Battles

The balance of nature asked much of me today, and I answered with fourteen creatures laid low. Seven young nightsabers, five young thistle boars, one grellkin and one full-grown thistle boar. I said a small word of thanks over each, as a druid should. The boars, I regret to say, did not wait for the end of the word.

The grellkin was the one that stayed with me. It was not a beast of the glen's ordinary kind, and Tarindrella had warned me about what the Fel Moss does to the things it touches. I walked on more quietly afterward.

The beasts of Shadowglen kept me busy. I put down seven Young Nightsabers, five Young Thistle Boars, and one full-grown Thistle Boar. I also met a single Grellkin and bested it. I take no pleasure in it. I said a quiet sorry over each one, in case Elune was listening, and I came away unhurt, which I count as a mercy.

Fourteen creatures fell to me today, and I took no joy in any of them, only duty, and perhaps a little joy. Seven were young nightsabers and five were young thistle boars. One was a thistle boar already grown, and one was a grellkin. I whispered a word of thanks to each before moving on, which slowed me down, but a druid should be proper about these things.

I came away unbroken. I did not fall into darkness today, and I would like Elune to note that.

The beasts of the glen are many, and I am not proud of how many of them I met today. When the light began to go, the tally stood at fourteen: seven Young Nightsabers, five Young Thistle Boars, one full-grown Thistle Boar, and a single grellkin. I whispered a word of thanks over each. I may have said it too loudly for the boar. He was very large and I think he took it personally.

I came away with nothing worse than a bruised dignity and a rumpled cloak.

Fourteen beasts fell to me today, and I took no joy in it, only duty. There were seven Young Nightsabers, five Young Thistle Boars, one full-grown Thistle Boar, and a single grellkin, whose wild look I will not soon forget, for it spoke of something wrong in the forest. I did not fall into darkness once. I would like Elune to note this.

Fourteen creatures fell to me today, and I counted each one and thanked it, softly, as a druid should. Seven young nightsabers, five young thistle boars, and one full-grown thistle boar, who was not young and did not care to be thanked. There was also a single grellkin, whose touch of wrongness I felt even as it fell.

I am not sorry for the work. It was asked of me in the name of balance, and I tried to do it with a gentle heart and a steady staff. I will admit that my heart was gentler than my aim.

There was a great deal of thinning to do. In all I felled fourteen creatures of Teldrassil: seven Young Nightsabers, five Young Thistle Boars, one full-grown Thistle Boar, and a single Grellkin.

I take no pleasure in it. I said a small word to each as it fell, as a druid should. The Grellkin I said nothing to, because it was looking at me in a way I did not like.

Fourteen creatures fell to me today, and I counted each one, because balance is a sacred matter and so is arithmetic. Seven were Young Nightsabers and five were Young Thistle Boars. There was also one grellkin and one full-grown Thistle Boar, who looked at me as though I should have known better.

I took no joy in the killing. The forest asked it of me, and I did it with a quiet word of thanks each time. Then, on the seventh nightsaber, I tripped over a root, which I'm choosing to call a ceremonial bow.

Fourteen creatures fell to me in Shadowglen today. There were seven Young Nightsabers, five Young Thistle Boars, one full-grown Thistle Boar, and a single Grellkin. I do not say this with pride. Each of them was part of the forest's great breathing, and I asked their pardon every time, though I admit I said it faster toward the end.

I came away unbroken. I am a little proud of that part.

The glen's beasts were many, and I thinned them as I was asked: seven Young Nightsabers and five Young Thistle Boars, plus one full-grown Thistle Boar who had not been consulted about the plan. One lone Grellkin also met the end of my staff. I did not enjoy it. I said a small word of thanks to each, which the boar seemed not to appreciate.

I took no great hurt that I will admit to. Fourteen in all, and not one of them as dramatic as the entrance I had rehearsed.

The balance of nature, it turns out, is maintained with a staff and a certain amount of apology. I thinned the young nightsabers, seven of them, and the young thistle boars, five. Then one full-grown thistle boar, who was not part of the plan and did not seem to care for my plan.

I also met a single grellkin. I will say only that the Fel Moss task has begun to feel less like a rumor and more like a shadow at the edge of the glen. I whispered a short blessing for each creature. The boars did not wait for the end of mine.

Fourteen creatures fell to me today, and I took no joy in it, though I did take a small, private satisfaction in my aim. Seven young nightsabers, five young thistle boars, and one full-grown thistle boar, who I feel was making a point of it. There was also one grellkin, the only foe that was not simply too plentiful. I felt its wrongness in the air.

The work is a necessary sorrow, as Conservator Ilthalaine says. I said a quiet word to each beast. Some of those words were sorry and some were hold still, which I fear undermines the solemnity.

The balance of nature, it turns out, is maintained with a staff and a certain amount of apology. By day's end I had thinned the forest of seven Young Nightsabers, five Young Thistle Boars, and one full-grown Thistle Boar, who I felt deserved a moment of silence and did not get one, as there was a Grellkin right behind it. One Grellkin, a creature of the fel-touched trouble Tarindrella warned of. That made fourteen in all.

I whispered a small word of thanks over each. Possibly it was loud. A sabre does not care, but the forest might.

Fourteen beasts fell to me today, and I took no joy in the number, only a solemn sort of duty. Seven young nightsabers, five young thistle boars, one full-grown thistle boar, and a single grellkin. I whispered a word of thanks over each, and I only hope Elune counted the whispers as well as the beasts.

The grellkin I looked at longest. Tarindrella's warning about the wicked Fel Moss was still fresh in my mind, and it made the forest feel a little less friendly for a moment.

Fourteen creatures fell to me in the forest today, and I do not say it lightly. Seven young nightsabers, five young thistle boars, and one full-grown thistle boar. There was also a single grellkin, who bore the sickness of the Fel Moss. I looked at it a long moment afterward.

I did what the balance asked. I told each creature I was sorry, quietly, though the boars were not listening.

Fourteen beasts fell to me today: seven Young Nightsabers, five Young Thistle Boars, one full-grown Thistle Boar, and a single grellkin. I took no joy in it. I said a small word for each, as a druid should, though by the fifth boar the word had become rather short, and by the seventh nightsaber it was mostly "sorry, friend."

Fourteen creatures fell to me today, and I took no joy in it. Seven were Young Nightsabers, five were Young Thistle Boars, and one was a full-grown Thistle Boar. The last was a single Grellkin, and I looked at it a moment longer than the others. Tarindrella had told me the grellkin might be caught in some wicked enchantment, and it is a strange thing to fight what may not be itself.

My staff arm ached by the end in a pleasant, earned sort of way.

Nature, it turns out, needed thinning, and I was handed the shears. Seven young nightsabers fell before me, their cries swallowed by the deep hush of the trees, and five young thistle boars beside them, snuffling and stubborn to the last breath. A grellkin, twisted by whatever wrongness creeps through these woods, gave me a proper start before it too went still, and one weary old thistle boar besides. Fourteen lives, all told, ended by my staff today. I murmured a small word over each of them, as a druid ought — though by the tenth nightsaber the words had worn down to something more like sorry, sorry, truly sorry, rather a busy afternoon.