With his assignment done Naiche made his way towards the river where Sedna's den was.  Funny how the slashes hurt more now that his work was done.  The bird was killed, dragged back as proof of the job and now was the time he could get it looked at.  The wheat-toned wolf could still move without a limp if he chose but for now he was putting less weight on it.  The wound was willing to be sealed up but when he started using the leg and putting more pressure on it the bleeding would start up.  It was also uncomfortable.  Naiche was actually in some amount of pain but he was too tough and stubborn to admit that to himself. The proud, happy and injured wolf found Sedna's den and hoped she was about.  If not he'd just go rest in his den and be done with it, "Hello, Sedna?" Funny he had never really met the wolf other than seeing her about from time to time.  Naiche imagined this was one way to get to know another wolf. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

The Archer-Lyall was struggling with feeling like she belonged. There was so much change going on all around her, and she felt left behind, abandoned like some old pinecone a pup was done chewing on. The lack of sleep certainly didn’t help with those feelings, she just wasn’t sure there was anything she could really do other than try to sleep. With that in mind, she had dug a small hollow between her lavender and peppermint, hoping the scent of the herbs would do something to alleviate the emotional unrest she was currently feeling. The end result however, was Sedna laying in the middle of her garden, eyes open and crossed after a bee decided her nose was a good place to take a break from flying. A despondent sigh left her lips, covered by the RAWK of Chips summoning her back to the den. She hadn’t been expecting company...

She stood, the movement enough to send the bee on it’s way before she shook the dust from her coat. There was a yellow rear poking out of the entrance of her den. Well that was going to be amusing... this time of day, Otis was usually having a nap out of the sun, and he had a habit of hissing and spitting at anyone that dared disturb him. The smell of blood wouldn’t help. "Naiche, innit?" She asked casually, waiting to see if he would beat a hasty retreat from the den pursued by opossum, or if he had been quiet enough to leave her companion asleep. A quick glance told her she was probably going to need his dexterous fingers regardless.

"speech".

we wear red so they don’t see us bleed

If Naiche had stirred the possum at all it apparently hadn’t been enough to fully wake it up.  Not that Naiche was aware he needed to be cautious over it.  It went as simple as he was in a good mood but tired and of course in pain.  The stupid bird had to of course strike a location that was used for just about everything. Naiche had seen Sedna before but this was his first chance to be alone to actually speak with or consider her as an individual instead of just another pack member.  That gave himself a tired bit of curiosity to see what she was like, “That’s right,” a small bob of his head, “I understand you have some knowledge with healing wounds? Nothing too serious but I got into an argument with a rather large bird.” Of course, to Naiche any wound that wouldn’t kill or leave permanent damage to interfere with the job was labeled minor. “If you have time that is?” One group of people not to upset were those who could mend the wounds, especially true when Naiche enjoyed fighting so much.   Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Large bird... well that explained the blood smell. Sedna nodded her agreement to having time, she seemed to be made of time these days, now that her garden was settled and she was trying to not open up her own shoulder wound, the one over her eye still tender, but not in imminent risk of splitting back open. "Yer might wanna step back, e’
s gonna be pissed about ‘avin’ ‘is nap interrupted, but I’m gonna need ‘is hands."

Failing to elaborate further, she stepped into the darkened den. Outside there would be an audible "Oi," followed by scuffling, hissing, growling and the clatter of shells and bowls clashing against each other. Inside the den, Otis had woken with a start and quickly attached himself to Sedna’s face when she had poked him with her nose. She emerged from the den with a long suffering sigh, opossum clinging to her face, his whole weight supported by the long fur that rested along her neck just behind her ears. He blinked angrily at the light, growling and trying to climb over the wolf that carried him out of the dark den, making it half way down her back before she turned and grabbed a leg gently, placing him on the ground in front of her, using her body to shade him from the sun, a paw pressed across his stomach to stop him retreating back into the den. "Otie, we gotta work." She said simply, reducing the growls and hisses to a low grumble as she watched the opossum regard the wolf before them, pushing at her paw to get up off the ground.

He waddled closer, lifting up on his rear legs to comb through the fur of Naiche’s shoulder, assessing the depth of the wound with a low grumble, moving into the second den where they kept bits and bobs that might be useful. She had recently found a wolf with all manner of strange things on offer, she wondered if he would come back with something familiar or strange.

The Archer-Lyall also moved towards the medicinal den, gathering a pinch of periwinkle and adding it to a bowl with some of the cedar Sirius had helped her gather, back before she had a companion capable of climbing trees to help her. She watched as Otis wrapped a length of willow bark no longer than his arm in goldenrod and secured it with a long piece of sweet grass, handing it off to Sedna as he continued to rummage about. She gave him a grateful smile, of course he’d be worried about comfort. She just wanted to get the job done.

Exiting the den, she put the wrapped branch by the golden wolf’s paws. "Yer might wanna give that a chew. ‘S bitter shit, but it’ll take th’ edge off." She could hear Otis dragging her bowl out of the den and she moved to the back of the garden to get a little bit of honeycomb to add to the mix she had started, thinking not for the first time that she should make her own fire pit by her den to help melt the stuff down. Maybe now Meadow was gone, it was something she should consider more seriously.

"speech".

we wear red so they don’t see us bleed

Naiche looked a bit confused, furrowing his brow but doing as she suggested and stepping back a few steps further outside the den.  His ears pricking at the sounds coming from inside.  Interesting?  The sight that Naiche saw when she came out had him smirking in amusement and biting down the urge to openly laugh at the sight of the possum on her face.  Once more Naiche was glad for his Pangolin that fit him well. This wasn’t a thing he had expected.  Never had Naiche imagined letting a bitesize piece of food check on an injury.  The thing was grumpy about working and Naiche imagined he could see why, it wasn’t his normal hour to work.  The gold-coated wolf stayed still as Oti pulled at his furs and poke at his wound.  Naiche’s lip curled up when he started touching sensitive areas.  It wasn’t intentional, he didn’t really want to bite – ok he did want to bite the possum but not for that reason.  Naiche looked away from the quick-bite food to look curiously to Sedna. The pair went to a den to come back with stuff.  What to make of this pair? He quietly mused over it until they came back out, “Interesting companion you have.”  Looking curiously at the branch he did as directed, taking it up in his mouth, taking a slow chew on the wood.  She was right, this thing was definitely bitter. “Why a possum?”  spoken a bit more slurred between the stick as he watched the two at their tasks. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Sedna was grateful for the warmth of the day, it allowed the honey to melt readily on a sun warmed smooth stone. She sprinkled the periwinkle and cedar, allowing Otis to bring the oil out of the leaves by crushing them with a rock to enhance the antiseptic qualities before bringing the whole concoction together. While they worked she considered his question. "’e watches my back," literally in most cases, she often had to carry him around like a backpack. "An’ ‘is thumbs do better with th’ fine work than I can manage. ‘e can climb th’ trees ter harvest what I need ter do my healin’ work an’ ‘e doesn’t back down in a fight just cos our opponent is bigger or meaner. We suit each other." She noticed the silver glint and glossy strands of dark horse hairs.

"If I didn’ ‘ave ‘im, I’d have ter use m’ tongue ter get that inter yer wound an’ it tastes real bad," Otis was scooping up the mixture and approaching the gold coloured wolf, grumbling a low warning, "It’ll sting." She warned as the opossum reached up to apply the salve. "Wouldn’t be able ter stitch yer up either, but ‘e can. It’ll be easier if yer lay down..." They could do this one of two ways, either Naiche would lay down willingly and Sedna would lay across his back with one elbow across his neck and the other over his ribs to allow Otis to work unencumbered with the risk of being bitten, or she would reach beneath his chest and drag the opposite leg out from under him, using her weight to force him to the ground. He came here for healing and he wasn’t leaving until it was done.

"speech".

we wear red so they don’t see us bleed

Naiche watched them work at the medicine, pretty much clueless about everything they were doing.  Naiche put more interest into her reasonings with the possum than the medicine, therefore. “I imagine that all makes sense.” Really it did.  Apparently a lot of use to a possum, especially for a medic.  Naiche still didn’t feel any desire to have one living with him.  At least this one was being useful. Naiche scrunched up his nose, not caring for the way the different things mixed together in a concoction for its own sort of smell.  “I believe that, I don’t even care for the smell of it,” he responded on hearing it tasted bad.   At her mention of laying down, he gave the possum walking over another assessing gaze but lay down, the weight first going to his rump end, and then the good front leg before more delicately finding the most comfortable position for the injured shoulder, finally leaving the paw stretched out in front.  “I can handle a little sting.” Naiche was getting unhappy with Sedna moving to get on top of him, and it showed in his hackles starting to rise and muscle tensing.  When an elbow went across his back the gold wolfs ears went flat against his skull, “What are you doing? Get off.” She was a packmate and medic, he shouldn’t bite anyone and he wasn’t but damn straight he wanted to bite something.  A proud warrior in the armada didn’t need to be laid on. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

The Archer-Lyall, bit back a grin, ignoring the hackles that rose against her chest, a low warning growl and a gruff "Quit’ch’er bitchin’," thrown in response to his insistence that she get off. Getting sewn up hurt, and if he wriggled too much the skin would never mend right, leaving a raised and painful scar, "Or would yer rather get around with a limp fer th’ rest o’ yer life? Won’t be winnin’ anythin’ if yer got a knot o’ flesh makin’ everythin’ pull th’ wrong way. Yer’ll be beggin’ us ter take th’ whole leg off. Now stay still or i’ll sit on yer too." And she meant it. She was larger and heavier than the yellow coated wolf, and she was willing to use that to her advantage.

Otis eyed the wolf warily before moving in to make quick work of the stitches, cutting the horse hair with his teeth and laying the poultice over the now closed gash quickly. She was surprised there wasn’t more thrashing, and really could have gotten up a few seconds quicker than she had, but it was nice to feel the warmth and breathing of another wolf beneath her. "Better watch yerself, next time I’ll make yer stay as m’pillow fer payment." she teased as she allowed the other wolf to get up, trying to mask her bone tiredness by moving to gather up the bowls and herbs and put them back into her storage den.

"speech".

we wear red so they don’t see us bleed

Naiche had already had stitches used on him and stayed still just fine, thank you.  However, for the moment he didn’t snap at them either verbally or physically.  It was his version of being tolerant, those hackles didn’t go down as he was still quite pissed over the whole thing, it was at least a warning he had limits of what he’d tolerate.  The desire to give her a threat of what he’d do if she sat on him was on the tip of his tongue but he was biting it down with great self-control. Naiche shook out his coat in irritation after standing up, feeling how it pulled with the stitches.  Another comment on how he would go to a different healer in the future was also cut off.  She had mended the wound after all and it was probably a wise choice to be polite in case it was her or nothing at some point.  Would she be so bold as to be like this for Sirius had it been the warlord?  How high up on the rankings did you have to be to garner respect Naiche wondered.  Maybe he would become the reaper and this would change. “I’d label it as a poor idea,” more of a grumble than true threat when she mentioned sitting on him. Curving his neck to look down where the stitches were amongst the fur’s he looked up with and with pained formality offered a, “Thank you.”  With a resigned sigh, he looked down to the rodent, “thank you as well.”  With that said he would turn to walk off, reminding himself he had just become a warrior and he should be feeling good about himself. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Sedna had always been one to throw her weight around, but the other wolf took it well, and she spared him the hint of a grin that wanted to pull at the corner of her lips. It was impressive that even after all she had put him through that he was still willing to thank them. She couldn’t keep the amusement out of her voice as she replied,

"Yer welcome..." and unable to resist, she added, "Now don’ let yerself get hurt enough that yer have ter come back." Her beside manner had always been appalling, but she firmly believed that healing should be an unpleasant experience so others thought twice before doing something foolish enough to need her services again.

Well, she wasn’t getting back to sleep again now, best to get back to sorting and storing what herbs she still had on hand.

"speech".

we wear red so they don’t see us bleed