//------------------------------//
// White Tail Winter - Chapter 3 
// Story: Discord 
// by AppleCider120 
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Discord could not have been more happy with his arrangement with King Aspen's herd. Once a week, he would gain company in his large cave, and he would also get new plants to try and form new potions. That, and he could ask them more about their own lives; he opened up to them about so much, and was surprised when the king didn't share anything about his past that day. So, for the few days, he waited happily for his guests. He arranged the cave with more moss carpets, and many small awnings to make a wooden town inside his cave, leaving the center open for the children to likely play.

During the days of wait, Errant had resumed her hunting, gathering the small game for him, while he would travel the forests in an attempt to find as many types of vegetation that he could. He was quite nervous, as he never had guests before, and now he had guests that he didn't even know the diets of. He was sure they could forage off of what they wanted, but he desperately needed to make the most of their accommodations; he dearly wanted this to become a common thing.

And on the seventh day of his preparations, having grown a near farm storage's worth of foods, stored in makeshift bags, wooden crates, and clay containers, he stood at the entrance of his cave with Errant, watching for his friends. As the sun reached the midday peak, he began to hear the rustling of the brush. As sure a sign as any, it told him of his royal compatriots arrival, as King Aspen, and his Queen Fyr emerged from the brush with a moderately sized here. Discord was a bit confused, as he was sure they had a bigger collective of their kind, but decided to keep the question in his head for now. As they approached, he gave a welcoming bow, receiving one in turn.

"My friend, Discord," King Aspen spoke, quite proudly, "It is a grand day to see you once more."

Discord nods, straightening. "Well, your highness, it is always wonderful to see familiar faces once more. Being alone for the last year made me eager for a companion or two."

"Oh, far more than two, you shall see," Queen Fyr responded, giggling. "We brought one wing of our herd; we did not wish to burden you with all four.

"A wing?" Discord asked. "That is why your group is smaller than last week?"

King Aspen nods to him. "Indeed. we shall bring more as time progresses, dependant on your abilities as our host. We do not wish to bury you under out numbers if it is not going to benefit us both. This wing is of our more flora-focused families, and they have brought a marvelous collection of ingredients for your to work with."

Discord nodded in agreement, now understanding how perceptive his guests were. Though, he was far more expressive than their facial features allowed, so they could likely see the question on his face. As the gracious host he would be, he opened the wooden door to his cave, motioning them inside.

"Well, then, let's not leave you out here, too long," he said. "While I love the outdoors, the Minotaurs and Errant's cousins might not be as friendly as I am; I have, unfortunately, seemed to take shelter amongst the majority of creature's migration routes."

The herd, seeming to be of nearly twenty deer in total, followed his gestures. Once all had made it into the cave, he shut the door, and led them into the cavern, showing off the large, and expansive cave. The high ceiling, many clear puddles and two main springs proved a lot for the deer to see, as they wandered about exploring their shelter.  The fawn's were in absolute wonder, as their mothers kept close eyes on them each. Even King Aspen and Queen Fyr were not spared from it's impressive beauty; the king was even more impressed, though, with Discord's accommodations and craftsmanship with the basic materials.

"Discord, he said, almost stuttering, "I did not realize that a human could ever construct, and preserve such a natural beauty. The structures indeed resemble those of the humans I knew eons ago; the farmlands that you have somehow constructed in, and on the  upper levels are unimaginable. Mother, even with her disdain for the advance of the humans she expressed to me, would be so proud.

Discord definitely felt his pride swell at somehow gaining praise from a deer that, until now, he could only dream of seeing; but, his comment about Mother definitely caught his ear, and made him look over to the stag.

"Mother doesn't appreciate our progress?" he said softly.

King Aspen nodded slowly. "At least from the time I was created, we had talked until my kind was large enough to sustain itself. She described the victimization of her early creatures, and the many lost to time as they were hunted. She didn't loathe your ancestors for their existence, as she had made them; but she truly felt horrid that she had given your kind the level of intelligence they had. I believed that changed with you.

Discord just listened, and King Aspen took that as a cue to continue. "You see, while you were in your dreams, Mother was busy crafting other creatures along side of her meddling with you. The first hint she saw that humans could at least be swayed was with those black creatures you described. They are not, what you called, revenants;nor are they any form of spirit. They were crafted long ago, from lost humans that Mother felt could convince the humans to turn on each other, when they could not trust that they knew their closest friends.

"And why would she want that?" Discord asked softly.

"That is a very strong question, it would appear," he said. "I had also asked her that question on two occasions; on both, her reply was simply that she had not anticipated you. And you, she always talked about. She recalled your early years; how drawn to her fauna, flora, and scenery. How even when she appeared in her most beautiful form, you wanted nothing more than that motherly embrace. How you seemed to break every superstition about the human race she had formed over their development.

Discord nods, chuckling softly. "Mother is a creator. How would she have her own superstitions?"

King Aspen nods, sharing a laugh. "I have wondered the same; now that I no longer speak to her, however, it will remain a mystery. How can one, who so many claim in omnipotent, not know how her own creations would behave? And I think that's why she is trying to keep that side of you.

Discord sighed. "Truly. She has destroyed any semblance of my past that I held in my heart. From all I feel, I was not born of her hands. But, in her teachings, her methods, and her meddling, I have come to see her as my true birthright. She is my Mother, as much as it pains me to lose one I likely had eons ago; but, it confuses me as to the amount of clarity I get upon recognizing her as mine."

"Because, in the very sense of the idea, she is mother to all. The Minotaurs, the Timberwolves, the White Tail, and the White tailed.From the valley, to the depths of the seas. While from what I can tell, she may not have made the heavens; whomever made the heavens, gave her this planet specifically to play with. And she did not want to treat us as expenditures. We are her children, and as hard as she may treat us, she will always love them. Even the ones she regrets making.

Discord took those words strongly to heart as he broke out of his minor slump, perking up.

"Hey! Let's not get so down about our past, then," he said merrily. "Let's get everything ready. I need your eyes to tell me which of the foliage I have cultivated can feed your family; and then I will need your florists to teach me of your well-appreciated gifts."

With this proposition, Discord, and King Aspen surveyed all they brought to the table. To Discord's delight, all but a handful of the vegetation he grew was edible to the White Tail, and coincidentally that the few they couldn't eat were included in the gifts that the florists brought him. As he let King Aspen and Queen Fyr choose their own awning to use as their bed, the deer helped him with naming the new plants, and what the deer themselves could use them for. Then, they hinted at an insect that should be more evident this time around, called the Flash Bee. They insisted that Discord attempt to catch a few, or a hive, and attempt to use their abilities to help him; while their shocks were indeed a surprise, large animals were relatively unphased. They explained that for deer, as an example, it feels more like a mosquito bite. For a human, it may be more akin to a kick, but nothing poisonous.

Discord took that into mind as he wrote down the notes in his script, also trading information about what he was using to record the information with a few of the elder does. He said that next time they come around, he would try to have something for them for communication, should he ever have to move, or is out when they come to visit. In his mind, this first meeting was indeed very fruitful, and he was able to make one new potion while his friends were there. It was one that could aid in sleep; this turned out to be very hand for a few fawns, who would be very determined not to rest for the evening. So, by the end of their first week, he was saddened to see them having to move on as soon as they had come, but he had a good three weeks to wait; he could not hold his breath, and needed to keep himself busy. The first thing that came to mind for him, was the Flash Bees that the deer had mentioned earlier.

The day after the deer had left, he exited the cave with Errant; upon him was a notepad he had used to write down, and attempted to draw the descriptions he was given from the elders. The first idea he had, was to once more visit their clearing to use as a landmark to find his way about easier. Once they had reached the clearing, he began to survey the edges of the forest on all sides. Each edge of the clearing was surround by thick forest foliage, and made it difficult to peer through; so, he had to go into it by hand, looking for any signs of a new, or established colony. On his side was a bag for containing the bees, if they would be caught.

Everyday, he would make his trip, reaching a consecutive five nights before he finally spotted a nearly full hive just a short bit out from his own cave. Excited more so for the fact he wouldn't have to trek nearly an hour to find one, he eagerly set up some wooden posts to mark his path, and the locations. He made sure to make a map in his notepad of the paths he had taken, and used X's to mark the spots he found any signs. This would be the first hive to be marked. Now, all he had to do was lure them out. As with the common honeybee he was used to, they did not seem too overaggressive when he simply passed by as a reasonable distance. He did manage to get enough glances to catch their physiology; the almost constant buzzing was more an effect of the persistent electrical shocks that surrounded the bees in proximity to the hive, more than the actual bugs making the noise.

Most of his scouting produced little actual results, as they did not seem drawn to most of the flora he would plant nearby; that was, until he put some fruits by their hive. A handful of selective fruits seemed to draw them to their blossoms more so than others. From here, he realized he could finally start setting up a trap to draw them even further. By creating a line of fruit blossoms leading back towards the cave entrance, he finally had a process that would draw less bees, but thin out their swarms to where he could reasonably get about two or three, with minimal attacks from the main hive. After about a week, he settled on leaving one lone blossoming flower in front of his cave, keeping nearby to watch and see when a bee would finally make an appearance.

After the second day of watching, he finally got his first chance; a Flash Bee landed on the flower, and dipped inside for the nectar. Discord crawled over on his knees, clay pot ready to catch it, and clamped it down swiftly over the head of the flower to catch them both. While it seemingly worked the first time, he quickly found that the clay did nothing to stop the shock. Out of the container came a hard kick; a definite bolt of lightning from the bee shuddered his arm, making him grip the pot even tighter. He fought hard, determined to keep the one bee inside the container, and slowly crawled over towards the cave door between shocks, breathing hard. He quickly placed the bee on a stone counter when he finally crawled his way into the belly of his cave, hoping the top of the clay pot would be strong enough to keep the bee contained.

Finally having his first test subject locked up in his cave, he went to his collection, taking a minor swig of a healing potion in the event that the bee had permanently damaged anything inside. Errant and him lay to rest for a few moments, before he decided it was time to try an use the bee. He went over to his cauldron, making a smaller mixture of his strength elixir to use as the main target. His idea was to put his hand near the pot, and let the bee try to zap him, hopefully causing the mixture to do... anything!

Carefully grabbing the pot, he moved it slowly, trying not to prematurely agitate his little prisoner, and hovered it over the cauldron. With a swift motion, he knocked off the lid, and turned the clay container over, his hand just inches above the liquid, and waited. He waited far longer than many would have the patient for, and after almost two minutes, started smacking the back of the container with his had, before seeing the Flash Bee tumble out, into the mixture. To his surprise, it seemed to be that the bee exhausted itself, or simply died. He used this to make his own idea of the Flash Bee.

"Seems like their honey counterpart," he said to Errant, "their attack can do more damage to themselves than to their enemy. He shocked himself to death trying to shock me."

He just stared at the bee in his potion, before shrugging, and grabbing his old metal pipe, and starting to mix it. After a few moments, he did notice that the bee's body was quickly dissolving in the mixture, and made the red color slightly darker. He dipped his finger in it, just to see if the texture, was changing, only to find that he was feeling minor effects from his potion; all without having to ingest it. He also noticed that the mixture was starting to dissolve, causing him to panic as he poured what he could into two containers, clamping their lids shut firmly, using some wet clay to seal them off for the time being.

"So, not only does this mean that this potion no longer needs to be ingested," he said, slightly chuckling; it was a terrible tasting fluid, "but it vanishes without a container. As I cannot see any fumes leaking out of the containers. I will test this tomorrow, as I plan to capture a much more suitable collection of these bees."

Errant just watched as he mindlessly talked to her, tail wagging slowly as he cleaned up his mess, looking to her. 

"But, for now, we need to go get some food; whatcha say girl?" Discord asked.

Errant barked, hopping up to her feet, and running over as he led her back out of the cave to find their meal for the night.


Discord and Errant spent a good amount of the following two weeks, up until his guest's return, gathering bees, and mixing them into his potions once more. He would create even more variations, even garnering one that could make his body more resistant to the heat in the hot spring; this allowed him to finally take a warm bath, of which he had not had in over a century. And he felt wonderful. As the time for his visitor approach, though, he began to notice the weather beginning to hit its colder nights, as well. The previous year's winter had not been a problem for him, as all he needed was a the spring to himself, and a consistent source of nutrition.

This year, however, he had far more to prepare for. He had a growing Timberwolf, that now reached up to his chest, in addition to what would likely be a much larger herd of White Tail to host for at least the week. And so he went about, gathering dying brush, all but abandoning his Flash Bee experiments. He created some form of axe from fallen stalactites to help him cut down the weaker trees, and experimented with different ones to see which would burn the longest. While he knew smoke in such a closed off area would be a bit difficult to manage, he figured there would be a way to do it sensibly. On the finally week leading up to their arrival he began experimenting with using one of the caves natural vents to try and syphon the smoke out from the portions of the cave that the hot spring couldn't help.

The only vent he could find was a branching segment from the cave entrance; this meant one would need to walk around the fire to get in and out. While this would not be ideal if one was the frequent the outside, when it came to the snow, and defending against predators, this would be perfect. And with his collection of firewood for a usually mild winter, and plenty of food to last for weeks, he waited. After nearly one day, his friends would return, with a much larger herd than before; Discord counted up to forty before stopping. It didn't matter how many there were, he would work his hardest to help them.

To his delight, many of the young fawns had been growing, and were almost to their mothers' own shoulders. Queen Fyr, herself, seemed well developed; not as far from delivering the king what they would hope would be a prince as she had been before. He was unsure how long she was expecting before they had met.

"Once more, my dear friend," King Aspen said, clearly shivering from the cold as the first flakes of winter were beginning to fall.

Discord nodded, ushering them in swiftly. "Yeah, yeah! Hey, let's hold off on the greetings until you all get inside, and I can the fires started. You guys look absolutely freezing!"

The king nodded, as he and Fyr followed inside, Discord staying behind to lock off the entrance with a stong fire, and making his way back in with them. 

"Make yourselves at home," he said. "As before, you are always welcome to stay here. And I have to say, this is more of what I expected last time."

Queen Fyr giggles. "I cannot help but think, of how other humans would think of you. They cannot understand us as you can.

Discord laughed a bit. "Oh, I know! I probably look absolute hysterical from a human's perspective. Talking to, and housing so many fauna from the winter. Unlike them, as you noted, I can understand you. And, again, being alone for all these years has definitely made the heart grow fonder for companionships."

His newfound excitement seemed infectious, as King Aspen and his Queen Fyr were far more open this time, than before. Unlike before, they did apologize for not having much to bring in terms of their trade-- despite heavy insistence from Discord that last time was enough for him-- but they always expressed gratitude for sharing his shelter. As for Dissy, as many fawns began to nickname him by the end of the first few days, he happily harbored the venison; he could not fathom leaving them out in the cold, as many humans were willing to do with each other. More times they would talk about their pasts, though Discord could hardly remember anything more than Mother's manufactured life for him. But, as the king made very clear, accepting her way always made him more happy. And the fact that she was letting him do all this, seemingly unfettered, was exciting. 

Errant, herself, was a very excitable pup during this visit. Despite her size, she still shared the playful personality of her long lost furred brethren, and took the the fawns as her own. Often playfully wrestling with them, and helping the growing bucks with their need to fight; she also was known to cuddle up sweetly with a good few of them during their naptimes and bedtimes. Sadly, for all involved, the week seemed to go by far to quickly, and King Aspen was getting ready to head off with the herd once more. Upon the first hint, Discord stood up, tapping the king on the shoulder; something he was never known to do was to touch the king.

"Hey, could I talk to you in private?" he asked, smiling at the royal pair.

King Aspen nodded. "I am always here for discussion, lead me to where you need me."

Discord nodded, motioning the stag to follow him back out of the cave, to the entrance, which was currently barricaded by almost three inches of snow at its base.

"Alright, your highness," Discord started, "I know you whole heartedly, and vehemently want to get your group moving, what are you going to be accomplishing by sending those fawns out into such a cold winter?"

King Aspen stared at him in surprise, not quite expecting the sudden seriousness. "Oh, Discord. You know we always appreciate you sheltering us, but this is truly a traditional lifestyle we lead. I could not imagine not having the instincts to move as we White Tail frequently do.

Discord nodded. "And lead those vulnerable darlings out into a harsh winter, with no warmth? There's little food out there that I can't grow in this here; and I don't need to remind you of the wild Timberwolf packs, do I?"

While King Aspen dearly wanted to uphold the tradition, formed back when the White Tail Woods was originally destroyed, he could not easily find a hole to poke in Discord's logic. Not only were the fawns much more happy in this environment, they were definitely far more safe; their safety was chief among the things he held as his core tenants. Try as he might to think of an excuse, he couldn't help but give in to Discord's argument. Not that, in the end, he really wanted to.

He let out a soft sigh, before chuckling. "Discord, before long we're going to owe you favors we could not hope to repay.

Discord playfully bumped him as he started back into the cave. "Consider it paid for the safety of your herd. Now, come on! It's time to start prepping some snacks. I'll likely need to head out for some firewood in a bit. The week has used far more than I expected."

The stag followed the human back into the cave, announcing they would be staying until the weather and foliage were far more appealing to the White Tail's needs. While a few Elder's were worried, a good talk with Discord over dinner did wonders to calm their fears of the species future-- mainly pointing out that doing this just for one winter likely wouldn't change the very makeup of their herd.

It was about a week into their extended stay that Discord began to regain some distant memories of some traditions old humans had, according to Mother. It was of an ancient time of peace that would last for nearly a month. He shared with the deer the tails of the gifts often given to loved ones, and even to enemies. Tails of craft weaponry, pottery, and things for those to be wed gifted from their parents. It was the only time most bloodshed would stop, and the humans would be united under a common day. 

Queen Fyr nodded, cutting in. "And you, Discord, have seemingly done your Mother's best work; taking in those of us who would likely be struggling in the cold of the forests, and against the terrors of its monsters. It seems to me, that though the specific details of this lost time elude you, you do your absolute best to make sure others feel it.

King Aspen spoke in agreement. "Living up to Mother's mantra she had for you when harboring out species. She would say 'he had nothing to lose, and everything to give when he came to me',  and that she never looked back after making you into one she could call a son.

Discord stopped, nodding as he though in to himself. Indeed, he was finding himself more happy at providing for them, than himself. He had never even noticed that after moving into this cave, and making his new friends, the whispering winds no longer seemed to taunt him with a voice he could not translate. No, he could swear that in the brief silence amongst the herd that he could almost hear what they were saying. But, as he tried to focus, the chatter began again, causing him to lose focus on them.

The new two weeks were ones of overwhelming joy, with watching the fawns grow; as well as the anticipation for Queen Fyr's approaching ever faster. Intermittent with the noise, however, Discord could not chase the fact that he now could almost clearly hear those old voices; and they were familiar. They were in the distance, he knew. But they were so close to him mentally that he could almost make out their words. He didn't know what he was going to do about it, but he was going to find a way to do anything. He had learned that much about himself.