Welcome to Gaia! ::

After a brief moment, Tousled came out of the reverie and noticed the lonely, indecisive little mus standing close by as she again tried to preen herself.

"Oh, hello there," she mumbled quietly, trying her best not to startle the little creature. "Do you think you could help me a little? I won't eat you, I promise. I can tell that you're important to Whirlwind." Speaking was much easier now, even though her voice was still weaker - breezier, one might say - than it usually was because she was hesitant to try to draw too deep breaths. Her bruises and the talon marks on her back still hurt, but that was all going to be taken care of soon: Foremost on Tousled's mind was something entirely different.

"See, I'd like to get some of the wetness out of my feathers... Do you think you could help me preen them a little? It hurts when I move too much..."

Wit’s tiny furry ears sank back when the deep woods sentinel addressed him personally. Even though he was at first slightly afraid of Tousled, the little companion couldn’t help but feel captivated by the female’s quiet voice (as well as immensely glad the sentinel wasn’t speaking loud enough for her master to hear).

“First look. If see blood, I do “pressre”… “pressu”… pressure.” He eyed the female expectantly looking for any signs of aggression before daring to climb up the female’s back, looking for the wounds made by the fledgling’s talons. He found the thin entry marks but very little blood. “No blood. Little blood. No need pressre. Paws can be dirty now.“ The mus hesitated for a second before he slid down to the ground and began to get the water off Tousled’s tail feathers (she did seem nice but he’d rather not stand too close to her beak). “Feathers are…” he started but didn’t seem to find the right word so he continued his new task in silence.

Whirlwind smiled happily. “The witch hazel is very useful. Apothecaries can make medicines with its leaves and bark. Generally, I use it to stop bleeding inside and outside of the body. And to prevent strong wound reactions as well. But it has many uses. For instance, it can be used in bruises and sprains. It also speeds up the skin recovery after an injury. But one must make sure he’s dealing with an experienced apothecary… the wrong dose can have some bad effects as well…” The medic’s smile diminished in the last sentence and the female seemed to suddenly remember something.

“Wit! Can you go scout the area outside? Wait… better not. You look a little too much like bait… I’ll go…” As she said, so she did. Whirlwind moved towards the shelter’s opening and glanced around, shivering a little as she felt the cold wind brush her face. She didn’t see much and what she did manage to see was… Too close. Too. close.

But she would remain quiet for the fledgling’s sake.

"I know," Tousled said softly at the little rodent's observation. "Nothing to do about that. Thank you for helping me, though."

Her eyes shut tiredly for a while and she enjoyed the feeling of having her feathers carefully taken care of - though she would have preferred to do it herself, this really wasn't so bad. Tuft would have helped her if he had been here. Birch too, perhaps... She felt herself fluff up a little with embarrassment at the thought of the bright Bard. What would he say if he found out what a foolish risk she had taken? Oh, and what would Moult say? Oh no... perhaps it would be better to try to keep herself scarce for a little while, once all of this was over, at least until she wouldn't show any signs of injury. No use worrying them like that.

But she glanced up at the medic and the little fledgling with a slightly giddy smile. A little bit brave, perhaps. And a little bit useful. That wasn't bad at all - worth a few stings and aches.

And then the sky was rent apart, night made into painfully bright day by the sound of a hundred Thunderbirds, duking it out right above their heads. Tousled flinched so violently that she fell over and hit her breastbone again - hard enough to drown out the cacophony in a temporary surge of pain.

"Wha-what was that?" she gasped breathlessly, once the ominous creaking and crashing had passed, and the tree seemed to remain stable around them.

Whirlwind fell backwards when the Thunderbird let out the last sequence of angry roars. It might have surprised everyone in the shelter but the biggest surprise was hers. For the first time in her life, she actually saw a tree being struck by lightning… right before the shelter’s ceiling and her four talons became all she could see.

“I think it’s over.” she said warily lifting herself up “The Thunderbird… he sure didn’t want to leave quietly, did he?” the medic attempted a small smile but with her frightened expression didn’t quite turn out as she intended. “Don’t worry little one! It’s okay, just remember that no matter how scary the Thunderbird seems, he always brings more than he takes.” She tried to be convincing but her unsteady voice betrayed her. “And … you… are you alright? I still… don’t know your name.” she moved closer to Tousled and nudged her softly finding a shaking mus hiding under Tousled’s wing.

((Craneberry is so pretty!))

"Tousled," the little one in the corner peeped, "I'm... I'm... Craneberry."

She inched closer to the other two, in case the Thunderbird should want to make a lot of noise again. Seeing adult Sentinels fall over had scared her, they weren’t supposed to do that. They were supposed to be strong and protect fledglings. But they were still her only security in this shelter, so she wanted to stay close to them.

"'M scared," she mumbled into her chest feathers, longing for her mother, or father, or even a minder to hide under.

Tousled's smile widened slightly as the medic laughed, but it was only to try to hide a slight embarrassment. "Yes..." she replied quietly, and focussed her attention on the little ghost fledgling instead.

"Craneberry, you said?" She groped around for something to say that might make the little one feel better, and perhaps not think about the storm. As Whirlwind turned towards the opening, the little crafter nodded carefully at Craneberry. "That's a very pretty name." She could tell that the little girl wanted some closeness, but now that the worst of her little adventure was over with, Tousled's usual shyness was beginning to return. Instead of scooting closer, like she would have liked to do, the ruffled female hesitantly opened her wings in invitation, to let the young Ghost decide for herself what she wanted to do.

"It's as Whirlwind said, you know: The worst is over now. We'll soon have you back with your... minders. Or parents. There's nothing to be scared about, anymore."

Tousled didn't even think about how close to ground level they were: In her exhaustion she had conveniently forgotten all about it.

Whirlwind hopped from branch to branch until she sat at a considerable height. Dear, dear… was the shelter really that low? The soft rain flickered around her face and the medic narrowed her eyes at the tamed wind, forgetting all about the wicked storm that had passed and how close to the dreaded ground the shelter was. Her eyes traveled in every direction taking advantage of the new found visibility, looking for some sort of hollow or depression where the three sentinels could fit comfortably. It was still quite cold so a large hollow would be ideal… even if it didn’t seem like the easiest thing to find at the moment.

Whirlwind strayed for a few moments, gliding until the cold air got to her and the medic’s body started trembling softly as she flew. Whirlwind stopped for a moment, landing heavily an old oak tree with wide branches. She immediately spotted a small depression of an oddly bent tree trunk nearby and proceeded to carefully inspect it. It wasn’t much really but the crooked tree’s conformation created a space sheltered enough from the rain and wind. It’s didn’t look like it had been used in a long time but it was well kept and apart from a small draft, it looked perfect. It was obviously part of someone’s territory but thankfully the owner didn’t seem to be close enough to notice the intrusion. Nonetheless, she hooted a soft greeting and finding herself without a reply, the deep woods female whirled around, fully intending to get back to the gatherer’s shelter. And then…

“Wait… Where did I come from?”

She stared at the tall trees, wide-eyed and worried, completely oblivious as to where she’d have to fly to reach Tousled and Craneberry. Still, they couldn’t be too far. She shook the water from her feathers and hooted an insistent call, praying to Noctus that Tousled could hear her... and answer.