Sequoia Coast what matters, love, to a goddess of death?

This takes place in the area above the dragoncrest cliffs.

The closer they get, the saltier the air feels—tastes—and her heart thrums heavily in her chest. Her head swings once to her right to look at @Gluskap and then to the left at @Dio, though she can’t imagine they anticipate the ocean as much as she does. It takes more effort than expected but remains silent as they make the last stretch to the water. When, just over the horizon, she sees the beginnings of the water. The waves are faint but the wind increases and her feet turn into a trot to close the distance.

They get there, following one side of a river that eventually dumps out into the ocean, and she deviates from the group. Gluskap has his own task, and Thuringwethil doesn’t quite know what they are looking for, and Dio is more along for the ride and protection as her guard. She remains within sight and earshot but for the time being, she forgets her wolves. Home calls to her and she closes her eyes, a slight mist on her face as she buries her toes in the sand and listens to the waves crash against the short.

The scent of brine and saline fill the air around them. There was a small air of anticipation in all three of the wolves as they close their distance on the coast. The travel was tasking in the sense that the skeletal little coywolf was truly understanding the lack of prey and how it would make their lives more difficult. His cadaverous figure was showing the lack of nutrient intake. While he took the time to scavenge for his herbs and supplies, he knew fishing would prove to be helpful. Without food he would grow weaker until he would lapse altogether and find himself incapable of moving forward. 

Their group takes off at a steady trot towards the shore. Gluska’s gaze darts for a moment to follow the loping figure of the dark Heda but he does not trail behind her. His attention is quickly turned to his own task. Without a word to the others, the narrow beast presses his snout downward in search of his medical treasures. 

They close in on the sea, and the scent on the wind is unmistakable. Dutifully, the pale mercenary lets the commander have the lead and guide their path. It is not his duty to navigate, after all. Because of this, he often travels a few lengths to the back of the group, watching, overseeing, and taking it all in.

When the gaunt Gluskap pulls to the head of the group, Dio can't help but watch him as he moves. His path soon begins to stray, as it often does, so the guardian thinks nothing of it. As far as he is concerned, all is normal, and this frees him to mainly focus on the scenery and the Heda's whereabouts -- which comes easily as he trails along.

If she were alone, she might move out into the water and submerge herself where she could still stand but for the moment she remains steadfast and alert, gaze shifting to Gluskap in that moment as he begins his search. She even gives Dio a glance only a moment before she turns and takes a few steps so the waves lap at her toes, an occasional one splashing her elbows and knees. Most stay small where she stands, letting her limbs soak up the sea water. She lingers for a moment, feeling a peacefulness settle within in, before she changes her attention back to her companions.

Thuringwethil steps out of the water and moves along the wet sand until she's near Gluskap, watching as he searches.

"What is it you are looking for?" she decides to ask, slate eyes following where he moves. She knows little about the art of healing, even if she should, and the loss of Lucani had brought on the need for one. Thankful for the male, she decides to learn while putting him to the test.

The inky female took the coywolf by surprise for a moment. His eyes grew wide and he peered at her with an expressionless face. She had seemed as though she enjoyed the calming nature of the lapping waves, and he had assumed that she would not have been curious to know what he was searching for. Still, her slate gaze found him and she was quietly polite about her inquiry. His tail waved softly from side to side, welcoming the question into his space. With a sharp nod of his skull, the skeletal figure points his nose towards the ocean. His lengthy ears are drawn to the lapping of the water and his pelt is brushed by the salt of the sea; it clung to him, dappling the boy in specks of white.
 
“Seaweed is the most important. It can be used for many things… if it retains the salt from the water, it will help wounds seal and prevent infection,” he told her in a voice that ringed with enthusiasm on the matter. The healing had never truly been his calling; if the dark-furred woman was impressed with his knowledge, she would have been mesmerized to know all that Kaliska had known.
 
A more serious expression crossed his features and he narrowed his brows over his sharp yellow eyes. “There is an herb in the sea, without a name, that has more of a… mystical healing property,” the cadaverous little creature whispered reverently to her. He had been on the lookout for the flower of the water, but had not managed to come across it in their travels. Blinking at her, Glu wondered if the Heda would have more inquiries about his work, or if she would simply accept his peculiar nature and allow him to continue scuttling about.

Realizing that his response might have seemed short, the coywolf curled his dark lips in a smile and chuckled softly. "We can use kelp too, and urchins," he added with a small shrug. There was plenty that the ocean would provide that their home land could not. If the dark woman was curious, he would teach her. 

Always on his periphery, he stays within sight of the dark-furred commander but at this time, she is not demanding all that much focus. It's relatively peaceful for the seaside and he's got a good sight of the surroundings, so he doubts this will change without him having time to adjust for it.

He takes the opportunity to wet first his paws, and eventually up to his underbelly but doesn't linger long in the reach of the water. He soon returns to just the edge of it and skims his nose along the sand here and there -- a motion he alternates with peering towards beach around, then the horizon, and eventually back to the Heda. Dio can hear them conversing. Pieces here and there are broken up by the sound of the waves and wind, but he can still get a vague feel for the subject matter. It is not one of particular interest to him or an area he intends to improve upon personally. As he noses a stray shell, he listens because he is able.

She tenses in his reaction and offers to take a step back with one paw off the ground but he settles in a matter of seconds and begins to explain what he's doing. Has she offended him by asking, by not trusting his skill when accepting him into her claim? Blind faith isn't something she can rely on when she's rebuilding when generations of wolves have been there for her and the others. Losing Lucani had taken quite the blow from them and so she scans his features as he begins to talk for any signs of distress. However, she's soon settled as he continues with enthusiasm in his voice.

"If?" she questions about the seaweed with a curious tilt of her head. Then she recollects the mystical herb he mentions and her lips twist curiously. Perhaps Seageda had used it, had a name for it, but the little knowledge she had won't be beneficial here. "What does it do?" she says, glancing off into the water as if it might have answers Gluskap doesn't.

She did little in the ways of healing when it came to Seageda. She rarely paid any attention when she was being patched up and perhaps she should have. She could hear the old fleimas now, berating her for not properly knowing how to care for her own in their time of need.

The slender creature had not taken offense to his leader inquiring of his skills. Though he would have preferred if she had simply taken his words for face value, he was also a master of skepticism himself, and the questions were welcome in comparison to the silence that he had worn through a majority of their travels. Watching her after having given the information she requested, he drew his ears forward as she inquired about the salt on the seaweed. “It can dry. Sometimes it won’t,” the coywolf responded and shrugged his shoulders as if to say that it would not truly matter either way, but he would have preferred if the green weed from the ocean had retained the water.
 
The Heda then inquired about the flower of the water and Gluska curled his lips in a mischievous little smile that wrinkled the sides of his face. She was curious to know of what it did, but he was not certain that he wanted to share such things. There were several flowers; one that would bring death, one that would bring visions, and one that would bring a healing, frightening sleep. The coywolf had wanted to obtain all of them, but he was not about to mention this to his leader. “The flower I search for has the power to place someone under a very deep sleep and increase the natural healing of their body,” he decided to tell her with a small nod. “There is another that will bring visions,” he spoke of the second flower as well. There was a greedy glint in his eyes at the mention of both of them. “But they are not easily found.” And he hoped that would bring the end of the flowers.
 
It was best to focus on what they could easily find. If she were to inquire more about the flowers, Glu would not have much to say; their information was important to him and he was wary of wandering ears. Kaliska had never found the use of poison to be an honorable way to take the life of another, but Gluska did not have such qualms and he would prefer to have the flower just in case he saw the need.

feel free to skip him, he's just lingering

Information about the coywolf's skills comes forth, and the details steer towards the capabilities of a plant. Dio wonders how and where he had learned such things, if it was by word of mouth or by experience itself. He reasons it is probably a little of both, something born out of earnest interest or necessity, and continues on to interject nothing.

A gull drifts overhead, hanging lower than others so far. He watches it as it seems to watch him before coasting away eventually. It's strangely peaceful.

will do, gerra-boo. we can wrap this up at any time too since it's trade-worthy at this point i think but i don't mind continuing. <3

Thuringwethil nods her head as Gluskap explains their uses, worried she’d taken too much of his time and distracting him from their goal. They had plenty of time to learn and she can always ask once they get home. However, it might pass the time for both of them if she could learn—if he is willing—but she won’t push him. She remains silent for the rest of the explanation, as a good stupid, and looks down at the foamy water licking her legs.

“It is not a trade I know much in,” she admits, though sure that much is obvious with her asking and seeking for it specifically at the borders of Drageda. “A little here and there, but back home there’d been plenty of healers that I never really had to worry about it. Here, we have not been so lucky,” she explains with a bit of a smile, hopeful to satisfy any worry. She even adds a little swish of her tail. “I am glad to see that change.”

Part of him enjoyed the idea that the Heda could be interested in the line of work he had adopted, but he was wondering if she was doing it simply to learn or if there were ulterior motives. He was not a paranoid type, but he had listened quietly as the dark leader had manipulated information from wolves of another pack. Glu did not have much to offer in that respect, but if she was in search of the same flowers, he could have given her information that would bring her one step closer.
 
She remarked on not knowing much about the art of healing, and he nodded his head. “You will not have to worry, Heda,” he assured her with the smile still clinging to the edges of his lips. “I will provide for all who need me.” The remarks were followed by a sure and confident bob of his skull.
 
“Did you have any other questions, for now?” the skeletal creature inquired to his leader with cupped ears and wide yellow eyes.
 

Gluskap offers her a promise and she nods her head, though hardly takes it for face value. Wolves not committed to Drageda by birth give her wary. It is mostly those that have abandoned her since Seageda's Phoenix rising, with an exception, but will remain until it is proven in longevity. The scrawny male knew his stuff and she'd taken a little bit of information back from the trip, so she simply shakes her head no. She had plenty of questions but she holds her tongue, though uncertain because her interest has waned or to get out of his way. She moves back toward the water after a few minutes and eventually they travel south a little while longer until they camp for the night.