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[quote=Kituo]Shortly after regaining his composure, Kituo took to the adjacent creek. It was exactly what he needed. He was wounded so perhaps a bit of water would remedy some of the pain and bleeding. He splashed his face to clean off the blood, allowing some of the water to enter his mouth to quench his nagging thirst. He indulged himself with the creek until he obtained his fill of water.[/quote]

The water was cool, sweet, and clear as glass. As it rushed over the stones in the creek bed it sparkled in the light of the fireflies. In Kituo's cupped hands, tiny flecks of gold floated in the water, catching the light. Upon drinking it, Kituo would immediately feel refreshed and alert, as if he'd had a full night's sleep. The bleeding at his ear had stopped, and the wound tingled.

[quote=Kituo]"W-who are you?" Kituo asked.

It was too soon. Way too soon. He had only just recollected himself when he saw the horned specter. And it definitely saw them too.[/quote]

The ghost flickered, but there was no way to tell whether it noticed him. A soft breeze gently lifted a translucent shawl around its neck. And then, it stretched its neck a little, as if to get a better view of the taller men. Its face very certainly was turned toward Kituo, though there were no eyes nor mouth -- just a glow, reminiscent of the glitter in the water.

And then, Kituo would hear a whisper in his damaged ear; it spoke in two hollow, childlike voices, like a faint echo in a cavern: "[i]I am the Sparrow King. Who are you?[/i]"

Only Kituo had heard the voice, spoken directly into his ear, though the spectre had never moved from where it stood.

[quote=Talan]His eyes were focused only on what he'd need to stay alive and so he picked up a nearby branch from the ground and a relatively flat rock and began whittling away at the branch to make into a spear.[/quote]

As shavings fell from the branch in his hand, Talan would find that the wood was still new, pliant and alive, though the branch had been found broken in the grass. With every cut of the stone, the white wood beneath the bark seeped with tiny droplets of thick, honeylike sap. It was lavender in color and smelled like sugar and tarnished silver.

Should Kituo happen to look at the sap from the branch, he might recognize it as the same liquid that had been in the glass bottle from the skeleton's cocoon.

[quote=Talan]He was about to head on his way when he noticed the masks on the trees. There was something about the wolf mask that called to him, perhaps it's similiarity to a hound he once had as a boy or the fact that it reminded him if himself. An omega wolf was the outcast in a pack, Talan was an outcast in his tribe. The two lone warriors lived similar lives and this caused Talan to reach out ever so carefully, eyes darting in case this was a trap, and plucked the mask from the tree.[/quote]

The mask was pure white and shaped out of living wood, with no chisel marks anywhere upon it, as if it had been molded instead of carved. It released from the tree easily, as if it had only been held there by the slightest resistance. The spot on the tree where the mask had been was soft, white living wood, exposed and stripped of bark. Very slowly, the wood began to ripple and grow. The tree had begun to grow a new mask.

The mask itself was slightly warm and soft to the touch. There was no physical sensation, but Talan might have the distinct feeling that the entire forest was now watching him.