Kåda 🌱✒️

Deep in the forest there's an area where the sun shines at the ground for hours on end due to a fallen tree that brought down other trees branches with it when it fell. This is the area where Kåda keeps her herb garden. Some of the plants grew naturally in the area, while others were brought from similar areas by Kåda and planted in an appropriate spot. Before the tree fell, the area had been shaded, but now that sunlight reached certain areas, those were the perfect spots to plant herbs that usually grew in the sun! Kåda made sure to only bring plants that she was certain wouldn't be harmful to the forest. With this herb garden at hand, and not too far from her packs territory, was very convenient to her as a herbalist but it also provided a nice place for her to relax and maybe eat some raspberries.

Which is exactly what she was doing when she heard someone step on her stinging nettles.

"Ouch!"

Kåda turned her gaze toward the sound and saw some familiar green eyes and reddish fur, "Lill?" Kåda was surprised, there was no reason for her to be there, maybe she was sick or hurt? Kåda became worried and sat up.

"Are you lazing around?" Rävlill walked into the area while shaking her stung paw, before settling down "Gerd sent me, she-"

Lills ear twitched, sensing a bee, and then she shook furiously, "Why are there so many bees here?!"

"They're pollinating my herbs!" Kåda laughed and decided to not be mad at Lill for calling her lazy, "Calm down, they're harmless. What were you saying?"

"I.." Lill started and tried to sit still while eyeing a bee coming towards her, "I was sent by Gerd, she wanted me to come get you for some reason," she shrugged.

Well, when the alpha calls you answer.

"Ah there you are! I checked in the herbalist glade and you weren't there but I didn't have time to search," the alpha lit up when she saw the two, "thank you for helping me, Rävlill."

"You can thank my poor nettlestung paw," Lill said as she turned around to leave, but was stopped by Gerd.

"Hold on there, this matter concerns you as well," Gerd went into the alpha cave with Lill and Kåda following after. She went up to her stone desk and looked at something before looking up at the two girls, "Would you mind switching places?"

Kåda looked at Lill, who looked a little annoyed, so Kåda decided to go around to the other side of her, and looked up at Gerd. She looked down again on the thing she had over there on her desk, then looked up and smiled at them, almost looking proud.

"I found something among my mother, the late alpha Tyrs things, that I thought you might want to see," Gerd turned the thing around on her desk to face them and told them to come closer. On the desk was a painting of two fierce wolves side by side, one of them looked strikingly similar to Rävlill, was it a painting of her? But the other wolf Kåda had never seen before. She looked up at Rävlill to compare her to the painting, but noticed that she was looking at her too. Kåda felt flushed and muttered a "what?" and Lill told her "It looks like you." Kåda looked down again at the grey wolf, yes, she was grey and beige just like her, with blue eyes..

"These wolves in the painting are your grandmothers, Tyr painted it. I was thinking of turning it into a mural, as they were Tyrs best friends. Do you want to hear the text she wrote to go with the painting?" Gerd picked up some pieces of parchment strapped together and both of the young females nodded at her question, "My most loyal friends and eachothers best friends, Räv and Astrid. I will never forget how sad Räv was when they took different paths in life, or how happy Astrid was each time Räv came home from her duties. I will never forget every time Astrid has offered me her help and wisdom, neither will I forget every time Räv has offered me her protection and consolation. I couldn't have wished for better companions through life. I know they would do anything for me, and I would do anything for them."

Kåda looked at the painting and felt a strange connection to this wolf she had never met before, and to the one sitting next to her. She looked up at Lill, who just nodded at their alpha and then left with a strange look on her face.

"I'm sure she approves of the mural. Your sister will be painting it, right?" Kådas question made Gerd nod.

"She must have inherited her talent from our mother, and none of us really knew. Well, maybe your grandmother did," Gerd smiled and Kåda smiled back. She was about to leave, but stopped.

"Did you know her?" Gerd was the daughter of her grandmas best friend after all, "Where was she from?"

The alpha shook her head, "I don't know, but.. If you want, I can write down the info of her that I can find in my mothers journals and give it to you."

Kådas tail wagged and she nodded enthusiastically!

-

"I guess you could help me by lifting the yarrow back up so it stands straight," Kåda tried to sound calm, but it was hard after finding out this bumbling idiot had stepped on her plants! She inspected the plants carefully to see if he had done any more damage.
"Yes, of course!" The prince, Björn, said enthusiastically, but then went suspiciously silent before proceeding, "and which one is that?"
Kåda almost sighed, but she remained silent and pointed him to the yarrow, and he quickly obligued.
"I'm really truly sorry, Kåda," her name sounded nice being said in his voice, but she was still annoyed that he hadn't even remembered it when she found him here, "please forgive me, you know my family. We are a bunch of brutes."
Well, that was true, the royal family were truly mostly made out of strong wolves, but there were exceptions. Kåda couldn't help but smirk at his remark, and as she looked up she saw that he was actually rising the yarrow very neatly.
-
"It was as though I saw a familiar face, hearing her voice when she realized we spoke nearly the same tongue. When she told me her name, Astrid, I was sure of it, and we never shared a word of the new tongue with eachother again." There it was, a hint of where Kådas Farmor might be from! Kåda was reading excerpts from the bear slayer alphas diary that Gerd had given her, basking in the sunlight in her garden. Suddenly she was interrupted by a rustle and she snuck in behind a bush to see who it was. His size and shape paired with his lighter brown colour was the only hint she needed. She sighed.
"Are you here to ruin my garden again?" She shouted, trying not to sound too hostile. His head jerked toward her and he started trotting over with a smile on his face.
"No, no, I'm just visiting!" He slowed down and looked carefully where he stepped. Kåda refrained from asking if he didn't have any animals to kill or something and succumbed to the company. She looked at him and then she realized, how the hell did he find his way here again?
"I thought you were bad with directions?" Her question seemed to make him embarrassed, but he smiled anyway.
-
Kåda didn't realize she actually enjoyed his company until one starry evening. She was in her garden, looking up at the stars through the gap left by the fallen tree. The stars twinkled at her and she sighed. She had waited for hours for him to come visit her, he always at least peeked in to say hello when he was on his way to a hunt with his hunting party. He was the leader, and the prince, so they had to listen to him and sit and wait while he did his usual detour. Kåda knew sometimes his team took days off, to let less experienced teams get extra hunts, but she was sure he should have gone out on a hunt today. Sure, they met in the den sometimes, but for some reason she was sitting here now, waiting for him. So she realized, that when Björnstjärna took detours and made his team wait, just so he could say hi to her, it made her heart flutter, and that's what she was waiting for. She became flustered at the thought, and decided to leave and go home. She looked up at the stars one last time and on her way back home, she found herself wondering which one he was named after.
-
"I can show you later when the stars are out," he said and rose to his legs, he even stretched a bit. Kådas heart started racing.
"T-tonight?" She stuttered.
"Yeah come meet me by the river in a few hours!" He nudged her goodbye and started walking away. Kåda tried to breathe calmly. Meeting Björn tonight by the river, when the stars are out? She was nervous and excited and she rushed to her cave to cool down. Rävlill was there.
"Lill, I'm meeting Björn tonight, he asked me to look at the stars with him!" She almost shouted.
"Björn?" Lill sounded surprised and raised her eyebrows, "I thought you despised that bumbling fool?"
Kåda sat down and shook her head in disbelief of her own feelings.
"You said he was clumsy," Lill started listing.
"He was so helpful," and Kåda countered.
"He was ego centric,"
"He wasn't scared to admit his wrongs!"
"He was annoying,"
"He was good at socializing is all,"
"He bothered you and interrupted your work,"
"He kept me company," Kåda sighed lovingly.
"You said he was dumb!" Lill knew Kåda hated dumb wolves.
"I was wrong, he's not dumb at all!" Kåda exclaimed, "he just doesn't know the exact same things as me, and I don't know the same things as him."
Kåda laid down on the cave floor and sighed again.
"So you like him?"
-
The river trickled calmly below the slope beside them, and the trees rustled softly in the wind. Kåda breathed in his scent and sighed, he smelled so good. She burrowed her face deeper into his fur when he licked her forehead. Her heart fluttered when her mind sleepily wandered off to recount what happened during the evening.
"Hey," his chest rumbled as he spoke softly, "the stars are out."
Kåda pulled back and looked up at the sky. It was pitch black, she had been too distracted to notice it getting this late. She guessed he had been, too.
"Didn't you come here to learn about the stars?" His smirk might as well have been an arrow shot through her heart and she licked his mouth.
-
"I'm a herbalist, my father was a herbalist and my grandmother was a herbalist. I fully intend to raise a herbalist to take my place," she growled at her mate. Björn looked tired, and seemed to contemplate something. He looked away from her and sat down.
"The alpha is choosing a heir from litters born this year," the words came out quietly, as if he was keeping a secret, and when his gaze met hers she knew she was supposed to keep the secret, too. This shed some light on the situation, but Kåda could feel a lump in her throat.
"So you mated with me just so you could make a heir in time?" She whimpered out. Suddenly Björns eyes were glowing like fire and he hurried over to her, she averted her gaze and he worked hard to stay in it.
"No, no no, Kåda," he sounded like he was in the most dire of situations, equal to someone being gravely injured, but he slowed down a bit "I didn't know about this until recently, I promise. Kåda, look at me, please."
She looked away for a second but then she did look him in the eyes.
"How do you know about this?"
"I talked to Vår and she let it slip that a wolf should be around 2 years old when they're made into an alpha," Björn talked quickly and quietly, "they need the life experience, she said. She wouldn't say that if someone else hadn't said it to her before."
Kåda sat and pondered for a minute. She could feel one of the puppies rolling around in her tummy.
"Fine," she said, without looking at Björn, "I have many heats left."