Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Be quiet Ellis, don’t tell them your name,” Charlie ordered the little kid with his mistake unknown to him.

The little shrieker then huddled with the smaller gal who announced their parent’s attitude towards the tales of small folks. She gave the little girl a friendly pat on her head for her efforts and a kiss on the forehead just like how their mother would do so.

“They look cute Charlie, I think they’re those faeries an’ an’ an’,” she stuttered a bit as she tried pulling things from memory,” An’ momma said they are the spirits of the forest.”

Charlie looked at her and then back to the fox and Delai. Maybe they are forest spirits he thought, But he’s heard of good ones and bad ones, and knows well of those that steal naughty children away. He found them too small to be the boogeymen. They had to be some spirits anyways, especially with the talking fox.

“What do you spirits want?”


The children found that the little person spoke very much like their parents when they spoke of myths and legends. They saw that they might as well be the spirits of the forest. They did match the criteria of abnormally sized people and talking animals.

“My permission?” Charlie replied with a questioning look. “Yes, sure, you can go through here just as long as you don’t eat our chicken or our goats.”

The other children nodded in approval as they now bravely stood beside Charlie. Ellis held the hand of the younger of the two girls as they walked closer to the Kokiri and the Iki. They lifted their short little legs over leaves and branches, and nearly stumbled across the uneven ground as they crouched near them. Their eyes just glanced at the two. The little girl was curious enough to touch Croofor’s cheek.

Croofor shook a bit as he shied away from the little girl’s hand, and startled her for a bit. He reluctantly let her pet him and closed as his eyes as her little fingers brushed against his cheeks and brows.

“Are you going to meet with our King?”
“Yeah!?” The older gal exclaimed, “We’ve never even seen or met lords and ladies before.”

Charlie nodded his head as he took the girl’s hand in the same manner as the younger ones, and motioned them with his hand to follow him.

“We should go then, it must be important for forest spirits to come out of their homes.”

For the past night, Maelyn had been camping unceremoniously at the edge of the forest, with two of the most unruly horses from her corral. The lock down was surprising, and in all respect, she would've liked to flip the politicians and higher-ups, and run as fast as she could back to her father's, not to mention the rest of the horses', side. But who was she to question government.

She was used to camping. It came naturally to an Anjt. But it was being so near to the forest that scared her most. So many bad scenarios could come of that mass of overgrown trees. She'd not heard great things about the forest, and had not seen great things either. Every fourth season, of dry weather and hot sun, the tribe would settle near the trees, and every time, one of the horses left only a trail of blood in the night. She shivered merely at the thought, and hugged herself, hands grazing the piercings on her back.

She huddled closer to the fire, pulling lightly on the reins of Bourgeon and Klaptack, making soothing clicking and humming sounds, both to settle herself, and the on-the-verge-of-spooked horses. It would be another long night.

(thank you very much for the warning. Ghost, do you want to just wait two weeks or finish up this children thing?)

Delai and Croofor darted through the small farm, hoping not to attract any more attention. They were hoping to cut straight through, but they found that in order to avoid the adults working on the farm, they had to enter the woods again. Woods were slower going, but provided much needed cover for little scurrying things such as themselves. Now, at least, they could turn their path northward.

The woods seemed to disappear and reappear sporadically as they skirted the edge of it, heading north. They were both tired, and about to camp, when they heard the sound of horses -- large beasts, that. They would attempt to go around, underestimating the Anjt.

Maelyn was very close to falling asleep. The horses had lowered themselves to the ground, and were dozing as well. She had leaned herself against the side of Klaptack, but was instantly on alert when his muscles tensed. She too, was alert.

It was the soft patter of feet that she heard. She stood, following the twitching of the horses' ears, and was soon facing toward the group of small people. She had, quite embarrassingly, forgotten her weapons back at camp. This was only supposed to be a quick exercise to get the jitters out of the unruly horses. She raised the horses to their feet, and swung herself lithely onto Klaptack's back, Bourgeon's reins still grasped in her hand. She'd bolt if they had to. "Who goes?" She questioned.

Maelyn's eyes had by now adjusted to the light, and could easily see the small riders on their large mounts. She was taken aback, for she had heard of these small beings, but had also heard that it was rare to see them out of their forest. She stroked the horse's neck, twining her hands into his mane, and whispering soothing words and tones to him. She then addressed the tiny hunters once more.

"Then you should mean me no harm, I suppose." She said. She slipped from the great animal's back, once again gracefully, all the while keeping a comforting hand on Klaptack's neck. He nickered at her, so she whispered once more to him, and he visibly relaxed, seeming to understand her though probably only responding to the tone in her voice. She looked back a the people in front of her. "But don't you small folk usually keep your hunting limited to the forest? Every season that my tribe has stopped here, we have not once seen your kind. I would like to hope that there is no ulterior motive here." Her eyes narrowed in the dark, but supposed that their dulled height also meant dulled senses, and wouldn't have seen it.

"You viciously scathe my honor!" she accused redundantly. Delai's haughty tone had a timbre of practiced sincerity.

She hoped that the tall one had not heard her mount. Being so far above them, the humans tended to have trouble even hearing Delai. Croofor, then, might sound like a rumbling, growling animal. And she, having no personal experience outside of the forest, had little choice but to accept Croofor's assessment in its totality.

"We are not here to harm your modest little farm!" she promised next, somehow tilting her nose up even further than was necessary to look at Maelyn. "Furthermore, the business of my people is none of your business. Or would you prefer that I question your own motives for being here? With all the strange goings on as of late, I should be the least of your worries." With that demand, Delai was certain that she had succeeded in sidetracking Maelyn's suspicions.

The rest of the pack hung back, but Maelyn probably saw them or guessed that they were there. The Iki mounts waited impatiently, being more devious and twitchy than horses. The Kokiri were hardly the type to calm their mounts, for although the hunters that had come with them were trained in such things, they also chose the spunkiest mounts.

((er, they were traveling with, like, a pack, weren't they? lol))