All the better; all the worse . . .

[Nayt]

The arrival of the doctors had Toushikyo relieved, but there were few things other than the alleviation of pain that was going to make Akizets any happier . . .

Sarah Vaerbond was in tow, riding atop the older stallion Fesci. He was carting behind him a small wagon, in which a stretcher was set out, alongside various medical supplies that the Tsukimonos requested. Fortunately, they always kept a cart on hand for situations that called for going south to Galaens, if only to carry more medicine back to Hillcrest and have an easier time with it.

It was ultimately necessary to get Akizetsumei back to the clinic, where she could be better taken care of. Toushikyo joined with them quickly and joined them at the clinic. There was next to nothing they were going to do to get her brother to go away. No matter what, he was staying by his sister's side.

This left Sarah and Eld at the ranch, until they were rejoined by Em and Maya--both of whom were still visibly worried. Sarah, on the other hand, was practically shaking.

[Zach Kaiser]

Growing up in a clinic meant growing up with pain and death; there was simply no getting around it. While he felt for her, Eld wasn't terribly disturbed by Akizetsumei's injury; it wasn't life threatening, so the pain would be temporary. His parents were good doctors so permanent injury was highly unlikely as well.

It occurred to him that none of the girls knew this, though. Once Maya and Em got near, he turned to them (and the visibly upset Sarah) and gave them a reassuring smile. "You don't have to worry. She has a broken arm and leg, but nothing life threatening. It'll be a while before she's back on her feet, but she'll be fine."

Seeing that she was especially shaken, he placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder. "You okay?" he asked. He could only imagine what was going through her head right now.

[Nayt]

"Y-yeah," Em sighed, "I know."

Truth be told, Em had known Akizets for awhile. Not on a personal level, but Akizets was only a year older than her. Back when she was in school, she'd seen Akizets around. She was always bubbly, always energetic, and above all things, she was always naive. As much as Em was annoyed by all three of those things, she'd never wished any harm upon the girl, and though she was annoyed by how energetic Akizetsumei was, it was hard to imagine her not walking along, or in the most common cases, sprinting from place to place.

Maya, on the other hand, didn't say much. She didn't know Akizets personally or impersonally; she never attended church services, but that was fine. Maya hated seeing anything bad happen to her fellow villagers, however, and was especially shocked by how the most docile horse on the Vaerbond ranch rebelled. She did, however, make a mental note to pray tonight for Akizetsumei's sound recovery. It was the only thing she really could do to help . . .

Understandably so, Sarah was taking it hard. She'd been the one that challenged Akizets to a race, one she knew wasn't going to go well for the girl. It was the first time she'd ever ridden a horse, and Sarah really just wanted to embarrass her a little--to show her a reason to have restraint. It was one of the most vain goals she could've ever had, and it wound up turning out like this.

"I just--" Sarah whispered, "I just don't understand. This shouldn't have happened . . ."

[Zach Kaiser]

"You're right; I was going to ask you about that." But Eld didn't sound accusatory as Sarah might have expected; the whole idea of the race may have been a vain one to begin with, but he knew her well enough to know she would have never wanted this and, in fact, done her best to prevent it. Which was why she gave Akizetsumei Stewart to ride, who was by far the most docile horse on the ranch.

"Did you see or hear anything that might have caused Stewart to panic?" he asked. Sarah might not have noticed, but it wasn't just that Stewart reared; he'd bolted away from the location as though his life had depended on it. Something had spooked the normally calm horse.

Perhaps he'd been reading too many detective novels, but it just didn't sit right with him. He turned and walked to the edge of the track, where it met the forest. It wasn't hard to figure out where the horse freaked out; there were huge imprints from where it abruptly stopped all its momentum with its front hooves.

It was probably just an animal or something...but why didn't both horses panic then?

[Nayt]

Indeed, Sarah expected a scolding and a lecture, and she'd no intentions of arguing against Eld through it, either. She was more than willing to accept and struggle through a lecture, if only for punishment's sake. She firmly believed it was well deserved, and that Eld was going to spur one on her at any minute. She was visibly surprised when he did not.

"I-- n-no," Sarah replied.

She was still perplexed about Stewart's behavior. He was used to beginners riding him, and Akizetsumei was handling him rather expertly--for a rookie, that is. She didn't seem to be doing anything that would grate him too much, even calling for him to speed up every so often like she did was nothing compared to what Sarah put him through sometimes. She pushed that horse almost as harshly as she pushed Fesci sometimes. She was starting to get away from it, as both Fesci and Stewart were elderly now, but still--there was nothing that should have prompted this.

Sarah idly followed Eld to the track and treeline. She looked off, over Eld's shoulder, beyond the treeline, and into the woods. She'd no idea what could have worked Stewart up like that.

If Eld were to stare long enough, he'd notice something within the woods. Something noticeably off. There was an extra shadow in the woods. It was past the tree line and a bit distant from Eld's person. If Eld were to watch it for long enough, he'd catch, if only for a moment, a pair of scarlet eyes belonging to the shadow--yet it would be gone the very moment Eld blinked his eyes.

Sarah didn't seem to notice.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld scanned up and down the woods, looking some sign of what scared Stewart. He figured the most likely thing was that some wild animal had gotten too close to the track, and was probably just as scared by horses suddenly galloping by as it'd frightened one of them itself.

As he looked, his eyes were drawn further in. Something bothered him, and it took him a minute to figure out what: a silhouette, as though a person was hiding in the shadows of the forest--though it was impossible to tell for sure if it was that or just a trick of the light.

But just as he noticed it, suddenly the silhouette owned a pair of bright red eyes. It caused him to jump practically right into Sarah, who was standing just behind him. The momentarily flinch was apparently all the distraction needed though; both the eyes and their owner were gone.

"D-Did you see that?" he asked Sarah.

[Nayt]

Not expecting Eld to jump like he did, Sarah, too, was surprised, and when Eld jumped back into her, she nearly stumbled back. Had she, they'd have both fallen. Instead, Sarah wound up catching Eld, though she was still noticeably surprised by his flinch and sudden outburst. She held him from behind, arms under his shoulders and forearms across his chest.

Sarah wasn't the only one. Neither Maya or Emily expected it, either, and they both nearly jumped out of their skins, as well. Emily collected herself faster than the others, though, and looked beyond Sarah and Eld. She tried to see into the forest, if only to get a look at what Eld was scared out of his wits of, but ultimately came up short. The same was to say for Maya and Sarah, neither of which seemed to see anything worth such a startling. Maya didn't try so much, but Sarah was about as scrutinizing of the woods as her sister.

"No?" Sarah replied questioningly.

"What're you, seeing things, now?" Emily asked; she'd have seemed irked were she not so startled still.

Seeing that there was nothing out there, Maya whispered, "Ts-Tsukimono-kun, p-please don't scare us like that."

There was once a time when Maya affectionately called Eld by something else--"Eld-kun." That time was years since passed, however, and she'd never taken to it again. Chances were, she wasn't going to for awhile, either.

[Zach Kaiser]

"S-Sorry for startling you, but there was something--someone," he corrected, "there."

He peered into the woods again, but the shadow was definitely gone now. Was that what scared Stewart? It definitely startled him, so it was entirely possible. But who was it? He didn't know anyone who had a red eyes like that...or who'd have any reason to be hanging around the woods outside the Vaerbond ranch.

Gingerly, he stepped into the woods. If it was a person (and he was fairly certain it was), they couldn't have gotten very far, and they were going to leave tracks. If he could find them, maybe he could find whoever startled the horse. And then...

...well, he wasn't thinking that far ahead.

[Nayt]

Once Eld seemed adequately on his feet, Sarah let him go. It wasn't long after, though, that Eld started off for the the tree-line. Sarah stepped forward as if to reach for him, to stop him or something along those lines, but she didn't reach him in just one step.

"W-Wait! Eld, where the hell are you--" Sarah was about to shout his way, but she quickly realized the answer to her question in the midst of asking it.

Sarah released a sigh. No doubt he was going to go through the tree-line and into the forest. She hadn't done any maintenance on that place in awhile. Technically it was part of her family's property, they'd just never expanded that far--or, rather, they were fine with the space they had. The Vaerbond ranch had been handed down from generation to generation, as had all the property deeds. Sarah's great grand father hadn't much use for the property out this far, and had ultimately abandoned it to make maintenance less of a hassle. Needless to say, it was a bit dangerous out there.

Maya was fairly clumsy and Emily was still just a kid. Sarah quickly coerced them into heading back to the ranch house, at the promise that she'd catch up with them--with Eld--soon. Following this, she carefully tread beyond the tree-line, following Eld, who already had a pretty good head start on her. The forest was almost immediately thick. The canopy kept most light out, and rendered all people far enough back as little more than silhouettes from from the tree-line.

"You're probably just seein' things, you know," Sarah muttered once she caught up with him.

[Zach Kaiser]

"There was someone here, I swear. I saw a silhouette, and a pair of red eyes. Right...over...here."

He stopped abruptly, and held his arms out to make sure none of the girls passed him. This was the area where he saw the shadow; and if there was someone here, there'd be some sign of it. Footprints left in the dirt or something. No one came back here, which would mean it was much more likely a visitor would have disturbed something.

His best bet were footprints...it was just a matter of finding them. He bent over and peered closely at the ground.

[Nayt]

Only Sarah had really come after Eld; the other two girls were off for the ranch house. It was for the best, really. These woods were a bit dangerous, and Sarah didn't want anyone else getting hurt on her property today. Eld was a special case, though; he could actually handle himself . . . sort of. Well, he was better off than Maya and Emily were, at least, so Sarah was less troubled by him going out there. It was just that he wasn't going to go alone, and it was that simple; she was going to be there just in case.

Sarah came to a halt when Eld motioned for her to stop. She shoved her hands into her pants pockets and looked over his shoulder idly.

"I don't see nothin'," she remarked with a hint of agitation. Really, as much as she appreciated that Eld was trying to explain Stewart's actions, she didn't like being out this far beyond the tree-line. It didn't help that she, alongside Eld, Maya, and Toushikyo, were told stories of monsters and such bizarre predators having lived in the woods at one point or the other. It was one thing when a student was just trying to get a rise out of someone. It was another thing when you're history teacher was telling it like a blanket statement.

No matter how far and how deeply he searched the general area, Eld would find no indication of footprints--not even paw prints or unnaturally rustled leaves.

[Zach Kaiser]

Of course, stories about monsters only meant something if you believed them. While he enjoyed the stories in and of themselves, even when he was younger Eld never thought they were true. He mostly chalked it up to the farmers being a superstitious bunch, or people just trying to scare the children away from the woods lest they get lost. Just because there were no monsters didn't mean it was safe for a child to go into the forest alone.

"I don't either..." Contrary to his expectation Eld couldn't find any footprints that suggested someone had been there, or paw prints, or any kind of disturbance to suggest that what his eyes told him was true: that someone had been watching them and then left in a hurry.

"Maybe I was just seeing things," he conceded reluctantly. But he had to, as he could find no proof of his claim, and the only other explanation--that whatever he saw might not have been human, and might not leave tracks--was one he dismissed out of hand.

"Let's go back."

[Nayt]

Yeah; just your damn imagination, Sarah thought to herself.

"You read too many books," Sarah said instead.

Once Eld was ready to go, she motioned for him to follow her. It was easy to get lost back here, even in the middle of the day. With the thickness of the canopy up there, it was easy to get lost in the forest; the further you were away from the tree-line, the easier it was.

"What do y'think you saw, anyways?" Sarah asked idly.

Sarah was actually kind of curious. Certainly, Eld was just seeing things, but-- hey, sometimes these sort of made up stories turned out pretty interesting.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Just...someone standing in the shadows. It was too dark for me to make out any details, though. I guess it was just a trick of the light." He felt rather stupid talking about this now that Sarah had more or less convinced him he'd been daydreaming or something. Maybe he just wanted to find something or someone that badly? It would be easier to deal with the accident if he could pinpoint a reason it occurred. He disliked putting stock into anything like chance or fate.

"But...for a moment, I saw a...a pair of red eyes," he continued as they exited the woods. "Just a flash, and then when I looked again...they were gone."

Red eyes probably seemed ludicrous, but Eld wasn't so sure. It was actually more common for someone to have red eyes than, say, violet ones like his, which people often commented were extraordinarily rare.

"Would have made sense," he mumbled self-consciously. "Sure startled me."

[Nayt]

"Weeeeird," Sarah replied with a subsequent whistle.

That was a bit stranger of a story than she was expecting. Well, at least it was just a trick of the light or Eld's eyes or something. The last thing she wanted was for some of those stories their history teacher told them to actually be true.

Sarah pushed past the thick brush at the tree-line and held her arm out, keeping some brush away for Eld to sneak through. Once they were both fully out of the forest, Sarah stretched her arms. She felt a satisfying crack in her back and shoulders, and would've felt less tense from it were she not so weighed down by guilt. She looked to Eld, frowning. Regardless of why Stewart threw Akizets off and ran from the tree-line, he'd still done it, and Akizets was off in the clinic somewhere. Having broken bones before, Sarah knew how frustrating it could be.

"Hey, when do you think it'd be fine to check on 'er?" Sarah asked. It was a bit of a random question, but sincere; she was concerned about the girl's well being.