The turnout was even better than the tree could have expected!! So long as these funny horse creatures weren’t as selfish as they were greedy, the little woodland creatures of this thicket would survive through Frostfall!! Hooray!!

“No.” Came the sappy (as in - a mouth full of sap) answer to the first, sunlit colt that arrived. Trees did not normally do this - although they should. It was the opinion of this particular tree that his cousins and distant relations all over Helovia should have the power to speak. Do you have any idea how much a tree learns in any given year? All those secrets you tell are usually whispered in the vicinity of one!

Two more foals come and the tree has to wonder, where are their parents?! These thoughts are, oddly enough, echoed by an adult that arrived on the scene - a red roan stallion with a good nature.

How annoying.

Oh no, wait, it wasn’t the tree’s business to be prickly today - it needed to be nice to these creatures because it needed their help.

More youth arrive but that’s alright, they’re wiggly and can squirm into smaller spots to get the berries that hide. It’s the number that the tree is impressed with. Desperate! All of them desperate! But desperate was good, it meant they would be more willing to help.

A pale mare joined the group, addressing the foals rather than the tree. As though there wasn’t a face right there looking at her. “It is not alone, little fae.” Each syllable sticky with sap as it smacked its way through the sentence. Talking was a chore. Perhaps this was why none of the other trees did it. Though, the spruce supposed, those bratty aspens and birches wouldn’t have as much sap to deal with.

How it hated them. Always in a rush to grow in the sunlight. And then what happens? They die because they’re too busy growing fast and not well.

This spruce had a lot of internal monologuing to catch up on now that it had been temporarily gifted with consciousness.

“Hello.” It replied to the growl of a greeting from one of the skull-faced brats. Was it a mother? Well, it didn’t matter. The descriptor worked well enough. And the greeted was repeated again for the teal-touched pegasus that addressed it as well.

Wooden eyes scanned the crowd again, counting those who had come. Fourteen! This was a satisfactory number.

“I am troubled.” It finally responded to the statement from one of the skull-faced children (why were there so many??). “The creatures in my thicket do not have enough food to get through Frostfall and I fear they will die. Tallsun was harsh to this forest and we have fallen behind.” The tree’s voice creaked as its trunk moved slowly so it might look at each of those gathered in turn. “Will any of you help us gather food? Gather berries and nuts and seeds?” With a rumble, the earth before those gathered shook and from it rose several stumps curving in a semi-circle around the spruce - perfect little platforms to place the food once it had been collected so they need not carry it around. “There will be a reward.” It stated in a bored voice, knowing that was why most of them had come.

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Larue is disqualified for not stating what companion she was looking for. Please be sure to be clear in future drops!

You have 72 hours to respond to this round

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