Sunlight beamed down on a lazy late afternoon, sparkling off the stream that brought life to the area. This region seemed to be untouched by the volcanic eruption and that gave Lúta hope she could find some high quality plants here. She knew exactly what she wanted to find. She was on the prowl for elderberry bushes from which she could gather the berries and use the leaves to make a green elder ointment. She'd saved some fat from her last kill and had it wrapped securely in leaves and again in deer hide. She didn't want the smell attracting predators to her and so far she'd been lucky.

Lúta had seen other healers with jars and various kind of containers but as she had not found any herself yet she would work with what she had. Nostrils flaring she caught the scent of elder and quickly followed her nose to the source.

Aggie and Ylva had been traveling a fair bit, reacclimatizing themselves to this particular region of the world. In many ways it was entirely similar to all of the other places the pair had been. Trees, rocks, grass, water, birds. The usual. And in many other ways stunningly different and entirely unique. Even though Aggie couldn't recall whether or not she had been here specifically before, although if you really pressed her she was fairly certain that she hadn't, it felt familiar. As if the entirety of Boreas had risen up to welcome her home. A tad dramatic maybe, but she'd always had a bit of a flair about her. All the same, the spirits of this region reminded her of home and she was not keen to leave again any time soon. Having resolved herself to remain in Boreas, and perhaps Auster, for the foreseeable future she knew that meant it was time to begin restocking her herb supplies. The land here soecifically seemed fertile enough and untouched by the recent volcanic eruption to boot, so a better place than most to begin. The pair had been wandering a ways, looking for anything that might catch their interest, when Aggie spotted the gargantuan blue female in the distance. Whether she was native here or not it seemed like an interesting turn of events so she altered course. "Afternoon, stranger!" she called by way of greeting. "Mind if we pester you for a moment? We're just getting our footing in the area and were hoping to find some medicinal plants." Her voice was cheery and affable, as unruffled as it always was. Ylva was the grumpy one, after all, but for once the red panda seemed content with their day's venture. She was well fed and warm, and was just as keen to find new plants and perhaps poisons herself. Hopefully this strange female would be able to offer some intel. Aggie knew that few wolves were medicinally minded but even if she could point them towards a particularly lush copse or anything strange looking it could be useful. Certainly didn't hurt to try. "Talk" "Listen" Think

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta grinned as she realized that this was indeed an elderberry plant. Perfect! She shifted her weight to her hind legs, balancing as she reached up with her teeth and snipped off a few of the leaves. This was the perfect time to gather them. She was about to grab more when an unfamiliar woman appeared. She had a lovely pelt and unusual adornment.

"Hello, there. I don't mind at all." The stranger was also looking for medicinal plants! Lúta was more than happy to share with a fellow healer. "As it happens this is a medicinal plant right here. It's an Elder I'm gathering the leaves to make a green elder ointment. Do you want some to? There's plenty." She reached up again and grabbed a few more leaves. She'd gather some berries to when she was done.

She carefully unwrapped the deer hide that held her gathering of deer fat. She peeled off the leaves that helped to insulate it in the hide before taking her paw and scraping half of it into a pile on the hide. Ideally she would boil the leaves but such a thing was difficult without Ragna's help. Besides, she wanted to run an experiment using chewed herbs instead to measure the differences in effectiveness. "My name is Lúta by the way. I take it you're new to this area as well?"

The large, odd-coated woman seemed outwardly quite friendly. Aggie sent her a warm smile and padded closer, examining the tall shrub the other shewolf had found. There were small purple berries in dense clusters, and Aggie had vague memories of these same berries being both tangy and sweet in taste and excellent for colds and flus but it had been a long while since she had seen another specimen. "Yes, I'd love some. I remember it from my time in these lands a year or two past, but I haven't come across it since. Elder, you said?" Aggie pondered for a moment, trying to recall whether or not that was the name she knew it by, but she supposed it didn't matter because if she didn't remember, well, she had a name for it now! The younger shewolf introduced herself as Lúta, which Aggie thought to be a lovely name. I've only just returned to this region, and had to either use or leave most of my supplies by the wayside over the leagues travelled. I couldn't say how long I've been gone precisely, but at least a year. Maybe two?" Aggie looked over her shoulder at Ylva for clarification, but the red panda only shrugged herself. Neither was too fussed about the passage of time, except for how it related to the seasons. "Anyway, I'm Aggie. Asgeira, but I prefer Aggie. This is Ylva," she offered, tipping back as gesturing to her traveling companion with her muzzle. "She keeps me out of trouble, and knows a fair bit about poisons and toxins." Ylva scoffed, "Well I try to keep her out of trouble, but spirits know that's an impossible task." Aggie barked out a laugh and shook the smaller creature off of her shoulders, then went to work gathering leaves of her own. Ylva scrambled up into the top of the shrub, above Aggie's reach, where the berries were plumper given their greater sun exposure. Ylva began to toss down the choicest of clusters. "Are you seeking out berries as well, Miss Lúta?" Ylva asked, grasping paw extended for another cluster but waiting for the response before snipping it off. Both she and Aggie believed heavily in never taking more than was needed, lest you risk offending the spirits that kept the plants and places they themselves relied on. "Talk" "Listen" Think

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta moved a little to the side so the other woman could get at the elder leaves easier. She reached out her neck and gathered a few more leaves. She decided she'd like a few to dry and turn into tea at a later date. She listened with interest as the other woman spoke. She'd left and now returned. "I'm fairly new to the area but sounds like you picked a good time to leave. A volcano erupted before I arrived here and it sounds like its been causing some trouble for the natives. It's nice to meet you Aggie, Ylva. My name is Lúta." She chuckled at the red panda's words.

"I have a friend of mine, Ragna, who tries to keep me on track. She's supposed to meet me here but…" Lúta shrugged. She didn't know what was holding up her friend but she hoped the other woman was alright.  Lúta nodded. "Yes, I think that would be good. I've been meaning to try making tinctures from them. Do you know of any good way to preserve the berries? I haven't quite found anything that works yet." She lifted up her head and carefully picked a sprig of the berries which she set gently down. A few of the berries fell as she moved but it was too be expected. She wasn't as graceful as Ylva.

Lúta decided to start prepping her ointment. She separated out the leaves she wanted to use and then examined the lard she'd brought with her as well as some suet. She carefully divided out her ingredients so she had 3 parts leaves, 4 parts lard, and 2 parts suet. She licked the extra fat off her paws. Yum! As she did so she suddenly heard a familiar voice. "Lúta! There you are! I thought we were meeting in the north!" She turned and smiled to see her friend Ragna. "It's about time you showed up!  Ragna, this is Aggie and Ylva." The macaque nodded a greeting to the two strangers before hugging her companion.

When the other woman spoke of the volcano Aggie found herself repressing a shiver. Yes, she'd seen plenty of signs of its wrath since her return, and she thanked the spirits that she had been far afield when it finally blew. There were many things Aggie wanted to see for herself before her days in the land of the living were up, and a volcanic eruption was not one of them. "It's good to meet you as well," she parroted back as Ylva did the same from her perch atop the shrub, though her mind was still churning with the implications of Lúta's words. If there was ever a need for healers, cleaning up that mess had to fall somewhere within her purview. Ylva threw down a few more choice clusters of berries at Lúta's paws. As a healer, sharing techniques and preferences was one of her greater joys in life. When Lúta asked her preferred method of preparing berries Aggie was all too eager to share. "In the past I've typically gathered them when the weather seems to turn for a hot, dry spell. Leaving them on a flat stone and letting them dry out seems to retain most of their better qualities. Fresh is always better of course, but they tend to keep through most of the winter that way." Aggie scoffed and rolled her eyes, adding on, "Of course, you'd need to keep an eye on them. Turn your back for even a moment and the birds will be on you in a swarm." She watched with some fascination as Lúta began to prepare her takings with a concoction of fats and lard. Aggie might have said more, but the arrival of another being captured her attention. It was a primate of some sort, though she could not name its species exactly. Apart from canines and cervids Aggie found herself to be a bit lazy. Monkey, bird, fish, snake... Broader descriptives seemed good enough for her. This creature appeared to be the friend that Lúta had mentioned, however, so she turned partway to the smaller beast and gave a quick nod in greeting. "It's good to meet you Ragna. I'm Aggie, the surly one is Ylva." Asgeira tilted her head up towards the shrub, just in time for Ylva's head to emerge in a surge from the very topmost foliage, a scowl plastered proudly upon her face. "Who wouldn't be surly, listening to this one prattle on all day?" The red panda rolled her eyes before ducking back amongst the leaves, clipping off and tossing down the best of what she found. Aggie smiled at her friend's antics before turning back towards the other shewolf. "I've been turning it over in my mind, trying to wrap my mind around rebuilding my stores, but its a hard thing to both travel and carry an apothecary on your back. I imagine I'll have to fashion a sling before long." Before long might even be the next time she took down prey larger than a hare. It would take a few days to strip and prepare a hide, but autumn would be upon them before long and she knew it would be a worthwhile endeavor. Hopefully, if she was lucky, the other woman might have some other guidance to offer. "Talk" "Listen" Think

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta focused her attention on Asgeira as the woman explained how she prepared the berries in an attempt to keep them longer. Lúta nodded as the other spoke, grateful for the knowledge and chuckling at the mention of birds. Yes, she could see how the birds would enjoy the literal fruits of her labor. "Thank you! I'll give that a try."

After their hug Ragna started building a fire. She had a pretty good idea what Lúta was crafting after seeing the fats. It was rare they travelled without one as a fire could be so useful in the crafting of herbal teas and medicines but Lúta was still learning out to make one herself. Ragna continued to work on the fire while Lúta settled into conversation.

"Oh, I know! I've had the same troubles myself. Carrying a piece of hide full of stores is exhausting. I did set aside a few storage dens in various locations but it would be nice to have just one. I suppose I should pick one place to settle into for the winter."

Ragna stoked the fire getting it nice and settled before pulling out a bowl and offering it to Lúta. "Would you happen to know if there are any nomadic bands in these lands?" She carefully added the lard and fat to the bowl with her paw, licking her paws after doing so. Ragna then shredded the elder leaves into the mixture and set the bowl near the fire to heat up, stirring it every so often with a thin stick.

Lúta seemed to appreciate her tip, so Aggie smiled and nodded her way. Hopefully it would work for the other healer, but Aggie knew that in certain situations fresher materials would be necessary. In some cases preserved herbs just wouldn't do, such was the nature of healing. Still, any bit of knowledge she could share she would. The mottled shewolf noticed then what Lúta's companion was doing, and watched with poorly disguised fascination as the small creature struck up a flame. She only half-heard the other's woman's response to her previous statement, though she tried to mask her distraction as well as she could. "Hmm, yes, settling down is a notion that's challenged me often in the past. I rarely spend very long in the same region so maintaining a den, or even a number of dens, has never really panned out." Her eyes had not left Ragna all this while. Aggie supposed it would be the polite thing to do to let Ragna go about her work without distraction, but it didn't take long for her to overcome any semblance of manners. "Spirits, but that seems like a useful trick. Ylva, you should be paying attention here! Might actually be able to make yourself useful." A small branch was flung from the elderberry shrub, smacking solidly against the back of Aggie's skull. She laughed and sat, bringing up a hind leg to scratch the spot as best as she could, trying to rub the slight sting away. Lúta asked her about other bands in the area, causing Aggie to pause and actually consider the matter. "Well, I can't say for certain unfortunately. I've not come into contact with any, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were. The land is big enough after all, there must be some running about. Sorry I can't be of more help there." She shrugged and turned to look over her shoulder as Ylva scrambled down to the ground and back up onto Aggie's back. She was clutching her final take of leaves and berries, and Aggie noticed with some small satisfaction that she did in fact seem rather taken with Ragna's growing flame. "Talk" "Listen" Think

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Ragna grinned, pleased with herself and the fascination of the other wolf. Lúta had had a similar response when she'd first seen the fire. Ragna held out her palms to show a strange bit of metal and a piece of flint. "You can find all sorts of metal bits on the Veteran's Plateau. If you find a good smooth one you can strike flint across it to make a spark."

Lúta barked out a laugh as Ylva flung an elderberry branch at her companion. She kept an eye on her bowl as Asgeira spoke. When the green from the leaves had been extracted into the melted fats she carefully scooted the bowl away from the fire until Ragna shooed her away and used two sticks to set it on the ground without burning herself. Lúta shot Aggie a look. Were all companions like this?

"That's alright. It was a real shot in the dark. If I had any leadership sense I'd almost be tempted to start my own. Well, I've only been here a few seasons so there's still plenty of time to look." She glanced at the ointment. Ragna was carefully using sticks to pull out the bigger leaves. Ideally it would be strained but she had nothing to strain it with so instead they waited for it to cool and the bowl would be what it would be stored in since it was big enough for Ragna's paws. She liked some of Ragna's jars but some of them were just to slight for her to use when it came to ointments.