[Video]

[coimiceoir]

[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.

Comments

[Action]

[coimiceoir]

[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.

[Action]

[alwaysimpure]

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.

[Action]

[coimiceoir]

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.

[Action]

[alwaysimpure]

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.

[Action] Wrap?

[coimiceoir]

[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.]