First round ends July 25th
Healers are mandatory
Others may join in, but please, try to keep the thread going for at least four posts so those wishing to get points for Healing can collect them.

Kavdaya Of The Nomads

So, it was time to call the pack for another healing lesson and discussion. Kavdaya had noticed all the herbs already thriving with the early onset of Spring, and she’d gone and gathered a few fresh ones. She was returning now, hurrying so that hopefully, she could show those interested the herbs to be learned today before their dried and stored state. She doubted they’d not be limp as a fresh corpse, though. No matter. The snowy healer had done her best to mask the scent of her cycle before she called the others, but she knew that sooner or later the smell would escape. It wasn’t something she could help, but she doubted anyone would really care all that much. Likely some of the other women were in their season as well. She’d already noticed that Solveiga’s scent had shifted to that musky calling card. She planted her hips at the center of the widened area just outside the Adravendi-Celestial den, where the ravine opened its base to leave a prime loafing place for injured or slightly ill wolves, and the perfect arena for pups to gambol and play under the watchful eyes of a healer or the Archangel himself. Granted, it seemed the children were too adventurous to keep to this place to play, but at least this was as close to the center of the main territory as you could get. Setting her finds upon the soft loam, she tipped her head back, calling out for the healers, and the pack in general, inviting them all to come and learn give their input, and enjoy the closeness of the pack. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Zuriel was quick to answer Kavdaya's call when she heard the lead healer's howl. She was in her alcove at the moment anyway, sorting through a few of her herbs and deciding what she should take with her on her journey. She wasn't sure how she was going to transport them just yet, but she was sure that it would be helpful to take a few of them along none of the less. Whatever was left she would just add to Kavdaya's store so at least they would not go to waste while she was gone. She still had to talk to her mother. That was one bridge she hadn't crossed yet. But she was going to go, she was determined. This was what she needed. She needed a moment away from the pack, away from the ranks, the stresses, all of that. She padded out into the sunlight and blinked her two-toned eyes till they adjusted and she spotted the pale healer a short distance away in the clearing outside of their ravine. She made her way over to the older female, giving her a small, friendly smile as she settled on her haunches near her. "Hello, Kavdaya. It's good to see you." She paused for a moment and decided she should take advantage of the time while they waited for more wolves to arrive. "I should probably let you know that I'm going to be leaving Celestial for a little while very soon. I'm not sure when I'll be back yet, but I want to take some time to explore on my own. I've already talked to Regulus about it. I'm going to move what herbs I have into your store once I'm done sorting through them if that's alright." "Talk" "You" Think

-::-

He’d just finished his full circuit of the territories Celestial encompassed when the distant call reached his ears. He didn’t want to miss this healing lesson, so it was understandable that when he finally skidded to a halt outside the ravine, his was breathing harder than usual. He trotted quickly down the ravine, tail wagging, until he reached Zuriel’s side, nudging her shoulder with his head before he took a seat beside her, looking around as he did… Now, where the hell was everyone? “Give me a moment…” He offered to the two women before he retreated to the end of the ravine, tossing back his head and uttering an imperious howl to the pack. Healers were mandatory, but he wanted the rest of the pack to at least attempt at sitting in and offering their ideas if they had any. And it had been far too quiet recently for his liking. He’d need to call a meeting before Zuriel left. As he returned to his sister’s side, he grinned at the two healers. “Hopefully that helps a bit.” He tipped his head to his sister, adding, “If you can wait a few more days, I’d like to call a pack meeting to share some news and such with the rest.”

Ever since they'd discussed it Creed had kept a careful ear out just in case Kavdaya actually called that healer meeting. He still thought he'd suck at he subject, but since he was getting older eventually physical activities would be out of the question. Even if he did age gracefully, he could imagine arthritis would eventually set in. If it didn't then there would just be the lack of energy to deal with. If he could pick up a thing or two about healing he could foresee him being useful in his older days so it was definitely best to get started now. Much to his own happiness, a call came from the snowy coated healer and Creed decided to cut his patrol of the borders short. Everything was quiet lately so he doubted that would change any time soon. So he took off at an easy lope towards the direction of the call. To his surprise a second call soon followed and Creed easily recognized it as Regulus'. Seemed the Archangel would be attending as well. At least he wouldn't be the only male there. He seemed to have arrived at a good time. Other than Kavdaya, only Regulus and Zuriel had arrived. Hopefully Regulus' call would round up any of the few stragglers that would attend. He was aware there were a couple more wolves that could attend, and then there was always the pups. Would any of them take after their parents? He smiled softly towards Kavdaya, and then offered Regulus and Zuriel a friendly tail wave before he took a seat closer to the Master Healer to eagerly wait for her lesson to begin. Walk, "Talk" Think

Spring had come back around, which meant that Solveiga was a whole three years old now. Which also meant that she was going through heat. She stayed near her private alcove more during this time, especially today because she was feeling a little funny. But when she heard the call go up signaling for all healers to come to a lesson along with any other interested pack members, the little woman sighed a bit and roused herself from the family den, stretching a little in the fresh air. She just hoped her musky scent wouldn't be too obvious. She trotted off, her tail tucked more than usual, and soon enough she found where everyone had gathered. As Solveiga approached she saw Regulus moving toward the edge of the ravine to throw up another more authoritative call, and she nearly stumbled. The usually graceful young woman looked down, peeking up under her lashes only after Regulus turned to join the little gathering of wolves again and Solveiga did the same, staying a safe distance from him. The funny feeling she was experiencing today was stronger around him, and she was not so naive that she did not know what it all meant. It would be wise to keep a safe distance to avoid saying or doing anything that might embarrass her. Boy, was it hard being a woman. Trying to shake all the distracting matters away, Solveiga turned her baby blue eyes to the snowy woman who had called the meeting. She seemed fine, considering it was her season as well. Maybe it got easier with age. "Nice to see you, Kavdaya," she said softly, nodding first to her and then to the others who had gathered. She recognized all of their scents and knew Zuriel by description, but had not yet met her in person and knew next to nothing of the older male who arrived around the same time as her. "I'm Solveiga, for those of you who didn't know," she said with a bit of a shy smile. "I'm one of the newer members, so I'm still meeting everyone. Forgive me." "Talk" "You" Think

Hmm, a healer meeting. First Kadaya had called and then a short while later as had Regulus. The brute rose, knowing that it would be wise to show up for the meeting despite not being a healer himself. It could never hurt to learn how to treat some wounds in the manner of first aid in case a healer couldn’t get to you right away. So the pale man left his patrol to go join the others, finding a handful of wolves already gathered. Regulus and Creed were there, as well as the healers of course. Castiel offered a gentle smile to them all before he took a seat, golden gaze shifting to the lovely lady in charge. “Try not to move too fast for me, Kavdaya. I’m not as bright with herbs as you healers are.” He let out a soft chuckle, feeling in good spirits.

Rasiel Adravendi

Rasiel wasn’t sure what to think when she heard Kavaya and then her brother call for the pack. What were they going to learn about; herbs? The child wasn’t entirely sure of learning about healing. She wanted to fight! She wanted to be able to defend her family from the potential dangers that could lurk outside their borders. Rassie breathed in, practically wiggling as she started off in the direction of the two howls. Even if she wasn’t entirely focused on healing it couldn’t hurt to learn a little bit, right? Besides it could be useful! The child grinned to herself, picking up her pace. Naturally Regulus was there having given one of the calls. Rasiel immediately slide up next to her big brother, gaze shifting towards her sister too. Maybe this could be fun! “So we’re going to learn about healing and stuff today? Is it good for fighters to know how to heal Reg?” Her gaze shifted to Kavadaya, attention immediately becoming divided. Her mind was already strong at work. “Why are there so many different plants in the world? Are they all useful?” She sat down, curling her tail around her paws. She wanted to learn something! Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Round Ends August 10th

Kavdaya Of The Nomads

The first to arrive was Zuriel. Kavdaya smiled at the monochrome woman as she came out of the den into the ravine, joining her in the wide section. “It’s always good to see you, too.” She answered cheerfully, then inclined her head slightly to listen to Zuriel’s explanation. She’d guessed something along the lines of this. “You’re truer to your mother’s bloodline than you’d guess; Your great, great Grandmother was the Leader of my pack, the Nomads. They travelled all the time, looking for herbs to learn, and cures for illnesses.” She grinned at Zuriel, pausing as Regulus arrived. As he looked around, she could see the mild disappointment, before he asked for a moment and retreated back down the ravine. Kavdaya turned back to Zuriel, answering easily, “And that will be fine. Do you want to see if we can cobble together something that you can carry what you want to keep with you?” Regulus’ howl rang out at the end of the ravine, more commanding than her own call, and she chuckled slightly as he returned and offered his hope that it would help. She had no problem understanding that he meant he hoped it would help attendance. “Thank you, Regulus.” She turned her attention to the Crimson male as he turned to ask his sister if she could wait long enough for a pack meeting. Well, they certainly could use one; pups had been born, Zuriel was leaving, and they had a new member; not to mention the bad news that would need passed, such as the low activity.. Her attention shifted to movement down the ravine, and she offered Creed a brilliant smile as he arrived and sat nearby. “Glad you could come, Creed.” And yes, it did please her immensely that he’d decided to come after all. And she supposed it was the fault of her heat that the warm fuzzy feeling in her belly blossomed so eagerly, but she was distracted as Solveiga arrived. She didn’t miss the way the young female seemed to be avoiding looking at the Crimson Archangel, or how her tail was tucked and she reeked of herbs, and she offered a soft grin to the girl as she introduced herself to the wolves gathered. “I’m glad to see you participating, Solveiga. And you are more than welcome to share any ideas you think of with us. Rest assured we won’t find any of them unappreciated.” Castiel arrived next, and the snowy healer smiled lightly at the male; he’d come to the first meeting, and while he had remained silent, she had appreciated his attendance. “As long as you learn just enough to help you in an emergency.” She offered cheerfully, before young Rasiel arrived, questions already firing as soon as she sat beside Regulus. The first question directed halfway to Kavdaya, Kav had often wondered herself; why did so many plants grow? However, the second she could answer more definitely. “Plants can be like wolves, and other creatures; some are very good, and very useful, and some are bad, and can hurt you. This is why we need to learn how to identify the right ones. The bad ones are often poisonous – they can make you very sick – and aren’t useful. I can take you out gathering on one of your lessons, and show you a few.” She smiled easily at the pup, then to the rest of the group. “Thank you for coming to today’s lesson. A couple of you were at the last Healer’s Meeting, and I’m especially glad you could come to this one as well. To those of you who haven’t attended before; these meetings and lessons are a good chance to share any ideas you have for how to transport the weak, injured, or ill more easily, how to make medications more palatable, etc. I also want to show you a few plants, teach you the uses and precautions, and how to find and gather them.” She nodded at the line-up of different plants before her paws, set where they could be seen by all. “I went out and gathered a few things for this lesson; Yarrow, Coltsfoot, Peppermint, Marshmallow, Agrimony, Marigold, Woundwart, and Horsetail.” She indicated each plant as she spoke their names, then smiled at the group, tail flicking to curl about her hips. “We’ll get to these in a moment; first, any ideas on how to make collecting herbs more easy, or how to transport those injured or too ill to walk? Last session, Zuriel voiced a wonderful idea for stretching things between two saplings… But maybe one of you can take it further; how would we get them to work without falling apart?” She fell silent, allowing the rest to offer their ideas or suggestions if they had any. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Two more arrived after Solveiga, and she smiled warmly at the questions that immediately began to tumble from the young girl. She looked similar to the boy Solveiga had met a few days back, the one named Laisrén. This must be his sister. She was just as full of energy as he had been, and the sand colored woman loved that. Pups always made her feel happy, as if their enthusiasm rubbed off onto her. Kavdaya answered the last question the girl had asked, telling her that some plants were good and useful, while others were not. Some were harmful, even deadly, making identification very important. Solveiga nodded a bit and looked at the young girl, hoping she took such words to heart. Then she turned her full attention to Kavdaya. There had apparently been one healing lesson already, which had been held before Solveiga joined. That was alright; she could always request a private lesson with Kavdaya to cover anything she might have missed. She really did want to learn as much as possible. The master healer said that ideas would be welcomed in regards to transporting the sick or injured, and also making medication more palatable. The sand colored woman called to mind a few tricks her own mother had used, and shyly cleared her throat before speaking. "I had a couple ideas on that, Kavdaya," she said, trying to make her voice as loud and clear as possible, but it was hard. Her voice was naturally soft, and she didn't have much experience speaking in front of a whole group like this. But she looked into the sapphire eyes of the healer and pretended that she was holding a one on one conversation with her. That helped to calm her nerves a bit, and she managed to speak without faltering or otherwise embarrassing herself. "I've always thought that it helps to have a bit of honey in your stock," she said. "As we all know, some medications can be very bitter, and slathering them in a bit of honey helps with the taste. And it goes down better, too, because of the tendency of the honey to stick to itself and hold everything together. The patient will be less likely to drop parts of the medication from their mouth, which especially helps if they are so ill or injured that they have to be treated lying down." She paused for a moment, wondering if she was rambling too much. But she did have a bit of knowledge to share, so why hold it back? "But because honey can be hard to gather, I've also found that tucking herbs inside of meat can help mask the taste. Especially more potent meats, like fish and venison. That method also helps a lot with younger patients," Solveiga added, giving a friendly wink to the young girl in attendance. Surely she would understand. No one liked to take medicine for a fever or upset stomach if the herbs themselves tasted awful. After this, Solveiga fell quiet again. She smiled a bit as Kavdaya identified each plant in front of her. Fortunately she recognized most of them already. But she made a point to study and memorize the ones she didn't, namely coltsfoot and agrimony. Then, ideas were requested again. Zuriel had come up with the idea of transporting patients on a carrying device made of materials stretched between two saplings, and Solveiga looked at Zuriel with a bit of admiration. It was a indeed a good idea. But how to make it more durable? "I don't know if... anyone has a good idea of what could be stretched between the saplings," Solveiga said. Maybe a twine of some kind, if it could be found? Some kind of sturdy grass? "but I do know that twisting or braiding the material could help make it a lot stronger." The small healer had to admit that she was proud of herself for speaking out so much. It felt nice to contribute to the discussion. She looked to Kavdaya to see what she thought of the idea. "Would this device need two wolves, though?" she asked softly, picturing the device in her head. Would it need someone on either side to lift and carry it? Solveiga certainly hoped so; she knew there was no way she could handle the weight of another wolf on her own. "Talk" "You" Think

After Creed arrived another showed up, the new girl that he'd smelled around, and a handful of others. Castiel and one of Surreal's children had also arrived and he smiled at them all. He wondered briefly if anyone else was showing up, but it didn't seem like it. Oh well. This was a bigger turn out than he'd been expecting. He could only imagine how excited Kavdaya would be by it. The fact there were so many healers, and more willing to learn, was a good thing. Kavdaya greeted him and he smiled warmly at her. "Ah told ye Ah'd come. Glad Ah could make it." He said to her before wrapping his tail around his haunch. Kav soon began and he'd listen to her intently. He knew healing wasn't his strong suit so he'd pay extra attention to detail so he wouldn't miss anything. She brought out a few plants and introduced them and his eyes flicked to them to memorize every detail about them. Once he felt confident enough that he'd at least somewhat remember their looks and smells he'd look back up at Kavdaya as she pelted a question at them. After Solveiga had spoken her bit he mused about it for a moment before answering. "Deer hide would be good ta stretch between some sticks." He'd say. "It could be tied off an' then use Solveiga's honey idea ta glue it together. Could use a strip of deer hide ta tie to it so it can be dragged by more than one wolf." Walk, "Talk" Think

Zuriel's brows lifted with interest when she listed to Kavdaya explanation of how she seemed to be following the lead of her ancestors after she had described why she would be leaving. Zuriel enjoyed history and stories anyway and now that she knew about this new bit of information she was interested to know more. However, her brother appeared next to her, nudging her side, and broke her train of thought. She grinned at him and watched him move past them down the ravine. Her two-toned gaze focused in on Kavdaya once again when she asked about putting something together for her to carry the herbs in. Zuriel smiled graciously and nodded in agreement. "Yes, that would be very helpful." She was glad that Kavdaya was taking her leaving so well. So far her and Regulus both had been nothing but supportive about it. She just hoped that her mother and father would be as well. She tipped her head up to look at Regulus when he came back and spoke to her about a meeting and she nodded to him, giving him a grin. "I'm sure I can keep myself busy here a few days longer. A few more wolves would trickle in then, including Creed, Castiel, and one of the newer wolves she wasn't as familiar with. Luckily the sand-colored wolf introduced herself and Zuriel sent a small smile in her direction. One of her youngest siblings appeared, already bursting at the seams with questions. She chuckled softly as she watched the young girl babble on with questions, grinning a little at her. She remembered when she had been that overly curious. She didn't think she had ever been quite so talkative, but perhaps her parents would disagree. Kavdaya began to speak soon after, answering a few of Rasiel's questions before she began the lesson in earnest. Zuriel's eyes went to the herbs the lead healer had brought with her as she began naming them. They were all herbs Zuriel was aware of, but some she was more familiar with than others. She knew there was always learning to be done and she was glad to be learning some more of these herb's uses before she set out. Kavdaya posed the same question that she had at their last gathering about how to transport ill wolves and Zuriel lifted her gaze to gaze curiously at the wolves that had gathered. She was curious to see what they would think of that she hadn't. Zuriel's head tipped thoughtfully when Solveiga mentioned twisting and braiding the material to make it tougher. Creed's suggestion of the deer hide got her thinking as well and then she spoke up, saying, "Perhaps if we had a strip of the deer hide long enough to twist around both sides of the structure and then have it come across the front it would be easier for one wolf to pull it. That way if only one healer was around or only one wolf could get away from the fight to get the injured one to safety they could." She used her paw to draw what she was envisioning in the dirt in front of her, drawing a rectangle with a loop coming off of two of the corners on one of the shorter sides, forming a design similar to that of a chariot. "Maybe we could braid that piece as well to made it stronger and a little easier on the mouth of the wolf that's pulling it as well." "Talk" "You" Think

The man gave a small nod as the healer spoke, his golden eyes sparkling. Yes, he could certainly learn that much. His gaze even shifted to young Rasiel, the curious little one from his sister’s newest litter. The man listened to Kavdaya speak first, thinking on what might be easier to move patients or transport herbs. Solveiga, a newer member of their pack, spoke up next, offering her own insight on how to administer certain medicines easier. He glanced at Rassie again. Certainly seemed like a good method for little ones who might not care for the bitter taste of herbs! Or even older ones, he thought, a smile coming to his face. As the other wolves suggested ideas for how to bind things between saplings Cas furrowed his brow. “How on earth could we tie it though...?” They’d need the help of another creature, wouldn’t they? Something with little hands... hmm... "Speak"

Rasiel Adravendi

So there were different kinds of plants, just like the different kinds of creatures that walked the earth. Those good and bad... It actually caught Rassie’s attention and made her more curious about the types of plants that could be found. Her gaze shifted to the plants that Kavdaya had already brought with her, wondering about their names and uses. If the healer had them then they were all most likely for good purposes, right? The child edged closer to the plants, sniffing at one of them curiously; peppermint. It smelled nice, and Rasiel shivered a bit with delight, glancing up as first another healer and then her uncle started to talk. She wasn’t really too sure what to say for the moment, her little mind working as she tried to imagine the possibilities her uncle and Solveiga suggested. The other ideas the adults had sounds strange too... And when her uncle spoke up she frowned. Would it be too hard for even healers to do that? “What if it wasn’t tied... But maybe..” She looked around. “Sticky stuff! From the trees? Could that be used to keep things together?” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think