The Summer Territory

Drake's nose had been filled with a familiar scent, not one that he often liked, nor did he understand why the scent was so strong as it wafted over to him, without being able to see its source. 'Surely there can't have been a large fight without me hearing it.' He thought, but while these thoughts ran through his mind, he heard someone call for him in a panic. 'oh no' he thought as he stood up and raced over to the source of the noise and smell. It had only been seconds from his first whiff of the scent to someone crying in a panic. As he raced over, a number of scenarios had run through his mind, but even he did not come up with the scene which lay before him.

As he reached Katria, he almost paused from shock. He had no idea that the quantity of blood that he could smell could have possibly come from a single wolf. She looked like a mess, and about ready to collapse. He continued running over to her, not bothering to slow down as he approached, instead he skidded to a stop as he reached her. He quickly scanned over her frame, looking for what needed immediate attention. When he looked in her eyes it was no surprise that she looked as if she were about to faint. "Lay down and relax as much as you can, but don't sleep. Keep your eyes as open as you can." Drake's immediate fear was that she would pass out and her body shut down. As long as she stayed awake, he would be assured that he still had time.

Feather looked around frantically, where was it coming from? So much blood, she couldn't stand it, Fea spun in a circle , looking for the wolves that were injured. She saw Katria, the black fae that had attacked her. The red wolf raced over, "What happened? Is there anything I can do? I have experience with healing." Feather smell Katria, her blood was fresh and strongly scented, but not enough to hide the distinct scent of a cougar. Feather bristled, looked around and realised that these were her friends, and this wolf would not die while Fea was here, her parents would not welcome a young fae yet.

Drake turned to the new fae, happy to hear that there was another wolf with healing experience. "Could you grab me some herbs? Something for pain and help heal her wounds?" He then continued to clean and asses her wounds

"Definately," Feather said to the handsome brute, before sprinting to the medicine den to bring back some herbs to relieve the pain, 'poppy seeds for the pain, marigold to stop infection, ferns and moss for the bleeding,' just as her mother had taught her. Fea grabbed as much as possible and when she returned she panted, "The seeds will make her drowsy but they will stop the pain, marigold will sting but they will get rid of infection and moss and ferns to stop the bleeding." she finished.

Drake smiled, impressed at the young fae. "Great, that's excellent, but do you know of pain relief plants that won't make her drowsy? I don't want her falling asleep yet." Drake collected the herbs she had brought and applied the plants to her wounds, happy to have some help

"Hmmm," Feather thought hard for a moment, "Yes! wait here." Even though she knew he wasn't about to move anytime soon, she raced off towards the den again. "Comfrey, soothes wounds and mends broken bones, I used it when I broke my paw once, and again when I got kicked by a doe, they have very sharp hooves." Feather said as she placed the comfrey infront of Drake.

Drake looked at the Comfrey in surprise. He hadn't thought to use that herb. He smiled at Feather as he continued to clean Katria's wounds. "Thanks, that's great. Could you dress her wounds as I finish cleaning them?" He was happy to have someone else helping him with his healing. "How you doing Katria?"

(sounds so lame becuase the first one I wrote was deleted by the evil back space button Dx CURSE YOU MODERN TECHNOLOGY!!)

After journeying a fair distance away from the others, Amuro had chanced upon some decently sized squirrels to conquer his hunger. Nature seemed to be in favor of him today, even supplying him an extra squirrel. He thought back to Katria, whom when he had left was napping. Perhaps she'd want something to eat when she awoke... The brute adjusted his hold on the rodent, before trotting merrily in the directed he had came from.

Upon arriving, he felt something was terribly wrong. The aura seemed much more... dark, and sinister. His pace slowed as he looked around warily, his prey dangling with his movement. He stopped all together as a familiar ebony pelt came into view. A slackened jaw caused the limp squirrel to fall to the ground.

Before he knew it, he had bounded to her side, the squirrel long forgotten. The other wolves surrounding her were blatantly ignored. Amuro paused, hovering over the fae, simply afraid to touch her. He whispered, voice barely audible, "Katria?"

Knowing Amuro would be more than worried for Katria, Drake calmly said "Don't worry, she'll be fine." He had heard Amuro drop something, so asked, "Did you have some food with you? Because she needs as much food as she can eat right now. It might also mask the taste of the herbs I need her to eat" He said as she pushed some herbs towards Katria's maw and hadn't looked at Amuro even while talking to him, completely focused on doing all he can for Katria.

Feather moved a little closer to Katria, "Eat your herbs Katria, they will stop the pain," Fea nudged the leaves towards the she-wolf, "I promise." The healers apprentice whispered, only loud enough for Katria and herself to hear.

Amuro didn't utter a word as he slowly turned away to retrieve the squirrel. His paws felt heavier, for some reason. Swallowing a knot that had worked its way into his throat, the warrior grasped the rodent and padded back to her.

He dropped it gently infront of the ebony fae, not looking her in the eye. With a moment's hesitation, he decided to turn tail on all of them. Best not to get in the way of the medics.

Amuro traveled a fair distance away, not far enough so that he was out of sight. He settled himself beside the trunk of a narrow tree. She always had wrapped her body around trees like this... His amber eyes stared unfocused off into space.

Feather noticed Amuro walking away and wrapped his body around a tree, 'Just like Katria,' she thought. She looked back at the wounded fae, "eat them," the young medic said gently before turning and walking over to the herbs. Fea plucked out a few thyme leaves and carried them over to Amuro, "Don't worry Amuro, Drake and I are both looking after Katria," the ginger wolf said soothingly, "here, eat these, they will help with the worrying and shock." She placed the leaves down gently and padded back to Katria and Drake. "He is worried, I gave him some thyme to calm his nerves though, is that OK?" Feather asked Drake.

Drake smiled at Feather, very impressed. "Yea, that's great thanks. I think I'm finished cleaning Katira's wounds. Am going to check everything over one more time." He said, scanning over all the wounds and how he had bandaged them. As he did, he asked Feather "So you're a new healer huh?"

Kanae excused herself from Blue's company and quietly walked over to Amuro. The male was wrapped around a tree, much like Katria usually did. How badly was this affecting the gentle male. She couldn't tell for sure because his eyes were so unfocused.

"She'll recover." Kanae murmured. She was a useless leader! The Alphess wasn't even able to keep her packmates safe.

Confident with how he had treated Katria, he said to her "Okay, you're going to be fine, but if you want to heal quickly, you need to rest and eat a lot. If you need any food let me know and I'll help out. Okay?"

"Well, if you'd let me, I would like to become your apprentice, since you are lead healer, I already know quite a bit about herbs, but healing is what I love to do, and I don't want to take over your duties." Feather replied nervously, and without thinking, she turned and walked over to Kanae and Amuro. It was not that Fea didn't respect Drake, she just wanted to see Amuro, she wanted to help him not to worry. Feather wanted his friendship, him and Drake.

Drake smiled, laying down next to Katria. He wanted to keep an eye on her just to make sure that everything was going as it should. "Sure, I'll take you on as my apprentice." He said as he watched Feather walk over to check on Amuro.

Drake watched Katria, happy that she was looking more lively.

Fea padded back over to Katria, "how are you feeling Katria?" the new apprentice wanted to find out what she was doing alone when Kanae had told everyone to stay together. Feather turned to Drake, 'he has pretty eyes...' she thought, "Drake, do you need anything? I could take one of the other wolves to go gather some more herbs if you need." she offered, hoping to get away from the commotion of the pack, "Amuro maybe, to get his mind off of Katria for a bit." she suggested.

Drake thought for a moment, then said "There's nothing that I can think of. Usually I just pick it when I need it. I find it's a waste when you pick herbs and then they go bad before you can use them." He then turned to Katria and asked "How did you get so hurt anyway? If I had to guess by looking at your cuts, I would say that cougar, but you wouldn't have gotten in its way all by yourself would you?"

"She'll recover."

He barely heard her. Amuro's left ear twitched in acknowledgment, simply refusing to meet his leader's eyes. Slowly, his thoughts returned to him. He was the last wolf to see her, before this. He had left her alone, breaking the rules Kanae had set for all of them. Narrowing his eyes, the warrior fixed his gaze bitterly to his paws. A blunder like this could have cost Katria her life; surely, they would'nt tolerate such disobediance.

"It's all my fault..." he whispered, angrily.