The landscape was weirdly desolate for such a grassy plane. Where were the birds? The hares? The life. It seemed strangely devoid of anything. The grounds were covered with thick grass, but the grass was wild and untouched by herds of grazing preybeasts. What was keeping the beasts away from free food? The running stream nearby would have attracted the attention of many creatures, but again, there was nothing. Aleu was concerned. Pan’eira and Kaneika were complaining to each other, loudly and so they were barely paying attention to the surroundings but Aleu…well, Aleu was a bit worried. Something was wrong here.
“What do you think, Aleu?” Pan’eira demanded, drawing the brown wild dog back into the conversation, and likely trying to ally herself with the more sensible of the trio, ganging up against Kaneika. Aleu blinked, glancing back to them.
“What?”
“Ugh, you’re useless,” Pan’eira sulked. “Just agree with me and be done with it.”
“Don’t agree with her just because she tells you to!” Kaneika protested. “Pan’eira is wrong. She’s just stupid and childish, like always.”
Aleu rolled her eyes at her companions, but something was still making her uneasy. She hesitated, before beginning to move slightly away from her group. They barely noticed, continuing to bicker amongst themselves. Really, it was like they were children.
She sniffed, but all she could smell was water. The air seemed heavy with it, and she knew that fog would form quickly that night, freezing all that was left out in the open. It must get so cold here at night, she mused to herself, shaking her head. Maybe that’s what was catching her off guard, the cold. Weird, but it was possible.
She sighed to herself, and began to move back towards Pan’eira and Kaneika when a noise caught her attention. It was a cough, a feeble noise in the desolate environment. She hesitated, before steeling her nerves and moving back towards the sound, her movements more quick-paced now.
Her actions finally caught her companions’ attention, and Eira called out to her, but Aleu was distracted and did not respond. The pair followed after her as she ducked through the grasses, seeking the source of the noise. It took her a few moments, but the source finally came into view, huddled up close to a boulder in the distance, the damp grasses lingering on already wet fur. She was slender – very slender, and her eyes were dark and appeared too big for her face. She looked anxious and when she saw them coming into view, a crowd of strangers, she tried to move closer to the rock – perhaps hiding or maybe just for protection.
Kaneika gasped, her eyes wide but her training kicked in. “Eira! Go find some furs! Catch a preybeast if you have to, we need something to cover her,” she snapped out, and while Eira would fight her on just about anything, the pale creature before them clearly needed help, and Eira didn’t hesitated to bolt away from them, in search of a prey beast to catch and skin.
Aleu hesitated, unsure as to what to do but Kaneika took care of that for her. “Aleu, scout around, find somewhere dry we can make a restspot, we need to get her warm and this grass is freezing. The dark will set in soon too, it needs to be covered or at least have somewhere we can tuck her away!”
Aleu didn’t hesitate a second longer, moving away rapidly and leaving Kaneika alone with the stranger.
“It’s ok,” Kaneika soothed gently. “We’re here to help.” She needed to get closer to see the full extent of the strangers condition. As she attempted to step closer, the female stranger shied backwards, away from her. She hesitated, before lowering herself to a submissive crawl, moving closer to her while dragging her stomach. It was a sign of complete submission, and she would be in a lot of trouble if the stranger struck out and hit her. This position left her very vulnerable, but thankfully, when she was in arms reach, the stranger did not seem eager to attack. She was afraid, yes, but she was not threatening.
“It’s ok,” Kaneika repeated softly, scanning the female with frantic cautious eyes. “It’s ok. We’re here to help and we will help you.” It was more of a promise to herself than to the stranger. She didn’t look injured, at least, not freshly injured, but she was seriously malnourished, and it looked like she had not been warm in many nights. Gosh, she hoped that the girls would be back soon.
Aleu was back first, but she was not back quickly. It had taken her a long time to find a bent over tree which had been hollowed at the base. It was dark but it was dry, for the moment. Adding furs to it would make it better, but it would do for now. She rushed back to find Kaneika whispering soft words to the startled female. The stranger flinched when Aleu approached quickly, and Kaneika motioned to her to get to her stomach. It was not a position that Aleu was comfortable in but she did it anyway, sinking low and sliding across the ground towards them.
“I know a place,” she whispered, keeping her voice calm and low. “I can carry her.” The stranger probably wouldn’t like that, but there was no way that she could walk that distance on her own.
“We’ll wait for Eira,” Kaneika whispered back, and motioned for Aleu to move. “Move to her other side, keep her warm. Our body heat is the best that we’ve got right now.” Aleu crinkled her nose at the idea of being that close to the stranger but she did as Kaneika commanded. The purple wild dog was the smartest healer that she knew, although that was not saying much really.
Eira took even longer to come back to the group, dragging a gazelle behind her and her fur stained and muddied. She was muttering to herself as she dragged it back, her expression decidedly not happy at the state of affairs but she had succeeded in her request none the less.
She dropped the carcass not far from the trio huddled together. “It’s the best I could find,” Eira huffed. “There is no food near here. She must not have eaten for weeks.”
Oh damn, Kaneika thought to herself. This is worse than I thought. “We need to move her,” Kaneika said calmly. “Aleu will take her, and Eira, you take the gazelle. She’s found somewhere drier.”
The others nodded, realising that they would have to defer to Eika a lot, because to be honest, Aleu could beat up a villain but dealing with the aftermath? Not her forte.
Eira lingered on the side lines as Eika gently maneuvered the injured wild dog to lay across Aleu’s back, Kaneika supporting her head so she didn’t fall or injur herself further. It was a slow journey to the hollowed tree trunk, and the injured wild dog made small noises of pain as they moved but they couldn’t stop. If they left her, she would die.
Lying her gently in the trunk, the three wild dogs set about disassembling the gazelle. Eira took a small portion of meat to the wild dog, allowing her to nibble on the food slowly, less she eat too quickly and end up…in a bad way. Kaneika skinned the carcass smoothly, taking the pelt over and draping it gently across the pale creature. The three wild dogs lingered outside the trunk.
“What do we do?” Eira whispered, glancing at the pale creature barely alive.
“We can’t leave her,” Eika insisted and her friends nodded quickly.
“We’ll take turns finding pelts and prey,” Aleu decided. “Eika has to stay here, she’s the only one who knows how to treat someone, but we can find warmth and food.” She looked at Pan’eira, who nodded swiftly.
“We could be here for a while,” Pan’eira pointed out, and the others nodded as well. The creature before them needed help, and they were going to help her and get her back on her feet.
Hopefully.