrow found that she could also agree with that.

The two fell silent for a moment and Sparrow continued to chew on what was left of the badger. Karabela said that Sparrows were more valuable than coyotes to which Sparrow offered a gross, bloody smile to. After she had finished that bite, Sparrow licked off her lips and sat up,
"Say, if a Karabela was a type of bird, what type do you think it would be?"

Wind ruffled her fur and Raba let her gaze turned north but there was nothing in the air to make her feel as though a storm or anything was heading their way. It was particularly cold but dry and she doubted it would bring snow. That was just as well, she’d barely re-dug the entrance to her den. Hn. She’d better make sure she finished that but she was honestly tired of digging through snow and ice. Karabela’s head titled as Sparrow asked her a curious question and she stared at the other girl for a moment as she mulled the question over. She grinned. “A bird of prey of course! Maybe something like a kestrel? Well…. maybe not, I’m kind of big huh?” She laughed. “How about a hawk?” Karabela sat down, her right leg flicked up to scratch just behind her right ear.

“Say, Sparrow, if you could be a bird what bird would you be?”

"Speech"