Stepping into the Fern Gully was very much like being transported to another dimension. It was an explosion of every imaginable shade of green, thickly packed together. With each step, she could not help but crush various plants between her paws, though she assumed not all were of significant importance to wolves, as she could see little trails cutting through the area, flattened down by dozens of others passing through. Muses herself meandered without much purpose, other than to take all the sights and smells in.

A light afternoon drizzle made it somewhat slippery, but it also brought out the smells of various herbs and mushrooms. None of which Muses touched, however, too nervous to do more than investigate with her eyes alone. She had never been curious about plants, but there were few on the mountain. High ranking herbalists were allowed to leave in such for various herbal remedies, but she had never been beyond the foot of the mountain, and had never seriously considered learning anything about them. It was not written in the stars, after all.

But now her gods were dead, just like her family, she assumed. Would it matter if she ignored the role she was assigned, and simply enjoy what was available to her? She stopped to consider that, nosing around a bush as she did so. Little red berries dappled the foliage, smelling both sweet and tangy, but she dared not touch them, for she knew plants could be as dangerous as they could be helpful.

The small healer returned to Fern Gulley. Her first mender through here had been incrediably bountiful, and she had been absurdly pleased at her finds. She had spent some time after that experimenting with the herbs she didn’t recognise from this land, and mixing salves from them after a better understanding of what they did. Nothing took her attention like learning something new, and improving her skills. She skirted carefully around those used better for harming then healing, as she carved a path through the gulley. Before she knew it, her herb bag was filled to bursting, her paws were muddy, with greenery between her claws. She didn’t stop until it began to rain, just a light drizzle, but the mud began to squish between her paws, and she knew further digging would result in a very messy coat. Besides, she’d gathered a decent harvest today. She was just considering heading back for the day, when she looked up from her bag, and let her eyes focus on the world around her. Her tunnel vision fell away, and she would notice the pale girl that traversed the field with lilac eyes. Riva didn’t hesitate to call out to her, tone friendly and tail wagging. “Hello there! Have you come to harvest some herbs as well?” ""

After some time wandering among the vegetation, she encountered another wolf in the gully, nearly undetectable with her dark fur and silver highlights. With a cant of her head, Muses eyed the stranger apprehensively, clearly uncertain as to what to make of her. After a moment, she decided that there was no reason to be afraid, and offered a shy smile in return, tail lifting to give a gentle wag. "Hello! There was only a hint of uncertainty in her voice, but she seemed otherwise willing to take a chance on the pitch furred female. Pixie-like in stature, Muses seemed to practically tower over the yearling, standing nearly a head taller.

When asked about whether or not she had come to this place to harvest herbs, her smile lessened ruefully, and she gave her head a little shake. "No, she said with a small sigh. "It looks like there's an awful lot of different plants here, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. I never had the opportunity to learn about them." Her pale gaze turned longingly to the satchel Riva supported, nearly bursting at the seams it was so full of treasures.

Lowering her head, she gave herself a little shake, obviously uncomfortable even in the light drizzle. She had been allowed to invest in only one other activity outside of the role she had been assigned, and she would not have given up hunting with her sisters for anything. Fighting, healing, scouting, and any other activities were restricted. She was to serve her father and the gods, but they had failed her - or so she thought. Still, a nagging voice in the back of her mind insisted that she should try all those things. Somewhere deep down, there was a part of her that was relieved to be freed from the oppression.

The stranger would give her a friendly greeting in return, with a tail wag and a friendly, if somewhat subdued hello back. Riva didn’t note much the difference in their heights. She was accustomed to the wolves of this land as being giants. The majority of her packmates were over forty inches, and she sometimes felt like she could walk under them, muzzle to belly without missing a step.

The soft-eyed stranger would shake her head, and sigh. There seemed to be regret in her tone as she explained that, despite the bountiful supply of herbs in the area surrounding them, she wouldn’t know what to do with them. “Oh, I see.” Riva said, smile still friendly, and tail still giving a gentle swish back and forth behind her. “In that case, would you like to learn about any of them?” she would offer back.

As she said that, she moved a little closer and took a seat, as through to say she had all the time in the world, and easy patience for questions. She knew a day wasn’t going to get far in teaching someone healing, but she could offer an introduction - and if the stranger wasn’t leaving the area any time soon, Riva could offer her more then one day,
“I’m Riva by the way”

Though she was still wary of the wolves of the shadows, with their black coats so utterly unlike her own, she wanted, more than anything, to mend the buckshot aimed at her heart. Each friendship had the ability to patch bits and pieces of the wound, and though it was not the same, Muses prayed it would be enough to bring her peace. "If you are willing to teach me, I would gladly accept." Bowing her head in a humble manner, she scanned the plants around the small herbalist's toes, still perhaps too shy to gaze upon her openly.

"Thank you, Riva. I am Muses." The name still felt awkward on her tongue, but she knew it did not matter. A name, a label, could be shed like her winter coat. No matter what she was called, she would still be herself - whoever that was. "I was a priestess, back home, but I would rather have been a hunter with my litter mates. It would have been good to have been able to tend to wounds after hunts, rather than waiting until we reached a healer's den." She had once suggested trying it out, but her father had dismissed the idea, reminding her that it was blasphemy to specialize in multiple roles, and to heal while out on a hunt was taking it too far. "I think anything that would make a hunt easier is worth pursuing." The yearling added with a firm thump of her tail, starting to feel excited about their chance meeting.

“Nothing would please me more” Riva said, her smile only growing, pulling at her cheeks, which were clearly accustomed to such an expression. Her blue eyes kind and inviting as she looked encouragingly at the stranger. She could see the hesitation in Muses, the shyness and the lack of eye contact. She would be as gentle and encouraging as needed to coax her new friend from her shell.

“A Priestess? What does that entail?” she asked, genuinely curious as she laid her satchel on the ground. “And healing is always a handy skill, even just knowing the basics.” she agreed. “Well..” Riva said, thoughtful, as she looked at her herb-filled bag, and then back up to Muses, expression impish. “I suppose what would serve you best on a hunt would be antibiotics, and healing salves. Not so much flues and pregnancies, eh?” she teased.

By this point she had pulled out a small jar, and a bunch of knotted herbs that kept them to their separate piles. “This is Yarrow and Goldenrod, they are both good at fighting infection and boosting healing. In this jar, I’ve mixed them with honey and small pieces of dried white willow bark. I would normally clean a wound with salt water, and Trillium, if I have any, before spreading on some of this and binding it with cloths. Cloths can be somewhat hard to come by, but i’ve encountered traders that work with monkeys in sowing fibers into cloth.. But that’s a whole other story...” she grinned, before pushing the yarrow forward. “So this is Yarrow, it’s easy to spot in a field, as I'm sure you can see why.” she explained “Also - I welcome questions at any point, and please, if i’m rambling, don’t be afraid to interrupt me” she advised.

Her fears were quick to start melting away, though there was a long road ahead. Riva's quip brought a sudden wave of embarrassment. Pregnancies were certainly not something she would have to deal with. "I, uh!" She spluttered, her face burning read hot, ears pinning back. Since she could not manage an intelligible response or clever retort, she simply pretended that nothing had happened, and busied herself with the dark girl's question.

Taking a moment to mull over her thoughts, she wondered how to best explain her role to someone who had no prior knowledge of her customs. "I helped to maintain spiritual order within the family by tending to the bridge that connects us to the gods. Help take care of father, ensuring others were following through with their daily tasks, providing counsel, offerings, prayers, and blessings; nothing too exciting." She sighed, unable to hide her ennui. There was nothing fun about blood sacrifices or chanting in monotone unison. Her role was a little different from the other priestesses and clerics, which provided reprieve from the repetition of daily tasks. "As the mortal manifestation of the gods, I am to reveal the truth, and condemn liars... Was to. I think they might all be dead anyways, so not much point to it I guess." There was some relief in the revelation, hinting that she was not particularly attached to the role.

By the time she had finished her explanation, Riva had fished out a jar from her pouch, and was beginning to show the contents, explaining the plants in a simple, easy to follow manner; perfect for a novice. She marveled at the contents, carefully observing and smelling them, trying to understand them so that if she saw them on her own, she would be able to identify them. "What are monkeys?" She tipped her head when offered an opportunity to pose questions. Her head was swimming with information. "Can you show me more?" She recognized the yarrow, something that she had seen in abundance during her hunts, and wanted to know what else had looked over while out in the wilds.

Muses would explain her role to maintain spiritual order within her family, through Riva had to admit to herself that she had no idea what that entailed, exactly. She had never been a spiritual or religious person herself. She believed, if anything, on bettering one’s knowledge and learning everything they could about the world around them. For Riva, that meant concentrating on healing the most, and knowing what the herbs and fauna around her did, and how it reacted with the body.

“I’m so sorry, can I ask what happened?” she asked gently as Muses story took a dark turn and she admitted that she thought them all dead. Riva was curious about the revealing truth and condemning liars, but she was cautious about asking too many questions without knowing what happened to her family.

“Monkeys have opposable thumbs, which gives them the ability to grip and move things in a way we can only dream.” she explained, not sure how else to describe the creatures. “Okay, so this is the goldenrod, feel free to take a sniff and examine both if you like” she said, pushing the Goldenrod herbs forward and next to the Yarrow. “I like combining these two herbs together a lot into a paste” she explained.

She squirmed a bit at the thought of trying to explain how she had found herself in her current situation; orphaned, without a home or family. It crushed her to know that so much had been cut short, that everything she knew and loved had been taken away. At times the pain was almost unbearable, yet there was nothing she could do to bring them back, or to change what had happened - not that she knew.

"There was an attack on my pack but," Her voice caught, and she looked away, almost embarrassed. "I don't know why. I don't understand. My sisters and I were returning home from a short hunt, and we could smell something strange in the air. We were approached by wolves I had never seen before, with fur as dark as the night sky. Whatever was happening around the dens must have caused an avalanche, because before any words could be exchanged, a wave of snow came crashing down towards us. None of us were able to outrun it, and we were swept up. The next day, I found the bodies of my two sisters and that of a night wolf, but no others. I didn't even have time to bury my kin, for I could see dark bodies moving down the mountain, and I knew they would be upon me if I lingered." So she had said a quick prayer over their bodies, and left. Her head hung sorrowfully, gaze avoiding the smaller wolf.

"The gods spared me, so I must carry on, if for nothing more than to honor the memory of those who have preceded me." She offered a wavering smile; a clear attempt to assuage the other, reassuring her that things would work out just fine in the end. "Perhaps my destiny will have something to do with monkeys." Muses giggled, wiggling her rump in a playful manner as she scooted closer to the plants that had been presented. Giving them both a curious sniff, and a thorough once over, she looked back to Riva, obviously delighted to have the experience to learn with her. "How do you make them into a paste?" Looking doubtfully at the goldenrod, she stretched her neck forward, and reached out with her tongue to tentatively taste the bright yellow petals.