Tawa grimaced slightly as he limped through the tall grass, heading slowly back to the heart of the pride. He'd managed to step right on top of a broken thorn bush that had been trampled by something quite large and flattened, hiding it from view as he'd chased an injured zebra. Now he was hungry, in pain, and grumpy. He'd managed to remove the thorns from his paw on his own, but he was bleeding and the wound would definitely get infected if he didn't get it seen to.

Thankfully, help wasn't far off. Schatzi was resting in the shade of a tree, entertaining herself by counting how many twigs a bird was bringing back to the branches above to build a nest. So far the little creature was at forty five, an impressive amount for the hour or so she'd been watching. Her ear twitched as a noise came from her left, picking up the soft grunt before her head swiveled to see where it had come from. She was on her feet in a moment, jogging lightly over to Tawa.

"Oh, Tawa, what's wrong?" she asked, concern in her voice. The Ahluke grimaced as she approached, pausing in his pained walk so she didn't have to run further than she already had.

"Stepped on a thorn bush," he said gruffly, more irritated at himself than the question. Schatzi winced in sympathy before pressing her head into the blonde mane of the other lion, hoping to give him some comfort. An injured paw could be deadly to a lion and it was important that it healed up properly.

"Can I take a look? I might be able to help," she offered as she pulled back, her warm eyes eager. Tawa gave a sigh but nodded, sitting down so she could inspect his injury without toppling over.

"I pulled five thorns out and I'm sure I got them all, but they were pretty deep." In fact, if they hadn't been attached to the stick he'd stepped on, he was pretty sure they'd be so deep they'd be nearly impossible to prod out. Schatzi looked all the same, humming softly to herself as she gently poked and prodded the wounds. Tawa did his best to remain quiet, but every now and then he'd growl or grunt in pain as she pushed too hard.

"Well," she said as she finished up her quick examination. "I think you're right when you said you got them all out. But there's a lot of dirt in there, that won't do. Can you come with me over there?" she asked, nodding to the tree she'd been under. "That way you can rest in the shade while I get some supplies."

Tawa nodded and began to hobble over to the tree, Schatzi pressing against his side to give him a bit of a crutch to lean on. Once they'd reached the shade Tawa laid down heavily, curling his injured paw in front of him so it wouldn't be pressed down into the dirt.

"Wonderful, you stay here," Schatzi said as she made sure Tawa was settled. "I'll be back soon." She trotted off confidently, a strange sight to be sure. Tawa watched her go before resting his head on his uninjured leg, closing his eyes to rest while he waited. Sure was strange to see Schatzi in any sort of state that wasn't nervous or bashful.

The sun hadn't moved too much by the time Schatzi returned, a bunch of plants in her mouth and a little bounce in her step. Tawa heard her coming and lifted his head, watching as the lioness paused before him and dropped the plants beside his paw.

"How is it feeling?" Schatzi asked as she laid down before Tawa, manipulating his paw with hers so it faced up a bit more. Before he could answer she bowed her head and began to lick the now dried blood, reopening the wounds but removing the dirt and grass as well.

"Throbbing," Tawa said between gritted teeth, though he didn't pull back. He could have done this himself, of course, but he'd been too put-out to do so. Now he had to withstand Schatzi's tongue scraping over the painful cuts, his claws extending from time to time as she pressed too hard or too deep to ignore. But finally she seemed satisfied with the cleanliness of the wounds and she stopped, focusing on the plants she'd brought with her instead.

"You'll have to stay here until this dries," she cautioned as she pulled the first of the green leaves closer, bringing it to her mouth to start to chew. Tawa watched with surprise as Schatzi worked. When had she become so good at this sort of thing? He knew her as a shy lioness who never did very well on hunts, though she certainly was kind enough that no one had the heart to tell her to leave if she couldn't pull her weight. There were others that were poor hunters as well, he supposed, so perhaps it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Once the leaves had been chewed up, Schatzi lowered her head and pressed the rather awful mixture onto Tawa's paw. She repeated this with most of the plants she'd brought until the wounds were stuffed and covered with the mushed up leaves. Tawa had to admit that already the pain was subsiding and there was even a tingly sensation in his toes.

"There," Schatzi said, spitting out the extra leaves. "That should do it. Like I said, wait for it to dry before getting up. If you don't it will just fall out. Don't touch it, don't put pressure on it, let it fall out by itself. Stay off your paw for a few days, and once it's all gone you can try walking again. If it still hurts come find me, I'll reapply the herbs."

Tawa stared at Schatzi who finally realized she was being far more confident than she'd ever been around anyone in the pride and she quickly adopted her usual ears back expression, her head bowing a bit, tail curling around her hind legs.

"Ah...I mean...if you want to."

"Thank you," Tawa said instead, sincerity in his voice. "Schatzi, how...is this a new development?"

"Er...somewhat?" she admitted with a sheepish smile, still not meeting Tawa's gaze. "I began to help the older lionesses since I'm not the best at hunting and they started to show me how they use the different plants to help heal wounds and cure illnesses. It's all very interesting and...well..." She trailed off with a little meek shrug.

Tawa, still stunned, reached forward with his good paw to lightly touch Schatzi's. "It's a valuable talent," he said, his voice low and honest. "And the pride is lucky to have you. I'm sorry it's taken this long for your true strength show itself."

Schatzi did look up then, a hesitant smile on her muzzle. Tawa returned it with a kind, if weary one as well. They remained there for a bit before Schatzi got up to go, promising to check up with him in a few days to make sure the wounds were healed properly. Tawa had no doubts that he would be fine.

WC: 1212