so i listen to the    wind for an answer

The tree doesn’t seem overly concerned with what they collect, so Lyanna figures maybe she should go back for something else. Because the sunflowers were not particularly easy to collect, and while she didn’t mind, she didn’t know how long she was supposed to be gone either and didn’t want to miss whatever span of life this tree would have. But there are others heading out on second trips, which makes her figure she’s certainly got enough time to find some slightly more local berries and nuts to add to the collection.

But she doesn’t get the chance. They must have been waiting and watching for the right moment. Enough horses were off gathering food that many of the stumps were unprotected, and there was more than enough to make the effort of attacking worthwhile. There’s a badger in the lead, but that’s all she has time to notice. The swarm (horde, barrage, whatever) of animals comes in full force, the ground shaking with the tree’s anger and the power of their attackers. Tiny little critters, but there were so many of them…

It’s obvious what they are planning before the tree yells, though she’s surprised to find that they are not his critters. Didn’t the members of the forest share? But of course, for all the time she spends here, she doesn’t really know how things work. It’s not as if she can speak to the animals or the trees normally, and so she only knows what’s obvious to her eyes.

A pair of rabbits zero in on her stash. She has no desire to hurt any of these critters, and certainly not rabbits. They don’t seem to care that she’s so much larger than her though. She unfurls her wings, using them as a shield against the oncoming animals. Though they only block the front, and only animals stuck on the ground. She’s hoping the tree behind her is enough of a shield from the back, and perhaps…she moves so she’s standing over her stump, using her body to shield the stump from above. She moves her wings slightly to make sure they wrap around the stump as much as she can, and flaps them around hoping to scare off the rabbits.

It doesn’t work though. They advance anyway, looking a whole lot like they are trying to calculate getting through her body shield. She drops her head and grabs a nearby rock with her mouth, chucking it toward one of the rabbits. It skitters away a bit, and she chucks more rocks at both of them, trying to chase them off.

Somewhere in the melee she registers a fire burning. No, a few fires. She can only hope those are very controlled fires, or all this gathering and fighting would be for nothing anyway. They could all be fleeing from a wildfire soon enough. She thinks she sees a dragon elsewhere, any another boy trying to scare the animals as well.

The rabbits are still lurking though, and her attentions shift back to them, momentarily forgetting to keep her attention on all her surroundings. A squirrel takes advantage as she drops her head for another rock, skittering around and behind her until he can get through her legs. His tail gives him away, tickling the underside of her belly. She jumps a bit, wings moving away enough to let one of the rabbits in as well. Neither the squirrel nor the rabbit can move the entire sunflower head though. They both grab a mouthful of seeds, but then she’s already swatting them away with the tip of her wings. She repositions herself, trying her best to cover the back as much as she can, keeping her eyes open for the next attack.

How long would they have to fend off fury creatures? She couldn’t bring herself to kill them to stop this. She’d rather just get more food. Maybe they could just feed all the animals? No, that wasn’t realistic either. Oh, what a mess indeed. And it didn’t seem like it had any good way to end. She tries not to get too upset though, trying instead to remember what Corbin had taught her. Eyes open, ears up, senses on high alert. She grabs a small stick in her mouth this time and hurls it at another oncoming squirrel, wondering what else this day might bring. No, perhaps it’s best not to think about that either.

lyanna