Bitterroot Valley footloose and fancy free

Midnight melted into the wee hours, and Ico still couldn't sleep. For ample reasons that needed untangling like so many coat-hangers, the young fellow was highly preoccupied by his recent change in situation. He'd picked up a travelling companion, Fields, who was taking him South to meet some interesting-sounding friends and to toy with a sense of belonging. They needed rest for the journey ahead, but Ico shortly gave up on sleep and quietly wandered alone to the river, where he lapped up a refreshing drink that only made him feel more awake.

So too did the next event —

Ico stepped on something very small and very sharp; perhaps a bramble or a cruel splinter of bone. "Ouchie..." he murmured, curling his forepaw round to stare at his paw pad, hoping beyond hope that he hadn't already screwed up the week's adventure.

Sagtannet was not home to her. Never before had she felt so disconnected from her pack- they had always been the reason she lived. To serve her leaders and their people. But the world was not painted in the same vivid colors once the queen Andraste had passed. In some ways, the swiftly made transition to merging was good- it showed her Melkor was a strong leader. But on the other hand, Star never felt she had the time to properly mourn. Andraste had been one of the most ethereal leaders she had met in her time, and somehow she could not warm up to Melkor in the same way, despite his good character. 

And so Star wandered north, away from the pack. She would return, of course. But for now she needed time away. She was an old girl now, and so the trip was not as short as it had once been. Each footstep weighed heavily on her soul, and yet she would persist; still she refused to give in to her old age. 

A little yelp of pain alerts her, and curiously, she heads in its direction. She was no medic, but she was a protector, and she would serve those in immediate danger. Of course, it was nothing like that- in the darkness she makes out a pale little boy. There was nothing nearby that alerted her, and so she looks him over with dark eyes, until she notices his lifted, curled paw. Hesitantly she approaches, Are you hurt? You need help?

Somehow Ico had it in his head that there would be wolves down South but not before. So it was with some alarm that he sensed a nearby presence, and more alarm still at quite what a presence she had.

This was a great white mountain of a wolf — just not in bulk. She was petite, even more so than Ico, but without his meagre nature. On floated this vision of condensed fog, and she spoke exactly how she looked.

The boy's sore paw still hovered, a little foolishly, and he ducked his head in recognition of this — and because he was impressed by the stranger's very existence. "Oh, erm... only a little. I'm just making a fuss", he explained apologetically. Ico tore his gaze away from the whiter wolf to finally look closely at his paw pad. "I stood on something sharp. Just not entirely sure what."

Though he did suddenly notice that the pointy, stuck fragment had a strange little glimmer to it.

A shy boy- he warmed her old heart with his ducked head and tentative nature. Don't worry- you're not making a fuss. I know how that feels, She tells him while pointing her muzzle at his paw. Five years ago- Crescendo had pierced each of her paw pads, leaving her with permanent scars. She had learned how uncomfortable the story of her torture could make others, and so she says nothing, as she lifts a paw and turns it towards him- showing the healed scar where a wound had once been. 

Star approaches him then, standing just a yard away. I can't tell exactly what it is either... you want me to help you pull it out? It's gonna hurt, but it'll be worth it... She offers, not wanting to make assumptions. He could probably pull it out himself if he really wanted, but she wasn't going to stand around and be useless. All the while as she spoke, she couldn't help but notice the little glimmer, and the little sparkle in the darkness caught her midnight gaze and held it.

Ico couldn't resist the silent invitation to lean forward and look at her own paw pad. He saw a scar there, stark white in the moonlight. Concerned, but wishing not to be impudent by asking what happened, Ico noted that it looked far worse than whatever fussy little thing he had stuck in his own silly hoof.

The lady had a story, and he had every wish to ask for it.

But first there was a matter at paw. He hesitated, not wanting to be a bother, but really Ico was the sort of fellow who had to accept help where he could get it. "Thank you so much, I think that'd be a great help. If I did it I bet I'd lose my nerve and take forever."

He turned his paw a little and the moonlight slanted through the trees and illuminated the little shard. Upon closer inspection, the observer would find that (thankfully) it wasn't lodged in his flesh at all but stuck between his claws; and, furthermore, it wasn't a splinter or a bone but a very fine, polished blue gemstone.

The pale boy accepts her help, which makes her happy in truth. For Star, joy was found in helping other people in whatever way possible, as long as their intentions were not evil. Ico clearly had no bad intentions, so Star was happy to stride up to him with confident ease. 

Once she's close, old eyes can pick out the object better- something beautiful and blue, a shining jewel of some sort. She's almost distracted for a moment but quickly snaps back to reality, leaning down her jaws close to his little paw. Her dark eyes glance up to him momentarily, like some sort of final confirmation, before she carefully grabs the thing between two fangs and pulls rather suddenly. Always better to get that sort of pain over with quickly, rather than draw it out- she'd learned that with time.

Star drops the little stone onto the ground between them, and it catches the light of the moonlight briefly as it falls. The old woman is made like a child again, momentarily forgetting her company to gaze at the treasure with wonder.

Anticipation of pain was oft worse than the feeling itself, and that was the case here as Ico stiffly let the white wolf approach and then — it was over. He gingerly returned his paw to the ground, and while it was a little uncomfortable he was tremendously relieved to find that it didn't hurt all that much. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to sheepishly announce to Fields that he was injured and could walk no further.

Speaking of thankful, Ico could've thanked the kind stranger a thousand times over. He was about to start with one, when he noticed her dark eyes wide with curiosity. He followed her gaze — she was inspecting the splinter she'd just extracted from his paw, and it was an odd thing indeed; and blue! "What is that?" he asked in a hushed voice, dipping to look at it closer. Ico recalled something a spiritual healer in his old pack had once uttered. "Is it magic?"

omg,,, SO sorry for the wait on this :(

The boy dropped his delicate paw back to the earth, looking only somewhat in discomfort, albeit grateful. Soon he seemed to notice the same thing she gazed at, she glanced up to him with an amused smirk before her gaze returned from whence it came as he spoke. Of magic! Star had never believed such things, but would never ridicule those who did- and so she murmured a little Perhaps. 

Ever so careful, knowing how it had gotten wedged, she bent down and sort of pushed it a little bit with a pale paw, watching once more as the light caught on its edges before it went flat again. In my six years of a lifetime, I've never seen anything like that. Have you? She inquired, though she doubted it, given his reaction that seemed to match (if not outdo) her own.

No problem! <3

The two white wolves looked closer, Ico not daring to touch it, but somehow feeling that the other wolf could. There was something magical about her.

Actually... yes, he admitted when she asked. Once. A healer joined my birthpack — only for a season before moving on. She would carry around a rock with a blue gemstone like this embedded in it. When she wasn't carrying it around, she kept it in the healing den. She said it might be magic, and I couldn't conceive of what that meant. But all the wolves of the pack were fascinated by it... some even tried to steal it. Perhaps their fascination is what she meant by magic...?

So it seemed the boy had a story to tell. She listened curiously- an old woman, she was naturally a collector of stories- and found his tale rather intriguing. The idea that an object so valuable and prized by many might lie in front of them now held great power. And Star was no believer of the other-worldly, but she hoped that Ico might take the initiative to snatch the thing up for himself if he found it magical.

But even a magic that was not of the supernatural was still a sort of magic, and the marshmallow fox pointed this out next. At his story, her brow furrowed slightly, disturbed by the dissonance expressed, even if on a small scale. That magic is called greed, and it is more a curse than anything, She spoke bitterly. Stealing among packmates, just for this stone... of course it is a beautiful thing, but is it worth keeping around if it stirs up such chaos? If it possesses a... a bad magic?

Ico looked up wide-eyed from the gem to the lady, feeling that he was lucky enough to be in the presence of not one but two magical things. For she was very sage, and what she said made crucial sense. I think you're so, so right, he breathed.

In my birthpack, two wolves even fought over the healer's gemstone as they tried to steal it. One fighter was just a hungry buck who liked shiny things, but the other was wiser than that, and felt strongly that the gemstone had healing powers and could thus be used for the greater good...

His story trailed off as he looked at this new gem fragment warily. What if this has healing powers...? After all, the little wound in his forepaw had now stopped stinging completely. Would we be irresponsible to be rid of it?

He agreed adamantly with her, and Star allowed a slight smile to slip to her lips even as he told his tale. It proved the point about greed- but then again, there was this 'healing power' he spoke of. The matron never believed in magic, but she knew that herbs and plants were used to heal; sometimes in mysterious ways that made little sense to her. Could a pebble do the same thing? And how, then, could it be used?

To his question, she shook her head as if unsure. Frankly... I don't know. I never thought a rock could heal anyone... but if eating certain plants can clear a cough or stomache, who's to say touching a stone can't do the same thing? It wasn't that she believed it necessarily, but he seemed hopeful in a way, and Star did not mean to crush his spirit by defying any beliefs he might have.

If it does heal, it would certainly be helpful in the winter months when the plants die. She gazed down at the thing, thoughtful, unsure, brought to new questions by his own. Eventually dark gaze moved back up to him. Think you're going to keep it? I don't want it. She breathed, nudging the stone slightly towards him with her snout.

Thanks for the lovely thread Summer! <3

Although he'd known her for scarcely the amount of time it took to cross this very river, her enchanting aura was such that Ico was very much inclined to believe most anything she said. Or at least to take her words under very strong advisement. And so he was intrigued by her open-mindedness, and glanced from her back down to the curious gemstone, wistful, wondering...

He remembered the two greedy wolves from Walnut Grove. In the end, one of the wolves fighting for the gemstone was chased away from the pack. It was the healer. The wise one. The one who 'won' the stone merely kept it as a keepsake, and it never did prove powerful — except in its dangerous allure.

And hence, a conclusion. He shook his head. I shan't take it either. But nor will I cover it up or cast it away. Passers-by can decide for themselves what to do with it.

Just as they had.

And later, as he returned to Fields and their long journey, musing quietly over the snowy stranger and their peculiar find, Ico felt in his heart that he'd done the right thing.