Driven [Finished]

[Darkmoon Dancer]

The further they travelled into this area, the harder it became for the filly to walk. Her coat was now thoroughly soaked, which she didn't really mind. She liked to swim, this wasn't much different. But her hooves kept getting sucked into the muck, so she had to try twice as hard as normal to remove her feet and plant them once more.

Just as the terrain became more difficult for her, so did thinking. There was a buzz inside of her mind. This grew to murmurs, and then to loud whispers. But there were so many voices! They could barely be told apart. All talking at the same time, all telling her different things. And their volume just kept growing, until she had to sit, her back end sinking in a little bit, just enough to get mostly muddy, to match the streaks already on her face. Just as she did, Golden-spider grumbled his question. Eyes shut tight, ears down, as if it would help, she tried to sort the voices all out.

With some struggle, she manages to say, "There's... so many of them! And.... and they're all speaking at once. They're really hard to tell apart... They're all yelling at me, now. I don't know... I think they're all talking about the same thing, but I can't tell..." She stops a moment, her breathing speeding up a bit. If they grow much louder, she won't be able to stay any longer. "They want you... They want you to find something. Something... dead? Maybe not.... It's not alive, though.... I don't know. I can't understand them." Another moment passes before she points her hoof one way and whispers, "There..."
 

[elufae]

Mourning Fog frowned as mud and water streaked his pale fur a dark brown. This would take hours to clean out. And not to mention, he would smell aweful. Snorting, he looked up to see the filly sit down. She looked. distressed. Both the filly and the buck were strained. Listening to them, he learned that apparently this was the center point of the voices.

Why couldn't he hear them...? He wondered. Were these voices the same as the music Life-Pulse hears? He was going to try and concentrate, see if he could hear anything, when the filly pointed in a direction. At least he wouldn't be stuck in the mud if he kept moving.

Sunwing was resting on Mourning Fog's shoulders now. She was clearly content for not being in the mud.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

After pointing, the filly tries to stand, but once again the voices increase in volume inside of her little head. Overwhelming her, she drops to the ground, now lying on her belly. She buries her head under her front hooves, hoping to dispel the voices. They're still there, just as loud as before. She can't take this, they have to stop! Now she rolls back and forth in the mud, anything to get rid of them. And it works! Or so she thinks...

Either way, the voices come to a sudden stop, and so then does her rolling. She is lying on her back, head down on the ground, limbs curled down towards her body but still in the air. Her breathing slows back down to normal, and only then does she dare to open an eye. With that eye, she sees Golden-Spider walking towards a large group of mangroves. She must have missed something, as he seemed determined to get somewhere. He must have understood the whispers...

Thoroughly one shade of brown now and glad that her mind was clear, Last Whisper tilts her head over to see if Mourning Fog is following Golden-Spider.
 

[elufae]

Mourning Fog looked back and forth from the buck to the filly. The undeniable feeling that he's missed something is now overwhelming as he watches Golden-Spider pace, slip and look towards a grove of mangroves..looking towards the young kimeti, he watches her writhe on the floor, coating herself with mud.

Genuinely baffled, he walks over to her, sure that she is more distressed than the buck. He lowers his head and nudges her, unsure of what to do. The two other kimeti seemed like they couldn't concentrate, like there was so much going on in their heads that it affected their very movements.

Again he closed his eyes, although his nose still rested against Last Whisper. He focused on the swamp around him and strived to hear something other than the obvious. A hum? He couldn't be sure. But it was a start. Sighing, he opened his eyes and continued to watch Last Whisper, pulling back his head a little. Her eyes looked up to him and he asked, though referring to the buck as well, "Are you two alright?"  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

He asked, and she answered, "I... I'm alright now. That was... loud..." Another question, another answer, this one somewhat shouted back, "Nothing, I just had to get rid of them. I don't think they want me listening!" She rolls back over onto her belly and stands up in one fluid movement. She turns her head to Mourning Fog and nuzzles his face, leaving a small patch of mud behind, before following Golden-Spider. She trots to catch up with him, staying level with the pink buck's walking stride so as to stay by his side.

She was just glad that her mind was silent for now. The most she could hear now was a soft buzz that could just be white noise. This, she could deal with.
 

[elufae]

Mourning Fog smiled as the little filly nuzzled him, then took to brushing off the mud with his knee. If he used his hoof, he'd just be getting more mud on him. He was already thinking of taking a nice long bath after this. There was a perfect little stream he knew of.

Trotting along, Mourning continued to think of this and kept an easy pace. He turned to see Last Whisper beside him and smiled again. She was strange, yes, every female kimeti he has met has been unique in their own way, but she was sweet.

He still felt oddly out of place. Things going on around him that he was not aware of. He felt rather helpless in this quest. Unable to hear the guiding voices that spoke to his companions. The smile faded a little and Sunwing glided down onto his back and began to preen his fur in an effort to comfort him.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

When the filly looks back up ahead of her, she just catches a glimpse of Golden-Spider's rump as he slides down the decline on the other side of the roots. She trots up to the edge of this decline and looks down, gauging the distance and angle with one eye, then the other. Oh well... Never know until you try... she thinks to herself as she says, "Come on, Mourning Fog!" Not giving herself enough time to second guess herself, she pushes herself over the edge.

Sliding down such an incline should not be this easy... and just as she thinks this, she passes the half-way mark, where it all goes wrong. Her left foot crossed in front of her right, and in a split second, she was head over heels, tumbling the rest of the way down. She hit the water with a big splash and sank under for a moment before emerging with a big gasp. There. She had made it, looking not too bad for the wear. Having heard the orange buck's question at about the half-mark, she hadn't had a chance to respond 'til now. She turned to him and stroked her feet, propelling herself closer to him. "Sure! Just flail, right?" She giggled to herself here, as this was precisely what swimming looked like to her, no matter who did it or how 'graceful' they looked. It was all just flailing to her.

By now, she had made it upto Golden-Spider, but she had to keep kicking to keep herself afloat, as her short filly legs didn't reach the ground here under the water. Every third kick stung a little, and had they not been in the water, she would be wincing, as her back right leg was cut open and probably bleeding, if only a little. But she bravely fought through this, as it wasn't really all that bad, and she could deal with it later, perhaps when they got out of the water.
 

[elufae]

Mourning winced and almost visibly cringed as he looked at the hill of a mud slide. Definitely a nice long bath. But he knew this journey would be worth it. Perhaps he would learn something at the end. He watched as the filly slid down. Okay, maybe it isn't so ba-- and the she tumbled into the water. He winced again but did not want to be left alone. Not this far into the swamp. He looked at his surroundings, as if to find some sort of familiarity, but found none. He would be utterly lost.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes. Deciding that wasn't the best idea, he opened them up slowly and made his way to the edge. Just as he was crouching down to gently slide down, Sunwing perked her head up from resting on his back and took advantage of the moment to honk with tremendous volume. The sound frightened Mourning so much that he trumpeted as well, and jumped far enough to go skidding down the hill, flailing his legs to catch solid ground, until he, too, tumbled into the water.

Rising to the surface, he shook his head and turned to glare at Sunwing, who flew gracefully in the sky, honking in a laughing sort of way.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

Last Whisper answers the orange buck with a nod. Sure, she was hurt, but that wasn't going to keep her from completing this adventure. She was caught in the middle of an unspoken conversation between the two bucks, and her head swivelled from one to the other, then back again. Once more, she repeated this pattern, but nothing sunk in. Oh well. I guess it's something they understand and I don't need to. She brushes this off quite easily, even though she was vaguely curious as to what the bucks could possibly be talking about without her.
 

[elufae]

Mourning fog shook some of the water off his coat as he stood up. Then his eyes wandered to Last Whisper, relieved that she was fine. Then he looked to Golden-Spider and nodded firmly. Finally, something he knew he could do. Now he felt like he had a purpose in this quest and raised his head, panning the area. For a moment, he forgot how dirty he was.

Sunwing glided forward and flapped her wings quickly as she landed gently on the water near Last Whisper. Then she paddled slowly, keeping by the filly. She would help as well.