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[Well, someone's looking a bit more mature than usual... Aisling looks at least 13 instead of 6-8 years old - something about the shape of her face and the proportions of her hands as she brushes her hair back from a gilded tiara engraved with oak leaves. Unlike her normal, generally care-free attitude, she's actually looking a little worried.]

Does anyone know anything about something kidnapping animals and killing trees? There was some damage done yesterday, but before I could get there, the culprit was gone! One of my friends didn't come home last night, and no one around the damaged area is home either.

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[Yes she does. But she won't push it right now, instead nodding acceptance of his offer. She'll repay him later, if only to keep her own mental scales evenly balanced. She has a feeling that she's going to owe too many people too much after this.

Crouching, she reaches out one hand over the blighted area as though feeling the air currents. Gently, gently, she touches a withered flower and breathes in sharply as its stem snaps abruptly.]

It's too strange to feel from the outside... Stay here.

[Standing, she brushes at the ooze of rotten plant matter on her fingertips and looks out over the patch, steeling herself. And steps into it. A shudder runs through her, but she keeps walking till she's in the center of it next to what had been a young tree, now dry and somehow wilted, twisted. Her hands hover briefly over its surface before pressing onto them. She bows her head, partially shrouding herself with her hair, sagging slightly.]

[He listens to her, because even though he can't tell what she is, it's clear to him that she's a magical being and no matter how young she looks, she has the authority here.

But when he sees her sagging, there is too much Gryffindor bravery in him to not rush in and crouch down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.]

Are you alright, Aisling?

[She's shivering a little, and when she answers her voice is softer, breathier. Distant and tired.] This isn't a disease, but it acts like one. [It takes a visible effort for her to pull away, almost as though her hands have been glued to the trunk. Her fingertips come away last, and she staggers, devoid of her natural grace for a moment. For a moment her skin looks ashen grey, drawn tight over her face so that the underlying bone structure is more apparent, but then she shakes her head and the impression is gone. She's actually startled to see him standing there, and grabs his wrist, pulling him out of the blighted area.] It's not safe for you in there!

[Sirius lets her pull him, knowing better than to question a magical being, because even if he doesn't know what exactly she might be, he can sense her power and it becomes more apparent with every moment how linked she is to nature.]

Is it safe for you?

[Even knowing that she is some kind of forest spirit, she still seems so fragile that he worries.]

[Once they're outside the radius, she halts and releases him with a slightly guilty expression. Nope. Not answering that. It doesn't matter if it's safe for her or not. She's the guardian and she has to find out what's wrong. That did actually help and-- did that dark edge come closer? She had been about to speak, but she stops and stares at it. Black rot creeps up a grass stem, withering it from root to tip.]

[So Sirius might not actually be affected and thinking himself to be a magical girl, but - let's face it - he was close to being a magical girl even on ordinary days. So it's no wonder that he casts a spell in the direction of the black rot and puts an arm around Aisling, ready to pull her back.]

We should find out more...

[The flash of light illuminates the blight and it recoils with an almost audible hiss, leaving wan but not yet dead grass in its wake. Aisling gasps with relief and throws herself forward, dropping to her knees to run her hands through the revived stems. They perk up just a little, regaining a bit of color under her fingers. She's so delighted that she is caught completely off guard when the blight pulses darker than ever before and surges forward faster than ever, instantly withering everything within arm's reach on all sides. It seems to specifically bulge out beneath her like it senses that she is important. Or perhaps that's simply where the energy came from that heralded it's abrupt retreat and rally. Regardless, the girl is caught fully within the bounds of the affected area, in full contact with it once again. Her head comes up with a cry, then bows as she shudders and the rot creeps toward Sirius' feet.]

[He has no idea what he's facing it, but since the spell worked at least temporarily, he fires off a few more, just aiming to get her free, not paying that much attention to what's happening near him.]

Aisling? Let's get out of here!

[Again - faster - the blight recoils, allowing Aisling to scramble backward with a cry as though she were flensing her own hands. Back, ungainly as a newborn fawn she skittered, somehow managing to regain her feet. The edge is already creeping forward, slowly at first, but gaining speed, assimilating those bursts of magic.]

Run! Back to the trees!

[Her voice is high and sharp, thready with fear and despair, but she won't abandon him beside the cancerous growth. She's trembling, but steadier now, and she urgently gestures him toward the treeline.]

[He does back toward the tree, but keeps his eyes on her, makes sure that she keeps up.]

What do you want to do, Aisling? I can get us out of here. We can figure something out later!

[He could cast his patronus, they could apparate... He'd not abandon her here, though, that much he knew.]

[She shakes her head, bewildered, lost, horrified - a little girl out of her depth for the first time in a century. But despite her confusion, she regains some of her equilibrium and her fierceness. When she replies, her voice is firmer and stronger, not quite so breathy and high-pitched.]

I won't abandon the forest. Retreat to the trees and we'll see how far this spreads. I need to figure out how to stop it.

[He gives a nod, straightening up himself, wand in his hand.]

Fine. But I won't abandon you.

[Chivalry and all that. Besides, he sees more the little girl in her right now and he makes sure she comes with him as he retreats to the trees.]

Edited 2013-01-17 17:21 (UTC)

[His words visibly startle her, and she breaks her concentration to shoot him a quick glance. It hadn't occurred to her that someone - particularly someone new - might express that sort of sentiment for her. They reach the relative safety of the trees, and she effortlessly leaps up into the branches to crouch at a higher vantage point. It's easier to see the extent of the destruction from the height, and even from here, how it visibly spreads on the last of its stolen spell energy. Slowly but surely it eats into the small out-thrust point of trees poking from the forest's edge. Trees seem to be harder to digest, or at least take much longer. For now they stand serene, if beset and lonely, in the midst of the terrible black plague which eases to a halt just shy of the main forest body. A pained sound escapes her, and she makes an abortive motion toward the besieged trees.

For a long moment she is still, straining forward, nails digging into her palm, and then she sags back a little, frustrated but not yet frantic.]

This can't stand. I have to stop it before it consumes the forest. ...But I don't know how!

I could try magic again, perhaps a patronus charm, but I'm not sure whether that would just keep making it worse.

[Sirius eyes her with concern, quite honestly more worried about her than he is about the darkness. Human nature, perhaps, most definitely his nature. He wants to keep her safe, but he doesn't know how.]

Do you have any plan at all?

[The little girl grips her branch tightly as though trying to find something concrete in her shifting world and looks down at him. She doesn't have a plan. She doesn't know who did this or how it works - only the barest essentials. And it scares her to the core to think that there might not be anything she can do. For the briefest moment, it shows through, and then that well of emotion closes over with an almost audible snap. She shifts her stare back out over her home again.]

No more spells for now... It's unpredictable, and I don't want the forest to suffer for our lack of knowledge. I need to study it. I've touched it where it dwells, and sensed the outer layer from a distance. Now that the trees are... I may be able to understand it better from their point of view. I need to talk to them.

[With a sigh, she broke her eye contact with the marooned trees and looked back at her assistant. A small smile and a grave nod is almost as much of a thank you as he's going to get.]

You've been a great help.

I don't think I've been, but I tried at least.

[He really doesn't feel as if he deserves any thanks for his involvement here, but it doesn't seem as if there is really something either of them can do right now. Which is a terrifying thought in and on itself, really, and not one Sirius ponders for too long right now.]

Talk to the trees, Aisling, I'll try to stand guard.

You kept it from catching hold of me. [It was a simple statement. She didn't seem to find it upsetting, or particularly miraculous. It was something that had happened that she found some measure of value in. How much value was ambiguous. She lets the sentence hang there a moment, then takes a steadying breath, exhaling slowly.]

Their voices will be clearer if I am closer. You can come, if you want to, but don't let it catch you. I don't know what it would do to you. Lach vanished... [She faltered, and it took a little effort to get started again.] I don't know what happened. I can't even sense him anymore. If that is what happens when it touches you, I can't take that chance.

I did what I could. [Sirius isn't sure how much value he finds in it, either. But it seems to have earned him a small measure of her trust at least and so he nods.]

I won't let it catch you. I'm here to help, not make things more difficult for you. Let me come with you.

[She nods, and then she's off, scampering through the trees in an arc that will lead her to that edge closest to the blight. It's an easy enough path to follow, even on the ground, and doesn't take long to traverse. Once there, she settles into an easy-to-maintain, attentive pose on a wider tree limb, staring out toward the trees trapped in that deadly black mess.

The nervous turmoil in her expression slowly fades. Her muscles gently ease into her relaxed stance, and she closes her eyes. When they next open, they are distant. Deep as an ocean well. Dark as a starless night. Filled with ages of memory. It will be several hours before she moves again.]

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