Dawn had stirred Willow from her sleep not long ago, but she still moved in a daze from it. Her legs pulled taut and curled high about her chest as she stretched each in turn while walking, hoping to feel that eventual sliding release of comfort and wakefulness. Willow's mind still tumulted over the happenings at the meeting. Namely the act of healing done by Poppy. The political affairs held much less interest to her for the time being, but they did not go overlooked either. Everything here was a crucial detail to one as foreign as she.
Willow smiled a bit in thinking of the gray mare however. Poppy... she was near by, ever lingering close to her it would seem. She did not mind the presence, it was a welcome change to the normal reception she received. Yet still the mare's magic worried her at times. Willow did not like the way she could so effortlessly control plants on a whim, feeding them or starving them. Her own tree still ached in its depths from the experience in the Threshold. To what extent could Poppy affect her personally with such magic? Willow was in no hurry to find that answer, but her mind asked it every time she saw the grass around Poppy's hooves wilt and blow away.
Such meandering thoughts were interrupted only by a sudden rolling pang in her stomach. Breakfast! She'd completely forgotten, although now it was more like lunch tome. Had she been wandering so long? Anxious to eat, or drink rather, Willow cast her eyes around, but found the setting entirely unfamiliar to her. It was still the Foothills she believed, but not any part she'd traveled yet. This was not too surprising considering how new to arrive she was, but it did put a challenge to the lunch menu.
"Ermine" she asked softly. From her boughs came a stirring, the stoat scrambling down and drifting his long body in-between her ears.
"Find water" she instructed cheerily. A chattering answered her as the ermine deftly leapt down her shoulder, long body slinking around the ground as the animal sniffed closely at the dirt. Before long he was leading her off, his tail a high flag behind him.
Together they happened upon the most magnificent pool of water, nestled in the foot of a mountain that cast its shade over the pond. Gemstones glistened in the edges and occasionally sparkled in the depths, for so clear was the water she could stare right down its heart. A soft gasp of wonder left her lips as Willow approached slowly, almost tentative to take of something so wonderful.
Ermine felt no such restrictions however, for he eagerly bounded into the pool, his lithe body breaking the surface with ripples and sent up a small splash that dotted Willow's nose. She jerked her head in surprise, a snort escaping her as she narrowed her eyes at the ermine.
"Oh, you," she muttered in exasperation, laughing shortly thereafter. With the moment ruined and her hunger still present, Willow stepped forth and lowered her head to drink.
As she took in long droughts of the cool, refreshing liquid, her mind again wondered over what being a storyteller would entail in this herd. There was much to ask, to know, to learn.
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|learn| [earth god]
