The Forest's Songs

[Talwyn]

Crossing his arms, Talwyn looked away, peeved at her resignation. "Well..." He muttered sounding annoyed. "I don't know. I never claimed to hold the answers. But simply giving up because you do not know them..." Shaking his head he looked at her again.

"It just seems so... so... pathetic. Have you ever even tried to do anything about it? It..." He interrupted his speech and crouched to his knees. His hands covering his ears, his eyes shut tight. He whispered so softly that even Willowsong could not hear it. "No, no, no. Get out of mind... get out of mind..."

The magic had returned it seemed. A tiny fraction of it had been lingering in his mind it seems. This renewed mental assault was trying to use it, to once again regain control of his mind. Driving it out, he stared at her. "I'm fine. I think it's really gone now."

Without a foothold, the tiny portion of magic that had returned stood no chance against a mind as determined as his. Getting back up slowly, he rubbed his temples. "That magic of yours can be really persistent."

[Willowsong]

"I don't know. I never claimed to hold the answers. But simply giving up because you do not know them...It just seems so... so... pathetic. Have you ever even tried to do anything about it? It..."

The witch shrugged in response.
"I did, but it only seemed to feed the spell's power, like...", she trailed off, noticing Talwyn's strange behaviour. The spell had appearantly returned to try and take over his mind again. But as he didn't let it, it couldn't enter his mind again and he soon was 'back to normal'.

"That magic of yours can be really persistent."

Willowsong rose to respond, but instead just smiled briefly and looked back at her slender hands.

"Yes. That is why I wouldn't stay around, if I were you. You might fight it now, but eventually, your mind will come to a point where it no longer can resist."
That was theory, of course, she hadn't seen actually seen it yet as noone before Talwyn had been as strong as him. But she didn't really want to risk it.
"I'm getting .", she suddenly said, standing up and letting the fur drop to the ground.
"I should go find me something to eat."

Strolling over to the cave entrance, Willowsong took in a bit of the fresh air.
"What about you?", she said, playing with a strand of her long hair.

[Talwyn]

When she mentioned food, Tal's stomach growled. "Well, I wouldn't mind something to eat to be honest." He told her absentmindedly. In fact, it seemed like he lost track of everything around him as he sank back into his private thoughts.

Sitting down, his legs crossed and his head resting in his hands, he stared blankly into space. She said it was dangerous to stay much longer... Well... he couldn't disagree, that spell was dangerous. Still... all these books... think of all the knowledge to be gained! And what if... what if she had accidentally overlooked the chapter with the knowledge he was seeking?

Or she could have simply forgotten about it... there were a lot of books to read. Something that was of no importance to her might not have been remembered! Besides... if he left now, then what? It was not like he had any clues on what to do next. Which meant going back to Tamasha...

Tamasha, where he would be judged simply because of the way he looked. Tamasha, where he had to be careful beyond reason at all times. He could keep that up all day, but fact of the matter was, Tamasha was a place he'd prefer avoiding if it all possible. Which brought him back to the matter of what else he could do?

Brooding in silence, it was obvious he was not noticing anything or anyone at the moment.

[Willowsong]

"Well, I wouldn't mind something to eat to be honest."

Willowsong was mildly surprised, having not reckoned that her announcement had also invited Talwyn along. Shrugging, Willowsong left. Surely the cursed human would use the time to contemplate about latest events, without Willowsong's curse distracting him.

----

It was nearly an hour later, when some shuffling was heard outside the cave. Talwyn probably didn't notice it, too busy with his own thoughts, but that didn't stop a large black spiders with green eyes and markings entering the cave, pulling a deer after it. The deer was wrapped up in web, and the spider briefly stopped when it spotted Talwyn. After eyeing him for a while, the spider pushed the deer deeper into the cave, almost next to Talwyn. Then it climbed onto the deer, spitting some yellow acid onto the fresh corpse. Shortly afterwards, some of the deer's flesh dissolved into a disgusting puddle, that the spider then proceeded to slurp up and devour.
After doing so, it positioned its legs so that the left four legs stood on the front of the deer, and the other on the rear. Then its mandibles tore into the flesh again, and ripped the deer in two parts. The sound this created was sickening, but it only lasted for a moment.

As the deed was done, the spider pushed the part with more flesh towards Talwyn, and turned towards its own share of the loot.

[Talwyn]

Absorbed in his own thoughts, Talwyn stubbornly tried to read the books on his own. One could only admire the fervor with which he tried as he refused to give up. Tossing aside yet another book, he grabbed the next one, not noticing the giant spider entering the cave.

In fact, it wasn't until the spider took it's appetizer when he finally noticed. The slurping sound caught him off guard and he jumped up, sword almost drawn as his eyes went wide and had an anxious look. As the giant arachnid went on with it's business and ignored him, he suddenly noticed the green markings and eyes.

Recalling the image of a halfway transformed witch, he relaxed. The anxiety replaced with a slight look of disgust. Raising an eyebrow he sheathed his sword. "Willowsong?" He asked carefully. The spider ignored him however, as it started to rip the deer into two.

Being presented with part of the deer, Tal had to suppress a wave of nausea. The deer was covered with web and ichor. Not exactly inviting. Still, if he was correct about this spider being Willowsong, it would be mean of him to ignore the presented food.

Carefully grabbing it, he shivered slightly at touching it, he started dragging it outside. "Not exactly what I had in mind... but I suppose it will do." He said slightly grumpy. Leaving his 'meal' at the entrance of the cave, he left to gather firewood.

After he returned, he cleaned and skinned the meat as well as he could. Quickly making a fire and spit, he started roasting what he deemed clean enough to eat. Carefully rotating it to prevent one side from getting burned, he waited impatiently for the meat to be done.

[Willowsong]

When Talwyn returned, the spider had already devoured most of the deer, and was by now spitting out little pieces of bones that it's acid hadn't completely dissolved. When Talwyn lit a fire however, the spider just stared at Talwyn for a while, before pulling its remaining 'food' into a dark corner, away from the bright light.
Soon after the sickening noises of the spider's mandibles slurping up dissolved tissue filled the cave again, this time joined by the fire's crackling noise.

Moments after stopping, Willowsong finally resurfaced from of the dark corner, wiping some sickly-coloured saliva off her lips and pulling on the fur gown she was wearing. There was still much of her skin to be seen, but Willowsong seemed more concerned about the fire than her partial nudity. Soon however, that was covered up, and Willowsong went out of her way to avoid the fireplace, then sat by the other side of the cave entrance. She was still licking her lips and closed her eyes, slightly staggering.
The witch was feeling a little having to change so soon after a meal, but she didn't want to disturb her visitor further in another form, so she'd deal with it. But why did he have to light a fire in front of her home?

[Talwyn]

Pulling out his dagger, he cut off a piece of the roasting meat. Cursing slightly he fanned his hand and started to blow air on his fingers. Well, at least the meat was hot. Cooling the slab with his breath, he ripped off a piece and started chewing.

With a satisfied nod, he took a second bite. It seems his dinner was done. Noticing the sickening noise had stopped, he looked around and noticed Willowsong was looking at him. The fire seemed to disturb her and after a slight hesitation, he started to throw sand over the flames to put them out.

Cutting of two new slices, he turned to Willowsong once more. Putting one of the pieces in his mouth, he held out the other to her. "Ywou bwon't weem to be wewy fwond of fiwe boo ywou?"

[Willowsong]

Willowsong eased up as Talwyn had the courtesy to put the fire out, but she still kept her distance. He held out some of his share of the loot, but Willowsong declined the offer with a shake of her head, slightly wrinkling up her nose at the sight of the burned flesh.

"Ywou bwon't weem to be wewy fwond of fiwe boo ywou?"

Willowsong shrugged in response.
"I do not. So should you. You just lit a fire in my cave for reasons I do not understand, and it thanked you by burning your food. Why did you hold it above the fire anyway? You were just asking for it getting burned..."

The witch started peeling some flesh out of the small gaps in between her teeth. They must have gotten stuck there when Willowsong's spider mandibles transformed back into human teeth.
The sun was now beginning to replace the fog of the morning, and Willowsong embraced this by pulling off part of her fur gown and letting the sun shine upon her reddened, cold feet, legs and arms. Talwyn probably could see part of her chest if he would tilt his head in the right angle, but Willowsong had never been given lessons in human manners and culture.

[Talwyn]

Talwyn laughed, obviously amused. Both of the fact the roasted meat seemed to disgust her, as well as the fact that she did not seem to know the concept of cooking. Swallowing yet another piece he explained the concept of cooking to her, or at least tried to. "Humans don't eat raw meat. Roasting it, like I just did, brings out more flavor. Also, raw meat can make us ."

Turning his attention back to the food he grew silent once more. After being full, he turned around. "Say..." He started off. Looking at Willowsong, his face turned red and he quickly turned around again. "I uh... was wondering. Is it possible your books could still hold the information I seek? All I read was a single chapter after all."

[Willowsong]

"Humans don't eat raw meat. Roasting it, like I just did, brings out more flavor. Also, raw meat can make us ."

Willowsong shuddered.
"Humans eat burned meat? No wonder they taste so...bad..." she responded, remembering such an instance. She picked up some soil of the ground, rubbing it with her thumb.
"It saddens me that humans are so disconnected with the nature they came from... I mean, you cannot eat meat as it comes from nature?"

Willowsong turned a puzzled look on her face, but then noticed that Talwyn was just turning away from her, his skin blushing.

"Why are you so red? Did the 'roasted meat' not bade you well?" she asked, but Talwyn already seemed to have his mind elsewhere again.

"I uh... was wondering. Is it possible your books could still hold the information I seek? All I read was a single chapter after all."

Willowsong turned away again, thinking.
"It is possible." she finally replied.
"But you should stop thinking about these books. The last time you gave in to learn that book's content, it did not end well."

[Talwyn]

Talwyn blushed even deeper. "No... there was nothing wrong with the meat." He stumbled, refusing to look at her. When she told him it was possible however, he jumped up and turned to her, looking at her back.

"It went well enough did it not?" His voice sounded determined. "Please Willowsong. Those books are currently all I have to pin my hopes on. I must try! I have to! Please understand." there was a slight edge of desperation to his voice now.

[Willowsong]

"No... there was nothing wrong with the meat."

"What is it then?", the witch asked, but Talwyn was spared an answer as he suddenly came up with a crazy idea. Again.

"Please Willowsong. Those books are currently all I have to pin my hopes on. I must try! I have to! Please understand."

Willowsong chuckled dryly at this, appearantly not taking the idea seriously.
"You do realise it could take days until you read through all that? And that you would be under my spell the whole time? And that that temporary transformation I brought on you is unstable? It could escalate at any minute. A major problem is getting your...other self to cooperate. You seemed more eager to compliment me than actually read the book."

She responded, but somehow the witch realised that Talwyn would insist on it anyway. What had happened to him...was it really so bad that he now was madly obsessed with setting things right?

[Talwyn]

"Yes, well... as far as I recall, you did not seem to mind very much either." He said accusingly. "Besides." He went on. "Could we not take it in parts? I don't have to read it all at once after all." Looking into her green eyes, his hazel ones looked determined and pleading.

"Also... I think I can... resist... your magic more accurately now that I know what will happen. It's still there, nagging at the back of my mind. But it's no worse than that annoying mosquito that buzzes around you at night." He shook his head sadly.

"I have to try." Pleading with her, he placed his hand on her shoulder. "You wanted to have a friend did you not? Friends take risks for each others sake, so please!" Trying to convince her with all his might, he conveniently left out that a true friend, would also make sure the other would not take risks that were too great.

[Willowsong]

Sniffing, the witch pulled her gown tight, then rose, taking a walk over the grave yard in front of the cave before returning to the entrance.

"You are cruel for forcing me to do this for the exchange of friendship."
She bit her lower lip, appearantly reconsidering. But after another moment of silence, she spoke again.
"If you try to resist it...the transformation of your eyes might not work, or be connected with great pain. But I cannot cast the spell on your eyes if you do not follow my will again. It will be a delicate line, but if you think you are up to it..."

Again, Willowsong fell silent, biting her lip again. This pause ended as well, however.
"And you should know that trying it several times just...asks for something to go wrong..."

Kneeling down, she held her hand over the warm ashes of the fire Talwyn had extinguished earlier. It was still too hot for her taste, however, and she took her distance again.

"Think about this for a moment before making any brash decisions. Then, I will do as you want...friend?", the last part was more desperate. It was sad how much she was willing to risk and do if someone would just consider her a real friend.

"So if you still want to...well, you know how it works and what you have to do..."
She bit her lower lip yet again, turning away from Talwyn

[Talwyn]

Talwyn shook his head at the accusation. "I am not forcing anything for the exchange of friendship Willowsong as you already have that. I was merely pointing out support and help each other."

He knew he was being a bit cruel here. Naturally, he had realized she was craving for friendship. And in return for what he wanted, he would be more then willing to provide it to her. Thus it was not her caving in to his request that surprised him, but rather the ease with which he got his way.

Brushing aside her comment about thinking it over for a moment he sat down. Why would he want to think this over? This was an opportunity. He would grasp it with both hands and reel it in. He was well aware of the risks, but he couldn't care less. Entering ancient ruins was no less dangerous. In fact, it presented more danger as he never knew what to expect in those.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose and breathed out through his mouth, clearing his mind. He chuckled in his mind, to her, this could possibly look like thinking this over after all. Opening his eyes, he looked at Willowsong.

"Thank you, my friend." Giving her that final push, he let go of his resistance, and invited the prodding magic in slowly. Unlike the first time, where she had done all she could to make it worse, the magic was not bombarding him this time. It was more like it was slowly but certainly, capturing his mind in it's web.

Letting the magic wash over him, his eyes, instead of filling with desire for her like the first time, turned blank. So far, it seemed to be working. He was letting the magic take over slowly, but he would on to his sense of self. He would not let the magic drown him this time.