Moonspear Out Of My Comfort Zone

Anyone welcome, but maybe @Floki to show him the herbalist cache?

It was amazing to see how, despite the destruction of all the green in the Teekon Wilds, some leaves had begun to grow back. As it would seem, the locust had not won. Not entirely. Things were coming back to normal. And that made the coywolf hope, to see that if the land could change after such a catastrophe, so could he. "Baby steps, Judas. Baby steps" he thought to himself.

He stopped at the once dead tree he saw. When he saw it, it was all bare. Now, there were a few speckles of green across the branches. Once more, it gave him hope.

I decided to jump in here after all! :) We can say it's after Floki gets back from his trip to the coast.

When Floki returned from the ocean, his spirits were higher than they had been in weeks. On his way back, he had seen evidence of new growth -- the tiniest sprigs of green along tree branches or pushing their way up from beneath the soil. The earth still had a lot of work to do to repair itself, but it was well on its way. He could only hope that the herds would return to the wilds soon.

The blooms reminded him of a promise he had made to Judas, so he set to work tracking down his packmate. He would take the former Moonlit Hills wolf to examine Thistle Cloud's herbalist's cache -- he had no idea what state it would be in, since Thistle had been gone for some time now, but hopefully Judas would be able to salvage some of it. "Judas!" he called when he spotted the male, coming to a halt next to him and tipping his muzzle up to look at the tree he was studying. "That's a good sign," he commented, tail swaying.

Oh, I didn't know! I'll bump it up to whenever that is

Judas' ear flicked on the side the voice came from. He almost jumped, not expecting them to be next to him. Turning his head, he found Floki to be standing there. With a nod of agreement, he looked back to the tree. "This is good. Soon the herds will be back. All we have to do is not starve till then" he said with some dry humor in his tone.

"You said your mother had a cache..It was your mother, right? I'm not getting confused, am I?" he quickly asked, forgetting if it were Floki's mother he had mentioned owning the cache or someone else. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could show me it." He looked back to Floki as he asked this, waiting for an answer. If so, he would follow and then inspect this cache of herbs. And do his best to pick out which ones were deadly. That should surmise which ones weren't. Hopefully.

Feel free to make up whatever you want Judas to find in the cache! :)

Floki nodded, the corner of his lips twisting upward in a wry smile. Judas had a point; the herds would return, but no one could predict just how long that would take. They would have to do their best to hold out until then.

His packmate's question was welcome. He was glad to know that it had been on Judas' mind; he should have taken him to Thistle's cache sooner, but his roving paws had gotten in the way. "Yeah, it was my mom's," he confirmed. It felt odd to refer to her in past tense, and he felt a pang in his chest as he wondered where she was. Had he been more religious, he might have prayed to the viking gods to keep her safe -- but instead, he simply wished her well.

"It's this way," he said, gesturing for Judas to follow him. He led his companion up the slope, picking his way slowly and carefully along the rocky terrain. After a few minutes of quiet travel, they reached a shallow cavern, its contents shaded from the sun. "I'm not sure what all she has in there..." he said, stepping aside so that Judas could enter.

Judas felt comforted by the smile of Floki's. A new feeling of comfort he had yet to get used to, although he was close to getting used to seeing others smile around him. He was lucky he wasn't one of those dark and brooding types, or no one would smile around him.

Judas followed along up the slope and across the rocky terrain to find himself in front of a cavern. Floki stepped aside to allow entrance, and the coywolf obliged. "Time to get to work" he thought to himself. Right away, he started sorting through. He found some Oak Leaves and Marrigold, among a couple others he could name. Though since he mostly knew only poisions and hallucinogens, most of these were unfamiliar to him. One thing that ticked at his mind was that they all looked old. Not a good sign. "These look out of date. Most, at least. When was the last time herbs were collected?" Other than looking old, it seemed to be lacking. With the locusts having destroyed much plantation, the chances of finding fresh stock would be low. If only the plants would grow faster.

Floki watched as Judas set to work quickly and quietly, examining Thistle Cloud's collection with a practiced eye. He sorted through the plants without speaking for a few moments, and then voiced a single question that produced a shrug of Floki's shoulders.

"I'm not sure," he admitted, feeling bad that he couldn't be more helpful. "It's probably been a while. I know we brought some of the items from Stavanger Bay when we moved in the fall." And if that was the case, some of those herbs had likely lost their potency.

Judas' jaw clamped tight. A grim expression on his face. With what they had, if anyone were to be attacked by anything, it would prove fatal to them. "Stupid, stupid wol-" He quickly cut the thouhgt off. He didn't want to think that. They just hadn't had the time. No one expected all the green to disappear. But still, this was bad.

"Once the green comes back, we'll need a new batch. Is there anyone else in the pack that can help collect when the time comes?" he asked, a sudden desperate tone that he had not intended. To him, this was dire. And also with his lack of healing herbs, they would need another most definitely.

He could see the shadow of concern flicker across Judas' face, although he was blissfully unaware of his packmate's inner turmoil. Floki chewed on his lower lip briefly, finding himself wishing that Thistle Cloud would come back -- although it was pointless to dwell on that now. Even if she did return, she wouldn't be able to magically conjure up herbs from thin air.

"I can help," he volunteered quickly. "I don't know much, but if you describe what I'm looking for, I can do my best." He glanced down at the dried leaves within the cache, gesturing at them with his snout. "Can you teach me some basics now?" The more he knew -- and the sooner he knew it -- the more he would be able to assist.

That hadn't unexpected. He had expected help to come much later, when this was brought to attention to the pack. He thought the alpha's would have picked volunteers. But this actually made things easier on him. Right away he could teach him so that later when the greenery had returned fully they could find a substantial amount.

"Well, this one" he carefully reached in and picked up one of the dried up herbs and set it before them. "This is Oak Leaf. It is used to stop wounds and helps fight infection. This is a healer's need-to-know and a best friend to an injured wolf." In it's current state it was all brown. "When we go looking, look for a green one. Brown leaf equals dead." Surely Floki knew that, but just in case. He did ask for the basics, after all.

"One thing you should be wary about when collecting herbs are the poisonous ones." Luckily for them, he knew poisons. And how some poisons were similar to herbs. "For example, Poison Oak. It is similar to Oak Leaves. See the points? Poison Oak has this too. Trust me, I got confused once. Did not end up helping a scratch I had. Very hard to tell the difference. However, there is a saying. 'Leaves of three, let it be'." He felt the itching sensation poison oak had given him that time. Right on his rear.

I got that saying from a website about the differences. Also, in current time would herbs have grown back by now?

Since July 1st is the official date in the BWP post, I would say it's safe to assume that plants have been starting to grow back all throughout June. Probably little by little! :)

Judas obliged him, and Floki turned his full attention to his packmate. He would listen carefully and store the knowledge in the back of his mind. He knew that he would never be as proficient as Judas or Thistle Cloud, but basic information would be enough to allow him to assist.

"Oak leaves," he murmured, nodding his head as he memorized the shape and size of the leaf. Naturally, he would need to find green ones rather than brown; the leaf looked sad and crumbled in its current state. His gaze lifted to Judas' face as the medic warned him of poison oak, and he obediently repeated the saying. "Leaves of three, let it be," he said quietly, giving another bob of his head.

Judas held back a smile, thinking it would only distract him and Floki from this important lesson. He went on to teach him the other healing herb he knew of by name. There was one other, but without it's name there wasn't much to be done. He did remember something about a goose though...

"The next one is Marigold. It helps heal sores and helps with infection." He realised that the only two he knew by name were for injuries, yet none for sickness. Something he would have to learn, and learn fast. "It is an orange, or sometimes yellow flower. One thing to tell the difference between other flowers is that this plant has leaves growing out from the bottom of it."

"Marigold," Floki repeated obediently, imagining the yellow flower in his mind. He paid particular attention to the information about the location of the leaves. He hadn't studied much plantlife previously, so he couldn't say he had noticed the way they grew, but he was confident he would remember this tidbit.

"That sounds like a good start," he said. Both plants that Judas had mentioned would help fight infection, meaning they would be useful for lacerations and other surface injuries. Questions sprang to his mind and he wondered how to apply oak leaves and marigold to wounds, but he decided that he would leave the practice to Judas. He would simply act as an assistant and help to keep the cache stocked. "Anything else in particular you need me to keep an eye out for?" he asked.

Last post

"Yes, Marigold." Judas hadn't realised Floki might be repeating to keep it on mind. "For now, that should be it. We need to focus on mortal wounds first, ones that could cause infection." "And also, I don't know anything for broken bones." Good thing he had not said that last bit aloud, or he would be in trouble. He was afraid of being called a fraud here. He went back to sifting through. "Thank you, for showing me this. Now, to get through this." Perhaps he would find others. Sure, he wouldn't know the purpose. But if they were in here, then they would be non poisonous, right? He could only hope.

With that, Judas seemed ready to buckle down and do some work on his own. Floki would leave him to it, and as the greenery continued to return, he would plan to collect any oak leaves or marigold that he came across. In the meantime, it appeared that Judas had his work cut out for him; the old cache needed quite a bit of cleaning up and organizing.

"You're welcome," he said, hovering for a moment longer before turning and beginning to pick his way down the mountainside.