Her travels that winter had awoken a desire in her that she hadn't previously realized existed, to be around others and not just her two companions. She was a fairly self contained wolf, but... she still had missed the casual companionship between wolves. Wolves were by nature social creatures, drawn to one another and a pack environment, and despite having lived all but solitarily her whole life Corbie found she was no different in that regard now that she had tasted it. Working beside Ignis as they'd hunted so often together this winter had been achingly like working alongside Tornach, though the dynamic was quite different than the guardian-ward dynamic between her and the man who'd raised her.

When she had assured herself that the year's lambs were healthy and growing well on the spring grass, and the bees had been seen to for the time being, she had set out to seek wolf-society. She had briefly considered looking into joining a pack so she didn't have to look for company, but none of the packs held more appeal than her own lifestyle. Anywhere she joined, she'd be giving up her ways for another's, and she didn't want that. She didn't want to move away from the plains, to another's home, to live the life they lived. The vague plans she'd contemplated during her winter journey were slowly beginning to solidify into something more concrete.

Taking a break from her travel, Corbie lay basking in the sun, enjoying the warmth baking into her pelt, listening to the calm drone of a swarm of bees somewhere nearby. Out of habit, she looked through lazily slitted eyes to see if she could spot them. She couldn't very well tote a swarm all the way home, so these bees would need to find a perfect new home on their own.

Aryn's self-taught lessons in combat were coming along as well as she could have hoped and the difficulties fighting presented to her were made manageable by her newest friend, the dik-dik. It was disappointing that unlike other wolves companions, the small deer had yet to learn to speak her tongue. Without any form of shared communication she'd been forced to name the thing herself, eventually setting upon Jane (Doe). With Jane at her heels she grew more confident in and around Habari's territory, and although Recluse had yet to lift her from the rank of servant, she'd found opportunity to head out on short trips from the nook with permission to improve her middling skills in hunting. If she could begin to bring in food for her pack, perhaps that would be the trigger that led to Recluse's forgiveness.

Though it all, Aryn still had failed to shake her discomfort around blood. Injuring an animal pained her almost as much as it pained her victim, which she assumed would make both potential career packs difficult-bordering-on-stupid. It was something she had been trying to work on with Tyrian, but when that friendship fell apart, so did her desire to learn from another. Fireside had been an interesting case study in brutality (read: efficiently and ethically killing prey) and it had helped lead her toward alternative sources of food. Wolves couldn't live on herbs and grasses like Jane could, but they could find use in animal products without ever harming another living being. It was on this train of thought that she exited the redbud nook east, eager to take advantage of the new spring with her eyes set upon bees. As far as she was aware, they were easy to keep, peaceful to collect, and passively made honey to add flavor to Habari's meals. Befriending a hive couldn't be that hard, could it?

She heard the bees before she saw them, tiptoeing through the grasses with her nose in the air, though not fully knowing what she was supposed to be scenting. Aryn knew there was a trick to this, vaguely recollecting that she had to find the swarm before it could settle into a hive and convince it to come along with her instead. In practice this was much harder, and she nearly stepped on the monochromatic stranger in her intent search.

"Oh! I'm so sorry." She gasped, reeling back just before she could place a paw upon the basking wolf's tail. "I was listening so hard for the bees that I guess I zoned out." Aryn gave the stranger a warm smile of greeting, her ears flicking back nervously as she considered the sort of wolf this woman might be.

Another woman had wandered into the clearing. The pawsteps had brought Corbie from her drowsing, and she had opened her eyes to see the woman nearly upon her. Before she could warn her, though, the woman noticed her and apologized. Corbie smiled reassuringly to her. "Think nothing of it. So you're listening to the bees? Trying to avoid them, or find them?" she asked curiously. "I considered capturing them, myself, but I'm afraid it's not very practical to carry a swarm of bees across half the continent." She chuckled at the picture in her head of trying to do so, the normally-gentle swarm getting more and more irritated and by the end chasing her around rather than sitting quietly in the box.

The woman was polite and kind and Aryn's body language relaxed as the realization drifted gently over her. Her smile grew warmer and more sheepish, the question more direct and to the point then she'd anticipated. "Looking for them, actually." She replied, her eyes darting off to the side as the buzzing noise swelled sharply and then faded once more.

"I live nearby and had hoped to take some home, is that silly?" The lack of recent interaction with strangers brought a nervous chuckle from her maw, and she bit her lip to silence it. "Someone told me a long time ago that it was possible to contain them - gently - and share in the honey with them. Have you heard anything like that?" It was possible that this wolf would simply laugh, call her out on her lack of wisdom and knowledge, and suggest taking the honey by force, but the kindness in the monochromatic wolf's eyes gave her hope that she was not simply another bloodletting murderer who gave no thought toward respecting a lesser species.

"It's not silly at all," Corbie assured her, stretching her way to her paws and shaking the grass and pollen from her coat. "I keep bees myself, back home. They mostly go about their business themselves without needing oversight, which is ideal since so much of my time is taken up with tending the sheep. They just need protecting from bears and robber insects, and occasionally splitting a hive when they get too big and they get ready to swarm, like the one you can hear did. I wouldn't mind helping you catch this one, if you are interested in keeping hives yourself. Do you have something ready to keep them in?"

The woman's words were reassuring but Aryn had to work to keep the blush off her cheeks regardless. It helped that the stranger dove into explanation, the Valentine woman's ears perking in interest as she absorbed it all. "That does sound ideal." She mused. "Keeping sheep must be an interesting prospect, do you keep them for their wool, or for their meat?" There was a subtle nervousness to her words as the memory of Tyrian forcing her to butcher one of the poor things flooded to the surface, but she did quite enjoy the idea of raising sheep for the purpose of sheering them.

As for the bees, Aryn hesitated. "I don't have anything to keep them in." She admitted softly. "They make their own hives, do they not? I'd hoped I could simply... convince them to shuffle a land over, and build their hive somewhere accessible to me." What did a wolf use to keep bees? She wracked her brain, but came up empty on any possible solution, and eyed the woman quietly for answers.

The woman expressed interest in her sheep as well, and Corbie who was always willing to talk about her stock, large or small, was happy to oblige. "I keep a triple purpose breed, so wool and meat and milk," she told her. "Most of the young males get butchered going into winter to keep the size of the flock manageable, so they have enough to eat and they don't injure one another fighting over the ewes. Or injure the ewes either, for that matter. We keep the best males to trade with other flocks for unrelated males too, or we'd start having a major problem with inbreeding. Sheep aren't very..." She paused, considering her words. "Discerning. I get most of my trade from wool, though, there are a lot of folks in the northern region who really need good quality wool to be comfortable in the coldest areas."

As she'd spoken she'd begun to walk very casually, listening to the soothing drone of the swarm and triangulating its position by how quiet or loud the sound became as she moved. On the last word she stopped, and brushed aside a branch. And there, in a quiescent clump of black and yellowish brown, was the swarm. Now, the older woman didn't have anything to keep them in yet, which was a mild problem, but not unsolvable. "You could put them in a hollow tree or stump and hope they built their hive there. If it's a good place, then they would, for sure. But to harvest the honey from it you would need to break apart the hive, and it would weaken the bees since they would need to repair the damage to the comb. They might not have enough to make it through winter, or might find it inhospitable enough to leave. I used to keep them in skeps, which had many of the same issues, since you can't get the comb out easily without damaging the hive. I keep them in boxes now with wooden frames with loops on the side so I can pull each thing of comb out individually from the side of the box and not disturb any other comb. I commission them from a trader who gets them from some primates down south." Or rather, Tam had been doing all the trading and commissioning up to now - it was certainly time she took charge of that herself. "We can trap them in a box or pot, or even a bag for now, and if you want we can send word back to my friend Tam who is watching the sheep for me and get an extra hive here for you."

What Aryn did not expect to receive this morning was a lesson, but a lesson indeed she was receiving. It was an entirely welcomed change, as lately it was rare she would stumble upon a wolf who would speak to her at such length or with such patience. A small twisting in her chest began to form as she considered and hastily dismissed Eligos, but she calmed it with a firm redirecting of her attention upon the stranger.

"It seems sad to butcher them. Don't you get attached?" She asked softly, peeking out from beneath her lashes as the woman began to casually search for the sound. The concept of trading was interesting, perhaps one day if she could evolve out from under the rank of slave and have a flock of her own, she could trade away the unwanted males and... well, let someone else butcher them, and simply keep their milk and their wool. It was a more palatable idea, surviving on trades and living alongside sheep and bees rather then being Tyrian's sort of livestock farmer and butchering them infinitely.

She continued on an explanation of the bees, and Aryn felt she understood. With the new knowledge that she'd need a specialized home to safely harvest the honey without hurting them, she'd put the concept of a hollowed out log out of her head entirely. "I wouldn't want to weaken them. If your friend can craft an extra, I would be very thankful." She admitted, already enamored with the possibility of owning her own hive. What she would trade for in return she wasn't aware, but she'd go to any lengths to acquire a house suitable for the little flighted bugs. For the moment, they'd need another form of containment. Aryn had thought ahead, but not to the extent this woman had shown she'd needed to. She called out to her little Jane, who pranced into the field with a hastily crafted box upon it's back, placing herself before her wolf. "Is this too small?" Aryn asked, still fighting the shame of ignorance.

"Yes," she said quietly. "watching the little rams grow up,of course I get attached. But wolves have to eat, and if they weren't in my flock, protected, most of them would not live to see weaning. They would die of disease, of starvation, at the teeth of predators who did not know them or care if they suffered. I give them a good, happy life,and on their very last day they die quietly without fear or suffering. If we must eat meat by our very nature, I can at least give them peace in that."

She gave the moment the solemn silence the topic deserved, staring at the softly buzzing bees she had revealed and letting their tiny sounds fill the silence. She refocused as the woman returned with a small box, and shook herself mentally out of the heavy thoughts. "Don't worry about the hive, we always keep extras just in case. I would be happy to help you get started. That box will be just fine for now, until we get them into a proper hive. When they are swarming like this, they are very calm and gentle. With careful handling they will stay that way while we are moving them."

Showing her how to position the box under the swarm, she took a forepaw,and carefully scooped it through the swarm, for all the world like scooping up a handful of buzzing sand, and with a few firm but controlled shakes deposited them of her paw and into the box. "You don't need to capture all of the swarm right away, but you need to take care that you get the queen, or the hive you captured won't be able to reproduce and the bees left behind won't be enough to build a healthy wild hive either. She will look different than the other - ah, see her there?" She pointed out the bee that her last scoop had just revealed at the center of the storm that looked rather different from the others.

The woman's reply brought a sympathetic frown to Aryn's muzzle, it was clear she valued the lives of her animals as more then just blood and meat and wool, and the fact that the mindset existed at all did help to make her feel less an outlier. "I see." She murmured solemnly in reply. The conversation lapsed into a heavy silence, and then it was back onto the bees.

Aryn was torn each way, enjoying her imaginings of what it must be like to live alongside sheep, but dedicated as well to the more attainable task at hand of bees. She did not know how much time she had with Corbie to absorb her font of knowledge, and so as the collection was explained to her, she mulled over what further questions would be right to ask. "What happens come winter?" Aryn settled on eventually, watching as Corbie demonstrated how to scoop the buzzing insects with a gentle paw and guide them into the box. She shuffled over to the woman's side, placing her own paw on the swarm carefully to grab her own scoop, wanting to ensure she was capable of touching them properly before she committed to keeping the hive. "Must you collect a new swarm each spring, or will the ones you've raised return once the snow melts?"

The bees remained docile as Aryn began to help scoop them into the box. Now that they'd gotten the queen they could relax and not worry about missing her as they moved the bees. "In the winter the bees gather in the hive in a mass, and vibrate their wings to keep the hive warm. They'll survive all but the coldest winter temperatures farther north of here, but to make it easier for them I usually wrap the hives in something to insulate them, like dried grass. They'll eat the honey in the hive to keep up their energy, so make sure you leave them enough to make it through winter when you harvest it. A strong hive will survive the winter and begin making flights again when the weather warms enough for them to leave the hive. Theoretically, you might never have to capture another swarm again if you keep them healthy. You could just keep splitting your hives and end up with dozens." She smiled, then paused as a thought suddenly occurred to her, causing her to ears to heat. "Oh. I never even introduced myself, and here I am taking over your swarm. I'm so sorry. I'm Corbie Silverwind, from Sweetgrass Basin in the west."

Together the two wolves managed to collect the docile swarm, and though Aryn worried the box was too small for the tiny winged creatures, they seemed pleased enough to remain there as long as their queen was present with them. While they worked, Corbie continue to spoke and Aryn continued to give the woman her rapt attention. "I see, I will have to remember that when we near winter again, would be a shame to let them suffer in the cold beneath my watch." She could imagine the small things huddled together in a bug-ish puddle, vibrating their little wings frantically to try and warm each other, because she'd failed to provide adequate insulation. The mental image itself was enough that Aryn was sure she'd remember to insulate the hive, and as well to refrain from taking too much of their life-sustaining honey when they needed it most.

"It must feel amazing to watch them grow and split off into new homes." She mused with a smile of her own. "Almost like children." So lost in her imaginings was Aryn that she did not even notice the woman's sudden change of tune, nor her embarrassment. Aryn turned back to look at her as she introduced herself, her head shaking slightly against Corbie's apology. "Don't apologize, here I am, nearly squishing you with my lack of attention and still you're taking time out of your day to teach me and to help me to collect them. Some wolves would charge quite a fee for such expertise. My name is Aryn Valentine, I.." A frown crossed her lips, suddenly realizing that she did not want to admit where she lived to this kind woman. What if she'd heard of Recluse and Habari, and assigned their reputation to herself? "I live close by, near the redbud nook." It was not entirely a lie, but still it felt wrong to be less then truthful to Corbie. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Corbie smiled at her. "I'm glad I was here to help you when you needed it." She glanced around, pleased at their work. They'd gotten almost all the bees into the box, though their work had disturbed some enough to be buzzing around in the air around them. Few of those disturbed hadn't already landed in the box to be close to the queen with the rest of the swarm. "This is enough of them," she said decisively. "The others might follow you back, or they might not, but the queen has enough to build a very healthy hive." She gave herself a shake. "I'll go pay a bird to bring a message to Tam. He'll arrange for the hive box to be sent here for you. Once you get it you need to set it up someplace safe from predators that doesn't get TOO hot during the day, then tap the swarm into it and close it up so they just use the entrance. You might give them some sugar, maybe crystallized maple syrup or some old honey you already have, so they decide it's a good place to stay. Then you just let them do their thing." Bees were pretty self-sufficient as far as livestock went. "If you need anything please don't hesitate to come find me or send a message. Anyone in Sweetgrass Basin will probably know where to find us, it's rather hard to hide a flock of sheep and a bunch of bee hives in a grass bowl." She placed a paw encouragingly on Aryn's shoulder before turning away. "I'm going to get that message sent so you get the box as soon as possible. I hope I see you again, Aryn. There aren't many who are so interested in talking livestock as I am." Flashing her a grin over her shoulder, Corbie trotted off in search of an obliging bird.

- exit -