"Ermine."
Her voice whips forward with a strength that betrays the weakness and the fear she feels within. It's enough to stop the stoat within his tracks, as he'd been about to furiously launch himself towards the next individual once more, despite the terrifying experience of being clutched by a dragon. Normally the small weasel is terrified by anything above him, much less as formidable as a dragon, but such is the blindness of rage - and love.
His sides bore faint red lines where the talons had gripped him. As well as Tinek meant for, dragon claws are sharp and Ermine hadn't helped with his squirming. They were minor lacerations however, and did not seem to bother the ermine as he slinked back towards Willow, skulking about her head and snuffling at her nose. Her lips twitched into some ghost of a smile.
He was her remaining comfort.
"That won't be necessarry," Willow murmured to the instruction she be healed. Often on the end of a healer trying to work on a fussy patient, now she was living on the other end, which gave her some new perspective she would later reflect on. For now however, a splinter of pride begged her to refuse the offer.
Ignoring them for the time being Willow turned to her only friend in this.
"Ermine, grow Cayenne pepper," Willow instructed, 'brows furrowing as she wondered if she'd ever taught that particular plant to him. It was not technically an herb so often overlooked, even by herself, but it was one of the best for fighting nerve pain.
He gave her a brief moment of hesitation before scuttling over to the ground near her. He began to dig with his paws, which she found bizarre, but as he dug it seemed as if the earth responded, proffering a bright, shiny red pepper eventually. Peppers did not grow like a root in the ground, but she did no question her companion's magical methods.
A relieved sight fluttered from her nose as he scampered back to her, pepper in tow. She took it readily, chewing it up with a distasteful look upon her features. It burned her lips and set her tongue aflame, but it was vital that she chew it up well. The oils in the pepper were the source of the remedy, and though it's effects would not be immediate, knowing they would come seemed to offer her nearly as much strength.
"Milkweed," she croaked to him next, to which he directed his attention back towards the ground. A green, fuzzy plant similar to a mint unfurled from the earth and greedily she consumed it, her muzzle staining a milky white. It eased the burn, coating her mouth in a waxy substance. She realized perhaps she should have eaten this first...
With her recovery in the process of being treated, Willow found the energy to properly assess the situation and her captives. She turned a stern, but not unkind eye towards the pale stoic one who seemed more authoritative than the rest.
"Why have you taken me?" Willow demanded.
Of course she knew why, but she wanted to hear them say it, to
make them say it and in doing so recognize the travesty of their crime.
"Imprisoning a leader, a victory in and of itself.
Taking a warrior, you'd be foolish not to.
Capturing spies, a safeguard to paranoia.
But stealing a healer?"
Her voice was thin with her incredulity and her eyes, they were reflections of the true horror she felt within at their deed.
"To deny the kin you bloody the chance to staunch the flow, are you all truly so cruel as that? Of all the atrocities that already come with war, to maintain the suffering is by far the worst. Draw a wound into flesh, such is battle. Keep a wound from closing, such is torture."
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We are The Grey | Ophelia, Willow, Open
