[quote]"" She wrapped her native language around herself like a heavy cloak, a familiar weight pressing itself on her shoulders. She didn't know if she was strong enough to move under it. Tightening her grip around the Lantern's warmth, Artemis did her best to steady her breathing as she looked at the child in the mask. "Pirate?"[/quote] While the fire lady made herself known, Morly wobbled back and forth as if he were standing on the deck of a ship, his hand stuffed up under his mask to scratch his nose. [b]"You talk weird,"[/b] he informed her. [b]"Piiieee-rate! They're the ones with iron and armor and magic scribbles. Everybody knows that. Where'd you come from that you talk like a batmonkey?"[/b] It was an honest, innocent question. Meanwhile, the healing water was working; even as Anise soaked Reus' fur in it, the wounds began to heal slowly. The wolf remained still and compliant until Anise stood up to address the newcomer; he then lifted his head and grabbed the water jug in a comical hug between his paws, tipped it, and lapped up mouthfuls of the water as it flowed. [quote]"Y-You won't hurt Reus again, will you?" She lifted the hawk mask off of her face and let it rest on the top of her head. The change in the clarity of her vision disoriented her for a brief moment.[/quote] Morly twisted around to see Anise, and his jaw dropped to see that she'd taken off her mask. He quickly looked between Anise and the fire lady, wondering if there was some social rule about masks that he didn't know about. Finally he decided to follow Anise's lead, and he, too, shoved his mask up on top of his head. The little blond boy was certainly near eight years old, with sleepy brown eyes and a perpetually bored expression. Behind him, Reus finished his drink and sat up straighter; the wolf's face looked much less alarming now, though it would take awhile for the fur to grow back on those patches of burned skin. He huffed, gave Artemis an annoyed look, and shook the water out of his fur in a torrential spray. Morly sniffed, still squinting at Artemis. [b]"I think you gotta be careful with that thingy, 'cause you almost caused [i]another[/i] forest fire, and [i]that[/i] one made the river [i]super[/i] mad, and you're gonna get in trouble with the witch, and if you're not careful -- UWAAAH!"[/b] Suddenly, Morly was dangling upside-down in the air, held aloft by the mossy root of a tree. His mask fell into the grass below. [b]"LEMME GO!"[/b] The root threw him up into the leaves, where he was caught expertly by a branch curled around his waist. [b]"WHOOAAA GAAAAAHHH BAD TREE! BAD! LET GO! I'M KITH! KITH! FRIEND! WHERE'S MY MASK! AAAHH! LEGGO! DON'T EAT ME! NOT FOOD! BAD!"[/b] Morly smacked the branch with his feet and fists. The trunk of the tree slit itself open like a vertical mouth, revealing bones and fragments from a number of small creatures that had previously been devoured. Reus only continued to groom his soaked fur.