Dandelion Wishes
It was early in the day, and her father was out doing whatever alphas did. She had been wandering the willows for a while, occasionally coming to sit and stare over the border. She had gone past the borders once when she was younger, and though she was still quite young, she was a little bigger then she had been. She liked to think wiser too, but if wisdom meant thinking she could sneak out to take a quick peek in the neighboring lands and returning before anyone noticed she was gone, then yes. Perhaps she was wise. Or perhaps she would be foolish. She hadn't quite differentiated the two just yet. This time though, she would be much more careful. She wouldn't go into any more dark caves that she could get lost in, oh no. She had noticed her father was slower than usual, and she wanted to do something to help. Problem was, most of the herbs her mother had ended up turning useless with the cold, and Fawn didn't know how to preserve or store them to keep them safe. Her mother had constantly been in and out of her young life, more out then in...and though she had wanted to learn how to be a healer from her mother, she felt that she couldn't count on her.
So Fawn had set about learning herself, often spying on the two old women healers that lived in Lirim. She had never approached either of them directly, but she liked to watch them when they collected herbs. She wasn't sure what exactly she was looking for or what she would find, however, so she was pretty much going in blind. She snuck across the borders when the coast was clear and high tailed it over into the next territory over. When she arrived, her eyes went wide with the things she saw. Bits of metal shone on the ground, rusty old things that she couldn't put a name to. Giant machines sat partially buried, old and forgotten to time. While she was fascinated and wanted to explore, she knew she had to hurry up and get back to the pack lands before anyone noticed. Reluctantly, she tore her gaze away from the fascinating objects she found and set about looking for something that she recognized. She wandered around for a good few minutes, but she couldn't find anything.
The clock was ticking, and though she had only been here for a few minutes, she couldn't stay much longer. Sooner or later she was sure her dad or someone would come across her trail, assuming anyone was doing a border patrol on that side today...hurrying her pace, she started to look harder in an effort to find something, anything to bring home. As the sun steadily rose higher in the sky, she was about ready to give up and go back home empty-handed. She started to tear up as she turned around to begin her journey back home, but then something bright and yellow caught her eye! "Huh?" There, underneath a rusted metal thing, she spotted a few golden dandelions growing out of the soil. They were small but still useful! She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and when she realized what she had found, she bounded over as quick as she could. She breathed a sigh of relief as she inspected them, realizing that these must be one of the first signs that Spring would soon be upon them. With a wag of her tail, she set about carefully digging them up.
Her petite paws made it incredibly easy for her to carefully dig the precious plants. She wanted the whole thing. Roots, leaves, stalk, flower...no doubt one or all of these parts could be used to help with her dad's slow-moving body. She remembered him mentioning that winter was hard on him, and she had learned by spying on some of the others that dandelion helped old people move faster...or something like that. There were three of these dandelions, so she carefully dug up all of them. Once she was finished digging them up, she searched around for something to carry them in so she didn't accidentally smash them with her teeth. She would have to run back to Lirim after these, and hopefully make it back inside and to the den before anyone noticed. She found an old dirty cloth nearby, grabbed it, and placed the dandelions in it. Grabbing all sides of the cloth, she glanced around to make sure all was clear, and she started to race back to Lirim. She was excited that she had managed to find something worth the trip. Or at least, something she thought was worth the trip. She would try to make something that would help ease her fathers joint pain, and hopefully, help him enough so that he wasn't moving like a snail! |