Paladin trotted elegantly toward the moor, a bundle in his jaws. Behind him came his companions, carrying their own bundles of herbs. Everything they bore was of basic stuff. Peppermint, Lavender, etc. The pups were due for a healing lesson, at half a year of age.

He slowed as he reached the stone circle, dropping his bundle and arranging the contents. Ime spread out several small clay bowls, a mortar and pestle, and a sealed jar of water with the herbs, and Kayode set out a jar of deer fat the two companions had been collecting and rendering from the kills brought in.

Paladin examined the setup and smiled briefly, drew in a breath and blew it out in a sigh before he turned and gave a low howl, inviting Gwenevere’s children to come learn how to soothe hurts. Minor ones, at least.

He padded around and took a seat, tail flicking to curl about his hips as he waited patiently, ears swiveling and flicking as he listened for sounds of approaching small paws. He was certain Geoffrey would find the lesson immensely interesting—the boy had been observed making his own forms of medicine in the way children did. Mud pie with plenty of leaves, slime and sticks.

A small pang struck in his breast and he sighed. He was halfway through life and his own hopes of children of his own seemed to be turning to dust. Unbidden, Sterling came to mind and he clicked his tongue, shaking his head. He was canny enough to realize that he could very well have fallen for her, and perhaps might have begun to. But she was gone, and that path seemed royally clogged with vines and thorns. Impassable.

Granted, he hadn’t really been venturing out beyond the wall beyond going to the Nomads for his advanced training and lessons, and simple socialization with wolves who were at his level of knowledge. Perhaps one of the women there… Nah. None of the females he knew from the chapter he’d grown up with until his return was the type to settle in one place.

A rustle brought his attention back to the present and he smiled warmly at the first arrival.

Ooc: since I'm still having no internet, the deadline is very loose, but attendance is semi-manditory. First round is due on... Say... 26th of this month! No posting order will be enforced.

Cairo had been probing into a mole hill, digging energetically for China when he heard the low call for his littermates, him included. His earth dusted head popped free of the sizable hole he’d made, chocolate and dark chocolate splotched frame thoroughly doused in mud.

He was swift in wheeling on his hind paws, stumbling over one foot and staggering into a lope toward the call. It had come from the standing stones, he was sure of it. It was a twisting winding trail he had to follow and he used it as further practice in taking sharp turns at speed, tail whipping for balance as his claws dug into the turf.

He skidded to a stop in front of the white wolf, taking in the black tears and then the two creatures that sat at either side of the male with a small amount of alarm. He was aware of the practice of having companions—Princess, his mother’s cat, was like a sister or a grumpy baby-sitter to him, but she was a cat.

Finally, his eyes dropped to their nimble-fingered hands. Now those looked useful. His gaze tore away to meet Paladin’s as he moved to sit in front of the male, a little pleased with himself for being the first to arrive. A look at the herbs told him that this was to be a lesson in medicines, and he felt a thrill for his more healing-inclined siblings. They were going to love this.

Suddenly, he remembered his manners and dipped his head quickly, almost ducking as he ventured, “Hello, I’m Cairo Adravendi. It’s nice to meet you.”

Viviane popped up from out of a half-dug hole in the ground. At over six months old she was a slender, gangly little thing, half finished and gawky looking despite her profuse golden fur. Her ears pricked towards the sound of someone calling for her and her siblings. Well, the left one pricked towards it. The right ear was still exasperatingly floppy and much to her dismay managed to make the already pup-scrawny girl look even younger. No floppy ear could keep her down for long, though, as the little pixie snatched up the doll she'd pieced together out of sticks and grass and laced-together leaves, and bounded off to answer the call. Training! Hopefully not more awful fight training, though her mom insisted that they needed to defend themselves. She skidded to a halt in the stone circle, beaming at her brother who'd beaten her there. "Cai-o," she squeaked a greeting as best she could around the makeshift doll. She set it down carefully next to her - oh no, she was missing a leg, she'd have to find another stick leg once training was done - and settled herself down to gaze at the pack's healer with bright, expectant eyes.

Healing had never really interested her, not really, though she knew some of her siblings felt otherwise about the craft. Still, she knew it was worthwhile to know the basics, just in case, and so somewhat begrudgingly she dragged herself to Paladin's call. What she really was interested in was learning how to fight, though she had a feeling she might want to get to know how to take care of her own minor injuries before begging someone else to help, if she did end up ever fighting anyone. She knew at the very least Geoffrey would really enjoy this meeting, so she didn't hesitate all that long in heading toward the gathering. She didn't know the man that had called them together, despite having seem him around the packlands before, and she cast him a skeptical eye - as was typical of her - before settling down near Cairo and Viviane. She hoped this meeting might be more interesting than she hoped, and if not she figured having a training session with her siblings would be entertaining enough at its core. At least Cairo was feeling better, and she had to wonder if he'd been given any sort of medicine and if Geoff had anything to do with his improving health. Huh, she'd have to ask later.

Geoffrey plopped down beside Vi and looked up at Paladin expectantly. He remembered the black-marked male from the meeting and was eager to begin training. It would be nice to learn how to make real medicine. He spent a lot of time pretending he knew what he was doing, but in reality he knew next to nothing. More than anything else he wanted to fix that. If he'd learned anything from scraping with his siblings it was that he wasn't a fighter. He didn't have the interest to become a hunter or a navigator either, so what then could he do for his family? He could take care of them when they got hurt or sick.