Deathbelle lounged in the shade of the changing heart shaped leaves above her. The redbuds reminded her of a time that hadn’t been revisited in too long. She was seated near here, the last night that she spent with Archon. The thought easily tightened her throat as she suppressed the feelings welling inside. Everything had been so much different at that moment. When he fell… Belle looked behind her, she couldn’t see the volcano but she could feel its looming presence. A heavy sigh left her lips as she denied reality for a moment and shared a moment with her memories.

How different would life be if Archon ruled beside her all this time? Would she still be on her throne instead of a glorified thrall for her niece? Not that she would ever act as though she was ungrateful, being able to support Recluse gave her a purpose. A purpose she should focus on lest she sink into sorrow again.

Deathbelle lifted herself from the forest flower and shok out her charcoal and ivory coat. There was always work to be done, especially with Winter right around the corner.

Áskell was on a mission to make some pointy things. Today, Kári the magpie, was going to teach him how to make a spear out of just a stick and a spear that had a pointy rock in it and then… well then he needed to poke some stuff. Or maybe he could set them up around his dad's den to keep bears away. Plus it would look cool. He trotted around looking for a hazel bush. Well, it was really Kári doing the looking, Áskell was just following along as he had no idea what they were looking for.

The bird landed in a nearby tree and cawed out to the boy. Áskell bounded over to the bushy tree and started chewing on the base of one of the thinner branches budding up from the bottom. He wasn't sure if it was a branch or a sapling and didn't much care. He just went right on chewing til he had one and eventually two sticks. Áskell grabbed the sticks in his mouth and started wobbling toward a clearing. The sticks dragged behind him as he bounced along the ground, nearly running into a tall woman and dropping his sticks. "Oh, hi! Who are you?"

As she shook herself ad prepared for the events of the day her little nephew came waltzing out of the brush with quite the heavy load. Deathbelle couldn’t help the amused chuckle that fell from her lips at his adorable presence. He wasn’t a young young boy anymore, but she still felt undying love and affection for him. He made her guilt for the way her youngest children turned out intensify, but she shoved it down. There was nothing she could do about her mistakes now. She could only do her best for the boy behind her.

”Oh, dear!” She spoke softly as his sticks went everywhere and he almost ran into her. ”Here let me help you,” Belle offered as she turned around. ”I suppose there was too much commotion to remember me from the meeting, I’m your aunt Deathbelle.” She told him as she helped to organize the fallen load. ”What’s all of this?” She asked curiously as she lowered herself to her speckled haunches.

Now that she mentioned it she did seem familiar. He remembered seeing her at the meeting. "Hi, auntie! I'm Áskell!" He took her relationship to him without question. It seemed he had a lot of relatives so he just went with it. She helped him collect his sticks and he grinned proudly. "I'm making spears! Kári and dad showed me how to make them. See!"

Áskell wanted to show off what he'd learned. However, he wouldn't be able to make either kind of spear until he had a smooth stick for each. He took the first stick in between his paws and started pulling leaves and little twigs off the main branch. He spat them to the side. Like many pups he did like chewing on things.

With one spear shaft done he turned to the other. Áskell rolled it between his paws and again started stripping off the extra little branches. "Do you make lots of weapons and things?"

The boy had no qualms to her name for title and he eagerly returned her greeting. He had no shortage of family within the confines of the Empire and if he assumed a wolf was related somehow he was probably right. His current project was spears, something she didn’t doubt when he said that his father had helped to teach him. Some of her fondest memories were of her brother crafting some kind of weapon or trinket. She was glad that his son would take on that similar attribute.

Deathbelle shifted slightly, making herself a bit more comfortable as she watched the boy work his magic. There was a content smile that played on her lips, seeing such an innocent young wolf learn and improve himself gave Belle a feeling of pride and peace. Like no matter what she did or what happened to her there was still a piece of purity when you looked.

”Not weapons anymore,” she answered him softly, head tilted slightly as she spoke to him. ”Mostly little tinctures or the occasional poison.” She offered him honestly, knowing his brother might have been more interested in those words than Askell.

With the branches both stripped of excess twigs and bumps, well, for the most part, it was now time to make the spears. Áskell picked up the first stick and trotted over to a large rock. He carefully repositioned the spear in his mouth so that his jaws were closer to the tip he wanted to sharpen for better leverage. He eyed the rock for a moment then started rubbing the end of the spear against the rock as he worked to make a sharpened point. It took some doing but with a little persistence he soon had a basic spear.

His ears flicked up at the mention of poison. "Oooo you make poisons? I think my brother would like to learn that. He likes plants and that kind of thing. So are you a pack healer then?"

With the basic one done he could work on the fancier one. His tail wagged as he worked. Picking one end of the stick and placing it between his paws and bent his head to chew on the end of the spear. He worked her teeth in carefully to create a notch she could use to add the spearhead. He made one notch one way then went back and made a notch across the other way. Picking up the spearhead he wedged it into the notch. Yes! Done, though of course it would work better with pine pitch but he could do that later.

The boy was infintely talented, as she would have expected for any child of Harbringr’s. Though she’d never expected him to come home with a couple of charming boys in tow. After he lost his first love, she never thought she’d see him happy again. She knew he adored his sons though, and she was infinitely happy for the small family. Belle compared her own talents to his, but she certainly hadn’t been making weapons at his age. She’d been a pampered Princess, Sirius was always there to worry about the violent side of life.

”I thought I’d heard his passions were a bit different than yours.” She replied warmly. ”I am the pack healer for now, at least until Jigsaw ousts me.” Belle chuckled amusedly, the other boy was determined to say the least. ”What are you going to use your spear for?” Hunting perhaps? Or did he have visions of grandeur in defending the pack? He could make quite the little Klein warrior.

With his spear finished, Áskell flopped down onto his side suddenly feeling more tired than he had in awhile. Come to think of it he had been running pretty much all day. One project after another. Áskell yawned and then focused on his aunt as she stated that she didn't work on weapons anymore. Mostly poisons. "You'll have to show my brother some time. You should show me to just in case. I don't think he'd try to poison me but if he tries to poison someone else and I'm with him, I should know." It might be kind of fun if they could find something to make dad go to sleep and then sneak off on an adventure or something.

She asked what he planned to do with the spear and he grinned. "I'm going to set up a bunch of spears around my den entrance to guard against bears! Do you want one too?"

”Yes, I’m sure he’s as thirsty for knowledge as you.” She chuckled softly, that sound only increasing in gusto as Askell mentioned his need to know if someone ever had the forethought to poison him too. She shook her head in amusement, but the topic was very real and important. ”Most of the time you’d never be able to tell.” Belle explained. ”But if you aren’t too dead to realize you’ve been poisoned you’ll want to eat charcoal. It’s one of the few ways to nullify many toxins.” She explained how to not be poisoned rather than how to, perhaps that was a lesson for when they were more mature.

”Oh, that is an excellent idea. I think I would indeed like one for my own den.” Not that she had any idea how long she would be in Habari, she wanted to humor him. Perhaps the spear really would come in handy one day.

Áskell frowned a bit as Deathbelle explained that it would be very difficult for him to tell if someone was trying to poison him but she did say if he was poisoned to eat charcoal. Áskell made a face and stuck out his tongue. Eat charcoal? Really, that black stuff that happened when you burnt sticks? Well, he supposed if you were poisoned there wasn't much of a choice.

His aunt explained that she would like a spear. "Ok! I'll make you one of the fancy ones. I have some more bones at home." He had a lot of bones from the prey and meat his father had been bringing back to get them used to eating their own meat. "When I'm done I'll drop it off at your den. Maybe his dad could help him with it.