Chickadee yawned and stretched her legs, looking sleepy in the early afternoon sunlight. Spring was so near, she could feel it in the air.

Lately, when she was not wandering in search of unique plants or tutoring her young charge, Chicky had been working on a den for herself. She needed a home base for keeping her herbs and medicines, a place where she could keep the plants hidden away from foragers. It was much easier, too, to keep track of her stock when it was all in one place -- she preferred harvesting the plants she would need, rather than spending precious time searching for them in the wild.

Chickadee had found a little cave that had been eaten out of the rocky bluffs near the ocean over time, with grasses growing over the top of it. The grasses signaled to Chickadee that this would be a good place to begin a garden. Come spring, she would figure out how to transplant stalks and sew seeds for a more convenient future.

The den itself was about two body-lengths deep, but only tall enough to accommodate her small frame in a crouched position. She liked the den's close proximity to the sea, where she would be able to watch the storms roll in and the waves slide over the shore..

Perhaps one day she would nurse a litter of her own here; she liked to imagine that the day would come, eventually.

The sound of steps approaching caught Chickadee's attention, and she leapt up to the grassy overhead of her den to see who was headed her way. At the sight of her sister Jagger, Chicky's entire face brightened. She bounded playfully toward her friend, bouncing like a pup.

"Jag, Jagger! Oh, there you are!" She laughed, tail whipping happily back and forth.

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CHICKADEE
^{you're not alone}