[Azura Rayume]

Believed him wandering... Sam never wandered, no matter how boring the task she had given him was proving to be. He would much rather deal with the chore than whatever punishment she could come up with when he finally did return. She knew that. Why she would think he would just go off and do whatever he wanted to for any reason escaped him. There was no point in it.

A slight rustle off to his left attracted his attention. He glanced over to find a bush with a whithering portion near the center. Odd. That should not have happened either. Today was filled with odd happenings. He looked to Seona to assure she had seen it as well.

And she had. The sound of a breath had turned her attentions from the feline for a moment, her gaze half shifting toward the disturbance. It was probably just some animal, but the injury to the leaves concerned her. Nothing should have been able to cause that in a climate such as this one.

She nodded to her son, then looked fully on the cat, Fondue. An odd name for a cat, but fitting concidering his interest in a plant, presumably an herb of some sort. He must be a chef, or an aspiring one, though his description of "useful" and "spectacular foods" was not especially helpful.

"Did this recipe have a sketch with it?" she inquired, genuinely curious as to what he was searching for. "Or a description of leaves or flowers- even a scent- perhaps? I fear I will be unable to tell you if I have no image to go on." That much was truth. Her garden, as well as the rest of the forest, contained many plants that could be helpful in a culinary persuit. She could not simply suggest one that might be wrong, especially since she wished to ask for this recipe in return for her assistance. Anything that would drive such a small creature this far out into the unknown.

Samhain walked slowly to the injured bush, holding out a hand all the while. The leaves were dying, though not in a way he had seen often before. Only once, in fact, when that blizzard witch had come through on her way south. When he reached it, his palm touched the leaves and found them cold. Definitely out of place here.

He muttered a few words of healing he had learned over the years to the shrub. The bright green began to seep back into the foliage, and he smiled. His tricks had worked twice today. That was new. Now to find the source of the disturbance. He could feel now traces of magic in the leaves other than his own, unlike the incident with the other witch. This must have been something else, something arctic lost in the woods or wandering at the least.

[Fallen_Snow]

Shusah! Shusah! Hae coms! Aliyah gibbled, pounding a tiny fist against Abbey's brow. The Polar Fenref noticed that Samhain was moving quickly in their direction. She shuffled a bit farther away, trying not to let her breath escape and freeze up more of the warm rainforest. It could be dangerous-- give them away.

"What were we looking for in the first place?" asked Abbey, shuffling along through thick green leaves and dark brown roots. She didn't notice that she was pushing her way around in a circle, coming back towards the 'threat' that was Sam.

Ruts, ruts! Ruts, murron! Aliyah squealed, grabbing Abbey's ear and practically shoving her head into it, though it didn't do much for sound, seeing as Aliyah used thought-speech. "What kind of roots, though?" the Fenref pressed. Maybe they could look somewhere else. Somewhere with less people. She'd rather not become Paragon food for a stupid Icicle Quiksylph's root needs. "And why? Can't you grow the roots at home?" she asked, getting closer to Sam. She stiffened as she scented his magical workings on her previously wilted bush.

"Oops. Wrong way."

Yah ejit! If'n wey--

"Shh. Still." Aliyah did as she was told, stiffening and laying down on Abbey's head to decrease their size. Abbey crouched low, trying to let the large, waxy leaves hide her pale pelt.

[Mousen]

] Scatcathum
Takin.
"Are we going to die?" Asked a rarther squeaky voice.
"No we are not going to die!" Replies a slightly deeper one, fustrated and quite obviously annoyed.
"Are you sure?" Asked the voice again, its a common batti walking down an overgrwon path, a imperial rengosett folowing in the trees.
"Yes I'm sure, I was brought up here remember!" He says hotly. "Shut up Scatty."
"But Takin sir-" He says
"Whats with all the Sir buisness, you only say that to Mouse when youre buttering her up-" Takin was broken off rarther abruptl when he crashed face first into a tree, Scatcathum laughed, beside himself, this was the funniest thing he had seen all week.
"Oh do shut up." Takin muttered spitting out a mouthfull of bark.
"But-"
"Scatty?"
"Yes?"
"Be quiet unless you want me to find a big hole, and stuff you down it." Takin said putting his face in his hands.
Scatty backing away slowly ready to run if the need arised, bumped into to something soft, and furry. He let out a high pitched Spueal and spun round.

[Azura Rayume]

Samhain sat listening for a moment, catching the faint sounds of rustling wings and muffled footsteps from very near. He proceeded cautiously, his past experiences reminding him that things with both wings and paws normally tended to have claws at the very least if not beaks or fangs. That horrible run-in with a rather nasty Sygriff had taught him that much.

He shifted the next bush over slightly, then the next, moving slowly through the foliage until he discovered what had been making the sounds and probably what had wilted the leaves: a white Fenrif accompanied by a rather icy looking fairy he was unfamiliar with. The only sprites of that color he had seen were the Lunaflies, which were not really fairies at all. Well, except Anima, but she only looked like a Lunafly.

Not that he made this discovery all on his own, however. A high pitched squeal had sent him looking in the right direction to begin with. Neither of the creatures he saw seemed to have made the noise, as both were preoccupied with whatever they were up to, but he shoved it aside. He supposed the fairy might have made such a noise, since he had no idea what it was to begin with and had no way of gauging what sounds it should be making in the first place.

"Hello," he said, trying his best to sound friendly. The mask might have scared one or both of them, plus he was taller than either of them. He had no way of knowing if the two would respond any way other than running because he could not tell whether they were sentient or not until at least one spoke.

[Mousen]

"Dont eat me sir" begged a voise in the grass a high picted voice, a whiny high pitched voice at that was obviously Scatcathum.
Takin who hadd been a good few feet behind Scatty in the dense jungle had heard the commotion not seen it, he ran valiantly toward the commotion with a cry of "I'm comin' for yeh' Scatty" He leapt imagining a large battleeat creature about to eat Scatty, he would tackle him head on... But then what? "Dear god." He muttered as a large tree presented itself rarther than a battle heart which is all well and good, exept when your on a collision course for it. "Ow." He muttered picking himself up dizzly before falling at the feet of a huge imposing Paragon. "Dammit." He said thinking fast. "Oh, High and mighty woman of the jungle plaese spare my puny and pathetic life."

[Fallen_Snow]

"Hello."

HEH FRACKIN' FAND US, ABS! HEH FRACKIN' FAND US! Oh Xai're, Abbey would never hear the end of this from Aliyah, even though it was her own fault that they had been found there in the first place. She was the one who was moving and making all the noise.

Well, there was no need to hide now. Their spot had been found, and obviously this... pumpkin... head... wasn't going away. "Um, hi." Abbey said quietly, looking up at him warily. "... why are you wearing a pumpkin on your head?" she asked quickly, suddenly. Aliyah tapped her tiny fist against the Fenref's head stiffly. Eh, eh! Shusah, yeh! Osk 'em werr tuh ruts eur.

"Oh!" Abbey squeaked, arching her brow in frustration at the little pixie creature. "Um, my friend up here--" she looked up at Ali, "wants to know if you might know where some medicinal roots are. She's quite interested in them, and supposedly there was a mentioned herb garden here in a map she had been reading. She's quite good with maps, and I with directions. We make a fairly good team." Abs blabbed, flapping her jaws while Aliyah flittered over to Samhain, observing him.

'Eh's gout ah pampkon on 'eh's had. She tapped it with her hand, and stuck her face through an eye hole. She, apparently, could observe nothing through the gloom. Yeh need gad wurshin', yeh. Gad wurshin'.

[Azura Rayume]

Samhain watched the sprite creature curiously. The two had obviously known each other for a while, and were not as lost as he had initially believed. They were searching for something, too, like the others had been. He wondered why everything sentient seemed to be flocking to this garden today.

"I might know where to find them," he said, trying his best not to bat at the fairy as it flew in his face and insisted on sticking its tiny face into the eyehole of his mask. He understood its curiosity but would have appreciated more of a warning before the invasion of his personal space. "If you could tell me what kind of roots they are, I could probably find them. And its not a pumpkin really."

He slipped the mask off in a practiced motion, a few locks of his copper hair falling more over his eyes than they had been with the blasted thing on. He squinted for a moment as the sunlight hit his eyes more strongly than usual, but quickly recovered and smiled. "See?" Hopefully Seona wouldn't yell at him for taking it off just to prove a point. She had been known to do that in the past, and that usually resulted in nothing fun for him.

Seona glanced to her son for a moment, somewhat angered by the fact that he had taken off the mask she had ordered him to wear for his own protection. He had no idea that she was concealing him through the device, and he would never know unless he figured it out on his own, but she had no time to yell at him for it, for a white and red ball of fluff careened into her moments later.

A growl rumbled deep in her throat as she turned to face the offending fuzz, eight eyes narrowing to glare at the thing. Some monkey creature had had the nerve to crash into her like that. At least he had the sense to apoligize immidiately, and the "High and mighty woman of the jungle" part sounded like a wonderful addition to the usually "I'm sorry I just did that."

"Puny and pathetic that you are," she said, smirking slightly to herself at the throught of being able to torment this little creature a bit more than it was already doing to itself, "you ask for my forgiveness. Why should I grant such a thing to a mere ape with the nerve to speed through my wood only to find the very mistress of the trees you call home?" She had actually not said much of anything with that little speech, she hoped the creature assumed she had made a valid threat through that.

[Fallen_Snow]

Aliyah leaned back and watched as he showed them his face. Ah. Nuffin' entrestin'. she mindspoke, folding her arms and giving him a blank stare. Wah kend a' ruts? Mudson ruts, teht's reght. Mudson ruts fer... She tapped her chin. What had they been for again? She had been looking at a map of the body, and had noticed that Snowy had been having problems with her knee. She had assumed that her frost powers might have some effect, as Snowy shared the same power, but it hadn't done much except make her knee feel colder than usual. Aliyah had then decided stiff joints, which could usually be cured with--

Murgan! Murgan! Murgan ruts, pampkon had. Suddenly, she was swatted at with something fluffy. Abbey was pushing her away from the nice man with her tail. "Now, shush, Ali, don't be rude! I don't care if you do know where we are, manners are manners and they apply everywhere, just as the metric system does!" Abbey growled, in her way apologizing to Samhain with a shy smile. "She's not good with people-- tends to be the nosy sort. Can't keep herself still and well-behaved, is what it is. Not good at being calm. Flits everywhere like a bat out of hell."

[Mousen]

Scatcathum lifted his head up, only to see the thing he had been begging to was infact a tree. But Takin? Scatty thought. Where in the world is Takin? Oh dear, he was about to be devoured by a dragon, It was a shame but one funeral was better than two.

"Oh, Mistress of the trees, please spare me, fore I would give you such terrible indigestion." Takin begged.

[Azura Rayume]

Murgan roots? Sam couldn't say that was a plant he was familiar with or had even heard of. Which was odd, since he should have heard of every medicinal plant in the entire forest by now with his mother's constant prattling about how wonderful and helpful plants were. Maybe she had said it wrong? He felt awkward asking, but that accent made the little fairy creature rather difficult to understand.

"I'm sorry," he said sheepishly to Aliyah before turning to Abby. "Do you know what she's after? She's a little hard to understand."

Seona found the idea of eating the little furry monkey so funny she snorted with laughter, an unbecoming noise but one that could not be helped. She descended from snorts to a bright laugh like a gentle stream, fits of giggles shaking her scaly sides and tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

"Oh-Oh dear," she said through her slowly dissipating chuckles. "That is the funniest thing I have heard in years. Probably since Dulain was here last. Oh, my." She looked to the monkey, thin lips pulled in a toothy grin. "I wouldn't dream of such a thing, eating you. Your fur would get caught in my teeth." Really she preferred plants with the occasional fish (always cooked) simply because of the way she was. She may have been capable of injuring or even killing another creature, but eating something like that? Unimaginable.

[Mousen]

"Oh, good." He said lifting his head up from his begging position. "What are you going to do with me then?" He asked. "I can tell riddles, I know hundreds." He added for his benifit.

Scatty peered throught the long grass, walking through it to hopefully get to a path. He wondered if Mouse would be that annoyed if Takin got eaten. "Eeep!" Was Scattys cry as he came face to face with a rarther ferocious, in his opninion polar fenreef.

(Sorreh, writers block>.<)