He passed through the trees like a silent dog, lost and terrified of the dark. Ever since he'd bolted from the group of kin that were whispering at his last failure with the Troupe, he'd forgotten what it was he was supposed to be doing. The entire routine had simply drained from his brain like melted ice. Finally, lost and shaken, he collapsed at the base of a tree to huddle until he could see again at sunrise.The woods seemed to breathe, wheezing in and out around him in a ghastly blast of cold and warm air that creaked trees and rustled leaves. The wind ruffled his fluff uncomfortably, but he was glad he had it to keep warm, unlike most of his brethren. He really wished Villain or Mirewood had been nearby, but as it stood, he was completely alone. The feeling almost suffocated him.
And yet a doe, silent and frightening, wandered between the trees just then to a small stream not fifteen feet from where he rested under the tree. Her back and head resembled a deer, but dark and with bright glowing spots of blue, and yet her bottom half was fuzzy and dark, like a wolf. A tiny circle of some kind of skulls was around her back leg, and he could feel a rising dread, a feeling that welled through his stomach and up through his chest like he was going to throw up. He attempted to get up and move away, until he cracked a stick, and she whipped her head around to meet him.
That was when he saw her eyes, two large owl-like demon slitted pupils surrounded in a cacophony of glowing blue. His eyes widened in terror and he ducked down in the underbrush to avoid her line of sight. By then it'd clearly been too late.
The doe eyed behind her curiously, and yet almost sadly, and then simply turned away again in disinterest to drink from the water's edge. Jester watched her carefully. That's when he noted the permanent tears down her cheeks, glowing in the dark as the rest of her, glinting in the dark light, and she held her head down as she walked away from the stream. He could feel a pang of some sort of guilt, and he noted her troubled gait as she wandered back of into the trees, the glow from her markings lighting up eerily through the wood as she disappeared down the small path.
He shook himself then, and cautiously shifted down, following her into the darkness, when his ears picked up a sound. Sobbing. He stopped, feeling a sink in his chest, and peered through another set of brush off the side of the path where the glow came from under a wefted overhanging willow tree. It made the weaved branches look like a glowing firefly trap. He knew this design. When he stuck his head between a cracked opening, he caught the door by the base of the tree, almost hugging it close, and real tears streaming down her cheeks. She jerked her head his way, and she immediately stopped, shocked and wide-eyed.
"Are you afraid of me, like the rest? Do you think I'm a witch and going to curse you, or that I'm some undead monstrosity? Do you think that my parents were two different species and I'm a freak?" She rose to her feet, almost threateningly. "Did you come to destroy my home, which I spent an eternity making, thanks to my friend's help?"
Jester froze, threatened by her hostile stance, but understood suddenly her desire to be alone. He'd been rude, after all. He ducked his head and shook it slowly, trying not to move too quickly.
"Nothing like that. I'm afraid of the dark and you just spooked me coming from the woods is all," he offered hopefully. "I'm Jester... And I know who your friend is. She has a hut exactly like this. It was Mirewood, right? She's really good at wefting sticks and making vines and such through them so they keep out the sun, snow, and rain. Did she come by and show you how to do it, or did you build it together?" He slowly got cheerier and more warm with his questions, hoping to provoke a conversation out of her, and disarm her stance.
The doe was in fact disarmed. Surprised, actually, and he watched her tail wilt back down to the ground, and her head straighten. "Yes, she did. She showed me how to make my feather, too, because she said she liked my antlers. How do you know her?"
Jester was pleased by the progress, and straightened up his head, taking a purposeful look around, and took at least one step inside the hut to show he wasn't trying to scare her. It was spacious. "When I was new in the swamp, she showed me around. Her and her wolf companion, Outcry. I learned a lot after leaving the sandy desert on my own, but at least half of it was Mirewood teaching me how to survive out here, and what the Ache was. I... haven't seen you before. I perform in a tribe, and I figured I'd have at least seen you once somewhere. What's your name? Where are you from?"
She eyed him cautiously, and then lowered herself to lie back down on the ground, folding her front legs under her, and stretching out her back legs, flopping her tail on top of them. She looked thoughtful for a moment and then concluded there was no harm and talking to him. "I'm... new here, too," she added carefully. She eyed him sideways, feeling a fresh wave of tears. Jester stared struck stupid, and didn't know how to respond.
"What's wrong? Why do you cry?"
"Because nothing ever lasts," she said softly, mournfully, without context. When he said nothing, she merely looked away, staring into a depth of something he could not see. A silence hovered over the tree, and he was the first to break it, wedging himself all the way into the shelter, and then slowly stepped closer to her. The closer he came, the more hesitant his steps, until he stood just before her. She looked up at him with wide, tearful eyes, and he stared down in silent empathy. When she finally ducked her head, closed her eyes, and sobbed, he shifted to the side, and slowly lowered himself next to her, feeling her warm body against his.
He had no words, just allowed her to cry, and after another moment where she didn't push him away, he put a leg over her back and hugged her close, resting his head on her neck without a word. She jerked for a moment, and then he could feel her whole body shudder as she sobbed into the dusty leaves below, pressing close to his side now.
"Do you know what will last?" he asked softly.
She shook her head slowly, turning her head slightly so that she could view him with one big, sad eye. "No. What will last?"
"My friendship. No matter where you go, no matter who you talk to, no matter if I'm long dead and gone. My friendship will last forever," he said in nearly a whisper. "You don't have to be alone. We will last. I won't let the darkness swallow you, I'll keep you here close to me until the end of time."
"You're not afraid of me...? She could feel the tears slide down her cheeks now, but was no longer sobbing. Her voice was shocked, disbelieving. No one had shown her this kind of kindness or closeness.
"No," he smiled, and rested his head back down on her neck to rest for the night. Home could wait. He'd made a new friend, and one who desperately needed one. For the first time that night, he heard her sniffle, and then rest her head on the ground to sleep, the sobbing stopped. Before long, her tears did as well as she drifted off into sleep, glad to have found someone close to her soul, and who, while he didn't entirely understand her, was warm and cared. It was all she needed to feel whole.