Skill Healer: 1/5
The forest felt a little different, not safer, nor warmer. Just different.
She felt the arms of the trees stretching, as if curious – curiosity that in recent days the Circle had shown her. The High Mother – and Aelune? Didn’t really mind much. It was better to be observed than hunted.
She moved, slow, low, paws almost silent against the ground and her breath held steady. The frigid air of the morning clung to her, sharp enough to sting the old scars along her ribs but she ignores such, she always did.
A flicker of movement snapped her attention to the side, a pheasant – fat and oblivious, seemed to be pecking at the frosted ground, unearthing food more than likely.
She froze, shifted her weight, tail stiffened, her ears perked and her muscles coiled beneath her with the familiar feeling of thrill. But she didn’t think, instead she lunged.
The bird barely had time to shriek before her jaws clamped around its neck, and with a quick flick of her own neck, a jolt, a twist, the avian fell limp.
She plucked the feathers tucking the most prized ones into the fur on her shoulder, ate a little, then moved on, nose low, searching for the familiar scent of old earth. Eventually she came across a mound covered in a thin layer of snow.
The patch appeared overturned, meaning another creature had been here digging, recently. Bones, pale and half cleaned appeared to jut from the damp soil beneath.
She unearthed them, though she kept herself wary, wary of anything or anyone that may be watching. The Circle had cradled her, made her feel somewhat safe, but trust to Aelune was a fragile thing. She didn’t expect such to last.
The witch manoeuvred herself over to a stone overhang, carrying the bones in her jaws before placing them down. She ground them down with her teeth and her paws, working them into a fine, chalk like powder – the taste, was bitter to say the least, and slightly metallic, either that or she’d managed to splinter the crease of her upper, inner jaw – though pain was familiar, pain was honest.
She sat back, relaxed herself momentarily before glaring down at the mixture, as if waiting for such a thing as magic.