Chapter 1: Chapter 3 - Searching the Haunted Forest
Reaching the haunted forest, Hurik and Fionnlagh are not at all happy to go inside. Hurik, as a brownish hawk stryx would be fine if not for her bright blue and red beak and feet and Fionnlagh as an elf would be great inside the forest, just that it had to be the haunted forest that the rhakos took to hide inside.
Fionnlagh tied up his shoulder length orange hair up in a tight bun at his nape to keep it from snagging on any branches and dismounts from Hurik quietly. Though Hurik is a proud hawk, she still has her fears so even though Fionnlagh is not riding her now, she sticks close to him like glue, not wanting to loose sight of him. Daylight is fading fast and though Hurik has no fear of this since she normally is a nocturnal creature this whole situation has gotten her sleep time out of whack. The forest on the other hand was a long stretch to search on foot, and with daylight fading, the light inside was getting darker much faster. Fionnlagh calmly enters after giving Hurik a pat and with careful eyes, looks for something that might give way to one of the rhakos they search for.
The forest is a quiet one, despite it's name and is seemingly normal among the others, just that it gets darker much faster and it is a lot harder to search within for the beasts that reside there than other forests. The elf is accustomed to being inside the forest, but with fog settling in, it gets harder to navigate. After searching for some hours, the sun has fully set and night has just begun its reign. Fionnlagh pauses from looking at tracks upon the ground to determine what made them, hearing the rustling of branches that was different from the rest of the forest sounds. Hurik, hearing the sounds as well, shuffles closer to Fionnlagh such that he can reach her saddle and the weapons he stored there. Fionnlagh, himself, silently gets up from his crouch and reaches for his bow that he left on Hurik's saddle to not hinder himself while tracking, though he left his quiver upon his back. The simple longbow had delicate carvings upon it to aid its wielder when activated, though for now Fionnlagh let them lay dormant for this night search - his skills would be enough.
After more rustles and a minute passes Fionnlagh and Hurik catch sight of two stryx, both thankfully not a rhakos. One is a snowy blue casua that Hurik recalls seeing a couple times in the city in the past and the other is a corva of a similar color to Hurik that neither Hurik or her elf rider has seen before, but seeing as how the casua is fine around them, Hurik calms down and Fionnlagh lowers his bow slightly, though still leaving the arrow nocked. Soon after Fionnlagh and Hurik catch sight of two others that the stryx hid before causing Fionnlagh to call out, "Halt, who are you?"
The smallest of the four strangers vanishes from Hurik's and Fionnlagh's sight, though just as they pop back in view beside Fionnlagh, the elf had already dodge out of reach of the small creature, only to see it hyperactively wave at him and reply, "Hi there friend! What are you up to? Are you gonna find the new birds to?"
Fionnlagh sees that it was a small female reddish tabby catkin. Looking at her eyes that shone with the glint of "I shall befriend you!", Fionnlagh once again trains his longbow upon her while Hurik glares at the trio that she came with, feathers standing up in threat. "I am in no way your friend," the elf replies, "but I am in search of the rhakos. Again, Who. Are. You?"
Instead of answering right away, the female catkin vanishes back to the stryx she came upon and after looking for something, tries to blink to Fionnlagh's side once more. This once again fails since Fionnlagh has keen sense of magic which makes it hard for simple spells like blink to escape his sight, especially when he is wary. Not at all depressed that Fionnlagh jumped backwards once more out of reach, the female showed what she had taken from her saddle bag in an attempt to give it to Fionnlagh. "My name is Feli and I am Scian's rider, the corva! The casua is Sastrugi and his rider is Kenite. He can't speak, but I can easily translate what he says! Will you be my friend???"
Eye twitching, Fionnlagh looks upon what Feli is holding and finds a small rabbit shivering in her arms. Sighing, Fionnlagh looks back at Hurik who shakes her head, then looks over at Scian who carries an exasperated look. Sternly looking at Feli, Fionnlagh puts away his bow and gives Hurik a pat to calm her once more. Taking the rabbit from Feli's arms he calms it and attempts to let it free but it just sticks to his side for fear of being caught by the catkin once more. Sighing, Fionnlagh tells Feli, "For now, no. Maybe if we find each other again in the future it can be possible, but right now is a no. There is a task at hand to deal with first. My name is Fionnlagh and I am Hurik's rider. You may follow, but do not disturb me. The same applies to you, Kenite and Sastrugi." Not caring much more, Fionnlagh picks up the small rabbit once more and goes back to the tracks he found before. Sighing again and shaking his head, he goes back to Hurik and lets her lead as the once more search for clues, though this time, there are four more that accompany the duo as the search under the stars in the foggy haunted forest continues. Perhaps with more eyes, the search will be better.
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Before Scian's and Sastrugi's quartet find Hurik and Fionnlagh
Walking along Scian, Sastrugi, and Kenite listen to Feli's constant chatter as they wander the forest in hopes of finding something that shows the rhakos are hiding nearby within. Scian for the most part wishes deeply to not find any sign so that Feli would not throw herself into the midst of danger because she wants to be friends with everything including a rabbit they had come across recently, the poor thing still shivering whenever it meets Feli's cheerful and hyper gaze. The reddish brown Corva with darker points, a dull yellow beak and grey legs constantly sighs in exasperation in having to deal with her happy-go-lucky-I-must-befriend-everyone tabby catkin rider and the situation she constantly drags the two into. Scian looks over at Sastrugi and his strange rider, Kenite, and really wonders if the pair can really bond and deal with each other from their short and wild encounter back at the Edge of the World.
Sastrugi as a blue snow casua, does not blend well with most of his surrounds, especially in this forest at night. While he remains wary of his new strange purple rider, he has gotten a little used to him now, despite the lack of words between the two. The sign language that Kenite, Sastrugi's rider, uses for speech is clear to him and gives a little comfort to the casua even with the sudden arrival and companionship of the two.
During one of the few times when Feli was actually not speaking, the quartet came across two strangers, an orange haired elf and a brown stryx that had darker points and bright red and blue beak and feet that would make it hard for the hawk to stalk in the night. The elf held a long bow that he shortly lowered, but kept nocked, upon seeing the four and the hawk kept a wary eye upon them. Just after the elf asks them who they are, Feli vanished from on top of Scian and attempts to pop in by the elf's side. This triggers the elf to once more raise his longbow as he dodges backwards, though this time it is only trained on Feli, but the stryx that was with the elf went on guard again towards the three Feli left behind.
Scian at this point has given up on trying to stop Feli from doing something stupid, but she still gets exasperated that there is another mess for her to clean up. Deciding that it might take some time, she lays down to rest, though she does not sleep and just watches Feli's antics as she does her best to befriend the elf and hawk. When the rider and stryx strangers look toward her once they see Feli's gift, she just shakes her head with a sigh and just leaves Feli be.
Sastrugi and Kenite just quietly watch from the side during all of this, not really caring to deal with the catkin's actions despite going through the same thing upon meeting her, though without the rabbit. Upon hearing the elf reject Feli at this time, but identifying himself as Fionnlagh and his hawk as Hurik, the four decide to accompany the duo in the search for a feather, tracks or some other clue to the whereabouts of the rhakos that hid inside the haunted forest, despite the not so welcome acknowledgement from Fionnlagh.
Word Count: 1566
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