Deepwood Weald Oh, and she never gives out

Within the wild, shadow-pocketed forest she searched out a stream, one with running water still open for her to access. The temperatures had been relatively fair, so she was able to find a patch in a shallow, wide brook that had ice thin enough for her to break through. She would have preferred a hot spring; something she could wade into without chilling herself to the bone, but this would do. 

Her facial wounds needed tending, and she wanted to heal herself as much as possible. She could have asked someone else to do it, but she didn't want to have to ask for help. Her father was....Busy, anyway. Avicus reeked of hormones, so Lilia stayed clear of her, not wanting to witness anything she'd later regret. 

She'd done well in the battle- and while she had fresh wounds to tend, she'd torn a strip off the female she'd targeted as well. She felt she'd proven herself, but that didn't quell her ambitions. 

She lowered herself into the snow and tilted her head from side to side, allowing the water to flow up along her cheekbones before she lifted her head and rubbed the wounds clean with a wrist. The band had paused for a bit of time, so she spoiled herself with a proper fresh-up.

Alaric was moving to the beat of his own drum, when he came across a younger female. She had some face wounds and was dipping herself into the ice cold water. He was glad she was wanting to keep it clean, but also worried. She could make herself sick doing that. So he chuffed.

He moved closer, long athletic body moving through the trees easily. He stopped feet away from her, and held up paws placating. 

Hiya. I'm Alaric. I'm a healer and a story teller. I can help you with those wounds if you'd like. 

He moved a paw to the fur pouch he had wrapped around his throat. He untucked it and lay it to the ground, unrolling it with a flick of a paw.

He pointed at different herbs. Thyme for infection, aloe to keep it staedy. I'd prefer honey, but unfortunately fresh out of bee hives.

He smiled easy and kind at the last part. Put some cobwebs on top and it all works out.

The wolf who approached her was a stranger- but he had the same sort of well-meaning glimmer in his eyes that a few of her packmates had...The ones who had refused to join the hunt, anyway. He wore something around his neck that Lilia spotted almost immediately, and was intrigued by it. 

Perhaps this was an occasion for her to use her manipulation skills; glean what she could from him in terms of information, so she might get better at being a scout and a spy in the future. 

For this one, she assumed he would be more pliable if she was friendly. Perhaps coy, even, so she became a little bit reserved. Smiling faintly, grateful he would offer to help her even though he was a stranger- but she wanted to seem meek as well. "Oh, that'th tho nithe of you to offer, but I...I don't think I'm thuppothed to take herbth from a th-tranger, you know?" She spoke kindly.

Alaric would have grinned had the girl made the wrong assumption that he wouldn't fight or hunt if he needed too. Being a wanderer, he had learned early on fight or die in some situations. He just preferred not too, when he could geta way with it.

WOuldn't she be absolutely tickled to know too, that he had no idea about these wilds as of yet. Having just arrived so any knowledge she was looking to glean from him, she'd get nothing.

Alaric listened closely and he nodded. Alright I can understand that. He began to roll up his herbs and put them away.

He began to put them away, though she saw value in them. "Well-" She said, sticking out a paw, as though to stop him. She withdrew, not wanting to seem too desperate. She could use those herbs and deliver them to her packmates...But she would have to reel him in first. 

"I mean...If I knew you, then you wouldn't be a thtranger...That would work, wouldn't it?" She asked, and settled naturally into the role of radio host. "You're...Alawric...Alaric," She corrected. "An' you're from...?"

She held out a paw, and he hid bit back a smile. He lifted his head and looked her over with practiced green eyes. He was a fool at times, but he knew his herbs well. He was already figuring out the best things to put on her. She only needed Thyme for a few things, everything else could be covered in aloe and webs.


HE settled to haunches and tilted his head. Nowhere and everywhere. I'm a wandering trader, healer, story teller. I ply my trade at the entrances of pack lands. I trade for rest, meat, other things. He shrugged a broad shoulder.

From what he said, Lilia was able to parse more than what she'd been told. He was a wandered, one who loved to roam. He was a skillful wolf, and that was how he kept himself valuable. He marketed himself by being friendly, and getting back from a pack whatever it was that he'd offered them. A salesperson, but an honest one. His storytelling skills made him personable, well-spoken. He could be useful, especially if she were to ask him to do what she was doing-

-glean information from other wolves. 

Now, he became even more valuable in her eyes, but only if she could get him to really play ball. "That ith very intereth-ting, Alaric," She complimented. "It mutht be tho freeing, travelling and meeting tho many different wolvth. You are thmart to deal with tradeth; an to make yourthelf valuable with them." He had qualities Lilia would like to see more of in herself. But the storytelling she'd leave to him- she didn't need that. "Tho you don't have a home, then? No pack to return toath a thort of...Home bathe?"

Alaric liked to roam, but he also didn't mind have a firm place to lay his head, but well it just hadn't worked out yet. And when it did he always got a little wanderlust so he left. He needed a specific pack, but not one he'd found yet.

I would say it is. I see new faces, i meet new wolves. Get a front row seat to new and exciting things and rituals that other packs may not share normally. It's pretty fun time.

What he didn't say was it was lonely sometimes, and painful. Especially if something went wrong while he was in a pack and the wanderer was blamed. Or if a wolf just happened to want more from him and he was willing to give and then he gets chased from teh packs for bedding the chieftain's daughter and son....how was he supposed to know they were engaged, really. He had almost lost his balls on that one, three packs were mad at him.....but it had come out that the prince and princesses were not all innocent as they all acted.

Nope i don't have a pack or a home not really. No home base.

"And they juth-t welcome you into they-ah midth-t?" She asked, taken by surprise. Of course, she had experienced the same- by being charming, she'd been invited into the heart of Sapphique and had been permitted to feast upon the whale carcass that had washed ashore there. But in terms of celebrations and rituals...That was next level. 

"Do you have platheth you normally vithit? Or do you juth-th travel an' not revithit the thame plathe much?" She asked. Surely, he must have worked for some time to earn that kind of trust- either that, or he had some secret she would need to learn.

He dipped his muzzle. Some do, some don't. Most will meet with me on neutral territory. When they see I have nothing to cause problems, they allow me entry. I usually spend about three days at a pack, sometimes less.

He thought of the packs he had spend longer in, those few that he didn't wish to leave, but did. They were fond memories. He wouldn't trade this, but it did get a little exhausting at times.

I used too, but now that I'm in a new area. Not so much. He was new here. HE hadn't made the same type of rapport that he usually had yet.

He used his non-threatening demeanour to make himself amenable. Something she was learning and thus far, it was working for her with this particular situation, though she would realize later that she would have had every urge to reveal more to him than he'd revealed to her, simply because he seemed so easy to talk to. 

"Hmm. That'th pwetty interethting. Have you evuh found yourthelf torn between two packth?" She asked, searching him for an adventurous spirit. "Like...Were you evuh on good termth with two packth that weren't on good termth with one another?"

Alaric made his living from being as charming as a snake oil salesman. He wasn't quite in the same category obviously, because he didn't use his charm to cheat anyone, but he had a natrual habit of making other's feel at ease. It was easy when you acted the fool, they didn't think you'd really listen to the words they spoke.

Nope. Every pack i've ever been visiting was always good and i don't talk about other packs to packs i visit too. Unless I'm specifically asked. Makes my life easier and I don't have a lot of questions to answer. But if I were. I'd try and stay as neutral as possible and keep both sides from talking about the other.

Neutral. The tone of it just didn't sit right with her, not in the wake of the injustice that the Rise faced. 

"But what if one of thothe packth did thomething really bad to the other pack. Would you thtill be impawtial, or would you pick a thide?" She asked. A wolf who avoided conflict at all costs was not a fit ally. They could not be trusted to come when they were called upon for aide. She fought the urge to explain her situation to him, not wanting to make a show of her pack's struggle and, ultimately, failure.

He raised a brow. Well then I'd fight. I can fight just as well as the next guy. But as a traveling trader, neutrality is what keeps me alive.

He didn't avoid conflict at all costs. But as a trader it didn't make sense for him to go about picking fights and raising hell with different packs. It wasn't fair nor was it right. So he tried to keep neutral, but were there some sort of injustice he was privy too and felt strongly about, he'd rip the wolf apart himself.

He gained a bit of Lilia's respect, then. A willing warrior was much more desirable than a coward or a peacekeeper, she thought. Choosing no sides was to turn away from those in need, and was just the same as enabling the wrongdoers. He chose neutrality in order to keep himself alive. Secretly, Lilia wondered how it must feel, to put one's own inclinations first. She was beginning to become aware of the ways in which she had been manipulated into becoming who she was. 

Her packmates might begin to wonder where it was she'd gone. Not wanting to leave them waiting, she figured she should end her conversation with Alaric on a good note. "Well, I thee you have a good mowal compath." She said. "I should get back to my pack, but...What herb wath it, again, that you offered me earlier?" She asked with a fluttering of her eyelashes.

If Alaric had been part of a pack, his own needs would have been second to the pack, but being that he wasn't and didn't have one. He was able to be selfish often. And he liked his head on his neck thank you very much. It looked rather good there he thought. 

He pushed two forward. Thyme for the infection and Aloe on top. The thyme goes on first, the Aloe second.. And cobwebs will hold it in place.

He winked at her and packed up his herbs, after giving her a little of the two.

Alaric was kind enough to honour the offer he'd made earlier, supplying her with herbs called thyme and aloe. Cobwebs weren't something she was comfortable putting on herself, but she would ask one of the others if there was any need to do so, and then get them to do it. She gave him a gracious smile as she pawed the plants toward herself. They smelled medicinal, safe. She had no reason to believe these were poisons- though she would double check. 

"Thankth, Alaric. I'll remember thith," She said with a faint smile, before she gathered the herbs in her mouth, tried not to drool too much on them, and padded back to the pack.