Titan's world was a mess and all he could do was sit there and watch as the pack had split into two. He was kinda happy the old geezer had left, but as for Minka and Inali the boy was less than pleased. They might have been stern with him at times but those two ladies had been there since the beginning of his life. The shadowy prince could remember all the questions he had asked Minka, and all the fun times he'd had romping with Inali.
So now as the child padded slowly through the cavern moping as he had since the packs split. Everything was just so different now.
His pawsteps took him to Simaea's old den deep within the cave. The smell of dried herbs permeated the air around here and reminded the young male of another pack member who had not come back after traveling when the late winter storms struck.
Simaea and Malia..... Titan's eye's grew dull as he remembered his sister. Everything seemed less fun in the world now, with no sister to make things more exciting.
Sniffing around the medicinal herbs, Titan recalled his last meeting with Simaea. She had taught him about three lethal plants which only brought death, and had furthered his small amount of knowledge on the medicinal herb called Arnica.
Suddenly interested in seeing if he could pick out those herbs again Titan began nosing around the piles trying to remember their individual scents. His dark blue gaze rolled over the crevices along the walls where each dried herb pile still lay. There were so many plants that Titan didn't know nestled into the walls. He wondered which ones healed or killed.
After a few minutes the pup had pawed at four crevices bringing their contents out onto the floor into neat little piles. When Simaea had shown the dark child the same herbs they had been fresh and easily identified. Now they were all dry and withered. He could pick out a few major physical differences between each, but it was their scent that gave each plant away.
Shuffling the plants into a line Titan finally stepped back to inspect the dangerous things.
"The flower is dull, dry, and dark orange now, but the stiff hairy leaves and smell make this one Arnica..." Titan looked over the dried remains of the herb he himself had brought to simaea from the rise. Back then the pup had been surprisingly wise enough to carry the herb in a large sycamore leaf after hearing a loners warning on how dangerous the plant could be. This might kill a wolf if too much is eaten, but it is used to help cure something... Did Simaea tell me? Titan could not remember that much. All he had really sponged up from their little lesson were the plants names, physical looks, and whether they would kill or not.
"This one is..Am..Amani..amanida, no... Amanita muscaria...and it kills anyone who eats it." He commented to himself looking over the mushroom which of the four herbs was the most well preserved. Perhaps the humidity of the cave kept the thing in a semi-living state as Titan's eyes noted the still bright red cap and white gills.
Titan turned his gaze to the next herb in line. This one also will kill someone if they eat it. He had immediately recognized this plant before when first looking through all the crevices. Both red and green dried berries were still colored well enough to distinguish from the other plants. "The flowers have all fallen off, but the heart shaped leaves, the tall stick part of the plant, and its smell make this Nightshade." He was glad he had remembered three of the four herbs so far. Even the hard to remember mushroom had not evaded his memory.
"And this is cowbane.." He looked over the purple and white striped stems and the white tube-like roots of this plant which took up a larger portion of the floor than most of the other herbs. This plant was much larger than many of the other flowering ones. This'll kill me if eaten...just like all the rest. Titan thought quietly while pushing the plant with his paws back into its own crevice along the wall.
Titan made sure to put each herb back knowing that he wouldn't want anyone else to notice he had been messing around in the medicine den. He didn't think about his smell being left behind since the smell of plants overrode most every other scent in there. Then the dark child left her den and slowly made his way back to the main room. He never noticed the wolf scent as he decreased the distance between himself and the newer pack wolf. All Titan could focus on was what he should do now.
WHISPER Caverns