Phoenix Maplewood When the dark returns

Saena preferred mountains too, but she knew how difficult it was to be an effective healer from a mountaintop. Plants didn't grow the same way there; her history as a naturalist told her that. The soil was either too acidic or the atmosphere was too thin. Something bothered them. It wasn't a good place for any healer to transplanting anything in hopes of having it flourish. Here, however, that would never be a problem. Transplanting probably wasn't even necessary.

"Me too," she told Ryker, "but I grew up in a forest. A bit different than this, and it was on a mountain," here she grinned sheepishly, "but it was nice. It was never too hot and there was always prey." The mountains were more barren at the worst of times, and at the best, the animals there were hardier. There wasn't much "easy" prey on a mountain. Goats, sheep, and all manner of other animal made the cliffs their home, but none of them were game for novices. Even the petite Saena, a half-decent gamekeeper, wouldn't tackle one of them without good reason.

"Nah, you're good," she said, gesturing for the newest (and last) official Redtail Rise member to take a place at her side. Another horsefly zoomed by but this one she didn't try to eat or swat. "I had no idea there could be so many of these... brown bee things," she commented as her eyes traced its path into the higher foliage. "I think they sting. My tongue didn't feel nice when I tried to eat one." Was eating bugs gross? She didn't really know. It seemed natural enough to her, and it worked as pest control on a personal level.