The little healer noised through what she could of the slowly dying greenery of the woods. Winter was upon them, and she was still scrambling to bulk up what she could of her supplies. Her resources were dwindling now that frost had killed much of the herbs, and she was considering moving on to Auster for the winter season. At least the winter was mild to the South, and she would have better luck at finding herbs. She wasn’t quite ready to move away from her temporary home in the falls, a couple lands over, to her folly. The longer she left it, the harder things were going to be. She paused as she came across some Alfalfa, and she crouched down, carefully nipping it free, before opening up her healers satchel, and digging around for an empty jar. She placed the herbs carefully inside, rearranging the wool that padded between her precious salves. Ooc: Set before she meets Pyr ""

Even more than the sea, the young woman loved coming to the willows. In the warmer seasons, the overarching roots and swaying tendrils made for a forest with a hundred secret places. Even a "normal" woods with spruce or oak trees could only fill up the forest so much. Here, though, she could dart inside the hidden caverns underneath the roots of the willow, bask in a patch of sunlight, or doze surrounded by a curtain of gently undulating willow tendrils.

It was peaceful, but it was less so when winter's grip got a hold of the place. While some of the trees were rich in orange and red tones, many of them were bare thanks to the current season. Still, a few rivulets continued to stream free beneath the roots, not yet frozen but icy cold when she bent down to take a few mouthfuls. As she lifted her head, licking away the droplets, she spied a dark figure further into the trees, nipping up some herbs.

"Hello!" she blurted out. The yearling, if she could still call herself that, bundled over to the female, waving a tail of pure friendliness. "What are you gathering, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Speech"

She startled slightly, so lost in her work that she hadn’t heard the other approach. Even as she turned her head, looking up at the stranger, she would offer the other a sunny smile. The interest in her herbs would gather an immediate response, and she slipped the jar with Alfalfa out again. “Hi, I’m actually gathering whatever I can before winter frost kills them.” she would explain. She tapped the jar gently with a paw, showing the herb inside. “This is Alfalfa, great for a pregnant mother, but only in very small doses. Helps with weight gain, breast milk, and strengthening blood flow. Admittedly the last one isn’t great if the mother is near her birthing.” she gave the information freely, her smile only growing as she looked to the stranger. “I’m Riva, I take it you're interested in healing?” ""

Thankfully the stranger was receptive, greeting Mal with a bright smile. Otherwise, what was a friendly young wolf to do? She returned with a toothy grin of her own. The small woman gestured to her jar, and Malalia took the opportunity to move nearer, stooping lower with twitching ears to eye the cluster of purple flowers. Her gaze then slid over to the jarred version, then.

She listened attentively as the stranger explained the herb's uses, ears flicking up with interest. It was still sort of surprising that a single plant could have so many different uses, and especially within a narrow field of medicine. "How long can it last jarred like that? Do you have to dry it out first, or can you just store it as is?" she queried.

"Oh! Sorry! I'm Malalia," she laughed. She sometimes got a bit distracted that she skipped formalities altogether. When the stranger, Riva, asked if she was interested in healing, her tail began to wave behind her. "I am. I'm training to be a healer-warrior for the Ashen Armada. My pack isn't too far from here," she explained, gesturing back towards the border at the plains. "Where are you coming from?" she asked conversationally. Riva didn't seem to have a pack scent on her.

Mal tilted her head slightly. "Is there anything I could help you with?" Of course, any "help" she could offer would probably benefit her more than Riva, but hey, it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Speech"

The stranger would take an interest in the herb, and with another smile, Riva would open her pack wider, so the girl could look into the healers satchel, and see the jars full of mushy liquids, as well as her fire starting kit, mixing sticks, and many other goodies. ”I’m just collecting it at the moment. The jar will keep it from getting tossed around or crushed in the pack. I preserve them and make salves. Depending on what I'm making, I preserve them with honeys, salts, or vinegar” she was more than happy to explain. Multiple times in her life, she had almost ended up with an apprentice to teach, but it had never seemed to work out. Truth was, Riva wanted nothing more than to share her knowledge with another wolf.

“Nice to meet you Malalia... of the Ashen Armada. I knew an Ashen Empire, has the pack changed its name?” she asked with some curiosity. “I don’t have a pack, so I wonder about where I’m needed, and where the herbs grow.” the older wolf explained.

“I would love for some help, if you can help me find some Boneset and Dandelions, I'm making a concoction for winter ailments. I can show you how to preserve and combine them.”

At the woman's insistence, she stooped even closer, her tail wagging with interest behind her as she checked out the goods inside her satchel. She eyed the liquids curiously, as  well as the many other articles inside. "I've never seen herbs stored that way before," she finished, pulling back with a flick of her ears. "I'm mostly used to sun-dried plants, honestly." She cocked her head. "How do you know which to use for which herb?"

Malalia shook her head. "The Empire still exists. The Armada is an extension of it. Kind of like a warrior pack for the Empire," she explained. "And that's awfully kind of you," she remarked. A traveling healer was certain to be useful to those without the knowledge of medicine, or at least a pack to care for them. "Are you planning to stick around for a while?"

Even if she wasn't, the loner seemed very open to sharing her knowledge with the young woman, and for that she offered a bright grin and a little play bow. "Cool!" She darted off to find the herbs, and made it a few lengths away before calling out a haphazard "Thank youuuuuuuuuuu......!" as the flew away, grateful for the chance to learn something new. The dandelions, common as they were, would be easy enough to find, and she would grab some on her way back. The boneset would be harder, though Mal had a pretty good feeling she would find some higher upstream of the little rivers that crossed beneath the willow roots....

"Speech"

“That is the more common way to do it” Riva agreed, and maybe it was better - for a pack wolf. To have so many varieties at your fingertips, to have a herb garden to stock your stores. Riva was on the go, and she needed quick, efficient remedies that stored well.

“Well, if I need something to stay mostly dry, i’ll use salt. Vinegar keeps things for a longer shelf life, but the herb can lose its potency over time. It's also a little harder on the stomach. Honey is good for sticky salves for outside the body, or sweetens the taste for a difficult patient.” that was basically the quick version, but there was a lot more to get into, if the girl was interested.

“I was thinking of heading to Auster, where the winter weather is mild, but I have no commitments. Why, were you looking for a teacher?” it would make the winter a little more difficult, but she could manage, for the chance to teach.

The girl seemed terribly excited at the prospect of learning, and Riva reorganised her satchel, and followed after more slowly, chuckling at her enthusiasm. “Did you have a pack? Even just for gathering, you’ll find them terribly useful.”

Malalia hummed softly at the explanation. "I've just started using honey in poultices," she remarked, recalling the bottle of honey that Cairo had given her. It really worked wonders, sticking to wounds a lot better than the catchweed burrs she'd used before. Being integrated into the poultice certainly helped. "Where do you find salt, though? And vinegar?" Her only reference for salt was the sea, and on surfaces where seawater had evaporated and left powdery white stains behind. She didn't even know where to acquire vinegar, much less what the substance was, exactly.

At the offer of a teacher, her brows furrowed, but her excitement couldn't help but shine through her wiggling tail. It would be great to learn from her, but -- "Another woman mentors me at the Armada... I think you can learn from everyone, and I would love to learn anything you have to teach me." The woman was kind, giving with her knowledge and clearly an experienced healer.

"But please, don't let me keep you here," she rushed. "I mean, most of my time will be spent at the Armada." Even if it wasn't healing lessons specifically, she would still be busy training to become Reaper, or at least a warrior -- and hopefully, she would be much more busy after that.

It wasn't long before Mal spied a fair amount of the white flowerheads growing along one of the wider streams, and neighbored by a clump of dandelion to boot! She carefully stepped around the trickle of water and nipped off a few stems of each, leaves and all. "How much do you need?"

The question of a pack brought an embarrassed lowering of your ears. "No. I keep meaning to get one -- mostly I've been stuffing things in my bracelet." She indicated the silver bangle around her left hindlegs, stuffed with a few squares of doeskin, folded over to store tiny amounts of dried herbs. It was a pretty sorry setup, but she'd been running around too often to stop and get something more practical.

"Speech"

“Salt you can strain from ocean water, or find deep underground. Vinegar you make, I can show you sometime, if you like” she promised, happy to give her knowledge to the younger wolf. As the young woman admitted that she would like to learn from her, Riva already began to make mental changes to her plan. She could stick around for a couple more weeks, she could make her supplies last that long. Then she would head down to Boreas, and start rebuilding them from there.

“I love to teach, I can stick around for a few weeks, when you have time, you can find me in these woods” the gentle healer promised. “Grab what you can of each, I’ll always have a need for them” Riva replied, raising her voice so the other could hear it over the running stream.

Riva laughed gently when she pointed to her bracelet “I used to do exactly the same with my ribbon, actually. As for a pack, how about after I show you how to make the salve, we make you one? If you have some clean leather, I have everything else I need, and can make it to measurements that suit you” every healer needed a pack

Ooc: if you like a pack, I’ll buy you one in the shop :D

Her tail wagged as Riva offered to show her how to make the vinegar, and further offered to teach her, to stay close to the Armada for a couple of weeks. She hoped it wasn't a hardship for the loner to stay.... but she couldn't resist the opportunity to learn more. Especially since she hadn't been keeping up with her healing training as much as she would have liked.

Mal could only nod wordlessly as she clamped off as much as the herbs as she could. When she was done, she tied the flexible dandelion stems around each bundle, and leaped over the stream to carry them over, one by one. Finally, she smiled at Riva. "That would be lovely -- thank you!" She began running through a mental schedule of when she was free to meet the woman.

The yearling glanced at the pretty blue bow around Riva's forepaw and chuckled. "Well, at least I'm not alone in that." At the mention of a pack, her tail swished happily. "That would be great, too!" Mal plopped her rump on the ground with a wiggle and an easy grin, ready to learn.

"Speech"

Riva’s satchel was dyed a dark blue, and she found herself wondering what colour the excitable young woman would like for hers, and what they could harvest this late for the dye. But, one thing first, and for the moment, she had her salve to make.

She was surprised, and pleased, with how Quickly Malalia had found and harvested the herbs she required. As she brought them carefully over to her, the healer would bring out a few jars. One, with the herb she had already harvested, another with honey. She brought out her mixing stick, and her small curved bowl, with the tiny chip in one of the edges. The small stone came next, and by the time Mal was finished bringing over the harvest, Riva began to crush the herbs. “I crush them into a paste, and then I’ll mix it with the honey, since honey is also good for winter colds. Here, did you want a go with crushing?” she asked, carefully cutting up another small bunch of herbs, and placing it in the bowl, before pushing it towards her temporary apprentice.

Mal watched closely as Riva took out her setup of the bowl and rock, noting absently that it worked pretty much the same as the mortar and pestle Cairo had shown her. When Riva offered her the stone to try, she was ready. "Yes, please." Her tail wagged as she settled herself on the ground, getting in a more comfortable position to use the stone. With one paw placed over it, she began to roll, crushing the herbs underneath. She hummed happily, catching her rhythm in the regular, almost musical rotations, and almost getting a bit lost. "Thanks again for taking me on," she said conversationally. "You said you go wherever you're needed. Do you get to teach very often?"

If Riva didn't stop her, she would turn the concoction into a very fine mush. She stared at her result a second before looking up at the woman. "It isn't possible to over mix an herb, is it?" She didn't think so, but who knew?

"Speech"

Riva watched her with some surprise, as she got into the rhythm of grinding the herbs very quickly. “You’ve done this before” he healer observed, with a gentle laugh. Perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised, she didn’t know the extent of this girl's knowledge yet.

“If I find someone interested, I always share my knowledge. My mentor was a bit like that, she was a traveller who went wherever she was needed” she explained, a touch wistfully. She sometimes missed the grouchy old healer.

“Not when they are dried, but the more you work them well they are fresh, as we are, the more they can lose their potency “ she explained. She looked over at the bowl, and nodded. “That looks good” she scooped up the mush with her mixing stick, and pushed the mixture into the jar. She then added a few scoops of honey. ”Now i’m stirring to remove the air bubbles” she informed the girl, doing just that. “Then i’ll pop on the lid, and this will last all of winter” She handed the jar over to the girl so she could examine it.

“I have.” Her ears leveled, a bright smile grew on her maw, and wow, her face was suddenly feeling very warm. “Only a couple times, though, my friend had a setup like this… I hadn’t even used anything like this before he showed me.” Her tail wagged a little faster behind her.

“You two sound pretty neat,” she smiled, referring to Riva and her mentor. She’d never really considered that kind of altruism outside of helping her own pack members… but everyone needed a healer at one point or another.

Mal nodded simply at the explanation, noting that for later. It was pretty likely that she’d been overworking her pastes up to this point, but now she knew where to stop, at least. She eyed the bottle of honey as Riva stirred out the air bubbles, her tail thumping as the woman finished the concoction and left it for her to examine. “That’s really cool,” she finished, pulling up her head. “And you don’t even have to spend time mixing it when someone comes to you, either.”

"Speech"

“Sounds like you’ve got plenty of resources to learn from” Riva said with a gentle laugh, as she waited for the wolf to examine the finished contents of the jar. It was one of her quicker makes, but it was a good example of what could be done to create remedies to use on the fly. She pointed a paw at the girl at her words. “Exactly” she said with enthusiasm. “At any given time I carry an assortment on me. I’ve got a strong pain relief, made up from dried Meadowsweet, Ginseng Root, Lavender, and Wintergreen. That's my heavy hitter for a really bad situation. I’ve got wound cleaning salt water infused with Trillium, inflammatory salves, salves for birthing, blood clotting, and so on” she moved some jars around, pointing to a few of them as she spoke. It was her entire life’s work. “A lot of it is trial and error, and years of collecting” she explained, giving one of the jars a fond pat. “If you're interested in starting something similar of your own, I found most of the jars on a small island off Lover’s mangrove” she explained. Which… actually wasn’t too far from here. “If you have any clean leather in your pack, I can get started on your satchel.” and well she made it, she could consider what else she could show the girl. Riva’s main goal in life was to help and heal others. Giving other healers the tools to do so just furthered her cause. ""

Her eyes traced over each jar, tail waving softly as she studied them. Mal's ears were wide open as Riva went on show her the different pre-made salves she'd concocted, explaining the trial and error that eventually led to her chosen mixtures. It must have taken years to combine the right herbs with the right properties and potency... and the yearling was all for it. There were so many things she wanted to do, so many avenues to explore as she learned more about healing, but this was definitely among the most interesting.

So, "Absolutely!" was her answer. She'd make the time to find the jars. Perhaps she could snag a few for Riva as well, if she needed them. Her smile broadened at the mention of the satchel, and she nodded. "Probably time I got something a little more practical," she chuffed, tapping her hindleg. The bracelet had worked thus far, but it was high time for an upgrade for the young healer.

"And thank you for showing me everything!" A swing of her tail as she straightened. "I can hop on over and get you that leather today," she promised, already thinking about when they could meet for a lesson next.

"Speech"