In an attempt to clear his mind from the bizarre new happenings about town, Ayrin plodded down the mountain path on his way from the library with his four legged friend, Niabi, pacing at his side. Monsters not like any he had seen before were showing up in Jastrey, at an increasing rate. He couldn't think of a better term to describe them other than "abomination"; not even the tarasque he faced many mestruns ago was that horrifying. Ayrin snapped back into focus as he nearly tripped over a stone while lost in thought, the pathway before him becoming rockier.
In his arms he carried a multitude of books both big and small, some quite dusty and old and others of a more recent printing, as well as a large satchel that occasionally squirmed on his back. Not wanting to be a bother to anyone in the library or be disturbed himself, the uordeq sought out a quiet spot to read and practice his magical studies. Ayrin knew his grarl abilities were fading and fast, and he wished to rectify that. He thought that maybe he could remedy his failing traits by becoming a druid, which would enable him to regain his ability to speak with animals and perhaps even regain a similar form to his old deer self.
Having come to a peaceful outcrop, he laid the borrowed books on the grey stone and sat down with his back to the mountain. His doe curled up beside him in turn, her ears flicking at distant sounds, attention focused on the books before her. She eyed the pack he carried every now and then while he set up. Ayrin spread the stack of books out, their topics ranging from healing and druidry all the way to shapeshifting, lycanthropy, and some of the less reputable immortals. He pulled one in front of him, The Basics of Healing Magic, and took the satchel off his back, setting it aside. Once the book was open to where he left off, he reached over to his bag and revealed a small, injured fawn. The uordeq smiled softly as he placed the young deer in his lap and stroked Niabi between her ears. The doe showed a look of concern in her eyes, but Ayrin shot her a reassuring glance as he began muttering spells and running his hand over the fawn. The fawn shook slightly and tried to tend to her wounds, lapping at the tears on its legs.
With a flash of white magic [Heal 4], the fawn leapt from Ayrin's lap, leg mended and like new! The duskling grinned at his progress as it hopped around cheerfully in front of him, weaving between tomes. The savage bitemarks that striped the baby deer's legs had vanished and fur covered where scars would have been left. Niabi's attention migrated to her offspring and began to groom the small cervine. Ayrin dove back into The Basics of Healing Magic, pleased with himself.
A few moments later a Sandy colored ulf appears as well, back from the direction of the tower looking at the ground as if following something. Feeling the ground shaking he had moved up quickly, his staff ready just in case. He lowered his guard when he realised it was only rune.. though he was surprised to see the construct running anywhere.
Hearing the exchange he shakes his head with a bit of an amused smile on his face. "Don't worry Rune. Aryin just didn't know that the books weren't suppose to leave the library." The fox tells the golem. "I was already on my way to talk to him about that." I say before directing my attention to the urdeq.
"Sorry about that. But we keep the books at the library so they won't get misplaced. If you need a quiet space to read them we have open rooms.
The two deer and the uordeq snapped back to look for the source of the loud rumbling, spotting the golem as it raced down the mountain. Ayrin cocked an eyebrow and wondered why Rune was running and where it was going, but turned back to his book. He yelped and jumped in surprise at the sound of the construct's voice, fumbling with the book in his hands.
"Oh h-hey Rune," the duskling smiled sheepishly.
"I was just practicing the healing spell I learned recently and doing some more reading," he gestures to the books in front of him and the fawn he had healed shortly before the golem's arrival. He turned as he heard another familiar voice, and was met with the sight of the fennec ulf.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know about that.. Poppy actually brought me these the other day so I figured it was alright for me to have them outside of the tower." Ayrin apologized to the two docents, bookmarking his place and setting the book down in front of him before standing. Niabi and the fawn remained seated on the cool stone. She turned her head to look at the ulf who made his appearance, craning her neck towards him, nose twitching.
"Please don't worry though, I'll bring the books back in the same condition as they were when they were taken from the library. I didn't wanna bother anyone or risk my friends here damaging any of your publications."
"Poppy..." emits from the construct in a tone deeper than it normal emits. Its attention then turns to the urodeq in front of it. "How do you think your friends would be less harmful out here, in the woods, opposed to in the shelter of the tower? This one also needs to lecture you about the dangers of practicing alone, let alone without someone with greater experience than your own. What if you had botched the spell? Perhaps mutilated your friends in the healing. Muscle groups set in the wrong place, bones out of alignment. We have many theurges who would have happily taught you the basics of this art!" rumbles out of the stone chest of the golem
It picks up one of the tomes, and then another. "These are copies, and some of them appear to be Poppy's personal tomes. This one cannot fault you for taking them from the tower, as you did not take them. While it is not this one's place to be disappointed, it is all the same. Your own guild mate could have helped you on this path you have embarked upon. Althena or even Poppy could have aided you as well." The construct sets the books back on the pile.
The golem crouches to be eye level with Aryin, "Your pursuit of knowledge will never be a bother. This one's whole directive it to help and educate. Not kill demonic tyrants, nor storm giants, nor even these new horrors from the beyond. This one is grateful for the guild that has gathered around it, and their willingness to aid this one in it's directive. You should take advantage of the tools at your disposal."
"Besides," emits from the golem as it stands, "cervine creatures leave smallish droppings yet? They cant be worse or as ill behaved as the bear that used to live in the tower."
Weylyn relaxed a little bit as Rune appeared not to be upset. The golem had been a bit tempermental lately. "My appologies Aryin-san. I didn't know that Poppy had made copies just for your use." I admit to the former Grarl "Though Rune-san is right, we have plenty of places you can study in the tower that's devoid of other books." he adds.
"Well.. " he thought for a moment, "Out here there are plenty of trees and other vegetation they can eat, rather than be tempted by the books. But since I don't need to practice spells on them now, I'm sure it'd be alright for me to leave them outside of the tower." Ayrin continued. He listened to Rune's explanation of possibly botching spells and winced at the thought.
"Ahh, you must forgive me.. I didn't really think of the possibilities or consider asking others to assist me. I'm very new to practicing magic.. as you can see," The uordeq explained and shifted on his feet.
"I suppose I could accompany the two of you back to the tower, I would hate to mess up a spell and not have someone to help." He grabs his pack and scoops the tomes up, depositing them into the bag. He slings it over his shoulder and gestures to Niabi and her fawn to come with him. The uordeq looks to the construct and the fox to lead the way back before a puzzled look appears on his face.
"Hold on.. horrors from the Beyond? Rune, is that what those strange creatures plaguing town are? I have not heard of this place before," Ayrin inquired. "I would like to know more about these things, if you know more about them."
"Oh hey Goose," Ayrin leaned to one side, looking past the pair of docents in front of him to greet his fellow Bear. "Nothing's wrong, I had come out here to practice healing magic and do some reading when Rune and Weylyn here ran into me." the duskling explained.
"I thought it would be better for me to practice out here rather than possibly disturb others in the library; my friends here sometimes don't distinguish 'book' from 'leaf'." Ayrin gestured to Niabi and the young deer beside her.
"Are you doing alright yourself? You look like you could use some rest."
Weylyn's smile dropped and his ears laid flat on his head "No... you really don't..." he said, his tail twitching in agitation "Not that we have any information on them but the one person who we know found out things about those creatures went insane..." He told the urdeq from what little he could remember from the night at the sanatorium and the journal that he had somehow retained.
He shook his head to clear it "But yes. having someone who could help you training would probably be for the best." He said before looking over to Goose as he arrived, acknowledging the dryad with a bow of his head in greeting. "I'm surprised you did not contact Goose-san first if you wanted to learn the healing arts."
"This one must admit its ignorance on the subject. Very little is known. Those gatherered here are still trying to expain what we saw and experianced with our most recent foray into that horrid place." emits from the construct
"As far as your friends go, they are still welcome in the tower. Simply go to the top level. The greenhouse is up there, and there are a plethora of greens they can eat. Give this one a day to further secure the more harmful plans it grows, at least until you are ready to use them. Goose, you should join your guildmate there, and guide him through the first steps of the path he seeks. This would would prefer to keep you close at this time anyways."
A confused and concerned look grows on the uordeq's face. "That's... uhh.. weird." Ayrin replied to the pair's encounters with the Beyond; he made a mental note to ask others and find out more.
"Well the healing magic seemed simple enough to practice on my own, I did mean to ask Goose about druidry once I got to the point," he toed at the pebbles at his feet idly.
Ayrin nodded in response to the golem. "That would be great, and hopefully they don't do too much damage," he laughed and patted Niabi on the neck. She flicked her ears and blinked slowly as if to acknowledge and agree. The duskling then turned to Goose and spoke.
"I'm going to head back to the Bear camp for now, perhaps I will see you back there or in the tower soon!"
A hail of pinecones and what sounds like a rockslide coming down the mountain annouces the construct Rune as it comes barreling down the path. It runs past but dissapears afew feet beyond the urodeq in a flash of blue light.
"What are you doing young one?" emits from the construct, as it looms of over the urodeq.