Beep Beep
Title: Beep Beep
Author: Yukito
A fluffy sea of dingy white wool surrounded Yukito on all sides, until he was almost lost in the crowd. He stood in the middle of a field that was crowded with bleating roltons, just on the outskirts of Myssar. The smell was... something to de described, that's for certain.
Their journey had been stalled due to the fact that the herds were being cranky, and refused to move out of the way. Though there had been practical solutions (from Talinvor, in particular) to simply slaughter them all and be on their way, the people that relied on the herds would be understandably vexxed with the herd's wooly demise.
So. Here Yukito was, trying to get a look at a hoof or two without getting kicked in the head. It was like being at a fancy ball and trying to peek at someone's ankles. Not that he'd ever DONE that, because it was a stupid idea.
He could see Meril in the distance, cleansing the hooves of roltons that Jisandra spelled to sleep. He could see a row of sleeping bovidae in her wake, each with hooves doused in herbal salve and neatly wrapped in cloth. Perigourd was nearby with another rolton, carefully cleaning dirt and grime from between its strangely-shaped toes.
After speaking with the young messenger, they had discovered that the herds had a bad case of toe rot and couldn't be convinced to leave the road. There was only one healer in the vicinity, so they had stepped in to lend a hand. Not knowing anything about the disease itself, Yukito had to ask for clarification on the varied symptoms from the local empath, though his own plan was simple: Clean the hooves of the roltons, and scour the disease away entirely, until even their souls were squeaky clean. Afterwards, he'd reinforce their immunity until they were each cleaned up, and the conditions that had caused the issue were attended to.
Thus, there he stood scrubbing and cleaning rolton toe jam. When a rolton got lippy with him, or otherwise tried to cave his skull in, he zapped them so that they stood stock still. After a gentle suggestion from Meril, he soothed and calmed their nerves first. Usually. Some roltons were jerks and deserved what they got.
Case in point, as he was rising from his odd pedicure session with one rolton, another bowled him over onto his rear. As he plopped into the mud and muck, he recalled Uniana softly asking him about the wisdom of wearing silks for a ride. He thought back on that moment and sighed heavily. The rolton who'd shoved him over mouthed at his hair, and he shoved its heavy head aside. He'd be scrubbing forever to be presentable, after this.
At least he had a nice, warm tent filled with food and friends behind him.
Still.
Touché world.
Touché.