Thais had settled down in her den with her herbs arrayed before her in the nooks and ledges where they belonged. Absently she noted that she’d have to ask one of the Abungu to refresh her stock. It was nice having apothecaries in the pride. It allowed her to focus on healing instead of having to divide her time between healing and gathering supplies. She still liked to keep her paw in on occasion though. Maybe Meltem would allow her to accompany her some time, as the lioness was the one she usually went to for her requests.
The wild dog gazed absently at her herbs. Her thoughts wandering back toward her recent encounter of another healer. A large lion. One who’d risen to a true calling of a healer by helping one of her pride mates who had been serious hurt in a hunting accident. Thais wondered if she’d have been noble enough to help one injured that wasn’t part of her own pride. That was the true source of her troubled thoughts. She wanted to believe she would, but there was just no way to tell for sure.
Her tail flicked as she tried to dig deeper into her soul. A real healer helped those no matter who or what. Could she live up to that standard? Thais sighed. She’d thought she was doing a good job, but now she wasn’t sure. Her mind turned back to the source of her desire to help others.
As a young pup she’d found a wounded bird and brought it to her own mother to heal. Her mother had been a good healer too. She’d brought a stream of sick or injured animals back home, and learned her own skills at healing. When she’d reached adulthood, and all that her mother could teach her, she’d left on a journey of her own. For a long time she’d wandered. There had been little call on her skills or perhaps now she thought she hadn’t looked hard enough.
After such a long time, she’d stumbled across the Isoba pride. It was here she’d found a home she’d never found since leaving her mother. Though the pride was quite healthy and rarely had accidents. The first real bad one had been the day before, and she hadn’t even dealt with it. No she was just watching to make sure the leopard healed correctly. There hadn’t been anything to truly test her skills yet. Not that she wanted others to get hurt, but she wanted her skills appreciated.
For the first time in her adult life, she’d been shown that perhaps she wasn’t living up to her potential. And it hurt. It would have been a lie to say it didn’t. How had she fallen so short on her calling? Perhaps she wasn’t meant to be a healer. That, deep down, didn’t sound right. She loved what she did, maybe she just hadn’t been putting her whole heart into it as she should.
Thais wondered if all healers faced this critical point at some time in their life. Had her mother? She’d never know. What mattered now was what she was going to do about it. The wild dog got to her paws to check the rest of her dwelling. Everything seemed in order as she absently checked each item off her mental list.
Her jackal friend was out for the moment, fetching dinner for them all. It gave her plenty of time alone to think. She rose to her feet and headed out for a stroll; hoping that perhaps a change of scenery might give her a bit more insight to her feelings. The moon was up and gave a soft light to the surrounding area. It was also pleasantly cool against her pelt. Sometimes her den became somewhat stuffy, and filled with the mingling odors of the herbs she kept.
Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Thais let her thoughts turn inward. She now had an idea of the type of healer she wanted to become. So if she wasn’t already there, then she needed to focus on how to reach that goal. Step by step until she obtained what she was after. Thais had a hunch maybe it was a mentality or a way of thinking that she lacked. Her healing skills were good even if she didn’t need to use them often.
She wanted to keep an open mind about everyone. Not focusing solely on those of her pride, but perhaps expanding it a bit beyond the borders. The dog turned down a trail as she pondered that idea. That was interesting. Holding perhaps a healing session? As long as her pride didn’t need her of course. And her patients couldn’t know that she did belong to a pride. The Ammon had made that fairly clear.
Perhaps a little clinic held one or twice every couple of weeks would suffice. Perhaps she should ask them to give at least a little bit of payment. That should suffice nicely. Even though the lioness hadn’t; well she’d ponder it further. Of course she’d have to get it cleared though, probably with the council and the leader. That shouldn’t be too bad.
Satisfied she’d gotten a good start, she paused just in the shadows at the edge of a clearing. Only her nose brightened by a shaft of moonlight betrayed her presence. She closed her eyes to enjoy the moment. A tickle on her nose made her open her eyes. A small insect had landed on her nose. Thais almost went crossed eyed trying to see it.
She smiled and waited for it to fly off. Just as she was about to head back to her den, she heard a dragging noise. Curiously, she waited as it came closer. It turned out to be her own Emilija dragging a haunch of meat much too large for her to carry. With four of them to feed, the little jackal must have been worried about bringing enough. Thais went over to lend her friend some help.