words are so hard
12-20-2018, 08:06 PM
Arpeggio had continued her westward exploration, though she knew she should have returned back to the pack after she'd made it to the orchard. She felt restless though. She hadn't done much with her life after her mother died, and while she could and did blame Sparrow and the Abraxas for a great deal of that she was at fault as well. She could have spent that year exploring the continent and learning from whomever she could find, instead of depending on anyone else to take the lead. She was doing the same thing now, waiting for Shaye and Rhyme to give her direction when she should be taking it on her own. Yes, she didn't have formal warrior training and the brawl Rhyme had had them participate in had really only left her more confused and reticent towards training, but she didn't need to concentrate only on fighting regardless of her rank. She had been her mother's apprentice in healing since she was young so the knowledge of nearly a year of training was still there, even if it was rusty. She wasn't an expert by any means, merely an advanced apprentice, but that was no reason not to work on it on her own. A warrior trained in healing would be a major asset on the battlefield, and a healer who didn't need to depend on warriors to defend themselves and their patients just as much so, so no matter which path she took she should not concentrate on either one to the exclusion of the other.
That was what was making her restless, she knew, and she needed to face it head on. Hiding from it and hoping someone else would take care of her was clearly not the answer. She was done with sitting around.
So rather than wait on the leadership of Abaven to assign her training, she decided to take matters into her own paws and work on what she was capable of. She didn't have even basics to work on with fighting yet so she had little choice in that, but she had healing knowledge she'd been neglecting over the past year that she most certainly could remedy.
So her wandering became more purposeful, a gaze that had simply been abstract and unsatisfied sharpening as she went on the hunt. It was late in the year for gathering any sort of herbs but there were usually things to be found if you looked hard enough. Wintergreen, for one, or roots if she could still identify the plant itself. She glanced around at the place she found herself in, and was startled to find that despite the freeing air - she could see her breath - she was actually in a desert. Sand dunes shifted beneath her paws, and the chilly wind drove icy sand particles before it. She'd grown up far from any deserts, but she and her mother had traveled through one on their way to Abaven and tired as she was Harmony had still found the energy to teach her as they journeyed, so she wasn't entirely without knowledge of the healing herbs here. She didn't have a whole lot of experience though, so she'd be relying heavily on a mere couple weeks worth of lessons.
One she remembered quite clearly, a strange spikey fat-leafed plant her mother had called aloe. It should be an easy thing to spot despite it having been over a year since she'd seen it last.
She slid down the side of the dune to firmer ground and continued her walk with firm determination, her eyes constantly roaming back and forth across her path looking for that distinctive shape.
Ah! There! After a good half-hour's hike she spotted a small group of the plant at a distance. She bounded forward with puppy-ish abandon, a brightly pleased grin on her face. Studying the fat, spikey leafs she ran one toe along the fleshy surface, her grin fading to a softly sad smile. She could remember clearly the last time she'd gathered aloe, with her mother beside her speaking in that warm, gentle voice, telling her the name and uses, guiding her in harvesting the leaves.
She sighed, dropping her paw back to the ground. Leaning forward she neatly snipped off one of the leaves with her teeth. She worked her way over the plant, snipping off any leaves without blemishes and moving on to the next bush before she took too many for the plant to thrive. She let the leaves drop to the sand, figuring that the sand particles sticking to the wet cut ends would help seal them and keep the gel inside from drying out before she could scrape it out into another container.
Once she judged that she had as much as she could carry, she gathered up all of the leaves - grimacing at the grittiness of the sand on her tongue and teeth - and with tail waving like a triumphant banner behind her she turned back on her own tracks to follow them out of the sand dunes towards home. She didn't have anything here to properly process the aloe, so it would have to wait until she got back to Abaven, and hopefully they didn't dry out too badly before then. Next time she'd be better prepared for gathering herbs.
That was what was making her restless, she knew, and she needed to face it head on. Hiding from it and hoping someone else would take care of her was clearly not the answer. She was done with sitting around.
So rather than wait on the leadership of Abaven to assign her training, she decided to take matters into her own paws and work on what she was capable of. She didn't have even basics to work on with fighting yet so she had little choice in that, but she had healing knowledge she'd been neglecting over the past year that she most certainly could remedy.
So her wandering became more purposeful, a gaze that had simply been abstract and unsatisfied sharpening as she went on the hunt. It was late in the year for gathering any sort of herbs but there were usually things to be found if you looked hard enough. Wintergreen, for one, or roots if she could still identify the plant itself. She glanced around at the place she found herself in, and was startled to find that despite the freeing air - she could see her breath - she was actually in a desert. Sand dunes shifted beneath her paws, and the chilly wind drove icy sand particles before it. She'd grown up far from any deserts, but she and her mother had traveled through one on their way to Abaven and tired as she was Harmony had still found the energy to teach her as they journeyed, so she wasn't entirely without knowledge of the healing herbs here. She didn't have a whole lot of experience though, so she'd be relying heavily on a mere couple weeks worth of lessons.
One she remembered quite clearly, a strange spikey fat-leafed plant her mother had called aloe. It should be an easy thing to spot despite it having been over a year since she'd seen it last.
She slid down the side of the dune to firmer ground and continued her walk with firm determination, her eyes constantly roaming back and forth across her path looking for that distinctive shape.
Ah! There! After a good half-hour's hike she spotted a small group of the plant at a distance. She bounded forward with puppy-ish abandon, a brightly pleased grin on her face. Studying the fat, spikey leafs she ran one toe along the fleshy surface, her grin fading to a softly sad smile. She could remember clearly the last time she'd gathered aloe, with her mother beside her speaking in that warm, gentle voice, telling her the name and uses, guiding her in harvesting the leaves.
She sighed, dropping her paw back to the ground. Leaning forward she neatly snipped off one of the leaves with her teeth. She worked her way over the plant, snipping off any leaves without blemishes and moving on to the next bush before she took too many for the plant to thrive. She let the leaves drop to the sand, figuring that the sand particles sticking to the wet cut ends would help seal them and keep the gel inside from drying out before she could scrape it out into another container.
Once she judged that she had as much as she could carry, she gathered up all of the leaves - grimacing at the grittiness of the sand on her tongue and teeth - and with tail waving like a triumphant banner behind her she turned back on her own tracks to follow them out of the sand dunes towards home. She didn't have anything here to properly process the aloe, so it would have to wait until she got back to Abaven, and hopefully they didn't dry out too badly before then. Next time she'd be better prepared for gathering herbs.