Kunai was relatively new to the pride, having arrived only about six moons ago. In that time period, his heart had been given wholly to the pride and its struggles. Granted, he'd known conceptually what he was getting into when he'd left his pride and came here. That was, of course, the exact reason he'd done so. How could he not, upon learning of the struggles and challenges this pride faced, and yet still endured? It was astonishing that they had continued on and managed to thrive, while still keeping themselves successfully quarantined all this time. The sheer courage and endurance had been enough to convince him that he was not only needed here, but that they deserved the help.
Upon reaching here, his initial assessment had been blown away by the reality. There was so much laughter, joy, shared love and affection, and compassion here! How easy it would have been to allow the supposed blessing of the goddess to darken their hearts and their days. Oh, true, there was plenty of that here too. It was unavoidable when dealing with death and sickness on a daily basis. Darkness was a part of life in a normal pride, and much more so here. However, that looming shadow wasn't allowed to dominate the emotions of those living under it. It was nothing less than amazing.
What was more, there were others here, drawn by the plight of the lions and hybrids confined here. He was by no means alone in feeling the tug of the heart to help. Not that he was a particularly emotional cheetah. Not by any means! He tended to pride himself on being cool and even-headed, even in crisis. However, that didn't mean he didn't have a heart, nor did it mean he wasn't affected by the daily fight to simply live here.
These were the kinds of thoughts he was mulling on internally when the leopardess came limping and wincing in. He dismissed his musings as he approached her, frowning in thought. She'd been into the healing area several times now, if he wasn't mistaken. This was the first time he'd been theo ne to treat her, however. "Something has happened, miss?" he asked solicitously, though in a business-like manner. "Will you come sit here for me, please?"
Brauna had done it again. Somehow, she just seemed to attract trouble. It wasn't so serious this time, but that didn't help much when she was hurting... again! It had been a long, long walk home. She was starting to garner more amused looks than ones of sympathy as she limped through the dens towards the healers, though. That was depressing, and beginning to affect the leopardess' sunny attitude. Jabez would never say anything or even look at her the same way the others did, but it still hurt that she was such a failure that anyone at all could find her a source of amusement.
When the green cheetah had greeted her with that question, she'd hung her head as if guilty of something. That's how she felt... as if it was her fault that this had happened, and that she was to blame for bothering the healers with her constant injuries and mishaps. "I'd... rather not sit," she admitted reluctantly, giving him an embarrassed look before skittering her gaze away in shame. "May I... lay on my side instead?"
Kunai gave her a startled look but nodded. "Of course, whatever is most comfortable my dear." She was young, younger than him anyway. Her demeanor concerned him nearly as much as whatever was wrong with her. But first things first. "Please, tell me what is wrong?" There was no immediate evidence of blood or injury as she gingerly stepped onto the flat rock he preferred to use when examining someone for injuries. Even as she laid down with a soft hiss, he couldn't see much... except maybe... her fur looked a bit matted... He leaned closer and realized with a start that she had burrs buried deep in her fur, nestled right against her skin. But not just in one or two places, but all along her underside and legs!
"I... managed to lay in a patch of groundcover that wasn't... very friendly," she told him haltingly, feeling her face flush with both shame and embarrassment. Bad enough she had to confess it, but to have him examining even her more private areas was intensely uncomfortable in a totally different way than the burrs made her. "I tried to get them all out, but I didn't get very far before my tongue hurt." Not that she'd been foolish enough to try and just lick them off, of course, but the little buggers were very small and very prickly.
"Oh my," he murmured in dismay. This wasn't the sort of thing he was used to facing when treating a patient! Still, this wasn't a minor trouble either. Even if she did manage to get someone to help her groom out all the burrs, her skin was going to need soothing after this, no doubt. But the biggest issue was going to be... how to get them all off her without getting them on himself? To buy himself some time, he spoke to her while he looked around for possible solutions. "How did you manage to get so many on so much of yourself? I imagine it took a good bit of time... why did you stay in the prickle patch?"
Brauna took a moment to think before answering that. "Well, I'm a scout," she began slowly, "so I have to patrol the borders." That in itself was part of the problem. There were an astonishing number of ways to get into trouble across the vast area she was expected to patrol. She'd thought she'd get used to the territory and better be able to navigate it as a scout than she had been during traveling as a rogue. Somehow she'd managed to avoid such trials when traversing the roguelands alone. Now that she has responsibility, she found herself enduring things and doing things she'd have easily avoided when alone. Thus, her accident-prone patrols.
"Today," she went on, still slowly, "I encountered not just one individual, but a whole pack of hyenas. It wasn't just that they were there... I found them by the vultures circling overhead. It wasn't really in our borders, but I thought trouble that close might be a problem." She gave a soft sigh, trying to hold still as he began to pry the stickers from her forelegs. She'd managed to get most of the ones in her paws, between the pads, but already he was doing a more thorough job than she had. She suppressed a hiss as one buried deep wiggled then came loose.
"They had caught and killed something big," she continued, "which wasn't so much a problem... but then they'd caught a caracal trying to get a few bites of their kill." She swallowed, remembering her fright as she'd watched them tease, torment, and then kill the small feline. She wasn't exactly a big creature herself! "When they were done with it, they suddenly seemed to have caught a whiff of my scent." She tried to calm herself and her memories, since fluffing her tail would probably not be especially helpful just now. "They started spreading out and searching. I had to hunker down in the nearest cover and hold very still. But I was afraid...," she went on, resolutely turning her mind from the very emotion she was revealing to him, "so I trembled. The more I trembled, the more the burrs worked into my fur and skin. By the time they returned to their kill and fighting over it, this was my state."
The tale was told, essentially, but she left out seeking one of the warriors to handle the roving, vicious pack. Such creatures couldn't be left to maraud so close to the pride, after all. She'd only sought the healers after being sure the situation would be handled. Kunai shook his head as he tugged burrs from her fur as gently as he could. "May I make a suggestion, miss?" he asked diffidently. It wasn't really his place to say this, but he felt it was important. She seemed determined to keep going on this way, and he couldn't stand to see a creature suffer, even with good intentions.
At her mute nod, he surprised her with his suggestion. It wasn't what she expected, which was advice about how to better hide, or a method of scouting that would improve her success. "You need a new job," he told her bluntly. "You are not suited to being a scout. Your heart is too tender, your skills are lacking, and frankly I don't think the healers can keep up with your injuries at this rate." He paused to peer into her face. He didn't mean to be unkin, but this really did need addressing. "If you can find a way to keep yourself from coming in so often, do it. But I believe the best way to do so is to change jobs." He went back to tugging stickers out gingerly, leaving her to consider his words.
And yes, those words stung. Jabez was a scout, and she had wanted so badly to show him that she was willing to pull her weight, to do what he did so well, and be happy doing it. But this green healer was absolutely correct. It wasn't fair to pull the healers from the diseased patients every time she had a mishap of this sort. She clearly wasn't as good at it as she thought she would be. This wasn't an easy thing to consider, but it was too accurate to ignore. She set her teeth against her tongue in dismay, but eventually softly spoke. "Thank you, healer," she murmured, "for your help... of all sorts." It was time to talk with her mate and see what they could figure out for her. She'd find something else she could do, some other way to help the pride.
Kunai gave a satisfied breath of sound at her thanks. It was good when a youngster was willing to be sensible. If he didn't see her again, he'd know his advice had been well-given. He hoped he wouldn't! For now... he had his paws full, quite literally. Horrible, terrible, sticky burrs! This was going to take quite a long, long while. With a suppressed sigh, he returned to the effort with a will that was as determined as hers clearly had been.
