Lavender Ethos you don't

For @Nori <3
Late Afternoon, Broken Clouds, 39F/4C

The agouti Lennox woman had been here once before, just a little over a year ago. So much had changed in her life since that day, but something about today had made her feel like visiting her friend. Only, she couldn’t. Because Colette was dead. And they had not even been that close of friends, but for Finley who held everyone at a comfortable distance - a polite distance where things were clean and not messy - even the short time they had spent together and letting her in a little bit had been a big deal. Being vulnerable had not been easy for either of them, but they had managed to do it on occasion, together.

Colette wasn’t buried here, but this place had a feeling like she was being watched over, in a comforting way, so it felt as good of a place as any. Laying in the center of the clearing, Finley took a deep breath and let it out with a long slow sigh. The snows were gone, even this deep in the forest, and instead green grass had sprouted, and lavender plants were beginning to peek through but they were months away from being in full blossom. Still, the clearing smelled fresh and floral, and comforting. I miss you my friend, even if you would have hated me saying that.

Thank you for getting this up <3 tagging @Archer for thoughts

Her conversation with Jethro left her feeling simultaneously hollow and miserable, but also sort of comforted in a way. It was confusing - she had no way to make sense of the emotions warring inside of her. So she didn’t even try, and in true Nori fashion, shoved the feelings deep, deep down inside of her - hopefully to never resurface.

Hopefully Archer hadn’t noticed the quieter attitude she adopted. As hard as she’d tried to keep her usual act up, it was difficult to keep it under wraps, and the poor guy didn’t need to deal with her poor little hurt feelings on top of searching for his missing daughter.

She’d been rejected. It wasn’t the end of the world.

Even if it kind of felt like it.

The woman had wandered off again for a bit today, trying to find pretty much anything to distract herself. Her nose led her to a fresh-smelling meadow - still in its budding stage as the spring settled in. In a month, it would probably be a beautiful flower field, but as of now, it was still shaking off the winter frost.

She wasn’t alone here, either, which soured her mood a bit. An agouti woman - older than her, on the thin side. Very well-groomed, which Nori could appreciate.

The younger of the two debated turning around, leaving her alone, but there was no way she hadn’t been spotted. It would probably be awkward to just walk off, after all. So she cleared her throat and offered a small wag of her tail, at least to signify that she wasn’t a threat. The rest of her body language was confident but neutral as she padded into the field.

“Hey, there,” she greeted, brown eyes flicking over the stranger’s face. “Room for one more?”

As if by kismet, almost as soon as the thought had finished forming in her mind the mother was joined by another wolf. If she were one to believe in those sorts of things she might have even believed that she had been sent from Colette to keep her company. She didn’t usually spend much time dwelling on things like that, preferring things she could physically see with her eyes, but being a mother had made her a little more sentimental. Plus, she would like to believe that her sons who had never gotten the chance to see the world were somehow somewhere other than buried in the cold ground.

So, even though this wasn’t Colette, she felt a certain degree of friendliness that was a tinge warmer than her usual polite - but slightly aloof self. She smiled when the stranger wagged her tail, and instead of getting up to leave she stayed put. Looking beside her as if to gauge the situation, and coming up with nothing but grass she turned back towards the stranger, ”I think we can make it work.” It was clearly a joke, a light one, given there were meters of room all around her.

Nori was surprised to receive a warmer welcome than she’d expected. Her tail waved a little as she padded in and settled down a handful of feet from the other woman. A soft huff of laughter escaped her at the little jest - the clearing was pretty spacious, she guessed. It had been a dumb question, in retrospect.

Her nose twitched a little, trying to pick up scents from the stranger. A pack wolf was all she could figure - probably the same pack as Jet.

“Thank you for your gracious hospitality,” she said in a tone that mirrored what the other woman used, eyes glinting playfully. She looked around the area, humming in thought. “I bet this place is really pretty in the summer.” Full of flowers, probably.

Just as the stranger was sizing her up, the Kane woman was doing the same. Though trying to keep it subtle, her nose twitched a few times as she surmised that the woman was a loner, though her pelt did not speak of traveling alone. Still, it was clear she had no pack to call her own. A smile broke out across her face at the joke, and she countered quickly, ”My mother always stressed the importance of being polite to a new guest.” It wasn’t even a lie, and politeness was something that she hoped she had been successful in passing along to her own children.

Looking around to the clearing at the change of subject she nodded, ”Mostly lavender, but definitely very beautiful.” If not toxic - as she had found out the hard way. Then remembering her manners she introduced herself, ”I’m Finley,” she hesitated for just a second, and for the first time she could remember used her mate’s last name, ”Kane, from the nearby Paradise Falls pack.” No longer a leader thank goodness - but a proud member all the same. She did not expect that this news would mean much to a loner, if only she knew the irony of that thought.

A laugh spilled past Nori's lips as she rested her chin on her paws. "I think my father would prefer I be more polite, too." Her grandparents would even more so, but she didn't like to think about them much. She was afraid she'd disappointed all three in becoming far more like her mother than any of them had expected. Perhaps even Staryn herself.

It had been so long since she'd seen them. She wondered how they were doing. If they were even still alive. They'd moved locations, she could guess - they had certainly not been at home when Nori had returned just a year ago. She liked to think that her parents had decided to travel.

She'd been caught up in imagining their surroundings filled with lavender when the woman introduced herself.

Finley Kane.

Nori's eyes widened a bit before she schooled her expression back into a smile. Knowing Jet had a mate and meeting her in person were two very different things, and it felt almost like her ribs had been hollowed out, leaving nothing inside.

She was pretty, like Jet had said. Smaller than Nori. Thinner. Older. Kinder.

"Kane as in... Jethro Kane?" she asked, eyes softening a bit.

The soon to be grandmother smiled and chuckled softly. It was a parent’s curse to always be wishing that their children were a little more polite or well behaved than they are. Then suddenly they would be adults and all of your wishes were be to turn back the seasons and have them be little a little longer. Have their biggest problem be to not remember to say please and thank you every time rather than everything that came with age.

Turning in surprise to look at her companion, she hesitated for just a moment before nodding. She didn’t know too much about her mate’s past since he didn’t like to talk about it, but knew that there were people he used to know that he preferred to never know again. This woman didn’t seem to quite fall into that category so Finley relaxed once more and then nodded, ”I take it you’ve met my mate?” She didn’t even know this woman’s name and because of that she wasn’t willing to share much more information until she could assess the situation.

Green eyes looked over the woman more closely than she had before, tawny maybe a little red, brown eyes, slim, pretty but nothing really stood out as a defining feature. How did this woman know Jethro?