Speech // thought
Alexa's nose is swimming and beginning to get overwhelmed with the scent of the herbs she grasps. She snips a stalk of lavender, then moves on to quickly snip some more with her teeth, snip snip snip. She places the gathered bundle in the basket and suddenly starts as she finally observes a large bright form of a walk navigating toward her. Their steps were slow and careful as if the woman was navigating the plants around by scent and touch alone.
Alexa held her breath as she watched the woman come closer and closer but stopped just within speaking distance. She narrows her mismatched eyes at the other youth, she must be nearly one, still leggy, like her! A deep purple ear orients backward with skepticism as the other girl breaks the silence.
"Um..." She begins but hesitates, her paw seeking out more springs of lavender. She glanced around and gathered her thoughts about what she knew about Wintergreen. There was typically plenty on the plateau of Lazuli Falls in the cloud forest there, but it wasn't often they got to harvest many herbs from that delicate habitat.
"My..." wait was that a pack secret? Surely not... right?
"Uhm... my dad said it's usually in forests, with some...acidic soil and some shade. This... uhm... This is a valley, lots of rich soil and lots of... sun... You probably know that though.... that it's a valley..." Okay maybe she wasn't made for being out on her own when there were strangers she could accidentally run into. Her paws went to grab as many sprigs as she could with a frantic motion. Oops, she tore some of the oregano up by its roots. She dumped the bundles of uprooted oregano into her basket. Maybe she could replant it in the garden at home. Hopefully, the other girl didn't see that.
