A fresh spring morning

Subject: A fresh spring morning Mon Jul 27, 2015 2:36 am

Petra was off in the woods seeking out the things she desperately needed to add to her stores - the leafy, earthy aromas filled her nares as she breathed deeply, making her smile. She welcomed the growing warmth of spring, for she would be able to find plants more easily and her stockpile would not be so dreadfully low. She was just glad that nothing serious had happened since the stampede. They'd all made it through the winter with minimal injury and no major sickness - it was something of a miracle, considering the cold season could often bring with it illness and death. Winter was always a harsh season, but their pack was strong and no one had gone hungry in the cold this time.

She was carefully digging up young stinging nettle, ensuring that she didn't get it in her eyes or on the vulnerable pads of her paws. She knew it had many uses and was best collected young. She would wash it carefully once she had a small collection, then allow it to dry so it would lose its stinging ability. The woods were growing thick, and she looked forward to her chance to collect regularly. After this she would search out horsetail in the damper areas of the forest. In the summer would be optimum time to find flowers like marigold. So focused on her work, Petra had forgotten to keep her wits about her, and she'd be lucky if nothing was out to get her....

Subject: Re: A fresh spring morning Mon Jul 27, 2015 9:50 pm

He tracked her after she'd been gone for some time. Niveus was still curious about any information he could get about Blade. It was clear it'd be difficult unearthing it from the source. The next best way? Watching his interactions with packmates. He had the greatest association with Petra, for obvious reasons. A wolf from the most cold hearted of locations with the gentlest wolf he'd encountered so far?

Hmm... he was still unnoticed. Taking this opportunity, he crept closer, trying to see what she was doing. The healer looked focused on a... plant? He didn't know what it was, but she was being careful with it. He noticed movement somewhere behind her. Niv struggled to catch any noise he could from his less than average hearing, but he could only hear silence. Eyes alertly scanned the area, and he noticed a flash of tan where the light was able to catch the shadow.

A wolf of action rather than thought, he immediately bounded from his location, ignoring any reaction from Petra as he passed her, and allowed his claws to clash with the large cat's. He snarled, a warning that there would be no easy elimination of competition. The puma, knowing itself to be outmatched, quickly slunk away, probably leaving the territory altogether now that its presence was know.

"Are you alright, Petra?" It could have been a dangerous situation, or even fatal if she hadn't noticed. He moved a bit closer into her space than he normally would, making sure she was unscathed.

Subject: Re: A fresh spring morning Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:43 pm

The small hybrid fae crouched to the ground as the sudden noise of a large wolf came crashing through the undergrowth, hurtling straight towards her. Not a sound escaped her throat, frozen in fear. She hadn't been aware of anyone's presence at all - who was here? Had someone come to reclaim the prisoner that was being held in the dens? All she could do was squeeze her eyes shut and hope it was over fast. But then the sound of snarling came from behind her, and she realized the wolf had flown by her. She peeked open one eye and looked over her shoulder. It was Niveus, and he was bravely facing down a large wild feline - the cat quickly decided better of challenging the well-built wolf and took off.

Petra could only sit with her mouth agape for several moments, until Niv approached her to check that she was alright. "I-I'm alright," she said, her voice wavering just slightly, "Thank you Niveus." If it hadn't been for his intervention, she might have ended up as cat-food. She chided herself mentally for being so totally careless - if she didn't have anyone escorting her, she ought to know by now to keep her wits about her. She cleared her throat slightly and backed up as she noticed how close he'd gotten. "Thank goodness you were here," she murmured quietly, "What brings you out this way?" She wondered if he was just checking out the territory, or if he had followed her here - either way, she was glad he hadn't been elsewhere. But had he noticed her scent? She'd been trying to keep her tail low to keep back the entrancing pheromones brought on by the spring season, but maybe that's why the puma had taken notice of her. Sighing, she waited quietly to hear what he would say.

Subject: Re: A fresh spring morning Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:36 pm

He seemingly didn't notice Petra moving away, and didn't register anything until a few seconds after she asked her questions. "Oh, umm... Long story, that. I thought I'd be able to secure a rank by doing what I used to do, but to do that, I have to know these lands like the back of my paw. You see, I was named in the old tongue of my clan. Niveus Vigilo. It loosely means 'snowy watcher.' I don't know much beyond that, but the teachers drilled my name into my head, reminding me that's what I was going to be when I was of age." Displaying less sense than Blade would, Niv went on, "We were all named for our exact position- in my case, I would have taken over for the lead position when I was old enough. Even if a wolf were to gain a nick name, the alpha would still remember them by their birth name, so it was kind of weird for me to find wolves named after other things. Anyways, I started doing that, then thought about my brother, and then noticed you'd been gone a while."

Had Blade been there, he'd have re-warned Petra about his kin's oddities and going in depth about some of them. Niv suddenly moved closer to the plants she'd been working with. "What are you doing without your other half, and what are these plants for?" he asked, curiously. He still wasn't quite certain about how ranks worked here. Niv was aware Petra was a healer, but healers were different from where he came from. They weren't called healers, but it was one of their side jobs. Their primary function were to experiment to find new poisons, defenses, or general uses for local plants, carcasses, and other things they found.

And there was the matter he'd been pondering just after attacking that cat. Petra hadn't done anything, from what he noticed, other than trying to make herself a smaller target. That was something he wasn't used to seeing. Did she need an instructor? He'd have thought Blade would have seen to her protection.

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