Ever since she'd encountered Luta on the shores of Daager Isle she had been trying to grow her pathetically limited knowledge of herbs and healing. She'd never encountered such creativity when it came to the healing arts. Although embarrassed to reflect on it, she had thought of it as a quick and dirty means to an end. Theo hadn't realized that it could be an artform of its own. After completing a thorough patrol of the pack lands she'd taken a long walk to clear her head. Most of the leaves had changed and fallen. There was a chill to the air that hadn't been there just a few weeks ago. Redbud Nook had almost recovered from the eruption, but the trees and ground were barren. Leaves had fallen and gathered in plush piles as directed by the breeze. There was a particular sound that accompanied her steps as she waded through autumn's detritus, a swish, swish that followed her as she went. Theory breathed in deep, enjoying the heady scent of moss and decay. The wind was strong today - it whistled through the empty trees beneath a clear but grey sky. Theo set her nose to the ground and trotted along, lost in her thoughts before she caught the scent of something strange. Her brow furrowed and she followed the lead to a deep pile of leaves. Blood, but she couldn't identify the animal it was from. Worrying was written on her face as she dug through the leaves to unearth a small black monkey-looking thing. Its eyes were screwed up tightly with pain. "Oh, you poor thing," she murmured. Theory nosed it carefully until it turned over, crying out softly. There was a severe kink in its tail, so much so that she could see the bone protruding. What would Luta do? She tried to think on her feet but it was more difficult than she'd imagined. Well, she could splint it, but would that even help? Could it heal in the state that it was in? Or should she just... cut the loss? If only she could ask the little thing, but it was weak and unresponsive. Even the best healers needed a second opinion! She was at a complete loss. Taking a deep breath, she set about gathering the supplies needed to splint it. Even if she didn't wind up using them at least they'd be within reach. "theory speaks!"

Tyrian was weaving through the skinny trees of the Nook with nary a care in the world. It was a great day. He'd found a herd of bighorn sheep and spent the better part of a day watching them and trying to get a sense for their habits. Now he was headed home. There was still a lot of information gathering to do but eventually one day he would like to make an attempt to catch some of them.

Upon hearing a cry he paused and cocked his head to consider it. It was followed by a voice. Tyrian couldn't quite make out the words but he could tell the speaker was a woman and it was that fact that made him curious. Of course he had to investigate.

Rounding a thick stand of trees, his eyes quickly settled on the semi familiar form of Theory who appeared hard at work at something. He hadn't seen her since the debacle that had been Rhythm's farewell. In all honesty he had some reservation about this niece, but he was certainly eager to speak with her again under less trying circumstances. "Theory? Is everything alright?"

At the sound of a voice she lifted her head, unable to wipe the worried expression completely off of her face. Oh, Tyrian! Theory gave him a tight smile and a brisk wag of recognition from her short tail. "Tyrian! Good to see you. Rhythm is doing well," she said, all in a rush. Her mind was still with the injured creature. "Still working with clay... spending time with our little ones, who are no longer very little at all." Was she babbling? She was babbling. Theo shook her head back and forth to try and clear her mind. "Anyway, I've just come across this..." It wasn't really a monkey, was it? Something about the nose and face were different. "Come here, I'll show you." Backtracking towards the brush pile where she'd found the lemur, Theo gestured towards it. "What do you think? I've been gathering things to splint it, but it's really not in good shape. Should I just... y'know..." Bite it off? The tail was long and looked like it would have been fluffy if it wasn't matted and spattered with blood. Luckily the break was quite close to the tip, about four inches from the end of its tail. She could staunch the bleeding easily enough if they both agreed that was the best case scenario, but she couldn't bring herself to make the call without a second opinion. Once it was decided she'd clear her mind more thoroughly and tell him the news of the raid. She wasn't sure which pack would be targeted next - he might appreciate the warning, even if it came to nothing. "theory speaks!"

He was glad to hear Rhythm was doing well. That she was working with clay and had babies to play with was news to him, but it was good she had a hobby and munchkins to keep her busy. He knew how much she loved kids. She'd been a great auntie to him. Was a great auntie - he had to remind himself that she may have been gone from Fireside but she was still around. He'd have to visit soon. Catch up with her. So much had happened since they'd said good-bye. "Good to see you too. I'm glad Rhythm's well. It sounds like she's settled in nicely," he said diplomatically.

His brows knit together as she motioned him over. Of course he stepped closer, his neck reaching out as he tried to see what had her flustered without getting too close. "Oh," he breathed in understanding. That was not quite the coiled snake he'd pictured. Thankfully. "I...I don't know, honestly." Tyrian glanced at Theory. "You don't think a splint will work?" This really wasn't his forte. If it were up to him he'd just lop it off, but that's because he didn't know how to handle it any other way.

Tyrian glanced around in search of Tashi, his langur companion. Spying his long tail hanging from a nearby tree, he called, "Tashi, come look at this, please. I'd like your opinion." Tashi wasn't a healer either, but he'd spent enough time among the sheep and horses that he had to have taken care of an injury or two himself. He'd also had to do more than his share of euthanizing so with something like that under his belt he had to have a pretty good idea of what could be saved and what could not.

Tashi swung from the tree and lazily padded over, a line of smoke trailing behind him. "She's trying to decide what needs to be done with this guy's tail." Once at the lemur's side he removed the pipe from his mouth, leaned in close and swept a critical eye over the wound. "Gotta ask yourself this: how much work you want to put into it? Because that's what it would come down to if it were me. Gonna be a tough fix if you go that route, but not impossible."

She was no stranger to hard work. Theory frowned at the black furred lemur beneath her. Would he be a cooperative patient? There wasn't really much that she could ask in his current state. Gnawing on her lower lip with an upper fang, she mulled again over her options. She even glanced back at her own tail. It was hard to imagine waking up without part of it when she didn't really much have one to speak of to begin with. Smiling wryly, she turned to Tyrian: "Hard to know how emotionally attached you can be to a tail without one to speak of." Well, that cinched it. She'd do her best to save his little broken tail and if it came down to it, they could make the decision to lop it off together. Everything deserved at least an attempt. Theory sniffed around until she managed to come by some crushed up lavender leaves that had been trod over by many other animals. They were kind of... gross, but they might help in a pinch. She collected what she could and did her best to offer them to the black lemur. "Maybe he'll feel up to talking once he wakes up. Thank you for the second opinion," she said to Tashi, dipping her head in appreciation. Theo sighed and settled down a few yards away from the "patient" to give him some space and gestured for Tyrian to join her. "Did you hear about the raid?" she asked, unable to keep a small (teensy, little) bit of excitement from her voice. Although she wasn't sure she'd count Tyrian as a friend just yet, they were still family. Kind of. And that was important to her. Plus, he was a fellow alpha. It felt good to be able to "talk shop." "theory speaks!"

His niece's quip about the tail pulled a soft, entertained snort from Tyrian. One side of his mouth lifted in an amused smirk. "Then on behalf of tailed creatures everywhere, let me say, he'll probably miss it." Even if it was just the end. Some primates used their tails to grip things and to get around. He didn't know if this one did and he also didn't know how big of a loss a small section of tail would be. Would it be like losing a toe? A couple of toes? He couldn't make a one to one comparison between the monkey's tail and any body part of his so it was hard to know what the creature would be losing.

The young king's gaze slid to his demure companion as Theory thanked Tashi for his second opinion. He knew exactly how this was going to go down. Tashi, 100% garbage at accepting thanks, simply shrugged his narrow gray shoulders and took his pipe out of his mouth long enough to murmur, "If there's one thing I'm full of it's opinions. May as well put them to good use every now and then." Not seeing a need for any more of his opinions, the langur ambled a short distance away, seated himself and began to rummage around in his tobacco pouch - clearly intending to pay the wolves no more attention.

Tyrian followed Theory quietly and settled down when she did. He lay on his belly with his forelegs crossed and if the two wolves stayed talking long enough he was sure to kick out at least one back leg and make himself even more comfortable on the plush forest floor. "Raid?" Now she had Tyrian's undivided attention. "What raid?" Surely Abaven of all places hadn't gone out and raided someone. That was just silly.

She liked that she could make him laugh. Rhyme's stiffness with his extended family made her determined to forge some kind of relationship with Tyrian and his pack. Theory liked to try and "fix" things, even if they weren't really broken to begin with. Her father's strained relationships were the result of a long chain of cause-and-effect. Theo knew she couldn't mend his personal relationships... so maybe she'd try and forge new ones of her own. Besides, inter-pack relationships were important. Shaye had stressed it in her lessons before she'd passed. They were all part of a closed ecosystem. Some might be devoured while others simply withered away, but she was determined to lead Abaven on towards a comfortable place in the food chain. Their warriors were strong but it always helped to know someone far from home was watching out for you, even if that just meant trading idle gossip on the forest floor. Oh, so he hadn't heard! This would be good. Theory tried to wipe the grin from her face and mostly succeeded. "Winterfell sent an emissary last season to invite me to an unplanned and non-negotiable "training session." Acere bid away his pack's services as mercenaries at a Hjarrandi slave market - all for the sake of one wolf, whom he immediately imprisoned. Apparently he was the beau of one of the pack wolves. I'm not sure if Acere meant to punish them or what - but, anyway, the Hjarrandi forced his hand. He has to raid on their behalf and Abaven was the first target," it all came out in one deluge. She watched his expression carefully to register any changes. "We came out victorious. I think he underestimated us. Well, mostly me." Theory wanted badly to be chummy and bump shoulders and say something witty like us young alphas gotta stick together, right? but instead she waited with bated breath to see how Tyrian would react to the steamy hot tip she was handing him. "theory speaks!"

Tyrian's expression sobered and grew critical as Theory explained what had happened. "That's all a bunch of shit if you ask me." Who did that? He expected nothing less from the Hjarrandi; they'd made their position quite clear from the beginning and he couldn't really fault them, could he, for being exactly what they advertised themselves to be. Winterfell, though? They advertised themselves as noble and friendly, but their actions said otherwise. It was the duplicity that bothered Tyrian about this situation. "Doesn't sound like Winterfell's hand was forced, either. I mean if you sell yourself as a mercenary you expect to be used as a mercenary, no? They knew what they were getting into; don't let them off easy saying their hand was forced. They knew."

He rolled his eyes and made a face as though he wished to wash his hands of speaking about Winterfell's duplicity. "I'm happy to hear you won, though. That's the kind of slap in the face they all deserve in my opinion." It pleased him to know Hjarrandi got nothing (for no reason other than his own amusement) from the deal and that Winterfell had been spanked and sent home empty-handed. It's just what they deserved for being dumb enough to trade something so big and valuable for what, one man? Even the yearling Tyrian, brand spanking new king that he was, knew it was a garbage deal. "Hjarrandi tried to raid us too a couple seasons ago. We beat 'em back, though. Didn't lose a damn thing." Tyrian was quite pleased with that too. It hadn't happened during his reign, but he hoped it elevated the pack enough to make it less of a target in the future. Not that he minded being raided. In his opinion it just gave them a chance to showcase their skill.