Weeks of doing pack tasks such as hunting and gathering were taking their toll on the dark fae. A few times she had met with Esmerelda to talk, though their conversations were few and far between. Juno and her were very good friends now which made her glad. Never before had she had such a good friend, someone she trusted so well. The pair would go hunting together often, but their trips were becoming fewer as she was seeking out Marrok's company. Then there was Damon, the silver tongued male that wove her up in a twisted spell and never hinted at letting go. Shaking her mind with thoughts of him she turned her confused mind to the fact that she was in a new land, one that lay rich with tall grass and soft winds.

This was the perfect place to let her mind go, to just relax. It had been months since her arrival in the pack and in that time she had grown. She remembered the first moment she had come to this land, all afraid and unsure. Thoughts of how she had cowered beneath every male she met, and shunned away from the faes made her almost sick. She had missed so much being afraid, though now she had friends to show for it. Though Esmerelda had given her no hints as to who would join her new pack Chiara had a feeling Juno wouldn't be one of them. The idea that life without her best friend made her sick, but the thought of life without her leader made her sicker. Esmerelda had awaken something in the dark fae, something that made her not hide her scarred face or want to cower away.

Walking further Chiara's sight finally graced that of a large lake ahead. Excited by the site the dark fae ran forward and stopped by the bank to peer into the water. Looking in her reflection didn't appear any different since the last time she looked. The difference was that now she wasn't ashamed of the gash across her left eye, for it meant something to her now. Smiling Chiara bunched her muscles then lept into the lake, letting the water flow over her and cradle her in pure relaxation.

What an adventure! Kiv could not stop his mind from reeling slightly every time he thought back to what had just happened in the Healer’s Den. He had actually helped Creek save Marrok and Juno. Maybe they hadn’t saved anyone’s life, quite yet, but they had certainly helped the pair avoid a huge amount of pain and quite possibly some nasty infections. The small brown male could still feel small tremors running through his body as the last vestiges of adrenaline drained from his system.

As much as he wanted to learn everything that he could about being a healer, as fast as he could, he had been greatly relieved when Creek suggested that he go out and explore for a little bit. It would be a good thing to just relax and sniff around the territory for a little bit. In the midst of said sniffing, though, he paused, one paw halfway to the ground. He smelled water! With tail beginning to wag slightly, he followed the scent of the water until he came to a smooth, placid lake. Almost instantly, he felt himself begin to unwind slightly and his muscles, previously tensed and prepared for action, loosen. It was beautiful, he thought, taking in the glory of the scene in front of him. After about one minute of sitting quietly, though, his curiosity got the best of him and he began to sniff around, tail wagging back and forth like a metronome.

The peace and quiet was short lived, however, as a great splash rang out through the clearing, startling the young apprentice healer and causing him to spin around and crouch down a bit. Apparently, a wolf that he had not noticed before had just launched itself into the water. Kiv cocked his head slightly, watching her paddle around in the clear lake. After one failed attempt to call out to her, he found his voice. “Hello?” He made his way a bit closer to the bank of the lake and even leaned out a little bit, trying to get a better look at his unexpected companion.

Chiara had always liked water. Ever since she was little she was commonly found splashing in puddles or running around in the rain. She loved the feel of water, how it tasted and smelled, but most importantly she loved how it was always there somehow, always there. The stability of water calmed her, so she came to rely on it in times of stress. It was something real in her mind. Season came and went as did wolves, but water always stayed the same. Swimming around in the lake the dark fae let her body dive under the water then rise up with a defiant break.

Swimming around Chiara let her mind go until it was brought back by the soft voice of a male. Startled a tiny bit Chiara nearly chocked on some water as her eyes focused on the male on the bank. He looked young yet still old enough to cause her some worry. Fighting her first response to cower and submit Chiara paddled to the side of the lake and shock out her fur, avoiding getting him wet. With wet fur her frame was slick and plastered against her muscles, now developed from weeks of good food. True she was small, but she was strong. Looking him over the female decided he wasn't a power hungry male like Steele and relaxed a bit. Through dripping fur she dipped her head to him and forced a smile. "Hello yourself."

Kiv watched the wolf as he apparently surprised it. Oops, he hadn’t meant to do that. By the time it had swum over to the shore, he guessed that “it” was probably a female. This guess was only strengthened when she finally did emerge from the water and shook herself. Her scent was definitely female. He was also surprised by her size. Judging by everyone else that he had met up until now, except for Caretaker Genevieve, everyone was larger than he. But this female was rather close to his own size. That was nice.

He dipped his head down in a display of submission at almost the exact same moment that she had, which struck him as more than slightly funny and he could not stop a small giggle from bubbling up in his throat. She did smell like a member of the pack, albeit a very wet one, so Kiv did not feel as though he needed to be particularly careful around her. “My name’s Kiv. I’m an apprentice to Healer Creek. Who are you? I haven’t gotten to meet very many of my new pack mates because I’ve only been here for about a day and a half,” he told her. Strangely enough, Kiv did not feel as though he needed to submit to this female. Something about her seemed to just put him as at ease as he had been in the last who knew how many days.

The pair almost matched stances of submission which intrigued Chiara. The male was a interesting fellow, so the fae cept her attention on him as he spoke. Listening to his words she allowed herself to sit down and nod her head as he spoke. So, Creek had another apprentice? He certainly seemed eager enough, he reminded her of the young male in the swamp slightly, though much more proper. s he introduced himself she cept the smile on her face, "Hello Kiv I am Chiara it's a pleasure to meet you. I have been here for moths and have only met a handful of wolves, so don't fret." She reassured him.

Kiv seemed very nice and didn't strike a cord in her like most of the other males. From her past experiences with that gender the fae had grown fearful and cowardly around them. Such behavior was ground into her at a young age, and she had carried on the same mannerisms here. With time she was learning to let those feelings go, but not all the way. Thoughts and memories of how she was treated still felt raw in her mind, and stung when she thought of them. She hadn't spoken much of them to Damon, but with Juno she had opened up a lot. Chiara now had the urge to make friends, however small the encounters might be. "Are you enjoying yourself here Kiv? Is the healing life good?" She asked knowing nothing about herbs or plants except that thorn bushes hurt like hell.

Kiv studied the female’s dark fur as it glistened, still wet, in the sunlight. It was a rather striking color, certainly. When she sat down, Kiv found himself following suit, though his head did not dip low, nor did his ears lay back. This newfound feeling of actually being comfortable around another wolf was a fairly novel experience and one that he planned to cherish and, if possible, begin to duplicate. “A couple months? So you came here in the winter, then?” he asked, a small shiver running down his spine. “I’ll bet that wasn’t much fun. I don’t like the winter. Being cold is no fun.”

When asked how healing was going, Kiv had to shake his head and chuckle slightly. “It’s amazing. Healer Creek is so wonderful and smart and knows exactly what to do. Even just today, my first day with her, we helped two wolves that had gotten attacked by a Puma. I was so nervous, at first, but once I started working, I didn’t feel so nervous.” Kiv gave his tail a couple wags before lowering into a laying position, still facing Chiara. “So what is it that you do in the pack?” he asked, wanting to know more not only about this female, but also the different roles within a pack. Since his mother had been the only wolf that he had really interacted with, the roles of a wolf in a pack were a somewhat foreign concept to him, really.

Nodding her head to his question Chiara reached up with a hind leg to pull a rock that had gotten wedged between her toes. "Yes I did, winter wasn't that bad for prey runs thickly here. Spring is beautiful though and I'm enjoying every moment in the sunlight. The cold doesn't bother me much, no weather really except hail storms." She confessed, dropping her paw to converse more.

"A puma? Who was harmed? I'm glad you had Creek with you, she's a brilliant healer and has much to give to her pupils." She said her look of concern melted slightly with the thought of the cream fae. She was a strong willed female with a soft side anyone could love. Behind her beautiful pelt lay a fae rich with wisdom and experience, yet still playful and caring, she envied Kiv slightly. Turning the conversation back to her Chiara looked a little surprised. "Me? Well as a warrior I hunt and do errands for the higher ranks like observe where prey are and stuff like that. You have a way more important job healing, I could never wrap my mind around ll those plants, is it hard?" She questioned, curious as to what all he did.

Kiv chuckled a little bit when Chiara mentioned hail storms. He really could only remember one hail storm, but it had been when he was still pretty young and he and his mother had spent the whole time huddled together beneath a small overhanging rock so he really did not remember a whole lot about the storm itself. He did remember, though, that after the storm, the ground was covered with little balls of ice that his mother had told him fell from the sky like rain. He imagined that it would kind of hurt to get hit by a ball of ice falling from the sky.

Her concern for the injured pair seemed genuine, so he did not really see the harm in telling her about the adventure. “It was Delta Marrok and a female named Juno. I don’t really know what rank she is. But they’re both fine, now. With a little bit of rest, they’ll be back up around without any trouble, although I’ll bet that Juno is going to be sore for at least a week.” While Chiara spoke of her responsibilities in the pack, Kiv listened with rapt attention. So she was a hunter. That, in Kiv’s eyes, was quite impressive. He had only ever managed to catch a couple small prey animals, from time to time, and so knew just how difficult hunting could be. “That’s really impressive,” he said, nothing in his voice except for honest sincerity. “I’m not very good at hunting, really. When I was on my own, I would be lucky if I could catch a couple rodents a week.” Kiv flopped over onto his side, tail still lightly thumping the ground as he looked up at Chiara.

“Remembering which herbs are which isn’t really all that hard. All it takes is to keep a picture of the herb in your mind and then you just kind of attach information onto the picture and it’s simple. The part that I’m going to have trouble with is the little things. Like when is better to use Marigold instead of Alder and Dock? When is the best time to give someone poppy seeds? Those are the confusing things,” he said, giving a small whimper and lowering his ears.

As Kiv spoke of who was harmed Chiara perked up more. Juno was her best friend and Marrok was a friend as well, what had happened? Jumping to her feet she closed the distance between her and Kiv, growing more concerned. "Are you sure they're ok? Juno is a warrior and a dear friend of mine." She said, concern draining from her voice. the thought of either of them seriously hurt made her ill, but as he spoke further our their condition she calmed down. Feeling a bit embarrassed now she backed up and looked ta the ground.

Kiv continued on with his conversation and when he complimented her hunting abilities she perked up again. "Impressive? Hunting isn't really impressive or difficult once you know how. I spent a few years on my own and learned by myself so I wouldn't say its grand." She said then chuckled at his statement about only catching rodents. "If you want I could show you a few things some time, perhaps you could attempt to teach me the difference between thorns and useful plants." She said with a genuine laugh as her body relaxed and her hind met the ground. His next words made her mind spin, but she still listened. "How many different herbs are there? I assume there's lot and lots of things they do. I'd worry about giving the wrong thing if I was a healer, hence why I stick to hunting and such. It sounds very important though, way more so then catching rabbits." She complimented as she smiled at him.

Kiv’s eyes widened slightly at Chiara’s sudden approach, but he forced himself to stay still and not retreat. He nodded his head. “I am sure that they’re okay. Creek would not have let me leave if they were still in danger, I’ll bet. Creek didn’t think that she had any broken bones, just deep bruises and a couple cuts, but I took care of those.” His tail wagged slightly at the memory of Creek’s praise upon seeing his work.

When she offered to show him a couple things about hunting, Kiv lifted his head slightly. “Oh, that would be a lot of fun. And I would be happy to show you a couple herbs that you can use while you’re out hunting if you ever get hurt and aren’t nearby.” How many different kinds of herbs are there? Kiv laid his head back on the ground as he thought about that. “I have no idea. There’s so many different ones out there, I don’t think that I’ll ever know them all. But pretty much anything that’s bothering you, there’s an herb or berry that will help fix it. Cracked and sore paw pads, tooth aches, trouble sleeping, coughing or a sore throat, all kinds of scrapes and cuts, broken bones, stomach aches, even blurry vision. There’s so many different things that can be done to help wolves. But you know, without you hunters, wolves like me would have a tough time finding enough food, especially for the whole pack. I would hate to starve to death. That would be sad.”

He looked out over the lake, once more taking in its beauty. “It really is beautiful out here, isn’t it? I think I like it here. How’s the water?” he asked, a slight gleam sparkling in his bright brown eyes.

Chiara nodded and made a mental note to look in on her friends when she returned to camp. Now the question arose in her mind as to what Juno was doing out with Marrok? Kiv's voice brought her back from her thoughts and made her roll her eyes. "Yes I agree without good hunters most would go hungry, but without healers we'd all go hairless, blind and infected, no?" She joked walking a step closer to him. Kiv was quite a decent male, one the fae could grow to like, but he had to lighten up more.

His next question about the water brought Chiara's playful side out. "Oh quite nice," she said coyly. Sauntering up to him until she was behind his she batted her eyelashes then shoved him towards the water, hoping he'd fall in. Such jokes were uncommon from the fae unless she grew comfortable with her company, something she was right now. Kiv relaxed her and made her feel like a yearling again. "I've always loved the water and hope to see the ocean before I die someday. My old pack lived by a river and I spent the majority of my time swimming or learning to fish. Do you like the water?" She then questioned as she took another step forward. "I do" she then barked as she dived into the lake sending a large wave towards Kiv.

Kiv chuckled at the mental image of a pack of blind, hairless wolves stumbling around in the forest. “Well, I don’t know how to prevent hair loss, but I guess this just proves that there aren’t any unimpressive jobs in the pack, right? We all have to work together, doing what we’re good at and enjoy, for the pack to function properly.” Kiv’s tail wagged, as he was fairly proud of his interpretation of their discussion.

He watched Chiara circle around behind him and cocked his head slightly when she blinked her eyes a whole bunch. What was that all about? His pondering, though, was cut short when he felt an almighty shove towards the water. Giving a surprised yelp, Kiv spread his legs and even his toes out wide, scrabbling for purchase on the damp soil as he virtually hung off the edge of the small bank. He tried to pull himself back up, but the ground gave way beneath his weight and the edge of the bank collapsed into the water, carrying Kiv with it. He flailed about for a moment, then stopped after he realized that the water was only up to the bottom of his belly if he stood up.

After ducking his head underneath the deluge that Chiara had created by launching herself into the water, Kiv spat and spluttered water out of his mouth. “I’ve never really been in the water, before. At least not this much water,” he confessed, looking around at the liquid that surrounded him with more than a trace of unease. The movements of the water felt strange as it swayed his fur this way and that on his legs and stomach. His tail was held carefully out of the water as he continued to peer about, carefully assessing his situation.

After she jumped in she looked back to see Kiv struggle with the water, did he know how to swim. The fae was in water up to her chin, but with long strokes made it over to the shallows where Kiv resided. "Sorry I don't know what came over me. Now that you're here though want to swim?" She asked figuring it would let her know if he knew or not. Swimming could be scary at first, but it was such a wonderful feeling, being weightless and floating. Chiara had taught herself at a young age and quickly learned to fish because of this skill.

When he spoke it seemed her idea was correct unless he knew how to swim without being in the water. "Swimming isn't hard Kiv, its like running with less ground under you. You won't sink I promise." She said as she paddled over to him to make him feel better. "Want me to show you?"

Now that he was no longer falling and in no imminent danger of drowning, Kiv managed to calm himself a little bit and carefully lowered his tail back into a neutral position. It felt really…weird, letting the water move his tail around without him doing anything. When Chiara asked him if he wanted to go swimming, Kiv looked at her, slightly bewildered. “I’ve never swam before, either,” he amended his previous statement. “Like running but with less ground, he repeated quietly, thinking.

After a moment, and a reassuring glance at Chiara, he started to make his way further into the lake. A brief moment of panic welled up in his chest when he could no longer keep his muzzle above water and his paws on the soft, pliant ground at the same time. True to Chiara’s assurance, though, he did not sink. It seemed that his fur somehow helped him to stay afloat, although his butt did sink down a bit, since it was heavier. After a moment of ineffectual flailing, Kiv managed to work out the rhythm of paddling and began to move through the water in the direction that he intended. It wasn’t the most graceful doggy paddle ever, but at least it worked.

He grinned over at Chiara. “You’re right, this does feel nice. Once you get used to not being able to touch the ground.” As he spoke, he began to swim in a circle, just to test out his maneuvering capabilities.

Smiling at the efforts of her new friend Chiara paddled forward, allowing Kiv more room to move. Looking back over her shoulder she saw him crudely paddle before he got the hang of it. Grinning she smiled at him, "Not bad Healer I might make a fisher out of you yet." She called before diving under the water. Holding her breath for a few seconds she surged downwards with her tail out behind her. Much like tunneling in the snow underwater swimming wasn't that hard and her motions proved fluid under the liquid. Breaking the surface a ways away from Kiv she spit out some lake water before grinning back at Kiv. "I'm glad to see you're enjoying yourself."

Circling back to him a silver fish caught her eye. Zeroing in on it the fae swam to shore then stood over the bank. Waiting patiently she stooped over the lake until the fish was within her reach. Being very careful she reached out with a swift paw to fake the fish to the left before darting forward with her jaws to grab it. Thrashing in her maw the damn thing whacked her in the head twice before falling to her jaws and growing still. Spitting it out on the bank she called out to Kiv, "Want to taste some lake food?"

This whole swimming thing was turning out to be a lot more work that running, Kiv decided. Instead of mostly just carrying his weight forwards, as when running, now his legs had to actually propel him through the water. But still, he could definitely see this becoming a favorite activity, once he got a bit of practice in. He looked up at Chiara when she said that she might make him into a fisher, just in time to see her dive beneath the surface. THAT was going to have to wait for quite some time.

As he swam about, aimlessly practicing the motions and how to steer himself, he watched her glide effortlessly through the water and climb up onto the land. He was about to ask what she was doing when she suddenly smacked the water with a paw and then stuck her face in, coming back up a moment later with a silver fish flopping in her jaws. “Lake food?” he repeated, eventually making his way over to the shore and climbing out. He shook his fur out, sending water spraying all over the place, before padding over to stand next to Chiara. He looked down at the fish, then lowered his head to sniff it, getting smacked in the nose for his trouble. “How are you supposed to eat that thing?” he asked, moving his nose around to get rid of the feeling of the slimy thing touching it. “It doesn’t look like it tastes very good.”

Putting a paw over the fish to keep it still Chiara bit into its neck to kill it after it flapped violently. Chuckling softly at Kiv's comment she nosed the fish before him, urging him to try. "I used to eat these all the time, they look bad, but taste wonderful. One summer I ate so many my coat got very shiny, maybe there's some healing power in them for coats." She suggested, hoping he'd try the fish. Her mouth started to water staring down at the fish, but was polite and waited for Kiv to try it first.

While waiting she sat down and watched the young male sniff at the fish. Kiv interested her and made her curious as to his back story. "So tell me about yourself Kiv, how did you get involved in healing?"

Kiv watched as Chiara quickly and efficiently stilled the fish’s flopping about. He cocked his head slightly when she mentioned that eating many fish caused her coat to become shiny. He made a mental note to bring that up to Healer Creek to see if she knew anything about it. Before he got too distracted by the possibility of another healing remedy, though, he focused his attention back onto Chiara and the fish lying on the ground between them. Ever so carefully, he leaned down and took a small bite off of the side of the fish’s body. As he chewed, he lifted his head up, tongue flicking out occasionally in reaction to the extremely weird texture.

Once he had managed to swallow, he looked up at Chiara. “It tastes pretty good. Does it always feel so weird, though?” He spit out a scale that had gotten stuck on his tongue. When she asked how he became interested in being a Healer, Kiv’s tail started wagging a little bit at the memories that that question conjured up. “Well, when I was born, my mom was leaving her old pack because she said they were all killed by human hunters. We came from a long ways off to the south and, while we were traveling, she taught me about herbs and plants and how to use them to cure injuries and sicknesses in other wolves. She always taught me to have respect for every living thing, even the plants. Part of that respect, I guess, is the desire to help heal anyone that I can. That’s why I’m so excited about studying under Healer Creek. She knows a lot about herbs and healing and will help me to take care of every wolf in this pack, if they need it.” That last was spoken with a deep and sincere conviction. Should Chiara look into Kiv’s eyes, she would most likely see a sparkle that said that he meant every single word of what he just said.

Kiv suddenly realized how serious sounding he had become and lowered his ears slightly in embarrassment. “Well, I don’t think that there would even be enough herbs in the whole forest to cure everyone, if they all needed it. What about you, Chiara? Were you born as a member of this pack or did you come from somewhere else?”