Master of the Fae (aka How to Cure Small Pox in 30 minutes or less)

The Prodigals stepped back about 100 yards to discuss the predicament of the nearby town. The Theurge crossed her arms and glared at Carver.

“Alright, Fae Master. Got any bright ideas to help us out of this mess? Any mass healing gifts or a way to transport Fae across the Gauntlet as well as your voice?”

That was it. Eaton had enough of the Theurge and Arhoun's treatment towards their newest companion. He glared at Zoe, "What about you? And why are you snappin' at Carver so hard? Can't you just bring those sick folks over here?"

Fae holds a hand up to Eaton.

“The gesture is appreciated Leperfriend, but we have more important matters at hand. We all have reasons behind or actions and while they should be made known we need to focus on healing those afflicted with that disease.”

He turned his focus to Zoe.

“I can’t heal. Throwing my voice across the gauntlet is something many Fianna can do. I can’t bring the Fae out of the gauntlet... Possibly if there was a changeling nearby they could follow us out, but that is neither here nor there.”

He frowns.

“Even if I could bring the Nunne’hi here... they are asking us for help because they can’t heal them so there would be no point.”

He begins to pace.

“I could send a howl to summon Fae in the area... but being as the Nunne’hi sought us out that would be useless as well. I know a little medicine using some herbs and such, but I have never encountered this affliction before so I don’t know how to cure it. Perhaps we could ask one of the ones who look like they have survived the sickness what treatments they received, and based on their answers figure out the right treatment for the rest...”

He stops pacing and shakes his head.

“Beyond that I don’t know what else we can do besides make their last days comfortable.”

He looks around at the others.

“I was really hoping some of you could shed some insight. This is your territory... I’m just a passing through as it were. Have any of you encountered this illness before, or know a way to treat it?”

Rends shakes his head.

"I ain't no expert, but so far as I know they ain't no cure fer this. From what them faeries was sayin' it ain't even a supernatural sickness. They jest had a run of bad luck and fell into some bad humors or some such."

He nods to Carver.

"I reckon makin' em comfortable is about all we can do. Unless..."

He turns to Zas.

"You reckon they's Uktena kinfolk? Maybe if we help 'em they can tell us where to find the Pure and we can go get 'em and let them take care of the sick."

The philodox looked over towards the cold camp of the sick. All he wanted to do was tear the white men who brought this sickness upon the village in pieces.
He knew he could do little else. He was no medicine man.

His thoughts were disturbed by Zoe's chiding the fianna and Eaton's rushing to defend the newcomer. The feelings of bitterness and loss had taken root in the heart of his pack. The wyrms talons dug deep.

He was surprised by the Fianna's rather level headed response. Maybe he is telling the truth about striving for peace after all

Zas turns to look at Rends as he speaks nodding along. "The fact that we saw these types of Nunne'hi in Uktena's homeland makes me think that there is likely at least one of the Uktena's kinfolk among the dying."

He considers for a moment Fae Carvers question. "I have seen this before. I know of no cure belonging to the Tsaligi,the Natahay, or the Comanche for this. Some live, most die."

The Silent Striders looks to Hears the Song. "You may be able to bring some of the sick beyond the veil. Maybe the fae have a way to help but cannot because of the barrier between them...or perhaps a certain family member could cause their bodies to "forget" they got sick?"

Zoe snarled at the Galliard, but her harsh response was cut off by Carver’s cool response. She kept her arms crossed, acting unimpressed with the newcomer’s suggestions, though they weren’t all bad.

When Zas finished up, the Iron Rider nodded slowly.

“Alright, well at least now we have some ideas out there, though their quality is yet to be seen.”

She cast a sideward glance at Carver then back to the remaining Prodigals. Her brow furrowed as she considered everyone’s suggestions.

“Though I cannot heal all of them myself or bring them all here, Bone Gnawer, Zas, you can determine which - if any - are kin, and we could start there.”

Turning her gaze back to Carver she retorts. “And you’re wrong, Carver. The Fae didn’t say they couldn’t help them, they said they could no longer get to them due to the strength of the Gauntlet. Details like that can be the difference between life and death.”

She perhaps took a little too much joy in poking holes in the newcomer’s suggestion. She grimaced as she remembered her husband’s words.

“‘e’s from near me ‘omeland, Love. And ‘e ain’t tryin’ ta replace yer ol’ packmate. Ya really should give ‘im a chance.”

“You may be onto something though by talking to some of the survivors. It’s a start at least.”

She gave the Fianna an awkwardly forced half smile.

Turning to Rends the medicine woman shrugged.

“Though the sickness may not have a direct spiritual cause to the faeries, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a supernatural solution. As Zas suggested perhaps we could bargain with a spirit to bring healing to the camp in a way that I can’t.”

Eaton narrowed his eyes at Zoe for a moment, but her later comments to the ragabash sounded like flattery in comparison. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms,“Bargainin’ with a spirit is trickier than it sounds. Durin’ liquid panther’s medicine dream, the badger spirit who could save those injured was ornery as hell. And that was helping’ it’s own kinfolk with a Garou whose tribe he had a pact with. “

He shrugged “Not sayin’ it wouldn’t work and it might even be one of our best bets. But it’s gonna be tougher than givin’ it a snack and asking politely.”

Eiger listens to the pack as they share their thoughts. Nodding along in agreement in some places, but grimacing at Zoe calling out his fault. He needed to get out of his head and pay more attention or he would never gain the trust of The Prodigals, or the King’s permission to hunt down Ford. When first speaking again his eyes were on the ground.

“If I misheard I apologize. I’ve never claimed to be perfect, nor will I ever make that claim. Mistakes are going to happen but I will learn from them and won’t go about making the same one twice. ”

After a moment he straights back up and puts his hand on his chin...

“Leperfriend I think the point of your story is that you overcame the spirit and it ended up helping. I agree that would be our best bet. Even if the spirit itself can’t do anything, perhaps it can at least provide some information and get us going in the right direction. While a long shot I can also try to summon more Fae... As with spirits multiple kinds can exist in the same area so it would be foolish to think the Nunne’hi are all that’s around.”

He begins to nod slowly to himself.

“It’s a long shot...but with lives on the line we can’t afford to hold back.”

Zoe put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at Eaton.

“You think I don’t know how difficult it can be to gain the assistance of the spirits? I’ve only been this group’s Theurge for how long now?”

She then dropped her hands and took a step toward the Galliard.

“It may not be the easiest route, but the last time one of our own opted for the easiest route, we lost him to the Abyss.”

Eaton grinned at Carver, “Yeah the spirit relented and helped the kin. The point I was making,” he snapped back to Zoe and stepped forward to meet her, “was that badger had a obligation to help and it still gave us grief. What would make a spirit care enough to help these folk, ‘specially if they ain’t kin?”

He stifled the low growl in the back of thoat, instead raising his own brow to match her expression.

Zoe found Eaton’s anger amusing and grinned.

“Everyone and everything wants something, Mr. Callahan. The fun part is figuring out what that is.”

She gave him a wink then turned to the others.

“Is that our next course of action then? Determine who’s kin and rustle up some spiritual assistance, willing or otherwise?”

"Sounds like, unless you jest wanna bash in they heads and be done with it."

Rends smiles, but it's not exactly clear whether he's joking or not.

"Maybe some kinda water spirit? They can heal some right? And it may be able to tell us somethin' useful if they's Wyrm shit in the water 'round here."

He turns to Carver.

"Or is they some kinda faerie that could help? Might be easier if they's already faeries around."

Eiger watched with slight apprehension as the tension rose between the Galliard and Theurge, and let out a sigh of relief when it dissipated as quickly as it had escalated. He then nodded to Rends the Gar.

“I can see if other Fae are in the area, however just know it is different than summoning a spirit, being as I can’t call on specific Fae. I can only place a summons and see who answers... unfortunately not all Fae are friendly and helpful. Some may not only refuse to help, but could even actively work against us.”

He paused, and looked around at the gathered Garou.

“Fae are fickle. Wildly powerful. Surprisingly stubborn. Whereas the entirety of our kind have dealt with spirits since the beginning, the Fae with the exception of my tribe have generally taken, and been left to their own devices. Being this is the new world there may be many Fae I have never encountered, so be prepared for
anything.”

The philodox kept his focus shifting from the conversation at hand to the camp and back.

Zas eventually turned his full attention to Zoe and Eaton and with a concerted effort remains calm, but there is a none too subtle hint of anger in his tone "I cannot say as to what the smoothest course will be, but I can say the quickest path to saving this camp and continuing on our task for the King does not involve two fairly high ranking garou having a pissing contest."

Zas looks every packmate in the eye for an equal amount of time and then to Fae Carver, the edge fading from his voice but still present "Mind your tempers and your tongues. You have a problem with that--too damn bad. We have a job to do."

He looks to Fae Carver and says, "Before we try grasping at straws and hoping for the best, I feel we should first attempt a more traditional approach. Your eagerness to help though, is noted and appreciated."

Zas looks at Rends, "...And a water spirit is certainly a good suggestion. The Natahay view water as the most sacred of all spirits and see it as a spirit of cleansing and healing."

The Silent Strider finds his theurge and says, "If any spirit were to be willing to help here-a spirit of water would be likely fairly inclined, but I trust and defer to your judgment in this--as I think we all do." He adds gesturing to both Eaton and Fae Carver.