The Magical Herd

When you woke, it was neither Marisu nor Xawen watching over you, but an unknown mare.

"Finally, I thought you'd never wake up. Just like Marisu to dump some stranded traveller who doesn't know any better than to avoid the dangerous places. And so here I am, wasting a perfectly good afternoon, making sure no one eats you while you sleep so deeply an earthquake wouldn't have been able to rouse you." She drops her head to your level, "If you slept more lightly, things wouldn't be able to sneak up on you so easily"

Blushing, you get to your feet and mutter an apology, not for your sleeping habits, but for her having to watch over you. After, this part of the forest felt perfectly safe.

"Nothing is perfectly safe. See that plant over there? I wouldn't touch its spines, they contain a poison very effective against humans, though it only causes a rash in leagi. Marisu probably didn't know, or she wouldn't have had you sleep so close to it that you could have rolled right onto it."

You decide not to mention the fact that this mare knew, but had let you go right on sleeping anyway. Instead you ask her name.

"Demaree. And no, I don't want your thanks. I just want you to move on to another part of the forest where we won't have to cross paths again."

With that, she nodded her head in one direction, then left in another. She apparently didn't care much about what happened to you, but it didn't seem she would do you harm either. You go the way she had indicated.