A few weeks into her travels, the chowolf stopped one night to rest in an old den, as it seemed to be a slight habit of hers to seek out caves or dens to temporarily settle down in. After a good night's, and most of a morning's rest, she awoke to children playing about in the wooded area around her den. With a long stretch and a pretty wide yawn, she made her way over to observe the energetic youngsters. Back in her former tribe, it was often her assignment to keep watch of the the cubs when most of the members were out of the village on hunting or gathering trips. Most likely, she was given that task to keep her busy and away from those crazy concoctions the villagers love to hate.

The children before her, around a half a dozen or so and mostly boys, were playing a rough and tumble type game. They all competed to see which one could do the best flip from a tall rock. Nearly every one of them leaped and twirled from the rock quite impressively, even the two little tomboys in the group. The chowolf seemed to take note of how differently the children were dressed compared to the ones of her and the neighboring villages. All of them were completely covered from their neck all the way down to their feet in clothing of various colours and shapes. This was the total opposite of the tribal children whom were dressed in fur, leather, or deerskin loincloths, if they were actually dressed at all.

Yelling and quite a bit of heckling calls brought the healer's attention from the odd clothes to a small cub, a kitten of some sort, standing and shivering as he looked down at the others from atop the rock. The poor thing was tiny compared to the others and had every right to be afraid. That rock might as well have been a towering mountain. The other children, by the tone of their voices, seemed to be goading him to at least jump down or be labeled a coward. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he finally gave in and prepared to leap.

Just as the kitten jumped, his little foot slipped backward and he opened his eyes long enough to see the ground rapidly coming at him as he fell before squeezing his eyes shut and yowling in terror. He managed to naturally right himself, but landed at an awkward angle and fell over while grabbing his ankle. Upon hearing the kitten's painful cries, the other children whined and exclaimed how they were going to be in big trouble. Springing into action, the chowolf immediately ran over to the group of children to help.

The sight of a big, loincloth-clad canine scrambling from the woods sent the children in to a wild panic. It was no doubt that they were recalling the terrifying stories of the wild, savage tribesmen that lived far away in the mountains that their parents told them so they'd behave. Every one of them ran, screaming something about them being eaten alive, and leaving the injured kitten nearly wetting himself in fear. The chowolf knelt next to the kitten, which being viewed up close, was a caracal cub.

She exclaimed to the little caracal that she was there to help and have him fixed up in no time. Speaking her native language, the kitten couldn't understand a word of what she had said, but her voice was caring enough that he calmed down, took a big gulp, and nodded. The healer smiled and held her hand over his ankle, using her healing magic to quickly fix the swelling and bruising of the kitten's sprained ankle. After she was done, he wiggled and flexed his foot, staring in amazement as he felt no pain at all. Giggling, he hopped to his feet and wrapped his arms as best he could around the chubby chowolf. He then reached into his upper garment and pulled out a sack, handing it to the confused canine with a huge smile running across his face.

Accepting the sack, she opened it to find plenty of small brownish sticks no bigger than her pinky finger. Giving the boy a quizzical look prompted him to take a stick out of the bag and put it in his mouth. The goofy 'mmm' sound he was making and rubbing motions on his tummy indicated that the bag was full of treats! Happily, and hungrily, the chowolf reached in and grabbed quite a few of the treats, quickly stuffing them into her maw and chewing on them as the kitten was waving his hands to try and stop her. Smacking his face with the palm of his hand, he shook his head and opened his mouth, showing her he was holding his treat in his mouth and suckling on it.

Opening her mouth to speak, she found her teeth bound together by the sticky, sugary treat. The boy had given her his entire bag of his favourite taffy! She blushed and scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment for her being so hasty. The little caracal just laughed and pet her on the head before tapping her on the nose as a playful warning to be more careful with the sticky candy next time. A distant call from a number of adults had let the little kitten know that he should get going. With a final, huge hug to the fluffy healer, he waved farewell and happily skipped down a path with his newly mended ankle.

The chowolf bade the boy farewell also and continued on her journey, curiously poking at the sweet substance still connecting her top and bottom teeth together. She wondered how long this was going to last, as she had planned to catch and cook a big fish breakfast.

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Remind me to never add a story again.
I think I spent the most time on this picture just waiting. Curse this teeny amount of memory. >.<
Good thing out of this: I may have finally found a background style to match my flat coloured pics. ^^ Such good doodlings occur when I'm in near-sleep mode.