The Forgotten Zodiac

Karsenir sat against a tree and watched over Avis as she slept. There was very little noise in the forest. Few animals ever moved around and there was little wind. So of course, every little noise made him get up and look around the area before settling back down again. The time moved past really quickly and soon the sun was setting. Karsenir woke Avis and soon they were moving out over the field.

Avis walked in groggy silence for a long while. Finally, she got up the courage to ask, "So...what were you doing that attracted so many people?" She asked. She didn't want to offend Karsenir at all, but her nagging curiosity was rather annoying at times. Mostly just to herself, though; questions she wanted to ask would circle around and around in her head until she finally asked them. It was irritating, indeed.

Karsenir was silent as they walked as well. When Avis suddenly spoke he quickly glanced back at her, then shrugged once she'd finished her question. "It varied. Sometimes I'd play with fire. The only danger with that was catching the carriage on fire, which wasn't terrible, beacuse they would have to get me out to make sure I didn't die. I wouldn't be burned because of my skin, but with the smoke and all...It was good to be outside the carriage again. Other times I would tell jokes. I didn't do that very often because I don't know very many, and of the few I know, fewer still are even slightly amusing. My most popular act was to make shadows dance." He said, shrugging again. "I noted you finally got some people to hang around the front of your carriage. What did you do to keep them there?" He asked, not so much to avoid describing his act in further detail, but because he was curious.

"Nothing much. I just acted nice..." Avis shrugged. "I'm so used to lashing out at people, it took a lot of willpower not to scowl at them when they so much as glanced away. They were Fawns, though; docile sorts of creatures. I think your act probably scared their kids away, which left them to me...nothing special. I know a lot of jokes, but there isn't any way I was about to tell any of them to those crowds. They wouldn't really get most of them..."

Karsenir nodded as he listened to Avis. "I see." He smiled a little. "I guess that makes some sense. That I would be scaring off such timid spectators." He looked back at Avis, able to see perfectly in the darkness that the sun had left behind after setting. "That took me a long time to get over myserf, especially after the torture." He sighed slightly, and went quiet for a  short while. "So... Where did you learn said lot of jokes?" Karsenir asked, looking up at Avis again. They were about halfway through the field. At least through what they could see of the field. What they could see ended in a considerably steep hill, but Karsenir assumed it would continue as open land that would be easy to get through. He was a little nervous though. There needed to be someplace to take shelter, or at least hide during the day. Not to mention there really needed to find more food. Avis' near-death experience with the poisonous berry made that clear, and she hadn't eaten anything since. He could only hope things worked out. Especially since it wouldn't be too hard for someone to see them.

"Mrs. Heather, the old woman who kept me until she died. She had a lot of joke books. She would read them constantly whenever she got sad. I thought it was a little weird, but I wanted to help. So every time she seemed down, I would memorize more and more jokes and tell them to her to cheer her up." She giggled a little, following Karsenir closely. She couldn't see well in the dark, obviously. Her human eyes didn't allow much of a view in this pitch black darkness. Clouds had obscured the moon, making it all the worse.

"Oh. I see." Karsenir said when Avis talked about Mrs. Heather. "So, minus the bit about you being sold by her son? I think you said... You must have been sad when she died." Karsenir said, watching Avis, noticing her moving closer to him as they walked. "It sounds to me that you liked her a lot." He said quietly, looking up at the cloudy sky for several moments as they walked on.

"Yeah...she was the only one of my owners that were actually...nice." Avis sighed heavily. "She had me since I was just a little toddler, she taught me everything. But she died of old age, there was nothing I could do. I was so distraught when it happened, and even moreso when I was sold away. But...I make the most of where I am and what I have, so..." She fell quiet again. She felt a cold chill run down her spine when she heard the howl of a wolf in the forest behind them.

Karsenir listened quietly. "Well, I'm glad you're where you are now." Karsenir said, smiling a little, looking back at the ground a few feet ahead of his own feet. When heard the wolf howl he smiled a bit more, but frowned slightly when he noticed Avis tenseness when she heard the wolf in the distance. "Don't be worried." He said, looking back at her. "They should leave us alone, as there has been plenty of rain. They should have plenty of little animals to feed on, so they wouldn't bother us unless we mess with them." He looked back in front of him. "Even if they were, I wouldn't let anything happen to us."

"Right..." Avis nodded, still doubtful. That wolf had sounded close...and she doubted it was alone. She was nervous and quiet after that, but she slowly relaxed after they walked onwards. "Yeah, I'm happy to be here," She finally said. "I dunno what I would do without you, though. I probably wouldn't have made it more than 10 feet before getting myself caught up again by some creep looking for something to sell..."

Karsenir was quiet for a little while, knowing Avis wasn't convinced because of her silence. He sighed and shook it off as they walked on. As Avis began to speak again, what she said, made Karsenir smile a bit, and he felt his face grow warm as he blushed slightly when Avis said that she was glad to have him with her. He smiled, grateful that she didn't have the night vision to see his face as they walked on. 

Avis smiled as she drifted into silence again. It was more of an comfortable silence this time, though. When she broke the silence again, it was only when they stopped just short of what appeared to be a large ravine. "Oh...good grief, how are we going to get across this?" She exclaimed, though careful to keep quiet, still a little nervous about wolves. On the other side of the gap, Karsenir would be able to see the larger orchard that lay just beyond; they were straying into farmland, which was a good thing. Farms meant food.

Karsenir frowned, holding Avis back when they stopped since she wouldn't have been able to see it until she was right up on it because of the darkness. He frowned and looked around, hoping to find away around the enormous trench. "Well...I got nothing." He said with a heavy sigh.

"Uh...maybe we can walk around? Or...use a fallen tree as a bridge," Avis pulled on Karsenir's sleeve, pointing towards what she was talking about. It was a large tree, on the brink of falling over. It looked as though it had been recently struck by lightning. Luckily, they were on the same side as it; they could possibly make it fall the rest of the way, then walk along its trunk to the other side. The human girl flinched when another howl sounded in the distance; it actually sounded closer this time, and she could hear quite a bit of barking.

Karsenir looked up at what she was pointing at. "I guess so..." He said, moving towards the tree that she pointed out. He sighed frustratedly when the wolf howled again. "Shut up, stupid dog..." He muttered once they were at the tree. It didn't take much of a shove to knock it down over the ravine. "There. I'll go first, if you would prefer that." He said, moving towards the base of the makeshift bridge.

"Yeah...sure," Avis nodded, glancing around behind them nervously. She couldn't be too sure, but the barking was getting louder...maybe the wolves or dogs or whatever they were...maybe they were coming after them? It was a horrifying thought, and her blood ran cold when there was yet another howl. "Look, you can go first, but just...hurry," She bit her lip, following after him with haste.

Karsenir was already across by the time Avis spoke again. "Come on then, there's food neary." He said, smiling at her, though he quickly remembered she wouldn't be able to  see him. She might not be able to see the bridge as she walked across. "Avis, do you need any help?" He asked, suddenly sounding concerned again, as he had when she nearly ate a poisonous berry. "I can help you if yo need it." 

Avis shook her head, quickly climbing up onto the tree trunk. She inched forward, taking much longer than Karsenir did. One foot after another, careful not to trip on any knots or anything. She hadn't noticed, however, that the barking had stopped. It had changed into snarls; Avis looked back when she noticed, realizing that one of the wolves/dogs (she couldn't tell the difference in this darkness) were actually on the trunk with her. She turned and moved forward a little more quickly, but found herself stopped when teeth sank into her leg. She kicked at the owner of the teeth, crying out in shock as the twist required to kick at the animal caused her to lose her footing.

She was lucky she was able to grab the trunk on her way down. "Okay!" She shouted, watching as a white wolf climbed up onto the trunk. "I'll take that help now," She said breathlessly, desperately hanging onto the tree for dear life.

Karsenir frowned at Avis when she said she didn't need any help. And then he saw the wolves. "A-Avis!" He shouted, leaping back onto the log when he saw the wolf get onto the log and then snap, clamping it's jaws around her leg. He was unable to get there fast enough, but he did manage to shove the wolf back a great deal, as it was still recovering from Avis' twist before she fell. "Are you okay?" He asked while glaring fiercely at the wolf, imensely relieved to hear her voice just below him.

"I'm slipping," Avis whimpered, struggling to pull herself back up onto the tree. She grabbed a branch and heaved herself up so she could wrap her legs around the trunk. Avis strained to pull herself upright, finally managing to get onto all fours in time to hear a dreadful crack. The trunk was breaking under the weight of both of them and the wolves trying to get to them. "Karsenir, it's breaking!" She wailed, scrambling to try and reach the other side. She heard a laugh, but was unsure of where it was coming from...