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Mazarine was on the fence at this point. On one hand, he wanted to gather his family and head back home. This tree was definitely not that... On the other, they were called here, and despite the minor hostilities and accusations being thrown about, they were in the presence of a Queen...

He frowned. He didn't like the situation. Not at all. He cast a sympathetic gaze towards Tegeirian. He didn't want her to answer to another Queen, but at this point what choice did she have. It would probably have a better outcome than being bombarded by their brothers and sisters all at once. When weighing the possibility of being mobbed by those that live with you daily or confronted by a another individual who held a position of power of sorts... well, it was probably best that she take the lesser of the two evils.

Not to mention, Queen Belwen wanted to talk to him alone? Great... There was something else to worry about. Was she going to reprimand him for taking a stand for one of his own? He'd root his hooves to the ground, if he could just to stand that much longer and stronger. That much was for certain. He only hoped Belwen would talk to him first so that he might gather intel on whatever sort of punishment Belwen might give Tegeirian and hopefully encourage her that he take the matter into their own hands. Let their home tree decide...

Another voice chimed and caught his attention. A male in the back gave his report. At least this one seemed more understanding in the matter of wanting to get the basic matters tended to and ignore the pointing fingers...

Once this... Lisian, was it? Once he was done, he nodded, leaving a moment of silence before deciding to step up. He assumed a quick report was necessary.

"I'm Mazarine. Druid of Harn Sheedhiel..." he started, glancing around a moment. He caught Tegeirian's gaze again briefly and nodded. If anything, he just wanted to get out of here. Back to familiar ground... He assumed the quickest way to achieve this was to get this meeting over with by complying for the time being.

"There's not much for our tree to report..." especially to the likes of Forn Sheedhiel... "None have been injured as of late. There were a few instances that some were overcome by heat strokes in the middle of the sunny season, but with my aid," he face skewed softly... Heat strokes were never fun... "they overcame quickly and returned to their duties."

He made a quick glance towards Delyth. "I too have noticed ill avians in our area, but it doesn't appear to be spreading towards our own kind. We've taken precautions in inspecting fruits and the like before delving into them and thus far, no illness lives among us otherwise..."

He paused a moment before stepping back. "That is all I have to report..."

Gingerly, the queen took the seed, handling it as if it was the most delicate substance on the island. She smoothed her hand over the silvery finish. It still had time before it was going to hatch. Not much time, but enough. This was at least one pleasant thought. Belwen looked over every tiny spot, felt the stem and attached leaves and silver vines. She smiled. "Its healthy," she whispered.

She considered for a moment where the seed was found. In the sand. As a prize. "Did those that received this precious prize know what it was they were getting?" she asked of Lillian. She gently handed the seed back to her Tender Paradise. The best flutter, she knew, for raising the young ones.

"This is from Harn." She told the assembled flutters. She knew this already. "I do not know which of you are responsible for tending and harvesting the seeds, but you didn't do a good job. There are several seeds missing from your tree. Your Tenders and Harvesters need to be held responsible, and locate those seeds. They've not sprouted yet, unlike the missing seeds from Forn. Those young ones are due, if I'm reading the sun's position correctly, to pupate soon.

Until the Tenders and Harvesters step forward, Paradise and Lillian will be tending to this seed, as well as any others either recovered, or growing. This includes any on Harn. Both these flutters have been held accountable and repented for their mistakes. I trust that they'll not let another seed slip past them.

It is also not solely their duty to keep track of all of the seeds. All of us have a responsibility to our colony's future by ensuring the survival of our young. So far, we're not doing a very good job. Raise your efforts to keep strangers away from our lands, to protect our young, to protect our colonies."

Belwen paused to nod to Paradise and regain her thoughts. So many issues to address right now. Tegeirian spoke up during the pause which only caused Belwen to raise an eyebrow. The younger flutter was visibly irritated. The tone she used towards the queen was also unacceptable. "Tegerian, you sit in no position to be so haughty. You posed a security risk. That is a grave offense, and not something we will just pretend didn't happen because you deflected accusations back at your accuser. You can be judged by a trial by your peers right now, or you can choose to handle the matter more discreetly, and meet with me following our fireside and my meeting with Mazarine." She spoke directly to the Harn flutter, leaving Lillian's own trial out of it merely because of the attitude Tegeirian displayed. "And Tegerian? As the Watcher for Harn, you are doubly responsible for strangers sneaking in and stealing your young. Watch your manners, and join the team. We're not each others' enemies. We need to protect each other." She address the rest of the attendees with the latter declaration.

Lisian, her own Watcher and most attentive of all flutters (including Harn - she learned), gave his report on the state of their safety and security. It was expected news, but still disheartening nonetheless. "Thank you Lisian. His report only reinforces what I have been talking about - we all need to step up for each other."

"Thank you, Mazarine too. If you require help in feeding the ill birds, I am sure you have plenty of available flutters at your disposal." She eyed the flutters in attendance that had nothing to report, only assuming they were of the mind to think that they need not take responsibility to contribute to the colony's overall success.

"The discussion of the strangers and Tree security leads me into our last order of business, and the main reason the Harn Flutters are here. I am sure they are aware, but to catch everyone up, no flutter has heard from Queen Indilwen for most of the growing season. Not even her own flutters. This is why we must help each other, because their crops and stores will not be enough to sustain until the next planting season." Belwen assumed that without guidance some of the less-inclined slacked on their responsibilities. She also assumed that is why many of them remained silent throughout the fireside. She sighed, knowing that there was so much work to be done, and not enough bodies to do it. They really need their next generation, or she feared they'd die out by harvest. Strangers invading their land, lack of food, illness. She was fearful for the future.

"We will all participate in locating Queen Indilwen, even us Forn. She is vital to our survival as much as we are to theirs. I would like each flutter to stand up give an account of the last time you saw Queen Indilwen, and what you were doing at the beginning of growing season."

((For this, you can assume Indilwen is an NPC and make up when your flutter last saw her and their duties to prep for summer. Harn and Forn both had a Spring Fireside, so it could very easily be assumed that is the last time some flutters saw her. One flutter knows what happened to her, so we're going to try and get to the bottom of who it is. Where Indilwen may be. It is logical Forn flutters might not have seen her since she took her followers to Harn to start her own colony. ))

Paradise watched in anticipation as the queen handled the seed. She wasn't concerned about the Queen holding it, there was probably no hands in the world that Paradise trusted more. She could tell that the seed was being evaluated though. A breath she didn't know she was holding was released when Belwen at last whispered that it was healthy. It was something Paradise knew, but it felt so much more affirming to hear it from Belwen.

Paradise accepted the seed and found her seat with it again. When the Queen announced the seed was from Harn it was as if Paradise's worst fears were coming true. Her lips parted slightly in fear and she held onto the seed tighter... but not too tightly... Paradise glanced at Lillian, and then at the rest of the flutters from her tree, hoping they would all be willing to protect this seed if Harn was to try anything. Belwen had made it clear that the seed was still to remain with them, that made her feel a little better, but those other flutters had shown blatant disrespect for her word before so there was no reason to expect that they wouldn't try to get it back.

Another tree to watch after? More seeds. Ohnononono. Surely they would lose even more seeds if her and Lillian's attention was divided between two trees instead of focused on their own. Her face now showed frustration, an unusual emotion for her to display. She turned her face downward not wanting the others to see how tormented she was about the extra responsibility. Paradise just wanted what was best for their tree...

Paradise took another deep breath, most of the vocal conflict seemed to have passed for now and she wasn't about to start something new. She wasn't sure she even knew how to yell anyways.

"I believe I saw her outside of Harn," her voice was a small whisper as she spoke up first about the other queen. Paradise cleared her throat, trying to get her voice to a more audible level. "One of the times I was out tending the seeds..." She hadn't been entirely certain that it was the other queen, even at the time, but now looking around at the flutters here it really only could have been her. "I didn't really notice anything else though." Why did she even speak? That hadn't been helpful at all, surely her own tree knew more.

Delyth's presence seemed to shrink and shrink as the argument began and voices rose; or was it just her size? Being rather timid herself, she had a rather bad habit of unconsciously becoming smaller when frightened or intimidated. It didn't seem to affect anything most of the time, and when her pulse calmed she usually returned back to her normal, if still petite, size.

External frustration, however, was not a feeling she was particularly familiar with. Yes, she became angered with herself on occasion due to her own shyness, but others' actions had never really bothered her. She didn't usually care what they thought of her or what they did. But for these Harn flutters to speak in such tones to her queen who was so kind as to offer them a hand in their time of need without asking anything but respect in return, why the little flutter has a mind to go over there and give her a (quiet) piece of her mind.

The queen's voice, however, calmed her internal storm as it did the entirety of the room. Glancing down, she placed her hands together as she pulled herself together and thought quietly. Where had she last seen Queen Indilwen? Quite frankly, she couldn't even remember; it could have been long ago, but with her memory it could have quite easily been recently as well. Better phrase it better than that though.

Shaking her head, she quietly interjected. "Forgive me, but I cannot remember last I saw the other Queen." She didn't try to justify or create an excuse as to why or why not she did not have this recollection. It simply was. After all, an excuse does not excuse you for your actions.

Szarian had merely been listening and watching, staying out of the way. He was not comfortable here, no matter how much this tree was like their own, and it was clear that he wasn't the only one. In fact, it appeared that they were all on edge.

The news brought up was not surprising for the most part, or at least it wasn't until the announcement about the seeds, several of the lost ones, and then a new one was brought up. One that was from their own seeds. That was terrible, and for a moment, he was glad that he wasn't a seed harvester or tender. That passed quickly enough, into worry. They must be feeling terrible about losing any of the seeds, but he was sure that they would up their duties to make sure that it didn't happen again.

There was little for him to add to the reports, especially once Mazarine had brought up the precautions they had been taking with their foods. That was really the main thing that he was involved in, as the rest was just typical mundane things. Surely she had no interest in how much was being prepared, and really, until they started to run low on food, the amount they had was of no concern either.

He hadn't realized that no one had seen the Queen, and when Queen Belwen asked when they had each seen Queen Indilwen last, he had to think. When was the last time he had seen their Queen? He pondered this for a moment, thinking hard, trying to place it. Had he really not seen her since the Spring Fireside? That couldn't be it? Surely he had seen her more recently than that? But if he had, he didn't remember it.

"I have not seen Queen Indilwen since the Spring Fireside," he admitted, much to his dismay. "My duties as cook have kept me busy, especially with the necessity of inspecting our foods before they are prepared."

"No one has seen Indilwen since the Harn Spring Fireside. This is worrisome. For now, though, I'd like everyone to tend to their normal duties for Harvest season, helping each other as needed. In addition, we all need to look for clues and find Indilwen. Our survival comes first, even Indilwen would agree, but our priority after that is finding her. Look for clues around Harn and in their gardens. Also don't overlook any clues in our gardens either. Perhaps examine the life-giving branches. It's possible Indilwen may have gone after those who stole the seeds."

Belwen cleared her throat and waited a moment, glancing at the faces in attendance. She was making sure all known flutters were in attendance but noticed that a couple were missing. Perhaps they'd know more. She whispered to Shaylee to make a note to catch up with these missing flutters to find their alibis.

"Good work during the planting season. I can see prosperous yields from both trees, so we'll have extra work ahead of us for the upcoming harvest season, but we'll get it done! We may still be small in number, but we're strong and diligent. Don't hesitate to recruit help from local critters. Shaylee is available for anyone that needs an extra set of hands, but in the mean time, Shaylee, your job is to gather water for both trees unless someone needs your help.

I would like each flutter to also check in with Delyth or Mazarine for their health checkups before harvest begins. I want to make sure everyone is healthy and ready. I also want to make sure none of the avian illness is either caused by or affecting us.

Delyth and Mazarine, please distribute the appropriate infusions for the gatherers to prevent fatigue in the fields. Flutters, use these infusions responsibly and sparingly.

Following the meeting, I will need to speak to Mazarine, but I also want to settle the matter with Tegeirian and Lilith. Hang around a little longer ladies. And Delyth, you and I need to have a talk as well. See me tomorrow after morning meal.

Everyone else, thank you for attending. I feel this has been a productive fireside and I am glad we can come together to help each other with our current predicaments. Harn, you are welcome to rest here for the night if you don't feel safe traveling back to your tree tonight."



This concludes the Summer Fireside. Flutters may have their final say or post to help wrap up their participation, but all replies from Belwen are finished. I appreciate everyone participating because this has been an awesome RP and I hope we can keep up the story!

I am requesting the following RP as a result of this fireside:

Belwen + Mazarine to discuss Harn business in Indilwen's absence
Belwen + Lillian + Tegeirian to answer to their accusations
Belwen + Delyth to try to resolve some issues

Anyone else wanting RP with Belwen just let me know.

The missing flutters are a few that will be joining the RP in order to help the colony grow and fill out roles due to inactivity of some current flutters. They will be involved in the investigation of Indilwen's disappearance and are assumed to already be members that everyone knows. (Yes, all the flutters should know each other.)

I encourage all Flutters to RP among each other to try and find clues about Indilwen's location. If any are on the right track, an NPC will confirm it, or show a clue. Just tag Antidia if you start an RP with the intent to investigate.

Don't forget the Fae Clearing usually has a ton of little island fairies flitting about so they can be recruited to help with tough jobs.

Thank you guys! This was a lot of fun and I hope the mystery of finding Indilwen will be something y'all enjoy. (there might be some rewards for successfully solving the mystery ninja )