Stretch Your Arms Toward The Sky

Dorian sorted through his herbs for what felt like the millionth time, continuing to struggle to concentrate or feel as if he was actually accomplishing anything. Still, he couldn't keep himself from going back to his herbs and his attempts at learning to become the healer that his father once was. It was the thing that he had bonded so strongly with his father over and he wanted it to be a source of comfort, a way of keeping his father with him, but at the same time it only reminded him of the fact that he was now doing all of this alone. Yes, his older sister was his new tutor and he was thankful for her help and guidance when he needed it, but the fact still remained that he had been sure that he would have had years to learn anything and everything from his father and that was snatched away.

Distracting himself with his work was his only real solution even if that wasn't the most healthy solution. They all seemed to be dealing with this loss in one way or another and this was his it seemed. As he was putting away his most recent finds and the herbs that had just finished drying out enough for long term storage, he realized there was a few that he was getting low on or that he was missing entirely. He knew he'd be able to find the majority of them within the Wraith's Woods so without really putting much thought into the dangers the woods could have or considering asking someone to join him on the trip, he went off with his herb bag in tow to go on another herb collecting trip. Getting to the edges of the woods was easy enough from their home, but once he got into the dense fog and foliage of this place his movements were a little more slow going. He kept an eye–and a nose–out for the plants he was looking for while still being conscious of the fact that there could be predators and the like roaming around here.

The eerie quiet of the forest was suddenly broken by the screeching of some kind of large bird of prey not too far from where he was and it sounded like more than one if he had to hazard a guess. The sound of them made the fur on the back of his neck stand up and he looked up toward the sky and the trees cautiously, mostly just intending to try and avoid whatever was happening if he could. However, as soon as he heard his sister's yell among the cries of the various predatory birds that plan went right out the window. He didn't know what Haydée up to out here, but that didn't really matter in the end. He immediately took off through the woods, bounding past trees and over brush as he worked his way toward the sounds of fighting until finally he landed in the same clearing as his sister just in time to see one of the eagles wheeling off from catching her side.

His emerald gaze darted around frantically for a moment before he finally spotted a fairly large stick that had some thorny vines stuck to part of it and he quickly decided that was as good of a weapon as any. Grasping it and pulling it free of the surrounding brush, Dorian rushed in right as the eagles were beginning to descend on Haydée again. Luckily they hadn't noticed him just yet so at least he had the element of surprise. He leapt in, swinging the makeshift sword wide above him and making a solid, thudding impact with one of the eagles and knocking it at least temporarily to the ground. The screeching cries from the eagle quickly shifted from menacing to startled as it regained its balance and started to fly off. Between his swinging and Hay's attacks they managed to chase off the eagles fairly readily with just a few talon scratches to show for it. It didn't seem like the large birds were too interested in keeping up the fight now that there were two wolves to tangle with so they took off shortly after he joined the fray–not before he cracked the stick he was wielding from hitting one of them very hard.

WC: 728
Total: 1602 / 1500

"Dorian"