Cassian's movements were fluid and elegant, his spinning, twirling dance following no obvious musical tones. He was alone, as he usually was, in the Willow Grove, so he had plenty of space to move. The tall grass bowed under his slender feet, his braided hair slid over his shoulders and down his back with each lunge forward that stopped short, sending the rest of his body in a graceful arc. His tribe, the Willow tribe, loved their personal expression. Whether it came from art or music, or dancing, they dedicated a little time each day to practicing and perfecting that expression no matter what it was. Cassian didn't need music to dance, however, as he heard the rustling of the leaves of the willow trees and followed the path the wind took them in. His long, sturdy body waved in the wind like their branches, moving like liquid, creeping along on his toes and swirling as if caught in a tunnel of wind.

He finally collapsed, breathless, on a bed of grass he hadn't touched and turned his deep green eyes to the stark blue of the sky. It was such a warm day, so much sunlight streaming down that it energized him. His deep, earthy brown skin soaked up the sun and the darker, nearly black swirls of vine-like tattoos over his left arm and chest and down his leg seemed to shine as if they laid atop the skin. When he sat up after gathering his breath, Cassian rearranged the sparing cloth over his waist that didn't do much to cover him, but was there to at least conserve a little modesty in case another tribe were to seek them out for some reason or pass by. The Willow tribe were tolerant of other tribes in their land, as long as they didn't harm the willow trees with malice. And the Willow tribe was more or less left alone, which they didn't mind at all. They did enjoy their isolation.

He stood, stretching, pulling the vine that was twined through his hair until it fell out, and he twisted it around his arm as he stepped out of Willow Grove and took the narrow path back to where he lived. It was among a few other trees, whose branches were bowed low and twined around a net on the floor of the ground, making an orb-like structure that didn't harm the willow trees and gave the Willow tribe a place to live. Usually a small family would live in the large structures, but more often than not a single person would form and inhabit their home. Cassian's stood away from the others, a large tree formed into an orb, just like the others. Branches crisscrossed to form a latticework so air could get through, but privacy was preserved. They brought in soft soil to cover the above-ground roots and make it an easy walk around the trunk of the tree. A slit in the latticework of branches acted as the door, covered from the inside by a cloth to be used as needed. Cassian slid into his home and put the cloth over the door. Despite it being daylight, he liked the dark that wasn't the cause of nighttime every now and then. His home was sparse, as they all were. the most prominent, other than the trunk of the tree in the middle of the single-room area, was the indentation in the ground that was his sleeping area. It was covered with cloth to make it a bit more comfortable. He slipped into the indentation, lying on his back and staring up.

He enjoyed the quiet. And here, it was silent. Cassian quickly closed his eyes to doze off.

The dark eyes stared deep into him, deep into his soul. It scared him but he did not show his fear, he did not blink. The Guardian's wings unfolded, its feathers made of light and the secrets of the forest. He knew that it was a sign, it was trying to tell him something. Within the feathers, he saw a snake slithering. One with poison in its fangs, and toxins under its skin. It bit at the Guardian's feathers, making them go dark and fade away. "But why?" Tobias asked the Guardian, who tilted its head as if asking why he was questioning the vision.

He gasped and blinked, coughing slightly at the thick smoke that hung in the air about him. He heard the cackling laughter of Mei next to him, the old lady who had been the Owl Tribe's shaman for decades. She was getting old and soon the Guardian would come to take her on its soft wings. So Tobias was being trained in the mystical spiritual ways of the shaman, as he had shown from an early age that he had the qualities of one. Today they had been smoking a sickly sweet herb that helped with visions, and it had been the first time Tobias had seen something.

"I saw the Guardian. It was trying to tell me something..." Tobias shuddered slightly, looking at Mei. The old lady's skin was wrinkled and loose, her nails and teeth yellowed from age. Her face was pale, and never showed any emotion, just like their Guardian. It scared him sometimes to look at her expressionless face. Soon he would learn how to mask himself as she did. As he gazed at her face, he saw a glimmer of excitement in her dark eyes.

"Very good, tell me what you saw," her voice was quiet, deep like an owl's hoot. Tobias and the other children used to joke that Mei was so close to the Guardian that she was slowly turning into an owl herself. It wasn't so funny once he learnt he would be the same one day.

"A snake... With poison... Biting... Killing... Does it mean anything?" Tobias was worried and he knew that his youthful face showed it. The shaman stared at him for awhile before putting out the pipe and standing up, her long silver hair touching the ground as she hobbled to where she kept her bones.

"I have been having the same vision myself," she said finally, picking up a sack that held old owl bones and feathers. "I suspect the Snake Tribe have something to do with it. We haven't always been on the best terms... Their new leader is young, and foolish. But you must cast aside your feelings, Tobias. You are showing too much emotion. Remember, the Guardian shows nothing but a blank face to its enemies and prey. It is the face of fear and death. Have you seen an owl cry?"

"No, Mei. I'm sorry. I've been working on it, but... It's hard. I will not fail you and work harder at my meditations," Tobias hung his head, quickly arranging his face so no expression showed. "But if the Snake Tribe attacks... It would break the peace treaty, it would cause War... The Forest Spirit will be mad... Like last time..." There was a legend of times before the peace treaty, when tribes constantly battled and fought one another for land. The Forest Spirit grew enraged at the needless bloodshed that it started the Great Fire, which wiped out all the trees and prey. Tobias knew the story off-by-heart, his father was always telling them while they sat around the fire at night time.

"Indeed. So we must determine how the Snakes plan to attack, and then warn our leader. From there we ask the Forest Spirit for help," Mei said, sitting back on her grass-woven mat and shaking the bones and feathers out of their bag. She held her hair out of her face as she leant forward to read them. Tobias came closer, though he had yet to make sense of the sacred bones and feathers of one of their Guardian's children. "We may be too late... This poison has already spread," Mei looked up at Tobias, tilting her head like an owl. Her face remained blank, however.

"We must go and warn..." She was interrupted by a fellow Owl Tribe, who burst into the shaman's hut, his chestnut hair messed and the white mask askew so Tobias could see the panic on his face.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Shaman, but it's my daughter. She's having convulsions. Please, there must be something you can do!" Mei got to her feet and followed the man, looking back at Tobias as she left. Did he see fear on her face? No, it couldn't be... Tobias tried to calm his heart and he gently picked the bones up to put back into their bag. The poison was already here...

He woke when he heard someone shuffling outside. Sitting up, Cassian rubbed his eyes and ran his hands through his black-brown hair, pulling it back and standing. He used the vine he had discarded earlier to bind the ponytail, and slipped out of his willow home to find a young woman sliding by. She wore just a little more than him, enough to cover her but not enough to take away from her body. "It is prayer time, Cassian." She said easily, her voice quiet and whispery, delicate.

"Is it?" Cassian's was a little more full, but dripped off his tongue like air. "I suppose I have slept a little too much..."

"Come, now, Cassian." She held a hand out. "We cannot begin without you."

"I know, Delive." Cassian took her hand, their elegant fingers twining gently, and Delive pulled him along. The sky was a little deeper in tone now, so Cassian's dreamless sleep had taken him past the hottest part of the day and into the gently cooling late afternoon. They shifted through the orbs that were the homes of the other Willow tribe, then slipped into the oaks that sheltered the delicate pink willows from hard winds, rains, and baking sunlight. Though several dozen people sat with legs crossed on smooth, mossy stones, not a word was said, not a breath of air stirred the ring of pink willows. Delive released Cassian's hand and took her spot in the middle of the seated group, and Cassian lifted himself onto the bowl-shaped seat in the middle of the half-circle. It was silent for a time while Cassian surveyed the group present.

"Join hands." He said quietly, his voice nearly lost. They obeyed, lacing fingers together. "Bow your heads." They did, their hair covering their faces. "Speak. Inward. Our Guardian is open." Cassian raised his face to the sky. As thoughts filtered through his conscious mind, it was almost overwhelming, but he had become conditioned to these dozens of thoughts. Prayers. He heard them all and felt them conveyed to their guardian, the great Willow. As they spoke silently, their prayers conveyed through their medium, a breath of wind stirred the outer ring of pink willows.

"Our great Willow spirit has heard our prayers." Cassian spoke in a dazed tone. His eyes had gone glassy, and when he blinked, Cassian turned his face to the congregation. "Close your eyes. Allow our hearts to open as one."

He bowed his head with the others this time, his palms upturned.

How long had it been? Tobias thought it felt like years, but only a few days had passed. Chaos struck the Owl Tribe as one by one, their children got ill and died. He could hear them crying out to their mothers, confused as to why they had died so quickly. Mei was over run by grief-stricken people, begging her to find a cure, find a way to stop the sickness that was quickly spreading throughout the tribe. After the children died, the adults started to grow ill too. It was an epidemic. They couldn't stop it.

Tobias stayed in his hut, curled up on his straw bed and sobbing to himself. The lifeless body of Mei lay close by, her ghost around him, mad that he had not yet given her a proper burial. He didn't know how, how he could cope with it. The death of his mentor, the deaths of his tribe. He felt them around him, angry, sad... Why hadn't the Guardian come to take them? Was it because they hadn't had the proper rituals? But there were so many of them, there was no way Tobias could bury them all in the sacred burial grounds of the Owl Tribe, located just up a hill above their village.

He sniffed and wiped his eyes, crawling out from his hut and standing, afraid in the deserted camp. No fires burned outside the huts, no children played about... Even the owls had disappeared from the trees around the place. Why was he the last one? What could he do? He covered his face, crying again. He knew he had to remain strong and emotionless, but he was so confused and sad... His people were all dead. Their spirits clung to him, moaning, begging for a proper burial. It would take him weeks. But he had to do it. He couldn't let his tribe become demons.

A sense of unease and unrest had befallen the pink willows. Several days had passed as the sense grew deeper and ran through their roots. Cassian went to their prayer circle within the pink willows and sat within the bowl. He crossed his legs underneath him and lowered his head, feeling that sense overtake him. Their Guardian was quiet, but it wasn't the source of the unease. It was physical, almost painful. Real. Not of the trees, but transmitted through the trees. The oaks, pines, and willows thrummed with the sense of death and upset somewhere in the forest but yet Cassian couldn't place it. Why didn't any others of his tribe feel it? They had to, but were ignoring it. It was what they did, after all---they kept to themselves.

"Guardian Willow, please... Speak to me. Tell me where this comes from."

Of course, he got no reply. Their guardian protected them and no animal tribes, so it was none of their entity's business to look into what might have been conferred by the trees and to Cassian. Though he felt like he needed to know. Still, as the rest began to weave into the ring of pink willows for their afternoon prayers, he raised his head and put on a placid mask. "Enter, take your seats and we shall begin."

Their silent feet crept across the grass and slipped onto their mossy stone seats. Cassian found it a little harder to clear his mind to begin conveying prayers today, but after a few deep breaths, he managed it. Wherever that unease came from, if it didn't vanish, he would have to try to contact his guardian. Perhaps if he could contact their elder.