Silver Creek There is a house build out of stone

WC: 780

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She went into the woods, still clutching the bundle of herbs- mostly roots- as she made her way away from the shocking discovery she’d made at the creek and toward the small den she’d dug specifically for herbs. This was where she would keep her findings, and visit that if ever she needed to treat another wolf in the pack. She was doing this eagerly, hoping that she could earn herself a trade and better her position within the pack. Naturally her biggest hope was to be given a suitable husband, and her eyes had already landed on one that she admired the most. Of course, Oryx could only hope that she would be given to the champagne-eyed male, but at the same time...She doubted she would be selected to be the wife of one of the actual Odolf brothers. So she tried to distract herself from those thoughts, to avoid getting her hopes up, but it was impossible to do so. He’d won her over so completely, so easily.

 She’d already begun to picture herself on the day that she was chosen to be his mate. She could picture some sort of ceremony where the wolves were all gathered, and Grayson, the leader, would announce who he had chosen to be mates which himself and his brothers. She, selflessly, first pictured who Grayson might choose for himself...Perhaps one of the females who had come with the Odolfs, or perhaps he had taken a shining to one of the new recruits- of course, Oryx did not picture Faeryn or Quicksilver, as both females had already made themselves into something akin to a danger by taking on the male’s role, and fishing. Unless there was some rule that allowed the females to fish, rather than hunt, she couldn’t understand why they would risk it. She remembered the female who had sat by Addison’s side at the meeting- the dark female with the pale socks...And without a thought, placed her at Grayson’s side. She wanted to place Addison somewhere...But they would need more males who weren’t related to them for that. She pondered possibly placing her at the side of the coywolf male she’d seen, but she didn’t so much like the look of him, and didn’t want to place Addison with someone who had such horrible, sunken eyes. She instead pictured a valiant male, one new to the family, but just as noble as the Odolf brothers. It was the very least she could do.

 And then the moment came. Oryx couldn’t help herself but smile privately as she reached her herb cache, and bent down to enter. It was small enough for one wolf to fit in, and her little collection had begun to grow in there. Not literally, of course- the plants were all simply stalks, dried leaves or roots. She divided them up based on which kind of plant they were, and she felt good as she finally got to relax her jaw after carrying such a mouthful of roots back to her cache. Her fantasy continued, with Grayson speaking her name and how she would look in front of the others, as she drew herself up alongside Harrison. She replayed that moment over and over again in her head, until it filled her dreams. But dreams were nothing but thin air when she awoke, and she had to remind herself- almost cruelly, so as to discourage her fanciful nature- that she shouldn’t dwell on such a pairing. How would she feel, then, if she wasn’t chosen? How would she feel if Faeryn or Quicksilver was chosen for him? Would she be able to support the union, as she would be expected to? She would have to stop allowing herself to dream and daydream...But it was so lovely, and so delicious a feeling that she couldn’t help it, from time to time. 

And so, in order to better her chances, she did as she was told; she avoided the borders, as it was the man’s job to mind the safety of the pack, and stayed deep within the territory, only going close to the borders as she needed to scavenge for herbs along the banks of the creek. She would seek out more, perhaps down in the fen where the ground was softer and she thought she might be able to find some herbs she did not yet have. With hopeful thoughts, she left her small den, gave herself a thorough once-over to make sure that she was clean and tidy, and then set out with a flowing, purposeful stride to go off in search of more herbs to add to her collection.

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