Sanguine Cove Not completely broken

@Eros

Kateri was starting to wonder if the winter was ever going to end. Her mismatched gaze looked up at the cloudy sky when she exited the den after her morning nap. Her tummy growled to let her know that it wanted food. She queued it was midday so therefore it was time to eat. She was looking forward to something yummy as she made her way through the cove to toward the nearest cache. Maybe there would be a nice plump rabbit there waiting for her.

She'd been sad that she'd had to stay at the den that morning while all of the pups from the backwater were still there. She was hoping she might get to play with them some more.

She felt her leg was starting to get better but it still wasn't well enough to be chasing them all over the place. So each step she took was a careful one where she barely put any weight on her leg. When she finally reached the cache she used one paw to dig while she steadied herself with her two good legs.

Eros was investigating the new terrain, comparing all the ways it was both the same and different from his own home. He saw the other youth in the distance, and at first thought she might be the Oksana woman who had led himself and Seri to the Cove's territory. Drawing closer he caught sight of her eyes, and realized it was one of the other soon-to-be-teens. His tail began to wag as he trotted over, but the motion ceased when he noticed the other wolf appeared hurt.

His head twisted as he watched her slowly unearth the stored carcasses, thinking her actions completely impractical.

"Um. Would you like help?" he asked when he reached her side, bright eyes curiously regarding her.

Her stomach growled a little knowing food was on its way. It would still be a little while before she could fill her tummy. It was slow going digging with one paw but it had become one of those things that she'd gotten used to. She'd had to since she didn't have a definite time frame as to how long her leg needed to heal completely. She was concentrating so hard on keeping from using her hind leg to support her weight she didn't realize she had company until he spoke.

Her mismatched gaze landed on the strange pup. She could tell he was around her age. "Um, sure," she said carefully moving to the side. "I could have already had it done but…," she trailed off, "I'm Kateri. What's your name?"

Itbwould be nice to know the name of who was helping her and she realized she was rambling. That was a little embarrassing.

But what? Eros wanted to ask, gaze pointedly lowering to the leg she favored. He wasn't trying to be rude, but she wasn't sad or distressed, more so acting like the hurt was old and she was just dealing with it, like Uncle Vay had had to do when the turtle bit him. So it was okay to be curious, right? She told him her name and asked his before his tongue could catch up with those thoughts.

"Eros Valle," he stated proudly, smiling wide. It wasn't often he got to be a little boastful about who he was, given everyone he was usually surrounded by had the same surname.

"I can do it, you should prob'ly be resting."

That's what Mama Clo would have said, and she always knew how to make other wolves' pain go away. Eros began to dig, quickly pulling up great frozen clods of earth with ease. In no time at all, he was able to pull out the meat she'd been after and place it atop the pile of displaced dirt for her to nab and eat.

The truth was Kateri was thankful for the boy offering his help. It was always tiresome trying to get her own food. The fact of the matter was she didn't know how long her condition would last. It was best that she get on with her life and learn to live with it the best that she could. So far she felt she was adapting well but she wished more than anything that she would be normal again.

The boy told her his name, Kateri smiles, "Its really nice to meet you Eros Valle," she said taking note of the pride with which he spoke his last name. "You must be one of the pups from the Backwater?"

The Slayer girl had no doubt that he could do it. Though it was the part about resting that made her scoff a little. It was truly getting to the point she detested that word. She watched him set to work as she spoke. "Thank you for your help but frankly I've rested more than I can handle sometimes." She'd probably end up back at the den resting before it was all said and done anyway.

You must be one of the pups from the Backwater? she asked, and he nodded with the same measure of self-satisfaction. It was pretty much perpetually evident that Eros loved his home and family, even if everyone didn't always get along.

The sound she made when he mentioned resting made him feel like maybe he'd said something wrong. He sat back on his haunches, and decided it wouldn't hurt to ask questions while she ate, right?

"Has it been broke for a long time then?" was the first, of course in reference to her injured leg.

Kateri smiled when she'd guessed his home right. She moved forward and took the piece of meat that he'd placed out for her. "Thank you for this. I didn't get much to ear earlier."

She took the meat in her mouth and settled down near Eros. She started to take a bite when he asked her a question about her leg. Kateri looked at the offending appendage. "Thankfully I didn't break it," she told, "It feels like forever but really only a couple months. It's taking its good old time that's for sure." She took her first bite and chewed it up before speaking again, "Have you had something happen where you had to rest all the time?"

A couple of months? That was a really long time, practically forever in his opinion. Eros couldn't help but think that maybe it was broken and she just didn't have someone like Mama Clo to diagnose the injury properly. She asked if he could relate, and he started to shake his head no but stopped to shrug instead.

"I mean, I haven't but my uncle got his paw broken by a turtle and he had to stop leadin' and everything. Took him months to feel better too."

It had sucked. Everyone had gotten sick because of it and Vayko hadn't been able to play with them or do anything else fun. It'd made him pretty grumpy most of the time, actually.

"Sorry you gotta deal with that. What'd you do? I got thrown by an elk once and I didn't break anything."

So she had to have done something bad to it or gotten a disease too, right?

(This post was last modified: Apr 04, 2022, 05:11 PM by Eros.)

Kateri truly didn't have a problem talking about her injury. She did when it first happened but she'd been dealing with it so long it no longer bothered her. She didn't mind when Eros asked about it and she easily told him about it. She listened as he talked about his uncle having his paw broken by a turtle.

"Is he okay now though. It sucks having to rest all the time and you said he's a leader? My papa had to stop leading for awhile too, he got sick. How'd the turtle break your uncles paw?"

The Slayer girl was thankful that over the past few months more and more about her time being lost had become clearer. She could finally remember what had happened for her leg to end up the way it was.

"Thank you Eros. I got lost in a storm. While trying to find my way back I slipped and fell. It was a big drop and and I landed on it wrong. Being thrown by an elk though. That sounds horrible. Did you get hurt really bad?"

She'd gotten better at navigating life with her leg the way it was. Still there were times when she really hated it. There wasn't anything she could do though but keep taking care of it and making sure it heals properly.

Eros had been gradually coming to the conclusion that bad things simply happened, constantly, and it was a wolf's job to withstand them and work with others to prevent as much as they could. What Kateri had to share only served to reinforce this, as she explained that her own father had been incapacitated at some point too. While Viorel had gotten sick, he hadn't needed to completely shed his title over it. Eros didn't want to think about how he'd have felt if it had been his dad limping pitifully around the territory rather than his uncle.

When she spoke of her fall, the height he imagined was far taller than anything a wolf could survive. He looked at his friend's half-sibling with wide, awe-filled eyes as she succinctly relayed the tale. She had to be pretty tough!

"Turtles got like really strong jaws, way stronger than they look so it like crushed his bones I guess. I heard he coulda lost his whole paw. He's fine now though, and I'm glad yer dad is too. Didya guys have a good medic? We got my Mama Clo. The elk fight had me all bruised up but she knows how to make the pain go away and heal faster so it wasn't bad at all."

(This post was last modified: May 30, 2022, 06:11 AM by Eros.)