Here you lay, silenced after years of life. You were once strong, healthy, beautiful...

Well, to some eyes, you still are very beautiful, in your own way.

Who were you before? Were you kind? Brave? Stubborn? Wild?

How did you die? I would hope you passed with little pain...

Here you rest, your bones are all that remain of your life. You gave them as a tribute to nature.

How would you like me to reflect? What do you wish for me to do?

You are honored this day, not as one who has lost their life...



...but as one who has become part of the land itself.

Peace, harmony, and enlightenment in all things.

Live in the shadows.

Failure is not an option.

Know your surroundings.

Focus. Focus!

"What'cha doing?", a calm and curious voice interrupted the ninja's train of thought. Kinsha's blood went cold as he realized his hiding spot was discovered. The two stood in the stonework of the Ruins, which was always one of Kinsha's favorite places to practice his ninjutsu.

Zephyr tilted her head, a slight smirk on her face. She rarely ever saw a deer creeping around or being sneaky like Kinsha was. To her, he was just playing some weird game.

"Err...I...", Kinsha scrambled to think of a response, "Hey what's that over there?", he questioned immediately.

The naive doe turned her head and saw a lone fawn playing with butterflies. "Just some kid being funny like you...", she tried to say, but turning back, Kinsha was gone. The doe tilted her head once more and then shrugged it off. "Well, whatever you're doing, you must have good reason to.", she spoke to seemingly nothing, turning and wandering off.

Kinsha got the message. He let out a sigh. That was close..., he thought, If that doe was a real threat, I probably would be dead.

The ninja stood and surveyed the area. The beluga doe was enjoying the butterflies with the fawn. Other deer slumbered quietly in the area. The Forest was at peace today.

Kinsha slipped into his hiding spot once more.

I am the shadows. I am the ninja., he thought

~~~~~

"Did you hear that another fawn has vanished?", Blixt spoke to a nameless stag.

The stag shook his head, "That's horrible! Does anyone know where they are disappearing to?"

Blixt lowered his head, "No, but there's a few places that haven't been investigated. I'm sure they'll turn up eventually."

"I really hope so.

What makes us an individual?

Is it the clothes that we wear?

Is it the food that we eat?

Or the things that we treasure?

What makes us unique?

Is it the path that we follow?

Is it the ideas that we build upon?

Or the vision we see of ourselves?

What makes us a paragon?

Is it the truths we know?

Is it the dreams we seek?

Or the goals we wish to accomplish?

The correct answer...





...is all of the above.

Never forget that you are one of a kind.

Don't ever let anyone stop you from being yourself.

Always follow your dreams and accomplish your goals.

And see yourself as a Paragon of Earth.

I'd like to try a few more of the name poems like the one I wrote today for Iaurdagnire, so there are three slots open for practice.

Please link me to one of your deer's bios, because I use the info from their bio to construct the poem. I don't want to put rules on this but please choose a deer with at least five letters in their name, and of course the length of the poem is based on how many letters in the name so longer names will be longer, ect.

And the usual, don't expect it immediately and all that jazz.

So victims please? If I end up having fun with this I'll open up a few more, but three for now.

1 - Siberius
2 - Kahlan
3 - Raleigh

In the deepest parts of the Forest
A friendly face watches from
Upon the wings of peregrine.
Resting next to a lone
Dandelion, which guards his soul.
As a symbol of honor, wisdom,
Gallantry, Duty, and many more,
Never will he break his code, he is
In humble service to the Twin Gods.
Reaching and inspiring so many others,
Endlessly he walks the Forest with pride.

I hope you don't mind I used Dag's bio as inspiration for this.

*Might be too mature for younger readers or those who have lost pets before*

Beep...beep...beep...beep...

The rhythm was steady, a monitor displayed that his heart rate was elevated but not strained. The deer's eyes opened just slightly, he couldn't keep them open for very long. Bright lights hovered above him, and his body was slowly becoming more and more numbed from the injections they had put into him.

A gloved hand caressed his neck. He listened to the voices of the veterinarians who were doing everything the could to save him. He didn't understand them, but their voices were more than enough to soothe his mind.

The stag closed his eyes, weeping just a little. The past few days had been nothing but pain for him, but he felt just a little comfort as he lay on the padded operating table. A simple cloth covered most of his body, there was enough exposed for the vets to inspect.

His skin was rotting away.

~~~

"Where did you find him at?", one of the vets, an older woman, asked a high-school boy who sat in the waiting room of the clinic.

"He was walking down the street.", the boy replied, "Not too far from here."

The boy was worried about the deer. He had led the animal to the vet clinic, looking for help from anyone. The deer had been grunting and moaning with every step he had taken on that long road.

"What is it? Do they know what happened to him?", the boy asked.

The vet shook her head, "They've never seen a case like this. They think he might have been exposed to radiation contamination, but for now they're not sure. We wouldn't even know where he came from."

The boy lowered his head. "Hey...", the vet said, kneeling down to meet him at eye level, "You did a brave thing bringing him here. I'm sure he really appreciates that someone would care for him like you did."

At that time, another vet came in. The two looked to the man, who sighed and shook his head.

Work in progress. Everyone in bold is tentative.

Quad awoke to find countless other deer around, all calling out, dancing, laughing...

But he didn't feel that way today. There were many things on his mind and every moment he sat there listening to the others made his heart cringe. He needed some space, he needed silence.

The fat antelope stood and walked away, past his friends, past new fawns who wanted to play with him. He didn't want to be around them at the moment. He just wanted a little peace to clear his head.

He soon found the Old Oak, the tree invited him in and sheltered him like a mother doe would shelter her fawn. The blackbuck stepped into the closed space, his antlers barely fitting through the entrance. There he sat on the cool soil, listening to the hum of the oak as the wind breezed steadily into it. He closed his eyes and meditated, taking long, deep breaths.

And at that moment, everything stopped. He cleared his head, his body calmed and relaxed. He didn't know what he was so upset about, but it didn't seem to matter anymore.

Nature has a wonderful way to ease our stress, and often it is right there before us, just asking to help.

The challenge is accepting help when we're too caught up with our daily lives.

Hey guys, I have a little dilemma and need a lot of advice before i do something that i shouldn't.

I'm thinking about Quad finding a new mate. I think he has someone who is interested but I'd hate Mazey to come back and find out he left her. I left her a message on MSN about it but Quad's been really faithful (not participating in the rut, not pursuing other does [even though he says he's a doe magnet], ect.) but I feel like he's been alone in the Forest long enough.

I know Mazey has been really busy, she does a lot of artwork on Deviantart and I'm sure she's going to go on Feral Hearts when it gets released (she played on IT for a while). I just wish I had a good answer for this, I feel like a jerk asking her permission if Quad could mate another deer.

What do you guys think? Am I being a jerk or do you think Quad should be allowed to find another mate?

---------------------------

Mazey responded and said the following:

"hey quad, im happy that quad can move on, i send my regards and hope his new relationship works out well, mazey will still be quad friend and ill still care about you no matter what <3"

So I guess Quad is single now.

First off, thank you all for coming and dancing with Quad! It was a total blast (even though I was 15 minutes late to my own party), and I loved every moment of it!