A few days prior, a wolf from the Armada ranks had visited her in the palace. She’d heard of the flooding that they’d suffered and she’d told Sirius that should they need any of her stores they were more than welcome to them. After all, the Armada served Ashen well and they were all one in her eyes. If the Armada was suffering, so were they. The wolf, who had introduced herself as Sedna, had explained that her garden and stores had been washed out and ruined by the bought of flooding and she was sorely in need of replenishment. The woman had given her what she could, but there were some herbs that she hadn’t stocked up on quite as heavily, herbs that, while they grew in the east during the summer and were plentiful, could still be found in the more northern territories. These herbs, while of the same variety, had grown used to the harsher winter climates and could bloom even in the cold, therefore she didn’t need to stock up as much. But, with giving the woman some of her stores she found herself in need of more.

Kiyo knew that it would be a fool’s errand to venture north in the winter alone, even with her akita companion with her. It could be easy to get lost or snowed in, considering how the snow seemed happy to dump itself upon them, so having a buddy was almost necessary. She’d asked the woman if she would be willing to accompany her to get more and she’d obliged. They’d both agreed to meet at the border of the Ashen Shrine within two days time from their meeting so that they could stock up on a few necessary traveling herbs, but also food and other supplies. Kiyo had shown up with a snow leopard coat draped across her neck, shoulders and back and cinched at the waist and her travel medical bag across her shoulders. Her akita, Yui, tagged along with her with a coat of her own and a bag full of dried meats, a pot, tea leaves, and other necessities. They’d met the woman at the border as promised, along with her companions, and they’d set out.

It had taken a few days of travel to get to the Mile-High Woods, their intended destination, a trip that would have normally just taken a day and a half or so. But, the snow had fallen thick during their travels and made them slower. Sedna, she’d come to learn, reminded her of a more talkative and animated version of her son. She had a strong moral compass and was confident in herself and beliefs, but she was also able to bend in ways that her son was still learning to and knew how to joke around. She’d quickly found herself liking the younger woman more and more and she’d happily shared her years of knowledge of herbs with her whenever she could.

The silvery woman let out a sigh of relief when they reached the base of one of the trees along the outskirts of the woods, pausing for a moment to catch her breath. “Goodness, I thought for a moment we would never make it,” she verbalized, her nearly hueless gaze turning to look to her travel companion.

"Speech"

It felt like overstepping the mark to go direct to the Ashen apothaker, but if she sat around waiting for one of the others to organise or delegate someone to get there, they’d be in a medical emergency with no stocks to speak of. So no, she wouldn’t be apologising to anyone. If they wanted to bitch about it, she’d happily bite them on the ass then proceed to tell them what was what. Sedna had no more patience. Winter was here and they needed to stop chasing their tails recovering.

That said, her pale, antlered companion was easy company. As they made their way northwards, exchanging knowledge on different ailments and their remedies, the Archer-Lyall actually found herself smiling and maybe even laughing on occasion as they traded war stories and even the names of common herbs. As she had long suspected, many were very much the same, just with a different regional references.

The monochrome pair finally slowed to a halt, and Sedna offered the Ashen wolf a lopsided smile. “Was almost worried we’d walk right off th’ edge o th’ earth if we kept goin’…” Chips flew down, shaking the snow from his feathers giving her a displeased Rawk! To be fair, she had almost left him at home, but it helped to have a companion with wings in case she needed to let the Armada know of trouble.

With any luck, they might yet find some burdock root, dandelion roots, and poplar buds, and in Sedna’s opinion, you could never have too much pine. There was sure to be other little treasures just waiting to be salvaged… after all, they had come all this way.

“Speech”

we wear red so they don’t see us bleed