Spring has begun to set and I had been lax in my duties. Each day I gathered more and more plants with a sort of frenzied passion. Hadrian was gone and I felt his absence like a keen ache within me. No longer did I have a mentor but now I was completely on my own, at least where my healing capabilities were concerned. He had taught me much but I had little cause to use it. Besides, Glorall seemed host to many with the desire for healing and sometimes I wondered if another could benefit from my healing. I was tempted, at times, to travel and offer my help wherever it was needed. But then I would look back at the den that I had shared with my parents, with my sisters, with my brother and I couldn't bear to leave it behind. It was an invisible tether and my paws were not nearly full of wanderlust like my mother's.

Still, today I had a pouch stuffed full of all sorts of herbs and roots and I padded with a sort of unknown grace through Glorall. I had heard that something had been afoot here but wasn't sure about the actual happening. Eden had kept whatever it was hush hush and I respected him for that. He was certainly not loose with his tongue despite my not having spoken much with him. I still remember him drilling Abel and his mean sister's snide comments. But I had stood up with him, ran with him, proven myself, and I felt a pang.

I hadn't been to see Abel in a long while. He deserved my kindness and friendship, not my silence, so I made a note to find him. I followed the gentle yips of puppies today, their noise like faerie music to my ears. My eyes are wide and I wag my tail as I near the dear, ears pricking and my floppy one hanging as usual. Slowly I set down my pouch, careful to stay back from the entrance. "Miss Ehiyeh," I said, my voice light and airy. I knew her name because I had made it a point to know the names of those in Glorall even if I hadn't KNOWN them. "I'm Samia. I wanted to see if you needed any help and if you would allow, to check you over and your pups. I am a healer, you see." Now I frown thoughtfully at myself, a certain doubt creeping in, a remnant from a time when I was a nervous pup.