"Ooh yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m skipping through the trees. I’m erm... trying to avoid the bees! It’s a really lovely day, and everything is going my way!”

The peace was shattered by the tone deaf song of the chocolate male. He sang loudly with a smile on his face to no one in particular. Skipping, well, loping awkwardly, he had been making his way across the land day by day. Today’s wandering had taken him to a thicket, thick with brambles and other such bushes which try to snag his fur. He darted left to right, making it a game to avoid getting snared by the finger like branches which were all around him. Often he failed, and a trail of his dark fur fell behind him but he didn’t care.

His leather pads danced, or at least tried to but it was awkward to be agile when you weighed so much, across the floor, skipping and scuffing at the ground as he continued on his way. "Whoo! Yeah. It’s a really cloudy day. And... erm...I... that’s how it’s gonna stay! These twigs are tugging at me... So. Erm. Yipee!” he continued on, completely out of tune but he didn’t care. He enjoyed singing, whether he was any good at it or not, it was something he did often.

As he turned a corner, hidden by the dense thickets, he almost ran head first into another wolf who was sitting peacefully upon the floor. Skidding to a halt on his front paws, he grimaced at the near miss. "Oh no. Oh I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there. Are you OK? Did I hurt you? Ergh, I’m such a clutz!” he said as he danced backwards, but didn’t see the pouch on the floor and ended up squashing the skin beneath his giant paws. Panicking, he stepped backwards again but the item was stuck to his foot and wouldn’t shift. "Ack! Get off me!” he said to the bag as he lifted his front paw and shook it madly trying to get the item off him. With a final shake the pouch fell from his paw and landed with a dull, wet thud upon the floor. Clearly he had crushed whatever was inside it and with wide eyes, he glanced back to the female. Oh no. He’d done it now.

He didn’t even want to look at her. He felt so guilty, so ashamed. He had no idea what it was he had stepped on, but by the way she came over to it and hunted inside, it was clearly important to her. Oh no. Maybe he could get her a new one? Whatever it was. ”I’m so sorry. I really didn’t see you there and then I panicked, I didn’t realise it was on the floor and then it was on my foot and it wouldn’t come off. I can get you a new one, just tell me where to get one and I’ll go get...whatever it is, right now.” He said, still mortified with him.

She spoke then. Her tones calm, cool and sweet rather then angry like he had been expecting. In fairness, he would have been angry if someone had stepped on something of his. With his ears lowered to his skull, his head soon followed. He looked like a child who had been told off, even though her voice and words had been fair. ”I’m sorry Nina.” he then sighed as she told him not to worry about it. He still did of course, he couldn’t help but feel utterly guilty for his actions, but she was introducing herself and he supposed he should follow the same pattern. ”I’m Bear.” he then said before he lowered his nose to sniff at what was left of the bag. Instantly he recoiled, the smell was so strong it made him want to sneeze.

”Ergh! What is that?!” he said in disappear as a paw rose up to rub his nose as he tried to get the scent off it.

Slowly, surely. He raised his head and ears a little more. He looked at her then, trying to determine whether she was speaking the truth or whether she was lying to him, waiting to ambush him at a moments notice. He always had to be careful when it came to meeting new wolves; most of the time they would attack or run away, so far she had shown little signs of either but that didn’t mean she would eventually break into one of those stereotypes.

When she told him they were herbs, he wrinkled his nose. Why was she collecting herbs? That just sounded silly. They made his nose tingle and he didn’t like them much, so why would she want to gather up a bunch of them? ”You put these in your den? Ew. They stink.” he said bluntly as he felt. It seemed silly to him to surround yourself with such foul smelling plants and leaves. He obviously didn’t realise just how valuable and useful they were. When she slid one across the floor in his direction, he simply tilted his head at her. He wasn’t going to sniff it again, oh no, he learnt his lesson there. He might not be very clever but he learnt from his mistakes.

”What am I meant to do with that?” he said, confusion clear in his expression and face.

With her declaration of her job, he simply looked at her. A healer? He never heard of one of those. His Nanna liked to play with flowers too, but she never called herself a name, just said she was doing her job and to mind his business. He supposed now he had a name for her position it made more sense, rather then him just calling her the 'boo-boo fixer', a healer sounded more grown up and proper.

"A healer huh? Sounds fancy. You healed a lot of wolves?" he said with a tilt of his head and a twitch of his nose, another sneeze was coming... he could feel the sensation building. Damn flowers. All they dad was make him sneeze. Not just the ones he had stepped on, but flowers in general. They were all evil.

When she slid another to him, no matter how pretty it was or how reassuring her words, he took a step back. Nah. He didn't care what fancy name she gave it, he wasn't going to sniff it. "Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I'm happy to sneeze it out of me!" he exclaimed and as if right on cue, he sneezed once more. With a shake of his head, which then stretched to his body, he was somewhat satisfied the smell had now gone.

"See?" he said as he wriggled his nose, going crossed eyed almost as he watched the tip of it move about. Nope, no more sneezes. For now at least.

He felt the tell tale tickled up his nose again, but he refused to let it out. Instead, he took a deep breath and simply sat there listening as the lady hid her pouch away, and wisely so, and asked him a few questions. In truth, he had no answer. He just found the place, the same way he found every place he had ever been. He was never looking for somewhere in particular, but he was never really the type to think that far ahead.

Eventually, he felt a little lightheaded and had to release the breath he had been holding with a big puff. A horce cough followed... before he sneezed again. At once his paw shot up and rubbed the tip of his nose again as it wriggled; oh god, that smell was never going to go away?!

Realising what an idiot he must look, he dropped the paw and offered a sheepish smile as he finally answered her question.
"Erm... I dunno. This is where my paws took me, so this is where I am." he said with his cheerful tones. It seemed nothing would dampen this wolf's spirit, not even the feeling of yet another sneeze. "What're you doing here?" he said, repeating her question. The answer not being that clear obviously, despite the fact he found her collecting herbs... his memory wasn't the best. "And where do you come from? You smell funny." he said, not meaning anything nasty by it... but her scent, her marking of the Creek wolves wasn't known by him.