Haunted Wood Give me all your pain

Dreven had wanted to surprise @Atka Tsimshian with her own surprise. He knew she was a healer of sorts and he liked that about her. Every pack needed one. Khasni was one of sorts, though from what he saw she was more into the poisonous ones.

So with that thought in mind and the early autumn frost on the ground, he called for his pale snow and bade her come along. He would lead her into the haunted wood, close to the side of the birch trees where, a river ran and plant life was abundant.

If felt familiar this place, he would have preferred to go here, wondering if perhaps they should make a pack here rather than the heartwood, but he was fearful that Atka would find death at the paws of Alduin and Khasni if he at least didn't try to claim the heartwood.

Three facets to a forest, a foggy shadowy land, one filled to the brim with willows and sun, and the last full of plants and knowledge. Sort of felt a bit like Dreven himself, though he'd never admit that.

Atka was more than enthusiastic to follow Dreven. She talked his ear off the entire journey, rambling about random topics, questions about where they were going even if he insisted it was a surprise. She was happy to finally have him to herself, rather than The Forsaken.

As they had approached the Haunted Wood she was quiet, silently taking in the scenery, her eyes would fix on certain plants and identify them in her head as she strolled past. The colorful vegetation and it's medicinal properties had her in awe. She made mental notes of herbs she had seen to collect before they headed back. Perhaps she start a collection of some sorts to hold them off over the winter.

She sighed and turned to look at Dreven with a smile.

❝It's beautiful.❞ She sighed, turning away again and staring up at the birch tree's fiery canopy.

Dreven chuckled at his chatter box. Answered her questions and spoke on the same random topics. Though he flat out refused to tell her where they were going. He wouldn't ruin the surprise.

Red eyes gazed upon her as the knowledge she held in her brain leaked from her eyes. Every plant she looked at if she knew it, he could see it on her expressive face. He had done well and he was glad he could make her happy. He knew this transition from lone wolf into pack wolf, not even a fully fledged pack wolf had been hard. But she had handled it with grace.

Not near as beautiful as you Snow, but i figured you'd like the herbs here. I can recognize a few, but none like you.

Atka exhaled a small laugh, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. The smile didn't fade as she continued to gaze around in wonder, his little compliments always made her flustered. Dropping her head from staring at the treetops, she nosed through the plant life.

❝Liverleaf wintergreen.❞ She stated to herself, muttering under her breath while pawing at the roots and pulling the plant out.

❝More of a painkiller for wounds than for infection.❞ Atka said, speech muffled by the plant in her mouth. 

She was seeing so much that eased the pain on external wounds rather than infection, but she was sure she would come across the caribou leaf she had used to treat the wolf who had faced Dreven. Perhaps she'd come across even more plants of use alongside the stream.

❝So far,❞ She paused, laughing, ❝we're going to have our mouths full on the way back.❞

Atka's gaze was still scanning around, her gaze lit up.

A grin split his maw at her small laugh. He liked to fluster her, it was one of his favorite things. He settled to his haunches and watched as she hunted and looked through the plant life that made it's home here.

Ears tweaked forward as he listened. She spoke on different things. Painkillers, not infection. They could handle that. Especially if Alduin fought as much as he planned. Though, their leader was strangely silent as of late.

Dreven shook his head, and pulled from a small hollow in a tree, the rabbit pelt he had put there when he had first scouted the place to give to Atka. He placed it upon the ground.

It's why I keep rabbit skins.

The pelt was dry and easily carried. Even the strips were gone. He had learned how to strip it and dry it from his father.

As if an 'Ah-hah-!' went through her head, she spun around with excitement. Dreven always thought of the things that slipped her mind, she liked that. Though she had her herbal knowledge, she tended to be scatter-brained. Atka bounded back over to him with a wagging tail, dropping the herbs on the pelt. She gave a small lick to his cheek, pressing her head against him with a feline like affection before sigh with contentment and padding off to sift through the plant life again.

❝You think of everything.❞ She called back to him with a smile.

She uprooted the stinkweed that she called caribou leaf the moment she saw it, taking a few moments to dig up other plants and trot back over the pelt and nestle the leaves together.

❝This is perfect,❞ Atka said, looking back up at him without moving her head.

❝Shall we walk by the stream? There's a few herbs I'm sure would be growing there.❞ She said lifting the pelt full of plants.

She wanted to find something for coughs, perhaps evening primrose or something more for external wounds, which she was under the impression she would see more of with The Forsaken.

Dreven knew enough about Atka to know when she was excited she tended to forget things. And herbs excited the hell out of her. He didn't quite understand why, but he didn't need to. She was happy, so he was. If that was what he could call his current emotions of contentment. He had never really known true happiness before so this was new.

He rumbled with affection as she drew to him and licked and nudged him. He returned the affection, but it was soon over as he returned to her plant life and he chuckled.

Sure. Lead the way, Snow.

He stepped into Pawstep with her and he rumbled. Are you finding many things you can utilize. What of wintertime coughs and snotty noses?

❝Mhm,❞ Atka responded, her speech still muffled as she carried the rabbit skin beside him. ❝Plenty for external wounds, the pain and infection that come with, but hoping to find something for coughs beside the stream.❞

As she headed towards the stream next to Dreven her mind was all over the place again. This was sweet of him, but also extremely useful. Her worries of the winter began to subside as time went on, and now with medicine to support them, and a known place to collect it. Perhaps Khasni would be pleased with what they brought back as well. Even if her worries about this winter became smaller every passing day, the lingering idea that Aludin may return, and then having no idea how things would look after concerned her. Atka pushed those thoughts out of her head as they approached the riverbank.

She set the rabbit skin down, making sure the plants inside did not fall out. She made her way over to a clump of weeds in hope the flower she sought was there.

❝Hm, there's wild lettuce but I don't- oh!❞ Atka gladly dug up the wild lettuce as well as the nodding onion beside it. ❝This works in place of the evening primrose, but if we see any on the way back we can get it.❞

Atka returned to the pelt, nestling the collection together.

❝I'll be prepared for coughs, pain, and external injuries, but preserving them may be difficult... I can figure out some way to by stream that borders The Heartwood for what doesn't need to be dried. I'd have to return here every now and then though.❞ She was filled to the brim with knowledge of the plant life, but her Aunt still had plenty to teach her, but that was cut short.

Dreven listened to her words. Much of it went over his head if he was honest. He was not the smartest wolf at retaining things that didn't interest him, and unfortunately plants were one of them. Though he supposed he had retained some, when some of the things she said made sense and he remembered them. It was then he offered something of himself.

My father used to collect herbs and plants like this. Very rarely did I get to go with him, but on the occasion that I did. he would stuff my head to the brim with knowledge. Most of it i've forgotten over the years. From the beatings and just poor memory.

Dreven studied her and then spoke softly. Atka do you want to settle somewhere else?

He frowned. The only reason I hold onto the heartwood is simple. If Alduin returns and found I have defected. He may come after us. He does not forgive injustices easily.

❝I-❞ She looked up at him, her mouth open but she could not find anything to say, the question caught her off guard.

Atka sighed, gaze shifting to the ground as she thought. She didn't like the ash forest, but the thought of having this, Aludin, on their tail with ill intent wasn't favorable. Atka had decided early on she didn't care, The Heartwood, or a lush forest didn't matter to her as long as she was with Dreven.

❝I don't think my preference is important if it entails danger.❞ She responded with furrowed brows. ❝If we didn't have danger behind us if we left, I would love to find somewhere else for us for stay.❞

Dreven longed to stride forward and ease whatever discomfort she was feeling, but he couldn't save her everytime.

No there were some things, she had to come to terms with on her own. And he knew his snow, she didn't shirk from sharing her opinion of many things. She was a wolf with a backbone of steel. Regardless of her small stature.

Dreven had found the heartwood had filled a place of melancholy. It had given him purpose, but his purposes were rearranging. He was becoming something different than he had been. Oh he would always be an asshole. Absolute lust incarnate, but he was learning to temper it with grace, or more so Atka was tempering it with grace.

It is important to me.

Dreven frowned. He may never hunt us down. But I don't know.

❝My preference is simply being beside you.❞ Atka smiled, though his words were serious. ❝I have no quarrels with making The Heartwood my home.❞

She sat down, her gaze still searching his face for a hint of what he felt.

❝Or anywhere else for that matter, but if we were to settle somewhere like here-❞ Atka paused looked around the beautiful scenery. ❝I would be very happy, and if Aludin returned demanding our presence we could go back. You do not owe it to him to build up what he abandoned. Yet Khasni insists that forest is of worth, and I suppose I could grow to see it that way as well if you wanted to stay.❞

Dreven looked her over, gauging her words. She was serious. All she needed was him. He was one lucky bastard. Given everything he had done in his life. He didn't even understand how someone like her, could care about someone like him.

He frowned in thought. Truth be told he preferred the haunted wood to the heartwood himself, but he didn't know what to expect. He looked her over and nodded.

We will honor my bargain until snow flies, try and eek out a living. If we cannot. We will weather with the saints and come spring, we will settle here. And if it comes to pass that this is the path we take. Well I'll be ready to fight if I have too.

Her gaze settled on the stream as she listened to him speak, ears tilted toward him as she stared over the clear water and how it's current reflected the morning sun. Atka took a moment to process what he said, it felt nice to have some sort of idea of what the future held, and she liked the future he painted. What had started out as lust and covetousness gradually turned into more, much more, and she was happy that it did. Sometimes she would wonder if his feelings were the same as hers, just as intense, but she refrained from asking the question. Staying by his side, having his warmth, and his company was enough.

❝I would like that.❞ Atka responded after a moment of silence, turning to rest her eyes on his. ❝We'll see what the snow brings.❞

Her gaze still looked over his features after her response, but once she'd caught herself staring she blinked, clearing her throat and stood up to fold the rabbit skin over the medicinal plants they'd collected.

Atka always listened. There was softness to the she wolf when she listened. Even when her gaze was not upon him. He could feel it. There the waiting, the listening. hearing every word he spoke.

Dreven was under the impression he couldn't love anyone. Because he didn't know what love was. However, he did know that whatever Atka was to him, it was like breathing. He thought perhaps it was possessiveness, or obsessiveness, but he wasn't sure and he had no one to ask. He for damn sure wasn't asking Khasni what it was or meant. Good lord.


She continued to stare until she broke her own revelry and he chuckled. He knew what he looked like under all the scars. Oh if she had seen him when he wasn't so stripped of skin. He wasn't sure if her precious heart could have taken it.

It's okay to stare, Snow. i stare at you all the time. And think of all the different ways and places I could have you. But today is for you, and your herbs.

He bent his head and lifted the rabbit skin into his maw and motioned her to continue to look, he would follow. Red eyes dancing.

She closed her eyes briefly, a sharp intake of breath as she stepped back and allowed him to pick up the rabbit skin. It always took her a moment to blink back to reality after he said things like that while he stared smugly at her. While she had rolled her eyes and exhaled a laugh, it was clear she was flustered to begin with.

❝I was just looking at you, Dreven.❞ Atka had a teasing smiling now, glancing backwards at him as they walked alongside the stream. ❝Pure thoughts, swear.❞

She laughed again, then going to sniff through more of the shrubbery sprouting through the rocks. Sometimes she could respond to his suggestion with witty comments, other times be lost for words.

He chuckled at his clear effect on her. But it was the same with her. so he only felt it fair. He didn't mind. Part of him wondered if he pushed the envelope to much sometimes, but he usually quieted that voice, with the argument that he had always been this way.

Dreven gave a soft himm in his throat. His mouth full of her herbs and leaves. Unable to say much of anything. Though he did wink at her, as if to say sure.

She playfully scoffed at his wink. Atka would periodically stop at clumps of plant life, nosing through. They didn't speak much, considering their mouths were full, but she enjoyed his presence.

When she had finally decided what she had was enough, they continued to walk up the stream in search of their home. Atka was pleased with the collection they had started, she felt prepare, able to treat sickness, pain, and wounds.

end here and start on another thread? :)

Certainly :) As always thank you for the thread

Dreven had nothing to say now. Just walking along. He had meant what he said when he had said today was just for Atka and her herb gathering. As they walked home, he let his mind wonder to everything, and for once in his miserable life, he was hopeful. Though it also filled him with a forboding air. Because he wasn't used to it.