Sent for entertainment value...has the Spidersilk line in it. ;)

[Mid-September, 1996.  Strongbow has been left to chief over Lostholt while
Cutter and Leetah search out the Palace, and while Ember is similarly away
from the holt.  The archer takes only questionably well to this, but goes
out to guard anyway...]

------------------------------

Midswing from the upper innards fo the tree to a shelf below, one foot
  poised toes-on-wood, the archer pauses. He sends a moment's greeting and
  completes his descent, coming to a silent halt.

Spidersilk steps out of the way, smiling. "Hello, 'chieftain'." She's taken
  great pleasure in calling you that. Sadistic, almost.

A wince, almost hidden, escapes his careful calm, and he turns from the wood
  to face you fully. Gruff, he replies with a nod. ** All well? **

Spidersilk grins. "Holt's quiet," she nods. "Not even a leaf out of place."

The archer nods again. ** Good, ** he observes, flavourlessly, and descends
  a step further, slipping soon out of the tree.

You walk back out of the Father Tree.
Base of the Lost Holt Father Tree(#765RJ)
A dense grove of grotesquely shaped trees dominated by one immense
  Grandfather of a tree whose age is no less great than its size.
It is obvious that the old tree has survived a terrible tragedy and you can
  see some of the scars left by the terrible blaze on the branches as leaves
  turn yellow as flame and red as blood. Brown weeds and night blooming
  wildflowers lie dead or dying in natural disorder around the trees roots. 
  Like old friends, the gnarled trees embrace one another, their many
  branches entwining to form a canopy high above the ground, though most of
  the leaves now decorate the ground and crunch under your feet. The autumn
  sun shines warmly down from above on gaily colored leaves.
Contents:
SafeRunner
Calmwind(#7032Jopq)
Obvious exits:
Into the Tree<N> Around the Tree<AT> Clearing<S>

Spidersilk walks out of the Father Tree.
Spidersilk has arrived.
Spidersilk isn't following you. Really.

Seemingly unaware of being not-followed, Strongbow takes up a guarding
  stance below his usual perch-branch, crossing his arms across his chest
  and across the bow slung over his shoulder.

Spidersilk slides to the forest floor, flipping her dagger idly. ** Soemday
  you'll stick like that. **

** Better to guard the Holt, ** comes the quiet, almost sullen reply. The
  archer's eyes flicker, following the arc of the dagger through the air.

Spidersilk grins up through silvery curls, still letting the dagger dance.
  ** Archer, you look like you've eaten a bowl of tart berries. More so than
  usual. Why? **

Pike walks around from behind the Father Tree.
Pike has arrived.

Strongbow considers the question for a while, watching the dagger less and
  Spidersilk's expression more, his own features darkly thoughtful. The
  answer, if reached, doesn't come, however, interrupted by a cool greeting
  sent to a shape approaching round the side of the tree. Uncrossing his
  arms, the archer steps a little closer to the tree's entrance.

Spidersilk locksends ** <<curious, now>> What is it? **
Spidersilk glances up from her sprawl on the ground, where she lies playing
  with a dagger. "H'lo, Pike."

Pike walks in and blinks, looking at Spidersilk, then looking at Strongbow,
  then at Spidersilk...then he just shakes his head and finds a place to sit.

The archer's shoulders ripple in a slight shrug.

"Someday," 'silk says, "I'm going to have an actual conversation with you,
  Strongbow. One that starts, and has a middle, and ends. Probably humans
  will start sending right after that."

Pike giggles, "Right then and there...I'll....do....something."

Spidersilk glances at Pike, then grins. "Well said."

Pike says "It'll be special whatever I do!"

Strongbow's brows raise a little and the glitter in his eyes, if anything,
  deepens, but he says nothing throughout, merely crossing his arms once
  more.

Spidersilk laughs aloud, catching the archer's expression, and then grins at
  Pike.

Blaze walks out of the Father Tree.
Blaze has arrived.
Blaze bounds out of the Father Tree, a mischieveous grin on his face.

Spidersilk chuckles, from her place on the ground. "Hello, Blaze."

Arms crossed, the archer stands near the great tree, beneath his usual
  perching branch. Expression shrouded, blank beneath the dark, he watches
  guardfully. His eyes flicker over Blaze, lighting for a moment, then return
  to the wood around the holt, brows furrowing just a bit more.

Blaze smiles happily, every trace of mischief vanishing, "Hi Spidersilk, Hi
  Strongbow!"

Strongbow tilts his head down a bit, trace of a smile playing at the corners
  of his mouth. ** Hello. **

Blaze says "What's goin' on?"

Spidersilk smiles. "Having a conversation with Strongbow." A pause.
  "Nothing, in other words."

Blaze sighs, "There's nuthin' fun to do. Everybody's going places or to
  busy."

One brow arched, Strongbow's gaze lifts to rest upon Spidersilk, unsmiling. 
  It is to Blaze that he sends, however: ** What 'fun to do' would you 
  have? **

Spidersilk laughs, winks at the archer.

Strongbow frowns slightly, then shakes his head at 'silk and looks back down
  at Blaze.

Blaze scuffs a foot on the ground, "Well... Hind-n-find's fun. Mama plays
  when she's got time."

Spidersilk grins at the cub. "We might be able to play a game of
  hide-and-find."

** I see. ** The archer lifts one hand to his chin, one finger straying
  high, a twitching shadow of a smile quirking the lips beneath.

Blaze grins at Spidersilk, "You gotta promise to find me." It seems someone
  has forgotten in the past.

Pike jolts awake, blinking his eyes.

Blaze giggles, "PIKE!"

Spidersilk looks solemn. "I will!"

The archer steps back a bit, putting his back to the Father Tree, that touch
  of a smile reaching as far as a glimmer in his eyes at the cub's discovery
  of the berrykeeper.

Pike says "Where?!"
Pike looks around himself, "I don't see him."

Blaze looks like a cub just given a new toy to play with, "Piiike, you never
  forget your name."

Strongbow rolls his eyes, the smirk broken, and his gaze flicks to
  Spidersilk, helpless.

Spidersilk is fighting a grin, herself, and then fails as Strongbow rolls
  his eyes.

Pike ohs and nods, "Well then I guess I am."

Blaze starts in a running tackle for Pike, "Got any good story to tell
  today, huh Pike?"

Pike uhohs but that's all that comes out as he falls on to his back from the
  tackle, "I did but you just pushed them out of me."

Blaze giggles happily, "Nuh-uh, Mama says you're full up to the eyebrows
  with stories and dreamberries."

Pike turns and spits, "See that?"

Blaze nods, "Yup, you spit. Mama said not to unless you have to."

Pike says "Well, have I got a story about that."

Spidersilk's eyebrows go up.

Blaze grins, "Yeah!"

Pike nods his head, "But I can't tell it with you sitting on me."

Strongbow arches a brow as well, gaze catching on the storyteller. ** Let's
  hear it, then, ** he murmurs, with a trace of a dare.

Blaze crawls off the storyteller and sits beside him.
Blaze says "Okay, tell!"

Pike sits up and brushes off his shirt.
Pike says "Well, one day I was walking around the holt just hunting out some
  bark that Redlance had told me to get....or was it ...nah, it was
  Redlance."
Pike says "Anyway, the bark isn't important."
Pike looks around to see if you all are believing him so far and then
  continues "So there I am walking along and all of a sudden I hear this low
  growl from one of the bushes near by...I didn't know what it was at
  first...come to think of it I STILL don't know but that's no matter."

Strongbow rolls his eyes again and, under his breath, sends Spidersilkward,
  ** Nothing's ever of matter with him. **

If he notices, he doesn't show it "So I look closer at the bush...I can't
  see anything...so then I looked closer still, I couldn't see
  anything...finally I walked in to the bush and on the other side was this
  large cat growling and hissing!"

Blaze smiles, "A longtooth? Really?"

Spidersilk glances away from the storyteller to grin briefly at Strongbow.
  ** Except dreamberries, ** she reminds him, just as quietly.

Pike nods his head, "That's right, a longtooth just sitting there. He, I
  assume it was a he as it had a male voice, didn't even attack me when I
  came through!"

Blaze says "Nuh-uh! They always do _something_!"

Pike says "Nope, this one just sat there grumbling."
Pike says "Said 'Cursed bark, so sharp...' and things of that nature."

Blaze says "They don't talk! Do they?"

Pike says "I don't know for certain but this one did, now be quiet or I'll
  make you eat leaves 'till you're green like one." Pike winks at Blaze. "So
  I, being friendly of course, asked 'What's the matter?'" Pike says "Now to
  this the cat said 'Can't you hear?! The bark! The Bark! it's sharp and it
  -hurts-!' and I said 'What? Didja get some stuck in you?' and he said 'No,
  it just stings when I step on it.'"

Strongbow's brows peak a little, looking faintly...faint, and disbelieving.

Blaze says "You ate too many overripe berries, longtooth's can't talk. Even
  I know that."

Pike says "'Oh' I said and asked 'Why step on it, then? Seems pretty silly
  to me to step on something that stings' and he said 'CAN YOU SEE ANY OTHER
  WAY AROUND THIS BLASTED TREE?!?!??!?!??!?!?' and I said 'So why not make
  boots?' and he said 'No hands' and I said 'So why not go REALLY far away?'
  and he said 'No maidens!'"
Pike gasps! "Are you calling me a liar?!"

Blaze says "They can't talk!"

Pike says "Oh so I guess I won't tell any more stories, seeing that I'm
  always lying. Nope, don't ask me for another." 
Pike crosses his arms over his chest and gets on his best indignant look.

Blaze aww... "Finish this one first." The little cub grins as he wipes a
  stray curl out of his face, "I might believe yah at the end Pike.
  Puh-leeeease Pike?"

Pike holds out for a little while longer and then gives in, "Oh alright,
  where was I?"

Blaze says "Cat was complaining about no maidens."

Spidersilk grins, broadly.

Pike ohs and nods "Well I said 'Let me look at your paw.' and the cat said
  'Oooooh fine, here!' and he thrust out his paw to me. So I looked it over
  and sure enough it was all raw and torn up. Pike says "'I have just the
  solution!' says I and the cat looks very hopeful. Do you want to hear what
  I did?" Pike licks his lips, "What I did was, I spat on his paw. The cat
  looked at me as if wondering what I was doing and then I slapped the paw
  so hard even -I- got hurt. Weeeeeeeeeeeeellll, the cat didn't like my
  solution and it got up and bounded over that bark so fast that I couldn't
  even see him leave....so that's how spitting can save the day!" Pike looks
  around at everyone around with that 'Did you buy it?' look.

Blaze blinks, "I'm gonna ask my mama about that, she'll know. She knows
  lotsa stuff."

Apparently, the archer did not buy it.

Spidersilk didn't either, and laughs. "Ask your Mama, Blaze. Good iea."

Blaze says "I will!"
Blaze walks up into the rough opening that leads into the tree.
Blaze has left.

[End log.]