Viorel had woken up today and had at last felt halfway normal. He still wasn’t well, not by a long shot. But, his fever was broken, and his stomach actually felt settled, he was starving and dehydrated, but the nausea had faded overnight. Gulping down water way too quickly he had to slow down when his belly lurched uncomfortably from being filled so quickly. Breathing in and out through his nose for a minute or two before the wave washed over him and then left and the man slowly lapped down a few more sips of water.

It had been days since Viorel had sought anyone else, and guilt crept up on him. He felt like a failure as a leader, that he had spent the last few days holed up and ill instead of taking care of his pack and the women who carried his children. Determined that no matter how crappy he felt today he was going to get back at it, he followed the closest scent trail, his grandmother’s.

He regretted this decision immediately as soon as he saw her in the distance tossing her cookies. His own stomach gurgled unhappily at the sight and Viorel’s first instinct was that he should turn around lest he end up the same way. But, he ignored this as concern set in. He had felt bad enough that he thought he was going to die, there was no way that he was leaving his ailing grandmother alone with it. Approaching slowly he did his best to keep the disgust from his muzzle, ”Grandma? Are you ill?” He expected her to lie, she was a proud woman and being sick as a wolf was a sign of vulnerability. But the truth was as clear as the puddle of vomit in the grass.

As expected, the answer he had gotten back from his grandmother was a firm no which was clearly a lie. He respectfully averted his eyes as she attempted to cover the puddle of sick. He knew how she felt, not wanting to let anyone in on that vulnerability, but he couldn’t just leave her here all alone. Maybe he could call on Clover? Vanadis herself was ill and couldn’t be much help right now, or maybe he could find some more of those flowers his girlfriend had fed him.

Frozen for a moment, trying to decide the best course of action when she gave him an order. He was relieved to have something constructive to do, but unfortunately it was not an order that he could easily fulfil. Venkat was not here. In fact, Venkat could still be living his best life on the coast for all Viorel knew. Given the confusion in his grandmother’s eyes and the lack of understanding, he thought he might be able to trick her if he had a convincing enough replacement, but who?

The only tawny wolves currently in their pack were Sharlee and Vayko, and while Sharlee probably looked more like his great uncle, she was clearly female. ”Okay, I’ll bring Venkat grandma.” Then paced away until he was just out of eyesite. Lifting his muzzle he tried to call discretely for Vayko, and now all he could do was wait, and hope his cousin’s acting chops were up to parr.

When Vayko eventually made his way onto the scene Viorel’s ear flipped backwards guiltily. In all his concern over his grandmother the Valle had forgotten that while his cousin had gotten over his own sickness, he still had his paw injury. Maybe he should have called for Sharlee instead, but would that have been good enough to trick Katna? Moving forward easily as the tawny man sat, Viorel grimaced apologetically at the sight of his cousin’s mangled paw. These blasted woods might be cursed afterall.

Glancing back towards the way that he came Viorel did his best to speak quietly, ”Grandma is sick now, and she doesn’t look very good.” That alone he knew would be enough to alert his co-lead, she wasn’t well at the best of times and they both knew how terrible the turtle disease had been. Looking back to see Vayko he continued, ”And the only wolf who she says can help her is Venkat…. So, how are your acting skills?” The salt and pepper wolf knew that he had done it enough recently, but he wasn’t sure his blunt family member was used to pretending.

Standing up now Viorel looked at his cousin pleadingly, they just needed to get her checked out, appease her until Clover could come in to check her out.

Flinching at his cousin’s words, Viorel realized that he had not even thought about the possibility you could get the sickness more than once. What if Vayko caught it again, what if he caught it again and it spread back to one of the pregnant women? There were a lot of risks, but they couldn’t leave the aging, ailing woman alone to suffer. He was happy that despite there being cons that Vayko was willing enough to help and act along with the lie.

Smiling thankfully, Viorel watched his cousin limp towards the den and call out, and once his grandmother returned in a friendly manner his worries were slightly soothed. Knowing that his appearance was not going to help anything in the situation, the leader walked a few paces away and settled into a lounging position. He was there if Vayko or his grandmother needed him, and he would wait to help his cousin back to where he had come from with his bum paw. Other than that, he would take a back seat.