Duskfire Glacier and the prey always believe

AW, caregiving #2 (set in Lupine Flower Meadow area)

Spring had arrived upon the Glacier, a bit slower than the Taiga around them with the ice cliffs' frigid climate. Snow clung now only to the highest peaks of their mountains and to the fields of ice where the lights of the spirits danced. Prey was more abundant as they emerged from their long sleep, even amongst their territory's black pines and whispering woodlands. Hunting was not so daunting a chore and Imaq felt she had done well in her part of storing food, enough so that Seelie had earned a break to focus this stretch of sunlight on her other vocation.

The morning had been cool, grey with the storms that had broken the night before, as she strolled to the flowering meadows. The bite of the chilled winds that whipped in the canopy amongst subdued birdsong and the chattering of forest dwellers could not quite reach through her thick coat, instead feeling refreshing as they buffeted her features. 

By the time the sun reached its zenith, it had begun to play hide-and-seek amidst the clouds and the intervals of warmth Siqiqniq provided were welcome as the shaman drifted amongst the lavender blooms, searching along the undergrowth for fresh herbs to dry and store in @Iana's (reference) apothecary den. She came across a promising bunch of catmint and took to gently snipping at the base of the plant to gather it. 

Just a few short hours after her invitation into Duskfire Glacier, Lane found herself alone. She had reluctantly departed the warmth of Iana's company when it became apparent that the busy caregiver's talents were required elsewhere. Lane didn't mind; in all her lonely travels she had become rather adept at showing herself around. 

The glacier had proven to be much more than first met the eye. Lane never would have imagined that she would find a field of lavender here, for instance, and where lavender grew there were surely other herbs to be found as well. There were few plants that bloomed early, dotting the scenery with purple and releasing their soothing fragrance across the meadow. Lane wondered idly if Iana might like a few lavender sprigs to decorate her medicine den. Lavender was thought to alleviate anxiety, which might be helpful to any patients or worried loved ones. Lane had found that it also did well covering up the more offensive odors that occasionally permeated even the most well-kept medicine den.

As she walked and contemplated, a stout, rather fluffy behind came into view ahead. She woofed a friendly greeting. Perhaps this was one of the other caregivers Iana had mentioned?

The shaman stopped upon hearing the patter of soft footfalls behind her, the whispering bark that pierced the air soon proving to belong to a lithe wolfess, somewhat lean and spindly -- perhaps with a harsher lifestyle or with youth, it was hard to tell for there was a certain age to the girl's whiskey gaze. Her coat of woodland agouti was somewhat non-assuming but nonetheless lovely, the bird-boned girl reminiscent of a sparrow or wren. 

The confection of buttercream and mocha inclined her golden diadem to the she-wolf, catching a whiff of Iana's scent on the stranger that put her at ease. The woman had seemed far too calm to be an intruder, but one could never be too certain and the huntress took her chief's assignment of protecting the borders very seriously.

"Hello," Imaq murmured with a polite smile, tailless rump wagging regardless in welcome. 

The other woman turned, and Lane was met with a very unexpected sight. 

She had not known pack wolves to be in any way tolerant or accepting, and yet here was a creature who seemed born to be excluded-- not quite wolf, and not quite dog. Lane hardly knew what to make of it all. She took a few steps forward, sniffing the air to determine that the stranger was in fact a member of Duskfire Glacier. It was lost on Lane that the wolfdog was doing the same to her. 

Well. She seemed nice enough, Lane supposed. Perhaps her presence indicated a more open-minded attitude within Duskfire Glacier, which would be a nice change of pace. Lane didn't do well with strict. 

"Uh.. hi." In her surprise, she had forgotten what exactly she'd intended to say. "Uh.. so.." Oh yeah! "I was looking for a caregiver. I heard there were a bunch here." She wagged her tail in a friendly way, hoping to make up for any previous indications of surprise she might have accidentally expressed. "Not 'cause I'm sick or anything! I just want to help. And learn. That kind of thing." She shrugged, trying not to come across too awkwardly.

Imaq blinked modest aquamarines in the woman of woodland plumage's direction, lips quirking in a nervous tic as the woman stepped forward to sniff at her uncertainly. It was not such a foreign reaction to the she-shepherd but one that caused her stomach to coil with tension nonetheless. Her tulip auds of speckled buttermilk drifted back as the mixed breed bowed in a vaguely submissive gesture, smacking her paws lightly against the earth in a gesture that echoed with playfulness.

Hoping she could put the fawn-pelted fae at ease with body language if not verbal communication, the dove straightened to listen to the sudden stream of words with alert, pricked ears. 

"Ah, aya, Imaq... caregiver," Selkie tested this new title, savouring it -- trying to determine if it fit her, a dog amongst wolves. "Ânniasiutik," the merle added softly, "ah... medicine woman." 

"Iana, too," Tupilak tacked on, perhaps needlessly seeing as Lane appeared to already have met the spry piebald. 

The wolfdog seemed.. anxious, maybe? Lane wasn't the best at reading emotions. Although Lane's thoughts on the presence of a halfbreed in the pack weren't yet fully-formed,  it certainly hadn't been her intention to intimidate the woman. It wasn't her pack after all-- if anything, Lane should be the one engaged in submission and deescalation. She was the one who was the outsider.

And yet.. she couldn't bring herself to submit to the wolfdog, pride being chief among her weaknesses. She did allow herself to fall into a more relaxed stance, returning Imaq's playbow with one of her own. Her tail switched, signaling that she was alert, but friendly.

"I'm Lane," she replied, ears flicking to attention, absorbing the wolfdog's lilting accent.

"Oh! Medicine Woman. I like that." A rare smile graced Lane's features. She was so used to pack wolves naming those of her profession healers, which was a title she rejected. Lane was not a healer; she did not heal bodies. Bodies healed themselves.

"Iana! Yeah. She's pretty great, isn't she?" Lane was genuinely at ease now. "So.. were you collecting something out here? Like.. a medicine, or something?"  Lane had not forgotten her purpose here-- she would teach and learn, and while she was here, contribute to the establishment of the fledgling pack as best she could.

A tension that Seelie was initially unaware of, which she chalks up to the awkwardness of a first encounter rather than any differing philosophies of blood purity, seems to melt between them like the rivulets of glacial water with the mention of Iana's name. 

"Jah. Iana is good friend to have," the golden dove demurred with a gentle curve of her lips, gaze dipping momentarily. It returned to meet Lane's within the next heartbeat, floppy ears perking to attention at the question the newcomer posed. 

"Oh! Yes," Seelie chirped softly, as if remembering just then the task she had been distracted from. She turned and nudged the pile of catmint closer to Lane for inspection. "Nepeta," the cur named it, not knowing the term for it in the common tongue. "For the coughing diseases."

Lane fully expected to hear that Imaq was gathering lavender, seeing as they were standing in a field of the stuff. The woman presented her collection-- a pile of stalks with purple blooms, just as Lane imagined-- along with their Latin appellation. Lane might have to confess, she hadn't memorized all the Latin she was taught. She'd always been more of a medic than a botanist. 

"The coughing diseases?" Lane echoed, brow knitting in confusion. Lavender was a mild herb, known first and foremost for its pleasing and soothing scent. For the coughing diseases, you needed something much stronger. You needed..

"Oh! Catmint!" Lane breathed, incredulous. She stepped forward to inspect the pile more closely. "This.. this is really rare. Where I'm from, at least." Lane looked up at Imaq, a newfound respect shining in her eyes. Not only had Imaq managed to track down the catmint source, she'd done it in a field of nearly identical-looking and pungently-scented lavender plants. Lane was impressed.

"Jah," Imaq answered though the question seemed to be rhetorical. Her freckled brow of cappuccino crumpled to mirror Lane's expression of consternation, wondering to herself if she'd said something wrong. Catmint was used for the coughing ailments..wasn't it? "Iviujak amma kaKuttak." 

The she-dog withheld a startled flinch as Lane made her discovery, moving forward to examine the pile of herbs -- unaware of how she'd impressed the other healer. Regardless, her tailless stump gave a happy shake and she smiled as she offered: "Lane have some? Use for healing?" 

"Really?" Lane asked, a bit incredulous. "Thanks!" She piped, beaming. She wasn't about to turn such a precious offering down! Coltsfoot and chickweed were plentiful and would do in a pinch, but their effectiveness paled in comparison to catmint. Especially if the disease had progressed to greencough. 

"Where did you find it?" Lane asked, craning her neck to peer around Imaq. "Do you need help clearing the weeds away?" The Duskfire caregiver would want to encourage her catmint source to grow, of course, and to do that they would need to expand the plot of available land around the patch. Lane would help pull the weeds, and then maybe they would till the soil a little to remove buried roots and rocks. She was excited by Imaq's discovery and eager to help out.

"Jah," Imaq chirped exuberantly, practically beaming as her stumpy rear gave a happy wag -- her excitement feeding off of Lane's own. Perhaps she might find a similar companionship with Lane as she had with the listless wren, Iana. A prospect that filled her with joy if a bit of uncertain hopefulness, reminding herself again that there were differences between them that might come to fix a wall between the two women. Even amongst the womenfolk of her own father's family band, she had been rarely accepted -- truly loved and cherished by the mothers who raised her alone. 

"Oh," Imaq considered, casting her Sedna-blessed gaze of turbulent seawaters around the clearing searchingly. "Here," she beckoned, moving back a few paces to gesture at one of the bushes she'd gathered the herb from. "Lane see? Leaves," Imaq gestured in the vague tone of an instructor, reaching out to delicately nose one of the heart-shaped leaves of greenish-grey with her splotchy nose. She did not have the words to communicate entirely how she spotted the differences between the plants but hoped the other healer could grasp what she was trying to say: that the leaves were shaped differently, the edges of the catmints' being scalloped as well. 

Lane followed Imaq curiously, almost running over the medicine woman from behind as they reached their destination only a few steps away.

Imaq directed Lane's attention to the leaves, and Lane inspected the plant carefully. After a moment, she looked up, unsure of why Imaq had pointed the leaves out in particular. The plant seemed to be in good health; there was nothing present on the leaves to indicate blight or any other problems. 

Perhaps she was drawing attention to the unique structure? Examining the leaf was a surefire way to distinguish between the two plants. 

"Oh, er.. yeah," Lane voiced, trying to paper over their lapse in communication. "The smell, too.." Lavender and catmint each had very distinct scents. "So what do you find works best in a cough medicine-- the leaves, or the blooms?" She asked conversationally. Due to its rarity, Lane hadn't had much opportunity to experiment with catmint.

It was not completely lost on Imaq that her broken speech made it hard to communicate some concepts. She shot the doe-pelted agouti an awkward smile, tuliped auds of speckled buttermilk fluttering back in silent apology as Lane sought to fill the gaps in their language barrier. "Oh, yes," she chirped in agreement to the healer's addition, beaming at the other woman with a hint of excitement. It had just been so long since she had others to speak medicine with. 

"The leaves," the shepherd answered easily with a little nod. "But both heal the coughs," she added, the words a light interjection -- as if revealing a fun fact -- as she gestured between the lilac blooms of the lavender and catmint alike. "Water and sleep good too," the cur recommended. The coughing diseases were common in the arctic and she had seen more than one wolf quarantined due to the illness. 

As difficult as it may have been for Lane to interpret Imaq's speech, the shepard seemed to understand her own well enough. She provided an answer to Lane, and then added to that answer a beat later. 

Lane laughed. 

"Yes, water and sleep! If only I could make my patients believe it." She shook her head, still chuckling a bit. 

Hydration and rest were truly the greatest and most universal remedies, but no one ever wanted to hear that. Everyone wanted a quick fix-- an herb they could swallow, or a salve they could slap on-- so they could continue to go about their business as usual. They called wolves like Lane and Imaq "healers" because they wanted to believe in the mystical power of their knowledge and abilities, but in truth, it was always the body that healed itself.

we could try and end here if you've got enough posts for this to count towards Lane's trades? (i think we both have 3+ but if not we can always continue this with them going to the Caverns and looking for some herbs/Imaq showing Lane the apothecary den iana and imaq use?)

"Jah," the shepherd chuckled good-naturedly, though she didn't entirely understand the joke -- chalking it up to a pesky cultural barrier. Still, she wanted to make a good impression on the she-wolves of the Glacier and hopefully befriend them with time. "Iana and Imaq have ah...sitik," she struggled for the right term in common. "Home," she supplied, somewhat incorrectly, "where wolf can sleep. Where medicine women meet."

"Lane see sitik?" the Waterwitch asked, wondering if Iana had already shown the fawn agouti. 

Sure, I'll fade it out for us. Feel free to write one more reply or archive.

Imaq offered to show Lane someplace she called a sitik, and Lane was willing to bet that the Duskfire wolf meant to take her to the caves. 

"Oh, I heard that your pack dens in the caves. But I haven't seen them yet." Lane hadn't been entirely sure whether she might be welcome at the caves, seeing as she wasn't a true member of the pack. That suited her just fine though-- as far back as she could recall, she'd always slept under the sky. Her parents hadn't been much for underground spaces, and so neither was Lane. 

..But these herbs had to go somewhere, right? It sounded like Iana and Imaq had some kind of storeroom in the caves, or perhaps the beginnings of a full-fledged medicine den? 

"Yeah, lets go!" Lane agreed, curious to see what the pack's caregivers had managed to build so far. Lane bent down to scoop up roughly half of the catmint Imaq had collected, intending to help her transport the precious herbs. She would then follow Imaq's lead, pleased with both the invitation to the pack's inner sanctum and the prospect of a new friendship.

A simple creature, and eager to please at her core, Imaq smiled -- happy because Lane seemed to be. Feeling a youthful, girlish excitement not unlike that of a pup who had befriended her first playmate, the shepherd scooped up the rest of the catmint and trotted hurriedly after Lane towards Greyfall Caverns.