Citadel came home from the battlefield, and snuck across the border of the pack into the Gorge. He needed to have a good soak before he headed back into the Col, knowing the scents in his coat would give him away. He trotted slowly through the forest of the Gorge, heading towards the nearest stream.

He thought he’d make it all the way without being spotted too, but his bear gave a soft chuff beside him, warning him of another wolf approaching. He tried to duck behind a tree, but it was too late. Selene had already seen him, and he grimaced at the sight of his annoying little sister. “Hey, Selene…” Don’t notice the scents, don’t notice the scents… he found himself chanting.


"Citadel Fatalis"

Selene was trying to trace all the streams to their sources, and then try to race a stick from the falls to the beaver dam. She had won only once so far! She had tried three different streams and she could only beat one of them, the other two were too fast! She had to get faster! She was mapping out one of the quicker streams, making notes about where to duck, where to slide, and where to hop over. She hoped that if she mapped it all out she could win it with more practice.

She heard a rustle up by the border and looked up to see her brother and his companions looking a little worse for wear. Was he sneaking past the boundary again?? Mom and Dad are gonna be so mad at him! Again!

"Citadel!" She exclaimed accusingly, "Why the heck do you DO that? Why d'you get into---" She froze as several scents of strangers were brought into her nose. Her eyes widened and her ears perked up wondering where the scents had come from. Were they about to be invaded? Was this a rid like Mom and Dad had told them could happen?

No... the wind was coming from his back. The stranger's scents of dust, sweat, and blood were interwoven into his scent. With growing alarm, her pink eyes searched his golden orbs. "What were you DOING?" She asked, putting her foot down like she had seen both their parents do at one point.


"Citadel"||"Selene"

Citadel heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes, wondering what terrible thing he did that had caused him to be stuck with annoying sisters. She was acting like she thought she was the parent. Accusations flying out of her mouth a mile a minute. 


He raked a claw through the earth and tossed first towards the pale girl. “What's it to you, mama's girl?” He snapped back at her. Just because they weren't brave enough to push boundaries Didn't give them the right to act like they were the boss of him. 


It took him a second to realise she had frozen, her eyes bulged and he would have laughed if she wasn't so annoying. “What's it to you? You'd know if you were brave enough to find out.” He said scornfully.

With a gasp, Selene saw the dirt come flying at her. Though she ducked and dodged she had not expected her brother to be so hostile! She spat and rubbed her face of the debris, shaking her head and taking a step back.

She scowled at him and scoffed at his lame nickname for her. "What's the matter with you anyway?" She jabbed, raking her paw through the gravel and throwing her own minuscule clump at him with a dainty paw. It barely consisted of one rock, but the energy with which it was flung would have stung where it landed. She wasn't a weak little baby like he seemed to suggest!

"Maybe I don't got anything to prove!" She replied with a snap of her own, fur bristling, "Dad would be just as cross with you sneaking in smelling like strangers! Are you telling em all our secrets? Showing how to sneak into the Col through the Gorge? Maybe I should tell them that's what you're doing!" She sneered with her chin out.

"Selene"

The dirt hit Selene in a very satisfying way, and he watched as she was forced to take a moment to deal with it. He considered walking away then but it felt too much like fleeing. “what's the matter with you? I was just minding my own business” he pointed out to her. Unlike his sister, who liked to stick her pointy nose into everything. 


Her next words were completely unexpected. “What! No! You idiot!” He said scornfully. How dare she accuse him of betraying the pack. This was his family! The rage built in him until with a snarl he launched himself at her. Trying to sweep her off her paws by colliding with her chest. Snarling as he moved. “I was learning to fight! The real way, not the soft lessons we get!” His snarling voice said.

Selene dug her sharp feline claws into the earth as she saw him suddenly surge forward. Her ears pinned against her head that became level with her shoulders. She didn't make it to coiling her legs to spring away from him when he bashed into her chest full force. She had naively thought he would hold back like he usually did when they had their spars and she could stop him with her body. How wrong she was.

She was launched backward! She flailed through the air as she landed in the stream behind her. She sputtered and gasped from being winded. Her ears rang from the surprise and struggled to breathe. She had no idea how much he had been holding himself back all this time.

Her legs shook as she finally caught her breath and she flung a visceral enraged glance.

"Hh--HOW--- How could you?" She called at him, wheezing and picking herself up from the water. She surged toward him, stopped a foot away from him, and snarled, "We're not supposed to use our full strength on family! Why can't you do anything right? What's so hard?" The pain had made the pressure in her eyes spill over into tears. She already had the reputation of being a crybaby! Why did she have to cry about everything!? FINE if he can use his full strength then she can too! She slunk her body close to the ground, dug her claws into the dirt, and coiled her legs. With her supremely agile paws and sharp claws she attempted to launch herself straight at his face. She opened her jaws to attempt to bite down on his cheek and opened her forelegs wide aiming to wrap both of her front paws around his neck and sink her unsheathed claws into both sides of his neck.

"Selene"

“Rules, rules, rules, your entire life is rules! Do this right, do that right. Don’t do this.” He snapped at her fallen body as she flailed in the water. “Maybe you should try to live a little for once!” He snarled as she suddenly came at him. She wasn’t playing around this time. She went at him like he was an enemy, and he repaid the favour.

He dipped his head, so her jaws landed on the hard points of his crystal instead of soft flesh. She wrapped her tiny paws around his neck, and he lifted his own, leaning his weight down onto her as he wrapped his colossal bear paws around her back, attempting to pull her close and squeeze around her shoulders. To win by sheer might, and superior strength. “Win, and I won’t leave the pack for a week. Lose, and you have to sneak out with me.” He wheezed with strained breaths into her ear.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

She threw her head back in pain as her teeth clanged on his crystal crown. He wrapped his bear paws around her shoulders and laid out the terms, she growled with a loud "DEAL" and then she used her dextrous fossa paws to push against him and wriggle her tiny body against his arms and chest, her crystal spurs helping her dig further underneath him. She reached out with her jaws open aiming to sink them deeply into his armpit. An exceptionally sensitive area. She clung with her claws under him as a fossa does under tree branches, her claws and teeth digging harder and harder into this fur. The more he tried to squish or peel her off the harder she clung to his soft sides and armpit.



"Selene"

Citadel saw rage. It was Selene, it was always Selene. She crawled under his skin in a way no one else could. Despite her tiny size, and lack of training it wasn’t the first time she had posed a challenge to him. He remembered the fish she had broken. Ruined, before he’d taken in the pride of the moment.

Now she was evading his grasp, and clinging to him with sharp teeth. As he tried to shove her off him, he took a step back and slipped on loose stones, and careened hard to the ground in a sudden motion. A breathy snarl of frustration left him, but he would not cry. He was too old for tears now. “I hate you!” He snarled into the dirt, the soft soil close to the water was already coating his fur. If only he had won, and had the chance to push her out of her comfort zone. Instead, his hate for her grew in sizzling frustration.


"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

As soon as he stumbled and stopped resisting Selene slithered her way backward, releasing her hold. A scowl on her face as she shook her fur out. This didn't feel like a victory. This felt like the pinnacle of every fight they had always had and this time it felt dangerous. She didn't like the move she did, it was cheap. To keep him trying to reach her for another fight she skittered up the side of the gorge. Using her dextrous paws to find the shallow footholds the goats typically used. She paused as she heard his words, her ears pinned against her skull as she scowled back at him. She got high enough on a small plateau that she was definitely out of his reach but still within the conversational bubble.

She turned back and leaned over the ledge.
"Why? Every time I try to be nice to you - you shove it in my face! I tried to help you not be in trouble, I tried to show off what you can do to Mom, and you just- I don't know why you hate me! I don't hate you! What do I have to do for you to love me? Even though you a big meanie sometimes I just wa--aaa-a-a-aa-!" The shale crumbled beneath her feet suddenly and she plummeted head-first into the gorge, her body ricocheting against the slope. Several sharp rocks fell with her as she tumbled dangerously down down down, tumbling and rolling like a ragdoll, unable to grab anything to slow her descent.

The rocky ground met her pale tiny body all too quickly. Her shoulder ground into the sharp shale pebbles. The back of her head slammed into a large half-buried sharp rock with a harsh thud. Blood seeped out of the wound behind her head. Her body was limp, her pink eyes closed. Her chest would softly rise and fall as if automatic. She was out like a light.

"Selene"

“You're not helping me, you're helping yourself because you're afraid!” He snapped back at her. “If I wanted your help it wouldn't be to tell me what to do.” It wasn't his fault that Selene was too afraid to actually enjoy life. Instead, she seemed to want to police his.


He was pulling himself out of the mud and shaking it from his coat when Selene suddenly broke off mid word and started to fall. Citadel through himself forward as fast he could, his paws slipping on loose stones and slick with mud. He was too heavy, too slow and he failed to catch her as she tumbled past him and landed hard on the ground. He skittered back down the slope after her.


Was she dead? Wouldn't it be easier if-- no! Not Selene. She was a brat, but she was his brat. He pushed down his panic and crouched beside her. What would Ollie do? He'd feel for a pulse. Citadel did that, his time as the healers apprentice coming in handy. It was there, she was alive. Now what?  She was covered in little cuts, but it was the head wound that really mattered. He needed to… bind it. “Rook, get Ollie!” He didn't have enough experience for this. Doing his best not to move her, he pressed his paw against the wound, applying pressure. What else had he learned? “You're going to be okay, Selene.” He told her unconscious body.

Oleander was studying some old journals he found in the market, they had some interesting information about the toxic effects of mushrooms and other poisonous plants. He was just about to invite Vesper to go foraging with him and tell her about it when a noise from the doorway caught his attention. It was the young Prince's companion bear, Rook!

Quick with his supplies and his paws he followed the bear down the path and into Gale Gorge. Near the far edge, he found Citadel hunched over his tiny sister. With a quick assessment, he gathered she had probably fallen.

"Hey buddy, I'm here!" He announced. He could smell blood, she had little cuts all over her. "Tell me what happened, she hit her head? Climbing again?" He asked pulling out wrappings and tinctures. He tried to see the culprit rock that might have knocked her out, or was it a tussle gone wrong? With her luck, she was probably running up the steep sides of the gorge. "You're doing a great job holding your paw there, you can lift it away now while I wrap it up." He praised and noted. Damn, head wounds were always big bleeders.

"Damn, this spot on the back of her head, if she was hit hard enough she might be blind for a few days." He ventured aloud as he assessed the depth. Life signs were good otherwise. He bound her tiny head with practiced ease, her head was about the same size as Jace's, his companion raccoon holding one edge of the wrapping and preparing to tie it off.


"Speech!"

Code © Skelle/Witchdogtor DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Citadel was already scowling when Oleander showed up, and his scowl only grew when the healer mentioned blindness being a possibility. The white wolf had taken over the scene the moment he turned up, and Cit was accustomed to listening to him by now. When his cousin told him to move his paw, he did. The pad came away slick with blood. So what? Was he supposed to just stop being angry at his sister because she was dumb enough to fall? 


“The ground crumbled under her and she rolled down the hill. She probably has bruising as well as the cuts.” He said, trying to treat this like any other patient. Like he and Ollie were in the infirmary, and the older wolf had told him to assess them.


Cit put his paw awkwardly on the ground as if it hurt him. But there was only blood on it. It wasn't the first time he'd had blood in his coat, he was a hunter after all. “Do we move her to the infirmary?”

Ollie nodded as he agreed with Citadel's assessment. The girl would no doubt have bruising. He bent down and carefully assessed her limbs, and very gently pried her eyelids open for a look at her pupils. The dark red pupil was wide and didn't respond to the light suddenly entering it. Hm. Not great but it seemed like she hadn't broken any limbs. Though they might be sprained.

At Citidels question Oleander looked back and glanced at the bloody paw slightly held aloft. "We'll have to move her very carefully. She might be small enough that I could use a bag to carry her or we can build a litter for her." He quickly waved a paw at Jace who ran off to grab the thin leather and bring it back.

"Can't do much more until she's in the infirmary other than keep her warm." He said waiting for Jace to travel back. "Are you okay? Did you slip too?" He asked concerned, other than the paw held aloft he seemed no worse for wear... sort of? He smelled a bit like the battlefield and the strangers typically found there, did he have any injuries from testing his mettle out there?


"Speech!"

Code © Skelle/Witchdogtor DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

How could he explain that his paw was slick with his sister's lifeblood? That brief moment waiting for Rook to return with Ollie was worse than he would ever tell. He shook his head at the healer and stomped his paw to the earth as if to empathise it's wellness. He didn't feel much like talking, so he stood there in silence while they waited for Ollie's companion to return.


His eyes kept straying back to his sister, who lay still as the dead on the floor beneath the healer. Ollie wasn't particularly big, but the young wolf looked tiny beside him. “We argued… is she going to be okay?” He didn't look at Oleander, as if the words were a weakness exposed. He looked at his sister, he looked at the earth, he looked at his paws. Anywhere but the all too knowing eyes of their healer.

Ollie's assessment of the boy continued as he slowly lowered his side next to Selene's limp body. Hoping to share a little of his warmth against the cold ground. After Citadel shook his head and placed his paw back down Oleander turned back to Selene's small form. Her sides slowly rose and fell.

Ollie brought his viridian gaze back to the young prince as he broke his silence. Poor kid was probably really worried. He had a dilemma before him, tell the truth about how these things were always tricky? Or should he be confident about her recovery? His own brief seconds of silence as he weighed the options were probably more telling then he meant them to be.

"Injuries around someone's head can be pretty risky-" He went with the honest but hopeful route, just like their first day on his apprenticeship. "Moving her is going to be the riskiest part. You did a great job making sure she didn't lose too much blood. There are a few outcomes that can happen with injuries like this. The best option will be that she wakes up in a few hours with a nasty headache, and probably an upset stomach for a while. She might be confused, her vision might be affected, she might not remember much, who knows. Another option is she takes a bit longer to wake up. It's impossible to know how long. But if we're careful while we transport her and let her rest as much as possible we'll hopefully avoid the worst option and she'll eventually recover just fine." He replied with his frank but warm demeanor. Citadel was young, yes, but it had become increasingly obvious he hated being treated like a child. "So long answer, she'll be okay if she wakes up soon." Ollie said.

Jace appeared over the rise with a large piece of leather flying behind him. Finally! The little raccoon panted hard and drooled through the leather as he finally placed it down and flopped onto his pale side to catch his breath. Ollie placed a dark nose on his small friend's cheek to praise him for a brief moment.

Now for the tricky part.
"Okay, we want her head to move as little as possible. We can carefully work together to shuffle her on top of this." Yeah, she was definitely small enough for Oleander to carry. Though Citadel was getting up there, he didn't want to put his patients life in the a child hands quite yet. He laid out the leather sheet next to Selene's limp body then placed himself over her head.

"Okay, We gotta try to work carefully together. Can you take her back legs and we can slowly slowly drag her just a little above the ground onto the leather? I got her head and neck and Jace here will help with her middle. Yeah?" He asked his apprentice.

"Speech!"

Code © Skelle/Witchdogtor DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Oleander's assessment of okay didn't sound okay to him. Her vision and memory might be affected, she might be confused. Could that mean she might wake up scared and anxious? He had caught a few hints of her anxiety in the past. Like climbing the weird obelisks when she realised she had gone too high. He had been there for her then. But who would be here  for her if she woke up at some undetermined time from now?


Oleander cautioned the need for gentleness with moving his sister, so when the healer asked him to move her legs, he shook his head. “I want to… but Rook makes more sense.” He explained, letting his companion take his place. Through anyone being more equipped than him grated. Instead, he placed himself beside the movers, Ready to help or catch her if needed. Rook stood on his back legs and carefully wrapped his forelegs around the girls legs, and lifted with gentle ease. “Can I stay in the infirmary? Just.. for a little while?”

Oleander took the boy's word and let Rook help move Selene. He was probably shaken, as Ollie would be if he had witnessed one of his sister's accidents. Hopefully, this little fall would knock a little more sense into the girl but he kept those musings to himself as they gently laid Selene in the leather. He then took his paws and laid them on the leather on either side of her head and started folding the leather in on itself a few times under her neck to make a kind of brace that would hold her head still while he picked up the makeshift sling.

Citadel asked if he could stay in the infirmary, "Of course! I hardly think you'll be alone in that respect. Your Mom and Dad might want to keep an eye on her too." He mentioned casually before starting to gather up the edges of the sling together. He gently brought the tied end behind his head and lifted it up. She was a little heavier than he had guessed but if he was careful he could carry her to the infirmary like this.

"There we go just gotta walk slow." He said, nodding for Jace to lead the way, knowing Citadel was close by and would probably follow. "Go ahead and take a dip in the stream kiddo. You'll know where she is when you're done, I'm just gonna take my time to get there. I got her, I promise." He suggested, giving the boy an excuse to wash off the smell of battle buddies beyond the borders and clean himself up.

Oleander took his time getting to the infirmary, taking one careful, slow step after another, balancing and not letting anything hit her head or jostle her body.
He sighed with relief when he was finally able to lay her down on one of the soft patient beds. He had Vesper put another bed close to Selene's for her visitors. He was not looking forward to telling the Warlord and consort. He placed a soft fur over her small body to keep her warm and tied a feather to the bed close to her nose. Just enough to display her breath but not close enough to tickle her.

"Speech!"

Code © Skelle/Witchdogtor DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Oleander was ready to move with the help of companions. His little sister bundled up in the stretcher. He glanced at her prone body, worried that she hadn’t seemed to have so much as twitched since all this happened. “Alright.” He said to Oleander, though the trouble the scents on his coat might cause seemed insignificant now.

He had a very quick dip, enough to wash away smells but not much else, before shaking off and trotting quickly after Oleander. They arrived at the infirmary, and the healer got another wolf to move a bed closer. Cit climbed into that bed, still damp, and perched there looking at his sister.


"Speech"

Ollie checked her over again, barely taking notice of Citadel settling in on the other bed. He parted the lips on her maw to check the status of her gums, still bright and pink. All good signs. He parted her eyelids one eye at a time and they still held no response to the light filtering into them. Her breathing was fairly even, if a little rapid every fourth breath or so. He gently placed his ear over her heart and determined that she still had a good strong heartbeat.

"All right, she's transitioned well. Now all we gotta do is..." Oleander chewed on the inside of his cheek and glanced at Vesper, then Citadel then the opening to the clinic. He sighed- "Tell the parents and wait for her to wake up." He blew air through his lips, trying to steal himself some peace before he brought the news to the Warlord and Consort.

He walked out of the clinic, intent on finding the leaders of the armada, to tell them that their other princess was in a coma now. Though he was fairly certain she wouldn't be out for too long. He didn't know which leader's reaction he dreaded more.

"Speech!"

Code © Skelle/Witchdogtor DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION