So, this was Bosco.

Atani had never dreamed that she would venture so far out of her elven homeland of Athalran, much less Fiore itself. And all because a royal family in a foreign country was vying for power. While normally foreign politics were not her thing, this was more than just Boscosi siblings scrambling for any old throne. Bosco bordered Fiore, as did Stella. What's more, was that all the siblings had vastly different political ideals. If one took the throne, the country would be run very different than if the other did, and that could either be good or bad news for Fiore.

But that wasn't all. There were certain members of the royal family who did not care so much for non-human races... Especially the wood elves and demi-humans. That one hit home with Atani personally. To hear that supporters of Brunhilde wanted to burn down sacred places of worship for the elven pantheon, she had to do something. Maybe if it was just her who wanted to make a stance, she would have stayed in Fiore, but that was not the case. Realizing the severity of the issue at hand with their neighboring country, lots of mages it seemed wanted to lend a helping hand. And who was she to pass up the opportunity to see Bosco?

Unfortunately, sightseeing would have to wait for later. Atani let herself settle in Bosco, but shortly thereafter, she went on her mission to support Hildegard. In particularly, she caught wind of people wanting to hurt the flora and fauna of Bosco. Evidently, Hildegard, who was a half-elf, liked to use those very things to her advantage in combat. As such, harming those would put Hildegard at a disadvantage. Some saw it as a tactical move, which it might have been in this troublesome time, but Atani could never justify bringing harm to animals and nature who may not even be recruited to Hildegard for that matter.

Regardless of whether these animals would be used or not, Atani still made it her mission to help them. Currently, she was past the outskirts of town. In the forested areas, that was where she expected animals would be harmed-- out of sight of any civilians. It was not long before she encountered a painful cry from what appeared to be some sort of avian creature. She followed the sound and found a large bird of prey stranded on the ground. It could not fly due to a long, deep gash in its wing that appeared to be inflicted from a blade. It was left to bleed out.

"Poor thing," Atani said aloud. She frowned and crouched down. Though she was good with animals, the bird was still clearly afraid and tried to leap back, only to wince in pain.

post 1

Atani, still crouched down by the bird, tried to evaluate the wound from mere inspection. It was not yet trusting enough for her to touch it, though she expected that would soon dissipate once it realized she meant no harm and carried no weapon.

The wound itself was deep. Without healing magic such as hers, it would require cleaning and stitches. It wasn’t so deep, however, that the bird was at risk of losing a considerable amount of blood in a short time. As long as it kept still, it was not terrible, though it was difficult to keep under control if the raptor continued to be scared.

Just as she predicted, the bird calmed down a bit once it assessed the wood elf posed no threat to it. She hadn’t had the chance to do much more when another person entered the scene: a young brunette girl who magically pulled gauze out of a ring on her finger.

She seemed to know what she was doing. Though the bird once again became afraid, she comforted it with gentle care. She splinted its wing with the twigs and gauze. After she had taken care of the bird— though it would need more treatment than just that— she acknowledged Atani and asked for her name.

"No, I’m not," she confirmed to the girl. "My name's Atani. I'm a member of Blue Pegasus from Fiore, and you are?"

She didn’t appear to be from Bosco. She at least didn’t have a Boscosi accent. Furthermore, she spoke Fiorian. Perhaps they were there for similar reasons.

“Good job on the bird, by the way. You seem to be really good with animals.”

post 2

The brunette girl's name was Rinni. She spoke of belonging to a group named Penumbral Guard. The name held little meaning to Atani. She had passingly heard the name before-- an old guild if she was not mistaken-- though she had never heard of its fate. From the tone of Rinni's voice, however, Atani wagered it was a sad one at that.

"... I'm sorry," she murmured apologetically. Whatever the case, this indeed confirmed Rinni traveled from Fiore just like herself. Chances were, she too came to give her support to the Sachsenwald siblings. From the brief exchange they had already, she would also guess they could be supporting the same one, though that all depended on her motives. Regardless of the future heir Rinni wanted, she could have just helped the bird because it was injured. Nothing more, nothing less. Though as for the matter of the bird, Rinni asked if Atani had healing magic of sorts to help its recovery.

"I do, actually. Thank you for stabilizing its wing. It helps my magic focus better when something isn't moving around."

Atani drew a small circle in the air with her finger. A blue magic circle glowed to life with the movement, and an identical one, albeit larger, grew beneath the injured bird. A stream of water circled its body letting off a gentle healing light. The bird's rapid breathing slowed to normal, and once the spell was complete, Atani reached forward to undo the bandages. Far calmer now, the raptor let Atani do it without flinching. Though his feathers were still matted with blood, the gash itself was healed. The bleeding had stopped, and the bird stretched out its wing to test its movement. It happily squawked and took to the sky, hopefully now knowing to keep a sharper eye out for dangerous blades.

"So, may I ask what brings you to Bosco?"

"The Sachsenwalds," the wood elf simply replied. "I'm not usually one for politics, but since Fiore boarders Bosco... You know." She shrugged. "And plus, well, as you can see I'm a wood elf. There's some siblings out there who are... Less fond of our kind. I take it you're here for similar reasons?"

post 3

Atani found what Rinni had to say rather curious. She said her kind was not accepted among all of the royal siblings, though she denied being demi-human or wood elf, which she assumed also encompassed the possibility of being a half-elf. That was rather interesting.

"Yeah, I'm choosing to support Hildegard for the time being as well. You never know what could happen among these siblings, but I'm all for her plan." As much as Atani wanted Hildegard to succeed, she was the youngest of the siblings if she remembered correctly. She wouldn't be surprised if she lacked support just for that fact, but even in her young age, Hildegard carried a lot of wisdom and suggested sound policies. Her and Cassia were among her top candidates, though it was hard to settle with anything other than Hildegard given the equality she promised over Bosco.

Atani watched as the young girl sniffed the air. Rinni explained that she was tracking the smell of blood. Curious. But evidently, her own scent had been completely masked, which Rinni found peculiar. She asked if it had to do with her being an elf, to which Atani nodded her head.

"It is," she confirmed. "Wood elves are intertwined with nature even on a biological level. Our scent adapts to our surroundings that way, blends in with whatever nature is around."

She paused for a moment.

"And you can normally sniff out the presence of people like that?"

That girl had one powerful nose. Atani had heard of magics that could augment that ability, though Rinni had said she was no mage. Perhaps it was a trait of whatever race Rinni belonged to. She had an inkling of what it was, though she was not one to pry on personal matters. The last time she jumped to conclusions on race... Well, it turned out rather interesting in the case of Lee Nakamura.

Their conversation was cut short when a cry of an animal pierced through the air. The two girls rushed to the source of the sound, only to come across three-- no, two carcasses. The third was still alive. An injured fawn. The baby deer was surrounded by its parents laying lifelessly on the forest floor. Atani squeezed her eyes shut and brought a fisted hand to her face. Extending two fingers, she cast a sensory spell. She could sense the movement of woodland animals, but nothing that seemed human.

"Rhaich!" she cursed in her native tongue. She lowered her hand and the magic circle faded away. "Whoever did this is gone. They must be fast."

She crouched down by the fawn and sighed. "People are really out for any animal Hildegard could use, aren't they. Big or small."

post 4

Atani furrowed her brows and looked at the baby deer. The culprit might have been gone, but the injured fawn was still there, still alive, and still in need of urgent help. Its blood stained fur outlined a deep injury that had to be taken care of swiftly. If not, the animal would soon bleed out.

"Sorry Rinni, this will get a little wet for a moment." There was no other healing spell left in her repertoire except for this one. Atani thrust her hand into the sky and a blue magic circle appeared beneath the area that she, Rinni, and the deer were standing upon. Rain began to fall. As it hit the fawn, the droplets glowed to life with healing energy. The spell came to a halt and with it, all water evaporated. Any wet clothes or hair would become instantly dried. Atani bent down to examine her work. The injury on the fawn was completely healed, but the animal was still very weak. That was expected of a baby who was near fatally wounded. Even if its injuries were cured, the event took a lot out of the creature. The elf turned to Rinni.

"Okay, here's the plan," she began. "The fawn's okay, just very weak. If you could look after it just a little while longer, I'm going to try and find who did this, alright?"

With that said, Atani dashed away, soon disappearing into the thick of the woods.

post 5