Haezel was lost. She had no idea why she was here and was at a loss at what to do next. Had one of the mothers been around to witness her antics over the last couple of weeks no doubt she would have been chastised for faithlessness. But what was a first year like herself to do? She knew enough to get by but she was quite literally blind and alone. No one in her position, no matter how talented, would ever be loosed on the wilds like this. She had no support system to fall back on when things were quiet and she was purposeless. All that she could surmise from this was that she was meant to find her own way. That she could handle. It was the loneliness that was hard. Haezel had never been alone like this before. It was strange to have neither peers nor mentors, and she didn't even want to think too long about the loss of her companion who had been like a second shadow since her birthday.

Though she didn't want to think about it, it was the companion that ultimately motivated Haezel to take her current course of actions. At her paws was a small fire over which slowly blackened a hollow turtle shell. Inside it was a hodge podge of fragrant things. Some of them were unpleasant, some of them were not, and together they were a vaguely unpleasant medicinal smelling soup. If answers weren't being offered than she was going to get them herself.

Haezel lay down beside the fire and took a deep breath. Her eyes were closed - they had been from the start - and her expression was serene as she thought the divination words she knew by heart. One way or another she was getting answers. She needed clarity, she needed purpose, and she needed a companion. As the smoke settled over her Haezel began to hum a wordless tune. She breathed deep and narrowed her focus down to her desires. Clarity, purpose, companion. Clarity, purpose, companion.

His quest for a witch to lift his curse had thus far turned up nothing. Well, he'd found some so-called witches, here and there. Rumors and the like. But none of them had been able to help him, and one had tartly told him that he may as well get used to being blind because it wasn't fixable. He refused to believe that. No, he just had to trust to luck, to the Fallen God, and to his malinois companions who were doing the searching for him. He'd find someone who was willing and able to undo the curse.

He'd left the pack lands that day to travel to another witch-woman Kida had found rumor of, the two malinois at either side of him to guide his paws, but he had not gone far - certainly not far enough to have reached this rumored witch - when an odd smell, almost medicinal in a disgusting way, made him stop and wrinkle his nose, sneezing to try to clear it from his nose. Beside him, Cypher muttered a quick yuck as Kida tried to steer them around.... whatever the source of the smell was. But Eligos paused, turning towards the scent through some instinctive prompting he could not ignore. The scent of woodsmoke, and wolf mixed with the odd herbal scent, and he stepped towards it, leaving the startled malinois behind as he paced up to the source of the scent.

He stopped when the slight heat told him he was getting too near the small source of flame, and he fought the urge to swing his head back and forth in a futile search for the wolf he scented. Instead he held himself still, only his ears and nose working to pinpoint the location. "Good evening," he said gravely, though he wasn't certain what time of day it was. "May I join you at your fire?" He had no idea why he should, except that something told him he should, and he chose to obey that instinct.

Hazel stopped humming as the sound of an approach reached her ears. She remained serene and completely at ease as the sounds untangled and became distinctly the pawsteps of three. Why worry? Had she not asked for something unspecified? The shape the answer took was completely outside of her control - not that she would have had the nerve to ask for specific things anyway. It was safe to assume that she knew nothing in the grand scheme of things so why narrow down her requests and risk the ripples of a poor choice?

The smoke swirled around her, filling her nose with the herbs' overwhelming scent and making sorting out the details of the strangers impossible. Hazel could tell neither their shape nor their species, nor anything else relevant other than that they each walked on four feet and were material enough to crunch leaves and send branches swaying. That didn't rule out the ethereal but it certainly made it feel less likely. Her companion, maybe, multiplied? She had asked for three things and three things were approaching.

She listened quietly, patiently, as the steps drew nearer. At last they stopped somewhere on the other side of her fire if Hazel had her guess. A heavy masculine voice reached her ears and instantly Hazel was overcome by a feeling of certainty. This was meant to be. She knew it in her bones. Of course she could only guess as to why, but she knew in her heart of hearts that the reason would be revealed in due time. "Evening, sir," she murmured back, the hush of the forest demanding nothing short of an intimate, reverent tone. "Do what you will; the choice is yours, but if you sit, when you rise you will not be the same." Synergy was a powerful thing. No matter how great or how small their interaction in some way they would both walk away different.

Kida and Cypher came crowding up brhind him, complain8ng softly to one another and to him about the unexpected change in plans and the creepy woman and the icky smell of the herbs and how shouldn't they be going now? Eligos ignored them. The woman's words certainly didn't give comfort to the young dogs, who went silent forna ling, uncomfortable moment before hissing desperately at him that they should go, she was creepy, this was weird, and someone was already waiting for them. Her words put the hair up along Eligos' spine like a jolt of electricity, but he settled himself firmly and seated himself, his head now pointed unerringly at the voice. "I thank you for your invitation," he said to her, ignoring the increasingly desperate whispers at his back. "I am called Eligos Abraxas. I come seeking knowledge of a cursebreaker. You seem to be a woman who knows much. Perhaps you might know of such a wolf? I would offer a wolf like that a bargain." His words were cautious, though he kept his voice a low, calm rumble. He knew nothing of this woman behind the fire, nor what had prompted him here and to speak so freely but he was willing to be guided by his holy progenitor in this.

Hazel could make out the whispers of the two subordinates just enough to get the gist of their feelings though the exact words escaped her. She found no amusement or any real feeling at all in the revelation that they, whoever they were, were uneasy.  It was just a simple noting of their discomfort and a vague wondering about what role they might play in whatever was unfolding here. The one who was not afraid, who made himself comfortable before her fire, he had to be the catalyst, didn't he? At any rate he of all three had the strongest hold on her attention.

He gave his name and in alarm she echoed, "Eligos?" before falling speechless. If he'd had the bulk of her attention before he now claimed all of it. Even the smell of the fire faded away as her mind reeled at the possibilities. That was the name of a Duke of Hell. But his words and his mission were worldly, surely this was not the demon, but a namesake? It had to be though she couldn't fathom why a mother might give her child such a name. Hazel lifted a paw, the bell at her wrist jingling softly, and brushed it down her chest in an effort to settle herself. Calmer, she introduced herself, "I am Temperance."

Still a bit unsettled, Hazel was slow to address his need for a cursebreaker. "I know of such things, but breaking curses is no small feat and it always requires more of the asker than payment." She lifted one of her paws and deliberately jingled one of her bells to clear the air of the word 'curses' lest wandering foul spirits latch onto the ill intend and ride it back to her. "So before you commit to anything you must ask yourself if you are willing to sacrifice something precious."

Though he couldn't see her face to know her expression, the woman seemed surprised as she echoed his name back to him, and he stilled, listening closely to her. She seemed to recognize his name - not his surname, his given name, something that was rare for him even as an alpha. And she was surprised by it, so she didn't recognize him by sight.

Her words reached interested ears, as she spoke of knowing of curses - the sound of a bell suddenly being jingled made Cypher jump - and how he would need to be willing to give up something more precious than payment to break the curse. He touched the necklace at his chest... the payment Pyrrhic had sacrificed for him to pay her. And he would give it to her, but he thought too that she might have something more in mind than that. A personal sacrifice, something beyond payment. He held his stillness a moment longer in contemplation before he spoke. "Without my sight," he said softly, "I cannot protect my family or my pack. I cannot lead them if I cannot protect them, but I will not ask my brother to sacrifice any more. He has given enough. I must do this." He slipped the necklace from around his neck and carefully slid it to her, leaving his paw atop it. "This was given to me by my brother. I give it as a gift to you now if you would be willing to help me, Temperance, but I swear by the Fallen God that I will sacrifice whatever I need to in order to break this and regain my sight. Nothing in me is more important than protecting my family."

He lifted his paw off the necklace, brought it back to tuck under him and he breathed, serene in the depth of his acceptance.

Upon hearing the reason behind the stranger's request Hazel very nearly made the same mistake sighted wolves made with her all the time: she almost nodded her understanding. Had the ambiance not been so serious she would have been tempted to laugh at the irony. Instead she caught herself just as her chin started to rise. "A noble request." She heard what she assumed was the necklace being slid towards her and made note of its location, but didn't take it just yet. "I will do what I can, but you must know that the powers that will move on my behalf are outside my control. I will intercede on your behalf and how they move or what they take - if they take - is between you and them." She had no idea what they might take from the man or when - only that there was a price for magic. Today, tomorrow, years from now, someday they would collect.

"Let' see..." Hazel reached out and found the necklace. She lifted it in her paw and focused on the weight of the pendant in her mind's eye. After a beat she set it back down. It hadn't been in the man's possession long enough, she decided, for her to be able to use it. That was alright; though it would have helped with her focus it was ultimately unnecessary. Hazel reached into the bag at her side and rummaged around until she felt the familiar spongy edges of an herb bundle. She pulled it free and carefully dropped it into the turtle shell. The heat caused the thin fiber holding the bundle together to curl and then pop; the tightly wound herbs appearing to blossom for a second before they too began to curl and wither. A fresh wave of spice filled the air around them. Hazel waved the smoke towards herself once, twice, and then towards Eligos. A calm settled over her and she felt the world around her broaden as the veil thinned.

Hazel frowned as she took in her surroundings. There was a tangible darkness nearby that unsettled her. "The witch that cursed you was powerful. I see what she did." She ignored the dark shape and ill feelings that threatened to throw her off and focused on Eligos and his desire to protect his family. "But it can be undone. Close your eyes, sir." She took a deep breath and addressed the blockage that was cutting off his sight. "Release." Another deep, calm breath. "And depart." Hazel began to stir clean ashes from her last fire in a small bowl at her paws. "Release and depart." Small amount of various unpleasant substances were added to the bowl at her paws. She hadn't brought much with her from home so this was sure to deplete her stores, but something about the man made her feel it was necessary.

Once a paste was created Hazel stretched out a paw and smeared a thick line of it down one of Eli's eyes. Once dry the ashy substance would act as a seal - one he would have to break when the time came. "Release..." She aimed to do the same to the other eye. "And depart." Three times the command needed to be said to set things in motion so with the third Hazel relaxed visibly. Knowing it was caught the foul darkness began to writhe. Quietly Hazel began to rub clean ash into Eligos' fur. His forelegs, his face, his chest were brushed with careful paws. His back and shoulders were liberally dusted. The curse on him was foul so it was take a heavy cleansing to get him back to normal.

Finally, to Eligos, she said, "I've done what I can, Eligos, the rest is in your paws. In order for the spell to work you must do exactly as I say. Seven days you must wear the seals. Each day when the sun rises you will dust yourself in the ashes of an oak fire and each night when it sets you will wash in a pure spring. You will eat nothing and drink only water and oak tea made from the spring. You will avoid contamination of all kinds. You will touch nothing dead, argue with no one, and share no intimacy. On the seventh day at sunset you will wash the seals from your eyes."

With her work done Hazel stepped back and sank into a seated position. She felt at peace with her work and the swirling of the world around her had slowed with her final words. This had been a costly transaction and she noted, absently, that some of the things she had used to counter the other witch's spell were likely not to be found again. Some bloods and bones were harder to come by than others. In the future it would not be so easy for her to do such things, but that was alright. She would work the acquisition of the ingredients into the deal itself. He would likely never know it but Eligos had gotten off easy.

Eligos' fur prickled, rising of its own accord in an atavistic mix of reference and fear. While he had ways acknowledge the Fallen God and the existence of other gods and spirits, he was too logical and rational a creature to ever have truly felt comfortable in mucking around with the world of the spirits, and now he was coming face to face with that world - while blind and all but helpless to boot. "I understand," he said somewhat hoarsely. "I will not hold you responsible for what They choose."

The renewed scent of herbs wafted from the coals. Eligos' nose twitched, and he had to fight down the urge to sneeze for a moment, before he relaxed. He felt oddly apart from himself, dispassionately observing the whole thing from a distance despite the fact that he could not see anything as the witch spoke. He closed his eyes when she asked, and lay quiescent as she spoke again. Her way of speaking, the pauses and deep breaths were strangely compelling, and he found himself taking deep breaths when she did, and relaxing further.

He felt himself shudder when she smeared some odd smelling and odd feeling past over his eye, then his other eye but remained still and distantly watchful as he obeyed her earlier command and kept his eyes closed. She rubbed ash into his fur, and he kept his position docilely.

She spoke directly to him again and he lifted his oddly heavy head to regard her with closed eyes, filing away her instructions. He felt a fewther's brush of fear that it seemed so complicated, so easy to foul up, but the thought didn't even cross his normally skeptical mind that she might be pulling the wool over his eyes. He had given himself over to complete faith in her, for he had felt that inner prompting from the Fallen God and knew He wouldn't have led him astray. "I will not fail," he said aloud, his voice barely above a murmur. He rose slowly to his feet, feeling oddly weary. His body wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep, and to protest his insistence on moving the world felt like it was slowly spinning and bucking around him for a moment. Despite the dizziness, he turned his muzzle in the witch's direction. "If this works... if They give me back my sight..." Words failed him. "I cannot repay you enough for your assistance." His low tone had a note of reverence and awe that might have surprised many who had met the quiet, reserved alpha and known him only as a calculating, logical warrior. But this.... this nurtured that long neglected spiritual side that most Abraxas had been taught from birth to believe.