Silvershore

Chapter Twenty-Six

It was almost summer, now. Stormjay was doing a little bit better. He hadn't hurt anyone innocent like he had worried about - or anyone at all, really. But it was still all so frightening for him. Sky had admitted to him one time that she was a bit scared of him when he was like that, and he hated himself for it. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt anyone, especially someone so much weaker than him physically.

The days getting warmer gave Stormjay a bit of hope. A newly radiant sun had stepped forth from the springtime, wrapping everyone in its warm and brilliant rays. Stormjay could close his eyes and feel that the meadow and floral blooms were as much within him as they were around me, supporting his body upon the warm earth. In the early summer wind were the red flags of the poppy petals, a living masterpiece of nature. Though they grew unnoticed by so many, they were more to Stormjay's eyes than a monet or any artwork that brought their likeness in beautiful strokes of softest bristles.

Bright Moon seemed to be doing much better lately. Stormjay had put his needs for emotional support aside almost entirely to help her achieve self love. It didn't seem to be as hard for her as it was for Stormjay to gain a bit of confidence. Over this past year, from Stormjay becoming a trainee to a full shaman, he had accepted at this point that Bright Moon was simply better than him in every way.

Something that made him feel better while all of this was going on was being able to watch Kiara's pups, Nyla and Kaia, grow up very healthily. The two of them reminded Stormjay of him and Sky when they were pups. Although seeing the two of them innocently pouncing and running around the Main Territory without a care in the world made him desperately miss his childhood, he loved helping Kiara raise them.

It was starting to get late, so Stormjay was scrambling to organize all his recourses that he had somehow managed to messed up earlier while taking care of a cut on Ragna's shoulder. Just as he had finished up a bit, little Kaia and Nyla entered the shaman resources den.

"Where's mommmmm?" Nyla asked.

"Oh, hello, you two!" Stormjay smiled. "Your mother's out getting some tormentil right now with Bright Moon, we've been running a bit low on it lately. How about you stay here with me until they come back? Just try not to-"

Nyla immediately began rolling around in a pile of thyme like it was a leaf pile.

"...Mess with...the resources." Stormjay sighed, with a small smile.

"Stormjay, what's tormentil?" Kaia asked.

"It's a resource that helps treat wounds and gets rid of poison." He chuckled sheepishly as he began to rearrange the pile that Nyla had rolled in.

"...Is there even anything poisonous around here?"

"I dunno...I mean, we've had snakes around here before, but we don't really know if they're poisonous or not yet."

Kiara and Bright Moon entered the den. Kiara immediately sighed as she saw Stormjay scrambling to fix the pile of thyme.

"Come on, you two...don't bother him too much." Kiara laughed.

"They aren't a bother," Stormjay smiled.

"We couldn't find much tormentil." Bright Moon flattened her ears. She looked disappointed.

"That's alright...how about we look again tomorrow? Maybe they're still growing..." Stormjay suggested.

"Okay...sounds good to me." Bright Moon smiled.

"Kaia, Nyla, go back to the den...it's getting late." Kiara giggled. The two pups sprinted out of the den, as Kaia chased after Nyla who was running after a leaf outside.