It was rare that she had a day all to herself. After rounding the borders once and assuaging any remaining guilt, Theory took a deep breath and headed down the coastline. Following the water's edge would be a good way to get another perspective of Boreas. She wouldn't be so smug to assume that she knew everything about the land (maybe almost everything about the east...) but she had struck with a certain sense of "sameness." There had to be something out there that would strike a chord within her. She needed inspiration. Guidance. Entertainment? All of the above.

By midday she'd covered a fair bit of ground. She settled on the shore and let the water lap at her paws as she stared out towards the horizon. An island caught her attention - had she ever been there? Thinking that she was pretty sure she hadn't, Theory eagerly forded the ocean channel. Swimming between the mainland and Ibis had been good training. All of Abaven were capable swimmers nowadays. She made quick work of the journey and pulled herself up on the other shore. After clearing the salt and water from her eyes, she stared at the strange assortment of structures that dotted the island. Now this was interesting! Eyeing the place with a renewed perk to her step, Theory began to explore. There had to be something she could do to occupy herself. Just as she stepped further on to shore, a fuzzy creature fell from above with a whump and smashed to pieces on a rock outcropping. "Oh shit," she gasped, jumping back. She wasn't in the mood an impromptu funeral. With an awkward laugh, Theo realized it was just a coconut. There had been some palms dotted on the shores of Ibis Islands as well, but she'd never seen one of them fall in real time. They did have awfully tasty insides though. Licking her lips, Theory stepped up and lapped at the strange but satisfying liquid that remained in one of the coconut's half shells.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta strolled along the beach, taking in the sun and the still warm autumn weather. She had a bundle off supplies tied around her chest and her companion at her side. The duo was looking for a good place to settle and craft. Or, at least they would just as soon as Lúta finished searching for allspice. It often grew near the sea in more tropical areas so she felt the island was a good bet. She paused as she came near some limestone cliffs, eyes searching for the plant she sought. At that moment she heard a cry and turned to see a young woman investigating and then drinking from a coconut.

Lúta smiled shyly, uncertain whether to go over or not but she decided she'd be spotted sooner or later and she cleared her throat before taking a few steps toward the stranger. "Hello there! Is everything alright?"

"Oh!" Theo laughed, turning her attention to the nearby stranger. "Yes, the falling coconut surprised me." She confessed, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "Everything else was so peaceful that I didn't expect things to be falling from the sky." That would be the perfect finale to the chaos of the volcano, wouldn't it? If only the sky came crashing down on all of their heads. Finishing up her drink, she settled down in front of the coconut. Several unbroken fruits lay scattered across the beach. Although this island laid far away enough from the epicenter of the eruption, telltale signs of damage still remained. Some palm trees had crashed into the beach and nearby buildings. Frowning, she kicked at the coconut shell for a bit.

"I'm constantly surprised by how far-reaching the effects of eruption were... not even this little island could escape it." Lost in her own head, she circled the shore until she saw a coconut half-buried in the wet sand. It looked like the moisture fed the fruit. It had begun to sprout. The new growth brought a strange, distant smile to her face. "Well, I'm going to plant a few of these. It's a start, right?" So far outside of her own territory, she felt almost separated from her identity. Theo had forgotten entirely to introduce herself. The black female busied herself by rolling half a dozen coconuts towards a central area. Once she'd gathered them all, she could figure out how to distribute them along the coast.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta's ears perked up at the mention of the strange plant. A coconut? She padded over and cocked her head at the thing. "How strange, I've never seen anything like this before. My name is Lúta by the way. I was just looking for a nice place to settle and do some crafting." This beach was as good as any. She settled down and unwrapped her bundle. She wanted to get a good stock of tisane's made for the winter but what she should she make today? Settling on some comfrey she pulled out the herb and laid it out on a separate piece of hide while she dug in her bundle for something to mix it with.

She stopped for a moment to consider the other woman and nodded sadly. "Yes, it's quite something. I was not present for the eruption but I feel for the wolves and the lands here. I think that's a great idea! It's quite a large seed. Really different from what I've seen from other trees."

Lúta was about to make herself at home when her companion Ragna called out, stating that she saw some all spice. Growing out of the limestone hills were a few trees containing a number of berries. Lúta grinned and scrambled a short ways up the hill to the berries. At the moment they were green but they would turn to a reddish brown as Lúta laid them out to dry. She eyed the tree for a moment then reached up to grab a small branch and pick it off with her teeth.

Theory whistled through her teeth. "You avoided plenty of heartbreak and suffering then." What had Valentine and his family said? That her bloodline had a flair for the dramatic? She supposed they were right. It seemed like her life was consumed by it - how could she help herself? First Tana's tragic death, the wildfire, the volcano, then Shaye's passing. Her life was tragedy stacked on tragedy. Trying to put these thoughts to the back of her mind, she focused on the big fuzzy question at hand: how did one plant a coconut? Theo watched Luta scramble up the hillside towards some berries. Curious, she cocked her head to the side. "What are you gathering? And... preparing?" She had much to learn. Judging by the full parcel of materials and the stranger's keen eye, it was clear that she was much more experienced in the art of crafting and healing. There was a spicy herbal scent that accompanied her belongings that made her nose sting pleasantly.

Judging by the other coconuts that laid half buried, it seemed the only ones that sprouted were ones that had been wet for a while beforehand. Noting the fact, she rolled some of them further up the sand towards where the shoreline broke into dusty scrubland. She'd have to use the broken coconut shell to find some fresh water, but she'd take things one step at a time. "Oh!" How foolish, she'd forgotten to give her name again. It really did feel like she was living a different life when she ventured outside of Abaven's territory. "My name is Theory." No need to drop titles. Today she was just a wolf burying some coconuts.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta raised her head and seized another group of the berries, carefully adding them to her first batch. She didn't need too many. She was still experimenting with allspice. It smelt nice but she'd only ever seen it used to help relieve gas. Surely it had other uses just waiting to be discovered.

With the berries in tow she worked her way back down to the coconut woman, setting her gathering in among her stash. "Oh, I'm just gathering some allspice. It smells very nice when its dried though I'm still trying to figure out what its used for. I was going to craft some tisane with comfrey and…. I think marshmallow." She pulled out the dried marshmallow and sat it down next to the dried comfrey. She wasn't quite sure on the right mixture so she settled for doing an even mixture. Taking some of the dried comfrey and some of the dried marshmallow she began to crush them with her paws. The woman introduced herself as Theory. Lúta wanted to ask more about the volcanic explosion but based on the mention of heartbreak she had feeling it was a sore topic.

"Out of curiosity, what brings you out this way to the island? Had you been planting to replant trees for awhile?"

"Hm... well, no. I just have a lot of responsibility at home. I wanted to take a little vacation," Theory said. It wasn't a lie - in fact, it was just about the truth. Next to the truth. Basically the truth. Theo picked up the half-shell of the coconut that had broken nearby and scrambled up the embankment, passing Luta as she did. Just a bit further inland she found a small stream that had slowed to a trickle. Bending down, she laid the coconut shell long enough in the water for it to fill. Carefully she picked it up and made her way back to the scrubby soil where she'd planted the coconut. Theo dug a small trench around it and poured the water it. There, that looked right. At least it looked like the one further downshore that had seemed to flourish under these conditions. "Could you tell me more about your tisane?" she asked, tilting her head up towards Luta. The fragrant scent of the plants she was working with drifted down to her nose. "What you're working with smells quite lovely." She did need to learn more about healing and herbs. Rhyme had helped start her base of knowledge, but she didn't want to depend on her father for everything. He deserved a vacation more than she did.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta listened as Theory stated that she had a lot of responsibility where she was from. Lúta didn't want to pry but she had a feeling the young woman was a high ranking member in whatever pack she was from. Using her paws and her fangs Lúta dug around in her bundle until she found her glazed clay bowl. It was a bit deformed and chipped but it held a special place in her heart after she'd found it in a human dwelling. Carefully lifting up one side of the hide she'd crushed the herbs on she folded it in half. Then she seized the area where the two sides met and lifted it. Tipping her head the folded hide acted like a funnel, allowing most of the dried herbs to fall into the bowl.

"A little vacation is always good and certainly, I'd be more than happy to! I'm creating a mix of dried marshmallow and dried comfrey. Marshmallow can help soothe coughs and so can comfrey. Though typically you use the root, but I wanted to try the leaves and see how they work. Are you a healer to by chance?"

Lúta used her toes to mix the herbs more thoroughly together to finish forming her tisane. It would be quite a good one for winter, she had a feeling. And if not she could always continue to experiment and improve it.

"Of sorts. I thought I could better serve my pack that way. I've been trying to learn as much as I can, but other things have since taken priority. Thank you for taking the time to talk about your work," she said emphatically, watching intently as Luta continued her work. "I didn't know either of those uses," Theo confessed. "Do you often find that certain parts of the plant work better than others for its intended use?" Rhyme hadn't delved into that quite as much, but she wanted to gather as much information as she could. Before she knew it it'd be winter again, which came with its own set of unique challenges. The cold would test like just like the long summer heat had. They were scraping by well enough though. But was well enough good enough? Theory eyed her coconut planting project. Would it even survive the winter? Ah well. It was the thought that counted, and nature was constantly proving hardier than she thought. The weather was more temperate here in the south. "How do you administer this? Would you just consume it, or use some kind of... method of transmission?" Even as she spoke, Theory set about collecting another fallen coconut and digging another hole nearby. If the first one didn't sprout, maybe this one would.

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Speaking of comfrey root, Lúta had been meaning to put some in a tincture of white wine to see how that compared to the usual boiled infusion. She dug around in her bundle as she listened before pulling out a wrapped comfrey root. Lúta nodded. "It depends on the plant. For some plants the whole thing works just as well but for others the healing properties are concentrated in certain parts." She set the comfrey root in front of her. "For example, with comfrey a lot of its healing properties for coughs tend to concentrate in the root while it's properties for healing sprains and bruises concentrate in the leaves. At least as far as I've found anyway."

Lúta glanced at her bowl of tisane then back to Theory who was working on planting another coconut. "Good question. You'd want to put them in a bowl of water to let the water pull out the healing elements and then you'd drink the water. It works better usually if the water is warm so you could place the bowl in direct sunlight or what I usually do is set the bowl near a fire to heat it."

Her ears flicked back and forth as she listened to Luta. Wow! She was a font of information. Theory was so distracted from her task that she stopped digging and just listened. There was plenty to take in. It was clear that she'd devoted herself entirely to this craft, whereas Rhyme's expertise was more functional. Luta was beyond clever in her methods. Theo could have sat all day and listened to her. Although Alouette had been her constant companion since she was young, she had noticed that plenty of healers seemed to have more dexterous companions to help with certain tasks. For instance, starting a fire was a huge undertaking for just a wolf, but if you had a companion with more nimble appendages... no wonder she spoke of it so simply. She must have help. Theory blinked. Silence had stretched long between them as she'd been lost in thoughts. She broke it with an awkward laugh and finished replanting the second coconut. "Thank you for taking time out of your tasks to give me a small lecture. It's important to me to learn more about healing, but... I have to say, I never thought as deeply about it as you seem to. You've inspired me," she said jovially, tail wagging. At the very least, she had plenty to think about. The sun had begun to set and the sea had turned a deeper shade of blue. Theory stared out over the mainland. The water on the way back would be colder now without the sun overhead. Sighing to herself, she trod towards the waves. "Thank you, Luta! I've learned more from you in an afternoon than I have by myself in months," she laughed. Bracing for the cold water, Theory began to ford the channel back home.