But you'll never find the answers, until you set your old heart free

Lydia was so happy to see the sun again! After a week of nearly straight rain and fog the sun had burst free in a clear blue sky and was warming her back as she maneuvered through a tallgrass plain that was spotted here and there with boulders. She was on the hunt for yarrow. While she didn't have a den or anywhere to really store anything yet she did have a scrap of deer hide that she'd snipped off the stripped remains of someone else's kill. Lydia wanted to keep a bit of medicine on her as she travelled and there was no better herb, in her opinion, than yarrow. At least until she picked a territory to settle down in. She supposed this area wasn't to bad.

Leaping atop a nearby boulder Lydia set the scrap of skin down, her sapphire gaze taking in the landscape as she searched for her quarry. It wouldn't flower until late in the summer which made her task a bit more difficult as she'd have to single it out from all the blooming wildflowers that were so distracting with their colored garb.

With spring had come the aching joints that changing weather always heralded, but Harmony had forced herself up and moving despite it. The exercise would be good for her. Besides, she felt like she was stagnating, doing nothing for herself or for Bass or his pack. Perhaps getting out would clear her head. Abaven had plenty of room, but even with three territories life could start to feel monotonous when you only saw the same surroundings day in and day out. She was carrying a birch-bark basket that she'd temporarily fashioned from a paper birch in the thicket and some pine sap to hold it together. She wasn't entirely pleased with the way it turned out, she decided as she loped painfully along toward her destination. The roll of bark was a little too narrow, and it was a little awkward to hold it in such a way that things wouldn't fall out. Maybe if she wove more bark into it, and added some way to cap off the end... or maybe a handle so she could hold it upright instead of sideways.

Her pace slowed as she reached the place she'd been aiming for. Ages ago, it had been one of Ebony's territories, but it had been empty for quite some time now so the herb population had undoubtedly boomed in the absence of a healer's constant attention. She hadn't decided in advance what she wanted to collect, since she didn't quite know what she'd find here, so she paused for a moment to rest against one of the unique boulders and set down her burden. Stretching out on her belly, she leaned into the solidness of the rock and sighed, flexing aching paws against the dirt.

But you'll never find the answers, until you set your old heart free

Lydia was focused on the task at hand, searching for the familiar hairy stem and the rough, feathery leaves. She was so intent on her searching that she almost didn't notice the older woman who was moving her way through the territory but the instant she did she was flush against the boulder, her pelt of dark grays and warm silvers seeming to meld with the boulder as she watched the stranger who was carrying something in her mouth. Lydia leaned forward slightly as she tried to get a look at it. She'd never seen anything like it! It looked like a strange, folded up tree. It certainly wasn't food, she could tell that much. Was there no end to the strange ways of the wolves of Boreas? Clothes, bells, pets and now…. funny tree things.

Lydia leaned out further, craning her neck to try and get a better look when her front paws slipped out from under her and she landed on the ground with a startled squeak. The scrap of deer hide slipping off the boulder and flopping right on top of her head. Oh dear… how embarrassing!