The yearling since coming back to the pack had been preoccupying his time with setting up his healing system as quickly as possible. He needed to get things underway fast so it didn’t seem like he wasn’t doing anything. He had been gathering herbs from nearby to put in storage and putting some out to dry for possible use later on. He didn’t know about the packs current fighting habits, but if he caught himself unprepared that wouldn’t do his standing any good. He had gone up to the lake to look at the herbal situation there and it wasn’t pretty. Looking at the herbs in the immediate area they didn’t seem to be in any sort of order, they were in various clumps with the few plants spread outside of their respective areas. Saren wanted to bring a sense of order to the plants, but he wasn’t quite sure how to do that outside of yanking them up and narrowing down the amount of living plants. He was no gardener but he figured that that wasn’t the right solution. He could dig them up at the roots and move them but he wasn’t sure how well a plant would survive if he moved it to another area. He’d come up with a solution sooner or later though, he just had to think about it.

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

With his bundle of items secure in his teeth Aureus set off to find a good place to sit, enjoy the day, and do a bit of crafting. As usual Eliphas was drifting in and out of his thoughts but he was grateful for the fact. At least now he finally had some joy re-entering his life.

Aureus arrived at the lake and noticed that he wasn't alone. Another pack member was there and judging from the scent and markings he'd hazard a guess they were related. However, he couldn't find a name to go with the face. Aureus set down his bundle. "Hello there, I hope it's alright if I join you. My name is Aureus, and I don't believe we've met." He settled down and unwrapped his bundle, pulling out three thin strands of deer leather. He carefully set them up side by side and moved them around to try and get the tops at the same level.

Saren’s plotting for a garden was interrupted by the arrival of another wolf. Looking over at them they weren’t one he remembered seeing, even as a pup. Granted Saren hadn’t put much effort into meeting his pack members as a pup, he’d put more effort into it now though. So far his time in the pack hadn’t been too bad, he had just been busy. Nobody had insulted him or tried to fight with him, as far as Saren was concerned that was a win. He had a den to himself where he could be alone and surround himself with things that he loved. That was really all he wanted as a child, a place to call his own and be alone. Hopefully now that he had one his mental state would be alright and not turn him into a wolf who moped about all day and didn’t do anything. There wasn’t any need for him to be scared of new people anymore, he had a safe place. Saren smiled at the other wolf and replied “You’re fine, I’m just making plans for a new garden. It’s nice to meet you Aureus, I’m Saren. Thalia’s brother.” He wasn’t quite sure how the man would react to hearing he was Thalia’s brother, but he wanted to give them a point of reference as to who he was. If they reacted poorly then he’d leave it out the next time he met a pack wolf. He noticed that Aureus had brought something and it wasn’t quite obvious what he was planning on doing. He had some pieces of leather, which Saren was curious about how he had made but currently he was more curious about what they were going to do with them. Once he had noticed the pieces his eyes had focused on them more than they did the other wolf. He might be more social now, but that didn’t mean that making things didn’t interest him. The boy tentatively asked, “What are you planning on doing with those?”

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

After he aligned the tops of the strands of leather Aureus carefully took them in his jaws and placed one of his paws onto the strand farther down. It took some careful maneuvering but eventually he was able to tie a knot. It wasn't a perfect job, a few of the strands had slipped in the tying so the hanging ends were a bit uneven but he could work with that. Laying the strands down he carefully rolled a rock onto it to hold it in place. This would make it easier to speak.

"Oh, ok. I remember Thalia a bit though I can't say we've ever really spoke." He'd seen her at meetings of course now that he thought about it but he couldn't remember sitting down and actually having a conversation. He felt suddenly embarrassed. He clearly needed to do better about getting to know his family.

"I'm going to braid them. By doing that I can take three weak strands and make something stronger. What about yourself? What are you planning for your garden?"

Huh, he was surprised that his sister hadn’t really spoken to a member of the pack. Was she not as social as he had thought? His primary impression of his sister was that she was a lot more social than he had been, had that changed since he had been away? It was quite possible since after all he had done some changing himself. When he caught a spare moment he would have to check on her, it would do neither of them any good if they switched places and she became the one barely leaving the den. Bringing his mind back to the task at hand the idea of grouping things together to make them stronger made sense. More items meant that each one had to bare less of the tension on it, Saren mentally filed it away as yet another project to try out someday. “Oh, I’m planning to rearrange the plants to have a sense of order to them. I’ll have one specific area dedicated to plants once I figure out how to actually do that…”  Saren’s voice trailed off at the end of what he was saying. There were so many plants and he had been so busy as of late. His get up and go drive to get things started was about to die out, he really did need to give himself a break. “There’s so many of them.” The words slipped out of his mouth, his thoughts accidentally being voiced. Saren’s mind had almost slipped off to some other dimension and he was barely aware that he had said that. A nap of some kind was well over due.

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

Once the strands were secure Aureus set to braiding them, carefully moving the left strange over the middle and then the right strand over the left strand. He worked in a quick and steady rhythm. With practice he was getting faster and faster.

"That sounds like a good idea. I hope the winter won't be too much of a pain here. I think we're far enough south it should be fairly mild." He hoped anyway. Aureus was used to warmer weather and no desire to go too far north. He was glad they were staying in the southern region of Boreas. He paused what he was doing to gaze around the place that would become Saren's garden. "There are a lot. Are they all useful herbs or are some weeds?" Aureus didn't have a clue about plants.