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Waterfall, Dos had said. The word caused a shudder to go through Elcid's body. Did it have to be at the waterfall, the very thing that had put her into this condition? Elcid kept her resentment at returning to the place of her injury to herself. Instead, she focused on Dos' declaration that she could probably make a splint for her. Painful, she said. Elcid smiled, thinking how could it be more painful than what she currently felt throughout her whole body? The fox was decisive and quickly declared a game plan for the two of them. A den. Some food - freshly caught from the sounds of it. What a generous creature, helping a stranger out with such demanding tasks, a stranger that she could have just left for dead on the shore of the river. Elcid took another careful hop-step forward, putting more distance between her and the currents. It was the fox's next words that made Elcid pause and turn towards Dos with a lifted brow, curiosity clear on her face. Shift? If she shifts? What exactly did that mean? A bigger bodyguard. Elcid suddenly became far more interested in what Dos meant by the phrasing. A den and food could wait just a little bit longer. "What do you mean if you shift?" she asked the fox. Before she could answer, a twig snapped. Underbrush moved and parted and stalking through it came another wolf. Was... was it going for Dos? Elcid hobbled around, trying to put herself between Dos and the stranger. Just because she was injured (badly) didn't mean she wouldn't protect her new friend from a stranger's fangs. As she moved, she inspected the wolf's body language as a whole. Head lowered and tail held out in a non-aggressive posture. That was a good start, but Elcid didn't take any chances and continued to stand as a barrier between Dos and the stranger. Then she spoke, and Elcid's suspicion dwindled. She was a nurse? What were the odds of a nurse coming across her in such a broken state? Elcid turned to glance at Dos, then back to the wolf. Hadn't she said that she hadn't seen any other wolves? That, in fact, Elcid was the first wolf she'd seen up close? Maybe this was her lucky day, meeting not one but two wolves here today. Or, maybe the wolf's display of non-aggression was a tactic to force Dos and Elcid to let their guards down. For Elcid, it worked. "I do, yes." she responded, hobbling to show her injured leg and shoulder. "I took a wild ride in the river and ended up with this trophy" she summarized, not wanting to repeat every detail again like she had with Dos. "Who are you?" |
[AW] Up and Over