#19 Looking for Boarities

As it soon proved, Boarites had a keen sense of smell. William made it a few more steps before he heard them -- a sort of grunting, squealy sound of excitement. Then huge Boarites emerged from shrubbery, and each one was easily the size of a bear. He found himself surrounded by the herd, who shoved each other to be the one closest to the bucket.

William could get through them, which was necessary as he still had to find Professor Fairburn and lure the Boarites to her, but their good manners and patience for the food would soon wear thin. He needed to get a move on, or things could turn ugly in fight for the bucket.

Professor Fairburn was nearby, collecting some bloodied sap from a claw-scraped tree. She turned at the sound, or perhaps she was so used to being around beasts that she could sense them, and smiled as she spotted William leading a herd of Boarites to her.

'Well done. Bring them through here,' Fairburn said. She didn't want to delay things, as the Boarites were keen on their food.

She led William through a wall of ivy between two trees, which put them inside an otherwise hidden clearing. How long had that been there? It was quite big, though overgrown so likely not frequented too much. Or perhaps there was a spell on it so it got left alone by students?

'Empty the bucket into a food trough.' She indicated to a few of them scattered around the rather lush clearing, with some areas that had been dug at or uprooted. 'Then fill up their water trough. I assume you know the Water-Making charm?'

Fairburn pointed to a much bigger trough.

William kept walking on the path while the boarities followed behind, hoping for the food. He had to find Professor Fairburn, but he couldn't look around when huge creatures were walking just behind him. He could only hope for Professor Fairburn to listen to their voices.

Listening to Professor Fairburn's voice was a relief. William guided them in the direction she had suggested. His attention was on the creatures while following Processor Fairburn.

They had reached some hidden clearance. William had walked through this pat multiple times and couldn't be sure how could he never see such a huge place.

William went to the first food trough and emptied the bucket partially in it, then did the same with the remaining food troughs. The walk to all of them was not easy with all the dug-up lands especially when boarities were behind him.

"Yes, Professor." He said before walking to the troughs pointed by her. Finally, when boarities had left his trail, he took out his wand. "Aquamenti," He said, and a stream of water came out of his want and fill it up.

The 'ites' at the end of boarites made Kassia think the creatures were very small. She was unpleasantly surprised when they emerged from the thicket, massive and curious.

Kassia was happy to just leave the bucket there and make a break for it, but then Professor Fairburn called out to her. Kassia picked up the bucket with renewed strength and followed. She'd never been so happy to see her.

Kassia passed an ivy wall and was surprised to see William Doren standing there. She looked at Professor Fairburn and nodded, then upended her bucket of slop into the nearest food trough. The boarites were lumbering after her, and Kassia had to get out of the way.

She approached the water trough surrounded by thirsty boarites, and removed her wand. Kassia did the required motion. "Aquamenti."

Water jettisoned from her wand and began to fill the trough. The boarites started drinking again immediately, resulting in Kassia having to stand there for quite a while shooting water out of her wand and feeling ridiculous.

Once the boarites were not drinking so fervently and the water trough was full, Kassia ended the spell and put her wand away. She went to stand next to Doren, folding her hands and waiting for the professor's assessment.

Professor Fairburn praised Kassia as well, though was aware of the time and darkening sky. 

'You better head back to the castle. Dinner's soon,' she said. 'But thank you both. If you'd like to continue helping these poor Boarites out, feel free to come back here when you have some free time. I'll be around -- just give me a shout.'

She'd stay a bit longer, as Fairburn wanted to check each of them over before she too would head back to the castle for dinner. The beasts came first, after all.