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 Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 5:29 pm
Lorenna looked between the two leaders of the herd with a thin smile. It was good that they both readily agreed that meant there wouldn't be hesitation that the other had decided wrong further down the path. "I appreciate your assistance." She said with a polite bow of her head.
"Our intentions are not to get pulled into a fight at all. Sabotage will always be the preferred way to strike." This was not the entire truth but she wasn't willing to lose her first link in the chain. She could find other warriors to directly attack when it was needed. There were plenty of people out there who would be happy to take a chunk out of kalona or skinwalkers. "We won't call on you for sabotage if it can be helped. I would prefer if the peaceful herd could remain peaceful." There was nothing false in this promise. If they could remain peaceful even in dark times it would serve as a beacon of hope to other soquili and they could easily find hope.
"Now...as for your payment...what would you ask of us to provide, aside from information. We have a number of goods readily available or easily obtained that you could have."
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 5:46 pm
Shrivatsa grew uncertain at the mention of sabotage. That wasn't the Padmapani way either. They didn't employ anything even remotely like a spy or a sneak, unless the herd members were getting up to something without her knowledge. She grew distracted from this line of thought completely at the mention of being somehow reimbursed for their action.
"Payment?" She said it like it was a foreign language. She hadn't even considered that they might be getting paid for some part of their action in this. "We don't need any of that." There wasn't much in the way of a barter system in their herd. Sometimes people traded trinkets, but for most things they shared equally.
"This is..."
"Personal," completed Haya for her. "If giving you information will help keep Xelloss from killing again, we'll gladly tell you everything we know." If they could even save one life in doing this, or even help preserve one life from harm, it would be worth it. Maybe it would even serve to wash away some of the guilt they all shared.
Shrivatsa narrowed her eyes, looking truly vicious for one moment. "We want to stop this kalona."
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:09 am
Lorenna raised an eyebrow. She had expected that everyone would expect some kind of compensation for their assistance. She gave Beryl a facial shrug and almost hoped the others wouldn't refuse payment. If it was "personal" for everyone then that would mean they had dragged bags of wealth along with them for no reason.
"I will assure you that he will be dealt with though I will spare you of the details." They wanted to stop him but she wasn't sure a peaceful bunch would want to hear about her ideas of severing his wings from his back to make him as flightless as Othelia. Perhaps a few blows to the jaw to loosen his teeth would be in order as well.
"Now that everything's in order...would you like to meet the crows you will be sending word with? I believe Khaa should have them ready by now."
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:00 am
"Yes, call them over," replied Haya. Though they had made that decision quickly, they hadn't made it lightly. Even though Shrivatsa had assured the mare they didn't want to get drawn into a fight, it still could very well happen. Haya didn't lie to himself and pretend that they weren't putting the herd more in danger through their choice. They would be better informed of kalona and their ilk in the area, but also more likely to attract attention through their involvement. He could only hope that Lorenna knew what she was doing.
"There are some birds associated with our herd as well," added Shrivatsa. A few of their number had feathered familiars and there was a scattering of unbonded familiar birds in the area too. She expected that they could get some to gladly enter into service for this project too. They really did have a lot of resources available, should they choose to use them.
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:48 am
Lorenna nodded at Hayagriva and started scanning the trees for signs of her skull capped bird. "You may use your own birds as well, just make sure they learn who Khaa is. For now he is the one that is likely to be sending you news of where other members are." Once they were better set up she would be able to use many different birds but right now Khaa was her only reliable messenger. After a few more moments she finally spotted the little crow hoping about in a nearby tree.
"Khaa!" She bellowed to the bird. "Bring your associates here now if you would be so kind!"
Khaa nearly fell out of his tree when he heard Lorenna shouting at him. Negotiations had been going well and he had managed to convince two flocks to join their effort for surprisingly little. He would pass their demands to Lorenna quietly so the others wouldn't know how much they could have asked. Now it was time to introduce the flocks.
With a shrug of his wings and a raspy call he took off out of the tree followed by nearly 20 spirit-touched crows with variously colored plumage. He lead them over to Lorenna's group and they all settled down around the horses wherever they could find space.
"Lorenna, Beryl...Padmapani leaders." He greeted bowing to each of the horses. "These are the Swiftclaw and Berrythief flocks that live here. They've agreed to carry any messages you might have..." He paused only to find himself getting pecked in the head by a large raspberry colored female. "...if you tell them where they're going!" He yelped hoping away from the female crow.
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:26 pm
Shrivatsa couldn't help but stare at the swarm of colorful birds. She'd often seen the spirit-touched birds flitting about but hadn't actually known just how many of them there were. She had expected to be working with maybe five birds, not dozens. "I am Shrivatsa, alpha of the Padmapani herd." She bowed slightly in greeting to the array of birds that had descended.
"And I am Hayagriva, protector of the Padmapani herd. Thank you for agreeing to assist us." Haya was likewise surprised at the level of bird participation. He wondered what the flutters might be paying the local birds in order to gain their cooperation. What did birds even want? Seeds? Shiny things? As they were not being asked about it, he assumed that the Padmapani owed these birds nothing for their cooperation.
"I'm starting to see this is something we should have looked into a lot earlier," he said wryly. He could easily think of half a dozen situations where a flock of messenger birds would have been useful.
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:44 pm
Lorenna was significantly less surprised by the numbers. It seemed that you couldn't go anywhere without seeing at least half a dozen crows or their relations perched in the trees. "I would be in agreement with you, Hayagriva." She said examining the birds. They weren't quite as subtle as she was hoping but not all of the spirit touched were as dull in color as Raven and Khaa. "But better now than never. Khaa, their payment is?"
"Reasonable. Both flocks have made reasonable demands." He didn't say any more than that. It wasn't necessary. Lorenna had taught him a handful of phrases to use to indicate how expensive they were looking at. Reasonable roughly translated to 'they just got swindled.'
Lorenna nodded her head. "Then I will deliver your payment a little later to both the Swiftclaws and the Berrythieves." She smiled at all of the crows before turning back to the Padmapani leaders. "Would you like time to get acquainted with your messengers or are they free to get back to their business?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:30 am
Haya surveyed the flocks, picking out distinctive members until he decided he would be able to recognize one without too much trouble. "I can find them and speak with them later," he decided, turning back to Lorenna and Beryl. "In fact, it would be best if we had most of the herd get to know our new allies." If a Padmapani member was in trouble, knowing which bird to go to for passing along a message could mean the difference between help arriving in time and not.
"And that isn't something we need to do immediately." He didn't need to waste the flutter's time by talking logistics with the birds while she stood waiting.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:32 am
"Sooooooo," drawled Beryl, suddenly breaking her long silence. "Does that mean we're finishing up here?" She blinked at Lorenna and the herd leaders. It really had been a very short conversation, all things considered. Soquili with a grudge were real easy sells, it seemed like. Beryl was personally very surprised that they hadn't at least tried for payment. Even if she wanted to do something, she would still try to wring as much benefit out of it as possible.
She just hoped they weren't going to start a long chitchat about organization or something. She was starting to get hungry and didn't want to stand around all day.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:44 am
"I'll leave introducing the rest of your herd to the flocks to you two then." Lorenna said before looking to Beryl. "I believe we are done here, Beryl. Unless there's something else the Padmapani leaders wish to cover. If not then we don't really have time to be wasting if we want to set this network up properly before something happens." Lorenna turned back to Shrivatsa and Hayagriva to wait for their dismissal. It would be rude and possibly hazardous to their mission to leave without an okay. Who knew how they'd take being brushed off.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:34 am
"I think the plan is clear," said Shrivatsa. It was a hasty little meeting for something that might have such a large effect on matters, but she supposed the two flutters probably had a lot of other things that needed doing. The information system they were setting up didn't seem to be a simple one.
"I hope we are able to help you," added Haya. "It's about time that someone took an organized approach to dealing with the kalonas." Maybe, he hoped, this would be the final push to make Padmapani lands truly safe. Maybe if they could get enough participation they could drive the kalona away from all peace-loving soquili. It was still a fragile and tenuous hope, but it was hope indeed. Haya was very glad to have met these strange flutters, and wondered how the course of fate may have been changed by it.
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