Karma stood in the deserted playground and sniffed the breeze. She let the cool air flow through her nostrils and fill her chest. She had waited for this day ever since her eyes first opened on her beloved forest once again. That was over a month ago, and it had taken her a while to get her bearings--and to remember. Being a fawn again had toyed with her mind, but now she was grown and she had found her old spells. It was time to bring them back.

Fire must be first. Karma raced on the wind, searching the forest for a flicker. Ah, there--by the ruins. She slowed and brushed by a motionless stag with candles on his antlers, catching one of her violets on fire as she went. She walked to a nearby tomb and, rubbing her antlers across it, delicately loosened the flaming flower until it fell to the ground. Quickly, she bent and breathed out a slow, deep breath. The light wavered, but did not go out. Karma stood and pawed at the ground, forming a symbol in the dirt beside the fire. She cast her spell and stood back, listening and waiting. Had she forgotten something? But no! A blinding golden light began to seep out of the grooves she had made in the forest floor. It mixed with the flames and grew until it was almost as large as Karma herself. When the light faded, there was only a smoldering pile of ashes where the burning flower had been, but lying next to it was a newborn fawn, naked but for the candles where her antlers would grow. Stella! Her heart leaped. She wanted to lie down and wrap herself around the sleeping fawn, but she knew her task was incomplete and that there would be time for their reunion shortly. A quick nuzzle and she was off.

She must bring back Echo, and the pond was the place for that. At the water's source, she darted through the tears of the the crying statue, letting its magic wash over her and turn her pelt crimson. Without stopping to shake the droplets from her fur, she leaped into the ravine. Her hooves scarcely touched the water as the wind carried her downstream, racing. Soon the steep sides opened up and she had reached the pond. Without pause, she began to trace a symbol across the surface of the water. Wherever her hooves touched, the ripples began to grow. When she had finished, she stood above the pond and blew gently through her nostrils across the water. Her breath became a wind that whipped the surface of the pond. Soon the ripples had become small waves that lapped the shore. The symbol she had traced began to glow. Just as before, it grew into a dazzling ball of light, and streams of water flew up to mix with the light. When the glow had faded and the water was calm again, another fawn rested on a lily pad in the center of the pond. Karma blessed him silently and moved on.

Her final task was to bring back her youngest sister. For that, she would need flora. She shook off the red pelt magic and stooped to pluck a bouquet of water reeds with her teeth. Then she dashed across the forest floor until she reached the hollow tree that had been her sister's special place so long ago. She hid the reeds inside and paused to listen. The forest was quiet, but she rubbed against the tree to scent-mark it anyway. The other deer would be awake soon, and she would just have to hope that would be enough to keep intruders away until she returned from her gathering. Fortunately, she was fast. Wherever she went, she let the wind carry her, pausing only for the briefest of moments to pluck bluebonnets, buttercups, lilies, herbs, berries, violets, and of course poppies. Between each excursion, she returned to the giant tree to hide her goods with the water reeds and scent-mark again. Finally, certain she had not missed any variety, she returned her last load and rested for a moment. In the distance, there was a roar. Another, deeper roar answered it. The spell was wearing off--the forest was waking up. She would have to be quick now. Carefully, she picked up the batches of flowers, herbs, and berries in her teeth and rearranged them to form a symbol on the ground within the hollow trunk. Satisfied at last, she stepped back out of the tree. She breathed along the entrance, letting her warm breath carry her scent inside. A quick spell and soon the petals and leaves were lifted and swirling together with the golden light inside the tree. When the chaos died down, Coriander was sleeping on a bed of flowers, poppies adorning her head. Karma lay down where she was and rested.

That evening, the three fawns gathered with their eldest sister to worship at the statues of the Twin Gods. The forest was alive and noisy again, but Karma felt an inner peace that was rare for her. Tomorrow there would be much to do, but she now knew that the Elmheart clan would be restored and that all would go as they had planned all those years ago.

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Fawns and adults played hide 'n' seek on the playground, drank deeply in the shallows of the pond, and chased each other through the twilight, completely unaware of the morning's strange happenings. But the ruins were deserted. And in the twilight, something stirred. The ground was moving beneath two tombs--a cross and an idol. Soon, the tips of antlers were sticking up out of the forest floor, then heads followed, then forelimbs pulling up bodies. The two stags stretched, breathed out dust, and shook themselves. Each had an eerie light that had begun to glow in his eyes--one a cool blue, the other blood red. The blue-eyed stag listened. He sensed a presence he knew only too well. The red-eyed stag sensed a presence too. He turned to search through the growing darkness and found what he was looking for. He charged the blue-eyed stag, but he was too slow. The other whirled around and bent his head. For a moment, they locked antlers. But each was still weak and knew it. As if by some silent cue, they twisted loose simultaneously. The two stags backed away, bowed to one another, and walked off in opposite directions...

(Read part two here: http://www.endlessforest.org/community/playground-0 .)