Jigano sat down as well once Eliza did, no little relieved at the chance to rest. He released Isuma so she could bounce forward to sit up on her hind legs between the two humanoids, eyes bright with rapt attention as the Fae spread her shimmering wings. After a moment the gryphlet spread her own feathered pinions, mirroring Eliza's movements as if to say 'I have wings too!' as she chirruped happily at her new friend.
There was no way to bring up the blight without it bringing a conversation down, the bard thought ruefully as Isuma padded back to his side to offer her companion her support. He tried to wave it off, not wanting to ruin the lovely day - lovely in both weather and the blight resting deceptively lightly on his mind for a change - but Eliza was too perceptive to let him off the hook so easily. The sadness in her voice drew his attention back to her, and he was touched at the concern he saw in her expression.
"Your home is beautiful," he agreed gently, a shadow of the sadness remaining in his smile at hearing what she'd been up to. "Wild and dangerous at times... but it is a place of wonders, too. I have seen the Undine as she sang, and joined the celebration of the Naiad's dance. It is no mystery that the Fae protect this place so fiercely." But not fiercely enough, as it turned out. Not enough to prevent the Blight from spreading through the Greatwood, infecting plants, animals, and people, too.
He was weary with the weight of the affliction upon him, and weak beneath the sunshine, but he still clung to the light when he could, even though he was growing stronger at night as the disease progressed. Some days were worse - far worse - than others, and growing more so as time passed, but today he had not yet felt the surge of anger and venom that twisted his thoughts into monstrous parodies of his usual self. Perhaps he would be lucky, and the blightrage wouldn't come upon him until he was well away from a friend he had no wish to lash out at or insult.
He reassured Isuma with a stroke over her wings, smiling down at the little gryphon as she looked up at him worriedly. "It's alright, you can go say hello now," he told her, and she patted his thigh as if to be sure of it before padding towards Eliza, more subdued but still friendly as she stretched out her neck to sniff curiously at the Fae's knee.
"You ask the difficult questions as always," he told Eliza wryly, settling his back against the big rock. "The truth is that I don't know. Or at least, I don't remember. I came down with a fever right around the change of the season. One night I was letting Rory tuck me into bed while the room swam around me, the next..." He sighed, a grimace tugging at his lips. "The next thing I knew, I was waking up in an animal shape in the Glade, starving and almost too weak to move. The symptoms started shortly after that, and at first I thought they were just lingering effects of the fever... until Ludo corrected my mistake." He tucked his shaking hands into his lap as if to hide them from view. "I lost days to that fever. It's just... blank, in my memories. So it seems likely that however I contracted the blight, it happened then."
There was no way to bring up the blight without it bringing a conversation down, the bard thought ruefully as Isuma padded back to his side to offer her companion her support. He tried to wave it off, not wanting to ruin the lovely day - lovely in both weather and the blight resting deceptively lightly on his mind for a change - but Eliza was too perceptive to let him off the hook so easily. The sadness in her voice drew his attention back to her, and he was touched at the concern he saw in her expression.
"Your home is beautiful," he agreed gently, a shadow of the sadness remaining in his smile at hearing what she'd been up to. "Wild and dangerous at times... but it is a place of wonders, too. I have seen the Undine as she sang, and joined the celebration of the Naiad's dance. It is no mystery that the Fae protect this place so fiercely." But not fiercely enough, as it turned out. Not enough to prevent the Blight from spreading through the Greatwood, infecting plants, animals, and people, too.
He was weary with the weight of the affliction upon him, and weak beneath the sunshine, but he still clung to the light when he could, even though he was growing stronger at night as the disease progressed. Some days were worse - far worse - than others, and growing more so as time passed, but today he had not yet felt the surge of anger and venom that twisted his thoughts into monstrous parodies of his usual self. Perhaps he would be lucky, and the blightrage wouldn't come upon him until he was well away from a friend he had no wish to lash out at or insult.
He reassured Isuma with a stroke over her wings, smiling down at the little gryphon as she looked up at him worriedly. "It's alright, you can go say hello now," he told her, and she patted his thigh as if to be sure of it before padding towards Eliza, more subdued but still friendly as she stretched out her neck to sniff curiously at the Fae's knee.
"You ask the difficult questions as always," he told Eliza wryly, settling his back against the big rock. "The truth is that I don't know. Or at least, I don't remember. I came down with a fever right around the change of the season. One night I was letting Rory tuck me into bed while the room swam around me, the next..." He sighed, a grimace tugging at his lips. "The next thing I knew, I was waking up in an animal shape in the Glade, starving and almost too weak to move. The symptoms started shortly after that, and at first I thought they were just lingering effects of the fever... until Ludo corrected my mistake." He tucked his shaking hands into his lap as if to hide them from view. "I lost days to that fever. It's just... blank, in my memories. So it seems likely that however I contracted the blight, it happened then."
