Bastet

You come across a rare, quiet corner of the Order's campsite where a tent stands. The smell of freshly cut and crushed herbs emanates from within, along with a voice, speaking aloud to herself it seems. "Peppermint, we're going to need more peppermint. And tachinid flies. Always more tachinid flies... how do we go through the carapaces so fast? Do we need any more hippocampus spines? I think we're running low." Her questioning is received with only a loud mwrow of a cat.

______“You’re sure Sahara won’t mind us showing up unannounced?” Bastet’s words echoed off the mesa walls, following the well-worn path towards the Tempest Order’s current encampment. It’d been rough getting here, but the trip was nearing its end -- assuming the traders that’d given them directions were telling the truth. The echo did not go unheard, and not only by her twin sister.
______Beside her, Sekhmet eyed the dark cracks in the walls, so thin compared to the overall cliffside and yet large enough for a dragon to lurk within. Though they made Bastet’s skin crawl, Sekhmet did not seem to mind them so much. “Sara? Mind? Nah. That’s part of the surprise! She loves surprises.”
______The ground began to slope down beneath their feet, leading under a large arch. A few pebbles fell somewhere behind them, but looking back Bastet didn’t see anyone there. A flock of death seekers perched atop the rock, peering down at them.
______“She didn’t mention this place would be so creepy.”
______“I mean… did you think she’d want to live somewhere cozy?”
______“Fair point.”
______The lowered terrain curved around, finally opening out into what must be the Tempest Order’s campsite. The space between the mesas was filled wall to wall with haphazardly constructed tents, walkways, buzzing blue lights on strings, and most of all, Mirrors. They’d already been breedchanged in preparation for the surprise, but they’d never seen so many Mirrors all in one place. There were a few other dragons making their way through the first set of tents, but they did not look to be a part of the clan so much as just more travelling traders.
______“I guess they don’t have a set of guards at the front?”
______“I think… we may have already passed them.” Bastet’s tail flicked back towards the canyon, at this angle now able to make out the silhouettes of dragons atop the mesa switching shifts. As empty as it looked, the path here had not been unguarded.
______Bastet’s eyes flicked across the busy pathways through the tents. “I didn’t expect it’d be this expansive. Where do you think Sahara would be in all this mess?”
______“Only one way to find out! How about you start looking around at ground level, and I’ll stay above you and scan from there?”
______It was as good a plan as any. Sekhmet took to the skies, still unsteady on her new wings. She rose into the air as Bastet made her way into the crowd.
______She didn’t get far at all before she noticed a young, oilslick colored male Mirror bounding through the masses, calling out wildly, “Runner on me! Runner on me! I need --” He stopped mid-shout as he nearly ran into her, backing up and shaking his head. Relief washed over his features. “Runner Eight, thank the deities! I didn’t think you’d be back from that water run with Five so soon, I--” He shook his head, resolving that it didn’t matter and not letting her get a word in. “I’m wasting time -- Runner 6 got attacked on her way back from the delta, she’s been poisoned!”
______“Poisoned?” Bastet’s eyes were wide, thrust headfirst into a situation she didn’t know how to back out of. She quickly began looking in her bag, sure that she’d found something earlier that might be able to help. Her eyes turned to the skies for Sekhmet’s help, but her sister was nowhere above her.
______He turned, indicating her to follow him. “She was able to make it back here, but she can’t walk anymore! We need to get her loaded on a sled and get her back to the Agriden as fast as we can! C’mon!”
______As much as this was definitely not the plan, Bastet couldn’t refuse a call to action. They both took off, weaving through the tents and past several defined districts amidst the crooks and crannies of the canyon. She strained to keep up with him, asking, “Aren’t there any healers here? Or herbalists?”
______The Runner glanced back at her with an odd look. “Res, Sastruga, and Rhapsodic are all back at the Agriden, you know that. What’s an herbalist?”
______Bastet nearly stopped in her tracks. “You have THREE healers in this entire clan? And none of them work with plants?? What do you do when one of you gets injured?”
______“What everyone does, Eight. Wrap some linen around it and let it scar over, which DOES NOT work for poison!”
______Another dragon called out to them from nearby, a brown and grey male Mirror in tattered fabric that hugged his form and sheltered his eyes from the sun. “Runner 7, Runner 8! She’s over here!” They took a sharp turn, half-careening into a tent where the sight of a half-loaded sled greeted them. Taking up most of the room on the glorified slab of wood was a beige Mirror in red, groaning in pain. A clear wound marked her side, bleeding into the gambeson. Bastet was startled to recognize the same set of armor her father had sent to Sahara not too long ago. It might have been a fatal blow without the extra protection, but such a fate might still await the young runner if Bastet didn’t think fast.
______Runner 7 had already started to get harnessed up as Bastet dumped the contents of her pack onto the sandy ground, sifting through it. “Sahara, what’re you doing?? We need to go!”
______Bastet shook her head, mumbling as she recited the names of various plants she’d memorized, finally recognizing the one she was looking for. She picked a large green leaf from the pile, using her tail to point to the two supply runners. “Get that gambeson off of her. Now!” She tried not to notice the shake in her voice. For as much as she’d studied the medicinal uses of plants, she’d never actually been in charge of this kind of thing. Nevertheless, Runner 6 wasn’t going to make it far if Bastet didn’t do something.
______“Wh--” Seven stared at her, shifting gears to look at the other male instead. “C’mon Two, harness up, we’re taking her to the Agriden NOW!” Two glanced sharply between them before shaking his head and hurriedly getting to work at pulling the armor off of Six. “Two! What--”
______“I trust Eight, Sly. Do you?” Two snapped, not pausing another moment in his work. Begrudgingly, Sly complied. Bastet put the leaf in her mouth, cringing at the bitter taste but chewing it into a pulp. When the others had gotten the wound clear of fabric, she spit the mush out into her hand and applied it directly to the wound.
______With more poultice and linen, Bastet was able to effectively cover the area and bandage it as best she knew how, and within minutes Six’s condition appeared to be improving. Bastet breathed a sigh of great relief as her patient returned to coherence, faint but very much alive.
______Sly stared at her. “...how did you do that?”
______“Herbal plantains,” she explained. “They’re an effective anti-toxin. ...you all really need an herbalist here.”
______Runner Two was similarly astonished, though appeared to have been affirmed that he put his trust in her. “I didn’t realize you knew how to do any of that, Sahara. Where’d you pick that up?”
______The heat of the moment passing, Bastet paused at the mention of her sister’s name once again. “...about that…”
______The flaps of the tent flung open with a flurry of rushing air and motion, a tall, lanky runner skidding to a stop just within. She was coated in dirt and drenched in sweat, but recognizable all the same. “Sly! I heard Ven--” Sahara, the real Sahara, didn’t even finish the sentence. “...Bastet?”
______Runners 2 and 7 looked quickly between both of them, bewilderment in their eyes.
______The young herbalist gave her best smile. “Surprise…?”