Harmony stretched carefully, working the knots and aches out of her body as the sun rose over the pack lands. She had been busy since she'd returned to Abaven lands, and the den that Starling had helped her enlarge was fully stocked with herbs, and she had been collecting and preserving the hides of various small mammals, and the feathers of birds to line the interior so it was quite pleasantly warm with her body in there to heat it. Without that little extra warmth at night, she might have not been able to get around at all in the morning. She had barely survived last winter, alone and barely able to hunt for herself, so she was more grateful than ever that Bass had allowed her to return to his pack. She felt so... frail, during the long dark winter, and depression constantly brushed at her like the fluttering wings of dark butterflies. It made it difficult to want to leave her den at all, but she knew that finding herself something to do would distract her from the... emptiness, the numb feeling of depression. Surely others were struggling with the winter season, whether from anxiety or depression or plain boredom. It would be a good time to distract them all from their woes by stuffing their heads with new information. She chuckled softly to herself, the warm sound a contrast to the chilly air around her. She couldn't do much to distract the more physically-inclined wolves in the pack - she would leave that to someone else, though she would not exclude anyone who wanted to learn. She wished she could bring the pack on a hunt, or teach a youngling the art of catching rabbits and mice in the winter for the fun of it. Well, she still had her knowledge, tucked away safely in a mind still sharp despite her body's frailty. She needed to use what she had, not lament what she had lost. Carefully laying out skins outside the den's entrance - some for sitting on, some to protect delicate dried plants from collecting moisture that would ruin them - she arranged them around in a circular pattern with a deerskin in the center upon which she carefully laid out herbs that experience told her would be most useful in the winter. Perhaps the younger wolves would not feel the need to rest out of the snow, but she certainly did, and she sought to make everyone as comfortable as possible. It was nearly noon to judge by the cool, watery sun high above when she was satisfied with her work, so she curled herself upon a warm layer of rabbit skins, and lifted her head to call out an invitation to anyone who wished to learn from her, or to share healing knowledge of their own. She did not make it a demand, simply an invitation - they could appear or not of their own accord. ""

OOC: I'll continue this is a week from today so if you want your wolf to participate and points towards a healing skill please pop them in before then so they don't miss anything!

The snow was great, but the herbs were slim. Sparrow snuffed around with her nose tucked in the snow. One forepaw was lifted, occasionally sweeping away at the icy ground. When the call rang through the lands, Sparrow's ears perked. After a second, she pulled her snow covered snout from the ground, licking her nose. She found the direction of the howl and took off.

"Aunt Harmony!" Sparrow called to her beloved aunt and healer supreme. She aimed to nuzzle her cheeks, "What's been up? Nothing much for me, actually... I've kind of been... uhh... busy." The girl didn't know how to explain to her aunt her inner thoughts and turmoils on the pack, so she just pulled away and smiled, "It's been so snowy out... I haven't been able to find any herbs at all."

Kassander was miserably unhappy in Abaven. Away from his pack, away from everyone he'd ever known, and useless. He'd been under the impression that Abaven had a lack of healers and he'd be needed to train them - but immediately after his arrival an Abaven healer had called a training meeting of his own, and it wasn't long after that Abaven had gone to war with another pack Kassander wasn't familiar with and, knowing that Katja would not have approved of his getting involved in Abaven's conflicts, Kassander had remained behind. Useless, off balance, and depressed. It was only Rommel, and the drugs Kassander was still furtively using, that kept him from going under entirely. Svetlana was in Fiori - Kassander had spoken with the alpha there, so very briefly. Yet she'd never sought him out, knowing he was there... His heart ached, and he'd never felt so alone in his life. Either the alpha had never told her that he was there... or she knew and chose not to see him. He had never gone to Fiori, in the seasons he'd been here, because... he didn't want to find out which it was. Svetlana had walked away from him more than once, it was only too easy to imagine that she'd done it again, and it crushed him. He'd bided his time in Abaven, quiet, aloof, and utterly alone but for Rommel, spending his time collecting herbs to leave anonymously for the Abaven healers, and hunting small game to leave equally anonymously at the dens of sleeping wolves. He didn't want to interact with them, for them to stare at him with mocking eyes and judge him for being unneeded and unwanted, but he'd still given his word to Bass that he'd stay in Abaven and help them. It was winter now, and time to return to Yfir, but he'd hesitated... still hoping Svetlana would seek him out. But nothing. It was the call of another healer, an Abaven healer, that drew him out of his funk enough to acknowledge to himself that it was a hopeless cause. He would do his duty, attend this meeting and learn what he could, teach what he could, but as soon as it was over he was going to go find Bass and tell him. He was leaving - he was going to go home. The auburn-pelted healer trudged beside his constant companion, ears flicking with surprise when he came upon the origin of the call. There was hardly anyone there, even though he had been slow to attend. Just a wizened older female and a bouncy, fluffy kid. Not a kid, he amended, his nose twitching at the faint stirrings of heat-scent in the younger healer. She didn't seem to really notice - did she know yet? He noticed. He dropped his gaze, embarrassed, but moved forward. The older healer had created an interesting setup, soft furs spread out for them to rest on, and he seated himself gratefully, Rommel taking another comfortable seat nearby to observe. Kassander kept his gaze firmly on the ground in front of his own white paws, just waiting for this to end so he could search out Bass. ""

Curiosity - and a distinct feeling of boredom. Regardless, it caused Lillianna to answer the call of the woman who scolded all of Abaven's yearlings. She, however, held no grudge against the healer; she was indifferent to the Destruction, not quite viewing her as a packmate. Perhaps, with this, that would change? She would arrive late, being in no hurry to arrive, and would blink in surprise at those gathered. Harmony... Sparrow... and a man who - Oh! That was... Kassander, was it? The Yfir man, the Yfir healer. Oh, she had completely forgotten about him! And she hadn't seen him since that day, either.

Eyes would be drawn from the auburn coated man to the furs spread out around Harmony, and surprise once more would flicker in her eyes. Gratitude would be shown in the near adult's eyes as she nodded her appreciation as she settled on a pelt. She would have been fine in the snow, but regardless she appreciated the gesture.

The young Destruction would come eagerly, tumbling through the woods with little more than a care in the world. He wanted to learn everything, and healing was a part of that. On long gangly legs he'd appear in a hurry, covered in snow after falling more than a couple of times on his way. No wonder he was about the very last to arrive. He'd look to each one who had gathered before he did, giving them a goofy smile as he went to sit closer to cousin Sparrow. She was nice, and he wanted very much to sit by her while they learned. Plopping himself on a skin he'd peer down at the herbs Harmony had placed out carefully. He was going to have to sit quietly, being too rambunctious would certainly earn him some disapproving looks. So with much concentration the eager boy would sit still and await what would come. "Speech"

Her niece was the first to appear, her usual exuberance seeming to be unaffected by the chill. Harmony was glad to see her determination to learn, and returned her grin with a gentle smile of her own and brushed her cheek against the girl's. "Just staying warm in my den whenever I can. I'll leave the playing in the snow for you young people," she joked, then lifted her eyes with a welcoming smile as Lilliana also appeared and took a seat. The girl wasn't a healer, but she was welcome to learn regardless - a small knowledge of healing was beneficial to anyone. The young man from Yfir had also taken a seat, fidgeting uncomfortably and meeting no one's gaze. There number was rounded out by the earthen form of one of her young relatives from Threar. She waited a while longer, but her ears drooped slightly in disappointment when no one else appeared. There were many healers in Abaven, and they could all use some training, but it did not seem there were many interested in learning from her. Starling had some training from Arian, she understood, but she would have expected him to be eager to continue his training within the pack. Shaye - as far as she knew Shaye had never trained with the pack, nor had a dedicated teacher. She certainly could have benefited from this. Shrike and Shai were both healer-fighters as well, but both were absent.

She sighed regretfully. She wasn't going to force her niece and nephews to come to the meetings she called - they were both adults now, and their lives were their own to live, and she was not any higher a rank than most of them. But she was painfully disappointed that they were not choosing to live up to their potential within the pack. Both had been born into a life of comfort and safety within the pack here. They could have accomplished so much with their lives without needing to worry about simple survival...

But she had four students now who wanted to be here, and who had come expecting her to teach them. She smiled at them all, and began. "Good morning everyone. It seems we'll have a small group today but that will just make things faster so we can cover more, right? You may have noticed that it's winter," she joked, "and a little chilly, and a little wet, and we're often in closer physical contact with each other in our dens and in general to stay warmer, all of which can lower our immune systems. As such I'd like to discuss a disease that is more prevalent at this time of year - and very dangerous." Her voice dropped into seriousness. "Pneumonia is what we call a specific series of respiratory problems generally characterized by a fever with chills, a wet cough, a struggle to breath, exhaustion, headaches, muscle pain, nausea, and also sometimes vomiting. Some strains are difficult to treat, and can be fatal. The elderly and the very young are more likely to succumb to it, but there are a few things we can do to help."

She took a deep breath and rummaged through her herbs, drawing forth a familiar bulb shape. First, she should introduce it to any that weren't familiar with it. "This is garlic. This type tends to grow in places that were once cultivated by humans, but there are also forms of wild garlic as well." She rolled it to Sparrow to examine and pass around the small group. "There are a few ways you can use this depending on what other treatments you're using with it. You could make a paste and rub it onto the chest for a couple minutes - rubbing is important as it helps to clear the fluid from the lungs - or mash it into an oil and apply it to the paw pads, or to the chest and ribcage, or the patient can ingest a small amount of it in warm water like a broth. Only a small amount, mind you, since too much of it can be harmful to our kind. Warm water is hard to come by in the winter, but I'm considering a few ways and if any of you have ideas please share." She passed a weary smile around them, questioning, and waited for them to all finish examining the garlic and discuss.

OOC: If you don't plan on replying to this round at all please let me know so my next post will go up faster. Remember that if you're doing this for skill points you need to participate in 4+ rounds.

Only one other would show up - a young male whom she'd never seen before. The girl frowned, studying him with curiosity. Why hadn't she met him? She would have to do that, most definitely. Her gaze would switch to Harmony, and the healer waited a few more moments before starting. Lillianna would be rather surprised by the small numbers; none of the healers had appeared, none that she knew, anyways, other than Sparrow. Starling wasn't here, nor Shaye; where were they? Why weren't they getting trained? Frowning, she glanced around - nope, nada, nothing. No familiar brown or blue furred forms were approaching. She knew Shaye was still learning, and Starling was a fully trained healer, but isn't there always something more to learn?

Speaking of learning - Harmony began to speak, and Lillianna's ears would prick and strain forward, giving the healer her full attention. It was a good thing she did, because the flow of information made Lillianna's eyes blink rapidly. So much information, the girl had trouble processing it all. Pneumonia...respiratory - was that breathing? she thought so - more so in winter, symptoms have coughing (what's a wet cough?), chills, headaches... exhaustion... sometimes vomiting? She knew she was forgetting some - she'd ask for clarification in a moment, because Harmony was already continuing on.

An herb was pulled forth, and Lillie leaned forward to attempt to look at it. It was passed to Sparrow, and the girl would wait patiently for it to be passed to her so she could examine it further. She could smell it already, and recalled seeing these before - but they had a purpose? Huh. Apparently rubbing it on the chest... what would that help with? The - oh! That was one of the symptoms, troubled breathing. And coughing. Now how it would help on paws she had no clue, but hey, Harmony was done talking.

"Is the rubbing it on the chest and whatnot to help troubled breathing and coughing?" she questioned, head tilting at Harmony. "And why apply it to paw pads? What does that help with?" She fell silent then, not yet wondering about the hot water - she was focused on the other things that came first.

"Speech" "Language" "Farrym"

A few others had arrived, but not many. It felt like her siblings drifted away more and more. Where were they? Why didn't she know? Why didn't they tell her? Sighing off the thought, Sparrow nodded to each wolf that joined in turn. When Harmony spoke, Sparrow listened closely. It all made sense to her and she nodded thoughtfully at different intervals. She knew you couldn't eat garlic, but that it could heal. She never liked the smell of it, but she also didn't know what exactly it healed. When Harmony passed her the plant, Sparrow stopped it with her paw, turning it over on the ground to get a better look before she batted it away to the next wolf with her paw. If she should avoid smelling it, she would. Lillianna asked a few questions and Sparrow's own head tilted. Did she really not know? It was like when you rubbed pups when they were born by licking them, just on a larger scale. Skin and paw pads and maws all could absorb medicines, but paw pads and maws were the best, obviously, because they had no fur, but again, swallowing garlic could be bad, so you would choose skin or paw pads... It seemed so simple. Sparrow looked from Lillie to Harmony, wondering if she should answer or let her aunt. Her maw opened once or twice, but she decided to keep it shut for now and let her aunt do the teaching.

Kassander listened quietly as the Abaven healer spoke, absorbing the knowledge to bring home with him. Much of it he knew, but there were many things he did not, and he didn't want to miss one of those nuggets of new information because he had tuned it out. She passed around a head of garlic, and as it came to him he rolled it curiously between his paws. This was a form of garlic he'd never seen before, having never lived in an area where it grew. He'd always used the wild garlic. This one smelled much, much more potent as he sniffed at it, and the unique shape compared to wild garlic intrigued him. It was so much bigger. Was it as hardy? Could he plant some in the north as an experiment in cultivating it closer to home, or would it perish in the cold there? "There are hot springs," he offered without thinking, then tucked his chin to his chest in embarrassment. "For the hot water? Drinking the water is supposed to be good for you anyway right?" The reddish Abaven girl had questions, and though Kass had answers he hesitated to answer. He'd already broken his silence once and public speaking was... really not comfortable for him still, despite his stint as Ebony's alpha.

Lilliana had questions, and Harmony nodded to her. She was glad the girl was comfortable asking questions rather than holding back thinking that asking questions would be taken as a sign of stupidity. Lack of knowledge was not stupidity, after all, and wolves often ran into trouble by assuming they knew enough instead of questioning the why's. "Yes, the rubbing motion itself helps to loosen any congestion in the lungs so it can be expelled, in addition to the poultice itself. The wet environment that congestion of the lungs causes encourages sickness to grow, so encouraging the body to expel it through coughing is very important. Remember that coughing by itself is not a bad thing, though it may be uncomfortable for the patient. We can ease the discomfort and sooth a non-productive cough, but a productive cough - that is, one that removes phlegm from the lungs - is going to speed healing. As for the poultice on the paw pads, the paw pads will actually absorb the garlic, providing the benefits with more efficiency than digesting it."

The reserved Yfir healer added a thoughtful suggestion about obtaining hot water. Harmony nodded in agreement with him. "The dissolved minerals in hot spring waters are good for you and I imagine they would enhance the broth nicely. Unfortunately there are not many to be found. The closest to us is quite a ways south near Fiori's southern-most territory. By the time it got here it would be quite cold if not frozen completely. I have been considering somehow containing a fire, but we would need to feed it constantly for it to survive and that isn't very feasible for a rare need, and fire is it's own danger." She shrugged - she would need to put more thought into it. But that was why she so enjoyed meeting with other healers; they all brought new ideas to the table, and discussing them often opened possibilities that had never been considered before. But before they got too sidetracked...

She freed another herb from her stores, setting the fuzzy, dried leaves before her, and adding a few clusters of dried yellow flowers. "This is mullein. Some wolves call it bunny's ear, or hag taper as well. It is used to sooth irritation from coughing and to make a cough more productive. It is an anti-inflammatory, and the flowers are anti-viral. A very good plant to keep on hand for pneumonia, or any sort of respiratory issue really." She passed the bundle gently to Lilliana this time to examine and pass around. "All parts of the plant can be used, though you should be careful when using the leaves as some wolves react badly to the soft hairs on them. The flowers are sweeter than the rest of the plant, but they only flower in their second year so the leaves are more widely available. The roots can also be used, but digging them up will kill the plant of course so I still suggest using the leaves. You should make the effort to check the effects of the leaves on all of your patients before using it, though. In a pack setting this will be easier since you will more than likely know most if not all of your patients - which means that yes, as a healer you should make the effort to meet all of your pack mates and learn all you can about them." Something she herself needed to take into account - after so long on her own it was easy to forget to do something so basic as that. She cleared her throat and continued. "As for how to administer mullein, the best way is to crush the leaves, flowers, or roots and soak them in water for the patient to drink. Again it would be better with warm water, such as setting it out in the sun in the summer to warm while the plant soaks, but any water will do as long as it sits long enough for the essence of the herb to infuse the water. In a pinch the herb can also simply be finely chewed and swallowed."

Sparrow listened closely to her aunt. She produced a fuzzy plant. Sparrow knew that one by Bunny's Ear, but it was also called Mullein or Hag Taper? The young wolf listened to the details of the plant and what it could treat and how it would be used to treat such symptoms. She didn't know some plants only flowered in their second year. That was... kind of cool! Harmony mentioned getting closer to the pack members and knowing how they reacted to herbs. Sparrow wondered how she could do that. Maybe she would be making house calls. Finally, Harmony mentioned that in a pinch it can be chewed. Sparrow nodded, it was always good to be able to just eat plants when they were really needed. As nice as it sounded to make teas, Sparrow often wondered if she would have time to treat such an ailment or if it would just be easier and as effective to administer it dried.