When Syanna had met the future queen of the Hallows during her time taking care of Artorias, the young woman had mentioned that her handmaiden had an interest in learning the science of medicine and healing. The vixen-colored wolf had been meaning to make a trip to gather some more herbs and supplies from the north, so Briar's request to stop by the Armada and give her servant some lessons wasn't such an out-of-the-way ask. Syanna had gone as far north until she found some rarer wintergreen to bring back to the Hallows, then headed for the willow forest just along the edges of Armada territory. She knew the Hallows and Armada were fast friends, so she felt no nervousness walking along their borders and calling for the servant in question.

It was pushing past evening with the sun sinking below the western horizon by the time she arrived, even though it strangely didn't feel late enough for the massive full moon to be rising already. An astronomer she was not, however, so she simply appreciated the beauty and glory of the giant astral rock. She'd never seen the moon as large as she had the past few nights, and it was quite impressive! Syanna sat and waited for Briar's handmaiden to show up, already planning what she'd be able to teach the aspiring healer.

"Syanna Alluráin"

As her mate, Ezra may enter her threads not marked as Private.
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After her adventure with glowing flora, she was more eager than ever to meet the Hallows healer. Perhaps the other wolf might be able to shed some light on the strangely glowing herbs Lia seemed to stumble upon everywhere she looked. She had picked some to take with Syanna for the other woman to observe, and the glow had promptly faded. Whatever was causing it seemed to need a living host - was it a type of fungal? A parasite? Lia couldn’t begin to guess.

She made her way to the Weeping Willows, with Briar watching over her departure. She felt safe under the Princess’s eyes, and in no time was reaching Syanna. A glance behind her told her Briar had moved on, assured of her safety with the other wolf.

As she approached, Lia cast a suspicious glance up at the moon. All the strange things around her seemed to have begun with the full moon, but correlation did not imply causation. “Hello, My Lady, you must be Syanna?” she said politely, dipping her head.


"Speech"

Not long after her call, Syanna saw two wolves approaching the Armada borders. One wolf she recognized as Briar, the other must have been Lia. The girl was small and dainty, with a beautiful fire-kissed coat. She approached, and the other she-wolf dipped her head. "That's me," Syanna greeted her with a chipper attitude and smile. "You must be Lia, right? Briar told me you were interested in becoming a healer?" Syanna waited for Lia to confirm her assumptions, then nodded her head off into the willow forest. "Then follow me! We're going to be looking for some herbs together that are useful in medicine."

Syanna led the way for the two ladies into the evening forest, her eyes scanning the ground for any signs of helpful plants. "So what got you interested in medicine?" she asked while they walked, trying to make small talk with the other young woman. The more she knew about Lia's ambitions and drives, the more she'd be able to tailor her teaching to suit her needs. Wandering deeper into the willows, Syanna began to notice something... strange. A few of the plants they had passed had a strange blue bioluminescent glow to them. At first Syanna had just gazed at the glowing flowers curiously, but ignored them. She didn't know anything about the flowers that bloomed in Boreas, after all, and this could be normal.

But as the dusk sun continued to disappear behind the horizon and cast the world into the veil of night, Syanna started to realize it wasn't just the odd flower that was glowing. As shadows claimed them, the willows around her and Lia began to glow as well. Syanna slowed her gait, pausing to inspect the bizarre willow trees with curious emerald eyes. Every frond on every willow tree had a blue glow, illuminating the entire forest with their light. Syanna was amazed! She'd never seen willow trees like this before! "Oh, wow! How do the trees do that?" she asked, gaping in awe at their beauty as she lifted a cream-dipped paw to delicately handle a frond and inspect its glow. "Have the trees always done this around here?"

"Syanna Alluráin"

As her mate, Ezra may enter her threads not marked as Private.
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Lia offered her a smile from beneath her dipped head. “Yes, My Lady” she agreed, a hint of eagerness bleeding into her polite tones. At her agreement, Syanna was quick to lead them away. Learning new herbs would definitely be useful. She had already seen numerous plants in Boreas that she hadn’t seen before. It would be wonderful to learn the healing properties of those that had them.

She kept herself just a step beside the other wolf, holding herself with difference to the woman who had agreed to teach her. “One of the slaves in my group had a little healing knowledge. She realised it was something I needed to learn after my… popularity. The Masters allowed it.” she added. Being truthful, well holding back the worst details. “I’ve found it a useful skill.”

As for the glowing - “My Mistress Briar and I noticed it the other day as well. She says she hasn’t seen anything like it” she explained, pausing at a particularly bright cluster of flowers. “I was actually hoping you might be able to shed some light on it. If it was a sort of fungus, or infection in the plants?”

"Speech"

Lia explained the origins for her healing intrigue. She'd been a slave, one of the other slaves knew some medicine and thought it would be useful for her... Oh. Oh dear. Syanna's ears flattened to her head, keeping her gaze away from Lia so she wouldn't see the empathetic pain in her own eyes. Syanna was a rape victim and a rape survivor as well. It wasn't something she wanted to broadcast to the world though, so she simply answered Lia's followup. "It's very useful indeed. It's helped save my ass a number of times. I managed to save my boyfriend's life thanks to it too." She smiled when she thought of Ezra, how he'd saved her life and she saved his in turn. How silly their romance story had been so far.

When Lia stated this was not normal for the plants to be glowing and that her and Briar had discovered it recently, Syanna tilted her head in a curious gesture. She brought the glowing frond to her nose, giving it a curious sniff. It didn't smell off. "I'm not gonna be much help to you, I'm afraid," she admitted as she dropped the glowing branch. "I've never seen this before either. An infection, maybe, but I don't think it's a fungus. It's not all over my paws from touching it, so whatever it is isn't transferable." Syanna glanced around, noting the small stream nearby and some glowing reeds along its banks.

Syanna motioned for Lia to follow her over to the water, finding a cluster of horsetail growing near the water. The vixen-furred lady's eyes widened in delight. What a perfect lesson! "Oooh, over here!" Syanna stepped up to the horsetail, showing it off to Lia. "This is a very useful plant. It's called horsetail and it's used to help bind open wounds. The fibers in the stalk make for good sutures for stitches, and the goo inside is also a good adhesive on wounds or bandages." She gave the plant a confused look, then added, "It's not usually glowing though. It's usually just a vibrant green, but, uh... I guess this one's been infected too...?" Syanna pursed her lips in momentary thought. "Y'know what? I think I'm gonna take this one to the Hallows for some experimenting."

Syanna brought her claws to the stalk of the plant near its base and cut it free. The moment the plant was cut, however, the blue glow immediately faded into nothing, leaving just the green plant in her paws. Syanna stared at the herb in shock and wonder, blinking rapidly as if the glow might return if she refreshed her vision enough. "Ooooookaaaaay...? So it's definitely not an infection then. Huh..." Doing her best to hide her nervousness, Syanna gave Lia a weak smile all while also noticing how long the shadows seemed to stretch around them, almost unnaturally so given how much light was around them. "Y'know, maybe we should have these lessons another time, hmm?" she offered, already starting to back away from the glowing plants and head back for the Armada. Something was not right here.

"Syanna Alluráin"

As her mate, Ezra may enter her threads not marked as Private.
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Lia offered a small smile to that. Caring for those important to you was something she understood - just thinking of the way Briar had stood in front of her. Fierce, unrelenting, after fighting off her attacker… it still sent chills through her. If she ever had a chance to return the favor to Briar, she would. Undoubtably.

With their attention turned to the glowing plants, the fiery girl gave a small nod. Yes, she could see that. It didn’t seem to hold a smell, either. At least not that Lia could disconcern. Lia just hoped it wasn’t toxic, or damaging to the strains of herbs along here. That sounded like something that would be a lasting, damaging issue.

At Syanna’s motion, Lia followed after her. Heading towards the water. “Good idea”[ /b] she said, reaching a paw over to touch the herb. Frowning at the glow. [b] “I’d be hesitant to use them until I understood how the makeup of the plant might be changed” imagine trying to heal Briar, and making her sick instead? She shuddered at the thought.

Syanna cut the stalk, and the glow died. “Oh…. yes, actually… the same happened to the Merigold I found with Briar” she explained. She noticed the worry in Syanna, and her own ears flattened to her skull. Feeding off the fear of the other wolf. She scurried away from the glowing flowers. “As you wish, My Lady. Perhaps, if the herbs in Auster are not similarly affected, I might speak to Armada’s healer about getting our stores from there.”

"Speech"

SYANNA

You see a tight cluster of fireflies up ahead. You also find 4 mushrooms. Maybe these are worth keeping…

LIA

Something feels off. You also find 4 mushrooms. Maybe these are worth keeping…