“Shhh. It’s all right, Lydia.”

Tamsin brings her horse to a stop so she can take it all in. Everything here is just... she looks up to the sky and somehow even the sun seems dulled where she is standing. Her fingers reach out to graze one of the dead leaves- could something be unusually dead

Perhaps it could, Tamsin realizes as she brushes the leaf with her fingers. Unlike plants left to the ravages of winter, it is not brittle. It does not threaten to crumble immediately beneath her touch. Rather, it is almost as though it is preserved. Frozen in the instant that the last vestiges of life left it. A gray shadow of what it once once, somehow still whole, and without a trace of warmth.

Tamsin rubs the leaf between her fingers. “So what...” Tamsin isn’t even sure what she wants to know any more. “What is happening?”

Winter shakes her head. ”The Mescalero call this a place of emptiness. They say that death, not life rules here, and it has since before their people ever came to the mountain.”

She looks at Tamsin. ”I don’t know what you believe, Tamsin. But I’m inclined to think they’re telling the truth. The few times that I have heard of where people insisted on crossing through this...blight ended in tragedy. And regardless of what the seasons bring...wind to carry more seedlings, rain to feed the earth...this part of the mountain is always the same.”

“I think that something is here. Something that is best left alone. Alone to its place.”

”Do you know what that something is?” Tamsin muses,  not expecting an answer. I’d like to find out.

”I don’t. But, like you I would like to learn its name,” Winter answers, reaching down to pat her horse’s neck reassuringly. ”I think that if we could discover the true nature of what makes its home here, put it to rest somehow, the fortunes of this valley would change. For the better.”

She turns her mount about. ”I think you’ve seen enough. We shouldn’t linger. Let’s ride back to the store.”

OOC: Go ahead and give me one last Notice roll.

8:42, Today: Tamsin River rolled 5 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5.  Red chip. Add to Notice.
17:37, Today: Tamsin River rolled 3,1 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,1.  Notice

Tamsin nods in agreement.  “Yes, back to the store. And then I need to go see Doc Woods.”

”Oh, really? What business do you have with Doctor Wood?” Winter asks.

In the distance, Tamsin perceives the faint, but undeniable sounds of gunfire, coming from the direction of Lincoln.

“I heard he learned a thing or two when he went off to Arizona. If not, I’m sure he’ll be good for conversation.”

Tamsin twists her head to listen. “Sounds like we might be needed in short order.

Winter’s brow creases in concern at the sound of the distant gunshots. ”I fear you’re right. Let’s hurry.”

A steady breeze picks up during the two women’s ride south into Lincoln, the air picking up the sharp chill from the upper reaches of the mountains and carrying it below. The wind whistles through the stands of spruce and pines as Tamsin and Ava reenter the valley, a journey that feels to Tamsin eerily like reentering the land of the living.

As the pair sight Lincoln, they can see a large group of people departing Ike Ellis’ store. As they draw closer they can see that one individual, a younger man in a dark colored duster, has remained behind to speak with the liveryman. Ellis listens to him intently, nodding in agreement more than once.

When the riders reach the stables, the young man moves to take his leave. Ellis looks to the two women, his expression friendly, but somber. ”You ladies run into any trouble on your ride?”

Tamsin shakes her head. Bizarre as it was- she’s still trying to wrap her head around it- there was no trouble up in the mountains, exactly. ”Well, we didn’t. But we did hear gunshots.” Her eyes glance to the departing group before flickering back to Ellis. ”Anyone hurt?”

”Killed actually,” Ellis answers, ”Young fella. Just twenty years old. Name of Tom O’Folliard. Lived here all his life.”

“I’ve got to put together a coffin for him this afternoon. Get everything ready so Father Narvaez can have his service tomorrow afternoon.” He glances out at the street, then back at the stables, as though to confirm their conversation is private. ”I’ve got him laid out in my cellar. I wonder...would the two of you object to having a look at him?”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tamsin says, face neutral. Best not to agitate anyone any more. Her eyes follow Ellis’, and she nods. I wouldn’t object at all. Will you take us to him or shall we take ourselves?

”No, no,” the stable owner answers, ”I’ll take y’all over.”

Leading the pair past the stables, Ellis walks around the back of his store, approaching the closed door of a storm cellar. Opening them, he proceeds down a set of wooden steps into a cellar that is cool in temperature, dimly lit by a single lantern hanging from the ceiling.

Stretched out on a long table is a young man with hair the color of sand, his face clean shaven, his eyes closed. His arms rest at his sides. ”Tom,” Ellis explains simply.

At a cursory glance, Tamsin notes that she cannot see any immediately identifiable injuries on the young man’s person.

OOC: Give me a Healing roll. Don’t forget that you’re entitled to a +2 bonus on the roll.

Tamsin frowns as she looks at the man on the table. “Doesn’t look like he was shot, so what did happen?” she asks, going in to examine him with her hands

16:21, Today: Tamsin River rolled 3,5 using d8+2,d6+2, rerolling max ((1,3)).

Ellis moves to pull the doors of the storm cellar closed. Placing her fingers on Tom O’Folliard’s wrist, Tamsin detects a faint, but steady, pulse.

The stable owner shoves his hands into his pockets, his expression pensive. ”Can you ladies keep a secret?” he asks.

"Sometimes an open ear and a closed mouth are all someone needs to heal," Tamsin says simply in reply. "What was the shooting about?"

Ellis licks his lips and swallowed. ”There’s a bad fella here, name of Jesse Evans. He and his gang were causin’ trouble around this part of New Mexico before all this fighting over the range here in Lincoln started up.”

“Jesse works for Lawrence Murphy. The official word is that he and his friends tend Mr. Murphy’s range. But everyone knows better. They’re there to enforce Mr. Murphy’s wishes. Way I heard it told, it was some of Evans’ crew that went around, talkin’ to the parents of the little ones that disappeared, tellin’ ‘em to cut out their talk against Mr. Murphy and his outfit.”

“This young woman, goes by Kansas Kate, she’s tryin’ to work her way into Evans’ gang, so she can find out about what their plans are. Pass what she learns on to others who can put a stop to it. Evans told her to shoot Tom here dead. Tom used to be one John Tunstall’s hands. Now he’s part of that group they call the Regulators...young people that Judge Wilson deputized to hunt down John’s murderers.”

“One of Tom’s fellow Regulators, man who goes by Doc, has this...trick. He can touch someone, make ‘em fall asleep for a time. Unless you look real close, it seems they’re dead. That’s what he did to Tom. So it appeared like Kate had done what Evans had asked.”

He glances at the two healers. ”I need you ladies’ help. Doc told me when Tom here comes to, he’s not gonna be feelin’ too well. Shakin’ all over, like a fever. And also...well I need to see if you can help me hide him somewhere. Keep him out of sight until it’s safe again.”

Jesse Evans. Murphy. Good ole Kansas Kate...

Tamsin doesn’t say anything about knowing or knowing of them, of course. ”Of course we’ll help. Do you have a somewhere in mind?”

Ellis shakes his head. ”Been a long time since I helped anyone hide out,” he admits. ”I thought as well as you two ladies know the land, you might know of an out of the way place he could hunker down.”

”I might,” Winter volunteers. ”There’s a cave northeast of town, right on the edge of the foothills. Deep in some spruce, so not too easy to find, but close enough to the river to make getting water easy.”

She looks over at Tamsin. ”I’ve used it previously when I was on an extended hunt for herbs. Mind helping me move Thomas over there?”

”Sounds like we have a plan then,” Tamsin says. ”We’ll move Thomas to this cave of yours, Ava. We just need to make sure Jesse Evans doesn’t find out we’re doing it.”

”I’ve got a cart you could use,” Ellis offers. “I’ll hitch it up to one of my horses, load up Tom and put a tarp over him. That should get you out of town without any questions. Course, if someone’s real curious, you ladies can say you’re off to gather some plants.”

“You want some company, in case of trouble? I can’t leave the shop, but I’m sure I can rustle someone up to go along with you.”

”Well, now we really have a plan. We probably should have someone come along,” Tamsin says with a nod.