2nd Trial of Ashan during Arc 720
Vega and Escher, her friend and companion, had been tracking three cadouri. They were doing this because four other cadouri (including a talking otter, which had almost been too much for Vega) had turned up at Hopetoun and told them that three of their number had gone hunting etchwings. Now, this was enough to make Vega concerned, since the cadouri were small and cute and vulnerable with big sad eyes and trembling whiskers. But more than that, one of the three would-be-hunters was a vole-cadouri.
And etchwing fed on voles.
So, Vega had resisted the urge to make awww noises and had, instead, left the four cadouri who had arrived at Hopetoun with Lars, and then she and Escher had gone looking for the three hunters. They'd had some issues in getting to them, what with having to interpret the difference between dancing-footprints and walking-footprints, deciding which set of three footprints to follow, and interpreting the area where the three fluff-butts had encountered an etchwing. But, thankfully, they'd done all that and now, finally, they had nearly caught up with the three. Following the trail from when the group had met the etchwing, Vega and Escher had been able to make up a lot of time, as the tracks - and the regular drips of blood - were easy to follow.
Which meant, they'd arrived here.
"Well, schnizzle my snoot, that's a big tree," Vega said to Escher and he nodded. The pair of them moved towards the very large tree and then Vega stopped. Escher did the same and Vega called out. "We're here to help. Are you there? Winston? Harold? An' of course Vincent? Some cadouri from Saoire's school sent us." She'd seen the trail, followed it for a long time now and she saw that they'd walked right up to this tree. They had skirted around all the other trees and kept a fairly wide berth. Therefore, to her mind, it made sense that they might be here. Having thought that, she then looked to see where the trail continued; she couldn't see it but that didn't mean it wasn't there, Vega knew. It might just be obscured by the sheer size of the tree itself. Still, it did no harm to call out, she figured.
The base of the tree had a small hollow and from it there were the sounds of movement. Whispered, frantic-sounding conversation, and then a small hedgehog cadouri walked out. He looked very sorry for himself, Vega thought, with a sad expression. "Oh, oh, please help us! It's Vincent!"
Vincent, the vole cadouri, was apparently inside the small hollow. Vega moved forward. "You're goin' to need to get him out. I can't fit in there." So, the hedgehog made his way back in. "My name's Vega, an' this is Escher" Vega said. "We're pretty good in the wilderness, so I don't want you to worry, a'right?" She said that, and she meant it. "We'll fix it, best we can." Her eyes swirled in different colours as she watched them. Winston, the hedgehog and Harold the guinea-pig were small cadouri, and they struggled to carry between them the body of who Vega assumed was Vincent.
Vincent had lost a lot of blood and his small body was trembling. They'd tried to patch him up, but the bandages they'd used weren't tight enough, Vega knew that much. "Alright, I can get to him," she said and she knelt next to the small man. They laid him on the floor and Vega looked down at him. It was the blood loss, she knew, he was suffering from that blood loss. A slow and steady loss, no doubting it, but it still meant that he didn't have long left, she thought. "Vincent?" Vega said, even though he didn't seem to understand what was going on and was only semi-conscious at best, she knew what she had to do. She had to talk to him. "It's alright, Vincent. I'm goin' to try an' make you better."
And once she said that, of course, Winston and Harold started talking, asking questions and such. Vega shook her head. "Shurrup, I'll answer you in a bit, but I've got to pray now."
And that was what she did. Her hand went to Vincent's chest, and Vega prayed. She didn't bow her head, in fact she did the exact opposite. "Xiur, in your name an' under the star light what's always there, I jus' wanted to say thanks very much for the abilities you grant me, an' for the hope that you bring. I'm goin' to bring hope to this witless plonker now, so that I can berate him all the way back to Hopetoun about why we never go huntin' in strange forests. In your name, an' under your light."
She used her abilityWith the arrival of dusk, the Blessed can infuse one thing with the energy of the encroaching stars. This can be used to permanently heal a person of serious wounds, reduce fatal wounds to serious, or grant a temporary boon of superhuman level to one physical or mental attribute. and in the falling dusk, a light surrounded Vincent as his wounds closed. Looking at the other two, she smiled slightly. Her own silver blood and the constellation of a dragon on her chest glowed in the light. As it faded, Vega lowered her head and examined Vincent. "Right. I've bought him some time. Enough time that we can back, but he's still in a bad way. Escher here has water an' food, are you two goin' to be able to keep up?" They wouldn't be leaving them behind, that was for sure, but she wanted to make the best time they could.
"We will! Oh, thank you" Vega let out a low grunt of displeasure as not one, but two small individuals hugged her. Winston and Harold both and, as she felt the terrified people shaking against her, Vega wrapped her arms around them. "It's alright. I promise you. We can fall apart later, an' in a few trials you'll be tellin' people about your adventures. But for right now, I really want to get back to Hopetoun, alright? Your friends are waitin' there. Orville an' Steve an' some others whose names I've forgotten." They nodded. "We can carry you, if you want. I'm goin' to rig up a sling to carry Vincent in."
"I can walk," Vincent said weakly and Vega looked down at him. "Yeah, an' I can punch you so hard you'll land on Saoire's lap in that school, but it doesn't mean that I should. Much like you walkin' it's a bad idea for your health. So, lets not."
She rigged up a sling for him and carried him. It left one arm free for her and meant that carrying his weight was more evenly distributed for her. Making sure that she had her water flask ready so he could have a drink, Vega stood. "Alright, we need to get back then. This way."
Thankfully, making their way back was much quicker than getting there, because they could return in a straight line. As they walked, Vega asked. "So, what were you doin' out here? Really? Gettin' etchwing for Saoire?" Harold nodded. "The feathers, they're beautiful, we heard, and we wanted to make her happy. So, we thought we'd bring her back some etchwing feathers." Vega sighed. "Right. An' why didn't you send out people who are actual hunters?" They looked at her rather blankly. "We don't have people who are actual hunters. We're cadouri, we thought that it would be easier to survive than it was. We didn't expect it to be so hard."
Glancing up at the sky, she wondered if that was the sound of Xiur's laughter as she listened to this. "Ok. So, here's what I'm goin' to do," Vega said. "I'm goin' to write to Saoire, an' let her know that you're all alright, an' I'm goin' to offer to teach some huntin' an' fieldcraft an' woodworkin' an' stuff. Huntin' an' fieldcraft will need to be run out of Hopetoun, where I'm livin' at the moment, because Saoire's school is righ' next to the badlands, an' I'm not takin' you there."
Wide eyes looked at her. Vega glanced at Winston, then decided she wasn't looking at him again, because he was too cute. Instead she reminded herself that, fundamentally, this trio had gotten into all sorts of trouble because of a very dangerous mixture ~ ignorance and confidence. That was irritating. It was. She was irritated. She kept telling herself that as they walked. "While Vincent's recoverin', I'll teach you some stuff if you like? Hopetoun's a lovely place, an' we've got a real community goin' on. Darius will welcome you, I'm sure." Drily, she added. "An' if you're in any doubt, jus' tremble a little an' have your whiskers quiver. If I can't handle that, he sure as the Beneath can't." They nodded, apparently seriously, and Vega thought that she might just keel over from cute and adorable. "What did you want the feathers for, specifically?" Asking that she assumed it would be for a stupid reason which meant that she'd at least be able to be grouchy.
"To put in a hat!" Harold said and beamed a smile at her. Vega sighed. "Yeah," she said. "Of course."
And as they made their way back to Hopetoun, Vega considered that ignorance and confidence had never been so damn cute.
