The Magical Herd

You waited a while longer in the clearing to see if any others may come forth. It was not long before there stood before you a proud and stately buck. His antlers branched strong and powerful towards the sky.

He was looking up at a large tree in a somewhat curious manner. He hadn't noticed you yet. You looked up youself but could see nothing.......until the big branch shook. You hoped that it wasn't some predatory animal, like a big cat that might want to eat him. He didn't seem worried.

Then in a flurry of leaves a bright yellow bolt burst forth and landed in the grass. The doe was full of energy and laughter. The buck just looked at her with amusement. She noticed you first.

"Hi hi!" she said nearly breathless, bounding towards you. "I'm Eea'Zale and this is my friend Ten'Fri'Menali! Who are you?"

As you introduce yourself, Ten'Fri looks you over, studying you. Then he sighed. "Kind of boring, won't get much adventure out of this one. The grimal was more exciting."

"Don't say that!" Eea squealed. "The grimal almost ate you!"

"Did not." He blinked his large eyes.

She shook her head and turned to you. "It really did, only it slipped and rolled down the hill while we were running away. Ten shouldn't have called it those bad names outside of its cave."

You didn't know what a grimal was, but you hoped you wouldn't run into one, especially the one that missed its dinner. You ask them what they were. Eea answered, "We're Vearsha. I guess if you wanted to make us out of animals you might find normal, we'd be a mix between a deer and a horse. She giggles, he stomps a forehoof making the little sun she had tied to it flutter about. You notice that her forehooves are solid, the back ones cloven. Obviously part of the deer/horse mix.

"I guess you must like exploring as much as us, well, if you just stay here you won't find much. But if you go that way, you might find more inhabitants of the copse. Just watch out for the grimal, but it was back the way you came so you probably already missed him."

It was hard to catch all she was saying, she spoke between breaths and leaps and didn't stop moving so you had to keep moving to follow her around.

Ten'Fri added, "I can show you the grimal's cave if you like......"

You thank him, but point out that you'd already been that way......maybe on the way back. He nodded in understanding, it'd be much more exciting to go somewhere you hadn't already visited.