[SpringsSong]

Yuki frowned as Tali insisted that she be able to hunt or gather.  It took him some time to formulate a response, but when he did, his gold eyes gleaming brightly as he placed a claw gingerly on hers.

“Taliña,” he said.  “You would not be a burden.  I know that you wish to help me, but I do not want you to be pushing yourself too hard when you are injured.  I want you to make a full recovery before the spring comes, so that you can help with the hunting and gathering then.”

Here, he turned to look outside at the rains, noticing that it had gotten progressively worse—and that the river had swollen well past its banks.  He frowned as he looked at the storage, and then to Taliña.

“I may have to leave to see what plants and berries have not been damaged by this storm.  Will you be all right if I leave you here?” he asked.

[SpringsSong]

Taliña’s eyes were also diverted to the rains outside, and she drew in a deep breath as she willed her consciousness to connect with that of the forest.  After a few moments, she opened her eyes, and she nodded slightly before she turned to face him.

“There is a glade not all that far from here.  It is high enough that the swelling river will not reach it, and there are trees around it thick enough that the rains have not damaged the fruits there,” she said, slowly.  After another few moments, she closed her eyes again.  “The fruits are just now in season there, so you will not have to search far, or for very long, to find them.”

She offered a small smile as she said this.  This was one instance in which she loved being a Placid; she could easily connect with nature and see how the plant life was managing.

[SpringsSong]

Yuki could only stare at Taliña in amazement as she said this.  However, it made sense that she would know these kinds of things innately; being a Placid, she was always a little more in touch with nature than with some of the other breeds of Paragon, his own included.  After a few moments, he nodded as he rose to his feet.

“I shall go to this glade, then, and I shall bring back fruit for you,” he said.  “Unless, of course, you would rather shift into your Lucain form and use the meat storage here.  Of course, the choice is yours—although, I will admit, I have wanted some fresh fruits for a little while now.”

The Ambia Paragon looked down to the Placid Paragon before he would leave the cave, wanting her opinion on the matter before he took off.  If she wanted fruits, then he would go and get her fruit; it was no matter to him whether or not he ate meat or meat and fruits—but Placids were not known for eating meat.

[SpringsSong]

Taliña shook her head firmly as she said, “I would rather have fruits now.  As much as I love meat, I do not think I should shift forms again until my legs have healed, especially with the winter coming soon.  I wouldn’t want to exhaust your meat storage before everything goes into hibernation and cannot be hunted.”

At this, Taliña lowered her head again and looked at the meat storage, and then, she turned to face the Ambia Paragon again.  After another few moments, she cleared her throat and caught his attention.

“Yuki… thank you for doing this.”

She said this with sincerity, her eyes gleaming.

[SpringsSong]

Yuki inclined his head as Taliña said this; she brought up valid points, it was not a wise idea for her to shift forms too many times while her legs were still healing, and he could imagine that she was not comfortable in her human form.  He tilted his head here as she mentioned that she would not want to exhaust his meat storage before the snows came, and, before he could stop himself, he turned again to face her.

“So, how did you come to know that you had a secondary form?” he asked, and then, his jaw clapped firmly shut.  Had he really just asked such a question as that?—how she discovered that she could shift forms was truly none of his business, and he had no reason to need to know how she had made such a discovery.  However, he assumed that it had to have been a similar situation to his—a particularly hard winter where there were at least greens to eat, but no meat to be found anywhere.  However, it was not his place to know…

…unless she volunteered the information to him, of course.

[SpringsSong]

…well, that was decidedly bolder than Taliña had been expecting him to be, given their past conversations where he would instead say something that gave her pause, and then caused her to begin pouring out her heart.  This time, he was asking her something directly—something that Tali was rather unused to now, at this point in time.  At one point in time, she had probably been asked several direct questions, but this was the first one in as long as the Placid Paragon could remember.

“…it had been a hard hunting season for me, a few moons back,” she said finally.  “It wasn’t even close to time for the snows; all of the prey animals were taking ill and dying left and right.  There was barely any left that could be safely consumed.  I woke up one day and felt a little odd; just a slight bit taller than my Lucain form, and I had no hunger for meat.  It was then that I went to my normal watering hole and looked…” here, she indicated her current form with her claws, laughing slightly.  “And… this was what was staring back at me.  Something with wings… that eats plants.  Something… that could flee from troubles on a dime.  Something that could sense the earth and what was right and wrong with the plants if needed.”

[SpringsSong]

Yuki listened intently as Taliña said this, frowning as she mentioned it being a particularly rough hunting season—and before the snows, too!  Something like that was practically unheard of, but then again, it also wasn’t entirely unheard of.  There were seasons of slim pickings when it came to prey, and that was when one had to adapt, or die as well.

Obviously, Yuki and Taliña had both chosen to live.

“I… had a situation that was vaguely similar,” Yuki said after a few moments.  “You see, it was just last winter… I thought I had preserved the meat well enough, but a little thief stole in here and took some of my meat.  When I stumbled across his corpse the next morn, immediately, I went to my meat storage to discover that it was spoiling.  With most of the prey in hibernation, there was little I could do, and when I awoke the next morning and saw the shadows of wings extending from my now-hulking form…”

Here, he laughed as he looked to Taliña again.  “I guess… sometimes, nature has a curious way of helping preserve its residents.”

At this, Yuki leapt into the air, flying off towards the glade that Taliña had mentioned earlier.

[SpringsSong]

It was a while before Yuki returned, and when he did, he was laden down with all the fruit that he could possibly carry (which, being a twenty-one-foot-tall Paragon, was a lot) for Taliña.  The smaller Placid Paragon had looked at him as though he was crazy; there was no way all of that fruit was going to keep throughout the winter!  However, Yuki smiled as he placed a gentle claw on Taliña’s shoulder.

“Why are you doing this for me?” she asked him, her eyes stern as she said this.  “We could barely stand to look at each other when we first met, and now… well, now, you’re treating me as though I was a princess… or even as though I was your mate!  Please, allow me to help out with the winter gathering somehow!  I feel terrible having you do all of the work, just because my legs are both broken.”

Her eyes glistened with determination, and when she got that look in her eyes, it was hard to deter her from it.

[SpringsSong]

After delivering his load of fruit to the den, Yuki had taken one of the fruits that he himself fancied and had already taken a large bite from it, and when Taliña asked why he was doing this for her, he paused, almost choking on the bite which he had in his mouth at the time.  However, he quickly regained his composure (though he nearly choked again when he heard her mention “princess” and “mate” in the same sentence) and spoke.

“It would not be proper of me to expect you to survive on your own in your condition.  It would not be the gentlemanly thing to do, you know; I doubt that your old mate, were he still around, would expect you to survive on your own if you were injured.  Nor would he expect you to lift a single claw—and, though you are not my mate, I expect you to do just that.”

Here, he paused.

“Though, if you insist on helping… then I suppose you might know of a way to preserve fruits, so that they will last longer?” he asked.

[SpringsSong]

Taliña thought for a moment, but after several long moments, she shook her head in dismay.

“Of all of the things I have learnt to do in this form, I am afraid that preserving foods is not one of them.  Healing, however, I am always capable of doing—as well as telling how the earth is doing.  But… preserving fruits once they have been removed from the vines which gave them life?  I am afraid that is far beyond my powers,” she said, shaking her head as she took one of the fruits as well, sighing.  “I hate feeling like I’m useless and a burden, though… he would at least give me simple tasks to complete.”

It was very clear that Taliña hated not having anything to do, and she was quite adamant about that fact.  In fact, it was one of her greater pet peeves, though she hated admitting to it.

[SpringsSong]

Yuki thought for several long moments, listening as Taliña explained exactly how her gifts worked.  It was here that he nodded, trying his best to find some way to comfort the alpha female (for there was no doubt in his mind that she would be an alpha no matter what pack she was in—she had that air about her).  However, absolutely no way was coming to his mind now.

It did not take long, however, for something else to come to his mind.

“Perhaps… if nothing else, we can lay a plan for when the snows come, and how we will survive then,” Yuki said.  “And… then, we can also plan for what will happen once the snows—no, that would be unwise; we do not know when the snows would melt.  It would be much wiser to just plan how we will weather the snows, since it is apparent that you will be remaining here,” he said.  He looked at Taliña with a look that conveyed something she had not expected to see from him; a look of compassion and caring.  “I would not expect you to survive this on your own.”