"Yes that should be enough," Ashia scatters the powder around where they had been so the trail would be thrown off, "Now we get into the trees and treehop to get to where ever we're going. It's not going to be easy." This little trick of Jay''s might come in handy, Ashia notices, or better yet might help others.


"No Shield is not friendly towards anyone and if you got too close he'd attack without warning," Justin explained, "Perhaphs the next person who has a horse will let you pet their horse." He waits paciently for his meal at a table. His sword is leaned against his chair a warning that he was not to be messed with.

Brandon doesn't make a move to go against Justin. He continues about his work as he has been before.
Sparky trots back into the main room, balancing a plate and cup in his hands. "Jackson taught me to cook. I'm a great cook." He assures as he sets the plate down in front of Justin. Then, Sparky pulls himself into the seat beside Justin, perching as he watches Jason until apparently satisfied. He scoots back into his seat and tilts his head, "Do you have any stories? I can do a story exchange if that's the way you like to do things."

Jay smiles and does a peppy stage bow and then pretty much sprints down the trail to get to the desired destination. Hazel has to pull him back before any thought of slowing down popped into his head. He adopted a more reasonable pace.
When The Black Bear came into sight, Jay dashes forward the rest of the way even though they have been travelling for quite some time. He hops up to the door and turn around to face his friends, taking a bow and introducing them to the humble place. "Welcome to the Black Bear Inn/Bar/Diner. No matter what else it may be for you, it is the best place to hang out at any time! Relax, enjoy your stay. I'll be back with a menu shortly." He smirks and opens the door, walking in as if returning home. He heads to the back to help Jackson with the cooking and any other chores that may need to be done.
Hazel pauses by the door, looking in and around. Her stomach grumbles as she hesitates and watches Lunar flutter around a bit more before zooming into the building and settling in the rafters. She sighs and holds the door open for Ashia, sending her a small smile.

"I suppose I have a story or two though I'm afraid they aren't happy stories but they involve the bonding sickness and what one person would give to be rid of it. I've always heard rumors about a vile substance created by Gerathon the serpant and used by the Devourer it's called the Bile. This substance was thought to be a subsitute for the Nectar but the price paid for the Bile was horrible. The Bile could make the spirit animal of the person obey the human's ever command and have no free will of their own and if a person hadn't summoned a spirit animal using the Nectar they could use the Bile to force a wild or tame animal to become their spirit animal. The Bile from what I've heard can warp a person's mind and destroy whatever humanity they have while the animal looses it's free will.The story I'm about to tell you is about a person who used the Bile to their own gain. Once a man with a jackal spirit animal gave a young man with great ambitions the oppertunity to have a spirit animal of their choosing since the boy had not gotten one with the Nectar. The boy foolishly agreed. Once he took the Bile he got an animal in a cage, a jaguar as his spirit animal. The boy was overjoyed then the man with the jackal explained the price for the Bile was to serve the Devourer. The boy hesitated but eventually agreed and brought to seek out a Great Beast. Mind you this was before the Four Fallen had perished. He was told to seek out Jhi for her healing powers and take her talisman. He eventually found Jhi but instead of taking her talisman he sensed something and afraid he fled. Unknown to him at the time somehow his spirit animal had been released from the bile and choose to hunt the boy instead of running off because in the jaguar's eyes he was little more than prey. The boy soon figured out that his spirit animal had been released but didn't know how or where it was. He sought out the cat only to be eaten by it."

"Thank you," Ashia says as she walks inside then sees Justin. She sit down next to him and smiles. Justin quickly finished his story. "Prehaps the Greencloak's Promise would be more to the young man's liking. After all it's a story that never ends as long as their are Greencloaks fighting for the good of everyone."

Sparky sits transfixed during the story, his eyes wide and mouth open in an 'o' shape as he returns to the edge of his seat. "That's... A story I've heard before. I still don't understand why he decided to head after the cat. If he didn't feel the bond, why would he search for the cat. It'd make sense that the cat would hunt what had been forcing it to do things it doesn't want to do." Sparky sits back and lets his legs fall from against his chest to swinging. "I've never heard of the Greencloak Promise before, though." He wants to eagerly learn everything he can, enough so he can make a difference.
Sparky plans on going back into business mode and helping everyone, but Jackson came in and asked what everybody needed, if he can help, that sort of normal thing in his jovial way.

Hazel nods when Ashia thanks her. She enters in after her and takes a look around. She smiles when she sees Brandon. Hazel walks up to him and hesitates. Brandon looks up at her after he set the broom aside, about to ask the question of what he can do to help her. His face brightens and he gives her a big hug. Hazel pauses only for a second before squeezing his slightly shaking body.
"I missed you." Brandon whispers as he buries his face in her neck.

Ashia looks happy as she notices the siblings, "Maybe I'll come back another time and tell the story then. It's an old story. As for the boy and the cat there could be several differnt reasons one being that even though the bond was no longer there he'd grown fond of the cat to the point of considering it his true spirit animal or at least a friend who he was worried about though that can be debated." She asks for some food and water as well as some jerky if they have some.

Justin shakes his head, "Or maybe he did it to try and regain his lost power so he didn't have to go back empty handed."

"Or that."

Justin smiles slightly, "I completed my task and it was a waste of time. I wish we could predict who really needed versus who doesn't. It would make our job so much easier not to mention safer." He thought about his nectar ceramony how it had suprised him that he had summoned Orin and later to his horror Ashia had summoned Scarlet without the nectar a few days later.

(I was kinda looking forward to Ashia winning the archery contest against Jackson that we did last time. What do you think?)

"Yes! Please come back." Sparky nods his head. He begins to get off of his seat to go help Jackson, but the possibilities Ashia amd Justin gave him about why the boy had gone after his cat froze him in place as he hung on to every word. He, again, is about to leave, but realized that Jackson had things covered. Sparky giggles in glee and settles back down in his seat. Being with the different people and learning so many amazing things according to the folk's perspective is one of his favorite parts of living at The Black Bear.
"Why can't you tell the Greencloak's Promise now? Is it really that long?" Sparky asks before shaking his head, "No, you said it'd continue for as long as the Green cloaks are there. Man, that's one long tale. Do you guys like the Greencloaks? I... I don't. They don't come around her a lot, but when they do it's usually not to pass stories amongst themselves and the others here." Sparky's face darkens, and his hands tighten on the edge of his seat. He looks like he's about to say something else, but Jay asks him to come help and the boy obliges.

Brandon and Hazel were catching up and were on friendly terms once more. Hazel ordered some food and water as well before heading to help Brandon finish chores while she waited.

Jay catches up with Jackson while the two helped each other make the food and water that Ashia had asked for. When he saw Jay eyeing something with the intention of grabbing it and stowing it away, Jackson laughed and said that Jay hadn't changed a bit before carefully taking the item Jay had been thinking of taking out of reach and view. Jay called Sparky over to help with getting the food out to the guests and, soon, everybody had something to eat. Sparky also hands the jerky over.

(I don't know how to get that going exactly like it had been before... A friendly competition is something that I can see happening.)

"The Greencloaks are not our friends though occasionally we do work with them to achieve a common goal.I don't really trust them though or their control of the Nectar," Ashia explains as she thinks about the last kind Greencloak she worked with. It was too many years since her father's disappearance that the Greencloaks had given up looking for him and so had she. "It's a story my father told me but it begins with the Fallen Four aside from that it's hard to explain."

Justin frowns knowing what Ashia was thinking about, "Don't you have your bow with you?"

Ashia gave him a look as she fingered her bow.

"Why don't we have an archery competition? I mean it'll get your mind off of the Greencloaks and other issues," Justin suggests, "After all you're the best archer I've ever met and I've met quiet a few."

Sparky gives a tiny gasp when Justin says that Ashia is the best archer around. "Then you obviously haven't met Jackson. He is the best archer ever, the best anyone can know!" He starts gushing about how awesome and skilled and talented and great Jackson is at firing a bow. He is pretty confident when he makes his last claim, "I'm sure he can beat you."
Jackson's listening in to what the little boy is saying, growing more and more self conscious the more the kid dragged out his points and made up extravaggant tales of him. "I'll join a competition, but don't expect me to be as good as Sparky says I am. It's been a little while since I've used a bow..."
Jay sits back and listens to Sparky's stories, smiling when he hears the boy create tall tales with the information he has. Sparky and Jay seem to be really similar in appearance and attitude, most likely brothers or something. He says with a small smirk as he gets a bit into word play, "I'm not good at shooting a bow - I'd much rather hit it if I'm close enough - but I'll gladly watch the competition and see how it plays out. May the best archer win, of course."

Ashia smiles faintly, "If you really want to compete I'll gladly agree though prehaphs don't encourage Sparky to tell any more tall tales unless you want real trouble that can come with them. If we do compete I'm assuming spirit animals have to be in passive state. Thank you Jay." She glances over at Barnabus releasing Scarlet from passive state and giving her a piece of jerky to give to Barnabus.
Scarlet trots over to Barabus offering the piece of jerky, Want some?

Justin smiles chuckling softly, "Jackson you might want to back down while you have the chance trust me on that." He glances over at Barabus and Scarlet, "Looks like Scarlet made a friend. If this question isn't too personal Jackson how have you had your spirit animal?"