Kuiper finished his note to Garyld and sent the crow on its way back to Milborne. He regarded Arachne with a suspicious look, "That is an interesting gift. You say Eldath gifted you with that?"
Arachne glanced up at him, then resumed fixing the straps of the backpack she'd just brought down from the guest room. "How else would I be able to do something like that?" she asked.
He went to his room as everyone prepared to leave and returned wearing leather armor and a long sword. He easily carried his heavy pack, and he swung it over his shoulder as the group set out from the farm. Kuiper explained that he had a raft a short way downstream and that Puddlejumper was welcome to stay in the barn with his own horse.
Already staggering toward the barn, Arachne stopped at the news. "He's not coming with us?" she asked, clearly disappointed. She swung her small pack off her shoulders and glared at it, evidently considering whether she _really_ needed to lug it with her on the search expedition. After a short (for her) cogitation, she swung it up on her back again and stoicly set off after the group.
Kuiper was a skilled riverman, and he poled them upriver to the beginning of the Hog Brook. Once they were on the Hog Brook, he stopped often and checked the banks for tracks and signs of movement. He showed Kaileer what he was looking for, but neither of them had any luck finding much of anything.
Kaileer was silent for the morning, looking a bit surprised that Arachne was capable of shapeshifting to the form of a bird. As they walk to the river he can be heard muttering about time wasted walking.
Arachne lay on edge of the raft, gazing down into the water. She checked frequently with Kaileer to learn whether anything interesting had been discovered. She said nothing about the failure to find any clues, nor did she see anything in the water that merited a swim. She refrained from starting any conversation with Kuiper.
Aloysius remained silent and sullen all afternoon. He did participate in looking along the banks, but he didn't appear to understand WHAT exactly he was looking FOR. He tended to stay a little ways away from the others, as if he was afraid of getting too close for some reason .
By late afternoon, the brook was too narrow for easy passage of the raft. Kuiper tied it to a tree and the group proceeded on foot. The rangers had still had no luck by nightfall. Kuiper suggested that they make camp and continue looking in the morning. He didn't sound overly hopeful.
The elven ranger paid attention to Kuiper's movement, trying to pick up on something he might be missing. "How long Kuiper be ranger?" He asked, suddenly curious how humans could learn the way of the ranger in such a short time.
Looking more at home in this setting, Kaileer he took a long breath to let the scent of the woods remind him of his home. "Feel good be in forest..."
Arachne slung her pack on her back again and set out with the others, quickly and silently falling to the back of the group.
After camp was made, Aloysius sat by the fire and whittled on a stick with one of his daggers. As the sky grew darker, he would occasionally look upwards at the emerging stars, but even that didn't seem to cheer him up.
A few hours after they made camp, before everyone had retired for the evening, a rustling came from the bushes outside of the area. A large gray wolf made his way into the clearing, followed by a second wolf and a dirty woman with long unkempt blond hair in a torn cloak and tattered robe. Somewhere under all the dirt and leaves she was a very pretty young woman, but it was really difficult to tell. Kuiper motioned for the party members to remain calm and still. He approached the young woman, and the two spoke quietly in a language that no one else understood.
Aloysius initally jumped up at the sight of the wolves, but then held still as Kuiper commanded. As Kuiper spoke with the woman, the mage's look of concern changed into one of fascination. As he watched the wolves, his eyes grew wide as if he had just thought of something very interesting. For a moment, it looked as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
After a few minutes, Kuiper turned to the others, "This is Oleanne. She is a druid who watches these woods. She's been following a boy from one of the neighboring farms. She saw him turn into a bear and run into the woods. He wasn't able to change back, and now he's lost and afraid. I told her that she and Belshar and Arlin," he pointed to the wolves, "can camp with us tonight."
"What about the bear?" Arachne had to ask.
"Oleanne has been following him all day. She caught up with him once, but couldn't calm him enough to help him change back. At dusk, she found a couple of people that she was afraid would be in danger from him since he's scared and confused," Kuiper told them. "She start looking for him again in the morning. If we don't find anything of Jelenneth, I'll help her. I think it's Krynen's son Maxim, and his family will certainly be worried about him."
About then, another rustling came from the bushes. Azrun and Torro appeared, looking tired and ragged. Azrun looked over at Torro, "Damn, you can run into just about anybody stumbling around out here. Let's go back out into the woods and see who else we can find out here." Azrun turned to walk back into the woods and then turned back to the group and smiled. "Long time, no see." He was clearly amused about finding the others.
Laughing at Azrun's little game, "Were hoooome." Torro spoke with a smile. "What did we miss?"
Gala welcomed Azrun and Torro back with a happy smile. "I was worried about you. After Zond disappeared...well, I'm just really glad you're back."
Maisar looks up as Azrun and Torro come out from the woods. Maisar then starts to dig in his pack, and gets out a scroll case. He opens it up and takes out a piece of parchment; then puts the scroll case back up and gets out a quill and a vile of what appears to be writing ink. Maisar lays his sword across his lap and then uses the scabard, and sword, as a crude desk so he can write on a smooth surface.
Aloysius was so intent on watching the wolves and the blond druid that he almost didn't notice Azrun and Torro. After hearing Azrun's initial jest, Aloysius slowly walked over to the blond woman, trying to be sure and not upset her canine companions.
The wolves watched Aloysius warily and one of them let out a low growl as the man approached. Kuiper whispered something to Aloysius before looking at Azrun and Torro. He questioned Oleanne in the language that the others couldn't understand and then chuckled softly at her reply.
Hearing the wolves growl, Aloysius froze in his tracks, then slowly began to back away. He strolled over to the edge of the clearing and sat down at the base of a large tree. He then folded his legs up against his body and put his head on his knees. Locking his hands behind his head, he began to rock slowly back and forth.
While the two talked, Kaileer knelt by one of the wolves. "Hello, my brother," he said (in elven, obviously), "I did not believe I would find such noble creatures in a relatively ruined (wood elf equivalent for "tame") area."
"That good," the young ranger started, "not be attack by bandit with Belshar and Arlin in camp." He scratched Belshar behind the ear like a boy would scratch a small dog.
Gala walked over to Aloysius and watched him, concern shining out of her pale eyes. She finally sunk down beside him, just trying to offer him comfort by her presence.
Kaileer stops scratching the wolf for a second and stands up with his eyes closed and and his head tilted slightly to one side. "Not have good weather when sun next rise," he says, then returns his attention to the wolves and the druidess. "Why wolf follow you," he asked her suddenly, as if the question had just struck him.
Oleanne cocked her head to one side curiously. "Belshar, Arlin, friends," she stated matter-of-factly. Kuiper added, "Oleanne has a special bond with the wolves of this area. It's part of the reason that most of the people here are scared to death of her. Some of them say that she is really a wolf, mistakenly born as a human," he smiled.
