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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rookseye" data-source="post: 3340720" data-attributes="member: 18211">The sun is odd today. Sepoto thought this as he stared into the blisteringly cobalt blue sky above the Academy from his perch atop the banyan tree. The wind, as well. It was subtle, like the sense of someone watching, or taking interest from within that great golden orb. There was a murmur in the air that made his fur stand on end. A mischievous susurrus he had not felt in some time. I'Katra was calling him. It was at long last time to wander again. The Traveler in the Trees was whispering to him.He scented Iliana's approach before he even saw her at the base of the tree.Mmmmm... the faintest scent of vanilla always seemed to precede her, a smell Sepoto liked very much. It did not seem to match her nature, though. Iliana was...well, Othos would say that she was 'curt'. She did not seem to have much patience for Sepoto, but that was fine. Sepoto did like the smell of vanilla...like hibiscus...or mango...sometimes the nice smells made up for a human's impatience with him.The shifter was jolted out of his reverie by the loud 'thwack' as the puny figure thirty feet below abruptly tacked a small envelope to the base of the tree with a single perfunctory swing of a small hammer. He turned away from the sky and glanced down, smiling a genuine and toothy grin to Iliana, who glanced up and rolled her eyes ever so slightly."Sepoto, important message from the headmaster", curtly.The chakit shifter cocked his slightly simian head to one side, and nodded, the ridiculous rictus of his smile never leaving his face.As Iliana shrugged and began to plod away, Sepoto reached into the haversack he carried, pulling forth a luscious, perfectly ripe orange."Iliana, orange!", he tossed it from the tree and watched as Iliana deftly spun on one heel, raised her hand, and caught it. Ha-hoo, not all humans were clumsy it seemed.The headmaster's messenger, clutching her prize, merely caught sight of Sepoto's smile, and returned it almost reflexively. When she realized what she was doing, she donned a mask of seriousness, and pointed at the message nailed to the tree."You should read it...and soon...I've spent most of the afternoon looking for you, and you most certainly do not want to be late!"As Iliana and the pleasant aroma of vanilla faded from his twitching nostrils, the shifter bounded down the vines and branches beneath him. As he dropped lithely from the lowest branch he swiped the message off the trunk with one hand. In a moment it was open, the thin rice paper beneath saturated with mango juice from the shifter's hands."I see then. The first step." Sepoto looked back to the sun in the sky, and feeling the wind tugging on his nettle-filled fur, his eyes narrowed slightly in thought. He thought to ask a question of the spirit of I'katra in the sky, the faint voice only he seemed to hear, but then thought better of it. It was often better to be surprised.It was late, he had better hurry.Interior of Headmaster Goludov's Office:  Bounding into the office, Sepoto realized almost immediately that he was tardy. The glares he received from some of the occupants, most notably Headmaster Goludov himself only confirmed this. It seemed everyone was already here. As he looked around, from one to the next, he smiled in spite of himself. His morning had been a busy one. The scurrying of a chameleon led him to where Kaelan had loitered in the shade of the Commons, eating his breakfast. Then, the faintest scent of blood had found the shifter watching an earnest Charles through his dormitory window. From there, Sepoto had followed the martial clang of lance striking armor, and found Darrick intently grooming his horse. The barest wiff of oleander had brought him to Catherine, meticulously packaging bandages at the infirmary. She smelled nice as well, he thought, much better than the smoldering scent of burnt cycads that led him to the warforged, Trebuchet. Sepoto had watched the impossibly still metal man as long as he could and then given up, returning to the banyan tree where Iliana found him. In a way, he now understood why I'katra had led him about like a fool-monkey all day. The journey would begin soon."Sorry, is Sepoto, for being late."[sblock] Sorry for the delay, consider this a double post to make up for my own tardiness. [/sblock]</blockquote>

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