Composed, curious, compassionate.

Talden, a healer studying under Alaunus who became the Herd's main healer after Fiona retired to the den.

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Talden was up to his elbows in mixing a poultice for a nasty scratch on Ronin's leg and his mind was miles away (as it normally is) so he did not see his mentor enter the den, and jumped like a startled fledgling when he made his presence known with a polite throat clear.
"Ah, uh, sorry Alaunus. I was just thinking..." The sentence hung in the air unfinished as Talden sensed something wrong in the way his mentor was carrying himself- his shoulders were slumped more than usual, the rings under his eyes more pronounced; it looked as if Alaunus was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Again. Nontheless, the Skydancer tried his best to not look the way he clearly felt as he addressed his apprentice.
"Talden, is that poultice for Ronin almost finished? I'd like to put it on before I see to Ayda's sore claw." Even his voice sounded as if it had aged fifty years overnight. Talden sat back on his haunches, washing his claws clean of the green mushy mess, and gave his mentor a stern look.
"Alaunus, I'd rather take care of the rest of today and let you rest. You had more nightmares last night, didn't you?" Alaunus opened his mouth in protest but Talden was having none of it- "I thought so. Go back to your nest and rest, I'll handle Ronin and Ayda."
Talden expected, or rather hoped, for more protest from his mentor with him ordering him about in such a way, but Alaunus simply nodded woozily and trudged to the back of their shared den. Talden heard him drop into his nest like a dead weight, which ironically is what his stomach did when his mentor passed him.
When Talden first stumbled into Alaunus's den when he was only a few weeks old, it was a failed attempt at hiding from the healer's gaze to watch him work. Alaunus then spent the rest of the day taking him under his wing, teaching him a healer's work. Talden didn't remember every detail of that day, but one always stuck with him, the way that Alaunus smelled. He smelled of a field of flowers fresh from the rain, the way a healer should. It reminded him of his mother. But when his mentor passed him just now, Talden recoiled and felt his gut wretch when it processed what his nose sensed. His mentor carried a rotting stench that has killed millions, slowly, painfully. A stench that represented a disease plauging dragon kind of years past, a disease capable of killing a healthy Guardian over the matter of a few days.

His mentor carried the putrid fetor of the Black Death.

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Generously recieved from Tiand in their dragon giveaway.