Phoenix Maplewood Looking For Some Herbs

Spring sniffed the ground, searching for some herbs.  She hadn’t seen any herb or medical resource, since she had taught Esaro and Luna knowledge on herbs.  The female had been searching for about two hours now and still had found none, accept for some living bracken fern that had been frozen in a pile of snow, she had buried it next to a birch tree and intended to go back in get it later, to dispose of it in the cache.  The ground seemed so barren this winter.  Everything seemed to have been scavenged in Summer.  She found herself aching for Spring to come around, she enjoyed this season because it was her name, pups were born and other animals, herbs grew plentiful again and everything was just... lively.  Spring continued her herb search, scavenging the ground.

This looked lonely!

He watched in silence a good distance away, obscured by threadbare and frosted mapletrees, as Spring rooted throught the snow in the hopes of finding useful herbs. With the help of the new arrivals, the herb cache had been somewhat restored, but it was still not enough. Winter was a season of slim pickings, and despite their best efforts to recover, if a packmate were to be seriously injured, Reek would still be ill equipped to heal them.

A general sense of pessimism overcame Reek with the turning of the season and it seemed it was here to stay. His ability to accentuate the negitive had been amplified ten-fold. He took a few steps forward and cleared his throat to grab Spring's attention. "I appreciate the effort," he called out from a distance with a sense of genuine gratitude for her efforts, however, negativity had crept it's way into his very persona. "But, it's no use. You're not going to find anything." The snow was still too thick. The cold, too frigid. The only option remaining was to wait this winter spell out.

Spring flicked her head up instantly at the sound of a wolf clearing his throat, her eyes wide and startled for a moment, surprised she had not heard someone walking up to her, then she quickly recognized the wolf as Reek and let her posture relax a little.

Spring nodded, but shrugged.  “It’s always worth a shot to try.  You never know if you might find something.”  The female responded to Reek’s negative comment, then changed the subject.  “I can’t wait for Spring to come around, when everything replenishes and grows once again. It would make life a lot easier some times.”  Spring admitted, with a sigh.

He envied her optimistic outlook, however, he did not share it with her.  "I'm not going to stop you..." admitted the raggedy alpha as he as he walked forward to clear the gap between them. "It just seems, I dunno— pointless." He felt as if it were about learning when to fight his battles and where to occupy his time. With this blanket of snow abound, looking for herbs seemed like a waste of valuable time.

When spring finally came, that is when Reek would replenish his cache. Reek allowed himself to smile at her meantion of the changing season. The maplewood would be so full of life once the frost melted away. When the blackberries began to form and sap dripped from the trees like molasses, it felt as if he lived within a candy shop. "You're going to love it Spring," he continued. With her interest in plants, she would have so much to occupy her time with. "This place practically explodes with life... It's beautiful."

Spring stared off dreamily into the distance as Reek gave a brief description of Spring, she found herself surprised at a tug of jealousy in her gut, jealous that Reek had been able to see the Maplewood’s supposedly gorgeous Spring, when she had not.  The brown and cream female let out a sigh of wonder.  Imagining all the plentiful herbs, and prey too.

“Sounds perfect.”  Spring murmured, awe hinted in her voice.  She could not wait for Spring to come around so she too could see the wonders and beauties of the Spring climate.  It just sounded amazing by how Reek put it.

While Reek had never personally seen the maplewood in the full bloom of spring, having relocated the wolves of Redtail Rise at the end of the summer season, he had, however, seen the maplewood in it's beautiful transition into fall. A wire thin and subtle smile played across Reek's lips as he became wistful with memory. He hadn't truly appreciated the beauty that the seasons brought to his home until they ultimately passed— and now he was stuck with the cold, dead husk of winter, waiting for the next breath of life to come his way.

"It is," he affirmed once again, lost in the throes of nostalgic memory. He looked to Spring and fell silent for moment, allowing their collective awe to settle before proceeding.

"I, uh— I don't think I've asked Spring, but... have you settled in well?" asked Reek with a curious tone. He had been so busy since her acceptance with both Scarlett and Saena's injuries. She rose to the top of his ranks, and yet, Reek felt as if he hardly knew his gamma. "I mean, does it feel like home?"

Spring let her gaze drift off, imagining the beauties of Spring.  She came back to the real world when Reek asked her about how she was was fairing off.

Spring gave a nod.  "I am very grateful to be apart such a blessed pack."  Spring began.  "I enjoy my duties too.  A couple days ago I taught Lunar Esclispe and Esaro about herbs.  Luna was a pro.  She did very well, I'm sure she knows the herbs I taught her well, she's  very determined when it comes to herbs and learning them... Esaro, well he has talents somewhere else, although I have high hopes he memorized at least some of the herbs I taught him.  I think I might attempt to see what his talent or talents really are in a few days."  Spring commented with passion in her voice.  "I have settled in we'll, and yes I have settled in very well, they're many lovely wolves in this pack.  It's the best home I could ever ask for."  Spring finished in a grateful and passionate tone.

Reek knew he hadn't been the most hospitable host in the beginning of Spring's tenure within the pack due to multiple outside pressures, but the world had seemed to stop spinning at such a breakneck spead and Reek finally had time to breath with relief. Perhaps now, he could devote more time in to making all of his wolves feel more at home within the Maplewood. Her satisfaction was noted and slight smile passed Reek's lips. It was a good home indeed, and while a part of him still pined for what he had left behind at Redtail Rise, he knew that this place was ultimately home.

"Good," hummed Reek with a pleased nod. In her short time within the pack, Spring had already gone above and beyond the call of duty by taking Esaro and Luna under her wing. "I really appreciate you helping them out. You've done a lot for us here." For this he was ever thankfull, because in Reek's mind, they needed all the help they could get to be contributing members. Reek's mental image of Lunar Eclipse was already beginning to slowly change for the better, but Esaro seemed something of a dope to the raggedy alpha. Perhaps, once he got to know him a bit better, his better qualities would shine through.

A smile appeared on Spring’s maw for a moment, happy to please her Alpha.  “Anytime.”  The brown, black and cream female hummed happily.  Spring started to think about Esaro, wondering where his specialties lay and if they could be useful.  Nothing came to mind, all she could think about was how obvious he was around her friend Laika, with his ‘feelings’ towards her.  That made Spring smile at the thought, but she pushed those thoughts away for now, focusing back on Reek.

"So..." Reek continued after a short bout of silence. His attention locked in on the patch of upturned snow Spring had previously rooted through in her fruitless search.  "Even though it's no use," Reek was sure to add extra, mock sarcastic inflection to his words, "maybe I could help you find whatever it is you're looking for." Finding useful herbs that still lived under this thick blanket of snow would be a wild goose-chase...

But, Reek had nothing left occpy his busy mind in terms of scheduling.

He tore his attention away from the ground and looked back to Spring. This was her search after all, and he would let her take the lead. "Any ideas on what to look for?" asked the resident plant expert.

“Some burdock root, might have frozen underground, under the ice.”  Spring remarked.  A teasing playful smirk played on her maw.  “And I did intact find some good quality fern, that can help, it’s buried a little ways away from here.”  Spring remarked.  “So this search in fact is not completely useless.”

Spring began to scoop the snow aside, making yet another hole.  Hoping that this time she might in fact find something, as she dislodged, the fluffy white snow and ice as it flew into a pile next to the hole.

For a moment, Reek's face contorted with thoughtful consideration. Perhaps Spring was on to something by supposing that, possibly, the ever useful root of the burdock plant remained untouched and dormant underneath the thick blanket of snow. While perennial plants withered away in the autumn and winter, their rootstock remained perfectly intact and ripe for the picking. However, even though the root system didn't die away completely, finding them without the physical marker of a living plant would be nothing short of a stroke of luck. At least she had already found something for the caches.

"Alright, where do you suppose we look?" he asked, unable to hide the befuddlement in his voice. It was a rare occurence for Reek to search the annals of his encyclopedic mind and turn up empty, rarer still was an admission of not knowing. But, unless Spring had a good suggestion, Reek would remain utterly stumped.

Spring thought for a couple second, pausing from her work.  That was a good point that Reek made.  How would they look?   An idea sprung into Spring’s mind.  “It’s simple.”  Spring began.  “Dig away about maybe half or a fourth of the snow covering the ground to the point where you can clearly scent the ground beneath it.  Then just see if you cans cent anything else, such as the burdock root.  If you do, dig up the rest of the snow and dig the root out.”  Spring wasn’t entirely sure if that would work, but she had a sliver of hope that it would, unless Reek pointed anything out to her that would fell her plan.

The plan may have been simple, but it seemed a hell of a gamble.  Burdock's large, heart shaped leaves were easy enough to spot in the spring, summer, and fall... but now, in this horrid season of famine when all had died away, Spring and Reek were nothing more than explorers without a compasse.  Lost and reliant solely on luck.

"You sure Spring?" came Reek's reluctant reply. "Burdock's relatively uncommon in these parts... I don't know that we should waste time by searching blind, you know?"  With a grimace, Reek shrugged. They simply couldn't overturn the whole maplewood in search of a single plant; it would be an unnecessary expendeture of valuable energy, especially now in winter when it was to be conserved at all costs.

Spring nodded, agreeing.  Now that she thought of it, her plan would not work efficiently anyways, it would just kick up a lot of snow.  She pondered for any ideas that would pop into her mind, but none came.  She sighed inwardly, blank.

“your right it is pretty pointless,”  Spring admitted.  “At least Spring’s in a about four to five weeks from now, so it’s approaching.  Then all the herbs, will hopefully spring back into store.”  Spring remarked.

One more post from you and that should do it! I'd love to have another thread soon!

Sighing with displeasure, Reek knew he also had nothing new to bring to the table.  At least, not until the snow cleared.  Thankfully, they only had to endure little more than a month before the season began to change and new life would be brought to the maplewood (in more ways than one).  

"Cache the fern," he said with a twinge of dissapointment.  "We'll just have to wait for the rest." Despite the fact that that Spring wasn't returning from her search empty handed, Reek could help but feel the pressure winter had forced upon him.  His spirits, it seemed, had been set to low. With a final nod to Spring after giving his command, Reek turned and dissapeared into the frosted wood.

Spring obeyed Reek’s command quickly.  Trotting away to go get the fern.  It was only one small strand, with only one fourth of it’s leaves left, but it was better than nothing.  Spring picked it up, heading towards the cache, to dispose of it, until it was needed.

Reaching the cache, Spring dropped the fern.  Then padded out, feeling a cold wind slice through her pelt, the female could not wait until Spring came around, when the harsh climate exploded with life once more, but until then she would just have to tough it out with everyone else in the Maplewood.  Spring walked back towards the spot where she had communicated with Reek earlier.  Only this time she found herself daydreaming about the Spring that would surely and hopefully come here soon.

Okay me too!  Fading Out Here