The meeting breaks up and as some start to wonder away a few of the more important looking adults begin calling out names followed by places that those named are supposed to go to. Patrick has been through this once before, though that time it was his father who both told him to go and traveled with him.  In that outing he learned about how patrolling the lands outside of home is necessary for keeping home and family safe.  While he may not understand Ilios’s wide view of herd and family being the same thing he does understand the concept of safety in numbers as well as the simple fact that protecting the larger herd also gives protection to his small family unit nestled within it.  So, probably assuming that he will again be expected to accompany a parent, the boy lingers within sight of his mother.  Then an unexpected thing happens… his name is called.

Patrick’s blue eyes blink in confusion and then focus on the one who made the call as if expecting a correction to follow soon after.  However, no such correction is forthcoming.  Apparently he is expected to go the Heart Caves all by his little self.  Well no, not entirely by himself.  Three other names were called but as those others materialize from the crowd they show themselves to be children all and young than he is.  The confusion on the colt’s face deepens…

A group of children?  For so supposedly important a task? I can pin down the why of it but something about this just doesn’t seem right to me.  Still, no one else appears concerned by it and I am not currently interested in the attention that questioning the adults will bring.  Heart Caves huh?  Well, that is where Pop took me not so long ago so I know the way.  The others can come with me if they want or not if they don’t.  Should they choose to I’ll try to keep a loose eye on the younger kids. If they don’t and wind up in trouble well, it wasn’t on my watch and is not my problem.  I do wish one of the tree had been Sis though, at least she can be counted on to not cause trouble or get into it on purpose.

The boy turns towards the island’s shore where the pillars for the magic bridge stand.  Once there he turns and calls back to the three other children [Bellanaris/Byron/Rhun]

“Come with?”

He does not wait to see if they choose to or not. The very next key-possessing horse to open the bridge gets a silent Patrick shadow right on his or her heels.  When the fire wings put him down he casts only one glance back before moving on.  His only other concession is to walk rather than run so that he might be caught up to with little trouble.

It is a fine day in the fire warmed expanse surrounding the cave entrance.  Patrick begins his patrol on the outer edges at first only circling the long grasses.  There is little to find this way though and eventually he plunges head first among the tall wispy stalks and can no longer be seen.  Of course the bending of those stalks tracks his progress.

Hours pass before he deems the search of the grass complete… never mind that he has no idea what he is actually searching for.  His small muzzle pokes out and his head casts an odd shadow on the barren, hard-baked clay surrounding the window down to the ever burning flames at Helovia’s heart.  This is the next logical step in the process of combing the Heart Cave lands for anything that might be of interest to the important adults back home.  Yet, he continues to hesitate glancing nervously from the flat expanse to the sky above as if he is afraid that he might get dive-bombed if he ventures across that open space.

Eventually his desire to finish the given task outweighs his unease at the prospect ahead of him. He slinks out from the cover of the high grass and moves slowly across the ground. He pauses every few steps to take another careful look at the sky, then advances again at a skittering walk that is only just short of a run.  Thus he makes his way ever nearer to both the “mouth” and the entrance to the underground cave system...