The Heartwood this little bluebird came looking for you.

Blissfully unaware of the storm that was brewing within Liffey, Rannoch continued alongside and listened to what she had to offer. Silently, he took note of what she wanted and hoped that he could find somewhere that made her as happy as she made him. 

"That sounds awesome," replied Rannoch, envisioning such a place. He could see it clearly then; a ledge for two facing a sprawling twilight-- a seat perfect for the both of them to stargaze. It was as he was composing this complete picture that another, casual, question came into play. He did not find it odd that she wanted to know about their packmate and happily obliged to her question: "Yeah, she has the most medicine knowledge out of all of us." Having somebody practicing medicine was important to Rannoch as he wanted to be able to help any of his injured packmates when they needed it. "I have a fear that if she went away too long then somebody could get hurt and we'd be useless to whoever was injured," his ears lowered at the thought, and he glanced away with a frown. Turning back, Rannoch shrugged his shoulders. "But, I guess nothing can be done for that moment but to prepare," elaborated Rannoch thoughtfully. He knew he couldn't keep Rose around at all times and at some point in his life such an occasion would occur.

Liffey listened attentively as Rannoch explained more about Rose. Apparently she was a medic, which made sense then for her to be in need of herbs. As much as she hated to admit it, having a healer was pretty important. She couldn't very well remember a time before Raven arrived, but still she knew how valuable it was to have someone with those skills and how dangerous it had been to be without her before she'd arrived. Still.. Liffey felt a need to boast about her own healing skills, even though they were completely non-existant. Fortunately, she resisted.

"So.. what do some of the others do?" the young Blackthorn asked, knowing full well that whatever answers Rannoch provided might drive her equally as crazy if not more. Her curiosity could not be contained, though; she had to know if the skills she brought to the pack were unique.

Rannoch had not seen Liffey's previous question as anything but curiosity, and as such, he carried on just as naive as he had with his previous statement. "Cypress is a Guardian," replied Rannoch with a hint of pride, the tone subsiding as he continued along. "Tryp is a hunter, Rian is a scout..." he trailed, knowing these members had their mentioned skills. The others? "There are a few wolves who are still working on what they want to do, too," he elaborated. "Kaori is interested in plants, Redshank in hunting, and Pyro?" Rannoch hesitated here, unsure of what he was interested in, "I'm not sure yet." 

"How about you?" He asked quickly, correcting himself, "Well, I know you're the best star watcher, but, are you interested in anything else trade-wise if anything?" Rannoch didn't care either way and was instead curious to what she wanted.

Liffey felt anxious as Rannoch explained what interests and skills the rest of the pack held. There was one overlap - Rian and his scouting, but that didn't perturb her much since he was a boy and this apparently had only to do with making sure none of the other females were more talented or interesting than she - a realization she was not at all comfortable with. She bit her lip gently and took a breath, resolving to be better. She was being childish, getting so jealous over Rannoch. It was silly. He didn't belong to her, after all...

The Blackthorn smiled at his comment, shooting him a playful glance. "The technical term is astronomer," she informed him, "When we want to be fancy, anyway. I'm interested in about ninety other things, but mostly it's the stars, the weather and ranging for me. What about you?"

"Ah," replied Rannoch to Liffey's clarification, committing that fact to memory. To the rest of her statement, his head bobbed at her response. He didn't expect her to know what she wanted, and as such, didn't mind as she responded as she did. 

When the subject turned to him, he smiled. "I've learned through Redshank that I like being around kids," admitted Rannoch. "And I like teaching... so I think I want to be a Sitter and Mentor," his eyes trailed to her, wondering what she thought of this. In all reality, he was still a kid himself.

Rannoch's response took her by surprise, if only momentarily. She didn't judge him for liking kids (not completely), but did wonder how he might feel to know she didn't. At all. At least, not the little ones. Maybe when they learned how to speak in complete sentences with decent pronounciation, they'd be alright. She'd yet to encounter one of those, though, and so she still had room to consider they'd be just as irritating in some other way. To her, kids were loud, selfish, needy, rude little beasts that she wanted nothing to do with.

Fortunately, Liffey had the good sense to keep that line of commentary to herself. "I can see that," she commented, thinking more of the Mentor part. He was just as young as she was, but already he seemed somehow wise beyond his years, "They make a lot of sense together too."

Though Liffey's commentary had been positive, Rannoch wondered then her opinion on children. It seemed as though Lagan had taken a liking to them and he wondered if she shared the same sentiments. Even with this curiosity overtaking the forefront of his mind, Rannoch did not press on the issue. To Rannoch, something told him that it didn't seem right at the moment and he followed that gut instinct for 

"I used to wanted to be a Guardian," said Rannoch, elaborating thoughtfully as reflections on the past overtook his train of thought suddenly. Feeling nostalgic, he continued, "My father was a great leader and guardian, and I wanted to be just like him." Recalling Scimitar caused him to feel hollow and vulnerable. Liffey, on the other hand, made him feel the opposite and perhaps it was her company that allowed him to speak of the alpha of Neverwinter Forest so freely. "But everything happened and after being on my own for so long, I found out a lot about myself and discovered how much I want to help those who somehow ended up on their own like I had." Rannoch sighed then, feeling a weight settle in his heart at this admission. 

"But enough about me," responded Rannoch suddenly, attempting to derail both his feeling that had settled in his breast and the current topic, favoring learning more about Liffey than continuing as is. "How did you discover the stars?" He was curious how her passion had blossomed into ambitions of becoming an astronomer and hoped that she would disclose how she came across her life's purpose.

Liffey tried to keep her attention split between the hunt and her handsome companion, but found it impossible when said handsome companion began to divulge some points of interest about himself. She had always been an empathetic creature, and so certain parts of his commentary struck her where others may have overlooked it. None hit harder though than hearing that Rannoch's father was a great leader. She frowned gently as sympathy towards him began to swell, but she kept her questions and comments to herself. She was not one to pry secrets from others - only to listen when it was offered and to provide comfort when it was needed.

It didn't seem to be needed now, for Rannoch was shortly turning the conversation back to her. Much like he wanted to learn more about her, so too did she about him. But, she couldn't deny the request of her alpha, nor could she help but smirk a little playfully at the question he posed. "I uh.. looked up?" she answered, bumping his shoulder lightly with hers in a stroke of (what she considered to be) incredible boldness, "Kidding. But only kind of. I mean, I've always liked looking at them and have for as long as I can remember. Our pack never had anyone to really teach me about them so everything I learned just came from my own observations. Which is to say: I could be wrong about pretty much all of it."

The Blackthorn paused before adding with a smile, "I'm pretty sure I'm not, though."

Liffey's sense of humor was one of the many things that kept Rannoch's interest. With her, there seemed to be a dull moment; she always had something to say that caught him off guard. Her answer to his question was no exception to this. Looking to Liffey with a humored expression, Rannoch actively paid mind and kept in step with her pace as he found himself distracted by her. He was so distracted that he nearly didn't feel the clash of their shoulders, but when the man realized what had happened, he brightened. 

"No," agreed Rannoch honestly as he sidestepped to bring his shoulder to hers, "I think you're right about what you've been telling me." With her touch, he was feeling almost invincible, and with this, he felt free enough to speak how he truly felt. "And if somebody did tell me that you were wrong, I don't think I'd believe them," he admitted, pulling his shoulder from hers.

Rannoch moved closer to her and as much as Liffey wanted to ask as though she didn't notice, she completely noticed. Her heart thrummed a little faster at his nearness and she had to force herself to re-focus on the hunt in order to not show her reaction. It was probably a good thing considering how much she had been neglecting it, particularly since the trail had shifted suddenly and she needed to pause to ensure she was changing direction appropriately.

"That could be your downfall, you know," Liffey informed him teasingly as she angled them to the right and dipped her muzzle to sniff at the ground again. Their quarry apparently had stopped to rummage around this area as the trail became muddied with back and forth. Unaware of her own actions as she tried to follow the trail, Liffey spun in two small circles in place with a look of consternation on her face before she stopped and looked at Rannoch a little helplessly.

"This got harder," she informed him with the teensiest of pouty faces. She pursed her lips slightly before looking about herself again and sniffling, frustration beginning to rise.

Liffey's advice was met with a playful toss of his shoulders. "It could be," ventured Rannoch foolishly with a grin. There was no reason for him not to trust Liffey and as such, he found himself vulnerable. Though he would do his best to keeping himself in check, Rannoch knew that he would always be willing to accept what Liffey offered at face value, even if it did sound outlandish. This was one of the many side effects that she had on him, but with his position amongst the gang, this was the most glaring of them all. 

It was as he contemplated her words that Liffey met the crossroads of the trail. It was in mid-thought that her actions distracted him and soon enough he found himself entirely distracted from what he had been mulling over just moments before. His eyes grew soft, and his heart thrummed with the affection that he felt for her. Everything that she was captivating for Rannoch, he could almost never seem to take his eyes or attention off of her when she was around. Of course, there were the exceptions to this, but this interaction thankfully stayed between the two of them. 

Taking a  step closer to her, Rannoch lowered his muzzle to sniff at the tangle of the beaver's navigation, finding himself all the more confused, too. "It is," he agreed with a wag of his tail, lifting his eyes to her as he debated their next step. Though the roadblock was evident, Rannoch knew that beavers often gravitated towards the water. "Maybe we can head towards the river and see if it somehow went back?" He suggested, lifting his head once more.

It was fortunate that Liffey didn't notice the expression on her companion's face in her confusion over the trail, otherwise she would have melted into a puddle of wolf. It was a look that no one had ever given her in her life - one she had caught her parents making at each other from time to time. It was also a look she had always hoped someone would one day make at her, and to see it on this particular boy would have been emotional overload for the young Blackthorn. Just hearing his voice and feeling his presence was enough.

Speaking of which. Liffey stepped back as Rannoch moved forward to inspect the trail she was struggling with. She canted her head to watch him, then gave him a thoughtful frown as his eyes shifted back to her. "Sounds good to me," she answered, stepping forward to get them moving again, this time in the direction of the river.

It was not too far from where they were already and upon arrival, the Blackthorn went right back to work. The loss of the clear trail they'd been following seemed to have aggitated the competitiveness in her as she found herself motivated to find their quarry by more than just a desire to look good in front of a cute boy. The beaver seemed determined to remain elusive and soon had Liffey trotting along the shoreline with her nose bopping against every rock, shrub and blade of grass.

In the transition from woodlands to the shore, Rannoch realized just how dramatically the earth changed within such a short distance. The ground they had been tracking was tough, only worn by the paws and hooves that had trod upon it. The shore, on the other hand, was soft; worn from the gentle tides that shaped it. He felt himself slip into every step as the floor sunk to from around his paws, realizing just how odd it felt for him to feel like he was on the beach again, even though trees surrounded him. 

While Rannoch's mind wandered, Liffey was making work of her tracking, and once the Alpha turned his attention, he realized just how diligently she was searching. Pleased, he chuffed before complimenting her with a sweetly spoken: "You're really catching on to tracking-- great job." Though they had yet to reconnect with a fresh trail, Rannoch could tell she was doing her best to see if there were any beavers around.

Liffey paused in her forward motion, stopping to do a deeper inspection on a sort of smashed-looking patch of grass. Her ears swiveled as Rannoch spoke and she paused to smile shyly at him. "Thanks," she said, her tail wagging happily, "Can't help but notice we still have no beaver, though." She lifted her head to look around, her gaze trailing along the edge of the water. She wasn't completely certain where to go from here except to just keep walking up and down the river. She was willing to do it - first because the thing had eluded her and she was annoyed, second because she really just wanted to see one now.

"I wish it would be dumb enough to just walk up to us," Liffey commented idly, "That would make this a lot easier." She looked back at Rannoch with a playful glint in her eyes. "Why don't you try making beaver calls to it - see if you can draw it to us?" she suggested, grinning. She had no idea what beavers sounded like or if they even made noises; She just wanted to tease her friend.

He didn't make beaver noises, but the wry look he gave her was gratifying enough. She laughed as the pair went back to work (sort of), hypothesizing about what their prey sounded like and chatting their way into forgetting about the hunt entirely until they'd circled back to join the rest of the pack.