Things were going well for Halo, admittedly. She'd settled well into the Armada, but the girl couldn't help but feel like an outsider. A delicate, fair thing that had never learned how to fight. Two years old, an adult, and she was just now learning how to truly defend herself. Her parent's band had turned her out without that vital skill... did they set her up to fail intentionally? Maybe she wasn't meant to make it. Maybe they didn't want her to. Of the five of them, Halo was one of two that had been told to leave. At least the brother that had been sent off knew how to fight, but he'd irritated their father. No, he was sent away because he would be a threat when he was older. The realization had crept over her more and more as she set about her morning's tasks. The raccoon kit that she'd been working on restoring to health seemed to be doing better, the crystals flaking and crumbling away. He still came around for food, and Halo was happy to oblige. Sedna had talked about acquiring a companion... maybe this would be the solution. Still, Halo would have to convince him that he could trust her, and he wasn't out of the woods yet. He still looked ragged, and there was still purple fluid draining from his ears some mornings. Still, the creature was now too evasive for Halo to catch-- certainly a good sign. She'd set about her chores in the early morning sunlight, feeling the dew soaking her paws as she went about them. Reviving the fire in the fire pit, gathering water and clearing any minnows from it before setting it on to boil. The pale girl wanted to make the most of the morning, before the midday heat came on. Though the grey had settled into her head, Halo had things to do. She couldn't dwell. Not now.

Halo did indeed have things to do.  Kotori made his way to this new wolf’s den wondering what she’d think of the day’s plan.  He hadn’t met the wolf, she was just ‘the new one’ in his mind but now he knew her name ‘Halo.’  Well, hopefully, this wolf enjoyed his father’s twisted humor.  The earthen-browned horn wolf was still in an irritated state as he imagined how he’d be coming back swollen like a puffball.

As Kotori approached it appeared she was boiling water.  He imagined it was something for the healing arts but who could say for sure.  All he knew was healers knew a lot of strange stuff that he had found boring fast.  Let the wolves who weren’t strong enough to fight deal with healing matters.  Kotori was a warrior and that was obviously a higher status.

As he approached it was absurdly obvious the difference in their sizes.  Kotori smirked having this fun vision of his body being used to block the bees from stinging her.  Kotori knew he was in a foul mood but he wasn’t sure if he was making things out to be worst than they were.  “Hello, Halo.  I’m Kotori Fatalis.  We have an assignment to accomplish.”  

"Kotori Fatalis"

Halo was fairly easily swept up in her morning routine. Water, fire, feeding the raccoon. Sedna had mentioned companions with thumbs being an ideal choice for healers... she really should work on building more trust with the creature. She'd subjected him to some not-so-pleasant practices, despite trying hard to help. The crystals really did take a toll, and cleaning the wounds around where they'd erupted couldn't be any better. That, combined with the fact she needed to mess with his ear to do it... right. Raccoons didn't speak common, so it wasn't like he understood what Halo was trying to do. Lost in her own thoughts as she was, Halo didn't hear Kotori's approach. As the pot of water began to boil, the pale girl disappeared into her den for a moment to grab more witch hazel. Carefully, she added the bark to the pot, watching to make sure it didn't boil over. When Halo was satisfied, she tugged at the handle, pulling it towards the white coals that had begun to form at the edge of the pit. It would be a more even heat, and she wouldn't have to babysit the water level. It started to drop from a rolling boil to a simmer-- good. The healer was pleased with this... pleased she could be productive, despite the grey. Halo was startled for a moment when the boy spoke. "Sorry, I didn't hear you coming," she'd been awfully engrossed in her work. "Nice to meet you, Kotori." The words were quiet, taking a moment to assess the boy. He too had horns, though his were shorter than Álarr's. Halo figured that he would likely get snagged on far fewer things. Fatalis, this was one of the Warlord's children? Younger than Mortis, Kotori was the first of his littermates that she'd been able to meet. "What's the assignment?" Halo's head quirked to the side, damaged ear flopping haphazardly. Sirius hadn't given her any sort of mission, at least not yet. To send Halo with one of the warrior sons sounded like an interesting prospect. The pale girl made the decision that today was going to be a good day.

She hadn’t noticed him till he was right there? She either needed to never be on patrols or needed to do a lot of them to learn to pay attention.  Ugh.  Kotori was in a foul mood and even he could tell his opinions were all coming out negative.  
Kotori give a slight nod of his head, “Pleasure,” with formal politeness when she said it was nice to meet him.  Getting past niceties fast and being done with them.   “The assignment is to,” Kotori had a lot of snarky ways to define their assignment but as he spoke the horned wolf swallowed back some of his word choices, “catch a queen bee.” He shrugged slightly, “and try to get stung as little as possible.”

Kotori fully expected her to be as shocked as he’d been about the stupid-as-hell order but now he’d learn for sure.  Then again, she really might be safer with what a great wall Kotori would be for the bees to sting him instead.  Yuck.

Kotori Fatalis

 

Halo stirred idly at the pot as Kotori spoke, her tail starting to wag. It would need to sit on the fire and work for the remainder of the day, and likely into the night. Her raccoon friend had curled up on a nearby stump, appearing to tuck in for a nap. Just as well, really. The pot of water simmered peacefully, and she was able to smell the witch hazel in the steam. It was pleasant, really. All of it was so pleasant. Halo would have a good day, even if she had to force it to be so. "Oh!" Halo smiled easily at the young man. "I have a plan for that, actually. I was expecting to have to do it all by myself, but it'll be so much easier with two of us." She explained softly, tail wagging. With easy, quiet steps the girl padded into her den and produced two tin pails with haphazardly fitted lids. Halo had found them among the abandoned hives when she and Mortis had brought them over to her den for restoration. "You're sure you're okay with helping me?" She didn't want to impose. "I didn't even know anyone other than Mortis knew I was going to go catch bees," she admitted, smiling sheepishly. "When would you like to go?" Right, couldn't impose on someone else's time. Couldn't let someone else do for her unless they were absolutely sure... Halo was used to feeling like an imposition. The tenderhearted girl set about readying the supplies for their task. If he didn't want to go today, or right now, at least she'd be well and ready.

Halo’s calmness was such a contrast to Kotori’s frustration and while he waited for her mood to change on hearing the task he got a big surprise.  She was already planning to do this and was even apparently looking forward to it?  What plan could she have to make the bees not want to sting them?  Halo was quickly becoming a puzzle.  Shit, so it was her fault he had to do this?  At least to some extent, it was her fault.

“So, what’s your plan?” It was with restrained tolerance.  “I can’t imagine any good way to avoid them.  Unless you planned on wearing armor over all your body?”  Kotori’s lip twitched as she asked if he was sure he wanted to help her.  Of course, he didn’t.  He considered pointing out how he was ordered to do this but how would that help Kotori reach his goals?  Kotori cast the guy a gaze with a mental reminder to control himself on what words he chose. “Yes, when I heard about the quest to get a queen bee I came out pretty much right away.”  That was true.  He just skipped the part he decided to because he was ordered to get this done.

“Let’s go right away.  I’m ready to get it over with.”  The longer he waited the worst this whole thing would seem.


"Kotori Fatalis"

Honestly, Halo was excited. Having bees would mean that she could use the honey for its antimicrobial properties, she could use the bee pollen to help with any seasonal allergies, and she'd be able to set about using the wax to experiment with waterproofing. The difficult part was... yeah, was capturing the bees. But Halo had her ideas, and she set about the preparations. "Smoke calms bees," she explained, crossing to the fire pit to pull a branch that was burning on one end and cool on the other. "So we're going to find a swarm of bees, and we'll uncover this bucket near them," Halo tucked the branch into one of the pails, fitting the cover on as best she could. "And once they're calm, we can scoop the bees into the other bucket. After each scoop we can look and see if we got the queen... once we have the queen, the rest will follow her." Halo's tail wagged. "Careful, this one will get hot at the bottom." She set the bucket with the burning branch down near Kotori. Carefully, she moved to poke her raccoon friend with her nose. "Hey, wake up. I need you to keep an eye on the fire and put it out if it gets out of the pit." He stretched and yawned sleepily, but nodded all the same. Good enough, Halo decided. There shouldn't be a problem, the fire mostly coals now anyway. The pale healer crossed back to the yearling, tail wagging. "I think I saw some bees in the woods last time I was out looking for herbs, we should check there first." With that, she picked up the bucket with the branch, looking to Kotori expectantly. "Can you take the other bucket please?"

“You’re sure about that?” Kotori couldn’t help skepticism considering it didn’t make much sense.  Why would anyone be calm about smoke if they hadn’t been the one causing it?  Smoke caused fire which could burn down their whole tree and hive.  Bee’s were dumb but shouldn’t some natural instinct or something teach them it was a bad idea, right?  Whatever.  Kotori would acknowledge a little hope that maybe they wouldn’t get stung.

Kotori took a step away from the bucket she put the stick in since she had warned him of it.    She wanted him to carry a bucket? Kotori turned his head looking behind them and gave a howl calling for his companions.  

“Sure, forest works.  Splash and Fang will meet us at the border,” Kotori would carry the bucket that far at least.  It didn’t sound like it should take too long at least.  They’d get the bee today and in another day or two, he’d challenge dad again.

"Kotori Fatalis"