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Rosinweed regarded the bit of truffle with a suspicious glare. She moved forward tenatively and parted her beak. Just as she was about to snap up the tasty morsel, it happened.

Crrrrrrack!

The branches broke. Her hard work was shattering. That was to keep It out. To keep the Sky Fiend away. Already, she could picture the spot that had fallen and her feathers slicked against her frame. Her eartufts flattened, and she hurried to the mouth of the fortress with little worry for the damage the winds could possibly do to her. She poked her head out just enough to see beyond the smaller twigs that concealed the entrance. Those were blowing away, too, as they were placed so they could be passed through easily.

"NO! No! Nonononononono NO!" She wailed and teeterd from one paw to the other in an odd and anxious dance.

"Open! Open! Fall! All down! It'll come! Fallen down, It will see it! It will find me!"

Bryntwine coughed, then swallowed the troubling truffle piece. That sorted, he cleared his throat and did his best to smooth his feathers as they should be. "Our friend Falchior is absolutely right. Why, the Sky Fiend would be blown all about, just like we are. No need to worry about that." He hoped. "Once the wind's died down, we'll both go," he ventured, he thought bravely. "None of us should go down there alone. But as you've so graciously shared your home, it's the least we can do."

It pained him to think of what her first encounter with the Sky Fiend must have been like. Rosinweed screamed like a Parus in the jaws of a Waral and he was almost at an utter loss as to what to do.Nervous and distressed, Falchior shifted from foot to foot. "Then you hide. Hide good, in the darkest corner. Stay still, and breathe slow, so he can't hear you. Think calming thoughts." He fervently wished Sequoia were there. He'd know what to do. "The Sky Fiend is Above, right? He doesn't know this place. Not like you do. Miss Rosinweed, you have the stronger wing here. You can hide, and if he comes, he can't find you. And we can fight." The storm raged around them as Falchior's ear tufts rose a bit, furious at whatever it was that did this to poor Miss Rosinweed. "If it comes, the three of us-" A thump from his pack told him Rokku was listening, too. "Sorry, the four of us will put up a damn good fight. If that thing comes down here, it will never hurt another Sentinel again.I'm strong, Rokku's got his tail, Bryntwine is strong, and you know what it is! What can you tell us about it, from before?" He honestly doubted the monster would come, but he hoped that if she was able to talk about it, he could reason it back into the Above, where it belonged. At the very least, it would take the immediacy off of it and hopefully relegate it to her memory. He cast a look over at Bryntwine. At least he was trying to stay calm, and wasn't questioning Rosinweed's actions. Falchior didn't know what he would do if she couldn't tolerate him.

"Will." She repeated, but more slowly as Falchior's words broke through her own frantic ones. His words seemed to calm her a bit, though dismay was still evident in her posture.

"... And you know what it is! What can you tell us about it, from before?"

She froze completely at these words and her feathers slicked back, as well as her eartufts. She was a larger sentinel and well off, other than her strong paranoia, but she crouched down and appeared relatively small.

"See? It ain't so bad up here! Dunno why those minders and teachers were so preachy!" Rosinweed's wings carried her silently from the canopy; alongside her was her dearest friend, Amberlily.

It was empty and vast. Rosin was sure this was the furthest she had ever seen at one time. It didn't seem so dangerous and they would surely see any danger coming after them for miles around.

"Your right! It's so... Void, though. Kinda unsettling." Amberlily observed as she kept beside her friend.

"Nonsense! See, perfectly fine!" Rosin, although somewhat nervous and wanting to return to the forest, ventured higher still and was sure her friend was in tow. She felt determined to prove herself as brave and both she and Amberlily were of the adventurous sort.

"Shoulda... Shoulda... Shoulda been... Me..." Her words were small and muffled, almost completely inaudible.

"No... No... Can't. Can't. Nothink." She spoke slightly louder, but an almost vacant expression crossed her features. She turned to face Bryntwine, but her eyes seemed to peer past him. "Swear... Swear?"

Bryntwine wasn't really sure he was up to -killing- the Sky Fiend. Fighting, certainly. Mounting an effort to drive it away and keep it away, completely. But killing? He shot Falchior a slightly panicked, nervous look, then calmed himself and turned his attention back to Rosinweed. He gave her his best smile and a very formal nod. "Swear," he repeated. "You have my most solemn word."

"Dead and gone," Falchior hissed, seething. "It'll never hurt again. Now, you just stay there, and let the storm pass. It might take some sticks, but it won't take them all. And then we'll work to rebuild. Make it stronger, so that the next storm won't do this." As if he were suddenly aware of himself, he stopped abruptly, then fluffed himself and shivered. Without letting his feathers fall, he sat there, silent and brooding.

"Fresh... Easy to... Easy. Bending." She tried to explain as she calmed down. her heart was still beating madly, but was slowing and would soon settle to it's usual pace if the atmosphere stayed just as it was. She dipped her head and began to preen the faithful Nettle, whom she often treated like her own, even if the companion was a bit dense at times.