The pack slept late that morning, as was usual for the day after a Hunter's Moon. Coriander was sure she was the first awake, and it seemed like ages until her packmates began to rouse.

She saw Gabriel stand up, stretch, then walk over to the healer's den. He stepped inside for a few moments, then walked out again, followed by Grace.

The dogs had begun to gather in the center, waiting for Speedwell to assign the patrols as usual, but Gabriel padded up and murmured something in his beta's ear. Looking slightly surprised, Speedwell nodded and stepped back.

Gabriel cleared his throat, drawing the dogs' attention to him. "I have an important announcement to make," he began. "Although this is uncommon in the history of the packs, I believe it is appropriate for the current situation. One of our dogs has chosen to change their rank in the pack."

Murmurs of surprise arose from the dogs and a few of them turned to look at Coriander. She raised her head proudly, not feeling any doubts about her decision.

Gabriel smiled. "Coriander, come forward."

She did so and looked up at Gabriel, her eyes shining. She felt almost just like she did on the day she became a trainee for the first time, but, as she remembered with a pang, her father had been there that time.

"You have chosen the path of a healer," Gabriel said, using the words usually spoken in trainee ceremonies. "You will now spend your days learning and training to become the best you can be. Remiel?"

The preceptor stepped up and touched his nose to Coriander's forehead. "May Siglitun grant you his wisdom that you may heal your packmates well, and may his blessings be on your training."

Coriander felt a slight thrill run through her. "Thank you," she murmured sincerely.

Grace wagged her tail, smiling happily. "Welcome!" she barked. "I'm excited to teach you."

"I'm excited to learn," Coriander replied earnestly. A few of her packmates came to congratulate her, some of them saying they were surprised and others simply wishing her luck.

"What happened?" Ranger's ever loud and curious voice soon broke through as he came running up to her. Evidently he had just woken up. "Why is everybody talking about you?"

"I just became a healer," Coriander told him, a not small trace of pride in her voice.

Ranger furrowed his brow, confused. "I thought you were a hunter."

"I was," Coriander said, "and then I decided I wanted to be a healer."

"Then why weren't you a healer in the first place?" Ranger queried, his head tipped to one side.

Coriander shook her head. "It's a long story. Maybe I'll tell you later."

"Why can't you tell me now?" Ranger didn't wait for the answer to his question before asking more. "Can you just change from one thing to the other?"

"No, not usually," Coriander said. "And I'm not going to change again. Healing is what I want to do."

"Why?" Ranger wrinkled his nose. "Herbs are smelly and they taste bad. And they sting!"

"They make you feel better," Coriander responded. "The badness doesn't last very long."

Ranger frowned. "Why didn't you give herbs to Dad, then? Would they have made him better?"

Coriander was saved from responding by Sadie, who padded up just as Ranger finished talking. "There you are!" she woofed, licking his ear before looking at Coriander. "I'm sorry I missed the ceremony. Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Coriander barked, grateful for more than her congratulations.

Sadie smiled. "You're welcome. I'm going to miss hunting with you when this little rascal grows up." She gave her son an affectionate nuzzle.

"I'm not little!" Ranger said indignantly, standing up as tall as he could.

"No, not anymore," Sadie said wistfully, a flash of sadness in her eyes. She sighed. "Run along now, sweetheart. I'm going to go for a walk."

"Okay." Ranger licked his mother's chin, then bounded off, calling for Desmond and Kye.

"Are you all right?" Coriander asked, concerned. Sadie nodded. "I'm fine. I'll see you later. Good luck with your training."

Coriander watched the collie walk out of the hollow, wondering how she was able to cope and still be so patient and kind with everyone. Coriander herself had snapped and snarled at everyone for a month after her father died. She was surprised anyone was still friends with her after how she had acted.

Grace gently nudged her and Coriander jumped, having forgotten the healer was there in her conversation with Ranger. "Ready to begin?" she asked.

Coriander nodded eagerly. "Oh, of course!"

She followed Grace into the healer's den, paying close attention for the first time to all the neatly stacked and organized piles of herbs. She recognized a few of them, but most of them were still foreign to her beyond being simply flowers and leaves. A pile of moss lay in the corner, ready to be wetted, and two beds of soft, dry grass were nestled in the back; one for Grace and one for a sick dog if they needed to be watched.

"All the scents can be overwhelming at first, but you get used to it," Grace said, sitting down in the middle of the den. Coriander nodded. Her nose already felt overloaded in comparison to the clear, breezy scents of the meadow. "What am I learning first?" she asked.

"Every healer trainee's least favorite thing," Grace laughed. "Memorizing herbs."

I knew there had to be a catch to all this excitement, Coriander thought, looking around at all the different piles. This will take forever!

Grace laughed again, apparently noticing her bewildered expression. "I know, I know, it seems like so much. But after you've been learning it for years and you get the hang of it, it's like second nature."

Coriander nodded, remembering when she had first become a hunter. She'd thought she would never get her bird stalking right. "So, where do we start?"

"We can start by you telling me the herbs you do know," Grace replied. "It's fine if you don't know what they're used for, just tell me if you recognize them."

"Hmm..." Coriander thoughtfully scanned the piles of plants. "Flax, I know that one. Dandelions... Thistles?"

"Yes, even thistles can be useful," Grace chuckled. "Any others?"

"Aloe... And..." Coriander narrowed her eyes at a bright orange flower, then recognition dawned on her. "Calendula! I remember that one. I don't think I recognize any of the others. I've seen them before, but I don't know what they're called."

Grace nodded. "I don't have all of the ones that we use, but I have most of them. This is chamomile"--she pointed to a white flower--"and this is echinacea." She gestured to a different flower, this one purple. "These are alfalfa and sage." She pointed to flowery, weedish looking plant, then to a more leafy green one. "Do you know what any of these are used for?"

Coriander tipped her head, thinking. "I remember you using aloe to treat small cuts and things like that. And didn't you chew up the flax and rub it on Levi when he had that rash?"

"Yes, it's good for the skin," Grace said, nodding. "And aloe is good for cuts and burns. Thistles and dandelions are good for the liver. Calendula is excellent for healing wounds. Chamomile is good for calming dogs down, and it can also soothe the skin. Echinacea has a variety of uses, but it's most commonly used for pain relief. Alfalfa helps old dogs with their joints and it's also good for puppy growth. Sage is used for skin infections."

"Wow," Coriander breathed. "I guess I never knew how much you really know."

Grace smiled. "It's wonderful knowing you can help your packmates whenever they need it." 

Coriander's eyes gleamed as she listened to all that Grace had to say, ready to drink up any knowledge the healer offered her.

Coriander spent the rest of the day learning the names and healing potentials of various herbs along with learning about a few poisonous plants that she could never use. She was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day; she'd never known just learning could be so tiring.

As the pack settled down for the evening meal, Coriander took her usual place with Sadie and Ranger. Levi, Hannah, and their brood were sitting with them this time, the parent dogs chatting while Ranger peppered Tassel, the lone sister of the litter, with questions and Focus and Atlantic argued over who had a bigger chunk of meat.

"I still find it hard to believe that Pawnee would lie about the prey," Hannah barked. "I've never been particularly fond of him, but he's always struck me as honest."

"I know," Levi agreed. "But it was clearly Night Pack that was stealing the prey. Their scent was all over it; who else could it have been?"

"Do you think somebody just rubbed Night Pack scent over the prey to frame them?" piped up Dynamite. "What if it's some lone dog, or somebody from a different pack altogether?"

"They'd be going to an awful lot of trouble to do that," Levi said skeptically. "A lone dog would probably bury the remains, and they wouldn't really need to mask their scent; they could probably get pretty far away by the time we found any trace of it. Frost Pack is too far away, Earth Pack and Lake Pack aren't the type... And if Storm Pack wanted to steal from someone, they'd just take it straight from Night Pack. They probably wouldn't be very quiet about it either."

"So it has to be Night Pack," Coriander concluded. "Doesn't surprise me. I bet it's those two obnoxious yearlings, just wanting to make trouble."

"Pawnee would never suspect that of his own packmates," Hannah said. "But that's understandable. I'd want a leader who saw the best in his pack rather than the worst."

Levi grunted in agreement. "Still, I hope he isn't too proud to see the truth. If it happens again, Gabriel will have to fight them. They can't just walk in and waste our prey like that."

Coriander nodded, but she was suddenly distracted from the discussion. Sadie had hardly said a word during the whole conversation, and Coriander noticed that she had only picked at her food. "Are you feeling all right?" she murmured to her, concerned.

"What?" Sadie looked at her, blinking a couple times. Coriander realized she was trembling. "Oh, yes, of course. I'm just not that hungry tonight. Excuse me, please."

The collie stood up and walked away, exiting the hollow. Coriander watched her with narrowed eyes. Was Sadie getting sick? She'd have to talk to Grace about it in the morning. She's probably fine, she thought, swallowing her last bite of meat. Maybe she's just a little more upset about Gideon today.

Standing up, Coriander bid the others goodnight and retreated to the healer's den, where she would be staying now. She kept an eye on Ranger until Sadie returned and noticed that she was still shaking. With a sigh, she closed her eyes, thinking of the day that she would be able to identify a dog's illness just by looking at them. Being a healer would be hard, but she knew it would be worth it.

All righty my friends, here is another chapter for you. I'm going to work at getting some more chapters out faster and I'm also going to brainstorm some possibilities to get the plot moving along a little better. So, anyway, thanks for reading, and please drop a vote and comment if you liked it. :)