It's been a long walk of well over a week and a half for the two travelers, one apparently human and one vulpine. They have traveled along through wilderness and then the rather odd path across the mostly natural land bridge that passes through the salt marshes and ocean on the eastern side of Haven.
The two enter the forests that lead to the city proper. Michael seems to not have traveled this way that often, despite his claims of visiting Turning Point often. Maybe he chooses another route normally.
After a bit, two things become apparent. First, Jarik misunderstood Michael about his having traveled often to Turning Point (some small translation problems it seems) and secondly, they're a tad lost, as no obvious trail goes through this part of the forest.
Jarik looks at Michael, "I thought you said you knew how to get to Haven?"
Michael turns to look at Jarik, not seeming at all concerned with the lack of a trail. "Yes. Haven is this way." He points off in a seemingly random direction through the trees.
A small black nose appears from behind a tuft of grass.
Jarik says, "Are you positive? You said that thirty trees ago..."
Michael says, "Yesyes, very sure. Haven is more than thirty trees away."
Jarik says, "And...I think we've passed this group before."
Michael peers curiously at a tree, looking up it. "I do not think you are true. I will check."
Michael begins climbing right up the trunk of the large tree.
Jarik watches.
There is a rustle in the grass, and the nose vanishes.
Jarik's ears swivel toward the sound...
Michael climbs up through the branches, as high as he can go and still have his weight held by the tree; he looks out in the direction they were traveling.
Off in the distance can be seen the hints of what must be Haven. The clincher is the strip of blue just south of that, the river "Big Serpent" upon which a few tiny ships rest. It looks like they have a good 20-30 miles to go, most of it through the forest.
A sky blue blur rises over the tops of the tall grass for a moment, but before anyone can clearly see it, it disappears below the tops of the grass. A little squeak sounds, and then silence.
Jarik goes to where he heard the sound...
Michael begins to climb back down the tree, as swiftly as he ascended.
Little black ears pop up over the top of the grass at the sound of approaching paws. They vanish, and the tall grass suddenly weaves, like a wake upon amber waves of grain as a sky blue object streaks off.
Jarik blinkblinks, "How bizarre."
Jarik shakes his head slightly, "Odd wildlife here."
Michael lands on the ground with a dull *thud*. "What?"
Jarik says, "There was some strange blue creature watching us."
Michael says, "Blue?"
Michael blinks and looks around.
Jarik nods, "Yes. Blue."
Michael says, "What did it look like?"
Jarik says, "I'm not sure. I only caught a glimpse of it. Some sort of canid."
Michael says, "What is a 'can-id'?"
Jarik says, "Like a dog."
Michael says, "Oh."
Michael points off in the same direction. "Haven." He smiles toothily.
Jarik says, "Good. Lets get moving..."
Michael says, "We will be there tomorrow."
Jarik says, "How much further is it, would you say?"
Michael smiles and begins walking through the woods again. "Hmmm...One day's walk. Day and a half, maybe."
Jarik follows, "I hope so. I don't have that much time before I must return home."
A small, sky blue catlike canine pads up the path in the distance, approaching from down wind. He pads along silently, sniffasniffasniffasniffing at the path, looking like a small blue vacuum cleaner with legs.
Michael brushes his hands gently against the trees as he passes close by them.
Jarik follows along quietly, lost in thought.
Michael continues walking, without any reaction to the figure, and casually remarks to Jarik. "Blue thing, like that?"
Jarik hmmms, and look, "Yes. Like that..."
BlueFox pads along, obviously wrapped up in the scent he's following. Sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff
Jarik sniffs, "Hm, it's a fox."
Michael stops and leans against a tree, watching.
Michael says, "This hree new, too. Like you."
BlueFox pads along on silent, velvet paws and pauses to sniff at Jarik's leg. Sniff?
Jarik looks down, "Um, hello there little one."
Michael smiles and watches silently.
BlueFox sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniffs at Jarik's leg as if the vulpine equivalent of the complete works of William Shakespeare were scent marked on Jarik's leg.
Jarik moves his leg a bit, "You'd best move on little fox."
BlueFox's nose tracks Jarik's leg as it moves as if his nose were glued to it.
Jarik tries to walk around the strange blue fox, "Are all foxes here blue...?"
Jarik looks at the little fox again.
BlueFox follow's Jarik's left leg as he walks, scampering to keep up as Jarik takes a step with the left leg, then sitting perfectly still, while the right one moves, utterly fascinated, until forced to move again to follow the left leg. All the while keeping his nose less than 2 millimeters from the spot on Jarik's leg.
Jarik lifts his leg about a foot off the ground, "Um, go home...please?"
BlueFox sits up on his hindlegs to track the spot with his nose.
Michael says, "First blue hree I've seen."
Jarik arghs, "Lets keep going. Maybe he'll get bored or something."
As Jarik entertains his new found friends, the sounds of high pitched giggling and laughing can be heard faintly from far up ahead.
Jarik looks up?
Michael cocks his head, slowly looking up.
Jarik sets his leg back down to get better balance, "Now what...?"
Michael chuckles at Jarik.
Michael walks towards the source of that giggling noise.
Suddenly, a dull brown blur (vaguely mustelid-shaped? It's a bit hard to make out) glides through the foliage overhead. Veering towards one of the larger trees, the brownish smear lands upon a fairly large branch, and peers back the way it came from. Now that it's stopped, it's apparently a young ferret-like female, but with gliding membranes between her arms and legs. How odd.
Jarik follows along, rapidly, "Go away! Shoo!"
Michael stops, looking curiously at the ferret-woman-thing.
Michael says, "Hello?"
Jarik blinkblinks, "And they get even more bizarre."
BlueFox pads along, after Jarik, sprinting as his left leg moves. The stopping dead still. Sprint! Stop! Sprint! Stop! Sprint! Stop! In a strange vulpine game of 'Red Light! Green Light!'
Jarik decides to examine his leg.
Michael laughs at Jarik and his friend.
Another mustelid, maybe a bit taller, runs towards the tree the other one landed in on all fours. Panting a bit she chitters, "I'll get you yet!"
Michael finds a nearby tree to lean up against, smiling at all the antics going on around here.
Jarik moves over to Michael, maybe the fox will find something interesting about him instead.
BlueFox, just as suddenly as he appeared, loses interest in Jarik's left leg and starts sniffing at a freshly broken branch on the ground.
The mustelid up overhead takes a few quick steps along the branch before leaping off, spreading her arms and legs, and quickly gliding to the branch of a neighboring tree. Without even pausing, she scampers up around the tree trunk to a higher branch.
Jarik shouts, "Hello...?"
Acera pants some more, "You're too good at this, I'll never tag ya!"
Michael smiles "A game of tag..."
Jarik realizes, "Oh! Children."
Acera stops in her tracks on the ground as she sees Jarik. She gets off all fours and stands up to her full 3 and a half foot height and looks at the fox and chitters, "Who're you? Ya come to visit my ma?"
Jarik offers a paw, "Sir Jarik Fireclaw. We're on our way to Haven actually. I don't know your mother.
Nalae giggles a bit at that. With a couple quick steps, she's airborne again. This time, she gracefully curves around the tree, and makes a bee-line towards Acera, with mischief in her eyes.
BlueFox melts into the undergrowth without warning.
Michael says, "Yes, I want to meet your ma."
Michael smiles and mutters to Jarik, "What's a 'ma'?"
Jarik doesn't notice that he's moved into the path of the incoming Nalae.
Jarik looks at Michael funny, "It's short for mother."
Acera hmms, "Well, she'll be back tomorrow sometime. She's been lookin for Nalae's parents. Ya want a mage, right?"
Michael says, "Mage?"
Michael smiles. "Yes." He turns to Jarik again, "What is a 'mage'?"
Nalae eeeeeeees loudly as she barrels bodily into Acera's side, giggling!
Jarik covers his eyes, "A user of magic."
Michael giggles.
Jarik chuckles.
Jarik smiles at Acera, "Just ignore him, he's weird. Who are you, if I may ask?"
Acera goes end over end and sputters, "Hey, no fair! I wasn't lookin!"
Nalae giggles from her perch atop Acera. "That's the best way!" She gently nuzzles Acera's cheek. "You okay?"
Jarik kneels down next to the pair, "You two all right?"
Acera giggles and grins, touching Nalae on the side, "You're it! Yeah, I'm fine. Who are ya by the way?"
Michael looks around for that blue hree...where'd it go...
The small black nose silently reappears under the foliage.
Jarik says, "As I've said, I'm Sir Jarik Fireclaw. Who are you?"
Michael lowers himself down onto his belly and looks into the foliage with the nose.
Nalae grins. "It was worth it, just to see the look in your eyes.." Then she glances over towards Jarik and Michael, as though noticing them for the first time.
Acera purrs, "I'm Acera Beiter, and this is my friend, Nalae. Who's the bald fella?"
Jarik says, "Him, he's Michael, I think. He's strange."
Acera looks a bit confused, but then tries to get Nalae off of her and purrs, "Why are ya goin into Haven?"
Jarik says, "I'm hoping to locate some people, mainly."
The nose skitters off.
Michael hmmphs, and looks to his side, eye-height with the other two small ones.
Acera blinks, "Lookin for who? What city are ya from? Turning Point?"
A single black ear appears from behind a tree.
Michael does some sort of contorted maneuver, sitting on the ground now, in a much more comfortable position.
Nalae climbs off of Acera and tentatively smiles at the others. "Hi.."
Michael says, "Hello"
Jarik nods, "Sort of. I'm not from this world. Anyway..." He turns to the little Marten and smiles, "Hello."
Acera hmms, "So who are you lookin for?"
Jarik says, "Old friends of mine. A dragon, a wolf, an elf, and a few others."
Acera wrinkles her nose, "Dragons are really rare, ma said so. Lot's of wolves and stuff around. Never heard of an "elf" before."
Michael nods with Acera
Jarik says, "Elves look like Michael over there, 'cept with pointy ears. This one ha black skin and white hair."
Acera is noting Nalae is a bit nervous and chitters, "Ya gonna be ok?"
The sounds of the forest seem to hush for a second, and the black ear disappears.
Michael blinks, looking around, then standing up.
Michael brushes the dirt of his robe.
Jarik looks at the marten and smiles, "I'm Jarik. You are...?"
A distant ghostly screech sounds very faintly up in the top of the trees. A moment later a smallish owl swoops by, and the screech echoes again as it flaps off.
The small black pointed ear reappears.
Nalae remains near Acera's side, watching Jarik as though he were from another planet. Well. As though it was more obvious that he was from another planet. "Nalae.."
Acera gives Nalae a hug, "Ya gonna be ok? You look a bit upset."
The small black ear disappears again.
A small black nose appears behind Nalae. Sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff
Nalae shakes her head a few times. "I'm okay... Um.."
Michael chuckles quietly at Nalae.
Michael says, "You have a new friend."
Jarik smiles, "I'm not going to harm you, Nalae."
Nalae jolts a bit at the sudden appearance of the nose. Quickly, she scampers to the other side of Acera and peers towards the nose-bearer distrustfully.
The nose suddenly disappears, with a flash of bright blue tail as it streaks off.
Acera blinks, "What was that?"
Michael says, "It is new."
Nalae looks between Acera and Michael. Last time something appeared unexpectedly like that, it very nearly ate her and a nearby toddler.
Acera blinks and chitters, "Weird, have ta tell ma about it. What's the matter Nalae? It was just a small animal of some sort...I think."
Michael looks back at Nalae, curiously.
Acera is worried about her friend, but her curiosity about something overwhelms that for a minute, "Your friend looks like him but black skin and pointy ears? And ya hope to find her in Haven? Are you teasing me?"
Michael says, "There are not many like me in Haven.."
Nalae relaxes a little bit, even cracking another little smile. She occasionally steals glances over at Michael.
A squeak is heard in the undergrowth nearby as the little blue fox pounces on something.
Michael's gaze darts over to that sound.
Acera nods, "Yeah, but with black skin and pointy ears...he's talking bout what folks in Haven call evil ones. Claim they were the ones that cut em off from the spacers. Ma says that's just a mist ...er mith...a made up story, but they'd go after her if she was there. She got a name or are ya just teasing me mister?"
Michael says, "Delachoolel, was it?"
Jarik says, "Her name is Delachiel. She is one of the Xardeth."
Michael says, "Ah. Yes, Delachiel...I am sorry."
Jarik says, "Most of the Xardeth are evil, actually. She's a bit different."
Acera blinks, "Dellakeel? I told my brother about that little thing that was in his room. Member Nalae? Tossed you off a branch? He said it belonged to some lady named Dellakeel, I think."
Jarik says, "Thing...?"
Nalae listens quietly. It's not immediately obvious exactly how much of the conversation she's following, but it's plain that at least some of it is going over her head. Her attention occasionally goes towards a few nearby tufts of grass, but is called back as Acera addresses her. "Oh.. Something like that, I guess.."
BlueFox suddenly appears sniffing at a spot on the ground. Sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff.
BlueFox paws at the ground for a moment or two, and then begins to dig.
Michael's attention is draw by the blue hree.
Jarik says, "Who tossed who where?"
BlueFox dig dig digs for only a second before unearthing a trap door tarantula.
BlueFox eats it.
Acera nodnods, "It kinda looks like me an Nalae, but only this big (showing something the size of a small housecat) and could...disappear and reappear. Made this *poit* sound and suddenly Nalae wasn't on the branch anymore. She got hurt."
Jarik blinks again.
Jarik says, "And it belonged to Delachiel?"
Acera frowns, "Think so. My stupid brother said she got it at a tavern in Haven. It stole stuff out of his room."
Jarik blinks, "Bizarre. I think I need to speak to your brother."
Michael nods, "Odd..."
Acera purrs, "But he said nothing about what she looked like. Seems she wears so much clothes you can't see her. Got this cloth in front of her face. You don't wanna. He find out you're a friend of hers he'll go after ya. He's mad at her.""
Jarik says, "I can take care of myself, don't worry. I need to locate her, it's important. Can you take me to your brother?"
The sound of thundering paws looms up in the distance.
The sound of flying paws comes closer and closer.
Nalae glances up quickly at the noise, then towards Acera.
Michael looks around.
Michael says, "What is that?"
Jarik looks around, ears swiveling.
A six legged rabbit runs by, rapidly pursued by a small sky blue vulpine.
Michael stands well back.
Michael says, "Waaah!"
The pair zip by and disappear around a bend in the path. There is a sound of something falling, then silence.
Acera shakes her head, "Even my ma can't keep trak of him. He's a ....he's a thief. He takes stuff. Lissen, me and my friend need to get back to home soon. I don't think she's havin any fun. It's along your way so you can follow us I guess. Just don't walk in ma's garden."
Acera blinks at the little blue streak.
Michael says, "Wait."
Nalae blinks after the blue thing, then glances back to Acera.
Jarik nods slightly, "Alright..."
Michael thinks. "I think I know...Scilly is your brother?"
Acera blinks, "Nope. His name is Ankhl. He's a squirrel. Don't look nothin like me or Nalae."
Michael says, "Oh."
Acera seems rather proud of that fact too. ;)
Michael chuckles.
Acera chitters to Nalae, "C'mon, let's go home. We can play tomorrow when there aren't any grownups to spoil our fun."
Michael says, "Your parents will worry..."
BlueFox walks off into the forest with what looks like a bit of irridescent rabbit fur hanging from his mouth.
Nalae nods a few times. "Okay." She smiles at Acera a bit.
Acera gives the odd fox a look and blinks at Nalae, "They got foxes like that where you live? Maybe he came from where your folks live?"
Jarik glances at the fox, then back to Acera, ""Lead on, then."
Nalae blinks. She shakes her head a few times. "Nothing like that at all.."
Acera puts an arm around Nalae and grins, "It's kinda on the way to Haven anyhow. I think we got some food to spare if ya want it. Say Nalae, wanna race me home?"
Jarik nods slightly...
Michael cocks his head and blinks?
Nalae giggles. "Okay.."
Acera grins and races ahead, not waiting for Nalae to start, "Last one home is a plant eater!"
Michael chuckles, "Kids."
Jarik nods to Michael, "Well, we're going to follow them. We could use some decent food."
Michael says, "Alright..."
Michael smiles and starts to run off after the kids.
Jarik dashes off after Michael, moving at a fair rate.
BlueFox watches the silly bipeds race off at their ridiculously slow rate. His tail seems to flip over in a shrug at the tip.
Nalae eeps! She dashes off after Acera. After only a few moments, it becomes apparent that Nalae can't quite match Acera's pace on the ground. Instead, she quickly scales a nearby tree and makes rapid progress by alternately gliding between trees, and scaling to higher branches before making the next leap.
Acera has moved to all fours and chitters at Nalae, "Hey, that's cheatin!"
Michael seems to have no problem at all keeping pace with Acera, keeping an eye on them both.
BlueFox suddenly takes a notion, as he often does and races after them. In moments he zips up to them yerf yerf yerfing and scampers between the runners. He glances sideways at them and then zips on by
Nalae giggles down at Acera. "If you can go on all four, I can glide!" Still, she only about manages to keep pace with Acera. Having to keep climbing up to regain altitude slows her down a fair deal.
Jarik moves quickly through the trees. He occasionally propels himself forward by pushing off a fallen tree...
Acera nearly trips as the little blue fox goes around her feet, but finally arrives at the giant oak about the same time as Nalae.
Michael laughs aloud, just a few second behind, barely winded...Not bad for a biped...
The little mink brings out some food for Jarik and Michael, mostly roasted meat, but some of her ma's salad if anyone wants it. She also gives them a couple blankets. To feel safer, she and Nalae sleep way up in the tree, not bothering to see if the two adults go to sleep or not. But it seems that Jarik and Michael are now destined to cross Delachiel's path...maybe.
Michael hmms curiously at the blanket, and looks around for another large tree. Finding one, he climbs to a sturdy lower branch drapes the blanket over it, then gets comfortable.
Jarik curls up on a blanket spread on the ground and goes to sleep beneath the canopy of trees. His sleep is troubled,many things must still be done, and time is no ally. Perhaps tomorrow will prove to be more fruitful...