Le Ouch

Rœkia winced as she returned to their base camp in the canyon. She had gone hunting in the nearby woods but much to her dismay she'd ended up in a tangle with a mountain lion over a scavenged kill. Food was so hard to find these days, especially for a lone wolf, that she hadn't wanted to give up the opportunity to scavenge a little food. Of course as luck would have it the scent of a fresh kill had attracted other predators as well, namely the mountain lion. She supposed she should count herself lucky that it was the lion and not a bear for at least she was comparable in size to the cat and their fight eventually ended in a stale mate with each grabbing a chunk of food and running off.

After a brief scuffle and the two parted ways she assessed herself and found the encounter had left a significant injury to her back leg. This left the wolf limping back along the canyon trail with a moderate gash on her left ankle that was continued to bleed at a lazy pace each time she moved. After she was sure she put enough distance between herself and the kill she turned her thoughts to healing her injury. It wouldn't due to leave it unattended for too long. Infection could kill her just as quickly as anything and the longer the wound was left open the more she'd have to contend with. The canyon was a dry and arid place, not exactly a wealth of healing herbs in the best of times and with the unseasonably cold and dry weather there was even less than usual to find. She hated to use her store of dried herbs for this cut unless she absolutely had to, at least until she could more reliable replenish her stores.

When Rœkia arrived back to the cave that they'd made as their den she flopped down on her side and proceeded to clean the wound as best she could, her tongue removing dust and a bit of debris. Thankfully the wound was pretty clean all things considered. She had to admit that she was tempted to use some of her yarrow. She rested a paw on the hide bundle that stored it. The yarrow would slow the bleeding and help prevent infection but did she dare use it now? She hesitated then removed her paw from the bundle. Considering how many strange beasts they'd encountered as well as nearly constant conflicts over prey she had to assume that she'd get far more serious injuries as time dragged on, at least til the seasons truly started to warm.

Instead she opted to just use pressure and some hide bandages to stop the bleeding and protect the wound for a bit until it scabbed over. The bandage would also help keep rocks and mud out as she moved through the day. Not that she planned to do much today. She was ready to just rest in the den and she wasn't overly concerned with where Lukina had wandered off to. Keeping the wound moist would also help it to heal more quickly and that meant keeping it covered, especially in this dry terrain. She'd need to rest up before they moved on but with the cold weather lingering it was likely to be pretty dry everywhere. At least in the more barren canyon there weren't as many predators to worry about as there were in forested areas.

Digging in her bundle she pulled out a few tanned strips of deer hide that were soft and pliable. She tipped back her head and called for Wolf to come help her. with his sharp beak the magpie was agile enough to tie the hide strips securely. She could sort of do it but she figured she might as well utilize her companion while he was here.

The magpie arrived in short order and she quickly instructed him on how she needed help. The bird nodded. Rœkia took the strip of hide and positioned it over her ankle before Wolf took one part of the hide in his beak and the other in one of his feet. In a few swift motions the bird had tied a knot to secure the bandage around her leg. Reaching out with her claws she carefully adjusted the bandage so the knot was on the inside, opposite of the gash. Well, at least that was taken care of. With luck she'd gotten it cleaned out enough that she didn't have to worry about it getting infected. Now all she needed was to get some rest and give her body the time it needed to heal. Without Lukina around maybe she could get a good nap in for once. With a yawn she rested her head on her paws and went to sleep.