[PRP] Interruption (Elera, Mel)

[Talencia]

Elera sat on a rocky rise in the ground, staring out over the roguelands without seeing them. Oh, she'd notice if someone moved out there, but she wasn't really paying very close attention. Piera had returned, sensed that something was going on, and had left her to her own devices. Leave it to the motherly bird to not give the leopardess an excuse to stop pondering the thoughts that had most recently invaded her head.

Motherhood. It was something she was realizing she had missed out on completely. A ripe opportunity had fallen into her paws, and she had given it up, like leaving a kill for the vultures. Well, it wasn't quite like that, but it was the image that rose to her mind. Not only that, but it had been two kills, for two litters had been in her care! Now that they were all grown, all no longer needing a mother, all not even thinking of her as a mother... the aching regret was a yawning chasm in her heart. She hadn't realized it, had tried to push it away and ignore the loneliness and sorrow. It hadn't worked.

So now she sat here, thinking over what she'd done, not done, and only just now beginning to ponder the idea that she could do it again. She could bear a litter again for the pride, but also for herself. A litter she could love... what a strange idea! A litter she could raise, teach, savor, and yes, love. The idea gave her prickles of both excitement and apprehension. She wasn't mother material. She'd always told herself this. She was absolutely certain of it. So why oh why was she considering such a daft idea now?!  

[mouselet]

Mel was roaming around the border today, gathering the plants that grew out here. They were common enough remedies, as far as the Kitwana'antara were concerned. One dealt with pain, another was touted as a cure-all (and was an excellent emetic), and a third, well, it had specific uses that most of the pride wanted to know nothing about, save for the Healers.

The lion looked up to see a leopard sitting nearby, staring into space.

"Hello there!" he called out cheerfully. She looked familiar enough for him to know she was part of the pride, but they had never really met before. Time to remedy that!  

[Talencia]

A voice intruded on her thoughts, snapping her head around sharply. She didn't like being snuck up on, though it wasn't his fault. He obviously was one of the apothecaries, gathering plants for the healers. She fought not to frown at him like she wanted to. He didn't deserve her bad humor, even if he had interrupted her thoughts. Having not spoken with him before, she knew he couldn't be aware that she was a scout for a reason. She wanted to be left alone most of the time. She caught herself in this thought, though, having to admit that perhaps that wasn't true anymore. Her brow crinkled as she considered that being a mother might also mean she needed to be more civil and friendly with the other members. Perhaps it was time to start?

She was not good at being especially friendly, though. Piera was usually here to temper her words or actions, to translate for her so to speak. Without the bird, Elera felt a little at a loss of what to say. She fought still with herself and her naturally sarcastic and cranky attitude. "Hello," she finally said tersely, managing not to make a snarky reply or growl the word. Perhaps there was hope for her yet!  

[mouselet]

So, a leopardess of few words, was she? That was fine with Mel, he could talk to anybody, and happily would. It wasn't that the herbs he was gathering weren't necessary, but they weren't more important than taking the time to get to no one of his fellow pridemembers.

"Lovely day, isn't it?" he replied with a smile. "I'm Mel, an Apothecary. Don't think you and I have been properly introduced before, eh?" the lion went on cheerfully. He knew she could talk, and he knew that she would if he gave her enough reason to.  

[Talencia]

Elera regarded him intently. At least he wasn't rude or loud. Those were advantages, and would make it easier to talk to him. Thus she gave him a longer reply this time. "My name is Elera, and I am on duty as a Scout." It was a not-so-subtle reminder to him that she was still going to need to do her job, chatting or no. To emphasize this, she turned to scan the horizon away from the pride, but surprisingly her eyes were drawn back to him. Normally she'd give someone a cold shoulder, trying to chat her up while she was working. Curious as to whether the difference was in him or in her, she peered at him.

He looked pretty hale and hearty, so he wasn't one of those that needed careful watching and looking after. Elera had never encountered one of the sick ones who tried to 'escape'. The idea of doing so had never made any sense to the leopardess, since the only ones equipped for dealing with the disease and helping them recover were in the pride, not outside it. Those outside would not only be unable to help, but likely would only get sick themselves. Then again, perhaps the disease clouded their thinking.

Either way, at least he didn't appear to be one of those. As a scout,s he also was required to watch for those sorts. "Do you often gather this far out?" she ventured, her attempt at friendly conversation. She herself was quite used to be out here with only the small animals and birds for company. Not many liked it out this far.  

[mouselet]

A Scout, eh? That explained why she was all the way out here. He was about to ask if she'd rather he left her to her duties - it was generally preferable to let Guards and Scouts do their jobs instead of interrupting them - but then she continued their conversation. Mel's black eyes lit up with interest. He did enjoy making new friends!

"Nice to meet you Elera," the lion responded. "And no, not usually. It does take a certain amount of time for the plants to grow, and we must be careful not to harvest too much, else we damage the parent plants and there won't be enough in the future," he explained.

"So we try to keep things on a rotation, and this area is only gleaned twice or thrice a year at most."  

[Talencia]

Huh. That made sense, she supposed. Two or three times a year wasn't often though, and the chance that she was out here when he came by was strikingly coincidental. She had a sneaky suspicion that something somewhere out there was plotting to change her, and her normal crankiness flared up. Anger at this unseen but supposedly powerful being made her eyes flash for a moment, her teeth gritting as her whiskers bristled. But she stopped herself, thinking of how Piera would scold her for forgetting the polite lion she'd been talking to before she flared angrily at her own thoughts. And she'd have been right, curse her.

Exerting a great amount of self-control in an attempt to school herself back into the friendly frame of mind, Elera cleared her throat, lowered her face towards a random clump of leafy things nearby, and took a sniff. It was more to cover for herself than to really discover what he was looking for, but it did make for an easy way to continue being friendly. "Ah... how do you tell one plant from another? How do you know what to look for?" She raised her face, now calm once more, to give the male a questioning look, for all the world as if she had not just fought an inner battle.  

[mouselet]

Mel had no idea whatsoever about the internal struggle Elera was fighting against herself. And even if he had, he'd probably choose to ignore it anyway as being none of his business. But the Apothecary was always happy to teach what he knew. Besides the leopard, as a Scout and being immune to the disease, could range much farther from the pride than he could on a regular basis and perhaps look for some of the rarer and more desirable herbs that he and the other Apothecaries couldn't usually get access to.

"Well, you start by looking at the plant's structure," the orange lion explained, pulling out a couple samples of leaves. "See this one here? It comes off of an ivy, a long creeper plant that lies low to the ground and snakes its way around." He turned and pointed to another, completely different type of leaf.

"This one though, this comes off of a small circular plant, where the leaves grow outwards from a central root system. The roots are actually poisonous, but the leaves are rather useful."

He hoped he wasn't getting too technical for the leopardess, but he wanted to describe the many ways in which the two plants differed.  

[Talencia]

He explained, and she set aside her inner troubles to listen, paying attention as he pointed out the differences. She squinted at the leaves, imagined the structures as he described them, and thought about it. "So each plant is different, even as it is alike." Many were green, after all, and some even had the same shape of leaves, or the same structure. But like one leopard is the same as another, but different as well, so were the plants. It was an interesting concept, and was a good distraction. Maybe too good a distraction. She pulled her gaze away to again scan the horizon. Nope, nothing.

She turned back to the plants. "Isn't it hard to search out here for those specific plants, though?" She looked at the ground around them and realized just how many plants were there. Most were very small, very low to the ground, and very like others near them. But now she could see that they did vary. Leaf shape, stalks or creepers, clumps or individuals. It was... staggering. The idea of having to walk about, peering at the ground in an attempt to pick out the ones you wanted seemed tedious and impossible.  

[mouselet]

The lion grinned at the leopardess. So she was somewhat interested! Probably not nearly enough to learn what he knew entirely, but perhaps enough to learn some.

"It can be hard at certain times of the year, depending on how a particular plant grows it may look more or less like another," he answered. "But for the most part, we learn how to look at the tiny differences that mark one plant as different from another."

It was a long and sometimes tedious process. One of the many reasons why fully functional Apothecaries were not at all the adolescent Apprentices. He supposed that Scouts might have just as much to learn, but their job was much less about memorization and much more about learning to observe. Or at least, that's what he'd heard.  

[Talencia]

It occurred to her that perhaps, as a scout, she could, or even should, learn to recognize the plants that the apothecaries had a hard time finding within the pride's territory. She wondered if she was capable of this, and for a brief flash, wondered if she'd have time if she was going to have another litter. Regardless, it wouldn't hurt to learn about the plants, at the very least. It seemed the right thing to do for the pride as a whole, and another duty she likely was capable of, above and beyond what she already did. Thus decided, she scanned the horizon again before looking back at the lion.

"If I were to want to learn what to look for when I range out there, who should I speak to?" She gestured with one paw towards the roguelands as well as nodding towards his collection of leaves and roots. "I can't promise I'll have time to look all the time, but perhaps there are plants I could bring back for the healers that don't grow nearby?" The tone of the normally grumpy, cranky leopardess was surprisingly vulnerable and hopeful. This was, after all, why she'd joined. She truly did want to help, she just wasn't the most social of felines. Her duty and devotion was still to the pride, though, however anti-social she tended to be.  

[mouselet]

Mel gave the leopardess another brilliant smile. He knew that she had a good heart inside, even if she wasn't that inclined to talk sometimes!

"You can talk to me, or to Utpala or Maovyo," he answered. "But it's best done back in the pride's heart, where we have samples of many of the plants we need."

"We would greatly appreciate any help you can give to us, even if it's not often," the orange lion told Elera happily. "It's no problem at all for us to teach you what to collect."  

[Talencia]

She nodded her head, albeit a bit stiffly. It occurred to her that this could give her further reason to range far and wide, leaving others behind in order to find these plants. Something to do in her free time even.... perhaps, just maybe, she could find the right leopard to sire a new litter of cubs for her. Maybe. She stubbornly refused to admit that she was keen on this idea, and turned her attention back to the lion. "I'll do that when I have some free time," she promised with a little more warmth than she'd had to begin with. "Thank you for the information and the offer."

She now rather wanted to be left to her own thoughts again, but disliked to be rude to the friendly Apothecary. "Forgive me," she said awkwardly, "but I must go back on patrol now. Good luck with finding your plants." She gave him a brief nod in farewell and rose to her paws, aiming herself back the way he'd come, just to ensure that she'd be allowed the space she needed to wrestle with her internal issues. "Perhaps I'll see you soon for those lessons." With that, she padded off, eyes scanning the horizon again.  

[mouselet]

"Of course!" the lion agreed. "Mustn't keep you from your job, after all." He smiled warmly at the leopardess as she departed. "I'll hold you to that!"

Then the orange lion went back to busying himself with the herbs in this area. He still had a lot to collect before he went back!