The Glomdoring forest held its voice in stillness, as if halted, as the last rays of sunlight grasped the horizon in a death grip. An echo howled through the forest, shattering the sleeping dream like a hammer to glass. Soon, I will need to get all this work I've accumulated truly done, came the thought of a woman who stood on an ebonwood balcony. She watched the sky above, her deep and mournful eyes taking in the twilight heavens in reverent silence. Her hands grasped the railing before her, as the wind played a friendly game of tag along the linen folds of a simplistic blackberry robe she wore. The ground far below was littered with the already awakened creatures of the forest, their voices muffled by the howls that ripped through the canopy like a banshee's orgasmic scream. Little time did she have for their meandering deeds and situations. Time had already decreed what it would have for her tonight, scroll upon scroll piled on a dark ebonwood desk that sat glaring at her back.

A knock on her office door brought her attention back to the room, as a swift curse left her mouth in a whisper to the fool who would dare interrupt the last remaining minutes of peace she had for the night. She turned and made her way to the desk, sitting herself in a large and overpowering blackwood chair. With a deep breath, she called out for the intruder to enter. The door opened, spilling the candle light from the long hall it hid into the room along with the small frame of a faeling she instantly recognized.

"Please enter, novice," she said maternally, gesturing the girl towards one of the two chairs that sat facing her. Cautiously, the Shadowdancer sat on a chair opposite of Shayle, her eyes darting around the office in curiosity and caution. Good, she's observant, Shayle noted as she sat herself regally in a high back chair, folding her hands on her lap and hooding her eyes. The young girl fidgeted for a moment, paying more attention to a fold in her off-white dress than to the Queen of the Night that watched her closely. Nervousness. You can't blame her, really, came a nagging voice in the back of her head, before getting a mental shove back to where it belong in the depths of reachless commentaries. "What brings you here, dear?" Shayle asked benignly, all the while cutting the novice to shreds as she noted each and every detail about her. A pair of lips, a shade of pale red, sat upon a pale face with doe-like eyes that refused to look at her. Long locks of sandy brown framed the oval face, adding an interesting dimension to the small girl's seemingly meek demeanor. Shayle couldn't help but think her like a frightened doe, with hands that refused to stop pulling at that fold in her dress.

"I wanted to know if there was a way I could help the Coven," the girl finally asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Shayle perked an eyebrow inquisitively, subconsciously leaning in to keep the girl at dagger's end. The recent days had proven tiresome, Aurendil's death false as the woman had been found just at the edge of Glomdoring with her arms tied around a tree and nearly half-starved. Something was attacking the Great Forest of Glomdoring. And more, my Shadowdancers, Shayle told herself. The girl, thinking that she might have insulted the woman before her, quickly looked down and gave an audible shudder of fear in her breathe.

"But of course. Let's see what we can have you do," Shayle said off-handedly as she opened a small door at the side of the heavy desk and ruffled through a few aged scrolls. "Ah, here we go." Shayle pulled out a wrinkled scroll that had seen its better days in a much younger year. An imprint of Shadowdancers sat on the upper-right edge of the scroll, three shadows forming an ever-moving circle. She nodded to herself approvingly and handed the scroll to the novice. "Take that and read through it. I would advise you to do everything on that scroll if you truly wish to help the Coven." The girl's eyes flashed with excitement and youth, quickly taking the scroll, unfurling it, and reading it avidly. Shayle chuckled to herself, shaking her head at such youth. The saying must be true, she told the nagging voice at the back of her mind that was thrashing hand and limb to resurface, youth truly is wasted on the young. With a final vindictive dunk beneath her thoughts, she sent the dying voice back to the darkness it had surfaced from.

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A spring wind found itself keeping company with the Serenwilde trees, curving and twisting about leaves and canopy. The dawn was quickly approaching, light cascading down onto the ground below while life was beginning to awaken from the winter's slumber. Bea was one of the first druids to awaken, her hair amass on top of her head in tendrils of disheveled leaves and branches. She stretched languidly, looking down to a sleeping doe that had curled up next to her sometime during the night. It didn't move when she got to her feet, its dreams holding tightly to its slumbering body. And where did you come from, little one? Bea thought to herself, a gentle smile wrapping itself about her features. She chuckled to herself, finding an old cudgel nearby that sat propped up on ancient elm tree. With a wave of the cudgel, she said a small prayer of protection on the ground about the doe. Nature rose to her call, trees and the grass at her feet waving sentiently about the doe as a livid green glow basked the sleeping doe in a warm and maternal embrace. Sensing the spell's power and the life force of the forest answering her call, she turned and looked towards a massive tree that jutted out of the canopy just a few leagues south. And what adventures will you bring me today? As if in answer, a spotted black and white rabbit poked its head out of a hole in front of her and gave her an irritated look. Bea blushed at the silent scolding the rabbit
gave her before pulling itself back into its underground den. Good morning to you too, Bea retorted but knew she had awoken the poor mother of a brand new litter of young rabbits. Another long day. Bless Hart, one more day.