The Heart of a Faun, the Heart of a Forest [OPEN]

[Philomel]

"So what exactly is this place?" She asked her beloved, looking at him from across the table.

For two days now there had been searching through the streets of this small town - Stonevale. Simply her and Veridian had come here for both a vacation from the usual patterns of life. After their recent adventures in Salvar, and the steady disappearance of Shinsou vaan Osiris from her life, Philomel had been concentrating on the raising of her daughter and heir, Celandine. The little faun had been educated fast over the last month, with much focus on the promise of becoming the true heir of the Gilded Lily empire. But it had been exhausting, at least ten hours every day of chasing around one of the brightest, most excited beings in the universe, and so Philomel had left. Letting Gosling, her secretary, take over lessons.

Left to come here, to these islands and train her own mind to go back to her goddess and focus.

And now they had word of a faun, one of the rare of her species to also be outside of their hidden homeland.

Veridian, her fox-form earth-spirit, partner-of-her-heart, looked up from his bowl of stew that he was obsessing over. They sat opposite each other in a quiet bar, right in the heart of the town, though away from the main street. The light was dim, the wood that made up the place a deep chestnut that gave a hearty atmosphere. A tiny fire in the distance of the room have what little heat was really needed.

It's a mining village, he explained, At least in history.

Philomel thought about the various grubby people she had seen, as well as the various shops for equipment.

"Well I know that," she agreed, having come to the assumption herself before. In her hands she had a warm mug of whiskey and she observed the russet animal over the top of it. "But what ... Kind of place in terms of emotions? I mean, they say they saw a faun, and you said you had read things about earth magic connections here before, but what is it?"

The fox blinked twice before delving his head back into the stew. Brown sauce drowned into his fur.

No idea. But we have avoided any more unnecessary attention, even if it was by rumours of your hardy slap.

Philomel looked down at her hand, frowning. "How does that help me find another one of my kin?"

No idea, Veridian agreed. But the food is good.

She sighed and leant back, looking around the dark but welcoming pub, where not many other people sat. Her horns curled from her head like a monarch's crown into the atmosphere of the place.

"Anyone seen another on of me?" She asked the awkward room hopefully.

sorry for the short posts. Thinking phi will walk into zeph next post?