Since she couldn't find Kaizer for the time being Elizabeth was not in the least bit concerned. What she needed right now was a bit of a break they'd been walking and searching for months and not once had she tried to settle herself and learn about the herbs around this area. Though of course there was a few things her mom had told her - the herbs here weren't too different than the ones of her homeland. Liz didn't want to take the risk though she wasn't sure what was dangerous and what was not. The healer navigator knew that it was also important not to get cocky. The wrong herb risked murdering your patient or even yourself.

Elizabeth was busy trying to inspect whatever this plant was! The place was abundant in birds and the overgrowth here was amazing. It looked like a bundle of tiny red flowers, sprouting from one stem. It looked similiar to a herb at home used to ease coughing and cramps. Elizabeth didn't know that it was Valerian root - her brain trying to search through memory of it but it just wasn't there. She sat down her blue eyes staring at the plant as she wished it would talk to her to tell her what it was.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta set down her pack, rolling her shoulders lightly as they picked a spot to set up camp for the day. She was grateful for the pack the stranger had given to her, it made carrying herbs about much easier than just toting her bundle around. She dug around in her pack before pulling out a bundle of fresh catmint. She planned to hang some to dry and to also infuse some of it in warm water to store for a bit. Ultimately the dried would last longer. With the herbs set out she next pulled out a few clay bowls. Ragna, her macaque companion, moved to get a fire going and Lúta decided to take the opportunity to hunt for some more Valerian root. This was a good season to look.

She set off, nose and eyes alert when a pale shape caught her attention. It was another wolf! Most of the wolves she met in the area so far were healers, perhaps this one was to? As Lúta moved forward she caught sight of the little crimson flowers that she recognized as Valerian. There was a lovely batch of it growing in the fertile soil. "Oh, hello! How much Valerian root are you collecting? I was wondering if I might be able to get a root?"

Elizabeth felt like she had been saved when another wolf showed up saying that it was Valerian root. Though she suddenly felt embarassed as the other healer wanted some as well. While she hated to admit she had no idea what this plant had been there was no other way than to learn. "Yes actually I was standing here trying to figure out what the dang thing was." Elizabeth said as she stood up then and tried to give the other healer a bit of room. "I uhh am new to Boreas, a lot of the herbs I recjognize but then others are just so foreign to me. Valerian Root was it? What does it do?" Liz asked as she inspected the flower again.

"My name is Elizabeth Adravendi it's nice to meet another healer finally!" she said with a tone of relief. She could learn a thing or two and that was what she was hoping. It wasn't as if Liz was a new healer she had healed some grizzly wounds even for her age. However in a foreign land that knowledge was as good as a pup fresh out of the womb at least to Liz that's what it felt like. The white wolf took note of the strangers appearance. So many pretty wolves in these lands, she felt almost embarassed of her coat.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta smiled at the other woman. "Well, welcome to Boreas! My name is Lúta. Valerian root is good for a number of things. I mainly use it to help with coughs and to ease anxiety and insomnia. You've picked a great time to look for it. Autumn is the best time to gather some." It's healing properties would be at their peak now. Plus fall was a great time to gather herbs that could help with coughs what with winter approaching and the increased likelihood of respiratory ailments. She'd been focusing on gathering such plants just in case. Since she lived by herself she needed to be well stocked and ready to help herself should she fall ill. Of course as a traveling loner she often stumbled upon others needing help of all kinds so it never hurt to be stocked up. Lúta moved next to one of the plants and began to dig, working through the soil with her paws until she revealed the conical, hairy root.

"Ah, there we are. It's not pretty but it is useful."

Luta seemed awfully eager to provide that information to her. Maybe it was a healer thing but Liz had learned everything in her pack so she couldn't say much. Loner life wasn't something she really was used to, however she was used to hunger and famine so it wasn't too much of an adjustment other than there weren't others suffering with her. Elizabeth put that into her memory Valerian root and she watched as Luta harvested it. Digging to reveal the root underneath. The blue eyed wolf perked her head up in interest.

"Messy would be the least of my worries." she laughed a little. She'd healed torn limbs, open stomachs and more. A little bit of dirt wasn't going to bother her but it wasn't as if her new companion exactly knew that. "Though not sure if I should harvest it, I don't really have a place to store it let alone carry it around now that I think about it." she forgot! She was so used to being able to put it in her den back at home. "You're a loner right, how do you carry your herbs around?" still though Elizabeth decided to try to take a wack at harvesting it. Carefully digging around the root of one before pulling it out. There... easy enough.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta reached down with her jaws and carefully snipped the steps and appendages coming off the root which she then picked up and set back down at her paws so that Elizabeth could get a better look. "Here let me show you, my camp is just right over here." Lúta picked up the root. She didn't have to go far at all to still be in sight of the Valerian. She moved over to her pack and pulled out a small square of deer hide. "This is how I used to carry everything around." She set the root in the center then folded the hide into a diagonal then she brought the two corners together and lifted her head to show that she could carry the bundle. She set it down. "I have a pack now that was given to me by another loner." She gestured to her knapsack."I'm not sure where he got it but it's nice to keep your mouth free. Still a scrap or two of deer hide works well enough."

Her macaque came over to her. "I have the fire ready, who's this?"

"Oh, this is Elizabeth. Elizabeth this is my companion Ragna." The macaque smiled and nodded in greeting.

"I've got some catmint I'm trying to figure out a good way to preserve. I think I'll see how it does dried. Do you have experience drying herbs?" Lúta reached down to the bundle of catmint she was planning to work on and she divided the bundle in two. The first half she bunched together and laid on a small piece of leather twine. Ragna sat down next to her and tied the twine in a knot. She was much quicker than Lúta who often stumbled about with her mouth and big, klutzy paws.

For the other half of the bundle she carefully worked the catmint into one of her clay bowls. From there she took her paws and muddled the mint a bit so that it would release its healing properties better. Her head disappeared into the main compartment of her pack as she pulled out a water skin. Ragna helped her with the cap and she added some water to the bowl. With the waterskin put back away she settled back down. "I wish we had more days before winter. I feel so pressured to get what I need crafted and stored."

Elizabeth had to admit that it was nice to be in the presence of another healer. Albiet it was someone not from her homelands too. Nice not to be questioned on what it was like being the daughter of a king and queen. The white wolf followed Luta to her makeshift camp, where to her surprise there was a monkey. Liz had met a couple on her journey to this place after all it had taken almost half of a year to travel to boreas to begin with. Making her very young to have made such a trip. Liz looked at the pack and her eyes lit up. She had to get her one of those, but it would probably be best if she waited. After all this land was still filled with things she didn't know despite what she had heard about it. It was in her best interest to be cautious after all.

"Sometime I'm sure I'll settle in a pack, but for the meantime I'll have to see where I can store herbs. Caves are usually really nice for that if you know how to protect them from the critters that can get inside." that's where she had kept her herbs originally back at home. She then turned to Ragna when she was introduced. "Oh my! Hello, you can call me Liz also if you'd like. It's what my siblings call me most days." she said this for Luta as well. Sitting down as the other finally asked something she could answer. She lived somewhere very dry - the area's that were lush with herbs had been dangerous. Forcing her to dry a lot of their herbs for wound care.

"Catmint does wonderfully dried it just takes a while to dry it. Especially if you don't live somewhere dry and hot." Liz wasn't sure if there was a place like that here yet. "A lot of herbs can be dried for later use, though sadly a lot of them are mostly for wound care. I haven't really tried it with herbs you ingest. Things like Yarrow, horsetail, Thyme can be dried too. Just like I said it's a big hassle since many of them you have to dry for a day or two before you get the result you want." that was when Luta wished that there was more time in the year. They were both young, Liz agreed that scrambling to get herbs prepared was the worst.

"Time goes by quick that's for sure. Back at home I was my packs primary healer so I had to make sure I had a surplus of herbs... Before I left we were in a time of war so I used a lot of them." Her eyes turned sad for a moment, she thought of her mother but then imidiately tied the memory away. No it had been a peaceful time after. "Thank you for showing me the root. I know a lot of herbs but many that grow here didn't grow back at home. It was a very barren land at times." that brought her to be excited over this. So many herbs!

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

"Sounds good, Liz." Lúta said, enjoying the use of the nickname. Her own name was short enough that she'd never really had a nickname. "I've been setting some herbs aside in a den for the winter. I haven't quite decided if I want to join a pack or not but it would certainly make some things easier." For one thing food would be more readily available. Lúta took a moment to recall what she was doing. She bent her head down and grabbed the bundle of catmint before leaping up into a nearby tree. Her cat claws unsheathed as she stuck firmly in the tree and climbed her way up to a lower branch. It was a strange mutation in her homeland, but then so was her coat. Her people thought it a sign.

Lúta eased her way onto the branch and carefully tied the bundle to a branch to hang to dry. "I'm glad to hear Catmint does well and you're right it would be easier in a dryer place. I think I'll just set those there for now to get started." She leapt down from the tree. "I know you can dry some herbs like marshmallow for coughs. You'll just need to make a tea out of them to extract the healing properties first." She suddenly giggled. "Sorry, I just tried to imagine a wolf eating dried herbs. I think they'd all have to be put in water or something to make them more ingestible." Speaking of water. Lúta went back over to her bowl and carefully scooted the bowl closer to the fire so that the water would heat up. She didn't want it to boil, just get warm enough to extract the medicinal properties from the plants.

"Wow, that's sounds like quite a job. If I may ask, why are you here then if you were your packs main healer?" Lúta reached over and grabbed one of her squares of deer hide. "By the way, you can have this if you like to get some of your own Valerian Root and some other herbs if you like. The estuary is full of them but I don't need all these scraps of hide now that I have my pack."

Liz thought pack life was simply safer, but she knew there wasn't enough room for everyone. That was made clear with Montra they clearly over populated themselves for a place that didn't have enough prey and water for all of them anyway. Not that it was any of her business why her father let so many wolves into the pack and procreate to begin with. It did make things easier, IF the pack was structured correctly and led correctly but even then packs fell just like Montra did. In the midst of her thoughts though she watched as Luta.... unsheathed her claws? Liz's eyes widened - just like a cat! Her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open as Luta made her way up the tree to fetch her drying catmint. Elizabeth had seen this of cats and big cats on her journey but never... a wolf! She jumped up suddenly, "Ah!" she exclaimed. "You have claws!" she sputtered suddenly but then realized this was rude. She shut her mouth and curled her tail around her haunches again as she sat down.

"S-sorry I've never seen a wolf do that before." Liz watched the healer work and a part of her felt like she had eager paws. She wasn't working with any of the herbs and of course it was because these herbs were not hers. "Y-yeah, it certainly is a thought about someone trying to eat a dried leaf." she laughed. It certainly would be hard to get it down the throat, but if you had to it would be an option considering drying herbs made them last for months, even seasons if done correctly. "You could soak them in a stream before giving or applying them topically. If you didn't have a source of fire for tea of course." it was just an idea anything to make sure a patient had an easier time eating it, but most herbs were bitter to begin with.

Luta asked about her pack and Liz sighed sadly. "My mother and father were the king and queen of the pack. Montra they called it. Sadly after my mother passed away my father I suppose couldn't handle the grief and died as well. Nobody wanted to take control and it disbanded. This was actually my mothers birthplace, she told me and my siblings of Boreas before. It's a two season long journey from where my pack was to over here. Since there was no pack left me and my brother and sisters decided it was best to return to our mother's homeland to see if we had any family who needed informing of our mothers death and seek out a home here." it still stung, while her mother had died three seasons ago the circumstances of the death made it worse. However she was not about to break a lie for a stranger. Her mother passed away peacefully and her father from a broken heart. Her sorrow was broken though by a kind gesture from a stranger as Luta offered her deer hides for carrying herbs.

"Oh are you sure? That would be wonderful really. I should find a place to hide my herbs too but I'm still getting the lay of the land!" she didn't know why Luta was being so nice to her. So a part of her wanted to ask. "Is there a particular reason you're being so nice to me?" maybe it was because they were both healers. However where Liz came from, nobody was kind to each other unless it was a benefit. Liz wasn't like that, but she knew how others could be and sometimes was cautious about it.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta felt heat rise to her face. She'd gotten so used to seeing other wolves with unusual mutations she'd nearly forgotten about her own. "Oh, uh, yea…" She chuckled. "Sorry about that! I'd have warned you but I guess I didn't think about it. I've met a few wolves with claws like mine, I even met one with horns! I don't know if that is unique to Boreas or not. It's very rare where I'm from." Her tribe had insisted she was some sort of gift from the spirits and destined to be a leader, but it was not the sort of life she wanted for herself. She didn't have those leadership qualities and Lúta just wanted to be appreciated for the qualities she did have, not those others wished she did.

The conversation soon shifted back to healing and Lúta nodded at Elizabeth's suggestion. It sounded worth a shot to her as a fire could take awhile to get set up and going, especially depending on the weather. She caught Liz's sad sigh and wondered if she'd over-stepped her bounds with her question. "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about their passing. That must be difficult." Lúta wished there was more she could do to help and then it was like her memory provided her just a way to do so. "You said your last name was Adravendi right? I met a man named Paladin Adravendi not too long ago, here actually! He said he was a healer of a pack named Valhalla. Perhaps you could try asking there?"

She smiled and nodded at Liz. "Yes, I'm sure!" Lúta shifted to glance at how the infusion was coming. It was looking pretty good. She could see the green color starting to leech out into the water. Carefully, using her claws she maneuvered the bowl away from the fire. Often she'd boil herbs but she knew not to do that with the catmint, it was too delicate. She returned to her place and stared for a moment as Liz asked her question. "Oh… I, um…" She shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. You just seem really nice and I guess I just wanted to do a bit to help. I like helping." That was part of the reason she'd decided she wanted to be a healer rather than a fighter as she was initially trained to be.

Liz couldn't say it was that weird honestly, there had been glowing wolves with fangs she'd seen too. It was amazing really, part of her wish now she had some sort of unique mutation to aid her in collecting herbs. Nothing like that ever happened back in Montra. Many of the wolves struggled as it was - though she wasn't sure if the enemy side had something like that. Liz never bothered to think about it, but she adjusted quick and the idea of Luta having claws now ingrained in her head.

"It's alright, she passed away peacefully in her sleep. Though I do admit it's still hard to talk about." she laughed a bit uncomfortably. However, it wasn't long before Luta mentioned Valhalla igniting a wag in the white wolf's tail. Her eyes brightened as well - it was lucky that she had recently taken a trip to Valhalla. "That's actually where I plan on going! I heard that they might have some of my relatives." She heard about it vaguelly from her mother she thought. Valhalla was an old name, another pack had taken upon it to honor the adravendi name.

Liz was thankful for the squares of deer hide. They would come in handy and it filled her with joy. "Thank you so much, it is the first gesture of kindness I've been given since I arrived here." she was even more happy to watch Luta work. Pulling the bowl away from the fire now with a nice green color water. The concotion looked nice enough to drink. The other wolf also answered her question truthfully and Liz felt bad for asking just a morally charged question for sure. "Thank you again, I'm sorry it was such an odd question. My homeland was harsh, many wolves were only out for themselves." she nodded. "It's so nice to meet another healer too - I'd love to go herb hunting sometime with you." Liz felt like she could learn a lot from Luta.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta grinned, glad to hear that Elizabeth was headed toward Valhalla. She truly hoped the other woman would be able to reconnect with her family. She didn't think the name Adravendi was all that common so surely this Paladin was a relative. "It's alright! I can understand that." There were many in her former pack who would eye someone suspiciously for being overly helpful without reason and often felt the need to make some sort of deal or trade out of every little kindness to even some sort of imaginary score.

"That would be great! I'd love to go herb hunting with you some time. If you wanted we could hunt for something now while I wait for my infusion to cool."

Elizabeth wagged her tail, tucking the deer skins closer to her. There must have been an area nearby she could store them or perhaps if she did end up in Valhalla a den there. Regardless she was thankful for the kindness Luta had shown her and she was sincerely hoping they would run into each other again after today. When Luta offered to hunt for some herbs with her while her brew cooled she jumped up happily. "Please! I'm not completely familiar with Boreas yet. I am unsure of some plants just like Valerian so it would be nice to have someone more expeirenced teach me." A lot of what she learned at home had been on her own or by an elder telling her stories of this plant once killed a wolf so she didn't use them. Then travellers would often tell her what they did and where they grew.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

"Ok, great! Let's see what else we can find. The Estuary is pretty herb rich so we shouldn't have too much trouble." She set off, leaving Ragna to guard the herbs they'd already gathered. The warmth of the south allowed herbs to have a longer season so she felt pretty confident they'd have a wide selection to choose from. Her nostrils flared as she caught a familiar sweet scent.

"I think I've got the scent of something. Follow me!" It would be difficult to describe the smell to Liz and more effective just to show her the plant so that she could get a smell of it for herself. It didn't take long to find the lovely plant with its heads of tiny white blossoms standing a couple feet high."I love this plant. It's called Meadowsweet and it had a really nice and distinctive smell so it makes it easier to find even if you can't see it."

Elizabeth was filled with excitement when Luta had said she found something. A lesson! It had been a while since she had one of these. Why she remembered doing this with her mother. Though it would be one of the healers of the pack would tell Heather where such things would be. Liz simply followed instructions but something about running around with Luta seemed immidiately interesting. It didn't take long for them to reach the plant that Luta was talking about. This made her happy. Considering when she had said she caught a scent all Liz could scent was the estuary itself. Probably from the lack of scents back home - this place had easily overwhelmed her at first.

"Woah." Liz commented as she wagged her tail a little. The healer took a good whiff of it, making sure she could commit the scent to her memory. She wagged her tail further before trying to calm herself down. "So what does Meadowsweet do?" she asked as she looked up at Luta. Right now she was feeling like a pup again. Her childhood had been stolen from her as had her lessons become brutal and in the need for life at the moment. Right now she finally felt like she was settling into Boreas but she tried to concentrate and not get lost.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Sunlight broke through the trees over head, spilling light over the ground and illuminating the plant. Lúta would miss the warm days when winter arrived. She grinned at Elizabeth. "Meadowsweet is useful to ease the symptoms of colds and the flu which will be very useful with winter around the corner. You can use the dried leaves or make a decoction of the root." She stepped aside so that Liz could gather what she needed. Lúta already had a good stock of Meadowsweet that she'd gathered around the time she met Paladin. She was glad to see the plant was doing well and that her gatherings weren't hurting its ability to flourish. She wondered if it would go dormant for the winter or if these lands would stay warm enough that the plant life would be unaffected. She didn't plan to stay in the south however but perhaps she'd travel southward again to see for herself.

Liz was really happy that she had met Luta and had been able to discover these things. It really was a great start to Boreas, as she gently picked one of the flowers she placed it into her new leather pouch. She didn't want to take more than that for now. It was only her until she had a pack and since she was still learning it would be a crime to take more and not know what to do with it. She turned to Luta though with a tilt of her head. "What's a Decoction?" She had never heard this word used before. Not to mention none of her family had ever made decoction.

"Thank you for showing this to me too Luta. Our little adventure really has been a pleasure." Elizabeth knew that it was probably best if she moved on soon. She wouldn't bug Luta forever - but if the other enjoyed her company perhaps they could stay and chat a bit more. Liz didn't want to over stay her welcome if it was not wanted that was for sure.