Jade Fern Grove I learned a lot about the way of things

@Cadeau

she'd languished the morning away in her den, gnawing halfheartedly on the spine of a hare, before deciding that she'd rested her leg enough. Baelfire's words haunted her for a moment before she abruptly pushed them aside and made her slow way to the glade in which she'd met Puck, wondering if perhaps she'd find him again here. 

the girl pushed through a tight knot of ferns, muzzle held low to the ground as she searched for something else to bring Baelfire. she was intent on being useful in the same way she'd been when she'd found the parsley, but was wary still of bringing something utterly useless back. until her bum leg healed, she'd be confined to looking for plants and growing her collection of interesting yet not all that useful objects.

Cadeau left her traveling companion for now to go practice her tracking, knowing she needed to begin polishing the old skills if she were to be looking to home herself within a wolf pack. She refused to be useless or helpless, whether it be to a pack or to Illidan on their travels. She could do more than she did now, Cadeau knew that. Letting her instincts take the lead, Cadeau snuffled about the ground, relief flowing through her that no longer did her nostrails need to suck in snowy debris. 

She paused suddenly, eyes round and curiously staring at the ground. Nose wrinkling, she took in a careful sniff as the scent came to her. Cadeau furrowed her brows as she tried to recall what the scent was... a small burrow nearby was a clue, Cadeau approaching it to poke her head into its entrance with a inquisitive sniff. The halfling could see in the darkness a pair of eyes staring back at her, they held each other's gazes for a long moment until the creature made an awful sound. Cadeau jerked back with a surprised yelp, narrowing avoiding the sharp teeth.

Dirt caked her face as Cadeau huffed, narrowed eyes looking pointedly down at the burrow as the hissing and spitting continued. "Possum." Cadeau stated matter-o-factly.

it was the sounds that drew her, and the semi-hope that there would be some injury that she could test her skills on. the latter thought was deemed terrible of her to think only a moment after she'd thought it, and slightly upset at herself did she find the girl staring into the hole in the ground, which from the sound of the hole was very upset. perhaps a raccoon - they made funny sounds, and the times she'd seen them, they always seemed angry and liable to bite. "what's that?"  she asked of the stranger, dropping the tiny purple flowers and taking a small step closer, burning to see what was making all the sounds.

Cadeau didn't seem to really consciously notice the stranger when she asked a question, the halfling replying without missing a beat, "A possum, vocal little beasts." Cadeau suddenly paused and blinking, slowly turned her head to see the she-wolf standing nearby.

Cadeau flicked an ear before finding her voice now that she wasn't caught off guard by the stranger. "Oh, hi there." The possum kept hissing away and she idly turned her attention to it, her focus more so interested on the stranger now than the little marsupial. "Yeah  yeah I hear you. Er, we better leave it alone. I don't quite feel like getting bit."

the woman identified the creature, which was obviously exceedingly upset. she was immensely curious, and took another careful step towards the creature's hole. only half her mind was dedicated to the interaction with the stranger and was vaguely aware that introductions were taking place, and so she said only,  "I'm Vuk." 

carefully, she stepped close to the den, her muzzle hoovering over the hole in an attempt to get a scent. the possum quieted down for a moment, and she dared move a little closer. and then it screamed with pure hate, and the woman jumped. never the most graceful, in her shock a foreleg slipped down the hole, striking something soft with considerable force that elicited a yelp from both parties and a nasty shock of pain from her paw. 

withdrawing quickly, noticing quickly both the bloodied tooth marks on her paw and the sudden silence from the den, Vuk said, voice a touch shaky, "I think - I think I killed it?" even if she had known about the creature's tendency to play dead, there was little she could do to say whether the sudden invasion of her leg had stunned or killed it.

Cadeau stepped away from the den, not wanting to set off the possum further and earn herself a nasty bite. The brown halfling watched this 'Vuk' wolf approach the entry of the burrow. She narrowed her eyes, wondering why the female wasn't heading her advice and keeping far away from the hissing little beast. "Cadeau," she said in response.

She jumped in a startled fashion when the possum bit the wolf, earning a cry from both parties. Cadeau could smell the blood before she saw Vuk's injuried paw, getting closer to inspect the injury with a frown on her tan face. "I don't think you hit it hard enough, they play dead sometimes," Cadeau said, eying the burrow that was now silent.

her tongue swipes over her hurt paw roughly, though the bite is significantly less serious had the possum not received a surprise blow to the head. she might even have been content to let the thing lie in its hole had Cadeau not mentioned that she likely hadn't hit it hard enough, which sparked a kind of determination to see this thing through. "that doesn't seem very smart." she considered aloud. if she'd just played dead when that man had come for her, he likely would have taken more than her tail. 

tiptoeing, looking slightly lopsided due to the fact that she was limping now on two legs, the woman strove nearer to the hole. she a conspirator's smile to the other woman, she carefully lowered her muzzle towards the mouth of the den. a second, two, and no noise emerged. quickly, she shoved her muzzle into the shallow burrow and clamped it around the first thing she could reach. the sudden shriek was shrill and almost had her drop it, but she merely backpedaled and dragged the creature out of the burrow. her grip on its spine was loose, and she had more fur than anything in her maw. it chattered wildly, writhing, and latched it's weakened grip into her face and nose more often than not. expression determined, the woman dropped the creature low to the ground and held it with her forepaws as best she could, trying once, twice, to snap at its wiry neck. when finally she did manage to dispatch it and step back from the creature that was almost as beaten up as her own fae and muzzle, silence stretched for a long moment as she panted. "we should share. you're the one that found it, after all." there was a little bit of eagerness in the words; she desired to share the catch and all the pride that came with it.

"I think they do it in hopes you'll give up and leave," Cadeau said in reply, making a thoughtful face. "Though you'd think knowing you killed it would be more reason to persist and get it, you know... food and all."

Cadeau knew it was how nature went but she couldn't help the sinking feeling in her stomach watching as Vuk dragged the possum out of the hole kicking and screaming. She was getting better at coming to terms with hunting despite the ill sensations it left her with, a mixture of delight and regret when she would make a kill with Illidan. Lately she could strike without thinking too hard over it, she needed to eat to survive and scavanging scraps was not going to keep her alive. Shaking her head of the cluttered thoughts, her senses returned to her in time to see Vuk finally snap the neck of the possum, silencing it. 

She felt the nervous ball in her stomach roll away to replace it with the familiar sensation of hunger at being presented with the dead animal. Cadeau realized breakfast had been hours away now. It was well past time to eat again, she mused as Vuk offered to share the possum. Cadeau couldn't recall what possum tasted like but she doubted it could taste as bad as the creature smelled at least. Besides, food was food and Cadeau had learned long ago on the streets that pickiness wasn't allowed when you didn't know where your next meal ticket was coming from.

Cadeau nodded her head, approaching to sniff at the little animal. "Okay, I won't turn down a free meal." She gave the stranger a smile before pushing the body towards Vuk. "You did the hard work though, you have the first share."

the smell was, admittedly, offputting, but she was far too charged by her victory to let it stop her. she nodded at the woman's go-ahead, and carefully pinned the creature down while she swiftly took her share from the creature's front end, pausing once while she chewed and finding the meal a little peculiar tasting; certainly not her new favourite, but good all the same. 

"your turn," she offered with a grin, gaze moving to where a small patch of moss huddled near the base of a tree. she left the woman for a moment to pull the bundle away, returning to sit a meter away from Cadeau. "good for stopping infection," she stated, glad that she'd remembered, and began the task of chewing the lump into something resembling a poultice.

The halfling watched Vuk polish off the front half of the possum, leaving her with the rump to finish. Cadeau wasn't picky, leaning down to gobble up the remains of the animal, not wanting to waste any pound of flesh. Prey deserved to be eaten in its entireity for blessing you with its nourishment, least it was how Cadeau thought and remembered her father telling her when they'd practice hunting. The smell was bad but the meat was edible, even if the taste was a touch odd on her tongue.

When there was nothing left to eat, Cadeau cleaned her face of the blood and buried the bones and fur. Cadeau eyed the herb bundle with keen interest, the girl had a small knowledge pool of medical herbs but she doubted she knew it all. "Which plant is that?" Cadeau asked as Vuk chewed it, telling her it was good for preventing infection. "I dabbled in medicine here or there," she explained after.

the girl asked questions of her, and Vuk spat the wet wad onto the ground in front of her, glad to be the one giving instruction for once, instead of receiving it. "it's moss - you chew it, like this." she motioned to the pile at her feet, plucking some up and trying her best to press it onto her forepaw. "you put it on the wound. it's sterile." she was glad, too, that she'd managed to remember the term. sterile was the opposite of infection, according to Brisbane, and infection could kill you, according to Baelfire. she was pleased with all the knowledge she'd managed to soak up, even if she'd had to have been pushed off a cliff by the monster-wolf, first. she didn't think too hard about that in any case.

"Moss can do that?" Cadeau inquired, sounding very surprised by the notion. She'd only ever seen or used moss as an absorbent, whether it be to seal wounds or carry water for drinking and cleaning. "I had no idea, usually I've only ever seen it used to cake bloody wounds or to transfer water. Didn't know it could also be a disinfectant but clearly it could make sense considering its previous uses by contacting wounds and..." She cut herself off with a comical puff of her cheeks. "Sorry, I talk too much. I don't know if you've heard but chewing willow bark cures aches and pains." Cadeau thought it only fair she give her own herbal advice in echange for Vuk's insight. It could come in handy one day.

the girl launched into a small spiel about moss and its use - despite her own disregard for rambling, Vuk found she too learned something about the common plant. peering once down at it, she assumed it would be a good water carrier. she learned too that the girl probably knew more than she did, or, at least, had the same amount of knowledge but of different plants entirely. she accepted the girl's apology with a small smile, but really didn't mind - it was certainly a welcoming change from Baelfire's gruff demeanor.  "willow bark?"  she asked rhetorically, wondering if bark now too had the same uses as plants. "willows are those trees who look like they've had a hard time of it, yeah? the droopy ones?" she thought there might have been one near her childhood den, but strained to picture it perfectly.

"Yep," Cadeau said in reply, popping the p loudly. "And that's the one." She gestured with a paw absently as she began to go into a ramble about how to use the tree bark for pain relief. "You don't eat the wood because bark can cut your insides up but you chew it so you get the pain healing properties. You have to be careful not to over chew, you'll get a belly ache and sometimes puke blood. Most herbs you have to watch for overdosing anyway though so it's common sense I guess." She shrugged her shoulders with an aloof expression, casually speaking like it was as easy as the weather.

droopy trees - she'd have to find them before she got back, surely. she saw this as a valuable chance for knowledge and a chance to prove to Baelfire that she did know things, and resolved to bring some home. puking blood sounded like a problem (where was it coming from? and how?) and the girl's words reinforced the notion that herbs helped, but only in moderation. after that, they started to hurt. "thanks, Cadeau. do you know where they grow?"  she gathered from her scent that she was a wanderer, and as such may have seen the trees somewhere on this side of the mountain, rare as they seemed to be.

Cadeau went on to remember another helpful plant, one she recalled discovering by accident when she as a curious pup thought eating a flower was a good idea. She had slept like a rock that day. "There is another plant called chamomile that's good for anxiety. It makes you sleep a lot too, good for swelling. It's a flower." Cadeau wished she knew more but beyond willow bark, chamomile and salt her knowledge pool was small but often she experimented when she could, even if it had gotten her ill in the past. Perhaps this stranger could educate her about herbs she didn't know entirely about. "I'm not too familiar with your neck of the woods but I think I saw some saplings growing far south of here or something," Cadeau said as she scraped the barrel of her memory.

she supposed they were sharing plants, now, but the sudden change into this subject of discussion was hardly something she would complain about. she mentally repeated the information once, twice, before offering her own. "do you know about yarrow? they're small white flowers, and on wounds, they help infection, eaten, they make you vomit." she goes on to offer knowledge of saplings, and her head cranes over her shoulder as if there might be one looming behind her at that very moment. she'd like to go find them right now, but her desire to leave is outweighed by that for more knowledge, potentially, and her gaze turns back to the woman with a grin.

"Yarrow?" The word sounded a touch familiar, the description teased at the edges of her memory like a tantalizing piece of juicy steak. She must have seen or been told about it some time but when? Shaking her head to clear it of her mental descent, the halfling looked at Vuk. "It sounds familiar but I don't think I've properly seen yarrow before. It must be useful to have around though." Cadeau would need to cadalogue the flower into her memory for future use, in case she or Illidan needed it on their journey. Injury and sickness was very likely with all the traveling the two were doing.

"it is," she agreed readily, "and it seems common enough." her eagerness to find the bark and bring it back to her mentor and healer was growing, and her patience - already naturally thin - wore through. "it was good meeting you Cadeau - I should get back." if Baelfire found out she'd been wandering around all day so shortly after telling her to rest up, he'd kill her - well, more likely, offer a stern look and a warning she'd never heal. she shot the girl a grin, leaving the last of the opposum (whose scent was really starting to get annoying) in her paws. with that, she began a wandering path back home, searching carefully for those droopy trees.