Iris

**reminder other languages are used in this chapter and will be indicated by{}**

While Iris was out hunting she stopped to fill her water skin at the foot of the waterfall when she heard something crashing down a short ways away. Going on alert and using the surroundings energy to cloak herself, she crept closer to the sound. As she moved closer what she found surprised her, a high wolf and surprisingly a boy that looked like he might be the same age as her. She said might because due to what she assumed was him falling down the cliff he was heavily injured all over his body, and his face while not injured as badly sustained it's fair share as well.

she was quite surprised at finding someone who seemed the same age as her. In the village everyone close to her in age was still at least several years older, or several years younger. Which meant she was usually treated like everyone's younger, or older sister. As she got closer to examine him he said something,

"How beautiful." And then he passed out.

{what did he say?} Iris said out loud, before the severity of the situation finally hit her. With how his injuries looked, if she didn't treat him and get some help soon he might not make it! And so, removing the small bundle of supplies Iris set to treating the worst of his injuries as best as she could before returning to get the other villagers to help her move him. As she removed his upper clothing she found that the worst looking wound was the bite the high wolf left on his right shoulder.

Lifting him slightly she also found that the wolves claws left several shallow marks in his back, but as those were shallow she put priority to the bite wound. From her pouch she removed a small pointed leaf that was green on one side and silver on the other, called silverherb. She only had a handful of leaves with her, so she put a few of them in her mouth and chewed them into a paste before lightly spreading it on his wound. Then she slowly worked her way through the rest of the leaves making sure to cover as much of the wounds as possible, after which she took the few wrapping she had and wrapped the wounds as tight as she dared.

With the temporary treatment done she then pulled out another pouch of leaves called stink weed, and lit a small fire and dumping them in it. Satisfied with the fire she dropped her cloak over his body to keep the chill out and headed out to the village, confident the stink weed would not only cover the smell of blood but also keep any predators away from the boy.

Returning to the village as fast as she could, it still took her over half an hour. When she explained the situation to the other villagers they immediately set to preparing a stretcher and any additional medicinal supplies that might be needed. However it took longer to return to the boy with the extra supplies and people while also keeping an eye out to make sure no monsters decided to make a snack out of their group. In total it was roughly two hours since she left the boy before they returned.

{Has he taken any medicine, or just the paste from the silverherb?} the head healer Austin asked.

{He had just lost consciousness right after I arrived and all I had was the silverherb.} Iris replied gently removing the bandages so that the more experienced hands old work their magic. Austin nodded and cleaned all the wounds he could see, before placing his hand over the lighter wounds and started chanting,

{Heal, heal, heal} as his hand slowly drifted over the boy's body. The smaller wounds started healing after his passed over them and moments later were closed. He then had Iris carefully lift one side of him so he could examine and treat the wounds on his back. After doing so his forehead and back were coated in sweat as he exhausted himself treating the wounds with magic. He looked at the bite mark and decided that it was too deep to be healed by his magic and rewrapped it until they could return to the village.

Moving at a much slower pace than arriving due to carrying the boy on a stretcher, it then took them over an hour to return to the village. After arriving there was a short discussion about which house to bring him to in which Iris volunteered her house since she had been the one to find him. The other women looked at the boy whose face was now healed and gave Iris ambiguous looks as if teasing her, to which she pointedly looked the other way.

After placing him on her bed Austin then went to gather the supplies he needed before treating and wrapping his shoulder for the final time that day. Before Austin left the boy regained consciousness long enough for him to mumble some things they couldn't understand, and drink some medicine to encourage sleep and help numb the pain.

The boy slept for the next two days only waking long enough to drink some water and medicine before falling asleep again. Iris stayed by his side as often as possible, accompanied by the elder of the village, elder grandma. Elder grandma appeared to be in deep thought as she watched the boy sleep, sensing a mysterious power in him that she couldn't understand even after her many years. As if sensing elder grandmas thoughts Iris asked,

{he's a lost person isn't he?} Elder grandma only smiled and said nothing. If he was such a lost person then they would find out after he woke up completely. However even elder grandma could think of no other explanation why someone who didn't seem able to take care of themselves was so deep in the northern mountains. It would also explain his unusual attire that she haven't seen before. However lost people were almost always mutants like most of the people in the village, yet he didn't have any visible signs of a mutation. Which made her wonder if it was related to the unusual power she sensed in him.

Wanting to learn more elder grandma left the house and called for Thomas, one of the only non mutants in the village,

{I want you to travel to Mountains Edge Village and gather some supplies.} she told him the details of what she wanted and he said he'll prepare and depart within two days. Satisfied she went back to Iris's house only to hear her call for help when she was right outside. Elder grandma rushed inside and was horrified to find that the boy was physically changing into some kind of monster right in front of their eyes. After a minute however the light from the rising moon shined through the window onto the boy, who then started glowing from the moonlight.