The beetle buzzes softly through the air, passing over Thistle and landing for a brief moment on her head mockingly. She stirs with a groan, her curled ears twist back and forth while her eyes flutter back open. The beetle takes it's leave with a leap and fluttering of glass like wings. "Ow." She mumbles, incoherent except that it's such a simple word anyways the point still gets across pretty well in the nonsense. Her chest and belly hurt where she's landed on the tree and she's got some scrapes bleeding along her forelimbs.

She hangs there for just a moment- staring at Enoch circle around the tree. "Can.. Can you go get my mommy please?" She feels her voice shake like she wants to cry. She wants down so bad but she's terrified to fall again.

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Okay! Enoch whimpered slightly as @Thistle moaned from where she was. He didn't know WHICH mommy she wanted - so decided he would go fetch the first one he found. The piebald child glanced back at his friend before he bolted through the underbrush and started racing the borders of the bands territory. Kireena was often found lurking them - or maybe the gardens!

He did eventually find her, after an eternity it felt like and after explaining what had happened, Enoch had lead the red woman back to where Thistle was stuck on her tree branch. His face pinched with worry and his expression sour. It's okay! I got her!

Earth and Stone

Born of earth and Stone - stronger than both.

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She had in fact been patrolling the borders when Enoch had found her - his words tumbling out in a flurry she had barely understood. When she'd managed to realize what the youth wanted, she followed him, her heart in her throat. Kireena paced the tree where @Thistle lay, frowning up at her small daughter. "Oh little love.." came the soft sigh as she rose up on her hind limbs, one leg bracing against the trunk to try to get a better, closer look at the yearling. "Where does it hurt the worst?" She murmured, checking visually for blood or broken bones. Of course only Thistle would know where it hurt the worst. Her gaze was searching, however, the trained healers eye noting anything of interest.

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It feels like forever has passed. Thistle lingers in silence, her body haphazardly draped over the branch. She's still, impossibly so for it feels like the slightest movement will either increase the pain or send her falling down the rest of the way to the ground. By time @Enoch and @Kireena return her breath is fluttering, every pore of her pours out nervous anxiety and she does not even dare to turn her eyes to the sounds of paws or the relief of Mommy's voice.

"My chest and belly.... I'm scared to get down." It's a drop a healthy cub could manage but Thistle hurts, Thistle fears. A glance at her chest, what was visible around the edges of the branch, showed some signs of a heavy bruise forming and meanwhile one rub did seem to be sitting just a little funny, a fracture near the tip pushing strange on her abdomen.

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He would pace the tree as Kireena did whatever it was the big red woman was doing and listening to @Thistle whimper. It had his ears slicking against his skull as he tucked his tail under his stomach. She really sounded hurt, he would try to lean up upon the tree, talons biting the bark with nervous biscuits as he watched and waited for the older female and her daughter to decide what it was they were going to do.

Of course, he knew nothing of the ways of injury and healing, so he focused on trying to learn SOMETHING - perhaps to be of use later.

Earth and Stone

Born of earth and Stone - stronger than both.

image by ale tie, design by tabs, code by Corvus

Kireena listened to her young daughter speak, her gaze noting some of the positioning near her stomach and winced. "All right little love.. Here's what we're going to do - I need you to brace yourself - and then when I grab your scruff, let out ALL of your breath. Scream, blow it out, however you need to. We'll get you down and see how things are." She didn't want the girls lungs to be inflated in ANY capacity when she would seek to move the young female from the branch. Though she wasn't sure what other injuries there were, she wouldn't be able to examine @Thistle until she was on the ground.. The lioness knew that it would be a fast - and painful movement, but it needed to be done. Ideally, she would find a way to keep the yearling from moving at all, but there really...was no good options here.

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Thistle sniffles loudly and then just barely nods her head to her mother. "Yes Mom." And then she falls silent, still as the grave as the heavy hand of time passes agonizing second by second. She waits for Kireena to move and get a hold, she feels the air leaving her lungs as she was told to do. And then just for a second it's like everything pauses. No bird sounds, no pitter pattering of Enoch below. Everything but she is frozen...

And then when the pull comes she screams. It escapes her lips, the rush of pain and emotions all at once falling with her to the ground where the impact is slight thanks to Kireena's help. Her eyes are swelling with fearful tears and the ache in her chest begins anew. The bruise is angry and deep. There's a few ribs that seem maybe broken or cracked.

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She winced when @Thistle screamed, knowing that it would hurt. The lioness was gentle as she inspected her daughter, frowning at the mishappen segments of her mid-section. I need you to find me some sturdy branches - reeds perhaps.. She glanced towards @Enoch as she spoke, then gathered a few plants for pain relief. Kireena hadn't wanted to give any to Thistle before - because if something was going to puncture a lung or an organ, she wanted her OFF the branch.

Taking the leaves from several different plants, she carefully dropped them to a large flat rock, and began kneading them with her paws - talons slicing the tender flesh to release the juices. Here, chew these.. it won't taste good, but it will help ease the hurts.. She would carefully nudge the oozing mass towards @Thistle. How far up were you, little love? Eye turned towards the canopy of the tree, trying to guesstimate the force she had fallen and how much damage to expect. She wouldn'tbe doing ANY poking and prodding until the yearling was in less pain.

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She chews. The taste is every bit as awful as promised but the ill taste is quickly forgotten with each little twinge of pain that came from either a breath too deep or @Kireena at work. She chews harder, hoping that the force and fierce gnashing will make the concoction work faster.

"The branch just above that one... I think." It was hard to tell what she fell past, and she's kicking herself for not being more careful on the way up in the first place. "A beetle scared me.." Thistle says with a little whimper, betrayed by the bug.

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The red druid winced at @Thistle's words. She would gather a few things nearby to carefully get the pale girl checked out. "Such a rude beetle.." Kireena would murmur as she prodded carefully. "You have a few ribs you've bungled - but they'll heal." That was the good news. The bad news of course - was that it would take some time. "Once your friend returns, we'll pull you to a den so you can rest..." Her gaze lurked over the girls form before she settled beside her with a soft, worried sigh. "It's going to be hard to breath deep for at least a few days - after that moving will work, but it will be painful." She had broken a rib in the past, but it was the dislocated one that troubled her the most. "When your friend gets back, we will see if we can pop some of these back to where they'll feel better." The dislocated ones would be fixed easily enough by a sharp tug of Thistle's front legs - to re-align her spine and ribs. Or at least it had for her when she'd had her own tumble down a gorge as a child. "That will hurt but as soon as that fades, it will feel better." She surmised Thistle would be sore for a couple of days, but certainly not as long as one might expect for a broken bone. Ribs - thankfully, were non weight bearing for the most part.. the spine and back muscles held the worst of it. "When we get you upright, soaking in the pools or the hot springs will help as you heal." She began to gather a smattering of plants, placing them on a large frond and working to roll a rock she had found over them to create a mash.

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