"It seems like the spirit of the forest has been growing progressively darker lately..."
"Not much good can come from this."
"How much more suffering must go on before someone gets threw the demon's head?"
"Must you be such pessimists?! You know there's always a greater scheme in the works!"
"She's right you know..."
"But what good can come of all these injured and threatened creatures? Seems like anger and resentment are all that can be borne... You two know that especially."

There were at least a dozen koi gathered in the shallow water, swimming at the surface to speak with two deer who always stopped to listen to them and talk back. The water was up to Zerg's torso. She sat on a steep decline which could - if she moved wrong - send her falling into the depths. In this position, the fish could easilly be close by, even swim behind her. Her neck was bowed, so she directly faced the smaller creatures around her. To her side, Mar Sart was standing in the water rather than sitting, keeping his hooves partially dug into the soil below. Both brother and sister had come close to being some of Walter's victems, both by chance. It seemed Walter had been hanging around the lake with his odd friend lately, and unfortunatly the lake was always the place one could be sure to find Zerg or Mar Sart residing.

Mar Sart had not been touched by the demon, though he had been at the least threatened. Perhapse it was the fact that he had been careful - after waking up that morning to find Walter just a few yards away - to make no sudden movement and to keep a distance without 'turning his back' to a possable attack. Zerg however bore a few minor scrapes along her frontside, after running into Walter the day before while in the tail end of an energetic marathon threw the forest which ended in a brisk swim. She didn't fight when antlers and hooves struck, so her wounds were minimal... she ran... actually falling into the lake when she made her short lived escape. He didn't persue her, though he didn't exactly abandon the lakeside - and she stubbornly stayed near, and witnessed a few shocking moments involving an attack on a fawn, a two rounds of fighting Seth, and an interception by Quad.

"I know he's still got some good in him... Before this, I had seen only a good side of him really. I think it's worth a try to be forgiving." Zerg sighed. She lifted her head slightly, trying to lighten the mood a bit by flashing a hopeful grin and tilting her head slightly. "Besides, it's really no fun to sit back and muse over the past. I guess this just shows that we shouldn't presume deer are the same day be day!" she said cheeily. Beside her, Mar Sart huffed stiffly. Even if he was wise for his age, he had developed a grudge against the demon after hearing about Lemon being attacked. He had been trying to befriend her and her family for a while, and viewed them as such. The fish seemed to take Zerg's words into consideration, some glancing between eachother. "Can't argue that logic..." one of the koi commented. Mar Sart shrugged slightly. "We can forgive, but if he attacks Lemon or Peppa, or any of my younger friends while I'm around..." he trailed off, as if afraid if he finished the statement it would become as a prophesy, and he too would have to join the ranks of those who tangled with the demon.

Behind the group, the sounds of the dragonflies wingbeats seemed to intensify. Zerg quickly stood up, a smile flashing across her face. "Hey, let's save the emo-ness for later, mk? Or just forget it altogether?" she said quickly, with a bit of a laugh, before turning and splashing out of the waist-deep water and heading for the shore, bowing to both the koi and the dragonflies as she headed onto dry land. By the words of the dragonflies, she knew the best person to be around to get into a good mood with was about appear.