she thought that wolf was pulling her leg, but here it was. Dutch stared up and around in amazement, seeing the glowing 'shrooms in a large cluster. she'd have to collect a lot of them and bring them back to the band. no doubt Dagfinn could use them for one of his brews. but as to why she was here... the dwarf had been traveling when she traded a few things with a passing man. in exchange for the items she gave away, he told her of a good gathering spot for more, she wanted to say, alternative plants. approaching one of them now, she'd inhale the scent to commit it to memory. the world in which she had lived in before coming to Boreas had these shrooms. many of her dwarven kin ingested them after a hard day's labor. Dutch had always wanted to, but her Pops needed her at the shop. she stuck primarily to booze instead; it was a universal substance down below. everyone was doing it. even yearlings in secret. she was no healer and didn't know their uses, so she set to work just collecting them. running her paws along the wall of the cave, she'd nip a few off. they fell to the ground in a small heap. the cave itself reminded her of home. and how far she was from it. Dutch reclined on the earth, relishing in the cool dirt below her paws and closed her eyes. she could almost imagine being back in her native land. but in a flash, that image was gone. she was alone. in a strange land, she didn't know much about. but that didn't stop the woman from learning all she could.

Valanga was…well, not lost, she had never gotten lost, although she had never really traveled outside the borders of her father’s pack save one time when she left to find her lost sister and they had been confronted by a scary stranger. Their father had found them before the scary man could do anything to them, but that had been well over a year ago, and she was bigger now. Much bigger now, she was almost as big as her father and he had said he wouldn’t be surprised if she grew bigger than him. She strutted proudly through the caverns, head held high as she looked for anything she could use to gain her bearings, a small whine managing to escape her as she looked at what must have been the 50th identical wall she had passed in an hour. She walked faster, moving blindly through the caves and passing clumps of mushrooms with each step all the while thinking of the scary man she had met when she was a pup. She began to grow paranoid as the cloying darkness began to settle in around her until she was running full tilt, searching for daylight. She was so preoccupied with her own fear she didn’t notice the small figure ahead of her until she was almost on top of her, at which point she dug in her paws and stopped just short of crashing into the woman. “Uh…” She said dumbly, her ears pinning back. The woman reminded her of the funny man that lived in Lirium, Seth, was she related to him? Speaking  Thinking You

it wasn't anyone's fault but... well, it was her own damn fault for not recognizing her surroundings. that's uh what she was going with because gettin' angry over something she couldn't control was just stupid. she felt a short gust of wind as the stranger halted abruptly in front of her. Dutch twisted her head, eyes slightly wide, to stare at the taller young woman. her back had been to the stranger, and now she looked very much like an owl. neck ruffled, eyes huge... yep. just a dang o' owl. feathers aside, she had to deal with this. "er, hi?" the dwarf woman was quick to cut in at the stranger's balk. "you okay there, missie?" the girl looked more than a little startled. she looked scared. "ain't hurt, are ya?" Dutch pressed, wishing for the yearling to just stop staring at her all dumbfounded. she was short. she got it. she totally got the message. twisting her neck back to its proper position, her body moved in one solid turn to shift to the front. well, facing the yearling anyway.

“I-I’m fine.” She squeaked, her eyes still locked on the strange woman, staring unabashedly at her then quickly remembered her manners and looked away. “I’m not hurt, no.” She added then turned her attention on the small pile of mushrooms the girl had obtained. “What’s that? Are you a healer?” She asked, cocking her head. “Are the mushrooms for sleeping? I know mushrooms can be for sleeping.” She added then stepped closer to sniff at them. They smelled weird and made her sneeze and shake out her fur. “What’s your name? I’m Valanga.” She introduced without waiting for the woman to answer. “Are you lost? I’m kinda lost. Do you know the way out of here?” She asked fliting from one topic to another in an instant before she bounded onto yet another. “Are you from a pack? I’m from a pack, it used to be my dad’s but he gave it over to Torin, he’s my uncle, kinda, but we’re not related. Do you have any uncles?” Speaking  Thinking You

bless her proverbial beard. this little lady could talk. flittering from one subject to the next, Dutch barely had time to grasp one response before another question was given. maybe it was 'cause the girl was so young. she was inquisitive, not obnoxious. the dwarf found herself grinning. "don't eat 'em, lest you wanna go on a nice trip" she addressed that first as the girl bent to sniff at the mushrooms. "they're hallucin - er, they make you see lots of weird shit." maybe it was best to be simple but also not be like 'not for kids'. "I'mma give 'em to a friend" she went on "he's more into this plant stuff than I am. thought it'd be helpful to bring him a few" it never hurt to curry favors when she needed them too. chuckling, the woman added in; "name's Dutch of the Hjarrandi Band. we ain't pack wolves, sorta like nomads really." since Deity, she had been explaining a lot of the Viking band to various wolves. she wondered if Valkyrie needed an envoy or somethin' - nobody seemed to know who the hell they were. it was perhaps time to get ceremonies and celebrations over with and focus on trade. "hell, I have five uncles" Dutch snickered, recalling none of the names of the guys either. there was Uncle One, Uncle Two... you get the picture. "you live around here? with this pack?" maybe she could work out an agreement with this alpha Torin.