Angels came to light your path

Alaine Winters · 03-09-2011, 10:19 PM

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Word Count → 5+ :: table © sie

It had been an unremarkable day thus far.

Her children, for the most part, had been sleeping off the winter chill in the small nest that the Winters woman had built in her chamber of the Chien Hotel. As time progressed, they would acquire little beds of their own, but for now the three fuzzballs seemed content to share the bodily warmth of one another.

The knowledge that other packmates were babysitting was what allowed the woman to go about her regular duties - She had spent a good hour or two infront of the kitchen stove, bubbling broths and the like and bottling them in small glass jars which she kept in the creaky, rotting wooden cupboard at the back of the room. Tired of remaining indoors, she had wandered absently out the front of the hotel, and was pruning away the dead branches of the rosebush when the courier found her.

The Luperci was panting as he issued his message, and Alaine's response was immediate. She tore back into the Hotel, gathering blankets and bits and bobs, stuffing rags and poultices and clinking glad bottles into the worn leather satchel that served as her healing bag. Quick words were given to the mated pair who often babysat her children, and then she was gone, printing through the snow to the stables.

Nana was in her stall, and it did not take long for the Apothecary to saddle her up. Cursing in Gaelic at the buckles that teased her frozen fingers, she finally managed to get all the equipment on the rotund mare, who had sensed her mistress' apparent seriousness and was shifting her weight from hoof to hoof. Bundling blankets and strapping them to the saddle, as well as pouring the odd assortment of healing equipment from her arms into the saddlebags, Alaine then tugged sharply on the reins and led the docile mare from the stable out into the fresh, crisp air.

She mounted quickly, thankful for the amount of time she had spent on horseback recently. Alaine was no expert in the saddle, but her mediocre skills provided a way to edge the lazy mare into a jaunty canter. They were off!

Through the woods, through the flatlands. Through swells of deep snow and across rocky tundra. It was an effort to keep the placid mare to her pace, and a few times they slowed to a walk so that both horse and rider could catch their breath. However, excitement was coursing through Alaine's veins, as well as the pressing sense of professional urgency. Orin's time had come, and she required assistance.

It was not long before the peaked rooftops of CdA came into view. With a sharp inhale, Alaine leaned low over Nana's withers, and the heavy mare broke into a thunderous gallop. Her huge dinnerplate hooves kicked up large flurries of snow in their wake, jets of hot breath swelling from the equine's flared nostrils. From afar, emerald eyes could make out the pink-tinged form of her friend, although the white of her pelt blended seamlessly with the white of the snow she had dug into.

Slowing to a canter, then a trot, Alaine pulled Nana up sharply in front of the bookstore. The mare whinnied crossly, but Alaine had already dismounted even before the moving mountain had come to a complete stop. "Orin! What on earth are you-" Leaving the reigns dangling in front of the blowing horse, the lithe Apothecary darted forward to her prone friend, observing her now with practiced and professional emerald eyes. A sharp white smile spread across her nymph-like maw. "Orin, you are in labour; We must get you back inside. Oh, don't you argue - I know you must be hot, but your children will freeze if they are born out here." She moved to help the woman to her feet, if she would allow it, and then glanced about. "And where is the father? If you'll not allow him inside, then he could at least tend to Nana, and bring equipment should I require it."

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