Father-son-kinda-thing...

The cart clattered along down the road, its wooden wheels bouncing along in the rutted and potholed street. The buildings it passed were run down and looking decrepit, the inhabitants were just as bad, their bones were showing and their eyes were sunken. The large Shinlai towing it slowed to a stop, the cart bumping gently into his tail, the leather halters about his neck and chest creaking quietly as he glanced around. The people stayed well back, watching him from the shelter of their houses and the side streets.

Well it seemed to be the right place. He didn’t bother checking his map, his sense of direction was pretty good and he was fairly confident they were in the right town. Now he was here, he could really see why the Elite’s wanted to send his skills there. It hadn’t sounded so bad when they told him, but now he could see it with his own two eyes; he knew coming here had been the right thing to do.

The food and new building materials would provide invaluable to them, as would his healing skills. So long as nothing went wrong.

Speaking of which!

“You keeping up Volpe?” he asked with a grin.

“You keeping up Volpe?”

"Doing just fine," Volpe called up. He bit his tongue just before adding 'old man' at the end of it. Dagda wasn't one to let up on Volpe and shoulder all the work. As much as Volpe appreciated Dagda treating him as an equal, sometimes it didn't bother Volpe to shirk off work with his blindness as an excuse.

Volpe tugged at his own cart, dragging one shaking wheel out of a particularly deep pothole. He pulled up beside Dagda, his element searching the area for him. He'd developed a better and more effective way of "seeing". By creating small, bright orbs of light that shone on surrounding objects, Volpe was able to "shed light" on the area around him. It worked best when the light reflected off of more than one surface, such as a corner or wall. Right now Volpe was just lighting his own path with three small orbs.

His muzzle wrinkled as he scrunched up his nose. A vile stench drifted out from several of the alleys. It wafted and hung over the area like a bad feeling. "I'm not sure what we're expected to do here, Dagda. This place is filled with nothing but vermin." Volpe turned his head at a noise, and one of his orbs drifted over to investigate. Volpe saw the illuminated face of a human in his mind's eye before the light was extinguished. No doubt it was swatted away by the human. Volpe's lip curled. "Again, I say nothing more than vermin." He knew Dagda wouldn't like that, but his priorities weren't the old male's hurt feelings.

Dagda finished unbuckling his harness, glancing to Volpe as he pulled up alongside. However his pleasant smile faded slightly at Volpe’s words. He suppressed a sigh, wondering why he had brought the kid long. Oh that’s right, he’s trying to be a good in-law to him.

“We’re here because the Elite’s want to help them out of poverty. Be it with healers, food, or building supplies,” he said, doing his best not to sound like he was lecturing the kid. “They asked me to do it because I’m the best healer they’ve got. And I brought you along because we might as well get to know each other,” he added.

He shrugged off his harness and took a few paces forwards, looking about at the faces peering at them. “We are healers, and bring food with us, are there any here that need our skills?” he asked in a loud, but gentle voice, hoping his size wouldn’t scare them off.

“We’re here because the Elite’s want to help them out of poverty. Be it with healers, food, or building supplies. They asked me to do it because I’m the best healer they’ve got. And I brought you along because we might as well get to know each other."

The last comment shut Volpe's mouth. He looked sidelong, clearly at least a little bit ashamed. Volpe didn't entirely get along with Dagda. He disagreed with the Shinlai's views and disagreed with his ability to see the good of everything. However he didn't look for ways to annoy his father-in-law with his own pessimistic views.

"I'm not too bad a healer myself." Volpe offered. He was struggling with his own harness, shaking each piece off individually as he tried to avoid getting tangled in it. He finally stumbled out of it (making a clear effort to stay graceful- and failing horribly). One of the harness straps had hooked around Volpe's mask, something he wore when visiting La's parents, he shook it off with a huff.

Volpe stretched, his forepaws reaching forward as he flexed his spine. He yawned, a lion-like sound coming from his maw. He snickered when an old alley cat fled at the sight. However, Volpe's attention was drawn to a soft sob around the bend. He cocked his head and flicked his tail against Dagda to catch his attention. "This way."

Around the corner, tucked in an side alley, was a small child clutching the cat Volpe had scared off. Volpe looked sideways at Dagda, "Do you want to deal with this or should I?" He whispered. He could hear the child's ragged breathing and shuddering coughs. It was likely some kind of lung infection, although there was the possibility of a much worse ailment or injury. The child was clearly scared, huddled against the corner of the alley between the wall and a makeshift tent.

"I'm not too bad a healer myself." Volpe said, stumbling from his harness.

“Exactly,” Dagda said, choosing to ignore the stumble. No point in embarrassing him, wasn’t exactly his fault.

He blinked when Volpe’s tail hit his side, either his sensitive ears had heard something, or his floating lights were proving more useful than he realised. He checked the herb bags about his neck, before following after him.

Upon seeing the child he lowered himself into a crouch and shifted forwards slowly, lowering his head so he was level with the child. There was no sense in terrifying them into running. He could hear the rattling in the kid’s chest, it certainly sounded like a chest infection.

“How long have you had this cough?” he asked gently. How far along the infection was would tell him if the kid just needed herbs, or Volpe’s healing ability...