kapuchu — Roleplayer Guild

The morning sun didn't stay for long, quickly migrating across the sky on its eternal quest to meet the opposite horizon. Hours passed in the blink of an eye for Evelina, costumers coming and going. The boy with the rat bite hadn't been an actual infection, but just a collection of blood beneath the skin. While it was difficult not to shake her head at the woman for thinking it was an infection, she also knew that healer's lore and knowledge wasn't as widespread as one would think. For reasons indiscernible there weren't all that many who knew anything of what a healer did. Mostly they just blindly trusted anyone who called themselves healers, hoping that they knew what they were doing whenever they had something that needed to be treated.

She sighed, picking up an apple from the tray on the table beside her, cutting a line along the length of it with her nail. Boredom currently permeated every part of her mind, with no costumers having visited for the past hour. She had also already ground what she could, stopping only after she had run dry of the one needed for the disinfectant.

She brought the apple to her lips, long canines piercing the fruit and aiding in tearing a large chunk out of it. She had to admit, the elongated canines had their uses. Not only did they allow her to scare off annoying brats who tried to bully her for being different, but they also made tearing meat apart much easier. That thought brought a sidelong smirk to her lips as she chewed. Chewy beefs were no longer a problem, even if they were a relatively rare commodity—She tried to save up as much money for herself as she could, after all.

Finishing off the apple in a few more bites, she glanced out the window past a bushel of dried, blue flowers for aiding sleep. The sun was nearing its highest on the sky, and she should probably head off into the forest if she wanted to make sure she had time to gather enough before it got dark.

"Might as well be off," she muttered, standing up and heading for the door, but not before grabbing her cloak and draping it over her shoulders, and donning the hood to keep her face hidden. She spent another few minutes grabbing whatever else she needed, including a large leather pouch for the herbs themselves.

A small "Healer Not Present" hung on her door a few moments later.

Brittle things on ground crushing.

Not-brittle things on stiff things rustling.

Smells strange. No cracking from stiff things breaking.

A tall shape stood between taller unmoveable things. Very little sound. Very strange smell. Stood still. Not dangerous, but not scared.

Prey. Not discovered yet. No fangs. No claws.

Creep closer. No cracking, rustling, crushing. Close now. Mustn't be seen.

Hungry. Kill. Hungry. Close now.

Clo—Prey gone! Prey not there!

Light! Pain! Can't move. Prey there! Prey large cla—

Evelina wiped her the blood off her sword in the wolf's pelt, grimacing slightly at the almost decapitated head. She had meant to deliver a killing blow immediately, but hadn't quite expected that she'd cut halfway through the spine. She returned the sword to its sheath attaching to her lower back, horizontally, and crouched down, leaning in to inspect the animal.

It was dead for sure, that much she was certain of, and it looked like a normal wolf for all intends and purposes. There was only one strange thing about it all. Wolves were pack animals and almost never hunted alone, and when they did they certainly didn't go for prey larger than themselves. While Evelina was by no means a large person, she was still tall enough to make any wolf think twice about attacking her blindly, as this one had been about to.

So these are the ones that so many people come to me for. Suddenly makes a bit more sense how so many people get bitten by wolves if more of them are like this... even then, this was probably just a straggler. The attacks happens mostly north of Olnesse near Stoneshire and Rivendale. She stood up again, green eyes darting around while her ears pivoted towards each and every direction. No more wolves nearby. Definitely a straggler.

She turned and headed towards a meadow she recalled being nearby. The plant she needed often grew in large quantities there, and sometimes there even were the additional rare herb she could use for either adding flavour to a stew, or perhaps just a pretty flower to put in a vase.

It took no more than a few short minutes before she reached a break in the trees and a clearing came into view, a small meadow being in the middle of it all. A rare, genuine smile spread across her lips as she withheld the double-coloured petals of the flower she needed. As always, its blue and red hues were beautiful to behold. There weren't quite as many as she had hoped, but there were enough for a few week's use.

No sound was made as she walked towards the nearest group of the flowers. Kneeling down, she started picking the petals. Unlike most other people Evelina didn't just pluck the flower from the ground. She had learned early on from her mother that it was much easier to simply carefully pick the petals—unless, of course, you needed the stalk too, in which case you cut the stalk close to the ground, but left the roots alone—and store them in a bag. It allowed the plant to quickly bloom again and provide more petals. Luckily for her, this specific plant was one where only the petals contained the necessary substance for the disinfectant. It was why, she was told, that it had two colours rather than one.

The sun steadily climbed the sky, then started falling again slightly. It had reached midday and was approaching early afternoon. Judging by the shadows cast by the trees she assumed that it was almost two hour since she had left her home, which also meant that she would have to return soon. Much as she enjoyed time alone away from others, she knew that with the scarcity of healers meant that there were a lot of people compared to only a few people with healer knowledge.

She flicked her ear as some small insect landed on it, prompting her to look up and around her. Everything was as it should be, except that she now noticed that she had run out of the two-coloured flowers. A quick glance at her leather pouch confirmed the fact as well; the previously empty container being almost full of petals ready for drying. She then closed it and pulled the hood over her head again, heading towards the trees and towards her home.

The petals had been set out to dry and the "Healer is away" sign had been removed, and she now sat in her living room, a dish of mixed fruits and vegetables sitting in front of, half of it already gone. They day had been rather uneventful save for the wolf attacking her, and a lumberjack who had lost the grip of his axe and hit himself in the leg. The injury looked worse than it was, luckily, and he was able to go home with the knowledge that he could continue working the next day. The leg just needed to be kept calm, so chopping wood for the fires wouldn't be too much effort. So long as he kept it to only chopping wood for fireplaces until the wound healed, he should be all right.

Further musings during her late lunch were interrupted by several knocks on the door. Like earlier that day they were crisp and quick with no room for fancy melodies played out by the sound of knuckles against wood.

He's early, she mused, standing up and walking to the door. Opening it she came face to face with Cormack, drenched in sweat.

"He's not here," he said almost immediately, stepping forward as she took one backwards, allowing him entrance.

"Where is he then?" She asked impatiently, leaning against the door.

"Woods. Ebbwood, to be more precise. Asked two guards if they had seen anyone with flaming red hair walk out, and they said he was headed for the woods. I ran and caught up to him. Spent an hour sneaking close enough to eavesdrop. Apparently he has a bunch of soldiers out there, probably the rebel group. He's going to return here tomorrow. You can catch him then, if you want."

Evelina let out a sigh, ears dropping to lay across her head for a moment. "I had hoped I'd be able to find him tonight. Turns out I can't." She stepped over to the table, grabbing an apple from the tray in the middle and threw it to Cormack. "Here. You deserve at least this much."

"Thanks," he replied, catching it and biting into it. "For what it's worth, I'm still sor—"

She waved a hand at him and he suddenly went silent. "Stop. Just... stop. Don't talk about that. Not now, not ever." She waved a hand once more, this time at the door. "Please. Just... go."

Cormack said nothing. He just nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

Evelina sighed. This was going to be a long day.

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