Blacktail Deer Plateau Get a little dirt on your hands

A tentative lick proved the flavor to be...less than desirable, though she was still willing to continue--she'd had berries before, black ones that grew in rough patches of thorns for a few weeks only before they died out. Her brother had dared her to crawl in among the brambles for a taste, and it had been her first experience with sweet. She still enjoyed them, though she hadn't had them in many months. It was harder to get to them when you didn't fit in the tangle.

By contrast, these ones seemed to want to be eaten, waving their bounty in full view as they reached for the sky. She had just taken one between her teeth in an attempt at delicacy when a voice rang out and she heard the footsteps crashing toward her. She whipped her head around, mercifully berry-free, to see the scarred face of an otherwise beautiful she-wolf rushing toward her. It took a moment for the words to register, but Saoirse immediately leaped away from the bush the moment they did, turning a suspicious glare on the plant.

Trickster-bush, She grumbled at it, a little disappointed and even more confused; really, it didn't look threatening, how was she to know it would poison her? Still, Essie carefully stepped her way back out of the deeper shrubs, turning toward her savior with a sheepish look and a slightly wagging tail. I wasn't going to eat many, I promise! Which, to her ear, sounded more like she was concerned with the ownership of the poison berries than thanking the she-wolf for saving her. Thank you for stopping me? That was...better.

How long had it been since she talked to anyone bit Shigetoshi? Surely not long enough for all her social skills to go down the drain. Surely.