The rain was coming down like there was no tomorrow, causing the grayscale woman’s coat to become soaking wet as she weaved through the trees. She had been doing a simple early morning border patrol when the rain hit. She had preserved in the rain and finished her patrol and now was planning on heading back to her den to have a short nap before heading off again. She briefly wondered if she should check on the Infirmary to make sure it wasn’t flooding. It was near the river and it wouldn’t do if the small cache that was near it got washed away, even if it was still a good distance away from the bank so Amaryllis changed her course towards the cache.

The cache was fine when she arrived there, still in one piece and when she ducked her head down to make sure there was no water flooding it, all the plants within were perfectly safe. None had been disturbed since her last visit a day ago and they were still relatively dry. She sighed when she noticed some black hawthorn had been placed near the front of the infirmary, getting somewhat wet as the rain continued to pour down from the heavens. Amaryllis gently picked it up and took a few more steps into the den, pausing to shake out her out before placing the hawthorn well away from the entrance, near the back.

May as well stay here and wait out the rain, Amaryllis thought as she turned back towards the entrance. At least till it lightens up. Settling down on the floor, Amaryllis rested her paws between her front paws and closed her eyes, deciding to pass the time with some shut eye.

Oula’s voice floated in to the infirmary, causing Amaryllis to lift her head. The leader looked somewhat surprised to see her here and Amaryllis wondered if she thought she was injured. Amaryllis shook her head, smiling at the other woman. She felt a little tired and felt what could be a headache coming on but that was nothing a small nap couldn’t fix.

“Oh no, I’m fine Oula,” She assured her leader, understanding why she might think her injured if she was laying in the infirmary. She’d think the same thing, if she had seen someone lying on the floor of the den. “I just did a patrol and thought I’d check in on the infirmary, to make sure it wasn’t flooded or anything. And I was going to take a short nap, to rest up a bit and wait out the rain.” Amaryllis hoped Oula didn’t mind if she used the medical den as a place for a nap.  If it wasn’t allowed, she would certainly leave and find her own small den, which was situated closer to the main den then to the medical den. Raising half up to stand, she opened her mouth to speak.“Is there anything you need? I can – ACHOO!” The sneeze caught her off guard, causing her to jump slightly and sending all sorts of leaves and sticks flying everywhere. Sniffing slightly, Amaryllis looked around the den with somewhat abject horror.  

The den had been neat and tidy before, Amaryllis and Veho having worked to organise the herbs for easy finding, in case of emergencies. But now everything was scattered all over the place. Amaryllis stared at the scattered plants and the look on her face was of absolute guilt. Was she coming down from a cold, from being in the rain during her patrol?

Turning towards Oula, the woman laid her ears back with her tail between her legs, her head lowered. "I'm so sorry for messing it up, I have it cleaned up in no time, so Veho can stay with the pups and not worry about it."      

Amaryllis had already been resting in a spot clear of herbs, she wasn’t stupid enough to lay on the actual plants but there still had been some close to her when she sneezed so the plants that were closest to Amaryllis when she sneezed had blown all over the place. Thankfully, those further away were only slightly jumbled so she got to work at organizing the ones that had been blown far away from their original spot.

When the mushroom cap landed on Oula’s head, Amaryllis tried to keep her laughter down, knowing it surely wouldn’t do to laugh at her leader for the mushroom cap she didn’t seem to notice. Clamping her maw shut, she looked away in order to start organizing the scattered plants, watching where she placed her paws so not to accidently stamp on a plant. But her attention was turned to Oula again as she asked a question around a mouthful of twigs.

“Oh, those are Black Hawthorn branches.” She answered offhandedly, turning to glance at them for a second before turning back to the mixture of flowers and leaves she had near her paw. They were lavender hyssop flowers and the leaves of the hawthorn plant Oula was holding. “I found some loose ones not long ago, with sparse thorns so I broke them off to get the leaves and flowers off them.” Carefully separating the flowers and leaves, she scooped up the leaves and deposited them a small distance away. “You can put them with the rest of these Hawthorn leaves, the leaves and flowers are supposed to help with chest pains and poor circulation. I’ve heard the berries are the same as well, though I’ve only ever used the leaves and flowers.”

The Lavender Hyssop was placed carefully next to the hawthorn, Amaryllis already searching for her next target to fix up. The next thing to be picked up were salmonberries, something she didn’t recognize but knew had to be safe if they were in the infirmary. They wouldn’t have been put in there otherwise.

“It was the role I had in my old pack, as well as the one I hope to expand while I am here.” Amaryllis explained carefully, a small smile on her face. “I want to be able to help others and I figured being a medic would be a good choice.”  She turned towards the other woman, looking somewhat apologetic. “Though, I wish to apologize to you. I wasn’t able to be there to help during the birthing of the pups and though I’m sure you were in Veho’s capable paws, I still feel terrible. I was on the other side of the lands, trying to take shelter from the storm that had struck so suddenly.”

Amaryllis truly did feel terrible about not being there, during the birthing, only finding out soon after they had been born on that stormy night. What if Veho hadn’t found her? What if the others hadn’t come and the new parents had needed the help? But both Oula and the pups were fine, though the only pup she had meet so far was Ophelia and she seemed like a energetic little thing.

Which reminded her...

“I have a gift, for yourself and the pups.” Better to end on a happier note, she thought then a sad one. Plus she’d been meaning to give the scale to them since finding it. “I found a fish scale last week, it’s very colourful and a fairly decent size so I thought the pups may find it interesting.”