Morning dawned brightly as a somber air lay over the lands the Moeru Yoake no Junjo herd called home.
Hikaru stood in the middle of the infirmary breathing slow and deep with his head hanging low a grim expression on his face and his paws covered in blood. An uncharmed shifter had attacked a border guard the night before. The injuries had been beyond his ability to heal with herbs. If only they had healers that could heal with magic. Maybe, just maybe they could have saved him. A noise at the infirmary's entrance drew his attention over to the doorway. Without moving his head he glanced over. His assistant Sumire stood there with a worried expression on her face.
Sumire peeked into the infirmary warily. Hikaru had been in there since he returned early this morning after being unable to save the guard during the night. She had heard that this was the first major loss the herd had suffered since it's founding. This behavior was unusual for her boss and she was becoming concerned about his mental well-being. She watched anxiously as he just stood there doing nothing, he hadn't even cleaned the blood off his paws yet which was usually the first thing he did after tending to any wounded. A knocking from the dens entrance drew her attention away from her boss. With a frown she went to answer it.
Hikaru watched quietly as Sumire walked away to answer the knock. He sighed softy to himself. He had a good guess what the knocking was about. His brothers would want to meet after what happened last night. Sure enough when his assistant returned it was with a message from Daisuke of a family meeting. Pulling himself together he walked over to the wash basin laid into the floor of the infirmary and washed his paws. It wouldn't do to show up coverd in blood.
Once he was clean Hikaru headed to the meeting spot. During the meeting he and his siblings discussed the situation and decided it was time to seek out a healer with unicorn blood. Herbcraft had served them well so far but it was now clear they needed healing magic as well. As he was the healing expert of the group Hikaru was elected to be the one to go searching. Deciding he could use some time away Hikaru agreed to go.
After the meeting Hikaru returned to his den and without a word started to pack what he thought he would need for the journey. There was no telling how long he would be gone. A sudden noise behind him made him look over at his bewildered assistant.
Sumire stared at Hikaru in bewilderment as he moved around the den from his office to the infirmary then to the library and back to the office shoving things into a couple packs the entire time. What was going on? He had been depressed before he left and now he was packing. Her earlier worry returned. She entered the office and stopped a short ways behind him. Her presence went completely unnoticed until she gently cleared her throat. Once she had his attention she stepped up next to him. "You're not running away are you?" She asked only half jokingly.
The question was so unexpected that Hikaru let out a bark of laughter. "No, nothing like that," he replied looking over his supplies. "It's been decided that the herd is in need of a unicorn and I have been volunteered to find said unicorn." He explained to his worried assistant watching her visibly relax out of the corner of his eye. "I need you to look after Nerida while I'm gone," he said absent-mindedly as he continued to go over what to take with him.
"Was that ever in question? Of course I'll look after her." Sumire adored the little seathi that was Hikaru's adopted daughter. When she had first joined the herd she had been quite shocked to find a seathi swimming in a soq-made pool far from any major water sources. The nearby river wasn't deep enough for a seathi to live in. "When are you leaving?" She asked as she started to help him pack.
"As soon as I'm done packing." Hikaru replied, "There's speculation of another attack on the way. The behavior of the shifter is concerning. We want to have a magic capable healer in place as soon as possible."
With help from Sumire and her familiar Hikaru soon had the packs securely over his back and hidden by his wings. It was time to start his search.
(769)
