Brush Off the Dust, Lay New Straw

She dug through the stocks in her Alcove, sniffing delicately at each bundle and pot as she went. Spring meant cleaning and replacing what was too old to be effective in medicine, or had molded and become outright dangerous to use on a patient.

The last few bundles of marigolds from last year had drawn damp and molded, and several pots of salve had dried out. They could be refreshed, but the marigold had to go.

She set those to the side and dug deeper, frowning to herself as she sniffed her way through another pile of herbs and tinctures. Mildewed mint bundles, mallow that had aged out of use, especially since they had no teething pups to chew on them.

Pawsteps entering the main chamber outside her alcove made her spine stiffen warily, and Legacy turned to edge a glance around the side of her doorway.

It wasn’t someone immediately familiar, and she moved quietly, hoping it was just one of the pack she hadn’t had as much interaction with over the past few years. She wasn’t alone in the lands, precisely, but Aurielle was up top on the hill, toiling away at the tower despite Valhalla being on hiatus, and Legacy was the only one currently in the Alcoves.