Meeting the Oracle

Maple spent quite a bit of time tending to the injured fox, asking their friends to help her fetch medical supplies as needed. Soon a satisfied smile appeared on Maples face as she was sure that the fox would survive its wounds.

"There" a clawed hand came up to her forehead to wipe at it. "That should do it."

said the tyrian turning to her friends, her chest proudly puffed as she did.

Varos and Cailu were positivel, ecstatic at the news that the fox would make it and if you looked at Katholes closely you could also see a content ever so small smile rest on their face.

Cailu was about to speak up again as the disembodied voice rung out in their collective heads once again.

"It seems like you are not deaf to natures teachings nor our values. The small ones shall lead you deeper into our sanctum. Be on your best behavior for we shall be watching."

Another shiver ran down Varos back and their face was enough to showcase their clear and utter disgust at the to him abnormal way of communication.

He whispered" I get the whole leader vibe I really do, but id prefer to talk face to face."

to which a disembodied chuckle rang through the chasers skull again causing him to drop down and cover his ears, as if said gesture would protect him from telepathy.

Reading his friends discomfort Katholes spoke up.

" Lets get going then, that gives them less incentive to keep contacting us. Just- be careful what you step on." Katholes cringed at that last part of the sentence and they felt silly having to consider the feelings of the plants around them, but they knew this was the druids domain and they werent about to try and upset them after their friend had worked so hard to gain the druids favor.

Cailu nodded in agreement adding "Yes, lets go. The little ones seem to already be leaving without us." Katholes calmly nodded before it fully registered what Cailu had said.

"They- what. HEY WAIT." yelled Katholes after the little Haedians that had started to sprint off deeper into the forest.

The four hurried behind them as the little ones didnt indeed wait causing the friends to lag behind them, frantically weaving through vegetation and foliage in a desperate attempt to catch up.

The drumming of paws and rustling of leaves filled the reoseans ears as they made haste, the little ones slowly but surely fading from view until none of them could be seen anymore.

Varos felt particularily spooked by this causing him to yell out a panicked hello that went unanswered. Yet this had pulled his attention enough that when he broke through the bushes he stumbled, as his paw catched on a root and fell into a clearing within the forest.

The chaser shook his head feeling entirely disoriented at the sudden fall only to see his friends appear from the foliage one by one.

In the middle of said clearing stood a tall tree its bark dark and yet glowing at the same time. Mystical symbols had been etched into the tree covering its entire bark as vines hang down from the trees crown almost making it resemble a willow.

Katholes stepped up and whistled wanting to get closer to the tree but found themself being held back by Maple.

"Careful." they said pointing toward the ground to vines that grew in a peculiar pattern on the ground almost like a spiral spiderweb, one of said vines being exactly where katholes intended to put their paw down on.

"Oh." they remarked "I didnt notice." now aware of the vines the party carefully advanced.

With the vines pointed out the party advanced, intend on checking out this curious tree.

once they were close enough to try and read the glyphs etched into the bark of the tree is when the disembodied voice rung out in their collective heads again, which if one of them hadnt come to the conclusion yet identified the voice as the leader of the druids with what they said next.

"The tree before you is called the Oracle and is my clans most prized Blessing from nature. Its centuries old and holds the colelctive wisdom of all woodland beings." a brief silence fell as the voice allowed the group to marvel at the tree in front of them.

"Youve proven yourself trustworthy- so tend to the Oracle and let it judge you."

Katholes seemed irritated at the mere idea of getting a tree put above them in importance but a scoff yet Cailu seemed ecstatic at the proposition "Marvelous!" they said before clasping their two front paws together with utter glee.

"This is exactly what we want. If we treat the Oracle with respect then Im sure the druids will finally allow us to properly talk with them!"

Maple nodded, understanding after all they had to do before this, why itd mean a lot to advance with their quest of exploring the underground to finally meet the druids face to face instead of getting talked to by them with the use of telepathy.

"Varos, you can help me." said Maple turning to the small chaser. "I want you to examine the trunk of the tree and look for any bugs that might try to damage the tree and relocate them. Ill check over the tree branches higher up." Varos nodded in understanding.

"Ill help too." said Katholes begrudgingly yet still of their own accord. The sooner in their mind theyd get done the sooner theyd be able to talk with the druid leader to then continue on their journey, something Katholes looked forward to as all the plant stuff was really not super interesting to them.

"Beautiful, lets try our best everyone!" said the brown coated tyrian immediately getting to working their way around the tree trunk, sweeping debris off of the tree and collecting any and all bugs on it they thought might be harmful to it. Whilst doing their part Maple studied the glyphs on the barks tree, asking herself what they meant, but she couldnt even decipher a single one.

Her two friends had similar little luck in making heads or tails of the glyphs etched into the tree, Varos in particular not enjoying the idea too much of relocating bugs as some of them had quite fierce looking pinchers that gave them the ick. Katholes on the other hand had little to no hesitation when it came to flinging a hissing bug into nearby shrubbery, which Katholes hoped was enough to disuade these insects from returning.

After some time with the scenery cleaned and bugs banished Maple looked back on her friends and invited them over to try and decipher the runes.
"Maybe we can put our heads together and try and at least think about what these glyphs might mean." said the tyrian looking hopeful to their friends.

"I-" started Varos, stopping himself to think on what the glyphs could mean.
"They said it held the collective wisdom of woodland beings so-" started Katholes.
"What if..." they moved closer to inspect the glyphs noticing more intricate carvings on each rune that only became noticeable when observed from up close as they became ever smaller, as if the runes themself were spiraling into the bark.

"What if each rune... tells the story of a colletive of animals. like..." they pointed toward one that could remotely be seen as the side profile of a robin, even if abstracted.
Maple aww'ed at their friends words as such 'adorable' things rarely left their lips.

"So this then-" Varos pointed to the Glyph they were talking about. "Is it like... the collective survival tips for robins? or things generations of robins witnessed? and... how do you even read that?"

It was a fun thing to contemplate of course, but the friends would not soon come to a general consensus as reading the glyphs was a skill that eluded them.