OOC: Set around this same time as this because I am a time poor mother working 1.5 full time jobs and can only post on the weekends. ;_;

All it had taken was a shake of Sakana's head to send the leader to round up Jael and motion with her head towards the mainland. “I need your help with something.” Jael would know why Modesty wanted to get her off the island. It had had the girl anxious and moping for more than a week now. They had hit the limit of their supplies and there had been no improvement in the birds they had gathered under the light of the moon. Perhaps if they had gone in the day light, they would have seen the signs before bringing them all the way back here.

They kept a ground eating but steady pace as they made their way to the lands where Valhalla once stood, the wall in disrepair as they made their way to the moor. There, as expected, a herd of goats grazed peacefully. Modesty stopped and took a seat, watching the goats for any sign of illness. Some had long, long necks, some had shaggy curly coats all tangled with burrs and debris that if maintained, would probably be useful for fiber arts, something Jael and Kenway could make use of. Some had horns, some had none, some had full udders and fuller sides. “How do they look to you?” She didn't want to go dragging sick livestock back to the islands again. Clearly Jael was the sort to get attached.

“Speech.”

It was, perhaps, more than they should have even done. The lengths were greater, the treatments more experimental. Jael could be grateful that they'd quarantined the birds, and that the rooster should have been written off anyway (too mean), but then... what had the raid been for? She'd sent everyone on a fool's errand. The guilt, on top of the fact that she'd gotten so attached to the birds already. The guilt and the anxiety had her moping, and when Modesty came around... she knew why. Mostly silent on their trip, Jael hung close to the woman's hip. Anxiously tucked close, always looking over her shoulder.

As they came upon the goats, her head picked up. Gaze flickering among them, taking them in. A few overgrown, tangly beasts that she couldn't help but feel bad for.
Unsurprising, though, as they could start to look overgrown pretty quickly. Some were on the small side, but not too bad. Others that were healthy, strong, surefooted... gaze flickering over each in turn, before Jael turned to Modesty. Tone soft, excitable. "The ones that look matted are worth the effort, for the fiber. If I'm not mistaken, some of the females are pregnant-- look at their sides." Jael tipped her muzzle toward two particularly large females. "They look like they escaped from somewhere, she noted, peering carefully at their targets.

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Astute, as ever, Modesty gave Jael an appreciative smile. “There used to be a pack here. Apparently they just wandered in one day. Those lot were taken in a raid, but these ones?” She shrugged. The climate would certainly a nice change from the wet of the southern winter. “But I imagine this is just a small band and not the whole herd. We don't want too many anyway, they'll eat us out of house and home.” After all, goats would eat anything and while she was predominantly interested in gathering them to clear some of the underbrush to discourage the giant fucking snakes that kept trying to eat her children, they could find other uses for the goats, such as their milk for making soap.

They'd probably be less destructive on the soil than the cattle and wild pigs (they'd only really been purchased for their fertilising ability and that need had been met and then some). She was considering contacting the cattle dogs to come and take them back now their job was done. She would also hit them up about some non-diseased chickens, since they had done so well with the cows, but she wouldn't break that news to Jael yet. She needed to get the all clear from Sakana to make sure they wouldn't catch what the others had.

“Do they look well enough to be worth the effort of getting them home?” If not, they could continue looking, there were bound to be more goats around here somewhere.

“Speech.”

Modesty had a point, they'd eat pretty much anything. And everything. And probably even more than that, if she had to guess. Jael watches them as they move, watches for the healthiest and the strongest of the pregnant females. Careful observation, keen eye. It gives her mind something else to grab hold of and for that, she can be more than grateful. Clearing the undergrowth on the main island was a chore, and near impossible in the archipelago. With goats? The possibilities were enough to bring a gleam to Jael's eye.

And to have Modesty's confidence in her answer, too? Jael couldn't conceal the fact that it brought her not just relief but happiness when she got to help. When she got to contribute. "Especially because they've been handled before, they will be. Those three off to the side look like good candidates," Jael inclined her muzzle. Three stood together, two very pregnant and one more ambiguously so. Brown goats, with decent dairy udders. Her gaze returning to Modesty, keen for approval of her plan.

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Modesty looked over the goats Jael was singling out with that intense border collie stare. She could tell they were near to giving birth (she wasn't sure if Sakana would want to midwife for livestock too but maybe he wouldn't have a say in the matter). “Do you think they'll make it back to the Isle before they pop?” It was a tease, her tail waving low at her back to punctuate her tone. “We can always come back for the fluffier ones once these ones are established too. I've heard if you have one goat, more will come, who knows what is hiding out on the Archipelago, really.” Surely with all that rocky terrain there would be some sort of goat native to the islands, they were probably just hanging out at an altitude above where the residents could be bothered looking for them.

With things seemingly settled, Modesty looked to Jael to make the final call. Livestock were her area of expertise after all, Modesty was just the enabler. “Will they need watching for their young or do they generally figure it out on their own?” It was an afterthought, but if provisions had to be made, she'd rather have them covered before they got home. She could send her bird on ahead if she had to.

“Speech.”

Jael gives a little giggle at Modesty's words, her tail flickering behind her. "If we're lucky," a little smile tugging at the corner of her lips, too. Was she relaxing a little? Only time would tell. "I can start taking stock of the archipelago, too?" Jael's gaze was wide on Modesty's face, a genuine offer. The pools had been a project she assigned herself, in the absence of an assignment. If there were things that needed doing, real helpful things... the look on her face is plain. Jael wants to help.

"They mostly handle it, and even the tame ones don't take super kind to... us sniffing around when they're vulnerable. Can't blame 'em much. If we could hire a livestock guardian, one that isn't a wolf at all, they're usually a more welcome sight." Jael's words are... she's thinking as she speaks. Never is she more acutely aware that she's caught in the middle. The stock will never see her as entirely safe. She will always have to worry that strangers don't see her as a wolf, and she'll be in danger because of that.

Jael will love her goats all the same. She'll just need Modesty more, too. Need runs in her system, even if it's subconscious. The same subconscious need that has her leaning in, while she stands beside the woman. Oh, to have the desire to apologize for desire, bone-deep need. Need with teeth that sinks in, that won't let her go. Jael will not admit it, and she won't give it heed. Not now. For now, she has goats to collect.

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She doesn't even need to ask, and the offer is there. “It can't hurt to know what we can potentially round up... or use to muddy the waters if someone comes after our stock in particular...” She couldn't help but be inspired by the chicken incident, and Jael's suggestion of hiring a livestock guardian is tucked in the back of her mind. It would be helpful to have extra paws to keep an eye on things. After all, they still had a jaguar and snake problem to contend with and Jael had to sleep sometime. She only wished she had enough sway to convince the cattle dogs to stick around, their help would be invaluable on this little venture.

She hid the smirk that wanted to appear when Jael leaned into her, turning her head briefly to groom behind the wolf-dogs ear reassuringly. “Alright, you take the lead, I'll only fuck it up.” She tipped her head inviting Jael to do her thing. Modesty would allow her imposing presence to keep the goats moving forward, but it would be on Jael to keep them bunched up and headed in the right direction.

“Speech.”