Fairspell Meadow Small dinner, spoiled by you

set after her join thread in Blackfeather Woods.

Laska trotted away from Blackfeather woods to find some of her favorite things in the summer that were few and far between, berries. Just the thought of a berry bush made her mouth water, slobber pooled in her mouth and slowly dripped from her jaws. Her nose was looking out for her as she lifted it and smelled the air... ohh I'm close to some, she thought as she continued on the path her scent sniffer was taking her on. Eventually she ended up in a meadow, it had overgrown grass and beautiful flowers, for a moment she was dazed at the scenery but her nose brought her out of it.

There!, she spots them up ahead, two berry bushes. She didn't care what kind of berries or even what was around her at this point. Her legs were fully stretched as she got to them, she made a sliding stop just to look cool for herself. After a light chuckle she let her tongue wrap around one of the berries and pull them off the bush. As she munched on it careful to get all the flavor she closed her eyes. It was everything she had been hoping for, it was summer time and her favorite food was out.

Brought to present day.

Ever since encounter with the aspiring naturalist Elixir, Wraen had been going through her meagre knowledge and memories of edible plants. The kids were growing fast now, they had begun to consume meat as well and in a few months they would be ready to take their first steps towards independent lives. And having as much knowledge as possible on various food sources was a key - well - to survival.

Therefore today the hunter was found wandering about a meadow, which was located South from the Sunspire. Though figuring out, which of the plants her mom had taught her about, were available here was the main objective of her task, she did several little "detours", when a mouse or a leming happened to be in her path. And after catching the fifth today and deciding that - perhaps - this place was no good for plants, but better for hunting rodents, she spotted another dweller in the distance. And what's more - it seemed to show a particular interest in the plant matter.

Wraen gulped down her mouse and approached the other slowly and carefully, and finally greeted, when she was within a polite and safe distance: "Hi!"

sorry for the wait, rough week.

Laska was gulping down more sweet berries, that were staining her purely white pelt, when another approached her. Swallowing the last one after just a mere two chews she smiled unaware that she had a stain of blue on her face. “Well hello there” She said courteously as she dipped her head and then let a small smile welcome the stranger.

It seemed that the aroma of the stranger was that of many other wolves. Her guard was up now, hackles ready to raise if she was even slightly threatened by the wolf. She was always smaller than any other so being on guard came naturally to her.

"Oh, I am not here to take your berries away," Wraen explained, mistakingly translating the other's perceptible wariness of her person, and giving away some calming signals to let the other know that she had no bad intentions on her mind.

"Just curious - what are the one's you are eating?" she beckoned to the bush, but refraining for now to take a step closer, waiting for the other to give her a permission to do so. "Are they any good?"

Laska was more relaxed when she sent her signals and then warmed up a bit. A smile formed and then she looked at the berries and then back at the dark woman, "Blackberries. But they stain my muzzle blue." she chuckled at the end because even though she looked a bit awkward the snow queen loved the heavenly fruit that was raised by the bush. As she looked at the bush and then the woman she noticed the woman seemed like she was waiting.

"Want to join me? They are quite ripe and taste amazing!" she said as she motioned with her muzzle to the berries still keeping her gaze on the female. "I'm Laska by the way." she offered her name, the least she could do if they were to feast together.

"Oh... are they really?" Wraen drew closer to examine the blackberry bush, where among green leaves there were clusters and clusters of quite big, shiny berries, reminding her cluster of black, bead-like beetles. The smell was unfamiliar and, though the other wolf had eaten a few by now, she was still a little wary about trying them herself. Other person's experience can never be yours. 

In the end she decided that one berry would not hurt her, she plucked it carefully from it's stem and chewed it. At first the taste was sour, but then it grew sweet and by the time she had swallowed it, she wanted to try another one. "They are really good," she told Laska. "Name is Wraen from the mountains over there. Are you from around here somewhere?"

Laska smiled as she was wary about trying the sweet filled cluster, most wolves didn't care for berries so she understood. Nodding as the dark woman plucked one from its arm and put it in her mouth. She could tell at first that the wolf was unsure but then as she continued to chew it was a better experience for her. A relieved sigh came from the snow queen and then she listened. Wraen from the mountains., She thought in her head. 

"It's nice to meet you Wraen from the mountains. I am pledged to a pack that is being created past those mountains but I come here to find the sweet berries. To me, they are a delicacy and when I was here a while ago I found that these are where they grow the biggest and juiciest. " It felt like a whole life story really, but instead it was just an explanation of why she was so far from her home. She would travel any distance just to get to these amazing things. The snow queen took another in her mouth after she was done speaking.

"That's interesting," Wraen murmured between eating the second and third berry. Once you got started, it was not easy to stop. Unless you bit on the leaf or the stalk by accident - as she did, when reaching for the berry No. 4. She winced and spat the bits of leaf out. 

"Would you tell me more about the pack and, where do you intend to settle down? If my pack is getting new neighbours, they would be pleased to know beforehand," she voiced her inquiry as diplomatically as possible, then picked up berry No.5, kept it in her mouth for a longer time, closed her eyes and smiled. "I would cross the mountains and the seas for these. This is literally the best thing I have eaten in the past half year."

Laska took a few berries in her mouth and chewed for a few minutes before nodding to say she’d tell her more. “We’re small, so were not a threat, yet. We are forming in a forest type area with a lake and all it looks like paradise. You go past the mountains a couple days and you’ll get there. Big cedars inhabit the forest. “ she thought for a moment if that was the only things she could say about it. That was about it they weren’t too large yet to be called a pack but big enough to be called a band.

Laska snipped a few berries off again and savored them just sitting on her tongue for a while. The juices were falling off of her tongue and to the sides of her teeth almost staining them. She couldn’t think of a better place than right here to be. “Anyway the one who recruited me was Issun.” She said with a mouthful.

Wraen's expression relaxed the moment the lady mentioned going past the mountains to reach the place, where her pack had settled. With all the brewing troubles already in Sunspire, the last thing they needed was another outer threat or simply diplomatic stuff to take care off. Hands were full already. 

"My pack is called Sunspire and we reside in the mountain aread next to a lush green valley. Run by Rannoch, me and my brother Terance. We arrived and settled there in February and have been living there ever since," she thought it would only be fair to share some knowledge on the matter of packs and origins as well. 

"There is quite a few of us and it is possible to meet our hunters on either side of the mountain range - meaning this valley and that other one," she added. "Living in the middle comes quite handy," and with this said, she reached to pick up some more berries. One just could not have enough of them.

Laska chewed the last of her berries and then her ears cupped listening to the pack that Wraen had come from. They come from the mountains? Interesting... her thoughts were brief about her pack. “Coming from a big pack must be a lot to take on, for the leaders, such as yourself.  Are the hunting grounds here good? Not that we’ll take them just making conversation?” She hoped her question wasn’t too forward. 

For a pack as big as she was talking about the grounds would have to be fruitful with prey. Laska could only imagine having a big pack and being a leader of one, it seemed like too much responsibility for her. The snow queen was more of a laid back type of woman who would rather worry about lesser problems than if other packs around were friends or foes or if a wolf had crossed them what they were to do.

"It has some drawbacks, but on the whole we have managed pretty well," Wraen said, though it had been a little more difficult than previously to provide enough food for the babies and mothers alike. But she looked forward to the moment, when kids would be just the right age to fend for themselves and adults would not have to take care of them constantly.

"It is a lot easier to hunt down large prey and one successful hunt can compensate lack of food for three, four days," and, while during their first group hunt she had been concerned (because it had been her first), now she looked forward to the experience and truly enjoyed it. 

"Where do you come from originally?" she asked then, curious about the lady as well.

She listened to Wraen explain about the food and concerns. Laska thought more about how a big pack could have its ups and downs, but a pack is family and you do anything for family so if it meant traveling for food or anything really you should do it. Her head bobbed up and down in a nod of agreement at her second statement. Hunting was a crucial part of a pack and if you don’t have good hunters than the pack could be in jeopardy. Though these thoughts ran through her head she never said a word just nodded in agreement again.

”I came from a ways away, it was outside of a busy town. I was the smallest of my litter and this litter was supposed to save the pack. When that didn’t happen everyone disbanded and I decided to travel with my parents for a while. That didn’t end up well either so when I was on my own I just sort of wondered on my own.” It started out as telling her where she came from but ended up as a summary of her life before she got where she was today. It seemed like a distant memory now, the way she was treated by her parents and what not. Thinking about it gave her some eerie feeling but she shook it off and smiled at Wraen.

It was not polite to enquire too inquisitively into a person's private affairs, but Wraen had often found out, that you did not need to spin a wild story about knights, dragons and wizards, in order to have an exciting story. Regular people and real life was just as interesting and sometimes their twists of fate were so bizarre that you would not believe them, if it had been just fiction. 

Therefore sometimes, when she sensed that she had uncovered a gem, she forgot shame and went into the unknown territories as far as other people would let her. And this is, what she did now as well, because the mention of a "town", which was a word she heard for the first time in her life, and "a litter that was supposed to save the whole pack" got her hooked. "How were you and your siblings supposed to save a pack? I mean, how much one can expect from a young wolf in his or hers first year?" she asked.

It seemed as though Laska had been vague about her past and Wraen had more questions. The snow queen was eager to be able to answer them as she thought about what had happened back then. The only other person that knew what happened was the wolf Moonshadow who she hadn’t seen in a while and was afraid of what might have happened to her. It was exciting to share her story once again to someone who was willing to listen.

”My parents thought of us as the litter that was saving the pack because it was just my mother, father, their beta, and an omega before us. So I guess not even a pack but with me and my two siblings it was supposed to change it, make it a pack again. That left a lot of weight on our shoulders. As you can tell it didn’t last long I was almost a year and a half when they disbanded because we were doing our jobs correct. That’s not even the odd part.” She told her about why they were the saving litter of the pack but what she doesn’t know was since she was the smallest and was supposed to have carried most of the weight, after the disband her parents only let her travel with them so that they could kill her.

Wraen had asked for more details, but, when she finally got them, she was not really sure, what to do about them now. The circumstances described were a bit odd and all in all unfair in her opinion, but should she feel sorry for the she-wolf and what was more important, if she said so, would she somehow insult the other?

"Well, I wish that all works out for the best with your current pack," she said eventually. "We left our former pack Moonspear on very bad terms that we have not been able to fix until now. But it was the best decision we made - we met and got to know great people and, though things have not always run smoothly and we have made mistakes, we learn and we grow. I am definitely happier, where I am now, then, when I first came here," she finished. 

After some more berries Wraen felt that it was time for her to return home. "I will be heading home now, but, if you ever happen to be in the vicinity of my home, give a call. I will want to know, how things will have gone with your pack. Farewell for now," she dipped her muzzle politely, turned and left. 

Thank you for the thread!

Laska listened to Wraen talk about her story, and it let her feel a bit relaxed to know that even though she had left on bad terms and now doing well maybe she could do the same with this pack. A smile formed upon her lips as she finished. “Thank you for sharing. I feel like I have hope now that maybe this could be a new start for me. Thank you also for eating berries and talking with me, it was a pleasure to meet you. Have a safe trip home, I’ll definitely take you up on that offer if I’m ever around.” Laska said softly watching as she left.

Laska collected a few more berries in her mouth before deciding to leave. The snow queen turned to walk back to the pack, hoping Issun hadn’t noticed that she was gone. In all honesty she didn’t want him to know so that she wouldn’t have to give him her favorite berry place.

you’re welcome!