SeakiIt had been a early morning, the sun was close to rising, but it would take some time before it peaking over the horizon. Yet, a small leopon sat organizing her plants, breathing them in. She felt something in her bones, that she would need some of these very soon, but she could never actually figure out what it meant until it happened. Usually, the larger leopard Asha could tell her. They would often have a similar inkling, though Asha saw pictures instead of feeling the herbs whispers.
Asha was not awake, however. She was curled close to a young cheetah that they had happened upon quite a while back. He was young, though already in his adulthood, and easily impressionable. He ws very eager to please both of them, which often made Kilua giggle, and Asha sake her head.
But the way her paws kept lingering over certain herbs that she counted out again, for the fourth time this morning - that troubled her greatly. She frowned, packing the ones that she felt she needed, and wandering over to her leopard friend. "Asha, wake up. I have a feeling and I think you may know it too," Kilua nudged her friend. Luckily, Asha was used to the Leopon, so she simply shrugged away and stretched. Safuraa woke with her, but Asha murmured some soft words to him and he quickly fell back asleep. "We'll be back soon," she told him, tucking him into her warm spot before nudging Kilua into the direction they needed to go.
Painted Moose
With the collapse of the U’W, a solitary lioness was the least of the populaces concern. At first she’d tried to keep up with her family, but after a while Ban’ma’s wounds ached too much. She felt the burning through her chest and shoulder where the wildebeest’s horns rammed through. There had been much blood lose, a lot of nights in a delusionary state, but finally a break, then this….
She had feared being along most in this world. How often had she begged, how loud had she cried, for someone, anyone to notice her that day as she lay bleeding. And now? Now she could barely find the strength to pull herself to a shady tree, and collapse. Her freshly healed wounds had opened, bleeding a little onto her pale coat as she panted. There was no home, no family, no friends to comfort her in her dying hours, and with tears in her eyes Ban’ma laid her head down, ready for the end to come.
Seaki
"I can feel them," Asha murmured, leaning a bit into Kilua. The Leopon's turned her dark gaze to her friend, but continued the trek. They were meant to be here - they had always meant to be here, as that was how life worked sometimes. Asha urged them both on, and Asha's golden eyes searched their surroundings almost frantically.
Kilua was well aware that her friend could come off very stoic or uncaring, but the leopardess cared a lot more than she let on. Kilua thought she might be afraid of feeling anything, and Kilua could almost understand. Seeing death in those who you cared for had to be hard, but the leopon never felt anything like such.
"There," Asha nodded her head in the direction of a tree. She had closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. This was there destination. Not too far now...
Painted MooseWas she mistaken? Ban’ma’s ears twitched in the direction of noises; paw steps, muffled words, so far away but so very close. She weakly opened her eyes, turning her tear stained gaze towards the distance, and saw two small figures amidst the barren area. Her heart leapt to life in her chest. Please, please don’t leave me, I don’t want to be alone! Surely they wouldn’t…wouldn’t leave her to die here, all alone!
She tried to cry out, found her throat to be too dry, and after swallowing on thick mucus she tried once more. “P-please! Please help me.” It was cracked, soft and tired, but alive with desperation.
Seaki
Kilua lept forward once she realized where Asha had pointed, and that the creature was in dire need of assistance. She came to a stop under the tree, touching the creature's face - one that she now recognized as a lioness. She snapped back at Asha, beckoning the Leopardess closer. "I need you to find water," she pressed a hollowed gourd to the leopardess to send her off for a bit. She had a small amount of water with her, but she would definitely need more.
Asha gave a nod, hurrying off. Water couldn't be too far, and she turned her nose to the sky and flicked her ears in search of a suitable stream or waterhole.
Kilua turned back tot he Lioness with a gentle voice, unlike the one she had snapped at Asha with. "I'm going to give you some water, can you manage to drink?"
Painted Moose
“Thank you, thank you, “ Ban’ma wept, looking up at her saviors with such adoration, even as one left to find water. She’d never been one to give in, or to weep at the slightest things, but times had changed. The world was cruel, and she was already broken both physically and mentally by its stresses. Nodding her head, leaned closed to the leopon. Many of her home pride wouldn’t have seen this kind soul for the beauty she was, but Ban’ma knew - she’d seen Achal’s children, Maua’s cubs, and so many others. Right now all she saw was the healer and not the breed. “I can try.”
SeakiKilua gave a soft smile. She rummaged through her bag for bottle she had sealed with a leaf and some twine with the help of a kind avian. She pierced the leaf and poured it into a broken gourd that had often served as a bowl for crushing herbs with to make pastes. "Here, this should help your throat until Asha returns," she soothed, pushing the bowl of water forward slightly.
"Drink slowly, and then I'll need to see your wounds," Kilua cooed in a soothing voice, already taking note of the bleeding shoulder and chest. They had been very crudely patched and they looked fairly deep. They had to heal from the end of the wound to the surface.
Kilua hoped that it was not beyond her. She had seen shallower wounds - nothing quite this deep. She took a large inhale, glancing towards the open space, seeing Asha approaching again. She gave a sigh of relief and started separating the herbs she needed to make a fresh paste for the lioness's wounds.
Painted Moose
Ban’ma drank greedily for all she was worth. She craned her neck, trying her best to get in a good position for it, but still a few driblets made their way down her chin. She coughed at first, but it didn’t stop her from trying. Only after the worst of her thirst had been sated did she attempt to slow down.“It was…a hunting accident.”
She said at length, turning to the Leopon. “I went with another Ban- lioness, and her cub. We were supposed to teach him, but she was attacked and I…” She didn’t want to say she’d saved Mel, since Mel had returned the favor by finding help. It was all just one big, bumbling mess.
Seaki
Kilua nodded. It did look quite like something that could happen, but she had never quite seen it. She felt Asha approach at her back, brushing against her side. "It's quite bad, but with some proper care you will heal," Kilua noted. She started griding herbs together using some of the fresh water for the paste.
Asha shifted nervously. Kilua could stay completely calm in these situations, but Asha was not so used to the medical side of being friends with a healer. She shivered once, sitting beside the lioness. She avoided the wounds, not wanting to see what her friend was inspecting.
"Kilua's quite good at what she does. She's put me back together quite a lot in the past, after my hunting accidents" Asha murmured softly, trying to be assuring. She was never this bad off though, but still she tried to fill the space between the Lioness's speech and Kilua's medicine making.
Painted Moose
She wanted nothing more to sleep now that she was hydrated, but Ban'ma knew thats where her troubles had started the first time. Keeping one eye open, she watched the goings on and nodded. She would heal, after a while, but she didn't expect to come out of this pretty. The petite lioness would be scared, though she didn't much care, since she no longer had a mate to worry of those things. "That's good to know," She tried to smile reassuringly at Asha, but it came off tired and worn. "I have them a lot. I'm defective, and weak, so I....I'm just not good enough for basic hunting..."
Seaki
Asha frowned, edging closer to the injured female. "You're not defective," she stated. She presented it like a fact, though she barely knew anyting about the Lioness. "Everyone has something they're good at, and maybe hunting's not yours." Asha knew this very well. In her little group, she was the hunter. Kilua was their healer, and Safuraa was getting better at making things. Kilua shook her head slightly at Asha, but moved forward towards the lioness.
"This will be cold, but it won't sting." The paste she made was supposed to be soothing. Things that began to heal often itched violently at the skin started to knit back together and was also vry painful. This was meant to kill pain and sooth.
Painted Moose
Ban'ma turned over her paw, and flexed it, making a point to show the leopardess the nubs where claws should have been. "Hunting, protecting, guarding...I was only ever good at being a Banu, and now I don't have that anymore." Tsubame was dead, Achal and Maua were gone, her son was dead...maybe she should have just died herself. She waited for the cool, and wasn't surprised when she felt a shiver. Still, it felt nice on her inflammed skin, and caused her to give a litle contented sigh.
Seaki
"There's healing, and crafting, and countless other things," Asha tried, frowning. Kilua was not a protector, and she did not guard anything but her stash. She never raised her paws or claws to defend or hunt - it was against her very nature. Asha badly wanted to comfort the lioness through physical touch, but she did not want to risk another vision or to see the Lioness's death.
"Perhaps, once she's better she can try something else," Kilua chided Asha gently, and Asha's ears flicked back. The Leopardess nodded, and she backed off. "You should rest for a bit, Miss," Kilua stated. Sleep did wonders for those healing. "I'll find a bit of honey to add to your water as well. It'll bring up your strength."
Painted Moose
"Mmm." While Ban'ma wasn't entirely for sure on that, she was willing to give in to the thought. Still, she shook her head, "Not Miss, it's Ban'ma...never been a miss..." that was something for sweet, proper ladies. She'd never been one of them. She had been a wild youth then a solid mother and now...she's she was Ban'ma. Curling her paw as best she could, she took the advice given to her and laid her head down upon her leg. It took her a while, but some semblance of ease she eased into sleep.
Seaki
Kilua gave a soft smile, watching over her patient with some tenderness. "As Asha mentioned already, I am Kilua, and she is called Asha," Kilua brushed a gentle paw over the lioness's forhead. Yes, the lioness was going to make a recovery. She could feel it in her bones. "Sleep well..."