Chrysanthos made his way slowly to the dancefloor. It was one of the few places in the west where he could possibly find herbs but that window was closing by the day. The west was warm and arid most of the time but with winter closing in and the sun light blurred by the clouds of ash and smoke it was colder than usual. Any more he'd have to rely on gathering bark and roots if he wanted anything fresh. The stress and despair wrought by the volcano's eruption made a vacancy noticeable in his herb stores. He'd gathered a little valerian root but he didn't think he'd need a lot of it however after the disaster many wolves, himself included, were having trouble sleeping. He wake up in a cold sweat, swearing he could feel the earth shaking again, certain his den was about to collapse. Some nights he was tempted to sleep outside but the chill winter night's made that risky.

Chrys flinched and looked back at hind left leg. There was a good gash just below the knee that he hadn't tended to yet. He knew he should but he was so focused on what he was doing he hadn't bothered. While exploring the lands close to the veteran's plateau a sudden tremor had caught him off guard. He'd slipped and cut his leg on a piece of metal. At first the wound didn't seem so bad. It hadn't even hurt but as he'd walked on it on his way back to the west it had opened and was now red and angry and when he moved some times the little clots of blood would break loose. He told himself he'd tend to it but he hadn't, perhaps out of embarrassment and shame. It was a stupid injury and here he was trying to keep the stores as full as possible. Winter was just starting and he hated to waste the herbs because of his own dumb mistake. It was silly but what could he do. So he kept on his way, promising to take care of the injury after he found some more valerian and he was certain he was close. He could smell the plant nearby and soon he saw something that looked promising. Most of the plants were missing their leaves making them even harder to identify.

she had momentarily been separated from Jupiter. Unable to find her master, Niamh wandered where the dancefloor was. The last spot she had seen him… at the Valhalla festival. Once the ground began to shake and the lava burst through the distant volcano, everyone was in a panic. She got shoved around more times than she could count, but she stubbornly refused to leave. The blue body of the Legion wolf was nowhere to be found, no matter how much she looked. Fearing the worst unrealistically, the young woman continued to pace. She bit back a shuddering sigh, wondering what she’d do now that she had no where else to go. Could she find Fracture? Could she find anyone belonging to Winterfell?

She didn’t know where Winterfell was exactly. Only that it was north, and very far away. Her thoughts turned to the Hjarrandi who had kept her as an item to be bid; would they be in the same place? She wasn’t a very good navigator; she got lost a lot. But it was her only chance. Find someone from Legion, or Winterfell, and latch onto them until she found someone she knew. Her coughing was getting worse though. She had inhaled a lot of soot and ash from her travels with Legion away from danger. They had been in a very bad location, and they had the sense to leave quickly. But in the process, she had gotten lost. Now, as she looked desperately for a sign of life, she began to quietly hack.

But all wasn’t lost. She spotted the mundane form of a wolf ahead of her. Quickening her pace, Niamh went toward them. She could smell the injury before she saw it, thanks to Alarr’s training. Concern laced her otherwise dull face and as she drew nearer, she could plainly see the way the other wolf was walking. Painfully. The albino stopped in front of the man, trying not to block his path but her sympathy was still very high. She was sensitive to the suffering of others. She could not see his face, but she only guessed he was having difficulty with his leg. And because she could not see his facial features, Niamh didn’t know he was looking for herbs. She coughed, this time a stuttering and loud one, and she flushed out of embarrassment.

[ooc; 785/1500]

Chrysanthos continued his search for valerian root and finally he found it, or at least what he thought was it. It was difficult to tell for sure now that winter had turned everything brown and frail but he would know almost as soon as he dug the plant up whether or not it was what he was looking for. He started heading toward the plant when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A young albino woman was trotting along near to him and suddenly she coughed. It was a wet, loud cough and it wasn't surprising to him. She must've escaped like so many others from the volcano and inhaled some of the ash. Chrys himself had just gotten over a cough that had shaken his lungs for nearly a week. Not to mention his nose had been running frequently since the eruption. He'd only just started to feel like he was some what back to normal.

The cough caught the attention of Bolla who peeked out of the top flap of the pack. Chrysanthos came to a stop and quickly set his pack down so that the lemur could climb out. "Hello there, my name is Chrysanthos Beaufort of Olympia. I'm a healer, might I give you something for your cough?" He had some comfrey in his pack that could help her. Since the volcanic eruption and the changing of the seasons he kept a few herbs for coughs on his person at all times.

she’d seen this man at the Valhalla festival.

It occurred to her so slowly because she had been preoccupied with his wounded leg. He introduced himself as Chrysanthos Beaufort, but the name and surname meant little to her. The man launched right into asking to give her something for her cough. Niamh hesitated visibly, backing away a bit with her ears flat against her head. Mother had always told her to never take from strangers, but it was more about dwindling his supplies over stranger danger. She was too naïve to think the man would give her something bad. it was concern he’d waste his supplies on her, a useless nobody. But then, her mind strangely worked in a mysterious way. She once more eyed his cut leg, giving a nod and gesturing to it as she walked in an arch around him. a pale, dainty paw even raised itself to point.

”Mmm” she uttered uselessly, her gaze turning worried as she stared at him. if he wanted to work on her cough, she could help with his leg. Alarr had taught her lamb’s ear was good for that but… she had no lamb’s ear. She wasn’t as prepared as Chrysanthos and she didn’t know many herbs. Marigold would be useless. Niamh eyed his pack, smiling brightly as the lemur wandered out of it. she loved companions. They were always so cute, trailing after their friends… one day, she’d have one too. maybe. If Jupiter allowed it. hopefully, Chrysanthos could read as she scribbled her answer down. ”yes, but… I can dress wound?” she didn’t want the Olympian man to continue being hurt. She did, however, know about horsetail. Mother had used it on her cuts and bruises.

And luckily for Chrysanthos, she spotted some past his field of vision. Walking to it, she’d begun to carefully dig one stock of it out. It was very brittle and brown, but it would work. Taking it in her jaws, she’d walk back to the man. Leaving some of the stock for the rest of the wolves in this land, Niamh hoped it was enough to save the plant.

[ooc; 1392/1500]

She recoiled and one of his ears flicked back. Perhaps he had been a bit eager but then he was anxious to help those in need since the disaster and while that mainly applied to his pack he hated to see a young wolf struggling when he could help. The woman gestured to his leg and pointed at it, mumbling something he couldn't quite catch and he cocked his head to the side. "Oh, I uh, haven't quite gotten to that yet…" he said, suddenly embarrassed. He really needed to take better care of himself, it didn't reflect well on his skills as a healer. The woman started to write in the dirt and at first Chrys couldn't make it out but as he tilted his head he started to recognize some of the scribblings. They were different than the language used in Olympia but close enough that he could make it out. "Oh! I see, I'll treat your cough in exchange for you tending my leg. Sure, that seems fair." The woman went off to gather supplies and Chrysanthos set his pack down as Bolla wandered out carrying the comfrey decoction with her.

Chrysanthos stuck his head in the pack and pulled out a small ceramic bowl. Bolla uncorked the bottle containing the decoction and poured it out into a bowl. Chrys leaned down to sniff it to make sure it was still good. He was trying several different methods of preserving herbs for the winter since he knew they'd be scarce, even more so since the volcanic eruption. The most obvious was to dry them and make them into tisanes. He'd also tried drying herbs that could later be revived with water or saliva to make poultices. His most recent experiment was decoctions. In this case he boiled crushed comfrey root with water and was keeping it in a jar. He was not sure how long it would keep but in the cold weather he felt he should be able to keep it for at least a few weeks. He supposed if that didn't work he could try making it into a tincture with some of Bolla's wine. The alcohol might help preserve the mixture longer.

The woman returned and Chrysanthos laid down almost sphynx like except he rotated his hips to the side so he was resting on top of his right hind leg. This way the wounded leg was on top and easy to access. "I've put a comfrey decoction into the bowl. If you drink it it should help with the cough. Have you had much luck preserving herbs this winter? I've been drying them to make tisanes and to reconstitute into poultices. I've also had some luck with tinctures. The decoction is new but it seems to be working so far. This helped me get over my cough after I inhaled ash from the volcano. I uh… I don't believe I caught your name?" He felt a bit embarrassed again, rambling on without even knowing the woman's name.

She was a new healer, and very inexperienced dealing with things that she didn’t know. As Chrysanthos launched into his herb talk, she tried to focus entirely on his leg. He had moved into a position she could get at it, and copying what Alarr had taught her, she used a rock to separate the horsetail. Her delicate brows furrowed in thought as she first made the mistake of crushing it too big, then had to repeat her attempt. In the end, she succeeded and that’s what mattered. Before she sprinkled it on the leg, she checked to see if he had any fragments in the wound. Niamh even licked it gently to feel for any abnormalities. It had been a relatively clean cut, so she applied the horsetail promptly. But that was all she knew to do for him. the silica in it would do its course naturally.

”Niamh” she wrote down on the earth after he asked her name. her frown deepened as she wrote more. She might as well be honest with Chrysanthos. ”am novice healer” and she might as well say ‘slave’ too but she didn’t consider herself one. She may be an owned woman, but Jupiter treated her like she was useful. And for as long as he continued to do so, Niamh would remain with him without fuss. But she also knew by now not to say that; for others reacted badly to the idea. She gave him a smile before finally drinking deep of the comfrey mixture. Her throat felt a bit better after hacking and coughing; it was soothing to drink. ”thank you.” she wrote down once more. Considerably quieter than the man, she was just happy enough to have someone to talk with her.

The woman soaked in the information he shared with her, causing her eyes to widen. Healing really was a lot of work, and sometimes she wasn’t sure if she could do it but she’d try her best. As if looking for praise, she’d tilt her head and look at the wound on his leg. ”Did I do it properly?” with their meager supplies, Niamh tried not to waste the herbs available. Should she add more? There was plenty of horsetail a few steps away.

[ooc; 1500/1500]

Chrysanthos tried not to jump as the woman licked the wound. He wanted to be a good patient as well as a good healer but he needed a bit of practice on the former. Usually he was pretty lucky in managing to stay out of harms way. Once she was finished applying horsetail to bind the wounds she introduced herself as Niamh, a novice healer. "Thank you for tending to my leg, Niamh." He hoped he'd pronounced her name right. She drank down the comfrey and thanked him and he smiled and dipped his head.

She tilted her head toward his leg and asked if she'd done it properly. Chrysanthos propped himself up a bit further, bringing the leg forward to look the leg over. He turned to her and smiled. "Yes, I think you did a very good job. I'll rest here while it dries." Once the herb dried a bit more it would bind to wound enough that he felt he could walk without letting the woman's good work go to waste. "Are you having much luck with your herb stores this winter?"

Niamh jumped back as he jumped, still not used to the idea of patients. she wondered if she had hurt him, looking at the man with a worried gaze. but as he lay still again, she moved to apply the poultice best she could. he thanked her for her time, causing her fluffy tail to wag energetically in response. it was the first time she had ever been thanked for something she had done herself. a bright smile appeared on her face as she looked back up at him. "first winter here" she scratched on the floor to Chrysanthos "no place to settle to store either" Jupiter kept them moving in his little caravan, opting to sell and sell more. she thought maybe her master would slow down when winter came though, but she didn't expect him to. every day was busy and also kept her occupied. "am... loner. no pack. no home." though she belonged to Jupiter, she had not been formally introduced to Legion. she did not exactly belong there. "Speech"