King Elk Forest one, two! one, two! and through and through

At first, Sugar found it a relief: Firebirds and Frosthawks were hardly a stone's throw away from one another. Thus reassured, she let herself be swept up in the pleasure of meeting a whole host of relatives and—much to Sugar's surprise—being reunited with her very own brother, @Crow. That first evening, she was carried away by the excitement of it all, surrounded by family even away from the home she'd always known.

Her training began very early the next morning, @Raven evidently just as excited to teach as Sugar was to learn. She spent that entire day with Raven, going over what she already knew and a myriad of topics the seasoned medic thought she ought to go over, one by one. Raven showed Sugar her store of dried herbs, which was quite impressive. "I spent the whole summer gathering these," the sable she-wolf told her young pupil before launching into a fascinating speech about the importance of the proverbial medicine cabinet.

By that evening, Sugar's head was swimming with knowledge and she was giddy as ever to continue her lessons. Raven sent her to bed with a homework assignment: "It's winter and much of the greenery has gone stagnant for the season. But if you know where to look and look hard, you can still find plenty of useful plants. I want you to spend the day tomorrow searching, just to see what you can find. Don't come back until you've found at least five potentially useful herbs." Her electric yellow eyes twinkled.

Perhaps her tutor hadn't meant that as literally as Sugar took it. The tiny Blackthorn rose before dawn the next day, eager to get the task underway, excited by the notion of hopefully impressing Raven when she returned later. And as she set out, headed slightly north into the neighboring forest, Sugar felt excited for an entirely different reason. She didn't realize it consciously, though the notion of getting out and doing a bit of traveling excited her. Evidently, venturing outside her birthplace had stirred awake the inner @Finley deep inside her.

Title from "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll.