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The past few days had the buck aggravatedly swinging between feeling oddly antsy and unsatisfyingly exhausted. He couldn't say when the preoccupying thought grew in his mind, the urging, but enough was enough. Dousan had gone to sleep just after sunset, intent on resting until dawn, but his mind and body weren't having it. When he woke, the world was dark and filled with the familiar sounds of Homewood at night. The chirring of insects and frogs, the sighing of the trees. The world was at rest, as he should be. Yet the cream champagne buck felt more awake and alert than he had over the previous days.


He wouldn't wait any longer. He couldn't. Genuine peaceful rest felt out of reach until he accomplished the need that had gripped him so. Go to the Grandfather Tree, right now. All else would work itself out after. In a fluid motion, his hooves were underneath him and Dousan was out into the night. Glancing about the area immediately around his den, he accounted for his surroundings, then left Barrens-bound.

His movements was more cautious while closer to home, but upon leaving the trees and grasses of his for the more open spaces of the Barrens, the buck switched to a full run. Mane and tail streamed behind him as he sprinted onward. The yawning vast desert spread in all directions around him. A clouded full moon cast stark shadows across the dusty, broken earth. A saving grace he half mused was that a run now would be more tolerable than one during the baking heat of the day. Dousan ran until his muscles ached. The urging kept him moving forward. Slowing his pace when the rise of the Grandfather Tree's plateau came into view, the fellow breathed deep to try to slow his mind and his racing heart. Surely it should have taken more time, and yet there was his destination before him. He was needed here.

The nearer he drew, a sense of almost awe crept into his awareness, drowning out the ponderance of the strangeness of his journey here. The great oak's white bark shone in the moonlight from its seat atop its rise. Dousan swallowed his nerves and approached the base of the Grandfather Tree, gazing up into its branches.

"I am here, to learn, to understand..." He shook his head. No. that didn't encompass the entirety of what he was feeling. "For whatever it is that you need of me."

(( WC: 413 ))

ll Flourish ll

You have been travelling the barrens for days without sign of food or water. You are on your last legs when you finally spot something green in the distance. Is it a mirage? Or is it real? Do you risk going further to chase the green or do you take the safe route and return home?

In one moment, Dousan had been standing amid the Grandfather Tree’s reaching roots with a cool night breeze gently sweeping across the rise, then in a blink he was elsewhere. The moon was gone from the sky and the sun was creeping towards its zenith. He was walking and walking. The oak’s plateau was nowhere to be seen and, judging from how the buck felt, with muscles aching, hide slicked with sweat, parched throat burning, he’d been walking in the Barrens for days. Perhaps he had been searching for something or traveling to find someone? Most foot falls were accompanied by kicking up small plumes of dust from the desiccated earth. He was thirsty and there was a gnawing emptiness in his gut. Mentally, Dousan kicked himself but shook off the frustration. Clearly his destination was important enough to be walking straight through the Barrens through the day as well as the night.

He felt bone tired. Slowing his pace gradually to a stop, he Looked back the way he had been walking, toward Homewood, where food, and drink, rest, and company waited for him. All he’d have to do is turn around and head home. His gaze continued scanning the horizons and paused. He narrowed his eyes against the glare. Was that green? Was he seeing things? The Barrens had a way of playing with the mind and vision of those crossing them. He angled his head. Mirages always resembled water though, like distant glistening pools. Silver if anything, not green. The lax position that his ears had been held at shifted to a more perked up one. While it was still a ways off, If he was close enough to see that shade of green perhaps it was close enough for him to reach. What was a little further of a run at this point anyway? Sparing one last glance behind, Dousan refocused on the smudge of green in the distance. On he went! Was his thirst any less? Did this lessen the hollow grumbling of his empty belly? Did it soothe his tired, aching body? No. Those remained, but his mind raced ahead, buoyed up with determination and hopeful thoughts of what lay ahead to, at least for the time being, make his hurts seem less prevalent.

En route, he was vaguely aware that it was sheer force of will that kept his muscles moving forward, but hope gradually changed to delight. The green wasn’t disappearing! It wasn’t keeping its distance by dancing ever further along the horizon. It wasn’t much, but the patch of sparsely scattered low growing scrub elated him. Maybe a Noul gifted with Botanic magic had worked here, some sort of healing done! Or maybe it could be an odd patch life soon to be reclaimed by the burning desert. Regardless, it was a welcome sight to behold!

((WC: 548 ))