Emberwood frozen tv dinner

AW! Preferably someone Grezig hasn’t met yet.

Grezig gnawed at a half-frozen rabbit, a cache she had found while wandering the territory. She intended to refill it come spring, but for now there was little she could do about it. She was hungry, and she’d found some food. That was that. She lay on the ground with the rabbit between her front paws, biting into it little by little, finding it difficult to tear enough meat off its body to get an actual bite. Grezig was usually indifferent to wintertime, but she was quickly growing annoyed at it the longer she tried to eat this frozen rabbit. She hoped spring would come early next year.

the meeting with the council had since ended, each leader going their own way. bhediya needed a moment to think about something less sobering than the issue at hand. 

she was headed for the territory but caught wind of an unfamiliar scent. it was one that she'd noticed before but never followed, so the scout headed in its direction. 

a woman gnawing at the frozen corpse of a hare came quickly into bhediya's line of sight. she chuffed as she approached, wandering some feet away. we haven't met yet — a smile — not formally, anyway. i'm bhediya.

Grezig looked up at the approach of a wolf. No. Not a full wolf. Not with a coat texture like that. This wolf was part… something else. Not coyote. Grezig squinted at the woman, unaware that she was doing so. There was something about the woman that reminded her of an old packmate, someone from the plateau, someone she hadn’t thought of in probably a year. Elixir. This woman was part dog. How interesting. ((Grezig is still racist, apparently. Though closeted and unaware of it LMAO)).

She cleared her throat, having cleared up that mystery. “I’m Grezig,” she said, inclining her head in greeting. “I joined a few weeks ago, perhaps a month. Kavik allowed me entrance, as we knew each other in the past.” She winced, having brought up Kavik automatically. Thinking of him still caused her some confusion, both mental and emotional, so she tried to push him from her mind as often as possible… which only caused him to linger around her thoughts more.

i wonder why we haven't been introduced. bhediya offered a toothy grin, taking a seat directly opposite of grezig. how do you two know each other? the scout had already been informed of the tragedy with his family, so she wondered if this was just an old friend. she liked the idea of kavik having someone around who he could depend on.

after allowing a moment for grezing to respond, she continued. are you settling in okay? there weren't many wolves in the emberwood who she thought would present a problem, but she still wanted to check in case.

Having been asked how she and Kavik knew each other, Grezig hesitated. Would she tell the truth? Well—of course she would tell the truth, but how much of it? How much did this stranger—packmate or not—need to know about their shared past? Grezig took a steadying breath, memories from a time before flooding her mind.

“A year or more ago—it’s hard to remember now—I was the beta of a pack that Kavik ran with his mate, Liri. Blacktail Deer Plateau.” She took another breath, wondering how to explain what had happened and why she had left. “Some… personal issues came up,” she began slowly. “And I left the pack to go and live on the coast with my… son.” Illidan might as well be her son, estranged or not. She had helped raise him, along with Kavik and Liri. The boy had three mothers and two fathers, though Grezig had never met his biological father. What a strange life he lived. It must have been so hard for him, growing up. No wonder he was so withdrawn…

’Are you settling in okay?’

The question startled Grezig and she came out of her thoughts with an apologetic little smile. “Yes, I am fine,” she stated. “The Emberwood is a good territory. I suspect it will attract much prey in the spring and summer.”

grezig's explanation made bhediya even more curious about kavik's background. he'd given her a basic overview, but never gone in-depth. she wondered if they'd built enough trust for her to ask. where's your son now? she asked.

the scout sighed, shrugging her shoulders. i hope so, but i think we'll have to move soon, anyway. the emberwood, while beautiful, could only fit so many wolves. their numbers were continuing to grow and soon, pups would be born. bhediya thought to talk to ibis about finding a new territory before it became an inconvenience.

are a hunter? she continued, my daughter is. maybe you've met her. it felt strange acknowledge her relationship with easy, especially after spending so much time apart.

’Where’s your son now?’

My son, she thought to herself. Which one? One is dead and one is missing. He could be dead, too. How would I know?

She cleared her throat awkwardly. “He’s… still at the coast,” she said. Not quite a lie since he could still be there. That was where he had been when she left. She hoped this woman would stop asking her questions now. 

She was confused about having to move, and her eyebrows drew together at the words. “Why would we have to move?” she asked. Was there something wrong with Emberwood that she didn’t know about? Was it devoid of prey in the spring and summer? That didn’t make any sense. There was prey everywhere in the warmer months. 

“I would consider myself more of a warrior than a hunter,” Grezig admitted. “But I can hunt as well as any wolf.” Bhediya had a daughter. “Who is your daughter?”

bhediya shrugged again. we might start to feel cramped once the pups come. besides, a smile, moving is what we do. they'd come up from the witch's marsh in the autumn which the magician was ever grateful for. she thought that it might be nice to live it the flatlands over the mountain range, settle somewhere between her two companions.

her name is easy, she replied. there was a sudden rush of pride, quickly whisked away for the sake of courtesy. she's not home right now.

Pups. Grezig’s body flushed at the thought. Unbidden, images of Kavik entered her mind, but she shook her head, closing her eyes, to rid herself of them. It only half-worked. “Yes,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. She cleared her throat. “Yes,” she tried again, her voice clearer this time. “Pups. Of course.”

Bhediya had said that “moving is what we do.” Grezig glanced at her, curious. “We?” she asked. “Do you mean this pack, or wolves in general. In my birth pack, we moved within our territory to rendezvous sites when the pups were old enough, but… we never moved outside of our own territory.”

The name Easy sounded familiar. “Ah, yes,” Grezig said, nodding. “I met her a little while ago. We spoke of…” Grezig hesitated. She’d wanted to say insomnia, but didn’t want to worry Bhediya, seeing as how Easy was her daughter. In the end though, she decided to tell the truth. Lying, even to save others, wasn’t really her strong suit. Best not to come to Grezig with secrets needing to be kept. “We spoke of our mutual insomnia. How we feel restless in winter. Things of that nature.” Grezig paused, then said, “She was nice, Easy.”

the magician's brow furrowed atop a tight-lipped smile. for whatever reason, grezig seemed put off by the upcoming season. there was something to be uncovered there, but that was for a later date. the pair did not know one anoher well enough to dwell on the topic for too long.

moving on, bhediya nodded her head. this pack. we started in a marsh just south of here, but moved before winter came. another move was unlikely to happen until the pups were old enough to walk, but given the heats were typically staggered, that could mean remaining in the emberwood until early summer.

shared insomnia? she hadn't known about easy's problem with sleep, but it didn't worry her much. she still seemed to be in good spirits, even on what was apparently little rest. there's a couple of healers here. my favorite is reiko, very nice girl. i can tell her to look for you, if you want.

Grezig’s brows furrowed at the thought of living in a marsh. “I am glad you moved here before I found you,” she admitted. “Marshes are not ideal places to live.” No, not ideal at all. She probably would not have joined Uaine Gorsedd if they had remained in the marsh, even with Kavik there. It would have been potential suicide to try and spend the winter in a such a dank place. 

Bhediya offered Grezig the services of a healer to try and help with her insomnia. “No,” Grezig responded. “My insomnia stems from… memories. From my head, not my body. There is nothing a healer can do, and I would rather not become dependent upon poppy seeds or some other plant in order to sleep at night. Let me keep my sleeplessness if that is my only option.” She had not meant to come across as so harsh, but she was very stubborn about certain things. “Easy can do what she wishes; perhaps speak to her about a healer.”

grezig's words carried an edge that had not gone unmissed. bhediya maintained her steady gaze, deciding that it was time she dismiss herself. hopefully, you can work through whatever keeps you awake at night. the magician gave a respectful nod as she stood to walk away. find me if you need anything, she told her before turning and heading for the den.