Welcome to Gaia! ::

Heidla looked around helplessly. Would there be a horseman valiant enough to serve a priestess in her quest to capture a bunch of wild sealed evils?

And it all started soo well... About a weeks ago, when she got lost in the swamp, she spotted a number of sparkling pentagrams and was intrigued by strange noises and movement in the water. Led by her curiosity she came back after a few days and could watch little sealed evils enjoying the warm weather on the sandy shores of the water reservoir. Could there be anything cuter? Heidla rushed to cuddle them, but trampled on a tricky surface and fell down and got all dirty and angry. Meanwhile little sealed evils scared by the noise scattered in the water and disappeared.

Now Heidla came up with a better plan. She needed those seals - they would bring back the Clan's memories, she explained it to herself, but more likely, she needed them because they were so funny and lovely and white and irresistible. Just. Irresistible. And she just wanted to have them. That's how the idea of a sealed evil sanctuary came up.

The only problem was that she would never be able to catch them and bring them to the Clans reserve by herself.

Help! Help, anyone? Her lips were trembling.

Heidla raised her eyes almost filled with tears of disappointment. Could it be that someone offered to help her? That was better. Definitively better. A guardian! Yay, could there be a luckier coincidence? Wouldn't it be a defiance of all laws of Death and nature (and Heidla believed in the easy truth that what was in her interest, was natural) if a guardian refused a priestess? A guardian whose purpose was to serve every wish of the priestess.

She found it easy to drop details. Actually, not every guardian was supposed to serve every priestess. And probably, not every wish was supposed to be carried out. But there are so few of them left, so who cares about details? At least, her guardian would have helped her.

With a voice that was used to giving commands, she cried out: "Here! Look, I need to go to the bog to catch...." But there was something in his figure that prompted her to check herself. It might be not that easy to get her way, she could read that much. Besides, it wouldn't hurt her try to make a good impression on him. She signed with impatience, and started again.

"Guardian... I do not know you, but I do believe you're brave and kind. My name's Heidla, I am a priestess, and I need to catch half a dozen of sealed evils", she almost lied that they were of same importance as alpacas, but bit her tongue. She was not sure that the head priestess shared her fascination with the seals. "I would never manage to do it on my own. I would be grateful if you helped me in my quest".

Now, that sounded better.

That was unexpected. Heidla's abilities to describe things were put to test, and she felt confused. "Sealed evils?" she asked almost meekly. "They are lazy and fluffy and white and cute. They appear out of complex pentagrams and just lay there in the sun. To lure one into the trap, you need patience. They are easily frightened. And quite strong if they decide to fight. But they are curious by nature, so sooner or later they will come up to you with most friendly intentions, then you have to hold them tight - and pour three drops of this mixture" - she held the bottle out - "on their nose. Then they will become quiet and fall asleep and allow you to do with them whatever you want..."

She was suddenly anxious. This guardian was so strong and rough and warrior-like and.... she had to stand on her tiptoes to look into his eyes. "But you won't harm them, will you?" she asked imploringly. "They are nice".

"As for the place", she continued bravely. "Don't worry, I will lead the way. It is close to the swamps, and not too far from here". There actually could be doubts about how far the place was, but Heidla decided not to draw attention to it.

And so Heidla led the way. She was walking fast and all but jumping with impatience, as she was too excited to see the sealed evils again, and also reassured by the presence of such a strong and serious person this guardian seemed to be. Could it be that she had seen him before? That might be possible - she never took enough care to remember names; as for his face, it did seem familiar - but then, all Death horsemen had peculiar features that distinguished them from all other clans.

By nature a talkative person, and also eager to distract the guardian from questioning whether the road would be longer than expected, Heidla decided to start a conversation.

"So, guardian... how do you like it here?... And what's your name?"

"Astridr?" Heidla struggled to picture the face behind the name, then a flash of comprehension passed through her face. "Your priestess..."

She paused for a moment unsure whether to follow painful memories. Horsemen were not the friendliest of all races; and their loss made them even more bitter. Probably, it would be better not to bring it up; if he wanted to talk about his past, she would give him a chance to reintroduce the subject later. The priestess looked at his face closely, and what she saw, confirmed her decision. He probably would prefer to keep silence, he doesn't look the emotional type, so she'd better keep to some general subjects.

"I miss home. But I like it here as well", she confessed. "The variety of life. Nature. Trees! And flowers. I have never seen so many flowers before. And so many pets...." she smiled. "We were poor in life around us back home, weren't we? I still have not finished cataloguing everything I saw here. And it seems that our manuscripts were never that complete and detailed I thought they were. There are so many things for us to learn, and I am grateful for that... We also have a chance to experiment. To create new things. New recipes. New designs. Even this elixir..." she cast a glance at the vial he was still holding. "I invented it here".

And I hope it will work, she said to herself.

Heidla gave him a wry smile. What an awkward question! Of course she would test it, though just theoretically. If that could be called testing. "I did, though not on a sealed evil. It made my makini fall asleep, and makinis are far more dangerous than sealed evils".

She just could not believe that a sealed evil could be dangerous at all. One just needed into his dark eyes and touch his friendly nose. Besides, they were almost there, so they'd be able to test it in a couple of minutes.

"We're approaching the place", she said bravely. "Is there any question you want to ask before we start? Also, I think we should set a couple of traps first - but then, it comes only after I let you see them from a distance so that you could judge the danger by yourself. Besides you might have ideas of your own - I guess you had a better chance to participate in a hunt than I had".

She waved her hand in the direction of a clearing in the forest in front of them. "The ground is slippery, we're approaching the edge of the swamp now. But the sealed evils prefer clear water, they don't like to get their coats dirty", she giggled.

So they were finally there. Just as expected, about half a dozen lazy white creatures were sleeping on the beach, and three more were playing in the sandy area.

The priestess took out another vial and smiled friendly: "This smell should attract them and at the same time mask our presence. I guess, the easiest way would be to make a simple bait trap: and as soon as the sealed evil approaches it, we catch it. I will spray a bit of the essence to make the pets develop a craving for it...." she sprayed the movement indeed and then sniffed. "Oh, what a smell"...

It was not a pleasant smell, indeed. But after they hid in the nearby bushes and waited for some time, the first beast started crawling in the direction of the trap.

"Will you be able to hold it and not to frighten the others?" the priestess whispered excitedly.

Heidla took the creature into her hands and inspected whether it was breathing. For a moment, looking at the strong fierce figure she was afraid that Soren could have unintentionally squeezed it too tight and the seal would be dead. But she was wrong, and she signed with relief.

"Excellent job, guardian!" she hushed with approval. "Not that I ever doubted it, but you're even better than expected. I appreciate it".

She put the creature on the earth, and kept holding it with her knees. "They are heavier than expected. I guess we won't be able to carry home more than three of them, but that will do".

Actually, three was not a bad number to start with. She was not too greedy, she reassured herself, she would be fine with three specimen, at least for the moment. She smiled reassuringly to Soren: "Now could we get a couple of its companions? It seems they are not cautious enough, and are not yet aware of our presence".