A one way ticket to a place that's cold and ill

The air was sharp with winter’s bite as Ellara moved through the forest, her breath visible in short puffs of mist. The snow crunched under her paws, a thin blanket of frost covering the once thriving herbs of the God's Garden. She cursed the timing of it all. Her owl, Eos, one that had watched over her for so long, had fallen ill. It wasn’t just fatigue - she’d seen it in his drooping wings, the raspy wheeze in his breathing. He was strong, a survivor of many hunts and battles, but now the harshness of winter had taken its toll.

Her brow furrowed as she searched the frozen landscape, the cold making every movement feel heavier. Most of the herbs she usually relied on had withered under the season’s weight. The garden was bare of the medicinal plants she so desperately needed. There was little time to waste, and even less supply to use.

She paused by a gnarled old tree, its bark weathered from years of enduring the elements. Her eyes scanned the roots, looking for any sign of green, any remaining trace of life. She needed coltsfoot to ease his breathing or even just a bit of thyme to help stave off infection. Her heart sank as she brushed aside the snow, revealing only dead twigs.

Desperation set in as she wandered farther into the woods. The sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows across the snow-covered earth. Her mind raced with possibilities: what else could she use? What could she stretch to make up for the missing herbs? It was dangerous to experiment, especially with her owl’s condition worsening by the hour.

Ellara’s eyes caught sight of a tuft of something green. Her heart leaped as she darted forward, paws skidding to a stop in front of the plant. It was a small patch of yarrow, barely surviving beneath the snow. She quickly plucked what little remained, mentally calculating how much of it she could safely use to treat her owl. Yarrow was good for reducing fever, but she needed something to loosen his breathing.

Her ears flicked as she remembered an old trick her mother had once taught her. There was a way to stretch the dosage - combine it with pine sap. It wouldn’t be as effective as coltsfoot, but the resin could act as a base, thickening the medicine and helping it coat the lungs more thoroughly. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing.

Quickly, she began gathering small chunks of sap from the pine trees surrounding her, her claws scraping at the bark. Her breath quickened with the urgency of the task. With yarrow in her jaws and a pouch of pine sap gathered, she turned and raced back to the makeshift den in the garden where her owl lay.

When she arrived, his breathing was shallow, his eyes half-lidded. Ellara set to work immediately, crushing the yarrow between her teeth and mixing it with the sap. She nudged his beak gently, coaxing him to take the concoction. He resisted at first, but eventually swallowed the bitter mix.

Ellara sat beside him, her heart heavy but hopeful. The night was coming quickly, the cold creeping in faster than she'd like. Now, all she could do was wait and hope her remedy would hold through the night out here. There were no guarantees. She needed to find more herbs by morning, or this wouldn’t be enough. She nestled herself around him in the shallow den, shielding him from the cold as she closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep.

[Word Count: 600]