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The wind blew, there were many scents carried along with the breeze. Nariko stood there, her eyes not seeing movement, but she knew others were close. She decided to take to the skies and survey what was going on around her. At least this way, she could avoid encounter if she needed to.

Her wings lifted her body quickly and quietly, moving gracefully cutting the wind and lifting her higher. As she rose, she noted other soquili....a good number of them, all seemingly headed toward the grove just as she had been.

As she surveyed, she also caught glimpse of another soquili in the skies. Apparently he had the same idea she did. Easier to survey, easier to get away.

There were so many of them!
It must have been a gathering of some type of ritual, there would be no other practical explanation as to why the forest continued to spew out soquili left and right...all traveling to the same location. A giant tree in the middle of everything told the stallion that this was the object to be desired. But why ever a tree?

Oh, but this wasn't an ordinary tree, he could tell that much. Not having heard the stories of Grandmother Sequoia he didn't know a spirit lived among them, although in no way would it surprise him. This land he came to was filled with out of the ordinary things....just screaming for him to adventure upon.

Right now, though, called for attention onto the ground of soquili. Why had so many come? Sure back in the old days he remembered seeing herds move together, but in no way was this a herd...yet. Most seemed to be utterly lost, while the rest were mesmerized. There was a leader, among the rest of them, Umo could see the thick unicorn making a bee-line for the spirit. He looked pretty dead-heart-set on getting whatever he wanted done, and so the stallion wanted to stick around just a bit more.

If not to check out this...meeting, then perhaps to wait it out and find the weakest to attack once it ended. His body longed to fight something...and even though there were females showing up in all places, he couldn't help himself...he needed to see blood...

That's when the loud voice echoed into his ears, and startled Umo took a few steps back. It was so quiet, who did she think she was to speak above the rest of them, especially him? Surely she had not known he was there for he had been hiding, but the unicorn? Maybe the mare wanted an straight answer, like himself, but wasn't very patient about it.

Snarling, the light brown stallion stepped out of the protection of the trees and into the clearing, following the rest of them, but far in the back. He had not wanted to be noticed yet, and would have still been hiding in the trees if it wasn't for that mare...idiocy at it's best. If she wanted to talk, he'd definitely get her talking...

Toujours felt eyes on him, but for once in his life, he didn't bother to look over his shoulder and find out if they belonged to a pretty lady as he pulled to a stop a short distance outside of the tree's shady boughs.


Something about the heavy concentration of soquili bothered him, and lent the clearing an air of uncertainty as he began to wonder who else might have had trouble sleeping these past few moons. Certainly neither Seresai nor Wildfire had had such problems, else he'd have been the first to hear of it. As for the rest of his herdmates, he was quite certain most would either tell him outright... or he would have noticed himself by them being a little more grumpy then was usual... if he was to cite the usual behavior of Seresai's sire Crousader. Besides, the spirit of the tree was silent, and that also bothered him... as he had heard she could be quite the precocious one at times, but given the very definition of the word, she might just be ignoring him.

Or he just wasn't close enough to the trunk itself?


Sighing again, the dark unicorn closed the remaining distance between himself and the giant tree and looked up at the dark expanse of bark and leafy foliage. Even to him, the tree didn't seem particularly aware... and given his record for talking to trees, he figured he ought to know.

Well, whatever... here went nothing...



"Ahem? Grandmother Sequoia?"


- - - - - - - -


Seresai mantled her wings in response to the flurry of activity that swelled around and through the clearing. A few mares, of varying ages and colorations, approached almost as if this were a picnic spot, querying as to what was going on. Some, as was the case of a red and silver mare, were louder then others...

Well, Seres wasn't entirely certain herself what was going on, but given her mentor was the one talking to the ancient tree first, she felt duty bound to at least try and explain...

Maybe...

That was until she caught the all too familiar wave of emotional pressure that signified a hunter to her trained senses. Instinctively she felt the hair along her spine rise, and she darted a glance around while she attempted to exchange pleasantries to the white and pink mare. She couldn't spot the originator, but she was quite certain that neither Toujours nor Wildfire could sense it. Crousader had said she had a knack for sensing emotions... especially strong ones like killing intent and anger... and as she thought about it.. she began to feel the tickle in her mind that meant another presence.

Anger? Fear? And were there visitors in the sky as well?

Wary, she tried to smile at the one who had said good morning... and act like nothing was the matter.

"Good morning milady!"

Oh, the answer was welcome, and then some. Blossomforth, ears tipped happily forward, headed toward Seresai as if she'd been beckoned closer. Eager to meet another mare, she said, "Good morning!" again. "Seems like I wandered right into the middle of something, doesn't it?"

And as though the import of those words had finally registered, Blossom's cheeks and then ears tinged pink too. She lowered her voice a little and asked, "I'm not interrupting, am I?"

The Unicorn wasn't often so clumsy, perhaps he had been so concerned with the dreams that plagued him that he failed to recall the time of year that was upon them. While the tree had indeed spoken to him on numerous occasions, as fall approached she too was drawn in to a deep slumber. The very forests themselves wilted and turned in upon themselves to cuddle up and prepare for the very unforgiving weather that was vast approaching. While Grandmother Sequoia hadn't chosen the best of times to drift off into a world of dreams she wasn't without her assistants. They were exactly the most pleasant of assistants but they did help to a degree.

This afternoon was of no exception as the large number of Soquili disrupted one 'assistant' in particular. This particular creature had long since dwelled deep beneath the tree, protected from foul weather by her over reaching and weeping branches. However this fall the creature was running behind schedule and the racket that was occuring outside his home was doing nothing for his nerves. Really, he had heard of parties but whatever happened to a little bit of respect! Truly he had expected a little more of those who chose to visit the elderly tree.

Ah, it was with a series of mutters and complaints that the creature (a badger no less) scurried out from his hiding place beneath the slumbering willow. Squinting into the sunlight it took quite a number of minutes for his vision to clear before the image of the unicorn came in to view. A few moments more and he blinked - now he'd never seen this one before and nor had he seen this ridiculous amount of Soquili surrounding his home. It was only fair (and completely understandable) that the badger would be less than delighted by the discovery. His nose began to wrinkle in distaste at the very thought and it wasn't long before he had folded his paws and was staring up at the unicorn in distaste.

"Have you any idea what time it is?" he enquired sharply, obviously referring to the changing seasons. "We're trying to sleep here!" he roared, unfolding his arms to wave them in a surprisingly lively fashion. His voice croaked at this point and he lifted a paw, placing it to his lips as he cleared his throat. "If you're after some guidance then you've come to the wrong damn place, so shoo! Go, get out!" Waving his paws at the unicorn the old badger simply radiated with hostility - it was autumn for goodness sake and he couldn't sleep with such noise.

"If you want advice then find a damn Seer, there's an Angeni not far from here who has the 'gift' if you want to call it as much," with that, he stomped his little paw and placed both forepaws on his hips. He was going to sit and watch the little gathering leave and if all else failed he would chase their asses out with some weapon or another - a primitive broom maybe...

What type of a damn question was that? The Badger was obviously disgruntled by such a query as though the answer was right in front of her. The world could scream, shout and practically point in the right direction and the Badger doubted that these silly horses wouldn't figure it out. All right, so he would raise his hands and admit that they were a little more than horses but it was the principle of the matter. He was trying to get some sleep and here they were asking him the way to the Seer. Really he was not a munchkin and this really wasn't the yellow brick road. Under no circumstances was he going to burst in to song at any point so why should he hand out directions?

Because they wouldn't leave if he didnn't...

Argh, really why couldn't all creatures just fall asleep during winter? It would be far better for everyone's health if they all shut up and got some rest. But no instead the spirits had to make some creatures go to sleep and forgot to tell all the rest to be just a little more considerate about this. All he wanted to do was sleep! He stomped his hind paw in seeming irritation at her question and stared at her levelly. Granted, she was somewhat blurry given that his sight was better at night but all in all he could see her. Now he could give them exact directions (which he didn't know) or as an act of revenge he could give them a riddle, send them on a wild goosechase and make them pray that said Angeni was in the area.

Riddles it was!

Glee.

"The Angeni lives everywhere and nowhere," he replied calmly, folding his paws as he observed the gathering and then the mare again. "Time is irrelevant to that which Lords over it's domain - head to the south and listen our for the whispering song of soft wind chimes..." he offered. There, he'd given them a direction and hopefully they would get off his damn doorstep now. Really, in expressing himself in the way he had, he should think they would have been able to gather that the Angeni was nomadic and never really stopped moving for too long now that he had awakened...