Welcome to Gaia! ::

This particularly thick stand of spruces offer a lot of protection from both wind and rain for Sentinels perching close to the trunk of one of the spruces in the middle.

Alethia had one foot curled, perhaps too tightly, around Zekdek as she flew. The mus simply curled smaller, too afraid of the roaring of the storm to protest, too trusting of his master to fear that she might actually pierce him with a talon.

She'd seen this stand of trees before and was thankful, now, that the wind had battered her this way. This would be a good place to hide and wait a while. Until the storm blew itself out, at least.

The flash of white between the branches, though, had her doubting her choice even as she made her way to a likely-looking branch. Don't be silly, she chided herself. Not even the Spectres would dare a night like tonight to be out and about.

So land she did and balanced for a moment while she uncurled her toes and Zekdek crept forth, gave himself a good shake, and set about grooming down his fur again. "Good place, safe place," the little mus opined.

"Yes," Alethia agreed, though her attention was still on the white-feathered figure. "Let's hope so. I don't think I've got it in me to find another."

Well, there was no point in being rude. And if he'd been a Spectre, he certainly would have attacked rather than saying hello. So she turned toward the white Sentinel and took another breath to make her voice carry. "Hello! It's quite a storm, isn't it? I hope you don't mind if we shelter here a while. I don't think it's safe to be in the air just now."

The wind through the trees made it hard for Alethia to hear the male. She glanced down at her shivering companion and said, "Come, Zekdek," then shifted closer to one end of her branch. Closer to where Odd sat. "Long enough for introductions, at least," she offered, keeping one eye on the mus creeping along with her. "I'm Alethia, one of the teachers in the forest."

A dark, wet figure swept in between the spruces and landed heavily on the very spot that Odd had just vacated. Shaking the water off of his feathers, Drywood - rather winded after his uncomfortable flight - hooted softly to himself and gave his own plumage a quick preen before he glanced up at the other two sentinels.

"I say," he exclaimed cheerfully, smiling at the albino, "It's a good thing you are so bright, sir! I was almost about to despair of finding a decent shelter when I spotted you!" Without waiting for a reply the stripe-faced aberrant peeked around Odd's pale form and nodded at Alethia. "Well met, Madam! What horrible weather we're having, eh?"

Odd had been too busy trying to focus on Alethia to notice Drywood's sudden entrance beside him. It startled him and his already damp white feathers flattened. He quickly found himself and chuckled quietly before speaking over the winds. "Glad to be of some assistance, wouldn't want any poor sentinels stuck out there, especially in this weather..."

Alethia looked surprised. Was surprised, actually. "I hadn't thought of that," she admitted. "It's not a bad idea, though. Come on, Zekdek," she instructed her companion. "Climb up. We're moving." When he had, she made the move, transferring over to Odd's branch. She didn't want to crowd him, but there needed to be room for Drywood as well. "There. There, I think there's room for all of us."

Drywood quite unashamedly made himself comfortable as close to the trunk as he could get, having unknowingly usurped Odd's cosy perch.

"Do come closer, sir," he cheerfully encouraged the white sentinel, "At that distance we won't do each other much good."

It wasn't that he didn't find Odd's unnatural whiteness peculiar, but the brown aberrant was far too focused on his own problems at the moment to really care about such trivialities. He had seen the same phenomenon in mice and mus and knew that it didn't rub off on others. Well, at least not in non-avian species, but right now that was more than good enough for him.