Morning brought the end of a long night patrol for Gwenevere. While she'd been moving, the chill of the air - cold enough to form ice - hadn't bothered her much, but now that she was winding it down she was beginning to feel it. More than simply feeling a chill through her fur, she was beginning to feel her age more and more in cold weather. Her hips and elbows ached especially, and the joints of her toes made her paws hurt after being on them all night in the cold. Since her patrol ended on the far side of the plains and she'd need to pass by anyway to get to her own den, she decided to stop by the small fire kept burning in the pack cave and warm her bones. She had wryly come to realize that she was old fashioned enough to be indifferent to the changes the younger generations were bringing, but this particular innovation, she admitted, was worth the trouble at her age. Besides, she hoped to catch Aurielle before she left on her own patrol. Winter was coming quickly, and she needed to see what the young alpha wanted done to prepare the pack, and to advise her if she needed it. She hadn't seen many winters yet, but going into the winter without any young pups in the pack would allow for a more comfortable margin of error in preparing than if they had helpless mouths to feed. Her pups were old enough to be as much a help as they were a hindrance, as long as the adults of the pack took care to train them before winter hit.

She happened upon Amos on the way, and at her invitation the young man amiably turned from his own path to accompany her. It would be good for more of the pack to be involved in things like this - Gwen was getting old, and wasn't going to be around for much longer. Aurielle needed to have a support structure already in place, the rest of the pack as experienced and equipped to assist as she rather than passively drifting from patrol to patrol and meal to meal. She smiled encouragingly at Amos as they both entered the ravine and through the mouth of the cave. The wind chill immediately vanished, making her already more comfortable than she was, but did little to take away the ache in her bones so Gwen hurried on through the corridor to the caves in the back. The warmth from the fire there hit her like a soothing blanket as she turned into the cave, and she sighed appreciatively.

As luck would have it, Aurielle was already there feeding the fire. Gwen dipped her head to the young alpha, moving over to stretch out beside the fire to soak up the heat better. "Aurielle, I was hoping to catch you before you left," she said, smiling at the woman. "We were just talking about how fast winter seems to be coming this year and thought it best to come to you now and see what sort of preparation you would like us to be doing to get ready." Ah, the warmth of the fire seemed to be going straight to the aching joints, slowly soothing the cramping of her paws. She closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling. As she soaked up the heat, she began to muse aloud to marshal her own thoughts.

"Brandr might have some ideas about preserving more meat so we don't have to hunt as often. Winter kills have so little fat on them anyway that it does less to help us than if we store the fatty meats ahead of time. He needs to be tested anyway if you approve of him as a hunter so perhaps it would be worthwhile to kill two birds with one leap and have his test be part of gathering winter stocks. I would feel more comfortable with my pups joining in on hunts if they had lessons from a proven hunter, since they are large enough now to take part in group hunts - should I encourage Brandr and Laisren to hold lessons for them so they are better able to help with the hunting? I would feel comfortable with them standing watch on the borders at their age as well, to take some of the need to patrol off the adults so we can concentrate more on winter preparation."

She blinked her eyes back open. "Have you spoken at all with Paladin about what he and Justice might reasonably still be able to gather despite the frost?" She tactfully didn't add Aramis and Solveiga to the list of healers who might be expected to be gathering herbs - she doubted they were quite ready to be going back out herb gathering after their shared ordeal. Her eyes focused on the fire. "Ah, and wood I suppose. We may need to go out on a gathering expedition outside of pack territory to gather enough for winter without depleting the lands here." Celestial's plains and moor weren't exactly heavily forested, after all, and gathering too much would quite quickly lead to there being no deadwood left nearby at all. She frowned thoughtfully. "Though perhaps the wood can wait until the snows come and we can drag it more easily."

Current Word Count: 896 words

Aurielle Adravendi

Aurielle was deep in her own mind as she carefully set pieces of wood upon the fire, while Ayodele cheerfully flapped a stiffened piece of hide to create a breeze, encouraging the tongues of flame to catch on the fresh wood. Gradated blue eyes perused the wood stocks, and she supposed that she would need to enact one of her intended future customs. She hoped to see the walls of the cave lined with everything from small sticks of cedar kindling to chunks of oak she and the pack might be lucky enough to come across. Ime, Paladin’s Mandrill, had said that oak was among the best woods for burning, as it lasted a long time. Where would they find oak? There was the matter, as well, of the other pack members. While the fire here in the cave was for all to enjoy when they wished, for Gwen, who was aging – if gracefully – it was a bit of a walk to thaw out. The click of claws on stone echoed ahead of the pair as Gwen came in—it was almost like the thought of her secondary had summoned the woman. With her came Amos, and Aurielle had to suck in a breath at the inordinate amount of pleasure his appearance brought her. She recovered swiftly, a subtle sniff telling her that the oily perfume of the day – Vanilla, Paladin had said, with a stern look that said it was a hard to find thing in Boreas, so don’t waste it – covered her natural scent enough that it would be vanilla they smelled first instead of… well. She smiled, turning to circle the fire, leaving the warmest spot for the older woman and settling as Gwenevere greeted her. For a moment the young Archangel’s eyes drifted to Amos, and a reflexive smile settled on her features before Gwen’s words registered. Left? Oh, yes, to patrol and perhaps to work on the wall. Her eyes flicked back to Gwen and she nodded, but remained silent as her second mused aloud. Each she noted with interest, a slow nod silently announcing she was thinking over her fellow leader’s words, considering her responses and the courses of action to take. A glance flicked to Ayodele who had settled to plaiting braids into the long hairs of her tail. Aelloshir, stretched out like a big black pool of shadow near the fire was listening as well. As Gwen completed her thoughts, Aurielle chuckled, a toothy smile on her features as she said, “I was going to make a pack custom out of wood gathering. In fact, I agree, I was considering starting that custom early.” She mused silently before she settled her thoughts into place and began, an ear flicking absently as the lemur moved to play with her mane, “With hunting, I’ve been considering an annual hunt beyond the walls—maybe even bi-annual. We have so many resources available to assist in bearing meat, bones and hides home from expeditions. Ime and Kayode, Paladin’s companions, have already been rendering fat from the small kills we make and gathering marrow.” Her eyes focused briefly on Gwen as she added, “All the lessons that can be held will be worth it. We’ve been lax in teaching, and I don’t recall a hunting lesson any time since my birth, though Da said Mask held one for Marina’s litter? Sounded like it failed abysmally.” A smile flickered onto her features as she added, “As for Brandr’s rank, he’s led a pack hunt already, has ne not? Consider him promoted to Hunter. Initiative must be rewarded. On that note—Amos,” Her eyes turned to the grey toned male with a grin as she remarked, “You’ve been patrolling with Gwen, and actively working to spar—not only that, you won the last spar. Not only that, you saved my hide with that tiger. I think you’ve well earned a promotion as well.” She let that rest a moment as she returned to the topics Gwen had lined up, nodding. “Why don’t we set up shifts with the children. Each will perform sentry duty with an adult. We’ll start them at thirty minutes to an hour and gradually lengthen the time as they get used to it. Eventually, they’ll be able to stand sentry alone or as a pair with each other.” A breath to center her thoughts from wandering too far down that road as she focused on the next question regarding herbs. “Paladin says a lot of bulb-based herbs are still able to be gathered until winter hardens the ground too much to dig them up. And the deserts will have good selections of plants that may be worth our while to send them on forays to retrieve. Failing that, we could trade with other packs for what we have less of that they might have more than they need. There’s always Auster, of course.” A click of her tongue followed the trail of thoughts in her mind before she addressed the wood gathering, nodding. “That would work, especially for larger chunks… I was wondering, how would you feel about setting up a fire in your den? That way you and your children will have a source of warmth without having to trek all the way here getting cold toes. Though I do hope you’ll visit anyway…” She flashed a grin at both wolves with a soft chuckle. Her eyes shifted to Amos as she smiled, opening the questions to him as she asked, “What are your thoughts, Amos? Any suggestions or ideas?” Word Count of post: 935 Current Word Count in Total: 1,831 (>.> ... Ahem.... Aurielle had a lot to think and say.) Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

He'd been out on a brief trip to scout around some nearby lands and only returned the previous evening, so when Amos ran into Gwen as he was making his way through the lightly frosted land he gladly accepted the invite to tag along. Normally he didn't spend a lot of time in by the fire. Maybe it was just still a bit odd to him? At least in warmer weather he preferred being a bit closer to the border to keep an eye on things, however, it was getting a bit uncomfortably cold out and well, he was admittedly a bit eager to see Aurielle today. He could warm his paws up and listen to very important alpha talk, an exciting time indeed.

Bouncing in after Gwen, Amos shook out his pelt reflexively as though the action might help him shake the cold morning air away and warm him faster. Smiling and wagging his tail a few times in a quiet greeting to Aurielle as he approached to sit at the spot closest to the entrance, he listened as she and Gwen began talking, taking his time to settle in and get comfortable by crackling flames as they discussed winter plans. He nodded along for a bit, approving of all he heard and a look of surprise quickly replaced by a wide and excited smile overtook his features when 'Rielle mentioned that he deserved a promotion. "Ah, I suppose if you think my many splendid accomplishments are worthy, I can't refuse," he joked. To be perfectly honest, he wasn't very adept at taking a compliment, and he certainly didn't know the proper reply to a rank up. Still he made sure it was clear when he sought to meet her eyes that he was grateful.

Aurielle went on, and he listened intently, looking a bit absent as he gazed into the flames but his comprehension of musings didn't wane even as his gaze drifted. When she asked his opinion, he turned back to her and adopted a thoughtful expression. "Hmm… I suppose if we're looking to store fatty meats, perhaps it'd be a good idea to ask anyone going hunting to focus on specific types of prey rather than just anything. Boar is a lot more fatty than, say, deer. Normally I'd say if we were hoping to store large game that bison was a good option, but I think bringing it all the way over here would be awfully difficult given the distance that'd need to be crossed. Even if it was cut up and brought in smaller pieces. Geese would be a good option for smaller prey, more fat than a rabbit for sure. Wonder if feathers might be useful insulation too in some of the farther dens."

"And I guess gathering more pelts and insulating materials for everyone would be good to prioritize while we're working on hunting anyway. I also think for wood gathering that we ought to fashion something to carry the wood on so we can make bigger trips. Like a sled or something of that nature that could be pulled so that going farther for wood is more doable."

Canting his head for a moment, he contemplated whether there was more to add and- oh, yes, "As for the pups learning to stand sentry, I know there aren't a lot of adults that are available frequently, so I'd be happy to help extra with that if there isn't someone to watch each of them on a given day."



Post wordcount is 583 but yall already hit the needed number so I felt free to underachieve.

"It may sound crazy," Gwen said slowly, "but one of the fattiest creatures I know that could provide enough food for the whole pack would be... well, a bear. Black bears, of course, I don't think I would ever suggest trying to take a grizzly on except in defense." She shrugged, slightly self-consciously. "They're dangerous, and being predators they'd be very different to take down than the prey animals the hunters are used to. It would be more a job for fighters with support from the hunters rather the other way around. Or maybe we can trap it, somehow. A deadfall or something, to kill it safely." She frowned, thinking about it. "It's more dangerous than hunting rabbits, certainly, but the effort may be worth it this time of year. They've filled up all autumn and are just looking to sleep, not fight. Fatty meat, a lot of it, and a thick, heavy pelt on top of that. I could ask around, see if anyone has any ideas for traps that we could set near a den." She laughed. "Like I said, it sounds crazy."

Aurielle Adravendi

The young woman grinned at Amos’ reaction to his promotion, her tail tapping with pleasure against the stony floor before to settled to listen to his ideas, nodding to each one as she gathered her thoughts, silently agreeing with his words. As he fell silent, and Gwen spoke, Aurielle’s eyes turned to the older woman, brow-points lifting as a grin tugged onto her features. Crazy as the suggestion was, Aurielle had no qualms against the idea—it killed several birds with one stone. The pelt of a bear would be thick and warm, ready to insulate the beast in a long slumber through the winter. Killing off a bear that was close to the pack would ensure the safety of the pups and infirm. And the bear would provide meat, bones, tendons, and rich fat for more than just meals. It would be a lot to store, and a dangerous endeavor, but it would be a worthy outcome to warrant the risks. “It sounds perfect. Perhaps we’ll make this an annual thing. Definitely ask around. Perhaps we’ll garner help in bringing one down in the event we can’t build a trap.” Her eyes returned to Amos, warm approval resting in the gradated shades of blue as she said, “Paladin says the Nomads use transport like you described. It helps them move wounded or ill wolves, or even litters of newborn pups. It’ll take the help of primates to make such contraptions, but it’s doable—we already have three nimble fingered friends.” Her head tipped to the side and she added with a small grin, “Have you thought of whom you may choose as an apprentice? Artur, Caelia and Cairo all seem to have the drive to learn fighting.” While the full changed she intended to set in motion for the pack had not started, she wanted to get such things as mentor-chosen apprentices started. She did wonder about her own ability to teach. Her canines were so different from other wolves that she had a unique style, and she half worried that it might impede training of a pupil. Something to bring up to Gwen at a later date. Or, perhaps Da, if he felt up to it. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think