After the first frost was always the best time to gather both rosehips and haws, and while healers would be excited to gather them for health purposes Corbie was gathering them for a different purpose. She had plans for a spiced hawthorn-rosehip mead - marrying together her own craft with what little she'd learned from her long-dead guardian Tornach. Just the act of gathering the little fruits brought her back to that long-ago youth when she'd done the same with Tornach. Tam was with her, just as he had been back then, and now Ayer was there too with her clever little hands. Ren, who was not interested in berries or mead, was off scouting around them as she often did while they were outside of pack lands. Two woven panniers rested nearby, ready to fill with the literal fruits of their labor, while they worked to fill a smaller basket that they'd dump in. They'd already set up camp a ways away, where she'd work to make the mead before they headed back to pack lands. She could have brought the rosehips and haws back to the pack instead of carting the honey and jars out here, but she was feeling nostalgic for the nomadic ways she'd lived with her mentor and felt the need to be close to him now while she did this. The pack could do well enough without her for now, with two betas to keep them rolling along smoothly, and they knew where to find her if she was needed.

It had been a few short weeks by now. Maybe. She wasn't sure. What was time anymore? Since she had taken over Ethne for her sister. Now that she felt it was somewhat alright to leave for a short while, she made her way up to Boreas, toward Avalon, to let Corbie know that the talk with her sister had gone well and that she was now the leader of Ethne. She was also curious if Corbie had been able to talk to the Raiders, and if she had been able to, how that went. But she had the feeling that if anything had come of it, she would've heard about it by now. Or so she hoped, anyway. Regardless, it was thanks to Corbie that she had been able to help her sister finally in a way that was needed, and she at least wanted to thank her. Lumbering through the Gambit Briar, her nose twitched at the familiar scent of herbs (what kind were unknown to her, but there were plenty of healers in Ethne), and Corbie? Changing her course, heavy footfalls approached and she peered over the shrubs to find the smaller wolf with some baskets and she looked to be collecting things. "Corbie! Hello!" She greeted as she got closer, gaze shifting to the equipment the woman had. "What're you doin' out here?" "Speak"

Corbie glanced up from her labors, a bit startled by the big voice hailing her, and narrowly avoided stabbing her paw on one of the hawthorn's spines. "Saga!" she greeted the big white bear in return, and carefully plucked the haw behind the spine that had almost gotten her, and dropped it in the basket. "I'm working on collecting ingredients for a new mead I'm experimenting with. Rosehip and hawthorn - it should be good. And how about you? You seem like you're pretty far from home. Is everything all right with you all?" She'd been pretty worried for the small, friendly pack that had managed to run afoul of the raiders since Saga had last been here, especially since Modesty had quite thoroughly rejected the idea of anyone stepping in to put an end to the feud. Neither Haydee nor Gil had shown up at Avalon to take her up on her offer of a temporary sanctuary, so she had no idea how either of them fared in the interim, and welcomed whatever news Saga brought - as worrying as it was.

The Avalon alphess seemed happy to see her too, and she watched the wolf for a moment as she worked before making her way around the thorny bushes to join her. "That sounds good! Let us know how it turns out, I'd be interested in trading for some!" She sat down with a heavy plop on the ground as Corbie asked her if they were alright. She was pretty far from home, but she had her reasons to be. "Yes, I came to tell you actually. Haydee agreed to letting me lead the pack for a while until things get sorted out." There was a little more to it than that. Her sister hadn't been in the best headspace since everything went down, and was blaming herself as much as their mother was. Her smile faded into a concerned line as her brows furrowed, and she absentmindedly reached for a hawthorn, carefully examining it as it sat on her claws. "Haydee hasn't been in the best place since...well y'know. And neither has my mother. Both of them have been taking things pretty hard with the whole situation." She looked up from the hawthorn she held to look at Corbie. "I've lived with wolves my whole life, but I don't know a thing about wolf politics...were you able to talk to the Raider wolves...?" "Speak"

Saga joined her in the hawthorns, even absently plucking a berry though she seemed more interested in her thoughts than the harvest. Corbie waited patiently, continuing her own harvest, until Saga had gathered herself and spoken, then she listened quietly while the bear vented to her. "I'd always worried that Bellamy felt everything so very strongly, with so little control over those emotions," she said quietly, almost to herself. "Protectiveness, rage, love... guilt. I'd hoped she would find some peace when Haydee took the pack, but it seems that Haydee is plagued with many of the same overwhelming feelings that your mother has." She sighed, dropping another haw into the basket. "I mean no disrespect to either of them when I say that - but the same emotions and care that make them great at loving their packs and wanting to protect them also make them and their pack vulnerable when things go to pieces." She glanced over at the big bear, very seriously. "Don't fall prey to the same problems they both did. You have to control your emotions, or they will control you. A leader who isn't in control of themselves isn't able to protect their pack effectively enough when wolves paint a target on your pack."

She fiddled with a branch for a moment before coming to the point. "I spoke with the Raiders - or rather, Gilgamesh's wife, who was leading them. They have no intention of cooperating with finding a peaceful resolution, and will go as far as to paint Avalon with the same target if I continue to come between you." She looked away to the sky, absently. "People don't always understand that 'peaceful' does not mean 'passive'... I have no interest in being bullied away from doing the right thing."

She listened silently as Corbie spoke about her thoughts on Bellamy, and even Haydee. She certainly hit the nail on the head surrounding the strong emotions that her mother had, and she couldn't disagree that Haydee seemed to follow suit to some degree, too. Saga had never quite realized it until recently, and now that Corbie brought it to light out loud, confirmed her thoughts about it. Bellamy's emotions were volatile at best. She knew her mothers heart was in the right place, but the emotions...they were always so strong, and in the end, they ended up also being Bellamy's downfall. Or at least, that's what she got after her mother opted to leave for a time to go North...and Haydee practically turning reclusive after everything, too. Maybe she herself wasn't as in tune with her own emotions, or if she was, they weren't as strong as Bellamy's, that was for sure. And as Corbie advised about not letting her emotions control her, she felt a little bit of guilt. The only time they had truly come to light that she was aware of, was when Gilgamesh had tried to attack Haydee with her back turned, and when Ethne revenge-raided the Raiders and she had tried to seriously hurt the brown wolf...and honestly, she had absolutely no justification for having tried to do that. She sighed as she nodded, knowing that Corbie was absolutely right on that front, and tucked that advice away to remember. She looked at the berry in her paw again as she gently wiped away the bit of dried debris on it before reaching over and dropping it into Corbie's basket, where she was then met with news about Corbie's attempt with the raiders. She frowned at the outcome, but also, while she had hoped for a different outcome, it had been expected. "I'm sorry to have put you in that position, I should have expected the outcome wouldn't have been different, but it was worth a try. I do appreciate the effort though, I definitely owe you! Just let me know anything you need!" She meant that, of course. Looking at the hawthorn bush again, she carefully grasped a thin branch of the bush between her longer claws and shook the berries off into her other paw, wincing as a couple of thorns poked her paw pad. She sheepishly grinned before adding those to Corbie's basket, too. "Speak"

Saga, at least, took no offense at what Corbie had to say about her adopted mother and sibling, and even seemed to take the advice to heart, to Corbie's relief. "You didn't put me in that position," she disagreed gently. "I chose this path myself with my eyes open. It's unfortunate that some leaders prefer to choose a path of war that risks their own subordinates as much as anyone else, rather than compromise and empathy. But, it is what it is."

She shook her head solemnly. She'd spent so long trying to avoid packs for much the same reason - too much constant drama and jockeying for position, too much politics and selfishness and nonsense. She'd hoped that making Avalon the way she had she could have avoided much of that nonsense and in some ways she had, but any contact with other packs would necessarily drag them in with that drama. She was sure that even the reclusive Tojo-kai had to deal with some of this very friction and she thought they likely had much less contact with other packs than her own trade-oriented pack.

Corbie winced in sympathy with Saga when the bear's paw was pierced by the hawthorns. "Be careful - these thorns can break off in your paw if you aren't careful, and I'm no healer." Luckily, the basket was about full by now anyway - it would make a good batch.