Triss was really liking the territory below Waterfall Peak. She was starting to learn the names of some of the herbs that grew here. There was the bright yellow of Agrimony that grew far from the creek she occasionally liked to play in. There was also Meadowsweet, the tight cluster of white petals was a common sight.

Today, in the bright light of the late morning, she was attempting to pick both of them. Carrying a small basket she had picked up from the pack, and attempting to harvest what she could. Somehow, more than a few flowers made their way into the basket as well. She wasn’t sure what most of them were, but she planned to ask her mother at dinner time.


"Speech"

From the moment the prince had become a yearling, he had spent as much time toeing the world outside his home’s borders to see what he could discover. Rogue was a curious sort, the type that often went looking for trouble, and on more than one occasion had found it. Hey, that was what made life exciting, right? What was adventure without a little peril? Today he didn’t exactly have ambitions of finding trouble, instead opting to just let his paws take him wherever they desired. He made his way north from the Redwater Rocks and up into the craggy territories of the far northern lands of Boreas, deftly avoiding the forbidden territories of Insomnia like his parents had expressly told him to, and wound up scaling a rough rocky path up the side of a mountain. It was a lovely autumn morning, and even if the north was a little chillier than he was used to, Rogue took the bracing cold against his thick fur like a champ, imagining himself some manly rugged explorer like his father had been.

Cresting the top of the path to a plateau, Rogue was surprised to find a gorgeous alcove with flowers, vegetation, and more importantly a huge cascading waterfall into a clear pool at the basin. Mouth hanging open in an awed O shape, the adolescent male wandered his way around the area, taking in the sights he'd just discovered. At some point after pushing through some brush, he spotted another wolf nearby. This one was small—downright tiny, even!—barely bigger than a pup! Compared to him at his dire-sized height that matched his size, this almost seemed unbelievable! But after a moment of studying her features, he realized she was likely around his age too. How on earth did a wolf get that small?! Perplexed and amazed, Rogue cautiously approached the stranger, an easy and friendly smile on his face.

"Morning!" he called out to her as he drew closer. "Lovely day for a stroll, isn't it? Sorry to interrupt your flower picking, I didn't wanna startle you by just suddenly appearing." He looked between the small girl and the flowers. What was she doing with them? Was she a healer perhaps?

"Rogue Kline"

Triss was quite caught up in the task of hunting herbs. She loved the smell of some of the herbs. Some of the scents were quite crisp and strong. Others were more subtle and aromatic. Her basket was already surprisingly full, and half of her bounty were things she didn’t recognise.

She was so caught up in what she was doing that she didn’t immediately realise another wolf had entered the area. Not until they spoke, at any rate. Upon hearing them, she reacted with a startled yelp, dropping her basket and spilling her herbs and flowers everywhere. Despite the sparkly blue wolf telling her that they didn’t want to startle her. Embarrassed, she tilted her head downwards, hiding her eyes as she bent down to scoop up what she could. The wind was already grabbing the loose and light herbs, spinning them through the air. “I-I’m sorry” She said, not entirely sure what she was apologising for, but it felt prudent to do so. Feeling embarrassed, and upset for the herbs she was losing to the wind, she was completely at a loss at how to address the wolf that had stumbled into her area.


"Speech"

When she heard his greeting, the small girl gave a startled yelp and dropped her basket, sending the plants she'd collected already scattering across the ground. Rogue winced inwardly, both in sympathy for the mess he'd created and in apology for spooking her. The strewn plants began to flitter about in the breeze, the lighter of the petals even going airborne while the stranger desperately tried to gather them all up. "Whoa whoa!" exclaimed the prince as he started jumping up to try and catch the petals in the air for her, using his greater size to his advantage to snatch the airborne ones with careful teeth. The girl apologized to him—wait, she was apologizing to him? For what?! Bewildered and taken off guard by her embarrassed and timid demeanor, Rogue just blinked and stared at the girl, a mouthful of colorful plant petals hanging out of his mouth in an almost comedic fashion. Gods, he hoped none of these were poisonous.

"Sowwee? Wha ahr oou sowwee foh?" Rogue asked as best he could with all the stray plants in his mouth. Bringing what he had collected back over to her, the tall Klein lad carefully deposited them back into her basket, then turned and spit out on the ground to rid his mouth of the taste of plant and pollen. "Bleh! Why can't plants ever taste good? Hey, uh, none of these are gonna kill me, right?" Shooting a bashful smile back to the girl with dark ears folded sheepishly to his head, Rogue tipped his muzzle to his newest acquaintance. "Sorry, I didn't mean to spook you. Just wanted to say hi."

"Rogue Kline"

It was clear to her at that moment, that there were definitely some residual issues lying in wait for her after her kidnapping misadventure. She was feeling rather annoyed with herself, and embarrassed that this stranger had seen her complete lapse of control. He looked about the same age as she did, with a glossy star-flecked coat of blue and black. He didn’t look dangerous, and she was certain she had over reacted.

In fact, as she watched, he started to jump and grab at her collection of flowers as they were flung about in the wind. “For reacting badly.” She explained, grimacing a little at the truth of her words. She made certain she didn’t react as he came close enough to place the flowers back in her basket. Her heartbeat had kicked up a notch however, and she was thoroughly annoyed at herself. “No, these are all harmless. Or… should be.” She admitted, her expression growing thoughtful. She didn’t know what a lot of them were. Oh well, she was sure they were probably fine. “It’s fine, I didn’t mean to react like that. I’m Triss.”

"Speech"