Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tal strolled out across the field and peeked over the fence. She was enjoying the warm spring sun that shone down upon them unimpeded. The woods had been a little chilly, with the snow melting and such. Here all was green and warm and growing.

Morgana went bounding past her, leaping gracefully over the fence, to the other side of the meadow's "plate". Little Elana went scampering after her, wriggling her way through one of the squares made by the wirse. Tal stuck the toes of her hiking boots in these as well to climb over. Just then Geldan also barreled through, his round tummy nearly getting him stuck before he popped out on the other side. Tal stayed where she was so she wouldn't land on the plump green pup. Once he scurried off with the others, she dropped to the ground and meandered after them.

She came first to Morgana, who was sitting quietly, tail curled over her paws, watching the pups with clear amusement. Curious, Tal looked on to see what was so entertaining. Just ahead she saw Elana's form leaping about, whirling and jumping and kicking in mid-air. Now, this wasn't all that unusual a sight, really. Elana seemed to delight in dancing, in ANY form. But this time she wasn't just dancing, but she was pouncing, and yipping and barking, at something else. And it wasn't Geldan, for he cam scampering back, yapping excitedly.

"It seems Elana has found something, Mother." Morgana said with a smile, her voice melodious as always. "Let's go find out who she is playing with." And with that Morgan padded forward, lovely busy tail waving slowly.

Tal followed, with Geldan bouncing at her heels. When she arrived near Elana, at first she was alarmed and dismayed. A small young bunny was darting back and forth, staying within Elana's pouncing paws. For that alarming first moment it looked as if Elana was chasing and trying to hurt the rabbit. But soon it became apparent that they were playing together!

"Elana, who is your friend?" Tal asked softly, so as not to frighten the wild bunny. She crouched low to make herself smaller and sat down nearby. Elana yipped happily and bounded over to her, gracefully as always, and the bunny came with her. Elana leaped up into Tal's lap, and astonishingly, the rabbit followed! Laughing, Tal tousled the pup and gently petted the long-eared creature. It was black with a bright blue eye and white on it's chest. "Hello there, sweetheart," she crooned.

Elana barked then, clearly telling her seomthing. Mystified, Tal looked to Morgana for a translation. The talkative wolf was pleased to oblige. "Elana has named her Mittens... though I haven't a clue why." Morgana barked a laugh.

During this wild escapade, the wind gusted merrily across the open field of grass and growing thigns. It carried with it the scent of many blooming things, as well as bits and pieces of those same blooming things. The spring wind blew around the humans and wolves, scattering things left and right. A delicate blossom blew past Pixie and caught on Aura's blanket, appearing to be more of a decoration than an accident.



Meanwhile, Celestia was trying to find something in the rock pile. With her hand stuck into the crevice as far as it would go, her fingertips grazed something that shifted under her touch. When she tried again, it shifted again, falling right of it's ledge and into a larger crevice. This one was deep, but not very wide. Attempting to reach whatever it was she had loosened, she gingerly stuck her entire arm in. Maddeningly, only her fingertips barely brushed it. She just couldn't quite reach it. She definitely needed help of some kind to retrieve whatever it was!

Hearing a melodical cry from above, Blade glanced up to see Jade circling over the series of boulders Celestia was hanging around. Blinking as he watched her pry away at something there, he shook his head slightly.

He was about to ask her if she needed any help, but he just watched her and her pets for awhile before moving on.

For this area, he just couldn't think of any places to search.

Before long, Tessa had managed to swat the object out of the crevice and into Celestia's hand. The fox-like creature looked quite pleased with herself and pranced about as Celestia examined it. It looked an awful lot like the stone disc that Blade had found at the last location. It was the same size and made of the same sort of rock, smoothed evenly, except for a single rune carved into it's surface.



Tal meanwhile had made her way back across the fence, hugging Wolfie before scrambling over. "I'm reasonably sure. I'm going to go see if the others have found anything yet," she called back encouragingly. Mittens had decided to ride in Tal's arms, while her troop of wolves capered about her. Elana seemed most proud of herself for having found such a popular new friend, for the others kept sniffing at the rabbit, or leaping up to get a better view of her. All the while, the black bunny sat calmly but alertly in her servant's arms, ears perked and swiveling, nose a-twitching.

When this entourage met with the others near the pile of rocks, Tal smiled at Blade. "Any results?" Just then she spotted Celestia scrambling down from the pile, a stone disc in her hands. "Fabulous!" she cheered. Let's take a moment to catch our breaths, shall we?"

After a time of sitting and chatting quietly, during which time Wolfie joined them, Talencia pulled the map out again. "Now, let's see... where is the picture of this round meadow?" Mittnes, who was sitting in her lap, poked her little head over the map, then solemnly placed a dainty paw on a picture. Amused, Tal stroked the rabbit's velvety ears and then set her down. Peering at where Mittens had touched, she saw sure enough it looked like their currently location.

"Find a place where man would hide/Be a beast, don't go inside." She mulled this over. "It clearly can't be the house... but where else would a person hide?"

"It said a man, mother." Morgana reminded her, prim paws tucked under her tail as she sat nearby. Since learning to talk, the she-wolf had always been very specific about her words, and felt everyone else should be too. "Not a person, a man."

"A man? Like Mr. Hill?" She glanced at Wolfie questioningly. "Where would he 'hide'? A manly retreat? What.... about that place you told me about Wolfie?" She wriggled closer to her good friend, getting excited again. "Remember? A sort of shack you said he tended to go to when Aunt Bea got too frilly for him?" She bounced, her tail of long hair flapping. It was in a deep part of the forest! I remember now!"

And with that, Tal was off. This whole adventure seemed to ignite a fervor in her. She loved mysteries and riddles and hiking, so this was right up her alley. She didn't quite charge off so fast this time, recalling how the others almost got left behind. Instead she walked quickly, casting glances back at them to be sure they were following her alright.

Into the woods she led them, away from the large, bright circle of green meadow and into the almost chilly shade of the trees. It took some time, though they were helped by hitting a very faint, narrow trail. Eventually, something was visible through the screening trucks. Tal stopped right in front of it triumphantly.

It was a very old abandoned building. It was covered in chunky, hand-made shingles of wood and was extremely tiny, only big enough for perhaps a chair and a desk inside with a little space for movement left over. It sat upon a solid concrete foundation and sported a hinged screendoor that covered a rough plank door. It did sort of remind Tal of a ship's door, but perhaps that was just her imagination. The shack also had two windows, one on each side of the door, but no others. The trees had grown in close to the shack and branches hung over it as a natural second roof. Vines crept up the sides of the shack, and bushes grew near it.

But where did that riddle mean the rune was hidden??

((Wow, I found something and didn't even realise! xd I must remember to come back in here more often.))

Pixie tugged at the delicate blossom attached to Aura's blanket, but not so hard as to damage it. "Ooh it's beautiful," she murmured, before realising that everyone was gathering around to listen to the next clue.

As the others headed off in the direction of the old shack, Pixie gently placed the blossom into a pocket. Looking up again, she was just in time to catch sight of the last of the adventurers. "Woah, I'd better keep up or I'll miss out on all the excitement!"

Pulling the blanket closer around Aura and repositioning her for the trip, Pixie half ran, half walked after the last of the searchers.

Pixie caught up to the others and stood back watching the activity around the rundown shack. Seeing Blade pulling back the shingles, she wandered over to see if his work would prove fruitful. Aura stirred and woke, hearing the creaking and scraping of the wood. Tongue out, she tried to lick at the dust-covered window.

Wolfie turned around in time to see Blue arrive with her kaboodle of moonlit pups at her heels. "Welcome back to the pack." Wolfie kidded. She knelt in the mossy underbrush and scraped some moss off a rock. Nudging it a little harder with her foot, she uprooted it from its home.

Spying a tiny walkway to the shack, built with chipped pieces of slate embedded in the ground, Wolfie had an idea. With her fingertips she began clawing at the slate, tring to find a loose edge. With a heave, she managed to grasp one, sending her sprawling onto her butt, the stone held high over her head. Wolfie closed her eyes as dirt rained down upon her. With a cringe she hoped there were no creepy crawlies in sight.

With the stone in her hand, Celestia gently rubbed her thumb over the surface. She could feel where the stone dipped in to form the strange rune. Something mysterious was tugging on the edges her mind, calling for her to figure something out...

"Nice job there."

Celestia jerked up and her senses came flooding back. Since when did they stop? Suddenly, she could hear again and notice her surroundings. She looked up and saw Blade walking away after he shouted his congratulations. She glanced at the rune once more before slipping it into her jacket pocket.

Rei quickly snagged Tessa and said, "I'll take her home. I'll meet you at the next place." Without another word, he ran with Tessa carefully held by the ruff. Hisana gently nipped at Celestia's fingertips and said, "Time to go. There's another place to go to!" Shaking her head to get rid of it's cobwebs, Celestia quickly jogged to catch up.

When the group arrived at the cabin, they could see Blade tugging off shingles while Wolfie was checked under a rock. And there Rei was, sitting in the shade of a tall tree and whipping up a dust storm with his tail as he waited for his owner. Plopped next to him was a silvery-white puppy. With dark grey stars scattered across its fur, the puppy yawned and decided to settle down for a nap.

Celestia knelt down and cooed at the sleepy pup. "You guys have a tendency of finding animals, don't you?" she laughed as she gently combed through the soft, luxurious fur. "I found her on the way back, just... lying there in the middle of the path," Rei explained, "She looked too young to be by herself, so I thought..." Celestia nodded and gently lifted and cuddled the pup.

"I think I'll call you, Hoshi," Celestia murmured into the fur. She settled herself against the rough bark of the tree with the slumbering Hoshi.

Hisana and Rei glanced at each other and raced ahead to see what other people were doing.

Talencia watched the others while she mulled the riddle. "Be a beast?" she mused aloud. "How can we be like beasts?" She began to circle the small shack while she spoke. "Well... beasts usually don't go inside, so that makes sense," but was interrupted by the happy yapping of one of the many wolves, who also circled the house and were nosign here and there. "Well," she amended, "MOST beasts don't go inside, heh."

She continued pacing around the shack slowly as she thought. "But how can we humans be like beasts?" She looked up as Blue ran up. "Have an ideas on how to act like a beast, Blue?" she called. She had a feeling that this was a very important part of the clue, and if they didn't figure it out, they wouldn't find the rune.