Stupid, ridiculous, foolish Balder. Traipsing in yet again without fear. He had yet to find the actual physical source of the nonsensical tune, but the peacefulness of it was... easing. Relaxing. Something like that. Five eyes swiveled around, scanning trees and plants and rocks and all that stuff. Five whole eyes which, as it turns out, are completely useless at spotting danger!! So bad at it, in fact, that Balder was getting a MIGRAINE from STRAINING TOO HARD. And had to CLOSE HIS EYES for a minute.

Do you know what he found when he opened them?

Guess.

One hint: the singing had stopped. A new sound had come to replace it.

"OH COME ON!!!!!" Balder's scream would ring through the woods as he made a mad dash out of the trap he'd just walked into. A pack of the same kind of rats -- about the same size too -- had come leaping out of nowhere YET AGAIN, seeking to dig into all the wounds the last batch had made. Were these the same ones as before?!?! No way, that wasn't possible, it literally hadn't even been five minutes--

No matter. They had gotten the jump on Balder, but not to the same degree as they had before. Because he had been READY!!! Because she was better than A BUNCH OF FREAKING RATS.

You know what? Maybe no more going into the woods chasing noises without visible sources. ...Wow Balder what a smart and clever and great idea-- SILENCE!! Don't patronize him!

...Sheesh.

Back in the air moments later, Balder would give it another go. 'Darn rat woods, confounded rat water. If I see another rat I am going to COMBUST.' Avoiding all rats and noises that could potentially have unfortunately rat-shaped origins, Balder would once again start on the hunt.

This was getting so... deeply annoying. Fly, scan, find a beach. Scan some more? Nope, it's still a beach. Scan a little more then. ...NO IT'S STILL A BEACH IT'S JUST A BEACH EVERYWHERE AND WHERE IT'S NOT A BEACH IT'S A RAT AND-- oh look at that!! An actual shape!!! That is a Lesser (maybe)!!! And it's flying.

Now Balder knows that rats can't fly.

...Right?

...

...Right. Exactly. Okay. We're goin' in, an-nO FREAKING WAY IS THAT A FLYING RAT?!?!?!

Was it even worth it? At this point? Honestly? Why not just chrysalize again. Why not! Revive less hungry, like you do in Minecraft, which doesn't exist in the caves (...yet) but I'm using it as an example anyways. Also maybe when she's back there will be less FREAKING RATS around.

But no. This was insane. I mean, really!! How many rats could there BE?! Tree rats? Rat trees? Yeah, about that-- where were they all COMING from?! The forge? The water? Were there FISH RATS????

Balder would look down at the waves.

...

NO. NO NO NO NO MORE RAT THOUGHTS. Balder was going to CATCH THIS ONE RAT. EAT IT. And then he was NEVER COMING BACK HERE EVER AGAIN.

At least the combat would be aerial this time. Spiced things up a notch. That's a mixing of metaphors--

Balder would swoop in from above the flying rat, claws fully extended, arms outstretched, and... whiff. The rat had heard her and moved out of the way. Because of course it did.

But that would not be the end of it, no sir-ee. Balder was not one to give up a chase! It would become more a test of speed, a... goose chase through some unfortunately dense growth. But Balder was used to flying in small rooms made of mirrors. This ought to be a walk (flight) in the park (forest?).

And it was! Sort of.

Balder did catch the rat after a bit of an arduous chase! Woohoo! But killing it was difficult. Balder ended up slamming it into a rock that she had previously (and subsequently) stumbled over. Two birds with one stone. Wait... one stone and one rat with one rat...? W- Hold on, uh...

NO! No more time here. No holding on. Balder was LEAVING. OUT. She would never visit here again if she could help it. She might warn others too.

Hey, about "others"... Balder would still like to find some "others". Real "others", not just some more confounded rats.

- exit -