The noise and bustle of the festival was starting to wear on Svala's nerves and she found herself craving some chamomile tea. She had some dried in the bundle that she carried with her, however it was a small bundle and if she used it she would be out. The plains where the festival took place seemed like as good a place as any to search for chamomile and it wasn't long before she'd found and picked some to dry. Trotting back to where she'd made a small fire she set the fresh chamomile down and sorted it into two bundles. That would be a good amount.

Reaching over to her deer skin bundle she dug around for a small squirrel hide where she'd stashed some dried chamomile flowers. Carefully unwrapping the flowers she dumped them into her only clay bowl. As she was traveling now she had to travel light and couldn't afford to carry much with her. Not with her current set up anyway. She did have the materials to make a sling, like a simple pack saddle to distribute the weight to her back but she had yet to make it and so stuck to carrying her items stuffed in a square of deer hide.

Scampering around the festival at a million miles an hour was exhausting when your belly was only a few inches off the ground but there were a million trillion things to do and see and she wanted to do and see them all now, so Aoife continued her scampering though her quills were drooping and her tongue was lolling out the side of her mouth. Her partially-fuzzed baby bird friend was looking a bit droopy as well, because though she could huddle down in the scarf at any time to nap she took her job as lookout seriously. Aoife did feel a bit bad for how overwhelmed the little bird was getting, though, so she veered off to wander a bit more quietly alone.

Until, that was, someone caught her eye and her ears pricked up again in interest. Ooo, a friend! What were they doing all by themself out here? What were they putting out? Without a second thought Aoife popped up next to Svala. "HI!" she piped up with a singsong warble. "What are you doing?"

Svala hummed to herself as she bounced between projects. Trotting back over to the fresh chamomile she took a few strands of leather. This was the hard part. Without her companion to assister her Svala would have to tie the knot herself. She laid the leather strand out before picking up the herbs and placing them in the middle of the strand. Now came the fun part. She took one side of the strand in her teeth and then maneuvering it with her fangs and paws managed to tie a square knot. She was just finishing when a small pup scrambled up to her.

"What are you doing?"

Svala smiled and quickly set down the strand of leather. She didn't want to try talking with her mouthful. "Hello there. I'm just going to dry some herbs for later, oh and make some chamomile tea." She glanced behind the pup, expecting to see a parent but it was likely with all the wolves that the parents were watching from somewhere at a distance. Hopefully they didn't see Svala as a threat. "My name is Svala, what is yours? Would you like to keep me company for a bit?" She used her paws to scoot the bowl of dried chamomile over to herself. It was full mostly of large chunks of flowers so she reached her paw in and began mashing it with the front of her toes to get it into a more tea-like consistency.

Aoife beamed when the woman set the plants down to talk to her. "Ooooh, I coulda helped with that string y'know!" she chirped helpfully, sitting back on her haunches so she could pick up her forefeet and wiggle her longer, dextrous toes at Svala. "I been learning howta braid things an' everything. What's tea? What's cammeal?" She peered down into the bowl of old dried plants. "Is that cammeal? It looks like plants. I'm Aoife Adravendi, it's nice to meet you ma'am!" The last bit of her chattering came out in the singsongy way that spoke of rote memorization for a very young pup learning to be polite and speak properly yet. She plopped down next to the woman and smiled up at her, her shoulder pressed quite trustingly against the woman's foreleg. "Did'ya hear the Nomads' music? It's my fav'rite part of the fest'val. It's my fav'rite thing ever."

Svala took the one finished bundle and moved to where she had a stick sticking out of the ground. Shifting her weight so it was all in her hind legs she leaned up and carefully tied the bundle up to dry. It was a shame there weren't more trees around. She wasn't particularly graceful with her paws so the stick ended up leaning a bit but it was good enough.

Her attention turned back to the pup. What a little sweetie! Svala grinned as the pup offered to help her with the string. "That is a good idea. Would you like to do a trade? I have a bunch of leather strands here, if you braid one for me you can keep the other leather strands for yourself. Does that sound good?" She scooted over her leather strands toward the pup. She didn't have many but she imagined her companion would join her soon and she could make more. Catching prey and preparing hides she could do well enough on her own but when it came to cutting the thin strands of leather she just wasn't able to well.

In the mean time Svala poured some water over her dried chamomile that was sitting so pretty in the ceramic bowl. She really needed to get a good stopper situation figured out. Maybe she could fashion one of bone. The cork in her water skin was getting chewed up from her teeth and her claws. Come to think of it she'd need to make a new water skin soon as hers was starting to leak. Though perhaps there was a vendor that had some. Scooting the bowl next to the fire she waited for it to heat up.

Oh, a trade. Aoife straightened, feeling the solemn weight of responsibility settle onto her young shoulders. Wow, she would craft and trade just like an adult. The importance of this moment was monumental to a pup. "Deal," she agreed earnestly. In a burst of spontaneous, casual physical affection that was characteristic of her, Aoife hugged Svala, pressing her tiny cheek against the woman's foreleg briefly before settling next to her with the leather strips. With the tip of her tongue sticking out between her front teeth in concentration and her weight rocked back on her butt so she could have her forelegs off the ground, she started to oh so carefully plait the strips. It was a good thing she had some practice, because she wanted it to be perfect for the nice lady. After a moment of fierce concentration, she paused and looked up at Svala with a beaming smile. The woman had poured water over her plants and pushed it over by the fire, and the movement had drawn the goldfish-attention of the child back to the tea. "What's tea for?" she queried curiously, her clever paws still busy braiding.

Svala smiled as the endearing girl suddenly gave her a hug. Oh, she wished she could have some of her own. She had tried many times with her husband but then never were able to conceive. In the end they'd ended up parting and she decided it was best to just move on and focus on her healing arts.

"Some special plants have things in them that help make us feel better when we're tired, or anxious or sick. By putting the plants in water and heating them we can get these good things out into the water where it's easier to drink them rather than just eating the plant." It was a simplified version but she hoped it made sense. "There are some that are also just nice to drink on occasion. I'm making Chamomile tea. It's good to calm you down if you're a bit stressed." Deciding she could get a few more things done while the girl worked she dug around in her deer hide for a few more items. She reached in her bundle and pulled out a bunch of dried peppermint and dried echinacea. She was hoping to make a good tisane for winter with peppermint to help with coughs and soothe sore throats and the echinacea to help boost the immune system.

Aoife absorbed the information like a sponge, even as her clever paws kept braiding the leather as carefully as she could. "So... are you a healer then?" she asked curiously. "My mum's pack has healers too. I'm gonna be a fighter though. I'm gonna be the best fighter in Valhalla." She puffed up her little chest a bit fiercely, then deflated when she realized she'd reached the end of one of the leather bits. She gave it a moment of puzzled thought, then unraveled a couple of twists, picked up another piece, and this time when she did those twists she did it with both pieces together, so that when she ran out of the one again the other one kept going. Proudly she glanced back up to give Svala an urchin-like grin.

Svala had never mixed these two herbs before so she decided to start with an even max, half of one and half of the other. She set aside the mint and got to work on the echinacea, carefully grinding it up under her paws in the bowl until she was pleased with it. She reached over and delicately picked up the echinacea before grinding it beneath her paws as well but on a piece of hide so she could measure out the proper amount just in case she mashed too much or too little. Svala nodded to Aoife's question. "Yes, that's right, I'm a healer." The girl continued on to state that she was going to be the best fighter in Valhalla. "Oh? Fighting? Why do you want to go into fighting if I may ask? You seem quite the talented craftswoman."

The woman asked a very good question, and for a long moment Aoife frowned thoughtfully at the braid she was continuing to work on as she thought. She'd spliced in another piece of leather before she spoke up again. "I want to protect people," she said stoutly. "An' I don't want to ever haveta need anyone t' protect me. I jus' want to be able to take care of m'self. Y'don't get to go on adventures if y'stay safe at home where summun else can protect you."

She reached the end of the available leather strips, and carefully tied off the end of the braid. She didn't really like how knobbly the knot made it, so maybe next time she'd glue the end together or like.... whip a string around the end to hold them together instead, but for now this one was done. Solemnly, she presented the finished cordage to Svala for their trade. "Thanks fer talking with me, Miz Svala, and fer trading with me." She grinned that urchin grin up at the healer, quite happily. Her paws were a little sore from the unaccustomed work, though, and she'd be glad to finish the trade and go nap.

Svala grinned as the girl spoke. Well, she had to admit that the child had a point. It would be nice to be able to protect oneself and others. Svala hadn't ever thought herself capable of being a fighter. It just wasn't expected of wolves in her family that were so small so she'd never really learned. When it came to personal protection she relied on her speed to get out of trouble.

Svala brought out a small clay bowl and set it down in front of her. She then stirred the herbs together lightly on the piece of hide til they were some what mixed. She then folded the two sides of the hide to form a makeshift funnel. Carefully tilting her head she was able to pour the herb mixture into the bowl. She took a stick and carefully mixed the herb mixture a bit more before she declared the tisane done. "And thank you for trading with me. I really appreciate your hard work."