One More Step
When her brother had left, it had been to make a life for himself. Without her. He had always talked of joining a pack, meeting someone, starting his own family. At the time, Solveiga had thought all of those plans were wonderful, and she had been beside him one hundred percent. She knew now that those plans didn't involve her, so why couldn't she make her own plans that didn't involve him? Join a pack of her own? Maybe even... meet someone? Have a family? That would be in the distant future, but Solveiga did not think it impossible. After all, she loved pups.
She was in the eastern part of the continent now, exploring all that the land had to offer. She had scented a pack about a day ago, and had avoided it. Maybe next time she caught the scent of a boundary, she wouldn't be so quick to just avoid it. Maybe she would do a bit of exploring, see what she could find. Today, she had found a cliff. She avoided the most extreme edge, not wanting to accidentally slip over the edge, but from where she stood she could see the water below, and it was a beautiful sight. She settled onto her haunches and sighed a bit, letting her muscles unwind as the winter breeze ruffled her fur lightly and she watched it create waves on the water below.
Herby herby herbs. Herbidy herbidy herbs. Váli hummed as she bounced along the path, pushing through the thicket to the cliff she knew awaited ahead. Who knew, herbs could be abundant there as well. It wasn't likely, but it would at least be a nice place to relax. She finally pushed through the thickets, peering her head over the edge - oh. Crap. Well, that was not a good place. Backpedalling away from the edge that was literally straight down, she scooted along, poking her head out every few feet. At one point, she sighed, stuck her head out, and looked around, ignoring the extremely long distance into the water below. Looking around, she could see the cliff edge extending out, eventually, onto a plateau of sorts right outside the borders, with plenty of room for a wolf or three to stand. And in fact, there was a pretty wolf standing right there. Humming once more, this time in curiosity, Váli headed quickly towards that spot where she spotted the cream wolf. She had to poke her head out a few times to make sure she didn't go past it, but she eventually made it there. She stepped delicately onto the rock, gazing at the wolf who was standing there, looking over the ledge. Resisting a shudder, she called out, "Hello!" Perhaps this woman would know of sickness herbs, and could teach Váli.
""
![[Image: aGjjkVy.png]](http://i.imgur.com/aGjjkVy.png)
"Oh!" she cried out, her heart suddenly jumping into a sprint and she had to take some deep breaths to calm it again. When she turned and saw the wolf who had given her such a scare, she laughed a bit at herself. It was another female, with white fur and beautiful markings. She seemed very friendly. Solveiga was in no danger. "I'm sorry, you scared me. It was so quiet, I wasn't expecting..." The small woman trailed off a bit and cleared her throat shyly, still looking at the stranger. Staring, perhaps. She really was beautiful, her golden eyes especially. Looking at her made Solveiga feel like a pup admiring a butterfly for the first time. "Hello," she finally responded, smiling softly.
Oh, shit. Oops. She scared the wolf. She didn't... mean to do that. At all. Welp. At least she didn't fall off the cliff? That would've been bad. Especially for Solveiga's health. "Hey," she greeted in return, tone sheepish. "I didn't mean to scare you; I'm so sorry!" It seemed it had already been forgiven, however, especially since the other girl was... staring at her? She stared back, amusement sparkling in her eyes. The girl truly was pretty, with gentle cream and white markings dotting her body, and crystalline blue eyes. She was quite a bit younger, though; it seemed a fresh adult. "I'm Váli Lasair. Who are you?" she questioned kindly, seating herself down. Her tail wagged behind her a bit - she was glad for the company. After the introduction, Váli would most certainly question about herbal knowledge.
""
After another moment or two, Solveiga had successfully calmed down, and then she glanced down at her paws shyly when she saw the amusement in the eyes of the stranger. She had caught her staring, and was probably laughing at her. But no, that wasn't it, not really. This woman seemed very friendly, her apologies sincere as she went on to introduce herself and the cream colored woman took a deep breath and let it out, seating herself across from the woman who she now knew was called Váli Lasair. What a rhythmic, beautiful name.
"I'm Solveiga," she responded with a gentle smile. "Solveiga Derus," she continued, adding on her surname as Váli had done. Now that the two were a bit closer to each other, the younger woman could not help noticing the scent of a pack on the fur of the other. It sparked her curiosity, as it was a pack she had never smelled before. "Are you from around here?" Solveiga asked, brows furrowed a bit.
|
The girl responded with her own name, and Vali smiled. "Solveiga? Pretty name!" she responded mildly, though with a cheerful tone, tail wagging. A crooked grin appeared on her face, and she nodded at the lone wolf. "I am. I'm part of the pack Abaven, which has claim to three territories, starting with those thickets over there," she pointed her nose behind her. She was rather surprised that it seemed the girl - Solveiga- didn't notice the pack scent drenching the area around her; perhaps she was just wanting confirmation of suspicions, though. "Say, do you know a lot about healing? Specifically, illnesses?" she asked casually, eyeing Solveiga. Hopefully she'll know, the Abaven Medico thought. It would be a great boon to know.
""
The woman complimented her name, and Solveiga gave a grateful little smile, her tail sweeping the winter deadened grasses behind her. She didn't think anyone had ever done that before, honestly. But Solveiga liked her name, though it tended to be a mouthful for some. "Feel free to call me Sol or something if you like," she offered with a soft laugh. Then she listened with interest as Váli told her of the pack she belonged to, called Abaven. Interesting. And it was very close. Solveiga would have to look into it a bit further, see what the pack was like.
She had been staring off in the direction of the thickets Váli had pointed out when suddenly she was speaking again and Solveiga pulled her pale blue eyes back to the woman in front of her. Healing? Yes, she knew a little. "Some, I would say," she replied with a soft smile. "Not a lot. My mother was a healer, I observed her when I was younger. But of course, my memories could be a little fuzzy..." Solveiga tilted her ears to the side shyly and shrugged. Illnesses she understood more than injury. Perhaps she could help a little. "What is it you wanted to know?" she asked.
|
The invitation to call the other woman by a nickname made Vali grin in response, cheerfulness exuding from every inch of fur she had. She already liked this encounter, quite a lot; the pale-coated Sol was very polite, equally friendly, and... well, Vali just liked her. "Thank you, Sol!" She would likely use the nickname quite often; it was equally as pleasant as the full name.
She did, however, wait hopefully and perhaps a bit tensely for a reply about herbs. Did she know? When Solveiga responded, she let out a quiet sigh of relief, though that was cut short by Sol's clarification about not knowing a lot, and the sigh turned to disappointment and sadness. Still, she wouldn' hesitate to answer the wolf's questions about what it was she wanted to know. "The sickness that afflicted the lands - during it, I was useless due to my lack of knowledge. I know absolutely nothing about treating illness, so I suppose you could say I want to know everything," she answered with a wry grin.
""
Solveiga couldn't help another shy smile as the woman before her gave another cheerful response. This was nice, talking to such a friendly individual. After all, Solveiga had already had a few not so friendly encounters, and she didn't really want to have many more. Her mind drifted to the conversation she'd had — if it could be called a conversation — with that dark, bitter woman in the canyon. Luckily that hadn't lasted long. If she saw that woman again, she was sure she would go to all lengths to avoid her. She didn't like that quenchless thirst in her eyes. Greed. And anger, it seemed. Two things that did not mix.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Solveiga blinked and gave Valí a grin. The nickname sounded nice. Perhaps she would suggest it to others in the future as well. Granted, the snowy woman seemed a bit disappointed by her lack of knowledge in healing. But she did have some, which was better than none, right? She furrowed her brows in thought as she considered the illness Valí spoke of. One that had apparently struck the land before she arrived. She wanted to learn everything. Solveiga knew the feeling. "Don't we all?" she joked lightly, but there was a thoughtful expression in her eyes. "Well, I do have a fair amount of knowledge in more common ailments, like fevers and headaches. And I remember the herbs my mother used for binding wounds when my brother and I were young. But I only have knowledge of the things she needed to heal us as kids," she admitted with a chuckle. "My mother was once a very talented healer, but later in her life she only used her knowledge to care for us. And so, I was only ever exposed to those kind of basic healing practices... I really don't think I would know the first thing about tackling an epidemic like that..."
|