I have toured the endless starlight…

Aerndis moved on from the hot springs, working her way back west as she entered the extensive willow groves of the weeping woods. The late afternoon sun was working on its descent, casting beautiful rays of orange and gold across the land. Rivulets of clear blue water wove around the extensive root system of the willows and Aerndis carefully stepped around them to avoid getting to wet. In her mouth was a deer hide bundle which held a number of supplies. She paused to set it down, pulling out a dead rabbit. She'd thought she might need a snack for the journey but her meal of deer was keeping her full.

With the rabbit moved aside she unrolled a special piece of hide. Upon the hide were a number of marks stained into the hide with dried raspberry juice. It wasn't her ideal ink for creating map markings but it was a start. It was quick and easy and she could go back and refine the sketches with more permanent, and less sticky, materials afterwards. She eyed the border she'd just crossed and decided to mark the eastern edge of the willows on her map. Now where did she put that jar of mashed up raspberries?

Azure had been behaving better then expected for a young pup, and therefore his mother granted him a little extra freedom in his roaming. She let him believe that she trusted him to explore on his own, telling him that she was merely going the same way to collect some herbs for the garden. Standing a safe distance so he'd not feel watched, Zee kept her eye upon the boy as he crossed the border into the weeping woods. The stranger was the most colorful wolf Azure had ever seen, and that was saying something from the boy who had a bright purple brother. The stranger's pelt was swirled with so many colors that it almost was like looking at the night sky, though Az had still not seen anything nearly as beautiful in the stars above. He was drawn to it, and walked forward carefully towards the stranger. "Wow, you're so pretty." He gasped as he moved within range for her to hear. What magic had made this wolf? Was she one of the Gods that he'd heard spoken of? There was something in the wolf's paws but Az barely noticed it, too intent on following the colorful swirls of her pelt with his eyes. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

I have toured the endless starlight…

Aerndis seized hold of her jar and set it down delicately. Turning her head while holding the jar with her paws she pulled out the cork and set it down. A breeze had come up and the leaves of the trees were gently swaying along with the wind. Aerndis decided it would be worthwhile bedding down in one of the safe, hidden alcoves created by the willow branches. There was one willow in particular that was of exceptional size. That one was worth marking down on her map she decided. She was about to mark it when a voice called out.

"Wow, you're so pretty."

Startled by the compliment she felt her cheeks flush. Who? She turned to see a young pup with saber-fangs and beautiful eyes staring up at her. Aerndis smiled gently. "Thank you. That's kind of you to say. My name is Aerndis. What brings you out this way? Is your pack nearby?"

Azure's eyes were alight with curiosity as he watched the woman, mirroring her kind smile. "I'm Azure, I live there." His paw lifted to jab in the Armada's direction. There was no fear yet instilled into him, no worry about divulging too much information or putting his trust in the wrong wolf. "My mom and dad are alphas, we have a big home but sometimes the rabbits come here and so I chase them." His tail wagged happily behind him, and he pounced upon thin air as if catching an imaginary rabbit. His oversized paws gripped the ground hard, digging furrows into it while he pretended to shred the imaginary bunny, and then he looked back up at her. "What are you doing? What's that?" He jutted his nose out to gesture to the item at her paws. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

I have toured the endless starlight…

The willows seemed to be home to a number of small animals. She heard the singing of birds and the chattering of squirrels as she listened to the boy. He stated that he lived to the west of where they were currently standing. She was surprised, and a little worried, to hear that he was the offspring of an alpha pair. That was all she needed, to get Fireside in hot water with another pack but hopefully as long as she wasn't looking particularly threatening it would work out. The boy, Azure, was terribly cute. She grinned as he demonstrated pouncing on a rabbit.

The boys attention soon turned to her map. Aerndis spread it out carefully so the boy could see. "I'm making a map. It's to help me remember neat places I've been." She reached out and dipped one of her claws carefully into the raspberry juice then she started making marks on the map that denoted the Weeping Woods.

Azure gasped softly as she showed him the map, his head tilting far to the side to regard it on the ground and his ear flopping over as he did so. The woman used her claw to draw the borders, and everywhere it scratched across was left bright red. He'd missed how she dipped it in a substance before hand, so the act of producing color was incredibly magical to him. His brows furrowed in concern, and he leaned forward to sniff the juices. "Is it bleeding?" He whispered. There was something barbaric about using one's claws to scratch furrows into a coat and draw with it's blood, though the pup wasn't exactly frightened by the idea. If anything, it fascinated him. "What is it?" He repeated. Yes it was a map, but what made the map? "How did you do that?" It looked and even sort of smelled almost like a creature, but it wasn't moving. It bled, but didn't squirm at her touch. Had she found a way to paralyze her prey, carry it with her and use it's living body as a tool? "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Aerndis continued to smile at the boy and she reached down to pick up her jar of crushed raspberries and moved it just a bit closer. "No, it's not bleeding. I'm painting on it with crushed raspberries to make the color. I want to use something more permanent eventually I just don't know what." Rudy had heard of ink made from certain plants that would stain more effectively but he didn't know how to make it and they had yet to run across the plant he could recognize.

She glanced down at the map and used one of her paws to lift the hide. "Oh, you mean this? It's a piece of deer hide that I've tanned." She glanced at the rabbit next to her. "Would you like me to show you how to skin and tan a piece of hide? It's easier with a companion but I think you could manage."

So far the most intelligent wolf he'd met was his little sister, her ideas were always fascinating and surprised him in many ways. This wolf however, she'd found a way to draw pictures with food and that was definitely more impressive. His tail continued to wag and his gaze shifted from the map to the stranger's eyes, taking in her words and becoming more and more excited. "Oh, yes please!" Azure nodded his head wildly, desperately wanting to learn the technique. "I don't have one yet, but my mom and dad said one day I can have a companion too. If you show me how, I can 'member it until I have one to help me." He sat patiently to await the lesson, his rear end wagging hard along with his tail. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

"No worries! This is something you can do without a companion, it's just the skinning process can sometimes be easier if you have a friend with a sharp beak but you can manage. Tanning shouldn't be a problem." Come to think of it she did have an untanned rabbit hide in her bundle. That would be good. She was going to finish the process after finding a good place to bed down for the night but now was good. She was happy to pass on this knowledge.

Aerndis moved her map and pulled out the untanned hide. She set it down in front of the boy and then pulled out a rabbit head which she set down next to the hide. "The easiest way to tan a hide is by using the brain of whatever it is you killed. Most creatures have enough brains to tan their own hides." It was a strange fact but a useful one. "What you'll want to do first is crack open the skull. Its weaker around the eyes."

Aerndis bent her head and worked her jaws around the rabbits eye sockets until she heard the crunching of bone. She checked her work and then continued crunching.

Azure continued his intent listening, but was brought to utter shock as the woman brought out not just a hide to show him with, but a rabbit head. He blinked, his eyes extraordinarily wide. If Mortis were here he'd probably cry, Az thought. His brother didn't like to kill, he couldn't imagine how he'd handle needing to decapitate an animal and then - wait what, it's brains!? Azure was utterly sold. It was hard for him to remain still as he watched the woman crack the skull open, his fascination beckoning him closer. Were his paws suitable to do such a thing? They were so big and wide, he wasn't sure if he could manage it. This was definitely something that Asla would need to help him with, if he could replicate it at all. "You are so cool." He complimented, voice breathy with awe. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Aerndis worked her way carefully through the skull until she revealed the rabbit's brain. She grinned at the boy's compliment as he stated that she was cool. She'd never really thought of herself that way and she felt a sense of pride at the comment. "Ok, next we'll try and flip the brain out of here. Again its easier with a bird companion who can cut the spinal cord." She reached her delicate paw in and carefully scraped the brain from the skull, pulling up hard. Sometimes the cord would just snap. Carefully working her teeth down she cut it as well as part of the bottom of the brain but it wasn't enough to make to much of a difference. She flicked the brain out onto the hide and then smashed her paw down on it and began to work it into the hide. "Next you just massage the brain into the hide until you have it evenly coated in goop. You can then scrape off any excess and leave it out to dry. Make sense?"

Azure continued to stare as the wolf cracked upon the skull with her paws. It was fascinating, and suddenly he wanted to break open the head of every animal to see if the insides looked the same throughout species. He made a mental note to ask his parents to ensure one of his companions was a bird, something to help him cut the cord as she explained. "It makes sense." The pup responded after a long moment, as if he'd forgotten in his interest that the other wolf was present. As Aerndis worked the brain into the hide, he stepped forward. "Can I try?" His oversized bear paw lifted and hung in the air above, waiting for permission to see what the goop felt like. There was no doubt in his mind that this was almost as cool as the killing of the prey animal itself, and he could not wait to teach Asla what he'd learned here today. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

I have toured the endless starlight…

Aerndis grinned and nodded reaching over to scoot the pelt closer to the boy so he could work at massaging the remaining brains into the hide. "Sure, go right ahead. Actually, if you want you can have this hide I don't mind. You'll need to let it dry . It might wrinkle a bit but if you secure the edges you can get it to dry mostly flat." Azure really seemed like a sweet kid and she was pleased that he enjoyed her lesson. Maybe some day she'd run into him again. With practice she was sure he'd be a skilled hunter and tanner some day and she couldn't wait to see how his skills would progress. "I should probably get going. You'll be able to get back alright won't you?"

The pup lit up as the woman offered him her pelt, his tail furiously whipping through the air behind him "Thank you!" He grasped it carefully and dragged it closer to him, and then stomped upon the brainy mush with his wide paws. It felt so weird beneath his toes, but the very fact that it was brain matter he was destroying somehow thrilled the boy. He offered her another grin, nodding as he continued to work the hide. "Oh yeah, I just live over here." One paw gestured towards his home to the south west, and a few globs of goop flicked in that direction with it. "You're the best! Come visit sometime please, nobody knows cool stuff like this at home." He turned back to the hide, contorting his face and sticking out his tongue in an expression of intense thinking as he worked and worked and worked the goo. At this point he didn't even care if the hide tanned properly, only that it was the best activity he'd been involved in since he was born. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."