The horses seemed just as split as the foxes, each one selecting a side and gathering up the nearest turkeys until nothing and no one was left in the middle. Without any signal or seeming decision, everyone just sort of dispersed with their idea, thinking it best. There was certainly merit to each decision- Matches wanting to cross was much more interested in saving time and favored the bold (or the flighted), Flint wanted to find a shorter crossing proving he was willing to be daring at the expense of some time and favored the resourceful, while Zippo wanted to loop back around and play it most cautious regardless of the time and thus he favored those with endurance.

Courage and haste, or safety and waste?

Matches leaped across the wide section of the river with ease, his movements quick and light, his body moving with en effortless grace across the frozen water. Merlin, Iona, Erthe, and Alysanne were just behind him, all inescapably winged, but then, so were the turkeys that they herded, right? Right, which is why when the ice broke under the weight of the crossing, only a third of the turkeys managed to survive. Many attempted to fly, but struck each other in their panic and went down, then quickly became too waterlogged or injured to attempt again. It was almost instantaneous, the hole that opened up to consume the flock, and then the jigsaw of ice that rushed back over it, trapping the fowl below to a cold demise. Erthe's touch hadn't been enough after all, the moving water beneath too powerful to be coaxed into such a solid and frozen state. Maybe if she'd had more time, more concentration, then something would have come of it.

Meanwhile Flint and his crew, Ru, Vesper, Maude, Yael, and Tilney, all set out to search for a wiser place to cross. So they searched, and searched, and searched... and since their eyes were busy searching, they didn't do so hot with rustlin'. Turkeys strayed left and right, and eventually some local predators caught wise. With a significantly reduced group size, the predators were more daring. Among the losses to predators and the trees, the flock was gradually reduced to half. Eventually Flint found somewhere short enough that you could practically jump across, but were the efforts really worth it in the end?

Then of course there was Zippo and his gang of "play it close to the vest" kind of horses. Albrecht, Volterra, Johnny, and Najya set out with the fox and the turkeys they had amassed. Of course their path was long and not without its difficulties. Similar predation risks fell upon them, but since they were just following the river until it stopped, they didn't have their attention cut, and they were able to stave off most of the hungry onlookers. Some turkeys wandered off, but they caught them. What they couldn't save was the exhaustion that came over the birds. They were not meant to travel such great distances in such a short period of time, the horses and the fox driving them relentlessly, north, then back south, a third of them couldn't go on.

Eventually all the foxes and horses met up again on the other side of the river, each group haggard and tired. Matches was in a foul mood, having lost nearly all of his flock and being forced to wait for everyone else to rejoin him. Anxiously his flaming tail waved back and forth, and though he was rejoined by Flint and the his band, their devastating losses did little to cheer the two foxes. Together they paced, waiting impatiently for Zippo, who strolled up weakly with his crew, fewer turkeys in tow than when he had left, but still more than his two brothers.

"Tha Orgeon Trail has get many aga'n," Matches lamented as he regrouped with his siblings. "Aye," Flint and Zippo panted in unison, ears low with defeat. "Nex' year boys, we be moar ready!" Matches said encouragingly, his body fluffing up as his flames extended out further, fueled by his drive.

He paused for a moment, glancing around at the horses that had been through it all with them. Although he was thankful to them all, some had certainly proven more useful than others. "Here," he murmured, flinging the orb he carried towards Johnny. "For all ya efforts, we thank ye," he nodded his head, fiery stare holding the strange horse for a moment before he slowly blinked and sped back towards the front of the flock, Flint spreading out to the side.

Zippo sat and yipped, tail wagging excitedly, as a coy grin spread on his maw. "This one's fa ya,L" he grinned toothily as his tail swept a second orb towards Najya. He had seen her efforts first hand, and though the brothers hadn't discussed giving out two orbs, he was feeling generous - and perhaps a bit proud that his decision had been the most right, and his horses the best. In fact, his other two horses, Volterra and Albrecht, would not walk away without their own rewards. Perhaps it was due to being in the company of the turkeys for longer than anyone else, or due to their success, or both - but the two stallions would find themselves capable of becoming a turkey, if they used it before it wore off at least.

"We can take it from hur hawses, thank ye kindly!" Zippo explained before racing around to the other side of the flock. With some barking and nipping the turkeys were back in motion, guided south by the foxes. On to the Heart, where they would be fed into the flaming pit and eaten by the rest of the fox family!