too old for this shit

OOC: he's done with all his gathering and I already reached my word goal so I'm just opening it up to AW now that he's done.

Tornach raised his nose to the winter wind, breathing in the crisp, clear scents despite the nip of cold at his nose. Behind him he pulled a temporary sledge, made of a hide that he had folded and shaped and stitched with sinew into a something of a half-bowl-shaped front, open at the back with the remainder of the hide trailing behind the protective bowed front. It wasn't particularly efficient compared to, say, a travois or a real sled, but it bobbed along behind him atop the snow easily enough and the single loop of leather that ringed his neck in front of his shoulders was easier to get off and on than a travois or a real harness. He didn't want to fight with his gear every time he wanted to stop to gather anything. In past years he had pulled a sled along by a leather piece gripped between his teeth, but that was much more tiring and hard on his neck muscles. He wasn't getting any younger, and he didn't bounce back from the wear and tear of normal life like he used to.

Aiden wasn't with him - she was back watching the stock. Though he had taken the deal offered to him by the dark, long-fanged alpha in order to save his life's work, he was wary of trusting the male to keep to his end of the bargain. The falcon was staying behind to make sure that none of the Legion wolves decided to take a bite of his stock themselves when they were supposed to be protecting them. He needed to stock up more on certain items that were best to get in the fall and winter, and while he'd have preferred to do it during the fall he'd been reluctant to leave his stock at Legion's dubious mercies, and it had been difficult to force himself to leave the range in order to find what he needed.

Tornach sighed. He had worked so hard to avoid getting caught up in packs, going so far as to leave his family when his mother had created Celestial and he had seen what atrocities leading a pack had made her willing to accept as inevitable. Maiming or enslaving trespassers. Sieging. It had made him heartsick to think of his mother, his hero, stooping to such lows when they could have been protecting people and making the world better. But now he had to ally himself with a pack far worse than Celestial had looked to become, else he lose all he'd been working towards for most of his life. He was not a member of that pack and never would be, but the "tribute" he paid went towards supporting that foul gang of pirates and murderers. It made his stomach twist in disgust... but was it really any different than healing anyone who needed it regardless of their affiliations? He had healed the Hellstrom wolves when they'd been injured in the siege, and berated those who had not wanted him to. The fact that Enigma might later go on to do terrible things had not deterred him, though the idea saddened him. Everyone deserved a chance to change. So, while he hated the idea of what Chaos' pack was capable of, he could not really begrudge the trade that fed the packmembers and gave them the chance to make something more of themselves. Wasn't that the reason he had set out to do what he had? So that he could help provide for the packs and the loners so there would be less reason for raiding and wars and killing?

He huffed out another sigh, then brightened when he saw what he was looking for. A wild rose bush climbing in a magnificent tangle up the side of a tree - bright rosehips stood out along its branches like little drops of blood. Birds were already hard at work on bounty, but there were plenty left and the whole flock took off with a noisy clatter of wings when he trotted up with his sledge. He began to carefully pluck the false fruits from the thorny stems, but even being careful his nose and muzzle quickly acquired a lacework of scratches.

Oh well - it was worth it. The little red bundles were anti-inflammatory and immune boosters, so they'd come in especially handy over the winter when close proximity to others and the body constantly working to stay warm would depress immune systems and allow disease to spread more rapidly, and the cold made old injuries inflamed and painful. The seeds inside would need to be removed since they were poisonous, of course, though... he was for a moment childishly tempted towards putting the itching powder he knew could be made from the seeds of rose hips into Chaos Saxe's bedding. He wouldn't actually do it, of course, but one could take some guilty satisfaction from the thought.

He dropped them one by one into the bottom of the hide sledge, then took a moment to pin up the trailing part of the hide by sliding a stick all the way through holes previously cut through both sides of the open bow and both sides of the trailing hide, so that the stick supported the hide from behind and the rosehips couldn't fall out. Sliding the leather rope back around his neck, he continued on to search for more rose bushes, slowly filling the sledge with them. They were easy enough to brew as a tea or to simply eat, but he had it in mind to try his paw at cooking them down into a strong syrup that you could simply add to water instead of needing to figure out a way to heat water every time you needed it. He simply did not have the time to waste trying to keep a fire going with what sticks and branches were small enough he could snap them in his jaws to the correct lengths, but getting one started every time was a pain in the tail as well. You could start a fire with spark from certain old human tools he'd found in the barn and the black rock called flint, or you could use a piece of glass or ice polished in just such a way that it focused the light in a hot little beam - in fact he'd once had to put out a fire in the barn that a polished icicle had started accidentally, which was how he'd figured it out to begin with - but those methods were frustrating and chancy at best so he would definitely prefer to avoid needing a fire very often.

Finally the little sledge filled completely with the small roundish red false fruits but rather than leave immediately he found his gaze drawn to the sight of the mountains that loomed distantly over the grove. Zuriel lived there... with her pups. He'd liked the little red-furred kid who'd greeted him at the borders, who looked so much like the boy's other uncle Regulus, and he wondered how his nephew was doing now, and what other pups she'd had. He knew that Ignis hadn't been the only one, but he'd never met the rest of them. He'd felt so uncomfortable with the harsh way the boy's father had treated him for speaking with Tornach that he'd been quick to excuse himself and retreat to his range, thinking that surely Zuriel would come visit, but she never had. He was starting to get concerned, for it had been a couple seasons now yet she had not come. It upset him to know that he had nieces and nephews out there he hadn't met, only the one strange young daughter of Regulus'. None of his siblings had sought him out, made any effort to allow him to get to know their children, and it saddened him nearly to tears. He was getting old - he'd likely never have children of his own, so he couldn't help but wish for the chance to spoil nieces and nephews, to pass on what he knew to them. Though he did not know them, he loved them all, and his heart ached to be near to them.

But his own responsibilities made it difficult for him to leave for any real length of time, and all of them were scattered to different packs now, too far spread out to visit them all in a quick trip. Even this trip to the grove was a long time to be away from animals who needed constant tending, and he was itching to get back to check them.

Hm, but if they were well, if Aiden said they'd been guarded well by the pack, well, maybe he could spare more time for another trip this direction to visit Zuriel and her kids in their pack, though something about Zuriel's mate and the way he'd treated Ignis made him anxious and on edge. He didn't look forward to seeing him again, or needing to keep his mouth shut because it wasn't his business how Zuriel and her mate raised their children even if it did anger him to see anyone treated badly.

He hitched the leather rope into a more comfortable position, and set off back through the grove.