One VERY Annoyed Tigress and the Great Shishin Chase

MUFFINS!

Muffins, muffins everywhere!!

Klytie adds her gift of lights and the muffin faerie, but it doesn't seem needed with the Protector's supply. Junu lifts his flute, the other Bards join in, and the Shishin dance merrily, pressing coins into your hands as they dance you over the bridge into a meadow and what looks to be an inn beyond a grove of trees.

At last! You're making some progress.

The Shishin are too, progressing their way through endless muffins, and swirling rainbows around everyone. It's a major sugar high. Their dances grow wilder and wilder, until each of them runs off in a separate direction, giggling and gobbling merrily.

"GET THEM BACK!" growls an authoritative voice behind you.

When you turn, you see a greyish-white tigress glaring at you. She does not look happy.

"Do you realize how perilous these rocks and caves can be? Did any of you think of that before you fed them that cartload of muffins?"

Before you can answer, she continues. "No, you did not! I see it on your faces. Well, go get them back, and if any of them has one little scrap of fur torn or twisted, I will call my whole pack!"

"If you want through to that inn anyway, you have to answer at least three of the trees, but, now, you have to deal with me as well." She curls her strong and agile body comfortably onto a log. "I'd say you have your work cut out for you."

Fighting her doesn't seem the wisest way to help with your quest, so you begin discussing the best ways to round up the Shishin, and you also examine the placards attached to the twining trees which block the path.

They read as follows:

1. Which one does not belong here on me? Reappear Caucasus Inefficiencies Signings Arraigning Horseshoer Intestines Appeases

2. If throne=rote and tepees=pets, while refits=firs and rotate=tare, what does sneaky equal? Tell me.

3. What is my message? WMSTK AUMEG LEIIE HAYHY RSANH OTGNI AKOIO ETROT DOHTN TEUNU JSTUO GNTHN

4. Bear Goddess say:

"Me go out; look for berries, but there is fig in front of me, and must beyond that. Rind is pretty cold, too, and helped by pain, and finally mail. Turn to go back, but behind is smug."

She not speak tree well--confuse words too much. What she say, really?

5.The center tree slightly bows to you, as if he senses your purpose. As you approach, his sign changes and you read:

Going up the mountain? You're in big trouble already. The Silver Archer is involved in a death match with the Golden Bowman. (They're both immortal, so it doesn't matter in the end for anyone---except you.) You must join the match and win in order to go higher. They never waste arrows, so they have the following rules.

1. Arrows are fired until only one survives, and only one arrow each turn.
2. New shooter first; best shooter last.
3. You may not shoot yourself.

With the wind on the mountain, you will only hit every third shot. On the other hand, the Golden Bowman will hit every other shot, and the Silver Archer, who guards the mountain, never misses.

Knowing these things, what's your best first shot?

"If you're done with your reading," growls the tigress, "there are seven out of control Shishin dashing everywhere. Kuai yi dian! ISOGE! PALI! PALI!!!

You don't need to speak anything in Sinhaen to understand, and you leap into action. Behind you, the tree leaves wave, sounding much like the sound of laughter.

(OOC: You have seven Shishin to return unharmed for this RP team challenge. Please see more on the OOC thread for this chapter.)

[Spoiler=The Muffin is a LIE!] Great, Thought Nightshade, Mommy caught us giving the kids candy.

He rolled his eyes at the cliche, they must be her first precious snowflakes….

Well better scamper before she simply glares him to death, he never got tangled in family affairs… well, not when there was an over-protective wife or mother involved, even for an assassin that’s scary!

He quickly headed towards the first tree and got his Sai and Sonic screwdriver out to make his way through.

“HEY!” came the authoritative voice that froze him into place.

“This is not a library, you were told to read those riddles for a reason” He heard the tigress scolding his back…. Suddenly he felt like a naughty 50 year old kid caught destroying his mother’s prized venus flytraps… god she was mad at him for that!

Without daring to turn around and face her the dark elf slowly placed his Sai and screwdriver back into the folds of his attire and started to look around the clearing beyond the bridge for clues.

The seven Shishin all dashed in different directions so he’d have to track them down one by one which might take a while. He quickly scratched that idea, The longer they have the more time to get into a mess and Mommy Tigress will be at his throat faster than you can say “muffin”…. Wait MUFFINS!!!!!!

Of course! Why didn’t he think of that earlier!!!!!!

He quickly headed back across the bridge to the nearest bakery “do you have any muffins?”

The baker blinked at him and then said “well,,, I was going to make some blueberry muffins in a minute… errrrr”

“They’ll do, give me that spatula!” Nightshade ignored the baker’s protest as he jumped across the customer/baker partition “Just do it and I’ll get you some rainbow berries from beyond the bridge the ones that grow where the tigress is.” as he suspected that shut the baker up in a hurry, those berries looked amazing! Then again they grew in a place where seven magical fairies resided… and an over protective tigress!

Nightshade quickly baked the muffins making sure to glaze the tops with brown sugar and cinnamon, in no time at all the entire bakery was smelling like heaven.

The minute they were done he grabbed them and borrowed an empty tray from the baker.

He all but flew back to the clearing beyond the bridge to lay his trap “More Sweets!” growled the tigress disapprovingly but he ignored her.

He set up the tray of muffin bait on a tree stump and started a little fire near it, he then placed the empty tray on the fire after glazing it with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. You could smell it for miles now and anyone with his sense of smell intact would be drooling…. thankfully he preferred bitter tasting food to sweets but he was a master baker, you’d be surprised how many of his targets were lured to their fates with a cake or cookie!

His retirement plan was to open a bakery chain that specialized in cinnamon flavored treats, the aroma would lure people in and his hired ninjas posing as bakers would carry out the assassinations (or capture, whichever pays better!) on those with a bounty on them. He'll have to over-price the pastries for normal patrons though, the dough was cheap but the hired assassin making it wasn't. Besides, normal people wouldn't buy these treats often, each pastry had enough butter and sugar to cover your caloric intake for a week!

He stood back, trap now ready and sonic screwdriver in hand. He hoped the bard and changeling he seemed to have picked up along the way would provide the music and glitter but before long one by one the Shishin started to appear lead by their noses and made a dive for the muffins. At that point all the dark elf had to do was point the Screwdriver at them to hold them in their place for just one second. It would only freeze them for a second and no more but it was all the time Nightshade needed to scoop them up and return them to their guardian.

The green and blue Shishin appeared together so he could only freeze one, the other, the faster green one, managed to grab a muffin before Nightshade got to him. The Tigress wasn’t impressed and Nightshade had to freeze the little one just to get the muffin away from him.

Finally all seven were accounted for not a hair out of place–after you brushed all the twigs and leaves out of their fur that is- well… except the green one which was sulking now that his precious muffin was taken away but physically he was fine and he’ll live to see another muffin yet!

With that done Nightshade looked to confirm with the tigress that all was well before leaving to collect the rainbow berries he owed the baker, it would give him enough time to think through the trees’ riddles, with her watching over his shoulder hacking and slashing his way through was out of the question... unfortunately.

He knew he need to answer only three so he could get through to the inn beyond but now that the Shishin were safe and their guardian appeased there was no hurry, he had enough time to think through each riddle and open the path wide enough for them all to get through. As it turns out, picking sweet smelling berries in a scenic place like this had a meditative effect and before long he had all the answers he needed to keep going. [/spoiler]

Sorn rolled his eyes. “Why should we go play roundup? We were not even the morons who gave them the muffins. My gift was magical lights… Lights have no sugar!” Personally, he hoped they’d just lick the lights, get zapped and that would be the end of the problem… Apparently no one was listening and Sorn muttered things like “trivial tasks” “stupid talking tiger” and swear words as he trouped after his team.

Dash smiled at the tigress and happily started off in the direction of one of the Shishin. This kind of sounded fun. “Hey, Kara,” he asked, “got any net traps?” he took out a rainbow coloured muffin with a wide grin, “I pilfered this from one of the other mage’s whilst they weren’t looking… I mean so many muffins and they looked so good. Perhaps we could use one as bait?”

Cerac snickered, nudging Dash and shooting him an amused grin. “Kind o’ reminds ye o’ Savio,” he staged whispered then adopted an innocent look as they approached the trees and their little riddles. This shouldn’t be too hard for their group- at least he hoped so. Now, if he could keep Sorn from trying to zap his ass… it was made for finer things than little lightning bolts.

Kara nodded to the great feline, not too perturbed that she was annoyed or they were sent to fetch these creatures. Her lips quirked at Sorn’s obvious disgruntlement. It was kind of adorable. Shifting her gaze to Dash she shook her head. “I don’t think it is wise to offer them more sugar. Maybe some music when we get near them? Something soothing.”

Dash twitched a smile, “Yes, it does, though you might get some nasty trick if you tell your uncle that.” Then Kara said more sugar would only exacerbate the issue and he shrugged, “Oh well.” Dash getting closer to Cerac and smashed the muffin in his lover’s face and then making a lovely scene as he licked and nibbled it away—with Cerac doing likewise. Lots of smacking and kissing involved. When Cerac was “cleaned” Dash licked his fingers and said, “Well, music does soothe the savage beast. Does anyone play besides me? Or should I do the honours?” Sorn gave Cerac a glare but otherwise remained silent. He didn’t even comment after watching the muffin-play. Bits fell into their shirts and it was—hot. But he kept resiliently quiet. What he wanted more than anything was to lay down and sleep—well maybe a tumble with Kara too, but he was tired. They had seven little buggers to catch as well. “Quit dicking around,” he ordered, “let’s just get this over with.” He said a spell in his drow tongue and a cage appeared for them to shove the Shinsin inside.

“I am no afraid o’ him,” Cerac stated cockily then muttered ‘much’ under his breath. Right after he was thoroughly distracted by his lover, who thought smashing sweets in his face was a good idea. Okay, maybe it wasn’t a bad one, he did enjoy it and if it got on Sorn’s nerves a little all the better. He was far too uptight. “Ye are just jealous,” Cerac smirked then turned back to the trees in their way. They would catch nothing if they couldn’t get past them.

The boys were certainly- strange. Kara was a bit bemused but shook her head slightly. “You can do it Dash, but first we need to solve these riddles.” They gathered around, moving from tree to tree. Some were more difficult than others but at least they got past and into the forest beyond. She could hear the high pitched giggling coming from all directions it seemed. “Don’t hurt them, I do not wish to fight a tigress.”

Sorn ignored the boys altogether. They solved the riddles well enough so now they could go Shinshin hunting. How to catch them was really the question. He had no idea what Dash was talking about, he had no instrument on his person. What was he going to play? Hopefully not his member, Sorn’s restraint wouldn’t be able to take much more. He set the cage down with the door open and stepped back to allow Dash to work...and surprise the hell out of him at the same time.

Dash placed his hand on his necklace. It had an odd design on it. He took it off with exceptional care and pressed it. Suddenly it started morphing and became a large musical staff. The notehead was wickedly sharp, as well as the flag, the stem was the handle. He smiled at the faces before him. “My father gave me this when I was very little. He taught me and sparred with me, and my brother. Tait has a magical ring that changes into a sword.”

He swung his staff artfully and with grace. As he moved, the staff played music and swirled with magic. The song shifted as Dash moved. It was clear he knew many songs for this strange staff. He stood behind the cage and felt a ward pop up around him thanks to Sorn. It was no good if the creature ran towards him and was hurt. Dash continued to move about and the staff’s song played soothingly. Within a few moments a Shinshin raced up and flung itself towards Dash, only to find itself suddenly in a cage—a firmly locked cage thanks to Cerac. Dash nodded thanks to Cerac. “It’s doubtful we can do this particular method again but at least we have one of the seven now.”

Sorn gave an odd look of satisfaction, like he had just solved a mystery though he said nothing. He held Kara’s hand and led them forwards in search of more creatures.

Dash was full of surprises wasn’t he? Cerac would have to have him do that again once they were home. It looked like Kara had enjoyed it as well and they had one of the creatures back. “Ye dinnae- oi what are ye doin’? Get off ye wee devils!” See, muffin play was not a good idea- he had icing in his hair and he currently had two of the little Shin-thingies tangled in it tugging and licking. Where had they come from? Probably heard the music too and smelled the sugar.

Cerac shook his head, hopping about from foot to foot and waving his arms though he was afraid to actually reach up in case he harmed something. “I am not a buffet!”

Kara closed her gaping mouth then chuckled as she hurried forward, listening to the giggling creatures. Swiftly she untangled one, then the other and placed them in the cage. “Well, that is one way to do it. You make a good lure-“

“Dinnae think about it,” Cerac grumbled, checking to make sure he had no more sweets in his hair- or anywhere else they might decide to ‘attack’.

Sorn didn’t bother helping. One, Cerac had had too much fun annoying him earlier and two—well it was damn hilarious. He stood back watching the creatures tangled in Cerac’s hair and the chaos of trying to get them out. He was laughing heartily too. Once the creatures where in the cage, he started mocking Cerac’s get-out-of-my-hair-dance. “Dinnae think I look so good wif creatures in me pretty ‘air,” Sorn said in a deliberately terrible impersonation. He couldn’t stop laughing.

Okay, Dash was laughing a little too as Kara plucked an icing-covered creature from Cerac’s hair. Not as heartily as Sorn was, but then again the drow needed it—he’d been on edge all day and it was good to see it. “They just have good taste,” Dash replied with a wink, “and hey now we have three creatures.” He poked Kara quietly and pointed to the tree a few yards away. “Think you can catch that one?” He knew Kara had to have as good as vision as he did.

It was not all that funny. Cerac tried to glare and pout at the same time. “Bastards,” he muttered with no real heat. At least it looked like things were not as tense, he supposed he could put up with being given a tongue bath by creatures.

Kara was busy looking into the tree, a smile lingering on her lips. Amazing what a bit of laughter could do. “I can try,” she murmured, stepping further into the forest and beneath the tree where the little one was hiding. Not successfully as it peaked between some leaves then gave a high pitched giggle. Then Kara began to sing in her own tongue, holding out her hand patiently. The song was soothing, a lovely melody that was a favorite lullaby for the children in her village. It spoke of calm nights, full moons and a ripe harvest with singing trees and dancing mushrooms.

After several minutes the Shinshin fluttered down to her palm, curling up as if to sleep. Carefully she placed with the others, her voice falling silent.

Sorn’s mouth was agape. Her song was soft and peaceful and the langue was nothing like his own. The woman was often catching him off guard. Not that he would ever need her to sing to him—or rather not that he’d ever admit feeling like he could use such a song—but it would be nice to listen to her in private, maybe beside a fireplace with some mulled wine and cheese. Shaking his head out of his thoughts he realised Kara had already caged another one of the creatures. Well he was just competitive enough that he needed to catch a few himself. But how to do it? He couldn’t use lightning that was for sure. Hmm… more dancing lights? Not flashy enough… No, he decided to a tactic he’d used when he helped raid villages. He conjured a fake fire, all the glow and look of fire—but no heat. It took him a few moments to flush two shinsin towards him but as they got near, he scooped them up with a gust of wind and delivered the two right to his hands—where he transferred them to the cage. Now there was only one left.

It was like dinner and a show- only without the dinner if you didn’t count the cupcake. They really did work well together and balance each other out, though hopefully that tigress did not get tetchy if she happened to catch sight of the fake fire. Cerac seemed over his irritation, having taken the time to braid his hair quickly while Kara and Sorn worked. It just left one creature to go.

Clapping his hands he rubbed them together. “Here ye wee creature, we nae harm ye… come on out,” he called, creeping with great exaggeration toward a clump of bushes where he thought he saw movement. Suddenly he pounced, thrusting his hands into the branches and leaves. “Gotcha!”

Or not- the Shinshin bursting from the bushes and darted around Cerac’s head. It bounced off the top of it and zipped toward Sorn, suddenly diving down and flying right between his legs- a bit too close for comfort. “Ye havin’ a ball yet?” Cerac called, clutching his belly at the look on Sorn’s face. It didn’t last as he hastily ducked as the beastie it shot back toward him and he ended up stumbling back into the bush. “Ow- a stick bit me butt! Dash stop laughing an’ get the bugger!” Shouldn’t be hard it was headed right for his head.

Sorn was surprised at something flew right between his legs, narrowly missing his favourite part of anatomy. Luckily, it missed him or he might not have let it live. Actually, he was laughing again when Cerac said a stick bit his ass. Dash was laughing too.

“What’s the problem, Cerac, didn’t you want me to bite your ass the other night?” He asked with a sparkle of laughter. Then the creature headed for his head… Dash’s eyes went red as he stared at the creature. His vampire powers flared through his body and the Shinshin stood swaying in a stupor. He picked the creature up and set it in the cage. Then crossed over to his lover and rubbed the sore spot on Cerac’s ass.

“Hey,” Sorn called with no sound of annoyance, “We can all admire Cerac’s pert ass after we deliver these things and get checked in the hotel. Come.” He had already taken Kara’s hand and grabbed the cage in the other one.

cnt

Elethia

After everyone had given the Shishin their gifts, they wait to see if it's acceptable. Judging from the laughter and the wild dancing along with the engorging ones face with a multitude of cupcakes, it looks like everything went well. Too well in fact. Elethia not realizing this yet though, claps her hands together gleefully as she watches the Shishin express their enjoyment of the cupcakes. She notices soon that their dances became more erratic then she frowns as they each take off in random directions. Uh oh, this doesn't bode well for us.. thinks Elethia

Before she can voice her thoughts to her companion Aodh, a loud ominous voice booms out behind her. "GET THEM BACK!" the voice growls out. Mr. Scoots makes a squeaking noise and hides behind Elethia. Startled she turns around and sees the massive tigress glaring at all of them. See I knew it! Elethia thinks gloomily Blasted hyperactive fur creatures!

The tigress informs them that they must set out to round up all of the errant Shishin. Then once that's done they have to answer the trees to proceed down the path. Elethia glances at Aodh and sighs and without having to say anything, the two of them set off in different directions to round up the sugar buzzing Shishin.

Elethia walks along with Mr. Scoots in tow fussing internally the whole time of the unfairness of it all. To herself of course. Darned if she's going to voice her opinions out loud not knowing the hearing range of that big cat! Well hopefully they'll come off of their sugar high soon and just fall asleep somewhere. At least it will be easier to round them up then. thinks Elethia hopefully. She spots some ivy on the side of the trail and stoops to gather it up in case she needs it to bind up the little boogers. As she begins to straighten she hears a giggle and when she turns to look a red blur streaks past her. "Hey get back here!" Elethia hollers out as she chases after the little cretin. Mr. Scoots stays by one of the nearby trees and watches the scene play out in mild horror. He knows Elethias level of clumsiness and it's only a matter of time before she trips over something. As luck would have it though Elethia and the red clothed Shishin trip over the same branch and Elethia, used to that sort of thing, recovers quickly and grabs the little one before he can take off again. Returning towards Mr. Scoots she brushes the dirt off of her clothes. She ties a strand of ivy around his wrist and tells Mr. Scoots to stay put and as she finds them she'll bring them to him so he can keep an eye on them.

Elethia continues through the woods alone, holding out hope that she won't have to go too far. It's not good to be out here alone, but I don't have much choice. Thankfully Mr. Scoots is close to where the tigress is so he shouldn't come to any trouble. Elethia thinks as she continues to glance warily around. As she rounds the next bend she hears a cry ring out. Running towards it she sees an orange clothed Shishin cornered by a large snake. Thinking fast she grabs a large rock, charges it briefly with some of her power, and hurls it directly at the snake. It hits the snake in the back of the head and it goes down for the count. The little Shishin is in tears and happy to have been rescued. Elethia wipes away her tears, picks her up, and carries her back to where Mr. Scoots is. Thankfully he is still there with the previous Shishin now sitting next to him. Raising an eyebrow at that she realizes that they must all be coming off of their sugar highs and getting sleepy. Worried now for the other few remaining she leaves the orange one in Mr. Scoots care and heads off in the direction of the rocky area.

Continuing along the rugged terrain, Elethia stops to take a break. She sees vast ravines and caves all around and notes the presence of strange beasts nearby. Hastening her step she stops dumbfounded. Sprawled out sleeping is a yellow clothed Shishin on one of the nearby rocks. Moving quickly to catch him before he wakes up, Elethia grabs him and before he can react she tosses him up over her shoulder and heads back. Thankfully she doesn't have too far to go though because the squirming bundle was beginning to wear her down. She passes him over to Mr. Scoots and heads back towards the rocky area in case any other Shishin remain.

Peeking in to one of the nearby caves, Elethia pauses to grab a wooden stick and with her flint from her pack proceeds to make herself a useful torch. Hoping there's no bats or big monsters in there she heads in. Marveling at the amount of moss that has overtaken the walls of the cave Elethia pauses to stare at the beauty of it all. However she notices that it's a bit too quiet in the cave. One usually hears the scuttling of bugs or the passage of wind in a cave, but it's as silent as a tomb. Figures I would pick one of the creepiest places to look. grumbles Elethia to herself. Certain that there couldn't possibly be any Shishin here, she starts to turn around. Before she can go another step though she hears an ominous cracking sound and then the ground gives way. With a shriek, Elethia plunges further into the darkness. When she comes to she feels a soft paw on her forehead. Opening her eyes she stares right into the eyes of a blue clothed Shishin. Before she can let out a loud cheer, he puts his paw over her mouth. Frowning at him he points into a far corner and she spots a massive spider in a web eyeing them up like it was preparing for a great buffet. She realizes that the Shishin must have wandered into the cave and either fell in or ended up in the same room. Eyeing him up though she doesn't see any obvious physical damage. I guess the poor thing must have raced into this room and was cornered off by this spider. Then I must have fallen in as it was planning on attacking him and made it think it was going to have a two for one special. Elethia groans out internally. Grabbing the Shishins paw she yells out "Not today buddy!" and lets out a pulse of energy from her other hand that skirts through the web and stuns it. Before it can recover she races off with the Shishin in tow looking for the exit. Seeing light she heads towards it and makes her way out of the creepy cave. She feels herself tiring out after using the energy that she did today, but like a mule (as stubborn as one her folks would say) she heads back to where Mr. Scoots is.

The other Shishin and Mr. Scoots are worried about how tired she appears, but she brushes their concerns away with a smile. "Ah it's nothing that a hot bath, good food, and some rest won't cure." Elethia chuckles out. "Lets head back now to the tigress and await Aodhs arrival. I haven't noticed any other Shishin so hopefully he's able to round up the rest of them. Then once we're back together hopefully she'll be pleased and we can let the trees know our answer and proceed on our way once more."

Aodh

He thought all went well. The Shishin were happy and their group finally could make some progress, no? However there was someone who apparently thought differently. Despite being used to all sorts of unfriendly and downright scary beings from earlier adventures, Aodh couldn't help but jump at the unexpected growl. A white tigress... and a big one at that. Not exactly a foe he'd love to face, even with Junu (whom he admired greatly) at his side. Aodh gave the tigress a small bow and did his best to don his finest charming expression. "Fear not, oh great beast, we shall amend our mistake and bring you the Shishin unharmed." Well hopefully they did or they'd be tiger meal. He conferred with his companions about who should go after which Shishin and then left. Green, Indigo and Violet ... Well apart from the first one, they should be easy to spot once he had managed to find them. Slíocach tried to help his master and buzzed far above Aodh's head trying to find their targets from a birds view. Still, it was not until the bard remembered a folk tale he had once heard that they made progress.

By now dirt and leaves clung to Aodh and he yearned for nothing more than a hot bath to cleanse himself. In order to get that though, he had to find the meddlesome critters first. He pulled out his flute and began to play. What had worked on rats and children surely would work on Shishin as well, wouldn't it? His sprite flew closer to him so to warn him of any danger he might miss due to his preoccupation with the music.

The bard walked and walked and had to go slower as most of his air was reserved for the flute now. With difficulties he climbed over broken branches and stones, not daring to let the music end. After he got a nasty cut in his left small toe this way, Aodh finally proved successful as he lured the green Shishin out a small bed of moss, where the creature had slept after its merriment had tired it out. The three of them continued the search with the Shishin now hopping behind the bard, in tune with his melody.

The violet Shishin however had to be nudged by Slíocach to follow the music as it currently was singing along with some birds, oblivious to any other sound.Once the dark sprite had chased the birds away however, the Shishin follow its green cousin.

Lastly there was the indigo Shishin yet to find. Aodh felt his arms tremble and he had to struggle to keep all the notes clear or the spell he wove with his flute would be broken any instant. His magic was not meant to work that long, let along during a chase. Compelling people was always easier if they remained in a room or even better all in one place. Still he went on, his companions counted on him!

However if not for the other two Shishin, he would never have found the last one, hiding in a small forest pond. The cheering and dancing lured the Shishin forward, so that the bard could finally return back to the tigress. Aodh barely managed to keep playing, but he delivered the Shishin to the tigress. "Here you are, magnificent." His usual warm voice was now close to a croaking whisper, to much of his strength had been put into his flute play. He nodded thankfully towards Elethia and Lizzy upon seeing that all Shishin had been found and then went to the trees, whispering to each what his group had thought was the best answer and hoped not to fall to the ground due to exhaustion, that wouldn't become a bard at all.

reaver @ greenrowan

~

Esme took a look around her as she saw the Shishins dance off into the distance. Bending down to talk to Nighteyes she whispered “Now if only I had the energy of those little guys” of course all Nighteyes did was a hmmph in her direction. Her cat was never one to make fuss of her, but even when he was like this she still loved him.

As her team mates chased off after the Shishins, she decided to conserve what energy she had to read the placards that she noticed were hanging down from each tree, as she walked around she got a notepad out and decided to write them all down for easier reading.

Kenny went off to look at the placards first as well, knowing he could catch the little red pandas just as well if he waited for them to run their energy down. Glancing at the puzzles on the trees, he offered his opinion on the bear’s note. “It’s similar to the way Blanco talks all the time” he chuckled.

Esme turns to Kenny and says "ahh that makes sense" as she noted down the words, Esme laughs and said nighteyes might talk that way if he spoke, She often wondered how much her companion understood, he seemed so attuned to her and her moods, "One day I will have to see if there is some sort of spell that might be available to understand him, even if he is a grumpy sourpuss at times", still smiling she says best to get on with the catching of those critters as there really is no time for idle daydreaming as the Shishins and puzzles won't catch and solve themselves, as much to herself then anyone else.

Ilaera saw how the Shishins danced away. She was smiling because of all the energy they seemed to have, but then there was that greyish-white tigress who told them they had to get them back before they would hurt themselves. Ilaera was frustrated because of that, the Shishin knew the area much better and in her opinion they would certainly be able to look out for themselves. But those pesky little things had been so cute that she had no choice, she had to go after them and make sure they would be safe, even if that meant that their own mission had to wait for a bit.

She and her friends looked at each other and they all knew there was no need to discuss any plans at the moment. They would just try catching them on their own and if that wouldn’t work, they would come together and think up a plan then.

She noticed how Sashi was grabbing for her sword already. "Sashi!" she shouted. "Put that away, we don't want to scare them away even farther, right?"

Sashi grinned as her hand fell on the handle of her trusted sword, then she heard Ilaera yell out at her to not scare them. She shakes her head and sighs replying back as her hand drops to her side "No I guess not..." sounding a bit sad but seeming to brush it off quite quickly.

"Best be careful wif' sharp things love." Jett said as he licked his lips, staring at the shiny object as it was hidden away once more. "I do trust ya wif' em, but gettin that whole...battle mode or whatever ya wana call it...things can get out'a hand." He walked over to her and patted the girls shoulder, obviously amused but slightly wary as well.

Sashi grins at Jett as he steps to her and pats her shoulder, with a twinkle in her eyes the sarcasm rolling from her tongue as her reply "No need for me to fear the sharpness of the blade."

Sliding her hand around to Jett's shoulder the warrior gives a small squeeze and removes her hand from him and then poke's him in the rear with a small dagger she keeps hidden on her always. A wicked giggle escapes her lips as she winks at Jett and his sass. “Never would I hurt you, we are like family on these adventures!”

The warrior then mumbles about not a single fight in what feels like forever, walking away while running her hand over the handle gripping it with a squeeze the girl whispers softly to her sword "hopefully we will get to play together again soon.

"Now off to find and capture me a Shishin, unharmed of course." She disappears after one of them little buggers on a sugar high, Lorne following behind the girl as she wiggles her fingers at her side.

As much as he wanted to think about the puzzles, he agreed with Esme that it was time to go in search of the furballs. Waving to the others Kenny called to his miniature dragon and headed off in the direction he last saw a couple of the Shishin dancing away.

"As much fun as this all is," Jettison said with a wave of his hand, signalling to the current chatter. "I best be off ta' catch th' little buggers as well." He slung his bag over his shoulder and turned in a seemingly random direction, though he knew exactly where he was headed.

Potch leapt from his spot on Jetts shoulder and took off ahead of him, squawking happily at the idea of his own little hunt. Sure he liked furry critters as much as anyone, but chasing them down was even more fun.

Esme read the text on the first card again. She made notes about the card she was currently looking at, but also wrote down everything that came to her mind relating to the others, so not to forget.

She wasn’t sure what to think of it, but hopefully noting everything would help her in getting the right answers. She made her way across all of the trees, checking to be sure she didn’t miss even a single word. After that she sat down, trying to gather her thoughts. She read the notes she made and started to think about possible answers. As much as she was able to focus with distractions around, the sound of what was likely Potch and possibly Sashi yelling in the distance was more challenging to ignore than expected.

Esme could see how the others were trying to walk or run, chasing after those little creatures. She was jealous of her friends for being able to go on a chase. The gift she had made had cost her so much energy that she was stuck at the puzzles for now. She sighed and turned her head back at the notebook she had used to write things down.

At least she was pretty good at them, maybe even more than she thought she would be. A few were looking more of a task though. But she knew her friends could help with those when they returned.

Esme read the five questions over and over again. She was feeling slightly light headed. Because she couldn’t think as clear as she wanted, she started to look around the area. In wonderment she glaced across as she saw Ilaera working on catching one of the little creatures.

"Well, that’s good," she said to Nighteyes. "Hopefully that means we will have some of them down soon."

~

Coming upon a dark opening in the earth, he recalled the tigress’ dire warning of dangerous caves, and knelt to peer cautiously inside. A faint whiff of muffins lingered at the tunnel entrance, so he quickly lowered himself into what proved to be a dark stony passage. Pulling two small flasks from his deep shoulder bag he carefully poured a drop from each into a tiny crystal vial, which began to glow with a bright blue light as the two liquids mixed.

Heading down the passage with Blanco bounding alongside him, Kenny paused to listen at each intersecting opening. When his sharp, half elven ears detected no unusual sounds, he marked the tunnel with chalk to avoid getting lost on the way out, and rapidly moved on. When the faint sound of song finally drifted up from a passage, Kenny sighed in frustration. The narrow opening was barely wide enough to squeeze through. Leaving his wide peasant hat and staff in the main passage, he edged sideways into the fissure in the cave wall, following the sound of Shishin song deep into the earth.

The crack grew larger as Kenny moved down it, and soon the ceiling was lost in blackness, that even his chemical light could not penetrate. The singing grew louder, but the passage seemed to come to an end, with a wall of rock that rose to disappear into the darkness above. Kenny stopped, dismayed, and then nearly fell down as a pair of bright eyes appeared from around an unseen corner, startling Blanco into leaping for his companion’s arms.

“Come see! Come see!” The Shishin exclaimed, bouncing excitedly. An ominous rustling from above answered its outburst, but the fuzzy little imp was already disappearing around what turned out to be a massive stalagmite in the passage.

“Put out your light and come seeee” the little creature’s voice floated back.

Gaining the Shishin’s trust was critical to getting it back to the surface, so Kenny followed, tucking the glowing vial into the folds of his tattered looking Sinhae robes. The massive cavern he entered was far from dark, however. Millions of eerily glowing crystal formations lined the walls, sparkling in myriad shades of yellow and green.

“Sooo pretty” the Shishin sighed happily as it tugged at a phosphorescent crystal. The shining rock stubbornly refused to budge from the wall, giving Kenny an idea. Pulling a sturdy vial of an acrid smelling powder from his pouch, he poured some onto the rock holding several protruding crystals to the wall. Motioning Blanco to keep the curious Shishin back, he held his breath and carefully sprinkled some vinegar onto the powder.

Violently bubbling and smoking, the rock began to dissolve, releasing the crystals into Kenny’s gloved hands. Pouring some water from his flask to stop the reaction, Kenny finally took a relived breath and handed the glowing crystal cluster to the delighted Shishin. His relief was short lived however, as the rising fumes evoked a terrible screech from a huge dark opening far above.

Not waiting to see what emerged from the darkness, Kenny grabbed the Shishin and put it on Blanco’s back.

“RUN!” he bellowed at the little dragon, and dove after the pair for the narrow cleft they entered by. The very tunnel seemed to tremble as something huge tore at the walls behind them, but all three made their way to the main passage above, shaken but unharmed.

Gathering up his hat and staff, before following the miniature dragon and his giggling burden back to the cave entrance, Kenny smiled at how the Shishin managed to cling to Blanco and it's new treasure at the same time. No worries about it running off again, the thrill of riding a real dragon, albeit a very small one, had the fuzzy little creature enthralled. Blanco was enjoying the attention as well, and obligingly shot occasional jets of flame toward the sky, to the Shishin's squeals of delight.

~

[color=teal]Potch was being quite loud even for his 'lack of level control' as Jetty called it. Though as annoying and ear shattering as it was in such close proximity there was still the fact of it being to help.

Jett followed the hollers and screeches coming from the raven, hopping over a few paw prints in the soft dirt. They were close, that was for sure.

Suddenly a clearing in the trees popped up and he had to dig his heels in to stop in time. Of course it had to be a pond. Just his freaking luck. To reiterate that Potch was hovering above on a branch, laughing in time with Jettisons heavy breathing from the jaunt. "YOU PICK BAD AHAHAHA."

Dropping his things on a mossy rock he didn’t bother looking up or even responding to that. It would be so easy to blame the bird for this later, after all he was the one who lead Jett in this direction. He wondered how the Shishin even made it out there, the small mound of land that couldn’t even be called an island with its minuscule size didn’t have rocks to hop on or even trees to allow easy passage.

Only the single maple in the center of it where a tail happily swishes from inside the beautiful early bloom of leaves.

Suddenly he was knocked from his thoughts when a loud -snap- shook both the tree Potch was sitting in and his nerves. It took a moment to calm his heart rate after the scare, hand firm against his chest as he looked wide eyed at his companion who was currently hanging off a good sized vine by one foot and wings flapping desperately.

"Well that explains that ey..?" He muttered, seeing the other end of the vine falling to hit the rocky ground of the 'island' and sinking in to the water. Jett was amazed an animal larger than his bird could safely climb along it without snapping the fauna in two like Potch just had, but at least it was safe. Albeit still trapped a few yards out and surrounded by pond water. As not excited as he was to find if he had to set foot in the murky pond, it sounded worse to be chastised by the large and already annoyed tiger.

"I aint goin out there." Jettison said with his arms crossed over his chest, pouting like a child. The one thing he couldnt handle was an open body of water. Be it the size of a bath tub or a raging ocean. Sure he didnt mind walking with water up to his ankles or even knees if he had to, but this was way deeper. You could tell just by how dark the center of the pond was that surrounded the tiny bit of land near its center.

"I HAVE WINGS DUMBFACE." Potch said in a loud burst, finally having steadied himself and was perched upright on a branch again.

"Yeah, an ya weigh less than th' things head." The brit ground out, teeth firm beneath his pursed lips. He could tell Potch wanted to help but all Jett could think of was having to wade in to that, and his nerves were obviously taking over.

Shaking his head the bird flew down and sat on Jettisons for a second, clawing at his owners skull to distract him. Oh phobias, he understood as there were some things birds quite disliked as well. But this one was so deep seeded there was no work around for the poor ginger.

He heard the growls of annoyance below and flapped his wings, just having something come to mind. It was a bit ludicrous but may actually work. Now all he had to do wish figure out how to explain it.

Being a bit in a daze of nerves as the water seemed to come nearer and nearer to his being, Jett had taken a seat and stared forward, not realizing that Potch was up to something.

The bird huffed and squawked from time to time as he pulled with all his might on a new and more sturdy looking vine that he found in the mess of leaves and branches. It was still lush and strong, growing from an old and steady tree. So he hoped it would hold strong.

Jettison startled out of his daze once again, but this time not because of noise, he had a long heavy length of vine in his lap and a bird hopping back and forth in front of him.

"TIE LOOP IDIOT." The animal said brazenly.

He rolled his eyes and did just that, making a few tight knots. It didnt need any explaining to see what Potch was planning, and it was actually quite smart. Even with that pea brain of his the avian could come up with a good idea from time to time.

Just as quickly as his human had tied the end of the natural rope, Potch grabbed it and flew off across the water, not caring if it drug along the top. Once he was there it would be taut enough to hold the weight of a Shishin.

Just then, Potch had secured the loop over the strongest part of the lone maple tree and made a show of flapping his wings. As if to say 'ok get to it' without words. He didnt want to scare the sugar high Shishin in to the water.

Jettison smiled and stayed seated, grabbing his squeezebox yet again. Though he may not have to sing for this little one, he hoped a tune may draw it out. After all the red panda did seem fond of music.

The man hummed quietly to himself, playing out just the song his bird had been hoping for earlier. It was quite funny how perfect it fit, even without accompanying words being said.

From across the water he heard Potch screech in a happy way, as if he hadnt expected Jett to ever actually play the so called 'ant music'. It seemed to please the little furball as well, because the Shishin scurried across the vine while still dancing in its own little way. "Song sing song!" It chirped, taking a leap and falling safely right beside Jett.

"Ya lil' sillypants." Jettison purred as the Shishin climbed in to his lap and swayed as he finished the song. It seemed he didnt have to worry about catching and ho

[spoiler=A rainbow of challenges] Valera appeared as if she was deep in thought, her stare was off in the distance. Could she be seriously planning how to catch the Shishin? Or maybe, she was thinking of how to deal with this Tigress and her tree puzzles?

'HOW COULD THIS BE?!?' The pirate thought to herself. Valera came to a sudden but yet great realization; Akalia was still riding on Feng's back with her. The viera and the elf ranger didn't have what one might call a very "friendly" relationship. This was the first time the pirate ever really tolerated her. No! Time to pretend it never happened!

"OI! Verr..." Val turned purposely with her arms wide to call Verrek over and knocked Akalia along with her adorable pygmy goat Gunther off of Feng's back. "Oh right, I forgot ye were there..." she shrugged with a bit of an evil smirk. "Verrek! Myra! Matthew! OI! Guys! Git yer arses over here for a minute!" As if nothing had happened, the pirate called the rest of the Chimeriad to hurry up and gather.

Back to reality and ignoring the fact she just shoved Akalia off of Feng's back, it was time to go over their plan AND FAST. With every moment that passed, the Shishin got further and further away.

"7 Shishin n' there's 7 of us! EACH OF US go git one o'them an regroup back here with the troublesome tree trials! I'll git red! Matthew go git orange! Myra I be givin' you yellow! Lia, blue! Verrek git going with green! Indigo Lilith! Krios that means ye be gettin' violet t'deal with!"

Before any of the team members could say much to their captain, she pulled at Feng's neck to turn him and kicked her heels in to get him running. "Let's go!" Holding on tight to her stone companion, Valera was off like a shot after the red shishin with her ripped up black cape and long pony tail dragging in the wind behind them.

Akalia happily sat atop Feng with Gunther in her arms marvelling at the beautiful white tigress that joined them. The elf was about to speak when Valera called out to Verrek. Akalia looked over to the Shade just as Val's hand connected with her face. It had just enough force to unsteady the elf who toppled off of Feng, but not enough to leave lasting damage.

Disgruntled and securely on the ground, Akalia let Gunther roam free and nibble on the grass while she looked up at the rabbit. Val smirked at Akalia in a way that disturbed the elf before calling the rest of the group over to figure out the task at hand.

Capturing the Shishin unharmed was the number one priority and Akalia was tasked with bringing back the blue one. Looking across the meadow the elf located her target as it flitted away, muffin in hand. Rising to her feet, Akalia dashed across the clearing with Gunther in tow.

Apparently Myra sighed, Shishins are a lot of work……. The little magical creatures seemed to be quite the characters. Slowly, so to not terrify the little one, the alchemist and Shimmershadow followed the yellow clothed Shishin which was their mission. Over and above, they both know that after a sugar-high comes always a sugar-low which would mean fatigue and slowness for the Shishin. Yet you never know, a falling blood sugar could also mean blurry vision, shaking, troubles with thinking clearly and even loss of consciousness, so they had to find the sprite in time!

Krios laid his staff down to the feet of the white tigress, he felt it would be safe with her, and he wouldn't need a wand for conjuring in this interesting land full of strange magic flow. With his newly found inner Chi, he would find the violet Shishin which was his assignment in a blink. Yes, he as the great mage he was and now a Jincar, too, he would be the first to return with his charge safe and sound! At a smart pace, he set out to fulfill his task, the demons fluttering around him, their eyes gleaming in the dark.

Verrek simply chuckled at Valera's antics as the Viera knocked Akalia off Feng. But as the elf chased after the blue Shishin all mirth ended as the Shade realized that he still hadn't given the elf her new bow. He sighed wearilly, it looked like he would be carrying two bows for a little while longer...

Verrek looked across the meadow. He had seen the green Shishin head towards a small mountainous forest grove. Sensing his intentions, SilentOne turned in the air and soared over the deciduous forest just as the Shade started moving that way.

Verrek heard a giggle at the same moment SilentOne saw leaves rustle, without hesitation the Shade took off running towards the disturbance.

“Pleh! UGH!” Valera spat her hair out of her mouth as it blew around from the speed Feng was chasing after the red Shishin.

The pair bolted off immediately in order to close the gap between them and their target as fast as possible. This chase led them around a rice paddy and into a grove of red silk cotton trees.

The bright red petals that floated softly on the breeze from the trees ended up making this chase MUCH harder than anticipated. “Of all the places ou’er Shishin could have ran off to, the blighter picks the only possible place in Sinhae where it can hide!!” Valera groaned from the thought of trying to find her Shishin hidden amongst the red blossoms.

Thankfully for the time being the red creature had been easy to keep up with, this was all thanks to the muffin it was trying to carry along. “We need tah catch it before it decides that gobblin’ up that muffin be a good idea! Feng! Faster!” The pirate kicked in her heels hoping that her giant stone companion would pick up the pace as they weaved between trees.

Unfortunately Feng didn’t appreciate his master’s gesture AT ALL. Digging his front claws into the ground, the hulking beast came to an instant halt. Because Valera wasn’t tied down, her body was thrown from the momentum into the branches above.

Curses and angry slurs poured out from Valera as she flailed in anger from Feng’s actions. Petals from the blossoms danced around the pissed off viera almost as if they too thought it was funny.

Feng walked up to his master and sat face to face with her as she hung from the tree. With her rage intensifying, the pirate pulled her rapier from its sheath on her belt and started swinging at her companion.

“YE ****** TWAT! WHY DID YE DO THAT **** ******* SODDIN **** PIECE O’ **** FOR?!?!?” The pirate roared. Suddenly Valera paused when she took notice that the red Shishin sat down directly beside Feng to watch the scene. It ate away at its muffin almost like an onlooker with a bag of popcorn.

Feng turned his attention as to what caught Val’s attention and noticed the Shishin pleasantly enjoying the scene, giggling at the pirate writhing in anger.

Valera’s eyes started to glow with seething hatred as she pointed her sword at the Shishin. “Feng. If ye don’t catch that Shishin-whatevermabob right this instant… You. WILL. Suffer my wrath!” For the first time since coming back to life after thousands of years being frozen as a statue, Feng was actually somewhat scared of Valera. The beast instantly slammed his front paw into the base of the tree Val was stuck in, causing the pirate to dislodge from the branches and fall atop the Shishin.

Quickly holding the Shishin by the scruff of its neck while she got back on her feet, Valera’s anger was far from subsided. Luckily for the Shishin, it was all directed at Feng so the creature just hung patiently while its captors vented and sorted out their issues.

After a heated argument between the pirate and stone giant, Valera lifted the Shishin and looked it in the eyes. “Don’t ye be gittin’ any ideas. We still have them puzzles to solve. Ye have two options: option one, ye quietly sit there on Feng’s back and finish yer muffin or option two, I tie ye up and use ye like a handbag?” With a wicked grin Valera continued, “and don’t go thinkin’ of runnin’ off again. Next time, Feng or I won’t be as gentle…”

It didn’t take long for Val to return to the trees with the puzzles. It would seem as if they were the first to return. One headache lead to another, now Valera had the joy of trying to sort out the cursed puzzles. Sighing dejectedly, the viera pulled out her favourite flask of rum to help her deal with the puzzles. She reached her arm out to her Shishin, “want some? It’s going to be a while…”

Tasked with finding the Blue Shishin, Akalia followed it through the forest to a nearby cave. It’s floor damp from the humid air and small puddles filled the various holes that had formed through the passage of time. Avoiding the puddles, she silently stalked her prey, yet the Shishin always ran away just when Akalia thought she had caught up. The frustrated elf looked down to Gunther who was happily trotting along and splashing in the puddles. When he jumped into one that was slightly larger than expected, he would let out a cry that echoed through the darkness.

Six times this happened. Six times had she stealthily approached Blue. Six times had Gunther foiled her attempt. With a large internal sigh, she grabbed Gunther and untied her bundle of clothes from around him. Weaving them together Akalia created a makeshift leash that she tied around the goat's neck and attached to nearby stalagmite. The happy elf pulled on her old clothes a few times making sure that they were secure, then bent down to meet Gunther face-to-face and give him a pat on the head.

“Stay here. I will right back.”

Akalia got up to leave in the direction of Blue and turned back to look back at Gunther after he cried in protest.

“And don’t eat my clothes, you stupid goat!”

Satisfied with this work-around, Akalia continued her trek down the narrow cave path to search for Blue. At the end of the path, the elf was met with a crossroad. She had three paths to choose from. Straining her eyes to look through the darkness yielded no results, so she closed her eyes and listened. Trying to find Blue was really no different than hunting for dinner, other than the fact that she couldn’t hurt the little creature.

The elf listened through the darkness around her. Back from where she came Gunther was crying and hopping around, to her left she could hear a family of moles expanding their underground home, straight ahead a small waterfall cut through the rocks flowing towards an underground lake to her right. Concentrating and listening past them, Akalia finally heard the giggling of Blue. Heading down the right hand path, Akalia emerged at the underground lake. Ahead of her the Blue Shishin happily ate it’s muffin on a narrow bridge above the lake that connected up to another passage.

That’s not good. I can be as quiet as I want, but the bridge… I’ll definitely fall.

Akalia thought back to the times that she had fallen from trees due to her horrific balance on anything but a flat surface. She took a quick look around for any type of cave plant that she could as a rope but to no avail. Her only choice was to try and lure the Shishin towards her. Or scare it.

Pulling her wooden bow from her back, Akalia approached the mouth of the small bridge while keeping an eye on Blue and avoiding the surrounding puddles and rocks. Once at the mouth, the elf bent to one knee and pulled a feathered arrow from her quiver. Silently notching the arrow Akalia took aim of a stalactite at the entrance of the opposite passage. She steadied herself for a few moments and studied the movement of the Shishin as it giggled and ate it’s muffin, completely unaware of the elf’s plan. Certain that she had a path that would avoid hitting Blue, Akalia loosed the arrow. No sooner had she loosed, the elf rose to her feet and began to silently, and unsteadily, run to the middle of the bridge.

The metal head of the arrow hit it’s mark and let out an echo loud enough to force the Shishin towards her. The moment Blue turned around and saw the elf staggering towards it, the small creature attempted to fly from the bridge. Whether through luck or an unexpected anticipation of the Shishin’s movement, Akalia fell in the same direction of Blue. With hands out-reached, Akalia grabbed the creature.

Twisting herself and keeping her hands stretched out above her, the elf fell backwards into the deceptively shallow body of water. Sitting up and shaking the water from her hair the elf beamed at the dry Shishin.

“Gotcha!”

Trying to hold the struggling Blue, Akalia stood and walked to water’s edge where Gunther waited for her. Her old green and pink clothing chewed through, dirty and wet from being dragged across the cavern floor.

Angrily, the elf shifted the tiring Blue under one arm and picked up Gunther with the other.

“I’ll deal with you later, you dumb goat.”

The sopping wet elf made her way back out of the cave system and towards the grove of trees on the other side of the meadow, curious to see if anyone else had made it back.

Once she arrived at the grove, Akalia placed the happily sleeping Shishin in front of the tigress. Taking a few steps backwards before turning around and facing the grove of trees, the elf watched in amusement as the Captain was staggering around and talking to the red Shishin. Finally, Akalia placed Gunther on the ground and untied what was left of her clothes from him. He looked at his master blankly, and opened his mouth to speak.

“Don't you dare apologize.”

The duo made their way over to Val and the entwined trees. Akalia stopped to read the one about the Bear Goddess while the Captain sat in front of another, drinking with her Shishin. She had just begun to translate it when the elf's thoughts were interrupted by Verrek who just arrived. With him was the promise of a new bow that was now securely placed in her hand.

Verrek dove headlong into the forest of trees that clung to the side of the tumbling mountain.

He had heard something but where- "In the trees." SilentOne's voice alerted him through their mental link. Verrek stopped and looked up and saw movement in the leaves of the canopy. All he saw was green, he would have to come at this from another angle if he wanted to find the green Shishin amidst the foliage. The Shade readied himself then leapt twelve feet straight into the air and landed amongst the lower tree branches.

"Aieee!" Screamed the ShiShin, clutching at the tree trunk to keep from falling as the branches bobbed and shook, the muffins it had been munching tumbled away and burst against the stony forest floor.

It was the green Shishin, and it didn't look to pleased to see Verrek.

"Heyhey, what's the matter, aren't we friends?" Verrek said soothingly, kneeling on the largest branch and offering a helping hand to the Shishin who was on a branch just above the Shade.

"N-no! I like the Jincar and the rest, but not you! You wear the Hakama but you are no Warangi you are no samurai, you probably don't even know the seven principles of the Bushido!"

And with that the tiny creature pushed away from the tree and ran down the branch, it's stout little arms outstretched for balance as it hopped across to the next tree and continued on.

"Oh no," Verrek groaned, the little Shishin was still shaking from its overdose of sugary confection and would likely fall and injure itself. But how could he convince it he was a friend?

Seven principals of the Bushido? Verrek had to think back on that one, way back, to his time in the realm of souls drinking from pools of shed memories...

"Bushido, the way of the warrior. First principal, Rectitude. Having correct judgement or knowing the correct procedure for the resolution of justice. But I'm no warrior..."

Verrek looked off where the jittery little Shishun wobbled and stumbled running across tree branches high above the rocky mountain forest floor.

"I don't need to be a warrior to see the value of their principals, I've got to change my attitude, not what I am."

And with that he dropped down to the forest floor and followed the Shishun from the ground.

"I guess this could be Courage, the second principal. A virt

[spoiler=

The travelers all began to shout directions and the noise level in the peaceful glen grew, adding to the chaos of the Shishin running around. Abigail turned when she heard Yasha’s voice.

“We will all split up and capture one Shishin each,” Yasha yelled loudly over the cacophony of voices in the glen. “There are eight of us though," she said a little softer. "I will pair off with someone,” Yasha said and looked around the group for someone who wanted some help in retrieving the Shishin. Yasha caught the attention of Alixia, “Would you partner with me?” Alixia smiled and nodded.

Yasha didn’t even hesitate before assigning everyone a robe color to look for when finding their Shishin. Abigail watched as Yasha pointed to everyone in the group and gave them their color.

“Starboard, you find orange. Levity, yours is indigo. Angelica, please fetch green. Kalyna, yours is yellow. Shalinda, please get red. And Abigail, you find violet.” Impressed by Yasha’s ability to delegate and command a group, Abigail smiled when Yasha pointed to her and said violet.

“That leaves us with blue,” Yasha said to Alixia. “Alright, everyone go get your Shishin!” Yasha yelled and took off after the Shishin wearing a blue silk robe with Alixia.

The gentle breeze blew the leaves on the trees until they danced and waved, seeming a lot like the trees were laughing at everyone as they scurried around trying to capture the quick Shishin.

Abigail whispered Rune’s incantation to release him from her locket. ‘Rune, go forth and render aid to those in need,” she asked. Silently, Rune ascended into the air, taking the form of a small black dragon.

Abigail reached down to the earth and scooped up a handful of soil and held it in her palm. With her free hand she twirled three fingers over the soil while uttering, "mimentias zerta vu." From the soil sprang a tiny sand colored fox. "Invenio," she whispered to the tiny fox she'd created. The fox darted forward in a rush of dust and light, leaving a softy yellow trail behind it.

Making sure to carefully avoid the glare of the tigress, Abigail ran after the tiny fox, following its trail. She left the tree filled glen and headed straight for a rocky slope. After arriving at the slope, she surveyed the area to find the best path down without tumbling to the bottom of the rocky hillside. The fox ran strsaight into the clearing and disappeared into the back of the Shishin that it had located.

‘There are many travelers and not so many Shishin, so my help was not required,’ Rune mind spoke to Abigail before he alighted on a nearby tree. He took the form of a small black ferret, stretching his body before sitting back on his hind legs, watching Abigail with interest.

Abigail crouched low and slowly made her way over larger boulders towards the unsuspecting Shishin. When she was only a knives throw away, she stopped and motioned with her hand while whispering, “Umbra grus,” a dark shadow emanated from between Abigail’s palms. When she opened her palms the shadow took form and rushed into the sky revealing a beautiful crane. The light gray crane flew gracefully in the air and as it flew up overhead, the Shishin paused in his foraging to gaze up at Rune. The Shishin assumed that it was a natural gray crane and relaxed again.

When the Shishin's attention was on the crane, Abigail sprung up and leapt off the rock into the air and cast a spell at the same moment. “Torpia!” The Shishin didn’t even have a moment to gather his wits about him before he fell over, a messy pile of violet silk and red fur, sleeping peacefully on the ground.

‘You made quick of that work,’ Rune said to Abigail. ‘It is a shame really, I was hoping for a good chase,’ he said while letting the disappointment change his coloring from black to a soft blue white.

‘Sorry Rune, but I wanted to get him back quickly,’ Abigail apologized. ‘You can stay free and chase lizards if you’d like though,’ Abigail offered Rune.

Rune twisted up into the air and let out a loud screech, as he turned into a black sparrowhawk. ‘Call me when you need me.’ Rune said, his mind voice sounding distant as he flew through the trees, looking for something to chase.

Abigail bent down to pick up the Shishin, “Umph! You’re a lot heavier than you appear little one!” she exclaimed in surprise after bearing his weight in her arms. She carried the Shishin in the violet silk robe back up the rock strewn hillside. Upon reaching the glen she noticed that there were others in her group who had managed to gather their Shishins as well. She brought the Shishin to the tigress, near the bridge, and gently laid him down. “Do not worry,” she said to the tigress, “he is simply sleeping.” The tigress nodded and seemed very pleased.

"Fetch green?!" Angelica repeated Yasha's instructions incredulously. "Do I look like I'm dressed for running around?" She lifted her delicate fabric of her dress to make her point. Nobody from the team was paying her any attention. They had all run off to capture the furry little spirits running amok. The tigress was the only one still present and Angelica wasn't liking the look the feline was giving her. Better to move than to be left alone with a dangerous animal.

"What do they take me for? I charm people for a living, not animals or spirits!" She huffed as gathered her skirts and stomped in the direction the green-robed Shishin had gone. "Why am I expected to capture animals, of all things?" Angelica tried to keep the mischievous Shishin within her sights, refusing to move any faster. Running while dressed the way she was is simply undignified. Next to getting her hands dirty, there was nothing Angelica disliked more than losing face. She had a reputation to keep, after all.

Calling it seemed worth a try. "Hey! Come back here right now!" The little critter kept running about, evidently still experiencing the sugar high. So how was Angelica supposed to catch it?

"What would Brynna do...?" Angelica muttered to herself, trying to remember what her bodyguard would do under these circumstances. When they occasionally traveled through the wilderness, Brynna would trap wild game for meals. Oftentimes, the traps she set would either kill or maim the creatures.

"No, no! That won't do." The last thing Angelica wanted was to hurt the Shishin and be held accountable by a fierce tigress. "Think... what do I have that I can use..." She had a muffin (hurriedly taken right before she chased after the Shishin), the dress and ornaments she wore, the few necessities on her person...

"What about a muffin on a stick...?" Angelica wondered for a moment before dismissing the idea. Too many things could go wrong... But wait. Patting her cloth belt, she smiled and pulled out a little glass bottle filled with light gold powder. Pouring just a pinch into the palm of her hand, Angelica dipped the top of the muffin and coated it evenly. Now the muffin looked delicious and sparkly. There... now to get its attention.

"Hey you!" Angelica called out to the furry creature, waving her arms to try to catch his attention. Thankfully he seemed to have heard her this time, as his head turned towards the sound of her voice. "I've got one final gift! Just for you! But you must keep it a secret!"

The Shishin slowed down a little, his ears perking up. "Secret gift? For me?" He seemed delighted at the thought.

Angelica smiled inwardly as she gestured for him to come closer. "Yes! In fact, I have it with me right now - look!" She produced the muffin with a magician's flourish.

The creature looked disappointed. "It's just another muffin. I've already had lots of muffins."

Angelica tsked and shook her head. "Oh no... this one is special, I promise you. Take a closer look." She offered the treat to the curious Shishin.

It's eyes widened. "It's a magic muffin?"

Angelica nodded. "Not just any magic muffin though. It grants a single wish to whoever eats it!"

"And it's for me?"

"Just for you." Angelica placed the muffin into the eager hands of the Shishin. "But I only have the one though! So you must keep this a secret from the others, alright?"

The creature nodded, its eyes entranced by the sparkly muffin. "So I eat it? And it will grant me any wish?"

"That's right. It grants only one wish though, so you must make it count. Just one bite should do it."

Before she had even finished her sentence, the little Shishin had already taken several bites out of the muffin, unable to wait any longer. It only took a few seconds before his eyes began to close and he slumped to the ground, fast asleep. It worked! Thank goodness she remembered to bring her trusty sleeping powder.

Angelica allowed herself a moment to relish the feeling of triumph before gently picking up the Shishin. "Huh... heavier than I thought a spirit would be." She began making her way back to the others, wondering how hard it would be to remove spirit fur from her beautiful Sinhaen dress.

Without any doubt, Kalyna nodded firmly to Yasha and accepted the task. The Shishin chase seemed fun, and quite challenging at the same time. The perfect combination for this young adventurous pirate.

“We got this, Spike!”, she said with a smile to her feathery buddy, who was fluttering his wings of excitement for the new adventure. “Arr ya ready?! Let's go!”

Kalyna ran as fast as she could as she set her sight on the yellow robed creature, who was quickly reaching the vast horizon. With her strong and resistant legs, there was nothing that could stop her. Spike took flight and joyfully danced with the breeze as he followed Kalyna's path.

After a long run, the yellow robed Shishin stopped by for a moment and turned aside to the right side of the road. Kalyna followed the magical creature as she crossed through the diverse and strange vegetation that filled the whole forest. The Shishin turned back and looked at the pirate, whose intimidating frown wasn't very pleasant, and sped up even more.

Kalyna felt she was inside an endless labyrinth. There was no defined road, and the blue sky was barely visible for anyone that entered there. She did not fear, and insistently continued with her quest.

After running around through the dim forest, Kalyna, Spike and the yellow robed creature finally arrived at a what it seemed a clearing. She found herself surrounded by a giantic rock wall that overcame the trees' height and almost touched the soft white clouds. The Shishin didn't hesitate and rapidly entered a hidden cave that was behind a tall and plentiful waterfall. Kalyna paused, looked up at the waterfall and, for a moment, her thoughts were taken away by the majestic Sinhaen landscape. She let out a sigh, along with a smile, and decided to move on.

It was cold. Wet. And it's walls were watery. “Come here, you sneaky thing!” she said as she approached to the darkness of the cave. Her words resounded again and again until they were interrupted by a small voice. “You can't catch me!” said the prankish Shishin. “Ha! No?!” replied the pirate. Kalyna continued advancing as the cave's bats touched her long brown hair with their wings. “There's no way out, fluffy thing!”. The smart creature did not reply and remained quiet. Before Kalyna could say anything else, the Shishin conjured a powerful and incandescent light with his little hands that blinded Kalyna's sight for an instant. “ARGH! How DARE you!” she yelled, as a small and naughty laugh echoed in the entire cave. “Okay! Okay.” she continued, now that she's recovered most of her visibility. “We can negotiate.” The Shishin suddenly came out of the darkness as he approached to the girl. “I listen you.” “I have some shiny gold coins, if that's what you'd like?”, she asked. “At all.” replied the creature. “Well, what do you want, then?”, she asked intrigued. “I want to pet your parrot.”. Kalyna's brows twisted as she turned to Spike, who was looking wide eyed at her pirate. “Fine.”, she said. “I'll let you carry Spike until we get to the bridge. Take good care of him, aight?”. The Shishin nodded, and Kalyna softly placed her buddy on its shoulder.

The journey back was was more relaxed, and it didn't seem as long as the first time. The magic creature caressed the parrot's head the whole trip and talked with Kalyna about many things, such as her adventures in Skeylarod, the reason why Shishins love sparkling muffins, the weather, among others.

They finally got to the bridge, where some of her teammates and their Shishins were gathered. Kalyna felt great, and was very proud of finishing her first quest with the Nightowls. “This is just the beginning.”, she whispered as she smiled at Spike and her new magic friend, who returned the smile and did a big thumbs up with his little hand.

"Levity, yours is indigo" Yasha yelled.

Levity looked at Yasha wide eyed. Catch the indigo one? How was she supposed to catch this creature who was running around like a mini whirlwind?

She looked down at Pistol who gave a deep sigh and said "Ugh! Indigo gives me indigestion."

"What? You really are strange my friend. I gather that you're not going to be of any help?" Levity askedn him.

Pistol, looking smug with his nose in the air, sighed again. He was looking at the Shishin running amok and said "Oh I'll help. I'll sit right here and root you on...loudly even. With clapping too if you want?" he smirked.

"No, please! Don't over excite yourself. We wouldn't want you to break a sweat or anything." She said rolling her eyes as she walk over to get her backpack. Grabbing a few items from it she pondered what would work for the last item she needed. "Ah ha" she exclaimed pulling out her favorite push up bra.

She then made her way over to the muiffin pile and grabbed a rather large, appetizing looking muffin. Quickly, she sprinkled a few of her ingredients from her packpack on the top of the muffin and then warming it in her hand she watched as it began to grow. Levity then walked over close to where the indigo colored Shishin was spinning and grinning rather moronically.

As the Shishin spied the large muffin in her hands his tiny little eyes grew larger. He stopped spinning and stared in rapt attention as Levity began to coo "Here ya go little guy. So yummy! Come and get it."

The indigo Shishin could not resist and began to come closer. As he reached out to grab the muffin, Levity, moving quickly, grabbed the bra, which she quickly tossed around the small creature like a lasso. The Shishin, who was suddenly a 36C, looked like a small advertisement for a lingerie store....one of the really, really strange kind.

She could hear Pistol howling with laughter as she scooped up the Shishin, who was still grabbing for the muffin. She happily let him have it and he seemed quite content. He didn't put up a fight at all just smiled and munched away. Cradling the little guy in the crook of her arm, Levity headed back to where the others were gathering by the bridge with the sishin they had rounded up.

She glanced over at Pistol, who was still giggling and smiled as he began to slowly, but loudly clap in a round of applause. Levity laughed loudly at her smart a** feline companion.

Starboard watched the crazy little critters running amuck in horror. How the hell were they supposed to even touch these manic things, much less get them back?

“Just start grabbing them!” She yelled.

“No!” “What if we hurt them?” “I think it wanted to bite me!” “We should use bait!”

Growling her frustration she joined in Yasha’s yell with her own, “QUIET!!”

They came up with a game plan to get one critter each, she was stuck with orange. Not that the colors made a difference that she could see.

She saw the

[spoiler=Organized Chaos and the shishin Bacchanalia ]

The Organized Chaos turn suddenly to face a fierce-looking tigress. “Get them back,” the tiger growled and instantly they realized that she meant the shishin who had taken off in all directions in their muffin-induced rainbow bacchanalia. All Frieda could think of at the moment was the lyrics to a song she had heard once, ‘Pink fluffy unicorns, dancing on rainbows.’ “Oh, great! Now I’m going to have that song in my head all afternoon!” she muttered to no one in particular.

Dace reached up to touch her headdress and winced.  Her outfit was weighing her down, her hair was feeling stiff and heavy and the silk slippers she had worn were soft and beautiful, but not practical for a long journey.  She ground her teeth as an angry cat started yelling at the entire entourage, and slunk away with Frieda and the others to read the tags on the trees.

"Well, HELL if I know!" She pinched the bridge of her nose and gave Frieda a helpless look.  "Freddie, you know I'm not very good at math, or logic, or scrambled word problems.  Dyslexia sucks and it just makes my head throb looking at these!  Please let me just go look for the Shishin, I can get two.“ 

Freida nodded, then turned to the rest of the team, “Look, there are seven of those creatures and five of us.  I think Doom and I can bring back two.”  Frieda adjusted her skirts and the weapons of her disguise, “The rest of you take at least one and I think we can get them returned within a few moments.”  She looked at Aicha and spoke with some measured authority, “Aicha, you did good with the gift, but I saw that disingenuous plastered-on smile and the look of disgust on your face afterword…no blasting.  Promise me.”

Aicha sighed, but showed no other outward expression of her exasperation, why was it that these obscene tasks kept coming, one after another, after another? As if the gift giving part hadn't been bad enough, now she had to help catch these cursed things who were out of control and running around on a sugar high. The Jincar sighed again, heavily this time, no doubt any offensive spells would be out of the question. It would only serve to send the tigress into a rage and prompt her to attack. While the tigress wouldn't likely be able to hurt her much, if at all, her other 'companions' wouldn't be so lucky. And while it would be hilarious to see them try to reason with a angry tigress, the end result would mean some of them would be sidelined, thus more work for her. So no, definitely no offensive spells. She looked down her nose at Frieda and spoke in an emotionless tone, “No blasting, you have my word.” The image of roasted weasel-girl on a spit flashed in her mind briefly.

Looking around the meadow where the shishin she had been designated to capture was last seen running about, she closely examined the trees and bushes in the area. The numerous plants gave it quite a few places to hide and worse, served to obscure her vision. How was one to catch something that she couldn't see all of the time? The Jincar closed her eyes for a moment to think, spells and runes ran through her thoughts as she tried to think of a proper one to use here. Then the memory of her 'gift' flashed past and Aicha smirked; she had the perfect idea.

She removed a inscribing pen from inside her sleeve and began to write a circle of runes on her right hand with precision, each rune in its own place with exactly the same amount of space between. When she had finished her tiny circle and tucked the pen away, she withdrew her staff with her left hand. Summoning her inner KI, she incanted a quick spell, called forth a stack of cherry wood stakes and levitated them into the air to follow her. Cherry would be good for working with animals, has good Ki for centering and focus. Perfect for containing pesky creatures. She grabbed one with her left hand and easily drove the stake into the soft ground. She placed her right hand upon it and began to slowly walk away. As the Jincar’s right hand left the stake a golden line of magic followed, like a roll of twine being unraveled from her hand. Aicha walked a few feet, drove another stake in, and connected the magic line to it.

And so she repeated, she walked a few feet extending the magic line, stopped to place another stake, then attach the line to the new stake. On and on she went, walking around the small area placing stakes and magic line until at last she made a full loop and returned to the first stake. When her right hand cam to rest on the starting stake again, the entire line of magic flashed brightly and extended downward, forming a wall of magic  between each pair of stakes. With a groan, the Jincar stood back admiring her magic pen, the shishin still roaming about quite happily with in. The shishin would find itself unable to leave the pen. With the creature inside the pen, all she had to do now was enter the pen and begin to move the walls inward until she trapped it within a small enough space to grab. Sighing in contempt, Aicha stepped inside to begin the next part of her plan.

Vae calmly observed all the commotion with the shishin running about and the tigress's stern demands to retrieve them. She waited patiently for her companions to sort out their approaches to gathering the critters, knowing full well that as a Seunshi, this was a cake-walk and she could have them rounded up in no time. ‘Three monks have no water to drink’, she thought to herself, then reconsidered, ‘Ah, but when people work with one mind, they can even remove Mount Taishan.’ “Many hands do make for lighter work,” she said to herself as she looked around the meadow, getting a feel for the lay of the land.

Azbre tugged at her clothes lightly, chattering away while looking off behind him towards bushes and grass taller than himself. Vae nodded in response as she wandered off from her team still in discussion about their course of action. She had a sense that one shishin had taken off in the same direction.

The simple parting in the grass was something most people likely wouldn't have noticed, but Vae spotted it as a trail right away. Whatever creature had made it clearly had just done so. She pushed bushes aside as she made her way along the nearly imperceptible trail, carefully watching the ground for signs of the runaway shishin that was surely the made the path. Her sensitive sense of hearing perceived a faint rustling a little further ahead and she motioned for Azbre to follow quietly behind her as she peered around into a hollow log. A lone shishin lay nestled inside, breathing soft and steady. Bits of muffin and crumbs were scattered around it as it dozed in a muffin-induced stupor.

She glided silently toward the sleeping shishin, not wanting to startle it awake or scare it away. Vae tenderly placed her hand on it and the shishin gently awoke, blinking its sleepy little eyes up at her. She pointed to the bag she kept with her. It was nice and warm and lined with the nicest of cloth just perfect for a nap, which Azbre often took advantage of. The sleepy little critter seemed right away to comprehend what was expected of it, inched towards the open bag while sniffing it out, then tumbled inside and resume its nap.

Azbre stood behind Vae still, head tilted towards the bag he much considered to be his own personal space. He made a brief pouty face at its new occupant, but he of course understood the importance of delivering the shishin safely. Vae stepped back up next to him, patting his head affectionately as they made their way back to the bridge.

She presented her bag with the sleepy shishin to the tigress with a humble bow. With her task completed with a minimal of fuss, she waited patiently by the bridge to be rejoined with her teammates.

Assured that her team was clear on the instructions, Frieda watched the others spread out over the meadow, then followed the two shishin she had seen traipsing off along the banks of the small brook.  The slope of the meadow took a sudden downturn and as she approached the stream, she tripped over her costume and hit the ground hard. The swords and shield strapped on her back hit her head and she saw little stars and humans swirling around her. When she looked up, she was aware that the two shishin she had been following were nowhere to be seen, obviously scared off by her klutz move.  

Doom sat on her haunches and made a sound that gave Frieda every indication that she was laughing. “Not funny, Miss Stinky-butt.  Are you going to help me up or are you just going to mock me?”  With the honey-badger’s help Frieda stood and dusted off her costume. “What kind of warrior would wear this outfit, where is the helmet?  Why do the swords and shield have to be worn on the back?  Why did Lucian dress me like this?  I look like a death-lollipop with grass-stains.”  She felt for bleeding on the swollen knot that had formed at the back of her head and was somewhat relieved that there was none. “I just have this feeling that there’s going to be some blood spilled today, I just hope it isn’t mine.”  Her normal perky mood had darkened a bit.

“A Weasel-girl wasn’t made to walk in geta,” she mumbled to Doom as she readjusted her gown and gear. She kicked off the wooden clogs and resumed her search bare-pawed.  Fifteen minutes later, she had searched at the water’s edge of the brook without so much of a scent or track of her quarry and she was beginning to become frustrated.  She was hot and thirsty, so she unslung her satchel, dropped the geta in the grass and knelt to sip water from the brook.  The water was so cool, refreshing and sweet to her taste that she soon lost focus regarding her task and became enchanted with the colorful carp-like fish she saw swimming nearby.  She loved to fish back home and thought she could catch one bare-paw.  She saw a big fat, slow, white and orange one close by and reached for it while she propped herself with her other paw on a smooth rock sticking up out of the water. At the full extent of her grasp, her weapons chose that moment to shift on her back, she lost her grip and belly-flopped into the cold water.  Doom fell to the ground, made no effort to hide her mirth at Frieda’s expense and rolled in the sand and gravel, snorting while Frieda spluttered and thrashed out of the stream.

Her gown was completely soaked.  Sagging and dragging it around the meadow was not going to work looking for her shishin. She stripped down to her underpants and chamise, hung up her costume and weapons to dry on a bush and flopped down in the grass to air-dry.  “I’m going about this all wrong.”  She reached over and stroked Doom’s head. “You knew that didn’t you girl?”  The honey-badger just cocked her head and panted.  She pawed at Frieda’s arm and demanded another pet. “I’m no Wareng, I’m a Danhak, and I really resent all this subterfuge.  I’m going to get caught one way or another, I might as well do what it is that I do best and suffer the consequences.”  She buried her face in her paws and wept.  She was at that stage in the quest where she began to miss her home and her mate, and her failure with the pond and her exhaustion had brought out her lowest emotions.  

After a few moments, she felt Doom’s paw on her leg, looked up and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her paw.  Doom cocked her head toward a row of bushes and Frieda was instantly aware of the two escaped shishin.  She was very careful to not move suddenly, lest she spook them again, but spoke in the soft healer’s voice she reserved for her most frightened patients. “It’s OK, I won’t hurt you.”  No sooner had she spoken then the two creatures ducked back out of sight.  Frieda could feel her blood pressure mounting and she decided that a pinch of chamomile was in order to help her calm her nerves.  She rifled through her satchel and pulled out a paw full of glassine packets.

At last she found what she was looking for, selected the envelope with the dried chamomile flowers and stuffed the other packets back in her satchel.  She was suddenly aware that there were six eyes watching her intently and two noses keenly interested in the contents of her satchel.  She carefully opened it back up and one by one, let the two shishin sniff each envelope.  At last, the two became very excited at one particular packet and tried to grab it away from Frieda.

“Oh, no, no, no.  This is strong medicine, a pinch could knock out a human for hours.” She stood and held the packet out of reach, but the two shishin crowded around her, attempted to crawl up her body to reach it and generally made themselves obnoxious pests clamoring for the herb.  “Doom, help me.”

The honey-badger stomped her forepaws on the ground and the two shishin sat subdued, but eyes still glued on Frieda’s packet of herbs.  She quickly stuffed it into her satchel and stared at the recalcitrant creatures. “Golly!  I’ve not seen such ‘reefer madness’ in free creatures before.”  She stared at them for a moment while she formulated her plan. “Ok, look here you two.  You come with me nicely, back to the bridge, and I’ll give you each one leaf. One leaf only.  There’s no way I’m going to be held responsible for getting you anesthetized.” She put her paws on her hips for emphasis.  “Promise me you’ll come along without any fuss if I give you a leaf of this herb.”

The two shishin just cocked their heads but gave no indication that they understood a single word she said, they just whimpered and stared at her satchel.  “Doom, tell them!”  

Doom opened her mouth and yawned, rolled over and scratched her back on the gravel and made some unintelligible grunts.  When she stood and shook herself, Frieda was impressed that the two shishin were nodding their heads with enthusiasm.  “OK then, let me gather up my skirts and let’s head back.

Amid the giggles and snickers of the rothers gathered at the bridge, Frieda’s little troupe appeared over the rise in single file.  Frieda lead the way still dressed only in her underpants, chamise and geta, the swords and shield of her disguise slung over her left shoulder while she carried her still damp gowns hung limply over her left arm.  Her other paw clung tightly to her satchel, lest her charges rush her and ravage her herb collection.  She marched the shishin right up to the log where the tigress languished, saluted and tossed all her gear on the grass. “I have retrieved them, unharmed, but I promised them some herb if they complied.  ‘shishin-nip’ I now call it."  

Before she could be stopped, she took out the glassine envelope and gave each shishin a large dried bunch, to the delight and rapture of the two creatures.

“And what did you call it before you met the shishin?”  The tigress rose menacingly, a low rumble resonated from her chest.

Frieda smiled and returned the half-empty envelope to her satchel before she answered.  She brushed an invisible blade of grass from her tummy fur, flicked her tail and purred, “Parsley.  I used to call it parsley.”  She put her paws on her hips and spoke with an air of confidence.  “It has the effect of calming upset tummies.  Seems that these two shishin had eaten too many muffins and needed something to calm their tummies down.”  She looked around at her companions and smiled.  “All us Wareg warrior-types know how to field-dress injuries and treat bivouac-induced illnesses.  Now if you will excuse me, I have to get dressed.”

Tesilyn sighed and then let the others know she'd take the upper meadow and look around there to see if any of the shinsin had made it that far.  The Kisaeng looked at Lini who was humming a tune she hadn't heard before.  "Lini, what are you humming?"  

Lini made a slight noise and the tune was in Teislyn's mind with an image.  She scooped Lini up and went off to the upper portion of the meadow, trying to think of how to make the roundup work.  They made it to the area and started scouting around.  A rustling and then a giggle was heard within a tall grassy area and Lini disappeared toward where it came from, leaving Teislyn standing there.  

She took up the flute and started playing the song that Lini had given her.  A light, airy melody twisted away throu

((squeaking in just in the nick of time. x.x))

(OCC)Sorry I am late turning this in. I work past midnight my time and then have another 45 minute drive to get home and I usually have to stop to eat cus I am starving. So here is our entry.

We didn't have much of an ending yet guys, SO figured go with what real life event happened :)

And this one too, please.