Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2012 15:56:33 GMT -5
She had cleaned up her den. All of the herbs she had collected were rolled up in little bundles, and the ones that wouldn’t keep had been thrown out. She had dragged a few ferns over the entrance to the hollow; she didn’t know why, since ferns were unlikely to stop another animal from finding it and claiming it as their den site. Maybe it was a burial.
Vixen ran through the hills, paws thudding on the soft ground. Each stride brought a jagged stab of pain through her right hind leg, but it just made her drive it even harder into the ground, as if by increasing it to its limit she could somehow get rid of the pain. She hated her injury. If she had just been born a runt that wouldn’t have been terrible, but with a limp as well she was pretty much useless at hunting and no one would ever bother to try to teach her to fight. Healing was her only option, and luckily for her she had a good memory and learned fast. But learning required a teacher.
She knew it wasn’t kind to leave the others at a time like this, but nothing was happening here and she just felt useless. No one was sick, so what limited skills she had weren’t required. She was just another hungry mouth to feed – a burden to the pack. Sure, she could gather herbs here, but since Akitla had left she had no one to learn from and she would rather not experiment on her packmates. Vixen did not want to be stuck in a Gatherer position forever and she needed to complete her training if she was to be called a proper Shaman.
For that she would have to travel south. She had heard that there were loners who knew the art of healing but if she couldn’t find one willing to teach her she could at least find some new plants to study. The break would be good for her too. She’d spent too long cramped in one territory and her heart yearned to see the world.
It wasn’t the first time she had left a pack without saying goodbye, although previously it hadn’t been her choice. She had loved her peaceful life in Haishin but that dratted bear had ruined it. Now her mother and siblings were dead, and she would never know who her father was. The fox-like creature shook her head. That was all in the past, and besides, she was almost at the border now. Her pace slowed as she approached the free lands. It felt a little strange to be leaving the territory behind, and she really did like the land and the wolves who lived here. But she was determined to go through with this. And who knew; she might return someday.
.