Lionder stood with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at the scene before him with down-turned lips.
"Thank you all for doing this! This will mean so much to the kids!" The troll woman that ran the Orgrimmar orphanage, Yerazi, spared a glance for each of the many guild members present, but spoke in particular to the leader.
"It is no trouble. We heard about your desire for the kids to see the world with trusted heroes, and not one of us could stay away. We're just thankful you're giving us the opportunity." The tauren paladin, Kosolo, said with practiced graciousness.
The caretaker clapped her hands together excitedly. "Children!" She called toward the large hut. "You can come out now, come see who you will be spending the day with!"
Lionder grimaced as a band of children did as told, a number of "Ooo"'s and "Aahhh"'s sounding as they stared wide-eyed at the guild members. There were whispers among them, commenting on their armor. The fact that many of them avoided looking at him, specifically, did not escape him.
Why did he have to do this? Actually, he thought bitterly, he knew exactly why he had to, but that did not make it better. Their leader, the tauren, had given them some crap about how he wanted his guild to have a good reputation in the capital cities for being generous. This apparently meant that he must answer the call of the caretaker, who wished her children to see the world and do things that the orphanage could not provide.
"We must all contribute, Lionder," he had been told, after making it perfectly clear he did not want to partake. "It is only for a day. Who knows, you may end up having a good time. A break from battle could do us all well."
To his displeasure, much of the rest of the guild agreed and went along with it, leaving him with little option. Since then, he put up with much talk about the plans his team was so excited to enact, knowing exactly where they wanted to go or what activity they wanted to share; all of which he did his level-best to ignore.
So now here he was. A forsaken assassin; an efficient killer with no shame in carrying out missions by stabbing targets in the back from the shadows, who instilled fear and paranoia among his enemies.
Being judged by little children.
He kept a hood over his head and wore thick, black leather that covered him from head to toe, hiding his unsettling, rotted form from the doe-eyed kids. He knew it would not look much more friendly, hiding himself completely, but what choice did he have? What did that blasted paladin think would happen when children saw him?
The kids were herded into each of his guildmates, the more enthusiastic of them choosing each other in no time. Pomona, a female tauren and the leader's mate, actually picked a tauren orphan off the ground and hugged him close.
"Whoa! I wanna have an axe like that!" A little troll child stared in wonder at the massive weapon that Lionder's orc "guildy" was all too happy to show off. The boy and grown man made fast friends. Everywhere he looked, his companions made all of this look easy.
Lionder only stood, hoping they would forget about him and he could still escape this whole thing somehow. The kids would not complain, surely. But soon, there was only one child left, looking off and away, lost in her own little world and unaware of the goings-on around her.
It was quite uncommon to find a little blood elf being kept in Orgrimmar of all places. In his experience, most blood elves would not be caught dead here. Then again, a child would not have a say in such a thing, and it is the Horde capital. Surely anything was possible.
Another guild mate found her first. "Well aren't you just the cutest!" A Goblin woman, who's name he thought was Mexsel, spoke with that accent they tend to have. She barely stood taller than the child as she fawned over her bleach-blonde hair. "Who are you staying with, Sugar?"
"I don't know!" She said with an inappropriate cheeriness, smiling widely and fiddling with her plain, brown dress. Mexsel's head wheeled around toward Lionder, looking at him through her periphery. She would guess that he would not go out of his way to participate.
Damn it.
"I know just the guy who's gonna take good care o' ya! C'mere, sweetie." She led the little girl right toward him, her glowing green eyes widening. "Whooaa. Really?"
"Of course! Because if he doesn't, I'll thump 'im one real good!" She shot a quick glare in his direction. "Won't ya, Spooky?"
It would not be so hard to hide such a small body… no, no. That was wrong. He looked at the little girl. "My name is Lionder. What is yours?"
He was relatively fortunate as a forsaken, not only to have a jaw, but also a voice that could almost pass for a living human. Still a gaunt and hollow sound, and with an accent that had fallen out of style many years ago. He had been hoping that would be enough to put a kid at ease, but to his surprise, it seemed he did not have to worry. The girl was not unsettled in the slightest. She snorted loudly, and wiped her nose.
"I'm Allyria!" She breathed in, then breathed out, and breathed in again. "Hi."
He sighed inwardly. Great.
The strangeness of the little girl went over Mexsel's head, as she was plenty happy with the situation, walking away with her own little kid. Please don't leave me with her, he tried to transmit his thoughts to anyone who would listen. Sadly, it did not work.
The little kid stared up at him expectantly, as if trusting that he knew exactly what he was doing. Why was he so averse to all of this? The diminutive blood elf wasn't so intimidating, and it was only for a day, like he was told. Still, why did the other kids leave her be?
"Sometimes I like to catch bugs in a cup, and then shake them until they die."
Ah. That's why.
"Look, child," Lionder began cautiously. "I am quite busy, and have a lot of things I would like to get done. If we could just calmly walk about the town without you getting in my way, we can keep all of this as painless as poss- what are you doing?"
She held her hands out in front of her, waggling her fingers about and confusing Lionder immensely. That is, until she made fire crackle between them. "Yay!"
Lionder's eyes widened. How long did it often take mages to first learn to make fire? He was uncertain, but he was sure he had met grown adults who struggled with it.
"Wee!" Her hands flung out above her, making sparks in the air. Her magic crackled like soft fireworks, even delighting some passersby with the display. Lionder watched cautiously, waiting for an errant spark to cause trouble. "Alright, I admit, that is impressive. But we cannot just play with fire here."
"Excuse me," the caretaker walked up to them, concerned. "It looks like you're the one who's been paired up with little Allyria. She really is a sweet heart, but you are still a brave man."
Hardly. "Is there something I should know?"
"There is a lot of somethings. But for now, what's important is that she is… passionate, about her fire magic." The caretaker tried to soften her words while Allyria was beginning to cackle like an evil witch. "If you keep her entertained though, she won't cause any serious damage."
"She can't be that bad," Lionder said, reassuring himself more than anything.
"I once set an orc's hair on fire, because it was in a ponytail, and then flung more fire at his feet so that his hair would fly around."
Lionder rolled his eyes, positive that it was a joke. Unfortunately, the caretaker had an embarrassed look on her face, rubbing her arm at the memory. "In fairness to both her and myself, it was put out before anyone got hurt."
Lionder stared, deadpanning at her. How the hell would he able to entertain such an excitable and dangerous child? A fwoosh sound came from beside them, Allyria having just set the ground on fire. "Yes! Burn little pebbles! Bow before me!"
The woman clapped her hands in front of her, her pleasant smile reappearing. "Thank you so much again for taking her for a while!" She too left him alone, perhaps excited to have some freedom from the little hellion.
He heard a scream, as some of the flame almost reached someone's pet. Oh God why.
He dived toward the sound on instinct, covering a little badger-like creature. Thank goodness his hard-earned leather was of extremely high quality, otherwise he was sure his cloak would have burned through. He got off the ground, taking the animal in his arms out of danger. He handed it out toward a young woman, who had a hand over her mouth at the display. "I'm sorry about tha-"
He was cut off as she whacked him over the head. "Control your kid!" She took the badger out of his hands and ran away.
He rubbed his head. What the hell did she hit him for?
He looked back at the little girl, eyes narrowing. This isn't the kind of situation he had been afraid of. His biggest worry had been scaring the kid away. But now, she recklessly swung fire around at passing bugs, narrowly missing objects and people, and he had trouble deciding which situation was worse. He definitely wouldn't be able to get any work done today, not with her threatening to burn the city down. This kid was going to be the death of him.
Er, second death. Real death? "Alright!" He commanded.
Thankfully, she turned her head toward him. "You need to be entertained, do ya?" She nodded furiously.
"Yeah! What are we gonna do? Meet more friends? I bet you don't have any friends. You smell like wet dog and bad eggs."
"I'm going to ignore all of that." He pulled out a shiny green whistle. It had been quite a while since he used this, but it was as good a time as any to pull out the heavy artillery. He blew into it without hesitation, and calmly put it away, standing patiently.
Allyria stood, confused. The whistle had not made any sound that she could hear. "Wha-"
Lionder put a finger up, and waited. She huffed.
Only to yell aloud when a long, jade dragon exploded into existence, covering the immediate area in gray-green smoke before standing beside them. The girl's jaw dropped, causing Lionder to smile beneath his hood. "What is that!?"
"Our ride," he stated matter-of-factly. Allyria's mouth flapped like a fish out of water, trying to put words together, but coming up with nothing. Lionder felt a juvenile satisfaction out of leaving her speechless, finally.
He crawled up easily onto the dragon's back, and held out a hand for her to take. "Don't tell me you're afraid all of a sudden. You wanted entertainment, and you will get it."
She stared in wonder, taking his hand and being pulled up onto the mount in a dream-like state. She sat in front of him, and could not take her eyes off the beautiful dragon, leaning to pet the beast on it's head. The dragon acknowledged the affection, craning it's neck to glance at her. There was a strange intelligence behind that look.
Clearly she had never done this before, and up until seeing her uncertainty, Lionder had been regarding her as an enemy, with the goal of ruining his day by being as annoying as possible. Lionder had to stop and remember that she is still an orphan. A poor, unfortunate soul with nothing to her name. Even if she was annoying, he was forced into this situation, and there was nowhere to go but forward. He would give an experience, and her change in attitude made it feel like it may not be so tough after all.
The dragon lifted up off the ground at Lionder's command, and Allyria yelped, trying to grab at anything to hang on to. The dragon swayed and dipped in the air, wanting to slither like a snake, causing them both to move almost drunkenly in the air while only hovering. She was easily amused at the motion, hanging on as best she could. "Whooaaa, wh- whoa! Whhoooaaa."
She looked up at the passers-by above, their own stylish and amazing mounts zooming past high in the air. "I wanna go that high!"
Crazy little girl. He put an arm securely around her. "As you wish."
The dragon pulled upward slowly, and Allyria leaned back into him for stability. He leaned and moved naturally with the dragon, having had plenty of time to become accustomed. They moved only a dozen feet above the crowds, enough to be out of the way, but keep a good view. With the girl firmly planted in the seat, she took a peak below. "Wooow, and they all usually look really strong… HEY EVERYONE! I'm taller than you!" She yelled shrilly.
"Yes we are." Some people below looked up at the harpy-sound, and she looked like she was about to egg them on further, before he instructed the dragon higher up, and she bounced in anticipation.
The freedom of the wide-open air greeted them as they broke the height of the front gates. The wind lapped at his hood when he urged the dragon onward. Allyria could not stop looking at every which direction, unsure of which sight to take in as they moved away from the city. All he could think of was about how thankful he was that she isn't burning all of them right now.
"Where are we going?" She asked, her blonde hair getting carried by the breeze.
"Anywhere. There are no limits up here." Steadily, the mount's speed picked up, his flying becoming more even, easier to hang onto at higher speeds. She didn't care. She was busy staring at the dragon more, mumbling about how she always wanted to have a pet.
This girl probably wanted for a lot of things, he mused. But if she didn't stop rocking about and shouting about how different everything looks up here, she was going to get him killed in a completely different way.
"I bought this dragon from the Panderans in the new continent," he said in an attempt to calm her, the mount being the first topic that popped into his head. "At first, I hated the place. The people were nosy, imposing themselves upon me, telling me to take it slower. That is how I thought of it, anyway." She became quieter.
"But over time, I saw that we had quite a bit in common. They drew me in with talk of patience and discipline, willing to share some of their secrets as monks. Would have been well enough, but… I suppose they taught me more than I bargained for. What do you notice about this mount?" She appeared to be caught off guard by the question.
"Umm… it's big and green. And shiny too, with cute whiskers!" She gushed.
"I see each individual scale, flexing as he moves. Most of the time, the light reflects bright green. But when you look closely, at just the right angle, they have a red or yellow glint to them. I see him bare and retract his claws, depending on how he is feeling. His scales become larger and tougher, the further up it is, while his belly is rather soft. I see every little hair on his head, flowing through the wind."
She stared closely at the mount, possibly beginning to notice these attributes. "The monks taught me how to see the extraordinary in the ordinary; how to notice and appreciate every little detail that the simplest things had to offer. There is a lot of beauty that goes over most people's heads. I think that is why they wanted us to slow down, so to speak. They didn't want pain to cloud our vision, and make us ignore what is right in front of us."
His eyes clouded over. In all honesty, he was rambling with little intention. He did not expect his own words to give him a sense of fondness for memories now past. "I suppose I'm thankful. I miss the place."
"Let's go faster!" She exclaimed. He snapped back to the present. "Huh?"
"Faster, faster! Giddy up, noble steed!" She lightly kicked at the mount, pointing forward to nowhere in particular. He sighed, but conceded. Her emotions flip-flopped like mad, but he supposed that was the way of fickle children. She wasn't listening, but as long as she was happy, right? "Hang on then."
The dragon dived downward suddenly. Their stomachs flipped, but instead of her previous nervousness, she whooped and hollered at the thrill. What was previously an unending and impassable expanse of land to her, now flew by quick as a flash. The lower they went, the faster the land seemed to go by, changing from mostly sand to lush greenery as they flew. All the while, her face had lit up in the biggest smile Lionder could remember seeing on anyone in a long time. "WOOHOOO!"
Seeing as she was quite comfortable now, he decided to kick it up a notch. It had been a long time since he really made his mount work, and he had to make sure the dragon was not becoming lazy in their down time. It had been a long time since he pushed his limits, and this kid will be entertained, damn it.
The trees became larger and more easily passable beneath the canopy of leaves. He dived beneath that canopy, and went to weave between the trees, like massive, glowing green thread. The agile beast easily dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged around, twigs passing almost close enough for them to reach out and touch. She screamed, but not in fear, having the time of her life.
Lionder spotted Alliance on the ground, a glowing human and heavily-armored draenei, who were visibly confused at seeing a dragon fly playfully through the woods while laughing like a child. Lionder saw an opening in the trees. The distinct glint of light off of water caught his eye, a large lake only a few dozen feet away. It gave him an idea.
They burst out of the trees, shocking Allyria with the sudden brightness. Before she even had time to wonder what they were doing now, it became clear as they sped close to the surface of the water. The force of their flight left a wake, little droplets of water spraying up and away. Lionder locked his legs against the mount, and grinned. "Look up!"
"What? WhyyaaAAHHH!" Lionder held onto her as tight as he could, keeping her firmly in place as the water and sky suddenly switched places. Allyria's hair whipped about wildly, flying upside down. She did remain in the moment enough to take his advice, and look up at the water whizzing by. The waves around seemed to move in slow motion compared to their speed.
To cap it off, Lionder reached his long arm out above them, and his finger scraped across the surface with the barest touch. She was enthralled with the display, but called out. "LIONDER! TREES!"
In one, fluid motion, Lionder took the reigns, flipped them right-side-up and shot upward, in the span of a second. So close they were to the edge of the lake, one of the dragon's clawed feet bashed into a tree trunk as they soared upward again. They stabilized, and his mount looked humorously unbothered by the impact, or being used as an amusement park ride.
The girl was strangely quiet all the sudden, and for a moment, he wondered if he had taken the thrill a bit too far.
"That... was... awesome!"
Or not. Allyria flung her arms into the air with a cheer.
The things he did to pacify a child. The thought occurred to him that maybe his guild, nor the city of Orgrimmar, would not be too happy with him after endangering a kid like that. Then again, they did want those kids to do things they may never get the chance to do again.
The sun had moved in the sky much more then he would have guessed otherwise. Time flies when you're having fun… did he just think that? He stubbornly held that he was not having fun. She twisted in his arm. "Do we have to go back already?"
He thought about it for a moment, but another idea came to mind. "Have you ever seen the ocean up close?"
"The ocean? That sounds boring..."
"You shouldn't judge until you've tried it." The forested area shifted once again into sandy desert below. This time, instead of being a wasteland filled with virtually nothing, they past over a couple of settlements over time, the final of which, being the port town known as Ratchet. Allyria stared down in amazement at the variety of people, mostly goblins, going about their day. "They look like ants!"
Lionder had a joke in mind about how goblins always look like ants, but thought it wise to keep to himself, lest the impressionable girl repeat that to somebody on another day. Worse, they might learn where she got it from.
They sank down lower, flying past Ratchet into a beached area. Finally, the dragon was coming to a halt. They touched down, and the girl practically fell off of the mount, getting used to standing on solid ground again.
Lionder took it well, planting his feet firmly to the ground. The adrenaline from before was still slow burning, energizing him even in the new, calm atmosphere. The waves were gentle, sloshing against the shore with a calming rhythm, reminding him why this was one of his favorite places to visit. Maybe it was his past experience with piracy, but he always felt nostalgic at the slow sounds of the ocean.
The breeze blew salty air into them, and a strange sense of pride came over him as Allyria went to stand ankle deep on the shore. "It's sooo big and blue!" She exclaimed.
"There is a reason we came here specifically," Lionder said. "You can play with your fire as much as you like." Her eyes bugged, probably realizing no one would stop her around here. Of course the water and sand could not be burned. She grinned devilishly, and went right to work throwing fire into the water. She was delighted to find that it made a sizzling sound when she did, and steam rose up in the spot where her fire fizzled out.
Was it healthy to let her continue this habit here? It may not work in the long term as far as not burning buildings goes. But what if she just needed an outlet? Something to burn her out, no pun intended. It was worth a try, and besides, she was having just as much fun now as she was on the jade dragon.
While he was here, he decided to hunt around for a good seashell to give her. A little memento to keep and play with if fire wasn't cutting it.
Her hands shot streams of fire, and steam swirled all around her form. The mist and boiling sound obscured her crazed laughter as he lightly hummed to himself for minutes at a time. "Ah!"
He picked up a good shell just as he heard a dull thud against the sand where Allyria had been. He kept it and walked over to her, to find that her energy was completely spent. She breathed heavily on the ground. "The water elementals will not get me… I can still win!"
Lionder chuckled. She used up all of her mana to play a game. He held the seashell above her, and after a moment of staring, she took it and found that it fit comfortably in her palm. "This is a way to bring the ocean with you. If you put it up to your ear, you can still hear the waves.
She did just that, sitting straight up and listening to the hollow sound produced in the shell. "That is so cool!"
Lionder sat beside her, looking out over the horizon. The crashing waves and occasional gusts of wind were the only thing filling the comfortable silence that had settled. But Allyria, child that she was, could not remain quiet for long. "Hey mister?"
"Hm."
"Can I see your face?" He was caught off guard, sitting still and unsure of what to do. But she stared at him with large, innocent eyes and an expectant smile. "I'm not sure that is a good idea. I wear this for a reason."
"Come on, please? Just a peek?" Something told him that she would not drop the issue easily, and the thought of explaining himself seemed childish. Instead, he moved his hood only slightly out of the way, revealing a browned, partially rotting cheek and jaw. "Are you still certain?"
"Yeah. A lot of heroes have helmets and things on, and it's weird when they don't have faces."
Well… she did ask nicely. With reluctance, he let the hood fall entirely. She stared at him blankly for moment, with no real reaction. Around his mouth was rotted, dead flesh. His eyes, a sickly black and green, with the yellow glowing pupils that were typical of the Forsaken. These sunken eyes were framed by long, moss-green hair that parted in the middle. He wondered if he had made a mistake.
"Does it hurt at all?" Allyria asked. Her question was one of naive, genuine curiosity, rather than the fear he had expected. Lionder was taken aback at how remarkably unshaken she was.
"I do not feel much of anything."
"Weeeird." She went right back to looking at the ocean, leaving Lionder dumbfounded. That's it? It had been that easy this whole time? Perhaps the implications of his appearance and existence went over her head, as she was still so young. But… he was relieved.
The sun was on it's way down, the sky showing the first yellowish tinges of sunset. Lionder realized there was no specific time that they should be back, but sooner was better than later. "Come now. We should get you home, lest the water elementals catch you while you're not ready." She stood up straight. "You're right!"
He summoned his mount back, and they both hopped back onto it with ease. Before long, they were back up high in the air, except this time, he purposefully took it slower. "Take the reigns."
"What?"
"As long as you hold them steady, he will keep flying forward. Go on." The girl's demeanor wavered, but still did as instructed and grabbed hold of them. After a few seconds, Lionder let go completely. "There you go. You're flying us, little one."
There was a look of wonder and nervousness in her eyes. "Really? You're not doing anything?"
"Not a thing." He waved his hands in front of her for emphasis. "Take us home."
She sat straighter, eyeing dead ahead like a hawk. She spent all of her concentration simply holding the reigns still, hands shaking a bit. He could see that a sense of duty had come over her, and in a strange way, it made him proud. If he were being honest, he would not have guessed that the girl was capable of such focus, but he could admit she had proven him wrong.
By the time Orgrimmar came into view, the sky had really begun to darken. They would have to land as soon as possible.
"Alright, pull on the side that you wish to turn, pull both hands to rise up, an- whoa! Whoa there!" Allyria pulled on one side, but much too hard, whipping them about through the air.
From below, more guild members were gathered in their spot, talking about the day they had. They heard yelling from above, and looked up to see a jade green dragon, flying drunkenly in circles. The dragon made distressed, confused noises as he was pulled every which way with no sense of direction. The two occupants were no less quiet. "Keep them steady! You don't have to pull so hard, just calmly lowe- BUILDING!"
All three voices, including the dragon, yelled incoherently as they barreled toward the ground. Watching from below was amusing, until they were in danger of getting crushed. Somebody yelled. "Out of the way! Run!"
Allyria landed, or more like crashed, into the dirt. The dragon slid a ways before Lionder and Allyria were launched off of him a few feet away. Lionder quickly grabbed the girl and shielded her from the impact of the ground, skidding to halt right by his guild mates.
"Well!" Lionder heard the annoying voice of Mexsel. "You two look like you had a lot of fun!" Lionder's dragon righted itself and looked like it would give Lionder a serious talk, if it could speak. Instead, it just disappeared in a cloud of jade smoke. Allyria wriggled free and stood, unharmed, save for some dirt that got on her dress and face. "Let's do that again!"
"I don't think so." Lionder got up and brushed himself off. "You need to work on your landing strategy. And your maneuvering. And acceleration. And everything other than moving in a straight line."
The paladin leader of their team approached them both, a smirk on his large face. "Well look at you, Lionder. Letting the cub drive you around and behaving all playful. I trust that means you had a good day?"
Lionder refused to respond, not wanting to prove the smug bastard's point from the other day. He looked around to see that many of the other participants had returned, but a few were still missing. Being early was much better than being late, but it also meant he may be getting questions.
"Come on," the tauren smacked a large hand on his shoulder. "You had fun. I can already tell, you may as well admit it."
"She belongs on a watchlist." How did her caretaker do this every single day?
At least it was all over, and they all came out relatively unscathed. She is back with her caretaker, he had done his job of entertaining a child, and with any luck, he would not have to do something similar again for a long, long time.
He was still being pestered with questions, even from guild mates he hardly spoke to, mostly about their absurd landing. His eyes wandered over to Allyria every now and then, and found that she had taken out the seashell he found for her, and was holding it up to other kid's ears so they could listen, with varying results. She wasn't off and alone again, so that is an improvement.
After making up a number of lies about how Allyria was a hassle that made him lose control of his mount, the last of the guild finally arrived, the sun dying out completely.
Yerazi once again thanked every one of them profusely, saying how the kids would remember this forever. Somehow Lionder doubted the child would think back on all of this too much, seeing as how everything seemed to fly over her head completely.
"Come along everyone!" Their leader called to them. "Let us spend a night in the inn to celebrate a job well done." The team was tired, and thankful to have some rest. Some wanted to get some booze instead, and talk some more about their days with the kids. Lionder was just thankful that attention was no longer on him.
The next morning was filled with pained groans. Lionder cracked his eyes open, and immediately wished he didn't. Sunlight rudely pierced his eyes through the window and refused to go away.
"Let the suffering begin," he muttered, while miserably rolling out of his bed. Even after death he hated mornings, despite not having partaken in the party the night before and thus did not have a hangover.
He got dressed and dragged himself downstairs, getting his bearings and making sure all of his guild mates were accounted for throughout the building. Doing what he felt was his duty, he immediately made for the exit after completion. He could not stand listening to them conversing with one another, all of the couples, especially the women, gushing about how they now wanted their own kids.
Thank Heavens he no longer had a gag reflex.
He pushed open the front doors, the sun once again assaulting his eyes and making him flinch. He put his hood back over his head, shielding them. The rather luxurious and accommodating building they all stayed in was not far from the orphanage they had picked their kids up at. It was just up the road, on their way out of the city. He saw kids already up bright and early, with no sign of fatigue, playing out in front of it.
Since he was waiting for the group to wake up completely, and he paid the inn ahead of time for his bed, he decided to take a walk. Despite himself, Lionder found that he could not see Allyria from where he was, and was curious to see how she was handled by Yerazi. Would she be calmer today after such a full day, or would she still be bouncing off the walls?
More importantly, why should he care?
He got closer to the place, and from a new angle, he found Allyria, off by herself and kneeling down. Shame that she was still alone, and it was odd seeing her be still and quiet. It was hard to imagine the hyperactive little pyro being sad and lonely, but what else could she be doing?
Yerazi approached from behind her, gently getting her attention. Allyria responded with over-the-top enthusiasm, waving her hand for Yerazi to come see something. Now that, was more like her. "Isn't this amazing!?" He heard Allyria exclaim, pointing at what had her attention.
Yerazi leaned down to see a plain, white flower. There were many others like it, and even more interesting plants and weeds growing around.
"Did you find a pretty bug or stone?" Yerazi asked, looking around for what was so interesting.
"No," Allyria laid on her stomach, elbows to the ground with the flower between them. "I always thought the stem was just plain green, but there's so many little details! The tiny lines, the yellows and greens. The yellow dot in the middle was just a dot, but really it has a whole other world inside there! And the petals look and feel like cloth! Do you think I could make a dress out of flower petals?"
Yerazi sat on her knees, looking closer. Her surprised features became delighted at her observations. "Oooh, you're right. And look, there are little white furs on it's leaves."
Lionder sat on a bench, looking away from the scene. It couldn't be… he could not imagine Allyria being able to keep her attention on anything for long, but there she was, teaching the art of seeing to her mother-figure.
"There you are!" Lionder's time to think had been cut short as Kosolo approached. "Ahead of schedule as always. I hope you have your things ready, we are ready to leave. I even have a specific mission in mind that a sneaky man such as yourself might do well in."
Lionder nodded, and got up to join the group making their way toward the exit. He looked back, and saw that Allyria had spotted him. Her face lit up, and she waved her hand over her head, along with some other kids who did the same toward their group. He lifted his palm, acknowledging her.
Even after leaving the district and on their way out of the city, the image of the girl staring intently at the flower stuck with him. He felt a kind of warmth that he never once felt since he was fully alive. It was a feeling he thought himself incapable of until now.
He put his hood down, baring his face to the world. He looked strangers in the eye as they passed, giving friendly nods their way. Not even Mexsel's pet names or annoying voice beside him could ruin his mood. "No hood on today, Spooky?"
He looked down at her, his partially rotted face stretching into a soft smile. "No. It is a nice day."
Perhaps Allyria would make a fine adult one day. He would have to remember her name, and see how she was doing.
(A/N) There is a certain line from a certain movie in here. If you can spot it, I'll be very impressed.
Was there ever an event where you got to have a little child follow you around for a short time? I could have sworn there was, but I have not found any evidence that such a thing actually happened once.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and have a good one.
Big-X: Ha! I knew it was something! Thanks for letting me know.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. The plan was to leave it as is, but I do have a writing goal to meet every day, so anything's possible. I also have a number of ideas in the outlining stage that I'm thinking I might just consolidate into one er two bigger projects. Thanks a ton for checking it out.