>"Lost? As in, it's gone completely? How do they usually get lost?"
>"Well, big animals can sometimes go off with traps meant for the little ones," she says. "This was only a rabbit snare. It happens sometimes."
>"They might be looking for another food source, or another way to access this one, given that we seem to have thwarted their previous routes. Have to keep some eyes out there."
>"Possibly," Lunasa says. "Though given the range we've both seen them across, I doubt they were getting all their food from here in the first place."
>"How much do those things need to eat, anyway?" someone pipes up, a slight edge to their voice. "They've already gone off with more than a dozen cows. That's got to last them for a while, doesn't it?"
>Lunasa lets out a small sigh. "I don't think we can do better than guess. The largest of them were bigger than the cows themselves, so I imagine they need to eat a fair bit. Exactly how much, I don't know. Remember, we don't know how many of them there are, either."
>"Do you think that if they weren't hungry," comes a guileless voice from the back, "they'd leave everyone alone?"
>Lunasa turns to the apple youkai, her mouth creasing ever so slightly. "Well, they seem to have come here for food in the first place, so I imagine that's true, but-"
>"In that case," Kichigo interjects, "they're more than welcome to take as many apples as they want from my orchard. I don't mind."
>Lunasa seems momentarily struck dumb by this remark. Merlin lets out a very soft giggle.
>"I... don't think that's a... viable solution," Lunasa manages to sputter out.
>"Why not?" comes the lightsome reply. Lunasa simply goes mute again. You see more than one person in the crowd sigh or roll their eyes. Merlin giggles louder.
>"Spiders are carnivores," Shiori says, before the flustered violinist can manage to articulate a reply. "Normal ones, at least. These are probably the same."
>"Oh." You can hear a small note of disappointment in Kicihgo's voice.
>"There's a fairy that hangs around Ichirin's place, Shimmer Stardust by name. She's nocturnal, so she might have seen something at night others might have missed. Plus she could be useful in patrolling at night, not only for spotting spiders, but sending up signal flares as well. Little thing's a regular nightlight."
>"Oh, that kid?" Chihiro says. "She's ok. Long as she's not doing it right outside your window when you're tryin' to get some shut-eye..."
>"You can't seriously be suggesting we have a fairy keep watch, can you?" one of the farmers says. "Everyone knows how they are." There are a few mutters of agreement.
>"Doesn't hurt, does it?" another says. "I mean, if she spots something, great. If she forgets all about it the moment she's out of sight, we're no worse off than before, are we?" This too gets a few notes of acquiescence, though it's clearly a moderately divisive suggestion.
>Lunasa appears to have resumed her composure. "I agree. Any volunteer we can get shouldn't be disregarded, fairy or no. Keep in mind that, unlike us, she'd be at no risk if she did encounter a spider. We might be able to have her keep a watch over the actual heart of their territory, if we can get her to agree."
>Speaking of food sources....
>Adress the council member, "This might seem a strange question, but has there been any seismic activity around here in the past few weeks? Major outbreaks of disease, wildlife deaths?"
>The councilman gives you a rather incredulous look, mirrored more mutely from Lunasa. A few people in the crowd share uncertain glances with each other.
>"No," he says. "Why?"
