It's Quiet Outside

Sometimes it felt like she was just constantly trudging through a bad dream. She got sleep in little bits and pieces that never really felt like she was getting any real rest. Whenever she did sleep it was filled with nightmares that constantly woke her up and that was only when her worries died down long enough for her to actually fall asleep. There was a constant fear that if she didn't keep an eye on her mother than something would go wrong, that she'd miss giving her treatments on time, that she wouldn't be there to help one of her family members with something they needed. Now that her mother's wounds had mostly begun to scab over and were far less likely to get infected she had allowed herself to relax a bit more, but she still had worry that twisted in her gut and even just being out of the castle this long made her nervous. Nearly all of her herbs were gone at this point and she knew she shouldn't feel bad for taking some from the other healers in the pack, but she did. She knew how hard they were to come by these days and she didn't want to make things harder on them if they needed them.

While their mother was out training with Sirius, she took the opportunity to go out and see if she could manage to find any herbs to add to her stores. At first she had intended on going on her own, much to Eilwen's displeasure, but as she was walking out of their family's wing of the castle she found Artorias and he had quickly volunteered himself to go with her. Even though she had insisted that it wasn't necessary, she was grateful for his company. Before all of this happened she had hardly spent any time at all with her siblings and somehow this had forced her to interact with them more, which she supposed was a small blessing. Rudyard and Artorias in particular had sought her out and it both made her anxious over the fact that she might not have the skills or the answers to what was needed from her while still making her feel needed and appreciated at the same time.

She crunched through the snow beside Artorias, Eilwen soaring somewhere overhead. She lifted her gaze to his when he spoke, asking about if she was looking for anything in particular. She gave him a faint smile in return and gave a small shrug. "I would take pretty much anything at this point... This eternal winter has been awful for finding herbs of any kind. Some yarrow would be wonderful. It's pretty hardy so it's been one of the few things we can still find right now. Otherwise... If it's growing, I'll take it." She couldn't wait for the weather to begin to turn around so herb hunting wouldn't be so desperate and she could actually enjoy it again.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"