Dragoncrest Cliffs girl, with an accent of blood

maybe @Hux since they've yet to meet? :D but absolutely no obligation, ofc! ♥

She is close to earning her tactician speciality and thus closer to asking Heda for the rank of Wanlida. She can almost taste it upon her lips and she wants it. Patience a virtue hard earned for Eske but the feeling of accomplishment when she knows she has earned what she has is much more fulfilling then simply being handed it. As Heda had dismissed her for a few hours — for Drageda is well fortified and guarded — Eske takes to the borders to run her routine patrols, an ear always alert for The Commander’s call. Thus far, her patrol is meant with calm and there is nothing out of place, no foreign scents to send up red flags. Eske inhales deeply, pausing to refresh a stale marker. She lingers on this particular stretch of border, kicking up clumps of dirt to make use of the scent glands in her paws, rubbing against the trees, wincing only slightly when a tuft of hair was yanked out by the hard bark of the tree that snagged it. She smoothes the ruffled fur of her shoulder down and gives the (briefly) tender spot a few licks to soothe it before she continues onward with her patrol as if it had never happened.

I'm so sorry about the wait, but thank you so much for the thread! I love Eske.

Hux has decided that he will pursue the option of herbs and plants as his specialty, after all. He has gleaned a new inspiration from his encounter with Portia and has been working hard ever since. Today, he gathers poppies. They are an essential remedy for pain, and as pain is a common and inevitable occurance for nearly every wolf at some point in life, he searches diligently. It is nearly time for poppies to stop blooming -- the flowers open in Spring and cease to bloom in midsummer, so he hurries through the territory, gathering as much as he possibly can.

Soon, there is an interruption to his focus and his work. He looks up just in time to spot a dark woman marking a tree, and he watches with gentle eyes as she sooths her shoulder with a few licks. His tail waves like a white banner; he has not met her before. Dropping his mouthful of poppy stems carefully between his paws, a soft chuff escapes Hux's lips, hoping to alert her of his presence.

"Hey," he says in his soft way.