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Penelope shook with excitement. She had been so ready to dismiss all of this as so much strangeness, but she had actually heard a voice just then! In her excitement, she almost missed Secret's warning.

"Danger? What kind of danger?" Suddenly, the enthusiasm was gone, chased off by the icy grip of worry. Her mind was filled with frightening images of men dragging her off. "And I can't tell anyone? Not even my family?"

Character Start

The month was March, and the earth was just starting to wake up. The ground had started to thaw and squished under Epona’s feet when she walked through the forest. She inhaled deeply, and could smell the pollen on the air from the trees about to bud. The melt water had caused the pond to swell with the rising temperatures, and the deer in Adohi Forest had begun to foal after a long winter. The earth was alive with the promise of another new beginning and the centaur said a silent prayer of thanks for all she’d been through. Suddenly distracted by a few early blooming snowdrops Epona stretched her forelegs down to descend for a closer look. She took a deep breath and reached out for the petals, noticing a salamander among the leaf litter coming out of his winter snooze. She giggled and pranced off, laughing wildly at the feeling of the crisp air blowing through her hair and past her ears as she trotted through the woods, willing the sleeping beings to wake up to come out and play. She spread her arms wide to touch the branches of the younger trees encouraging the buds to pop so the forest could be green again. The morning dew sparkled on the logs and stones, making the place seem alive with the magic that Epona knew was in the air.

With a loud screech Epona realized she was being followed, and she turned on her back legs just in time to catch the hawk, Tala, on her arm. Tala had caught something, a small mouse, and was happily displaying her prize. Epona giggled and started back to the hut that she had built so Tala could enjoy the spoils of a successful hunt. She stroked the feathers on the top of the hawk’s head and placed her on a perch gently. Epona looked around and stretched her back, suddenly proud of everything she’d been through in the last six months. The previous fall she’d been abandoned by her father and she’d relocated to Adohi Forest, building this hut with her bare hands. It was camouflaged well- she’d taken some of the larger saplings and bent them over, tying them with a bit of leather to form the back wall, which she covered in strips of tree bark she collected from nearby birch trees for some durability. On the inside she lined the hut with leather for waterproofing. The branches of the trees made an excellent roof, so all she had to do was build up the walls with some fallen saplings and branches and secure them down, and fill in the cracks for the walls. Her father had taught her well. With time she’d even lined the floor with straw and created a doorway to keep some of the heat in during the winter. Through the storms, her hut had help up excellently. Now it was spring and she could get to work making a more permanent residence. She’d scoped out some locations and managed to find a bit of a cliff at the edge of the water where she could gather water from easily, and it would be high enough to keep her out of the way in case of flooding. In a week or two she’d start a move there certainly. She could return to the Manor for a few more supplies and everything would be great.

While Tala munched her mouse, Epona lied down on a mat she’d stuffed with some leaves. It had been excellently warm, but now it was starting to smell a bit like mold. Maybe she could build something to keep it off the ground so it wouldn’t get quite so damp. Having a safe and healthy place to live was going to be very important in her new home. With Secret lording over everything, the forest was not always the safest place to live…

Secret watched as Penelope strode off, casting off her warning almost immediately as she had given it. She grew worried, but part of her knew it wasn't over yet.

Once Penelope disappeared into the fog and shadows, Secret slumped back against the ancient oak. How she longed to bring the Ethereal Realm down upon the earth! Too long had she been cut off from the world that accepted her and hidden her...

Her headaches were coming back. She relaxed her grip on the forest slightly and drifted off to sleep, the forest now echoing its ancient moans again. Soon, she assured herself as she drifted off to sleep, everything will fall into place...

The next morning in the forest was an oddly beautiful one, with dew on the leaves and the sun even piercing the treetops to sparkle off of the little water droplets. Secret must be having a good day. It would be a similarly good day to begin Epona's work digging into the hillside by the river to turn into a home. A few weeks prior she had returned to the Manor and picked up a shovel to help her out. It would be tough work digging by herself, but with the thawing dirt it would go faster and it only had to be big enough for her to live. She had all the time in the world to work on her home, and she was going to make it as nice as possible. In the meantime she would still sleep in the hut-thing she'd built, but at least she'd have something to keep her busy. By the time it heated up she would be ready to put up the walls and pack them to insulate. She estimated it would take at least two weeks to dig the space she would need. She might have to go into town and pick up some Lyme from a hardware store to make a paste for the walls. Thankfully her father had left her quite a lot of cash, so she wouldn't have to steal for anything she would need to make her house a home.

With the dawn, Epona munched on a few carrots she'd had stashed and set out with her shovel and a jug of water, gently nudging Tala out of bed. It wasn't too much of a hike to the place she'd scouted, but one never knew what might pop up with Secret around...

Unfortunately, the rest of the week was fairly uneventful for Secret. Her accursed, mundane existence began to weigh heavily upon her. After several attempts to focus on the task, she finally managed to run maintenance on all of the wards surrounding her demesne. She also managed to replenish her food supplies and monitor the other denizens of the forest. She hated performing these dreadfully normal tasks, and her stress grew exponentially with each. She desperately needed something to occupy her mind, but she didn't want to spirit-walk lest her artifact return to an empty shell. By the next week, her sanity was hanging by a thread, making rational thought and self-control difficult at best. Her tension permeated the demesne, twisting its appearance and energy even further from its natural state.

It didn't take much to set her off. On that fateful day, she was trying her best to commune with the trees at her nexus, albeit unsuccessfully. She was just too stir-crazy to calm down and listen properly. What she did hear, however, was a magic wail emanating from one of her wards. Her forest was being disturbed. Immediately, she spread her consciousness out over the forest and focused it at the site of the noise. Nothing was out of the ordinary just yet, so she decided to watch and wait. She readied the shadows and mist but didn't draw them near yet. Likewise, she began to send her consciousness down into the roots and up into the branches of the trees, making sure not to disturb anything for the moment. It took all her mental strength, but she had to lie in wait...

Epona heard the forest scream and sighed with disappointment. Now someone had done it. She stuck her shovel into the dirt where she'd been digging and headed off in the direction of the alarm. Secret was probably on the way, given that she had been quiet lately.

Realizing that after that the quiet period, Secret might be feisty, Epona picked up a trot. She could at least go make sure that no-one got hurt. Secret could always screw with their memories anyway....right?

She came upon a short man with very pointy ears. He seemed to be trying to talk to the trees, which meant he could hear the alarm too. Most people couldn't. In her distraction she accidentally stepped in a ditch and stumbled to the ground. Frozen, she made a silent wish that the man with acute hearing had somehow missed the crash...

s**t.........

Epona stood slowly from the bush she had fallen behind, cautiously but with some level of curiosity. She'd never seen a human like that before, and she was curious about him. Terra swooped down from the trees and landed on Epona's bracers. She had to admit, it probably looked pretty cool. Which was good given that now she could see he'd burst into flames. She did her best to stay upright in the face of the flaming man. In truth, it looked pretty fabulous.

So she stood, chin up, Hawk poised on her forearm across the wood from the short pointy-eared man half her height who happened to also be surrounded in flame. She thought about waiting for him to introduce himself, but after a few moments she said strongly, "I am Epona, protector of those that cross this forest. If you are wise you will turn around and never mention the woods again. Otherwise..." Epona faltered, "some...unpleasant things may happen to you..."