Dancing On A Mountaintop

Halation bounded after a leaf that was spiraling through the air. He twisted sharply to his right and caught it right between his teeth. He chewed on the leaf zealously until he decided that it tasted far to green and he promptly spat it out. He wanted to go farther into Celestial's lands but found himself lurking near the wall. It was a rather nifty wall. Halation leapt upon it and stretched himself out, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his belly.

His father was reporting to Celestial for hunting duty and with Gwenevere's blessing he had begrudgingly agreed to let Halation come along as long as he promised to stay out from under foot. So, here he was, bored out of his mind but definitely not under foot. He knew there were supposed to be some other kids about his age near the den site but he just couldn't quite work up the courage to go.

Shifting his body so he was sitting sphynx-like on the wall, he peered down below as he noticed a familiar plant growing next to the wall. Was that meadowsweet? Or was it something more poisonous?

Geoffrey was quite pleased with himself. A few weeks ago he'd climbed the wall and discovered quite quickly that heights made him sick. He'd sat up on the wall for many long minutes, too scared to look down, too frozen to call for help. After awhile he'd managed to go back down the way he'd gotten up, but his heart was in his throat the whole time and he'd been convinced he'd be sick before his paws were on solid ground again. Since then he'd made it his mission to overcome that fear and now, weeks later, he'd conquered the wall.

Quite pleased with himself, Geoffrey admired the view of the packlands from the top of the wall. He couldn't bring himself to look down, down, but this was definitely progress!

Glancing down the wall, Geoffrey was surprised to see what looked like a butt in the distance. He squinted. Yeah, that was a tail, wasn't it? It was a little tail, too. Could it belong to one of those other pups he'd heard about? Oh, he hoped so! The boy was desperate for more friends.

Only one way to find out. "Hey! What are you doing?"

Dancing On A Mountaintop

Halation pawed at the plant as he examined it, trying to figure out what for sure it was. It sure looked like meadowsweet to him. What had mother said? Oh! Duh! The scent! Halation hooked a paw around the plant and pulled it closer to himself as he took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring. He immediately recognized the tell-tale fragrance of the plant and grinned to himself that he was able to correctly identify the plant. Now if he could just remember how he was supposed to harvest it.

Halation was just about to dismount off the wall when he was greeted by a strange voice. He turned to see a boy, close to his age, walking along the wall. He grinned shyly, slightly embarrassed though he didn't really know why.

"Oh, uh, hi. I was just looking at this plant. I think its meadowsweet." He realized he should probably be polite and introduce himself. "My name is Halation Scylding, my dad is helping out with some stuff in Celestial. Who are you?"

Geoffrey glanced down at the plant the other boy was talking about. He'd never heard of meadowsweet, but, then again, he didn't know much about plants to begin with so that wasn't really a surprise. The other boy's knowledge of the plant brought to mind a series of questions. Why was he looking at the plant? Was it good for stuff? More importantly, was it good for healing related stuff?

Geoffrey smiled back at the boy and introduced himself. "My name's Geoffrey Meriadoc Adravendi, but you can call me Geo. Or Meri." He'd accept anything but Geoff or Geoffy, really. Rey Rey might be pushing it, but he was willing to give it a trial period.

He eyeballed the meadowsweet again. "So whatcha looking at that for?"

Dancing On A Mountaintop

Halation grinned as the boy introduced himself. He had two great nicknames! Halation wasn't sure which one he wanted to use. He only had one nickname himself but he felt it was a good enough one as far as nicknames went. "Nice to meet you Geo! You can call me Hal if you like."

Halation turned his attention back to the plant. "I'm looking at it because my mom says it's a good herb for the flu." Come to think of it he wasn't exactly sure what the flu was, only that it was bad and made goop ooze out of your nose. Hal decided he wanted to bring some back. Wouldn't his mom be proud? Then she could tell him more about how to actually use it. "I don't know how to use it but I bet my mom will know."

He hopped down off the wall so he could get a better look at it. As he leaned in he caught the tell tale scent and was almost 100% sure the plant was meadowsweet. But he was not sure how to gather. "I think I'm going to bring some home to my mom. Maybe you can bring some to your mom?"

"I'm looking at it because my mom says it's a good herb for the flu." At this Geoffrey's interest grew keener. Boy, was he lucky he found Halation! He was learning new things. No way he'd have learned that on his own. Maybe he could have asked Paladin but he didn't know the grown up well enough to just approach him like that.

"I don't know how to use it but I bet my mom will know." Was his mom a healer? Wow, he was really lucky if she was! Geoffrey wished his mom was a healer. That way they could talk about plants and bandages, and she could teach him how to do things that made sick wolves better. Sadly, his mom seemed more interested in teaching them how to fight and be safe, which was good and whatnot, it just didn't appeal to him at all like healing did.

"I think I'm going to bring some home to my mom. Maybe you can bring some to your mom?" At this Geoffrey shook his head sadly. "I don't think my mom does plant stuff, just fighting. I might take some anyway; I think I know how to preserve it and maybe Paladin will know how to use it."

Dancing On A Mountaintop

Halation gently set his teeth around the herb and carefully he pulled it out of the ground though it wasn't a clean pull. His teeth mostly severed the plant from its root but… well, maybe he didn't need the root. He'd ask his mom and find out for sure and if it turned out he did he could show her where he found the plant and they could dig the rest of it up. His ears perked as Geo mentioned that he might know how to preserve the plant. Licking his lips to diffuse the taste of plant he glanced at the other boy. "Really? How do you preserve it?" He hadn't gotten that far in his lessons with his mother.

"My dad taught me a bit of fighting but…" Halation shrugged. He didn't find it as interesting as hunting and healing. Those were what his parents were really good at and those were the skills he wanted to excel in too.

Geoffrey opened his mouth to explain but then closed it when he realized he wasn't quite sure. It was only an idea, he didn't know if the plants were any good after he was done with them. That was something else he needed to ask Paladin.

"Well," he said after a beat, "When my brother was sick the pack's healer brought him stuff to make him better and I think the plants were all dried up. Kinda like they'd been left in the sun too long." His brow scrunched up as he tried to think back to those days.

Finally, satisfied with his memory, he nodded to himself. "Yeah, I think they were dried so I'm going to try to dry these too."

Geoffrey's nose wrinkled at the mention of fight training. "My mom's teaching me how to fight too." He shook his head then admitted, "But it's not any fun."

Dancing On A Mountaintop

Halation nodded. "That makes sense. My mom always has a bunch of dried up plants in her den. I'll ask her some time." He supposed he could also leave a few fronds out in the sun just to see what would happen. Hal grinned as Geo stated he wasn't having much fun learning to fight. "Ugh, I know! I don't like it but my dad insists." He shrugged lightly and then jerked his head towards the sound of his father's call. Was it time to go already? He felt like he'd only just gotten here but perhaps his dad wanted him for a lesson or something. "Ack, I've got to go. It was nice meeting you Geo." He scooped the plants up in his mouth and took off.

-exit-