The man wandered back and forth through his stores, from this shelf and that shelf, trying to decide on what to teach Callisto this time. Being so worried about his students lesson he hadn't left his den aside from the occasional hunt for a plant he thought he might need but didn't have. And on top of his lack of knowing what to teach the girl he hadn't made an appearance in the festival, even though his den was situated right within the land Katja had allowed other wolves to set foot in.

Since the end of the mass healer sit and share, Maximous had gone out specifically to find poisons to teach Callisto. She always seemed to be interested in what ever he decided to teach her, however, during that meeting she had been far more interested in the poisons that were shared than anything else. It was at that point that he decided he was to teach her everything he knew about the deadly plants. Who knew, with that information she could become and even greater healer than many he knew from his birth pack.

Hours would pass by before the man would finally decide on a mouth full of various herbs and poisons. Slowly and carefully Max would carry them outside and set them on the ground. Once they were spread out so than none overlapped the others he decided that he would have a larger lesson than the typical five or six plants and turned back to the stores within his den only to emerge with another mouthful of plants.

The moment he had everything spread out on the ground before him his nose would rise to the sky and he would let out a call for the younger wolf. When all was silent once more Maximous would recount the plants. Having ten in all, he hoped that she would be as willing to learn about these as she had been for all the other plants he and everyone else had taught her.

Walk | Talk | Think

The girl's grey legs carried her hurriedly along from the Steppe where her den was located to the territory surrounding the lake, eagerness about her swift gait. There was particular reason for her to hurry when it was Maximous, her teacher and friend, that called to her, knowing that once she reached him something new and exciting would be taught to her about this plant or that one, things that would further her training in becoming a full-fledged healer at the end of it all. His lessons were always the highlight of her day, even if she did not manage to express it in the most obvious of ways. But after so long of being his pupil she was sure the man was already becoming familiar enough with her little idiosyncrasies to know when she was happy or content or frustrated.

And now she was quite excited despite it not being plastered to her face in the form of a smile. It was within her eyes, however, her silvery blue gaze alert and searching even before she reached the place where the dark healer stood. She slowed as she drew nearer, her interested stare roaming from him to the plants that she could see upon closer inspection set in a purposeful line at his paws. She counted them, curious, and drew her brow into a frown that full of intrigue and interest. "Another lesson?" she asked when finally she drew to a stop, standing opposite the man with the plants still in their line between them. Upon closer inspection, they were nothing that she immediately recognized, nothing that she could recall any familiarity with. A new lesson entirely? "What are these?" she asked, hardly giving him a chance to speak as she lowered her muzzle and hovered it over the plants to sniff at them tentatively. Such odd scents... Her nose wrinkled a little as she drew back, her gaze meeting Max's once more.

The man sat patiently as he waited for Callisto to arrive. He had known she would not make him wait long as she always seemed to rush to him when he called her. Always she would arrive smile free but with a strong spark of interest showing through her eyes.

She would not prove him wrong today as she would arrive a short amount of time after he called her. A smile would not curve her lips as it would most excited and interested wolves. However she was not most wolves, but rather an individualized young she wolf who, upon her arrival had almost instantly switched her attention from him to the herbs laying on the ground in front of him.

He would give her a smile and wait silently as she investigated the new herbs as though she had never seen or smelled anything like them. She would ask a question and he would get out nothing more than a "Yes." before she would ask what the plants were. "Some are herbs, some are mild poisons that are nothing more than a mind paralyzer. And by that I mean they cause delusions." he would half answer her question.

Looking from her to the plants at his paws he would list them in the order he had placed them on the ground. "Alder Buckthorn, Periwinkle, Ayahuasca, Jimson Weed, Psilocybin, Salvia, Khat, Kava, Cannabis, and Yarrow are the plants you see here."

Walk | Talk | Think

Her serious, expectant stare remained fixed upon her dark-colored teacher, searching his kindly smiling face as he went about explaining to her about the newest lesson he had lined up today. And the moment the word left his lips her ears perked and her attention seemed to fixate even more pointedly upon him. Poisons! She had been nothing but curious about the plants after attending the healer's meeting in which a few of them had been introduced, had wished more than anything to be taught more about them, but in the aftermath of the meeting she had forgotten to ask. Max was a busy individual, and though her own training was still not quite complete Callisto was competent enough to do things on her own now.

But that did not stop her from raising her brows and offering her instructor a look that was almost disbelieving. "Really?" she asked, not with an incredulous tone but one surprisingly eager, almost animated, compared to how she normally spoke. Finally! At last the dream she had harbored of becoming more familiar with the deadly plants was coming true. And though she voiced no thanks to Maximous, still far too eager for him to keep talking, she was full of gratitude for his attention to her interests to spark this new lesson.

He introduced each of the plants to her, offering their names as she stared at them before her feet. Quickly she reclined into a seated position and lowered her head slightly as she surveyed each of them closely, determining physical differences to go along with the differences in their scents that she had already begun to determine when she had first arrived. There were so many of them, much more than they normally covered in one lesson, but Callisto remained eager for the challenge, casting her gaze questioningly at Max as she placed a grey paw upon the plant on her left, asking, "This one's Alder Buckthorn?" She needed to make sure she had them in the right order and was not getting the list turned around. It meant far too much to her to mess this particular lesson up.

Though the man's attention was on the plants, he did not miss Callisto's reaction to his words. It was the same thing she had done when the other wolves had mentioned poisons at the healer meeting. He couldn't help but smile at her perked ears and increase in interest. A few thoughts came to mind, but as usual he would keep them to himself.

Happy he hadn't just been seeing things the day of the healer meeting, Max took in a look that could have been close to disbelief and answered her first question. "Yes, really." he had paused a few moments before speaking again "You looked interested when the other healers spoke of poisons so I thought we might start on them."

He would wait a few moments but he knew no thanks would come from her as she wanted him to move on to the plants and answer her next question. She had always been that way, but it had never bothered him and never would so he would answer her question. "Yes that is the Alder Buckthorn. But the true question is, with which plant would you like to begin the lesson with?" This lesson was based upon what she wanted to learn so he would allow her to choose the first plant to learn about.

Walk | Talk | Think

If she had been the type to do it, Callisto might have rushed forward to give her mentor a quick nuzzle of appreciation. She was truly grateful for his attention that he had been giving her, how he had been able to notice just by observing her that she had a secret wish to learn not just about the plants that were most helpful but those that were most deadly as well. He really was a great instructor, better even than she had imagined him being at first. And strangely she was glad to know him, glad to consider him one of the few friends that she possessed.

Rather than get all mushy, however, she was quick to throw herself into her newest lesson, earning a positive answer to the question she had asked. Unexpectedly she smiled, not a little hint as was most typical but an actual smile that even reached upward into her silvery blue eyes. Maybe it was just the new subject of their lesson but she felt considerably more happy with herself for having guessed right, and even more happy with all the further instructions she was going to get from Maximous. This was by far her most favorite lesson yet.

Just a little her eyes narrowed as she set her gaze upon the plants again, scanning over them as she tried to decide which to pick as the first one to go over. Psilocybin, Kava, Yarrow, she thought, still thinking quietly to herself before she finally leaned forward to tentatively nose a little closer to one plant in particular, the white-flowered Jimson Weed. Once again her nose crinkled slightly and she drew back a little, turning her intensely curious stare back upon Max. "This one. You said it's Jimson Weed?" Callisto asked, hoping she had the order of the plants right.

Callisto's smile had surprised him. He had never, not even once seen the girl give a full and true smile like she was now. If he could have smiled any more than he already was than he would have. The smile, he observed, was not only on her face but in her eyes as well. He would definitely not forget how the smile lit up her features.

Silently he would straiten out his thoughts and concentrate them back onto the lesson rather then how beautiful the younger wolf looked when she smiled. Patiently he would wait for her to decide on a plant to begin the lesson with. He would watch as her eyes would move from him to the Alder Buckthorn to the Yarrow and then back to the white flowered Jimson weed. She would lean toward the fourth plant in the line only to crinkle her nose at it and slightly lean away again.

Again those curious filled eyes would look upon him as an answer and a question flowed into the air around them. His first answer would be a silent nod, the second would be that of a verbal "Correct." Max would be silent after his answers only long enough to see her reaction before launching into the details of the white flowered plant.

Jimson weed, also known as Hell's Bells, is used for its intense psychoactive properties as it produces intense, long-lasting visions and hallucinations the plant can also create powerful out of body experiences. Its effects can last for hours, or days. Long term recovery is needed. Jimson weed is only found in wastelands and weed patches. Its very rare and difficult to find. he would pause a moment to let her soak in all the information and ask any questions she may have. He knew it unnecessary to ask if she had any as if they were there to ask then she would ask them. Then he would ask a question of his own "Would you like to continue in order from here or continue to pick them out of order?"

Walk | Talk | Think

She breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Max confirmed her guess on the Jimson Weed. That was good. It meant she did have a good idea to the order of the plants and the names he had given them as he had gone over the entire list. Which meant that she would be able to point them all out by name now herself. If this one's Jimson Weed, then...this one's Periwinkle, she thought, testing out the knowledge she had just received. And this one will be Khat. Yes, she had it now, and by the end of it she would be able to recognize them all by sight and identify their uses as well.

In Maximous's patient, informative way, he went on to describe the plant, how it was used, what it did, where it could be found in the wilds. It was unfortunate it was a rare plant. The effects it had were rather intriguing and she would have enjoyed seeing them in action. Maybe even on a certain white wolf with purple eyes. Not that that was even likely; she was still actively avoiding the north where he tended to lurk in waiting. And she could have happily gone the rest of her life without seeing his face.

With the talk on Jimson Weed - Hell's Bells - complete, Callisto's instructor left it up to her to choose how they would go about finishing the lesson and she let her gaze travel over the poisonous plants that separated them. There was no denying that a few of them were immediately more interesting to her than the others, but maybe just going down the line would be better. At least that way she did not stand as much of a chance of getting her information crossed. "Let's just keep going with the order they're in," she decided, adding a nod for emphasis.

The man would nod at her answer and place the claws on his right paw on the plant next to the Jimson Weed. His eyes would examine her for only a second longer before they would travel down to the plant pinned to the ground by nothing more than a few claws. His mind would once again run through the facts about the plant and his mouth would move to voice them. "The Psilocybin produces visual and auditory distortions and can produce extreme exhilaration and trance states. The plant can produce paranoia, anxiety, and long-term personality changes from excessive use. Psylocybin is found in damp, dark areas, such as subtropical forests. Its very rare making it even more difficult to find than many other herbs or poisons.

Facts would stop falling from his maw and he would sit quietly letting her take in the information. He didn't know for sure if she had all the names of the plants in the right order or not, but he was sure he soon would be. He would however move his eyes from the plant back to the black and grey girl before him.

Again his mind would begin to wonder to how beautifully her eyes, hell, how her entire face lit up when she smiled. Truly smiled. He wanted to know how to get her to do that more often. That was until he realized he was staring at a girl who probably thought of him as nothing more than a teacher and friend. Mentally he would bite himself and hope his face hadn't changed from the friendly smile and teacher like way he always held himself during a lesson. "Shall I move to the next plant?" He would ask as a distraction for himself.

Walk | Talk | Think

Eagerly Callisto ate up the lesson that Maximous offered to her. This was the element of her craft that she had always longed to learn about, the plants that had always been at the back of her mind, whispering and nagging at her to learn of them and their uses. Now given the chance, she was completely enraptured. Her silvery blue gaze alternated between looking at the odd looking plant Max kept his paw over, the one that he currently spoke about, and looking up at him. Even he seemed to be slightly more excited by this lesson than the others. Did he oddly possess the same sort of fascination that she did?

He ended his slew of information with a quiet pause and the grey and black wolf could feel his bright eyes on her. Unsure what his stare meant - was there something odd about her appearance or was he just giving her a moment to process the information? - she let her own gaze drop and stare at the funny plant again, squinting and leaning her head to either side before she dared another tentative sniff. Drawn from his reverie, Max inquired whether she was ready to move on, and rather than say anything outright, Callisto only nodded. She was ready to proceed.

The man could not tell if Callisto knew that he had been staring at her, and if she did he wondered if she already knew why he had been staring. Instead of questioning her, he would silently question himself as he acknowledged her nod to his answer. In his own reply he would give a nod of his own and move his paw from the Psilocybin to the Salvia, the sixth plant in line. His maw would open and facts would flow from him. "Salvia is used as a hallucinogenic, it can be used to produce a mild euphoria, as an anti-anxiety her, as a sleep aid, or as an appetite stimulant. Overuse can cause insomnia and addiction. Salvia grows in airy, dry soils and requires little water. It is an uncommon plant though not nearly as difficult to find as the Psilocybin and the Jimson weed."

Again the man's voice would stop and his mouth would close to once again reveal the smile that always seemed to be on his face during a lesson. Only this time rather that staring at his student he would glance up from the Salvia to see if she had any questions and then he would look back down at the plants. Though his eyes were not on her his ears would be perked and listening for her to ask anything that may come to her mind. Well, listening as well as his babbling brain would allow for.

Though silent and calm on the outside, as always, his mind was buzzing. Not over the plants but over the girl before him and at him self. But mostly at himself. He had never before liked a wolf in any manor aside from a sibling, not counting the queen and her siblings, Raisa's pups. To him, the three of them had been nieces and nephews to him...he had no siblings, none by blood, but Raisa had been like a sister as that is how he saw the woman. So why now, did he feel this way about his student? Hell why did it have to be his student he thought he was falling for?

Had his mother been here she would scold him, his father would puff up and tell him to be a man, to chose from one of the many other females. Then again had he still been with the nomads everyone there would be an aunt, an uncle, a brother, a sister or even a cousin. The only wolves that weren't related to him somehow would have been wolves not of Nomad decent. Adult wolves who didn't bare the mark of an adult Nomad, and probably never would. With his upbringing he hadn't had any time to see someone as anything other than family or someone to be distrusted.

Silently his mind would ring over and over So why now but on the outside his vocals would ring out in another question to Callisto "Are you ready for the next plant?"

"Talk"'You'Thought