when pigs fly

As the ground and sky shook, Sparrow felt her very core shake with it. She had never felt so small and useless in her entire life. She could think of a handful of adults, and yet none of them were right here to come and protect them or tell them what was going on. Sparrow's very heart burned as her mind clunked and churned for action. Fight or flight instincts raged in her system, clashing and ultimately causing her to to freeze. Her body was rigid- waiting for instructions that never seemed to come. Her own mind couldn't generate what else to do in this moment. Her eyes fixated on her uncle- the only other being in proximity to where she could look. Would he know what to do? He had to. He at least acted like he always knew what to do, but now, with the earth and sky booming around them, Sparrow wasn't sure even he would know how to react, much less take the time to consider how to incorporate Sparrow into his plans. It was a long shot, but Sparrow wasn't sure what else to do other than to call out to him. She opened her maw, but no words came forth. She tried again, but was cut short by the coyote barreling into her uncle's hip.

The coyote and Tyrian began to wrestle and Sparrow wasn't sure what she could do to help him. She looked around wildly for his companion, but the darkness and ash was getting to her eyes. She wiped them in vain on her legs to get rid of the bleary, burning sensation. There was not only the one coyote, but a few other animals fleeing from the chaos of the volcano. Sparrow couldn't keep track of them. She couldn't keep track of where Tyrian was or where they coyote was. She couldn't tell who was or would be victorious. They vanished into the smoke and only made appearances briefly. Their voices could be heard occasionally, although only barely over the immense roaring going on all around them. Something slammed into Sparrow's chest and she attacked in both fear and instinct. Once it stopped moving and she felt big and confident that she had killed a coyote just like Tyrian would inevitably do, she looked down to find that it had only been a rabbit that had crashed into her. She would have made it a quick snack usually, but this time she opted to drop it. She needed to find Tyrian.

Sparrow tore through the smoke looking for her uncle. She managed to come to him just in time for him to tell her that they needed to leave. Finally some direction! She followed his lead, their paws slamming against the ground with a furious roughness. Smoke and ash billowed around them and the air itself became hot. The trees and ground were blotted out from the sunshine they enjoyed just moments ago. The bright white light of the day time sky was soon replaced with he ominous red glow- the only light to peek through the thick and heavy smoke was that of the blooming fires and the sheer heat and light from the volcano itself. The ground beneath them seemed to be on fire. Running became painful and Sparrow wasn't sure if she was tired from running, or if it was her cat paws, or something else entirely. All she could smell was burning. All she could see was burning. It was as if even she herself was burning- her nose, her eyes, her lungs, and her paws. She felt like she was being eaten alive by the fire, but she kept going. She was sure Tyrian felt the same, but he kept going and Sparrow didn't want to be outdone by her uncle.

Eventually, the two seemed to exit the area of immediate danger and stood sucking in breaths in greedy gulps. Sparrow's throat was dry and each breath scraped its way down to her lungs, but she savored each and every one. With the sharp breaths came ragged coughs. Her lungs felt like they had been left to dry in the sun and they creaked and cracked with each cough. When she could finally think to focus again, her eyes went to a very blood-caked Tyrian. She let out a small and painful gasp as she looked over the one bite on his butt, many many bites on his chest, neck and the insides of his arms. She thought to say something witty to break the tension, but nothing came to mind. "Wait here," Sparrow rasped. She needed to find something to help him with before they did another thing. She could find dandelions and marigolds still. What else? Neither of those were binding and they couldn't heal him. Sparrow admittedly didn't know a ton about healing and hadn't shadowed any healers in the pack, but she had been able to pick up a thing or two. They should probably rinse it, but until they found water, it was important to stop the bleeding.

When Sparrow returned to her uncle, she had marigold and yarrow wrapped in some large and harmless leaves she had found. Sparrow took her time to clean Tyrian before trying to apply any medicine. She then took the herbs and chewed them as she had been taught was common and applied them to Tyrian's wounds. With a poorly slapped-on leafy bandage, Sparrow was comfortable with moving on. "I can do better, just wait. I just gotta... get the right things. And maybe Rhythm should help," she said, rambling out of nerves as she prodded her uncle to start moving again. "But we'll get you fixed up. We'll be okay, right? Both of us?"

WC: 958
TWC: 2567