It was always a long trek to arrive at the Valley for gathering expeditions to pick herbs that grew especially well here. The bloated pack that had taken up residence to the north and east of Valhalla’s lands well before Ardyn had taken a hiatus made travel longer, as they claimed the rocks that lay between Emerald Valley and the Plains.

She kept tabs as she went, noting that the dominant scent had shifted quite recently from the woman who had been the pack’s leader, to a male of a similar scent, perhaps a sibling, given how close the scents were. It was information that could be sent out each time Lyr returned to fill those at home in on Ardyn and Tel’s travels, and whether they’d been successful in finding Tel’s sire and dam, or at least learning more about her past.

Today, Legacy sought to replenish her stock of Wintergreen, and perhaps see about taking home some to attempt propagating. The only other place it grew was on the Dancefloor, which Insomnia lay claim. She didn’t doubt she could just ask Medusa if she could gather from them, but when there was a source easily accessible by comparison, Legacy didn’t wish to bother the pack.

Finally, she crested the ride and gazed down into the valley below. It was spring lush, and ungulates could be spotted meandering as they browsed or grazed. Fawns would be tucked away in stands of tall grass and low shrubs.

Legacy ignored that thought, though, wending her way along the path down, eyes on alert for the plant she sought.

The boy was usually mild mannered, but as he passed his second birthday there had been a shift in his demeanor. Not only was he the Raider's lead healer, he'd also spent the better part of his winter working round the clock to make sure his leader's wife didn't die... and how did she repay all that effort? By leaving her room before she was ready, stumbling into the clusterfuck that was the Raider's lives in general and storming off, away from all his carefully prepared supplies and across several islands to stay on the goddamn mainland. As if that wasn't enough, he'd pretty much depleted his entire stores in the process. He walked with a stiffer spine now, his shoulders back and head slightly more elevated. He wasn't so content to just bleed into the background... at least, not out here.

The run here had done him some good. Most of his supplies weren't as accessible as it had been when they lived on the mainland, but maybe a bit of extra time away was just what the doctor ordered... well, he supposed that was him now wasn't it?

To be honest, he probably could have gotten what he needed around the Whispering Woods, or even in the Fern Gulley, but he had continued, across the scorching sands of the Barren Dunes to get here. After all, he wasn't just gathering for himself. He still owed a debt to the mountain pack. So what around here was worth gathering? What would be best retained for his own uses, and what might prove novel to those who lived at a higher elevation? He was so caught up in his own pondering that he didn't even realise he wasn't exactly alone.

“Speech”

As Legacy followed the path, she ran through the characteristics of the Wintergreen plant she needed; the berries were edible, the leaves medicinal with a distinct flavor and used for pains. This time of year, only the leaves would be found, but it didn’t take her long to spot the leaves in a sunny spot in the wooded patch she’d passed through.

She twisted to bring her left saddlebag forward, sitting back on his haunches as she dug her head into the bag and came out with a digging stick made from a moose antler painstakingly whittled and rubbed down into an almost spoon shape, with one point for piercing the dirt before the trowel-like wide point would be used to either scoop away the dirt or pry the desired object from the soil.

Delicately, Legacy bent and sank the digging tool into the soil, taking note of the consistency as she levered a clod out. Acidic, well-draining. These should take reasonably well in the Plains.

Approaching paw steps brought her attention briefly away from her work, one plant halfway levered from the ground, to see a young man only a bit taller than herself, marked in warm earthy brown bars. He appeared deep in thought, so she merely nodded with a light smile and delicate wag of greeting before she turned back to her business.

Her posture wasn’t unwelcoming, but she didn’t wish to intrude on whatever mental monologue he might be going through. It looked like an important task.

The boy was specifically on the lookout for beggar's blanket and purple coneflower, in the hopes that blending a tea of the two, he might be able to take the edge of Modesty's persistent cough. It was strange, sometimes it would be like she wasn't unwell at all, and then the next day she would have a hacking wet cough with pink tinged spittle. She was still losing weight too, and meals she had always eaten without complaint were left untouched... Well, prior to whatever blow up had happened between herself and the Raid King.

Usually, it would be better to harvest both in the summer, but he was desperate, and the leaves of both plants could be used in a pinch instead of their flowers. If he was really lucky, there might be some early bloomers this late in the season too. He scanned the area for any sight of yellow, or the tell-tale pinkish-purple of the echinacea, it took him two passes before he realised that very distinctive black and white was another wolf, and not a natural part of the landscape. His ears turned back sheepishly. “I-uh... Sorry, I didn't see...” His voice shrunk before finally falling off when he realised how stupid it sounded that he didn't see a bright white wolf in the forest. Sure, if they had been mud-coloured like him it might make more sense... Zeroing in on the plant the other wolf was carefully removing from the soil, he had the sudden bright idea to ask, since they seemed more local to this place than he was... “Have you happened to see any plants with yellow or purple flowers out yet? I've got a friend with a nasty cough, and nothing I've tried has worked so far.”

“Speech”

She had to comment to herself - in the privacy of her mind - that whatever the earthy-colored fellow was thinking about, and searching for, given the intense scrutiny he was giving their surroundings, must have been quite important. Healer, like herself, maybe?

She’d gotten the wintergreen plant levered out of the ground before his voice broke the silence and she glanced back up to see his sheepish expression. Yep. Definitely important thoughts.

“No offense taken. I’ve been there myself when I’ve been gathering.”

Her brogue-laden words were friendly, amused without mockery as she leaned down to delicately pluck the wintergreen from the ground and drop it into her empty saddlebag on the left, her right bag being primarily full of travel kit.

He’d spotted the plant, and clearly something clicked as he voiced a query. Legacy shifted to another wintergreen as her head tipped in thought, considering.

“There are many types of plants with those colors. Do you know the names of what you’re after? I can point you to them if they can be found here.”

Her black-backed ears flicked forward with interest as she added, “How long has this cough been going for?”

Typical healer, nose into everyone’s health.

As Legacy left the ball in the younger wolf’s court, she bent, deftly nipping the first leaf from the new wintergreen plant, ear curved toward him to listen.

An ear flicked in embarrassment when she pointed out there were lots of flowers with those colours, “I'm looking for a purple coneflower, you might know it as thimbleweed or echinacea? and beggar's blanket... maybe tabacco or flannel plant?” That was the problem with plants, right? Everyone could see the same thing, but might call it something different. “She's had it since the winter, but she almost drowned in labour. Its a horrid wet thing that comes and goes. Sometimes, she appears fine, other times, she's coughing up blood. She's lost a lot of weight too, and her energy comes and goes. I can't get to the bottom of it... Have you ever encountered anything similar?” He kinda felt like he was pushing his luck here, asking her where plants were and for her advise, but he was still young, and he wouldn't learn if he didn't ask.

“Speech”

As she dropped the last of her selected plants into her bag, Legacy mulled, nodding in confirmation; she knew those, and all the names for each of them.

“I’ve got what I need here; if you’ll follow me I can show you some of the first. It’s just down this way closer to the valley floor.”

She dropped her digging stick into her kit bag and turned to step back to the path, leading the way if he was willing to follow, while she mulled over the symptoms he listed. She’d seen many wolves with such symptoms, but the diagnoses weren’t always consistent. It could be anything from a persistent, pesky infection to cancer.

The near-drowning - what a way to go through birthing - could have been the catalyst. A bad cold one would expect to wear off, even while nursing a litter.

“I’ve seen those symptoms, but the diagnoses were varied between the patients. For her sake, let us hope it’s just a chronic case of pneumonia and not cancer in the lungs. Both can kill, but the former’s much more likely to be cured.”

Legacy spotted a split in the trail and took it, steps sure and brisk as she followed a familiar spot, eyes scanning for the familiar leaves of the echinacea.

Finally, she caught sight and came to a stop, nodding to the stand. “Here’s your first target.”