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Jimin has been gathering herbs for the last few hours in the forest. The rays of the sun shine down on Jimin as his feet drag through the wet, brown and red coloured leaves scattered on the ground. This morning has been one of the quietest mornings since he became a healer in this pack. The day had started badly, he recalls, with grey clouds and only a few rays of sunshine that prickled on his skin.
His brown hair had fallen into his face as he soaks in the morning sun while leaning against the wall of his hut. He sighs at the sound of many, small raindrops hitting the ground, dropping his head back against the wall. There isn't anyone who needs his help, leaving him to work on the tasks he had set aside awhile ago.
Goosebumps rush up his exposed arms as a fresh autumn breeze brushes over his skin, making him shiver slightly. His fingers draw his clothes tighter around himself before he unscrews a glass jar. He keeps the berries to eat separated from the herbs in the brown little basket. Being a herbalist can certainly be a good and fulfilling profession, Jimin gets to tend to people in need. Once or twice he had wondered if he performed a miracle when a case seemed hopeless but then unexpectedly the person was cured.
Jimin was raised by his grandparents, and both of them influenced him in their own way. His grandmother was the woman who taught him about the miscellaneous herbs and berries. She is the anchor in his life, a person he can turn to when he needs help with something or just needs someone to be there for him. Jimin's grandfather, on the other hand, told him stories when Jimin was younger about what he experienced or how he and his grandmother met.
His grandfather not only used to, but he still speaks with much wisdom and advice. After all, both of them are the ones who raised Jimin mostly on their own.
After Jimin returns to the healer's hut, he spreads the herbs on the brown wooden table to sort them before tying them together to hang them on a string for drying. Jimin softly hums along to a melody in his mind as he cuts the white string and ties it around a small tuft of goldenseal. A kettle whistles in the background, signalling the water for his tea is ready.
Jimin relies on the kettle a lot as it is not only there for making tea, but also for heating water if it is required for a treatment or to prepare healing soups. Jimin shifts to the shelf where he puts the wild berries he has collected in glass jars and pours himself a leaf tea with honey. He clasps his small hands around the hot metal cup and gently blows on the steam, mulling over what to do next. So far he's done for today. Perhaps he can help his grandparents in some way or start preparing food for them-
"Jimin, come quick! There's a child who's not feeling well." A worried voice snaps Jimin out of his thoughts as someone yanks the door to his hut open with force. He flinches, and spills a little hot tea on himself; fortunately, it is not hot enough to cause a burn, nevertheless, his skin still turns a little red.
"What happened?" Jimin asks, alarmed, and he rises to his feet. The hot liquid sloshes up the edge but doesn't spill again. In the door frame stands none other than Jinho, his alpha best friend, whose stressed ocean scent waves through the hut, and fills Jimin's nostrils.
"He fell while he was playing with other kids. I think he has some wounds."
That can mean many things. Jimin hopes the child is not as unwell as Jinho's worried scent suggests.
Jimin takes what he needs and throws it into a basket. If the wound is deeper, they will have to take the patient to the hut for treatment anyway. He takes his basket and hurries after his best friend through the village, disregarding the pairs of eyes following their steps. Jimin doesn't care about how many eyes are fixed on him, he had already gotten used to the other pack members' stares by now.
Jimin finds the little boy sitting near a root and rushes to his side. Other pack members have already gathered and are trying to calm the young pup down, which means that Jimin has to make his way through the crowd. The young child is holding one of his hands in front of him, tears brimming in his eyes. Jimin can only guess that he has hurt himself worse than the scratches show. Aside from the scratches on his arms, there are also scratches on his legs.
"What happened to you?" the healer asks gently. He tries his best to ignore the people gathered around him and focus on the task at hand. The boy does not hesitate to hold out his hand to Jimin, although fear is written in his face. Carefully the healer takes the boy's hand between his hands and inspects it more closely. Jolting as the little one hisses, he wants to pull his hand away. The child's face morphs into a pained expression, tears threatening to fall when Jimin begins to clean his scratches.
"I know it hurts, but you have to be strong if you want it to stop hurting." He whispers so softly that only the boy next to him can hear it.
The boy nods bravely despite the tear which rolls down his cheek. Jimin guesses that he's not older than maybe seven years. Although the healer lives in a pack, the pack is big and he does not know everyone's name, especially those with whom he doesn't have regular contact.
"Very good. It looks like your hand is sprained. I'll give you a bandage and you really shouldn't move your hand for the next two weeks. It's really important, do you understand? I'll wrap something else around it for support."
"H-hurts," the boy confesses with a whimper and Jimin reaches out to wipe his finger over his cheek. He discerns the faint gasp of a pack member and Jimin worries if it was really necessary or clever to wipe his finger over his cheek and the possibility of the boy smelling like Jimin, makes him chew on the inside of his cheek. It was most likely a pretty stupid move but you can't expect him to act cold when seeing someone in pain who's additionally to that his patient.
"How about we go for a walk once I'm done with applying a bandage on your wrist?" Jimin whispers again, feeling quite intimidated by the stares that rest on him.
He applies cream to the boy's scratches and pulls out a white bandage, which he uses with the help of some sticks to stabilise the kid's wrist. Jimin's hands work quickly on the bandage and he checks the child up for other scratches or wounds he might have missed. Jimin gives the child a reassuring smile when he thinks no one is watching. Unknown to him, however, a pair of eyes has been lingering on him with nothing but hate and disapproval this entire time.
"Come on. Let's go on a walk." Jimin prompts and helps up the small boy.
Jimin is about to take a step when one of the omegas around him reaches out to rip the boy's hand from his grip and growls, however, he is stopped by Jinho's hand on their arm. It hinders the omega to take another step towards Jimin.
"Let the healer do his work-" Jinho kindly proposes, smelling the amplified pheromones of anger in the pack member's scent.
"I know how to calm down a child myself!" The female omega bursts out with annoyance, trying to make another move towards the healer.
"I don't doubt that but he's the healer and he wouldn't do that without a reason, so I suggest you let him do his work and let them take a walk. It won't take long anyway, right Jimin?" Jinho's eyes search for Jimin's kind of as confirmation and to assure Jimin that it's fine and the situation is under control.
"No, just a few minutes," the brown-haired man answers and shakes his head, avoiding looking in any of the pack member's eyes. Jimin feels a bit intimidated, if not more. He's glad that Jinho is there. Usually, he'd just ignore them but today seems to be different. It irks him how many pack members there are and that they won't let him calm down the child. He's fully capable of doing that.
"Fine, only if you stay in our sight." She demands with a stern expression, eyeing Jimin from head to toe which makes shivers run down Jimin's spine. She frees herself from Jinho's grip and shoots daggers towards him, to say the least. Detecting the faint trace of irritation is not difficult for Jimin. After all, the wind blows and carries a waft of her scent in his direction, ruffling his brown hair. A whimper from the smaller snaps him out of his thoughts.
"That's fine," Jimin simply says and takes the boy's hand which is not bandaged. The younger one makes hesitant steps but Jimin is patient and thoughtful. He can see that the boy's hurting and walks slowly.
"What's your name?" Jimin tries to make conversation with the boy to calm him down a bit. He can't scent him because he doesn't know how the boy's parents would react. What happened earlier was enough for him to make this final decision.
"Munhee."
"Hm, Munhee. It's nice to meet you. I am Jimin and I am the healer of the pack. You can always come to me if you hurt yourself or feel unwell. My hut is further away, a little outside I would say. See that big tree over there?" He stops and continues when he sees Munhee nodding his head. "It's in this direction. If you follow this tree and the village cabins straight ahead then you'll get there."
"Why are you a healer?" Munhee asks. Jimin has to chuckle at his cute question, the little one's eyes twinkling up at him in fascination. It is rather rare that he is asked this question. "You know, I enjoy helping others or making them well again. There is so much to discover. Just the variety of different herbs that exist. There's more happiness in giving than receiving, besides my grandfather and my grandmother are healers and I got to see what it's like to help others."
"I want to be a healer too!"
Jimin lifts a hand to his mouth in amazement and laughs heartily. Munhee is still so young, he should take his time to think about what he wants to become.
"I'm not telling you that you can't become a healer, but you will grow, get older and discover new interests. You will see people change, but if you want something or set a goal for yourself, then stick to it and don't let anyone stop you, alright?" Munhee nods enthusiastically, even if feeling a little disappointed. Jimin is sure that the feeling will pass. Children at this age often don't know what they want yet. Sometimes they dream of one thing and then something else the next week.
"You can always come to me if there is anything, even if you are just curious about the job as a healer. You are always welcome."
Just as Munhee is about to reply, an omega with a scent of sour apple steps in and grabs Munhee's small hand. She pulls him closer without any further words and Jimin can only suppress an annoyed groan. What is going on today?
"I guess you've done your work for the day, haven't you? Just because you can't have children doesn't mean you have to take the child away from his parents." The other spits them out with dislike and Jimin's eyes widen at the accusation.
His scent spikes with irritation and he scrunches his nose. Jimin wonders from where she got this nonsense. After all, neither the one nor the other is true. He has never claimed that he can not have children, nor does he take away anyone's pups. That is a serious insinuation, but what can he do about it?
"I'm not taking anyone's children away. I just wanted to calm him down," he tries to state calmly, looking nervously down at his garments. The piercing look from the mother opposite is only as much as he can handle.
"Yes, the healer calmed me down," Munhee now grumbles in the midst of it, but is immediately reproached by his mother.
"Munhee, don't take his side yet. Who knows what he really wanted from you. Just because he turns everyone's head with his looks doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants."
Jimin wants to contradict and explain this is not the truth, but doesn't get a chance to say a word about it as she turns her back on him and pulls Munhee behind her, leaving him with a queasy feeling in his stomach. Only when Jinho appears in front of him with his basket does he snap out of his thoughts and look into the dark brown eyes of his friend, which are flashing with disappointment and fatigue.
"Everything all right?" The omega snorts contemptuously but doesn't comment further, taking the basket from his hand and trudging back in the direction of his healer's hut, closely followed by Jinho.
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[A/N]: A big thanks to my friend Lucilia 😩🙏🏻💜