Coriander yawned and sighed heavily as she sat in the healers' den, sorting through herbs and seeing which ones they were short on. It had been a few days since Sadie had begun staying in the healers' den. Her appetite had not improved, and when she did eat it was almost impossible for her to keep anything down. She remained very thirsty, and Coriander made frequent trips to the lake to bring back water for her.

Ranger was constantly barging in and out of the den, knocking over the herb piles and not apologizing for it. Still, it was hard to be mad at him when he was so eager to do anything they asked to help Sadie. He had already made a few trips with Coriander to fetch water from the lake, often attempting to chatter through the moss in his mouth.

He was lying with his mother now, snuggled into the curve of her stomach. Their sable fur blended so it was difficult to tell where one ended and the other began. Ranger was telling Sadie about a move he had watched Lightning teach the trainees.

"You knock the other dog over so they're on the ground," he said excitedly, jumping to his paws. "Then you stand on your hind paws, like this!" He reared up, waving his paws as he tried to keep balance. "Then you slam down on them!" He fell back down on Sadie's side in more of a flop than a slam. Sadie winced, letting out a slight gasp of pain.

Coriander turned her head sharply. "Ranger!" she barked. "Stop playing so rough. You know your mother is sick!"

Ranger flattened his ears, backing away. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Sadie touched her nose to his ear, her eyes gentle. "It's all right, sweetheart," she said. "My stomach hurts a little, that's all. And you're growing so big!"

"Your stomach hurts?" Coriander stared at Sadie. "When did your stomach start hurting?!"

"Earlier today." Sadie blinked back at her. "I thought it was just because of the diarrhea."

"Great," Coriander growled. I'll have to ask Grace about it when she gets back from checking Compass' leg. She glanced outside, where the hollow was cast in shadow from the setting sun. "You should go to sleep anyway, Ranger," she said briskly. "It's getting dark."

Ranger scowled. "I don't want to sleep with Geneva again. Desmond snores so loud! Can I sleep in here, with Mama?"

Coriander raised an eyebrow, looking down at his beseeching brown eyes. "Do you promise not to beat up your mother anymore?"

"I wasn't beating her up!" he said indignantly. "I was showing her the move!"

Coriander smiled and shook her head. "Oh, all right. You can stay. But you better be good, or I'll throw you out again!"

Ranger grinned back at her, his eyes gleaming. He knew she couldn't resist him and he pranced back to Sadie with a satisfied swish of his tail. He laid down next to her again, gently pressing against her side.

"Oh, I know he'll be good," Sadie said, looking down at her son affectionately. "You never cause trouble, do you?"

Ranger shook his head. "Never."

Coriander snorted, turning back to the herbs. "Right, never. You're totally not the one that pesters everybody with questions all day and sneaks out of the hollow when they're not supposed to!"

"How am I supposed to know anything if I don't ask questions?" Ranger countered.

"Fair point," Grace laughed as she suddenly entered the den. "Everything going well, Coriander?"

"As well as it can be with this one around," Coriander replied, jerking her head towards Ranger. "We're running low on oregano and basil, by the way."

Grace nodded, yawning. "All right, we'll need to collect some more of those tomorrow. But for now, let's get some sleep."

Coriander grunted in agreement and padded to her bed, turning around a few times before settling down with a sigh. As she closed her eyes, she overheard Ranger and Sadie continuing to talk.

"Mama, are you going to get better soon?"

"Shh. Grace and Coriander are trying to sleep."

Ranger's voice dropped to a whisper. "Well, are you?"

"Of course I am. The herbs have helped me feel better."

"But you don't eat anything."

"I'm just not very hungry now. I'll eat again once I feel better."

"Are you sure you'll feel better? You're... You're not going to leave like... Like Dad?"

"No! Everything is going to be just fine, Ranger. I'm not going to leave you."

"Not ever?"

"Not ever."

Coriander tensed. Had her own mother ever said something like that? She didn't know. She could barely remember her mother's face. Even if she had, she clearly hadn't kept any such promise. With a sigh she sent a silent prayer to the Hunter Dog that Sadie would be all right, then drifted off to sleep.

~

The next morning, Coriander was just about to head out to collect more herbs when she suddenly remembered about Sadie's stomach. "Grace," she barked. "I just remembered. Sadie was saying that her stomach has been hurting. Is there anything we can do for her?"

"Oh, dear." Grace frowned, thinking for a few moments. "Try to find some peppermint while you're out. It should help."

"Peppermint," Coriander repeated, nodding. The herb's sharp scent was easy to remember. "I'll be back soon!" she called over her shoulder, trotting towards the hollow entrance.

The hollow was emptying as dogs were leaving on patrols. Coriander spotted Gabriel in a group with Tassel and Feather; the pack was dismally low on defenders, with Eleazar, Compass, and Dakota all out of commission. Normally an alpha would stay at the hollow to guard there, but their current situation meant that even Gabriel, who had once been a defender himself, had to go patrolling.

Ranger was skipping alongside the Kelpie, probably asking him more questions. Coriander realized that she should probably take him with her; he'd probably unintentionally stress out Sadie or intentionally bother the injured defenders.

"Ranger!" she barked. "Stop bothering Gabriel. Come with me, we need to find some more herbs for your mother."

Gabriel looked up, smiling. "Oh, he's not bothering me. I wish some of the trainees were as eager to learn as he is. You'll make an excellent trainee." He nodded to Coriander and then led his patrol out of the hollow.

"Gabriel's so cool!" Ranger yipped, bouncing out of the hollow after Coriander. "He knows everything!"

"No dog knows everything," Coriander said, sniffing the ground for the scents of the herbs she was looking for.

"Gabriel does," Ranger insisted. "I want him to teach me when I become a trainee."

Coriander shook her head. "You'll probably spend more time learning from the other defenders. You don't get to have special attention from the alpha."

"Why not?" Ranger demanded. "I'm going to be an excellent trainee, he said so himself. I'm going to be the best defender the packs have ever seen!"

"We'll see about that," Coriander barked. "It takes a lot of hard work. But for now, why don't you make yourself useful and help me find the herbs I'm looking for?"

"Fine. What do they smell like?"

"They all have very strong scents. Two of them are green and leafy, and the other looks kind of like clovers."

"Okay!" Ranger promptly scurried off, his nose to the ground.

"Don't wander too far!" Coriander warned him. "I'm not going to spend half the day scouring the meadow for you."

Ranger didn't respond, but Coriander kept an eye on him as she sniffed around herself. She caught the scent of some basil and began to follow it, eventually finding a patch of the leafy plants. She began to snip off some of then leaves when Ranger's voice reached her ears.

"Coriander! Over here! I found some!"

Picking up the basil, Coriander loped over to where Ranger was standing, his tail wagging. "See? It looks like clovers!"

She leaned down and sniffed the leaves, nodding in slight surprise. "Very good! This is peppermint. Do you want to know what it does?"

Ranger stared at her. "No. I'm going to be a defender, remember? I don't need to know about any stinky herbs."

Coriander sniffed. "It wouldn't kill you to know what an herb does, in case you need to use it."

"I won't need to use any herbs," Ranger said proudly. "I'll be such a good fighter that nobody will ever get hurt."

"Oh really?" Coriander cocked an eyebrow. "And what if you get hurt? You're not exactly invincible."

Ranger glared at her. "What did you call me?"

Coriander rolled her eyes. "I wasn't insulting you. Invincible means you can't get hurt, and you are not that."

"Fine." Ranger heaved an exaggerated sigh. "But the healers can know all that stuff about herbs. I don't need to know about it."

"Very well, have it your way." Coriander turned away and began to dig up the peppermint. "But if you're going to be such a great defender, then you have to learn how to be quiet."

Ranger grunted and looked at the ground. "Being quiet is boring," he muttered. "And why do I have to be quiet? Battles aren't quiet!"

"But if you're sneaking up on someone to attack them, you have to be quiet," Coriander reminded him. "With the chatter you make, Earth Pack could hear you even if you were up in the mountains!"

Ranger grumbled and turned away. "I don't think I want to find herbs for you anymore," he threw over his shoulder.

Coriander laughed, scraping the peppermint into her pile of herbs. "Fine then, grumpy-paws. I'm sorry for trying to make you better."

Ranger ignored her, putting his nose in the air, but he suddenly pricked his ears. "Do you hear that?" he asked, turning around to face her again.

Coriander stood still, hearing faint howls coming from the direction of the hollow. "Something's happening at the hollow," she barked, fear suddenly gripping her. "Come on!"

Forgetting the herbs, she broke into a sprint in the hollow's direction. "Wait for me!" Ranger yelled, tearing after her. The howls became clearer as she drew closer, and growls, yelps, and snarls became evident as well. She stopped short when she reached the hollow, shocked.

Night Pack was attacking!