herb sweet home

Rhysand pours a cup of tea for Ricin and the blue male softly offers his thanks as the cup is nudged toward him. Pulling the cup toward him, the steam that curls away from the hot liquid steals his attention away from the man but, as the cream and slate male explains the ingredients in the tea, the blue wolf’s crimson gaze lifts to catch Rhysand’s emerald eyes. A soft, warm smile is offered as he muses, “I have never had cannabis and lavender tea. But, from the way you describe the taste, it already sounds wonderful.” Of course, Ricin knows what cannabis is and what the herb does, he just has not the opportunity to try it before.

The offer to show the man around is received with thanks and Ricin’s smile broadens for a moment before he leans down to sip the tea. It is as Rhysand had described it, earthy with a hint of floral notes from the lavender and that, along with the warmth that spreads through his body as the hot liquid moves down his throat and to his stomach, helps to warm the blue male. The hum of appreciation that follows comes from deep within his chest as the chill that Ricin had not noticed settled into his very bones, begins to lift. Climbing the peaks of the island is often a chilly endeavor and Ricin seems to have forgotten just how cold he really was.

As the talk turns to how the gentleman before him joined Elysium, Ricin listens with rapt attention. A deep, rolling chuckle rumbles past dark blue lips as the male admits he picked the pack at random and he says, “Well, hopefully we can make you feel at home. My brother, Chade, and I are always willing to help. Don’t hesitate to come to us if you need anything.” The soft, friendly smile is back on his lips as he looks at Rhysand but, at the man’s next question, the smile falters and fades. Eyes move down to the tea and the blue wolf decides to make himself comfortable for the tale he about tell.

Scooting his butt backward, Ricin lays himself gently on the ground so that the tea cup rests between his blue paws. Taking a long drink of tea to steady his nerves, Ricin than turns his crimson gaze back up to the man’s bright emerald eyes and offers a sad, fleeting smile. Swallowing in a suddenly thick throat, the blue wolf blows out a small sigh before he slowly begins to explain, “My brother and I found Manea and her family long before they were a pack. We were puppies, barely six months old, lost and alone in the world. We actually met Avacyn first; my brother caught her in one of the hunting traps he had made to catch us food.”

Another, soft but humor-filled chuckle rumbles out as he remembers Ava’s eyes as the trap snatched her off the ground and held her aloft for the briefest of moments. Waving a paw to dispel his chuckling, Ricin allows the paw to come to rest on the rim of his cup and he absent runs his paw pad over it humming a moment. A warm smile appears and the story continues, “She took us to see her mother, Manea, who was kind enough to feed us and even offered us a place in her band. Chade and I were headstrong and not very trusting of adults so we said ‘thanks but no thanks’.”

Head shakes as he remembers how it had been him and Chade against the world. They knew that they could survive without the help of any adults because of everything that they had been though. Oh, how foolish they had been. With a gentle shrug of his bright blue shoulders, Ricin says, “We ran into them again, down in Auster, when a grizzly bear decided it didn’t like us near its berry bushes. Manea… saved my life and brought us back to the band and into her fold. Chade and I have pledged our lives to help the Mendacium family. And that is how we came to be here.” The soft smile is back and he ducks his head under the pretense of drinking more tea but his crimson eyes still watch for the cream and slates man’s reaction to the story.

The drink helps to loosen his tongue and soften the sadness surrounding the memories of the beginning of his life. If the man asked him about those early months, the blue wolf would gladly explain why they had ended up alone. Lifting his head slightly, a gentle, yet deep, hum of pleasure fills his chest as the tea continues to remove of the chill in his body. Slowly, he can feel his muscles starting to relax and the tension that he usually carries in his shoulders begins to melt. Absentmindedly, Ricin realizes this is the most relaxed he has felt since… well, since he can remember.