A Traveler's Medicine
“You’re Milana?” Calhoun asks, ignoring his mate as she scrounges around their merging spot, seemingly looking for anything that could hurt them.
Milana nods slowly, her tail wrapping around her leg briefly before unraveling and settling limply. “I am… And you are…?”
“Oh! Sorry about that, it's been a bit since we've gone with only one reosean. My name is Calhoun and my mate's name is Vinevier."
Milana glances at Vinevier, blinking slowly before nodding and sitting properly. "So you know why you're here?"
Vinevier looks over after she's checked the parameter, a huff leaving her as she sits beside Calhoun. "You're traveling, no? Calhoun offers heal support and I offer a sort of… protection, you can call it."
Milana stares at Vinevier, her head pulling back slightly in unease. "Protection… right…"
Calhoun snorts, bumping Vinevier with his snout before lifting his head to face Milana again. His ears perk forward and his tail curls around Vinevier, shifting so he is more relaxed and non-threatening.
"We've done this twice before as well as other adventures with fellow Reoseans, so we know a thing or two about what goes on in the wild."
Vinevier nods along with him, her tail wrapping around Calhoun’s as her glowing eyes search Milana. Milana shifts in place before she sighs. "Fine. Come along and do whatever, just don't get in the way of me traveling. I've got important work to do which means I can't afford you two getting in the way of things."
The bonded pair glances at each other, sharing a silent message before looking back at Milana and nodding. "Of course," Vinevier says first as she rises to a stand, circling around the taller Vayron with a quiet hum. Despite the other female being taller, she couldn't see much meat on her. There was a possibility that Milana could get hurt. She hums, grinning before standing in front of Calhoun and nudging his chest.
Calhoun rumbles, licking her head once before rising to a stand as well. "We're ready when you are?"
Milana had been watching Vinevier, her ears folded back as she rose to a stand. She nods curtly, swiftly turning around before beginning on her trek. Calhoun and Vinevier glances at each other before giggling under their breaths, taking a moment to breathe until they're able to catch up.
Milana treads ahead of Vinevier and Calhoun, her ears twitching towards the sounds of chirping birds and the crunch of the snow beneath her feet. She ignores the murmuring behind her despite the growing volume, doing her best not to snap and tell them to shut up. From the moment they had walked up to her regarding the papers she had sent out, she hadn't trusted them. Every time she sees them share a glance, the distrust grows.
She stops after a moment, hearing their footsteps pause moments after hers. In the distance, she can hear more crunching, causing her to crouch low to the ground. Vinevier comes up beside her, her glowing eyes appearing sharper than before with a glint she hadn't noticed before.
Calhoun appears on her other side, ears flattened against his head as his eyes release a steady glow. Suddenly a sense of calm washes over her and Milana can't help but relax between them.
"When we tell you to run, you run."
Milana tenses up again, all calmness lost on her. "Bu–"
Vinevier growls under her breath, her glowing eyes turning to glare at Milana. "No buts. If they attack, you have a large chance of getting hurt unless you get out."
Milana shifts in place. This was serious, then. They exhale shakily, nodding. "Ok, ok, I'll run and I'll try and get out."
Vinevier nods, standing as her tail lashes behind her. She turns her attention to Calhoun, eyes narrowing. "Guard her."
Calhoun goes to speak up, mouth opening with a whisper of a sound before Vinevier’s eyes sharpen. Calhoun hesitates before nodding and pressing closer to Milana. The other female just stares between the two, wondering what the fuck was going on. She doesn’t have much to ponder when an arrow shoots Vinevier’s ear, getting stuck before it could leave. Vinevier doesn’t waste any time before she’s lunging forward in the direction of the arrow, snarling as she does.
As Calhoun drags Milana away, Vinevier tackles their attacker, snarling as anything and everything but her and the other reosean fades away. The small Reosean–a chaser–yelps in shock when they’re tackled. Vinevier growls viciously as she leans down in front of their face, grinning when they turn their face away in terror. “What is your purpose for attacking us?”
The chaser whimpers, shaking their head as their ears flatten against their head fearfully. They don’t answer, their jaw clenched as their tail drags between their hind legs. Disliking this response, Vinevier leans down and snaps her jaws around the chaser’s shoulder. The chaser cries out, struggling against her hold on their shoulder. Eventually they shake their head, terrified eyes staring at her red-tinted teal. “Ok, ok! It was a bounty! I had to target a random runner that was either alone or in a manageable group!”
Vinevier grins as she takes her mouth off of the Chaser’s shoulder. “Well, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Please! Please let me go! I won’t go after your group again, I promise!” The chaser cries desperately. While she knew that the chaser wasn’t going to do such things, she was bored and needed to get rid of her energy. So, she releases the chaser and watches as they lunge for her paws.
Vinevier just shakes her head sadly, biting the chaser by their nape before launching them at a mountain wall fueled with the wind she learned to harness. The chaser is knocked unconscious after their head hits the rock, body sliding to the floor. Vinevier pants for a moment, the wind still swirling around her before she sighs shakily and shoves the power away. Her mate needed her.
Calhoun, meanwhile, was pacing in the safety of a cavern, desperately wishing for Vinevier to win. His wish appears to be granted when he sees Vinevier pass the cavern, seemingly sniffing for Calhoun and Milana. Calhoun lunges forward, grabbing onto Vinevier before licking her urgently. His marking gains a slight green glow and the arrow that had pierced Vinevier’s ear snaps and falls to the ground as it heals. Vinevier stares at him silently before she snorts and licks his cheek.
“Uhm…” Milana starts, shifting awkwardly on her paws. “Can we leave now?”
“Of course! Calhoun, please get off.”
Calhoun scrambles back, smiling sheepishly before prancing out of the cave. Vinevier turns to Milana, grinning. “Was it good that we came along?”
Begrudgingly, Milana nods, huffing quietly to herself before she steps past Vinevier with a quiet hum. “Thank you…”
Vinevier hums shortly under her breath, nodding. Returning the smile, Milana moves on, trotting to catch up to Calhoun. Vinevier looks down at the snapped arrow, sighing to herself. It was only a matter of time before things went wrong. She steps on the arrow to dig it into the ground before turning towards the duo. “Wait for me!”