-What a battle!- was the first thought in Tobi's mind as the two rams 
finished their fight. Tobi was a little disappointed that Chirin lost, but 
it had been one heck of a battle, and absolutely spectacular to watch.  He 
had sort of guessed that Chirin would lose, though, even though he had 
fervently hoped it would be different. In his own experience, bigger pokémon 
nearly always won in a battle of brute strength. To take on someone that 
outmatched you in strength, you had to be clever and fast and do tricky 
things, but that apparently wasn't the point of this kind of battle.

He couldn't help but hold his head, though, thinking of the splitting 
headache he'd have gotten if he'd done something like that. The fire kit 
wondered for a moment if Chirin and Weedu would have migraines to rival a 
Psyduck's by the next morning. Maybe not as bad, since the Ampharos were 
apparently built to take that kind of thing, but still...  Tobi winced -- it 
sure looked painful. All he knew is that he would never think of his own 
Headbutt attack in the same way again, not after seeing the pros in action.

Ray didn't make a move to head down there...he was too tired, for 
one, and they probably wanted some time alone. If not for what had 
happened to him, he would be one of those rams right now. He wondered 
if his lot in life were really all that bad. In his very short amount 
of experience by observation, rams seemed very prone to conflict. 
Surely there were better ways to use your head.

"I'm going to sleep," he said to Tobi, "I'll see how things are in 
the morning."

Who knew if the fight would erupt again if he went down there now?

"Hmm?  Oh, okay," Tobi answered absentmindedly, still watching Chirin and 
Weedu. The match seemed to be totally over, though, and Chirin looked kind 
of wobbly from the beating he had taken. Nothing else would happen, the 
Cyndaquil thought, they were too tired to battle more.

"Well, I guess I'll go to sleep too," he told Ray. He really was tired, 
after all that walking and running he had done earlier, but he hadn't wanted 
to sleep while the action was going on. Now that it was over, he could 
finally rest.

Curling up on the ground, he watched Chirin through nearly-closed eyes for a 
little while longer, as sleep started to overcome him.

~

Chirin took his time getting up, not because he wanted to, but 
because he had just had the strength slammed out of him. His spine 
hurt, his limbs hurt, his throat and lungs hurt...his head hurt. The 
light within the jewl on his forehead pulsed in the last flame of a 
burned out rebellion. He was a weak ram in the end...maybe all of the 
luck he had had had raised his expectations too much. Maybe it would 
have been better if he had not been so built up.

But it couldn't change things now, wishing things had been different. 
All Chirin could do was get to his feet and blink to Weedu in 
submission, but the flickers became flashes. Through his neutral gaze 
his lights betrayed him.

Ray was glad he had settled down not far from his dear old friend 
Selenity, too, as he closed his oen eyes and slept. Down below, there 
wasn't much going on.

~

Chirin and Weedu didn't meet eyes. The fight was over and he watched 
Weedu wander over towards Pyon and Tess--but not too close. Heh, 
Chirin was momentarily glad the huge ram was around, just to put him 
in his place, in turn. The realization of what he was thinking and 
feeling, sucked the brightness from Chirin's bulbs. What had he 
turned into--spewing such negative vibrations? He quickly tried to 
smear away those thoughts and replace them with something  more n the 
way of a congratulations. Weedu would probably be taking this a whole 
lot better.

Chirin wandered away from the area alone. He needed time to think to 
himself and lose the aftermath of the battle that still pulsed its 
aching in the pit of him. 

*Ysgard.* Chirin walked in the cool air under the half dark moon. The 
stars felt distant, detached from their brethren down on this ridge 
tonight. He kicked a pebble in front of him.

Weedu had gone to sleep, bedding down near the others. Chirin was 
exhausted but he could do anything but sleep. Recovered for a while 
from the battle, he stepped up onto a path leading north of the 
flock. Not far...just far enough to get his bearings and think. The 
presence of others had suddenly become too much to take.

"Don't feel bad," Crazy Lights said, his cheeks moving as he chewed 
cud. "I've lost battles too...we all do. You know you're doing pretty 
well for a ram who's not even two yet. Weedu is a big amp...all those 
Mure rams were. He's older than you, and a bit bigger. By next year--
if you keep growing like this you'll be towering over him! By next 
fall you'll put him in his place. Maybe even Pyon!"

Chirin looked at him with a smile, one brow lifted.

Crazy Lights did a flip and hovered upside down, head level with 
Chirin's. "Okay, maybe not -that- big...but you've got some good size 
coming! Once Tess is mated, then everything can be nice and relaxed 
and she can just be your light-friend again."

"I know." Knowing didn't change how he felt. Maybe he just wasn't 
used to losing...all his pleads to the spirits going 
unanswered. "Maybe--I need a new antler charm. It did wonders for me 
last fall!" Chirin picked up a pebble and threw it out into the dark 
vista. He shook his head. "Crazy Lights, I don't know...I'm not 
losing my touch, am I?"

"You? Lose your touch?" Chirin watched his imaginary friend leap and 
spin while orbiting around him. He turned in a circle, following 
him. "It's just one lost battle! Do you think Pyon got to where he is 
in less than two years? *Phara!*" 

"You have a point," said Chirin, not feeling quite so bad--but still 
staring out there, looking for something that he didn't hold in his 
flippers or wear round his neck right now. He knelt and put his nose 
lightly to one of the stones in the outcrop. He spoke to it. *Send me 
Haru's power--send me greater strength and size to...* To beat Weedu? 
No...that still wouldn't do it. *Send me the speed and cleverness to 
slip in there when the timing is best.* Chirin kept his hands laid on 
the rock, feeling its cool energy on his still hot palms. His arms 
were shaking under the weight of his head and shoulders. It was time 
for him to head back and sleep. 

Chirin couldn't leave yet. Casting his head jewel down in front of 
him, he prodded his hoof through the pebbles until he found one he 
could use for a form. Murmuring, *Ysgard strong, Deyu wise, I made 
this offering for your eyes,* he drew, and what came out of a long 
painstaking scratch of white lines on the dark grey face was an 
ampharos ram from the belly up, flippers outstretched...sporting a 
crown of stantler antlers. Tears came to Chirin's eyes as he leaned 
onto the stone, scratching a white head jewel onto the form's 
forehead.

Hiro had barely flicked an ear at the outcome of the battle.
Even though Chirin hadn't been the winner, it didn't matter that
much to Hiro. As long as the ampharos wasn't too hurt, that was
the thing that mattered.

And he was also rather glad that the fighting was over. No more
worrying about it, at least for right now...

The nidoran lay down on the grass, allowing himself to stretch
and relax. Ahh...although it wouldn't be too good to allow
himself to relax TOO much. He kept his ears perked up, letting
his hearing be the one thing that kept him somewhat alert.

Chirin added more touches on the form, scratched in lines that often 
did not connect, lines different from how he usually applied them. 
but the form was his alone--his style. different spirits guided him 
each time. He considered drawing legs onto the form, but an image so 
evocative could easily walk on its own. Who knew what it would do if 
he gave it the power to step from the stone? He had definitely 
created a form under the influence of Pandemonium, and Pande was a 
someone--a something--he had never come close to understanding.

He stared at it a long time, wondering where his light-path was 
headed to from here. No matter what it was that he tried to grab a 
hold of, something always came to take it away. Sometimes it was some 
evil thing...sometimes it was him. He would give anything for Calima 
to be back in this realm. He didn't care how dangerous she had been, 
it hadn't been her fault and now there was no way to free her. Come 
spring he would visit the curséd glade, where her spirit lived. He 
had always told himself he would never go back but all of a sudden he 
felt called there very strongly.

"Calima? Calima..."

Chirin shut out the pain and closed his eyes. ~I love you, Chirin...~ 
Had any of his other light-friends told him that...no, only her and 
Spiney, who had been her...but she had grown distant and vanished on 
him as Calima's spirit must have left her. 

~Haru, Haru.~ He was this form, the form was him. He remembered the 
itchiness of the disguise, the furtive, frantic piling of debris and 
mud over himself in the little stand of trees. The sound of dead 
branches scraping... and the weight of the stantler skull on his 
head. 

Chirin lit his spirit light as he laid his hands on the newly drawn 
form. He stared into the memories that the stone evoked. It was a 
long time before he got up, checked around for enemies with his 
sweeping lights and, finding the pathway clear, hiked back up towards 
the flock. He left behind a small arrangement of pebbles and pellets 
of cud by the foot of the stone. Clef cast a shady eye on him as he 
walked, ears burning.

~

Stickerbush branches pricked the flaaffy's wool and caught in 
it. "Ummmff," he tugged at the short wild fleece, yanking it free at 
the cost of a few more scratches on his face. He kept his light low 
and wandered up through the grass, scaling the mountain. He knew he 
wasn't supposed to be here, he was supposed to be back safe in 
Mudmere! But he had been told to find the arrowroot plant...and had 
had ot luck in procuring any. He couldn't go back to the Mure'mar 
without it....not lately with the Mure'mar in unpredictable moods. It 
probably wasn't making his master any happier that he was out so 
late...but then, why was Mure'mar's light shining up there? He knew 
it--he'd been caught out. 

There was no use hiding, he knew that when Mure'mar caught him out, 
hiding only made it worse. The flaaffy picked the litter of the 
undergrowth from his fleece as he crept, shoulders hunched, from the 
cover of the woods' edge. He didn't want to keep Mure'mar waiting for 
him. 

"Muh--Mure'mar?" His bleat trembled out of him as he stopped in the 
open. He was a flaaffy feeling quite alone--not a good thing. This 
must be part of his punishment. 

His call had come too quietly for Mure'mar to have heard him--but he 
couldn't bring himself to bleat any louder. He shivered in the cool 
night. It was getting very late. Keeping his tail light as dim as it 
could go he trusted the Mure'mar's predictions and magic to keep him 
safe from the demons and their false lights as he came closer.


~

Chirin took every step imagining that his feet carried a body more 
suited to the size they'd grown to. He imagined his musk reaching to 
the ends of the sea. It must be...His head pulsed with the beat of 
the long day behind him. It must work, the spirits must take his 
offering and grant him something to work with, build on. Chirin held 
his arms out to balance as he walked along the edge of a rock. It 
must be.

The tall, gawky ram walked with his head still downcast. He didn't 
see the flaaffy coming over the ridge on the opposite side of the 
mountain. 

He found where the other sheep were mostly asleep by now, clustered 
in twos and threes high up on the ridge. He sought out Selden. The 
young ram was sleeping next to that mareep, whose name he still had 
not been given. Knowing how jittery young ewes and lambs could be 
around big rams like him (although not big enough, he thought) he 
looked around for Ray. The eunuch lay sleeping peacefully by Selenity 
and Mimishi. Phebes and Nokotta slept the highest up on the ledge, nd 
Chamadis was with them.

Weedu was asleep relatively untouched by others, but Chirin...didn't 
feel like him for company. Chirin looked away from the flock and 
growled. Wandering round the outskirts, he plopped himself on the 
cool grass to the northern side of the flock and lay his head down. 
He whispered the song of Phos alone and arranged some nearby pebbles 
into a little circle by his head. The moon moved on as he fell asleep 
with one ear against the little hoop, thinking the words, ~And from 
the darkness save me.~

~

The flaaffy crept nervously up to where he had seen his master's 
light. It was gone now--and he could see others, a whole bunch of 
others not far down the mountain, just on the other side. He realized 
how far out of the way he was. Evil ones! They couldn't see him--they 
couldn't! Terrified, he crept towards the rock with his tail wrapped 
in front of him. The blue light flickered on the face of the stone. 
He gazed at the form and gasped. ~Mure'mar...!~ He reached out a 
flipper to touch the form, glancing around him, as if he were doing 
something forbidden and wanted to make sure no one was looking. 
Mure'mar must have made this...but, sniffing the ground around it, he 
smelled a stranger. How?

The flaaffy reached a trembling pink palm towards the head of the 
antlered figure scratched out on the rock. He tagged it and then 
dashed down the mountainside, feeling a pinch of guilt, a heart full 
of mischief and fear. He had touched the work of either his master or 
a demon denryuu--and might never know for sure which.

~

Chirin took a long time to fall asleep. The pain had receded, leaving 
this ache that went beyond his nerve endings. He lay with his scarred 
yellow back to the flock, curled up and feeling alone.  There was 
nothing for him to do but go to the dream-realms and find something 
there for him. Tomorrow things would get better--because he had some 
spell-castings to do, both for Nokotta and her lost lamb--and himself.

He had so much to be thankful for, he thought as his awareness 
withdrew deeper into himself, leaving the outside behind. Then why 
did he feel anything but thankful right now--why this desperation? He 
gave up on trying to understand it--it wouldn't make the feelings go 
away. Autumn leaves and *pia* creatures appeared in forests in his 
mind and he imagined himself walking with pride, double the size he 
was now. He imagined himself with antlers in spirit, decked out like 
Haru as he slipped into sleep.

His gift wandered out as he slumbered, chasing breezes, tumbling 
through stone and bone and bracken. Odd eddies of air whirled around 
him and ruffled the fleeces of the wooled sheep. Here and there a 
spark cracked alone, falling out of its hiding place in the air.

~

Bramble-scratched and tired, the flaaffy made his way through the 
coat of brush and scrubby forest blanketing the lower slopes of the 
mountain. He climbed up over rough rock and sticks, trying to get to 
a place far up and that he should already be in. He didn't know what 
was more terrifying--the thought of being seen by a demon incarnate 
or being caught out this late by his master. Sometimes the Mure'mar 
was kind...other times, you never knew.

Being back late by itself wouldn't have been so bad, if not for his 
coming home with flippers empty. No arrowroot found, no way for the 
Mure'mar to cast his spell. He needed that plant. And he would send 
him out to get it again tomorrow. 

but then, why wasn't the punishment falling on his shoulders already, 
if Mure'mar had seen him there by the form he had just made? He knew 
there was a reason for everything Mure'mar did--he as  the lowly 
learner, had yet to understand them.

~

Chirin woke up early. The time before dawn had always been one of his 
favorite times to be alive. Chirin's hand found the ring of pebbles 
he had left by his head to ward off the evil spirits while he 
dreamed, and he smiled at it. "thank you for keeping me safe." He had 
had an awful night last night, but no matter. He was nothing if not 
determined and believing fully that he could make things better. He 
had developed his magic powers to such a greater extent during his 
time in the jungle, that before long he would make his situation 
change for the better. He would concoct it, stir up a chance for 
himself to mate with Tess.

Chirin  got up, feeling the battle's echoes in his body. He did his 
stretches, ran his flippers over his body. He kneaded the sore 
muscles, lounged around and enjoyed making different positions, like 
laying with his feet tickling the sky. And he gave the grass around 
him a good roll in it.

Feeling less the loser, he stood up and looked around at the flock as 
it began to wake up to Phos's routine. He sauntered over to a patch 
of grass that was just calling to him to bury his mouth in it and 
make it one with himself. He took up its offer, letting his senses 
swim in the delight of chewing rich, juicy grass. He didn't need to 
sing right now because the morning was singing to him. 

Why the change of mood, why was he so up? Amazing what the spirit 
world could do. So he had lost. He was more sure than ever, now, that 
his ancestors had visited him in his sleep and sprinkled an extra 
touch of whatever made his magic work.

"Good morning," said Phebes through a yawning mouth. She blinked 
bleary eyes at Chirin. Chirin found himself yawning... it was 
contagious. Something about the sight, even the thought of a face 
stretching wide, pulling the mouth as open as it could go in a 
wonderful facial extreme just brought it on. The yawn felt good. 
(ooc: did you just yawn?)

"Good morning," he said, "and how were your dream-journeys?"

"Oh, good I guess," said Phebes. "I don't remember them anymore, I 
can't remember my dreams."

"What I find works," said Chirin, "is to think hard on them when you 
first wake up. That always helps me. Also, singing and talking about 
them helps even more, there is something about words that make things 
stronger and more permanent." Words carried a strong magic power. 

"Hmm, I guess," said Phebes rolling some cud around in her mouth. 
Chirin  grazed by her side for a while, just glad that she was close 
by and not afraid of him...not like last night when he had been so 
alone. That was a place he didn't ever want his soul to go to again.

~

Mimishi woke up startled by the new smells. Her eyes popped open 
before she remembered last night. The strange ram musk still made her 
a little uneasy, but last night she had talked a talk and hugged a 
hug that she probably should have done a long time ago with Chirin. 
She felt like something troubling was laid to rest finally. Now would 
be the task of not letting things like that build up inside her 
again. 

It was a hard enough task just to get herself up to graze. Mimishi 
grunted as she rolled on her side and then on all fours, snipping any 
grass right around her. 

Nokotta was already up. she stared out at thr rising sun as if to say 
a rather tired good morning to Phos, like he was an old friend that 
didn't inspire  her so much with his rising like maybe he once had.

Chirin crossed the grass to meet her. "Good morning." His words were 
laden with the memory of the talk they had had last night. She had 
spoken of the frightening events of last summer--and despite knowing 
it had been an evil time, he wanted to learn more. 

"good morning--and don't worry about getting the spell done right 
away. A rushed spell wouldn't work as well anyway and there is no 
rush. Do whatever you feel you have to do for it to come out right."

"You don't have to tell me that," said Chirin. "But thank you. What i 
should know are any things that would help me make a clearer form of 
Sky and think clearer thoughts of him. I know that this might be 
painful for you, but you will have to help me with the spell. You are 
the one who bore him and who remembers him. You're closer to him than 
I could ever be." 

"Yes...but you are closer than you think, all the same. He is 
Gunya's," said Nokotta. "He is your family too."

Chirin blinked yes.

"And you don't have to worry about hurting me with any of this. I 
came to you, Chirin...I';m prepared to do whatever it takes."

Why him? he wondered, stopping to nibble on the bush they had wound 
up walking past. He was not exactly the typical consultant for 
spells...he was very young, for one thing, and for another, he was a 
ram. Rams had magic potential just like ewes did, but it was without 
a doubt that the most powerful magic belonged to the oldest ewes. 
Those with the longest light-paths as well as a ewe's insight. He 
wondered what he was missing. Maybe it was partly because ewes banged 
their heads a whole lot less? 

"what're you smiling about?" Nokotta, smiling herself, raised a brow 
at him from the other side of the bush.

"Oh nothing, just pondering the reasons why you are so sure that I 
will be able to carry out this spell--I mean, and make it work. I 
feel like I should tell you--I am not trained by the old ewes of my 
flock. I was torn away from them last summer..probably not long after 
you lost your own..."

"I see," said Nokotta as she watched the realization sink in. Chirin 
was shuddering and shaking. He turned to Nokotta and took her 
flippers in his. 

"could there be a connection? When you say dark spirits took Sky 
away," he kept his voice low and glanced around, "was there anything 
of the *burakos* themselves?"

"The humans?" said Nokotta, already blinking no. "Not a trace of 
them, except for the fact that badness happened. And I've seen plenty 
of evil in this world that is not human."

"It is still possible that it happened," said Chirin, "and that the 
two snatchings may be tied together. I am almost certain that they 
are." His blood was flowing now, and the ancestors in him were 
excited. He had more of a reason to do this spell, for it wasn't just 
a favor to Nokotta anymore--it was for, possibly, getting his own 
flock back too! The spirits were clamouring around them and the bush 
they nibbled on breathed with them. "i hear you, spirits," he 
said. "nokotta, can you hear them and feel them close by? There is a 
connection and they feel it--they are speaking to us, big and small 
spirits."

"I'm afraid I don't quite sense them like you seem to,' said 
Nokotta, "but yes...I can feel the air has taken on a rosier feeling."

"That's the feeling--they are connecting with us!" Chirin flashed his 
lights and flung his flippers in their air, bleating to the morning.

"You ought to have been a mud-reader," said Nokotta as she watched 
him throw himself into a brief dance. the name cut his prancing off 
short. He froze and stared. To Chirin's startled look she said, "No, 
not Mure--whatever they did, they probably call themselves that to 
evoke the powers that the magical ones always had."

"Mud-readers?" said Chirin. He felt a tingle of his current at the 
sound of the name. 

"Yes, that's right, you are not familiar with them? It is something 
in legend," said Nokotta, "but they died out with the last one who 
disappeared and left no one trained in his wake. It is said that the 
mountains to the north are still enchanted by the magic of the pools, 
but that they reveal themselves to no one and anyone who tries to go 
there, gets hopelessly lost. Because there is no longer a mud-reader, 
a magic-maker to control this wild magic and stop it from hurting 
things. More than that, I don't know...except," and she lowered her 
voice to a whisper, "that that light you saw last night, up on that 
northern mountaintop alone, is said to be one of the spirits that 
haunts it...the spirit of the last of them."

Chirin remembered the light and felt like it was much colder here 
than it was. Sparks snapped over his hide and his tail curved, rubbed 
its orb against his leg and flank. It drew a treadline of sparks over 
him.

"When I was a young lamb, they said that there was still a reader-of-
the-pools there. People would consult him to tell the future. He 
could see the future and see the spirits. He could weave spells and 
always he worked his magic round the pools...pools that spoke only to 
those trained well to listen and look. It is this unharnessed spirit 
power that I fear took my lamb away--and others in the past further 
back. now and then they say that lambs disappear and worse--all 
because of these spirits of unrest. Some say that the mud-readers 
themselves are in on it, their spirits are unhappy because they have 
been forgotten."

"Good Phos," Chirin swished his tail around to toss some light onto a 
talk that was sure beginning to need it. All this talk of evil 
spirits would only get the wrong unseen-ones listening, but he kept 
talking anyway, with voice lowered. "I feel weird that I never heard 
mention of it...not once. I've never heard of a reader of the pools."

"You're from what flock?"

"The beacon flock of Pharos." He flashed his tail reflexively.

"The south...Well, they probably knew about it, but you said you were 
just a lamb when you left."

"I was." Chirin sorted through his memories of his flock to see if 
there had been any mention of them...the name remained unfamiliar.

~

Chama, still asleep, felt the wind against his fleece and subconsciously 
rolled closer to Petunia, feeling her static fluffing and expanding his wool 
and making him feel warmer. 

The stirring woke Petunia from her sleep. The ampharos yawned and 
extended her body out on the grass in a morning stretch. It felt 
good, especially since she couldn't sleep on her stomach anymore. And 
sleeping on her back made her feel too short of breath. There was 
only laying on her side, and she had never been able to sleep well on 
her side.

Another night of lousy sleep, but from what Nokotta had said, it 
wouldn't be too much longer now. Seeing the lamb still asleep, she 
kept next to him and nibbled the grass near him.

~

Tess watched Chirin and Nokotta on the top of the rocks. Her season 
was going to be soon...maybe not today, but she didn't know a thing 
about it. She was aware of heightened desire and had no way to 
predict what feelings would lead to what. Only that she had never 
smelled so many rams before and she liked what her nose was telling 
her.

Chirin had saved her...It didn't matter that Pyon was bigger, she was 
undecided between them. It wasn't as if Pyon was going to give Chirin 
any chance, but she wanted to know the younger ram...she had liked 
him very much from the start. It was him who had fought for her, 
against that first ghost and then against Ebony herself. How could 
his blood be bad for her lamb?

If she was going to sneak it, she would have to plan carefully.

Chama twitched slightly, even though the ewe was still close, there wasn't 
the direct body heat. With a yawn, the lamb woke up to the brightening day, 
the cool wind biting into his fleece again. He got up, chewing a bit of cud. 
It was still early. He blinked the sleep-feeling out of his eyes. 

 "Morning Chama!" said Phebes, waving to the lamb from the other side 
of Petunia's bent-over, grazing figure. "i'm going down theother side 
of the mountain cause there's good grass there. Or there was last 
year! Wanna come with me?"

She needed to get out a little, check out some new places. The grass 
was getting kind of thin here and she was really, really hungry. 
Maybe hungrier than she had ever been before, cause she was eating 
for two.

~

Chirin bent and scrambled up the rock outcrop to stand on the peak 
and get a full circle view. Seeing Nokotta huffing and puffing as she 
struggled to climb up after him, he lent her a flipper. 

"I was going to get a good look around and speak to the winds, let 
them guide me to the place where the spell should be done, but they 
already have. I'm going to do it right here." Facing north. He had 
been thinking of traveling to that haunted place, but for one he had 
no desire for any more danger with ghosts, and two,  that was the 
place he wanted to get Sky away from, if Sky had been trapped in the 
mountain or something. 

His eyes looked over the stirring flock. Tess and Pyon were awake and 
grazing side by side. He had been hoping to find her alone before 
Pyon woke up, but the ram was vigilant and apparently an early riser. 
He looked straight up at Chirin, his gaze glancing to the side. 
Chirin did the same and continued to look around, as if not knowing 
or caring about the ongoing situation between them.

"Wherever you need to, whatever you need to, go ahead and do it," 
said Nokotta. "You see, I would have consulted my mother. But...Mure, 
those vile beasts, they took her away."

Chirin rubbed Nokotta's back with one flipper. "You know that they 
couldn't take her really away," he said. "why do you think flocks are 
drawn to the same places, why do  some places just feel like home 
even if you are gone for a lone time? Because the ancestors are ever 
present. I never do a single spell without speaking to mine. I know 
that it is not the same, obviously, as when they were alive but I 
would have no magic at all were it not for them."

"Thank you," Nokotta's eyes showed sunray wrinkles as she 
smiled. "Now get on, i won't take up your time anymore." She gave him 
a hearty pat. Chirin nuzzled her ear and flashed his lights to her as 
he bounded down over the other side of the slope.

~

Weedu felt weird. He had beaten Chirin. He'd always sort of known he 
could do it, he'd just always assumed that it would never come to a 
battle. He felt alot better now that he had--that tention between 
them had been broken. But looking up at Chirin he could tell another 
tension had taken its place. He just hoped it lasted. Chirin had 
grown an incredible amount in a short period of time...the Mure would 
have wanted him, all right...if, of course, they hadn't ~wanted~ him.

Hiro rolled over onto his side as the noises of the others
disturbed him from his rest. Was it time already to wake up? -
whoops, looked like it was. Didn't mean he couldn't sleep for a
little while longer...

But his body wouldn't let him. Wake up, wake up, it said, it's
all daylight and stuff now. With a small yawn, Hiro brought
himself up to a sitting position, and scratched at his ears -
since they itched, of course.

Maybe today, he thought, maybe today was going to be the day
he'd go looking for other nidorans around here, if nothing else
was going to happen. And if nothing got in his way. Just maybe...

 Cloud yawned and rolled over, blinking. She started for a moment,  
seeing that she was hemmed in by grey, but then remembered the events 
of last night. She'd scuttled down to hide among some rocks once the 
ram fight had started. Thankfully, it was over now; all was peaceful. 
She crested the stones, and hopped to a patch of grass that hadn't 
been cropped down too short, since it wasn't the very best of quality.
It'd do though, thought the Nidoran doe, and munched contentedly.

(stopped at 45398)