Change [PACK MEETING]

Ara, a girl who was normally dutiful to the core, was running late. Since her father's return from being held captive, she had been unusually flighty and distractable. While her father had never been overly expressive, she noted that something had changed since his return. He seemed a bit more down. Sad, almost. And for Ara, always the logical thinker, the answer was to find a cure. She had given him the rest of her wilted store of lavender, instructing him to chew the leaves but never to swallow them; she had found him juniper berries and let him eat them only when he felt pain in his joints; and she was searching for a plant that might help him sleep better at night and give him pleasant dreams. For this young girl, herbs were the solution to everything -- for all of life's problems.

Perhaps her rigid dedication to her chosen path might someday be her downfall, but for now there was no pulling her away from it. She had moved her small store of herbs away from her family's den -- it really was getting too small for everyone -- into a hiding place that she was certain no one would find. She was just organizing them when she heard the Queen's call. She would hurry and finish her task before responding to the call, heading toward the gathering. Loccian was a lovely woman, one of the few adults outside of her family that she had met. She was her mentor, too, and she was happy she was Queen of the Kingdom. Happily she would come to sit between her parents, smiling slightly as she directed her blue gaze to the Queen and her family.