I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta rested in the courtyard in the afternoon sun. Spring had come to Auster and with it a warming of the weather. As the sun beat down on the castle it warmed the stones and made for a wonderful place for an afternoon nap. Above her the courtyard trees cast down dappled shadows. She was about to doze off when an ill-timed breath set off a coughing fit. Soon it passed but she sighed at the reminder of her illness. She knew it would take awhile for her to fully heal from her bout of pneumonia but Lúta was impatient, she wanted to be healed now. With spring bursting into life around her she was eager to go out gathering. Perhaps if she made sure not to go farther than a territory over. Well, there was still time. As the weather was only just beginning to warm it would be a bit yet before the plants she desired were ready for picking.

Emile kind of chaffed under the weight of his new bag, it rubbed uncomfortably as he moved. He'd need to consider adding padding of some sort to help with the rubbing. But he was determined to wear it today. Emile was still not alright, and if he was being honest he wasn't sure he ever would be again but he had to at the very least stop hiding away. But that didn't really mean he was interested in facing his family right now, so maybe that was why he was on the lookout for the Lúta... word had reached him through the grapevine that the woman had had a bad bout of Pneumonia and was on the mend but Emile had a mind to check up on her... but it was more than that. Emile had secluded himself so much during his young years that he was falling behind in his learning and he could only hope that she might be able to help teach him.

So it was that the boy had set about gathering up his small stores and put them in his bag, shoulder it, and head out. A few small sprigs of boneset and meadowsweet were the only things he could even think of to bring and he hoped at the very least his instincts had been correct. Silently he wished he had been willing to range further than the pack lands, and learn to gather and recognize more than what he could simply find within the bounds of the pack. But that was something for another day as Emile had managed to pick up the blue woman's scent and adjusted his course, approaching with his head somewhat low but offering his best attempt at a cheerful greeting: "Llllllllúta," he called out softly easily slipping on a small smile, "how are you-you-you-you... doing?"

WC: 307 (469/1500)

Speech

Art by Rivaah

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Lúta glanced over at one of the courtyard trees where Raga was happily climbing up among the blossoms. She had no idea where Kolfinna was. Likely the cougar was out hunting in the starlight plains. It was her favorite place to hunt and Lúta appreciated the cat's help in keep the food stores up and food in her belly during her illness. Hopefully, soon they'd be able to go on a hunt together but until then she would take it easy and drink in the sunshine while she could get it. Every so often it seemed a spring storm would go rolling through and even now she could see clouds starting to build on the horizon. At least they were far off and she imagined she'd have an hour or two before she needed to take shelter. Lúta looked forward to the rain. Drought had settled over the lands during the long and cold winter and the warm weather and moisture was just what the plants needed to really get growing.

She heard the click of claws on stone and turned to see Emile. She smiled gently at the soft-spoken boy as he asked how she was doing. "Oh, I'm fine-" she answered by habit before catching herself. She really needed to be more truthful, especially with another pack healer. "Well, maybe not fine. I'm doing better than I was but my throat is still sore and scratchy." She'd coughed so much during her illness that her throat was raw and swollen from the effort. "How are you doing?" She asked.

WC: 262
total: 731

The truth was Emile had no way of knowing just how bad things had been this year, the cold of spring had been as natural to him as breathing, he'd never seen any other spring to even compare to, but he had at least grasped enough to know he had to be careful about the ways he went about gathering what little he even could, making sure not to just clear out the entire stock of plants. That much at least he'd intuited. But he knew there was only so little he could learn without help from anyone else anymore, and yet he still wasn't ready to properly re-integrate back into the pack, in fact even choosing to approach Lúta was kind of asking for a lot, but she at least wasn't family and was unlikely to judge him to harshly for the way his first year of life had been practically squandered.

The woman was quick to try and subdue any of his concerns, though she would eventually relent or maybe just change her mind? Emile couldn't know but he nodded quietly as she complained of throat pain and the young man frowned slightly, so he hadn't really been as prepared as he'd hoped. He wasn't going to let that totally stop him but it was admittedly pretty demoralizing when he was already very very secluded. She asked him how he was and the boy shook his head, trying to shuffle the focus from himself as quickly as he could, probably a little too quickly. Instead, he snuffled the meadowsweet and boneset out of his bad and gently nudged it towards her.  "I-I-I-I-I-I... fffffigured you might ben...efit from some cough sup-sup-suppressants." He said simply, though there was clearly something further there, a desire to learn more, to be taught more.

WC: 301 (1032/1500)

Speech

Art by Rivaah

I wanted to seek, but I got distracted

Emile was quick to side step her question but she didn't press. Lúta knew that many of the pups in the Hallows had particularly difficult years. Tamsyn's children had lost their mother to a terrible disease and Ulric's pups had lost their mother as well to unknown causes. As far as Lúta knew the woman had just suddenly disappeared. In all honesty she didn't really know what to say or what comforting words to offer to any of the youths and she could tell by Emile's reaction he didn't want to talk about it.

She smiled as the boy offered her cough suppressants. "That would be lovely. It's all this coughing that is making my throat so sore in the first place. Every little tickle seems to set it off." It was part of the reason she was speaking in a lower register than usual. Thankfully the spring storms were bringing in rain and offering relief from the dry winter air. Lúta suspected she had a post-nasal drip from the whole experience as well and that certainly wasn't helping things. However, with luck and care she was sure she’d be back in top form by the time summer rolled around. She just had to be careful not to push things to far. That was the hard part. She was mentally ready to be up and about but her body didn’t seem to want to follow her mind.

WC: 238
Total: 1270

It was kind of nice that she didn't press really, while somewhere deep down Emile was desperate to unload all his guilt and anger and fear and deep deep grief so that he could stop having to carry it... He wasn't really ready to do that, and certainly not with a wolf whom he hardly knew... Though maybe that was easier than the alternative, even as little as he wanted to have to face everything he'd been pushing down for seasons he really did not want to have to face his family, his father especially. He already knew they'd be disappointed with him... More than that, what if they thought he was as pathetic as he felt? As much as some part of him blamed his father for his struggles he also feared that his father would judge him harshly and validate all the worst fears the boy clung to... That everyone kept leaving without saying goodbye because of him, something inside of him that made him unlovable, someone no one cared about enough to even let him know they were leaving. Somehow inherently worthy of abandonment. Logically he knew his father would never but logic had little place in his life right now and all he could feel was the emptiness each and every wolf that left, left in him. He was hardly a whole wolf, just the tattered remains of all everyone had taken from him.

Lúta thanked him, explaining that every tickle seemed to set her off and he nodded, gently offering the woman the herbs he'd brought, his voice tentative as he spoke: "Ifffff- ... There's anyth-th-th-thing you need I could go go go go get it forrrrr you?" He glanced at his paws. "I don'ttttt know many use-use-use-usefull ones yet though, so maaaaaaybe not..." Gods why was he like this, unable to even offer to help a pack member who might need it because he was filled with so much doubt.

WC: 326 (1594/1500)

Speech

Art by Rivaah