The dark clouds over the eastern horizon had not escaped my attention. The clouds roiled in the distance, their rumbling growing closer with every thunderclap that followed the bright shocks of lighting that lit up the sky. Before the afternoon ended the rain would surely reach us here in Iromar, which would perhaps put a dampener on the lesson to hopefully be had, but such was the way of the world. I could not control the weather any more than I could change the sogginess of the grounds Ellie and I moved towards. I looked over to the girl as she spoke of the reasons why she might have decided healing was the path for her to follow. But she didn't seem completely certain, and so I hoped that if nothing else, today might solidify her resolve to become a healer. Or show her that this was not the field for her after all.

As we reached the borders, coming to a stop side by side, I lifted my muzzle and called out for the pack’s healer. A single ear tilted towards Ellie and only moments into the call her voice mingled with mine. She was exuberant, if nothing else. When my howl concluded so too did hers and our voices lapsed into silence. Sunset eyes scanned out in front of us, watching for any movement within the pack lands. I stood at ease, tail languid and ears relaxed to the sides.

It was only when I spotted the approaching form of another wolf that my ears perked forward and I lifted my head slightly so as to get a better look t her. She had emerged from a clump of nearby bushes, and I immediately sized her up. She stood nearly as tall as me; but where my chin was beginning to show the white flecks of fur all older wolves bore, her face was young and untarnished. Aside from the grimace that she bore; her total lack of expression was met with an equally deadpan expression from me.

“Ismee Anubis,” I began, my thick persian accent easily slipping into the arabic tongue I had spoken all my life. “This one is Ellie; we are of Taviora, a land with which your home holds treaty.” Sometimes the common tongue still troubled me, but my speech was fluid nevertheless. “We called upon a healer, one capable of giving Ellie education in the basics of healing. Is that you?”

Always my tone was relaxed and even. I sought the eyes of the one who stood before us, sensing that something troubled her, but unsure what. I doubted the reasoning behind her harsh tones would be unveiled to me any time soon. Regardless, I would not allow her disposition to retard Ellie's efforts to learn more about healing. Perhaps my ability to judge individuals was still strong, but this would be a true test of if I was capable of judging the character of a pack as a whole from a simple glance at its exterior.