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Kathleen groaned, working herself back to her feet.

That was... harrowing. The attack couldn't have lasted longer than a minute, but it felt like that panther had been chewing at her shoulder for hours. Thankfully, apart from having had the wind knocked out of her, Kathleen felt relatively fine. The tabaxi seemed rather pleased with himself, and Kathleen shared the feeling - the plan had worked out just fine. She allowed herself to indulge in that brief sensation of victory.

Then she took stock of the situation as Fixer spit plant goo out of her mouth. Everyone was clearly fatigued, injured - her own sore chest seemed to be the lightest injury of the group. Tenkojima was sporting an array of lacerations that showed through gaps in his armor and Brink was bleeding pretty badly from her back.

And in fact, the longer Kathleen looked at that injury, the worse it looked. Not to mention the pitiable sounds coming out of her familiar. Her specialty was magic, not animal biology, but something told her that it wasn't just Brink who had been injured by that jungle cat.

With an unsteady stride she quickly followed Fixer to Brink's side, kneeling beside the wounded archer with brow furrowed in concern. "I don't know you" wouldn't cut it anymore - they just got double-teamed by this island and they weren't a hundred yards from the ship. Kathleen had no intention of letting Brink or her animal press forward with gaping wounds. It just wasn't practical.

And, Kathleen supposed, she just didn't want them to be in pain, either.

She noticed how the woman held her familiar tightly to her breast and decided not to ask the stupid question of "is he okay?" Better just to get to the point.

"Brink, I can try to heal him." she said softly. "May I see him?"

As she spoke, she attempted to subtly wave Tenkojima over. The closer he was, the easier they'd be able to help each other if something else jumped out of these damned bushes.

After she'd killed the Spider Panther and knelt by Miko, Brink had hardly been aware of anything else but her bonded companion in her arms. The pain throbbing from her back even faded away. She wasn't sure Miko would make it. Not one to easily show emotion, there were nevertheless tears in the corners of her pale blue eyes as she whispered to the still creature.

So it was that she missed Koji's question, and barely stirred as Fixer rubbed plant goo onto the claw wounds on her back. The wounds burned so much the extra tingle from the goo hardly made a difference. Finally however, reason split through the fog of Brink's mind and she looked up, locking eyes first with Fixer, checking the small halfling over for injury, then sliding across Koji and landing on Kathleen. All of them seemed at least functional. Relief moved through her even as she heard Kathleen's quiet question.

After a hesitant beat, Brink wordlessly handed Kathleen the limp creature, its black tufted white fur rustling slightly as she slipped it into the other woman's waiting hands. "He's got at least a few broken ribs. I can't tell what else... his mind is dark." she murmered. Settling back, thighs resting on her calves, she fell still to watch, ignoring her own pain.

Tenkojima stumbled over somewhat, eying his scratched armor, the samurai grunted and scanned the nearby area for his helmet. The Kensei felt somewhat naked without his mask, not used to having his head exposed while in a potential combat zone. Upon reaching the party, he crouched down and allowed the wrapped grip of his weapon to sink down to the ground. Glancing around with his overall confused and always startled cat-like face, the felines eyes stopped on Miko as he frowned deeply.

The Kensei was somewhat trained in battlefield medicine, but his techniques often revolved around cuts or arrow piercings. Often, he would be helping to mend a fellow Tabaxi who was around his size. The little critter was most likely out of the felines skill range. When Brink mentioned blunt force, the samurai rubbed his chin and sighed. It was often hard to fix what you couldn't see.

Still, the Samurai held on to hope and belief in Kathleens mystical abilities. Tenkojima had a feeling that she would be able to return the small creature back to a healthy state of being. Through his bruised and slightly cut face, he flashed a smile at the archer and lightly nudged her leg with the handle of his sword before commenting.

"He will be fine, I am sure. Ferocity in battle shows one's will to exist. From what I can tell, he has strength of steel." He hoped his words would help, and as he glanced over at the Halfling, that puzzled cat like face returned. He had seen fellow soldiers rub the blood the fallen on themselves to intimidate the enemy, but this?

"I apologize, small one. I did not mean to disrespect you by slinging... grass juice at you." Bowing his head slightly, the Kensei showed his sincerity to the party before pushing himself up to his feet and turning around, glaring at the jungle around him.

He didn't know what other dangers lurked and waited for the party, but he would not allow them to attack at this moment in time. As the party licked their wounds, the Kensei stood as a silent vanguard, prepared to challenge anything that dared threaten the group.

"Ish fline." Fixer smiled at Tenk's apology and waved it away. She could tell that her speech was becoming nigh incomprehensible, so gave up on that for the time being. Instead, she fished around in her backpack for a jar and a pair of gloves, when went over to the slain flytrap and began collecting the numbing sap. It was bound to be useful for something. She sort of wished it had been a euphoric in addition to being an anesthetic, but when you numb a creatures entire body, you probably effectively paralyze them, so why make them feel awesome too?

With her jar of sap safely secured, she got a knife out of her pack and walked over to the spider cat, gently petting it's flank. "Swowwy bwig gwuy. Jus oing wha ewe dwo." Then, she climb up onto it's corpse and began the arduous process of cutting a leg off. The entire thing was too big to butcher and transport, but a couple legs would be manageable and provide enough protein for the group for a few days, and she could cook it with her Quintessence torch, if they didn't want to build a fire.

She couldn't fix the lady's weasel thing. She couldn't fix the ship or wounds or the fack they were stuck on death island. She could even fix the fact her face was numb and she was drooling. But she could be useful as best she could. With these legs and some potatoes, they could feast like Ki.... well, like people with meet and potatoes stranded on a murder island.

Broken ribs, and... mind dark?

Kathleen cast a curious look at Brink as she accepted Miko's light body into her hands. The animal was warm, and soft - despite Brink's own rough-looking exterior, this was clearly a companion she treasured and took care of. A squeak of pain from Miko snapped the academic's attention back to her new patient.

As if handling the finest glass ornament, Kathleen gingerly brought Miko closer.

Mind dark... mind dark...

Was it possible... that there was some kind of arcane connection between Brink and Miko? A master's enchantment with their familiar? A mental bond that went beyond the understanding of even the closest comrades?

Perhaps. If that were the case, then it was an important detail Kathleen wouldn't discard. But she had to attend to these wounds first.

She closed her eyes, brow furrowing in concentration. Healing magic was never her forte, and even now her knowledge was more theoretical than practical, but she might be able to replace finesse with form.

And so Kathleen reached out to the ambient world. She felt, rather than saw, the arcane echoes of her surroundings. In this vibrant forest, full of life, it was a swirling torrent of lights and songs. Her vision shifted, and she focused on the mewling familiar which lay cupped in her hands. The telepath felt the breaths which escaped from his mouth past shivering waves of pain. And she began to murmur an enchantment which had been beaten into her head from the moment she decided to leave home for a life of knowledge-seeking.

The magic of the jungle sustained her, flowed down her arms, through her hands, and into Miko.

And as it did, Kathleen could feel the bones knitting. Slowly, but surely, the damage was being mended.

Sweat beaded on her forehead. The channeling was taxing her. Kathleen wouldn't be able to fully heal the familiar.

But it would be enough.

At the moment she couldn't stand it for another second, Kathleen broke the connection. Those invisible songs and echoes of light were swept away as the academic returned to surface awareness, gasping and lurching forward. She held Miko away, not wishing to enclose the creature.

His ribs were healed. There was some tissue damage she couldn't repair, but... he would not die. He was no longer suffering. A rough job, but overall successful.

Kathleen blinked back the stars that washed across her vision, attempting a smile nonetheless as she offered Miko to Brink, swaying on her knees.

Through the daze she thought she could hear Fixer carving the spider panther. She could probably use food right now.

Brink had never once looked away as Kathleen worked her magic, literally and figuratively. A display like this unnerved her a bit, despite her own use of magic in bonding with Miko. But now she was grateful for it. As Miko's head lifted, and he blinked his beady little black eyes turning to meet her gaze, Brink 's lips curved upward into a relieved smile. "Thank you." She said simply to Kathleen.

She offered her arm to the animal, wincing, and churred softly to him, speaking within his mind. You are the hero of the day, partner of my heart, Thank you for saving my life." Miko's sides began to thrum as he heard her. Then, turning, the intelligent creature tilted its head as he looked at Kathleen, as if trying to decide what had just happened. Then, moving slower than normal, as if he was stiff, he climbed to the crook of her neck and nuzzled her cheek in thanks, the tufts of his spotted wings tickling her face.

Then he scampered over to Brink and disappeared under her braid, his face peeking out as he made himself comfortable.

Brink rose, verry slowy. The plant goo had helped to numb the sharpness of the pain, but it burned like the dickens still. Perhaps the goo would also help the bleeding to stop. She sighed, craning her neck to try and catch a glimpse of the damage, but couldn't see well. She did note her torn shirt and armor though. It hadn't been made to guard her against flashing razor claws. She usually fought at a distance. If she didn't get the torn cloth off of her lower and mid back, it would stick to the wounds, and that would be unpleasant indeed.

With her gaze sliding to Fixer who was working to dismantle the meat from the body of the huge creaure. Then she turned back to Kathleen. "Could I trouble you to cut away the torn half of my shirt? Don't want it sticking to the gashes." It would leave her midriff bare, but the shirts bottom half was useless now anyway.

The Kensei somewhat wandered over to where Fixer was, standing between the party members as they tended to their wounds and shirt cutting. As the samurai watched the small person cut at the spider panther, he couldn't help but wonder if eating the other feline would be morally frowned upon. Looking over at the blade on his shoulder, he made peace with the fact that since the panther couldn't use a sword, they were different.

Yawning, the feline was once again reminded that he had been stripped of his helmet. Pausing for a moment, the Tabaxi glanced around before confirming that they'd be safe for now. Carefully flipping his weapon upside down, the Kensei lightly thrusted it into the dirt floor before speaking to the Halfling.

"I will be back soon, I must find my helmet. If there is any danger, use this." The feline said, jerking a thumb back at the sword which looked to be about seven and half feet in length. It was hard to tell if he was joking, or being completely serious.

With that being said, the feline grunted in a gruff voice as he turned and walked steadily along the foilage, squinting as the tabaxi made an attempt to pinpoint the location of his headgear. It shouldn't be too hard to identify the tan and black item amongst all this lush green, but the Kensei was still feeling the impact of the plants previous strike. Occasionally, the Samurai would stumble and wince lightly as his head still rung.