"That's the goal," the bard agreed, trying to find a weary smile for the sly fox at his feet. "Trying to protect as many as we can. Hopefully it won't be necessary for the Fae but..." He sighed as he knelt to gather the herbs, his smile finally escaping at Ianto's obvious pride. "Well. We can't rely on hope alone." That way lay far too much potential for lost lives and lost souls, and Jigano had no intention of being responsible for that being visited upon his friends among the Fae. Or even Delah. No one deserved the horrors of Long Night within the barrier.
The bard harvested carefully, leaving a few of the herbs behind to repopulate the little patch for next year but taking as many as he felt he could safely carry in his raven form. "A gift from the Hollowed Grounds to the Lady of the Wood," Jigano said, his wry smile coming a little easier now that they had succeeded in their mission and his temper had faded. "Since I would rather be on her good side than her bad one. Ah, if you see her, could you pass a message on for me? I wasn't able to find any information on the Blight in the books within the Atheneum, as she probably knows by now. And given that I'm now... affected by it... I am reluctant to enter the Greatwood and risk spreading it further," he admitted, reluctance and unhappiness clear in his voice as he tied the bag shut.
Ianto's cardinal shape, a bright and bold red against the green of the Labyrinth around them, was strangely cheering shift and Jigano focused on that to steady himself and gather his courage past his innate reluctance to shift within sight of others. It just felt wrong to do so, even after a year on Caido, but with the Labyrinth's tricks there was no easy privacy to be found. Stealing himself against the discomfort, the bard drew himself inwards, shrinking abruptly as he shifted to his raven form, the sack gripped in his heavy beak.
Shall we? he asked his companion with a wink as the rustling in the hedges around them started to increase with the Speaking Squirrels realizing the humans weren't going to keep walking. A few small thorns were launched at them as Jigano took off, wings flapping with graceless strength to lift him and his burden up and out of the leafy embrace of the hungry hedge maze.
The bard harvested carefully, leaving a few of the herbs behind to repopulate the little patch for next year but taking as many as he felt he could safely carry in his raven form. "A gift from the Hollowed Grounds to the Lady of the Wood," Jigano said, his wry smile coming a little easier now that they had succeeded in their mission and his temper had faded. "Since I would rather be on her good side than her bad one. Ah, if you see her, could you pass a message on for me? I wasn't able to find any information on the Blight in the books within the Atheneum, as she probably knows by now. And given that I'm now... affected by it... I am reluctant to enter the Greatwood and risk spreading it further," he admitted, reluctance and unhappiness clear in his voice as he tied the bag shut.
Ianto's cardinal shape, a bright and bold red against the green of the Labyrinth around them, was strangely cheering shift and Jigano focused on that to steady himself and gather his courage past his innate reluctance to shift within sight of others. It just felt wrong to do so, even after a year on Caido, but with the Labyrinth's tricks there was no easy privacy to be found. Stealing himself against the discomfort, the bard drew himself inwards, shrinking abruptly as he shifted to his raven form, the sack gripped in his heavy beak.
Shall we? he asked his companion with a wink as the rustling in the hedges around them started to increase with the Speaking Squirrels realizing the humans weren't going to keep walking. A few small thorns were launched at them as Jigano took off, wings flapping with graceless strength to lift him and his burden up and out of the leafy embrace of the hungry hedge maze.
