Kass was sunning his bones outside his den, taking a break from grinding herbs. He had been needing to do that more and more often lately as age began to take its toll on his body. A few half-filled jars, lids replaced while he rested to keep them out of the light, and the dried bundles of herbs that were going in them nearby each jar, were bunched up a short ways away from the fur he was resting on. He found if he didn't lay on a fur these days, his joints ached and his muscles cramped from the hard ground. He'd taken to piling ferns and spruce boughs under his sleeping furs too, to cushion his ailing body while he slept. It helped, a little. The warmth of the sun and the drone of bees in the thicket lulled him into a doze, his unsteady breathing slowing as he dropped more and more towards sleep.

"Mr. Kassander?" A small voice piped as the gangly boy approached. Too late, he realized that the old wolf was falling asleep, and that he just interrupted that, a fact that made his ears go back, and a small, distressed whine come from him. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disturb your rest. I just wanted to see if you needed any help with that." That, of course, meaning herbs. He'd had a curiosity since he was younger for healing and herbs, and he knew Kassander was experienced, and getting older so might be needing help too. So why not combine the two? Help Kassander, AND learn about the wonderful green things. Win-win, or so Aiden saw. Plus, it might be able to help his mom. Hide it as though they try, Aiden had picked up on Lillianna slowing down. His dad too, but not as much. He knew he couldnt help old age, but maybe something could help lessen the effects!

Kass blinked back awake, his gaze finally focusing on the young face before him. "It's all right," he said, somewhat muddled still by sleep cobwebs. He mustered a smile for the boy who'd woken him. One of Lark's? Had to be. "When you get to be my age, you fall asleep easily and too often. Nothing ever gets done." His sentence was punctuated by a yawn. He followed the boy's gaze to the herbs he'd been in the midst of grinding and his smile turned sheepish. "Like those." Levering himself shakily to his paws, he moved over to the pots that were waiting for him. He sent the boy a questioning glance. "Do you really want to help?" he questioned with tentative surprise. He'd never really had someone interested in learning healing from him, not enough to seek him out for it, or at least not for a great deal of time so it came as some surprise to him. He'd always had a passion for healing that had overcome even his anxieties, but it had seemed like the opportunity to pass on his knowledge had passed him by unnoticed. At least he'd be able to share a little of his knowledge with this youth before he died, though he wished that the opportunity had come sooner.

His paw brushed over his invented mortar and pestle, his smile wistful. He wished he'd had time to make more of these and teach apprentices here how to use them. They could have revolutionized the way herbs were stored. Or maybe that was just nostalgia talking.

He slipped his paw into the leather loop that held the odd shaped rock gripped between his toe pads, and showed it to the boy. "I use this to grind the herbs, so I can store more of them than leaving them whole. It allows me to store them more securely as well, but they can lose their potency faster than herbs that are stored whole so it's better to do it with more commonly used herbs."