making trouble

Pestilence was grounded, forced to stay within the small confines of Ashen unless by some miracle an escort chose to take her out. The conversation with her mother had been awful and stressful, but at least some good came from the end of it - she could leave, explore the world as soon as spring rolled over into summer. Until then, Pestilence spent most of her time planning for pranks like she used to. Most recently it came to her attention that there was a bush that grew in the Alabastine Shrine and along it's branches sprouted small black berries. She couldn't quite remember who'd taught her this particular tidbit of information but she did know that while the berries - Elderberries - were used to strengthen the immune system, that the bark and root of the shrub was likely to gift vomiting to whomever ingested them. There may not have been a wolf in mind currently that Pesto knew she wanted to 'poison' but that didn't mean she couldn't prepared ahead of time, right?

So far each time she'd gone out herb gathering she'd had a friend or teacher present, someone to help her identify the plant explain it's uses and show her how to collect it. This time she didn't dare request assistance, worried her intentions with the root and bark would get her in more trouble then she already was in. The last thing she needed was to be grounded further and to have her mother strip from her the promise of freedom as a yearling. The shrine - her mother told her - was a place of power that Archon had craved for nearly his entire adult life. It was for him that she claimed it, and although Pestilence hated the proximity to the volcano she could understand her mother's reasoning. First, she had to find the berry bush. To do that meant travel through the Shrine her father loved and not ignore it for what it was. She peered through the alabastine tree trunks, nosed passed the ivory vines that hung from them. First she decided to look near the water source. Although the water glowed in a very weird and mysterious way, perhaps the bush drew moisture from it and would be found nearby.

She stepped along slowly, vigilant gaze sweeping along the ground intently. It took her what felt like an hour of walking to fully complete her search nearby to the shrine's waters, but still found no berry bush. Her lips pulled down in a frown and she sighed, frustrated. A part of her wanted to give up, to go home to her den and sleep her multitude of failures this season away until she was a yearling and could leave. The other part felt some stirring presence here in this land, and on the very small chance her father was somehow watching from the heavens she didn't want to let him see her fail.

She moved in circles from the heart of the territory slowly expanding outwards until she was nearing the edge. It was after dozens of circles that Pestilence stepped out of the tree's shade and into the brilliant light of a clearing. Above her was no trees, a sparse area in the wooded shrine. She squinted up at the sun, and then something clicked in her head. Plants, they liked sunlight. They liked sunlight a lot. It was rare to find a type of flora that would grow in a thick wood. Her ears perked forward and she bounded into the clearing, arching her neck around the boulders and stumps to finally find her berry bush. It looked glorious, it's black berries seeming to shine in the light. Her tail wagged behind her, a smile upon her face as she stepped towards it to swipe a few berries off it's branches. The berries might not be her conquest today, but perhaps it would make her mother happy to return home with some real healing herbs - even if Deathbelle was blissfully unaware of the vomit-causing bark and root she also intended to harvest.

Once she'd gathered a few of the berries she stuffed them in her makeshift jar. Alarr had a real jar, but Pestilence made do by rolling up some leaves and slathering them with mud. Once they dried they held their shape somewhat, she just needed to be careful not to tip it and spill them out. She had a hard time thinking of how to make a lid, and ended up deciding against it entirely. Finally, with berries picked and deposited she leaned down to scrape some of the bush's bark off with her teeth. It's small branches poked at her eyes and face annoyingly but eventually the pup managed her conquest. She looked down at the dirt where the roots were buried and frowned. Someone would surely notice if she was uprooting berry plants in the shrine. Deciding against it, she grasped her makeshift jar with the bark and berries and headed to find a hiding spot.  

- WORD COUNT: 838.