Look, look with your special eyes

Aliana was still getting used to their new island home. The Silver Island reminded her in a lot of ways of their old home during the days of Fenmyre, just sans the ruins they had taken up residence in. The pale sands, the tropical jungle and warm summer weather, it brought back memories from years ago… But there was no denying that Ali enjoyed the dens on the island as much as the caves of the Redwater Rocks. It just meant they would need to be extra vigilant with their youngest pups around the water. But it was nothing the seasoned mother wasn’t already used to.

One added boon to living on the island was the free access she had to the lush vegetation that was native to the island. Rare plants she had seen only briefly during her travels with her family during Chimera’s sickness. The astute little healer had learned many things from the other healers along the way, picked up new techniques and recipes for medicines—but the most alluring ones she had learned were remedies to help with vision. Ever since she had begun to fall for Chimera, the clouded fae had made it her mission to find some sort of cure for her husband’s blindness. The woman was of the belief that there had to be something—anything—that could at least help alleviate her king’s disability. None of the healers she had talked to had ever heard of a cure for blindness, but each of them had imparted different wisdom onto her, years and generations of experience that she culminated together into what she hoped might be the one saving grace for her Chimera.

Aliana had spent her time gathering up the many varieties of herbs and plants she'd learned help improve eyesight. Her apothecary workshop within their dens was teeming with a plethora of the vegetation, everything from easy to obtain fennel and aloe to the harder to find bilberry, grapeseed, and passionflower. She had only just found those obscure lavender blooms growing on this island, and what a bounty they had been to find! With her assortment gathered, Ali had run some clinical trials on smaller animals she'd found suffering from partial or total blindness. The last thing she wanted was to give Chimera anything that would hurt him. Many of her attempts at the salves failed, but then after seasons of trial and error, her last batch showed promise. A vole she'd found and tested began to show signs of recognizing movement around it, and though Aliana could not be certain to what degree the critter could see, it could definitely see movement, which meant progress!

Ever hopeful, Aliana mixed up a larger batch of that recipe of salve. Chimera was a big wolf, significantly bigger than a vole, and it was important that she got these ratios right. Careful paws mixed and added, making sure the consistency and smell was right. When she had reached what she believed was the final mixture, the clouded queen soaked a cloth bandage in the salve, allowing it to seep into the fabric. All of this would be educated guesswork for her massive behemoth of a king, and she had to pray she got her one shot right. Satisfied with her results, Aliana stored the bandage and salve away in their bedchambers, then waited that morning for Chimera to come join her after a long day of reigning. She wanted to surprise him with her plan, and if the gods were good, perhaps when he woke from sleep that evening he would be given the gift he had been deprived of his entire life.

"Chimera & Aliana"