Autumn had arrived though it wasn't particularly noticeable, not yet. The sun was shining and the birds were singing while most of the trees still had green leaves, only a few beginning to turn yellow. Álarr had checked the stores. They were decent enough but there could be more of a few items. He'd heard of one of their new members, Abilene, having returned from a harrowing experience blinded. Ásvor had treated her and while he didn't know the details he felt it might do good to have the woman help him with some herb hunting. He'd brought along some samples of the herbs he wanted to find. A few with distinct and strong scents and a few that were more subtle. While eyesight was useful in finding herbs, smell was also necessary. Some healing herbs had poisonous cousins that looked the same but smelt different. He settled in the center of the den site and called for Abilene. As he didn't know for sure which den was hers he figured this was as good a place as any to call.

Abby woke to a voice she didn’t recognise calling for her, and she rose groggily from her light sleep and limped toward the call. Even though she was aware of Allar they had never really spoken, so Abby didn’t have a voice to put with the face or name. Still, talking or whatever he intended was better than sleeping and interacting with a potential stranger hadn’t put her off before.

She left the den, a possum following close behind. She had befriended the marsupial by chance, the creature had incidentally chosen her den to take shelter in during a particularly chilly night. She gave it an apple, and it had promptly decided to adopt her as her own, so long as Abby provided food. She had decided against informing the creature that she couldn’t even provide food for herself without assistance.

“Hello?” She called once out of the den, waiting for an explanation or an order.

Álarr didn't have to wait long as Abilene emerged from her den. "Hello, Abilene? It's Álarr Imperialis. I know we haven't talked much but I was wondering if you wanted to help me gather some herbs for winter preparation." Autumn was still so new it was basically summer so he felt pretty good about finding what they needed. "How's your tracking? I have a few herbs here I thought we could look for." Álarr reached into his bag and pulled out a bundle of various herbs. He unrolled the piece of rabbit hide that held a frond of meadowsweet, marigold, and yarrow. He looked over at the woman hoping she was up to the task. It wasn't an order, just a request and if she wasn't comfortable he would of course understand and trouble her no further.

Abby’s ears flicked at the offer as she thought it over for a moment. Not for long of course, any excuse to leave her den was appreciated immensely, but she didn’t want to try to help with something that she was useless at. How difficult would tracking be without her eyesight?

“Dunno if I’m any good at it now, but I’ll give it a shot.” Surely Allar wouldn’t make her track normally? As the lead healer, he’d probably know some technique to help, right? Abby dreaded the idea of walking in circles as she tried to find a tiny plant she couldn’t see.

The mottled girl smelt the herbs as the healer unraveled the hide, but she couldn’t differentiate between the scents. To her disappointment, was only able to identify marigold within the bunch. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

Abilene agreed to give it a shot and she emerged from her den. Álarr scooted the bundle with the herbs on it a bit closer to the blind woman. "I have three herbs here. Meadowsweet on the left, marigold in the middle, and yarrow on the right. Feel free to take a whiff and get familiar with he scents." Meadowsweet was the strongest and marigold he most distinct. He hoped she would feel comfortable tracking one of these. "Does one of these seem easier to track? If so we can go and gather some, I'll let you lead." He would be nearby to assist if needed and to keep an eye out for danger or things she might run into. Thankfully the range was mostly flat and they didn't need to worry about buffalo like they would if they were hunting in the knolls.

Abby bent down to take in the scents, focusing mostly on the ones she couldn't recognise, meadowsweet and yarrow. "I think marigold would be easiest but..." Would it be the most productive? "Summer's ending. I don't think burns will be too much of a problem. I'll choose meadowsweet." It was a strong scent, easily not as recognisable as marigold but she'd make do. She nodded at him, or more his approximate location, and limped forward. Her leg wasn't too much of an issue so long as she was careful with it and didn't put weight on it, which slowed her pace and obstructed her ability to walk long distances but didn't disable her entirely. She'd move forward, following her nose and Bell's guiding chirrups.

She didn't move out of sight of the dens, but she didn't need to. The splendid summer had left plenty of growths, of meadowsweet and other herbs. ten, maybe twenty minutes had passed when Bell led her back to the starting position. She'd gotten Meadowsweet, that's for sure, but as she dropped her forage at her feet it was clear that she'd accidentally pulled an assortment of weeds, other herbs and blades of grass which had been unfortunate enough to have gotten in her way. "how did I do?"

Álarr nodded gently as she stated that she'd choose to find more meadowsweet. "That sounds good to me. It's useful for fevers and I'm sure winter will bring plenty of illness." Unfortunately that was the way it seemed to go. Cold, dry air and winter storms could be rough on wolves and sometimes prey grew more scarce during these times. There were a number of factor's that could lead to increases in infection.

Álarr followed along after Abilene, examining her gait as she walked to compensate for the injured limb. Brynhildr, his white raven, flew along with them, keeping an eye out for trouble and any predators that might be hanging about. Having the sheep was great in that it made for easy access to live prey. The down side was that other predators also saw the sheep as easy prey. The more brazen ones would test the borders and keep the warriors busy.

Abilene managed to find the Meadowsweet but as she attempted to gather it she pulled up a random assortment of other plants. "Good job in finding the meadowsweet. You were close to gathering it. The strongest scent is at the top near the flowers if you can find that it will be easier to follow the scent down to the plants base. You can try feeling along with your paw."