This was by far the farthest out from the castle she had been on her own, but for once she actually wanted to be out of the castle. Tamsyn was more or less healed - physically at least - so she didn't feel the need to constantly tend to her wounds. With the warmer weather her eagerness to hunt for herbs had only grown tenfold. To top it all off... Resin was gone. After all this time, all this waiting and heartache, Resin was gone. It hadn't ended at all the way she had expected, but it had happened and now she didn't want to be anywhere near the castle or the mourning or the sadness. She just wanted to be out and hunting for herbs and pretending that nothing happened. So far she was succeeding and Eilwen was flying close over head, keeping an eye out on the path ahead.

It was the first time she had been out with the new freedoms they had been allowed after their birthdays as well so she was curious to see what all she would be able to find within Auster. It was getting to be late afternoon so she knew she would need to be heading back soon enough, but when they found the forest of giant oak trees she just had to check and look for herbs around the trunks of the impressive trees. So far there had mostly been various types of ivy creeping across the ground and around the trunks, but she also knew that summer was just beginning. Herbs were still oh so slowly coming back so she might have to make a few trips as things continued to improve.

She came across a large, fallen log, hollowed out by time and big enough to even be considered a den. It drew her curiosity, wondering if perhaps she might find some mushrooms growing inside. She slipped into the shadows of the fallen log, blinking to adjust her eyes and creeping forward as she looked along the inside of this nature made hideaway. Her search was interrupted by a rumbling growl from the other end of the hollow log and she froze, her marbled eyes going wide and her hackles bristling. Up ahead, there was a portion of the log where the "roof" had caved in, creating a pool of sunlight between her and the darkness that hid whatever it was that she was apparently intruding on. She slowly began to back away and after a moment the face of an angry saber cat crept into view, vicious and snarling.

Fear shot through her at the sight and she continued to back away until she was clear of the entrance to the log and then turned and took off running, yelling, "Eilwen!!" She knew her raven couldn't fight a saber cat, but she could at least find help perhaps and it was the only creature she knew that was near by. She darted into the trees as the saber cat chased after her, the feline's roar making her fur stand on end as she ducked and darted around the trees, her heart hammering in her chest. At some point as she tried to make her way out of the forest her foot got tangled in a bit of ivy and she tripped, sending her sprawling across the ground with a thud, desperately trying to scramble back to her feet as the saber cat advanced on her.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Warm breeze whistled through the old forest, the whispers of the trees carried on the earth's breath. It tousled his fur gently, reminding him of the promise of warmer days to come. It was about time; this damned extended winter had hindered his ability to track his quarry with any effectiveness. But now he was on the path again. His hunt could continue...

Standing between the towering trees, the large dire brute dressed in dark brown hues almost seemed to disappear amongst the sturdy dark trunks of the oaks. His blending hazel eyes danced over a large patch of Motherwort sprouting against the base of one of the trees in particular, deft paws nimbly plucking the leaves from the stems and gathering them up into a sizable pile. He knew what excessive amounts of the herb could do to a wolf—which was exactly why he had been so hellbent on tracking it down. Now that he had a stockpile of it, he felt closer to his goals than he had in a long, long time. His lips twitched in something crossed between a sneer and a smirk while he gathered up all of the leaves he had plucked, combining it with the salvia he had foraged from a nearby ridge filled with bones. The two together would make for a very potent concoction, one he was about to stake his life on.

No sooner had he finished gathering up his bounty, Kane heard a distinctly feminine scream from somewhere nearby, nearly making him jump out of his fur. His head snapped up in an instant, ears twisting like radar dishes to try and pinpoint where the sound had come from. Then suddenly—there! The same voice screamed a name, the vocals contorted with fear. Someone was in distress. He pursed his lips, hesitating long enough to look down at the pile of herbs he had painstakingly tracked down, and heaved a sigh. If someone was in trouble and he ignored them for his own purposes...

Rolling his head with a growl of frustration, Kane launched himself to his paws and raced after the sound, leaving the herbs behind. He sprinted swiftly through the trees, leaping over fallen limbs and rushing through undergrowth. His nostrils flared as he ran, taking in the scents of the forest around him. He picked up on the smell of a female just upwind of him; that had to be her. His paws changed direction on a dime, hurrying right for her. He jumped onto a toppled tree still propped up at a diagonal with its broken trunk and ran up it, elevating himself just enough to spot the little black-furred girl on the ground while a tremendous sabertooth tiger advanced on her. He scowled; if he didn't intervene, this young wolf would be dead in a matter of moments.

He didn't even think, he just acted. Kane let out a high-pitched whistle to catch the tiger's attention, then leaped down from the tree and jumped between the girl and the predator with a vicious snarl, lips peeling back from his own saber fangs while he glowered at the tiger. The feline seemed surprised by the sudden appearance of a much larger wolf, but snarled and did not back down. "No no no, you're not getting her today," he growled, mostly talking to himself while he began to pace to keep the sidestepping tiger from making a move toward the girl. "Stay behind me, girl. No matter what happens, stay behind me." The sabertooth roared and stomped two massive paws, trying to intimidate the wolves. Kane didn't even flinch, staring the cat in its yellow eyes while growling and whistling occasionally to keep its attention on him while he strafed side to side to block the feline at every turn.

"Hey, don't you look at her! Look at me. Yeah, that's right... I got fangs too. And I bite." He snapped his jaws at the feline, showing off his own fangs that matched the cat's. The sabertooth roared again and lunged towards Kane, forcing the dire wolf to recoil a few steps back. It was getting bold, and a fight was unavoidable now. "Get back, girl! I've got the cat, you run!"

"Kane"

She fought with a vine that had gotten wrapped around one of her paws, frantically trying to undo it as Eilwen landed beside her and started picking at it as well. A chilling fear in her heart made her certain that this was it, that the saber cat was going to get to her with no one around to stop it, until she heard a whistle from up above her and her lavender and mint eyes darted up to look at the massive wolf that leaped down between her and the advancing saber cat. She blinked with surprise and shock, relief washing over her with a heavy sigh. She just nodded to him telling her to stay behind him. He certainly didn't have to tell her twice.

While the stranger kept the feline at bay, she and Eilwen managed to get her foot untangled and she got to her paws, backing away from him and the cat in question. Her ankle was sore from the force it had taken when she fell, but luckily some flexing told her that it wasn't twisted or broken. She looked at the stranger from his back as she went and hid behind one of the near by oak trees, peeking around and watching as he held the cat back, flinching when it made a charge for him. He was as big as Ulric and Sirius, but even still - she had seen the kind of cuts and bites those big cats could leave behind after the time they attacked the castle. He told her to run and she was sorely tempted to, but what if he got hurt? She couldn't just leave him! She settled for running further away, finding a different fallen log with its stump beside it, using the stump like a stool to climb on top of the log, giving herself more distance between the pair and a better vantage point to see what was going on.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Kane heard the scampering of paws trample the grass behind him and knew the girl had heeded his advice and fled. He didn't see how far she had run off, but anywhere was better than what was about to go down here. The corners of his lips curled up into a wide, fang-filled grin while he snapped back at the approaching sabertooth, chuckling under his breath when the cat snapped its jaws back at him. "Ohhh, you're feisty! Okay, kitty, let's see what you're made of!" And just like that, the fight was on. Kane danced to the side as the tiger lunged for where he had been standing, massive paws slamming into the ground. Kane snarled and leaped at the tiger, snapping his jaws into the cat's shoulder and biting down til he tasted blood. The tiger yowled in pain and recoiled back, glaring daggers at the dire wolf whose grin had now been stained red.

The tiger began a slow circling path, one that Kane mimicked to keep himself opposite the feline at all times. Both predators growled and snarled at one another, neither backing down. Kane had fought with these beasts before and was familiar with their fighting styles, but even with his knowledge, they were deadly threats. The tiger made a lunge for him again, swiping with long claws at the dire wolf who jumped out of the way, going for another bite, just like before. However, the sabertooth had learned, and as soon as Kane got close, it pivoted and brought a giant paw around to smack into his head, sending Kane sprawling to the ground. Kane grunted on impact and caught himself just in time to see the sabertooth leaping at him with jaws open to finish the fight. Twisting so he was on his back, Kane caught the pouncing feline with his hind legs right between its ribs, using the cat's own momentum to fling it backwards into a nearby tree with a solid thud.

Rolling to his paws, Kane sprung after the cat that was sprawled against the base of the tree, leaping onto its back before it could get up and biting down hard on the tiger's neck. The tiger roared in pain and began to buck like crazy to try and dislodge the wolf that was currently sinking saber fangs of its own through its flesh. Kane had just missed the tiger's jugular, and as he withdrew his teeth for another strike, the sabertooth swung up over its shoulder with a paw and snagged the wolf with sharp claws. Kane growled at the stinging pain of its talons digging into his flesh, and the tiger pulled the wolf from its body, slamming him down hard into the ground. Kane grunted and gasped for breath as a second heavy paw came straight down on his chest, nearly crushing his ribs, but instead ripping its claws straight down his torso. Kane shouted in agony, feeling the searing pain and blood, the sudden blinding pain bringing a fresh surge of adrenaline just in time to see the cat's deadly sabers coming for his throat.

Kane twisted his body again, shoving his shoulder forward to intercept the tiger's bite before it could reach his neck. He grit his teeth to silence another cry when he felt those powerful jaws sink a fang straight through muscle and flesh, then get lodged inside him. With the tiger unable to withdraw from its bite, Kane grabbed the tiger by the back of the neck with his claws, hoisting his body closer to get better aim for another bite. This time, his fangs found purchase right in the soft fleshy tissue of the cat's throat, feeling arteries and cartilage ripping beneath his teeth while he bit down hard and thrashed his head back and forth. Hot blood gushed out around his mouth, soaking him while he eviscerated the tiger's throat with savage snarls. The tiger gave choking, gurgling yowls, eventually ripping its mouth free of its dire wolf foe by breaking its own saber fang off in Kane's shoulder. With one final tug of his head backwards, Kane tore a chunk of flesh from the tiger's throat, feeling the shower of feline blood spilling down over him while the sabertooth collapsed on top of him, giving a few final spasms as it bled out and died.

Pain radiated throughout his entire body. His chest felt like it had been hit by a boulder, and the cuts down his chest and stomach burned like they were on fire. His shoulder ached the worst, and he couldn't move his right paw without feeling the fang still lodged in his muscles ripping at the skin. With a strained groan, Kane used the last of his strength to push the tiger's corpse off of him, then flopped to his side and gasped for breath. His panting brought nothing but pain, each labored breath feeling harder than the last, hearing his own heartbeat pounding at the inside of his skull. He was sure he was lying in his own blood, but how much he had lost, he couldn't be sure. His vision blurred, whether from bloodless or from his consciousness slipping away to spare him any more agony, it didn't matter. On the fringe of his vision, Kane saw the silhouette of the giant black wolf, looming by the trees, waiting for him. He flashed a bloodstained grin, staring at it and weakly shaking his head. "Not yet..." he whispered, voice raspy and weak. "Not yet..."

"Kane"

Gwynevere watched in horror as the earthen-hued stranger faced off with the saber cat, the two clashing together in a flurry of strikes and bites, at one point throwing the big cat into one of the massive trees and smelling the familiar tang of blood on the breeze as the cat's paw raked at the man's sides. She barely heard Eilwen telling her that they needed to get out of there, that they needed to get back to the castle while they had the freedom to do so, but the fight just kept getting worse and Gwyn couldn't just abandon the man that had saved her. He was clearly going to need help when the fight was over - as long as he actually made it out of the fight at all. She felt helpless as she watched the saber cat get him pinned to the ground a little panicked gasp catching in her throat as its big fangs went diving in toward the wolf's throat. But he moved in the nick of time and Gwyn watched as the cat bit deep into his shoulder instead and it allowed the man to rip at the cat's throat, killing it and eventually pushing it off of him.

There was a moment of quiet and silence following the snarling chaos, the only sound she could hear was the stranger's breathing and the sound of the breeze rustling the leaves. Suddenly she sprung into action, leaping to her paws and jumping down from her perch, racing over to his side and skidding to a halt beside him. "Oh no, oh no, oh no..." she muttered to herself as she slid her satchel off of her neck and flipped the flap open to start rummaging around in what little supplies she had, her brow creasing with thought. She glanced toward his face just to see if he was still awake, telling him, "It's okay, I've got this, it's alright," partially assuring him and partially assuring herself. The deep cuts along his torso were bleeding pretty heavily as well as the massive bite to his shoulder. She took a closer look at the wounds, her careful paws pressing around the wounds and that's when she noticed the broken off tooth in his shoulder. She grimaced at the sight, but didn't touch it yet.

What would they have around here that they could use... "Eilwen, go around to the logs and see if you can find any moss," she instructed the pale raven without looking up, hearing the flutter of wings as she took off to do just that. In the mean time Gwynevere focused on the claw marks over his ribs, pulling out the rolls of cloth she had tucked away in her bag. She unrolled a portion of them them over the wounds, pressing with her paws to apply pressure to them as they soaked away some of the access blood and allowed it a moment to begin to clot while she considered what was in her bag. There was a tiny bit of yarrow left, but if anything she would rather save that for his shoulder. She knew she wouldn't have enough horsetail to seal up all of this and there was certainly not going to be any in a place like this. Gods, he just had to be ripped to pieces right now when she had none of the supplies she needed!

Then she saw the pieces of seaweed that she had collected with that nice woman on the beach and she got an idea. She had been wanting to experiment with it, but hadn't had the chance. She didn't know if now was really the best time, but she didn't know if she had another choice. Eilwen came back right in that moment, bridging several big clumps of moss clutched between her talons and in her beak. "Perfect! Now take the seaweed from my bag and go wet it and soften it up - I think I saw a stream back that way," she said with a nod of her head. Dutifully, the raven did just that while Gwyn carefully pulled away the cloths she had been pressing to the cuts on his side. They were completely soaked through, but the cuts no longer were gushing blood and she could see the sliced flesh clearly now to be able to treat them. She quickly chewed up a bit of willow bark from her bag and got that applied to the wounds before Eilwen returned with her makeshift bandages of seaweed and she started laying the strips of slick leaves across the area to cover the open wounds and seal in the simple poultice. The seaweed wasn't going to stay on its own, but it would hopefully be enough for now and then once he was able to sit up a bit she could tie them on with her remaining cloths.

Shifting a bit to be able to focus on his shoulder better, her ears flicked uncertainly when she saw the saber cat tooth lodged in the muscle again. "I'm sorry I don't have anything for the pain," she told him, resting her paws on either side of the wound as she started making a plan for how she was going to go about this. "Just stay still as you can, okay?" She glanced to Eilwen and the raven brought over the clumps of moss, landing on the massive man's shoulder and beginning to carefully place moss in the open puncture wound that wasn't currently filled with a fang. Gwynevere added a bit of pressure to the wound with another cloth when that was done, making sure that it would stop the bleeding the way she thought and after a few moments it at least contained it well enough that she felt confident enough to move on to the worst task of it all. She carefully gripped the end of the tooth between her teeth, holding his shoulder still as she pulled it free as gently as possible, Eilwen ready and waiting to start filling the wound with moss as well. She felt it come free and she tossed the tooth to the side, adding some more moss to the gushing wound as well before reaching for the yarrow she had in her bag and quickly chewing it into a paste, adding it in with the moss as she pressed down on the wound, holding a layered up cloth over it when all the treatments she had at her disposal were applied.

She held still like that for a bit, just letting the moss do its job and putting pressure on the wounds to get the bleeding to stop. None of it would feel pleasant, she was sure of that, but now wasn't really any of the ideal things she would have done for him. She looked to his teal marked face again, asking, "Are you still with me? What's your name?" Anything to get him talking, keep him with her. Keep him awake, keep him alive, that was the goal.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Kane had been staring down the black wolf so intensely that he didn't notice the young girl come running back to him until he felt something touching and shifting his body. Every movement ached and made him grit his teeth against the pain, but at least he was still feeling it. The numbness of death hadn't taken his body yet, which meant the black wolf would stay at bay. And sure enough, it did, hovering just on his peripheral vision while he felt the girl inspecting his injuries. Kane was only half paying attention to the things she was saying, taking to someone else about finding supplies. Was there another wolf here? Oh, no, never mind, there went a white raven. Either his brain was shutting down and hallucinating or that's who she was talking to. Soft bandages were wound around the cuts on his torso, helping to stem the bleeding. Damp, cool, and wet materials were applied all over his injuries and lacerations, most of which he couldn't identify in his current state. They stung, each and every one, but that meant they were working.

Time felt like it was moving in a vacuum, minutes inching into hours when really it had only been seconds. He began to get his wits about him again, still staring at the hazy figure of the black wolf beside a distant tree, staring at him with empty black eyes. Kane stared back, unafraid, wincing every so often while the girl set to patching him up with whatever she had on hand in the summer forest. After a few long minutes, he heard her apologize for not having anything to soothe his pain. Kane just grunted in response, muttering under his breath, "Don't worry about me..." He was just grateful to be alive and that she was safe. Anything she did to help him was just a bonus for his good karma. At least, that's what he hoped, and that he wasn't actually about to just die. His ear flicked to catch her softly spoken instructions, and his paws scratched at the dirt in preparation for what was about to come.

Even though he had been expecting it, the moment the girl pulled the saber fang from his shoulder, Kane screamed in pain through clenched teeth, tearing up paws full of grass and earth. Blood poured profusely from the gaping wound until it was sealed up, the dire brute breathing hard and woozy. He blinked his eyes open—and suddenly the black wolf was gone, nowhere to be seen. A wide, triumphant grin split Kane's muzzle and he gave a weak, wheezing laugh. He had won yet again. "I'm here. I'm here," he responded, his husky voice hoarse and strained through the agonizing pain and the high of life he was riding right now. He winced and groaned while she applied pressure to the puncture wound on his shoulder, using all his self-restraint to keep from pulling away from her on reflex. She was a healer too, and she was trying to save him. He would not make her job any more difficult, nor would he allow her to fail by dying now.

She asked him his name, and earned another weak laugh from the man. "Kan... Kaneon... Kaneonuskatew," he struggled to get out, gnashing his teeth together against the fire radiating out from his shoulder. "Of the Riveeeeer-aaargh, fuck!" He tore at the earth again, leaving trenches the size of his large paws in the ground, but still trying to keep from squirming or fighting. He sucked in hard, shallow breaths to combat the pain that nearly had him blacking out, asking her simply once he got himself under control, "You... Are you hurt...?" He had to know that he hadn't gotten this badly maimed only to fail at protecting her too.

"Kane"

She appreciated the thought behind telling her not to worry about him in regards to suppressing the pain, but she also knew that was before she actually went ahead and pull the broken off tooth free. His screams of pain made her wince guiltily, but she continued on with her treatments anyway, knowing that there wasn't much option. Either she made him put up with the pain and get him patched up well enough to get him home or he would just be left to bleed out here and she certainly wasn't going to let that happen. Not after he had saved her life. Hearing his laugh, no matter if she didn't know what had caused it, did ease a bit of her worries as did his assurances that he was still with her. He was still in really rough shape, but he certainly wouldn't be dying today and that made her relax some, smiling softly as she glanced up at Eilwen who had flown up to a near by branch just to keep from putting any additional pressure on the man's shoulder.

She didn't let up on the pressure on his wound despite how his huge paws raked at the ground and the obvious pain he was in, not until she was sure that the bleeding had been stemmed. With a wound that deep and substantial getting it to stop bleeding at all with such limited resources felt like a miracle so she wasn't going to take any chances. She blinked at him when he gave her his name, a long, complicated thing that she certainly wouldn't be able to repeat back. It was followed up by a title of some sort - of the river - which she couldn't determine was what he used as a last name or if that was the name of his home land or perhaps a pack? She didn't ponder it much as her ears folded back at the cry of pain he gave again. She had to get him back to the castle, but at this point she didn't know if he'd even be able to walk and he was so big that she wasn't confident that even if he leaned on her she'd be able to get him back.

His question made her ears perk and she looked at him with a confused blink. He was asking her if she was hurt when he was like this? It made her smile softly and she replied, "No... No, I'm fine. I'm really glad you showed up when you did though... I certainly wouldn't have been fine for much longer." She thought about how certain she had been that she was going to die to that saber cat just moments before he leapt in-between them. It sent a little shiver through her and she made herself refocus on her tasks to keep herself from thinking about it. Looking at his shoulder, she carefully lifted away her paws and the cloth she had been using to absorb some of the excess blood. She breathed a relieved sigh when she saw that the solution she had come up with was holding for now and she reached into her bag to get the small amount of horsetail she had to create a sticky paste, covering the edges of the wound and the moss just to make sure nothing came lose as they worked their way back to the castle.

"I live in a pack just on the other side of the forest that direction," she said, pointing off through the trees. "Do you think you could walk that far? I can have Eilwen go get our alpha and my brother to help get you back if you need it." She wasn't giving him the option of not going back with her. She wanted to make sure she got to clean and treat his wounds properly so they wouldn't get infected. This field triage certainly wasn't going to cut it.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Just as soon as the pain from his would-be field trauma surgeon had begun, it too began to ebb away into a painful ache rather than feeling like hot knives being driven into his flesh. Kane lay still under the girl's paws, letting her keep a constant pressure on the throbbing wound to stem the flow of blood and allow her liquid bandages to adhere to him. Slowly, slowly he began to feel the pain slipping further away. When she confirmed that she was unharmed, Kane released a relieved sigh, his eyelids drooping closed for a moment while he focused on trying to ignore the pain. "Good..." he murmured, grateful that his efforts hadn't been in vain. What a terrible way to die, mauled by a sabertooth tiger and having nothing to show for it. He felt her messing with the bandage on his shoulder, then her sigh of relief, giving him another reason to relax. Whatever she was doing was working, apparently.

While the girl finished patching him up to the best of her abilities, she mentioned her pack just a short walk away. Even though it was close, even that distance seemed like an insurmountable task to the injured brute. He gazed through the woods in the direction she pointed, trying to do a mental self diagnosis to know if he could even stand. "Only one way to find out," he remarked, already making a slow roll to his belly, and like wise his paws. Every movement ached and hurt, feeling like he'd had a boulder dropped on him—or a six hundred pound saber cat. Kane groaned and grunted while he forced himself to stand, his legs quivering with the strain, muscles weak from fatigue, pain, and the blood loss. But he managed to get himself up again, albeit a little unsteady. Thank the gods for that; at least then he wouldn't have to be carted back to some pack like an invalid. "Please, allow me to save some shreds of my dignity," he teased in reply, still able to smirk with a roguish gleam in his hazel eyes. He might have been foolhardy enough to refuse the crutches of her brother, but he wasn't daft enough to think he was fine either.

Once he felt confident enough to take a step, Kane moved forward—and sucked in a sharp breath to silence the yelp when burning pain flashed through his injured shoulder. Okay, so it looked like he'd be limping there. "I think I can make it... Just go slow and I'll be right beside you," Kane said, looking to the girl who had saved his life in turn now, his vision swirling a little bit as dizziness spun his brain. They would need to get to her pack fast if he wanted to get there while conscious and on his feet, otherwise he might still succumb to blood loss.

"Kane"

Gwynevere stepped back to give him some room as he started to roll to his feet, keeping a gentle paw on his side to make sure the seaweed she had applied wouldn't fall right off. It had started to dry into almost like a shell or cast as the water left the leaves again which would probably make for a good way to keep herbs moist after they had been applied, but maybe wasn't so good for having to travel. She smirked a little when he teased about letting him keep some of his dignity. Well, she always took having humor as a good sign. As soon as he was up she nodded for Eilwen to get the last couple of thin rolls of fabric and the two of them quickly wrapped the bandages around his middle, holding the seaweed and treatments in place more firmly. They did the same thing around his shoulder with the last bit of fabric, but not as thickly or securely as she would have liked. That was the theme of this whole interaction - get things just good enough.

With that done she came to look at him again, nodding in agreement when he told her to go slow. "Of course. If you need to take a break just say so, alright? Oh! Here," she stopped herself before they got moving, dipping her head into her bag and pulling out a pretty sizable chunk of dried mammoth meat. Well, sizable by her standards anyway. It was probably more like a good sized snack for someone like him. "Ref meaf tho helf wif bloo loss," she mumbled around the piece of food as she went to hand it over to him, insisting that he eat it. Anything to keep him from getting woozy on the way there was worth trying.

Once he began eating she looked up at Eilwen again, saying, "Could you go on ahead to the pack and have them prepare a cot in the infirmary? Let them know we'll need some trillium, probably some yarrow if we have it, and you'll have to go up to my room to get that piece of wintergreen I have tucked away." The pale raven nodded, giving her feathers a ruffle. "Of course. I'll see you back at the castle, Gwynevere," she replied before taking off with a strong flap of white wings, taking off back toward home. She turned her attention back to the wolf that had saved her again, going to stand on his uninjured side as they started walking forward. "If you need to lean on me you can, Kan... Kea... Um..." She chuckled, a little grin on her lips. "How do you say your name again?"

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Trying to move while basically plastered with damp, mushy plants and ribbons of fabric bandages was not the easiest thing the dire wolf had ever done, but he made due. If this little field medic was any sign of the quality of care he was about to receive from the pack, he would limp his way across half of Auster to stave off death. He would not be dying today, not if he had any say in it. Before they even got started, the girl was pulling out some meat for him sustenance to replenish some of the lost blood. He chuckled with a crooked grin, knowing it would take some time for the meat to digest and the iron to stimulate blood production, but he appreciated the sentiment all the same. Why look a gift horse in the mouth? Or in this case, gift mammoth. "Thank you. You're very kind," he replied, his voice gravelly and fatigued, but he ate the meat with a fervor once she passed it to him. His stomach tried to revolt against him, rebuking the notion of eating when all of his pain receptors were screaming at him, but he managed to swallow it down. Now he'd just have to try and keep it down.

He cast a smile crossed with a grimace of pain to the girl when she took to his side, escorting him through the woods back toward her pack's lands. Each step was a strain, but he forced himself forward. Stopping would mean giving up, and giving up would mean death. He would not allow the deceased sabertooth to claim a post mortem victory. Her struggle to try and pronounce his name was humorous; she would not be the first nor the last to try to wrestle with his name and fail. "Kane is fine," he chuckled low in his throat, casting a sideways grin to her. "And what is my doctor's name? I'd like to call you something other than 'girl'." He then added after a moment, "Where are we going?" He would like to know the name of the pack he was being led into, and what he could expect up ahead.

"Kane"

Gwynevere walked carefully and slowly beside him, matching his pace as they steadily made their way back to the castle. She knew that what might have been a quick trip home normally would probably take far longer with the injuries he was working with, but she didn't mind. As long as she got him back home and was able to make sure that he was properly treated and healed then it'd all be worth it. She smiled again when he clarified that he would go by Kane. That was far easier to say and remember than whatever he said his name actually was. "Kane it is then," she replied, looking up at him. She still felt bad that she hadn't had any pain relievers to give him, but she'd make sure that he had some as soon as they got back home.

"Gwynevere Carpathius," she replied when he asked for her name, adding her last name since he had given a full name for himself before even though she didn't often go by it. "I usually just go by Gwyn though." When he asked about where they were going, she looked back at the path ahead of them as she answered, "The Hallows is the name of the pack. We live in a castle, but we also have the plains beside it claimed for ourselves as well. My mothers used to lead it until about a season ago or so..." A little frown crossed her face at that, the loss of her mother still too fresh for her to mention it without her emotions creeping up on her, but she went on anyway. "Now a man named Ulric leads it. He's really nice. My brother Artorias is training to take over after him." Was she sharing too much? She couldn't tell. Socializing wasn't exactly her strong suit and it felt better to have herself talking than to make him talk when he was in so much pain. It also felt really easy to trust him since he had gone to such lengths to defend her.

Gwynevere | Eilwen