Northstar Vale to kick around as a toy

The smell of illness was a difficult thing to describe, but it was real, and when the scent hit her nose Hime was immediately put-off from her path. She thought of her sister and the fresh wounds upon her, and as she was not a properly trained healer she immediately thought, are your wounds infected already? It was disgusting. The smell was only in one direction at first, but then the wind shifted and it warped, trailing like a vine through the trees closer to the mountains, and Hime grew more concerned as it grew stronger.

She could find no trace of Reiko's clear scent among it, which gave her some doubts. Perhaps it was an ailing creature trying to find a safe place to pass on? She could alert the guardians - have them hunt it down for their caches - but before she had a chance to form a concrete plan, the ambling thing came in to view. Small sounds merged with the breezy forest; a rumble here, a snarl there, squeaks of immaturity.

Hey - what you doing here? She shouted through the trees, the timbre of her voice hiding her apprehension.

Hime was no warrior - she did not need to be, not when she could manipulate others to her whims. It was in this moment that she froze and thought, I am not equipped for this. She gave a cursory glance at her surroundings but saw no immediate support, no guards lingering among the trees, and no bodies prowling on their own hunts; she felt immediately alone and the threat of the prowling youth made her uncomfortable.

What was wrong with them...?