Lost Creek Hollow All good things are wild & free

Maybe @Harlyn or one of the other girls @ LCH?? :D

Things were going great since Bella was accepted into the pack. Mordecai was amazing, Bella already admired him for his kindness, and even though she had had little direct interaction with the rest of her pack-mates, the girl already knew that they were a welcoming bunch. She felt like home.

The sylph had had time to keep studying the unique plants that made of the hollow it's home. Almost everything there was green. Moss grew almost everywhere, and the tall foliage covered most of the ground.

That wet morning Bella's attention got caught by an interestingly strange kind of plant. From afar, it looked like common moss, but once the sylph got closer she noticed berries of a deep blue-purple color growing in-between the green. Bella carefully sniffed around a little, curious about the berries' properties. She knew that some were edible, and she loved the taste of the ones she used to collect with miss Adara back in Highmere, but these weren't the same, and she also knew that berries could be lethal.

There had been a few wolves accepted into their ranks that Harlyn had yet to meet.  It was her intention to seek them all out and spend some time getting to know them, but there was so much yet to do that she found it hard to keep herself from being distracted by her responsibilities.

Today was one of such days.  Her mouth was full of tall, leafy stalks of mint that she had collected to add to one of her stores.  As fortune would have it, however, her path took her right upon one of the newer recruits.  She spied the girl on her approach, watching as she sniffed at some moss at her paws.  Picking up her pace, Harlyn closed the distance between them and chuffed between her full mouth to get the girl's attention, her tail waving like a friendly flag at her haunches.

Bella decided after a long while of deliberation that the berries she'd found wouldn't kill her. There was no way to be 100 percent sure, but she wasn't afraid to try out her luck. One way or another she would have to make sure this plant didn't pose a threat to her pack-mates, and so she toook a single berry and allowed it's bittersweet flavour to flood her mouth.

All of Bella focused on her mouth alone. At the slightest hint of a negative reaction to it she would seek abundant water and probably yarrow to force herself to vomit and expel the poison from her body. That was when a sudden noise startled her. She gasped, and her heart stopped for a fraction of a second during which her face showed how terrified she was, only to turn around and find a friendly face. The one of her leader. Bella relaxed when she recognized Harlyn. "Oh, dear!" she breathed, and then laughed.

The berry didn't seem to make any effect on Arabella, so she decided it was a safe plant, and actually very delicious. It was safe to lower the guard now, so Bella focused on the Alpha. She was carrying what was undeniably mint and the girl remembered what Mordecai had said about Harlyn being a healer.

Bella's own tail waved amiably behind her, and her ears fell flat on her head respectfully. "Sorry, I was a bit nervous about these berries..." she said with an apologetic smile.

She seemed to take the female by surprise, and Harlyn's ears fell flat apologetically.  A laugh followed, bringing a smile to the alpha's muzzle.  The female explained she'd just been nervous about the berries she'd just been sampling.  Harlyn cocked her head at them, studying them for a moment before she turned and dropped her bundle of mint upon the ground in order to free her mouth for speech.

"You'll be alright with those," Harlyn reassured her as she lifted her head, "Brighter red in tighter bunches and you'd be feeling some real abdominal pain in a little while."  She paused to settle down onto her haunches.  "I'm Harlyn, I don't think we've had a chance to really meet yet," she said.  She certainly recognized the girl, her scent especially.  But she had yet to actually sit down and speak to her.

"Oh, well... That's a relief..." the girl breathed when harlyn assured the brries she'd just eaten weren't dangerous. "I wanted to make sure no one had to find out the hard way..." she laughed. It was her job as an aspiring naturalist to get to know the environment and it's dangers, just like Fitzdutiful had said, to keep her pack-mates safe.

Harlyn introduced herself, but the sylph already knew her name. She was the Alpha after all. "No, we haven't," Bella responded, "I'm Arabella, but Bella is fine," she returned the introduction with a kind smile. "Mordecai was very kind to let me join the pack, I must say I'm really grateful with both of you. I had been travelling alone for months."

Harlyn grinned at her comment with a slight cringe.  Not that she at all was bothered by what the girl had done in munching on random berries to confirm that they were safe for the pack - that was actually admirable.  Her cringe was more due to the knowledge that things could have gone terribly wrong for her had her intuition proved faulty.

But, that was neither here nor there.  There wasn't a berry around that would kill her outright for taking a tiny nibble.  Intense discomfort, oh most definitely yes.  But a fatality?  Not likely, unless the wolf were already on the brink.  "Mmm, I know how that sort of life goes, quite well," the Alpha commented, "I hope very much that none of us have to experience that again."  The druid meant very much for this pack to be a permanent home for them all.  It certainly wasn't a requirement she would hold her packmates to, but one she hoped they all wanted.

"Do you often make a habit of sampling potentially poisonous plants?" Harlyn asked conversationally, curious for the answer.

It seemed like Harlyn herself had been a wandered just like Arabella, which made her feel a stronger realtion to her Alpha. It was tough indeed, having to fend for yourself, hide from larger predators and scavenge when things were not so good, but she had survived, and in fact she had changed during her time alone, earning a lot of valuable experiences that would prove useful sooner or later.

The alpha asked then whether it was a habit of Bella's to 'sample potentially poisonous plants' and the female laughed. "I must admit I do it quite often..." she too, cringed at the idea, which now seemed a lot more dangerous than before when no one knew about it.

"I was hoping I could become a naturalist while under your guidance," she admitted, hoping to get a formal invitation directly from her to be her apprentice, just like Mordecai had suggested.

@Arabella I wasn't sure if you were going to try to wrap up threads before you shelf her.  If not, no problem, just let me know and I'll finish this up :)

The girl's laughter was infectious and Harlyn chortled softly along with her.  She was an honest sort, which the druid appreciated greatly.  There was something sweet and simple about her nature, and when she admitted to hoping that Harlyn would train her to become a naturalist, she was extremely flattered.

"Well, of course, I would love that," the druid said with a broad smile.  She had mentored others in the past and had found it so fulfilling.  She was thrilled with the aspect of doing it again.

I'd like to get at least 10 posts on every thread for you guys' to be able to claim EXP for them
This will be my last post, and you can fade this with fairy dust :D
I'm weird, I know
Thanks for the thread and sorry for leaving :(

Harlyn, just like the sylph had expected, was one of the most lovable wolves in the world. So far, only with her smile Arabella felt like she belonged under her guidance and protection. She felt safe, important, something she hadn't in a long while.

"Oh, wonderful!" she exclaimed when Harlyn agreed to be her teacher. Then a lot of questions started flowing from her mouth like a lot of bulets. There was so very much Bella didn't know about this wonderful world, and it was so exciting to have someone like Harlyn, who did seem like an intelligent creature, to guide her through it all.<

*brandishes pockets of fairy dust* :D thanks for sticking around to finish this off!

The girl was quite obviously thrilled with Harlyn's acceptance. Her excitement was infectious and though at first, the alpha's response to the flurry of questions was merely a brow raised in surprise and perked ears, she found herself infected with Bella's positive attitude. She replied with equal eagerness and allowed the conversation to flow for a long while before they parted ways. Even apart, Harlyn would continue to plan lessons and field trips with her new pupil, eager to spend more time with her pack mate and friend in the days to come.