Bambi's Forest

Kaiser bounded through the bushes. It had been about two weeks since he and Skander had been born, and the two were completely different. For one, Kaiser liked hanging out with the does - but not to show off or impress them, simply to hang out with them. He liked them as friends, and didn't care about what gender they were, and he was rather light-framed and didn't get along with other young bucks so well.

Also, Kaiser tended to have a more "active imagination" then Skander - that is, he said odd things relating to visions more often than his brother, who resolved not to talk about the spirits after no one believed him about the River.

But now none of that mattered. Kaiser was on his way to meet Salvia's daughter, Maple. Skander was off with Ronno and Herla, prying to figure out more about their father. Kasier shivered. He didn't even know what his dad looked like, but just the expression deer who knew him got when his name - "Nacht" - was spoken make him afraid. He swore once he saw a huge, smokey black buck once when a conversation about him actually did manage to thrive. That alone terrified the little fawn.

Now he was at the clearing, and Maple was with a rather large buck fawn - no, he was no fawn, and with his winter coat he had recently shed his spackled white back.

Leaf. Ugh. He loved bullying Kaiser for being small and in his words, "Wimpy."

I'd like to see you face the Wind herself! Kaiser thought indignantly. Maple deserved so much better than that jerk! He'd seen Leaf flirting with other does, even! He slowly approached the two.

"Hi, Kaiser!" Greeted Maple enthusiastically. Leaf snorted unpleasantly. Kaiser tried ignoring it.

"Hi, Maple. Have you seen the wind lately? It's been so..." Kaiser frowned thoughtfully, gazing at it as it rushed over the dancing grass. How did he describe this? "So... It reminds me of apple-raspberry."
"What?" Leaf sneered mockingly. The fawn made no sense! Must've been hit on the head when he was born.

"It's... river-blue," Kaiser explained awkwardly, looking confused.

Maple, unlike the older buck, seemed fascinated. "Wow!" She bleated softly. "I don't understand, Kaiser, but I really do wish I could see things the way you do."

"No, I don't think you do," Kaiser replied, glancing at the sky, where the wind swirled above. He then let his gaze fall scornfully over Leaf, who must have seen some kind of knowledge from Kaiser's expression, as his eyes flashed with sudden alarm. He recovered rather quickly.

"C'mon, Maple, you're hanging out with me, not this brain-dead little twig," He snapped, turning sharply and begining to walk away. Maple hesitated.

"I'm sorry, Kaiser... I should be going," she told him.

Why d'you let that jerk tell you what to do all the time? Kaiser wondered. He didn't say that though. He simply replied, "See you later, then."

Nacht

He was enraged. Furious. He couldn't even find a strong enough word. Trar had waited for the great buck to shed his single antler to tell him, Nacht now realized - all along, all along, all along. How had he not seen this coming? Of course Trar would keep Lihua! Of course! The buck stormed through the forest in  a direction he had never travelled before. He wanted to have time to himself, to formulate his little plan.

A sick grin played on his lips. Trar might think he had Lihua, but the fawn she would have later in the season was not Trar's. Lihua had suggested the whole idea - while they were together, what little time Nacht could get her away from the guards and the herd, she had suggested that Nacht kill Trar, take her as his empress, and usurp him.

Nacht had been thinking deeply on it, but an odd sense of... what felt almost similar to what he expected remorse to feel like had always swept over him vaguely.

Was it that this doe asked him to betray the only one who could tame him?

No matter - it was completely gone now. He wanted to kill Trar. He so wanted to crush the Overlord's skull. But no, not yet, not yet - time, pacience. That was one of Nacht's virtues. Pacience. He would wait a year or more if he had to. He was formulating his plan now - but how to do this? He liked the idea of hiring an assassin for sure, but... no, he would have to take over Trar's place and kill the poor fellow, and that's just no way to repay a buck who gave you all you ever would want, is it? No, no, Nacht had to make it look like an accident. But how? Winter was over, and there did not appear to be any good cliffs around, nor hunters, or even wolves. It seemed they'd all run off. He couldn't just kill Trar - there were bucks who feared Nacht and were truely loyal to the Overlord, and would not hesitate to kill Nacht.

He continued thinking for a long while before he finally realized that new scents surrounded him. It took him almost a mile in before he finally smelled the clear, obvious smell of other deer. He jerked his head back, narrowing his eyes. There was another herd about, then.

How had they missed them?

Suddenly, Nacht realized how low the sun was. He saw the faint, flickering figures of Dusk nymphs at the edges of his vision - beautiful does, he was accustom to this. He'd travelled nearly four miles out of Trar's borders.

How interesting.

He silently moved through the trees, looking around carefully. Thrice he swore he saw large bucks, and finally he found his way to the centeral area of the herd's lands. He was in a pine forest above a steep hill with a stream near the bottom, and it was very rocky. Deer were lounging everywhere. Perfect.

Nacht turned sharply and charged back to Trar's Herd. His plan for dominion over the Home Herd could wait.

First, he would convince Trar to conquer this new herd for Nacht's own gain. Then the Great and Powerful Overlord Trar would die.