Oak Tree Bend run devil run

The child was full of questions, a thing which Anneliese found to be quite refreshing here in the Bend. She did not mind at all answering the little girls inquiries, no matter if they became repetitive or seemed to her adult mind to be elementary. In fact, it would be quite alright with the blonde paladin if this was how the rest of her day was to be spent. An odd thing, really, given that she had never before been drawn to children. In Oak Tree Bend, however, it seemed that everything was opposite. To find the youth of the pack the most agreeable of all was a bitter reminder of the horrid situation she had put herself in by swearing her allegiance to Spieden that clear-skied day.

When little Sahalie offered her paw, Anneliese gently began to apply the poultice to it, careful not to cause any additional pain with her touch. To distract the girl from any unavoidable discomfort caused, the aspiring guardian spoke as she worked.

"Yes, it most likely is. But we'll get it out, no worries. Many plants that are used as medicine are actually dangerous if eaten, but work wonderfully when you apply them directly to the skin, like so. To be safe, you should always ask an adult to help you, rather than trying to figure out which is which on your own, okay?" As had been the modus of thought within her natal pack, Anneliese always carried a hint of concern within her when doling out medicine to young children. They were so eager to mimic, but unable to discern the differences for themselves, leaving an uncomfortable amount of room for accidental poisonings.

"Throne is another word for the position of leadership within a pack. Your father, Triell, is our leader. Spieden is our leader too. Typically, there is always one male and one female. A king and a queen."

PLOT WITH ME!

The mush was quite a bit colder than she expected it to be, but she was surprised to find that the chilly temperature was a welcome relief to the painful and hot throbbing of her paw. The itchy, uncomfortably warm sensation that had been creeping from her wounded toe all the way up her leg suddenly started to fade. It was almost like magic. Her mouth hung open as she turned to look up at her healer, unable to express with any words just how miraculous this seemed to her.

It took a lot of focus to make sense of the instructions and information being levied on her in heaps. So there were good plants and there were bad plants. And good plants could be bad if used the wrong way. And it was hard to tell which plants were bad. The dark cub gulped nervously and bobbed her head vigorously. She had no desire to disobey such clear instructions. Though, given what she had been told, it was a wonder how any adult would know which plants were good and which ones were bad. Anna knew, but Speiden had never seemed very interested in plants. Did the other adults know? Was this something that everyone had to learn at some point? She gulped again. Magic seemed cool and all, but the thought of having to learn everything seemed quite daunting.

She wasn't sure what a "position" was, but she was familiar enough with the term leader. True to Anna's words, this was the word used most often when others were talking to or about Triell. And sometimes people used it for Speiden, too. But they seemed to treat Speiden differently. There were some more names for leader, it appeared, words to describe the leaders of either gender. To match the order they had been introduced, Sahalie assumed that the kings were male and the queens were female. Interesting. 

As the pain in her paw continued to dull, Sahalie thought less an less of it and more about this concept of throne. Anna had previously mentioned "princess," and so the Tainn asked her about that too. It made her happy that the woman had so much time to give her, when most of her pack-mates seemed so busy and tired. It was nice of Anna. Sahalie decided that she liked her.

When the sun began to fade, Sahalie made sure to thank the woman for her magic and her teaching. With a demonstrative wave of her newly healed paw, the girl galloped back to her den to tell Speiden all she had learned about kings and queens and princesses.