The rain had been pretty much relentless, ceaseless, as the days had gone on. Mud had slowed their travels, bogging down the cart pretty badly. They'd been taking lots of breaks, which really wasn't a bad thing... it left them time to explore! Exploring was really most of the fun of being out here, Ivy had decided. It was cool, sleeping in a new place every night. He was still holding onto the fact that mom would be able to find them, no matter where they were and no matter where they ended up. Ivy would hold onto that for... well, for however long it took for him to really understand. Explaining death to children is much, much less than ideal. Only time would tell.

He was contemplative as he tromped through the tall grass near the river, careful not to get too close. Pops had been very specific, after all-- don't drown. The best way to not drown, as far as Ivy was concerned, was to not get too close to the water. You didn't have to tell him twice, despite it being summer, he found the river to be frickin cold. Instead he trotted through the tall, soggy, reedy grasses, looking for any interesting plants or bugs as he did. If there was anything really cool, he'd have to call Lotus over and they could investigate together. For now, he figured he'd let his brother nap. What was it with Lotus and napping sheesh, when there was so much exploring to do! Maybe if he'd been paying a bit more attention, he would have seen the hole.

It wasn't a big hole. No, just about the right size for a pup to step inside and go tush over teakettle. With an undignified yip, Ivy fell squarely onto his face. The pain that followed wasn't that bad, but it was certainly enough to be jarring for a young pup. He whimpered as he righted himself, carefully inspecting for damage. He could wiggle his toes, and nothing was broken, but there was a decently sized scrape in the skin. Ivy had come down on a rock, one that was jagged enough to cut him up pretty good. The boy knew better than to go whimpering about it to one of the adults, but he hissed softly as he put it down and tried to walk. The skin pulled in all directions when he tried to use the paw and it was pretty uncomfortable. Blood oozed down from the cut. How long would that take to stop? Ivy figured he'd just hide until it had scabbed over, however long that would take.

"Words"

She'd been idly walking along the river, casually sniffing amongst the damp undergrowth on the edges of the bank, not exactly looking for anything in particular, but looking nonetheless. She wanted to learn where certain herbs grew, so that once she was more prepared she would know exactly where to look to grab some when she passed through again in the future. Her search was momentarily paused at the loud yelp from somewhere nearby. Inoki lifted her head up, ears perked forward as she looked around to see if she could find who had made the noise. It sounded like someone young, and that had her worried just a bit. There was the faint trace of blood in the air, and she followed it through the tall grasses on the bank. "Hello? Are you hurt?" Inoki called out softly, not wanting to scare whoever it was. "I can help, I know a bit about healing." She continued to walk forward, her steps careful on the off chance the wolf was laying down so she wouldn't accidentally step on them. There was some soft whimpering up ahead, and she used the sound to guide her steps, ducking her head down low as she moved, already thinking about the possible herbs she might need to use to treat them.

Ivy did his best to right himself where he sat... no, it couldn't be broken. It was a good thing that puppy bones were pretty springy, or something like that. Springy? Well... puppies were sturdy. Ivy was less sturdy than some of his siblings, sure, but he was still tough. Tough, and he could be strong too! Well, at least he would be as he got bigger. Something about building strong bones, and strong muscles. Oh if only the boy knew, if only he understood. It would be another part of his mother that stayed with him always.

His paw was scraped and bleeding, and Ivy tried to kill the whimper in his throat. It wasn't until he heard a woman's voice that he even knew she was there, approaching carefully. If he'd had the don't talk to strangers lesson yet, it hadn't stuck. She was just a little bigger than mom, dark as shadows cast long on the ground. Ivy's gaze flickered to the stranger, eyes a little wider than he'd intended. Are you hurt? she asks, and his first instinct is to lie. What if she told pops, and he got in trouble for being a dumbass? Still, as the pup shifted his weight, he could feel the skin of the wound tugging uncomfortably, and more blood bubbling to the surface. "Just a little hurt," there, the truth. Though she was a stranger, she wanted to help. There were no thoughts of why in his head. No, just the soft voice and gentle presence of a healer. Healers had to be okay... mom had been one too.

"I scraped my paw." The voice of a child, a small boy. Though he was used to the small wounds that came from play fighting with his siblings, this was different. A chomp and a nibble from puppy teeth were different than a scrape from a rock, and he'd certainly venture that it hurt more.

"Ivy"

Eventually she came upon a small child, swathed in blues and blacks, sitting in the grasses and looking up at her with wide eyes. She didn't want to scare them, and so crouched down so her face was at a similar height so as to not loom scarily over him. He mentioned he was a little hurt, and so she looked him over, her gaze finally falling upon his injured and bleeding paw. It didn't look too bad, just a scrape against delicate flesh, but that didn't mean it would hurt any less. Inoki smiled warmly at him, hoping to ease any fears he might have about talking with a stranger. Speaking of that, where was his parents? She glanced momentarily around, but upon not spotting another wolf nearby returned her attention to the child. "I can make your scrape feel better," she said warmly. Horsetail would work well to stop the bleeding if she applied it as a poultice, and she would only need a small amount as his paws were very small. "If I were to use some herbs to stop the bleeding and make it better, maybe you could help me look for some herbs?" She didn't know if the child was interested at all in herbs, but perhaps it would take his mind off any pain the scrape was causing him, and then he'd have something to bring back to his parents as well. Healing 2/3

She was warm, and for that, Ivy was grateful. His family was loving, sure, but they weren't really the tender sort. It was mostly Ivy and Lotus clinging together for everything that they were, and everything that they could be. Other than that... yeah. Their brand of love was just different. Maybe that was one of the reasons he missed his mother's affection so much... probably. Though thoughts of her often weighed heavily on his mind, heavy isn't something that a pup often has much time to dwell on.

"Yes, um, yes please," right, he'd catch himself on the whole manners thing. Ivy considered himself to be one of his better-mannered siblings, wouldn't want to let the version of himself that he'd built in his head to go to waste. Still, the boy didn't want to be a kiss ass like his brother Kore. Polite, but he wasn't going to try to score any points with anyone for it.

"Herbs!" His eyes lit up. Ivy would have new herbs to learn about before Ulmaria did, and that was way too exciting for him. "My uncle taught us about dandelions and what they do, but that's the only one," he sat up straighter. "I wanna learn about what more of them do, and how to find them, and what they look like, and all that stuff." The boy nodded excitedly. It was more animated than he'd typically get, but he'd learn some new things before any of his siblings, and he could hold that over them... and then teach them as soon as he was done gloating just a little. That, and he could keep Lotus patched up better, the more that he knew. A win-win.

"Ivy"