The Guardian

[Airan]

Name: Priideep
Species: Frog
Gender: Female
Age: 25

Perched high up in an ash, blending easily into the green leaves, a pair of frogs spoke casually in their clicking, creaky tongue. ["Keeper Priideep, what is the fiercest beast you have had to face as a protector?"]

The older frog kept her eyes on the small pool below, throat fluttering, nostrils winking.
["Probably the snake,"] she answered at last. 

Assistant Sedgwik's large mouth gaped. ["Y-you fought a snake?"]

["That or the ducks,"] she amended.

["I don't know how you can compare ducks to a snake."] Sedgwik shook his head in wonder.

["Ducks are far more destructive and dimwitted. A snake is quick to snatch, but slow to swallow. It didn't take much to convince it to leave. The ducks, on the other hand... We used nearly all of our arsenal to drive them away and still lost half of the clutch."]

Sedgwik let out a soft whistle. ["And here I thought that redshank was bad."]

Priideep cocked the spring-loaded wrist-shot on her forearm as a dragonfly buzzed in, hovering close to the water's surface. Her other assistant, Briijeet leaped from the foliage below, gulping down the threat with a sloppy crunch of wings.

["There are a lot of predators,"] Priideep sighed. ["If we didn't start out with as many eggs as we do, there would be no tribe at all, I'm certain."]

["You're the best Keeper the tribe has had in years, though. They say not only are the tads under your care more numerous, they're healthier and cleverer than previous generations."]

Priideep glanced at Sedgwik. ["You are pretty clever, Wik, but you should talk less and listen more."] She held a finger to her lips. The other frog cocked his head. A quiet crunch of leaves nearby reached their round, tympanic ears. They crouched and waited until a fox limped out of the surrounding forest, stumbling toward the small pond. Sedgwik scrambled to load his sling when Priideep halted him with a cold hand.

["Wait,"] she whispered. ["He might not even know the tads are there. Foxes don't usually go after frog spawn."]

Sedgwik relaxed when the fox began lapping water thirstily out of his cupped paw, but both frogs jerked with surprise when the fox gagged and spat, rubbing at his tongue.

"Blughhh! What is this oily sludge?" He spat several times into the precious pool and stalked off, angry.

Alarmed, Priideep sprung down the tree to the earth below.

["What did he say?"] Sedgwick hurried after her, but Priideep was too focused on the nursery to respond. She put a hand into the water and noticed for the first time the strange sheen rippling across its surface. She looked then to the mouth of the small stream that fed the nursery and was horrified to see a dark stain spreading slowly outward, filling the small sanctuary with deadly tendrils of smothering silt. She looked down at the useless weapons in her hands.

["Where is that coming from? Can we stop it?"] Briijeet joined the other frogs, staring at the foreboding mass.

Priideep reached a hand deeper into the pool, bringing up a freshly hatched tadpole. It was too easy to catch. She rushed over to their camping supplies and found a clean pot to place it in, pouring the contents of her water skin into the pan. Her assistants added their clean water as well, but the tad's movements remained lethargic and weak. Priideep spoke to it with soothing trills and encouraging chirps, but after an hour the hatchling's slow squirms ceased. Priideep bowed her head low.

["Not even one,"] she croaked softly.

[Airan]

Name: Shahin
Species: Hare
Gender: Male
Age: 23

The crypt was made of travertine tunnels, floor and tombs and lintels all laden with dust. The long dried and crumbled flowers in every nook belied the dried and crumbled status of their occupants; time had long since removed anything that made a scent.

But that did not explain the presence of two hares facing each other down in one of the deeper rooms.

"Such a dirty word." Shahin scrunched up his nose. "This is just... archival work."

"Shut it, graverobber." Constable Etienne Hart left the emphasis dripping with anger, hanging in the air between them.

"Oh come on, Eti!"

"Constable Hart!" The haremaid's sword moved closer to his throat.

He chuckled. "Alright, Constable. So! August Clade had an illegitimate son in the ranks of his own brigade. At Raven's Burn the boy was injured, but August hauled him from the battlefield and was mortally wounded in the process."

"I didn't ask you for the tour. I ordered you to come with me."

"Potato, topaypo. I've got what I want." Shahin showed her the old oaken buckler, bronze rim and studding, strapped to his arm. "Worth nothing to anybeast but me."

"Then why steal it?" Her voice cracked, and Shahin couldn't help but grin.

"Because it remembers!" he said. "August Clade is long dead but his buckler remembers what it is, to defend a life at any cost."

She let out a massive sigh. "It doesn't, Shah. This was cute when we were young! But now here you are, robbing a grave - you've stolen from the dead! Please, just stop!"

Shahin couldn't remember when she had elevated from fury to sobbing, but he held her anyway. "Eti, Eti, Eti..."

"There are laws now, Shah. If you break them hard enough... you die."

He held her until she was breathing clean again.

Etienne straightened up, put a paw on his shoulder, stared right into him. "You can't depend on me letting you go when you pull this nonsense. Just... run. I'll say I didn't see anything."

Shahin yelped as something yanked on his arm. A thud and a clatter, and a dart fell from August Clade's buckler to the ground beside him - a dart made from wrapped canvas and a tipped bronze core, the kind used by the Valley Patrol.

Etienne realised first. "Run! She'll kill us both!"

Shahin grabbed her paw and ran, down two long corridors, round two corners and into an alcove, and there they caught their breath as quietly as they could.

"Damn you. That's Amira! Sergeant Clade! The only beast with any reason to follow me down here to make sure I was doing my job, and she caught me! Right in the middle of agreeing to cover for you!"

The nearby scuff of a paw, and they ran again. Shahin dragged her round three distinct turns that should have sent them right back into Amira's path but somehow didn't.

Something crashed, loud and heavy. A bellow of rage came from nearby.

"I'm sorry, Eti. I didn't mean for this." Shahin held her paw. "This was the worst outcome, wasn't it?"

"I'll never be a lawbeast again. I hate you."

"But you don't." He stopped, took both of her paws, looked her dead-on. "I'm sorry. It never should have come to this. If you say no, I'll find a way to save you anyway. But Etienne Hart... will you run away with me? We can find you new work. I'll get a job too. An honest one. I'll keep you safe. I promise on my life."

"...yes."

Her voice cracked.

And Shahin couldn't help but grin.

[Airan]

Name: Sheercrest
Species: Merlin
Gender: Female
Age: Middle Aged

Sheercrest tore across the lower sky, her silver wings grazing the snow-capped treetops. Although the merlin did not much care for winter, she appreciated the effect it had on the surrounding terrain; it made finding her quarry that much easier.

Below her, a small mouse dashed from one tree to another, stumbling every so often as the frigid winds buffeted it. Even from above, Sheercrest sensed its desperation as it staggered forward through the unaccommodating drifts. Catching an updraft, she rose higher; her wings spread to their utmost as she prepared to dive.

The young mouse cowered against a small tree as Sheercrest landed. Ruffling her feathers, she cast a fierce glance down at the frightened creature. "You shouldn't have run off, Bray."

The mouse didn't answer; he was trembling.

Sheercrest moved closer, placing herself between Bray and the wind. When next she spoke, it was almost a whisper, "It's dangerous out here. You could have been killed."

Bray glared up at her, hot tears welling in his eyes. "What d'you care? You're jus' gonna kill me yourself, soon as you get 'ungry."

There was a hurt in his voice that belied his gaze, and Sheercrest found herself at a loss for words. She extended a wing towards him, but Bray recoiled back further against the tree.

"Don' you touch me!"

"Bray, I'm not going to hurt you. And I'm certainly not going to eat you. I promised you that."

Bray hid his face, sobbing through his paws. "An' my family? Did you promise them?"

The accusation hit her with the force of a tempest, and it was all she could do to keep her composure. Her thoughts drifted back to their first meeting: how she found him hiding in his family's barn, and the horror on his face when he had discovered the remains of his mother and father. Sheercrest hadn't been able to explain what had happened, and the guilt  had only grown since then; devouring her, as his parents had been devoured.

She came back to the present as the winds began to swirl around them. Already the cold was strengthening its bitter assault, and Bray's trembling was growing more violent. There was no more time for gentleness.

Bobbing her head down to the side, she pulled a length of vine from a pack wrapped around her neck, then dropped it at Bray's feet. "This time, don't bite through it."

Whether due to the cold or her commandeering manner, Bray sullenly lifted the vine and wrapped it about his waist. Then, slowly, he stood up.

"I hate you."

Sheercrest pretended not to hear as she picked up the other end of the vine in her beak. Craning her neck, she looped the vine under the pack, pulling it taut through a small hole in the side. When she had finished securing it, she pointed a wing towards the north.

"There's a small town nearby. If you can curtail your foolishness, we should be there by nightfall. Unless you'd rather freeze."

Bray clenched his fists, but said nothing. Then, head bent, he trudged off in the direction she indicated.

Sheercrest sighed wearily as she followed behind him. He couldn't understand what she was trying to do, and he probably never would. His hatred of her would linger, like the stench of carrion on the wind. And yet, as she watched him plod ahead, his tiny frame wracked with anguish, her resolve steeled.

She would save his life.

She would make things right.

And whatever the cost, she would pay it.