Today was a day for Eshe re-stock her supply of typha. She was running low on it and, thanks to @Arlette teaching her about it, knew they needed a surplus ready for anything that might happen.

There was an area of the southern part of the creek where she liked to harvest; the reeds were ample, and the water was calm and shallow. She had a leaf on a large, flat stone along the shore where she collected the material and would use it to carry everything back to her den when she was done.

Eshe entered the water slowly but paused as the cold water nipped at her ankles. Her fur fluffed every which way as she took a moment to adjust to the change in temperature, and she stayed in place for a moment as she assessed how much she could collect. Although the reeds hadn't fully recovered from the last time she'd picked, there was enough to get by until more grew in.

This wasn’t the first time that Eshe had engaged with a child testing their boundaries. She had assisted with raising her siblings, and Mae’s behavior wasn’t out of the ordinary. But, even with her experience, this didn’t make the ordeal any less frustrating.

She took a deep breath before reacting; this wasn’t the time to have a knee-jerk reaction. It’d only feed into the behavior.

“Mae,” she assumed, knowing Akavir only had one daughter. “Can you help me out with something?”

”Oh?” she asked, noticing the change in the child’s demeanor, ”How’re you helping?” Maybe that’d been too big of a question to address such big feelings—she cringed at her mistake.

”I‘m collecting reed fluff,” she explained, reigning it in a bit. ”And I was going to use that leaf to bring it back to my den.” Then, an idea: ”Do you want to help me carry it?” Children benefitted from doing jobs—especially when they were the ones to decide to help.

“I see,” she said, nodding her head in acknowledgment. “We could use those leaves for something,” she had to think on her feet. “Maybe … I could use them for mulch in my garden …” she ventured. “That is, if you don’t mind letting me do that—you did all the work, after all.”

Mae was curious about the fluff, which made Eshe feel a bit more hopeful. Maybe, just maybe, she could salvage this and get to know the girl better. She pointed to the nearest bunch of typha and said, "Reed fluff is the white, fluffy stuff growing on the reeds. They kinda look like feathers, don’t they?”

“I use them to help other wolves when they’re hurt—they help stop bleeding,” she explained. “You just put them on a wound and hold them in place until it stops!”

Mentioning the garden caught Mae’s attention and led to excitement. Eshe’s heart warmed; it was wonderful to see her so interested. ”I’d love your help,” she said, watching as the fluff was collected. She smiled and collected the rest of the material, appreciating the effort already being shown.

”Lets go!” Eshe wouldn’t offer to help Mae until she asked for it. She was capable, and she wanted to encourage her independence.

She started of slowly to give her a moment to collect herself and make sure she could carry everything she’d grabbed.

”I’ll also need help watering the plants—they’re pretty thirsty because of the heat. You up for the challenge?” Maybe they could make a competition out of it—something to make it fun and engaging.

The truce was nice while it lasted.

Eshe and Mae spent the afternoon together, working in the garden and adding learning games into the mix.

When she dropped her off at home, her optimistic side hopes they could do this again. But, the realist in her, begged to differ, knowing this’d been a stroke of luck.