[PRP] Away, Away (Wood Spider & Strange Land) FIN

[phoenix kiss]

Most kimeti does, when blessed with a clutch, tend to settle down and find a corner of the Swamp suitable to leave their eggs in: something not too wet (for the eggs will sink into the mud), not too dry (they will die out, hanging like pieces of leather in their cradles), and not where alligators will find them an easy snack. It is an important process to go through, and as the Swamp is vast and secretive, a pregnant doe can spend days trying to find a nest.

The same is true of Wood Spider, though she goes about her seeking in an exceptionally dawdling way. From sunup to sundown she picks her way through the swamp, steps made a bit stolid and ungainly by her rounded stomach. It swings out from side to side as she walks, and already it's been striped and splattered with mud, leaves have stuck to it, and it has put her in a foul mood. Held in her mouth and wound around her tail are protective charms and baubles to leave at a potential nest-site: beetle-shell, sprigs of a sweet-smelling grass, a lily she found, a songbird egg that will never hatch, and a mouse skull. Her young will be the most well-protected in the Swamp; the baubles leave her supremely confident of this fact, which helps abate the dark mood the trek has left her in.

Of course, none of this prepares her for what is to come; in thinking of the future and her small young, she has forgotten to notice the swamp drying out, the mud giving way to soft, hardpacked dirt. Even the trees are different. The giant mangroves and cypress trees are becoming smaller, stunted, and eventually give out entirely ... to the beginnings of a vast plain, whose dirt is crazed with a hundred thousand cracks from where the sun has baked it. One of the foals in her womb [is it a foal? or just a pang of pain?] kicks her, as if to prove a point: wake up, you have come to the end.

Without even thinking about it, or why, Wood Spider cries out in horror, turns on a clumsy heel, and races back into the swamp, back away from the plain, back away from the openness. In her quest to get away from the plain as quickly as is possible, the mouse skull and one of the lilies go tumbling out of her mouth. Unwilling to leave them behind, but not really wanting to go back out onto the edge again, she pauses in a dither, looking wildly around for what to do.  

[lostandtold]

For many days now, Strange Land has been working his way north, pulled by some deep sadness in his heart. He doesn't know where it comes from, or why he feels it, only that the source is in the north, and that he must find it.

The trees grow smaller, the earth drier, the song of the cicadas softer, and eventually he emerges onto a vast plain. The sight of it takes his breath away -- though it is nothing like the strange colors and thick air of his dream, it is still new, vast, and beyond anything he has ever seen before.

As he watches in wonder, Echo flutters his wings and chirps, drawing his companion's eyes towards the edge of the trees, where a heavily-pregnant doe is stumbling slowly from the edge of the swamp.

Quite suddenly she lets out a cry and turns, fleeing, and he spots two small objects left in her wake. "Your pardon," he calls to her, trotting towards where she's paused, "Are you all right?"  

[phoenix kiss]

No longer worried about her dropped charms, Wood Spider freezes, planting all four hooves and coming to an abrupt stop, startled by the sound of the other kimeti's voice. She recognizes it for a voice, not a predator's cry or the sigh of wind over the plain, and for a moment is totally frozen with embarassment for having acted like a fool in front of company. Strange Land will get the peculiar pleasure of seeing her shake her head and turn around to regard him, one ear twitching at the effort to calm down and act as befits a normal doe. One who is trying very hard not to stop and pore through the undergrowth for a mouse skull.

She nods to him, eyes a little over-bright. "Oh," she says, "Yes. I just -- wasn't prepared for that," she adds with a bit of a shudder, indicating the vast stretch of flat, open plain. Unnerving, to say the least. "I was wandering and found it all of a sudden. And I've dropped my things in the process," she finishes, a little lamely -- there is actual sadness in her voice. "I was trying to find a suitable place for a nest, you see. I had protection of all kinds."  

[lostandtold]

Strange Land doesn't seem bothered by the doe's behavior, just trots over amiably. "Ah, I see. What did you drop?" When he reaches the point where she'd been, he begins to cast about on the ground, searching for the small objects he saw drop. "This is a rather strange sight, I admit. I have never seen its like before, and I have traveled much of the swamp in search of new lands." He seems more curious than afraid or unnerved, examining the cracked earth thoughtfully.

"Protection?" He lifts his head to regard her, and the many small object she's carrying. "You are caring indeed, to go to such lengths for your young. May I ask your name?"  

[phoenix kiss]

"Wood Spider."

The buck (and his calm nature) are charming, indeed; Wood Spider dithers for a moment before returning her focus to the task at hand, watching the gaily-colored buck search around for the lily and the mouse skull. Of all things! "And a lily -- and a skull. For protection, you see; the skull protects against mice. The lily wards off stinging insects -- ah!" She stoops for a moment and then returns with the lily in her mouth, its orange beauty somewhat wilted. When she speaks, her voice is a bit muffled, "I got carried away looking for a nest -- and found that." She tips her head to one side, indicating the plain.

"Have you ever seen anything like it before?" Muffled, yes, but it gets the point across. After a moment she lays the flower on a jutting rock to avoid chewing it or wilting it further. "It's horrible! I don't know anything to stop it, either -- I doubt anything would grow on that awful dirt."  

[lostandtold]

"I am Strange Land." He smiles at her, the movement making his black-and-white mask shift. "I did not know that -- please, tell me more. What do your other charms do?" He's curious, ever curious, and Wood Spider knows secrets he has never heard of before. Finally, he finds the mouse skull, which has fallen into a crack in the mud. The crack is too narrow for his hoof to reach in, and he cannot do so without possibly crushing the skull.

Lifting his head, he calls, a long, cheerful string of melody, and a songbird, just as brightly colored, comes flittering out of the trees. "This is Echo, my friend." The songbird flutters down to the ground, and his delicate talons can reach into the crack and retrieve the skull without damaging it. Strange Land picks it up in his mouth and trots back to her, depositing it on the rock next to her lily.

"I have never seen its like, no. I must wonder...was it one of the original lands made by the Motherfather? How came it to be so desolate-seeming, and why would she make such a place?" His voice is more awed than horrified.  

[phoenix kiss]

"She? I thought the Motherfather was a he..." but Spider lets that go, admittedly impressed by the finesse Strange Land showed -- and the bird! So pretty! Wood Spider takes a step closer, regarding Echo and his brilliant feathers, and then seems relieved. Both of her things have been retrieved; the matter of actually finding a nest is still at hand, but she has successfully managed to not lose her charms, and has made a new acquaintence in the process.

She blinks at him, and then picks up where she'd left off. "I'm sure there are things out there -- whatever can survive with no water, or no trees. Or no shade. I haven't seen anything yet, but that doesn't mean there isn't." She pauses and shakes her head, "That certainly doesn't seem to be stopping the flies. But where did you get your songbird?" Again, another twist of subject. "I've never seen one so brightly colored, or as smart."  

[lostandtold]

"Motherfather is, I think, neither; I choose to use she." Strange smiles at her as she examines Echo's bright feathers, and the songbird preens, unashamedly basking in the attention.

"There must be. But I know not what manner of creature could survive there." Still, he is sure that the Motherfather has provided for the creatures of the plains, as much as she has provided for the kimeti of the swamp. "The flies, it seems, are more pervasive than any other."

He keeps up with her twists of subjects easily. "Echo found me, actually. Just flew down from the branches and decided that my horn would make a fine perch, and my voice a fine counterpart." The songbird flutters to Wood Spider's shoulder, leaning up to rub his beak against her cheek and chirp sweet things at her. Strange smiles, broadly, amused as always by Echo's antics.  

[phoenix kiss]

Wood Spider blinks and holds completely, artfully still as Echo croons sweet things in her ear. With the songbird being such a charmer, it's easy to forget about the horrible and oppressively-dry plains just to their west. Better, probably, to focus on the Motherfather, and the plans she should be making to ensure the livelihood of her young. She turns and gathers up her charms, holding the lily carefully in her mouth, and then picking up the skull with just her teeth. Better not to crush either... from time and experience, Spider knows that bones taste terrible.

"I'll have to find a section of the Swamp where the flies aren't as thick -- away from this horrible place." The mild terror she feels at the plains is obvious, that much is true; she shudders at it. "You're welcome to join me in the search. You seem to know a great deal about traveling."  

[lostandtold]

Echo shamelessly flatters her, brushing wingtips over her neck, before finally fluttering back to his usual perch on one of Strange's horns. "Indeed, I would like to accompany you. I do not know very much, but I have traveled alone for a long time. Your company would be much appreciated." But he will return ot the plains, eventually, drawn by that same overwhelming sadness.

"Tell me -- what does the grass do?" He's still curious about her baubles.  

[phoenix kiss]

"The grass?" She gives him a quizzical look, as if she doesn't know which grass he's talking about, or the question is just so odd she doesn't know how to react. She lashes her tail against her flanks, driving off a fly, and then says (in all seriousness), "It makes things soft. And it smells nice; I was going to put it underneath the sacs in case they fall." For once, her reasoning is sound, and satisfied with her own answer, she begins to make her way back deeper into the swamp.

"Have you had any foals of your own?" She makes her way into the sucking mud and the ankle-deep water, relieved beyond measure to be back within the shade and heat of the Swamp. "This is my first clutch; I was visited by one who was blessed by the Motherfather," she says in a low voice. "I hope that it means they will be healthy..."

"Even if she did eat one of my charms." It's said in a huff.  

[lostandtold]

"Yes." He tips his head towards it, curiously. "I see. That's most thoughtful of you."

At the question, he smiles a little, flicking an ear. "I am unsure. We parted before I could tell for sure." But he has his own thoughts about the bright-colored doe who showed him the caves. "You were visited by one of the blessed ones? That is an auspicious sign. I am sure your young will be strong and healthy."

At her last huff, he laughs, twitching a muscle to dislodge a fly. "Did she, now?" His question invites explanation.  

[phoenix kiss]

"It was a spider, in its web," Wood Spider says almost with a sigh. "The blessed one -- her name was Webweave -- swooped in and ate it." Not that she did so because she was in her crane-shape; the fact remains that Webweave ate it. Wood Spider shrugs, hopping over a fallen log, and looks around. She'll know her nest when she sees it: nothing too big, nothing too small, protected from the elements. Perhaps in the hollow of a cypress trunk. "It was beautiful. I would have used it for protection; they keep away flies."  

[lostandtold]

"Indeed? Most unfortunate. I'm sure she hadn't meant to eat your charm." He stepped lightly over roots, mind straying back to the plains for a moment -- at least the plains were flat. "What of the egg? What purpose does it serve?" Knowledge, stories -- perhaps he could sing a song about this doe, who knew the power of talismans.  

[phoenix kiss]

"Why do you ask?" Wood Spider tips her head at Strange Land, curiously, but continues her search into the Swamp. Any day now, she feels, she could find a perfect spot, and she doesn't let much slip past her notice. There, the hollow is too shallow, there, too low, there, the young could be crocodile bait. "The egg is to help with a safe birth." As eggs were eggs, unborn; this one would never hatch, but it was the meaning that counted. "Most things are obvious if you ask them." Asked the charms. "They'll tell you."