Sofie woke early, though she couldn't tell what time of day it was from inside her hut. She neatly folded her furs and blankets, dressing in her simple brown robes and braiding her hair back into one long plait. "Come," she said softly to the large dog that slept at her heels. He rose and followed Sofie out into the snow. It was still very early, the sun had not yet risen all the way and Sûri-kylä was not yet bathed in blinding sunlight.
The group that had been quested with going to Kuru-leiri had never set out. After all of their careful preparations, their plans had been thrown into chaos when several hunters had gone missing, and their quest had been shoved to the back as search parties went out day after day. A few of them were found after a few days, mostly alive, but even more of them had been lost to the winds and the biting cold of Forochel.
She walked the short path to the large healing huts, pushing the cloth flag aside and stepping in. Karhu sat outside the hut, waiting for her. Immediately greeted by the warmth of the fire in the middle of the hut, Sofie discarded her warm fur cloak and walked over to a group of other healers huddled together. "Another hunter was found," one of the girls told her as she approached, and Sofie's gaze drifted over to one of the forms lying on a stack of furs, wrapping in several blankets.
Walking over to the form beneath the blankets, she knelt down and pulled off her glove, reaching to feel his forehead. Far too warm. One of the girls, Iska, followed her. "He hasn't woken up since they brought him in," she said softly, kneeling next to Sofie. "Look, these abrasions on his wrists. There are some on his ankles too."
Her brows furrowed in confusion and worry, her hands turning over one of his wrists. "Angmarim?" Sofie questioned Iska, laying the man's arm back down on the pad of furs. Iska only shrugged at her.
