When Rivin overheard some healers talking about sagebrush, and its location in the desert, the young woman really didn’t think about the landscape at all. It wasn’t like she had ever been to one before… or seen one before today. It was dry, so dry that the air seemed to sting her lungs as she took each breath… and it was hot though that was the understatement of the year. The air wrapped around you, heating up fur, stinging your nose and mouth, burning the sand, and practically baking the body that had entered the domain of the desert. This had been a shitty plan in the middle of summer. But stubborn as she was, Rivin refused to leave until she found the plant that had been mentioned. Curse it all…

First she was outcast from the Raiders, and now this. Though Flurry had come, seeking her out to offer comfort and drink, the encounter left the red streaked femme missing the pack even more. To know that she had comrades left behind. Her father. Some of her siblings. It hurt. She was hesitant to show her face back on the beach, still stubbornly clinging to the belief that she had done the best she could have in that situation, even if it was still disrespectful. The other choice had been worse… Why couldn’t the leaders see that? It made her heart ache, her green eyes reflected the troubled inner thoughts she bore.

Rivin began to climb one of the dunes, feeling her paws sink into the hot sands before they shifted and rolled downward. It was hard going, a lot of effort to not only walk up the thing but fight the shifting terrain. Her ears were pinned against her skull, half debating turning around and heading out of this damned place if she couldn’t see the sagebrush when she reached the top of the dune. She had been lucky when Jack saved her from drowning… but out here, hell, she doubted anyone else was stupid enough to come out here right now.

"Speech," 'Thought.'

Morwenna

Morwenna let her eyes scan the dunes before her. Aaahhh... beautiful... she mused to herself. A dangerous place for the unprepared, the young woman hadn't crossed many deserts, but her adopted family certainly had and spoke of many travels through the dunes of her old land. Though sparse and barren a treasure trove could be found in the many valleys if you knew where to look.

The desert wasn't kind to the half borzoi, her genes were made for colder temperatures. She had no scarf to shelter her and it happened to be sun-high. Still, she couldn't help but be awed by the undulated waves of sand. Not even the valleys would offer any shade until sometime after the sun passed the mid-point.

She knew though of a few tricks to finding the herbs she needed from this barren landscape. She had crested the dune so she could get her bearings and see if she could find a good spot to start her search. A low valley with a few scraggly bushes and maybe an old knarled tree... The wind was still and hot, not great for scenting the strong odor of a sagebrush. But the scent would surely come alive in the evening as things cooled off and moisture began to collect on the leaflets.

Instead of her quarry though she spotted a lone lupine figure struggling over the crest of another dune. "Oh hey!" Morwenna shouted cheerily in the stillness, her voice swallowed by the sands, muffled and weak as it neared the stranger.

She waved her banner-like tail high in greeting and skidded down her slope as if it was a bank of soft snow. Skipping through deep snow her bones knew, perhaps she could use the same movements for deep sand.

"Whats your name?" She called.

No sooner had the negative thought crossed Rivin’s mind, and as she crested the hill, the woman would hear a voice. Gaze would shift in the direction of a voice. The sands seemed to absorb the volume, the call becoming quieter as it neared her, but all the same she had heard the call of another woman. And sure enough a pretty dame, a silky and flowy canine, was there on another dune speaking to her. Rivin was truly surprised that another animal was out here at all… But perhaps the stranger had a better idea about safely traversing this terrain than she did. And if she was out here… perhaps she was also looking for desert plants?

The woman was skidding down her slope and Rivin decided to mimic the action. Stepping down carefully, her body lowered to the earth as she sought to keep control. It was a strange slide, paws sinking down and a little janky until she reached the bottom. She figured that it would be better to get a bit closer to avoid calling across the territory to each other… save the energy for gathering the plant she wanted to find. Once at the bottom she lifted her emerald pools up to the other canine. She was wolf-like and yet, at the same time, there was something else there… something she couldn’t place. At least they were closer now, she realized as she made towards the other femme.

“I didn’t expect to find anyone else out here, hot as it is.” She tilted her head to the side. “Name’s Rivin. Are you a healer too by chance?”

"Speech," 'Thought.'

Morwenna

They met in the valley between the dunes and somehow it was hotter there?? As if the dunes reflected the sun into the valleys and the heat couldn't escape.
The other offered her name after remarking on the heat.
"Intensely hot!" She agreed, "I'm Morwenna, and actually yes! I am a healer! I was hoping to find some sagebrush around here but I think it's far too sandy." She looked around and hoped to escape the multiplexed heat arena somehow.

"Perhaps if we find some shade we can wait until sun-down and it'll be easier to sniff out." She offered.

Damn this heat. As the two femmes stood together between the dunes the air seemed to be hotter, still and suffocating. Whatever plants were out here couldn’t possibly be worth the efforts she made coming out here, could they? And yet, after an agreement and a name from her newest acquaintance, Morwenna revealed that she was also looking for some sagebrush. This caught Rivin’s attention, her brow perking up at the coincidence. Too sandy? It was a desert… was there really a place that was less sandy in such a place? Rivin had doubts, a frown on her face as her green gaze scanned the area around them. Dead vegetation… and small things at that. …And now she could see a small cactus? When had that been there?

“I’m down for attempting to find some shade. I have no idea how long I’ve been out here and my coat is doing me no favors. It feels like the sun is baking me alive.” She turned, beginning to walk off in a direction that neither of them came from. “I’m glad you know what sagebrush looks like. I’ve only heard of it by word of mouth… it's the main way I learn anythiiiiiiinnnnnggg!” And suddenly, as Rivin moved toward a part of the dunes that dipped even more, the sand beneath her paws shifted and she was falling with it.

Down, down… she hit a pile of the warm sand with a grunt but immediately noticed a temperature shift. She lifted her head and looked around, an underground structure filled with sand and stone surrounding her. It was much cooler down here though, even if the entrance into it hadn’t been pleasant. Looking up she could see a hole, some sand still trickling in and bringing in sunlight to the darkness. “Found some shade!” She called up to the other woman. Not the way she wanted to find it, but hell she’d take it.

"Speech," 'Thought.'

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She hummed in agreement, she wouldn't be surprised if her own cream fur let the sun give her any sunburns. Morwenna followed her new acquaintance a half step behind her, she wanted to get out of this scorching heat herself and Rivin seemed to know which direction to try to find relief.

Suddenly while Rivin was talking she was no longer beside Morwenna and the small wolfdog bounced back with a fluid motion as the sinkhole grew beside her and took the darker wolf with it.
"Rivin?" She called, worried, was it a long way down?
She perked up her pointed ears as Rivin called out from below.
She giggled as she peered over the edge, "Well done!" It didn't look too far, hopefully getting back out wasn't going to be too difficult.

Morwenna joined the other girl with a graceful leap and landed softly on the pile of sand, making another cascade follow her down. She spied a tumbled wall with large stones, perhaps what held the roof up long ago, they made a convenient stepping stone tower back up to the surface.

She looked around the room they had found and saw natural pillars and walls of pale stone around them. The cave was an excellent find! The hole Rivin fell through was probably an old one and just got covered over by the dune overhead.

"We can rest easy here! Once the sun starts going down the sagebrush starts to smell the strongest. We can follow that scent, it'll be hard to miss." She daintily settled into a pile of sand and wrapped her wispy tail around her paws to wait out the day.

Finding the shade had been an accident, but it was a welcome one. Last thing they needed was to bake out in the desert trying to find the plant they sought. Morwenna would join her, landing down on the sand pile before entering the natural cavern. Rivin was already up and moving toward one the walls, a paw placed on the stone. The sandstone was smooth, almost as if years of the sand moving against it had smoothed it out. “Fascinating…” Rivin murmured. She had never considered that there might be underground caves in the desert, but it seemed the dust storms had just covered up the entrance. It was kind of cool in all honesty.

“Glad to know it’ll have a strong scent.” Rivin lifted her head and turned it back to Morwenna. “So, are you without a pack or something? You don’t seem to share the scents of others on your coat.” She was curious about the other healer and the background she might have. As a pack wolf, she didn’t like the idea of being a loner much. Hell, the brief time she was one about made her crazy… if this woman was one, how did she do it? “And if I might ask, what brings you out here to the desert? Or to Boreas?”

"Speech," 'Thought.'

Morwenna

The dainty woman watched the dire wolf explore the smooth cavern. She wondered to herself if the cave went deeper and if there were many other spots where the sun would shine through and illuminate the system.

Would there be any rare herbs within? Her thoughts were interrupted by the other woman.

"Oh? Yes, I enjoy travelling. I've grown up a nomad and I love to find the special spots and where those elusive herbs can be found. I bet we'd find something special if we dove a little deeper and found some water reservoir." She mentioned, craning her neck to see if she could spy a way through from her seat.

She paused and perked her ears as the others next question.

"Boreas you say? I'm glad to finally know the land's name! I'm just a wanderer. I follow the winds...or I won't." She shrugged.

"You?" She wished she had some tea to sip. They'll pass the time like this she assumed.

...
Just as the sun sank over the dunes and left thier hole in shadow the coolness of the desert began to descend.

After a few more moments Morwenna lifted her delicate slender nose to the air and scented the strong effervescent sharp smell of the sagebrush.

"There you smell it?" She said to Rivin, wagging her tail and ascending the natural stone steps. She alighted on the sand and let her nose guide her. "It's the strong sharp one, really clears your lungs with the earthy mint tone in it." She guided.