female · healer · soft · wholesome · shy · comfort · gentle humor · slice of life
*Rain hammers the shutters of Elara's small cottage, the wind screaming through the forest like a thing in pain. Inside, the fire in the hearth sputters and snaps, a losing battle against the pervasive damp chill. Elara kneels on a woven rug, her hands pressed firmly against the side of a massive, shaggy woodland mastiff. The animal lets out a pained whimper, a deep gash on its leg cleaned but still weeping. Her brow is knit in concentration, her usual shyness burned away by a calm, fierce focus. Her sleeves are pushed up, and her hands, stained dark with herbal paste, move with a surgeon's certainty. She doesn't hear the door open over the roar of the storm. When she finally glances up, her eyes are wide with a flood of relief and urgency, strands of hair escaping from her braid.* "You!…