Archer Valle

Things were getting better here, even though it was getting extremely crowded. He hadn't expected the pups from the other pack to show up - hadn't know there was another pack, beyond the one on the mountain. It seemed so far away. He wondered what it looked like over there, but he wasn't sure he wanted to travel so far just yet. He would do his fortnight here and go home, and show his new friends what his own home was like. Nice and cozy and much less snow.

Still, Archer had to admit he was having fun. The snowdrifts here were much deeper and therefore more fun to jump into. The ice on the lake was thicker - and the lake was big compared to his little backwater. He wondered what was on the other side. He wasn't about to wander off on his own; his Da had impressed upon him the need to behave, and the mountain was a scary place unlike the flat plane Archer grew up in. He didn't want to play that game. It didn't stop him from staring and wondering, though, and he could pass all day doing that if he didn't pay attention (he couldn't but it didn't stop him from exaggerating, either).

Today was really feeling like a play in the snow day.

Archer Valle

Once again his pondering at the lakeside was interrupted by a Cove pup checking in on him. Archer quashed his mild irritation; he was here to socialize, after all, and he did want to make friends. He would prove to Eros that he could meet new wolves and make friends without him there too, mud brothers or no. Even if he was a little jealous that his older littermate had gotten an invite to travel freely - and gotten permission from their Da to boot.

Be polite. "Hi," he said to the dark girl joining him. He squinted at her. Was she limping? She looked like she was limping. But she'd asked him a question, and he ought to answer. He shrugged. "Just wondering what's over there," he said. "It's really big." That was really all he could focus on here. So much water.

He eyed the girl. What had they said her name was? "I'm Archer," he said, hoping she would give her name in return. "Did you get hurt? My half-brother's ma is teaching me how to heal." He wasn't sure he had enough knowledge yet to really help her, but it didn't hurt to try, did it?

Archer Valle

The the Valle boy's relief, the girl gave her name unprompted. "Kateri," he said, trying it out. "I like that name." He gave her a small smile. She explained her limp was from something that happened a while ago, and his smile turned into a small frown. It must have been bad if it was still hurting her. He hadn't seen something that bad before. His ears perked up when she mentioned also learning healing.

"Your ma heals?" he asked. His tail swayed behind him. "Yeah, we could!" It wasn't like he was sharing Clover with anyone, and making healer friends up the mountain would be good, especially because he could do what Clo does and trade herbs for ones that didn't grow down where they were. "Have you been learning very long?"

Archer Valle

Archer's tail thumped on the ground. He liked this one. It wasn't that he disliked the others he'd met, but Kateri was just... different. She wasn't overenthusiastic, which he got enough of with Eros, but she wasn't so quiet and shy as the others. "I have a grandma Kat," he said. "Her name is really Katna though," he added in a conspiratorial whisper.

He refrained from correcting Kateri on the matter of 'his mother;' while Clover had not birthed them, Eros insisted on calling her Ma and she had been just as much a part of raising them as Vanadis had been. With her training him, he didn't feel quite so annoyed by it anymore either. "It's cool that she lets you treat yourself," he said. "I haven't been learning long, but Clo teaches me a lot when we have lessons. I get to help when someone needs her too. One time," he glanced around as if making sure they were alone, although he knew his uncle wasn't here to scold him for telling, "my Uncle Vayko slipped and hit his nose on a tree. It was bleeding real bad and wouldn't stop, and I had to go get Clo. She taught me that snow can make it stop, and she showed me some plants that help too." he remembered the way she'd pressed against Vayko's face to make sure nothing inside was broken. It had been a valuable lesson, though he fortunately hadn't had to use it.

Archer Valle

Archer nodded along as his new friend spoke. He was glad he hadn't ended up in a similar situation; learning how to heal because he'd been hurt. "My brother gets himself into trouble all the time, so I gotta learn how to heal quick to make sure he's okay," he said with a put-upon sigh. "He wants to learn with me but he does so much already. It would be good for him to know, though; then I won't have to worry so much." Eros certainly put him through it sometimes.

Archer thought back to the situation with his uncle's bloody nose. "Erm... I don't actually remember what they're called," he admitted, glancing away in embarrassment. "Uncle Vayko didn't end up needing them."