The Hart's sacrifice(CLOSED)

[Iliad]

Chev followed after Reinn as often as he led, content to watch and observe his mate scavenge for his meal through the forest, digging, climbing and searching out every early spring berry or mushroom or crop a human might eat.
He was pleasantly surprised by Reinn's abilities in the woods, he would come to know far more before the season was out, but it seemed Reinn would rather find it out for himself then seek aid, something Chev found admirable.

He had never been around humans save the occasional sacrifice, to him they were wild and exotic, unpredictable but inherently beautiful. Something the god had seen little of since the early days of man when they had been little more then animals themselves, only ever watching through the forest edge as they went about their day, or hidden in a canopy of green as they hunted for their meal.
But soon Reinn would be something separate, neither human nor beast, but the mate of the forest, not belonging to either world, and for a moment the god wondered if it was the right thing, if he had in some way ruined the other, but he pushed the thought aside, only time would tell, and only Reinn would be able to decide that anyway.

"Your family, they must be proud of you, you're very skilled in the forest allready." Chevreuil commented after a while of simply watching in silence, curious about the boys life before all this, as he mulled over the other and what best to do for him, or what the other might even want. He knew so little, and could only hope he would be forth coming. He wondered if the other dreamed of a family at all before this ordeal.....

[MagnaCarta]

Reinn had gathered all he could really carry for both himself and his family. He turned to Chevreuil, flushing a little at the compliment,"Well, I was the pride of the family for being as quick as I am. Being quick means doing plenty of foolish things before I'd thought them through as a child. The presence of speed came long before the presence of wit, I guess. It's less my own skill and more that food seems to be more in abundance this deep in the woods. I'd imagine it would have to be, if the sounds I've been hearing betray a vast multitude of beasts like it seems to. If the people of my village weren't afraid to venture a little farther into the woods, it would be much easier to find food for everyone."

The began walking I'm almost glad that my village is afraid to venture this far into the forest. Reinn looked carefully as to where his feet tread, not having to look terribly hard to find even more edible bits simply growing low to the ground on buried partially in the soil. He seemed troubled for a while before finally he couldn't help but share his thoughts,"I think it might actually be for the best that my village never find the forest to be safe enough to trek through. We are taught not to over-indulge too heavily on the gifts nature gives us, and yet I know a few who would not stop simply at being full. If I could believe that those people would stop before they began over-zealously taking life from the forest that protects us, I would tell them of your gentle nature. This, sadly, would not be possible, since those foolhardy men are powerful and able-bodied, born just before me."

He was quiet again, stopping just at the edge of the glade before once again speaking up,"I hope that someday my spirit will be forgiven, but I can't tell my rath the truth. I'll tell them instead of the other option you had presented me with yesterday, taking it as reality. I'll tell of a deal struck between the steward of the forest to spread the forest far and wide, coming back to take the seeds I'd need for it. I'll tell them of the fire, and why spreading the forest will lead to it's preemptive smothering. With my only physical strength being in my speed, it must be more plausible than the truth, at any rate. It gives me an excuse to return many times back to my home."

[Iliad]

Sorry I was out for a bit, things got crazy at work. D: ))

Chevreuil nodded as he listened to the others voice, mingling with the sounds of the morning forest, it amused him Reinn's thoughts on the forest and his rath, if only the boy knew, but he was painfully close to the truth atleast. For his youth Reinn seemed wise beyond years, he had known humans far less level headed then this, and was glad it was Reinn who would bear his fawn. "Greed is not an entirely human trait, but malice is, combined with greed it is their downfall, though take comfort in knowing compassion and sacrifice are also hallmarks of humanity, both of which you embody, if only all of your village did, I think things would be as they once were." Chev commented serenely, like a smooth lakes surface, though what hid below it was hard to say.

It was only after more walking he chose to comment again, falling more readily in to step with the other, their hands brushing now and then as they walked. "I think it wise not to tell them the truth the moment you return, but still, I can see nothing to be gained by lying to them. Its your family and rath though, and regardless, I would defend you in your choices." was all he would say on the matter, walking in silence with him for close to an hour before the scent of wood smoke from the village could be made out, and the forest grew more silent as less and less animals appeared.
"Should I accompany you?" Chevreuil asked, his voice much quieter now, as if like a real deer he diliked to draw attention to their location now that they were closer to the woods edge. "Send you with some token of proof prehaps?"

[MagnaCarta]

(It's alright, things happen~)

Reinn looked conflicted. He didn't want to lie to his rath, much less his family, and it would be ideal if he could tell them of Chevreuil's least violent nature without them taking the thought in their heads to venture very far into the forest. As for being the embodiment of compassion and sacrifice, he'd rather not touch on it, not being a person to wallow in praise of his character.

Eventually, Reinn nodded and took the first step across the threshold of the thinned forest edge. He then turned around and addressed the god,"If you'd like join me. I wouldn't be adverse to the company. I suppose it would be better to simply tell the truth. However, if they do not ask I will not tell the whole truth, not yet. I would think it best to warn them against travelling far into the forest. I'd like to think it was for the forest's own good, but I'm not dim enough to believe that nothing strong enough to bring a swift end to our warriors inhabits it's bowels." He looks down to the food in his hands,"For now, I'll simply bring these back and let the questioners come as they may."

He began walking, checking after a while to make sure Chev was following him. He had a strange feeling of trepidation settled deep in his gut, though from what he couldn't place. It was only a short walk over flat plain from the forest to his village, but until he made certain the cervine being was following him, he felt unsafe. Perhaps, if he were still in the heart of the forest without Chevreuil without having agreed to carry this new life, he would be.

[Iliad]

Chevreuil paused for a moment before taking that last step out of the woods, it felt odd to be walking in the plowed field of crop wheat, without trees above or around, but still the god walked side by side with Reinn. "The forest has ways of protecting itself, though humans are far more patient then the forest can be, even the wolves can do only so much... still, I will let you decide what is best, though I would advise you not to tell them I am the god of the forest, simply tell them I am a warden as you are, which is truth in its own way." Chevreuil responded, glancing about the field even as he spoke, though he looked calm it was evident if he had been in his deer form his ears would have been swiveling at every noise, he was out of his element, though steadfast in his choice to follow Reinn.
Chev supposed it was to be expected, but part of him cried out with the voice of a mountain lion to protect his sacrifice, be if the boys own virtues of the life he carried the ancient stag couldnt tell yet, but suspected in time he would have to learn many new lessons about himself, and humans alike.
An unsettling thought, but as the village loomed ahead, and people could be seen now going about their day, Chevreuil resigned it to the dark quiet corners of his mind to lurk untill he could deal with it more wholly.
"Be strong..." He murmured to Reinn, though this was his home village, the god suspected even with only a night the forest had changed him, and he would soon learn that.

[MagnaCarta]

When Reinn crossed into his village, the familiar sights that brought with them the heavy scents and clattering sounds that had once comforted him upon returning from the fields set him just as on edge as the sounds of the forest animals had the day before. The realization that perhaps the forest had changed him turned the roiling uncertainty in the pit of his stomach into a dread so strong it made him feel physically ill. If he someday didn't feel as if this was his home, what reason did any of his sacrifices have to him?

He quickened his pace to a near dash, rushing back to his house at a pace that made him forget to keep close with Chevreuil, who didn't know the rath very well in the least. He slowed down only to stop himself from running headlong into his mother, who must have heard the rapidly spreading word that someone had seen him coming from the forest. She embraced him, holding on tightly until he slowly fidgeted out of her grasp, holding out the load in his arms for his mother to take. Though she lifted the light fabric of her skirts to more easily carry the goods, her eyes never left from her son or the man beside him,"My dear son, why have you been delivered back to us safely? I'm forever grateful as a mother to have been allowed to keep you as my son, but as an sacrifice to the gods, were you not fit to be had?"

Reinn followed his mom back to their house, where he received another embrace from his ill brother, glad to have been able to come back simply for him,"I'm not long to stay home, unfortunately... There's to be a large conflagration in the forest, one no mortal power can stop. Upon my shoulders has been placed the task of doing just that, to contain the rebirth of the forest through means less destructive to the human life depending on it's continued existence. In short, it seems I'm of much more use alive, as a warden of our forest."

His mother looked at him, seeming as if she was attempting to glean the whole story from his eyes, or find one false sentiment in his heart. She didn't understand what had happened to her son, but she trusted that he would be strong enough to persevere through whatever trail he'd come to have to face,"Will you be alright? Will you be safe to return to me when you are able, or do I see you now only to have you taken from us a second time after?"

Reinn's eyes light up, trying to assuage the fears of his family,"I believe I should be fine to return to you for many years to come. I'll come to you when I may and once I'm more certain of the situation at hand I will tell you what I know. For now, be content by the knowledge that I'll be protected from anything against which I cannot protect myself," He looks to Chevreuil, hoping his fairly relaxed manner will give relief to some of his tension as well,"This man is another warden, perhaps one of the first. I am certain now that I was not the first to be brought to this position." Reinn had given it some sparse thought, and with no great mention of devastating fires moving around the rath, even from long ago, he'd found his words must have some truth to them. It was something to have words with the god about another time.

[Iliad]

(Sorry again for slowness, iv had three finals all due the same week, I swear my teachers are trying to give me carpal tunnel!!! ))

Chevreuil felt the eyes of the villege as he followed after Reinn, this world was alien to him, and in it he was only a god so long as they believed he was, the scent of work animals, of homes, of cook fires, of humans, smoke, and refuse all hit him with their pungant scent like a prey animal in the den of a wolf.
But the god put it aside, always keeping Reinn in eye sight, though he hardly picked up his pace, and choosing to keep back from the boy and his family. He had no place in the circle of his sacrifices human family he knew, but still, it was hard not to watch, not to see the people he had been born to, the ones who had raised him till now, who he would die to defend.
Chev knew he couldnt see what Reinn saw, but that didnt stop him from trying, even as more villagers began to assemble around them.
It was only when Reinn made mention of the hart that he stepped forward, bowing formally to the family, wondering vaguely if that was still a human custom. "I can assure you of your sons safety, he is of the forest now, and of my own watchings." Chevreuil said, voice calm and self assured, he ment every word of that, he would keep the boy safe, and so too would the forest, he only helped that the promise would bring some soothing to his family.

[MagnaCarta]

(That's alright, as you can tell I'm kind of having issues catching up with everything! I might disappear here and there, too, so sorry in advance)

Reinn's mother seemed hesitant to let her son leave anymore, but if he'd been fated to a duty elsewhere, she found peace that it was something as noble as keeping them safe. His brother was harder to part with, but after a long hug that found the smaller boy being lifted off his feet, and a few assurances that he'd be back, if only to visit the boy and see his father again, Reinn gave another goodbye to his family as he departed with Chevreuil.

The duo was stopped here and there by curious neighbors wondering why he'd come back alive, and if he was alright. He gave them the same story he'd given his parents the first few times they'd been stopped, but after a while he just diverted them to his home, where they'd be sure to go afterwards anyway. It was when they were at the very edge of the rath that they were stopped by the elder himself, along with his attendants.

"Reinn, boy, what mercy has brought you back to us? I would imagine your presence marks the end of this village, but there has been positive stirrings wherever I have been while looking for you. It seems as though, however, that you're not staying long, why?"

He repeated his story, yet again to the village elder, making certain it held no difference to the two he'd told before it,"So as a result, I have to return to the forest. Truth be told, after being granted this duty, being in the village has left me a little anxious. If you will be so gracious as to allow me continued entrance to the rath to see that my family is well, I will do my best to keep the forest just as thriving."

The elder had no qualms about letting the new steward come and go as he pleased, though he did give a few curious and mildly speculative glances to his partner as they left out of the rath.

Walking slowly back through the field, Reinn looked a little contemplative, worried about the feelings that had filled him as he'd moved through the village. As they reached the forest once more, he simply sat at the first clearing they'd found, seeing nothing much else to do but sit and rest after the unexpected stress of leaving the forest had left his body strung tight.

Eventually, he looked to Chevreuil to ask after his new task,"What else am I to be doing as this supposed guardianship? Am I really to be sitting idly while I grow new life? Women in my rath toil just as hard as any man in the field, and in the home, even after they begin carrying children. They work until their pains come and only then do they stop. It's something to be respected, but if I'm to stay here in the forest, I have none of that to do. Surely I can't be completely idle for three quarters of a year?"