Light, fluffy clouds were floating overhead but with no signs of building thunderheads Lúta pressed on into the gulley. The land was striped in patches of green and areas of earth that were still black, singed by the volcanic eruption that had damaged so much of the land. On the air was the sweet scent of lavender. It would be in bloom now and summer was the best time to cut it. Hopefully the weather would stay nice enough for her to finish her work.

Lúta followed her nose right to a patch of lavender. She loved the sent and the beautiful sprigs of violet flowers. Oh and what luck! Not far off was also some yarrow. Now that was a plant every healer needed to keep on them. Setting her deer hide bundle down she got to work.

Ashmedai, knowing Sparrow and Talon were well in good care under Tyr's alphaship, decided to traverse the areas and see what all had changed in the time the volcano had been spewing smoke and ashes into the air. Things were slowly, slowly returning to normal, but long and ugly scars of blackness still remained across the landscape. Two scents cut the dull ashen scent; lavender and a woman. Ash decided to follow his nose, there was a good chance if he passed this up, he wouldn't see another wolf or even flowers for quite a while.

Coming into view were the small, purple buds followed by a pair of blue ears. Hell, Ash was half convinced any blue wolf was tied into his family at this point. As he came closer, her warm-toned striping was revealed. Ashmedai let out a loud, impressed whistle as his loose, lopsided smile crept onto his maw, "Been a while since I seen flowers like this. This all yours?"

Lúta bent her head low and snipped off a few springs of lavender down at the base. She paused for a moment, debating if it would be worth trying to pull up some of the roots. To her knowledge the root wasn't used for anything but it might be worth experimenting with. Maybe another time. She had quite a bit to get done today and a limited amount of time to get it done in. The sound of approaching paw steps caught her attention and she looked up to see a large man. He ears flicked forward and she smiled softly.

"Not at all, feel free to gather some if you like. Are you a healer?" His build struck her more as a warrior but he could be both. "There's some yarrow here too if you like." She turned her attention to the yarrow and once more bent her head to snip a few of the stems off close to the ground so that she could get most of the plant. She hoped by leaving the roots that might encourage the plant to continue to grow though it was hard to say. She hadn't done too much in the way of gardening.

Ash hadn't worn his harness or shirt today, the X-shaped scar on his chest out loud and proud today. The woman told him that the herbs weren't hers- he never really thought that they were- and asked if he was a healer. Ashmedai let out a breathy chuckle, "Nah, but even I know what lavender is. Thought my kiddos might like to see some. Maybe it'll calm them the hell down for once." Ashmedai winked to let her know he was mostly joking. His kids were lively, but independent and didn't often get on his nerves. "I'm guessin' you are a healer, miss?" The woman explained there was some yarrow too. He knew what yarrow was- kind of. He could tell it by the way it looked, but he couldn't remember what it did. Was that the one to put on wounds? Or was that poison? Ashmedai couldn't remember that one as well. "Uh... huh... and yarrow is the one that..." he trailed off, his icy eyes glancing to her for clarification.

Lúta decided to go ahead and gather the root of each plant. Just one set from each to experiment with. She hated to uproot entire groups of crops but she was anxious to find out if the roots had any healing properties. She started digging around one of the lavender plants she'd snipped off earlier, carefully working her claws through the dirt until there was enough of the plant sticking out of the earth. Seizing it in her mouth she pulled it up and and added it to her pile.

She chuckled as the man mentioned his kids. She didn't have any herself, being celibate, but she'd seen others with their children. "I wonder where they get their energy from and where does it go when we get older? I can't believe I ever had as much energy as some of the kids I've seen. Do you have quite a few children?" She spoke as she dug at the base of one of the yarrow plants she'd cut off. She worked diligently and at last pulled up the root.

Lúta nodded. "Yes, I'm a healer. Not an expert or anything, I'm still learning but I learn a little more each day. My name is Lúta by the way." She figured if she just focused on learning a little bit more each day she'd be an expert in no time. Her eyes fell back on the yarrow as the man's voice trailed off. "It makes a tea that is great for colds and I find it is also useful in a poultice to slow bleeding in minor wounds."

The woman started to dig up the roots of the plants she had just picked. An odd practice to say the least, but hey, who was Ash to judge?  The woman spoke of kids and all the energy they had, saying that she wondered where it had all gone. She also led on to ask if he had many kids. Ashmedai flopped into a comfy sit and scratched at his ear for a moment while he thought, "Well, I think maybe we still got the energy, but what's cute for a pup is mighty annoyin' as an adult so I think it kinda... gets stamped out?" He was no stranger to being told he had too much energy or acted too much this way or that way to be an adult. But he had ended up with a rowdy bunch of pirates because of it, so he guessed they weren't all bad traits.

"I have three kids that I know of," he joked. Kind of. There could always be more he didn't know about, but he didn't let it keep him up at night. He'd raise them if their mothers brought them to him, and if not, then they weren't really his kids, were they? "Two of them here, about a year old and another grown one off doin' his own thing... maybe I have a few grand kids by now, but I can't be certain."

He thought that about summed his spawn up and nodded to himself. The woman said she was a healer, but still learning, and introduced herself as Lúta. Ashmedai offered her a polite nod, "Ashmedai Imperialis, miss Lúta. So tell me, you got any family around these parts?"

Lúta explained that yarrow was for teas, colds, and to slow bleeding in minor wounds. Ashmedai laughed dryly, "So that's why I can't remember what it does. I- uh- don't get minor wounds," he said, gesturing to his chest, "Only major ones."

Lúta chuckled and nodded as Ash explained the differing perspective on the actions of pups versus adults. "A wise observation." He went on to state that he had three kids, two young and one adult. So, this wasn't his first time as a father. She couldn't imagine having one litter let alone two but at least there were of a manageable size. She knew some women who had five children and she simply couldn't imagine the chaos.

Lúta finished gathering the yarrow root. She unfolded her deer hide and added the herbs to the small collection she already had kept away in the hide. She'd taken to storing them in a tucked away den in unclaimed territory. She still didn't have any plans to join a pack and she wanted to be prepared in case she decided to weather winter along. He introduced himself as Ashmedai Imperialis.

She glanced at the scar on his chest and winced. "Ouch. Well, every little bit helps but judging on the aftermath that looks like a wound I'd stitch first and then apply herbs to. Well, I mean, if my companion Ragna were here. I don't have fine enough control to be sewing anyone up myself." Not that she hadn't tried. Not on a live patient anyway but she had practiced causing wounds on a fresh deer carcass and then trying to seal them back up. "If you could make a good poultice of something for the bleeding, something for the pain and something for infection you could apply that and then bandage it with strips of hide to. Again, its easier when someone else does it." She'd attempted to bandage a would on her hip by herself before. It failed utterly.

Luta explained how she would have healed the wound on his chest. He was given it pretty willingly during a fight with Dragon, so he wasn't upset at all that it formed a smooth, clean scar across his chest. But he let her explain and nodded along as she did. She explained she had a companion and that it could stitch. She also talked about all the cleaning and infection and stuff. Ash's nodding got slower as she kind of lost him. It sounded like a lot of work.

His lopsided smile rose and Ashmedai made a show of rolling around in some lavender flowers. He liked the way they smelled. "Well it healed alright, so I'm not too bothered." He got back onto his belly and rose back into a sitting position, half shaking out the mangled remains of the plants from his fur. "What kinda companions you got that can heal?"