Spritelings Chapter 01

Nemma finishes consuming her webbing so the stumpy bird thing is free and its hidden friends will not attack. One of her many eyes goes to Snakey, now also a bird thing. The snake thing is able to lie with its shape.

She ponders the shapeshifters words, specifically "we are not thinking of attacking". Truth or lie? Cannot be full truth, as Nemma is more than willing to consider that option. Clever almost truth: "we" can be many without including the spider. The snake thing is more cunning than she realized.

"So, uh, we can catch some sleep before going anywhere, right? Do emissaries sleep at night normally?" Cinder blinks at Lily. "Or are you a nightbird like the mountain owls whose colouring you share, and everyone else in the band follows your lifestyle?"

The bird glances at all the other spritelings.

Still grumpy after the incident, the bird proceeds to silently prepare a place to sleep using nearby materials such as bush branches (unless interrupted).

The night passes without any trouble. Occasionally, owls hoot in the distance, but not anywhere near the camp. It's a relatively clear night, with the moon and stars visible in the sky. A chilly one though, particularly before the dawn.

During the morning twilight, Cinder gets up, spends a few minutes stomping, jumping, running and dancing in place to warm up, strides to the water to get a few sips and a chance to clean itself a bit (and then spends a few moments shaking shaking and shivering because the water is cold), and finally walks off to dig up some worms and roots for breakfast, to be ready for the joint journey soon after.

Bigs is worried. They looked all around camp, but they can't find Snakey! Where did Snakey go?

Mara will take a turn fishing this morning, it's probably better that no one wanders too far off. They give Cinder a stoic nod on the way to the river, to make sure Cinder knows they're cool.

Cinder nods back to Mara, and continues digging. If someone listens closely, it's possible to hear very quiet muttering, "These emissaries . . . bugs, beavers, what next, a toad and a talking snake coming to our hills?!"

Once all the morning procedures are handled and everyone (except Snakey, who's nowhere to be seen) is back together, Cinder addresses the Spritelings.

"Since it's best to be a guide, I can guide you through the hills and let you talk to the other people of the beak, so you can act as the emissaries you say you are, and we will be able to hear you say your piece. I can say it will take about one-third of the time from dawn to dusk to make this journey, if everyone can walk at a brisk pace. If someone is unused to long walks through hills, I say we will maybe take half of daytime, but still no worse than one day.

Are we ready to move out?"

To Lily "Um, sure!...again?"

Bigs does one last sweep of the camp, calling out for Snakey all the while. Maybe they left on their own? Bigs hopes Snakey is okay.

As there don't seem to be any objections, Cinder reaches to its bag with its leg, flipping it to the back, and begins striding onwards along the river, and telling about the region.

"If by outsiders you mean other people, then there are indeed two, though thankfully there have been no encounters lately.

In the swamp to the left of sun's path, there are the croaking people, or toads. They claim most of the swamp for all I know, and claimed they have no interest in venturing beyond it, so we claimed the meadows between the hills and the swamp as a natural boundary between them and our hills.

To the southeast, also across the river but further than that, where forests begin, are the stag people, reminiscent of some of your companions, but marked by vicious spiky weapons on their heads, as sharp as any beak and talon. Since they reside in the woods and don't venture beyond, we also claim the land from the river to the woods as another boundary, though we care even less for venturing there, as it is distant land and not as bountiful as the hills.

Meanwhile, we will be walking to the northern part of the hills, to where our* campsite is."Cinder proceeds to describe the major features of the region in more detail, giving you a better idea of what's where.

"No, the cliffy mountains are swarming with shrikes, we don't go there. Even if you never encounter one beak to beak, you might accidentally step into their nettle-feathers, or hunt some prey that had the misfortune being affected by one, and have a bad day. Not worth it.

I don't even walk all the way to the northern edge of the hills, since some shrikes hunt even there. When I was a kid, elders used to say this wasn't always like that, but I guess they're here to stay."

"Ooo, I bet the shrikes are the bad thing the mushroom circle talked about! We should, um, find where shrikes come from, and stop it! By doing, um, something. Somehow. I don't know how to stop a shrike."

To Lily: "Oh! Um, uh, do you know about the mushrooms?...wait. Are the other birds not made from the mushrooms? But you said you're made from mushrooms. Are all birds not made from mushrooms? Are you a special bird? Ooh, is that how you speak like me?! Because you're a special mushroom bird! That's really cool! So the other birds are made from, uh, do you know? Where birds come from?

Bigs' eyes go wide as their mouth hangs agape, a claw pointing at...Snakey?!? The bird is Snakey!?!?! That's...
"So cool!" Bigs says.