In the aftermath of the surprise attack that claimed the lives of her herd, Alyss found herself unsure of the best way forward, literally and proverbially. It weighed heavily on her that she couldn't offer any sort of last-rites service to her fallen clansmen, given that she had not the means to produce a fire significant enough for a pyre, nor the means to dig holes deep enough for appropriate burials. So she left the glen, then, gathering brush and residual tree limbs to close it off and be forgotten about. Her tears had since subsided and dried up, and she realized pretty quick that since she had survived, she needed to continue to do so, for the possible sake that Jules might still be out there, somewhere. She carried his satchel around her neck and shoulder, situated close to the quiver of Apex-Poisoned arrows (restocked from the remains of her fallen allies) also slung there.

She considered her options, then, as she aimlessly traipsed through the more-familiar trails of Rabite Forest that she and Jules had traversed and mentally-mapped out. She didn't want to leave the forest since it was familiar to her in multiple ways, but if there was to be danger there of such a significant degree, it was likely that she, too, would face the same danger eventually. But without Jules to provide encouragement, she didn't know how far out into the rest of the world she dared travel, for fear of the same prospects. She knew where Zen was staying (or so she thought, anyway; it was a guess more than an absolution), but she also knew that the wood elf had things she was doing during her admittedly-not-permanent tenure here, and she was mindful enough to not want to overstay her welcome.

At the northern edge of the lake, she stopped, resting her rump down upon the grassy shore to look at her reflection thereupon. The fact that her own face was the only one of her kind she would see anymore, going forward, brought on a new wave of sadness, but she held fast. Jules didn't leave a body behind, so that meant he had to be out there somewhere. Until she could confirm, one way or another, she'd keep going; it wasn't like she really had a choice in the matter, anyway.

Moving through the dense undergrowth with an ease of long practise as a woodsman, Vashka growled slightly as she adjusted the half a log hoisted onto her shoulder slightly, the weight wasnt an issue merely the fact the bark prickled against her skin through her pelt, and one of the small branches seemed insistant on poking at her however she moved the blasted thing. Her other hand lightly held the hatchet, though truthfully if anything in the forest bothered her, she'd like injure it more by just kicking the silly, suicidal beast. Her nose had been hinting that something was off in the air since she'd left her cabin to replenish her logpile, but for the life of her she hadnt seen anything worth the fuss sofar nor did she expect trouble.

Breaking through the brush and spotting the lake ahead, she re-oriented and headed for the water. From there, it wouldnt be too much longer untill she could get rid of the damned piece of tinder, maybe scrub the bits of bark out of her pelt too while she was at it. Frowning slightly her eyes glowing softly in the half-light of the woods, she spotted a..centaur? Huh, she'd never spotted one of their ilk round here before. Her nose chose this time to point out the scent of blood in the air, and an involuntary low growl rose within the feline womans chest.

Alyss' equine ears flick at the sound of someone approaching, but doesn't do much more than listen for a time... up until she hears the growl. At that point, the bow around one shoulder is in her hands and an arrow is just-as-quickly notched as she stands fully-upright, aiming the purple-tipped projectile toward the source of the noise that sounded like it may have meant her harm. Her expression is a frustrated combination of fatigue, anger, and just-plain-being-done-with-it-all, and her grip on the feathered tail of her arrow is not as tight as it should be, but her aim, meanwhile, is steady. "Gamdo marov sa niv rabutumi?" she asked, her tone meek but attemptedly-fierce, which makes for an odd verbal juxtaposition between the two. "Anim'li ilminjustari, hu'a miv sa kokensha pu'koki ino!"

Arching a brow, the Catfolk thought she recognised Sylvan somewhat, but in a dialect she wasnt familiar with. Not that she spoke much of the Tongue herself. Languages were not her strength afterall. Pushing down the heavy instinctive urge to pounce for the temerity of being aimed at, a leftover both from her days as a pitfighter and just life as an adventurer, she never the less dropped the hatchet, raising her now free hand placatingly. Her voice as she spoke held a low, growling quality, but was otherwise un-threatening. "I recognise Sylvan, I dont speak it." She hissed sharply next, slightly vexed by being under aim. "As to startling you, you smell like Blood girl, what do you expect when a Stranger you meet reeks like a slaughterhouse." Granted, noone had even accused her of tact either.

Hesitantly, she relaxed the tension in her arrow and lowered both it and her bow, but didn't dispense with them fully. Uncertainty yet remained on her young face, like she was just waiting for the ambush yet to take place. "Blood... not mine," she said, carefully. "Herd lost. Dead. Alyss alive, only." She risked looking away from the new arrivel to glance at her backside, as if expecting a second presence to be visible behind her, but when there doesn't seem to be one, she just-as-quickly retrains her amber eyes upon the cat-person. "Alyss want alone. Not harm, not bother. Alyss shoot quick, Apex Poison, dead fast. Not try funny games."

Sniffing the air loudly, the feline woman grunted softly as her nose seperated the scents and confirmed the centaur's statement, before scoffing sounding more amused then actually threatened. "Girl, you try and shoot me, and I'll break that bow of yours." Parsing through the rest of the statement, Vashka shook her head as she moved forward, sounding mildly disappointed. "Trouble in Rabite? Pah, but since you're still alive means its done then. Well, more's the pity, could have used the excersize, and try and relax, there isnt anything in the forest, leastways not anymore."

Alyss' ears flattened against her head as her threat was met with another threat, but knowing it was against her better judgment, she chose not to try and prove her point. "Giants," she said. "Big, blue. Two, also dead. Apex Poison kill, but not fast enough. Alyss gone when attack, come back, too late." She still doesn't look convinced that this person isn't here to cause her grief, and she retains her grip on both the bow and arrow still set within it. "What want? Alyss trespass? Cat property? Alyss leave, not want trouble."

"Yeah, I think smell their corpses, recognise the blood on you atleast, but I aint smelling more of them anymore." Shrugging her wiry shoulders and shifting the log on her shoulder still, the feline woman smirked "What I want, is to get past to my cabin, get a Bath to get rid of the bark in my fur. You smell like you need one too, so you can come along, means you wont startle anyone else leastways." Frowning thoughtfully, Vashka continued with the usual lack of tact one should expect from a Barbarian. "You did see to your kinsfolks bodies properly didn't you? With the Cave nearby there's a chance they can come back, but, Wrong, you know."

It's pretty plain to see that Alyss has no idea what the woman is talking about regarding her slain clansmen coming back 'wrong', and possibly even looks offended at being called out for being in need of a bath (though she wouldn't argue that it was probably an accurate assessment). The combination of these and being called out for potentially startling others simply for being there is enough to make her upset enough to be vocal about it. "Cat yakru rude," she chastised. "Not know Alyss, not know clan, not assume. Alyss close glen, leave bodies. No fire, not can dig. What do? Ask much, one person." Her ears remain lowered within her hair, and she looks decidedly put out.

Kneading her forehead for a moment Vashka sighed, taking the insults in stride otherwise. "Girl, the Cave is a natural fount of Necrotic energies, small but persistant. Its why there's undead roaming within regardless how often they are culled. The least you do, is consecrate the remains, lest they come back undead. The odds are fairly small given the distance from the Cave, but I've seen a rabite or two lurch about too close to its mouth. Just think for a moment girl how you'd feel if they did Return like that. That is why I asked, not to hurt yer feelings or nothing."

"Cat say words Alyss not know," she said plainly, and at this moment, decides to shoulder her bow and return the arrow to its quiver, at least assuming that an attack isn't imminent, unpleasant demeanors aside. "Not know 'necrotic,' strange word. Not see undead, see goblins, rare. Herd kill fast. Not know 'consecrate.' 'Concentrate'? Not can pronounce?" She frowns. "Alyss use words, cat understand, cat give same courtesy. Alyss not speak Sylvan, polite."

"Girl, I aint a wizard to tell you what it is, I just know it's what causes it. And the Dead Rise in that Cave, and nearby it."Growling in mild frustration, Vashka tried to simplify concepts she herself barely knew nor used often. "Consecration. Calling upon the divine for protection. Did you atleast say the benedictions to the departed, bless their bodies..ask whatever divine power you horses believe in to guide their souls and so forth?"

She only gives Vashka a blank stare, as very little of that apparently registers. "Herd dead," she said, again, as if the cat-girl was the one being mentally-unavailable. "Dead. Not come back. Dead. Killed. Why protect corpse? Cat not make sense." She, too, is getting frustrated, and actually backpedals a couple steps. "Alyss not help, get upset. Alyss leave, figure own way. Apologize, but rude cat, not help Alyss. Argue, not understand, make worse. Alyss leave, cat go home, do business."

"You protect their corpses, because the Dead can Rise, except what returns aint them, its a dishonor to them, a mockery of all they were." The feline for her part rolled her eyes. "Its why we bury the dead, or burn them." Sighing softly, she reminded herself to comb the woods and see to the matter herself, if that didnt take. "And I aint trying to be rude girl, I'm trying to help you." Granted, it wasnt easy, but she could be as persistant as it took. Perhaps she should have considered a study of Sylvan afterall, but then she could barely read as-is, so it probably wouldnt have helped much if at all.

Alyss has, at this point, realized that she just isn't going to understand what it is the cat-girl is trying to tell her, and whether it is due to her own limited knowledge or the woman just being a raving lunatic isn't made clear in Alyss' eyes, at least not at that particular moment. The only thing she does know is that this was going nowhere, and she was wasting time, with only frustration (possibly on both sides) to show for it, which she didn't need right now. "Cat not help," she said, turning around. "Alyss figure out. Alyss sorry for bother, cat not make sense, not speak good words, Alyss understand. Cat stay safe, Alyss will--" Her ears suddenly go up, as a realization dawns on her. "Oh! Alyss know!" And with that, she prepares to leave back the way she came, something apparently coming to her little centaur brain that might provide more help than she was receiving in the here-and-now.

Shaking her head, Vashka muttered to herself "Learn Common they said, everyone speaks Common. Bloody useless drivel" Not wanting to chance having to put down Undead-Centaurs in her spare time, the feline woman followed after the, to her by now, daft horse, but stealthily. Making no real effort to hide herself, but her footsteps were silent enough as befitted a feline in the woodlands.

If Alyss knew she was being followed, she didn't make it obvious, nor did she look back at any point upon leaving the lake's edge. Instead, she hastened somewhat at a steady gait as she wound through the trails of Rabite Forest, veering past the closed-off glen (decidedly obvious where it was, given all the extra brush and additional tree debris piled up against where the entrance had once been) and turning south, toward the forest's outer perimeter. She continued on past this and into the field beyond, stopping there at the trifold intersection that split the path between Booster's Tower, Rabite Forest, and Truce. She considered for a moment, glancing eastward toward Truce and turning in that direction, but not immediately heading off there just yet. Something was apparently going on in her head that she wasn't certain of, and she frowned thoughtfully within her own mind, as if arguing with herself over some unseen prospect.

Making a note about the location of the glen to visit it and consecrate and prepare cairns atleasts after spotting the obvious new alterations, Vashka hoisted the log, once again shifting her irritable burden some. "If you're thinking about heading into town Girl, I remind you once again, you smell and look like you waded through blood. Town Guards take notice of such things." Settling her burden more readily on her shoulder, Vashka for her part, turned West. "Offer of a Bath is still good mind."

Apparently, Alyss did not know she was being followed, her single-mindedness on her next task taking all consideration of everything else and casting it to the wind. So when she is spoken to by the insistent feline-humanoid, she jumps a little and turns in the direction of their voice, looking fairly upset. "What?" she asks, her tone critical. "Why follow? Alyss leave, not bother! Why?" She almost looks like she was going to reach for her bow at that point, but hesitates at the last moment. "Not want argue! Not want rude! Do own thing!" It's not fully clear that what Vashka said registered to her or not, as she seems fully up in arms over being tailed, first and foremost.

Chuckling, more amused then offended, the feline's shrugged. "There's only so few path through a wood Girl. Granted, would have gotten there sooner cutting across the woodland, but clearly you're not fit in your mind to go without atleast some oversight if you didnt notice me following you." She knew she wasnt the stealthiest, but given her idea of stealth was 'kill anyone spotting me', that was fine to her. "And a Bath Girl, blood in ones fur is a terrible hastle once its starts drying, nevermind the smells."

Seeming to realize that she was probably stuck and not going to be left alone, she decided to play the only other card she could think of. She frowned at the cat-girl and promptly sat her equine hide down, folding her back legs carefully underneath as she rested her hind quarters down on the grass slightly-off to one side of them to prevent squishing, and just sat there, staring pointedly at her new 'friend' who refused to leave even when practically begged to do so. She didn't speak, she didn't argue, she didn't complain; she just sat there and stared, unmoving any further.

Raising a brow, she put down the log with a solid 'thump' as it rolled onto the road "Girl, I lifted that with one arm, if ya think I couldnt haul your horsey butt off and drop you into the lake atleast, you got another think coming" It wasnt said threateningly, her tone was pure amusement instead. "Now, stop proving me right in calling you Child atleast. I'll admit it, I aint the best to talk about this with, but what you dealt with means you need to do something more then just sit and pout"

The mare narrows her eyes slightly at the cat-girl's choice of words, especially the part about physically picking her up. "Miv sa ju'ano tunsi ju niss'ta marov sa niv vo'ari," she said, a hint of acid creeping into her tone. "Miv sa manikra marov sa niv." She doesn't move one way or another, but the flattening of her ears back against her head again indicates that she's feeling threatened, at the very least.

Vashka sighed, her own ears flattening in annoyance. "And we're back to Sylvan, I already told you Girl, I dont speak it. Believe it or not, I've been trying to be polite here." And for her, despite the admitted lack of tact, she had been, she hadnt cursed, hadnt used force or indeed any actual threats. "Now, I politely offered you a Bath atleast, you said you're alone, well, the place is big enough you can atleast stay till you got your..hooves or whatever under you and figure out where you actually want to go. " Grunting, she shook her head. "Which I'll agree aint with me by that tone you're saying, but unless you got a better idea, its what we got."

Alyss doesn't say anything for a long several moments, but doesn't take her eyes away from Vashka in any capacity, either. "Alyss not want," she eventually said, steadfastly. "Not trust. Not give reason trust. Alyss stay, wait. Cat leave, sometime. Alyss patient, wait. Sleep, maybe. All earth is bed, comfortable. All idea, better idea, not go with cat. Final word."

Kneading her forehead, Vashka sighed heavily, resisting an urge to growl or grind her teeth. "You do realise Girl, that with the smell and blood, someone's likely to mistake you for a monster. Let alone if you refuse to speak understandably. Then its either defend yourself, thus proving you are a monster, since clearly you must be, or you die for your stubborness. I know a Centaur when I see one, its why I recognise Sylvan even if I dont speak more then a word or three maybe. Most others, just a Thing to attack, especially out here on an open road looking as you do now. A Bath atleast fixes most of that"

Despite her claim to have given a 'final word,' she speaks yet again at the mention of not speaking understandably. "Zen-koshu understand Alyss," she said. "Zen-koshu not mistake. Alyss find Zen-koshu, help, talk. Not talk down, Alyss, like cat. Cat hear self?" She gestured in Vashka's direction, generally. "Hear talk? Hear words? Rude! Mean! Cruel! Understand, not trust? Cat annoyed, leave! Alyss not cat problem! Alyss, Alyss problem!" She looks... really upset, then. Not even so much angry, just disheartened. "Not even say 'sorry'! Sorry herd gone! Sorry Alyss lose all things, all friends, all family! Just boss, push, force! Alyss feel kick, already down! Why? Alyss not want! Alyss want... Zen-koshu. Not want mean cat."

Again, she didnt seem fazed, but admitted to herself, she might atleast have erred. "Hmm, cultural dissonance I suppose, the Centaur's I atleast knew do not mourn their Dead as most people do. Too stoic, you do know that word right?" Shrugging, Vashka, bowed slightly. "I suppose I should not have assumed all tribes were the same, I apologise for that assumption atleast." Frowning thoughtfully, she considered the Sylvan-word, intuiting its meaning since that atleast she mostly knew. "Hmm..well, I suppose I could try and track down this 'Zen' person to make up for it, if you got anything of theirs with a scent on it, shouldnt be too hard."

This, at least, gets a positive reaction from Alyss, her ears immediately raising upward attentively. She still looks put-out, but noticeably less-so. "Zen-koshu, Truce," she said. "Tell Alyss, stay at 'inn.'" The mention of having something to track gave her a pang of regret that she'd tossed out the bowl that had contained the leftover fruit from before, since that might have sufficed. "Not have thing, Zen-koshu track. Zen-koshu, 'wood elf,' stand out, easy find." It's faint, but she sounds at least a little hopeful.

"Pah, forget standing out, I could just smell an Elf, they're about as rare as Centaurs." Sighing softly, the feline woman rolled her shoulders. "Fine, stay here. A quick jaunt to Truce and finding a wayward Elf shouldnt take too long." Eyeing her discarded log, she muttered and gave it a slight kick, rolling it back over into the undergrowth. "They are going to be more reasonable right? Wont have to drag them over or nothing?"

Alyss considered this for a moment. "Alyss think so," she said after a very brief mulling-over of possibilities. "Zen-koshu know Alyss, friend. Alyss think Zen-koshu come if ask. Alyss stay, not go. Promise."

Considering this information, the feline woman nodded and turned to the direction of Truce. "Just so you know, if you're gone after I went and found them, I got your scent now too." Here she gave a fang filled feline grin and tapped the side of her slight muzzle of a nose. "So, you may run, but you cannot hide." Without pausing for a response to that cheerfull message, she sped off, her speed as she accelerated actually slightly faster then a running horse.

The day was bright and sunny, Zen had been out and about surveying the area to the west of Truce early that morning. The arial scouting had been uneventful and she was now back in town for an early lunch.

She had stopped by the inn that she'd been staying at just long enough to pick up a paper wrapped sandwich to take with her as she made her way to the center of the town to eat it at the fountain, since that had grown to be one of places she found it was easy to work while still being able to observe the people going about their business.

She would sit there, writing her notes, or sheet music as it would appear to anyone else. Occasionally taking breaks to play some music which was appreciated by some as they went about their day. Overall the morning was peaceful.

The young feline woman made a somewhat odd sight as she moved through Truce. Occasionally stopping to sniff the air, even closing her eyes at times to better focus on that particular sense. Other times, she stopped and seemed to trace the paving stones, nodding to herself before moving on. Each stop however seemed shorter untill at length she found herself near the center of the town. Glancing around, she gave one last sniff, even as she already spotted her likely quarry, but yes, her nose confirmed it. An Elf, and the lone one in town. Now to just hope unlike the horse, they atleast didnt just speak Sylvan. Moving closer with a graceful feline stride, she unconciously glared somewhat in her focus upon the Elf. Recalling what the horse had called them proved difficult for a moment, before she recalled it, "You, Elf, your name, is it Zen?" her voice, as usual was rather low, a slight growling quality added to it due to her feline nature.

Zen was mildly startled by hearing someone call her name, and her eyebrows lifted a little more when her gaze fell upon the one who had called it. She didn't recgonize the...Tabaxi? Was that a Tabaxi? Whoever and whatever they may be, they knew her name.

"Yes, that is my name." she confirmed softly as she politely closed the folder of sheet music to give the stranger her full attention. "May I help you in some way?"

Sighing softly, muttering to herself for a moment that yes, she atleast spoke Common, Vashka grunted, thinking for a moment how to best put it, before deciding as usual, Bluntness was best. "Need you to come with me, your Friend, Alyss. "She paused for a moment, yes, the horse kept mentioning it as if referring to herself, but did she ever introduce herself as it, pah whatever. "Right, Alyss wanted me to come get you."

Zen was immediately concerned, Alyss didn't seem the type to send someone else to fetch someone for them. She immediately started to pack up her things swiftly.

"Is she okay?" She tucked the ink and quill away, in her pack and did likewise with the folder of papers before she stood and hefted her pack onto her back and made sure that her things were secured, bow, quiver, instrument.

Considering for a moment, the catfolk barked a bitter, jaded laugh. "Furthest thing from it, safe she herself isnt injured. Physically atleast. Given her grasp of Common, can't say too much, and honestly, quicker if we move and you can ask her yourself." She frowned and paused, at the thought of further mis-communication. "I assume atleast that you do speak Sylvan."

Zen nodded, confirming she did indeed speak Sylvan. She was feeling a sense of urgency and concern for her only friend in this place.

"How fast can you run?" She asked politely as she considered the fastest way to get to where her friend was. She was willing to carry the feline woman there if it would make the trip faster, as well.

Grunting amusedly, the Barbarian feline took no offense. "Faster then a horse, probably quicker if I carry you then having to stop and guide you, dont recall Elves moving too quickly less they used magic." Nodding west she continued. "Straight ahead, at the forest outskirts, an easy run."

"Fortunately, I do have magic at my disposal." A great deal of her timidness had evaporated, she was all business and concern now. With a echoey whistle that drifted through the air, there was a swirl of what looked like translucent vines that sprang up around her in a brief tornado of light and etherial leaves, once the display faded, there was a giant eagle that crouched down, a wing half extended as a means for mounting, if the feline was so inclined.

Rolling her eyes instead, she merely waited to let the eagle get airborn. "Good, in that case, you might just keep up then. Though for your sake, I hope the horse knows you can do that, dont want her spooked worse then I already did without meaning too, because she's afraid of eagles eating her for some godsforsaken reason." Oh, she knew that an eagle was somewhat faster then her once indeed airborn, but within town that meant little, given the need to get altitude first. "Just a way West as said, follow me once you get up there or look for the horse, sight up there ought to be good enough for that."

She waited a moment to let the druid, mage?, whatever shapeshifting Elf, process that, before moving with ease through the crowds herself and back to the Western Gate. With the distances involved, she might well make it back to the Horse before the bird was up there, but as she closed to the Gates, she instead kept an eye out to the Sky.

Zen launched herself up into the sky with a few flaps of her wings, only high enough to get over the rooftops and the walls of the town without brushing them with her wingtips. There wasn't much point in climbing high, the forest's edge wasn't that far away. As she flew, her broad wings cast a fleeting shadow over the buildings below as she hurried out to the forest, one eye trained on the speedy feline on the ground below, but most of her attention scanning the treeline ahead for a familiar equine.

The centaur is right where she promised she would be, with the only change being in posture, such that she had gone down completely upon the grass instead of just on her backside. All four legs were tucked carefully half-underneath her large frame in a pose not unlike a laying-down cat or dog, and she has removed the satchel from around her shoulder and removed what looks like a large pearl from its confines, rolling it over in her hands and gazing upon it not unlike a child who had found something pretty that captured their attention, while she waits for the rude cat-person to (hopefully) come back with the named Wood Elf. Her bow and arrows are set off to one side in the grass, but within easy reach, should she need them.

With an easy, ground-eating lope of her long legs, Vashka soon spotted the equine ahead and whilest still out of her assumed hearing range called up to the Elf about it, before slowing down, both to let the Elf decide how she wanted to actually approach and to not barrel in full paced herself. She'd made enough of a bad impression thusfar that running at her like that might well cause the dratted horse to bolt just as she'd brought her, her 'Zen'.

Zen was aware enough that she knew there was indeed a chance that the big bird form might spook Alyss, so rather than swooping down to land she opted to drop the form mid air, initiating a free fall that allowed her just barely enough time to activate a feather fall so that she would land lightly right next to the centaur.

"Alyss?" Her voice was soft and full of concern as she took in the equine's current state, her gaze briefly darting over to the huge Tabaxi? woman.

"Thank you for coming to get me, Miss. I very much appreciate it."

Alyss' fingers wrap over the gleaming orb as Zen's familiar voice suddenly reaches her ears, and her own ears flick up and swerve toward the sound of said voice. Her first and arguably-strongest intent is to get up and hug the willowy woman simply on the fact that she's here, familiar, and had only ever shown her kindness, but the frequent and incessant grinding of her personal hygiene from the cat-woman had gotten pretty deep into her head at the moment, and so she chose merely to stay seated and offer a conflicted frown, instead. "Zen-koshu..." she said, her voice small and sad, very much like an abandoned child. "Ru ta ju kivornis'naro... shumi kokensha ku'an... oshin ju ku'an. Jules ju'il kivornis'naro aan'i... gamdo miv sa atso'wa..?"

Vashka for her part shrugged at the Elf as she came to a halt, her breathing quickly steadying out. "Eh, between a few..misunderstandings, was about all the Girl'd accept for help. Finding 'Zen' ." She could probably elaborate further, but she saw little point. The Horse had her 'Zen', End of Saga. Scritching her pelt, she plucked a piece of bark out, flicking it back into the undergrowth, ugh, definetly a Bath when she got back home, for sure. Might just stay in there till the water ran cold, however high she piled the fire underneath.

Perhaps almost a reflex at this point, her ears flatten lightly against her head just at the sound of Vashka's voice, though her expression, itself, doesn't change at all. If she was thankful for the assistance, it's not showing too clearly on her face.

Zen's expression was one of heartbreak seeing her friend in such a state, and hearing those words. Heedless of the blood on Alyss' coat she moved to give the centaur a gentle hug.

"Alyss I am so sorry..." There wasn't much else she could say, nothing she could say would make the loss hurt less, all she could do was be there. She wanted to know if the attackers had been delt with, but asking about it in that moment just seemed a bit callous. Right there in that moment, Zen felt the only thing she could do was provide comfort. So that is what she tried her best to do.

Alyss looks surprised when Zen suddenly opts to hug her, and a small ounce of panic filters in about her current state, but the warmth of such attention quickly brushes all that aside, and she enjoys the hug for what it is. Her expression falters and, for a moment, it very much looks like she was about to break down... but then she doesn't, and instead she hugs Zen in return, looking past her and at the cat-girl a short ways away. "Alyss... thankful," she said, genuinely. "Cat help. Appreciate." She lowered her eyes to some spot on the grass between the lot of them. "Alyss... not know, what do."

"I did tell you Girl, I'd find them, and just as I said, it was easy enough." The feline gave a small grin, before her expression soured. "As to what to do. Tried to help ya there too, for all the good that did." Her green eyes rolled, blasted Sylvan, it wasnt even the Dialect she was familiar with, which wasnt that familiar either.

She winces noticeably at the offer of help she had been given, like it only made her remember the frustration involved rather than, you know, the actual offer of being helped. Some people were just kind of simple-minded, and Alyss was, unfortunately, not an exception. "Alyss lose all friends, all family," she continued, still fixated on the ground but feeling much more talkative with Zen nearby. "Only Zen-koshu left, but... Alyss know little, not long. Not..." She pauses, trying to remember the phrase, but then it comes to her. "Alyss not 'overstay welcome'. Burden, visit too much, Zen-koshu busy. Work, other things. Not want bother, but Zen-koshu, only friend left. Alyss alone, not want. Herd, social. Group. Family. Centaur alone, not good, not survive long. Easy target, big."

Zen frowned softly and rested a hand lightly on Alyss' head. "Firstly, you are never a bother. I am happy to have your company, Alyss. Secondly..." She paused and glanced around, hesitant to bring up the cause of her friend's misery. "I am willing to help put your herd to rest, if that still needs to be done."

She paused a moment before moving onto her third point. "And thirdly, if you wish, I can stay with you at your home for now. Keep you company. It wouldn't be a bother to me."

She knew that someone like Alyss would need a bit more reassurance of that last point, and so she added "It would save me having to continue to pay for a room at the inn. So it would be a help."

Shrugging nonplussed, Vashka atleast tried. "Well, if you'd have let me finish before, I aint the only one around in the Red Cat Lodge, not like you'd have to be around me and me alone all the time. And its a big enough place. Its in the forest too, since I aint much for towns myself either." Grunting at the elf's offer of returning to the glen she felt inclined to intervene there. "Was actually going to deal with that. Doubt she needs to deal with returning to that 'till the bodies are cleared atleast."

Sighing, the feline continued."Whole thing came to a mess about that, 'cause the darned Horse couldnt understand me. And I dont speak Sylvan, I can understand a word or two of it, sure, but speak it, not a word."

Her frown deepens, as assumed, and is not made any better at being referred to as 'darned horse,' or at the idea of returning to the glen. "Glen closed," she said. "Alyss block, trees, things. Not can bury, not have fire. Not want leave, disgrace dead, but what do?" She looked up, then, at Vashka, her frown changing from self-pity to frustration once more as her ears mat the rest of the way against her hair. "Cat use big words, Alyss not know. Expect? Alyss not talk Sylvan, try best. Alyss sorry, not good. Alyss little, not know lots yet. Alyss not want be here! Not choice! Alyss do best, sorry best not enough!" Her voice trembles in this last bit, like she were approaching an emotional cliff.

Sighing, since now atleast she did have someone who understood Common, she decided to try again. "Right, I asked her about the Dead, since there's a Cave nearby that's a minor necrotic fount. The Dead rise there, insistantly, 'cept she couldnt quite grasp the concept, and got upset about my insistance. I asked wether she atleast consecrated the remains or not. But I can bury them instead, probably a bad idea to build pyres in a woodland."

Zen's voice was a soft, but diplomatic one. "You don't have to deal with things alone, Alyss. We can help. And I'm here now, so I can clear up any misunderstandings." She paused and realized she had not a single clue as to the name of the feline woman who had fetched her.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but may I know your name?" Her hand moving to rub Alyss' back instead of resting on the equine's head, hoping to calm her.

Rolling her shoulders for a bit, she blinked, then nodded, realising in all this, that yes, she had forgotten to introduce herself, but then, she scarcely ever needed too. "Ah yes, the name's Vashka. Vashka Rinn."

"I think that perhaps it might be good if we all took care of dealing with setting her herd to rest. I'm not particularly strong, but I can dig."

She glanced back at Alyss. "I know it won't be pleasant, but I would understand if you want to help put them to rest. Sometimes we need that final farewell as closure." She seemed to be speaking from personal experience.

"So, if you want, we are here to help you do that. Okay?" She gave Alyss a little squeeze.

Alyss' equine ears un-flatten as Zen's hand moves from her head to her back, seemingly appreciating the gesture considerably, though her frustrated expression doesn't leave Vashka during this time, as if she were expecting some sort of rebuttal. But when the cat talks not to her but to Zen, she relaxes a little bit and lets the 'adults' talk before offering her own two silver pieces into the conversation. "Alyss help," she said, eventually. "Spirits go Hall of Marr. Alyss not strong, not have tools, thankful, Zen-koshu, Vashka-diri. Alyss go back... dead buried, maybe go back, glen. Hard, but where go, else? Alyss know little, world, 'Cleft.' Alyss appreciate company, help." And, as if completely forgetting Zen's earlier comment, "Alyss sorry, bother."

Grunting softly, the feline muttered irritably "And I told you, I live in these woods. If you'd let me finish before I'd have told you I had the tools to bury them. Even have some added hands to make the labour easier. Though can't say how much help one of them may be."The last bit was added softer, mostly to herself. "I'm pretty sure I saw where the place is, so you talk with your 'Zen', I'll bring the tools and the added hands there.."She paused and glanced up at the skies, seeming to calculate for a bit. "An hour or so, ought to do I'd say."

"Then we will get things started. Thank you again for your assistance, Miss Vashka. And...incase it wasn't clear, Zen is indeed my name. Not a title." She said quietly then turned her attention back to Alyss

"Lets go. We can start getting things sorted, and afterward, if it is something you would like, I can awaken a guardian to protect the glen and their resting place. I'll make sure there are plenty of flowers as well."

It's difficult, really, not to assume that there was just heavy bias working against Vashka, because she had, in fact, offered plenty of assistance for Alyss in her flustered state, but the delivery, too, did not exactly earn her any herd points. Despite being part of a group that were predisposed toward battle and hardship, Alyss seemed a bit further on the sensitive side of things, and it could be that she hadn't had as much exposure as her older clansmen to have been able to develop a sturdy-enough outer shell. She glances between the two of them, then, and careful slips the large jewel back into Jules' satchel, swinging it over her head and one shoulder as she carefully gets to her feet, one equine end at a time. "Alyss go," she said, reclaiming her archery gear as well from the grass and replacing them over corresponding shoulders. "Windrunner clan, not big, magic. Only run fast, yakru good, archery." She pauses, then, regarding Zen curiously. "'Guardian'? Gods?"

Zen shook her head "Not a god, just a protector to watch over their resting place." She fel into step along side Alyss as they got underway. She wanted to make sure to keep her friend's mind as occupied as she could, as she found that had helped her, in the past.

"I can awaken a tree to protect the glen. But it will take some time. Trees are often very caring and kind guardians. At least the ones I have delt with in the past. I'm certain I can find one that would be willing."

Zen took Alyss' hand gently as an attempt to provide some comfort as they walked. "I'm sorry you are going through this, Alyss. I know it hurts. But I want you to know, you are not a burden to me. You are a friend, and friends are never a burden."

Though she still looks obviously preoccupied, the conversation does significantly take the edge off of her thoughts, for the same reason described. "Alyss know," she said, keeping her eyes forward as breached the forest's edge and re-entered the canopied woodland, almost as if anticipating something else might jump out at them if she didn't. "Alyss see dead, also kill. Alyss not stranger, dying, killing. Bloodhoof not learn, other ways. Alyss think strong, but realize, hard, suddenly everything gone, lost. Panic. Not meet Zen-koshu, not know what happen. Maybe bad. Maybe argue Vashka-diri, long time." She did, however, issue a side glance at her elven companion. "Zen-koshu still work? Tell Alyss, not here, permanent. Do work, go home, done?" The... implication was there, but Alyss was careful not to let her tone indicate it as such.

Zen looked up at Alyss with a reassuring smile "I'm going to be working here for a long time. So I'm not going anywhere any time soon. You don't have to worry about being alone. Maybe I can even help you find your friend too."

The two walked a little further before she decided to speak up again. "You know, Miss Vashka was just trying to be helpful. Sometimes you come across people who aren't every good at understanding how others feel. They seem mean even when they don't intend to."

Zen gave Alyss' hand a littel squeeze. "Back home, there is this big hungry gnoll that makes me think of Miss Vashka a lot. It can take a bit to get used to them, but eventually you learn to understand them. But it takes a lot of patience."

She looked down at both their hands, and felt herself grasper tighter as a result, thankful for the reassurance. "Alyss... understand," she said, putting a hesitation in there before that word, like she wasn't actually sure if she did understand or not. "Alyss think, bad timing. Alyss sad, grief, not best time, gruff cat-person." She paused, her eyes scanning the surrounding forest in an extremely-vigilant manner. "Jules gone, not know. Alyss find bag, take. Jewel inside, Alyss keep, think Jules meant Alyss have, not get chance. Alyss remember, Jules say. But.. ask, if find. Keep now."

The two of them close enough to where one could make out the massive pile of extraneous woodland debris that Alyss had piled up against the glen's entrance, making it almost-painfully-obvious that there was something there not meant to be trespassed upon. "Alyss apologize, Vashka-diri. Alyss not mean, not handle feelings good, sometimes. Vashka-diri not wrong, Alyss... need bath." She scrunches up her nose at the prospect of being condemned for her hygiene, which she was usually pretty good about. "Alyss take, but make more sense, later. Not now, help dead first."

Zen mentally chided herself for not having taken care of Alyss' state sooner, she had intended to, but had gotten caught up in trying to manage a grieving friend and a bit of trying to keep the peace between said friend and someone who meant well but was poor at expressing it.

"Here, let me help with that. I'm sorry I should have done it sooner." she apologized and with a quick soft series of whistles she prestidigitated away the sticky rust red mess that clung to Alyss coat.

"I can clean us up again afterward as well." She assured her friend as she started to move aside some of the debris blocking the way. She was already bracing herself for what she was about to see, but she just hoped that Alyss would be able to handle the process.

The centaur looks confused for a moment and actually stops walking when Zen mentions 'helping with that,' tilting her head broadly to one side as she does her whistle-gig. The amazement that registers on her face as her coat is suddenly blood-free is quite palpable, to say the least. "Zen-koshu have magic bath spell?" she asks with due intrigue. "No water? Alyss not know, magic do amazing things!" This amazement, however, is hampered slightly by the need to return to the glen just ahead of them, and while she should probably be helping take the stuff down so that Zen can get to what she needs to do easier (especially since some of it looks pretty heavy; Alyss may be young, but she still had the strength of a centaur, which made for some sizeable branches nesting themselves up against it), she hesitates, one ear flicking in accord. Her eyes lower slightly, the whole 'facing the music' prospect not sitting well with her at that moment.

Zen paused in her efforts to move the debris and looked over at Alyss. "We can wait, if you want. This only needs to happen as fast as you are ready for it to happen. Okay?" She reassured the centaur softly.

"I'd rather you not push yourself too hard or too fast. I can take care of moving all this out of the way if you would like to sit and rest..."

The offer to wait sounded good to her, because with what lay on the other side, she could probably be willing to wait eternally. But then what needed to be done would never finish, and the bodies of her fallen comrades would merely rot into desecration, nevermind what the cat-girl's threats entailed. Alyss is silent for a moment following Zen's words, but then she looks up and, without a response, begins helping to move the debris was well. She looks completely dismal about the whole thing, but it would be a childish thing to ask for help and then expect that help to do all the shouldering. She was a member of the Windrunner tribe, and now was one of those times when she needed to play her part.

Moving out from the northern undergrowth, a large leather satchel slung over one shoulder this time, Vashka grunted softly at the sight of the barrier. "Aye, thought this looked new." Planting the satchel on the forestfloor, she nimbly undid the loose ties on top, and the whole thing soon spread apart revealing a motley collection of hatchets, shovels and even a mattock of two, handles clicking woodenly against one another as the tools settled down. "Wasn't too sure just what we'd need tool wise, brought most of the shed."

Raising a hand to her short muzzle, she whistled sharp and slightly shrilly. The reason why became rather self-evident as two more, somewhat more beastly companions appeared soon after from the undergrowth behind her, summoned by the callsign.

One was around the size of a halfling if that, barely reaching three feet, an odd, red and yellow furred ferretlike beast that never the less moved with an easy grace and their small eyes were surprisingly calm and serious, even bowing solemnly as they halted.

The other was somewhat larger, a squat, dwarven sized beastmen of palewhite fur, with a few striations of red along its thick, dense pelt. A leather and bronze manica adorned their left arm, whilest their bloodred eyes seemed to glare even more fiercely then the feline woman's while their long, mobile ears twitched constantly, tilting this and that way.

"And brought some help as promised." Vashka shrugged slightly and continued. "Wont be much use for conversation, they understand Common well enough, but cant speak a word of it. But for added muscle they'll do, and Zangoose here's got better senses then me, for if there's any trouble still about." Her hand pointed at the white-furred beast absently, though she did not eludicate if the name was a Name, title or anything like.

Alyss hears the sound of the incoming aid, as she knew they would be, but she forces herself to remain focused on removing the debris away from the glen coverage. She doesn't even turn to look at any of them, much less acknowledge that they have arrived. She heard them and she understood them, and she'd request the necessary help when the time came. But right now, she had to put everything into keeping her feelings on the matter in the back, because if they didn't stay there, she would break and be another body, however still-living, that they would have to take care of.

Zen decided to speak for Alyss to the new arrivals and Vashka. "Thank you very much for your assistance. Once the way is clear, I can start digging, if you would be willing to gather the fallen."

She paused a moment then looked over at Alyss again. The fact the new help wasn't big on conversation would probably be rather helpful overall.

Eyeing the wall of debris, Vashka nodded a small grunt escaping her lips at her assignment. "Sure, definetly not something the Girl should do." Beckoning to Zangoose, she moved to the heavier debris first. The white Pokemon actually unsheathing her long, black claws to cut through some of the tree-limbs, to make them easier to move as needed. The smaller Mienfoo meanwhile darted about used their size and nimble nature to assess the pile, and strategically remove smaller branches, allowing for easier dismantling of the blockage.

Between the lot of them working, what Alyss had managed to utilize for a blockade was removed without a whole lot more effort, and once the way was clear, the grim sight was beheld by everyone present, exactly as she'd left it.

It was, in every sense of the word, a massacre. Slightly-more than half a dozen centaur bodies, all strewn about the glade, each one crushed and mangled in various ways that depicted treatment under the wrath of a very large crushing implement. Bows and empty quivers were discarded all around. Nothing moved within the glade, short of what loose objects that the occasional breeze fluttered through; beyond these fallen centaur, two massive, blue-skinned creatures were also felled, those aforementioned-weapons laid out upon the grassy earth nearby their immobile hands. No less than two dozen arrows, apiece, can be seen sticking out of them in various locations, seemingly resulting in mutual kills all around.

Alyss stands within the center of the opening to the glen, just... looking at it all. Her eyes are clouded and still she doesn't speak, but she really doesn't need words to express what she's feeling at this moment.

Zen stood there along side Alyss and took in the tragic scene before her. It felt like such a familiar thing. She'd seen siatuations similar to this more times than she cared to remember.

She reached up to gently rub Alyss' shoulder, not actually saying anything out loud. Just allowing her presence at the centaur's side to do the talking for her.

Given her rather bloodsoaked past, let alone her occupations during it, Vashka spared a single, somewhat commiserating glance for the centaur girl, but seeing the Elf had her handled, soon moved businesslike into the glen proper. Once again beckoning the stronger of her companions to follow along with her, the pair began to move the Centaur remains with surprising gentility given her displayed demeanor sofar. She might not have much Tact, but she understood reverence for the departed atleast, especially clear warriors such as these. The Mienfoo for their part, moved to carefully collect the discarded weaponry and ammunition, moving each impliment to the body they by all appearances they could judge belonged too once her other companions had put them down.

As much as she could've enjoyed standing there and just being comforted by Zen, she opted to at least move into the glen and find something to be proactive about. Since Vashka and her allies seemed to have the bulk of the heavy-lifting in order and, to her admitted surprise, were not rough about the process, she found herself wandering over toward one of the fallen giants and just... looked at it. A residual arrow still remained stuck in its oversized thigh, and she bent slightly to pull it free with a gross flesh-ripping sound, dark blood oozing out of the wound left behind. The tip of the arrow still held an amount of its purple coloration, and Alyss looked at it with a dour expression. "Apako'nimshara..." she said quietly, seemingly not to anyone specific. "Roven sa na osa'kil..." Her eyes move from the arrowhead to the massive corpse, frowning. "Gorvin sa yakru iresmi vivel sarumi. Luto apako'nimshara na ju'ano kokensha ku'an sissheppo..."

Once Alyss was no longer simply standing there, and had started to move around and speak, Zen finally felt like she could take a moment away from her side to start getting to work on the graves. She kept the casting of the spell as quiet as she could, humming it softly to herself rather than her usual whistle, that same glowing etherial spiral of vines curling up around her.

When the vines withdrew Zen was no longer an elf, but a giant badger. She waddled her way over to a spot near a large tree and began to dig, careful of the tree roots. She didn't want to harm any of the possible guardians-to-be.

Every so often, she would pause in her work and look over toward Alyss to check on her, she rather wished she could be in two places at once, but seeing as how that wasn't an option, she would just have to be vigilant to the centaur woman's needs.

Once the last of the centaurs was secured for the moment, Vashka at last cast a glance at the remaining bodies as she took a moment to crack her back. Giants of some sorts, Ogre's by the look of them, and oddly familiar, but she couldnt quite place them, definetly not native to the area. Ah, somewhere North, that was where she'd last seen creatures like them. "Zangoose, either pick up a shovel, or just use your claws if you dont mind the dirt, but go help the Elf, would you." Considering for a moment, the white furred creature nodded, and once more unsheathing her claws, attacked the soil one spot removed from the badger, making much the same motions and achieving broadly similar results as she set too, moving dirt and soil with a fierce will. The feline woman for her part, gestured to her other companion and went to retrieve her tools, she atleast didnt have suitable claws, even if her nails were sharper then average.

She regards the blue giant for several moments longer as the sounds of everyone else's progress continue to pass around her, and eventually she leaves to trot across the glen and regard the group of her fallen comrades, still holding onto the arrow she withdrew. Seeing all of them in such a state was mind-bending, in that she'd just seen all of them so lively and well on the night before. A centaur's spirit was said to be as easy to break as their bodies, which was a saying passed along in the knowledge that centaur were some of the sturdiest creatures on Terra, let alone Ymir itself. Seeing so many of them just... gone, was as much appalling as it was heartbreaking. A wake-up call, as it were, to the dangers this 'Cleft' truly possessed.

She sighed, and gripped the arrow's shaft with both hands as she lowered her head. A faint wind picked up around the glen, gentle at first, but then growing slightly in intensity, coming to localize in a narrow, gusty display centered around her, specifically. The blades of grass danced at her hooves amidst these gusts, and she mumbled something incoherently; a chant, possibly, but in such a low voice that even Zen would have trouble pick up on what was obviously Sylvan in some obvious degree.

Zen paused in her burrowing, a clump of dirt on her head as she poked her nose up over the edge of the grave she had been working on. Quietly she watched, small stubby ears picking up that something was being said, but not the words of it. The bard in her wondered, if she was seeing the growth of a Windrunner into a Galerunner. She got the destrinct impression that there was a resolve steeling before her very eyes.

It was at that point she decided that she would also commemorate the herd in song, but that would take some time and deep thought. She definitely needed to take things one step at a time. She wondered what could be done about the massive corpses of the attackers. Perhaps air lifting them elsewhere to decay might be the best...

(External Consultant) Deim — 04/15/2024 1:36 PM
Returning with a mattock for herself and a set of shovels, the feline woman looked at the progress thusfar achieved before setting to work at another spot still. Breaking up the forest soil with a few precise overhead swings of the mattock, before setting too with shovel in the now loosened ground. Mienfoo, somewhat awkward given their smaller size never the less used the oversized impliment with considerable force, focusing more on shoring up the sides as the feline at her side worked on achieving the needed depth.

The centaur mare continues to chant and the wind around her continues to grow, sending her fluffy white hair all about her face, which is ignored. Alyss' words begin to grow slightly more-audible and pronounced, to the point where words can actually be made out within earshot. "--ju ku'ani, su karo na iresmoni gima rovichi sa niv koshu." Her eyes raise, just slightly, somewhat misted over as her resolve struggles to hold on in the face of whatever it is she's doing, and that which she is regarding in front of her. "...Miv sa besmarta, aan shuni'tenka iresmoni."

The wind continues to spin around her standing form for a second or so longer, but following the end of her chanting, it disperses. She frowns at something, and then nods, as well. "Tiven ku'an... be'sho." No sooner does the last syllable leave her lips than seven individual columns of ethereal blue flame suddenly ignite underneath each of the seven corpses laid out before her, wide enough to encompass each body and reaching roughly four feet or so into the air above them. The glen is lit up with eerie blue light that comes off of these flames, but strangely, no heat is felt; the bodies, themselves, are not seen within these flames as they 'burn,' lost in the opaque coloration that each one provides.

Alyss, herself, looks straight ahead, past these columns of fire, the light of which flicker off the amber color of her eyes, easily-reflected from the wetness still easily-apparent thereupon.

Zen ducked her head down into the hole she had been making as in instinctual reaction to the sudden blue flames. She certainly hadn't expected the culmination of Alyss' display to be flame of any sort.

She watched the pyres in silence from over the rim of the grave she had been working on, uncertain as to whether or not she should be continuing to dig.

The giant badger hauled itself out of the hole and wandered over to stand next to Alyss and watch the light show in silent respect for the fallen.

Pausing a moment to sniff the air, Vashka soon shook her head and resumes digging, whilest in the deeper, though still growing pit next to her, Zangoose responded much the same, though with considerable more ear twitching and suspicion, before dirt and soil once more fountained up in this grave to be aswell. A part of Vashka might be curious what was going on exactly, but 'magic is magic' suited her fine for Dealing with mystical matters, for the moment, there was still plenty of dirt to move.

She continues to stand there in silence, and if she was aware of the large badger making its way over to her, she didn't indicate as such. The smell of burning hide, hair, or flesh is strangely not present as the blue flames dance in a row across the glen, and neither does the grass singe or smolder around them.

These flames remain for what is roughly three-quarters of a minute, and then, all at once they die down and disseminate; the corpses, for what they were, all remain where they had been placed, with no indication of fire damage or anything of the sort. Whatever that ritual was, cremation was apparently not a part of it.

Alyss speaks, then, as the flames disperse. "Alyss... sorry," is all she said.

The giant badger gave the centaur a little nuzzle before waddling back to the hole it had been working on and climbing back down into it. It didn't take too long for that grave to be completed however.

Zen utilized the greater physical strength of her polymorphed form to take the corpse from next to the hole she had dug, and carefully pulled it into the fresh resting place. She took a moment down in the grave with the corpse to arrange it and set it's assigned weapons carefully along side them.

That being done, she hauled herself out of the hole, took a moment to glance back over to Alyss again, before she made her way over to the dirt pile and began the process of filling the grave.

Climbing out of their pit and resisting the ignoble urge to shake dirt off, the Zangoose prodded Vashka with the tip of one of her claws to signal she was done, knowing better then to just growl to draw their attention in such a solumn matter, before they together filled this grave much alike. Joining the duo after the remains had been lowered into place, the Mienfoo bowed again whilest adding an odd gesture with her hands in their own, curious ceremony, before helping to fill it back up.

Alyss seems somewhat at a loss at this point; she hadn't really felt herself capable of that sort of sendoff until it was led up to a 'move it or lose it' sort of situation, but now that she'd done what was expected of her, she didn't really know what else she should be doing. Burial was not exactly an uncommon practice for fallen centaur, but given their statue, funeral pyres were much more viable because digging was not an easy task for a creature that stood taller than most others. The wood elves back in Ymir typically handled any down-to-earth work such as that, relying on the centaur more for their strength and muscle than groundwork labor.

Then again, nothing is gained if she didn't ask. "What Alyss do, help?" she said, kind of in a general way since she hadn't seen Zen transform and thus just kind of... lumped everyone together in a 'these are all assorted beasts of varying kinds but they're all here to help and that is fine' sort of way.

As Vashka and the Zangoose together resumed spirited work on the third grave, the Mienfoo for their part being at the moment superfluous herself, moved to the Centaur Girl, bowing solumnly, before gesturing mutely with its curious, three fingered hand towards the remains of the Giants. As she was fairly used to pantomiming her wishes, the odd ermine like beast tried to make clear a desire to know what she, as the Victim of them, wished to do with the remains of her Enemies. She did not infact expect much specificly, but some action regarding them seemed necisary atleast to the little monk.

Alyss looks between the Mienfoo and where it is indicating, and while she might not be exceptionally bright at times, she did catch on fairly quickly (or so she thought) in this instance. "Oh..." she said. "Yes. Not stay. Maybe not eat. Not know, meat, made of. Not good idea." She turns away from the bipedal creature and again meandered over to the massive pair of corpses, thinking about how to handle such things. If she were back in Ymir, the task would be a simple one; during a particularly heinous crime, it was customary to send the corpse back to their kin in just-as-many-pieces as the number of centaur that had been injured or slain in the midst of their misdeeds, but that prospect didn't really apply here, in... any way, honestly.

She doesn't really come up with anything after some deliberation, especially given that fire is not an option, either. "Long time, rot..." she mumbled to herself. "Bad smell." She glanced behind herself, then wandered back over toward the entrance to the glen, looking outside of it to see if anything out there gave her any ideas. Her eyes fell upon the lake, a short distance away, but she remained silent, letting the gears turn for a few moments longer.

Once she had finished filling the grave she had been working on, she got the impression that time was ticking down on her spell. The badger checked to see fi any more holes needed to be dug but it seemed most were done and waiting their new residents.

The elven woman's form replaced the giant badger's and she took a moment to dust herself off, glancing over at where Alyss was looking out from the glen. The elven woman glanced back toward the ogre-esk corpses and chewed on her lower lip a little. It would be possible to move them, she imagined. There were probably several methods at their disposal, but seeing as how she wasn't sure what the others were capable of she waited for the centaur woman to ponder the problem, as she herself pulled out a paper packet from her pack and started sprinkling seeds over the filled grave.

Nodding to the Elf now that she was humanoid again, Vashka left the latest pit and with her companions aid soon lowered its intended occupant into place with solumnity. "You still good to fill this one, will let us see to digging the rest." Seeing her glance towards the Ogre's, the feline added with a dark growl. "Yeah, definetly not digging graves for them. The Girl seems to have some ideas there though, best to let her think it out."

Being a creature more attuned with nature rather than the civilized world (and there had been rounds with this between centaur and the elven cities, off and on, too, back in Ymir) meant that she had no concern over where bodies actually lied or ended up that didn't belong to her own kind or kin, and even if this wasn't her world, that thought process didn't make exceptions. "Lake," she said, after a moment or seventeen of contemplation. "All pull giant corpse, drag, lake." She turned toward the others in the glen, just a small amount of pride falling into her still-otherwise-dismal expression, for coming up with such a neat idea. "Good? Not smell. No sight, no mind. Fish food."

She glanced over at Vashka and nodded affirmingly. "I can fill in, I should probably save my last two casts of polymorph for that job." She gestured towards the ogres, now that she had heard Alyss' plan for what to do with them.

Zen moved to pick up a shovel and waved over to Alyss encouragingly. "We can certainly do that!" she called, as she started to shift dirt back into the hole from whence it came.

She had no intention of using her Rex form however. She didn't want to scare Alyss again with that, but a Mammoth would have the muscle needed for such a heavy job. The others would have to deal with the rope work. She was fairly certain she had a few bundles of hempen rope tucked in her pack that htey could use.

Straightening up from her latest job of filling another grave, Vashka eyed the ogre corpses and sighed softly. But at worst, it meant there might be a pair of skeletal ogres climbing out at some point, as far as she was concerned. Moving to the nearest one, she grabbed one of its oversized arms and slung it over one shoulder, scowling with distaste as this exposed her nose to its scent, and hauled the corpse into place in sofar as the height disparity allowed. Breathing heavily, she slowly straightened, growling audibly as she tapped into her ever present smoldering Rage, muscles visibly swelling on her already wiry frame. Her eyes glowed like green beacons by the time she straightened up enough to walk, but she was moving, even if the beast legs dragged behind her and her pace as she moved was steady if punctuated with inarticulate growls, deep within her chest.

Somewhat surprised that Vashka had taken to the idea so quickly and so willingly without calling her out on something, she hurried over with a shorthand glance behind at Zen, and took up a side on the back end of the monster that the perpetually-gruff feline was already starting to haul off. Despite being smaller by centaur standards, she was still a viable source of abnormal strength, and enforced this by hefting one of its legs up and helping to distribute some of the weight as the creature was slowly but methodically dragged off, a task in and of itself, but far from impossible. Alyss' idea to dispose of them in the lake pleased her more now than it did before, because being subjected to the smell at such a close range made her think of what other things it might attract if left to rot in the glen.

As Alyss and Vashka worked on moving the one ogre, Zen turned her attention to the other. Another hummed tune and a gesture and the slender wood elf was now replaced by a woolly mammoth with an impressively large set of tusks.

The massive beast didn't exactly move quickly, but it trundled over to the second huge corpse and using it's tusks like a forklift, hoisted the heap of dead flesh up and started to slowly tromp after the first corpse that was slowly moving out of the glen. Choosing a form with such a big sensitive nose however, was something that Zen immediately regretted.

The largest outwards difference the activation of Rage seemed to entail aside from the increased glow to her eyes, was how the feline woman more closely resembled her white furred companion in mannerisms, in that her ears now too twitched and turned to every sound as she stoicly moved onward, aswell as her tail twitching agitatedly behind her rather then its earlier stillness, even as its already thick fur bristled in clear agitation. If Vashka even noticed that she had aid in her burden, outwardly she did not show it in her pace or motions, untill atlast she and her burden reached the lake's shores. Whereupon her hands grasped the corpse's wrists more firmly digging furrows in the dead flesh and upon trying to move it, noticed the increased resistance of someone else also holding on to it. Startled for a moment, she growled bestially, before calming herself with a series of deep, even breaths, before gesturing instead to lower the corpse to the soil to the Centaur Girl. Upon compliance, she grasped the forearms of the dead ogre, fingers actually sinking into them with the force of her grasp, before with a loud inarticulate roar, she heaved the corpse out towards the deeper parts of the waters, chest heaving with heavy breaths after the excertion but otherwise unbothered by the act.

Startled slightly at the sudden aggressiveness of her carrying-cohort, Alyss backpedals a few steps as Vashka single-handedly tosses something much larger than she a great distance off the shore, one ear flicking at the massive splash the results afterward and the ensuing equal-parts flustering of the surrounding wildlife that all turn to regard the sudden kersploosh of something huge disturbing the lake's otherwise-serene surface. A couple of rabites cautiously hop over to the edge of the lake in this event's wake, scanning the residual waves and ripples in their own way for disturbances before meandering off, disinterestedly.

Satisfied, then, she turns around to go and help with the other one, only to stop short when she sees a very large, very furry elephant-like thing come trudding on up the path toward the lake, her amber eyes going wide with a cross between amazement and uncertainty, given that this beast clearly wasn't there just a few minutes ago. And now that she thought about it, neither was that badger, at first. Was the entire forest just randomly coming to her aid, all of a sudden? It was a weird circumstance that she couldn't quite figure out.

The hulking mammoth continued to trundle to the shore of the lake, pausing just a moment to gently pat the surprised equine on the head with it's trunk as it passed.

Once at the water's edge the mammoth paused and thought about how best to offload it's burden. I widened it's stance slightly, shifting it's considerable weight to more heavily favour it's back legs, and it lowered it's head off to it's side before is abruptly reared, and jerked it's head forward and up with a rather loud proclamation of effort.

At the apex of the motion, Zen dropped the polymorph to allow the massive corpse to be free of the curling tusks that had carried it, and the body was launched into the air to land in deeper water along side it's fallen comrade. Zen now stood there and dusted off her hands a little, satisfied that she had managed to get the trajectory and timing down right.

The corpse splashed down and abruptly sank below the surface, satisfied, Zen turned back to the others.

Slowly coming down from her Rage, Vashka shuddered for a moment as various muscle twinges asserted themselves and her breathing grew heavier, more wearied, but she soon controlls it with deep, steady breaths, mostly seeming outwardly to be recovering from the earlier excertion still. Her nose twitches and a grunt escaped as she was reminded anew of another reason to bathe, she now smelled of Ogre, ugh. Her ears meanwhile continued their erratic twitching and she continued to breathe slow and steadily to settle her emotions back down.

Alyss tilts her head slightly in a given direction as the furry elephant-thing suddenly turned into Zen, half a dozen questions abruptly taking her away from the hollowness of her current situation, if at least for a moment or three. "Zen-koshu... not 'wood elf'?" she asked, with a touch of apprehension. "Furry... thing? Alyss confused. Glad help, but confused. What Zen-koshu, real?"

Zen looked at Alyss with a sort of warm amusement and offered a reassuring smile. "I'm still a wood elf, Alyss. I used magic to change into something that could help. I'm not a very strong person, I never would have been able to move an ogre with these."

The elf patted the bicep of one arm. Said arm was tone, but it was alsy pretty damn twiggie. Enough strength to draw a bow, certainly not enough to move an ogre. "I can use magic to help me make up for my shortcomings."

For her part, the feline woman bit her tongue, figuratively atleast, to not comment. Her emotional controll for the moment, thoroughly shot enough that even she knew not to make the remark she wanted to make. Instead, she merely grunted. "Girl, you sent me to fetch an Elf, I brought an Elf, just one that happens to change shapes. Still an Elf for all that."

She still looks confused, but at least less-so, as she looks between the again-aggressive cat-girl and Zen. "Alyss know... Alyss thankful," she said, without reservation. "Alyss not call liar, confused. Alyss not know, magic, change body. New, not know, never see. Alyss think, 'maybe Zen-koshu not wood elf, maybe wood elf disguise, hide?'" She scuffed at the ground with one forehoof. "Alyss see lots, weird things, think lots possible, anything. Strange world."

"I can assure you, I am a wood elf." Zen said to the centaur woman as she made her way over to Alyss to look up at her. "Magic can do much. Everything from changing one's form, to awakening a tree to life to be a glen's guardian, to speaking to plants and animals."

The elven woman glanced around lake, she hoped that the fish and other aquatic creatures that inhabited it would be able to handle disposing of the corpses, and that the poison used in killing them wouldn't be an issue for the ecosystem.

"We should probably get back and finish the burials. We don't have overly much daylight left."

For her part, the feline woman shrugged with casual unconcern and tapped the side of her muzzle, even as she turned back towards the glen. "Learned a long time ago, to trust this over my eyes. Especially in the face of magic. The other shapes, they still smell like em, but only the Elf one smells like a 'real' Elf." Her tail was still twitching side to side, but atleast the fur nolonger stood out bristling, resuming its bushy but sleek appearance. With a final sigh, she also seemed more, 'gruntled' rather then 'disgruntled' in her bodily posture, relaxed rather then likely to spring to action.

"Pretty sure Zangoose and Mienfoo'll have finished filling the graves by now atleast." She couldnt say how good a job they'd have done at it, but she trusted her companions to see to that much atleast.

Alyss regards Zen curiously for a moment as she makes her case, and even beyond the fact that she trusted her at face-value for at least a couple of reasons, the fact that she understood Sylvan was probably a good enough personal-link before anything else, even if she hadn't actually been a true wood elf. But then, the task yet-at-hand comes back to her as the mention of needing to finish the burials arises, and she frowns, but nods in accord. "Alyss believe," she said, honestly. "Alyss surprise easy, always new things. Not good, magic, but some, little. Jishobi, jishobu, shaman, Windrunner clan. Alyss little, know little, some." She seems, otherwise, of the 'out of sight, out of mind' variety with regards to the ogre bodies being dumped in a lake, and whether it would cause issues or not, she didn't stop to think of the premise of what the Apex Poison in the ogres' systems may or may not do to the aquatic ecosystem therein. Oh well.

She turns to follow Zen back into the glen, with a side glance at Vaashka and her own mention as using her sense of smell for telling things apart. "Alyss ears yakru good, hear yakru good," she explained of herself. "Smell okay. But hear best."

Deciding that maybe a little bit of idle language instruction might help get Alyss' mind off of the grim task, zen instructed the centaur helpfully as they made their way back toward the glen. "Yakru is "really", Jishobi is "Mother" and Jishobu is "Father". In case you were curious." she said gently to Alyss

"And if you ever wish to know what a word is in common, you need only ask. I am more than happy to teach you. Even teach some magic, if that is something that interests you."

Her own ears twitch, tilting too and fro as if by unconscious habit more then intention, then Vashka nods. "Heartbeats tend to be a good way to tell a Shapeshifter for True aswell. Most that do so, dont bother taking their mimicry that far, or just dont even know they need too or can. Can't say my own ears are quite that good, though I've known those like me who trained theirs too that point, so its a possibility for sure. I just had..other skills to practise in. Smell's mostly good for Tracking to me, but it has its other uses too." Granted, it had its distinct downsides aswell, but that went without saying as far as the feline was concerned.

Back in the glen itself meanwhile, the remaining beastly duo had indeed filled the remainder of the graves previously dug and yet un-filled, to the point of moving of dirt and re-application of soil. The necisary ceremonies or benedictions for the departed were not within their prowess, though they had in their own peculiar ways made observations upon each completion. At this moment however, they were instead moving around, returning the soil into torn trenches and patting back in place such grass as could be returned to its proper place to atleast visually remove most of the reminders of the battle that took place there.

Alyss glances between the two of them on the way back to the glen, but focuses on Zen's attempts to educate her a little bit. All of it being said on the same line requires her to piece it together for a moment, basing it on what she, herself, had just said and registering that Zen was attempting to correct her cross-language referencing. "Oh," she oh'd. "Oh... okay. Alyss... understand. Most. 'Mother,' 'Father,' Alyss, shaman, Windrunner clan." Her brow furrows. "What 'really'? Alyss not know, use word."

Her attention is briefly grabbed as they step foot back into the glen, her ears lowering at the sight of all the new graves and what lies underneath them, but fortunately, Zen's instructiveness and her own penchant for being fickle-minded still had most of her attention, and she still regards the wood elf for her follow-up response.

"Yakru is "really"." the pale woman said softly and paused to observe the new graves as well. "Very, can also be used in the same way." she turned her gaze to the sky for a moment.

"Alyss, would it be okay if I play a song for your herd? I've always felt that music is a wonderful way to connect people." her gaze lowered from the clouds to look at Alyss, Vashka and the others.

"Then, I can start searching for the glen's guardian."

Seeing that the Elf once more had the Centaur girl suitably distracted, Vashka for her part moved to confer with her companions, allbeit in silent pantomime. Grunting softly at something they told her, she stopped and inhaled deeply, seeming to sift through the scents before shaking her head. Yes, there was something beyond Ogre and Centaur there, faint, but given all the running about, no telling what it might have been, too old to really tell much if anything. Shaking her head to dismiss the errant thought, tail lashing behind her with slight agitation, she finally gestured to her companions and set about collecting her scattered tools from around the glen instead, to leastways get those out of the way.

Alyss still seemed like she wasn't grasping the concept of that word in the way it was supposed to be used, but this thought process is stymied at Zen's mention of a song. This brings her attention full-back to the current situation, and while she is fond of the idea, the reality of her predicament coming back to her all of a sudden brings a frown right back to her face, too. "Oh..." she said, regarding for a moment the burial mounds that have since replaced all of the visible corpses that once scattered the glen. "...Song okay. Alyss not mind. Song, magic?" Her eyes fall upon the other helpers as they finalize their assistance methods, and the general emptiness of the glen, without the sound of twenty-eight other hooves clomping around at random, gave it an eerie silence that even her nearby companions couldn't overcome with their own chatter.

Zen considered a moment then nodded "I can make the song a magical one of a sort." she said as she set her pack down and uncoupled her instrument from it's side.

She took a moment to check the tuning before she stepped closer to the graves and fell silent for a moment. With a whispered word to herself a repeating series of notes, seemingly from a piano start to drift through the air, easing into existence as her fingers started to play across the instrument, adding a second layer to the song, which was then joined by a third layer, Zen's own voice, singing a soft melody in Sylvan.

Thin threads of magic drift through the air around her and slowly start to spiral out to encompas the rest of the glen, little motes of light taking on the forms of luminous butterflies as the song continued to build and reach a gentle but powerful crescendo. Soon enough the whole glen is alight with a gentle glow that softened all the edges and the tune drifted and floated on the air like all those illusory butterflies, her song of rest offering relief from all the hard work the group had done.

Eventually the tune faded, as did the light show and the last notes were carried away on a gentle breeze leaving the glen quiet once again.

Even with the song finished she remained where she stood for a few moments longer before she turned to the others collectively.

"Thank you for indulging me."

Gathering the tools back into the satchel and almost absently redoing the ties, Vashka atlast passed it to the little ferretlike Mienfoo, sending them both off with it back home. Her ears twitched and tilted as she moved, to follow the musical recital, and a small involuntary shudder passed through her fur at the clear presence of magic to it, but otherwise given she barely understood a word of Sylvan and had little appreciation to music as it was, she largely ignored it. Dance atleast she understood, song, not so much. Her nose twitched as it caught another, clearer fraction of that mystery third, older scent by chance, and figured she might atleast check wether the girl knew what a third presence was doing in a battle, given there'd been no body and yet she'd mentioned being Alone now.

Moving back to the girl's side, and pondering how to phrase what she wanted to ask, the feline woman shook her head, it might be blunt, but she was atleast determined to get this mystery out of her head."Hey girl, any idea who or what might have been here when this all went down. Keep smelling a faint third scent, besides Ogres and Centaurs. Smells hyuman, but Odd, different. Given there isnt a body to match, seemed atleast worth checking with you, seeing as you lived here." For all Vashka knew afterall, the odd-human had directed..whatever happened here.

Alyss is awestruck by the song at first, which then adds a layer of 'haunted' when the Sylvan lyrics show up. Absolutely nothing tears her attention away while Zen is performing, and any number of emotions and expressions could be seen within her large amber eyes during this time. She reaches out, tentatively, to try and touch one of the ethereal butterflies that draw near, but of course her hand passes through it, and she says nothing of it.

When the song is complete and Zen thanks her for the allowance, Alyss is silent, staring ahead toward the other end of the glen with no real words available to offer. In truth, even when Vaashka implores upon her the nature of a mystery scent/presence, she doesn't say anything at first...

Up until the point where she mentions not finding a body, at which tears begin to form in the centaur's eyes when the emotional barrier she was keeping up begins to falter. "Jules..." is all she said, her voice cracking as she does.

Zen took note of Alyss' precarious state as she tucked her instrument back into it's place on her pack.

She made her way over to the centaur and looked up at her. "You know, his scent being here, but him no longer being here means that he probably was able to get away from all of this. So your friend is likely okay." She was aware there were other possibilities, but that flame of hope was something the equine woman needed in that moment, so the other options didn't matter.

"We will find him. I'll help."

Sensing she'd obviously stepped into something, again, though, likewise again, not quite knowing Why in particular besides her Bluntness in asking, the feline woman resisted the urge to groan but instead hurried to clarify, raising her hands placatingly whilest her tone, still gruff was consilatory atleast. "Girl, I did not mean to upset you, it's just a scent without a body to go with it. With the bodies of the Ogres gone, its a lot clearer to tell, but all it tells me is they're not among the dead, leastways here, odd or not I'd like to think I would smell a dead hyuman if they were near." Which to her, only made the scent more puzzling. "Given you know a Name to put to it, I assume atleast they're friendly, which is why I asked."

Closing her eyes and inhaling deeply she once more sifted through the sensory input only more thoroughly, knowing now it was more then just a curiosity, but an ally atleast to the girl appearantly, before shaking her head, the scent trail was old and confusing. They entered, their scent was mingled with the scents of dead or dying centaurs, and the ogres. Which set the time, but for the life of her, she couldnt figure out where the scent went after. Recalling just where particularly the giants reminded her of, she finally placed the beasts in her mind and recalled battling their like.

Her eyes opening, a grunt escaped her lips as she came to a conclusion that matched the evidence somewhat. "Huh, there might even be a chance this 'Jules' lived through this. Though doubt they'd be in good shape if so, unless someone else found them by now." Moving hurriedly without stopping to explain, over to where Mienfoo had placed the Ogres clubs she crouched down and thoroughly smelled first one, then the other before grunting again, placing the same scent on one of them.

"Got hit, scent's all over it..but no body here..little blood of theirs on it too.."she mused aloud to herself, mind shifted to Tracking mode."..Glancing blow then..." Her eyes started scanning the glen's tree border looking first high at the treetops, before letting her gaze travel down, consideringly. There wasnt anything emidiately obvious to her, but she'd Tracked with worse clues by sheer, bloody-minded persistance.

The reassurance from both parties seems to help, actually, such that Alyss is able to compose herself before the tears actually manage to escape the corners of her eyes. She heaves a sigh and gives a sniffle, but nods affirmingly. "Alyss think so," she said, agreeable. "Alyss find pack, Jules things. Think, leave behind, want Alyss find, know not gone. Where body?" She looks over at Vasshka briefly, then at Zen again. "Not know, not here. But Jules pack, not body. Alyss... stay alive, find Jules. Somewhere." She shifts in place somewhat, her eyes glancing around between all the fresh burial mounds now situated at one end of the glen. "Alyss... thankful. Friends. Alyss not do without."

"I'll have to stay here for the next eight hours so arrange for a guardian to protect the glen." Zen informed Alyss as she reached up to give the taller woman a gentle hug.

"Will that be okay?" There was a whole process to go through. First she would need to speak with the trees using a stroll she had on hand, find out which one would be willing to take up the mantel of guardian. Then the eigh hour marathon of casting the Awaken spell.

"It takes a little while to cast the spell." she explained, her gaze scanning the glen's outer perimeter for an idea of which of the trees to ask first.

Still focused on the mystery, Vashka grunted an acknowledgement regarding the pack."Well Girl, he was here, and he was alive at the time, that I can say. Not enough blood of his on that club, nor in the soil and air to say he died from what happened here." She scowled fearsomely, not at the girl, but at that infernally elusive scent. "Just where he went that bothers me." Thinking back to where the clubs lay, she paced restlessly through the glen, tail swishing behind her untill she found the likely location, which another deep inhalation confirmed.

Glancing at the treeline directly opposite, she growled lowly and broke into an easy, loping run. Finally crouching slightly, she vaulted upwards in a startlingly prodigious leap, grasped a branch high up her target tree and swung herself further up still, triangulating between branches in a for her part effortless display of acrobatics. Yet for all she climbed and looked, nary a physical trace, nor a whif of scent was caught, even as she extended her search to the nearby trees. Nor when she finally descended down, and scrutinised the low scrubs and bushes.

There'd been no evidence of a human body skipping across the soil, thus she'd started her search high, yet, even still, there was no sign, at all. "Like they bloody vanished into thin air." The feline woman grunted. People appeared in this place like that, she herself had found her way here alike afterall. They were not however, supposed to disappear again while here as far as she knew.

As she moved into the glen proper again, she called ahead. "Oye, Elf, you're a mage of some sort, arent you? Can you still tell if anything magical happened 'round the time this all took place. Trail's not so much cold as just not there at all. Should have come across Something, some small sign atleast, yet I got nothing, like they just vanished, right in the middle of the battle." Which put considerable doubts on the girls claims regarding the pack, but well, that was one thorn-bush she wasnt going to set her foot into, thank you kindly. "To me atleast, that screams something happened to them, which tends to mean 'magic' asfar as I know."

Zen frowned ever so slightly "Unfortunately, my magic detection spell only allows me to see active magics, not residual. However...I CAN ask the trees what they saw. They could tell me what happened to Alyss' friend. Where he may have gone and what may have happened."

Why it hadn't occurred to her before that point to do so was beyond her. Perhaps she was too focused on the graves, and the ogres and setting the glen up to be safe. Any number of things could have distracted her from the obvious solution.

"I should have thought about that before now, I'm terribly sorry..."

Grunting softly, it wasn't what she'd hoped, but better then naught atleast. "Followed the trail asfar as it went, which ends right here in the middle." She tapped her clawed, unshod foot on the soil for emphasis. "Well, short of spending half the day scouring the edges of the place to make as sure as can be, and likely still come up naught. As to talking to trees, I'd say thats the best bet if the Girl wants to know. Her call in the end I suppose though."

Alyss looked somewhat confused at all of this going back and forth between the two of them, so much so that she doesn't really react much to the hug that she is given (but her ears imply that she appreciated it!). "Trees?" she asked, head tilted. "Guardian? Alyss remember, 'Greenlight Warder' talk, trees, nature. Feel earth, speak. Windrunner, not hear, not speak. Zen-koshu talk trees? Alyss not mind company, Zen-koshu stay, not mind. Appreciate..." She thinks for a second, the wheels turning. "...'very'?"

Momentarily amused by the centaurs clear affection towards the elf, Vashka offered her own lingual contribution, recalling a distant time her own grasp of Common wasnt much better. " 'a lot' in this circumstance fits better I would say, though very still does aswell." Turning to the elf, she continued, still in clear good humor. "It sounds like you'll have plenty of time for both your tasks then."

Zen extracted a rolled up parchment from her pack and made her way over to the treeline that surrounded the glen. She considered the point at which Vashka claimed the scent vanished, and what plants may have bore witness so the event most clearly. That done, she unfurled the scroll and with a soft whistle, activated the magics contained within it.

A swirl of luminous leaves surged forth from the scroll and faded just as quickly. Zen turned her attention to the lush foliage that bordered the glen.

"Excuse me, but I was hoping perhaps some of you would be willing to assist us. We would like to know what occurred here, specifically pertaining to a small two legged being that was involved in the attack. I am also looking for a volunteer that would be interested in perhaps becoming a guardian of this glen."

She kept things basic, most plants wouldn't know the difference between any two legged species, but basic descriptions normally did the trick. And since the only other two legged ones in the glen had been very big, she thought the description would get the point across.

There's not really anything resembling a response, at first. But after a few moments, those luminous leaves actually return and scatter-dance themselves about the glen before disappearing once more, and as they do, a number of very small tree-shaped women, maybe about the size of one's hand, fade into being, as if summoned or called from elsewhere. Each one looks more-or-less identical at a glance, with wooden bodies, arms, legs that come together and form tree-like roots, and a head full of leafy 'hair', but closer inspection can see smaller details that separate them, such as different-colored eyes, or different styles of leaves that make up their hair, and so on.

All of these tree-spirits come together in a floating mass, some nine or ten of them, all told, and approach Zen as one unit, gentle green sparkles following in their wake as they all look up at her with (relative to their size) big eyes and no mouths to actually speak of, instead waving at her with their wooden limbs in a general sort of greeting.

Alyss' already-big amber eyes grow even wider as she witnesses this, gasping softly when the little tree spirits make their appearance. "Lots, Sylvans?" she asked, her knowledge apparently not much better than Zen's in how this whole thing works. She looks across at Zen, like she did the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. "Zen-koshu call spirits? Amazing! Not know possible! Sylvan, spirit, Jules'! Dryad! Alyss know!" The terminology may be a bit confusing since she's attempting to use 'Sylvan' as a name, here, instead of the dialect, but she doesn't grasp the potential confusion involved, given that her excitement is just kind of bubbling over.

Zen hadn't expected this particular result when she had cast the speak with plants spell from the scroll, but she supposed that magic could work in unusual ways on different worlds.

She offered a smile to Alyss but also brought a finger up to her lips to try and quiet the centaur's excitable nature so the tree sprites wouldn't be startled.

Zen crouched down to be a little closer to the spritely visitors, speaking softly to them.

"Hello little ones, I was hoping you could help us find out what happened to someone." she held out a hand palm up and lowered it to be on the level of the tree spirits and created a small illusion of Jules.

"Have you seen this one?"

Alyss clamps both hands over her mouth with equal excitement, but abstains from further outbursts and merely watches the proceedings.

Several of the tree-maidens look between one another and the image Zen is offering them, but all of them seem pretty agreeable on the response. Eight of ten point upward toward the sky, and the other two put hands over their nonexistent mouths, as if giggling about something.

Zen appeared puzzled, her head tilting minutely to one side as she seemingly heard something. Her gaze swept up toward the sky as the tiny sprites pointed upward.

"Holyland?" She wasn't as familiar with this place as she would have liked, but with Vashka's statement that Jules was likely not mortally wounded, perhaps Holyland was a physical place.

"Do you know if he is okay?" she inquired hesitantly as she settled to seat herself on the grass with her legs crossed, maybe the others knew what exactly they meant by Holyland.

Whilest she wasnt exactly well-versed in the subject, Vashka had spent long enough in the world to recognise Mana Spirits atleast. Seeing so many though, was a bit more of a surprise. She had even seen what she had at the time assumed to be The Dryad on a distant island, though seeing a lot of them at once made her doubt that, somewhat, though that one had looked a bit bigger, so who knew. From that though, she knew atleast that if they appeared, they atleast werent easily spooked, so she saw no reason not to speak up. "Huh, the Mana Holyland, supposed to be a big tree up there, a Goddess that is the Tree or some such." Which was about as much as she knew of the matter. She considered the matter some more before offering a further nugget. "If they got sent there, decent odds they got healing if needed too. Think the Tree's supposed to have guardians of some sort."

Considering the matter further, the barbarian feline shook her head, ears twitching as she recalled another fact about the place. "Though, how they'd have gotten there, I couldnt say. Much like how we're stuck in this middle layer once you get In however you do, the Holyland is alike supposed to be closed. After someone was after said Tree atleast, as far as I recall hearing 'bout it. People get a bit..twitchy about the subject, so you'd have to find a Scholar on the subject."

Since she agreed not to say anything while Zen is trying to communicate, she doesn't (though she gives Vaashka kind of a rude glance when she does, however), her expression changes into something unreadable as soon as the 'Holyland' is mentioned, as though she recognizes the term in some other context. Still, she keeps to herself at the moment, because she's good at following directions. Usually.

The group of spirits give a wave of approving nods from one end to the other, some of them gesturing toward Zen and some of them gesturing still-upward.

Zen looked a little concerned for a moment, then turned her gaze to Alyss and Vashka. "They say he was injured, so one of their kind sacrificed themself to take him beyond the barrier. He was gravely injured but will survive." She didn't know what barrier was being referred to, but at this point all she was doing was translating.

"He is in the "Oracle's care" at the moment." she continued, hoping that the other two would have more understanding of the information than she herself did.

Alyss doesn't quite seem to understand much of that, but the word 'sacrifice' doesn't really sit too well with her. While she does obviously seem glad to hear that Jules survived, the fact that he was back in the Holyland was distressing in a different way, and the fact that something had to go through that kind of measure to get him there was disconcerting. Still, she said nothing, letting her eyes tell her own story as best they could until Zen had finished what she was doing with the magic she was investing in.

Seeming to have performed their task as expected, about half of the group spontaneously wink out of existence with a small burst of green sparkles to mark their departure, but the last five or so remain and continue gesturing at Zen in various ways, one or two of them turning to glance at the surrounding glen.

For her part, Vashka shook her head, sighing softly at the idea of a mana spirit sacrificing themselves like that, tail drooping at the mere thought. Her voice softer then usual as she still spoke up. "Can't say the title means much to me. Anything related to that place, well, theres books about it if you know where to ask, but as said, people dont like to talk about it over much."

The elven woman nodded slightly "I see. If one of you are willing, point me to your associated tree and I can Awaken it...um...assuming that is how the spell will work here. I'm not entirely certain how it will behave in this place..." she uttered a little embarrassedly.

Normally the Awakening spell would take eight whole hours and would imbue an object, plant or creature with intelligence of an average human, along with the senses and mobility of one. But who knew what it would do ehre.

Four of the five tree-creatures shake their leafy little heads at Zen's suggestions, and the other one floats away from the group a short distance away, doing something akin to scanning the surroundings for something it may deem suitable for the request. The other four continue to gesture and converse with Zen in their own way.

A measure of green light shines locally in a space directly before Zen, and within that light is a deep green seed, enough of a size that it would fit in one's palm. It floats there, rather serenely in the air, and the tree-spirits nearby all clap their little wooden hands together appreciatively at its emergence.

Zen gently cupped both hands around the seed and brought it to her chest protectively. "Thank you very much for your help. I'll make sure that it grows strong."

She smiled softly at the little spirits and bowed her head respectfully before climbing back to her feet. "Be well friends. Perhaps we will have the good fortune of speaking again."

Three of the five tree-spirits fade away in small sparkles of green light, and the last two still wave at Zen in residual communication efforts.

"Do take care." she said finally to the spirtes before turning her attention to Alyss and Vashka.

"Seems they won't be requiring me to spend my magic to create the guardian of this place." she smiled cheerfully, still cradling the seed she'd been gifted.

"We will need to find a good spot for this little one and in three days this glen shall have a protector..

Eyeing the seed with some suspicions, Vashka atlast just chalked it up to not just Magic, but mana-spirit work. Which left to her knowledge, little telling just what might grow from it, safe for one, obvious exception. "Well, thats...good atleast." She atlast managed to vocalise. "By the size of it though, dont think 'little one' will remain all too appropriate. Someplace with a lot of room for growth'd have my recommendation."

The final two dryads do, in fact, fade away in their own little shower of sparkles, leaving the glen to the remaining larger species as they were.

Zen turned her attention to Alyss now. "Where do you think it should be? I have to agree with Vashka, space will be important, as will sun."

Her gaze shifted past the centaur toward the center of the glen consideringly, but her eyes returned to Alyss, feeling it was important that she have the final say, seeing as how this was her home.

Alyss finally lowers her hands from her mouth, letting out kind of a 'pah' sound effect as she does, perhaps exaggeratedly. "Alyss pick?" she asks, looking at the seed, then Zen, then the seed again, and finally around the glen itself. "Mmm... big seed. Yakru big, need yakru room." She's completely forgotten her language lesson already, it seemed. She steps away from the two of them to inspect a few places in the glen, then toward to face toward the north, eyeing something a bit of a ways beyond the canopy overhead. "Alyss idea. Grow seed, here." She points down at a wide spot toward the south end of the clearing. "Tree here, watch glen. Goblins come, sometimes, cave, north. Tree here, guardian here, watch cave, protect. Yakru helpful. Zen-koshu think? Vaashka-diri think?"

Frowning, but thoughtfully, the feline eyed the spot, pacing around as she did her tail lashing behind her, not in agitation merely moving restlessly. Whilest she usually only used what woodcraft she possesed for tracking, it was atleast suited to judging things such as this too, if she focused to recall some of the actual lessons imparted about light, drainage and so forth. Still, the spot the Centaur Girl'd picked worked well enough. "Not ideal I think, but then, I'm no Druid to consult for such things. It'll do and your reasons are good. That Cave bears watching."

"Then it is settled, this will be the spot." she affirmed with a nod as she settled on her knees by the location Alyss had chosen.

"Would the two of you be willing to dig the hole? I'm relatively clueless how things work here, there is concern that if I set it down it will try to root without being in it's new home."

Zen was rather glad that she wouldn't need to perform the Awakening herself, she was suddenly feeling a little tired and eight hours of magical concentration would have been a bit much to handle.

Alyss looks at Zen, then at the ground where the intended spot was to be, and then sloooowly back at Vaashka, all without words.

Rather then dig herself, Vashka instead raised her hand to her muzzle and whistled, recalling Zangoose. "Girl, I sent them home with the tools, my claws arent much better for this then your hooves are. But Zangoose can dig a hole as deep as your friend thinks she'll need." Indeed, by the time she'd finished explaining herself, the white furred beast had entered, though by the way their ears twitched and the scowl visible, they were not a great fan of such a means of summoning. Beckoning her companion closer, she soon explained the need, and did atleast help to start the digging. "Just say when Elf."

Zen watched and waited until Vashka and Zangoose had dug a decently sized hole measuring roughly a foot deep and just as wide. "That should be enough. Thank you kindly."

She then leaned down and gently placed the seed into it's new home, nestling it into the soft dirt and started scooping handfuls of soil back into the hole. She gave the earth a bit of pat down, but not too much of one, she wanted the soil to be easy enough for the seed to sprout out of.

"That should do it. Now we wait for three days and this glen will have a guardian to watch over it." She announced as she dusted her hands off on one another as best she could.

Brushing off her hands as she rose, and eyeing her clawlike nails, Vashka for her part once again silently reaffirmed the need for a nice, long hot Bath. Still, atleast soil washed off easily. The Zangoose for their part, just flexed their claws and resheathed them, before shaking off bits of dirt from their forearms unconcernedly "Yeah no, you're getting a bath too girl." the feline muttered amusedly to the Pokemon, who glared at the prospect.

Alyss, actually, looks kind of relieved that she didn't have to do any of the digging, if only because she's never actually done so before, with either her hands or a shovel; that sort of nimbility doesn't lend itself well to someone of her girth and stature, and while she could probably have managed, it would have been awkward as all getout. "Alyss thankful," she said, openly and genuinely. "Watch seed, wait, grow big. Glen safe." She looks down for a moment, her eyes falling upon the raised mounds of what used to be her herd. "...But... Alyss wish happen sooner. Maybe save herd. Not prepared, consequences.' At her own mention of this last word, she turns and looks back up toward where the Cave of Waterfalls' entrance lies beyond the thin copse of trees to the north. "Alyss protect, too. Maybe Jules... come back. Maybe."

In complete and utter spontaneity, something hits Alyss in her centaur brain, as she recalls Jules and the last encounter they had, as well as the events leading up to it, and a question she asked but never received a response for. With a tilt of her head, Alyss turns to face Zen, curiosity brimming in her bright amber eyes. "Zen-koshu, Alyss ask question," she said, and casually brings her right hand up. Thinking for a second to remember what she said, she remembers, and promptly extends her middle digit out in the wood elf's direction. "Alyss see Jules, finger. What mean? Alyss not know. Angry man yell, angry Jules. Jules show finger, Alyss not know. Zen-koshu know?"

Zen blinked at the recreated gesture and she covered her mouth with a hand to hide a faint smirk. She was very familiar with the gesture, mostly because plenty of the other planeswalkers used it.

"Oh...um...that is a rude gesture that is meant to mean "go do something else other than speak to me" but normally not those exact words are used."

She had a funny feeling if she used the actual words that normally accompanied the gesture, the centaur would likely misunderstand it as some sort of courtship ritual.

For a moment Vashka for her part, considers answering it since the symbology was fairly universal, before deciding yeah, the Elf had it right mostly. "Quite rude, crude aswell if the difference translates. I've known spell-slingers whom actually altered spells to include it for the added insult." Zangoose for their part seemed amused, following the conversation and grinning fangfully, helpfully demonstrated her own version, extending only the center claw of her hand. Which earned her a groan and a half hearted cuff at the back of her head from the feline once she noticed, aswell as a muttered "can't take you anywhere.."

Alyss considers this for a moment, looking from Zen to her own finger, and then sidelong at Vaashka and her own explanation. "Alyss understand, think," she said, but possibly sounding like she doesn't think that was all there was to it, given the general vagueness of Zen's response. She does, at the very least, put her arm down, since, now that she knows it is rude, she doesn't want to be so to either of them. "But okay, finger mean people, bad people? Show anger, mean business? Alyss try, remember use. Get point across easy." She smiles happily at having learned this new thing, one step further to being a part of this weird world that had recently stripped her of damn-near everything else, up to this point.

"You can use it that way, yes. I personally don't use it at all however. I do know quite a few that do, adn they use it frequently. Sometimes it can even be used in a teasing way toward a friend, so long as they know that you don't actually mean it in the rude context."

Zen took a moment to give a soft whistle, prestidigitating herself so she was no longer covered in grime and dirt. She offers to do the same to the others.

Considering all the times she'd used it, and far more often had it flung at herself, the feline woman shrugged. "More of a means of stating 'I am insulted by you, but not enough to attack you.' Though as said, there's plenty who do add it to the actual attack aswell." Scoffing amusedly at the offer of a magical cleansing, Vashka shook her head. "Elf, that might fool most, but my Nose'd still Know. I need an actual Bath. As to Zangoose, you try it, she might actually attack you. Doesn't like being startled to begin with, and she hates the feel of magic when it's applied to her, something about making her pelt twitch combined with some very bad memories. A very long story that aint the time nor place."

Alyss, meanwhile, puts her hands up immediately, a big grin crossing over her face as she does. The concept of bird-flipping is, at least for now, abruptly gone from her thoughts. "Magic bath!" she exclaims happily. "Best! Alyss not mind bath, water. But hard, wash back, flank. Long stretch. Centaur bath, group, help wash, make easy. Centaur bath, alone, yakru long."

Zen nodded, accepting of Vashka and Zangoose's preferences, then proceeds to get Alyss sorted with a quick whistle and a gesture.

"It is interesting how some spells and cantrips work as normal here, but others are slightly different..." she uttered to herself before turning her attnetion back to her compainons again.

"I suppose our next step will be to figure out how to reach the Holyland so we can get your friend back. Yes?" she inquired toward Alyss.

Grunting softly, the feline shook her head. "Didnt you listen Elf, the place is shut tight, noone's supposed to get In." The other subject though, she atleast could offer something for, even if she herself knew little to nothing about magic. "As to the other matter, you'd want one of the Sages for that kind of Stuff. If you got a map, can mark which town one's in. The other lives someplace up in the Mountains." Here she points northbound. "But it's a bit of a Climb, and the place isnt exactly safe..also they're an old, senile coot to boot."

Alyss' ears perk slightly as she listens between Zen and Vaashka about future plans, especially ones that involve the possibility of getting Jules back, but her expression dampens at Vaashka's rebuttal... and then moreso when she mentions mountains and climbing. "Walk up, not easy, centaur," she admitted. "Plains, grass, forest, all good. Mountains, not good. Rocky, not flat." She thinks, then, for a second, looking back toward where Zen has planted the seed. "Ask guardian, big tree? Wait, grow big first, then ask. Maybe guardian know, help."

The centaur mare actually took it upon herself to step away from the group and over toward where the seed had been sown, and she waved her arms at it. "Grow big!" she encouraged. "Tall, strong! Big tree!"

"If need be, I can journey up the mountain myself and inquire with the Sage, since I can simply fly there. And I am fairly well equiped to defend myself against whatever monsters may be up there." She sounded confident in that assersion but she was well aware that she had no ACTUAL clue as to what sort of threats may be in this world.

"But for now, waiting to speak to the guardian sounds like a good plan to me. Your friend is supposedly in good hands at the moment, so there is no need to rush recklessly." Not only that, but she was going to need to send a report to Deacon before she did anything else. And writing that would take a little time.

If anything, the Elf supposed travel plan seemed to amuse the Barbarian Feline all the more. "Certain, if you wish to die a painfull death, by all means, fly up there. The road to the peak the Sage dwells on, is home to the largest parliament of Owls in the mountains. Lightning screaming owls, who delight in nothing so much as frying other would be fliers. Not that the road there's much safer with all the other beasties that call the place 'home'."

"Visiting the other Sage I know would be safer, she actually dwells within a Town for one, so you might find a trade caravan heading there, with mercenaries suited to dealing with the hazards. Which is how I know she dwells there myself."

Eyeing the Centaur girl, she added. "Not that traveling there'd be any easier for a centaur, more mountains I'm afraid. Town's pretty though, if she could get up there, think you might like the place Girl."

Tapping her chin thoughtfully, Vashka grunted as her mind came upon a solution. "Gah, offcourse, the bloody Red Rose. Airship, runs between some of the Towns, and one of the locations it visits is Lasacul, where that Sage lives. Mind you, it also visits up to the northern Mountains, but the Sage there lives further up still."

Alyss looks over her shoulder at the conversation taking place behind her, arms still slightly-raised as she had been cheering for the seed beneath the soil. The consistent reference to 'sages' seems to pique her interest, but in a confused way, like she didn't have a vocabulary term of her own dialect to afford it. "Travel, meet 'sage'?" she asks. "Weird name. But, what glen? Nobody stay? Alyss stay. Want help, but want guardian, too. What happen, all leave, guardian grow big, tall, empty glen? Sad. Someone here, greet, thank. Alyss stay. Centaur not good, mountains." She turns halfway around, another term being new to her. "What 'bloody red rose'? What airship? Boat? Centaur not travel boat, water, dangerous. Lose balance easy. Fall, drown."

Given she was caught swearing, if mildly, the Feline merely shrugged. "Actually, come to that, I do believe she was a battle ship at some point, so bloody does fit. The Air Ship is just that though, a boat that travels through the air, so no risk of drowning atleast. And it should fit you fine Girl, its spacious, made to haul troops at some point I think. Though after she moved to hauling people instead the Captain had the interior altered. And it only requires walking up a ramp to enter"

"We don't have to rush things. We will wait for the three days for the guardian to grow and then we can figure out what we want to do then."

Back home there were several of her associates that lived by the whole "One step at a time" rule. So since they needed to wait for the guardian, there wasn't much sense in fretting about what the following steps would be.

"I have some snacks, if either of you are hungry. Nothing fancy though, just some nuts for the most part." physical labour was pretty good at working up an appitie after all.

Alyss' simple centaur brain doesn't quite seem to grasp what Vaashka is describing. "Ship, fly?" she asked. "Sky? Air? Like bird?" Her nose scrunches up at the thought of something that big just... sailing through the sky like a big wood-and-iron gull. "Vaashka-diri funny, make joke. Ship, boat, water. 'Sail,' not fly." She glances off toward the entrance of the glen, thinking on something for a moment before responding to Zen's remark, now that food had been brought up. "Zen-koshu, good point. Nuts, berries, okay, but need more food. Alyss.." She pauses, frowning a little as the realization hadn't seemed to settle in until right then. "Alyss hunt, own food now. Spear, hunt squishy rabbits, kill, eat. Not use arrows, poison, kill self when eat. Bad idea."

Not deterred, the feline merely shook her head, she didnt understand How it Flew that much better then the Centaur, but she could try and clarify some more atleast. "I asked one of the engineer's once, there is some actual engines, gears and mechanics at work but it does run atleast in part through magic. So best to just think of it as a magic ship." Turning to the Elf, she continued. "It run's a long circuit around the towns as said, so if you do wish to take it, head west to Rocket Town sometime when time permits and ask one of the attendants at the Station there. They can communicate with it, and check which town was signaled for the next docking, since weather means there are some delays sometimes. Storms up high and so on."

Zen nodded an understanding. Rocket Town was not a place she had ventured to just yet, so far most of her exploration had just been in and around Truce. She'd likely need to get permission to go to another town, but if she worded it correctly she was fairly confident that she would be able to get said permission.

"Will you be staying with us for a bite to eat, Miss Vashka? Zangoose? Alyss can catch a rabbit and I can cook it, if that is something you may have interest in."

Her bag of holding carried plenty of odds and ends for survival out in the wilderness, pots and pans included as well as some spices and a few other non-perishable odds and ends. Certainly enough to make something tasty to eat.

Shaking her head, Vashka chuckled weariedly. "Got a whole larder back home, wont put you out for a meal with the stores I've got put up, not to mention the spent time setting up the cooking station." She sighed at this point. "Which makes it sound a lot harder then it ended up being, since its in a cleared space outside, too big a fire hazard indoors." Glancing around the glen. "No, the girl is in good hands now, that Guardian will grow, think it's time we headed home."

She still seems a bit uncertain of the notion of a boat flying through the air, and as much as she'd like to argue further with Vaashka about it, she did at least have the capacity to understand that she was the otherworlder here, and that the cat-girl may have actually known what she was talking about, after all. But then as the conversation resumes elsewhere, she wanders off to the edge of the glen right up by the north treeline, and reaches into a section of brush. It takes a second to find and pull it free, but Alyss does withdraw what looks like a rather crude-looking spear, which is essentially a sharp-looking rock secured to a thick tree branch that is three-quarters long as she is, from head to tail. "Alyss hunt, food," she said, turning toward the other two. "Vaashka leave, Zen-koshu stay, watch glen?" Her ears mat down slightly, as another consideration comes to mind. "Zen-koshu leave, too?" if she'd been paying attention to the conversation better, she might have known that wasn't the case, but then, listening didn't appear to be one of her strong points, if some of her conversations with Vaashka were any indication.

As a spear-woman by choice herself, Vashka shook her head with some dismay at the weapon revealed, tail visibly hanging limply behind her. "Girl, even for hunting Rabites that thing feels too frail."Her tone was not judgmental, merely saddened at the sight, even her ears started to droop. "If you need a better weapon stop by sometimes, I can atleast give you one properly sized to you, and if you give me some time at the forge besides, a good steel blade fit for hunting." She wasnt the greatest blacksmith, having learned what she knew of the craft to repair, rather then make, but a hunting spear atleast was within her means.

For their part, Zangoose had seemed somewhat intrigued at the prospect of snacks, but after sniffing the air soon lost interest. When the shapechanging Elf however mentioned cooking, the pokemon reached into the interior of her arm manica, retrieving a small, rough cloth pouch. Rummaging inside very carefully with her claws, she retrieved a large, handsized yellow-green and red Berry from inside before tucking the pouch away again. Hissing softly, she proffered it to the Elf in a friendly gesture, since in her opinion it was an excellent addition to any meal. Looking around at the sound, Vashka groaned as she saw the white furred beast and her offering. "Elf, be carefull with that thing, don't think anyone's tried if they're edible for Elves before." Considering the matter more, she clarified after that initial warning. "Should be safe enough, even for the centaur, but the dratted thing is spicy, and few expect that from a soft fruit like that."

Zen accepted the gift gracefully and thanked the pokemon for the berry. She then glanced over at Vashka uncertainly. "Spicey?" Her gaze fell down to the berry, now she was curious.

Her attention was then drawn to Alyss once again. "No no, I'll stay here and prepare food. And if you have need of arrows with no poison, I have a lot, I can give you a few batches if you wish."

The rather plain looking quiver that hung from the side of her pack didn't look like it could hold more than maybe two dozen, and indeed only seemd to be doing so. But when she reached over and extracted all of the visible arrows, they seemed to be replaced immediately.

Zen extended the stack of arrows toward the young mare. "I'd advise that you perhaps keep them separate from your poisoned ones so you don't accidently use one instead of the other, but feel free to use these for hunting."

Nodding agreeably, the feline was more then happy to expand on the matter. "Oh yes, sweet too, but very few notice the sweetness thanks to the spicyness it has. It's actually quite a popular flavoring for those who know of them. Good to put them in whole, pulped, can use just the juice, dried and so on. Zangoose is quite a fan of the flavour herself and keeps a patch of them grown near all times." Vashka finally sighed, weariedly but amused "And usually tries to sneak one or two in too any pot or meal I cook as a result." Reaching into her own vest, she pulled up a like pouch on a leather throng and after searching inside tossed over a smaller pouch to the Elf in an arching toss. "Some seeds to that one in particular, called.." pausing for a moment, she thought. "Ah yes, Liechi"

Zangoose for her part grinned displaying her fangs and nodding along without an ounce of repentance to her demeanor.

Zen caught the pouch easily enough, taking a moment to open and peer into it before she looked back to Vashka. "Thank you kindly Miss Vashka. I'm certain I can work it into something. Are you absolutely certain you don't wish to stay for food? I really don't mind cooking for more people."

She had begun to gather twigs and sticks to start a cooking fire. She normally kept a few logs of wood in her pack just in case, but it was always a last resort since contamination of another world's trees was a possibility. So she tended to rely on flora that was already present.

Chuckling softly, Vashka shook her head, pulling along Zangoose, whom for their part seemed more intrigued now that the elf saw the berry's worth. "No, we're good, and got another troublemaker back home who was still asleep when I asked the other two to help here, who's bound to have woken up by now." she muttered more in-audibly, about denting the mouse if they tore around again as a result, before raising her volume once more. "Best to head home, and head off some trouble there."

"Alyss use before," she said, perhaps a bit defensively against Vasshka's remarks over her crude weapon-fashioning. "Yellow rabbits squish easy, stab, die. Not fast, not hard, catch. Alyss maybe get better spear later, go see Vaashka-diri, but guardian first." She seemed relieved to hear that Zen wasn't going anywhere, as well. "Alyss get food, help Zen-koshu cook, eat, survive. Wait guardian, decide plans after."

But then when Zen suddenly indicates that she has a surplus supply of non-poisoned arrows, Alyss abruptly drops the crude weapon on the grassy ground. "Oh! Alyss forget, Zen-koshu also shoot, archery!" She trots on over to happily accept the offered arrows, depositing her own stash of purple-tipped arrows on the ground right next to the spear she'd dropped, probably close to sixty pieces in total. "Yakru good, better! Alyss hunt yakru easy, normal arrows!" She's so excited, then, that she actually doesn't even wait any further to rush out of the glen, her own bow and quiver pre-emptively shouldered and ready for the hunt as she disappears through the underbrush into the forest interior.

Zen watched as the centaur hurried off, giving a little chuckle as she shook her head. Her gaze went to Vashka and Zangoose.

"Thank you again for all your help. I do hope that we will meet again some time. Despite the unpleasant circumstances, it was a pleasure to have made your aquaintence. Both of you. And thank you for the berry, I'll definitely use it in tonight's dinner."

By this point she had managed to gather a small pile of twigs and pulled a little tripod frame from her pack to hang a pot from. Seemed that backpack could carry way more than it appeared capable of.

Far too used to storage containers being bigger inside to comment on them, Vashka merely shook her head at the Centaur girls antics instead. "Figured she'd prefer a bow instead."Chuckling softly, she turned back to the Elf. "Well, as I told the girl, I live in these woods too, so you're welcome enough to stop by along with her if she does go there or on your own." Pausing a moment to orientate herself, she nodded surer of her directions. "A ways to the west, and a bit south from here near Rocket Town, but still within the same woods leastways. If you can't find the trail to it, well I left instructions on how to find the Lodge at the Inn incase I have clients who needed to visit, after the last one blundered all over the woods."

Zen nodded and made a mental note of the directions. "I think I should have an easy enough time finding it. I'm fairly at home in the forest. Travel safely on your way home, okay? If those ogres weren't supposed to be around here, who knows what else may be wandering around."

She paused and pulled something from her pack, extending it to Zangoose. "And for you..." she offered the pokemon what looked like a small dried plant. "Seeing as how you like spicy, you can shave this into some food and it has a bit of zing to it. I don't know if it is as strong as you'd like, but I hope it is something new and exciting at any rate."

The dried chili pepper didn't look like much, it was small, thin and a bit gnarled looking. Probably way less appitizing than the berry she'd received.

Shrugging her shoulders, the feline seemed to sadden somewhat. "Pah, if I'd smelled the blasted things when this happened, wouldnt have even needed to be geared up to tear them apart, literally if needed. I aint a Mercenary for nothing Elf." Her tail drooped again at this point. "Dont tell the girl, but I think Zangoose did smell them, her nose is strong enough but get the feeling she didnt know what was happening. She'd been restless for awhile now, but well Summoners bring all kinds of creatures along sometimes, so a Scent is just a Scent unless you know what's happening besides." Sniffing the proffered plant despite the distance, she shook her head, but let Zangoose tuck it away all the same. "A lot more mild then the berry atleast, and shes a surprisingly good gardener, so who knows."

"Well, I should let you get on your way. Take care until next time, Miss Vashka. You as well little one." She said the last bit to Zangoose as she gradually turned her attetion to the little fire she got going, and the pot that was now hanging above it.

"Hopefully next time it will be under better circumstances." She offered a regretful smile, but it carried an earnest gratitude regardless.

Nodding agreeably but otherwise silent, the feline barbarian left the glen still in a contemplative glower, departing through the undergrowth to the south while calling to her companion to help her carry something back home.