Artorias had not ventured far from the castle in the last several days since his mother's incident. He had been too afraid he'd be needed for something and not be around—not to mention that going beyond the pack borders had become increasingly dangerous as of late with the endless ice age and the plethora of Pangean predators skulking around the lands. But when Gwynevere had come shambling out of her infirmary with a look of shell-shock and weariness on her face saying she needed to go scavenge for herbs, Artorias offered to go with her so she could be protected, strapping on his armor and grabbing a wooden sword on their way out the gates. The last thing his family needed was anything happening to anyone else.

The two wolves had set out south from the castle, across the frozen tundra of the plains, and over the crest of the ridge that led to the bone-strewn valley just outside their borders. Artorias had never ventured this far south before, so this was all a new experience for him. He didn't know what to expect as he and his sister climbed the ridge that would become the valley they were bound for. The weather was fortunately calm for the day, the wind having died down to nothing more than an occasional whisper. Gray clouds still mostly obscured the sky, but at least it wasn't snowing or storming. He kept his head on a swivel, scanning left and right around the empty lands for any signs of life. They appeared to be the only ones out here.

He cast his gaze over his little sister, giving her a small smile. He knew she had been running herself ragged since their mother had been injured—they all had been, but Gwynevere especially had been working tirelessly around the clock for all of them. She had been the one he'd brought their staggering mother to that awful night, and he felt more than a little responsible for her involvement in all this. He wanted to make it up to her somehow. "Are you looking for anything in particular out here?" he asked while they reached the top of the ridge and officially entered Fossil Ridge. He peered around the snow covered grounds and icicle-laden bones protruding from the exposed earth.


"Artorias" | Thoughts | "Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Sometimes it felt like she was just constantly trudging through a bad dream. She got sleep in little bits and pieces that never really felt like she was getting any real rest. Whenever she did sleep it was filled with nightmares that constantly woke her up and that was only when her worries died down long enough for her to actually fall asleep. There was a constant fear that if she didn't keep an eye on her mother than something would go wrong, that she'd miss giving her treatments on time, that she wouldn't be there to help one of her family members with something they needed. Now that her mother's wounds had mostly begun to scab over and were far less likely to get infected she had allowed herself to relax a bit more, but she still had worry that twisted in her gut and even just being out of the castle this long made her nervous. Nearly all of her herbs were gone at this point and she knew she shouldn't feel bad for taking some from the other healers in the pack, but she did. She knew how hard they were to come by these days and she didn't want to make things harder on them if they needed them.

While their mother was out training with Sirius, she took the opportunity to go out and see if she could manage to find any herbs to add to her stores. At first she had intended on going on her own, much to Eilwen's displeasure, but as she was walking out of their family's wing of the castle she found Artorias and he had quickly volunteered himself to go with her. Even though she had insisted that it wasn't necessary, she was grateful for his company. Before all of this happened she had hardly spent any time at all with her siblings and somehow this had forced her to interact with them more, which she supposed was a small blessing. Rudyard and Artorias in particular had sought her out and it both made her anxious over the fact that she might not have the skills or the answers to what was needed from her while still making her feel needed and appreciated at the same time.

She crunched through the snow beside Artorias, Eilwen soaring somewhere overhead. She lifted her gaze to his when he spoke, asking about if she was looking for anything in particular. She gave him a faint smile in return and gave a small shrug. "I would take pretty much anything at this point... This eternal winter has been awful for finding herbs of any kind. Some yarrow would be wonderful. It's pretty hardy so it's been one of the few things we can still find right now. Otherwise... If it's growing, I'll take it." She couldn't wait for the weather to begin to turn around so herb hunting wouldn't be so desperate and she could actually enjoy it again.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

Artorias pursed his lips into a tight line and gave a low hum of agreement when his sister mentioned how horrible the never-ending winter had been. He, too, was ready for the sun and warmth to return to the world. By now, he had figured out that this was definitively NOT what spring was supposed to be like, but it was such a stark contrast from the lovely fall world he and his siblings had first walked out into, with bright sunshine, warm air, and beautifully colored trees. Winter had brought nothing death and despair with it; he hated winter now. He just prayed that the warm days of summer that had been promised to them for their first birthdays would not also be stolen away by the accursed ice age.

Gwyn's lack of specificity for herbs beyond yarrow—which he had no idea what yarrow even was, mind you—gave him little to work off of. That was fine though, he was mostly here as security and to check out the lands anyway. Gwyn could handle herself when it came to flower picking. Artorias stopped at the crest of the ridge, peering around at all the fossils laid bare and strewn across the craggy terrain. They would have to be careful here; one wrong step could sprain an ankle or slide down a drop. "Mind your footing around here, Gwyn," he cautioned her while slowly descending from the ridge toward some flatter terrain. Overhead, Corbin swooped down to glide a few feet over the ground, dipping around fossils and skeletons to try and find any threats hiding out of view from the wolves.

"Anything I can be doing to help?" he asked backwards over his shoulder to his sister. "What does yarrow look like? Actually... what does any useful plant look like?" He was deliberately trying to avoid talking about the situation back at the castle. They both needed a break from the gloom, and they didn't need to be thinking about it right now.


"Artorias" | Thoughts | "Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Artorias' warning to watch her footing had her attention back on the ground in front of her, carefully placing her paws with each step she took. Perhaps this had been a bad direction to pick after all. She didn't know what this place looked like normally, but at least with the prolonged winter weather it was just dirt and bones. The bones at least were interesting enough to look at, but they didn't really help her cause at all. Artorias seemed to be enjoying looking at the landscape though and Eilwen was always just happy to get a chance to be out of the castle and flying around - especially these days. If Gwyn had been a shut in before, that was only amplified now with everything that was going on.

She found a more stable piece of ground where it leveled out at the bottom of a slope and looked up at Art when he asked about what a helpful plant looked like. She smirked and chuckled, managing to give him a playful glare. "You've got to know what at least a few of them look like. I gave you a lesson on them, remember?" It was nice to not think about things for a while. It reminded her about what things had been like before all of this. Back when her biggest worries were just how she was having trouble distinguishing between boneset and meadowsweet.

"Yarrow usually has clusters of small white flowers, but I don't know if the flowers would survive this cold... Maybe just call me over if you find anything leafy and I'll check it for you," she suggested. Then two sets of eyes could look for plants and instead of one. She'd rather find some she couldn't use and at least know that she checked them all than wonder if she missed any.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

The yearling wolf rolled his eyes with an exasperated smirk when Gwyn teased him for not retaining any of the herb lessons she had given him. That had been almost a year ago now, and he was a much younger pup who hadn't really given a damn about plants and flowers. Of course he didn't remember anything she'd told him, no more so than if she'd tried to remember fighting techniques from him! However, the recent days had shown him the tremendous use of a healer's skills. He had been essentially sidelined, watching helpless while the healers did all the work to save Resin and help the injured Tamsyn. For all his strength, he was useless. Gwyn and the other healers were the stars of this show. He held no animosity for that—he didn't care for glory after all—but he did wish there was some way for him to help his parents. Feeling useless was the worst feeling he'd ever felt.

He gave a hum and nod when Gwyn tasked him with simply finding anything green and leafy in the winter wasteland. While easy in theory, practice would be much more difficult. Artorias placed his paws on the edge of a deep slope along the side of the ridge and pitched his weight forward, sliding down the ice to a lower tier of the ridge line. All around him, all he could see was snow and ice and dirt. He scowled. How in the names of the gods was anything supposed to survive once this winter was over?! Turning around, Art followed along the ridge line, peering at the craggy sides of the ridge where some bones were jutting out into the open. He didn't recognize the creatures they belonged to, but they certainly seemed fearsome. Thank the gods they were all extinct.

As he was passing by an alcove, Artorias spotted a larger skull with what looked like small bushes growing along the edges of the bones. Amber eyes brightened and ears perked on his head. Green, leafy things! "Gwyn! Over here!" he shouted out for his sister. Artorias walked closer to the bushes, staring at the bright green, veiny, slightly velvety leaves. No flowers grew atop the stems, no doubt culled by the cold, but the rest of the plant seemed hardy enough and had been sheltered from the snow and frost by the alcove and the skull. Of course, he had no idea what he was looking at, so Art didn't touch it right away in case it turned out to be poisonous or something. He leaned down closer to inspect the plants, then reared back and stood aside while waiting for his sister to show up and appraise his find.


"Artorias" | Thoughts | "Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Searching the field of bones that was covered in ice and snow felt ridiculous and pointless the longer they were here, but occasionally she'd spot Eilwen swooping and flying overhead and she couldn't exactly feel like it was a waste of time. She knew her companion enjoyed being out here and she felt guilty for keeping the pale raven cooped up so much. She'd offered time and time again for Eilwen to just leave her alone for a few hours and tried to get her to go out on her own, but Eilwen was nothing if not dedicated and protective of her wolf. Gwyn smiled a little as she watched her go by over head until she heard Artorias calling for her, making her ears perk as she turned her gaze toward her brother curiously.

She hurried over to where he was standing, giving the vine a curious glance. "Hm... I've never seen this kind of plant before..." she mused quietly, leaning closer to examine it more closely, lifting one of her paws to the velvety leaves to lift and turn it over to look at its underside. "Eilwen!" she called without looking up from the plant and a moment later the white raven had landed on her shoulders and was peering over her head to look at the plant as well. "Have you ever seen this before?"

Eilwen gave an amused chortle and replied, "Ah, yes, I have!"

"Well... what is it? What does it do?"

If the mischievous raven could have grinned she probably would have. "Salvia. Why don't one of you eat one of the leaves? You'll find out what it does by the time we get back to the castle."

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Gwynevere arrived in no time, and Artorias stepped back to allow the botany expert to conduct her work. When she examined it closer and stated she had never seen it before, Artorias' ears perked up on top of his head. He'd found a plant she had never seen before? Suddenly, he was very excited! It must be an extremely rare plant he stumbled across then if his sister had no idea what it was! His tail wagged excitedly behind him while Gwyn called her mentor raven down to inspect the plant. Whatever it was, Eilwen confirmed that she did know what the plant was, naming it salvia. Of course, it was all a foreign language to the warrior boy, so its name had no impact on him, but he was glad that someone knew what it was.

Gwyn asked Eilwen what it did and the white raven gave a wicked look to the two wolves and told them to try it and find out what it does. Well, he wasn't about to let his little sister be the guinea pig here. "I'll do it," said Artorias, already striding back up to the vine with the fuzzy-looking leaves. He took. tentative sniff of the salvia—it didn't really smell like anything—and then carefully plucked a couple of leaves off of it. Sure enough, the weird plant had a velvety texture to it! He gave the leaf a tentative look, then peered suspiciously back to Eilwen. "I'm not gonna die, right...?" he questioned, then popped the leaves in his mouth once it was confirmed safe. He didn't think Eilwen would have told either of them to eat it if it had been poisonous, but he had to double check.

The plant tasted like any other plant for the most part: grassy, wet, and just generally unpleasant to Artorias. He cringed a little while he chewed his way through the taste, swallowing down the paste—and then nothing. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, remembering that Eilwen said it would take effect by the time they got back to the castle. "Okay, plant eaten," he stated, looking back at the salvia plant. "Gwyn, why don't you gather up some of those leaves. They might be helpful once we know what it does." He looked up at Eilwen then with a cock of his head. "Should we be going back to the castle then before this stuff kicks in?" Eilwen clearly knew what would be coming next, but they didn't. Artorias didn't know if he should be home for whatever the next phase of salvia was going to be.

"Artorias" | "Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Gwynevere gave her companion a skeptical look when she told them to try some and see, but before she could deny her raven and her silly mischief, her brother spoke up, saying that he'd try it. She frowned doubtfully and looked between Artorias and Eilwen as he asked if it would kill him, to which Eilwen gave an insistent, "Absolutely not, young man! Just eat a couple leaves, it won't hurt you unless you eat too much."

"Um... I don't-" she began and just sighed when he went ahead and ate it anyway. She trusted that Eilwen wouldn't give them something that was actually dangerous, but she also knew how mischievous the pale raven could be when she was in the mood and the cackling, bird-like laugh she gave in response told her all she needed to know. She watched Eilwen go with a scowl before looking back to Artorias and nodding as he suggested they gather some of it just in case it was helpful. She had a feeling it was going to be distinctly unhelpful given Eilwen's response, but she gathered a stem of it and tucked it in her bag all the same.

"Yes, lets be getting you back, dear. Getting you anywhere once that kicks in is going to be distinctly difficult," her companion said with another laugh to Artorias' question before she took off and started heading back to the castle herself, leaving the two young wolves to make it back on her own. Gwynevere shook her head with a sigh, but gave her brother a smirk all the same. "Alright, come on. I don't know what that does, but it's something amusing apparently."

Gwynevere | Eilwen