Lavender Ethos so much for keeping a low profile

July 16th; Late afternoon; Cloudy and cool; Light Intensity Shower Rain; 55.4 ° F, 13 ° C.

For the better part of a month and a half, Kieron had been on her feet, resting when able and dodging the locals every now and then just to save her breath or keep observing. The coyotes so far had been few. Their tracks circled around and around in some areas, and twice, now, she had managed to evade a pack of them. Traces of her pack clung to guard hairs, the rest of her signature scent taken over by the surrounding sequoia trees and, now, the soothing aroma of lavender. Her hike through the forest had been rewarded; before she even knew it, a lush green meadow, speckled with light and dark purple unveiled itself to her and found its way beneath her white-socked paws.

Even in the rain, the clearing ushered her in. Her head spun but not in the dizzying sort of way; rather, the sort that rejuvenated her senses. The chill of the storm barely touched the skin beneath her thin summer coat but it was enough to render her psyche anew. She hummed a note as she exhaled, taking a moment to slowly flatten a cluster of lavender stalks and roll over them. If she could have willed it, she would have loved to carry lavender in her coat for always. It reminded her of the first summer she had spent away from home and the sense of freedom she finally felt after all that time.

She rolled back over to right herself with her limbs properly beneath her. Out here in the north, the forests were quiet but it was different. At least near the Edge the silence also held back the hustle and bustle of game, both big and small. It even held close the busy work of the wolves she was now loyal to. But, here... the wilds spoke of wolves lost or misplaced. She filtered the purple blossoms through her nostrils, trying to read anything beyond them apart from mice and the occasional weasel. It wasn't apparent yet if the vermin had been here recently, but she hoped they would not reappear so soon. She deserved this quick break, even if only so brief...

Ever since… Well, everything.

No, no. Reyes shook his head. That wasn’t right, it wasn’t everything. He was being dramatic. But it was since Askan had grown extra prickly, really, and there seemed to be some tensions unfolding up north (not helpful when Askan already had all the tact of a pile of rocks teetering atop a cliff face), Reyes had tried to be more active in patrols. Not just patrols of the immediate territory, either. He was starting to feel like a fucking shut-in.

It had been his intention to hunt near Kingsfall – prey was scarcer near their own waterfalls with the advent of all the vermin lately – since no one lived there anymore, but then the rain came. Dios mio, but he hated the rain. Give him that heat wave back any day.

The alpha fully intended to march (or perhaps stomp) all the way back to Shallow’s Edge when the scent of a packmate caught his attention. She wasn’t far off – he wouldn’t have detected her in the rain otherwise – and there, in the center of a lavender patch, lay the monochromatic wolf Askan had recruited. It was with a small pang of guilt he realized he barely knew her beyond passing introductions. Coyote invasion had kept him incredibly busy.

“You okay?” he asked, voice gruff. It seemed a strange place to just lay down and take a nap. Too exposed…

She had frozen at the sound of heavy footsteps and, when they had come to stop just somewhere beyond her line of sight, she slowly turned her head. The signature aroma of moss and sweet grass that defined Shallows Edge came to her, refreshed and crisp through the curtains of rainfall. He was a shadow, but one sniff told her that it was not Askan, but Reyes. He wasn't as tall as she had thought him to be, but he was definitely heftier. She blinked, but apart from a small twitch of an ear, she did not yet move.

"You okay?"

Her lips parted and she inhaled deep before slowly sitting up. She gave him a small nod. If he was all the way out here, perhaps she had not scouted far enough north as Askan had requested. She made a quick mental note to continue either east or west before heading back south. Graces recovered, though, a delicate smile graced her masked face, "You're a mighty long way from home." There was a subtle dart of her eyes over his face before her irises settled on a random place on his forearm. "Surely couldn't have come all this way just for me," she noted, her voice slick and smooth on the ears. Calculating and cunning all the same. "Are you okay?" While the question was primarily directed at him, it carried the sort of concern that went beyond him; she wanted to make sure that the pack, Askan, Sachiel and the others were all right.

Okay. Well. Maybe some folks were just dumb weird and chose to rest in totally exposed areas. Reyes blinked, watching the female as she rolled upright – but true to her word, she didn’t smell like copper injury or sickly sweet illness. She looked fine, if not slightly startled by his interruption, and he allowed himself a small sigh. He would have been better off just ignoring it.

Wouldn’t have made a very good alpha though, that. Or would it? It was starting to get hard for him to tell.

“I’m fine,” he groused. “Everything is fine.” He hadn’t been looking for her specifically. “Was thinkin’ about hunting up here, thought I might have better luck than at the Falls.” Didn’t think he needed to explain the problems that a pack of wolves plus a hoard of coyotes caused to the local prey ecosystem. “Don’t like the rain though, so.” He shrugged. Their caches weren’t empty. It could wait for better weather.

“So why’re you in the lavender, then? Can’t sleep?”

He was pretty sure his mother had told him something about lavender and sleep, once. Or maybe lilac? It was a purple flower and it started with an ‘L’, but it was lost on him beyond that. Herbs had never been his interest, even as a boy.