Post by Etenia on Jun 25, 2011 23:42:20 GMT -5
Characters: Cliantha, Miel, Zeladoni, Orion, Virgil
-Prairie Lands and Near the River-
The summer winds are a bit strong today while the heat of the sun cuts through to keep the winds hot. With the heat comes more omens. Cliantha is at the center of the herd, well, not for too long. A black dot falls out of the sky. She sees this black dot. How odd that it falls out of the sky. There she goes to inspect the fallen thing. As she nears she sees it is a bird. Not a crow. She sniffs at it, then steps back with her from legs kicking in the air as she neighs loudly. A few other birds in the distance to her left fall from the nearby tree.
Miel trots slowly through the grasslands, finishing a patrol around the edges of the herd. All quiet on the western front; now she's coming back toward the center, and as she does, she hears a neigh. Her ears perk, and she picks up the pace, cantering toward Cliantha to find out what's happening.
Orion ears flick forward and his head lifts while he glances towards where Cliantha is. A faint nicker escaping him and he shifts making his way towards Cliantha and now Miel. A few sniffs are given to the passing breeze while he goes. "What's wrong?" This is questioned to Cliantha while he glances around the area before catching the sound of a fluttering of feathers from the trees and looks that way.
Zeladoni tentatively trots over to the trio and flicks an ear, tilting her head and peeking around a stunted tree. She moves closer to Orion and stays near him; he's bigger than she is, and might know whatever that.. Thing.. is. "It smells funny.. Is it an animal?":
Cliantha nickers as she tries to keep herself still. "It just fell from the sky dead! I've never seen that before. Have either you?" Her head turns to the left and suddenly her eyes go wide, "See, I'm not imagining things, am I?" She frowns, "They don't smell right for dead animals. There smells something wrong." She looks to the others, "Should I kick it? See if it is just stunned? Or something else?" She doesn't recognize Zeladoni, not having met her. "Miel, Orion? Has the patrols shown signs of this?"
Miel pauses a few steps away, considering. At Cliantha's suggestion of kicking it, she snorts, nostrils flaring. "No!" she says firmly. "Don't touch it. Don't even get too close to it." Her tail flicks anxiously at flies that aren't there. "It's sick with something. I don't know what, but I don't intend to find out by having one of us catch it."
Orion blinks as he watches Cliantha and shakes his head while moving backwards along with Miel. "I agree with Miel.. Steps away from it and leave it be. Perhaps we should all move away from it and the trees. I think I heard more fall." A glance is offered over to Zeladoni and he tilts his head pondering a moment before looking back to Cliantha and Miel. "I've not seen anything like it when on patrol."
Zeladoni snorts worriedly and sidles up to Orion, trying not to interrupt, but feeling what she remembers is important. "There was a cougar around here, when I was a foal.. She told me about a sickness in her homeland, months and months to the northeast. She said more, but I don't know if its the same sickness, or even if its important.." The young orphaned filly of Athena dips her head respectfully, trying to decide if she should stay.
Cliantha steps back, "We need to bury it then. We need it so no one steps on it by accident. We can't have any of these things being touched or sniffed at too closely." She nods once to Zeladoni, "I don't know that much about sicknesses but I sure aim to find out now." Her face tenses. "If there are anymore of these kinds of deaths, we need to immediately handle this. We can't wait for Luna or Nupkana to give the go ahead. Especially if it has a sickness on it that we can catch." saying a bit more stern now.
Miel nods as Orion agrees with her, and then Zeladoni's comment gets her attention. "From the northeast, you say?" She looks in that direction. "So, not from the fire... but perhaps the refugees..." To many creatures, too much crowding... it's practically a recipe for this sort of thing. She snorts. "Do you remember anything about the cougar?" she asks. "Sickness is everybody's problem." To Cliantha, she snorts. "We'll be lucky if they're all small enough to bury. Bury it if you like, but don't touch it. And kick your hooves through the dirt afterwards, just to be sure."
Orion ears lower slightly at the talk of burying the bird. A faint snort escapes him. "We most likely should.." This is offered before he moves forward and goes about starting to strike the earth a few times to and then starts to push the dirt away to make a hole in order to bury the bird. HIs ears flick forward, hearing the story on the cougar and about the sickness that everyone is talking about. "Great.. Not like we don't have enough problems.."
Zeladoni nods and flicks her ears, trying to remember everything. She pauses, collecting her thoughts, then speaks, "The northeast. Her name was Winny.. Winna.. No, Winema. She said she had come to warn the cougars from the Amaranth tribe. She told me it affects the mind first, then goes into the muscles.. Smaller animals, they got sick first, birds and mice and little creatures.. She sai it drove her father mad, that she was the only one left, and she was immune somehow. She said she had to warn everyone.." The young mare blinks and begins to shiver, in spite of the heat. "The only reason I remember so much is because that's the day my mother, Athena, went missing."
Cliantha frowns a bit at Zeladoni's words. "Let me use a small rock to push the bird into the hole. We need a few of them to use for the other burials." She trots in about a ten foot radius in search of a hoof size rock. One is found but that is her main goal for the moment. "Can you make it a big enough hole so I can put the rock in it too. A good kick over should knock both into the hole." Yet, she does listen to Zeladoni. "You know if you can talk to that cougar again to see if they have this same kind of proble as we do?"
Miel chuckles to Orion. "We'll keep on regardless. Just another few hurdles along the trail," she says to him in an aside, and then nods as she listens to Zeladoni. "Perhaps we'll need to speak with those cougars. Did she say anything else? How to avoid it, how it spreads? Symptoms, even, so we can avoid the sick?" It may not be the same thing, but just in case...
Orion nods slightly while he continues to kick and dig up the ground to make the hole big enough for the bird and rock. A ear twitches to Miel and he chuckles softly. "Well.. I suppose you have a point there."
Zeladoni ponders a while and murmurs, "She said she was coming back when she saw the leader of Amaranth, to see if she could help, but otherwise, no, she didn't mention anything."
Cliantha moves the rock in place and readies herself for a light kick. "Can someone go visit the cougars to talk with them? It would help us understand things here better." She tightens her lips a bit, then lets her leg fly loose. The rock and dead bird roll into the hole. "Great but I think I'll put down a few herbs on the spot where the bird was. I don't know what it will do to the grass in that spot. I think there may be some cattails near the river. It will be good to put that down here to matt the area. I'll have to think about what else to put." She hmms, "If no one wants to go, maybe we can send some of our little friends? Or not considering they may end up becoming food for the cougars."
"Cougars," says Miel, glancing up toward the mountain. "Hard things to handle, cougars." She shakes her head slowly. "For now, we need to avoid the illness as best we can. Marking the spots with the dead ones is a good start." She snorts. "I'm not certain welcoming the small creatures into our midst is such a good idea, if they may be the first carriers of the disease. We should be careful of them, at least, and keep watch for signs of illness. Don't let sick animals near you."
Orion ears twitch forward and back, a faint snuffle escaping him as he takes in the passing beeze. His gaze turns towards the mountain at the talk of speaking with the cougars. "I'm not sure if speaking with the cougars is such a great idea." He has scars from his last encounter with a cougar after all. "They tend to like to eat things like us after all." This said while he works on shifting the dirt back over the hole. "I have to agree with Miel on this one. Keep all the small animals at bay until we see if anything else happens at least."
Cliantha shakes her head a few times, "I don't mean the ones we don't know. I mean the friends we do know. Like the skunk and the little fox that was on Dandelion's back." She sighs softly, "Well how did one of the cougars not eat...?" Her muzzle points to Zeladoni. Odd that one spoke to her without claiming her as..." she won't say that part right now. "I want the hordes away but keep our friends close. We will need them and they will need us since our paths are starting to have thorns on them."
Orion nods slightly while glancing over to Cliantha. "I don't have a problem wth Aponi or the fox kit.. I mean new small animals coming in that we don't know." He offers before glancing to Zeladoni and shrugs. "Well.. I have the scars to prove not all cougar's want to talk." He offers with a few lashes of his tail once he is done covering the bird.
Cliantha moves a little closer to Orion and studies the scars. "I'm so sorry, Orion. I would never want any harm to you or anyone where. We just need to find a way to gather information. If we can't, then we'll just have to keep on as we go. But I don't think this will be simply over if we bury the dead small creatures." She nudges him gently with her muzzle against his neck. "We can't tolerate anymore threats to us though. It is disconcerting more that coming here seems to have brought more trouble."
Orion offers a faint smile to Cliantha, along with a slight shake of his head. "Its alright, nothing for you to be sorry about." This said with a soft tone while he gives her neck a soft nudging back. "Yes.. That is true. We need to be more on guard."
Cliantha smiles at him, happily, "We need to do something about this now, Orion. I've not seen Nukpana nor Luna to tell them more." She frowns as she rips up several reeds with her teeth. What she pulls up, she lays on the spot where the bird was found. "That is to mark that spot. I'll have to get the cattails from the river soon. Let us get the others buried."
Miel lets her gaze wander along the horizon. Threats from all sides, it seems - what direction is safe? None of them, apparently. Fire. Rampaging beasts. Disease. At least the river isn't flooding - yet. She looks up sharply as a thought strikes her. "The river. What if one of these sick creatures falls into it? That could carry the infection everywhere, and we wouldn't even realize it until it was too late."
Cliantha sighs softly, "We must go then to the river." She asks Orion, "Can you bury these for us?" A look in the river's direction. "We need to see if others are still drinking from it and seem to be okay. I don't know how long the infection will manifest. Days or longer. I will have to start finding out if there are other methods." She hmms, "I did meet a racoon that did experiments. Maybe we can speak to him eventually. He is a little /odd/." Already she is heading towards the river.
Miel snorts. "Just eating random things is as likely to harm as help," she says, and sighs. "The smaller creatures are going to show it first. Less of them for the sickness to work through. For the herd... it's Luna and Strawberry that we need to worry about most." The old and the young - that's who gets hardest hit by disease. "We all need to keep watch, now. Disease can get past even the best sentries."
Cliantha sighs and shakes her mane as she neighs in her worry. "Then we must be diligent in our work. I will find the cattails. I'll make sure they smell fresh. I know what they smell like. And if it affects the land, I'll be able to spot them. I had to take care of Taima this way as well." She is at a trot now to be quicker to the river. "Can you keep an eye out for the small creatures? I want to smell around at the grass and flowers so I can see if anything got into our food."
Miel nods to Cliantha. "I'll see what I can find out." She pauses, looking up toward the mountain, and scuffs a forehoof against the ground. Is it safe? No. But it might be an answer, and she has the feeling they'll all need those, before long. "If you have knowledge of healing, use it. Perhaps we can find a creature not yet gone that you can practice on. From a distance."
Cliantha frowns and sighs, "I don't like the thought of having to practice on another creature but we need to keep the herd safe..." Without needing Miel to reply, she says grimly, "I understand what must be done though." She grows closer to the river, slowing down. The lift of her lips away from her teeth allows her to smell deeper. She lowers her head near the cattails she finds, then she keeps walking while she sniffs the foliage near the river. "I don't smell anything wrong here. All smells clean."
Miel snorts. "It's not like you'll be trying to harm them. In fact, you'll be trying to /help/. We just don't know if it'll work until after we've tried." She trots after, pausing some distance. "Keep that smell in your mind, then. Look for it, and be wary of it. It's worse than any cougar or wolf."
Cliantha looks to Miel, "Well..." She thinks about seeing that upstart racoon who kept calling the horses silly. A gentle shake of her head clears that thought away. "I won't ask Fennel. Who do you say we try this on, Miel? You find the creature and we will see if the water affects it. I'll get some mint and a few other flowers." She walks away from the river to find a good spot where there is a strong fresh smell, then back to the cattails to take a few from it. She puts them onto that fresh spot. Now she goes to get some mint and sassafrass, putting them on top of the cattails. Her pile is small but growing.
Miel flicks her tail, considering. "I'm not about to make someone possibly be sick just so we can see if the water's bad. I'm just saying we should keep it in mind as a possible risk, and watch for creatures that may be sick so we can try things to cure them. Though... I'm sure if we simply wait here long enough, somebody will come by to take a drink."
Orion has spent the last short while digging holes and burying the birds he could find around the area, and being VERY careful not to touch any of them in the process. With a few lashes of his tail he is making his way towards where Cliantha and Miel can be found. A soft nicker escaping him as he goes. "Have you two found anything here near the river?" This questioned while he glances around the area and then back towards the mares.
For some time, Virgil has been absent from the area. A long journey out westward in an attempt to return to his rider ended in him giving up about half way and making his way back here. Along the way his coat grew, and his coat then shed again during the spring. By now, the muddy-toned stallion has been back to this 'home' land for barely a few days, and the herd that he'd once gained access to at the very least, the fringes of, is what he's looking for. Back down to the plains is where he travelled, where he currently makes his way toward the river to quench his growing thirst. With no knowledge of any of the goings on as of late, Virgil casts a glance to the unfamiliar faces of the herd before dipping his lips down to the water, his senses apparently not quite with him just yet.
Cliantha nickers back to Orion, "Yes, just that the food for us is still fresh. I'm taking back a few things with me while Miel watches for small creatures who drink the water to see if they live." She nods to Miel, "Okay, then I'll get more mint. I'll find a few berries that help with stomach upset." As she is about to make her way back to the cattail pile with some more sassafrass leaves, she spots Virgil. "No, don't drink the water yet!" She neighs loudly. "It could be infected!" She stamps on the ground several times, hoping something she does gets Virgil's attention. If horses could facepalm, she would be doing so right now!
Ask, and ye shall recieve. Miel's gaze flicks to Virgil as he lowers his head to the river to drink, and then back to Orion. "Nothing, so far. I hope that's a good sign." She sighs, and gives her mane a toss. "If only we knew better what to look for." She smiles a little at Cliantha's protests to Virgil, though she doesn't add to them herself. Stallions should defend the herd, right? Perhaps this is a more gruesome way than most, but... she doesn't actually think there's much of a serious threat. No worse than breathing the air might be. And besides, if the river really is unsafe, they're going to have a hard time anyway.
Orion hums softly and nods while he glances to Cliantha and Miel and then to the river. "Well, perhaps with the river being moving it won't have a problem?" His ears flick forward and he glances towards Virgil, gaze watching him curiously a few moments and a faint nicker escapes him. "I think that may be Virgil.." He can recall his mother speaking of the other stallions with or friends of the herd.
The stamping of hooves from the other side of the bank and the call out for him not to drink, as well as a faint murmuring of his name all captures Virgil's attention. Ears perk forward and his head lifts from hovering over the water, glancing over in their direction. "What?" Is all the stallion can utter at first, before clearing his throat and taking a step back away from the bank, looking in a more curious manner. "What's got the water .. infected?" He asks, pawing at the water with a hoof as if to 'test' it, seeing nothing wrong with it himself.
Cliantha sighs loudly with a forced snort. "We saw birds drop from the sky dead. They smelled bad with sickness." She calls out to him, "We are looking for the smaller creatures to drink the water first to see if they live." To Orion and Miel, she asks, "Then you know who that is? Maybe he knows a way to speak to the cougars about sicknesses that the young one spoke about." Several feet to Miel's left is a thrushing of the grass, a low spot there. It shows a small family of mice that are coming to the river for a drink. At Orion's flank, there are a few flinches that rest on a bush. They take perch before they move to the riverside.
Miel nods to Orion. "Yes, that's Virgil," she says. She's met the stallion before, though she was only a youngster; he may or may not recognize the grown mare from the little flower-loving filly he spoke to about humans. She gives her mane a toss. "We don't know if it's safe or not. But water could carry the illness from a dead creature, if one fell in it. Better to be safe, until we know better what's going on."
Orion hums softly as he watches Virgil a few moments and soon glances to Cliantha. "I don't know if anyone in the herd will be that eager to actually speak with the cougars." He offers with a soft tone before glancing towards the rustling of the smal birds. "Well.. There's some little birds.." He wonders what might happen.
Taking his hoof from the water and dragging it across the bank, Virgil flicks his tail and stares at the water for a moment, in thought about the jam they seem to be in. "Fell upstream or downstream from here?" He asks, since he's not all that unfamiliar with this sort of problem. He remembered experiencing similar problems with the gang of humans that he was raised with. Dead people in the water made them have to get drinking water from before where the bodies fell; upstream. Shouldn't be so different in this case. As for Orion and Miel; well. No one would give Virgil an award for his memory.
Cliantha flicks her tail a few times, making her pleasantries quickly. "I'm Cliantha." She shakes her head, "We didn't see any of the infected birds fall into the water, but not like we would know since we were over there." Her head points in the direction of way over there near the four burial sites. The finches fly over to the riverbank and make their approach slow with several little hops before they can dip their beaks into the water. The mice not far from Miel have already drank from the water, swam in it even at the edge, then found their way back out to go on their homeward trek.
Miel is hardly expecting recognition, so she's unsurprised by the lack of it from Virgil. She chuckles. "Well, that's the problem, isn't it? We've seen a few simply fall out of the sky. There might be others, up or down the stream from here. We've got an illness we don't understand."
Orion nickers out softly while he watches the birds, an then the mice play about in the water. A smirk is seen before he glances to Cliantha. "Well.. So far it seems that the water may be alright from the little birds and mice being all in it."
Nodding at both Cliantha and Miel, Virgil's eyes cast downward toward the water again as he thinks things over. His health versus his thirst.. he -is- thirsty. "Well, it don't smell like it's turned bad. And it's not standin' water." He muses aloud, dipping his head down again and taking a drink; but only after he notices the birds and mice in it unharmed for the moment. After a few seconds of drinking, he brings his head back up and again, flicks his tail. "Tastes fine."
Cliantha watches Virgil mainly instead of the birds and mice. "Not sure if we could taste the difference though." She looks to Orion and Miel. "So far it is safe for now. Not sure if it will change but there is no telling how sickness behaves." She goes back to her pile, rolling up the cattails around the mint and sassafrass. "Have any of you seen sickness among the horses before? I mean even in stories of the past?"
Miel nods. "We'll want to keep an eye on it. Not drink too deep at once, that sort of thing," she says, considering. "But we've got to trust our senses somewhere, or we'll just be running scared of everything." Her tail flicks to the side, an anxious motion. She snorts. "I've seen sniffles and chills in plenty. But that's not the same as something that can kill. Most everything I've had to deal with just needs a few days of rest and good eating to mind."
Keeping his 'silly mares, sickness is for predators' thoughts to himself, Virgil decides against taking another drink in front of the two apparently worrysome females for the moment. He's quenched his thirst in the barest of senses and can do without just for their sake. "Gotta drink somethin'." Is all he utters for the moment, not meaning it in a smart-alec sort of way, but just as a matter of fact.
A few birds fell from the sky dead. They were sick and then were buried. Orion went to watch the mice for now to see if they survive the drink in the river. Miel and Cliantha are here with Virgil. Cliantha has a few plants near her to take back to the rest of the herd and the burial sites. "Yes, but are you feeling any different now after drinking?" Her eyes settle on the river, "I'm not particularly thirsty right now. I'll feel happier when the sight of falling from the sky dead birds is not in my mind." She shrugs, likely she'll be there in an hour for a drink.
Miel nods to Virgil. "We do," she says in agreement with the fact. "And running water is likely the safest." She snorts. "Not much to be done, save being cautious. If you have ideas for herbs, Cliantha, by all means look into them. Your little friends are likely to need them, even if we horses are lucky enough to escape infection."
"Come to think of it, I am." Virgil says, and takes a step back from the bank again, this time to settle his hooves into slightly drier ground. "Not quite as thirsty. Refreshed." He says with a certain tone of jest, but he does mean it, and although it might've been a joke in poor taste he hopes that Cliantha is at least a little more .. relieved from that. That he's not feeling sick immediately afterward, but well enough to tease.
Cliantha nods to Miel. "I plan to gather all the herbs I know of and go over them thoroughly. Have a spot to dry them so we can still use them." Then a loud chuckle-nicker while her head shakes about. "At least you aren't keeling over in pain, Virgil!" She smiles but picks up the cattails that she has rolled up with other plants. "Why don't we put these where the birds landed on the grass, that way others don't eat the grass there? Unless you both still want to hang back here. I'll just be a few minutes."
Miel snorts a laugh at Virgil's dubious humor, and nods. "Good. Keep on with that." She nods to Cliantha, and then hmms. "Perhaps I should take another patrol around the borders. After all, we haven't discovered what the threat is from the east, yet." She smiles - it's a joke, but it's a rather tenuous one at best.
With his goal completed, Virgil has no real reason to linger around aside from decent conversation with the mares who seem to be about infinitely more pleasant than the ones he recalled last encountering. However, Virgil isn't in the conversing sort of mood, having only been back for such a short amount of time. There are plenty of grasses to eat and much land to cover and observe before he'll feel comfortable with that. With a grin and a slight polite tuck of his head, Virgil lets the two know of his leaving. "Ladies. It's been a pleasure, and if the water hasn't killed me by next time we meet, I'll see you around." He says good-naturedly, and turns on his hooves to wander around elsewhere for a while.
Cliantha nods to Miel, then smiles in return. She nickers her goodbye to Virgil. "I'm off to tend to those spots now. Likely after that I'll go find some honeysuckles to nibble on." She gives that dreamy look of joy. After she comes out of her little dream state, she begins to trot off again with the bundle in her mouth.
-Prairie Lands and Near the River-
The summer winds are a bit strong today while the heat of the sun cuts through to keep the winds hot. With the heat comes more omens. Cliantha is at the center of the herd, well, not for too long. A black dot falls out of the sky. She sees this black dot. How odd that it falls out of the sky. There she goes to inspect the fallen thing. As she nears she sees it is a bird. Not a crow. She sniffs at it, then steps back with her from legs kicking in the air as she neighs loudly. A few other birds in the distance to her left fall from the nearby tree.
Miel trots slowly through the grasslands, finishing a patrol around the edges of the herd. All quiet on the western front; now she's coming back toward the center, and as she does, she hears a neigh. Her ears perk, and she picks up the pace, cantering toward Cliantha to find out what's happening.
Orion ears flick forward and his head lifts while he glances towards where Cliantha is. A faint nicker escaping him and he shifts making his way towards Cliantha and now Miel. A few sniffs are given to the passing breeze while he goes. "What's wrong?" This is questioned to Cliantha while he glances around the area before catching the sound of a fluttering of feathers from the trees and looks that way.
Zeladoni tentatively trots over to the trio and flicks an ear, tilting her head and peeking around a stunted tree. She moves closer to Orion and stays near him; he's bigger than she is, and might know whatever that.. Thing.. is. "It smells funny.. Is it an animal?":
Cliantha nickers as she tries to keep herself still. "It just fell from the sky dead! I've never seen that before. Have either you?" Her head turns to the left and suddenly her eyes go wide, "See, I'm not imagining things, am I?" She frowns, "They don't smell right for dead animals. There smells something wrong." She looks to the others, "Should I kick it? See if it is just stunned? Or something else?" She doesn't recognize Zeladoni, not having met her. "Miel, Orion? Has the patrols shown signs of this?"
Miel pauses a few steps away, considering. At Cliantha's suggestion of kicking it, she snorts, nostrils flaring. "No!" she says firmly. "Don't touch it. Don't even get too close to it." Her tail flicks anxiously at flies that aren't there. "It's sick with something. I don't know what, but I don't intend to find out by having one of us catch it."
Orion blinks as he watches Cliantha and shakes his head while moving backwards along with Miel. "I agree with Miel.. Steps away from it and leave it be. Perhaps we should all move away from it and the trees. I think I heard more fall." A glance is offered over to Zeladoni and he tilts his head pondering a moment before looking back to Cliantha and Miel. "I've not seen anything like it when on patrol."
Zeladoni snorts worriedly and sidles up to Orion, trying not to interrupt, but feeling what she remembers is important. "There was a cougar around here, when I was a foal.. She told me about a sickness in her homeland, months and months to the northeast. She said more, but I don't know if its the same sickness, or even if its important.." The young orphaned filly of Athena dips her head respectfully, trying to decide if she should stay.
Cliantha steps back, "We need to bury it then. We need it so no one steps on it by accident. We can't have any of these things being touched or sniffed at too closely." She nods once to Zeladoni, "I don't know that much about sicknesses but I sure aim to find out now." Her face tenses. "If there are anymore of these kinds of deaths, we need to immediately handle this. We can't wait for Luna or Nupkana to give the go ahead. Especially if it has a sickness on it that we can catch." saying a bit more stern now.
Miel nods as Orion agrees with her, and then Zeladoni's comment gets her attention. "From the northeast, you say?" She looks in that direction. "So, not from the fire... but perhaps the refugees..." To many creatures, too much crowding... it's practically a recipe for this sort of thing. She snorts. "Do you remember anything about the cougar?" she asks. "Sickness is everybody's problem." To Cliantha, she snorts. "We'll be lucky if they're all small enough to bury. Bury it if you like, but don't touch it. And kick your hooves through the dirt afterwards, just to be sure."
Orion ears lower slightly at the talk of burying the bird. A faint snort escapes him. "We most likely should.." This is offered before he moves forward and goes about starting to strike the earth a few times to and then starts to push the dirt away to make a hole in order to bury the bird. HIs ears flick forward, hearing the story on the cougar and about the sickness that everyone is talking about. "Great.. Not like we don't have enough problems.."
Zeladoni nods and flicks her ears, trying to remember everything. She pauses, collecting her thoughts, then speaks, "The northeast. Her name was Winny.. Winna.. No, Winema. She said she had come to warn the cougars from the Amaranth tribe. She told me it affects the mind first, then goes into the muscles.. Smaller animals, they got sick first, birds and mice and little creatures.. She sai it drove her father mad, that she was the only one left, and she was immune somehow. She said she had to warn everyone.." The young mare blinks and begins to shiver, in spite of the heat. "The only reason I remember so much is because that's the day my mother, Athena, went missing."
Cliantha frowns a bit at Zeladoni's words. "Let me use a small rock to push the bird into the hole. We need a few of them to use for the other burials." She trots in about a ten foot radius in search of a hoof size rock. One is found but that is her main goal for the moment. "Can you make it a big enough hole so I can put the rock in it too. A good kick over should knock both into the hole." Yet, she does listen to Zeladoni. "You know if you can talk to that cougar again to see if they have this same kind of proble as we do?"
Miel chuckles to Orion. "We'll keep on regardless. Just another few hurdles along the trail," she says to him in an aside, and then nods as she listens to Zeladoni. "Perhaps we'll need to speak with those cougars. Did she say anything else? How to avoid it, how it spreads? Symptoms, even, so we can avoid the sick?" It may not be the same thing, but just in case...
Orion nods slightly while he continues to kick and dig up the ground to make the hole big enough for the bird and rock. A ear twitches to Miel and he chuckles softly. "Well.. I suppose you have a point there."
Zeladoni ponders a while and murmurs, "She said she was coming back when she saw the leader of Amaranth, to see if she could help, but otherwise, no, she didn't mention anything."
Cliantha moves the rock in place and readies herself for a light kick. "Can someone go visit the cougars to talk with them? It would help us understand things here better." She tightens her lips a bit, then lets her leg fly loose. The rock and dead bird roll into the hole. "Great but I think I'll put down a few herbs on the spot where the bird was. I don't know what it will do to the grass in that spot. I think there may be some cattails near the river. It will be good to put that down here to matt the area. I'll have to think about what else to put." She hmms, "If no one wants to go, maybe we can send some of our little friends? Or not considering they may end up becoming food for the cougars."
"Cougars," says Miel, glancing up toward the mountain. "Hard things to handle, cougars." She shakes her head slowly. "For now, we need to avoid the illness as best we can. Marking the spots with the dead ones is a good start." She snorts. "I'm not certain welcoming the small creatures into our midst is such a good idea, if they may be the first carriers of the disease. We should be careful of them, at least, and keep watch for signs of illness. Don't let sick animals near you."
Orion ears twitch forward and back, a faint snuffle escaping him as he takes in the passing beeze. His gaze turns towards the mountain at the talk of speaking with the cougars. "I'm not sure if speaking with the cougars is such a great idea." He has scars from his last encounter with a cougar after all. "They tend to like to eat things like us after all." This said while he works on shifting the dirt back over the hole. "I have to agree with Miel on this one. Keep all the small animals at bay until we see if anything else happens at least."
Cliantha shakes her head a few times, "I don't mean the ones we don't know. I mean the friends we do know. Like the skunk and the little fox that was on Dandelion's back." She sighs softly, "Well how did one of the cougars not eat...?" Her muzzle points to Zeladoni. Odd that one spoke to her without claiming her as..." she won't say that part right now. "I want the hordes away but keep our friends close. We will need them and they will need us since our paths are starting to have thorns on them."
Orion nods slightly while glancing over to Cliantha. "I don't have a problem wth Aponi or the fox kit.. I mean new small animals coming in that we don't know." He offers before glancing to Zeladoni and shrugs. "Well.. I have the scars to prove not all cougar's want to talk." He offers with a few lashes of his tail once he is done covering the bird.
Cliantha moves a little closer to Orion and studies the scars. "I'm so sorry, Orion. I would never want any harm to you or anyone where. We just need to find a way to gather information. If we can't, then we'll just have to keep on as we go. But I don't think this will be simply over if we bury the dead small creatures." She nudges him gently with her muzzle against his neck. "We can't tolerate anymore threats to us though. It is disconcerting more that coming here seems to have brought more trouble."
Orion offers a faint smile to Cliantha, along with a slight shake of his head. "Its alright, nothing for you to be sorry about." This said with a soft tone while he gives her neck a soft nudging back. "Yes.. That is true. We need to be more on guard."
Cliantha smiles at him, happily, "We need to do something about this now, Orion. I've not seen Nukpana nor Luna to tell them more." She frowns as she rips up several reeds with her teeth. What she pulls up, she lays on the spot where the bird was found. "That is to mark that spot. I'll have to get the cattails from the river soon. Let us get the others buried."
Miel lets her gaze wander along the horizon. Threats from all sides, it seems - what direction is safe? None of them, apparently. Fire. Rampaging beasts. Disease. At least the river isn't flooding - yet. She looks up sharply as a thought strikes her. "The river. What if one of these sick creatures falls into it? That could carry the infection everywhere, and we wouldn't even realize it until it was too late."
Cliantha sighs softly, "We must go then to the river." She asks Orion, "Can you bury these for us?" A look in the river's direction. "We need to see if others are still drinking from it and seem to be okay. I don't know how long the infection will manifest. Days or longer. I will have to start finding out if there are other methods." She hmms, "I did meet a racoon that did experiments. Maybe we can speak to him eventually. He is a little /odd/." Already she is heading towards the river.
Miel snorts. "Just eating random things is as likely to harm as help," she says, and sighs. "The smaller creatures are going to show it first. Less of them for the sickness to work through. For the herd... it's Luna and Strawberry that we need to worry about most." The old and the young - that's who gets hardest hit by disease. "We all need to keep watch, now. Disease can get past even the best sentries."
Cliantha sighs and shakes her mane as she neighs in her worry. "Then we must be diligent in our work. I will find the cattails. I'll make sure they smell fresh. I know what they smell like. And if it affects the land, I'll be able to spot them. I had to take care of Taima this way as well." She is at a trot now to be quicker to the river. "Can you keep an eye out for the small creatures? I want to smell around at the grass and flowers so I can see if anything got into our food."
Miel nods to Cliantha. "I'll see what I can find out." She pauses, looking up toward the mountain, and scuffs a forehoof against the ground. Is it safe? No. But it might be an answer, and she has the feeling they'll all need those, before long. "If you have knowledge of healing, use it. Perhaps we can find a creature not yet gone that you can practice on. From a distance."
Cliantha frowns and sighs, "I don't like the thought of having to practice on another creature but we need to keep the herd safe..." Without needing Miel to reply, she says grimly, "I understand what must be done though." She grows closer to the river, slowing down. The lift of her lips away from her teeth allows her to smell deeper. She lowers her head near the cattails she finds, then she keeps walking while she sniffs the foliage near the river. "I don't smell anything wrong here. All smells clean."
Miel snorts. "It's not like you'll be trying to harm them. In fact, you'll be trying to /help/. We just don't know if it'll work until after we've tried." She trots after, pausing some distance. "Keep that smell in your mind, then. Look for it, and be wary of it. It's worse than any cougar or wolf."
Cliantha looks to Miel, "Well..." She thinks about seeing that upstart racoon who kept calling the horses silly. A gentle shake of her head clears that thought away. "I won't ask Fennel. Who do you say we try this on, Miel? You find the creature and we will see if the water affects it. I'll get some mint and a few other flowers." She walks away from the river to find a good spot where there is a strong fresh smell, then back to the cattails to take a few from it. She puts them onto that fresh spot. Now she goes to get some mint and sassafrass, putting them on top of the cattails. Her pile is small but growing.
Miel flicks her tail, considering. "I'm not about to make someone possibly be sick just so we can see if the water's bad. I'm just saying we should keep it in mind as a possible risk, and watch for creatures that may be sick so we can try things to cure them. Though... I'm sure if we simply wait here long enough, somebody will come by to take a drink."
Orion has spent the last short while digging holes and burying the birds he could find around the area, and being VERY careful not to touch any of them in the process. With a few lashes of his tail he is making his way towards where Cliantha and Miel can be found. A soft nicker escaping him as he goes. "Have you two found anything here near the river?" This questioned while he glances around the area and then back towards the mares.
For some time, Virgil has been absent from the area. A long journey out westward in an attempt to return to his rider ended in him giving up about half way and making his way back here. Along the way his coat grew, and his coat then shed again during the spring. By now, the muddy-toned stallion has been back to this 'home' land for barely a few days, and the herd that he'd once gained access to at the very least, the fringes of, is what he's looking for. Back down to the plains is where he travelled, where he currently makes his way toward the river to quench his growing thirst. With no knowledge of any of the goings on as of late, Virgil casts a glance to the unfamiliar faces of the herd before dipping his lips down to the water, his senses apparently not quite with him just yet.
Cliantha nickers back to Orion, "Yes, just that the food for us is still fresh. I'm taking back a few things with me while Miel watches for small creatures who drink the water to see if they live." She nods to Miel, "Okay, then I'll get more mint. I'll find a few berries that help with stomach upset." As she is about to make her way back to the cattail pile with some more sassafrass leaves, she spots Virgil. "No, don't drink the water yet!" She neighs loudly. "It could be infected!" She stamps on the ground several times, hoping something she does gets Virgil's attention. If horses could facepalm, she would be doing so right now!
Ask, and ye shall recieve. Miel's gaze flicks to Virgil as he lowers his head to the river to drink, and then back to Orion. "Nothing, so far. I hope that's a good sign." She sighs, and gives her mane a toss. "If only we knew better what to look for." She smiles a little at Cliantha's protests to Virgil, though she doesn't add to them herself. Stallions should defend the herd, right? Perhaps this is a more gruesome way than most, but... she doesn't actually think there's much of a serious threat. No worse than breathing the air might be. And besides, if the river really is unsafe, they're going to have a hard time anyway.
Orion hums softly and nods while he glances to Cliantha and Miel and then to the river. "Well, perhaps with the river being moving it won't have a problem?" His ears flick forward and he glances towards Virgil, gaze watching him curiously a few moments and a faint nicker escapes him. "I think that may be Virgil.." He can recall his mother speaking of the other stallions with or friends of the herd.
The stamping of hooves from the other side of the bank and the call out for him not to drink, as well as a faint murmuring of his name all captures Virgil's attention. Ears perk forward and his head lifts from hovering over the water, glancing over in their direction. "What?" Is all the stallion can utter at first, before clearing his throat and taking a step back away from the bank, looking in a more curious manner. "What's got the water .. infected?" He asks, pawing at the water with a hoof as if to 'test' it, seeing nothing wrong with it himself.
Cliantha sighs loudly with a forced snort. "We saw birds drop from the sky dead. They smelled bad with sickness." She calls out to him, "We are looking for the smaller creatures to drink the water first to see if they live." To Orion and Miel, she asks, "Then you know who that is? Maybe he knows a way to speak to the cougars about sicknesses that the young one spoke about." Several feet to Miel's left is a thrushing of the grass, a low spot there. It shows a small family of mice that are coming to the river for a drink. At Orion's flank, there are a few flinches that rest on a bush. They take perch before they move to the riverside.
Miel nods to Orion. "Yes, that's Virgil," she says. She's met the stallion before, though she was only a youngster; he may or may not recognize the grown mare from the little flower-loving filly he spoke to about humans. She gives her mane a toss. "We don't know if it's safe or not. But water could carry the illness from a dead creature, if one fell in it. Better to be safe, until we know better what's going on."
Orion hums softly as he watches Virgil a few moments and soon glances to Cliantha. "I don't know if anyone in the herd will be that eager to actually speak with the cougars." He offers with a soft tone before glancing towards the rustling of the smal birds. "Well.. There's some little birds.." He wonders what might happen.
Taking his hoof from the water and dragging it across the bank, Virgil flicks his tail and stares at the water for a moment, in thought about the jam they seem to be in. "Fell upstream or downstream from here?" He asks, since he's not all that unfamiliar with this sort of problem. He remembered experiencing similar problems with the gang of humans that he was raised with. Dead people in the water made them have to get drinking water from before where the bodies fell; upstream. Shouldn't be so different in this case. As for Orion and Miel; well. No one would give Virgil an award for his memory.
Cliantha flicks her tail a few times, making her pleasantries quickly. "I'm Cliantha." She shakes her head, "We didn't see any of the infected birds fall into the water, but not like we would know since we were over there." Her head points in the direction of way over there near the four burial sites. The finches fly over to the riverbank and make their approach slow with several little hops before they can dip their beaks into the water. The mice not far from Miel have already drank from the water, swam in it even at the edge, then found their way back out to go on their homeward trek.
Miel is hardly expecting recognition, so she's unsurprised by the lack of it from Virgil. She chuckles. "Well, that's the problem, isn't it? We've seen a few simply fall out of the sky. There might be others, up or down the stream from here. We've got an illness we don't understand."
Orion nickers out softly while he watches the birds, an then the mice play about in the water. A smirk is seen before he glances to Cliantha. "Well.. So far it seems that the water may be alright from the little birds and mice being all in it."
Nodding at both Cliantha and Miel, Virgil's eyes cast downward toward the water again as he thinks things over. His health versus his thirst.. he -is- thirsty. "Well, it don't smell like it's turned bad. And it's not standin' water." He muses aloud, dipping his head down again and taking a drink; but only after he notices the birds and mice in it unharmed for the moment. After a few seconds of drinking, he brings his head back up and again, flicks his tail. "Tastes fine."
Cliantha watches Virgil mainly instead of the birds and mice. "Not sure if we could taste the difference though." She looks to Orion and Miel. "So far it is safe for now. Not sure if it will change but there is no telling how sickness behaves." She goes back to her pile, rolling up the cattails around the mint and sassafrass. "Have any of you seen sickness among the horses before? I mean even in stories of the past?"
Miel nods. "We'll want to keep an eye on it. Not drink too deep at once, that sort of thing," she says, considering. "But we've got to trust our senses somewhere, or we'll just be running scared of everything." Her tail flicks to the side, an anxious motion. She snorts. "I've seen sniffles and chills in plenty. But that's not the same as something that can kill. Most everything I've had to deal with just needs a few days of rest and good eating to mind."
Keeping his 'silly mares, sickness is for predators' thoughts to himself, Virgil decides against taking another drink in front of the two apparently worrysome females for the moment. He's quenched his thirst in the barest of senses and can do without just for their sake. "Gotta drink somethin'." Is all he utters for the moment, not meaning it in a smart-alec sort of way, but just as a matter of fact.
A few birds fell from the sky dead. They were sick and then were buried. Orion went to watch the mice for now to see if they survive the drink in the river. Miel and Cliantha are here with Virgil. Cliantha has a few plants near her to take back to the rest of the herd and the burial sites. "Yes, but are you feeling any different now after drinking?" Her eyes settle on the river, "I'm not particularly thirsty right now. I'll feel happier when the sight of falling from the sky dead birds is not in my mind." She shrugs, likely she'll be there in an hour for a drink.
Miel nods to Virgil. "We do," she says in agreement with the fact. "And running water is likely the safest." She snorts. "Not much to be done, save being cautious. If you have ideas for herbs, Cliantha, by all means look into them. Your little friends are likely to need them, even if we horses are lucky enough to escape infection."
"Come to think of it, I am." Virgil says, and takes a step back from the bank again, this time to settle his hooves into slightly drier ground. "Not quite as thirsty. Refreshed." He says with a certain tone of jest, but he does mean it, and although it might've been a joke in poor taste he hopes that Cliantha is at least a little more .. relieved from that. That he's not feeling sick immediately afterward, but well enough to tease.
Cliantha nods to Miel. "I plan to gather all the herbs I know of and go over them thoroughly. Have a spot to dry them so we can still use them." Then a loud chuckle-nicker while her head shakes about. "At least you aren't keeling over in pain, Virgil!" She smiles but picks up the cattails that she has rolled up with other plants. "Why don't we put these where the birds landed on the grass, that way others don't eat the grass there? Unless you both still want to hang back here. I'll just be a few minutes."
Miel snorts a laugh at Virgil's dubious humor, and nods. "Good. Keep on with that." She nods to Cliantha, and then hmms. "Perhaps I should take another patrol around the borders. After all, we haven't discovered what the threat is from the east, yet." She smiles - it's a joke, but it's a rather tenuous one at best.
With his goal completed, Virgil has no real reason to linger around aside from decent conversation with the mares who seem to be about infinitely more pleasant than the ones he recalled last encountering. However, Virgil isn't in the conversing sort of mood, having only been back for such a short amount of time. There are plenty of grasses to eat and much land to cover and observe before he'll feel comfortable with that. With a grin and a slight polite tuck of his head, Virgil lets the two know of his leaving. "Ladies. It's been a pleasure, and if the water hasn't killed me by next time we meet, I'll see you around." He says good-naturedly, and turns on his hooves to wander around elsewhere for a while.
Cliantha nods to Miel, then smiles in return. She nickers her goodbye to Virgil. "I'm off to tend to those spots now. Likely after that I'll go find some honeysuckles to nibble on." She gives that dreamy look of joy. After she comes out of her little dream state, she begins to trot off again with the bundle in her mouth.