Juniper, Juniper, Juniper [Viyth/open]

[Mikhail]

There were few things that Mikhail excelled at. And, in these few things, he seemed to almost obsessively pursue them in order to be the best at them. It made sense. If he was only talent in only a few fields, then he had to prove his worth by being the greatest in them. He was one of the youngest Healers any wolf could ever think of. He quietly never flaunted his gift, preferring to be a lone wolf, but afraid of being alone. He was an anomaly that Seven so graciously accepted into the pack.

Currently, he was murmuring to himself as he plucked the cones of a juniper. The distinctive cones looked like blue berries. He was very methodical in his head, but it was a rare day when what was in Mikhail’s head translated precisely to what could be seen. And it looked as if he were frantically plucking a part in a lost sort of way. He seemed to not be very careful like many would see a Healer being. Despite his lightning fast picking of the berries, he didn’t bruise a single one. He piled them onto the large, old pelt of a deer, made for him just for the sake of collecting.

“Juniper, juniper, juniper.”

Mikhail looked over the cliff wall, down to the lake, and frowned. Perhaps, it would be better if he could simply fly around. All the way to his den. The young wolf had slowly been getting stronger. He was no longer the hollow looking puppy he was when he was first initiated into the pack. He had rounded out nicely, growing muscle where once he was only skin and bones. It had been a long time since he was healthy enough to fly. But, he didn’t consider his wings anything more than useless appendages. He kept his brown wings folded against his side. This was only a small moment to dream. For he looked at his pile of berries.

“Juniper, juniper, juniper.”

[viyth]

Viyth was still in a bit of a daze after being accepted into the pack. He hadn't been assigned any pups to teach, so he found himself with more free time than he'd have liked. Not doing something irked the brown Keiyou to no end. He often found himself wandering through his new home, learning the lay of the land. With any luck, he'd find a nice forest jackalope to bring home. He padded quietly over the rocky ground, his thick fur muffling his steps. He liked the lake. Trees were very nice, but he couldn't fly so well in forests. Here, there weren't quite so many, which was much kinder on his broad wingspan. Even on land, he felt a bit more comfortable. It was a nice day, with wind enough for flight, but he walked along the edge of the lake, hoping to sneak up on some animal while it was drinking. He wasn't paying much attention to the hunt, though, still thinking about being part of a pack.

The smell of wolf distracted him. He was very eager to get to know his packmates, so this took priority. The wind was coming from the cliff, so he looked around to find a less-steep patch to climb. While running, he wasn't nearly as quiet, the soft thud, thud, thud of his paws would probably announce his presence long before the other wolf saw him. Rounding a corner, he caught sight of the source of the smell. It was another Keiyou, a smaller white male with spots of chestnut brown. He looked familiar, but Viyth didn't remember seeing him before. The deer hide with berries on it jogged his memory a bit. He was muttering something over and over, but Viyth couldn't quite catch the words.

"Hello. You're the new healer, right? Mik...Mika..." He couldn't totally recall the name. "What's your name again?"

[Mikhail]

Mikhail raised his eyes momentarily before he dropped his gaze and took a submissive, apologetic stance. “You didn’t say who you were, pack-mate.” He spoke softly and then he turned away to continue his little chore. His gathering was finished and now he started to drag the skin toward the den tree. His own den was hollowed out and molded by himself. He carved little shelves for his plants in his den room. Some hung from the ceiling, forced into cracks so that they wilted overhead. It gave his room a fragrance. One that he carried a trace of wherever he went. He smelled like a healer.

He looked at Viyth’s great wings by peeking through his brows. The little white and chestnut wolf stopped and let go of the deer skin. He flexed his own brown wings, which looked unused and never practiced. Mikhail tilted his head and said, “Can you fly well, pack-mate?” He flicked his lion-like tail and added, “It would be convenient if a healer can fly.”

The young wolf wondered if he was missing anything. Oh, yes, his name. Mikhail nodded to himself and with a sentence that sounded all too rehearsed, he said, “My name is Mikhail, and I am a Healer, pack-mate.”

[viyth]

"Oh, right, sorry. I'm Viyth." He waited for a moment. The smaller Keiyou paused before answering, as if he had forgotten the other's question. "A pleasure to meet you, Mikhail." The Healer seemed quite preoccupied with his task of berry-gathering, but Viyth didn't mind. He watched curiously, and then followed after Mikhail as he began to walk away. He noticed, suddenly, that the Healer's wings didn't look very strong. “Can you fly well, pack-mate?” Between two Keiyou, it seemed an odd question. Flying was second nature to winged wolves. Wasn't it? He stared, at a loss for words.

"Well, I suppose I'm a good enough flier. Don't you fly, though?" The idea of not flying was incredibly strange to him. Sure, other wolves might have been born without wings, but they usually had their own gifts that were equally remarkable. Maybe being gifted in the healing arts could be just as fulfilling as gliding on the wind, completely free...he didn't know. Maybe some wolves didn't even enjoy flying. It was quite possible. Even then, the implication that Mikhail didn't know how to fly was strange. Hadn't he had a pack or parents to teach him?

Viyth glanced down at the lake. The wind was still perfect for flight. Ideal conditions for a beginner. He was a bit unsure, though. His own memories of learning how to fly were vague at best.

[Mikhail]

Mikhail gave a sigh. “No, no. I have not been taught. And, before now, I never ever considered that perhaps I could fly.” The young Keiyou sat down and curled his lion’s tail about his feet. He sat straight, almost statuesque. The young wolf looked over the lake as he wondered how Viyth learned.

Really though, the white and chestnut Keiyou youth was beating around the bush for essentially a rather important request. He wanted to ask the larger wolf if he could, perhaps spare some of his time so that Mikhail could learn to fly.

“But I have wings. And you have wings. I don’t fly. You do. Demonstrate and explain, Viyth.” His blue eyes sparkled because, truly, this was the closest he was going to get to ‘can you teach me?’ that he was ever going to get.

[viyth]

"Um..." The implied request, though predictable, caught Viyth off-guard. Why was the young Healer asking him? Weren't there other Keiyou in the pack? Shouldn't he be asking a...oh. He was a Mentor. It was his job to teach. "Sure! I'd be happy to, uh, help you, if you want." This was his job. He had wanted to fulfill his duty to the pack. It didn't matter how unexpected the circumstances were. He turned to the cliff, and walked forward a few paces.

"Take-off is the hardest part. It usually helps to have a running start, but when you can just jump off something, like this cliff, you don't need so much of one." The explaining part wasn't nearly so easy as the demonstrating. He spread his wings, readying the muscles. he took a few steps, and jumped off, wings widespread to catch the wind. He dropped a few feet, but quickly made up the difference. He beat his wings a few times to stabilize, and then let himself glide. He flew a quick circle around, then turned back to face Mikhail. He couldn't just hover, unfortunately, so he kept circling while talking. "You flap to go faster and higher, but you can get height with a glide, too. Most of it should come naturally. You want to try?" He stayed in the air, just in case Mikhail needed help. Then again, he couldn't do much if the other wolf did fall, except slow the fall and maybe drag him over the water for a softer landing. No need to scare anyone by mentioning that, though.

[Mikhail]

There was a certain doubt that Mikhail had. The Viyth’s shadow cast over his lowly form and made him feel like a worm against the sun of a god. He shrugged his own pathetic looking wings. Unhealthy in appearance because he hadn’t been taught to preen them. Mikhail saw the large wings of the Mentor, but thought to himself, ‘Of course you can fly with those things.’ However, the older wolf was confident that the pup would be able to fly. Such confidence was infectious. It was impossible to go against it.

“Um. I suppose I can try.”

Other than the problem of the physical structure, which Mikhail somehow seemed to find fault with in himself, there was the fact that Viyth said it would come naturally. So far, the communicative instincts of a wolf seemed to be forced rather than innately there in the mind of the little white and chestnut Keiyou. Perhaps the innate ability to understand flight the instant air rushes over wings would be lost upon him as well.

But, too shy to cry against Viyth’s words and explanations. Too shy to take back his desire to learn when it had snowballed into a full lesson, Mikhail looked over the cliff and down to the sparkling lake below. Without much instruction, except the common sense knowledge that Viyth shared, Mikhail opened his wings and took that leap of faith.

Immediately, his wings crooked and then pinned against his body. He grew afraid and dropped like a stone. However, there was something comforting about the free-fall. A beautiful, almost dazzling scene was under him: the fast approaching earth below. He felt so light as he fell. And, like magic, he opened his wings and leaned his head up such that he fish-hooked to a reasonable distance from the death’s floor.

The sun and the wind were in each feather of his spread-open wings. The span seemed wider than Mikhail remembered, but, then again, he had never had a reason to spread them so widely. To feel the full ability of his own body, the entire physical reason for his natural shape, it suddenly made sense. It all made sense.

His flight was short-lived and it died out as he awkwardly crashed into the water. The young wolf treaded water and then paddled to shore. He gazed up, at the cliff’s edge, looking for Viyth. The sunlight made it hard to see the shapes of the edge. Mikhail frowned, afraid that he had been tricked. Abandoned. Like always.

[viyth]

The younger wolf did surprisingly well. After all, basic things like flying were far easier for pups, who could learn how to do pretty much anything without much trouble. For a wolf as old as Mikhail, it definitely wouldn't all come together on the first try. That much was fairly predictable, Viyth had to admit. That didn't make his new pupil's fall any less terrifying. The few seconds seemed far longer.

He froze for a moment, almost falling out of the air himself. His pale blue eyes were wide with shock, unable to look away from the scene.The Healer, despite being in free fall, didn't seem half as scared. In fact, he looked oddly calm. He even managed to resist the force of the wind and spread his wings, which did help slow the fall a bit. Viyth circled his way down, trying to see if Mikhail was hurt. Judging from his ability to swim, he couldn't be too damaged. The older Keiyou landed in front of him, looking quite embarrassed.

"Sorry, Mikhail. I guess my advice wasn't too helpful. You did good, though! I'm sure you'll get better with practice," he assured the other wolf. With a half chuckle, he added "You might want to hold off on trying again right away though, at least until you dry off."

[Mikhail]

Mikhail shook his fur as soon as the older Keiyou landed. He felt comfortable now. Not lost anymore. He was mostly dry, but his feathers were still too soaked for flight. The cliff had provided a perfect place for a first attempt, but Mik still had failed miserably. However, his wings were merely sore from fighting against the rush of wind until they glided delicately on the air.

“It… it was good enough. I think. I could have done worse.”

Any worse would have been death. Mikhail knew that. He offered a smile, but like most of his smiles, it felt faked. He relaxed his mouth and then turned his head toward the cliff’s face, where the Great Spirit seemed to have carved a way up just for wolves. It was merely the way the rocks were jutting from the cliff, but it was still a series of good foot holds.

Mikhail walked away from the older Keiyou. He quietly began his trek up to the top of the cliff to complete his duties as a healer.

[viyth]

Mikhail didn't seem too disappointed, but Viyth worried nonetheless. He wanted him to be happy, and flying seemed like it would make him happy. He shifted uncomfortably, but started forward when the other started to walk away. He felt he had to say something else, something encouraging. Like a good Mentor. He wanted very much to be a good Mentor.

"You really were good, Mikhail. If you want, I'll give you more lessons some other time. When you're not busy with Healer duties, I mean." He didn't need an immediate response. Viyth would let his new acquaintance think it over. He wanted to run away from the shame of the feeling that he had disappointed a pack mate, whether it was true or not. Barely able to resist the desire to bolt, he simply backed up, and dashed off as fast a walk as he could manage.

He wouldn't go home to his room in the tree right away, either. There was still time for finishing his initial hunt. One thing that could be useful for the the pack,while giving him space to think. He wanted to get to know Mikhail, but not right away. Let the Healer come to him. He preferred the passive approach anyway.