Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 016 - Part 2

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The Fools of the Forest

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TheirWorld

“No one asked you!” The squirrel stomped his foot in agitation, then jumped over onto Guin’s shoulder. “See what I’m working with here? You know the value of my nuts, don’t you?” he asked, thrusting his hips forward in an awkward way. Suddenly, Guin felt extremely uncomfortable as she wordlessly opened and closed her mouth, searching for words for the situation.

“Hey girl,” the wolf grinned. “Why don’t you throw that critter over here?”

“Uh…” Guin managed to say, “Y-You three wouldn’t happen to be the Fools of the Forest, would you?” Guin asked. “Jeek, Ororos, And Little Lili?”

The squirrel on her shoulder began to try and crack open a nut on her head. Annoyed - and a little creeped out - she threw it off.

“Hey!” The squirrel shouted as he landed off to her side.

“I’m Jeek,” said the rabbit. Its voice was calm, genderless, and almost monotone like a robot. “Who are you to know us?”

“I don’t have a name for a creature like you,” interjected the prideful, if dense, wolf.

“He’s Ororos,” the squirrel said, putting it’s little forepaws on it’s hips. The wolf snapped at the air over the squirrel’s head. “I’m Lili. Loose the ‘little’.”

Tilting her head, she gave it a thought, then bit her lip trying not to laugh at the unwanted nickname.

“Hey! You! Stop thinking!” the squirrel shouted, throwing his nut to the ground in anger. The wolf chuckled and the rabbit grinned.

Guin regained her posture and forced a smile. “I’m Guin,” she said. “I was sent here by the Webspinner - she told me that you would be able to help me find the owl, Wise?”

The three looked to one another. The wolf, Ororos, sat on his haunches while Lili made his way to Ororos’s head, and Jeek hopped out of its hole.

“The Webspinner?” Ororos asked to confirm. Guin needed. “Well then,” he said, straightening up. “Indeed. I am Ororos Fenris, Jester of Conquest.”

The red rabbit held its ears proudly erect as it said, “ I am Jeek Jack, Jester of War.”

“And I am Lili Breaker, Jester of Pestilence.” The squirrel crossed his arms.

Staring at the three of them, she blinked. Conquest? War? Pestilence? Jesters? Guin furrowed her brow. Something was very wrong with this picture. If she was understanding correctly, these three were saying that they were three of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse

Maybe they were full of shit after all - but it was an interesting concept. Sucking on her lip, Guin fell into her thoughts. Belief was a fascinating thing. Four was the valkyrians lucky number, culturally, and it had a significant role in their religion as well. Specifically Uram.

In Uram, the Goddess Ur has four Guardians and four Grand Beasts. The Guardians are the bringers of good fortune, while the Grand Beasts are the bringers of calamity. In the lore, when the Ur became angry at the valkyrians for going against her will, she instructed the four guardians to mount her Grand Beasts, and erase the unfaithful. Thus, Yidar became a water planet. Or so the lore says; science suggested otherwise.

Back when the valkyrians first went to Earth, they arrived in four ships that were named after Ur’s Grand Beasts - and they just so happened to bear the same colors associated with the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. At the time, traditional Christians lost their minds.

Guin wished she knew more than she did. She made a mental note to look up connections later.

Ororos gave her a toothy grin, apparently thinking that she was in some sort of shock, “You were expecting something else, weren’t you? I bid you welcome, Candidate, to the Court of the Harbingers.”

“...Harbingers?” she muttered, not really looking for an answer. Looking at them made her wonder. If four was the magic number, where was the other one?

“Sent by the Webspinner…” said Jeek, relaxing a bit.

“Certainly it’s a rare thing,” said Lili, but Ororos, who had been so talkative before, had grown quiet with that toothy grin of his. Guin cringed. Somehow, it reminded her of Bahena, and she suddenly had little affection for the white wolf.

“As for Wise, we could help you find her,” Jeek said. “What do you think, Lili? Oro?”

Ororos shook Lili off his head and stepped on him before he could talk. “We can help you, little girl,” he said, sauntering forward. Guin felt her eyebrow twitch, and she crossed her arms without really thinking. “But… Say - Could you go out and fetch me something?”

“Oro-” Jeek started, but Ororos stepped on him too.

“Say,” the white wolf went. “Would you be willing to find something for me? I don’t remember what it was, but… It's something very important… Ah - but you are but a child, perhaps it is too difficult…”

Though she was sure that her face had gone from thoughtful to agitated while Ororos was speaking to her, Guin could clearly see what was happening here. Accepting this quest was the next continuation. She would not yet be able to meet Wise - but maybe there would be more rewards for accepting the wolf’s added request. She thought about the delicious +5 to fate she had gotten from the Webspinner and let out an agitated sigh. “Can you tell me anything about it?”

Ororos seemed unaffected by her agitation, and grinned wider, showing his very sharp, white teeth. “Very good, child. Very good.” the other two wiggled out from underneath his paws and glared at him, but said nothing. “There is this…. Thing. It - I just can’t remember what it’s called. It’s soft and purple, with a dash of red. It’s delicate and poisonous to those of the Mortal Realm, but a powerful medicine to those of our realm - the Spirit Realm. Now what was it called… I don’t remember,” he shrugged. “Find something that fits my description, and bring it up to me.”

>

Ororos the White Wolf has asked you to find something: “It’s soft and purple, with a dash of red. It’s delicate and poisonous to those of the Mortal Realm, but a powerful medicine to those of our realm - the Spirit Realm.”

This quest is optional. It can be skipped.>

> >

Looking at the description, Guin paused before she sent the window away. The properties of this ‘Item’ that Ororos was looking for sounded terribly familiar. She pulled up her skill window and clicked on [Herbalism]. The flower that the lady under the tree had been holding before she found the Veil Ants had sounded similar. Through the [Herbalism] window, she was able to pull up an image of the Milaou flower - and it seemed to fit the description. But where would she find it? The three of them probably wouldn’t tell her.

Still, she nodded to them absently. “I will find this thing for you.”