Bearclaw Valley Ships in the night

She had the basic skills to offer, things that he fully believed every wolf should be capable of—if they couldn’t use their teeth, then how could they call themselves wolves? But accompanying those skills were ones that he wasn’t entirely familiar with, save for the gardening bit. Briefly, he felt his chest tighten, struck by a memory of his late friend as he recalled her interest in plants. The memories were immediately forced back into the depths of his mind, buried beneath less-emotional images and thoughts. He focused back on the present, where he was and those that were around him, whilst the tension in his chest eased.

“I think our healers could use your, uh, ability with plants,” he noted, inwardly chastising himself for the slight pause in his words. Stealing a glance at Reigi, he used her to ground himself, brought back fully to the present whilst the past was left where it belonged. Turning his gaze back to the potential recruit, he said, “What you know should be helpful. You can stay here.” It felt weird to let a wolf join when he knew that, someday, it was already in the plan of things for her to leave. No matter, he tried to ignore that bit of information for the sake of keeping his mood from slipping. “Just remember to let me know before you leave, whenever that happens,” he added, unable to keep his gaze from narrowing—but he corrected it soon after, doing what he could to not come off as too irritable.