The heat of the season is personified here in the Dragon's Throat. Underfoot Willow can almost feel the parched dirt moaning for the respite of rain. As such she is thankful for the permanent shade structure on her backside, as is Ermine. He is lazily lounging in her boughs, feasting on some nuts he'd gathered on their way here. Occasionally the ping of a shell dropping echoes in Willow's ears, causing them to flick back each time.
A touch on her side alerts Willow that Nadira has seen ahead once more. The brown head bobs as green eyes shift to watch the horizon line. Meanwhile Willow remains casually standing, her tree preferring shade to the pale unicorn at her side as well.
The first to arrive is a quiet mare, as Willow soon discovers. She greets them kindly enough, but offers little else. Willow glances sidelong at Nadira, mildly perplexed. Were all those of the Throat this soft spoken?
"Good afternoon," Willow greets warmly in return, a smile settling on her lips in the hopes of chasing away whatever fears might be hounding the mare before her.
"I am Willow and this is Nadira," she motions towards her apprentice, introducing herself again as she isn't sure the mare heard her previously, and was hoping it might initiate the response of the other mare's name and perhaps title. Willow wanted to assume she was a healer, but her manners could easily be that of a border guard.
Her voice is save for the time being as another draws alongside them. This one is significantly younger, and no less awkward with her words as she spits them out in bits and pieces, nearly questioning herself as she says them. This seems to be less from any deficiencies however, and more due to the awed curiosity directed at Willow's tree. She smiled knowingly, dipping her head in respectful greeting to the healer.
"Hello Cirrus, a pleasure to meet you. I'm Willow, a lignea," she winks then with a knowing glint her eye, before continuing,
"healer of the Windtossed Foothills. I'm joined by my apprentice Nadira. We seek nothing directly from you, but appreciate the cordial offer."
By this time Onni has arrived as well, likely hearing most if not all of what Willow had thus far said. Her attentions shifts to the splotch-marked pegasus, again her head arching in a welcoming bow. The newest arrival seems most capable and so Willow sets the brunt of her focus on Onni. From her backside Ermine has finished his meal and struts between her ears, glancing down warily at the hellhound, chattering softly at it in what seemed a teasing type of tone. The stoat's attention shifted drastically however once he caught sight of the songbird. He settled back further on his haunches, beady eyes intently watching each movement of the small avian. Whether it was hunger or playfullness, it didn't seem clear. Willow bade him to behave with a burst of orange flaring across their mental link, his ranging emotions proving a distraction to her as she tried to speak clearly with the gathered Throat healers.
"I've come to extend an invitation to the healers here, as I have been offering to the healers of the other herds as well. I hope we can all gather at the Thistle Meadow by next full moon, to exchange our expertise with one another, and thus improve the healing skill sets in each of us. The art is complex and extensive as you likely well know, and so much yet remains to be learned, but as those of our trade share the spirit of maintaining life, I think we can aid each other as much as possible. Each of us has our own expertise which may drastically assist the unique challenges other healers in other regions face."
Willow finishes with emphasis and pride. She is not cocky necessarily, but she is passionate about her dream in gathering the knowledge of all healers to better assist each other. How many times could a fatality have been avoided if the simple remedy another knew in another place had been shared? There was no reason for them to stand at odds. If any thing the goal of healers overrode the boundaries of their herds.
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