olympia snipped off a devil's claw and tucked it, root and all, into her satchel. it sat half-full by her bosom, with the empty space begging to be filled with new plants. the garden was empty today, but the tides of winter had yet to sweep the color from the land. the strength of the flowers here meant the herbs would work even better than the ones that grew in the neighboring ones. thus, olympia trekked here of all places, never minding the strong fragrant smell of the flowers that itched her nose nor the gentle buzzing of the bees. it felt like springtime, but it only made her more enthused to stay a bit longer. @Cassandra.

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The gardens were often somewhere she found herself wandering towards. It was a place filled with happy memories for herself, and she enjoyed coming here to relax and decompress from everything. Right now, she wanted to just come and relax here without worrying about dealing with everything that she knew was going to be coming sooner or later. Her mother’s life was now at risk, what with her challenge. But the Brook had gotten back into paws of lions who would nurture and care for the land, she she hoped it would remain that way for many more years.

Wounds still fresh, Cassandra gently settled herself down on the ground. A soft sigh escaped her as she flopped her head onto her paws. It was still chilly here, what with the winter season - but it was still colorful and somewhat warm within the Gardens. An ear flicked lazily as she felt herself starting to drift off, exhaustion from the last few days starting to take over her body a bit more.

@Olympia

actions. "speech."

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olympia had a gift in that she knew exactly when something changed within her surroundings. blame it on the pesky paranoia of being watched, but her senses were honed in on the intruder as she stared in that direction. she saw the brown lioness nod off, seemingly unknowing of olympia's presence, within the garden. that wasn't a good idea now, wouldn't it? olympia could be a terrible lioness and there may be others coming this way. yet, she could also leave and let the woman be, but olympia had never really listened to what her brain said.

hey, you should wake up olympia said as she approached the woman from the front. or the bugs will bite your cheeks. still, she couldn't help but slip in a joke. as she stopped and slipped down on to her haunches, olympia started assessing the lioness like she was a patient already. are these...injuries? @Cassandra

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She was comfortable, relaxing even in the Gardens. While it might not have seemed she was alert to others around her, the Brook Queen heard the lioness approaching her without opening her eyes. Duotoned eyes would snap open and fixate on the paler lioness. Lip would slightly lift as she was immediately defensive - though she didn't super recognize the lioness at first. "I've been in these gardens off and on since I was a yearling." She said, her tone a bit more curt than she meant to.

But she was sore from her fight, and really in no mood for jokes at the moment. Tail flicked crossly, showing her irritation at being awoken from her nap. However - as she looked more at the lioness, she vaguely recognized her from the Passage. "You were at the Passage not too long ago, weren't you? I remember running into you there." She said, pushing herself to a more sitting position as she spoke.

@Olympia

actions. "speech."

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olympia didn't notice anything that demanded her to hesitate and frown. she wasn't good at that more than she was good at looking at animal droppings for scrying purposes. instead, she simply looked, half-dumbly with a smile on her peachy features at @Cassandra, while trying to figure out if she was familiar or not. it was cassandra who figured it out first and that was when the metaphorical firefly in olympia's mind turned on its tail light.

yup, that's me she said before she narrowed her eyes and tilted her head forward. and you were the one who challenged for the brook place, no? ah, right, that was why she had so much wounds on her. that smaller lioness did quite a number on the now-high sovereign. at least it was all worth it? hopefully? i can do a fix-up for you if you want she added, hoping that she would be allowed to. olympia had helped another ranked lion, so why not add a second one? in no time others could call her great names like olympia the hole patcher for kings and queens or olympia the savior of kings and queens.

she laughed, but kept it short and quiet.

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Pushing herself to a sitting position, Cassandra would fix the larger lioness with a cautious eye, knowing she'd chosen to join the Plains after being greeted at the Passage. Tail flicking, Cassandra would remain quiet for a moment, listening to the other lioness speak. A lip would lift for a second as she mentioned being the one who challenged for 'that brook place'.

"'That brook place' is an ancestral home that had been wrenched from my family's paws by that bastard and his bitches. They do not understand the land that is holy and sacred to Maua - they desecrated land belonging to the natives of this land." Cassandra said, her words more harsh than she initially intended. "I proved that I have Maua's support behind me and emerged victorious over that bitch." She said, a snort escaping her as she finished speaking.

And then the offer to patch her up would be extended, and Cassandra would fall silent, debating if she trusted this lioness to treat her or not. "Go ahead - but know that if you do anything to hurt me, I can and will hunt you down." She said. A wounded bear was not one to poke, and Cassandra was just that at the moment.

@Olympia

actions. "speech."

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uh-uh-huh olympia said as she began to sort through the medicine that she needed - wormwood, aloe vera, and frankincense. she began tearing the palm tree leaves into strips for the dressing, all the while listening to @Cassandra talk. there was no love lost between her and the previous ruler, that much olympia could infer. in the middle of the lioness's talk, olympia could only nod and grunt - the medic's way of being engaged to a patient's non medical conversation. she was glad that she wasn't the one that was hated by cassandra, but olympia still felt a spike of chill run down her spine.spirits, may you all bless us with your fortune and favor she thought, casting a blessing of protection for her and a blessing of good health for cassandra.

i'll do some general physical assessment and alot these herbs to those that need attention right away olympia explained as she started circling cassandra. please stay still for me while i...spit the poultice out. she hoped the woman would be silent for a little while as she did her thing. what cassandra said made her a wee bit nervous, but it wasn't nothing that she hadn't heard. some patients get particularly aggressive during their first checkup, which meant somewhere there was an open wound festering.

she chewed on the herbs, rolled them into circular shapes, and spat them on cassandra's wounds that were nastier than just cuts and bruises. this time, olympia worked quickly, without her quips and questions. the former would be saved for the last, just to give cassandra some time to...calm down.

medic roll:

Rolling 1d10: 10

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An ear flicked as @Olympia began to mix herbs together. Her wounds had already been tended to once by her cousin, but she supposed it never hurt to have a second medic help with her wounds as well. Especially if she planned on making the Plains an ally of the Brook now. The enemy of one's enemy is a friend potentially. She had plans in the works, and she knew her family would not stand still to just allow that plum bastard to potentially take her mother's life without attempting to take some of their own.

She would remain quiet, preferring to not reveal anymore information about herself or her family. No need to give all the information to someone she didn't really know. The only movement from the Valour-Greyflood would be the occasional twitch of a muscle as the herbs touched a particularly sensitive wound from her fight. She was not one to show weakness or anything of the sort. It was dangerous in these lands to do just that.

actions. "speech."

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the silence made her itch in the wrong places. olympia dreaded it more than a patient that couldn't stop ranting about their days or a patient that couldn't stop worrying about their declining health. at the very least, olympia inwardly thanked cassandra for not stopping her. olympia wasn't here to make things worse or to gossip, so cassandra standing still for her was in itself a kindness.

some wounds didn't need dressing, others simply had no way to do so, but olympia had dressed cassandra's legs and even a section of her tail with the palm tree leaves just to aid those parts in faster healing. now, the only issue were the ones on cassandra's face. you can apply the leftovers yourself for your face olympia said in her default sugar-sweet voice as she wrapped the extra in their palm tree stripes. i assure you, they work better than they smell.

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She was aware that her silence was likely making @Olympia uncomfortable. But at this point in her life, she was through caring what anyone thought of her or what she made people feel. She had learned over the years that some things ended up one way or another regardless of how she felt about it. Her ear flicked again as Olympia applied the herbs to the wounds on her frame, the ones across her face the only ones left untouched by the large healer.

"My cousin is a medic. I'm sure she'll help me apply them." She said, looking past Olympia towards her home. She needed to get back home, especially since so much time seemed to have passed since she'd left the Brook this morning. It would take some time for her to get back, especially after having laid down as long as she had. She was aware that sometimes herbs smelled awful but worked regardless. Finishing pushing herself fully to her paws, Cassandra would allow the colossal lioness to decide what happened now. Once she moved away, Cassandra would also make her way back towards the Brook.

-exit Cassandra,

actions. "speech."

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