Firefly Glen she traveled this road as a child

@Dreamgirl?

Her time here was winding down. She'd done all she'd meant to do, and now all that was left was saying goodbye to her family before heading off once more. It would be a hard goodbye — that was why she was putting it off.

Angel was wandering through a grove of willow shoots, eyeing each brittle brush in search of harvestable bark. It wasn't the right season for it, but she figured it would be good to have even just a little on hand. It would help her sore paw for journey ahead.

She found a branch that looked promising and chewed at the base, hoping to find a good strip to pull loose. A few uncouth words escaped her as she found it slipping through her teeth — louder and louder again each time she failed to snag a good strip.

Dreama's ears perked forward at the words that were not very nice. She followed them curiosity digging at her heals. Yellow eyes blinking as she stepped through the willows. Taking a  deep breath of their earthy scent. She could hear water nearby, only a trickle as a lot of it was icing over on and off. 

Dreama chuckled as she neared. such language. What did the poor branch do to catch your ire?

Angel yelped and spun toward the sound of another's voice, startled. She was surprised to see a girl close in age to her, dark and yellow-eyed and faintly familiar. Had they met?

"It's slippery!" she defended herself, her tail wagging in embarrassment amusement. "I just wanted a bit of bark — but I suppose it's not the season for it. I'm not much of an herbalist."

She squinted at the stranger. Then —

"Dreama?" she asked, surprised. "Dreama Morningside?"

They'd both been much younger when they met, still whippy and only mostly grown. It was strange to see her now, as a woman. It made Angel feel a bit older, a bit more worldly. If Dreamgirl looked like a woman, surely she did, too?

Dreama snickered at the yelp. She may not be exactly like her brother. But she could enjoy a good jump scare and jokes. Lord knows enough had been played on her. Stinky brothers anyway. 

Dreama looked at the willow bark. To chew? what some help? Maybe two of us can get it.

Yep. I'm sure mom would prefer I used my given name, but well Dreama fits better. How you doing, Angel right?

They had been young and it had been fleeting. And frankly Dreama wasn't the greatest at remembering faces and names. Young women is what they were and it never felt more strange than looking at someone who had been a girl a few short months ago. Was this how she looked to others?

"For medicine," she clarified, though to be totally honest, she wasn't sure of its proper use. Only that it had been in the bundles of many healers she'd met.

She laughed.

"I understand," she assured the other girl. "It's Angel Oak, actually — but I prefer just Angel, too. I think Dreama suits you."

Secretly, though, she'd always thought Dreamgirl to be an enchanting and evocative name. The name of a princess, perhaps. But she could see how that could feel a little loaded, and she was happy to call the girl by her preferred name.

"I'm doing well," she replied, her tail waving. "Just visiting my mother before I head back to the plains. You're near Moonglow, you know? Where I grew up. Now we've both seen each other's childhood stomping grounds."

They'd never been close — there hadn't been time! — but Angel still remembered her fondly as part of the beautiful mosaic that had been her visit to Round Valley. And now it seemed they had something in common: a propensity toward wandering.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked with interest.

Dreamgirl looked at the bark with new found respect. She wasn't a healer. Had no aspirations to be she didn't think. But it was a respectable trade. 

A small smile. Thank you. She did love her name. But she had shortened it as a child and it stuck. 

Dreama chuckled. I just saw mine too. No, I didnt know that. I knew I was near Moonspear where that brother of mine is and a few others. It was said with the exasperated pride and love of a sibling. She wasn't going to seek out Blackbear right now. Or Kindle as he preferred. But if he needed her. She'd be there.

I got an itch to travel. So I followed Kindle and Katmai after they left. Just got here a few days ago actually. perhaps weeks now. She couldn't rightly remember exact timings.

"Oh!" said Angel, looking 'round as if Easy might pop out of the brush. She was surprised to hear that the aging matriarch was in the area, and decided that she'd make an effort to see her — not realizing Easy was already gone.

Talk of Kindle and Katmai had her smirking, though. She hadn't seen the former but the latter... "Kat's looking real grown up, too," she commented, bursting in a quiet giggle at the admission. But that was Dreama's nephew — she supposed they didn't need to discuss his attributes. "Still stinky, though," she assured the other girl, going off a vague recollection of childhood conversations.

"I've found a pack to the east of here," she told Dreama. "It's called Big Sky. I'm heading back there soon."

Dreamgirl wasnt sure where mothers wandering would take her, except they always took her from home. That much she knew.

Dreamgirl raised a wolfish brow. Eww. 

Her maw wrinkled, but her eyes did dance in laughter. 

Dreama laughed. Brothers and nephews always stink. 

She moved a paw vaguely as if holding a secret, but offering it. 

There was one wolf i met while traveling. Very handsome. Bright eyes like Sea glass and smelled like pine. He didn't stink.

It was her olive branch
 Saying she didn't think all boys were stinky just her family.

Yea? What are they like?

While she still thought that Katmai was quite handsome, she shrugged it off with a laugh, pretending she hadn't meant it. She hadn't any designs on him, after all, so it was hardly worth talking about.

She was more interested in this boy with sea glass eyes. That sounded quite pretty — but Dreamgirl was asking about Great Sky, and she was just as eager to speak of that.

"Very kind, so far," she replied, a bit shyly. "I share a den with a girl our age named Elowyn. When I got there, though, I was injured and sickening. The pack leader, Sega, and a boy named Ezra cared for me."

She pressed her lips together for a moment before bursting out with, "Sega is also very handsome. He smells like..."

She sighed, a bit dreamily.

"Like cold air and the hunt, and tall, swishing grasses. And of the territory, of course. It's a bit like Round Valley there — but with more trees, and closer to the mountains."

Her eyes sparked.

"You should come see it," she said.

Dreamgirl didn't care if wolves thought her nephew was handsome. She just didnt care to know about it. But she knew it would happen. It was the burden of handsome family.

Dream girl had only met the pretty boy for a time. He had left her alone pretty quickly. Intent on his own adventures.

Dream smirked. Someone has a crush. Woow.

But she smiled, but a hint of seriousness. be careful with your heart, dearheart.

so is he older? Muscled? Does he have a nice face?

She titled her ear forward. It sounds pretty. Sure I'll come. I promised mom I'd get a pack so that works.

"Yes, yes, yes, and yes," Angel replied with another huff of laughter. She did have a crush, and she thought that Sega was entirely deserving.

"But not that much older," she claimed, without really knowing for sure. "And he sent a pelt home to my mother. Oh — " She forgot sometimes that Round Valley did not use pelts in the same way the moon villages always had. There were some, roughshod or traded in the dens, but they were not so ubiquitous there as they had been in Angel's life. "That's like — a declaration," she explained, a little breathless to think of it. She thought it must be, anyway.

"You will get to meet him," she enthused, eager for someone to look at Sega and see the same things that she did. Elowyn had been lukewarm on the subject, and while that was quite endearing, it was nice to giggle over a man with someone.

"Ezra is also handsome," she offered, though he did not compell her in quite the same way. Still, she teased, "Maybe you will find more reasons to stay!"