Darkened Skies

He gave a grunt of satisfaction as his nip did the trick. He was watching her carefully, noting the trouble she had with focusing her sight on him, and the lack of recognition. Concussion, definitely. He made another mental note as her shift of position drew a pained noise from her jaws, and he began his more physical examination, prodding ceased now that she’d roused.

He spotted the spark of recognition even as he answered calmly, voice settled into that gentle crooning tone meant precisely for what he was after—soothing her anxiety. “You fell about fifteen feet, and hit hard.”

He answered each of her questions readily, without hesitation, “I’d suppose you walked here, then you weren’t paying attention in the rain and managed to slip over the side into this ravine…” Here he paused to bend and lick the torn pads of her paws, before turning and sending a quick scan of his eyes over the flora around him until he spotted a likely plant.

“I was just inside that overhang when you fell. Your paws are torn up, so I’d say you tried to scrabble back to safety and failed—hm. Some of this Comfrey will do wonderfully.” He’d been speaking as he’d padded quickly to the stand of medicinal plant he’d spotted, and broke off to rip several leaves free of the stalks until his jaws were too full to continue speech.

He returned, likely ridiculously resembling a chipmunk with his stuffed mouth before he spat the bundle out beside her and retrieved one of his hides from the stack and spread it. “You are just southeast of Druid’s Moor. This is called Cryer’s Ravine, I believe…” He set to chewing the leaves to a pulp, until he’d amassed a nice portion of masticated plant, then turned to her and began to work at putting the first paw into a poultice.

“Your pads are torn, and you seem to hurt when you move your torso… cracked ribs? Where does it hurt, in all. Pick the worst ones.” No doubt she’s have bruises galore all along the side that had taken the hit from the ground, but he figured if he could soak the juices of the Comfrey through her coat, they might be helped.