Kitsune was feeling an itch under her skin. She wanted to learn and do and see and explore. She wanted to run as far as her eyes could see, and then some. She was still young, and her parents still kept a careful watch over her and her siblings. That watch might not have chaffed so much, if she didn’t now look at her father with a weariness and a touch of fear. She would never forget the blank expression on his face as he killed those sabers, when he turned back to his children who had broken the rules and left pack lands. When he turned to the stranger whose name she will never know, who lay now in an unmarked grave. His life was taken by her paws.

She was going to find his family one day, she would make sure that they knew what had happened to him. She had no idea where to start, but she would find a way, she had to.

Her paws took her near the Ashen borders, and she shook her little flaming horns as she chewed her lip, and looked over the border. It was taking an awful long time for her to grow up. Couldn’t she be old enough to travel already?


"Speech"

The sea was an unruly mass of inky black water crashing into his improvised vessel from all angles, giving him no quarter or pause from the relentless assault against the small raft floating aimlessly in the turbulent ocean. Rain pelted him from all sides, soaking through his fur while lightning split the sky and thunder exploded like bombs overhead. He tried to hold the rope keeping the sail taut at securely as he could, but it was no use. The rocking of the raft over monstrous waves he couldn't even see in the void of night very nearly capsized him or threw him off his feet. He clung to the mast of the raft for dear life, closing his eyes to try and drown out what was happening around him in the maelstrom. Was this his just desserts for daring to step out of the comfort of his homelands? Was this how he died, lost to an angry sea, never to be seen by anyone ever again? The fear was too much to bear.

A strong gale of wind tugged at the sail and ripped the rope from his jaws, sending the raft hurling directly into an oncoming wave. He screamed as gravity shifted, the raft flipping under the wave, and as water crashed down all around him, he felt the wooden planks beneath his feet disappear. The raft exploded into pieces of broken wood and soggy rope, and then he was just floating weightless as his body was tossed and thrown around in an endless abyss. He couldn't breathe, water was crushing down around his head. Paws kicked and flailed to try and right himself and find the surface, but all he could see was darkness. Only the occasional flash of lightning guided his way, head bursting above the choppy surface with a desperate gasp for air. Down he went again beneath another wave, spiraling about in the sea, doomed to repeat the process over and over until his body succumbed to the ocean's torment.

The last thing he remembered before darkness claimed him was screaming out for help from someone—anyone—into the emptiness of the vast sea, and then he was dragged under the surface again and everything went black.

The world was calm and peaceful again following the storm, but it was unnoticed by the wolf sprawled out across the narrow strip of sandy shore along the water's edge of the swamplands. To a passerby, he would appear to be deceased, lying unmoving and waterlogged to the point of his fur clinging to every inch of his skin. Eyes were closed, lost to unconsciousness, mind drifting in an empty black void and waiting for the end. The pale gray and white fur on his right thigh was stained a dark red and damp with the freshly flowing blood from a shard of wood jutting from the muscle where his raft's debris had impaled him during the mayhem, running down his leg to drip onto golden sand beneath him. The wolf was a sorry sight, barely clinging on to life, reliving his last horrific moments in his head until that moment when his body would finally give out its struggle.

"Kumiho"

The brooding pup sighed, and looked out across the expanse beyond the pack. Just one step, one step and she would be in trouble, but the whole world would be open to her. Of course, she didn’t have to cast her mind back far to remember that creatures like sabercats lived just beyond those borders, too. Death, death waited out there for the foolhardy. Maybe that was why she wanted to cross it so badly, to prove she wasn’t afraid.

She sighed, shaking her head, and began to walk along the length of the border again, casting another quick glance out before turning to head back into the heart of her home. Only, what was that? She did a double take, turning her attention back, and squinting into the distance.

Just across the stream, where land hit swamplands, there was something white and dark lying against the shore. Was it some sort of weird debris? A strange shaped fish? Curiosity got the better of her, and with a quick glance back into Ashen lands, she border-hopped and trotted towards the stream. Plunging into the cold water with a shiver, she walked across the shallow river and to the other side.

The form was growing in detail before her, taking on the shape of a wolf as she approached. She felt sick in her stomach as she realised a dead wolf had washed ashore. She thought of calling for her pack, and then remembered her fathers cold eyes. No. She would bury him alone.

She reached the wolf, and placed a paw sadly against his cheek, looking down at his strange, exotic features and brushed at the funny shaped seaweed clinging to his face - only it wasn’t seaweed, it was antlers. She squinted at the pale blue adornaments on his face. They were almost the opposite of her own fire horns. Her heart felt even heavier as she finished patting his check, and… wait. She placed her paw back on his skin, surprised at the warmth of it. Surprised at the flutter of a heartbeat she felt beneath her fur.

But he wasn’t breathing, how could he be alive?

He must have swallowed too much water! She realised with a start. What could she do? How did she fix this? She thought of the stranger that she had been forced to kill because she couldn’t save him and tears welled in her eyes. No, not again! She roughly shoved his larger form to a better position to clear its airways, tilting his head back. She pried open his muzzle, and pushed a breath of air into it. Was she doing this right? Or was she supposed to block his nose first? She screwed up her muzzle in frustration as she tried to remember. Living on a little island, the pups had been taught cpr. She should have done a better job of listening. Wait, compressions! She scrambled to his side, and began pushing onto his chest, counting as she went. Once she hit a certain count, she breathed another breath into his mouth.

"Speech"

Kumiho's heartbeat had slowed significantly, barely keeping his weak pulse going while he lay bleeding out ever so slowly on the sand. His lungs held a healthy gulp of saltwater, half drowned as he had been in the storm, but still his body swallowed whatever shallow breaths it could get. It wasn't much though, and it was only a matter of time before the young wolf expired, his short life over before it ever really began. His senses had long since shut down, his ears not registering the sound of small paws crunching sand beside him or the feel of gentle touches to his cheek and face. He didn't notice as his body was shifted and rolled and manipulated beneath inexperienced paws, his muscles limp and showing a distinct lack of rigor mortis, another sign of life. Darkness continued to swirl in his mind like a whirlpool, pulling him in deeper, deeper... welcoming him into the afterlife.

His lungs inflated with a small breath, and then compressions began to push the air back out of his lungs. Each press brought a flash of light into the darkness, getting brighter and brighter and brighter. Another breath, his lungs inflated, and then more compressions. He could hear his heart beat louder in his ears, pulse strengthening as his circulation was forced back into function. On the third set of compressions, light came flooding into the darkness, blinding the young male as icy blue eyes shot open with a start. Saltwater came spewing from his mouth as he gasped and choked for air, coughing and sputtering. Kumiho was back from the dead.

There was a ringing in his ears and every part of his body ached like he'd been thrown into a wall over and over again. A sharp, throbbing pain in his leg was the next thing he noticed while he kept coughing and trying to catch his breath again. He felt dizzy and sick, his muscles kept twitching and convulsing as life returned to him, and all he could taste was salt. The world was too bright, blue eyes squinting against the stinging light while he tried to get his bearings. Where was he? What had happened? He looked around in a panic, noticing the small form of a blurry dark-furred wolf beside him. Who was that? Was this who had saved him? He wanted to ask these questions, but his mouth and brain refused to work, all systems still coming online while Kumiho got used to being alive again, looking startled, terrified, and in pain.

"Kumiho"

Kitsune squeaked in surprise as the half dead wolf suddenly moved. Heaving out salty bile all over the sand and down her midnight-black chest. She gave that only a breath, exasperated flicker of a thought, before she turned back to her patient. A part of her had been certain that he would die, that her inexperience and her singular past experience meant only one thing - she would lose another patient.

He looked ragged and out of it. The bloody smear he left on the beach told her that breathing hadn’t been his only problem. One thing at a time, she gave his side a pat, an acknowledgement that he wasn’t alone before she trotted a short distance to the stream she had crossed to get him.

The river that ran down from the East was fresh, and she scooped up what little she could onto a leaf and brought it back to the half-drowned wolf. She gently pushed against his chin, tilting his head back as she emptied the contents into his mouth. “It’s okay, you're safe now” She promised him. Pausing for a second to admire the wonderful icy antlers that adorned his brow. Her patient was young, and still growing - just like her, but he’d already done a fair bit more then here. He was taller, but Kitsune could forgive that. She was going to be even taller than him when she was older, judging by her father. But why was he out here alone? She wanted to satisfy her curiosity, but she forced herself to have a little patience.

"Speech"

It took a few minutes for Kumiho to calm down enough to begin to really take in where he was, very nearly winding up hyperventilating if his spasming lungs weren't already having a freakout. Slowly his swirling vision began to focus and blurs returned to identifiable shapes. The ringing in his ears began to fade and the gentle whoosh of ocean waves on the shore took its place. A gentle pat on his side brought his startled gaze back to the little black-and-amber-furred girl at his side. She didn't say a word as she got up and made her way over to a nearby river that connected to the ocean just down the strip of beach. He watched her head off with a confused expression. Was he supposed to follow her? Was she leaving him after saving his life? Had this little pup actually just saved his life?! Where the hell was he anyway?

Kumiho swallowed a few deep breaths of the salt-tinged air, looking all around at the swampy forest, the open ocean, and a cluster of islands just across the river. He had absolutely zero idea of where he had ended up, but he knew what had happened to his raft to get him here. The evidence was still lodged in his leg, after all. He winced and sucked in a breath through gritted teeth. Blue eyes peered down at the driftwood jutting from the bloody wound in his leg, touching it with a tentative paw. Crunching sand brought his eyes up to the pup returning to him, carrying a leaf with a small pool of water in it. She pressed it to his mouth, offering no resistance while she moved his head and helped him drink the cool, fresh water. It felt soothing on his parched throat, and suddenly Kumi became very aware of just how dehydrated he actually felt.

He coughed weakly, watching her with curious eyes while she reassured him he was safe now. Was he? He was lost, wounded, and with a stranger—albeit, he didn't think she would be a threat, given that she was only a fraction of his size and still very fresh to the world. But where there was a pup, there was always a mommy and daddy somewhere nearby, and that didn't bode well for him. "Where...? Where am I...?" he asked between coughs, his voice hoarse with thirst and strained with the effort it took to speak.

"Kumiho"

He was even taller now that he was sitting up. Her antlers would have given her a little boost in height, or at least offered her a better vantage to reach high places, but this boy beat her on that, too. Her eyes kept getting drawn back to them, little tendrils of ice across his head. It made her wonder if he didn’t come from the same place those Sabercats had come from. With that thought came another, could he be a danger? She glanced at his half drowned frame, bleeding leg, and confused eyes. Nah, no chance of that.

She settled down in front of him, wearily aware that she had no supplies to bandage him up, or any better way of offering his water. Some healer she was making. She needed a bag, some way of carrying supplies and essentials around. From an unnamed man to… an unnamed boy, it was becoming pretty clear how much she needed it.

“You're just outside of Ashen territory, in the swamplands.” Now that he was speaking, that meant she could pepper him with questions, right? “Who are you, and where are you from? Where were you trying to get to?” She wanted to know. She stopped directly in front of him, and looked up at his towering face. She scrunched up her nose, he was still a kid himself, it was entirely unfair that he was so tall.

“Your leg is bleeding, but I'm afraid if I pull out that wood, the bleeding will get worse.” she confided in him, having no solution to offer him either.

"Speech"

Bleary blue eyes followed the little black form of the wolf that looked like she was made of smoldering coals as the little girl came round to seat herself in front of him. She was appraising him with those big blue eyes. It didn't go unnoticed the glances she was stealing up at his head, knowing she was staring at his antlers that looked suspiciously like icicles jutting out of his skull, but he was used to it. He'd been getting those looks from wolves for all his life; she would be no different from the norm. She began to speak, though her words made very little sense to him. What the hell was Ashen? Was it some sort of pack? How had he ended up in a swamp? There was a beach by a swamp? Where in the world had he washed up?!

After her short, confusing explanation came the slew of questions. Kumi fixed the little girl with a bewildered look, blinking rapidly to try and refocus his vision on her. His head was still spinning and a dull headache and begun to pound at the inside of his skull. She was giving him such a scrutinizing look, he didn't know how to take it at first. She almost looked... annoyed by him for some reason? "Kumiho. My name is Kumiho," he answered back, rubbing the back of his aching head with a paw while trying his hardest not to look at the piece of driftwood still in his leg like a spear. "I wasn't trying to get anywhere. I don't even know where here is. You said something about ashes...?" Nothing was making sense to him. It was all very frustrating and confounding.

Kumi had to resist rolling his eyes when the girl pointed out his wounded leg. "Oh really? I thought I was just starting to sprout like a tree," he quipped back, sarcasm painting his voice with a humorous snark. "Well, I'd really like to not end up bleeding to death out here, little miss." He glanced up and down the beach, mulling over his options. If this girl was out here on her own, her parents had to be somewhere close by. While it was a gamble, he didn't exactly have any better choices. "Are your parents nearby? Can they help?" he asked while turning icy eyes back to the girl.

"Kumiho"

“Kumiho” she repeated back to him. But the little Ashen Princess was accustomed to shortening names down to little snubs. That's what all her siblings did. “I’m going to call you Iho” She warned him. A nice little three-letter nickname, just like herself and her siblings.

“Ashen, not ashes” she corrected him patiently. “The Ashen Empire, that's the pack my mum and dad rule” Who didn’t know about Ashen? They were so central to her life, the idea that someone didn’t even know it existed seemed foreign to her. She knew from her studies that Ashen branched off into the Armada and Habari, making it the largest collection of packs in Boreas. How could he not know that? Clearly he hadn’t listened in his studies.

She snorted at his sarcasm, and reached all the way up to his nose and tapped it with her paw. “No need for that” she chastised him, channeling her inner Venom. “Not bleeding sounds good” She agreed. So, how was she going to go about that, anyway? She scrunched up her nose as he mentioned her parents. She wasn’t going to treat him to her dads idea of helping. Nope. she had found Iho, he was hers. Not Hattoris. No dying for him.

She remembered the little healer girl she had passed just yesterday. Maybe she would help? She had been polite and differential to the Princess, surely she would come if Kit called? “I have an idea” she said, and raised her head to howl for Dalila

"Speech"

Dalila did her best to not interact with the rest of the pack too much, though it was sometimes inevitable as she moved about collecting herbs or fetching things for Siren. She was always a bit afraid of doing something wrong that might get back to Chimera and get her in trouble. It wasn't that she necessarily cared for her own well being all that much, but she did care about making any trouble for between him and Siren and making him do something that might make it difficult for her to fully serve her lady. She had really only just been able to fully return to her normal gathering and duties following the attack that Viper had done to her and she didn't want to end up laid up so soon. Just the day before she had accidentally crossed paths with one of the Empress' children on her way back to their island and she had done her very best to keep the interaction polite and short, answering the questions the young girl had for her before ducking away with the herbs she had gathered. She was doing similar duties today as she did pretty much every day when she heard a howl for... her. For her? She had never heard anyone call for her save for Siren. She stood there frozen and confused for a moment before gathering a few quick supplies in a sack that was little more than a piece of cloth with a string to draw it closed before hurrying off to where the call came from by the border. She didn't really understand why she was being called of all wolves, but when she got there she found the same girl she had seen yesterday, Kitsune she thought her name was, and a young man that had clearly been injured. Her ears flicked back as her head dipped to the pair, her pale eyes going to the wound on the yearling's leg with worry. She sat the bag of supplies down beside Kitsune and pulled it open, her lessons running through her mind. Luckily she had happened to bring some lambs ear and horse tail as well as some moss and bandages. She knew all the right supplies to bring, just not necessarily how to use them. "I hope I brought everything you needed, miss," she told the girl quietly, still not really confident in her knowledge and abilities even though she could rattle off facts about most herbs as well as any other healer. "Speech"

The girl said his name—then did the most child-like thing ever and completely disregarded it, stating that she would call him Iho instead. Telling him, not asking him. "Uhh, okay, sure...?" he agreed, though he felt his compliance wasn't exactly needed or required to the girl whose name he still didn't know. She corrected him on his misunderstanding with the pack. The Ashen Empire. That's whose lands he'd been shipwrecked on? He glanced around again, from the beach to the swamp to the cluster of small islands just offshore. Huh, nice place, he supposed. But what interested him more was when the girl stated her parents were the rulers of the empire. Kumiho's ear's perked up and some life returned to his face. That was great news! She could just call for her parents and everything would get sorted out!

A small paw reached up and booped him on the end of his snoot, making him blink and go crosseyed momentarily while she chided him for his sarcasm. Unfortunately for her, that was what Kumi often defaulted to in his humor. Oh well, he wouldn't be around her for too long to annoy her with his quirks and mannerisms anyway. The girl told him she had an idea and howled for someone. "I hope that idea if bringing your parents to come help," he remarked, still wondering what she was stalling for. If her parents were the alphas, why not just call for them and tell them there was an injured traveler on their lands that needed help?

A moment later, another wolf showed up, this one slightly smaller than he was and carrying a bag of some sort. He cocked his head curiously. Was this her mother, or a healer? To his shock and slight horror though, the new lady set the bag down next to her and passed the supplies off to her. Kumiho's expression visibly dropped while his brain put two and two together. "Hold on, you're not seriously thinking about doing this yourself, right?" he asked skeptically. "Uh, no offense, but you're so... young. Can't you please just call your mom or dad or a healer? I don't really think this is anything you'll want to see." He didn't know anything about the little girl that had saved his life thus far, but he really didn't want to traumatize her by having her see his blood everywhere and the wound left behind once the wood was removed.

"Kumiho"

Her lip twitched at his uncertain answer. No, she really didn’t need his input into the nickname. It was hers now, for him. He was Iho. He looked a little impatient as he asked her if her idea was calling for her parents. She supposed he had reason to feel the need for hurry - blood was still leaking from his leg, and he couldn’t move it so long as the driftwood remained in place.

Dalila, bless her, appeared quickly and with supplies. She didn’t know the older girl well - if one day could even count as at all - but she was deferential, despite Kits age. Kitsune reached up to the tawny girl's cheek and gave it a quick kiss. “That was exactly what I needed, thank you”

Kitsune looked in the bag the other wolf had brought and scrunched up her nose again, wagging it at Iho. “Oh, no. My dad was going to kill the last patient I had, we don’t need his help.” She told him rather frankly. Not sharing the detail on how she had done the deed.

“Now, sit still and stop your squirming.” She ordered him. She pulled out the bandages, and the herbs. Pretending that she had any idea on what she was doing. She turned to Dalila “Will any of these herbs stop infection?” She asked as she gently prodded the skin next to the driftwood. Holding one of the bandages in one hand, she awkwardly began to wrap a tourniquet to slow his blood flow. Hopefully she wouldn’t kill this one...

"Speech"

Dalila's ears flicked uncomfortably when Kitsune gave her cheek a kiss, but she offered the girl a small smile in return all the same. She thought maybe she might be able to slip away with the supplies delivered, but instead she glanced up at the yearling when he questioned Kitsune about doing the task herself. Personally she was mortified at this stranger for speaking this way to one of the Empress' daughters, but it wasn't her place to say so. Of course she was even more startled when Kitsune admitted that Hattori was going to kill her last patient and finally just decided she should slip away while she had the chance. However, she seemed pulled into this situation more fully when Kitsune questioned if any of the herbs she brought would stop infection. Ah, well, perhaps she shouldn't leave them alone just yet... She knew the Empress' children had begun their training quite young so she wasn't sure what the girl's skill level would be despite her age. "Oh, um... Actually, what I'd suggest..." She drew in a breath to calm herself as she moved closer to where Kitsune was hovering over the boy's injured leg. "Once you pull the wood free, the moss can help stop the bleeding." She glanced up from where they were on the shore. At this point they were mostly on the river, but the Obsidian beach wasn't all that far. "You start doing that, I'll go collect some salt water from the beach. Salt water is good for cleaning wounds. I won't be more than a moment, miss." She darted off at that, running down the shore toward the dark sand beach to get the salt water they needed. "Speech"

Kumiho could feel the color draining from his face when his attending "doctor" stated so nonchalantly that her father had wanted to kill her last patient. His heart began to race with a real thrill of fear. Where the hell had he ended up?! Was he in danger just by being here?! A soft whine slipped past his lips, but he wasn't sure if either girl could hear it. It was impossible to not wonder if he would have been better off drowning out in the ocean and silently wondered if it was too late for that now. Then the girl started asking how to use the herbs and medicines that had been brought to her, and Kumiho nearly fainted on the spot! She didn't even know what she was doing?! This is it... This is how I die... The grim thoughts left his mind just as the two Ashen wolves began to unpack the supplies around him, preparing for what would undoubtedly be a painful and terrifying surgery.

The older woman started giving soft-spoken directions to the pup, telling her how to proceed. Then she took off down the shore for the ocean to gather some saltwater, leaving him alone with his would-be doctor and/or torturer. "Um, miss...?" he started with trepidation in his voice, eyes nervous and pleading for mercy. "I'm not doubting you, I'm very grateful for your kindness and care. I'd just really like to not die please." So please don't kill me. The words weren't spoken, but the plea was in his icy eyes. He did his best to follow her instructions and stop moving or squirming. There was no getting out of this. She would be operating on him whether he wanted it or not. Might as well not make her job any more difficult than it was.

While he mentally prepared for her to begin, he fixed her with curious eyes and asked, "Can I know the name of the wolf that saved my life?"

"Kumiho"

“My mumma is very fastidious in her tutoring. Take a slow breath in, you’re okay." she promised him. She was going for that ‘I know what i’m doing’ kind of bossy, putting on a persona, taking on a person from one of her stories. Hoping that if she did that, then maybe she’ll be able to figure this out, and pull him through this.

He had very cute eyes, and wonderful icy antlers, she really didn’t want him to die. One wolf was enough to haunt her dreams, thank you.

She drew herself up a little at his final question. “Kitsune Tachi Oritsu Abraxas of the Ashen Empire.” She said, puffing out her chest just a little and holding a ram-rod straight back. Just like she was taught, just like her sister managed as easy as breathing. Before a hint of a smile broke through. She hoped she was distracting him enough from his worry and pain. “Or Kit, to my friends.” she said, deflating, and placing a paw gently over his. Looking up into his eyes, offering a fleeting smile, and… yanking out the driftwood while he was distracted.

Oh my! Oh! But that was a lot of blood! Even with the tourniquet to slow the bleeding, and the moss she had packed around the wood while she was talking to help slow the bleeding, and to be in place to push over the wound - which she did so now. She had heard Dalila approaching, and she quickly gave the other wolf room to do whatever she was going to with the salt water. Holding out the bandage, ready to wrap it in place the moment Dalila was out of the way again.

"Speech"

Dalila hurried to the beach and back again, returning with a piece of hollowed out driftwood she had found on the beach that she had lined with a leaf and filled with water. Her return trip hadn't been a quick as she rush to get there only because she didn't want to spill the water she had collected. When she arrived she saw Kitsune pressing moss into the wound and the blood trickling from the wound. It most certainly wasn't the worst wound she had ever seen - or experienced for that matter - but she could see on the girl's face that she was worried and she gave Kitsune a kind smile as she approached and lowered the makeshift bowl of water to the ground. "Well done, miss," she said in her usual subdued tones, both wanting to reassure the doctor and patient in this situation. She reached for a bit more moss from the bag as well as one of the bandages, telling Kitsune, "Hold on to the bandage you have there and we'll wrap it when we're done treating it, okay?" She pressed more of the cleaned moss into the wound and used one of the bandages to help soak up some of the excess blood like a rag. She could see the flow of blood epping away as she continued to apply a gentle pressure to the wound. "There's some dandelion root in the bag there... We'll need that mushed up to apply to the wound before we seal it up," she mentioned to Kitsune, not really able to get herself to ask the girl to help with the task so instead suggesting it to her so the Princess could perhaps do it on her own accord. Once she was more certain that the blood flow wouldn't be more than a slight bit when she pulled the moss and bandage away, she began to clear the wound once more, small pile of bloodied cloth and moss on the ground beside her. "I'm afraid this might sting a bit, sir, my apologizes," she said to the stranger before she picked up the bowl of salt water and began to carefully pour the water across the wound, washing away any remaining bits of moss or fragments from the drift wood that had previously been there. With that done she sat the wood bowl back on the ground and glanced up at Kitsune. "Would you like to apply the dandelion and seal it up with the horsetail and bandages, miss?" "Speech"

It was crystal clear that the girl took great pride in her studies as a healer, as was evident from his she announced her mother being a tenacious teacher to her. She did have the confidence in her that helped to reassure him some, and after following her direction to take a slow breath, Kumi began to gradually calm down again. Never would he thought his life would be in the paws of a small pup, yet here he was. Secretly he was grateful for her bravado, her bossy direction and take charge attitude. It made him feel like she had control of the situation despite her incredibly young age. Then again, he supposed being a seafaring voyager at just over a year was pretty impressive for himself as well. Moral of the story: don't judge a book by its cover.

The girl introduced herself by some ludicrously long and ornate name, but he had managed to get Kitsune and Abraxas out of it. Kitsune Abraxas—or Kit for short. He watched the way she behaved, moved, carried herself with curious eyes. Whoever her family was, they had clearly instilled a lot of value in formal decorum with her. The way she sat perfectly straight, the proud puff of her chest to present herself without seeming arrogant, head lifted and tilted at just the right angle. It was almost unsettling how robotic and automatic she performed each action—and then how humorous it was to see her slip back into her natural posture and mannerisms. He was getting whiplash from the shifts between Kitsune, but there were more pressing things to attend to. Like the piece of his raft still in his bleeding leg.

A small smile stretched over his muzzle when her small paw settled over his, his eyes marveling at the size difference between them before looking back up so pale blue eyes could meet her rich azure. "Well, if you're calling me Iho, then I'm gonna call you Kitty- AAAAAARRRGHH!" Kumi's retort was cut abruptly by an explosion of searing pain ripping through his leg the moment Kitsune pulled the driftwood spear from his leg. His vision blacked out and his body thrashed on the sand despite his best attempts to stay still for her. He could feel his heart thumping hard in his chest, each pounding beat pumping more blood freely out of the open wound in his thigh. Warm wetness ran down his skin in alarming amounts, but just as quickly as it started, he could feel cool moss soaking up the blood.

Kumiho was only vaguely aware of the voice of the other woman talking to Kit, and then to him. Her apology fell on deaf ears as the boy settled into a pained panting, blinking his eyes to try and refocus them, but then came the sting of saltwater against the open wound, and the injured wolf was squirming in pain again, almost howling in agony. Paws kicked and pushed against the sand, teeth clenched and bared in a silent snarl to try and keep himself quiet. He didn't want to attract any attention that might get Kitsune's father involved if he liked to kill her patients.

Kumi tried his best to hold on, but the pain was too much to handle. Coupled with the blood loss, the boy's mind could handle no more, and his body collapsed to the sand as he blacked out and lost consciousness again, finally silent and still.

"Kumiho"

Gotcha She thought, as her distraction was effective enough to leave him totally unprepared. She was a little regretful that she had done it just when he was saying something interesting - She had never gotten another nickname before. She wondered if he would remember what he had started to call her after this.

She stared in wide eyes as he began to thrash on the sand before her. Has she killed him?? Was he dying?? He was bleeding so much. In fact, until she locked down, she didn’t realise that blood had mingled with the vomit he had deposited on her chest earlier. And her forpaws were smeared with red.

It was very lucky that Dalila took over then. As much as Kit didn’t like relinquishing any control of her shipwrecker to the other wolf, she was calm and certain in a moment when Kit wanted to panic.

Now was the time to be squeamish, and Kit managed - heroically - to hold in her lunch while Dalila cleaned out the wound. She was glad when Iho slipped unconscious, it made it a lot easier to work on him. “I would.” she agreed, lip trembling slightly as she held onto her family's decorum with all of her might. She grabbed the dandelion as the more knowledgeable healer instructed, and applied it. At least she could identify that, and horsetail, and bandages of course. Her paw was shaking as she finally wrapped up the wound, and she was all but daring Dalila in her mind to call her out on it.

She wiped a paw over her brow, spreading blood across her face, and grimaced. “Can you help me wash up, please, Dalila?” she asked gently. What on earth was she going to do with Iho?

"Speech"

Dalila nodded when Kitsune agreed that she would like to complete the last few tasks and took a step back to give the girl space to work. She breathed a soft, hopefully unnoticeable shy through her nose while she watched Kitsune apply the herbs and wrap the wound, silently grateful that everything had gone mostly smoothly. The young man screaming and flailing certainly hadn't helped her nerves, but now that he was quiet and still it was a bit easier for them to finish their work and she was confident that he'd come to soon enough now that the wound was treated and the pain would begin to subside. It was the first time she had ever put any of Siren's lessons into practice so she had been quietly nervous beneath the surface, but she had done her very best to remain calm for the young girl's sake. She noticed the Princess' trembling paws, but she didn't breathe a word about it. She simply gave Kitsune another smile when she was done, saying quietly, "Well done." Now that the worst of it was over she was able to get a better look at Kitsune and notice the mess all over her lovely coat just moments before the girl asked her to help her wash up. Dalila dipped her head to the girl and immediately responded with, "Of course, miss." She led Kitsune over to the water's edge and used the makeshift bowl she had used before to scoop the fresh water from the river and gently pour it across Kitsune's chest and forelegs, filling the bowl and placing the girl's paws in one at a time to carefully wash them clean like she had Siren's many times before whenever her lady would come back with muddy paws from foraging or visiting her deer. Once her fire-marked coat was pristine once more, she dipped her head again and added, "I apologize for not having anything to dry you off with, miss." "Speech"

She gave Dalila a big grin when she congratulated her, instead of calling her out for anything. Dalila had been such a big help, and she was so deferential and sweet. If Kit asked her not to tell anyone about this, would she agree?

Dalila was quick to agree to the next chore, and they walked to the steam together. She cleaned up her front first, and then began to wash the woman's hands. The only other person that had washed Kits hands was her mother, and she felt almost pampered - it was a very strange dynamic after having a man almost bleed to death all over her.

“Oh, that’s alright” she said cheerfully, already the nerves were beginning to fade, and she was feeling a rush of energy from the whole adventure. “You’ve been absolutely amazing Dalila, I don’t know what I would have done without you. However, do you think you could help me clean up the blood on Iho’s coat and help me drag him somewhere a little more sheltered?” She knew she was asking a lot of the poor woman, and she wasn’t done yet. “And… Dalila, if I asked you to keep this a secret, would you?”

"Speech"