"Coriander! Come quickly!"

Coriander groaned as Minette's voice reached her ear. Is it morning already? She had barely slept at all the night before.

"Please!"

Suddenly realizing the urgency in her voice Coriander got up and poked her head outside. Her eyes widened when she saw Minette and Eleazar standing over Katrina, who was convulsing on the ground. Russell was running in circles in panic, his eyes as big as moons. She hurried over, demanding, "What happened? How long has she been like this?"

"She woke me up just a moment ago," Minette answered. "She looked scared and she was shaking. I thought she had a nightmare, but then she collapsed!"

"Please, can't you help her?" Eleazar begged. His voice, usually so dry and serious, was strained with panic.

Coriander didn't answer at first, examining Katrina intently. Her eyes were blank and dazed, her legs paddling while her head lay thrown back and drool dripped from her mouth. She reached back into her memories, searching desperately for any mention Grace had made of this. Finally, she found it.

"Just wait," she ordered. "She'll be better in a moment."

"Wait?!" Eleazar exclaimed. "Can't you stop it? She must be in pain!"

"No, she isn't," Coriander snapped. "I'm serious. Calm down. She's going to be confused when she wakes up."

After a few more seconds that must have felt like an eternity for the worried parents, Katrina's convulsions ceased and she lay still. Her eyes slowly regained focus and began to dart around, a bewildered expression on her face. She continued to salivate as she weakly called out, "M-Mama? Papa? Russell? Are you there?"

"Yes, baby, we're here," Minette cooed gently, relief flooding her tone. "Are you okay?"

"I--I can't see," the puppy whimpered. "Everything's all dark."

Coriander frowned. Yes, it was still night, but the sun was beginning to peek its face over the distant shape of the forest. Katrina should be able to make out their shapes at least.

She continued to rack her brain for everything Grace had told her about this while Minette and Eleazar murmured encouraging and comforting words to their daughter. Katrina slowly stood up and began to pace restlessly, still looking nervous and still whimpering about her lack of sight. Eleazar finally turned to Coriander, his eyes narrowed. "What just happened?" he demanded. "What's wrong with her?"

"She just had a seizure," Coriander replied, sounding much more confident than she felt. "She's okay and she wasn't in pain, she's just confused and a little scared, for obvious reasons."

"Why can't she see? Do seizures cause blindness?"

"Yes," Coriander answered, pretending she knew that for certain. Technically it was a natural deduction, but there could be another cause. "She's in shock. It's temporary." I hope.

Eleazar slowly nodded, evidently accepting her explanation. "Is it going to happen again?"

"Perhaps," Coriander said, this time with greater confidence. She remembered what Grace had told her; that there was a genetic condition called "epilepsy" that the packs had encountered before, especially in Lake Pack, and that it caused seizures. Valerian or skullcap could treat it, but she would have to wait and see before she could officially diagnose Katrina. "Let me take her into my den. I have something to calm her down, and I need to monitor her."

Minette carried Katrina into the den and laid her down on one of the available grass beds. Russell followed directly after and immediately curled up next to her, resting his head on her back. "Is she going to be okay?" he asked.

"Yes, Russell, she is," Coriander said. "I promise." Picking up some of the skullcap flowers she had stored, she crushed them and then placed them in front of Katrina, encouraging her to lap them up. She looked like she was beginning to calm down, and she had stopped drooling so Coriander guessed that this was a step in the right direction.

"Like I said, she needs to be monitored very closely," she said to the parents. "If she starts acting funny again I want you to let me know right away, but giving her these herbs should help."

"I'll watch her!" Russell volunteered eagerly. "I'm good at watching things!"

"You don't have to--" Katrina began but suddenly stopped. For a moment Coriander thought she was about to start seizing again, but instead the pup grinned widely. "I can see again!"

Minette closed her eyes in relief and Coriander smiled at Eleazar. "See? Like I said, temporary." Thank the Hunter Dog.

~

Over the next few weeks Katrina seemed to be completely normal again, but Coriander wasn't ready to declare her healthy yet. She remembered Grace telling her that dogs with epilepsy could go for long periods without any seizures, only for them to happen unexpectedly during moments of excitement, and so she kept a very close eye on her.

This wasn't very hard to do, thanks to Russell's help. The slightest twitch from Katrina would have him anxiously calling for Coriander, and although the false alarms could be slightly annoying, she began to be more and more convinced that he would make a great healer. Since he was in the healer's den often, she would try to subtly educate him on some of the different procedures and herbs, just to see how he reacted. He was admittedly a slow learner but seemed genuinely interested, and it warmed Coriander's heart to see his shyness fade away in favor of excitement when she would teach him something new.

"What are dandelions good for, Coriander?" he asked one day. "Papa said that they were weeds."

"They're good for the liver," she replied. "If a dog starts to look jaundiced--"

"What does jaundiced mean?"

"If their eyes and gums start to look yellow. If that happens, it means that they're sick, and I would have them eat some of the dandelions to help with that."

"Because the dandelions are yellow too?"

Coriander held back a laugh. "No. The color doesn't make a difference."

Russell frowned as he pondered this, but then Coriander suddenly heard her name being called. She turned to see a group of dogs, both hunters and defenders, entering the hollow, several of them with visible wounds. Her heart sank. Here we go again.

"Russell, do me a favor and go play with your sister," she barked. "I'll show you more later, okay?"

He obediently scampered off, and Coriander approached the defenders. She remembered this was the patrol Ranger had gone with and anxiety clutched her for a moment. Was he hurt?

She didn't see him at first but then she saw him trailing in after the others, a sullen expression on his face. He was followed by Lightning, who looked absolutely livid. "Gabriel!" he shouted.

The pack leader came up, his face weary but patient. "What is it? What happened?"

"We were training," Lightning growled, "and this idiot picked a fight with Night Pack!" He looked accusingly at Ranger, who curled his lip.

"They ruined a hunt!" he snapped. "You expected me to just let them get away with that? You wanted to do the same thing, Lightning!"

"I know better than to endanger our hunters!" he thundered. "Someone could have been killed!"

"Enough," Gabriel said loudly. "Ranger, I would like a word. Everyone else, calm down and let Coriander look at you."

As Ranger shuffled over to Gabriel, Coriander met his eyes. She gave him a stern look and he immediately turned away. With a sigh she began to look over the wounds of the party. Thankfully, none of them were too serious. "What happened?" she asked Geneva as she inspected a cut on her leg.

"We were giving Desmond and Ranger their basic hunter training," she explained. "A bunch of Night Pack dogs gathered on the border and started making trouble, scaring off the prey. As you've heard, Ranger got upset and started shouting insults at them. Then they attacked."

"I'll have to talk to him," Coriander growled under her breath, then resumed her work. After she had treated all the other dogs she approached Ranger, who had finished speaking with Gabriel and was sitting by himself, staring at his paws. He looked largely unhurt, but there was a significant slash on the side of his head.

She sighed again. "Ranger--"

"I don't want to hear it, Coriander," he snapped. "I already heard everything from Gabriel."

"Then at least let me do my job," she said. "Come on, bend down and let me look at that wound."

He reluctantly complied and Coriander began to clean the wound, making him wince slightly. Several moments passed in tense silence before she finally decided to try again.

"You're lucky," she said. "If this cut was just a little to the right, you'd be missing your eye."

Ranger's only reply was a grunt.

"Ranger, why did you--"

"It's not my fault!" he snarled, jerking his head up suddenly. "What did you expect me to do? Just walk away while they laughed at us? We're in the middle of a war!"

"Maybe I understand why you did it," Coriander said, struggling to keep her tone even, "but like Lightning said, you put the hunters in danger. We're lucky no one was seriously injured. You have to learn to put the pack first, Ranger."

Ranger glared at her. "We put the pack first because we're honorable, right? And we don't pick unnecessary fights?"

Coriander nodded slowly, unsure of where he was going.

"Remiel is always going on about the code that the Hunter Dog gave us, that we follow it because it makes us better than the other animals out there. If all the packs follow the code, then why did Night Pack steal our prey and lie about it? Why did they attack us in our own hollow? Why are they purposely trying to ruin our hunt?"

Coriander didn't respond, surprised, but Ranger didn't give her time to anyway. "How can you expect me to just let them get away with something like that? It's wrong."

She didn't say anything for a few seconds, before she slowly began, "Yes, it is wrong. But it's not your job to personally punish Night Pack. They're breaking the Hunter Dog's laws; the Hunter Dog will deal with them. We just have to do what we can to protect our own pack."

"So we just react?" he growled. "Wait for the Hunter Dog while they ruin our lives?"

"It's more complicated than that--" Coriander protested but he cut her off.

"Whatever. Gabriel said the same thing. I don't care."

Coriander sighed. She guessed that this wouldn't be the last time they had this conversation. "Let me get some calendula for your wound," she muttered, walking away.