It was growing late, and the air was cool against his fur as he staggered back to the Armada’s borders. A feeling of fatigue settling in his bones, and an ache revibrated up his entire foreleg. He stopped at the scent markers and looked down at his leg. He could have picked the loose stones out of the open cut, perhaps wrapped a bit of hide around the wound and called it a day. In the past, he would have done so. But he was older now, and wounds took longer to heal.

Perhaps he still would have, if Halo hadn’t told him of Crux’s interest in healing. Instead, there was an opportunity to be had here. He rested wearily on his rump and lifted his head to the late afternoon sky. Calling out for his son, giving just enough information for the boy to know it was healer-related. He was curious to see what supplies the boy would bring.


"Speech"

The call from his father nearly gave the yearling a heart attack, he understood the meaning well enough and it took a moment to shock his brain into gear. Almost immediately the boy was quickly gathering up what little supplies he had. So far he'd made small bundles of a few more commonly used herbs, helped by Halo, so they were ready just in case but he was still very much new to it all. He only kept bundles with the herbs he'd managed to memorize that far, which wasn't a lot yet. Small bundles of Dandelions, Agrimony and Yarrow, the most likely to be needed herbs. He grabbed one of the bundles, small scraps of leather used to hold them together and keep him from getting the precious plants in his own mouth. He would need to ask where he could find more soon as he didn't have easy access to many of them, except dandelion which were easy enough to find. He then moved to grab a rough stone bowl, he'd found a small cave within the mountain that had a small stream of water running down the wall, probably run off from the melting snow caps but it was strained by the rocks so it was probably clean, he put the bowl under the stream and let it fill partially before asking Riya to carry it for him. He went to go pick up his herb bundle and stood at the mouth of the cave for a moment, mind running through everything he'd been cramming into his brain the last little bit, was he missing something? What if he forgot something vital? His anxiety was spiking hard and it was only when Riya silently bumped into his shoulder that he was jolted back to the present. Right, he had help, he wasn't alone. Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat he nodded at his leopard and then set off.

It didn't take too long to get to where his father was, he was instantly looking for what was wrong, not totally hard to spot and he swallowed hard again, but didn't falter in his approach. He gestured for Riya to put the bowl down and he gave his father a somewhat anxious smile around his own bundle, settled himself down in front of the warlord and dropped his package at his paws. "Hello father." Formal, probably a bit too much to be honest but his nerves were getting to him and he was trying desperately to remember everything he'd learned so far. "May I?" He gestured to the wound on his father's leg, if it was life threatening he'd been told that it was okay to act first, ask permission second but since it didn't seem that would likely be the case he was supposed to at least seek consent first, since his father was awake and lucid, at least as far as he could tell.

Crux & Riya

Art by Twonahalfer

The weary old wolf watched the woods as he waited for his son to arrive. The boy - who was getting tall, now that he was a yearling - appeared not long after his call. Bundles of herbs in his mouth, and his leopard with a bowl. “Crux” He responded back, pushing his injured leg out a little further to give his son a better angle to examine it.

“Of course” He agreed, gesturing with his nose for his son to proceed. The jagged cut ran down from his shoulder to the front of his knee joint. Riddled with small stones and debris. It wasn’t terribly deep, but his fur was matted with blood anyway. He watched Crux carefully. He wasn’t a healer, but he made not of what he could. For starters, he would need to start work on a healers bag for his son.

"Speech"

Crux was running through as much as he could remember as he waited for his father's assent, nearly leaping forward when he was given the okay. He just managed to keep himself more restrained though and he stepped forward, taking a moment to observe his father's wound closer up. It luckily didn't look too deep but there was enough debris to clean away that he was still a little worried about possible infection. He gently dipped a paw into the water he'd brought and gently began to try to remove the pebbles and rocks from his father's wound making a mental note to get some rags for the future, easier to clean with. Riya behind him had unbundled the herbs and was separating them for easy grabbing. He moved slowly, checking in with his father every few seconds, looking for signs of pain and frankly just so nervous he was desperate for any sign he was doing something wrong. Then he mentally berated himself for not offering lady's slipper first, to help numb any pain he was inflicting.

The boy grit his teeth and stepped back once he felt he'd cleaned all the debris he could find. He looked down at the herbs Riya had prepared and then sheepishly glanced back at his father. "I can offer you a sedative if you'd like, for the pain." He tried not to let his nerves about having forgotten to do so first enter his voice, though it still wavered slightly. He'd wait for an answer before moving forward, next he'd need to administer an anti-inflammatory to prevent infection then... Something to stop the bleeding? Why was he suddenly struggling to remember when he'd felt so certain in his understanding only moments before he'd been called?



Crux & Riya

Art by Twonahalfer

He stood still as Crux cleaned the wound. Watching his son use his paw, as he'd forgotten anything absorbent to clean the wounds with. The Warlord kept the amusement off his expression, knowing it would only offput his child. "Forgo the sedation, I prefer to keep my wits about me unless I break something' he informed Crux.


Seeing the stress on the boys expression he shifted his weight and reached out a paw, tapping his son's foot twice in a gentle motion. "Stop, breath, and think. There's nothing life threatening going on, you can take a moment to centre yourself" he advised, his voice gentle.

Crux nodded absently in response to his father's refusal of the sedative, he turned to look at Riya, nodding at her as she stepped back. He felt heat flood his face though as his father gently instructed him to take a moment to calm himself. He nodded again and swallowed the lump in his throat. Taking a moment to remind himself everything was fine, he closed his eyes and took a few deliberate easy breathes. When he opened his eyes he spotted Riya lopping off towards their shared space and he wondered what she'd just thought about but pushed the thought from his mind as he set about his next task. He gently dumped the remaining water from the bowl and using a stone shard that Riya had suggested he use as a makeshift pestle until he could find something better he started to grind some the three herbs together in the bowl until he had a sort of mushy earthy paste. He sat himself beside his father again and pulled the bowl closer to himself, and slowly, carefully began to apply the salve he'd just thrown together to his father's leg.

"Dandelion for pain and inflammation." Crux said more for himself than for his father, reminding himself what little he knew. "Yarrow to fight infection and Agrimony to help stop bleeding." Satisfied he'd thoroughly gotten his father's wound he leaned back, realizing he'd neglected anything to help keep the salve where it needed to be! Riya trotted up beside him, he'd failed to see her return. She offered him a scrap of leather that had been carefully scrapped and he saw, recently cleaned, nodding in thanks to the leopard he set about gently tying it around where he'd applied the salve. "You should probably have Halo look at it in the morning." He said as he double checked his tie job, unable to keep the uncertainty from his voice. He was pretty sure he hadn't done anything to hurt it but he was almost certain he hadn't done nearly enough, but this was as much as he knew right now. He looked up nervously at his father once more, unsure what he thought of the whole affair.

Crux & Riya

Art by Twonahalfer