Kaphiri was not sure if the strange clouds were supposed to be an ill omen or one of favor. On one paw, they made him believe a storm was near; dredging up old habits and feelings, the need to pack up and get ready to leave, to follow, to get the troupe prepared. But that... that wasn't his life anymore. It wasn't the way. The priest would never forget where he'd come from, and he'd honor Saeiqa every day for the rest of his life for leading him here and offering a new life for the loyalty he'd shown.... but it was a new life. This much, at this point, Kaphiri was sure. He might have been taken from his family, and his way of life, and everything he had ever known, but it was all to receive a better life. To meet Amrei, to no longer be confined by the walls his parents put up around him.
Fable, she'd opened up a new life for him, welcomed him to the kingdom of her own people, her own traditions. Epona had seeped him in that world wholly and entirely, and he'd taken to it with all the love and devotion he'd always given to his people. Even back with the Herd being a healer doing a job he'd hated, he'd done it well and he'd taken care of his family. He didn't know any other way.

But now, without his moonlight-given-flesh mentor, he was left to tend the fae and interpret what he saw... on his own. Sure, he'd been reading the skies and earth as long as he'd lived, but there was something about being so alone that unsettled him.

Were the clouds a sign of simple mischief, the simple heralding of fall, a sign of struggles to come?

He'd bundled the last of the summers flowers and a few herbs around a rock he'd found that looked shiny, interesting, something that might make a good bauble of a gift. At least, he hoped, something the fae might enjoy or appreciate. It was more common to make offerings at the borders, or at a specific den, but he'd sought out the center of the territory in hopes to keep the kingdom safe. Later blessings would come later in the moon cycle, and he'd leave another gift at the fae stone later in the day too -- but it felt important to spread whatever blessings he could conjure, whatever beacons of hope he could decorate the territory with for its inhabitants. Would the regents still hold Samhain? If they did, it was now his job to prepare! They'd missed a few celebrations since the Goldencourtes went missing, but that was more from their grieving hearts and bewildered, blurred days than any sort of real decision. Keeping the Kingdom afloat, figuring out what came next, that had been more important.
But Kaphiri would not let Avon miss its most cherished holiday. Not on his watch. Even with Fable and her family gone, he would not let their history fade into oblivion again, and if they could ever return they would find everything just as they left it.

Standing beneath the "stage"like area, Kaphiri tucked the bundle between two of the boulders whose small crack of an opening was half-covered by the tangle of roots. He didn't want anyone else to happen upon it (namely the children; there was nothing dangerous to the pile, but stealing gifts from the fae?! Gods no.)

Please, he whispered into the chilly air, the sky only just beginning to lighten with a bloody tinge on the horizon, Please bless the land we rest upon, keep Avon's folk from the clutches of this plague. Help us keep this sanctuary alive and well for fae-kind and mortals alike.

He drew a deep, not-very-steadying breath.

I cannot fail Miss Fable and Miss Epona.