Shortly after the confrontation with Kite, Basilisk made his temporary escape from the pack. Tensions were high right now, and both his pack's main healers had taken off. He wasn’t sure he trusted any of his family right now, but there was one wolf he could bully into patching him up.

He knew he couldn’t be gone long, he needed to call a meeting and establish his control of the pack. But first, he needed the bleeding to stop. Besides, now that Sirius had left, he could bring his Little Slave into pack lands.

It wasn’t a long walk to the caves, but it was long enough when his right back leg, and his stomach had both been slashed. He was larger than his Auntie, but they both shared the mutation of extendible claws. He knew both cuts were deep. He staggered into the den, and growled her name. “Ignita, come here” his deer trotted up behind him, carrying a basic healer's kit on his antlers.

"Basilisk Fatalis"

"Speech"

Iggy had been busily using a cave rock to sketch a portrait of her large den-mate, the great wyrm Larimar. Technically the winged serpent was meant to keep the Little Slave in check but her inquisitive and friendly nature had made conversation with her captors lackey and they were becoming fast friends.

"There, you see? I don't think you have any venom because there's no pocket in your head for the fangs or-" She was speculating purely on aesthetic here when she was interrupted suddenly by her captor crashing onto the cave floor calling for her. He had stumbled into her carefully organized rock collection she had sorted by the Mohs scale of hardness and readability when scratched on other rocks.

His sudden appearance startled her current pencil out of her paw and she bounded from the back of the cave toward him, curiosity pulling her more than obedience.

The smell of fresh blood, fresh pack, and the stench of fighting hit her sensitive nose like a wall.
"Holy Mother of the Sun..." She murmured giving him a once over. "What the hell you doing here?? I'm a Scientist! Not a Doctor!" He was bleeding all over her rocks...

He raised a brow at the unfamiliar deity she called upon as she appraised him. He didn’t care how experienced she was, he just needed a nimble set of paws to bandage him up. If she knew how to sew, that would be an unexpected bonus. He knocked aside a random collection of rocks in his way, and took a seat, swallowing a groan. Kyanite had been out for blood, and she’d got him good. He hadn’t let any of the wolves attendance see just how good, considering half of them had been on her side.

“You’ll play doctor for a day if you know what's good for you. Come here” he said again, beckoning her closer. “A wolf tried to take my throne today.” He explained, as he unhooked the bag from Orso’s antlers. The deer was so short, he could reach them from his sitting position with ease. He tossed the bag on the floor, careless enough that some of the contents spilled out. “You know how to sew? If not, there's some bandages in there, they’ll be good enough.”


"Basilisk Fatalis"

"Speech"

A wolf tried to take his throne, well that was a no brainer, a leader gets these wounds by obviously minding his own business.

Sure, she could sew. She'd made a couple of leather bags back home, shouldn't be too different, right? She quickly sifted through the contents on the floor looking for the right supplies. Ooo, excellent craftsmanship... She mused taking a once over the kit itself that held the supplies, while also making sure it was thoroughly empty. She was like a magpie with things to collect and hopefully figure out how to rebuild herself.  

She grabbed the curved needle and a thin thread of sinew and expertly threaded the needle. Leather bags were useful as water bags for desert dwellers. They weren't always pretty but they were useful.

She groaned to herself as she sat closer and reassessed his wounds. A deep gash to his belly and one on his leg, deep as if his own cat like claws raked them himself. Family trouble Basil? Someone didn't like his leadership. Though she was no master of canine anatomy she knew the stomach was going to be the highest priority.

She didn't hesitate as she dove into work. She didn't even consider the option of letting him bleed out and ensuring her freedom.

She stuck the needle through one side, gathered it up, poked it through the other side, and then pulled the thread through. Leather didn't flinch or bleed on her.

"You're lucky your insides are still on the inside..." She mumbled at him working on the next stitch.

"Hold still... please..." As if anyone could just control the involuntary flinching of their subdermal layer of skin. She continued to work on the next stitch, then the next. It was taking longer than sewing leather bags. Leather was stiff and would hold its form as one worked it. Sewing up bleeding, weeping, and living skin was something else entirely. The needle went in too well in some places and she missed the mark on others. She tied off one thread of sinew and started a new one. The scar certainly wouldn't be pretty.

Finally, after ten painstakingly long minutes, his slashed belly was done. She slathered the balm he had left her for her own gash on her cheek over the messy stitches and placed bandages over the wound to soak up any extra blood.

"Want me to try sewing the leg up?" She wondered if he had enough of her poking him with a sharp needle and just wanted him to wrap it for him.

She didn’t reply. Instead, she picked through the bags contents, and he was amused to see her interest in each item. She was like a magpie with a shiny rock. If he ever needed to distract her, he would just need to hand her a bag full of totally random crap. It was like a trap, she would have to sit there and look through it all. His lips twitched at the image, which was a good distraction from the needle and sinew she had already picked up and started to thread. She knew Halo’s supplies were good, she was the lead healer for a reason. So long as she managed to avoid stabbing herself, and then him, he should be fine. Right?

He grunted as she stuck the needle into the wound. His claws extracted and dug into the earth at their feet. But he didn’t otherwise move, and kept his breath steady. “Were you hoping it would be otherwise?” he asked her dryly as she made her stitches. From this angle, it was hard to keep an eye on her. He was forced to use a lot of trust that she wasn’t about to turn on him.

“There goes my plans to dance a jig.” He sighed at her orders. He didn’t bother rebuking her for ordering him around. She was acting as the role of a healer now, and he had been raised all his life to obey a healer's orders. They sat there in relative silence, she asked no questions, and he volunteered no answers. Her work was slower then Halo’s, but then she’d admitted to being no healer.

“You're a useful wolf to keep around, Ignita.” He told her when she was at last finished her work. At her question, he thought of the long minutes that had passed by on her belly stitching. He shuddered. “A bandage will do fine, and then grab whatever you can’t do without. We're moving.” He told her grimly.


"Basilisk Fatalis"

"Speech"

She raised her eye brow at his remark to her musings of how he was lucky while she worked on him. Why would she hope otherwise? Oh fuck right. She's literally his slave. Some slaves kill their masters. Her damnable brain hated to hold onto chain of command and any hierarchy. It didn't make any sense to her other than big person can hurt little person and someone needed to be a leader to make sure things were organized.

She had already forgotten how to respectfully obey, in her eyes he was hurt and he came to her and she had what was needed to help him. She never wanted to hurt anyone. Yet. She had flinched herself while working on him, not wanting to cause more pain. But when she has a job she was laser focused.

She didn't forget the abuse, or the slash on her cheek, no she just couldn't figure out and hold onto what was appropriate and respectful social cues. He will probably beat them into her later though.

She even chuckled and smiled at his joke about dancing a jig, but the smile fell when she realized she probably shouldn't be? She didn't know.

When he complimented her about being useful her tail wagged and the smile came back full force!

"Oh! Thank you! I'm-" he ordered her to bandage the leg and grab her things. She nodded, not minding she was interrupted at all, already focusing on her next task, her tail swishing back and forth.

She bandaged his leg with some herbs pressed against the wound she found in the kit, a feathery type plant and another minty. She didn't know if they'd be helpful or hurtful but they'd at least sop up some of the blood right? More salve around the wound and then untidily wrapped his leg. She had to retie it again because it was too loose but knew tying it too tightly was dangerous.

When she was done she used the kit itself to gather up the rest of the scattered supplies. Without asking permission she reached up onto Oso and placed the kit in his antlers where Basilisk had retrieved it before.

"Where we going?" She asked cheerfully, ready to put barely solitary confinement behind her and get to her real job, picking up her helmet basket, that also now had a few new rocks in it.

She tied the bandage around his injured leg. She needed to do the job twice, but he didn’t complain. She placed the items back in the kit, and hooked the bag on Orso’s horns, marking her time as a healer as over. He got to his paws, feeling a little battered but better then he had before. He was almost ready for round two of wrangling in the pack. He couldn’t help but wonder what dramas would come from the meeting he would call.

“To the Armada, it’s time you took your place in the pack” He explained, doing a quick sweep of the cave before heading to the exit. Larimar slithered up Orso’s back, and curled herself around the cervid. Her head and wings situated behind his back.

It was a short walk to the pack from here. He didn’t need to worry about ensuring Ignita had his scent, she had already picked it up off him when she had tended to his wounds. So he took her directly to the Col, and the heart of the pack. He and Hazel hadn’t had a chance to move their den yet, that was a conversation they still needed to have. For now? He would toss the slave into the supply den, she could sleep under the shelves until he had somewhere better for her.

He turned left at the entrance of the Col, and took her into the second cave system. He pushed open the makeshift door, and indicated with his nose. “Food prep area is the first door on the right, second and third are storage. You can stay in one of the storage areas temporarily. The caves to the left lead to a heated water system” He explained, stopping in the large middle room to give her a chance to adjust.


"Basilisk Fatalis"

"Speech"

To the Armada! She passed her test, obviously! She was not dead! And he was currently also not beating her up, she probably had some time before he started that up again so his stitches and leg could heal.

He was so large though, even injured she knew he could outrun her tiny legs in one bound, and he probably had so many of those eyes and ears he spoke of earlier watching her every move. He didn't bother trying to run off. Besides! She had a job to do! A place in a pack again! The bottom rung won't be too bad right?

She bounded after him after she grabbed the fox pelts he had given her as a bed, his one step to her three, she was grateful to stretch her legs again. They continued on deeper into the mountains, cold mountains. Her desert fine fur probably won't help her much in the colder seasons here.

A waft of warm air from the caves was a welcome gift. She had nearly forgotten what it was like to feel truly warm again. She looked around, food prep area, got it, storage and storage, got it got it. She shuffled off the fox pelts in the first storage area. She perked his ears at him and glanced at him sideways,
"Heated water system?" She excitedly asked. She had heard of heated water systems, did it have pipes? How was it heated? She dashed on down left.

He opened his mouth to tell her, but she was already gone. Instead, he stood there, mouth ajar in an empty room. He closed his jaw with a snap and shook his head. Was this what it was like starting with a slave who had never been a slave before?

He was too tired to give her a matching decoration on the other side of her face. Bsides, her enthusiasm was almost soothing after the day he had had. With a sigh, he followed after her down to the baths, and found her at the first one. “We use this one for the kids, the water is more tepid here.” He explained, wadding into the shallow water. “The water runs in through that side, and out through here. We built grates on both sides to ensure no one gets swept away.” He said, tapping at a grate with a paw. “Alright, explore, settle in, but you don’t have much time. I’ll be calling a pack meeting shortly, and I expect you to be in attendance.” he warned her.


"Basilisk Fatalis"

"Speech"

The lukewarm water was a wonder, it was so clean and pure! Usually water this warm was green and made a stomach turn. It was odd to take a sip and barely feel it, she wondered if anyone added anything to the waters to keep it so clear. For the kids... you mean there was more? She was immediately nosing the grates and investigating their workings. Who built it she wondered, it was genius! Was the water pumped or was it a natural stream? If she thought about it made sense it would be a natural stream.

She gave him her attention again when he addressed her and told her to explore and settle in.
"Sounds good!" She said cheerily giving him a nod as if she was just a guest or simply a new member. She was eager to wash off the last several days of dust and grime, to wash off their own meeting and his blood still clinging to her fur when she was patching him up.