Under Shifting Stars

When you rejoin the march, you arrive beside the fourth group, which Inslod is currently leading. The pace of the march has slowed considerably, a fact which worries you as much as, or more than, it should. You can imagine that the fire had served to hasten the march considerably, that is, before it was put out. Your forces had been marching much too long for your horde to still be stuck in this miserable place. By your estimation you had been traveling long enough that you feel certain that you should have been in Atmor already, at the very least the sun should have risen by now. Your sleep deprived thoughts are interrupted by the typically affable, but now grave, voice of Inslod as he approaches you purposefully. This place had clearly effected him as well, his brow bore the lines and creases of intense brooding through his coarse dark hair. "We need to talk Ogma, I have some rather disturbing news." He says. His words all but inspire laughter in you, as there was nothing about this place that was not in every way unsettling or unpleasant, on the contrary this entire ordeal could reasonably be considered disturbing. Even to a people who had endured such intense hardship on a daily basis, this dark grove was nothing short of oppressive. "I highly doubt that it could be any more disturbing than trees that aren't trees or fiends that play with their food." You declare, and it is difficult for you to determine whether or not you are saying this seriously, or sarcastically. Surprisingly enough, however, Inslod barely lets you finish before almost cutting you off and ignoring your comment completely. "I know the other clans don't really travel a lot at night, but in the Plains Clans we have come to really rely on our ability to navigate great distances in the long darkness of winter and for other seasonal migrations as well. To further this necessary skill we looked to the sky and, like our ancestors, chose to navigate almost exclusively by using the stars, which is what led me to this perplexing discovery. I had noticed that when dusk first fell, the Shattered Spear constellation was entirely visible high in the sky, but a while ago it disappeared completely behind us into the trees. Then, just a bit before you arrived actually, the Washing Maiden constellation came into full view in the east, and is now low in the sky." You interrupt Inslod's boring rambling about stars for a moment, in a gambit to spare your tired brain from his discourse. "Stars move in the sky every night Inslod. Alert me if they STOP moving and then we will have a reason for concern."

"No, Ogma, you're missing the point. The Washing Maiden is a WINTER constellation! It shouldn't even be in the sky yet! From the look of the stars I would say that is a late autumn sky, not a summer one! The stars aren't just moving from east to west, they are moving south to north as well. It usually takes WEEKS for stars to move from south to north like that, not hours! I trust the stars more than I trust most anything, and if they have not failed me, then this leads me to believe that time is functioning differently here in this forest. That isn't my only proof however, take a look at this." Here Inslod takes a moment to rummage through a hide sack about his shoulder. In a moment he produces two bundles of fur which he then unwraps. Inside of each bundle rests an egg, one a thin and wispy ivory color, and the other a thick and bumpy black color. "As you know my Clans have a proclivity for beast-taming, so I decided to take a look at the most accurate biological timekeepers I had on hand. In one hand is a Rockbiter egg which I collected this past spring, in the other, a Pine Widow egg I recovered after the spider ambush earlier today. Rockbiters only lay their eggs in the spring and they hatch in the mid to late fall when the snow-scuttlers are most plentiful. According to Garran, Pine widows typically lay their eggs in the early summer and they hatch in the late winter and early spring. When we entered Gidul's Sanctuary earlier today it was late summer, and so neither of them should be even close to hatching. Yet the pine widow egg is thin and writhing with new life! Meanwhile the Rockbiter egg has shown no such improvement whatsoever, its pores remain of similar size and the shell shows no indication of weakening. If time was merely moving forward at an advanced pace, then the Rockbiter egg would have already hatched, and the Pine Widow egg would still not even be close to hatching. It seems to me that time not only behaves differently here, but it also behaves differently toward individual entities here. With that being said, it is not safe to follow the stars anymore, luckily however the moon appeared in the sky a while ago so it should be safe to follow it south. I'm not sure how long that will last though, the damn things been through a whole cycle and a half already." As Inslod finishes you fight the urge to beat him senseless, "Why couldn't you have started out by telling me about the moon!" You ask him. If you had heard that first then perhaps you might have reached the same conclusion he had without the need for so many words.

"If I had said that first, you wouldn't have bothered to listen to anything else I said." He says almost smugly, clearly taking great pride in his discovery, and you had to admit his assessment of your level of interest was correct. "The next time that you think you should endanger our lives for another of your self-congratulatory disquisitions, think twice!" You respond, your admonishment of him disheartened him but little, he was visibly satisfied with himself but was simply too tired to say much more at this point. All that mattered to you at the moment was escaping this confusing forest. "Alright Inslod, well done. Get your group together and tell Garran I need his group to reinforce yours. I want every available man and woman to carry a child immediately and pick up the pace, we're not wasting anymore time here." With that you sprint back to your place at the vanguard of this march, spreading the word to speed up as you go. Although your people are weary, you are thankful that they follow you relentlessly, there is no turning back. When you arrive at Rigga's side once more, she is not the person you are used to having as a companion. Her vivacious and reactive energies are dulled tremendously, her usually brisk pace is markedly slowed. 'She has walked far enough for today.' You think. Without a word you heft her up on to your shoulders, and either she doesn't mind at all, or perhaps she simply lacks the energy to protest. The feel of her slight frame slung across your shoulders renews your vigor slightly and you lead your people onward under shifting stars, and a changing moon, at a hurried pace. Time slowly passes and you have given up on trying to measure the rate of its passage when finally the sky begins to brighten from its dark purple shade to a calm blue. You can gradually see the forest recovering in strength and density as thin rays of light begin to break through the branches of the trees while you march further from that ominous grove. The familiar oaks and elms and maples, just to name a few, come into view one by one sporting the bright and variable colors of autumn in their boughs. 'Inslod was right!' You thought, that man was surely every bit as clever as he was long-winded. It was a welcome sight indeed to depart from the monochromatic blacks and greys of that dark forest to the colorful reds and yellows of the fall. You feel a distinct weight lifting from your shoulders as you depart from that place, and a terrible pressure is relieved from your mind. You are pleased to see that the sun is as it has always been, bright and powerful. Once you step fully into the golden dawn your mind clears almost completely, with the exception of its sleep deprived sluggishness. Your body however, has not fared so well, a gnawing hunger besieges your gut violently as though your last meal had been days ago instead of just yesterday. You had been so focused on escaping that wretched grove that you had almost forgotten your own hunger and thirst. Despite your aching stomach, you continue to walk a mile or two more before you find a place suitable for making a camp. You choose a quiet, comfortable, and verdure glen and lay Rigga gently down upon a bed of soft moss beneath a tree. You are thankful for the resilience of your people as well as their confidence in you, without it, you would likely still be wandering in that shadowed wood. Many of your number fall asleep the very instant their head touches the untainted soil of the valley, ultimately only you and Zeitsya are left awake to keep watch over the throng. You stay awake simply to better appreciate the sunlight, it's warmth on your skin is immensely revitalizing and actually pleasurable at the moment. Today was your first day in Atmor, and the sun here provided you with the warmest of welcomes.