The Forgotten Zodiac

"It's nice," Sylas smiled. "Thanks."

"It's not just for Sylas," Manny shook his head. "We've gotta show Ullar, remember? We gotta."

"Well, now we gotta recapture it," Gabe said, sighing as he watched it flutter around. "Maybe we can bring Ullar to it, instead. That seems easier."

"No, I don't know if Reetah will let us." Manny shook his head. "We've gotta catch him and take him to Ullar. I have an idea, though..." The mannequinn grabbed a bunch of flower pots and started stacking them in Gabe's arms. "Hold still. Very very still. The flowers will attract the butterfly." Manny giggled.

"Oh, okay, good idea!" Gabe said, balancing the pots as best he could. He smiled and laughed as the stack got higher, but tried to be very careful. "They're not scared, are they, Sylas?" he asked, looking at the flowers.

"Get it, get it!" Gabe cheered, the flowerpots tilting dangerously as he jumped a bit with excitement.

"Coming, coming!" Gabe cheered, sitting down the rest of the pots and taking off after Manny. "Nice seeing you, Sylas! See ya later!" he called back, before running off with Manny.

"Ulllar, Reetah! Guess what? We brought... the... butterfly..." Gabe said, his voice trailing off as he entered the room.

Reetah pulled herself upright at once, whipping around and staring at Gabe with her waterlogged eyes. "O-oh...a butterfly. That's ki-kind of you," She wiped her face and struggled to keep her composure.

"We... thought he'd like it," Gabe said, moving over to Ullar.

"He's sleeping now..." Reetah shook her head. "I'm sorry, Gabe. But I can find a jar to put it in, if you want...he can see it when he wakes up."

"No...I think the butterfly would not like that." Manny shook his head. "It might die in the jar..."

"Yeah... can't you just wake him up?" Gabe asked.

"No. He needs his rest." Reetah shook her head. "I'm sorry..."

((SKIP.))

"Are we closer, now?" Bermuda asked, peering through the fog that had come off the river just before the group had finished packing up camp this morning. They were making their way to (Treefort?), to meet with the council there.

There was important business to tend to.

And although L'arc never was one to be so before, he was nervous. And, as far as he could tell, his jitters were infectious. Bermuda in particular looked pale, and grew more and more uneasy as they drew closer to their destination.

The druid prince cast a glance to his right, where Sylas was walking closeby. L'arc shifted a bit closer to his friend, looking around.

"We're close," he affirmed. "They should be sending a party of some sort soon... for a group this large, they'll want to check us out before we actually arrive," he said, watching for signs of said group approaching.

((Yepyep, Treefort.))

Verolen stuck close to Bermuda, an escort not inclined to budge. "Who knows," Sylas shrugged. "One thing's for sure, they won't be likely to attack on sight." Gabe was toting around his flag, on which Aries had added the Forestum symbol of peace. "Unless they're really stupid."

"And looking to get mauled." Rush threw in. His arm was clearly causing him a great amount of discomfort still, and it looked even more terrifying when cleaned and polished, but it was still his arm.

"Someone with a deathwish, most likely." Verolen confirmed.

"A very hasty deathwish." Rush agreed, noting how jumpy Verolen seemed. But Rush was not one to ask questions, especially when Verolen wore a look like he did now. Very serious and...dangerous.

"Why are you all so nervous?" Byrne asked, gazing up at the others from where he had been curling and uncurling his fists - not out of nervous habit, but rather to try and trigger the nerves in his arm to work again. He flicked his right wrist a couple times and moved it around; it responded, but he could not feel anything, and he wondered if that was normal. Shaking himself slightly to return to the conversation, he said, "I mean, we've got the flag, aaand L'arc. I mean, it might seem a little suspicious with two humans and three demons in this group, but we've gotten along fine before, haven't we?" he asked.

"We have. I think we'll be okay." Aries nodded, smiling. "It's not everyday you run into a group this large, that's for sure. It's a wonder we were ever attacked in the past."

"Yeah. You'd think they'd learn," Verolen chuckled. "We're nervous because this is the first time visiting a forest city since the humans started attacking..."

"...yeah," L'arc agreed a moment later, though that reason didn't really hold water when applied to him. He shook himself slightly, looking around at the other members of the group and silently assuring himself of their loyalty before deciding to pick up the pace a bit.

"We might as well get the visit going along, then, so we can stop being nervous as we think about it," he suggested.

Bermuda trailed quietly after L'arc, walking with the air of someone preparing for death.