[Gift] A hard pill to swallow

Chiyo took a moment to steady their breathing, water from the underground cave lake dripping from their pelt onto the cold stonefloor, yet a particularly sharp inhale caused a searing pain to shoot up their side once again reminding them of the impact of their tyrian friend to their side and the snapping sound they had heard as the grey tyrian barreled into them.

"That'll definitely leave a mark." said Chiyo, chuckling which they immediately came to regret.

Rivule had in the meantime moved up to collect the eels the trio of reoseans had tossed ashore that facilitated Chiyos injury. She glanced down to Chiyo but didnt comment on his condition, instead already walking the way back they had come down, clearly disgruntled over the fact that one of the eels had been thrown into her face by Ferro, even if it was done on accident, yet Rivule didnt think it was unintentional. she saw it as a slight against her person.

"Hey!" yelled Piers at the chaser who was also acting at the groups light source started to leave them behind. He quietly cursed under his breath and then called over to Ferro- "Come on we have to get Chiyo out of here seeing as someone doesnt have common curtesy." the last part was clearly directed at Rivule, yet she didnt even so much as blink in response despite it reaching her ears.

Ferro shot a venomous glance at the mostly white colored chaser as they observed the redcoated puller straining to stand up again. "Got it." said Ferro confirming what Piers had said. The two of them worked together dilligently to ease their friends pain, whilst struggling to keep up with Rivule.

Chiyo in the meantime was in a world of pain, one of their ribs was definitely broken, another probably cracked, due to it a sharp pain raced up their side whenever they moved their torso, which sadly was a given with every step.

"Im so sorry, it might look like I cant accompany you two on our travel to Roenden." a wince followed that sentence before Chiyo forced a smile onto his face.
"But hey Ferro, you do pack quite the punch." he remarked as the other two were almost pushing him so that they may keep up with Rivule, who continued to walk ahead without a care in the world clouding their conscience.

The tyrian seemed saddened at this remark but brushed it off as they knew Chiyo had enough to worry about already.
"Hey you arent the one who deserved to get a headbutt to the side, though I do know someone who does." their eyes narrowed onto Rivule with that last part.

"Relax its okay." said Chiyo, clearly not wanting the others to fight this instant and whilst he too wasnt too pleased with how rivule acted he was much more thankful for how Piers and Ferro were looking after him.

Ferro took a deep breath and relaxed once again. "Alright. But we are taking you to a doctor right away as soon as this snow lets up. I can carry you... we just have to figure out how I could grab you so that i dont hurt you even more." her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the puller with worry in her eyes, in her mind she considered several ways of how she could grab chiyo to carry him, yet most of them required her to grab his ribcage, or worse some alternatives would see her not being able to properly support the ribcage to prevent it from moving about.

The trio had been moving at a steady pace and even if Rivule was building distance it didnt matter too much as Piers was quick to notice that the tunnel was about to curve which meant that they had almost made it back to the part of the cave where they had rested in before with the light of the campfire they would be able to check Chiyo over better, prepare the eels and get ready to leave this cave and cut ties with this chaser.

"Luckily we got eels and a warm fire waiting for us." said Ferro, which Piers confirmed with a nod.
Chiyo on the other hand was starting to already feel exhausted from having walked this compared to their previous march short walk as they had to keep pushing through the pain that jolted through their body from their broken rib.

Rivule was waiting for the three reoseans already, having skewered the eels in the brief moments that she had arrived before them.
"Food will be ready soon." she said before laying down, inspecting her claws and paying the others no mind.

Piers nose scrounged into a small snarl, yet he sighed, promising himself that hed tell this arrogant and selfish chaser what was really on his mind the moment chiyo had eaten something and had been able to rest.
Ferro in the meantime had helped Chiyo lay down beside the fire who immediately rested their head on the cold ground. had the room always spun like this? is the only thing Chiyo could think about before he focused his attention on the cold stone wall and the warmth of the fire in front of him.

Ferro approached Piers with worry in her voice over Chiyos condition glancing over her shoulder back at him with a guilty expression.

"Im unsure how well I can carry Chiyo back to town so that we can find someone versed in medicine. I just- dont want to hurt them further." Piers grumbled a bit in response before he sighed, making an attempt at comforting Ferro in the best way possible.

"Look you didnt mean to hurt them. Accidents happen. We didnt have many options if we wanted to find something to eat and it was unfortunate that we didnt have enough light sources. We'll be better prepared next time. Trust me."
Chiyos ears flicked over into the direction that the conversation was coming from. "Hey-" he said. "Dont blame yourself. I share the opinion of Piers." Chiyo smiled trying to calm Ferros nerves who seemed to ponder her friends words for a moment before nodding.

"You are right. Sorry again Chiyo. I will be more careful next time and try not to get carried away with hunting again." Ferro would get a quick "Dont worry about it." from Chiyo in response before silence would fall over the group as they collectively rested and dryed their pelts around the campfire. After about an hour the small chasers voice rung through the cavern breaking the silence.

"The blizzard has let up. Feel free to leave as soon as youd like." she tried to be courteaous still yet from her tone of voice one could easily tell that she couldnt wait to be rid of the trio of reoseans.

Disgruntled and displeased Piers went over to Chiyo, taking 3 of the 4 eels they had caught from around the campfire without a word.

"Come on. We deserve better company. Lets get Chiyo to a doctor." said the darkcoated puller to which Ferro nodded, helped Chiyo up again and carefully guided him toward the entrance to the cave.

Now once again with crunching snow under their paws Ferro cautiously grabbed Chiyo and took to the skies with Piers following the two on foot. They all couldnt help but feel like someone was staring daggers into them. Certainly this run-in with this stranger could have gone better but they would for sure not meet one another again... right?