The eager healer trotted along side her sister as they made their way back to the Avian Estuary - the place that had given them their first taste of that Boreas would have in store for them. So far she hadn't traveled too much farther than the lands that Valhalla held, but she was fairly pleased with it so far. Winter had been a bit of a bore since there was not many herbs to gather or prey to hunt and no one, including herself, really wanted to be out in the cold doing spars. Now that spring had fully sprung, she was extremely excited to come back to this place that had been so fruitful in herbs before. She wasn't sure what exactly she was looking for today, but she knew Aslaug was wanting to do some hunting so she was more than happy to help her sister out with that task and just see what she found to gather along the way or when they were on their way back. As they passed through the trees that made homes for all the birds that were chirping away wildly overhead, Elba happened to spot a couple honey bees drifting past as they made their way back to their hive. It made her slow her steps and her curious, dual-toned gaze followed them till her eyes had finally found the hive in question. It was built into the crook made of a large branch and the trunk of the tree. There were a few other bees busily working around the hive's surface, but there was no telling how many were inside. A drip of honey that had begun to form along the bark of the tree got her thinking and she finally came to a full stop as she examined it for a moment. She knew honey was sweet and delicious so it was incredibly tempting... but how would they get it? "Hey, sis," she said softly, unsure if bees could hear them or not. Did bees have ears? How else did they communicate if they didn't? "Can you think of a way of maybe getting some of that honey without getting ourselves stung all over?" Word count: 369 "Speech"

She and her sister were back to the Estuary,the first place they got to know in this new continent.She enjoyed sharing adventures with Elba,her only sibling and thus she had the most trust in her than anyone else,including her parents.Smiling she walked beside her sister wondering about what they were going to do today,she was thrilled and she knew that anything fun could be done with her sister.The day was beautiful, sunny and a gentle wind travelled through the place,blowing up and placing its cool touch in Aslaug's coat. "What a pretty day don't you think Elba?" She asked in an enthusiastic manner as she wagged her tail a bit. If there was anything Elba wished to do she certainly will support her without hesitation. Then her sister stopped walking, curious Aslaug looked back at Elba with interest,and as she stared at where her sister was looking at she spotted several Bees flew here and there around the two wolves. The view itself was fascinating and a big smile formed in Asla's lips. "Wow!" She proclaimed with surprise on her eyes. She then looked at a tree from which honey dripped down to the soil. "Can you think of a way of maybe getting some of that honey without getting ourselves stung all over?" She took her time to think about a solution. 'How no to get stung? Hm...Maybe if we cover ourselves with mud?' "We could maybe cover ourselves in mud to at least make it harder to get stung." She said smiling but unsure if her idea was fine. "Speech" W: 261 Total: 630/1500w

It felt like a lightbulb going off when her sister suggested that they might be able to make a layer of mud on themselves that would keep the bees from being able to sting them. "That's a great idea!" she insisted, her tail wagging enthusiastically behind her. She didn't really consider the fact that they'd have to wash themselves off after word or what they might do if they knocked the hive down and their plan didn't work, but none of that really phased the head strong girl. She was sure her mother would have a few choice words for them later - if she found out that was - but Elba wanted to get some of that honey so bad! She could think of so many things they could use it for in healing and it was probably just really tasty! "There's a puddle over there we can make some mud in," she added, motioning with her muzzle to a small pool of water that was several feet back the way they came. She trotted toward the puddle without hesitation and started swirling the dirt just under the water's surface together with the liquid with one of her paws. Before long they had the whole puddle turned into a shallow pool of dark brown mud. She grinned like a pup that was about to do something that would get her in trouble later and then flopped down into the mud with a giggle, starting to roll in it till she was completely covered from head to toe. When she opened her green and blue eyes again they stood out like bright gems against the otherwise neutral background of brown that now surrounded them. Now that they had their "armor" on, Elba looked back toward the beehive and assessed it for a moment. "Okay, here's what I think we should do... Lets find a couple branches that are long enough to reach up there and knock it down. Then as soon as it starts to fall we run back over here and hide in the puddle till they all disperse, okay? Anything you think we should do differently?" Word count: 356 Total: 986/1500 "Speech"

"That's a great idea!" Her sister responded to her suggestions,she smiled in answer with a warm expression for her dear sister. She was the wolf she loved the most in the entire world,with no one else she could experiment such happiness or will to have fun with.She was fine along as she was with her,along as she and her parents were by her side, otherwise she wouldn't enjoy herself the same way. She was getting used to Valhalla thanks to them,if they weren't she wouldn't have left long ago. Leaving that to aside for now,she stared around to try find a good place to gather mud and just cover themselves with it. And of course, their mother could say something about them returning home muddy. But the risk worthed it, honey was just too good to ignore. Her sister was stubborn so she doubted she would step back from this,and so neither she. "There's a puddle over there we can make some mud in," She turned at it it and without hesitation, Elba did her work and started to smack herself into the mud,of well let the fun begging. Herself followed and as her sister she rolled over the mud, trying to cover herself completely in the apparently safe armor. With all the mud over her she stood up ready to begin the hunt. "Okay, here's what I think we should do... Lets find a couple of branches that are long enough to reach up there and knock it down. Then as soon as it starts to fall we run back over here and hide in the puddle till they all disperse, okay? Anything you think we should do differently?" "I like the idea! Let's do it" She said smiling as quickly she scrutinized the place for any long stick and there she found one, calmly she took it between her jaws looking back at her sister. "Speech" wc-317

Elba grinned at her sister's confirmation that she liked the plan she had come up with and then set to work finding a sick for herself. She found one fairly easily and carefully carried it over to where the beehive was nestled. Creeping up to it, she tried to angle herself in a way that she could easily drop the stick and go running for the hills as soon as it fell. Now was the moment of truth to find out if all their preparations had been for nothing or if their mud armor would actually help protect them. Once Aslaug was in place as well, she gave her sister a small nod and then lifted the stick up toward the hive. She started working the hive free of the tree, poking hard at there it was attached to the branch and quickly working down the side of it toward the trunk. The bees very quickly caught on to what they were doing and at first there was just a few of them beginning to swarm around the outside, but within moments the whole swarm seemed to be at the ready to attack. She started to get nervous but they were so close to getting it down that she was determined to do it. A few bees started to investigate them, buzzing around their heads and following the sticks they were holding to get down to them as well. The few that landed on them didn't seem to be able to do anything, but she wasn't sure if that was because of the mud or because they just weren't angry enough to try yet. The second she saw it start to give she dropped the stick and said, "Let's go!" She bolted back toward the puddle they had gotten muddy in to begin with and dove back into the thick mud. She turned to look at the hive as she laid down in the mud, watching as it hit the ground with a thud. A small piece of it still stuck to the tree above and some honey dripped down from it onto the larger piece of hive that was now on the ground. The bees immediately went into a frenzy, buzzing angrily all over the place for a while. A handful of them came to where they were hiding, but the thick layer of mud covering their bodies acted like a kind of shield. Or maybe it blocked their scent so they couldn't find them? Or camouflaged them so they couldn't see them? She wasn't sure how bees operated, but it seemed to be working. Was there a more sophisticated and cleaner way to do this? Probably! Did she care? Not really! They had gotten honey and that's all she cared about. After a while the bees seemed to give up and they dissipated, probably going off to build a new home somewhere else. Once she was sure they were all actually gone - or at least enough of them for it to be safe - Elba hopped up victoriously in a spray of mud, grinning widely at her sister. "We did it!" she cheered excitedly, hopping up and down in place a few times before racing over to the hive to see about collecting their prized honey. The whole thing was just packed full of the sticky substance and she couldn't have been more thrilled. "There's so much of it here! There's plenty to share!" She was already tryin to think of all the different ways she could use it with healing, but the biggest one she thought of was how good it tasted and how much better taking herbs would be with a little bit of this. She gave the honey a quick lick and the sweetness immediately filled her mouth. Oh yes, this would be perfect! "Stay here! I'll be right back!" she said in a hurry before she ran off to where she remembered seeing some valerian root growing the last time she had been through here. Luckily the plant was still thriving so she gathered a small amount and ran back to where Aslaug was waiting. She certainly didn't need any valerian root at the moment, but taking a tiny amount to test her theory certainly wouldn't hurt her either. She sat and scooped a bit of the honey into her paw and mixed it with a small piece of the herb before licking up the concoction and sure enough - it tasted much better than it would on its own. Her head was buzzing like a bee with all kinds of ideas and plans and she was just so pleased with how it had all gone. "How do you think we should take this back with us?" she asked as she looked up to her sister with a grin. They of course needed to get all of it home - it was way too much work to just leave it here! word count: 824 total: 2127/1500 (check!) "Speech"