Morwenna was enthralled with the hustle and bustle of the busy market. Her slender form weaved in and out among the crowd, toward a space where she had made arrangements with Bas and Oleander to lead a lesson for anyone interested.

The afternoon was brisk in the winter cold but the warmth of the cavern market was delightful and not too warm to cause sleepy students.

She called out in her sing-song, chiming voice into the throng as loudly as she could muster,
"Gather Gather! Today I'll be teaching a lesson in the healing arts! If anyone would like to learn more about complications in birth or pregnancy, and some herbal contraceptives, I'm your gal! Starting in a few minutes!" She was eager to answer anyone's questions on the topic. She sat to wait for her students to gather around her.

Bas had made arrangements for an experienced healer to come by the market and share her knowledge. He had helped her pick out some of the herbs she would be needing for the lesson and was surprised when she introduced him to a few new ones he didn't know about.

As he escorted her to the market around the mountain he spent several moments picking her brain over the topic she would be teaching them about.

When she called out, he was the first to sit and wait among them. He had not had very many opportunities to learn this part of the healing arts, and he was eager to complete his knowledge as quickly as possible.

"Speech"

Although she still felt her skin prickle just a tiny bit every time she left Avalon, Finch knew it was time to branch out. She had turned over every rock and patch of moss, examined every fungi and catalogued each herb that could be found within its territories. She hungered for more. The rest of her siblings were happily taking excursions across Boreas, so why shouldn't she? Why couldn't she? The pale female had spent the morning psyching herself up before cutting north through the plains, skirting the edge of the Battlefield until she made her way to the Armada's famous market. Things were always happening here! At the very least, she could inspect what wares others had on offer. Maybe scope out some exotic plants.

As luck would have it, as soon as she found herself surrounded by the crowds and a little bit lost, an announcement caught her ear: Today I'll be teaching a lesson in the healing arts! Uhh, okay! Hello, fate! Finnie pricked her ears and followed the sound of the voice, pulling up beside a willowy male who seemed around her same age. Finch suddenly found herself tongue-tied and dipped her head in a silent, awkward greeting. She aimed her gaze towards the teacher leading the class, her tail striking a quick tempo that belied her excitement. What luck to visit the market today!

Wylan hurried to the Market, his crammed healer's bag in disarray with herbs scattering in the wind every time he ran. He was late, late! He frantically stopped to cram a few run away items back into the bag and continued his quick trott. Almost there. He slipped into the market, and then into one of the adjacent rooms that the older healer had booked for her lesson.


He took a seat, keeping his wings folded in so he didn't take up too much room. There was the teacher, Ollie had already arrived - and another wolf that he recognised from the Hallows event were all in the room already. He gave the teacher a sheepish, apologetic smile.

The young Oleander sat expectantly, and they were soon joined by a young female of similar age. Morwenna glanced at them both happily and waited another moment before she began.

"It's nice to see-" She couldn't help but smile as a dark boy with wings came in. She thought someone else was supposed to come to this! Glad he showed up!

"Welcome! It's nice to see such wonderful faces!" She began again with a swish of waterfall tail. "I'm Morwenna. I specialize in births, pregnancy, newborn care, contraceptives, and sexual health. Today I'll be talking about the potential complications of a birth, and if we have time I can also go over some contraceptive herbs with y'all!" She might have picked up half an accent from her travels and time with the Raiders. She sat down getting serious.

"Now, tell me, what kind of things do you think could go wrong during a birth?" She asked the gathering.

Oleander glanced at the stranger cordially and dipped his head in return. He had a goal in mind and couldn't get distracted, though...The girl was rather... Cute though, he had to admit. Focus! Wait where was Wyl?

Oh! Awesome! Oleander's tail started wagging in happy greeting as his brother joined them and Morwenna introduced herself. This teacher had an interesting specialty, he wondered if a lot of healers had different specialties or if she was just a one-off.

She posed her question.
Uhhh.... Wasn't that why she was here? He gave her a blank look and then looked at the others to see if they had any ideas. Birth was natural, wasn't it? The babies came out and it was fine! Oh wait, right, he did know of one instance but he didn't want to kill the vibe of the class right off the bat.

"Speech!"

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Finch's eyes widened a touch as Wylan careened in and the lesson began. She recognized him from the bonfire and immediately felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She had never seen a wolf with a mutation like his and had practically tripped over her own tongue asking questions. Of course it would come back to bite her. The lanky white male had merely dipped his head in greeting, which felt... better. It was brief and impersonal, allowing her to settle back in to her own skin. But she did feel his gaze linger on her for just a moment. Oh no, do I have a burr stuck behind my ear?

Morwenna's words brought her back to reality. What kind of things do you think could go wrong during a birth? Finnie's eyes widened briefly but she tried to stuff down the edge of nervousness. If she was going to be the sort of healer she wanted to be, she wouldn't balk at anything. Open wounds, splintered bones... sex stuff. No, no! More clinical than that. Reproductive health! Yeah. That sounded better. "Too many things to count," she said softly, her voice lacking its usual boldness. This was unfamiliar territory in more ways than one - she was in a strange land, flanked by two males. But she had her knowledge to fall back on. "Mothers can become fatigued during birth and lack the stamina to go on... pups can become stuck in the birth canal... directly after birth, milk supply may not be sufficient for the entire litter..." she began to rattle off, her voice growing in confidence as she went. Finch stopped short when she realized she was dominating the conversation and quieted down to let the others have a chance to speak.

Wylan beamed a grin at the teacher as she acknowledged him. No one was upset at his late arrival, and he quietly caught his breath. Returning Ollie's silent greeting, and nodding his head at Finch. Right, the lesson was beginning.


Oh, good question. He considered his answers, but Finch was quick to cover a lot of variables. He stuck his tongue out at her in a friendly tease and cracked his brain for something to add. “Pups can come early or late and that can be a danger if your not prepared for that variable.” His tail picked up behind him, Eager to be able contribute something.

Speech // thought // Serbian

She was delighted with both of her students and smiled at Ollie as he looked lost.
"Well done you two! Yes, though if a litter comes late it's more often the case of not knowing the conception date, or the mother is too stressed to labor safely. If the mother is too fatigued it's not always an immediate cause for concern, healthy births have come in stages. It can be just fine if a mother takes a break from laboring after delivering a partial litter. She can get up, get food and drink, relieve herself if need be and her body will continue her labor up to 3 hours later. If she's an attentive mother and doesn't seem too alarmed that's a good sign things are progressing fine even up to 6 hours. If she does start to seem alarmed or stressed during delivery after a few hours that is a sign to intervene."

She swished her tail as she adjusted her pose, "I won't go over them today, but there are herbs to support the production of breast milk like fenugreek, blessed thistle, milk thistle, fennel, and goats rue. Some herbs can ease the birthing process like a pup stuck in the canal, or passing a pup that's larger than normal. Those herbs are wild yam, passion flower, yarrow, raspberry leaf, and..." She thought for a moment, her purple irises glancing at the cavern ceiling and her paw coming under her chin, She was sure she was missing one or two in there... "Perhaps valerian? No Valerian would sap most of her pushing power and have her muscles relax too much." She nodded as she mused aloud to her students. She brought her attention back to the class with a woosh of her tail to the other hip.

"What are the signs a mother is in distress?" She asked.

Oleander nodded in agreement with the others, they had great points! He leaned in carefully trying to catch the woman's every word and take to heart every herb she listed off, some of them he didn't know about. He was surprised to hear that valerian would hinder the birth instead of help it, he would have thought its muscle relaxing properties could be essential to the process.

She posed her question and he was eager to try for an answer this time, "Oh! Pale gums!" He said, his white tail wagging back and forth as he looked at the other students to see what they could come up with.

"Speech"

The warm beam of Morwenna's compliment made Finch blush, almost as much as Wylan cheekily sticking her tongue out at her. She could tell it was a joke, but it made her feel strange and prickly at the same time. The white female shot him a shy smile, too nervous to return any kind of louder gesture. His input was good! Judging by his bulging bag of herbs, he was a quick study as well. Finch liked him immediately. Ollie, on the other hand, reminded her much of herself. Finch nodded along as Morwenna mentioned various useful herbs, trying to commit them to memory. She wasn't sure when something like this might come in handy. Although she was still dwarfed between the two Fatalis boys, Finch felt herself slowly relax. Just in time to catch Morwenna's next question!

"Oh, uneven breathing! Or inability to catch their breath. Unfocused eyes..." she drifted off, running out of ideas. There had to be other signs. Finch couldn't come up with anything else, but she nodded vigorously along with Ollie's suggestion of pale gums. "That's a good one," she whispered.