Northstar Vale Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

These lands were beautiful, and the would-be empress was more than happy to call this place home. From one turn to the next it seemed there was a brand new surprise just around the corner. With a hop and a skip she flew over streams that she could leap in a single bound, and skipped over stones that laid out a trail for her for the larger ones with the grace that only came from a lifetime of avoiding deep water.

There was a bunch of trees in the distance she wanted to investigate, to find what prey might be hiding in these lands that could feed her packmates, or maybe a fun place for them to find and use at their leisure. Whatever it was, she was quickly approaching with only a few of the snowflakes that would fall this season as the frost was quickly vanishing in the air. 

Warmth should soon be a regular thing and she wasn't certain if she was looking forward to such a thing, or rather miss the snow and cold that made the lands feel more like home. 

@Vespera

The group had arrived at a new place and everyone seemed to go their separate directions as the would become acquainted with the new land. The cloaked woman didn't know what to do with herself, everything seemed to new and large, it could be a bit overwhelming, so she just decided to make herself busy and get familiar with the borders or find something new. Vespera padded to what seemed like nowhere as she tried to use her nose to make her way around but there were just a lot of new scents that she just got confused. But the mystical form of Reiko came into her view, the soon to be Empress seemed to have her own objective in mind as she was weaving through trees and almost went out of Vespera's sight. The dark woman put her ears forward and pondered if she should follow her or just leave her to her business.

Fuck it.

The girl heaved her chest and bounded after her, she really had nothing better to do, and if she was to be the new leader, Vespera had to personally see to it that she would uphold her promises. The woman slowed her pace as she slithered through the trees with her head bobbing to her rhythm and finally, caught up to Reiko. "Where you off to in such a hurry?" She rolled up to her casually with a hint of curiosity and suspicion in her eyes.

As she approached the thickening trees the empress' pace had slowed to a jog, and then finally to slow walk as she took in the sights. The trees were barely budding in green, preparing for the frost to finally be gone and begin their own reign over the landscape. Dry and slumbering moss clung to the trunks and rocks and her imagination began to run wild as she thought of how beautiful this place must be once in full swing of summer's beauty. She would have to visit here often and watch as it unfolds in the next few weeks.

Vespera's voice barely even nudged her as she moved fluidly through the thawing trees, ears flickering back to acknowledge the cloaked woman. Here, do you see the freeze-dry moss? This place will be so soft when the rains come back. Motioning with her skull, she looked around them as she spoke, letting her imagination run wild with the possibilities of what this place might look like. Were there any flowers? The moss would eat them up, so she could only imagine it being so bright with green, so full of life.

Reiko had avoided her question and instead replaced it with such enthusiasm towards the place that they were standing. It seemed that Reiko was the type of wolf to take interest in the little things or things that Vespera didn't really look to deeply into. The dark woman casually did a quick sweep of the area that was capped in moss, she did admit that this place was interesting, but she really wasn't one for the scenery. "It could be something," she said and tossed a glance at Reiko who seemed to be in la-la land, so she just moved her skull to look at the frosted moss once again.

But, she started to imagine of what this place could be too, imagining all of the cool battle tricks she could do with the landscape with all these rocks and trees, how the smell of moss would linger in one's nose as they were to duke it out. "What would we do with this place?" She said, not looking at Reiko.

Something was an understatement. While taking a closer look at the mosses, she tried to figure out which species they might be. If it's sphagum moss, it can be used to dress wounds. She explained, squinting as to try and figure out the little branches - but at a loss. They were far too dry to be categorized. It can help as an antiseptic and with coughs, if I can get a sick individual to swallow it down. She chuckled to herself as she spoke, getting lost in the ideas of what she could use the moss for. 

We can also line our dens with them to keep them from getting too dry, too wet, and even be a comfy layer to sleep on during the summer. The possibilities were almost endless and Reiko found herself rambling on and on, perhaps talking poor Vespera's ear off in this instance. 

We can cultivate it. Was the TLDR of it all, other than just staring at it for being so pretty.

Vespera was completely caught off guard when she started to ramble about different species of moss, "wait what?" Her ears and brows sprang up. She found herself saying out loud with her uninterested mood swiftly changing into one of utter bewilderment, her face was clearly reflecting that. "But... Moss is moss," she swung her head to look at Reiko and tried to read the girl's expression but she was going a million miles per hour. 

The woman then stated that they could use it for dens which was something that Vespera could wrap her head around, "uh yeah that could be good," the dark woman tried to chime in and keep up with the ADHD induced Reiko. The exile felt like she was just thrown into a marathon and her mind was exhausted when Reiko finally concluded with the fact that they could cultivate the area. Even the soon to be Empress didn't have an idea of what to do, so Vespera's expression softened into a more curious expression, she wanted to know what they could do since this area seemed pretty cool.

But, one of the reasons she came after Reiko was to get to know her, "so uh, how do you know all this stuff?" Vespera said with a cautious casualty, she wanted to start the new topic with something that was related to the previous subject that they just discussed.

All moss is not the same~ She correctly softly with a chime in her tone. Sphagum is medical the rest... I'd imagine might give you the poops. If you try it, let me know. Pursing her lips, and looking into the great beyond, she made an educated guess on how unknown moss might react in someone's body. She hadn't heard of anything other than sphagum being medicinal, but heck, she was always open to learning something new!

My mother taught me a little before she left. Her expression shifted softly to something a little more saddened laced with nostalgia. She thought back to her mother, with whom she had spent only a brief moment in her life with. Just long enough to soak up whatever the queen of the clan was able to teach her before passing away. I had to learn the rest on my own, through random teachers and testing. In fact, I'm still learning something new almost every day.

The snowy wolf sang that not all moss was the same, Vespera scoffed with her brows raised and a small smile, "you learn something new every day," she shrugged, her grin turning into a small smirk. Vespera's smug face turned into one of shock and slight disgust which was reflected in her purple orbs and her eyebrows narrowing a bit, she then darted her glance to Reiko. "If I somehow eat moss and start shitting everywhere, I'll come find you," she said with an amused chuckle and started to imagine how that scenario might play out but she didn't want to think about it for too long.

It seemed that Vespera's 'getting to know you' question struck some cord in Reiko as her happy deminer changed into one of slight sorrow for she too might have not had such an easy past. She explained that her mother had taught her before she left and her education resumed with teachers in her pack. Vespera released a heavy sigh, "at least you had other wolves to teach you, I had no one," she slid her glance to look back at all the mossy rocks and trees. Reiko had a pack, Vespera didn't, she had someone to turn to, but Vespera didn't, and when she thought she had something, it was taken away from her in a blink of an eye. "As I was telling this... Yuudai guy, I don't remember much of my past," she shrugged, the dark woman had to get that out of the way because she figured Reiko would ask her the same question.

Good! I'll patch you right up. The thought was humorous in its own way, of course, diarrhea was unpleasant and possibly deadly if left untreated, but still, one had to find the potty humor in it in one way or another - especially if they had a rather young sense of humor like themselves. With a few herbs, water and sleep she was certain even a moss tummy ache can be cured fairly easily with some time and patience.  

Not really, She continued half-mindedly. I had to seek them out, ask if they were willing to teach - you see, not long after my mother's passing, the one that took hers and my father's place on the throne quickly exiled me. Softly her head fell to one side, leaning against her own shoulder while deep in thought. Thinking back to the clan, to all the memories that flooded back now that Hiromi and Yuudai were around. The things she missed. The people she might never see again.

I too had no one for quite a while. Just random kind strangers who'd teach me something every now and then. It was key to her survival too, to make sure she was healthy enough to keep herself safe instead of fighting - being clearly not the fighting type. Well, maybe your memories will come back. All you need is a little push. The smile found its way back to her face as the conversation turned to Vespera now instead.

When Reiko said that she would patch her up, a little wheeze came out of Vespera, "good luck!" She laughed, she did enjoy humor a lot, in fact, her humor was more sarcastic than anything but recently she has been dropping the ball. The woman then went on about how she had to seek out help on her own, but to Vespera she had it easy because she had a pack to turn to. She continued with her story and said that the one who had taken her parent's place had swiftly exiled her, but the dark woman was puzzled, "why?" She turned to Reiko with a brow raised, "did you even do anything?" She was quite honestly baffled, Reiko had a kind-hearted nature, why would someone want to kick her out? Then again, Greyback kicked her out for no fucking reason apparently, but Vespera chose to leave before she could face the music.

"Well strangers aren't too kind to me," she said sounding a little cynical as the bitterness of her past started to dig itself up again, she was honestly jealous that Reiko had this kind of treatment. The snowy woman said that they would just have to push Vespera's memories with a smile, but the dark woman gave a little amused smile on her face, "if you are able to crack it then be my guest," she shrugged.

Dunno. I wouldn't have fought her for the throne, but I guess she thought of me as a threat to her position. Hime had always proven to be deviously clever, beautiful and powerful, ruthless, it was admirable really if she wasn't so cruel. She made sure anyone who would threaten her position was gone, Reiko just wished that her own sister would have trusted her more than this. 

If not, then lets only hope we can make new, better, memories here. There was no way she would promise Vespera that she could break past whatever was keeping her memories locked up - and so, she would do the next best thing. Just make new ones. The Empire was a place for new beginnings after all. It seemed fitting enough.

Reiko explained that whoever was the ruler didn't like her because she was a threat to her power, Vespera nodded along to her words like she understood what she was saying but in reality, she couldn't get what Reiko was saying. Both of their lives were truly different, but the snowy Empress was willing to share her culture with others and the dark woman didn't know the first thing about thrones and whatever Reiko was talking about.

The woman said that they would just have to make some new memories then, a glimmer of hope shined in Vespera's pupils, oh how she just wanted to walk away from what happened to her but the pain was still there. The woman sighed and let her worries be carried out by the wind, she looked at Reiko, "well I am not opposed to that," a smile pried from her lips. Then, a cheeky thought occurred in her head, "hey if you ever need a second in command, you know where to find me," she winked with a playful stick of her tongue. She thought of it more of a joke than anything.

Truth was, she never thought of herself as a leader, Vespera figured it was a lot of boring planning and the position would be no fun, besides her slight awkwardness and sarcasm wouldn't be appealing to others.

A second in command - the thought was nice, she wanted to share as much of the high life and workload as possible with those she trusted. I will keep that in mind. Voice soft, she spoke like the breeze. Relaxed and light as the enjoyed as everything was slowly being pieced together one day at a time. 

Come on! Let's go look deeper into the woods, we might find some more interesting things. Wanting to move away from any sad memories, or the lack of any thereof, she bounced forward and looked over her shoulder to invite Vespera to join her in the adventure of the great beyond in their new home. 

fade?? we can finish it here!