She sat outside the hut with legs splayed out and a concoction of items strewn on the ground. Sitting not far from the entrance to their expanding home, Rheum had not-so-stealthily taken some items from her mama's stash. A couple of bowls, some herbs such as mint, ginger, and others she didn't know, and of course a rock that had one sharp edge and one flat edge. While she normally preferred to laze around and take naps, today she felt bored and interested in doing something. It was mid-afternoon, everyone else seemed to be off doing their own thing, and she had been left to her own devices. Her plum coat that was speckled with pink spotting ruffled in the breeze as she stuck out her tongue and wrinkled her nose. This crafting and healing stuff was a lot harder than she imagined! Attempting to mush up the ginger was effortless as she attempted to grasp the rock in her paw. No matter how hard she tried, it would slip out of the bowl and onto the ground. Letting out a frustrated sigh, the small girl flopped onto her back with paws splayed out and watched the clouds go by. Maybe someone would come by to help her. SPEECH

Hattori had not spent much one on one time with his cousin's children just yet. He saw them about of course, knew they were safe and tended to, but other than their names he knew next to nothing about them. Was ignorant of their interests and hobbies, things they might want to focus on once they were older, more independent. He found one of the girls hanging over the lip of the hut, paws busy and eyes intent. Perhaps Rheum would take after her mother, put those paws and eyes to good use.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, willing to find something more productive to do if she was just going to fiddle. Perhaps a language lesson could fill the time, or she could craft something, collect something. He would wait and see.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Rheum nearly dozed off into a nap. That was until the subtle vibrations of the dirt beneath her alerted her to an approaching presence. Quickly scrambling up on her slim paws to blink away the daze of the afternoon, she was surprised to see the Kaicho, her uncle, none other than Hattori Hanzo himself. It wasn't often she was paid a solo visit from her favorite, well only, uncle. His question wasn't a difficult one to answer either, thank the heavens. Smiling gently as she tilted her plum and fuschia chin up at him, her expression was a tad sheepish. "'Twas tryin' to fix somethin' up to show mum, bu' not workin' s'well," Rheum admitted as her vibrant eyes turned to look back at the concoction in the bowl behind her. "Don' s'pose ya know much abou' medicine, do ya?" Her accent nearly perfected Sedna's by now and even the slightly differences in how she pronounced her words. SPEECH

"Not enough to be useful." He admitted, knowing full well others had that taken care of. But still, if this one had an interest in learning he saw no reason to stifle their curiosity. "Examine my foot. See what you think."

He knew Sedna had already made a start on organising lessons, but he wondered if the girl had seen an injury like this before? It had healed long ago, the nub of his bitten toe rounded nicely at the edge and gave him no pain or discomfort. But it would be a good chance for her to learn how to examine a patient, to be thorough and learn bedside manners.

Making a point of getting down to the girl's level, Hattori laid down on his stomach and extended his front limbs. Offering his paws so she could start to have a look.

"Not enough to be useful." He admitted, knowing full well others had that taken care of. But still, if this one had an interest in learning he saw no reason to stifle their curiosity. "Examine my foot. See what you think."

He knew Sedna had already made a start on organising lessons, but he wondered if the girl had seen an injury like this before? It had healed long ago, the nub of his bitten toe rounded nicely at the edge and gave him no pain or discomfort. But it would be a good chance for her to learn how to examine a patient, to be thorough and learn bedside manners.

Making a point of getting down to the girl's level, Hattori laid down on his stomach and extended his front limbs. Offering his paws so she could start to have a look.

She nearly frowned at his comment, but quickly changed into a more curious expression as he offered her to examine his paw. At first glance with him towering in front of her, none of his paws appeared injured by any means that were concerning. Scrunching her brow together, she took a few steps back to give the large man space to sprawl out in front of her. With his front paws extended out toward her, her plum cheeks tilted toward the side before clearing her throat. If she was going to be allowed to be this close to the Kaicho, she was going to take it seriously. Stepping forward, Rheum lowered her face to inspect each toe. Starting on the paw that wasn't missing anything, she prodded each one gently with quiet hums and nods of her chin. "This paw looks good," she murmured, a smile on her lips before she moved to the other one. As she began inspecting the toes, her yellow gaze landed on the one that was quite shorter than the others. Actually, as she glanced down at her own small paws, she realized the toe was missing altogether. Looking at the Kaicho for a hesitant moment, Rheum leaned forward to inspect the nicely healed nub. "Whoa, whoever did tha' to ya must not like ya, huh?" She commented in barely a whisper as she reached out to touch it with her own paw. There wasn't any ooze coming from it as mama liked to call the puss that followed infections. Really, if she hadn't been inspecting each toe carefully, she'd never have noticed. Prodding the nub a few more times, Rheum sat down with a thud and one more firm nod of her chin. "Is nah bleedin' and it ain't oozin' either, but why's it missin'?" She pulled up her own paw to look at it, count her own toes, before looking back at his. Reaching out to prod it a few more times, she wondered if it still hurt. SPEECH

Hattori was silent and patient, nor did he flinch away from the pups touch. It didn't take her long to narrow in on the nub of his toe, brows furrowed and clearly confused as to how it had come to be. She was quick to surmise it was an old wound, one that had healed over nicely, blended in with the shape of his paw unless she looked closely. He didn't know much about healing, but could think of some questions to nudge her in the right direction, get her thinking.

"I did it to myself." He told her easily enough, no shame in it. Didn't even think of what Venom had done with it, whether she'd kept it as a macabre keepsake or thrown it into the sea. "It was a form of penance, but sometimes you may need to remove limbs for medicinal reasons too. As you said, if the extremity is too infected or a lost cause, it is better to remove it so it doesn't make the person even more sick." He knew that much, knew of someone who had his tail docked after it had been mauled beyond recognition.

"But how would you have gone about it? If you had to remove the toe because it was making me ill? Is there something you could have given me for the pain?" It was an easy start, testing her knowledge of plants and how to best use them.