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Prince Tousa of Darinest

Tousa watched as she rolled onto her back and shimmied over. Was that her way of begging? He sighed and stood up and began to move over to the saddlebags. "Can't say it will fit your wolf form but... Better than no cover."

He tossed the necessary materials next to his tent and began to work on a very similar structure, going through setting it all up and making sure it was all tied down and secured. He then went and got the second bedroll and unfurled it inside before crawling out and motioning to it. "For if you want to sleep in the cover of something rather than exposed to the elements."

With that he moved to grab his spear and shimmied into his tent this time, calling out as he did so. "I leave you to first watch Anja... I'll take second." There was a yawn and then a soft thump.

Tousa was knocked out, seemed he was more tired than he had let on. The night however was full of noises, the hooting of owls, the sounds of crickets and other insects singing their songs. The moon lit Anja in a silent golden embrace of light through what little branches barred its way.

There was no war or strife here in this glade and perhaps the sudden calm would have made it feel strange and enchanting, the picking up of a gentle breeze making the scene all the more perfect. It was unknown when the trees began to dance in such strange ways, shifting here or there, but even at the alien movements of naturally still beings, the calming nature of where the pair was did not change.

Soon, from the trees appeared a wooden construct, no taller than she was in her wolf form. It strode forward without care, the draping of moss and lichen forming what could be compared to as clothing and it smelled of earth and everything natural of the world. It stood at the edge of the woods, watching her.

Then, without a word actually being spoken it reached out, touching at her mind in a primal way, not through the words of men but through nature's scenes. It was of times come and gone, seasons that shifted from one to the next. It was very apparent how it viewed the passage of years and decades as nothing more than a blink in the eye of mere mortals. It hearkened back to a time when a different race danced in these woods, one with pointed ears and graceful features. How it had fallen asleep and had just now awoken and was now wandering, searching for these old allies to the woods. It was probing her mind to see where it could find them.

Words finally formed. "D-daughter... Nat-Nature's D-Daughter..."

It 'watched' her as she stepped forward, reaching an arm out as she approached as the branches that made up the limb unfurled and became more tendril-esque, stretching out to touch at her fur as if it were blind to physical forms.

Her mind was filled with picture of nature, now reversing, showing this thing going from where he was currently standing all the way back to when it was a mere tree and before it gained sentience, down to a sapling, then a seed and then to a huge tree that once encompassed a large portion of the known continent they were standing on, its branches reaching to weave themselves through the clouds.

"K-King..? L-Last of kind... H-Helped form you." Its tendril branches slowly pulled away and then the hand reached and touched a tree. "A-And t-this...." A flower sprouted from its shoulder, it reached up and gently plucked it from its person. "And t-these." It held it out to her, watching her in silence as no part of it radiated a voice, but let it ring within her mind.

The Treant flashed another image of when it was nothing more than a seed fall from the huge tree to the ground below. "Come... From Yggdrasil... Tree of Life... I am... Llierdenfir by your tongue. Last of my kind." Its speech was becoming more coherent as it continued to reach and gently probe her mind for information it could use.

Its head shifted away from her to the glade. "Glade... Drawn to it. Who... Are you daughter of nature?" Llierdenfir asked, now moving its head back to Anja, the moss and lichen shifting once more as the scent changed to those of spring and summer to those of autumn and winter.

The ent seemed to pause and think. It spoke once more in her mind. "I must find them... The world is changing, the wheels are turning... Something has happened to the land. I know not what, but I must gather them. It is like mother's fall..."

The ent began to turn, slowly, its moss and lichen drapery flowing in the wind as its worry flowed from its mind to hers. "Child of nature... Come to me when your task with the other is complete. I fear all children are in terrible peril. Come to this glade once more and I shall find you. Make what you must fast, for I cannot wait long."

Whatever it meant by that it was already striding off, the trees shivering at the ent's passage. The amount of time it meant was more than likely relative to its own lifespan, but one could not be sure. Even at the shimmering of the trees, it seemed to glow in a light as it traveled for a moment, before finally the trees stopped their movements, and it was gone from view.

Whatever feeling the ent gave, it was now gone and the glade that they rested in was now a normal glade. Even Tousa stirred in his sleep, a grumble and a cough.

Prince Tousa of Darinest

Tousa awoke with a grumble and a roll onto his back. "I am a Prince you know." He stated with a sigh before crawling out of the tent and stretching before rolling his shoulders and twisting his hips. He glanced around and looked for Anja for a moment and then moved over to rub her head as she was packing up. "Should've woken me up for my watch."

He was then back over at his tent, pulling out the bedroll and packing up the tent quietly, making sure everything was properly wrapped and bundled before hauling it over to the saddles and tying it down and then tossing his saddle onto his horse and getting the animal ready for another's days travel.

"Breakfast on the road yeah?"

Prince Tousa of Darinest

"And how do you know how a princess sleeps?" Tousa asked, turning only to get a face full of apple and a hand full of jerky. He stumbled into his horse and growled in his throat. "Can't you just hand things over like a normal person?"

With a sigh, Tousa pulled himself up into his saddle and then moved to lead his horse out of the clearing and back to the road, pulling his spear out of the ground with one hand as he rode by, taking a bite out of the apple with the other, they had a few more days of travel till they reached the next city.

And as those days passed by, Tousa seemed to grow more quiet, as if nearing something he wanted to shy away from. He grew less bold in his statements and exclamations and simply became stoic at certain points, unwilling to raise his voice above that of a library whisper. It seemed nature's silence was taking an effect on him.

Then the walls of the first town appeared one midday and Tousa quickly pulled his horse off of the road and motioned for Anja to come close. "That's the first town... Thought we had one more day before we arrived and we still don't have the materials necessary for make up..." He touched at his long hair. "Can you think of anything on the spot?"

Prince Tousa of Darinest

Tousa nearly fell off his horse at the heavier object flying towards his person. He was about to snap at her when she explained what it was. He looked down at the item and then back at her. "You should've told me you had this sooner!" Tousa said with a sigh and dismounting, kneeling on the soft dirt of the woods and opening it up.

"Give me a few minutes to work with this, and we will be golden. You make a joke about this I swear I will pierce your heart with my spear without a second thought." Tousa muttered, reaching for some of the tools inside. He was rather secretive about the whole thing, taking to shifting away from Anja if she tried to peek at what he was doing. As he worked his movements became more graceful and refined, almost delicate in their approach to picking up various items. The soft puckering of lips could be heard and then a delicate hand moved up to bring a small wand to his eyelashes, applying a dark colored liquid to them gently.

On and on this work went and it took him a fair bit of time, much longer than one would have expected. However when he slowly closed the lid of the box he made a small motion to Anja. "Get me some spare cloth if you could please." His voice was much higher pitched, soft, and motherly. It was a wonder he had the gravelly voice of a man at all.