Well The Day Started Ok.....

From Redwall MUCK Wiki


Zinnia has decided to not go to the library today, it can survive one day without her and she goes to spend time by the pond.

Zork walks along the pond edge heading to the kitchen yard more than likely, he is just taking a slightly longer walk there, even if it is a little slow.

Zinnia has already been by the pond, she looks up as she sees Zork and goes over to him, just to hug him but doesn’t release the hug and is fairly quiet this morning, she has even taken a day off...hmmms probably her first day off come to think of it.

Zork stops and looks down at Zinnia, "Zinnia? Ya ok lass; you don’t usually be this quiet." He does have some concern in his voice and does hug her back.

Zinnia frowns and nods, she then looks at him "I just love you and am glad you’re ok, that’s all." She still keeps her arms around him.

Zork tilts his head "Why wouldn’t I be ok lass, why ya worried I not been doin' anything lately, well helped ta put away some towels and sheets yesterday, and taday be de first day back at me forge in 2 and a half weeks since de gates be done now."

Zinnia sniffs and nods, she finally let’s go "I just don’t want to find you..or you be late waking cause of..." She frowns a little again, clearly worried" And don’t do too much at the forge ok...wouldn’t want to do much"

Zork frowns "Zinnia honey I knows ta be careful" Ok he missed something didn't he, ok past couple days he has been getting into mediation in his room and once in the woods right beside the abbey wall basically. "Wot happen?"

Zinnia answers, "Sister May died and..I went to wake her up cause it was late morning and she wasn’t up, but she was ..was dead, she died in her sleep and Brother Leon said maybe it was age cause she was real old and...and I am worried you’re not wake up one morning and I don’t want to be the one to find you like that..ever ..ever" Ok great she is near tears.

Zork sighs and hugs her tightly once more and offers a smile "I am ok Zinnia, not ta worry I will be around many season your see...I am not gonna suddenly take up me blade again or try ta do something ta affect me heart. I am also drinking that nasty tea when I should..cause it be important. I am even not doin' as much with de forge, not that thar be much ta do now...and when winter comes I am not even helpin' ta shovel snow, Brother Leon said it could cause me ta have another one of em' thar..heart attack things, I plan ta just take it easy and be cozy near a fireplace. Maybe take in a small snowball fight or build a snowman, help de dibbuns build snow forts and such"

Zinnia nods, "Still....be careful I don’t want ta lose you, not at all.....not for like many many many seasons from now"

Zork smiles "I know.." He shifts his weight a little and goes to sit on the grass, "Sit"

Zinnia sits down beside him, "You ok?" She is worried it seems and it shows.

Zork nods "Legs just sore, they get that way if I walk ta long, I have de cane now could use it some but it just brothers me ta use it"

Zinnia says, "Well if you need it, use it. Why would your legs be sore? How long have they bothered you papa?"

Zork answers as he sees its best to not hide things "Off and on de past, oh...few weeks, tis why I haven’t taken anymore long walks ta anywhere, even deeper than by de walls of the woods, thar be tis nice clearing in de woods, maybe half and hour walk and it be nice ta go thar but might haf ta rest a couple hours after thar and then..couldn’t really go alone, ya know just in case thar be trouble."

Zinnia smiles "I could go with you, and you could...do whatever it is you was gonna do"

Zork rubs his chin "Maybe and it be ta mediate clears de mind and also helps ta sometimes make one feel better. It be good fer de mind, body and soul..me adopted father use ta do it all the time. Ozzy sometimes will mediate if he is stressed...it lower de stress by a lot sometimes." He smiles "Taday is a good day not too cold and not hot anymore."

Zinnia says, "Then maybe I can walk there with you and stay by you, help ya relax and a walk to see the fall colors would be very nice, before it gets like real cold..too cold to do anything fun, well without a thick cloak."

Zork chuckles, a good one he hasn’t had in a while as he grins, “That thar be true and a short wee bit of time away from de abbey, while I am able , would be good and wot I just be less than half an hour away"

Zinnia smiles "Yeah and your have me there just in case"

Zork stands slowly “Well tis just a quiet area, less than half an hour away and exercise still be good..we can walk slower maybe even, stay couple hours and then head back in time fer dinner"

Zinnia stands also and nods, "Yeah and it’s gonna be noon time in an hour or so..I can pack a simple lunch, be right back!" She rushes off and returns after 15 minutes with some cherry cordial, bread rolls, some cheese and slices of apples, pears and some walnut scones. "Let’s go" She smiles.

Zork nods and lets Zinnia lead the way, a relaxing day to have, least he hopes so.

--Off to the clearing---

Zinnia looks around as they walk to the clearing, "Doing ok so far?"

Zork grins and does a couple cartwheels and nods, "Yep.. I be doin' fine."

Zinnia watches him and smiles “How do you still do those, your...well too old aren’t you?"

Zork says, "Never too old fer fun and I like doin' cartwheels...I do more but can't always, sometimes lately I will fall, not all de time"

Zinnia asks, "Why would you fail?"

Zork shrugs, "Not sure..age maybe?" He walks slowly and they soon get there, 45 minutes instead of half an hour as he sits down, a little tried but he decides to not show it as he sits Indian style and closes his eyes, arms on lap and starts to mediate.

Zinnia sits down beside him and stays quiet, she watches him curious of mediation and what it really is. She smiles as she looks at the colors of fall around them and even has collected a few red, orange and yellow leaves and placed them in a basket.

Zork is in deep mediation now, the quiet of the woods has helped as he is calm and quiet.

Zinnia looks around and back to her papa, she lays down in the grass and swirls a colored leaf in her paw enjoying the sun.

Zork keeps mediating and it has lowered his stress by a lot, some worries even fading some and even seems to maybe help him be less tried.

--Short time later—

Zinnia has fallen asleep by the tree there are close to, then the weather is just slightly cool and it’s a sunny day.

Zork has been mediating quietly the past hour or so and now opens his eyes to see Zinnia asleep and chuckles a little as he remains sitting and looks around the clearing, then leans back against the tree as he may as well rest a bit.

Zinnia starts to wake up, just slightly, as it gets closer to being just after lunchtime and yawns slightly.

Zork keeps an eye on her as well as making sure all is well in the clearing and slowly stands up to stretch some.

A figure approaches slowly from the direction of Redwall, leaning on a staff. He doesn't notice anyone nearby.

Zinnia doesn't notice the figure yet, still sort of half asleep and the fact it's been fairly quiet.

Zork does notice movement, he may of laid aside his fighting days but he still has his alertness, he doesn't know who it is yet and makes sure he is closer to Zinnia just in case it's not a friend as he tries to get a better look at who it may be.

Lacota soon comes into view, still slowly heading north, still unaware of the others. He carefully moves along, so he won't trip on any unseen stones.

Zinnia wakes up about now and blinks, "Friar Lacota?" She rubs her eyes to get the sleep out.

Zork seems glad it's a friend but still curious as to why said friend is outside the abbey and in the woods, He slowly walks over speaking as he does so "Little odd ta go fer a walk, isn't it..wouldn’t ya worry bout getting lost?" He looks around to make sure it’s still just them in or near the clearing before looking back to Lacota.

Lacota stops abruptly. "Zork? Zinnia?" He sighs. "And why shouldn't I take a walk? I did it all the time, back when I could see..."

Zinnia frowns, " Your still having some vision problems?"

Zork answers , "Well tis could be not so good and ya shouldn’t be out alone, just in case..I came out ere' fer some quiet ta...ummm" He is quiet before going on "Meditate, tis good for stress and clears de mind and stuff, ya should try it"

Zinnia looks around and starts twirling a red fall leaf she picks up off the ground

Darkflower is exploring the woods when she hears voices and slowly heads that direction and comes upon the clearing. Today she is on her own, and she simply watches the beasts from behind a tree.

Lacota hmms, leaning on his staff. "I am perfectly fine, I don't need to be coddled like a dibbun."

Zork says, "I wasn't calling ya a dibbun. Least tis a good day for a walk."

Zinnia smiles "Walks are nice, maybe he uses it to feel better" She shrugs and goes to sit on a fallen log.

Darkflower keeps an eye on the 3 beasts and goes to move, snapping a trig as she does so and mutters to herself, she moves anyways and gets behind another tree studying them.

Lacota may be blind, but his hearing is excellent. "Shh... Did you hear that, Zork?" He lowers his voice to a whisper. "We are not alone... Somewhere very close by, a twig snapped..."

Zork nods, reflex makes him start to go for something at his side and he shakes his head as he scans the edges of the clearing, "Yeah..." He slowly moves a little closer to the direction the sound came but does so carefully.

Zinnia is still on the log and frowns when she hears or thinks she hears something, she stands to move a little away from where she was.

Darkflower cusses under her breath and draws forth a dagger she has, she does her best to stay out of sight. None of the others are with her and for this she seems annoyed, "Hate today" She says quietly to herself.

Lacota lays a paw on Zork's arm. "Come... We should move toward the road slowly," he says under his breath, in an effort to keep others from overhearing, "All three of us are unarmed, we could walk into an ambush."

Zork starts to head towards the sound again and stops, he sighs, "Ok..ya be right but we stay close" He speaks quietly and goes to lead Zinnia and Lacota towards the road, keeping very alert, he doesn’t want a fight to start if there isn’t a need for one.

Zinnia walks, a little quickly over to Zork and looks around, “But...who is it?" She asks, trying to speak softly.

Darkflower loads an arrow, debating on firing it off or not, but is unsure where and right now it’s more of a way to scare than harm as she purposely fires it towards a tree close to them, maybe they will think it’s more than one beast here.

Zork scans the clearing edge as he pushes them towards the road, "Just get to the road and de abbey ya two" He catches sight or thinks he does of the rat maid and goes to head that direction with a fallen tree branch he finds and breaks the couple side branches off of, it’s not too big maybe a little than half the size of a staff.

Darkflower is alone and now that’s clear, she backs up and falls backwards over a root and gets her dagger again, "Back off stripedog, I could easily call my friends."

Zinnia frowns, she doesn’t want to go to the road now looks back to where Zork went looking worried.

Zork shrugs, "And ya seem alone, how about ya leave de area rat"

Lacota makes his way carefully to the road. "Come along, Zinnia... You run along to the Abbey, and get some guards... I'll stay here, I'd only slow you down, lass. Hurry!"

Zinnia frowns "You can't stay here."

Darkflower glares at the badger, she stands and looks still ready to fight but she is also smart and is not a fool to try and fight a badger, "I don’t think I will, if my leader was here you be in trouble, be lucky she or any other member of the Silent Blades are not here or you may suddenly find yourself a dead beast." She keeps an eye on the badger as she does start to back up a little and into starts climbing a tree, all the while making sure the badger keeps his distance.

Lacota shakes his head stubbornly. "No, Zinnia, I'll be fine. You must hurry, and I cannot go quickly."

Zinnia frowns, she looks back to the clearing and Lacota "I can carry you, I can’t leave you behind....or" She frowns clearly worried now.

Zork tilts his head, "Silent Blades..I heard of that group."

Darkflower smirks, "Yeah remember the name...see ya and just to be clear I will see you, you won’t see me or any members if we cross paths again, think on it..Silent Blades...goodbye" With that she is off into the trees.

Lacota frowns. "Carry me if you must... But we must make haste."

Zinnia nods, she looks into the clearing still worried and not knowing what’s going on as she picks up Lacota carefully and then goes to get to the abbey.

Zork watches the rat go and makes sure no other rats are around before turning to the road, at the same time looking around and frowns, great he doesn’t need stress as he just got rid of some earlier, he throws the homemade staff and jogs over to the road to catch up with the others, weather that’s the best plan or not he decides its best to leave the area before the rat comes back with friends. He probably does the jog for maybe a little over 5 minutes before he slows and pants, probably not the best plan and his legs hurt now too, he takes a couple paces and allows himself to lean on a tree by the road to catch his breath.

Lacota is carried along by Zinnia, unaware if Zork is following or not. "Are we near Redwall yet?"

Zinnia nods "We are close now" She looks back towards the way of the roadside and sits Lacota down near the gates,"If you walk..stright your be at the gates, I got to find papa"

Zork is not to far behind them, just moving slowly now as he goes a little ways and stops ever so often, if there was more rats he most likely be in trouble.

Lacota nods, and walks forward until he can feel the sandstone wall with his paws. "I'll find Lee or somebeast, then wait here at the gate."

Zinnia walks and then jogs forwards worried"Papa! You ok?"

Zork nods slowly, "I..am fine, de rat left but doesn't mean she wont be back...sore and tried" He lets himself sit down to rest" Just need ta rest a little while and then will walk de rest of the way back...not far"

Zinnia frowns and goes to help him, "Yeah and if the rat comes back with friends you cant fight them, like this for sure you can't" She will help him the rest of the way to the abbey.

Zork allows the help up, his legs feel weak and he is still a little out of breath but he starts walking again.

Zinnia helps him the rest of the way to the gates and has a couple guards help him inside.