As he crossed the border into Hallows lands, he tossed up his head to howl for Gwynevere, the young healer one of his only options now that Lúta was bed ridden with some unusual illness. He hated to bring the Carpathius girl into his mess, but he didn't really have a choice at this point. He didn't know if Aranea had come to somewhere during his trip or not, he never paused his race to get her back to the pack just in case he might be able to save her. It did occur to him that perhaps she didn't want to be saved, but that was something he refused to let himself consider. He couldn't think past just getting her to The Hallows, getting her help. The other side of this coin could be thought about after this was sorted out.

He ran through the main entrance of the castle, loping into the infirmary and was relieved to see Gwyn already there. "I don't know what she ate, I just found her completely unresponsive. There was a bowl next to her so I assume she took something to make her like this," he quickly explained as he slid her off onto one of the cots, helping Gwyn get Aranea arranged on her side on the cot. "There was a lot of blood from..." he added more quietly, glancing uncertainly toward her hips.

Ulric Adravendi

Gwynevere was milling about the infirmary, rearranging some of the screens and supplies that her mother had gifted her for her birthday, when she heard Ulric's frantic howl for her from the border, telling her to get to the infirmary and be ready. Her ears perked at the sound, a moment of concern hitting her as she glanced toward Eilwen who was perched on top of one of the dividers between a couple of the cots. She didn't know what she was preparing for, but she started rushing around, gathering a few basic supplies around one of the cots closest to the door. What now? she wondered. She had hoped that things would start to calm down now that her mother had passed, the dire wolves that had attacked them had been dealt with, and the never ending winter had finally begun to leave them, but there always seemed to be something to worry about.

Ulric came bursting through the door and her eyes went wide when she saw Aranea draped over his back. She hurried to his side, helping to gently get the woman laid out on her side, keeping an ear turned toward Ulric as he spoke, nodding quietly. The swell of Aranea's stomach was clearly noticeable and dread filled her as he added the note about the blood he had seen. Birthing pups was one thing she hadn't had a lot of experience with as of yet, but she knew the basics. That would have to wait until they purged whatever she had eaten though. She didn't want to try giving Aranea even more herbs with that still in her stomach.

She gently nudged Ulric away before running over to the shelves on the other side of the room that she had slowly been transitioning all of her herbs down to, picking up a few pieces of elderberry root and quickly bringing them back to where Aranea was laying. She could tell from the look in the smaller woman's eyes that she was still heavily under the influence of whatever she ate, but her pupils were beginning to be able to focus on her so that was a slightly encouraging reaction. Gwyn dropped the roots into a mortar and pestle and quickly crushed them up so that Aranea wouldn't have to try to chew them and could just lick them up. "Here, eat this," she said, holding the bowl in front of Aranea's nose, her tone gentle, but firm. She had been in enough high pressure situations at this point that even this didn't make her panic. Progress, she supposed.

As soon as Aranea had swallowed down the crushed up roots she hurried and got a larger bowl, keeping it at the ready while she waited for Aranea to start vomiting up anything that was left in her stomach. She glanced at Ulric briefly, wondering to herself what had happened and how she had even gotten into this state... both in regards to her being drugged and also pregnant. She didn't entirely know the situation behind why she had left their pack, but now wasn't really the time for questions.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Don't You Know Too Much Already? ___________________________________________________________ Aranea had been still completely limp while Ulric lugged her back to the castle for help. When they crossed over into Hallows land her paws gently clenched into his body while her instinct to hold on to his moving body came across her. She was still in a heavy state when they made it to the infirmary, and when Gwyn made it to her with the bowl of elderberry mix, she was able to pick up her head and support the rest of her neck and back against the stone behind her. She paused to glance toward Ulric, feeling entirely disappointed in herself now that she was in his presence, but then gently dipped down to take what gwyn gave her. She was dizzy and her brain still wasn’t functioning enough for her to speak. But she knew what was coming next, it shouldn’t be long. When Gwyn returned with another bowl, Aranea couldn’t find it in herself to look at Ulric anymore, she didn’t even know if he was still in the room. She couldn’t look gwyn in the eye either, it was embarrassing to think she tried to kill herself and failed. It finally started to come up, Aranea tried her best to aim for the bowl but on her empty stomach the vomiting and the amount of drugs made her weak and shivering as she was becoming more alert. Now she was regretting everything she had done. Walk "Talk" ___________________________________________________________ I'll Only Hurt You If You Let Me

Ulric stepped back at Gwyn's insistence, standing off to the side where he'd be out of the way, but he could still keep an eye on Aranea. He watched the young healer dart back and forth around the room while she started her treatments, uncertainty and pain churning in his gut. Were these his children? That question kept spinning in his mind, making him feel uneasy as he watched the rise and fall of her swollen side. Everything had been a mistake. All of it. He should never have given into her the first time. All of this could have been prevented if he hadn't given in to his idiotic, crushing mourning and desire. He especially shouldn't have let her have that last time with him before she left. None of this should have happened, but it had and now he had to suffer and reap the consequences.

He winced as Aranea began to throw up everything left in her stomach, glancing away from her and down toward the floor. He heard Gwyn's raven tell him he could leave if he needed to from where she was perched on the divider beside him and he just shook his head without looking up. No, he had to stay here. This was his punishment. He had to see this through. He might loathe the woman that was currently laying on that cot for what she might have done or at least tried to do to these pups, but if there was even a slim hint of a chance that they might be his then he had to stay. He couldn't quite force himself to look up, but he was present and that was about all he could manage as anger, disgust, and sorrow mixed in his gut in equal measure.

Ulric Adravendi

Gwynevere rested the bowl on the cot under Aranea's head as she started vomiting, one paw coming up to gently hold the side of her head to make sure she was aiming for the bowl properly. Her ears flicked back, but she didn't flinch away, too far into the zone of being a medic to let herself do that. Her worries and fears tended to get put firmly to the back of her mind while she was "working" and this was no exception. She waited patiently till she was sure Aranea was done, all of the signs of her urges to throw up gone and leaving just the shivering and trembling behind. It wouldn't help the effects the drugs had taken on her body already, but it would at least keep them from continuing for quite as long and make way for other herbs and treatments.

She carried the bowl away and set it far enough off to the side that they wouldn't need to look at it again before coming back with a fresh bowl and a full water skin. She filled the bowl and placed it within Aranea's reach. "Here... Have a bit of water and make sure you can keep that down while I go get the motherwort." Aranea was a healer, she probably didn't have to explain herself, but it still felt better to talk though things. Even though she seemed a bit more alert now she wasn't sure how much Aranea was actually comprehending yet. She walked over to the shelves again, collecting the pile of motherwort leaves and bringing them over to the cot, placing them off to the side on a table - out of Aranea's reach. If this had all been a suicide attempt then Gwynevere wasn't going to risk putting anything potentially dangerous to her within her reach.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Don't You Know Too Much Already? ___________________________________________________________ Aranea was weak from the brutal task of the herbs Gywnevere prepared for her, but she was weak from other reasons as well. She was underweight from malnutrition and the overly large puppies in her didn't help. Her shivering was much worse in the act but it was starting to subside now that she was done convulsing. Gwynevere placed a bowl of water in front of her to drink which she looked at reluctantly but eventually took only a few laps of it. She watched as Gwynevere placed the new herbs aside and out of reach of her. She wasn't entirely crazy, and she for sure wouldn't have choked down more herbs to overdose on under Ulric's eyes. She was still contemplating whether she still wanted to live or die, apparently it wasn't her time yet. She glanced again at Ulric, but wouldn't linger her gaze still shameful for what had happened.  "I-" She exhaled, letting out a cough while speaking and breathing became difficult. "I overdosed on khat." She spoke quietly, like the man in the room couldn't hear her. But now that Gwynevere was helping her, it seemed right to let her know. Walk "Talk" ___________________________________________________________ I'll Only Hurt You If You Let Me

Ulric sat, staring at the floor, listening to Aranea wretch and vomit up all of the contents of her stomach, still listening to all of the thoughts and anger that were swirling in his mind. He was angry at her for all of this, for whatever she had done to herself and what could potentially be their children, but he was also mostly angry at himself. He had been weak, too weak to fight his own emotions and lusts, and he had given into her. He felt like he was at fault, even though there was still plenty of room to leave the blame on her as well. The self deprecation ran deep and true, tearing in apart from the inside.

Eventually the sounds seemed to stop and he glanced up to watch Gwynevere pour some water for Aranea before going to get some other kind of herb. He didn't know what any of the herbs were or what they did, he just trusted that the healer knew what she was doing. He did notice how Gwyn didn't give her the second one right away, but was distracted from that fact as Aranea spoke for the first time since the mumbled attempt she made back by the lake, listening as she told Gwyn that she overdosed on some plant he'd never heard of. Khat? What was Khat?

Gwynevere's raven provided an answer. A drug - one that was terrible for pregnancies. His teeth grit together as he stared at Aranea, biting back the building anger. It confirmed what he had assumed. She was trying to kill the pups and probably herself along with them. His claws scraped across the stone floor as his chest squeezed painfully tight. It wasn't just this one thing. It was losing Azariah and Everlyse, it was knowing his mother died alone without him, it was the inner turmoil Aranea had caused with drawing him in despite the fact that she had a family that needed her, it was watching his mentor and friend deteriorate and die, it was watching the entire Carpathius family suffer and not being able to help them, it was watching his own family suffer and not being able to help them either, it was Emile pulling away and practically disappearing more and more from his life, it was feeling like he'd never be worthy of filling this role that he had been placed into. And now there was knowing that pups that could have been his were most assuredly gone. Because this woman that had twisted his life apart had decided that's what should be done.

He was trembling with anger as he pushed himself to his paws and walked out of the room, walking out of the castle grounds and out past the plains. At this point he hoped he ran into another one of those extra dire wolf bastards. He wanted something he could rip apart, something he could take his anger out on that wouldn't come back to haunt him later.

Ulric Adravendi

Gwynevere raised a brow when Aranea mentioned the herb that she had apparently overdosed on. It wasn't one she was familiar with, but she hadn't spent much time learning about the more recreational herbs and plants in the world - though she planned to after the experience she had with Artorias, mostly just so Eilwen couldn't con wolves around her into getting high again. Luckily, Eilwen recognized the name and chimed in, saying, "It's a stimulant, causes euphoria and depresses appetite. It's... It's also very dangerous for pregnant women. Which would explain the blood you saw..." Even the raven who was usually very matter of fact about things seemed off put by the situation and Gwynevere's ears flicked uneasily. A moment of silence went by and she wasn't at all surprised to hear Ulric leave after hearing that.

She had already kind of pieced together that he had some sort of interest in Aranea or at least her pregnancy or something along those lines. It wasn't that hard to see, especially not after how he stormed out at the news. Again, it wasn't her business so she did her best to stay out of it, focusing instead on just treating the patient in front of her. Even if the pups were gone they would still need to be delivered before anything bad happened to Aranea because of it - though it seemed like she was pretty good at doing bad things to herself regardless. She quietly handed over a portion of the motherwort, when the water she drank didn't immediately come back up, waiting for her to take it before she moved around to Aranea's stomach to start gently feeling to try and determine how many pups she would need to be looking for.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Don't You Know Too Much Already? ___________________________________________________________ Hearing Ulric leave the room she was expecting, but it didn't hurt any less. Knowing that he couldn't handle the sight, or thought, she knew they were his children and she assumed he knew too. It was on his mind sure, but there must have been a part of him wishing they weren't. Probably going through every possibility to find they weren't his. But the truth was what was on his mind. He knew they were his, as much as he may have begged in his mind that they weren't. Gwynevere would go ahead and move on with the treatment, pushing the motherwort over, and Aranea would oblige. Gywnevere would begin to poke around at her stomach, it was sensitive to her touch but she only winced little to the pressure. "There's four of them." She announced, hoarse in her voice at first, but would let her feel for herself. "I still feel two of them moving." She had a hard time keeping eye contact with Gwynevere if she happened to look at her. She silently applauded the young girl's skill set, but was in no spirits to celebrate physically. She waited a moment, letting the girl continue her training at least. The experience bestowed upon her may not have been a happy one, but it was still a good test and learning curve. "Thank you for saving me Gywnevere." Almost apologetic to the young girl, "Even if I didn't want it." She hoped her thanks would be enough to strive her in something else, or at least let her look back on this memory if she ever had something similar. Maybe she was a better suicidal patient than what she could have wound up with. Walk "Talk" ___________________________________________________________ I'll Only Hurt You If You Let Me

Gwynevere was careful and gentle with her touch, but experimental too. It was the first time she had been around a pregnant mother instead of just hearing about it in lessons so despite the grim circumstances she was still fascinated. Her ear twitched toward Aranea to listen when she spoke in a horse voice, telling her that there were four pups total. From what she could tell Aranea was right - though her paws were far less experienced than some. She gave a surprised glance when the smaller woman mentioned that she could still feel two of them moving. If that was the case and those two made it out of this they would certainly be some lucky pups - though a far darker possibility crossed her mind of the fact that they may very well still be dying. She bit her tongue and held back the thought, instead looking down at Aranea's stomach and continuing to gently press and feel for those signs of movement.

When Aranea thanked her Gwyn let her paws fall away from her stomach and glanced up at her again. A faint hint of a smile tugged at her lips even though the fellow healer didn't seem to be able to meet her gaze. "It's no problem," she replied softly. In reality this was perhaps one of the less taxing and stressful moments in her short career as a healer - or doctor as Kane had called her. Compared to frantically stopping her mother's bleeding from a torn apart face or pulling a saber cat's broken tooth from a heavily bleeding wound with little to no supplies this felt like a breeze. There was an element of unknown that she had to work with, but everything was new at least once.

She glanced toward her supplies again, considering for a moment before she asked, "I found some alfalfa the other day. Might be a good idea since it looks like you're a bit underweight." A bit was an understatement, but she was trying to be kind. She'd also need to be producing milk if any of those pups made it. "Maybe a bit of dandelion to help with your appetite?" She looked to Aranea, silently wondering just how much the woman wanted her help or at what point she would start to push her away.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Don't You Know Too Much Already? ___________________________________________________________ Though Gwynevere may have acted genuine, Aranea thought otherwise. She wouldn't blame the girl for anything ill she may have thought of her. Or if she didn't care for helping someone who didn't want to live. Aranea did not have like the idea of eyes and whispers at her, not that Gwynevere would turn around and gossip. The young healer offered a couple other things, which Aranea was hesitant to move forward with. "Those are both great treatments." She confirmed, but they were both pretty common and basic remedies that she was sure the girl had known for quite some time. "I'll take as much as you can offer me." She knew the resources will still short from the impending weather, but she was also not willing to fully regain her physical health. She shuffled a little bit, but wouldn't push herself because she knew she would fall to the floor if she tried to get up. "I know this needs to be run by Ulric, but I'd like to stay in my old room if I can." She didn't really want Gwynevere to run after Ulric, especially in the state he was in. But that was fine too, she still had more time until she would be completely recovered to make it there. Walk "Talk" ___________________________________________________________ I'll Only Hurt You If You Let Me