The hissing creak of the grassy soil was muffled by the wind in the leaves above so that Jimmory was taken completely by surprise when something hard and pointed jabbed him in the rump. He tucked his tail and leaped forward with a bleating yelp, his dainty cloven hooves scrabbling against the ground as he turned to face his assailant, raising nothing more than his fists to defend himself. [url=http://img11.deviantart.net/1f03/i/2008/288/2/d/faun_by_ruth_tay.jpg]He was not tall or muscular, but rather lean and lithe like the deer or goat he resembled.[/url]

But there was no one there, and his long ears flicked in all directions, his sorrel brows knitted in confusion under his mop of curly hair. While a dryad may grow leaves in their hair as a matter of course, the ones crowning Jimmory's hair were simply tangled in his locks.

The fright in his brown eyes was replaced by one of relief when the dryad seemed to sprout out of her home tree. "Don't do that, Crann. You scared me." His tone was a bit morose. Normally he would have appreciated the playful tease, but today his playfulness had become subdued, though he did grin at the memory of the lavender mead.

[color=f7976a]"I've been a bit busy,"[/color] he grinned, a blush spreading across his freckled face. [color=f7976a]"There's a farmer's son I met down by that huge blackberry thicket...nevermind."[/color] His tufted tail flicked nervously, watching the greenery swiftly sproud and grow to cover Crann's feminine features in the semblance of clothes. Jimmory's own clothing consisted of little more than a long leather loincloth tied around his hips and was decorated with hand-carved wooden beads at the bottom fringe.

[color=f7976a]"It's more than just a disease, Crann. The froth is one thing, but this is worse. It's not just the animals anymore. That whole glade of flowers by the springs is just...gone. Dead. Everything is dead. And it's spreading."[/color]

The faun scuffed his hooves in the grass, his face and voice urgent. [color=f7976a]"I don't know what to do, but there has to be something. Will you come?"[/color]