This wasn't the first time she had seen that annoying blackbird that followed along on her journeys, it had been many months since the last time she had seen him but apparently, it had caught up or lingered with its presents unknown. The crow was always quiet he followed her for miles upon miles flying from tree to tree doing nothing but observing and watching over the aging fae, she didn't quite understand why this creature showed curiosity in her but she often found herself talking to it like magically she would get a response out of the stupid thing. The dark cluster of fur stepped heavily on the earth as it squished between her toes, caking her small paws in the clay-like mud that clung to the fur between her toes, filling the deep cracks that spread threw her paws with some sort of relief as the ground grew moist and slippery exposing the female's foot trail as she neared the Edge of the Rio, she had yet to explore this land as she planned to slowly make her way threw everything the south lands had to give. Today her body woke up aching, her hips stiff, joints and muscles sore yet she set off on another day of doing what she did best. Moving slower than normal, the steps she made were less coordinated, snapping sticks and kicking rocks that made it into her path. The dark petite head of the she-wolf hung low as she walked with her nose to the ground pulling the scents of the surroundings into her nostrils that flared when she found something sweet before carrying on moving up and down the sides of the poorly walked path. Sloppy in the way she normally tried to hide from the beings around her, to be invisible as she walked threw the lands she had yet to explore that sweet smell of spring that followed her through all the seasons filling the immediate space around her, it’s why so many were drawn to the blinded animal. All due to poor breeding on her mother's end, oh why did she have to get the shit end of the gene pool. Usually, by now she was covered in the rancid scent of some decaying animal she found in her journeys but today she had yet to run into one, or just the lack of trying. But who would even find her way out here? she hadn’t seen or smelled another of her kind for miles. Unknown to the ones downwind of her but surely she wouldn't be crossing any even if she wanted. Looking up at the small blur of the black crow that had perched itself on a branch strides before her waiting on the slower wolf to catch up watching as she passed before picking itself up and fluttering a couple of branches farther ahead. “Why hello there old friend..” The words spilled from her black lips as she talked at nothing as if the bird were going to reply. To any that walked past the shaggy brown wolf she would have seemed crazy talking to herself in the middle of the woods. She watched as the world passed her haunted orbs, the dark trunks of trees and diffrent shades of greens and browns that lived in the plantlife. Grumbling lowly as her feet came to a halt quickly as she stepped unknowingly into the edge of the water, taking a step back as she shook her paw. Her long pink tongue snaked from its cave as it lapped at the almost clear water, pulling the chilly liquid into her throat before lifting her head. Peering over her shoulder back at the bird who had found a comfortable spot hidden in the trees. Turning back to the body of water, wading in slowly till only her head poked from the top of the water. Her small stature being cupped in the freezing water that lifted the pain from her hips and muscles, grumbling out happily as her hind met the bottom of the silty river, eyes closing as her body encased itself in goosebumps some sort of defense to the cold water. "Please engage..."

She sat there for a whole, her body submerged under the cold water that her body had already gone numb too, humming to herself quietly as she listened to the water around her roar. She licked at her lips every so often pulling the beads of water that had splashed in her face off her only dry bit of coat, she grumbled out softly as her ears flicked back to her skull gaze moving back in the direction of where the blackbird had once sat. He was gone and she wasn't surprised what fun would it be to watch a blind wolf sit in a pool of water. Her hind lifted from the ground pulling heavy amounts of silt and whatever had settled at the bottom of the Rio to the surface pushing off with her hind end as she swam deeper into the water, paddling around without much care in the world. She always loved to swim, how it made her feel like she was floating in midair, her paws thrashed quickly but in some sort of rhythm as the small amount of webbing between her toes as they spread gripping the water before pulling the limb back to herself pushing herself quickly threw the semi-clear water. After about 10 minutes she found herself back in shallow water her feet pressed against the sinking bottom as she hiked her wet frame out of the water, it was only obvious now how well in shape she was as muscles bludged from under the coat that laid flush to her black skin. the slickness of her dark fur exposed the 8 empty teets hanging from her belly where pups had once nursed in their lifetime. She couldn't say she was the best mother to that litter of kin as all of them were dead by now, none able to escape the ruthless jaws of the brown fae, it was a task that needed to be done, they created in a stupid love of war. Maybe one day she would have another batch, after all she would need something or someone to be at her side when she completely lost her sight. It was only the backup plan for now at least, it would be hard to find one accepting to stud at her age, most of the brutes going for ones younger, less..damaged than herself. she shook, the excess of water flying from her petite frame, standing in the middle of nowhere shaking like the frail bitch she was as the cool wind nipped at her wet skin. "Your alone in this world"

Gossamer trotted after Ásta with fronds of lavender clasped between her teeth. Today, her companion was going to teach her to make tea and what was really exciting was she could drink this one. The fox told her she could drink mild lavender tea for enjoyment and not just to heal patients.

Gossamer bounded over to the fox and set the lavender down. "I found some! What now?" She gazed at the bowls that Ásta had brought with her. The fox grinned. "Great work! So the first thing we need to do is add the lavender flowers to the bowl." Ásta demonstrated by taking one of the fronds of lavender and chewing it in half before adding both halves to her bowl. She scooted the other bowl to Gossamer and the young pup quickly mimicked what the fox had done. It tasted kind of different but it wasn't unpleasant.

She was excited for the tea, something warm to drink on a chilly day by the river. Gossamer huddled closer to the small fire the fox had made. She wished she knew how to do that. Her companion was so clever. Her ears flicked up as she heard someone moving about. Her body guard, Natha, was in ear shot should she yell. The lynx was fishing somewhere down stream. She saw a woman swimming in the water and eventually climbing onto the shore. "Hey! Isn't the water really cold? How come you went swimming in it? Are you fishing?"

grumbling softly as she stood there shaking, it would be a while before she dried the warm air had seemed to disappear with the seasons, but it didn't seem to phase her though as her paws carried her forward back from where she had come from, there was always more land to be explored? new places to be found? she didn't really pay attention to the noises or scents around her or maybe it was that the cold has simply shocked her sense when she went under the almost frigid water. She never really did find much pleasure in being alone but large groups seemed to stress the little antisocial wolf out. Her ears perked as a sound of another voice filled her ears, licking at her black lips as her head turned looking at the young pup who obviously hadn't got a good look at her face yet when she spoke, but it was blatantly obvious as her blinded golden orbs moved over the larger wolf, even from afar the other was bulkier than herself though less mature throughout the frame an adolescent? maybe even younger. The wettened female grumbled as another cold gust of wind rolled threw the trees before, shaking as she struggled to find the words to speak back to the canine who she didn't even know was there, maybe her nose was going too she didn't even smell the canine till she was near her. "no I can't see the fish why would I hunt them?" she grumbled out, it was true, the little canine mostly going after large prey like doe or calves, they had a harder time trying to slip away from her view harder than small prey. she didn't even mean to come off mean though her frame held itself low, her hackles slightly raised, she was never the best to sneak up on or show up unannounced always turning to a violent fit of unawareness, but most knew it wasn't the best to sneak up on a blind wolf. "when did you get here?"

Children, Wake Up

Gossamer watched the older woman in the water, wondering what would make a wolf willingly get wet like that. She had to have baths some times but she hated them. Rain was different though. Puddles were fine but baths definitely weren't, but then this lady was an adult and adults were just weird.

The woman replied that she couldn't see the fish. The girl's head cocked to the side and she looked at the water for a moment then shrugged. "I don't know. My body guard likes to hunt fish, I don't like them very much though. They're too bony and pokey." Gossamer assumed the woman couldn't see the fish because the water was a bit mucky but as she gazed at the woman's face and unfocused gaze it suddenly occurred to her that the woman was blind. "Ohhh so you can't see like at all? What's that like?"

Ásta, the fox, cleared her throat. "I think that's enough, Gossamer. You have lessons. I'm sorry, m'am. My name is Ásta and this is Gossamer. We don't mean to disturb you."

The fox turned to Gossamer, eager to get the lesson back on track before the pup said something really offensive. "Next, you'll want to mash up the flowers to release the healing properties." Ásta demonstrated what to do using a deer bone to mash up the herb until it was even finer. The fox passed the bone over to Gossamer. She took it in her jaws and started mashing the tea as well. "How's this?" The fox nodded. "Looks good!"

"We're making tea if you want some."

Addison always loved to swim, always the best way to relax overworked muscles and she surely knew too well about the soreness that ached the legs of many like herself that did nothing but wanders all their lives, baths were similar but not in a sense she never took them, but maybe that's why she smelled of decaying death covering some sort of sweetness that all wolves seem to carry threw their season of heat but she carried it threw all another shitty thing to add to the list of poor genetic breeding that went into making the tiny brown wolf, she hid it as best she could knowing it drew many far to close for her liking. Her hazed orbs moved over to the pup as she talked on of a bodyguard she had, strange, wolves nowadays unable to protect themselves? she took in the features of the black and white blur that stood ahead of her. The confidence this one was as she walked straight up to the stranger, on a rough day maybe wouldn't have been such a nice reaction but today she wasn't up for a fight, she was sore and her hips didn't like to move as well in the cold. She shrugged as her body shifted its weight turning to get a better look at the younger wolf as she spoke with curiosity beaming from her vocal cords, it only caused her fluffy ears to flick forward at her question, and without much hesitation, she spoke. "I can see a bit, but not as much as you can little one--" her sweet venom like voice filling the space between the two only before she was rudely interrupted by the small fox that had appeared at the pup's side, addies head tiled, many around here with various amounts of different things that seemed to befriend each other, it was strange to her but at the same time, she was slightly jealous as she spent most of her days alone. when the young ones attention was pilled her neck rounded looking back to the treetops as she scanned for that speck of black that equated to the crow that had been following her but to no prevail her eyes had too much strain mushing everything into one big blur. her ears lowered but mostly in disappointment as she looked away from the blurred treeline and back at the larger pup and by now she had wandered back over to the bright orange thing that flicked with the wind that seemed to catch the interest of the she-wolf as her ears perked and her hackles spiked along her back. Snorting as she took a step closer, almost ignoring the pair as they went on with their tasks that she didn't know much of or cared for. She was so drawn to the bright orange and red flickering light that was slightly blurred in her perspective, her tail tucked tightly between her legs as she moved closer, and only now did she feel the heat radiating from the magical orange thing her body lowered as her belly met the ground staring at the fire in front of her in which twisted the thoughts in her brain, much like a nieve pup she stuck her nose closer till the flame nipped at her nose, the bitch leaping to her feet as she yelped out in pain licking at her now tender nose, she didn't burn herself too bad but she looked at the others with her ears flattened against her skull. "don't poke the orange thing it bites" "Who am I?"

Children, Wake Up

Gossamer found it interesting that the woman could see a bit and that her vision wasn't all black like she assumed it must be. Unfortunately, Ásta spoiled the fun by making her return to her lessons. She was eager to learn but she wished the fox wasn't such a focused teacher.

"Now, we'll want to add about 8 ounces of water to each bowl to make one cup of tea. Here, watch me first so you know how much to put in. The fox picked up the water skin and carefully poured in some water. Gossamer watched carefully before taking the skin and pouring in a similar amount of water.

"Now, we'll put it next to the fire so the water can heat up and pull out more of the healing properties." Ásta carefully scooted her bowl near the fire and Gossamer followed. Once that was done the fox placed a lid on each bowl of tea.

Gossamer flopped down, glad for the break. As she turned to look at the woman who'd been swimming in the river it was just in time to hear her yelp with pain as the fire burnt her nose. Gossamer scrambled to her feet and bounded over. "Oh no! Yea, the fire gets pretty hot. I burnt my paw in it when I saw my first one." She still wasn't allowed to try making her own fire. Her aunt Iolaire was very good at it though and had made the big communal fire in the Armada. Well, if she remembered correctly. "I have some burn ointment if you need any." She'd learned shortly after her own mishap how to tend to burns.

"What's your name anyway? I'm Gossamer and the fox is Ásta."

Her pink tongue snaked from her maw wrapping around her black nose as she stood before the heated glowing creature that radiated a warmth that dried her dripping coat. she shook, water flinging from her tiny frame snapping as droplets of water met the flames, ears rotating in some sort of confusion, she had many questions about this strange thing, but yet she kept her mouth closed, she was never one of many words. Turning as her clouded orbs met the pup and the little fox that ran along with fiddled with things not far from herself, her hind met the ground as she sat in the heat of the crackling wood fire in which those clouded orbs never left,, it was weird she didn't know if she liked it or not yet. almost to focused on the fire to catch the first bit of what the other canine spoke but her attention turned, her tongue still lapping at her sore nose' "I uhh,, I'm addison,... but you can call me whatever" "Water is its weakness"

Children, Wake Up

"Nice to meet you!" The woman, Addison, didn't seem super interested in the ointment so Gossamer let it be. The flowers might mess up the woman's sense of smell anyway and she probably needed it to help find her way around. "Do you live around here?"

As she talked the fox tended the tea, eventually pulling it from the fire and mixing in some cooler water so it was safe enough for the pup and blind woman to drink, if she wanted any. "Tea's ready!" She scooted the bowls over to each canid. "Addison, if you want you can have some otherwise I can drink it." Gossamer bent her head and quickly started to drink the tea. It was warm and mild tasting so the pup didn't mind too much. Ásta picked up a stick and poked at the fire, breaking it down a bit more too coals and small flames.