Phoenix Maplewood Herbs For Spring And Reek

Laika remembered the rabbit Esaro had given her before and she decided to go back and follow the tracks. The rabbit had been plump as ever, very unusual for the middle of winter. Her pads crushed the snow under foot, revealing the deep green grass below. The snow had thinned today, but fog had rolled in, blurring the forest into creepy shadows. The white wolf circled back to where the rabbits blood stained the snow.

The tracks were still visible, small dents in the snow, the tips of grass peeking out. She followed them at a brisk trot, tail straight out behind her, nose to the ground. The smell of greenness filled her nostrils and she knew she was close. She picked up her pace, moving at a graceful lope. Then, all of a sudden, the scent vanished. She let out a frustrated growl, turning around and retracing her steps. It had to be here somewhere!

The scent returned, filling Laika wth hope again. She dug down under the snow. Maybe the rabbit was smart enough to scavenge underneath. No luck. She tried other spots, spots where the scent was strongest. She found some useful plants, but not merely as much of what as needed to fill the rabbits belly. Where could that smell be coming from?

This area looked very familiar, he's been here before that's for sure. Before he's been keeping the pack scent noted and avoided leaving pack ground. He didn't want to get lost. As he explores, the more confident he becomes with his surroundings. After looking around for while he realized that this was the area where he was playing tag with Laika. Even if it was recent, it's a decent memory that he would hold on to for a while.

Holding on to those thoughts made him grin. Laika was fun and her spirit felt happy which was something Esaro liked having around him. Now with her in mind he wondered what she was doing. She did say she was skilled in hunting, maybe she was out hunting for the pack. Keeping the pack fed was an important job. Maybe if he could learn to hunt more effectively he could be more worthy. Right now he could barely fulfill his own needs which in return is not good enough for him to prove himself.

He randomly choose a direction and continued walking forward. He tried to guess Laika's hunting level. If he tried to match hers he could surely enough to prove himself useful. If he couldn't fight or use herbs correctly then hunting would be his last hope. He couldn't think of anything else that was useful. While in thought he didn't realize he was passing by Laika herself. She blended with the snow that he just didn't see her as he was walking.

Laika dug a little deeper, the smell coming back fully. She was too engrossed in what she was doing to see Esaro, but her keen nose picked up his smell. Judging by the way his scent carried, she guessed he was definitely close by. She look up, head cocking just a bit. The male just walked right by, leaving Laika undiscovered. She let out a laugh, which was sure to blow her cover.

"Hello, Esaro." She barked, then turned back to her work, claws scarping against the hardened snow.

Bingo! There was a small gap in between the ground and the roof of the solid snow, big enough for small sprouts to grow. The delicious and tangy smell of fresh herbs filled her nose, and she gently plucked the stems out of the ground. They plants her minty and sour, causing Laika to cringe at the taste. She was sure Spring had taught her the name of this one when they were younger, for the remembered the tats, but she just couldn't bring it to her mind. Herbs were not her thing!

When the she-wolf finished plucking a good sized bundle of the plants, she lifted her head from the whole she had created. It could definitely be a tripping hazard, she she began to cover it back up, scraping the snow mound back into the deep pit.

Lots of typos in your post :P

He heard a laugh and immediately turn to see where it came from. Laika was unexpectedly close that he strangely had the reflex to step back from her. For her to show up randomly again for the second time really made him wonder if she really was a spirit. "Woah, are you sure you are not a spirit?!" He said once he was sure it was Laika and not someone else. He better try remembering her scent so he could spot her easily.

But she looked a little busy. Esaro stood there watching as she dug around the snow. Obviously she was looking for something which made him curious. "Um, what are you doing?" He asked without waiting for her to finish. As he asked she was pulling out some herbs he didn't recognize. Surely Spring would know what they were after that learn what it's for. He managed to pick up the scent and tried putting it to memory.

Feeling the need to guess what she was doing, he spoke before she could answer. "Are you collecting herbs? You didn't say that you were herb expert too." He assumed that since everyone he came across all had talent in more than one trade. If it was the case here then Laika was surely the most talented out of all of them. At the same time he had the impression that she was just a great wolf to be around with.

Laika snickered when he asked if she was truly a spirit. No! She was not a spirit! She was a wolf. A very normal wolf.

"No, Esaro, I am not a spirit." She chuckled. "I just have a very white coat."

She hinted to him that he didn't see her, and cept walking. She picked up her bundle of herbs again, her mouth barely able to stretch wide enough to let them all fit. She listened to his question, and was about to mumble to him around the bundle that she was collecting herbs for Reek and Spring. They were the healers of this pack, not her.

But then, he blurted something out again. Well, he got it right that she was collecting herbs. But the last sentence was everything but correct. She smiled through the plants, her spirit lifted at the thought that Esaro figured she could do anything. 

"No, I am just bringing these to Reek or Spring. I am horrid at healing. It's just not my thing."

yeah, I was in a rush. Whoopsies!!

Even if she was saying she was just a wolf, he started believe that there just has to be something special about her. Maybe it really was her white coat that gave that impression. Unlike his coat that has a mix of colors, hers was a pure color. Spirits are pure that's a fact he believes in. There was also one important fact that would say that she isn't a spirit, she is very alive! So now the idea is conflicted but does a half spirit, half wolf exist?

"Your coat is beautiful enough to say that maybe you are spirit, or maybe a half spirit. You also have the beautiful eyes that goes with it." He said, not holding back any of his opinions about her. His expression remain at his usual friendliness. Esaro would never lie but he also has the gift of speaking out what he believes in.

Esaro found it interesting that there was something Laika was not good at, or claims that she isn't. But what she was doing was something healers do, Esaro was learning but he would say that her skills are better than his on that subject. "You are still better than me, I would have never found those."

But Esaro wasn't really counting on leaving things as it is. "Can I help?" He offered but he wasn't sure how he could be helpful. "I mean, you would have to guide me a little for me to be a little useful." Esaro was motivated enough to want to do his best at whatever would be asked of him.

Laika was very surprised. Her blue eyes widened, and her ears twitched with uncertainty. A wave of comfortableness washed over her, drowning her in more and more odd feelings. What was he trying to do? That was really starting to creep her out. She gulped. 

"Um.. Esaro, I can assure you I not a spirit, nor half of one. I am just a normal wolf!" She said assertively. Then she added in a softer tone, but still with an edge to it,"I am not better than you. You just have to believe yourself. I just followed my nose with this one, and I hope it's something useful." 

She began to make her way forward, dropping a small amount of the plants at Esaro's feet. If he wanted to help, he could carry some of the luggage. 

"You can carry those."

She didn't wait for him, suddenly not feeling talkative. Instead she kept moving, her mind whirling with thoughts. She had just met this wolf yesterday, and he was already making her feel uncomfortable! Her paws carried her lightly on the ground, and she seemed to almost glide along the top of the surface. Her nose, ears and eyes all searched for any sign of Reek or Spring, tail tip twitching. 

This is getting very amusing!! :D

She continued to insist the she was a normal wolf but just saying it wasn't enough to prove it now, even in her more serious tone. He still believed that she was at least a half spirit. Laika didn't have to admit it she was one but the more she denied it the more he would believe it to be true. Half spirit or not Laika was still Laika. For Esaro she was likely his favorite wolf among the pack but that couldn't really be decided until he has met everyone.

The plants she found did seem a little special compared to most around here so maybe the healers could make use of it. She dropped some for him to took but without any warning walked on ahead immediately after that. Esaro rushed to pick up the plants but quickly dropped it realizing it had a weird taste to it. The taste was new and wasn't great to him. He looked towards Laika and notice she just wasn't going to wait on him.

"Hey wait up!" he called taking a few steps to her then turned around realizing he has to take the plants first. He hesitated for a moment before picking up the plants then dashed towards Laika trying to catch up. The strange taste made his expression cringe. He really wanted to drop the plants again but he needed to stick with Laika. His only guess was that she had a time limit. It was a good thing that he decided to help out. helping her out should make this easier for her in some way.

I do find it entertaining!

Laika's paws made a soft crunching sound as the paw pads hit the snow. her tail swayed gently back and forth to keep her balance. Her breath billowed out in front of of her, obscuring her face with the freezing particles. Her ears twitched as they heard his plea for her to slow down.

Reluctantly, she slowed just a bit, allowing him to catch up, then sped up again just a hair. Her white coat allowed her to blend with most of the surroundings, therefore making her seem ghostly - just as Esaro thought. But, she was just a normal wolf, with a very white coat. 

"Once we find Spring or Reek, I'm going hunting once more. The cache could always use some extra meat." She explained in an otherwise plain voice. "I could use an extra two sets of paws. I might ask Spring, and you could tag along as well. Maybe even Reek would like to come, but I expect he will be busy. He's a responsible alpha."

Her voice was slightly muffled by the plants, but still clear enough to make out what she was saying. Her blue eyes scanned the territory as they neared the middle of the territory. They had to be here somewhere?

She slowed down a little, allowing him to catch up quickly. Once he was slightly behind her at her side he followed her pace. He really wanted to drop the plants since they were leaving a bad taste in his mouth but he was helping Laika and dropping them now would slow her down. He knows he wasn't the greatest helper but he would always do his best to not hinder the others.

Esaro became little nervous when Laika said he could tag along with her hunting. Of course he wanted to say yes and join her but he was afraid that he might just slow the whole group down if he did. Instead of giving an answer he would rather admit how he felt about it. "I would like to help but, I never hunted in a group before. I might end up making the hunt fail." He said speaking through the plants he was carrying.

He was getting tired of having these plants in his mouth. "Isn't there a place were we can deposit these plants down?" He said impatiently. He started complaining "They are leaving a bad taste in my mouth." Sure he didn't want to slow her down but finding a place where Reek or Spring could find them later felt like a better idea.

She smiled through the herbs, head turning to look at Esaro. "You can do it. Just suffer through it. I've had to suffer through a lot worse and I'm still here aren't I?"

She lashed her tail for emphasis and kept walking. In a way, it may sound cruel, but she was helping him get stronger. Resist what his body tells him to do, because sometimes that's best.

Her nose raised to the air, scenting again for @Spring or @Reek. She could make out the faint smell of a wolf or two off to the right, but it was still much to far away to make out who it was. Might as well try, right? She veered to a sharp right, paws speeding up even more.

Spring had been patrolling borders.  Scouting for intruders.  Seeing none though she scented the air for herbs or some nice tasty prey, catching the scent of burdock root.  She found herself extremely surprised.  She scented Laika and Esaro next to the burdock root scent she crept along trailing after their scents, when she found the pair.  She cocked her head extremely surprised.  She padded up to them.  “Laika!  Esaro!  Where in the green Earth did you find that burdock root?  That’s amazing.  Where was it?  How did you find it in the first place?”  Spring blurted out her string of question as surprise and disbelief hinted in Spring’s voice, her eyes grew wide and her pupil dilated.

What did Laika mean she had to suffer through a lot worse? What did she have to deal with before? Esaro became very curious that it was distracting. He wanted to ask about it in order to get an idea of what she has gone through. Before he could ask anything, Spring made her appearance and immediately took interest in what he and Laika brought. Since Spring was here he thought it would be a good idea to drop the bad tasting stuff onto the snowy ground.

His attention shifted to the name of what they found instead of the questions he wanted to ask Laika. What he had was burdock root? He wondered if he could remember that. "Um, what is it for?" He asked directly. These were the type of questions he had to ask Spring since she was his teacher. Esaro decided to let Laika answer the questions Spring asked. She was the one to find them, all he did was help carry. If he remembered correctly she did find them buried in the snow.

Sorry for the long wait!

Laika smiled in returned to Spring, gently placing her own bundle of herbs at Springs paws. She wagged her tail as she explained to Spring how Esaro had caught the rabbit and it was unusually plump. She told her how she followed it's tracks, and then her nose until she found the plants.

"They were in a small cavern, probably made by an air bubble. It was cool, but moist. Moist enough to harvest the Burdock root." She smiled at Spring. "I didn't even remember if it was a useful herb or not, but I figured that I would give it a try anyway. I couldn't remember the name."

She shrugged with a smirk, her eyes bestowing a goofy light. The green specks swimming within the blueness seemed to dance with laughter as she let out her own chuckle.

Spring wagged her tail.  “This helps everything Laika!  Especially with the cache so low.  You both are amazing.  This could really help our pack.  We should bring it back to the cache quickly.  Saena might need it.”  She picked up part of Laika’s bundle and Esaro’s to help.  “We should get this back to the cache as soon as possible."

Esaro's question was evaded by Spring's excitement over the founding of herbs. He still wanted an answer but he got distracted by Laika when he noticed she was happy again. She did act a little unusual when he offered to help but he didn't think too much on it since he had only met her yesterday. Her eyes were shining right now and Esaro found himself staring at them. It was easy to believe that those eyes were from a happy spirit, how else could they shine like that?

Already it was time to move. He barely noticed Spring take some of the herbs. Anything else she said passed over his head. His attention was locked on Laika. It's just not possible for her to be 100% normal. There had to be a little bit of spirit in there. She was just too special to be called normal.

He was currently just standing there, admiring Laika's eyes. It's obvious that he was distracted since he wasn't paying attention to anything else. The others would see him as a staring statue with a regular expression that had a very small grin.

He wondered if Spring thought the same. He was far too distracted to ask right now that he kept his thoughts to himself. In fact the only way to break this distraction would be for Laika to start moving. Since he didn't hear what Spring at the end he was unaware that he was suppose to pick up the herbs and follow her to the cache.

Laika smiled and nodded briskly to Spring, ready to head to the cache. She glanced at Esaro to let him know they were moving, and had to do a double take. He was staring at her. She shook it off with a shake of her head, quickly picking up her herbs and trotted up to her best friend's side, discomfort radiating off her coat. 

"Let's go Esaro." She called over her shoulder through the herbs. She noticed he had been to busy staring at her, that he had let Spring's words flow into one ear and out the other.
 
Rolling her eyes, she give Sprung a playful nudge, happy to see her again. With the sudden raised of their ranks, more responsibilities were introduced to her, she she hardly had time to relax. She liked being busy. It's what kept her interested in everything. She had just missed Spring.

Spring gave Laika a friendly nudge in return, with a happy wag of her tail.  She enjoyed her new rank.  It kept her busy, nice and busy.  Just the way she loved life, so she could push all the bad things and troubles aside and just focus on her work.  It was good therapy.

The brown female had noticing how Esaro looked at Laika, and she almost let out a little giggle, but stopped herself.  She took a step back behind Esaro so he couldn’t see her, but signaled silently to Laika, with a teasing smirk.  I think he likes you.  Like a lot.  Then she stepped away from behind Esaro, her face emotionless once more, as to not give away what she had just said.  “Let’s go.”  She barked with a happy wag, then started towards the cache, herbs in her maw.

Laika laughed, and gave Spring a playful bite of the ear, happy she didn't have as much of the fowl tasting herbs in her mouth. She followed alongside spring in a brisk fashion, ready to drop off the herbs at the cache and go. 

She had many more hunts to do to replenish the food cache and maybe she would do a swift check if the borders. That was always needed. The pack had grown quite popular - and of course there was a good reason - but there seemed to be a lot more lone wolves at the borders. She didn't know how often newbies came along before she joined, because that was only a short while ago, but she never would never get that many wolves asking to join her homeland pack.

She cache slowly came into view and her ears perked in excitement. She kept her bundle of herbs in her mouth until her paws had dug up the earth. As her sharp claws scraped away at the packed earth, she listened for Esaro, making sure he had followed. Finally, the stock of herbs was revealed.

Lowering her head, she set the Burdock root down, tail wagging in triumph. She knew barely anything about herbs, but somehow luck had treated her well today! She smiled at spring and finally remembered what she was going to ask her.

"Oh! Spring! Would you like to go on a hunt with me?" She asked. "You've already seen how my herb skills have been horribly fairing, let's see how your hunting skills are doing!" 

Only when Spring moved pass him saying 'let's go' did he come fully back to his senses. Everyone starting moving and Esaro was looking around. He felt a little lost like he missed something. Actually he was wondering how long he was standing there doing nothing. He managed to remember what he was suppose to do. He picked up the herbs since he knew he didn't really have a choice. Thanks to Spring he didn't have to hold as much but the taste was still the same, which was still nothing good.

Together they moved towards the cache, Esaro stayed silent. His mind was still flying around the thought of Laika being a spirit of some kind. Since he was behind them he watched her movements. She moved like all other wolves so finding evidence there wasn't likely. Still her coat was almost mystical with the snow around. It had a slight radiant look.

Once they stopped, Laika uncovered the cache. He took this moment to drop everything before putting it roughly with the others once Laika was done. Spring was invited to go hunt as some sort of skill test. Esaro remembered being asked to tag along, he never gave a yes or no answer but he did want to go with them.

Spring dropped the herbs, into the cache and her tail wagged excitedly as Laika asked her to go on a hunt.  “Of course!”  Spring yipped excitedly, but quickly got control of her emotions, letting a knowing smile slide over her expressions, directed towards Laika.  “Esaro, would you like to join me and Laika on the hunt?"

Laika smiled with joy as she turned to Esaro with the same expression on her face. She watched him with her tentative gaze, wondering if he would reply with a yes or a no. She had asked him earlier, but there had been no reply. Her tail wagged and her paws shifted silently, head tilting just a bit. Finally, she thought she ought to add something as well.

"Yeah, why don't you join us, Esaro?" She inquired, tongue lolling as she spoke.

She began to get ever more excited as the trio grew closer to to beginning her hunt, and her paws shifted once again among the melting slush.

Together they asked if he wanted to come. He didn't have any reason to say no besides the fact he wasn't sure how to hunt effectively and was worried that he might just get in the way. But to tip the scale there was a feeling that hunting with them could be fun. He would be able to see what kind of hunting skills he would need to be as good as them. He also felt more secure with Spring and Laika, he trusted them enough that he wasn't so nervous about messing up but the nervous feeling was still lingering around.

"I'll join." There was still a small bit of hesitation in his voice and he decided to explain why. "I never learned to hunt properly, I feel like I might end up getting in the way." What he said reminded him of how he met Laika. He was hunting a rabbit as hard as he could and she basically came out of no where and he ended up hurting her. He still left like he owed her for that. Joining her on a hunt didn't feel like enough. Maybe if he could catch something bigger than a rabbit and give it to her he could actually forgive himself.

Remembering that made him want to apologize to her again even if she had already forgiven him. "I ended up hurting you by landing on your tail when I hunted that rabbit. I'm still very sorry about that." He said while looking at Laika giving the same sorry expression he gave last time

Spring almost felt her heart melt at Esaro’s guilty remark about a failed hunt and how he had pounced on her tail instead of the prey.  That’s so sweet.  Spring thought silently to herself, wondering if Laika felt the same.

“We would love you to join our hunt then Esaro.”  Spring told him with a softness to her voice.  Then awaited Laika’s response, wondering with much curiosity how Laika would respond to the sweet male.  Who in Spring’s mind seemed to have feelings for her, whether he noticed or not seemed to have ‘feelings’ for Laika.

Laika nodded and wagged her tail joyfully. She would definitely enjoy Esaro joining them on the hunt. It would be a good learning experience for him also, judging by the way he speaks of himself.

She smiled faintly when he spoke of landing on her tail. That was many, many days ago!!  How could he still be so apologetic? 

Finally, she spoke: "It's fine!" She barked. 

She stood, and turned, readying herself for the hunt. Once they had filled the food cache, she knew she would finally be able allow herself to rest. She smiled to herself and shook her coat. 

"Shall we leave?"