A Lonely Picnic

[Anonymous]

"You know, I'm Tyroshaun's favorite," Avrilys Kaleaster told her buckskin mare as they ambled along the banks of a stream near the Glauster estate.  The 15-year-old absently stroked her mare's neck as she spoke, her braid already in a state of serious disarray from an earlier canter.  "He thinks I'm beautiful and intelligent and special.  The fact that he said I couldn't come to Market this week just means that he wants the rest of my cousins to have a chance to spend quality time with me."

The mare nickered softly, shaking out her mane.  Avrilys sighed.  

"Yes, Brigid, I know I'm being overly dramatic again, but honestly!  I was 13 when I snuck after them to go to Market.  It was two years ago.  And I still am not allowed to go unless Uncle Cinaed says I can.  And he never says I can."

Ears twitched, and Brigid pulled up a bit of grass.

"Oi!" April tugged at the reins.  The mare turned her head to look back at April reproachfully.  "You won't get any sympathy from me.  No lunch for you until I can sit and eat my lunch."  She patted Brigid's neck, glanced ahead, and grinned.  "There we go, a tree to sit under!  Quickly!"  She nudged her heels into Brigid's sides, and the mare broke into a smooth canter for a moment until they reached the tree.  Avrilys slipped out of the saddle and tucked the reins under a strap and knotted them to keep them from getting tangled up in Brigid's legs.  "Stay close," she ordered (not that the mare understood, though she wouldn't wander far) and unpacked a kerchief knotted around a hunk of bread and cheese and a bit of cold chicken.  She tucked her skirt up and swung up into the lower branches of the tree, settled herself, and broke off a chunk of cheese.

"It's unfair, Brigid," she declared.  "I was just a child when that happened.  I'm going to debut once I turn 16.  That's less than a year.  I think I deserve to be trusted a bit more."

Amusing and somewhat contradictory, this girl talking about her court debut when she's dressed like a farmer's daughter, sitting barefoot in a tree, and talking to her horse.

[Anonymous]

"Do you usually sit around talking to animals?" Came the voice from a tall, lanky boy with distinctly grey skin and dark, messy hair. He was standing below the tree, having approached as silently from behind as if he'd wished himself to the spot, and peering into its branches with his head tilted back and one hand covering his peculiar red eyes - or rather, eye, being that the other was covered in bandages - with one hand, the other resting in his pocket. He was dressed commonly, having carried nothing with him on his journey for the evening.

Rem Morrow had nothing to do that day. Positively, absolutely, purely and completely nothing. Unable to bear such a horrible fate, he had ventured out into the mountains, keeping relatively close to the range's edge, when he had spotted another and decided that strange company was better than none. Despite his teasing remark, the boy was grinning, brow raised at the girl sitting in the tree.

"I'll admit I've tried to make conversation with less agreeable characters before, but horses usually don't reciprocate the pleasantries," he continued, his grin only growing with each word where it had been slight before.

What was a girl doing in the mountains? He asked himself this question in passing, brushing the notion off with the resolve to ask her himself. After all, Rem was fairly certain she'd defend herself in response already.

[Anonymous]

Avrilys squeaked and nearly fell out of the tree in a distinctly un-ladylike way.  She did, however, manage to catch herself, hanging almost upsidedown from the branch.  Her first thought was that she was very glad she'd tucked her skirt up, so she wasn't flashing whoever had startled her.

Her second thought was rather hard to put into words, but it was basically startlement at the boy's appearance.  Instead of trying to swing herself back up into the tree, she just stared for a moment, and in doing so, lost her grip and fell the few feet to the ground, landing with a thump.

She lay there for a moment silently, then said, rather calmly in her lilting accent, "Brigid, I think we have a visitor."  She sat up, wincing slightly, and looked at him with her head tilted.  "And I do talk to Brigid when I'm riding alone, because she listens and doesn't talk back like my cousins.  Who are you?"

[Anonymous]

It was a good thing that the tree wasn't the tallest and most prominent of its lot, or he might not have had such a good laugh. Injury wasn't something Rem looked forward to for himself or anyone else, though this girl was positively comical. He was glad that he hadn't just walked on his own way now. The encounter would provide for some entertainment to get his boring, dragging day off to an interesting start, at the very least.

Once Rem had finished snickering, he finally deigned to introduce himself, stepping over to the girl and leaning over to offer her a hand. He took a quick look at her in the meantime. She appeared to be a commoner, but he couldn't recall ever sighting her anywhere in town, which would have been ordinary if it were not for market days. In the bustling city, market days brought nearly everyone of every creed out save for the very young and those few others who had their own reasons.

No, Rem couldn't place her face, but he reasoned that perhaps a full name might help him recognize her, if not personally but by her family. Everyone knew everyone else, it seemed, some way or another, the way large families branched out in the old kingdom. He also considered the possibility that she might live in the mountains, but he had heard weird things about those who chose to live on borders as such. This thought, however, was far more exciting than distressing to him.

In the meanwhile, the horse was the only one of the three who'd been identified by name so far. "Name's Rem Morrow. What's yours?"

[Anonymous]

"Avrilys Kaleaster," she replied smiling, and grabbed his hand to pull herself to her feet.  Her tone was that of someone who expected to be recognized, at least by family connections.  The Glauster estate was only two days ride from town, and the lands stretched a bit farther.  Anyone who'd spent time in the area would know Glauster and recognize the Kaleaster name, if not Avrilys' name.  Duke Cinaed was not exactly an unknown name.

But Avrilys simply dusted herself off and retrieved her food from the grass where it had fallen, picking bits of dead foliage off.  She certainly didn't look noble in her cotton dress and bare feet, and her accent was a bit strong, but... well, the nobility of Glauster had a tendency to not be exactly normal nobility.  "Are you from Cerenis?"

[Anonymous]

Ah, there is no place like the mountains. Everything is so crisp, so clear, so clean. Various scents swirled around him with each passing breeze. The sharp smell of the trees who call this climate home. A deer, calmly drinking from a mountain stream was a tempting treat, but he had eaten not too long ago. He had always enjoyed  the taste of the rabbits who lived on and around the mountains. All these scents were inhaled and enjoyed. Here, nothing, or at least very little, was tainted by the touch of humans and the things like them. Here, nature ruled and was able to act as she had for centuries. Here, he could feel free.

Or so he thought. A cross breeze pulled a scent to Zenthernine that he absolutely detested. Well, it wasn't the scent of the...what was it the humans used? horse?...horse really, but where there were horses, humans, or those like them, were usually close. A snarl started to form on his lips before he checked it. The greed the two-leggeds had always made Zenthernine sick. When would they be satisfied? When the the whole planet was transformed into one of their...'cities?' Would they cut down all the life-giving trees to...no, best not continue that thought. Not all humans were like that tree-cutter, he had learned that. He had also learned that humans were not always as they appeared. Best to be cautious when investigating.

Zenthernine hopped down off the rock he was standing on and landed softly on the earth below. The scent was fairly strong, so the four-legged creature, and the two-legged, should be close. As he trotted along, the wolf thought on how he would handle the situation. He had seen as many as four people on a horse, although that was barely managed, so best to assume there were at least three of the humans there. As he got nearer, two new scents were added to the horse's. Interesting, so there was one human, a female by the scent, and another. He couldn't put a name to it, but it was at least half-human, so he should still be cautious.

Zenthernine finished that last thought as he rounded a rock and spotted them. He dropped as low to the ground as he could without crawling and inched his way nearer. As he slunk from tree to tree, he could start to make out that the two humans were speaking. If he could only get closer...but such was not his luck. As he dreaded, the wind changed to put him upwind. He didn't fret that the humans would smell him, they had a very poor sense of smell. The horse, on the other hand, did exact like Zenthernine thought it'd do. It picked up his scent, and started to snort, whinney, and roll it's eyes. Great. They'll be sure to know I'm here now.

[Anonymous]

Rem blinked a few times following her introduction. He recognized the name, alright. After all, he'd have to have been a right idiot not to have. He watched her pick up her food, and took another look at her, up and down. She didn't look the least bit noble at the moment, but her hand had been soft and callousness, unlike those of the farmer's daughter that she resembled by appearance, and apparently by appearance alone. He had been staring at her with a mildly puzzled expression for a few seconds until her question registered in his mind. "Oh, well, no. I live in Arca, but I travel here a lot. Some of my mother's relatives live near the harbor."

Rem felt like he should be questioning her. He wasn't sure whether she was just some plain girl who got a kick out of making up stories or whether she was telling the truth. He smirked. "So if you're nobility, how come I've never seen you parading around on Brigid in silk and lace on market days with the rest of your lot?"

Rem placed his hands in his pockets and walked over to the tree as he spoke, turning his back to it and leaning on its trunk. She was rather pretty, in his opinion. He was sure he'd have noticed her. It was incredibly easy to pick out nobility when they visited the city. As if on cue, Brigid became uneasy shortly after the creature's name had been mentioned. Rem looked over at it questioningly. It seemed distressed, but dared not leave its mistress' side. "Hey...something's the matter."

There was a reason Rem hadn't said 'something's the matter with your horse'. Now that he was paying attention, the other part of him was tugging at its human half and waving little red mental flags. Rem lifted himself off the tree and stepped over closer to the girl, simply because she was a girl and it was impulsive according with his upbringing. Rem wasn't worried about the animal, but something wasn't right here for the two teenagers. He turned his head, taking a wide gaze around them. The scattered trees and rocky terrain could hide a stranger well, and their new company was already near.

[Anonymous]

"Well, for one thing, none of my family goes parading about with ribbons and such at Market," Avrilys said with a bit of what in the early 21st century would've been called a 'duh' tone.  "And anyway, Uncle Cinaed won't let me go," she added, wrinkling her nose.

Then she noticed Brigid.

The mare might've been a bit feisty, but Avrilys knew that there was no reason she would get like this unless... "Something's out there," she said quickly, her eyes starting to scan the tree line.  She gave a sharp whistle and Brigid, while still visibly nervous, trotted over.  Avrilys caught the reins and held them firmly, still glancing at the trees and rocks on the other side of the little stream.  "There must be a predator of some sort."

There was nothing much she could do but mount Brigid and run, except for the fact that there was someone else here to worry about.  She bit her lip.  "Climb up into the tree," she said softly, her eyes still flickering from one place to the other, searching for the threat.  "I can send Brigid off, she'll get home.  We should be safe in the tree from anything around here, and if I take too long, Uncle Cinaed will send a party to search for me."

[Anonymous]

For the umpteenth time Zenthernine wished that horses weren't so easily frightened. He mentally sighed as he laid down on the grass. Because of the horse alerting the humans, there wasn't much that he could do now and he really only had two choices. Either go out there and confront the humans or wait and see what they do. If he chose the first option, the humans, as he had seen countless time before, would most likely panic. Panic made humans at least ten times more dangerous and they would either attack him or, since they didn't have any weapons that he could see, most likely run and if that happened, the humans would probably kill the horse by running it too hard. That's if the horse didn't do so it self out of fright, and he sorely hated wasted meat.

So he chose the second option. There wasn't much the humans could do anyway. They knew something was out here, but since he hadn't reveled himself, they didn't know what. Without that knowledge, the humans were left with three options: run, hide or fight. Fighting was out of the question, since they lacked weapons. Since humans valued their horses, impatient creatures always wanted faster ways to travel, the two pups, he'd seen enough humans in his life to distinguish if a human was grown or not, would most likely use the horse to escape.

He really should have planned this out better. Zenthernine knew from the start that he wasn't even going to attempt to kill these two. If he had, the humans would probably have come looking for their young, which would disturb the peace that these mountains had. No, he wouldn't kill them. But he did draw a morbid sense of enjoyment from watching them fret like two cornered rabbits.

[Anonymous]

Rem nodded and took another quick look around. He couldn't pinpoint a direction with his fae or human senses. He wasn't even sure climbing into the tree would help. In fact, he seriously considered the notion that it might just trap them, but there was no other cover as directly nearby that they could deem safe, and so he went along with it.

With an unnerving amount of speed and dexterity, Rem curled his hands around the branches of the tree and hopped up into its highest stable point. Granted, that wasn't very high at all - no more than five or six feet off the ground, but any farther and the branches wouldn't hold their weight. Rem leaned down, one hand gripping a thicker branch so tightly that his knuckles turned a fair, normal skin tone. His other hand was outstretched to Avrilys once again, offering assistance into the higher nook.

"If whatever it is can climb or jump, I'll help you get higher. Otherwise, don't move." Rem's tone was serious, lower in contrast to his normal, light and playful way of carrying himself and speaking. "After all, I'm looking after a lady apparently," he joked, exaggerating his speech and brightening up a bit, though his eyes darted to the ground around them every other moment. Rem had a decent amount of experience dealing with pursuers - but animals made him nervous. They were more predictable than humans, true, but their natures were horribly unfamiliar in almost the same manner.

Meanwhile offering Avrilys his hand, Rem leaned back and resituated himself before extending it once more to where he was holding to the tree peculiarly with his legs and his other hand was freed. He discreetly removed a small hunting knife that had seen more use fending from shady individuals and those whose intentions were impure and destructive than it ever had from hunting. In fact, Rem had chosen it as a last-option line of defense almost solely for its convenient size. He clenched his fist around the weapon, holding it behind him. Better to give yourself a run for the money if worse came to worse than to accept your fate, Rem always thought.

[Anonymous]

Avrilys let go of the reins and smacked Brigid's rump sharply, but not too hard.  "Yah!  Home, Brigid!"  The horse took off at full speed (which was considerable), grateful to be getting away from the scent of wolf.  Avrilys then turned and grabbed Rem's hand and the branch, pulling herself up quickly and nimbly clambering up a few more branches.

"There shouldn't be anything in this area that can climb.  Nothing dangerous, anyway," she said absently, perched and staring out at the trees and the long grass.  "And I'm not a lady.  Not technically.  My mother is the Duke's sister, but she's off being a mercenary.  I haven't heard from her in... probably five years.  Uncle Cinaed raised me, but I'm not technically a lady of the nobility."  She grinned down at him suddenly.  "Although he acts like I am, since he's the only father I've known.  So I'd be good if I were you."

[Anonymous]

Well this was unexpected. He watched the horse gallop off in the general direction of the nearest large human gathering. He regained sight of the two humans just as the female one reached the branch she chose to stay in. This opened up some opportunities.

Zenthernine stood up, making sure he was seen, and trotted over to sit under one of the branchs near the humans. He looked up at the them for a second and cocked his head, almost seeming to ask 'Ok, you're up in a tree. Now what?' before laying down with his head on his paws. He didn't even try to doze off. No, that would have been very foolish. Instead, he kept his ears straight up so he would be able to pick up any sound the humans would make. Unfortunately, his ears picked up another sound. A wolf's howl, followed by several more. They weren't anywhere close, the howls registered fairly faintly to his ears, but it still posed a problem. How large was their territory? Was he in it? If he was, things could turn ugly real quick.

[Anonymous]

Rem cursed under his breath, peering down at the wolf as it approached. He glanced over at Avrilys, then leaned most of is weight on one of the more or less stable branches of his nook, watching closely as the wolf reacted to some foreign sound. He couldn't hear anything in the distance. For all he knew, the creature might just be twitchy. It was paying hardly any attention to them - at least, any aggressive attention. Rem wasn't sure what to think, but he kept the knife close. Always in case.

Rem tore his eyes from the wolf, striking in its own unfamiliar right, to raise up on the large branch and take a look at the ground surrounding them as well as the mountainous terrain ascending behind them. Rem even lifted the bandages over his other eye a bit with his thumb, but he couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary - that is, aside from the great black creature which had settled itself in below. They were in one of the shorter trees, after all. Rem relaxed his shoulders, realizing that the sight of the animal had caused him to tense significantly. At least, he assumed it was the sight of the wolf. A creeping sensation was slowly spreading throughout the boy, but it had yet to reach his mind. What was the wolf agitated by now, if not the two teenagers? Something was seriously up here - no pun intended.

"Do you hear anything, Avrilys?" He asked in a low voice, tilting his head up to the girl. The only real, audible sound that Rem could detect was the bright trickle of the stream.

[Anonymous]

A wolf.  Avrilys caught her breath as she stared down at the animal.  It was odd to see a wolf this close to the fields, especially alone.  But regardless of that... it was a beautiful animal.  She hardly dared breathe, for fear that it would leave, even though the wolf leaving would mean they could, y'know... get down and leave.

"Wow..." Avrilys whispered, her eyes wide, her voice hushed.  "It's beautiful... look at it, it's beautiful..."  She almost wanted to climb down, stroke it, watch it, listen to it, try to understand the growls and the whines and the howls and put it together into language.

But she couldn't.  She shook her head a bit.  "No, I... I don't hear anything."

[Anonymous]

The wind shifted. If wolves had verbal obsenities, the children in the tree would have learned a whole new colorful language, but since wolves can't, Zenthernine could only mentally curse his curiosity. This was definitely going from bad to worse. Not only had the pack picked up his trail, but they were speeding in his direction. He turned to face the direction that they were comming from and tried to gage their speed. They'd be here soon, but if he turned tail and ran, he'd probably make it out before his pursuers could catch up.

A twig snapped behind him. Next thing Zenthernine knew, he was a good couple of feet in the air. He landed facing the other way and saw a grizzled old wolf facing him ready to attack. His heart raced as he thought up and discarded plans on getting his opponent quickly out of the way. The old wolf chuckled.

...

Wait. Chuckled? Wolves can't chuckle. His thoughts stopped dead as his mind registered what his nose was screaming at him. The pack of wolves have dissappeared. What the hell was going on here?