A delivery for the caretaker of the Celestine, from a healer in Halo. As far as Tal knew it was a sealed box, packed with small jars of unguents and medicine for the healing of luxere; but all that mattered was that it got safely to its recipient.
Which was why it was packed quite carefully into his Bag of Holding as he walked through the Celestine, looking for one Lena Magnus.
"Do you know where I can find her?" He'd asked a passerby along the carefully tended path.
They'd hurried on in annoyed silence but, "Yes!" chirped a voice nearby and Tal had turned in surprise to see-
A squirrel?
"Follow me!" chirped another, popping up beside it. They encouraged him excitedly and bounded deeper into their forested enclosure and after a dubious look around - no one else was nearby - Tal decided to follow the best lead he had so far.
They waited for him when he fell behind and kept just out of reach ahead of him, moving with such confidence that Tal began to feel quite cheerful about this stroke of good luck. He'd found a shortcut!
His good mood lasted until he stepped on something soft and yielding that ROARED. The squirrels, safely up a tree, chittered gleefully and abandoned him, but the molten tiger with its bandaged eye? It had no intention of letting him go after that indignity to its copper-striped tail.
Tal didn't try to argue, he just ran. He ran through the briars, and he ran through the brambles, and he ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go. He ran so fast he didn't watch where his feet were going, feeling the heat on the back of his neck from the jaws that snapped ever-closer.
And then he was flying.
Wait, no, make that falling.
And then there was the splash.
"H- help!" He managed, bobbing up once as he struggled in his boots and heavy jacket and pack, arms and legs striking out frantically in an effort to keep himself afloat in the wide, deep pond when he'd never been in water deeper than a bathtub before.
It was clearly a losing battle.
Finn
Which was why it was packed quite carefully into his Bag of Holding as he walked through the Celestine, looking for one Lena Magnus.
"Do you know where I can find her?" He'd asked a passerby along the carefully tended path.
They'd hurried on in annoyed silence but, "Yes!" chirped a voice nearby and Tal had turned in surprise to see-
A squirrel?
"Follow me!" chirped another, popping up beside it. They encouraged him excitedly and bounded deeper into their forested enclosure and after a dubious look around - no one else was nearby - Tal decided to follow the best lead he had so far.
They waited for him when he fell behind and kept just out of reach ahead of him, moving with such confidence that Tal began to feel quite cheerful about this stroke of good luck. He'd found a shortcut!
His good mood lasted until he stepped on something soft and yielding that ROARED. The squirrels, safely up a tree, chittered gleefully and abandoned him, but the molten tiger with its bandaged eye? It had no intention of letting him go after that indignity to its copper-striped tail.
Tal didn't try to argue, he just ran. He ran through the briars, and he ran through the brambles, and he ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go. He ran so fast he didn't watch where his feet were going, feeling the heat on the back of his neck from the jaws that snapped ever-closer.
And then he was flying.
Wait, no, make that falling.
And then there was the splash.
"H- help!" He managed, bobbing up once as he struggled in his boots and heavy jacket and pack, arms and legs striking out frantically in an effort to keep himself afloat in the wide, deep pond when he'd never been in water deeper than a bathtub before.
It was clearly a losing battle.
Finn
