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[lol, sorry, kuroro, but I just don't know what to post about. Who or what are those approaching figures? x_x]

Espoir shuddered violently, mostly out of fear. The sudden noises were alarming, and she didn't want to stick around to find out what they were. As quick as lightning, she dashed towards the nearest tree and climbed up with amazing agility. The wind bird followed suit, perching itself on a sturdy branch.

'Get up, you guys!' she hissed at the rest. How Artemis was going to hide herself was going to be another story though.

((Um.. well, I actually don't know. I had a group of evil faerie hating humans in mind with hunting dogs to track them. But, if anyone has a better idea (they could like be the (elven)kings trackers. Hmm, then we all could get arrested or hunted as the ones that caused the fire. Hmm.. maybe that's not a bad idea too.) Me and my strange mind.:p Any votes/other ideas?))

Puk snorted a few times. He heard voices, but couldn't distinguish what they were saying. Humans? Wasn't that what he waited for all these years?

Why am I still standing here?

With a sudden movement, he trotted forward, in the direction of the noises.

Kimil fell forward, now very frightened. "Noo!"

((Sorry, kuroro, I couldn't think of what to post ))

Artemis watched in astonishment as a young kelpie foal emerged from the forest and hid near Puk. The two kelpies spoke for a while until they all started hearing new noises... noises that sounded like humans stumbling through the forest. The fairie and her bird leaped into a tree, and Artemis was about to hide as well when she heard a wail from the young kelpie. Turning around quickly she spotted Puk trotting off towards the humans.

Galloping forward twice as fast she whirled around infront of Puk and reared up so that she towered over him. "What do you think you're doing kelpie? We have no idea who is over there, they could be hunters, humans or even goblins or imps! You would be an extremely foolish creature to wander over there without the slightest idea of who they are."

Crossing her arms over her chest as she blocked Puk's path, Artemis watched him for a moment before pointing in the other direction. "It would be best if we began moving that way. We will have to walk and hide if the creatures over there draw nearer, the fairie can follow us in the treetops so she is safe." Artemis looked up to face Espoir to see if she approved of her plan.

[I'm all right with both ideas. But the humans would be a good opportunity to suggest the starting of the real plot. =P, so I prefer the humans idea. ]

Espoir was still quite alert from where she was hiding, and she had been listening to what Artemis was saying. When Artemis looked up at her to see her reaction, Espoir nodded with a slight air of determination. The wind bird had no objections as well.

'So, give me a signal when we should move, all right?' she replied timidly to Artemis.

[Frustration. So little time online.]

Senya opened her eyes slowly. A sharp pain was throbbing through her head and her thoughts felt groggy. All seemed dark about her and at first, it seemed as though she had not waken up at all. By and by, however, when she had collected some of her wits together, she saw it was not completely dark. As her eyes adjusted to the blackness surrounding her, she realized there was the faintest glimmer of a dim light glowing here and there. The light was more grey and dirty than bright and clear, but it was better than nothing.

She tried to move her flippers carefully. It was rather difficult due to the ropes tying her down to something hard and cool, presumably a rock with a flat top. Was it possible to turn into a human-like figure -- just for a moment -- wriggle out of the ropes and then collect her sealskin and turn back into a seal? It seemed too complicated to risk trying.

A light flickered and focused on her face. Her whiskers wobbled nervously. That light looked remarkably close to an eye. Had it noticed she was conscious? She closed her eyes quickly and hoped that it could not see far through the murky water.

Perhaps she dozed off, because not long after when she opened her eyes again, the eye-like light seemed to be gone and voices were speaking around her. She closed her eyes again and listened carefully instead.

"How did it go?"

"It went well."

"What do them land ones think?"

"Them land ones think men from man-world did it."

"Not so wrong, they are."

"Not all right to know all the truth."

Nobody stared at the moon again. "Most of my kind journey under a new moon, not a full one. They then return when the moon is full, to represent closure." Otterbrand felt his human disguise was as thin as the veil of stars looked as he continued speaking. "She may be happy, she may not be. Not knowing this leaves a void only closure can fill, whether it is happy or sad closure. I will help you, as a friend once helped me."

The Alven dropped a pouch of magical coins on the ground. "Watch this for me. If the caravan tries to abandon you, give it to them. And Celeste..." he looked down into her eyes, hoping she would cooperate, "Please try to hum a song your sister would sing alone before I go. That might lead me to a source."

Puk narrowed his eyes, looking at the tall centaur. Somehow, her words itched him. No, they irritated him. Unbeknowst to him, the darker unseelie side got the overhand.

"Ooh, don't worry. You don't think they will harm a nice little pony? In fact, I bet a few of them would like to take such a nice steed with them for their children."

With his head proudly in the air, he walked past Artemis.

"Watch this Kimil, it's like a real kelpie acts."

He fastened his speed, running through the bushes. The first dogs came in view..

Artemis narrowed her eyes and barred her teeth, growling slightly at Puk, "Don't think I'll come back to save you kelpie, if you want to go that way then it's your funeral."

Looking back up into the trees, Artemis smiled and nodded at Espoir, "Let's go." She immediately set off at a fast pace, hoping her speed and Espoir's stealth would keep them both safe. Pulling both her daggers out of their sheathes she slashed randomly at bushes and trees as she cut a jagged path back through the forest. Each cut was precise, the branches or twigs that fell off to cover her trail would be hidden by the rest of the plant, she knew that this wouldn't do much if they had tracking creatures, but she hoped that it would at least do something to confuse the creatures.

"Pfff," Puks voice lingered through the green leaves of the forest. What does she think? I mean, what can happen?"

He galloped up to the first dog. The hunting dog, a big brown monster, stopped his sniffing. Usually creatures ran away from it. Not at it.

The dog yelped. Another joined it and another. Soon, a pack of dogs had surrounded Puk, who was helpfully trying to push them aside to get to the humans.

He didn't have to wait that long. The head of a big horse appeared out of the darkness, followed by its body. On it sat a black haired man.

The horse reared when it saw Puk. It felt Puk wasn't just a horse like itself.

Puk blinked, trying to mimic the horse by stamping around and acting like he was restless because of the dogs.

The man didn't seem too impressed. In fact, he got a scary look on his face that made Puk a little nervous.

Two other men stumbled through the thick growth, and Puk saw they were holding ropes and dragging something behind them. Soon the things attached to the ropes followed.

His sister and another kelpie.

His sister watched up, "Puk! Run!"

The dark haired man laughed, since Puk was still surrounded by dogs.

Puk now also reared, one of the dogs growled. But Puk bared his teeth, that looked more like canine teeth then horse ones. That, combined with swooping white manes and white edges eyes, gave the kelpie a feral appearance.

With a snarl Puk bit in one of the dogs sides. The dog yelped and fell on his side. Puk released and ran through the new opening.

His first instinct was to run to the lake. Breathing deeply, he reached a small hill, which hung over the lake. While he was still looking behind, Puk jumped from the hill, with the intention of plunging into the lake, to safety.

But the lake was gone. With a thud, he landed on his side and head.

Still a little groggy, Puk never saw the net coming that fell over him.

When his dizzyness wore off, he paniced, held down by the net. His attackers still on the hill.

His voice sharply sounded through the forest, thinking of the first name that crossed his mind.

"Artemis, help!"

In the meantime Kimil looked innocently up at the centaur, "is that how real kelpies are supposed to act?"

Celeste looked back into Nobody's eyes, and they seemed deeper than anything she had ever looked into before. She knew that this young man was much more than he appeared to be, although that was about all she knew. A wealth of knowledge and emotion was looking back at her, it seemed, and obviously a wealth of kindness.

She blinked and wondered how long she'd been looking back up at him, a barely detectable rosy color rising in her cheeks.

"Of course, a song," she answered, studying her hands folded in her lap. "I'd try and sing the words for you, but they are not of my language. Even if I could remember them properly, I doubt I could pronounce them. But," she said, inwardly scolding herself for rambling on, "anything to help you."

Celeste glanced back up a Nobody briefly and then looked to the starry night sky. It was darker and thicker than she remembered, and while she had never studied the stars, they seemed to be in all the wrong places, in a beautiful way, though.

She started to sing, a sweet and gentle "aah" tone that seemed to resonate with the forest and sky and landscape around her. It was a haunting tune, a melody that could have been happy if sung by a huskier less pure voice, a voice full of life and love and good humor. But Celeste's rendition was melancholy, almost sad, but too beautiful to be depressing. The corners of her mouth slightly curved up in the beginnings of a smile although it never would have passed for one, and her eyes reflected the starlight, perhaps more than they should have, for they were still a bit watery from her tearful pleading for closure.

Unbeknowst to Celeste, this tone she gave, with her emotion and naturally sweet voice made it sound more akin to the voice that had beckoned Adelaide away than Adelaide's voice.

Celeste finished and looked back down at her hands. Singing was always the worst for, she was pretty good at containing her emotions until asked to sing. Music seemed to bring out the core of her character, the deepest longings and the sharpest hurts. A tiny sigh escaped from slightly parted lips and she looked up again at Nobody. "Is there...is there anything else I can do?"

[I hope this is okay with you, Alex and Rissa.]

Tekuri burst unceremoniously into the wagon with a disgruntled-looking Ilmena in tow. He seemed completely unaware that he was interuppting a private conversation and he was certainly not wondering why Nobody was in Celeste's wagon in the first place. The naked fear evident on his face was more than enough to explain his thoughts were on something far more important.

"The three of you must hide," he ordered, "and quickly." He made a move to leave as abruptly as he had entered but Ilmena stopped him.

"What? Why?" she demanded. "Why do we need to hide?"

Tekuri hesitated, then shook his head. It seemed he was not going to give her answer after all, but: "The faerie king -- the tyrant who rules this part of the forest -- is coming," he grimaced. "He has no liking for us wandering folk and has been looking for a reason to put us behind bars for years.

"That explosion," he waved his hand vaguely in a random direction, presumably where the explosion was meant to have taken place, "has obviously set him on our tracks. It's already going to be hard enough to wriggle our way out of this one without him finding you people. A human, or two," here he glanced warily at Ilmena, "or even three," he glared suspiciously at Nobody, "is going to be the death of us all. Now if you have any sense of gratitude to the ones who granted you safe passage from the unseelie* world out there, you are going to hide and remain hidden. And if you are not grateful, then you should hide to save your own skins. That tyrant will have you killed if he's in the mood for some bloodshed. Now be quiet." He leapt out of the wagon.

When he left, the first sounds of faint, faraway voices could begin to be heard. Although the actual words were not distinct, even from this distance they felt unfriendly.

---

Not too far away, a soldier was glaring at a small group of tiny devas. The devas were the most respected ones of the village and were representing the village. "I'm giving you two choices!" he bellowed. A few devas cowered and covered their ears, their hearing tender from the racket the giant soldier was making. "Either you tell me who caused the explosion, who caused the lake to dry up, who was passing through this forest last night and which of you was out wandering in the forest at midnight close to human footprints or you're going to pay a visit to the jail!"

"Some choice," a young deva muttered.

"What was that?" the soldier turned in the direction of the guilty deva. Clearly his hearing was functioning better than some of the poor devas.

"We don't know anything," a middle-aged deva stated firmly. "We were all asleep -- yes, all -- when we heard a mighty explosion. That woke up the whole village and many of us were going outside to investigate. That was the first time we heard of a lake drying up, because that's what our scouts told us. And that," he said triumphantly, "must have been the ones who were 'wandering in the forest at midnight', as you say. Our scouts were just looking to see what had happened."

The soldier glared at the deva, infuriated that the deva was not cowering and grovelling before him. The deva glared right back at him, refusing to lose his dignity and composure even for a second. Clearly the soldier didn't believe the deva and he said so.

"I don't believe you," he said. "We know for a fact that there were two devas out in the forest, away from this village, before the explosion happened. And you can't convince me otherwise, because no scout would be scouting before a disaster happened, unless said scout was aware of the disaster beforehand, which then makes the scout a valuable source of information and a suspect."

*Unseelie: in my context (perhaps incorrectly), cruel, inhumane, miserable, terrible, black, evil, etc.

[Edit: The lake is not completely dried up but the soldiers are exaggerating and the deva is bluffing his way through this mess a little. (Aka Lillie bluffing through a technical mistake when she wrote that the lake was dried up when it's only partially so.)]

Artemis kept running, oblivious to what was taking place only a few kilometres behind her until she heard a loud painful yell from back there which sounded unmistakably like a kelpie. Coming to a stop, Artemis winced, she only had a few seconds to make a decision. She could keep running and betray a creature of the forest, or she could turn around and risk getting captured herself.

The young kelpie foal emerged from the bushes looking rather puffed, it obviously wasn't used to running after a fully grown Centaur. The foal looked innocently up at the centaur, "is that how real kelpies are supposed to act?"

Artemis turned down to face the creature, and upon sighting the innocent little thing her hard emotionless exterior shattered. Her dark eyes filled with unshed tears and she looked into the trees to see if she could spy Espoir. Turning back to face Kimil she shook her head slowly, "Real kelpies don't doubt the word of a centaur little one." Leaning down slightly, Artemis stared into Kimil's dark eyes, "And since you are a real kelpie you're not going to doubt me are you?" The young kelpie shook her head gently. Artemis smiled and patted the small foal's head gently, "Good. Now as soon as I finish talking I want you run away from here in that direction," she pointed towards the lake she had first met Puk at, "When you reach the lake I want you to wade in a little bit and then run away from this forest as fast as you can. Do you understand?"

Kimil nodded slowly. Artemis smiled, "If you see a pretty fairie with a wind bird nearby then go with her. She'll protect you. Now go."

When Kimil had galloped off Artemis immediately turned around and ran faster than she ever had before. The trees whizzed by as her powerful hooves pounded into the earth. She had finally decided to go after Puk, against all her better judgement. She just couldn't leave a creature of the forest to be captured, no matter how foolish it was.

As she approached the hunting dogs began barking. However when she burst forth from the trees, long braided hair flying everywhere as she reared up high into the air, they immediately began whimpering in fear. Drawing out her two daggers Artemis galloped towards the humans, her hooves pounded against some of the dogs as she ran over them. Her daggers sliced through the netting containing the kelpies with a quick, clean movement. She then twirled the daggers around and slashed at some of the large humans closest to her. Some of them tried ganging up on her, but she then reared into the air, large hooves flying through the air to strike many of them at once.

((Hope you didn't mind me taking over Kimil kuroro, I wanted to keep the little thing safe. ))

Caught!

He hated being stuck. It wasn't supposed to go this way.

In sheer panice, Puk started to roll his body over the ground. The first seconds he didn't notice Artemis had freed him. Still laying on the muddy dirt he lifted his head. No cords of the net blocked his view.

Artemis was right next to him.

He jumped up on his four legs. Stamping his right front leg on the ground, he snorted at the dogs.

The rider, a man with dark hair, was looking at them from the hill Puk had jumped off.

"Umm.. I think you were right. I think we better go," Puk muttered.

Then the man lifted a crossbow, aiming for the centaur. Puk whinnied and the mans horse reared in fear, causing the arrow to misdirect.

((That's all right, with Kimil. ))

Artemis turned to Puk, her breath was ragged and shallow, and her whole body was dripping with sweat. Wiping her daggers on the bottom of her top she sheathed them quickly and drew her bow. Aiming carefully for a few moments she quickly let the arrow fly. The arrow flew straight into the rider's arm, a wound deep enough to cause alot of pain, but not in a position to be fatal.

Artemis then turned around and began walking off, towards the original path she had been following. Her eyes were closed as she began to tremble with rage. Whirling back around suddenly she reared high into the air, eyes ablaze with silent fury. "Are you satisfied kelpie?" she spat out, her eyes glaring heatedly at Puk, "Due to your foolish ignorance you nearly got yourself killed, not to mention endangered all our lives as well!" Snorting impatiently as she pawed the ground with her front hoof, Artemis took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, "I warned you. I specifically told you that by coming here you were putting yourself in danger. But did you listen? No! Of course not!"

"You don't think they will harm a nice little pony?" she mimicked Puk's voice harshly. Snarling suddenly Artemis turned around and began walking away, just before she entered the cover of the forest she twisted around and spoke over her shoulder. "I hope you're happy."

Espoir was jumping from one tree to another, when Artemis suddenly disappeared. Huh? For a minute or two, she remained stationary at the tree she was at. The wind bird who had caught up with her, also halted awkwardly and looked about, confused. Where had Artemis gone to?

She didn't have the time to ponder the question, for suddenly, out of nowhere, a young Kelpie jumped out from the bushes, looking very much distraught and frightened. Espoir squinted. It wasn't Puk. Wait, it was the young Kelpie who appeared to be Puk's friend.