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The ocelot’s forked tail flicks impatiently as she sits in the Temple watching leaves mix in hot water. Waiting for tea to brew never gets easier. If you’re too impatient, it tastes like hot water. If you forget, it tastes bitter and awful. Rosemary has never been able to wander away from her teapot and return the exact moment it’s drinkable, so she sits and waits.

At last, the black tea is ready. She telekinetically pours from the ancient pot into an equally ancient cup. The aroma of caffeine and citrus comforts her. It’s become her favorite flavor in the last two years.

Rosemary had not abandoned the Typhoon. Roxanne and Diya’s decision to leave had shaken her—and shown her what a fool she was for leaving for the Rosebloods all those years ago—but the healer had not chosen to leave with them. The ocean is her home. The Roux’s may not all live here, but enough do and more than enough family-adjacent pirates for her to feel welcome.

Besides—she smirks to herself as she walks to her workbench and levitates the cup with her—who would heal the accident-prone, reckless pirates every day? She’s running low on comfrey-goldenrod salve, like always, and someone’s been in her poppy seed stash. Without her, the pirates would burn through their healing supplies within a week (likely never using the correct medication for anything) and begin dropping like flies from infection.

So, as she does every morning, Rosemary brews up a fresh concoction of comfrey-goldenrod. She refills the tin container in the Temple and her own, smaller one, in her satchel. The lids for both are painted with one golden, one pink pawprint—color coded for easy identification, a system she and Goldie devised—and, like always, melancholy tugs on her heartstrings when she sees Goldie’s pawprints on some of the tin storage containers.

Most of her family no longer live in the Typhoon. Goldie, Blue, Roxanne, and so many more… but, if any of them decide to return, they will always find Rosemary in the Temple early in the morning laying out herbs to dry.

PEACEFALL

peace comes at dawn, but yours comes at night

Arseno was one of those injury-prone pirates that got rather familiar with healers. Though he hadn't been here much longer than a fortnight the wild-haired wolf had already scored several small contusions from general tomfoolery. The ocean was a new and marvelous thing to Arseno and he just had to get his paws all over anything new - including the more spiky and venomous things. As it was now the canine had a bit of crushed mussel shell sticking from between his paw-pads. Turns out he wasn't quite as efficient as a sea otter when it came to a tidepool meal.

It didn't take long for Arseno to find the Temple. He'd seen it when he'd first arrived at the base of the volcano looking as though he may as well have been shot out from the fiery depths. Thanks to the few tours he took Arseno knew this was where the herb storage was. And though he had no mind for medicine he figured he'd fix himself up somehow. It was just by some stroke of luck that someone likely far more educated in the way plants was already there.

With a sort of hopping motion the brown wolf entered the overgrown temple, eyes set doggedly on the ground before hearing the minute scufflings of the buildings residence. Arseno looked up to see an ocelot, "Good day" he spoke cheerily, voice bouncing off the stone walls as he hobbled forward. He truly held no reservations when it came to strangers. "Are you the doc here?" the question came with a small tilt of his horned head, ever-present grin in place. Approaching even closer he'd nearly done a double-take at the second set of eyes on the feline. And even closer still, not paying any mind to social norms in his curiosity Arseno noticed the little x above the jungle cats eye.

'X marks the spot.' he thought dolefully, quite tempted to reach out and touch it. Collecting himself, now noticing his proximity the wolf hobbled back a step. "I'm Arseno" the iridescent-eyed canine spoke unapologetically, holding out his injured right paw before him "mind taking a look?".

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“I am.” Rosemary tilted her head towards him, telekinetically waving her cup of tea in greeting before taking a sip. “Rosemary Roux, expert at stitching up wounds and brewing delicious tea.”

Quite terrible at social norms herself, the healer didn’t notice the brown wolf’s breach of personal space. Her attention focused on the paw he held close to his torso, well off the ground and cleaner than his other paws. When he held it out, she could see the shell sliver stuck inside. Painful, yes, but not terribly difficult.

“I haven’t seen you around before, Arseno. I suppose you’re new? Though I… tend to keep to myself, until I have sporadic itches to socialize.” Rosemary telekinetically placed her cup on the table. “Can you tell me what you were doing when you got that stuck in your paw?”

Rosemary honestly didn’t need to know. But it would make it easier if he started telling a yarn, getting distracted by his own words or even her weird four eyes again. The witch was used to people staring, anyway. She’d only met one other person (outside of her mother’s family, that is) with an eye mutation.

Once he spoke a sentence or two—even if he started making a fuss about taking a closer look at his paw, didn’t matter as long as he got distracted—Rosemary would reach out to the shell sliver with her telekinesis and attempt to yank it out. She’d toss the sliver into the trash, retrieve a tin of comfrey-goldenrod paste, and sip her tea again. All without raising a single paw; she wasn’t called a witch for nothing, what with having far more dexterity with her telekinesis than all four paws put together.

“I hope that wasn’t too painful? Well. I just need to put the salve on, then a bandage, and you’ll be fine. Try to stay off it until the pain goes away. And keep it clean.” As she spoke, Rosemary inspected his injured paw while her tea hovered near her head. “Doesn’t look too deep, but if it starts swelling, doesn’t stop bleeding, or smells weird then run back here and I’ll fix you up.”

PEACEFALL

peace comes at dawn, but yours comes at night

Rosemary. What a fitting name for a healer. Arseno wondered if she chose it for herself. Plenty of people among the pirate crew had changed their names, if not for secrecy then for a realization of a new identity. The molten-eyed canine could understand such a want. To forget ones old self in favor of the new.

"Lucky me," the wolf spoke congenially. alluding to the fact that he wouldn't have to patch himself up. Beneath his thick layer of fur lay a constellation of scars, and those treated by himself were often among the largest. Each landmark on a map with no x, no destination. Thus it was funny to think of the x marking the healers visage. That she would likely become his destination many times in the future. So much for her being a recluse.

'Can you tell me what you were doing when you got that stuck in your paw?'

She hardly had to ask. "Well I saw some otters cracking open mussels at a tidepool and figured I'd give it a try. Turns out big nails are mea-" an invisible pull was given to the bits of shell lodged in his paw and the smell of fresh blood indicated success. Arseno made no noise of complaint and continued on "-well my big paws aren't too dexterous. But the mussels were totally worth it. You-" his prattling was then interrupted by Rosemary's bedside manners and the usual medic spiel.

All the while the larger creature turned his attention to her floating cup wondering if it tasted as good as she made it sound. If she was willing to multitask on the job for it then it had to be a good cuppa leaf water. "Well that was right quick. Thanks, doc" Arseno spoke with a happy flop of his too-long tail. Looking to stand the horned wolf felt a pang of pain, eyes widening slightly as he eased pressure off the paw. "Whoops, almost forgot" he gave a chuckle, tail still slowing swaying.

Starting once more to hobble away Arseno half had a mind to stay. He had hardly spoken to anyone, given that most once noting his wild excitement for life were quick to shy away. He was a bit much, as he'd heard others say. And though he didn't want to bother serenity Rosemary kept in the temple Arsenos loneliness was a far more pressing emotion. Turning his upper half back towards the tea-laden feline his voice came once more, tone clearly in question of wether or not Rosemary wanted his company. "Are visits to you only allowed for fixing up, or might I be welcome for a tea party?"

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“If my day was only tending to the wounded and preparing medicine, wouldn’t be much of a day, would it?” As the ocelot spoke, she telekinetically poured two cups of hot tea. The witch had a hunch another would roll in before long; if she was wrong, then she’d have it herself.

“Sorry, that came out more caustic than I meant. Please, take a seat and chat.” Rosemary’s forked tail flicked to indicate an empty chair. Then a glimmer sparked in her orange-red eyes. “The temple’s a good spot for tea. And if someone comes in with injuries, well, then it’s convenient for me to have extra paws on deck. You don’t seem the squeamish type, Arseno.”

Her left pair of eyes drifted towards the temple entrance as, indeed, a second visiter arrived. The maned wolf’s appearance confused her. However, Rosemary recognized the texture and color of his aura almost instantly. He was her nephew, after all, and she wouldn’t forget family.

“Herbs? What a thoughtful gift. I already poured you a cup, so take a seat with Arseno and me.” Rosemary’s soft smile didn’t do the rush of happiness in her chest justice. One of many benefits to having a large family was, of course, she could always count on a Roux to appear whenever she thought herself alone. And it was so easy to retreat into being a hermit by default. “You’ve been working on controlling your powers, right? Let me know if you’d like more lessons.” Or had it only been Blue she’d tutored? What a terrible aunt she was.

“Oh, and about the tea: it’s got a citrus kick, but it’s the caffeine you’ll want to watch out for. If you can hear your heart beating in your ears, I recommend putting the rest of the cup aside.” Rosemary’s gaze lingered on Sorbet—Ciabhan now—she considered asking him where Quasar had run off to (those two had been thick as thieves, hadn’t they?) but thought better of the question. Instead, she turned to the brown wolf. [b]“How’re you settling into pirate life?

PEACEFALL

peace comes at dawn, but yours comes at night

She wanted him here. Arsenos long tailed swayed happily, acting as a sort of broom on the temples ancient cobbles. Hopping back to his position across from her the canine looked down to his cup of fresh leaf water. It had the same amber hue of both his and Rosemarys eyes. How quaint.
"Naaaa. Not 'caustic' at all. You've got to be a bit of a hard person to work a place like this. I'm glad you've got some faith in me. Though it may be misplaced. I'm a bit of a clutz." jovially Arseno held up his injured paw as an example. He had a little knowledge of healing considering how often he got banged up. But with his long nails it was sort of impossible to get things done. He often wished for the telekinetic powers that others were blessed with. How much easier life might've been.
It was these thoughts that came to a halt as a new presence joined them. 'Pretty' he thought, gazing at the rippling fur which so closely mimicked calm ocean waves. It so contrasted the jagged spikes of fur which covered Arseno. Together they made land, fire, sea. Even a little treasure map to accompany them.
It seemed that Rosemary and Ciabhan knew one another. Very well, based on Ciabhans reaction to the ocelot. Arseno nodded his head in greeting as Rosemary introduced him. Seems Ciabhan had kept this place running in Rosemarys absence. How sweet. Arseno took a taste of the tea before him. Yes, quite sweet.
As Ciabhan joined them Arseno spoke colloquially "Howdy. As Rosemary said, I'm Arseno. Nice to meet you." then turning to Rose he said "This has to be the best tea I've ever had." it was really his first cup ever. "Don't think I'll be getting scurvy anytime soon. The pirates life has been pretty peaceful so far. Not quite what I expected. But the company makes it all worth it." he ended with a wink. Then his more curious side took stage "Say, how do you two know each other? Seems theres some history here."