One hour after dawn, Aster had already found a squirrel’s cache of nuts and stolen them for her own breakfast. This put her in a great mood; she was already a chatterbox, but now the blue jay was a singing chatterbox.

“No brigadier throughout the year
So civic as the jay.
A neighbor and a warrior too,
With shrill felicity!”

Bobbing up and down on the willow tree, she surveyed the area carefully before hopping down from branch to branch. She wasn’t at the top of the tree anymore—bad place to be, anyway, if there were any hawks in the area—but in the branches closer to the ground, yet still out of easy reach of any carnivore’s paws.

She straightened up on the tree, breathed in deep. Time for the second verse!

“Pursuing winds that censure us
A February day,
The brother of the universe
Was never blown away.”

// Aster is singing The Blue Jay by Emily Dickinson

As summer crept closer, Halo needed to start her days earlier. She risked overheating if she found herself out too close to high noon. Dully, the tenderhearted girl wondered what would become of her in the true heat of the summer. Their winters here were mild... did that mean their summers were more brutal? Halo was grateful for her proximity to the river. She had a feeling she'd be spending many afternoons swimming and confining herself to the shade. Hopefully by the time next summer rolled around, her body would be better adjusted, and her coat wouldn't be quite so dense. She could hope. Halo had no idea if things even worked like that. With the soft singing of a bird around her head, Halo took her time searching for different herbs. The ones she'd transplanted into her garden were doing well, for the most part. Still, there were things that she couldn't simply plant. White willow bark was the one that came to mind, first and foremost. Halo really wanted to send some with Lia when she left for the Hallows, as well, to bring to Audra. That was what friends were for, after all. Darn, if only she could see the mark that Audra had left near the first white willow they'd found. It was a red smear, one that she should be able to see easily as she walked. Maybe it was a bit farther off. At least it was a nice day.

Aster finished off the song and hopped on the branch. She considered singing another, but a pale wolf below caught her eye, the bright fur standing out against the lush green of spring. Instantly forgetting about singing, the blue jay jumped from her perch to a lower branch.

“Hello! You seem to be looking for something? Are you from one of the wolf packs nearby? You’re, like, really small for a lone wolf—most of ‘em are all scruffy and mean, though obviously pack wolves can be mean, too.” Aster tilted her head left, right, left. “Maybe I could help you look? There’s only so much singing I can do before I get bored of repeating the same songs over and over, so, yeah? My name’s Aster! You got a name, right?”

The song came to an end, and Halo found herself missing the cheerful sound. Still, she carefully moved over the ground, searching among the trees. Where had they left that mark... was it this direction? Hm. Well, at least the weather was nice, right? That was good enough. Her tail wagged at her haunches. A voice came-- where was that coming from? Halo's soft purple gaze flickered in the direction of the sound. That direction? Up. The bird! The bird that had been singing? Maybe so, the voice was the same tone, though the words came quickly. That was... a lot of questions. Still, Halo's tail wagged. "I'm Halo, and yes. I'm from the Armada, one of the packs nearby." The pale girl looked to the little bird. Halo did suppose that she was small, and she considered aster's words. "The lone wolves have been mean to you? Are you hurt?" The healer's gaze was soft... maybe she could help. Aster could help her look... that would be good, actually, she had a far better vantage point than Halo did. "If you wouldn't mind, that would be lovely actually." Her words were soft. "One of my friends and I marked a tree somewhere over here with some red berries, do you think you can help me look from up there?" Right, only if Aster had time. Halo wouldn't want to impose on anyone's time.