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Description
Featuring Faust and Caoilfhionn
Spring, year 740 of the New Age
Glenmore, the Glenwood

Faust
The colt stood and watched the dark doe from afar. She was a young healer. He had already seen her a couple of times. He had seen how she had helped other fawnlings, seen how kind and gentle she was. He somehow loved watching her from afar and he really longed to talk to her, yet he had no idea how he should do it.

Just recently his magic had awoken and he felt that already made him almost a grown-up stag, yet he still very much felt his knees go wobbly and his brain go dump, whenever he thought about going over and talking to the doe. She was older than him, a real doe already and he, he was just a colt, not even really a buck yet. What if she’d just laugh at him and tell him off?

The royal colts always said dark does were ugly and looked like stags. Well, that was true, but he still found her fascinating. Despite her dark colour, she still had such feminine grace about her, she somehow reminded him on his mother, only a lot younger and well, not his mother.
He still couldn’t simply go and talk to her. Not only because he was scared to do so and had no idea what to say, but also because the other colts would surely laugh at him, if they knew he wanted nothing more, but to talk to the dark healer doe.

His gaze wandered to the boulder he was halfway hiding behind. He had a plan, a cunning plan. She was a healer, so all he needed to do was require one and voila, he’d have the perfect reason to talk to her and nobody could laugh at him for doing so. The only problem was, to require a healer, he first needed to get hurt! The colt inhaled deeply, no, this was worth it, he would do it! Taking a couple steps back, he gave a determined snort, sprang forward and head first right into the boulder, tumbling to the ground with a loud bleat.

Caoilfhionn
Humming quietly to herself, Caoil made her way around the healer’s glen. There was currently a lull in patients, and everyone had a little bit of time to catch their breath. It was during times like these that Caoil, as a junior healer, was responsible for going around the glen and making sure everything was neat and tidy. That all supply stashes were full, and in their rightful places - as more often than not, they had been shuffled somewhere during the treatment of an injured fawnling.

If a fawnling had asked her five years ago if she’d be content as a healer, Caoil would have probably laughed in their face. Her life had been one of excitement and endless possibilities. At least until the passing of her mother, and the soul-wracking loss that came with it. It still hurt sometimes to think of, of course, but Caoil wouldn’t take any of it back now if she’d had a chance...she was happy. She may not have the perfect relationship, but she had a family who loved her, children to play with - and a job she loved.

She was pulled out of her thoughts at the trumpet of a loud bleat, and her ears swiveled instantly in the direction of the noise. That definitely sounded like a fawnling in pain. Grabbing one of the nearby, always ready, pouches of herbs, she ran as quickly as her pudgy form would allow her. If someone was hurt, it was her job to help.

Faust
Everything was black for a moment, the next thing Faust remembered was seeing the grass from very close. He blinked a couple of times, lifting his head, but quickly putting it down again, because his head hurt really bad. He groaned silently to himself, what had he done this for again? Oh boy, was that blood he was feeling running down his face? What if he had damaged his horn? What if he would never grow a decent rack now! Panic began to suddenly fill him, until he heard the sound of hooves on the grass.

Blinking again, he found four hooves walking towards him. He tried to look up to whom the hooves belonged to, without lifting his head and groaned again at the sun suddenly being a lot brighter than he remembered it. Then however, he saw her, when she lowered her head and he suddenly remembered why he had run against that stupid rock! She really had come over! His plan had worked! There she was! Now, all he had to do was be really smooth about this, like he had watched the older colts do.

“Haii’ow’re’uhh?” he said, followed by a shocked pause at his own slurred speech, “Nuuu.”

Caoilfhionn
Worry creasing her brow, Caoil finally reached the area of the glade where the bleat had come from. It wasn’t hard to spot the fawnling who’d hurt themselves, as there was a young dark buck crumpled near a large stone.

The worry on her brow deepened as she noticed the blood trickling on his poll, and she efficiently set about digging through the herb pouch she had grabbed to find something to staunch the bleeding.

His voice interrupted her, and she paused in her digging to take another look at the buck. Slurred speech was not a good sign, and Caoil frowned as she contemplated the hard crack he’d given his head. Blinking at him, she watched as a horrified look passed over his face when he realized how he was speaking. She couldn’t help a snort at the expression, but most of her attention was on his eyes - particularly the pupils. It didn’t appear that he’d damaged himself too much, despite the blood, as his pupils were dilating properly in the bright light of the sun.

“Don’t worry, dear,” she murmured to him, the affectionate term coming easily as she realized he was quite a few years younger than she. “It should wear off in a moment, it looks like you gave yourself a good whack on the head there.”

With those words of encouragement, she placed some soft moss over the cut on his poll, pressing it down gently with his muzzle to stop the bleeding. “Just hold still for a moment, and I should have you patched up.”

Faust
The buck groaned when he saw the soft, brown eyes of the healer doe grow worried at his slurred babbling. How was he supposed to impress her, if he was talking like he had had more than one fermented apple too much? He just stared up at her, when she tilted her head and checked the bleeding on his head. Wait! Bleeding? He was bleeding! Oh Òganach, what if he had hurt his horn? What if he’d grow a wonky rack now? What if he wouldn’t grow one at all!

“Nuuuu!” he again groaned, trying to lift his head, but quickly lowering it again, when his head immediately began to hurt really bad. Oh dear, that hadn’t exactly gone according to plan.

A little hum escaped him, when she began to speak. Her voice was just as beautiful as she was. Like her gentle, soft, brown eyes. Looking up at her with quite a stupid smile on his face, he only half understood what she was saying, but he definitely loved listening to her talk.

Eventually she reached into her pouch and drew out a piece of soft moss, pressing it gently against the small cut on his forehead.

“Ur wewy bootiful.” he mumbled again, while still looking at her, speaking before he realized what he just had said, which made his heart skip a beat. Good gods! He apparently had hurt his head a lot worse than he had thought! “Sowwy!” he quickly added, closing his eyes and wrinkling his nose a bit, when the moss against his head stung slightly as it disinfected the wound and helped stop the bleeding.

“I must’ve hit mah head pwetty hard…” he eventually mumbled again.

Caoilfhionn
This buck seemed to be going through the gamut of emotions in a very short period of time. It would be entertaining, if not for the circumstances. Shoved her amusement off to the side, Caoil made encouraging noises at his groan of horror. “It’s not nearly that serious, just a little bump and a cut, nothing to worry about, I promise.”

Using the careful pressure she was taught, she held the moss against the little scrape, counting slowly down in her head. She was almost finished when out of the blue the young buck called her beautiful. Out of surprise, Caoil completely lost count, blinking down at him as he hurriedly apologized. No...no one had ever called her beautiful before. A blush spread upon her cheeks and the length of her ears, and she cleared her throat awkwardly.

Not knowing quite how to respond, she gave him a little nuzzle on his ear as she removed the last of the moss. He was sweet, she’d give him that. “No apologies necessary, young…?” she prompted, hoping to get his name.

“And yes, you did hit yourself pretty hard,” she said with a chuckle, trying to move past the awkwardness and get back to comfortable ground. “I’m betting you’ll have a pretty big headache soon, if you don’t have it already!” Removing some spearmint from her herb pouch, she placed it gently on the ground before the young buck. “This should help with any pain.”

Faust
All of the sudden Faust felt like quite a fool. What had he been thinking? Running into that rock to lure her here and then await her like a hero of the old tales? Well, yes, that had been what he had been hoping and now? There he lay on the ground, mumbling pointless stuff like a baby fawn and making an utter idiot out of himself! She would never take him for full now, he was convinced. Yet, when she spoke again, her soft voice made all his worry once more melt away, probably also she assured him it was half as bad.

“I dun wanna have a wonky rack.” he mumbled, glad to hear his speech was returning to him, granted the things he said still made less sense than he would’ve hoped.

It only became worse, when he suddenly blurted out how beautiful she was. Oh no! How had that happened? Faust felt the strong wish to have magic strong enough to make a hole and bury himself inside it. This was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him. Thankfully though, she at least hardly seemed offended by his idiotic words, even though he did believe he saw the pink of her ears growing a lot more red and so did his, whenever she eventually said, there was no need to apologise.

“Oh yes, yes, there is.” the buck however said, forcing himself to least roll to lay on his belly, despite the terrible headache and the way the world began to spin the moment he moved.

“A proper stag should not embarrass a fine doe like this. I am truly sorry.” he said as firmly as he could in this sort of situation, dipping his head a bit, before adding, “Faust, m’lady, I’m Faust. You are Caoilfhionn, am I right?” he said with a bit of a smile, before very gratefully taking the herb she placed in front of him. Spearmint. He had to remember that.

“Thank you. You are very good at this.” he mumbled.

Caoilfhionn
She was grateful to hear that his speech was returning to normal, and Caoil could definitely understand his fear - it seemed to be one very common in bucks his age. Caoil had once witnessed an injury that had deformed the victim’s rack, and that...had not been a pretty sight. This little scrape and bump was nothing, and she felt perfectly confident in saying, “Don’t worry, you didn’t hit yourself hard enough to damage your rack in any way.”

The blush on her ears and cheeks only deepened as he called her a fine doe, and her ears flicked as he apologized once again. Though she couldn’t help but smile as he called himself a proper stag. This buck was still in the gangly stage of adolescence, but...she certainly admired his chivalry.

“It’s good to meet you Faust,” she said instead, “And yes, I’m Caoilfhionn, though friends call me Caoil. It’s much better than saying that mouthful all the time.” She smiled, watching him critically as he took his medicine. She had had patients before who only pretended to eat the herbs - especially when bitter ones were involved - and then spit them out when she was gone. Caoil had learned that, no matter what, she had to make sure her patients finished their medicine. A chuckle escaped when he said she was good at this healer business, though. She liked to think so, even if she had never imagined it when she first joined the ranks of apprentices. That thought brought up bitter memories, and the smile left her muzzle as her serious demeanor returned. “I’m getting there. I don’t know everything I need to yet, though.”

“And what were you doing racing over here, that you collided with the rock?” she asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Faust
A long sigh of relief escaped him, when she assured him that his rack would not have suffered from the cut on his forehead. She was a healer, so she definitely knew. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that running into the rock to catch her attention might’ve been somewhat of a stupid move. Lucky enough, it least had worked out and Caoil had come over, not one of the other healers. And it only had cost him a cut and a headache.

“Thank Òganach. I still need it. I want to become a guard one day, you know?” he told her, telling the last part very proudly. He already was a cadet and it made not just him, but also his entire family very proud, after all, he was the first to not immediately go for their traditional profession of serving royalty as butler or hoofmaiden. Faust was determined to join the guard and become one of the best guards of his time.

The colt smiled, followed by a little dip of his head, when she introduced herself.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you m’lady Caoil.” he said curtly. He might still be a colt, but his father had made sure to teach him from a very early age on, that it was very important to be polite and a gentleman, if you wanted to be a proper stag and Faust very much wanted to be a proper stag, like his father was. He always treated his mother respectfully and protected her and his other does from everything, they never needed to worry and that was what Faust hoped to achieve one day too, maybe for a doe like Caoil. Gentle and smart. She was so awesome.

His musings, while he chewed the bitter medicine she had given him and barely noticed because he was too busy fawning at her, were abruptly interrupted when she asked him why he had actually ended up running into the rock. It was pretty big and stood all by itself. UH-OH!

The colt swallowed the bitter herbs and quivered some, when the taste eventually hit him, briefly sticking out his tongue, before returning to look at her, just for his ears to grow red and hot. What should he tell her? A proper stag didn’t lie! But could he tell her that…

“I did it, because I wanted to talk to you!” he gasped.

Caoilfhionn
He brought another smile to her face when he called her “m’lady” - and another blush to the tip of her ears. Such a chivalrous colt! No one would ever mistake Caoil for a lady, and she had accepted that fact long ago - sometimes revelled in it, too. Ladies weren’t allowed to live their own lives, like she was, no matter how unpleasantly others viewed her coat.

“And a pleasure meeting you, m’lord Faust,” she replied, keeping her face serious so the youngster didn’t discover how adorable she thought all this was. She also kept her eyes on him as he finished off the medicine with the spearmint mixed in, her ears flicking as his tongue stuck out. It didn’t taste good at all, Caoil knew from personal experience - but it would help.

Her ears flapped as he gasped out his admission, and for a moment she couldn’t think of anything to say. He wanted...to talk...to her? Generally the only fawnlings she spoke to outside the healers den were Sileas and her family. And it was even rarer for someone to seek her out for conversation - much less hurt themselves for a chance to talk to her.

“Ummm,” she murmured, at a complete loss for words. This was certainly a new situation for her, and Caoil just did not have the social skills to adapt to it quickly enough. Shaking herself, she forcibly brought herself back to her healer mindset, the only thing she could think of to get past the awkwardness. As soon as she did, her practical side reasserted itself. “You know, you could have just...come over and spoken with me? You didn’t have to risk harming yourself for something that simple.”

Faust
The colt’s ears wiggled gladly, when she seemed quite flattered by his words. His mother had told him, that the best way to win a doe was not just defeating other stags, but a proper stag also aimed to defeat her heart and win it for himself. His father often brought his mother flowers or sang little songs for her. Faust always pretended to be asleep, but he very much enjoyed to hear the way his mother spoke to his father. He also wanted to make a doe speak to him like this, one day. Sure, a stag was meant to collect a harem, but somehow, he hoped he would manage to also find a doe like his father found his mother.

A little giggle escaped him, when she called him ‘m’lord’ as well. It wasn’t like he liked the royal colts much, they always pushed him around and made him do stupid things, which he knew he needed to do, because they were royals and he only a commoner, but being called ‘m’lord’ sure sounded nice in his ears.

However, only a moment later Caoil asked him about why he had hit his head against the rock in the first place and eventually Faust couldn’t, but tell the truth. Looking at her worried, he wasn’t quite sure what was going on inside her. Would she hate him now? Laugh at him?
When she spoke, his brown eyes shot down to his hooves, growing tiny flowers around them in embarrassment when he mumbled.

“I didn’t dare to.” he slowly looked up again, “The other colts would’ve teased me for wanting to talk to a dark doe, but they are all fools, you are very beautiful, Caoil… I-I just wanted to tell you that.” he smiled sheepishly.

Caoilfhionn
When he explained his reasoning, she wasn’t surprised. Though a little irritated that the poor buck had to go through so much trouble to get around one of the nonsensical pieces of their society. Caoil love Glenmore, she really did - but sometimes her people frustrated her beyond belief.

She could feel her whole head and neck blushing crimson as Faust called her beautiful once again, and she reached forward to nuzzle him gently on the cheek. He was such a sweet young buck, she didn’t have the heart to tell him her love belonged to someone else. Or that he was so utterly the wrong gender for her. But even if he had no chance in that department, that didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends, did it? Caoil certainly would like to have another friend - she had so few in her life.

Turning back towards the healer’s glade, she looked back at him with a smile. “Well, you best come with me back to the glade, so I can observe you for a while,” she told him with a wink. “We wouldn’t want to let you wander off when you could very well be concussed. It’s a very serious matter.”

Caoil waited for him before following the little path, her tail swishing gently from side to side as she spoke with her new friend.

Description
Featuring Faust and Caoilfhionn
Spring, year 740 of the New Age
Glenmore, the Glenwood

Faust
The colt stood and watched the dark doe from afar. She was a young healer. He had already seen her a couple of times. He had seen how she had helped other fawnlings, seen how kind and gentle she was. He somehow loved watching her from afar and he really longed to talk to her, yet he had no idea how he should do it.

Just recently his magic had awoken and he felt that already made him almost a grown-up stag, yet he still very much felt his knees go wobbly and his brain go dump, whenever he thought about going over and talking to the doe. She was older than him, a real doe already and he, he was just a colt, not even really a buck yet. What if she’d just laugh at him and tell him off?

The royal colts always said dark does were ugly and looked like stags. Well, that was true, but he still found her fascinating. Despite her dark colour, she still had such feminine grace about her, she somehow reminded him on his mother, only a lot younger and well, not his mother.
He still couldn’t simply go and talk to her. Not only because he was scared to do so and had no idea what to say, but also because the other colts would surely laugh at him, if they knew he wanted nothing more, but to talk to the dark healer doe.

His gaze wandered to the boulder he was halfway hiding behind. He had a plan, a cunning plan. She was a healer, so all he needed to do was require one and voila, he’d have the perfect reason to talk to her and nobody could laugh at him for doing so. The only problem was, to require a healer, he first needed to get hurt! The colt inhaled deeply, no, this was worth it, he would do it! Taking a couple steps back, he gave a determined snort, sprang forward and head first right into the boulder, tumbling to the ground with a loud bleat.

Caoilfhionn
Humming quietly to herself, Caoil made her way around the healer’s glen. There was currently a lull in patients, and everyone had a little bit of time to catch their breath. It was during times like these that Caoil, as a junior healer, was responsible for going around the glen and making sure everything was neat and tidy. That all supply stashes were full, and in their rightful places - as more often than not, they had been shuffled somewhere during the treatment of an injured fawnling.

If a fawnling had asked her five years ago if she’d be content as a healer, Caoil would have probably laughed in their face. Her life had been one of excitement and endless possibilities. At least until the passing of her mother, and the soul-wracking loss that came with it. It still hurt sometimes to think of, of course, but Caoil wouldn’t take any of it back now if she’d had a chance...she was happy. She may not have the perfect relationship, but she had a family who loved her, children to play with - and a job she loved.

She was pulled out of her thoughts at the trumpet of a loud bleat, and her ears swiveled instantly in the direction of the noise. That definitely sounded like a fawnling in pain. Grabbing one of the nearby, always ready, pouches of herbs, she ran as quickly as her pudgy form would allow her. If someone was hurt, it was her job to help.

Faust
Everything was black for a moment, the next thing Faust remembered was seeing the grass from very close. He blinked a couple of times, lifting his head, but quickly putting it down again, because his head hurt really bad. He groaned silently to himself, what had he done this for again? Oh boy, was that blood he was feeling running down his face? What if he had damaged his horn? What if he would never grow a decent rack now! Panic began to suddenly fill him, until he heard the sound of hooves on the grass.

Blinking again, he found four hooves walking towards him. He tried to look up to whom the hooves belonged to, without lifting his head and groaned again at the sun suddenly being a lot brighter than he remembered it. Then however, he saw her, when she lowered her head and he suddenly remembered why he had run against that stupid rock! She really had come over! His plan had worked! There she was! Now, all he had to do was be really smooth about this, like he had watched the older colts do.

“Haii’ow’re’uhh?” he said, followed by a shocked pause at his own slurred speech, “Nuuu.”

Caoilfhionn
Worry creasing her brow, Caoil finally reached the area of the glade where the bleat had come from. It wasn’t hard to spot the fawnling who’d hurt themselves, as there was a young dark buck crumpled near a large stone.

The worry on her brow deepened as she noticed the blood trickling on his poll, and she efficiently set about digging through the herb pouch she had grabbed to find something to staunch the bleeding.

His voice interrupted her, and she paused in her digging to take another look at the buck. Slurred speech was not a good sign, and Caoil frowned as she contemplated the hard crack he’d given his head. Blinking at him, she watched as a horrified look passed over his face when he realized how he was speaking. She couldn’t help a snort at the expression, but most of her attention was on his eyes - particularly the pupils. It didn’t appear that he’d damaged himself too much, despite the blood, as his pupils were dilating properly in the bright light of the sun.

“Don’t worry, dear,” she murmured to him, the affectionate term coming easily as she realized he was quite a few years younger than she. “It should wear off in a moment, it looks like you gave yourself a good whack on the head there.”

With those words of encouragement, she placed some soft moss over the cut on his poll, pressing it down gently with his muzzle to stop the bleeding. “Just hold still for a moment, and I should have you patched up.”

Faust
The buck groaned when he saw the soft, brown eyes of the healer doe grow worried at his slurred babbling. How was he supposed to impress her, if he was talking like he had had more than one fermented apple too much? He just stared up at her, when she tilted her head and checked the bleeding on his head. Wait! Bleeding? He was bleeding! Oh Òganach, what if he had hurt his horn? What if he’d grow a wonky rack now? What if he wouldn’t grow one at all!

“Nuuuu!” he again groaned, trying to lift his head, but quickly lowering it again, when his head immediately began to hurt really bad. Oh dear, that hadn’t exactly gone according to plan.

A little hum escaped him, when she began to speak. Her voice was just as beautiful as she was. Like her gentle, soft, brown eyes. Looking up at her with quite a stupid smile on his face, he only half understood what she was saying, but he definitely loved listening to her talk.

Eventually she reached into her pouch and drew out a piece of soft moss, pressing it gently against the small cut on his forehead.

“Ur wewy bootiful.” he mumbled again, while still looking at her, speaking before he realized what he just had said, which made his heart skip a beat. Good gods! He apparently had hurt his head a lot worse than he had thought! “Sowwy!” he quickly added, closing his eyes and wrinkling his nose a bit, when the moss against his head stung slightly as it disinfected the wound and helped stop the bleeding.

“I must’ve hit mah head pwetty hard…” he eventually mumbled again.

Caoilfhionn
This buck seemed to be going through the gamut of emotions in a very short period of time. It would be entertaining, if not for the circumstances. Shoved her amusement off to the side, Caoil made encouraging noises at his groan of horror. “It’s not nearly that serious, just a little bump and a cut, nothing to worry about, I promise.”

Using the careful pressure she was taught, she held the moss against the little scrape, counting slowly down in her head. She was almost finished when out of the blue the young buck called her beautiful. Out of surprise, Caoil completely lost count, blinking down at him as he hurriedly apologized. No...no one had ever called her beautiful before. A blush spread upon her cheeks and the length of her ears, and she cleared her throat awkwardly.

Not knowing quite how to respond, she gave him a little nuzzle on his ear as she removed the last of the moss. He was sweet, she’d give him that. “No apologies necessary, young…?” she prompted, hoping to get his name.

“And yes, you did hit yourself pretty hard,” she said with a chuckle, trying to move past the awkwardness and get back to comfortable ground. “I’m betting you’ll have a pretty big headache soon, if you don’t have it already!” Removing some spearmint from her herb pouch, she placed it gently on the ground before the young buck. “This should help with any pain.”

Faust
All of the sudden Faust felt like quite a fool. What had he been thinking? Running into that rock to lure her here and then await her like a hero of the old tales? Well, yes, that had been what he had been hoping and now? There he lay on the ground, mumbling pointless stuff like a baby fawn and making an utter idiot out of himself! She would never take him for full now, he was convinced. Yet, when she spoke again, her soft voice made all his worry once more melt away, probably also she assured him it was half as bad.

“I dun wanna have a wonky rack.” he mumbled, glad to hear his speech was returning to him, granted the things he said still made less sense than he would’ve hoped.

It only became worse, when he suddenly blurted out how beautiful she was. Oh no! How had that happened? Faust felt the strong wish to have magic strong enough to make a hole and bury himself inside it. This was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him. Thankfully though, she at least hardly seemed offended by his idiotic words, even though he did believe he saw the pink of her ears growing a lot more red and so did his, whenever she eventually said, there was no need to apologise.

“Oh yes, yes, there is.” the buck however said, forcing himself to least roll to lay on his belly, despite the terrible headache and the way the world began to spin the moment he moved.

“A proper stag should not embarrass a fine doe like this. I am truly sorry.” he said as firmly as he could in this sort of situation, dipping his head a bit, before adding, “Faust, m’lady, I’m Faust. You are Caoilfhionn, am I right?” he said with a bit of a smile, before very gratefully taking the herb she placed in front of him. Spearmint. He had to remember that.

“Thank you. You are very good at this.” he mumbled.

Caoilfhionn
She was grateful to hear that his speech was returning to normal, and Caoil could definitely understand his fear - it seemed to be one very common in bucks his age. Caoil had once witnessed an injury that had deformed the victim’s rack, and that...had not been a pretty sight. This little scrape and bump was nothing, and she felt perfectly confident in saying, “Don’t worry, you didn’t hit yourself hard enough to damage your rack in any way.”

The blush on her ears and cheeks only deepened as he called her a fine doe, and her ears flicked as he apologized once again. Though she couldn’t help but smile as he called himself a proper stag. This buck was still in the gangly stage of adolescence, but...she certainly admired his chivalry.

“It’s good to meet you Faust,” she said instead, “And yes, I’m Caoilfhionn, though friends call me Caoil. It’s much better than saying that mouthful all the time.” She smiled, watching him critically as he took his medicine. She had had patients before who only pretended to eat the herbs - especially when bitter ones were involved - and then spit them out when she was gone. Caoil had learned that, no matter what, she had to make sure her patients finished their medicine. A chuckle escaped when he said she was good at this healer business, though. She liked to think so, even if she had never imagined it when she first joined the ranks of apprentices. That thought brought up bitter memories, and the smile left her muzzle as her serious demeanor returned. “I’m getting there. I don’t know everything I need to yet, though.”

“And what were you doing racing over here, that you collided with the rock?” she asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Faust
A long sigh of relief escaped him, when she assured him that his rack would not have suffered from the cut on his forehead. She was a healer, so she definitely knew. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that running into the rock to catch her attention might’ve been somewhat of a stupid move. Lucky enough, it least had worked out and Caoil had come over, not one of the other healers. And it only had cost him a cut and a headache.

“Thank Òganach. I still need it. I want to become a guard one day, you know?” he told her, telling the last part very proudly. He already was a cadet and it made not just him, but also his entire family very proud, after all, he was the first to not immediately go for their traditional profession of serving royalty as butler or hoofmaiden. Faust was determined to join the guard and become one of the best guards of his time.

The colt smiled, followed by a little dip of his head, when she introduced herself.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you m’lady Caoil.” he said curtly. He might still be a colt, but his father had made sure to teach him from a very early age on, that it was very important to be polite and a gentleman, if you wanted to be a proper stag and Faust very much wanted to be a proper stag, like his father was. He always treated his mother respectfully and protected her and his other does from everything, they never needed to worry and that was what Faust hoped to achieve one day too, maybe for a doe like Caoil. Gentle and smart. She was so awesome.

His musings, while he chewed the bitter medicine she had given him and barely noticed because he was too busy fawning at her, were abruptly interrupted when she asked him why he had actually ended up running into the rock. It was pretty big and stood all by itself. UH-OH!

The colt swallowed the bitter herbs and quivered some, when the taste eventually hit him, briefly sticking out his tongue, before returning to look at her, just for his ears to grow red and hot. What should he tell her? A proper stag didn’t lie! But could he tell her that…

“I did it, because I wanted to talk to you!” he gasped.

Caoilfhionn
He brought another smile to her face when he called her “m’lady” - and another blush to the tip of her ears. Such a chivalrous colt! No one would ever mistake Caoil for a lady, and she had accepted that fact long ago - sometimes revelled in it, too. Ladies weren’t allowed to live their own lives, like she was, no matter how unpleasantly others viewed her coat.

“And a pleasure meeting you, m’lord Faust,” she replied, keeping her face serious so the youngster didn’t discover how adorable she thought all this was. She also kept her eyes on him as he finished off the medicine with the spearmint mixed in, her ears flicking as his tongue stuck out. It didn’t taste good at all, Caoil knew from personal experience - but it would help.

Her ears flapped as he gasped out his admission, and for a moment she couldn’t think of anything to say. He wanted...to talk...to her? Generally the only fawnlings she spoke to outside the healers den were Sileas and her family. And it was even rarer for someone to seek her out for conversation - much less hurt themselves for a chance to talk to her.

“Ummm,” she murmured, at a complete loss for words. This was certainly a new situation for her, and Caoil just did not have the social skills to adapt to it quickly enough. Shaking herself, she forcibly brought herself back to her healer mindset, the only thing she could think of to get past the awkwardness. As soon as she did, her practical side reasserted itself. “You know, you could have just...come over and spoken with me? You didn’t have to risk harming yourself for something that simple.”

Faust
The colt’s ears wiggled gladly, when she seemed quite flattered by his words. His mother had told him, that the best way to win a doe was not just defeating other stags, but a proper stag also aimed to defeat her heart and win it for himself. His father often brought his mother flowers or sang little songs for her. Faust always pretended to be asleep, but he very much enjoyed to hear the way his mother spoke to his father. He also wanted to make a doe speak to him like this, one day. Sure, a stag was meant to collect a harem, but somehow, he hoped he would manage to also find a doe like his father found his mother.

A little giggle escaped him, when she called him ‘m’lord’ as well. It wasn’t like he liked the royal colts much, they always pushed him around and made him do stupid things, which he knew he needed to do, because they were royals and he only a commoner, but being called ‘m’lord’ sure sounded nice in his ears.

However, only a moment later Caoil asked him about why he had hit his head against the rock in the first place and eventually Faust couldn’t, but tell the truth. Looking at her worried, he wasn’t quite sure what was going on inside her. Would she hate him now? Laugh at him?
When she spoke, his brown eyes shot down to his hooves, growing tiny flowers around them in embarrassment when he mumbled.

“I didn’t dare to.” he slowly looked up again, “The other colts would’ve teased me for wanting to talk to a dark doe, but they are all fools, you are very beautiful, Caoil… I-I just wanted to tell you that.” he smiled sheepishly.

Caoilfhionn
When he explained his reasoning, she wasn’t surprised. Though a little irritated that the poor buck had to go through so much trouble to get around one of the nonsensical pieces of their society. Caoil love Glenmore, she really did - but sometimes her people frustrated her beyond belief.

She could feel her whole head and neck blushing crimson as Faust called her beautiful once again, and she reached forward to nuzzle him gently on the cheek. He was such a sweet young buck, she didn’t have the heart to tell him her love belonged to someone else. Or that he was so utterly the wrong gender for her. But even if he had no chance in that department, that didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends, did it? Caoil certainly would like to have another friend - she had so few in her life.

Turning back towards the healer’s glade, she looked back at him with a smile. “Well, you best come with me back to the glade, so I can observe you for a while,” she told him with a wink. “We wouldn’t want to let you wander off when you could very well be concussed. It’s a very serious matter.”

Caoil waited for him before following the little path, her tail swishing gently from side to side as she spoke with her new friend.