Responsibility was a funny thing. Generally speaking, Wilibald had only ever had responsibility for himself. Even in his old herd, they looked out for each other but it wasn’t anything more than ‘oh did Wilcome make it through the winter?’ or ‘hey dear you probably shouldn’t eat that plant it gave Lucinda some gas last week’. But now, he had found himself in something of a ranking system. Even more astonishingly, in a ‘position of honour’ as Midas had put it. From the sounds of it, there were others who had chosen the path of the Storyteller and eventually Wilibald thought that he should meet them.

He was bracing himself for the worst. As with his first attempt at calling up the Earth God on his own, he had taken the better part of a few days to work up the courage. Twice he had found an appropriate clearing, not quite at the gem lined pool but not entirely far from it either. Around the corner and past some rocks and trees, it lay safely in wait. Anyway, both of the times he had stood in that clearing, wondering how one calls others without being rude, he had lost his nerve. The setting just wasn’t right.

But today, he felt a little better. The sun had broken through the clouds and the rain, leaving a bright blue marred only occasionally by fluffy clouds that looked quite delightful to sleep upon.

It was later in the day, because Wilibald was going to have to issue some sort of call and he didn’t want to accidentally wake anyone up. This whole ‘meeting’ business seemed rather rude but maybe once he knew the faces then he could just trot around and gather everyone up! That seemed a lot nicer way of going about things. Calling out just seemed so much more demanding than he really felt.

Okay Wilibald, you can definitely do this.

After one more hurried meal to calm his stomach, he found his way to the small clearing just east of the secret pool and it was there that he called out. Well, the first time wasn’t very effective - his voice broke halfway through and it turned into more of a croak than a call. But that second one! Loud and clear and incredibly apologetic as he did the only thing he could think of to call the Wise Ones together.

Then the little hairy pony just had to wait. If no one came well - that wouldn't be so bad. He could go have his usual afternoon nap right on time and try again tomorrow! Easy peasy.