Roles Reversed
Emilia waits for the soldiers to return with the supplies. She first sets up a tent for Dietrich then helps him make his way inside. She removes the bandage and inspects the wound again. The entirety of Dietrich's shoulder has become inflamed and crusted with green ooze. Emilia fakes a smile as she carefully cleans the area.
Paul and Selene finally return with the items that Emilia had requested. Now it was time to do the real work. She crushes the wolf's bane into a small bowl and then lights it on fire, watching carefully for the right time. Once the flowers have been reduced to ashes, she quickly mixes in the water and river moss and makes a greyish poultice. She then applies the poultice to Dietrich's shoulder and rewraps it.
Dietrich winces in pain throughout the entire process but he grits his teeth in an attempt to remain calm. "Everyone, leave the room, he needs to rest. We won't know for sure if this method is actually going to work for at least a few hours. All we can do right now is hope and pray that everything works out." She instructs while gently petting Dietrich's head.
Emilia remains by his side for several hours, petting his hair and humming soothingly the entire time. He laughs and startles Emilia. "And what exactly is so funny about this situation?" She asks with a scowl. "The fact that we switched roles. Before you were upset about my fussing over you. Now look who's fussing. I'm fine so go rest." He says with a weak chuckle. "Someone with a fever and gaping hole in their shoulder has no right to laugh at their doctor for tending to them." She scolds.
Dietrich attempts to roll away but feels instant regret as his shoulder feels like it had burst into flames. "Damn it!" He hisses. Emilia laughs and rolls him back onto his back. "You can't escape me that easily. Now close your eyes and rest." She instructs him. Dietrich grumbles but perks up when an idea pops into his head. "You know… I'd be able to rest better if you were in my arms." He says flirtatiously. "Oh really? Alright, scoot over then." Emilia says in a sweet voice, throwing Dietrich off guard. "Really? You will??" He asks excitedly. Emilia laughs and rolls her eyes in response.
"Cold-hearted and cruel. That's what you are, woman! Playing with a wounded soldier's heart like that… How could you?!" He asks while feigning hurt. Emilia lifts an eyebrow at him. "So what you're saying is… you want me to hit you? Is that it?" She replies. Dietrich widens his eyes and shakes his head. "That's what I thought. Now sleep." She demands. This time Dietrich obeys silently. A soft snore tells Emilia that he has finally fallen asleep so she begins working on the next batch of poultice.
Emilia applies the new batch carefully while inspecting the wound. The green ooze had already started to change color but she wasn't certain if that was a good or bad sign. She clears her throat and finishes bandaging the injury once again. Seeing as Dietrich was peacefully snoozing, she decides to exit the tent and stretch her legs.
Upon exiting, she notices that the surrounding forest has become eerily quiet and empty. There were no soldiers in sight but there was a small fire in the middle of the clearing. She walks over and investigates. The fire had fresh wood inside of it, barely starting to catch flame. That would mean that someone had been here recently. Where did they go though? She sniffs the air and relaxes. The soldiers were still around, they were just camouflaging themselves and watching from the shadows.
Emilia moves on and walks towards the edge of the clearing, debating going on a hunt. Would the soldiers even allow it though? Was she going to need to sneak out like she did in the Snow household? She looks around and decides to just keep walking, nobody was trying to stop her right now so she might as well go as far as she can.
She decides to shift after traveling fifty feet from the clearing. Emilia has already caught onto the fact that royals are faster than normal wolves so if it came down to it then she could easily shake off any pursuers. Not that she was actually planning to go far though. Two things were stopping her, Dietrich's condition and the knowledge of what lies temporarily dormant in these woods. She shivers as she thinks of the gruesome sight from earlier.
Emilia's ears perk up when she hears the soft scuttling sound of a rabbit's paws digging in the ground. She slowly stalks forward, remembering to be wary of her surroundings in case another predator makes an appearance. At this point the rabbit was a mere fifteen feet away, if she jumped forward then she could catch it quickly. But… will it really be this easy? Or is she simply giving herself false hope?
She shakes her head to rid it of the negative thoughts. 'I can do this. It will work out this time.' She thinks to herself before leaping forward. Just as she'd thought, she landed straight onto the small creature and delivered the fatal bite. Proud of herself for this victory, though small, she looks around for praise from Winston. Then she remembers… he's not here. 'Right, they betrayed me.' She reminds herself and heads back to the clearing. Quiet or not, she shouldn't push her luck.
Emilia returns to camp filled with panicked shouts and soldiers running all over the place. A singular voice rang out above the rest, with it a sense of guilt arose within Emilia. "Find her! Search everywhere if you have to!" Dietrich bellows out angrily. He spots Emilia from across the clearing and rushes to her side. "Are you okay?! Where were you? I woke up and you were nowhere to be seen! Do you know how freaked out I was?" Dietrich rushes through his words while he examines Emilia for wounds or signs of a fight.
She lifts her muzzle to show him the rabbit. "You left… without a word to anyone… to catch a measly rabbit?" He says in disbelief. She nods hesitantly. Dietrich huffs angrily and then turns on his heel and stomps back into the tent. The crowd of soldiers all look at Emilia with mixed expressions of both pity and relief. This poor girl had no idea what she just got herself into. Dietrich is well–known for his cruel punishments.
'But wait… This isn't any normal wolf, it's his mate. What kind of punishment might he give her…' Paul blushes intensely while thinking of the crude things that his boss might have in mind. Selene smacks him upside the head. "Don't be a pervert in front of Emilia." She hisses at him. "But I didn't even say anything. There's no way you could've known what I was thinking unless… you had the same thought!?" Paul shouts with widened eyes. Selene smacks him again. "Anyone who looks at your face can tell what you're thinking about right now, idiot." She points out and rolls her eyes at him.
Emilia shifts and hesitantly enters Dietrich's tent, completely ignoring the soldiers bickering. "Diet… listen. I understand that I should've told someone where I was going or at least that I was leaving. But, I honestly thought that they had seen me leave. I mean I didn't exactly sneak away. I walked straight out and nobody said anything so I thought it was okay." She explains. "So you knew you should've told someone and yet you chose not to? Interesting. And all this so that you could catch one measly rabbit? If you were going to disappear then you should've at least brought back several large deer. Or anything that would've actually been worth the energy spent searching for you." He growls.
Dietrich didn't realize it yet but his words sliced through Emilia. This had been her first successful hunt, so what if the only thing to show for it was a measly rabbit? She had never been taught how to hunt properly and only mimicked what she had seen other wolves do. Plus she caught something! It's not like she came back empty handed.
"You really do treat me just like they did, you know that? All don't do this and don't do that. 'Oh Emilia, just sit there and look pretty.' It's ridiculous. If I wanted to be treated like a sheltered child who had to be taken care of by her brothers then I would've stayed there." She says angrily. Her words seemed to strike a chord in Dietrich as he launched himself at her and pinned her down. "I'm not your brother. I'm your mate. And whether or not you like it, I am going to care and worry if you suddenly disappear without a word. Especially while in dangerous territory like this." He growls into her face.