Tales of the New Realm
The Arrival
'One hundred and fifty million years ago on Solaria, a grave crisis fell upon the planet.'
The commentator of the documentary made his voice sound serious as the music swelled.
'The rise of warm blooded and intelligent reptiles took place during the Jurassic Era when Solaria became a wetter, heavily forested planet. No one has yet to explain why the average temperature of Solaria dropped five to ten degrees but most scientists concur that this led to the evolution of the unique and quick thinking animals once called 'Demons' and now called 'Euthermids' or true warm blooded lizards. These quirky lizards could live in the trees, conquer the canopy and fly or glide from one tree to another.'
'Recent science reveals that the diverse order of reptiles called the Euthermids are not lizards at all but evolved from a more primitive group of reptiles early during the age of dinosaurs. Genetics and paleontology have begun to reveal the strange and mysterious origins of this most misunderstood of non magical creatures.'
'Tonight on Zenith Science News: The Rise of the Demons.' A gentle male voice spoke out with an English accent as the music swelled. "We explore the evolution of one of the most unique group of animals in the Realm and how they became so successful.'
The music swelled as a montage played.
'We face a unique problem on Zenith.' A grey haired man with a serious looking face commented severely. He had the title of Gines Hawkes and was The Minister of the Environment according to the text over the image of him sitting at a large metal desk flanked by books 'Thirty years ago, some species of Celespid became popular as pets and a small number escaped into the wild. The Red Fire Celespid, despite our cold climate, has adapted to life on Zenith to an incredible degree.'
The documentary explained that on Zenith, these animals had learned to light fires and raid stores. Unlike domestic pests, they could think and outguess those trying to catch and return them. They were faster in flight than any animal on any known world and could evade any traps set to humanely catch them.
The documentary went on to show this order flying at speeds of four hundred and fifty knots over the deserts of Solaria and at times surviving massive crashes. They had evolved high speed flight because Solaria had shifted from a tropical to a desert world and the creature best able to find food was the one who could cover the most territory.
This had taken place because of skull bones. The documentary explained how the jugal bones of the skull had become the main bone of the wings of the these creatures because they descended from a family of frilled reptiles. Unlike birds, something akin to the fringe of a lizard set these creatures on the path to flight. Once airborne, the race to fly fast began and so the development of Euthermid flight began.
Tecna adjusted the tilt of her laptop screen so everyone in the room could see it as clearly as possible.
The formidable Daria spread her huge sweptback wings.
"I see." She said in resignation. "Who do I sue?"
James kept his wings folded. He had no wish to be rude.
Stella had to admit they were splendid creatures although their human form only slightly hid the sleek lines of a predator. They both had red accents and six red and white banded quills like th markings of a lion fish that made them look fierce. The male and the female were the same height and size and near impossible to tell apart except by personality
Roxy had come to realize the female with the amber eyes had a bad temper. She had a human face but the angles of her features and the large dagger like striped quills with translucent white and red banding warned her that the young two foot tall female was bad ass.
Hiss!
Roxy tried to examine her large amber eyes and Daria didn't feel like co-operating.
"You don't need to be rude." Roxy told the row of spikes and rear pointing fangs that had once been a girlish face. "I want to check the health of your eyes." Roxy watched a silvery green 'glow' dance off Daria's retina from behind her cat like eyes.
"I don't need to be rude." Daria relaxed. "I get some enjoyment out of it."
"How is our prince and princess?" Bloom swept into the infirmary and stopped abruptly when faced with James's imposing white and red quills. "Still spiky I see."
"Which brings me to the present matter." Bloom backed away slowly from James's quills. He stood at two foot tall and flew but he had sharp, hollow two foot long quills rooted in his spine. Daria rattled hers when she wanted Roxy to back off. "I have to ask that you apologize to Miele for eating her pet cat."
Bloom faced James because he was the 'calm' one.
"Quite an odd request..." James stood in his black and red color matched uniform as an impeccable example of what misguided magic could do to a warm blooded reptile. He had albino like pink eyes but he could see very well. "We hunted it down and so...what's the problem?"
"Daria and James aren't quite human." Roxy gave the flashlight to Daria to placate her. "They come from a family of flying reptiles; warm blooded ones, who typically hunt to make a living and they ate one of the campus cats because they thought it was up for grabs."
"Will this be a hobby for you guys?" Bloom wagged her finger. "We care less about the rodents, gophers and bugs but insist you not eat our cats."
"What have you learned about our flying friends – girls." Headmistress Faragonda stood up from behind her desk. "Griselda told me they ate Miele's cat."
"The young boy has an amiable, quiet personality and he never tried to bite me." Roxy began reading from her notes. "Daria can be quite a handful. She can get nippy but I never felt she wanted to hurt me."
"Any idea where they came from?" Faragonda began to clean her glasses.
"As far as I understood; the Euthermids were native to Solaria." Roxy looked at the diagram she had drawn in her notebook. "Daria and James appear to belong to the Order Celespedes – the most intelligent pack hunters of the lot. Don't get me wrong; they are reptiles with three chambered hearts and hair derived from scales but the Celespids are fast, agile and mean – like flying wolves."
"Do James and Daria pose a threat to us?" Faragonda tapped her desk as she asked that question.
"If they put their minds to it – yes." Roxy regretted having to say this but Daria and James had flight, smarts, and teeth with venom injecting fangs. "They have fangs and venom and command of the air with real cunning. Oddly enough; even the easily riled girl showed restraint. She could have bit me – really messed me up – but she didn't. She certainly can move fast but she behaved more as if she felt confused with all that was going on around her."
"Go on." Faragonda said kindly.
"I had to do some research on Celespids. The Euthermid order is immensely old – as old as the dinosaurs but Celespids appeared only after the dinosaur extinction and are cool creatures – if you look at them in the right way. These animals are capable of hunting in packs and have advanced intelligence." Roxy added a bit of caution. "I doubt if Daria and James want to harm people but they don't think like humans because they come from an entirely different branch of the tree of life."
"Would I be able to speak to them?" Faragonda had a tone which informed Roxy this was more of a demand than a request.
"Daria can't keep quiet." Bloom half joked. "She commands more than she holds a conversation but she does have an interesting viewpoint. James won't say much but when he talks, he runs on and yet he seems very sweet. Both of them have the same colouring the male is the quiet James."
"Just remember they both hunt but in Celespid packs; the females lead the pack." Roxy cautioned because she had spent hours talking with two interesting sentient beings who considered nipping a social norm. "James might be the quiet one but he has fangs too."
"I'll ask Roxy to fetch them for a meeting." Faragonda sat down in her chair. "The rest of the Winx will stay here in case they don't like me."
"One last thing before I go." Roxy asked Faragonda. "They have their own language and they can make a lot of noise. Don't be surprised at the hisses, howls and shrieks – sometimes they don't have inside voices."
Fifteen minutes passed.
"I would like to introduce James and Daria." Roxy poked her head in the door. "I said 'would like' because Daria won't make it pleasant for me."
"Get down from there!" Griselda snapped. "Roxy! I asked you to keep these two creatures under control. I won't have them swinging from the lights!"
"Where is the other one?" She asked a second later.
An ear shredding shriek filled the room.
"Don't take that tone with me – young Lady." Griselda scolded.
A raven like creature walked under Roxy and into the room. A uniformed two foot tall creature flapped onto the desk of Headmistress Faragonda and bowed like a Japanese businessman.
"Daria will attend shortly." He explained in a quiet thin voice. "We did not mean to eat the cat."
A hiss like a thousand air brakes being let off made everyone wince.
"I can translate that." He offered in a polite voice. "Not word for word but Daria wants Griselda to know the spiders are not for her."
"Oh good grief!" Faragonda sat back up then walked to her door and then turned to the young boy. "I assume you are James?"
"Yes." He said as he adjusted the mandarin collar on his black tunic. "You should let her eat the spiders otherwise she'll be insufferable – well more so than she usually is."
"Griselda?" Faragonda walked past Roxy and held up her hand. "Perhaps not tormenting the poor creature might accomplish more and be quieter?"
A pretty face peered from the edge of the translucent rose colored glass shade of the hallway light. She had strange amber eyes and pointed ears which reminded Faragonda of an elf. The girl wore the same style of uniform as the small boy and had a quiver of six candy cane striped quills behind her wings.
"She can't behave like this." Griselda quietly grumbled. "She ate a cat."
"Why is that such a problem for you people?" The girl complained loudly but she made no hissing noise. "Are we running out of cats here? And if someone could fill me in – where is here?"
"Welcome to The Alfea College for Fairies." Faragonda smiled brightly. "Do you happen to know how you came to be here – Daria?"
"Not in any sure sense." Daria began tentatively. "We fled our captor – a trio of women – we landed here because we thought we were safe and we saw cats to eat."
"A white haired lady and her two sisters?" Griselda asked in a curious voice.
"Yes..." Daria slid down off the light fixture and glided in a circle to land in front of Faragonda on two huge swept back wings covered in red tinged almost black hexagon shaped downy feathers. "We don't like being held captive."
No one knew exactly 'what' Daria and James were. They had the biology of warm blooded reptiles; the Euthermids and had the three chambered heart and predatory habits of reptiles and they could fly. They had minds with oddly unsettling human characteristics and very keen intelligence and even bettered humans at spacial tasks.
Faragonda had decided that the pair should stay at Alfea for now. If the Trix had somehow returned or conjured them up; Alfea provided protection. Part of this decision she made out of strategic concerns: Daria was quite the piece of work not just because of her rather spirited personality or her unrepentant desire to filch cats. The Trix built the perfect spy – capable of living off the land – eating cats and sneaking into anywhere. Small, hard to spot, fast, very capable in the air and very visual; Daria was a capable weapon.
The six long daggers sticking out from their backs placed Daria and James into the family of Celespidae – pack hunting Euthermids. One might think of them as the wolves of the sky and they roamed over the deserts of Solaria scouting out for food and water. In most of the Celespids; the quills relayed speed and altitude information and in many species took in information on the planetary magnetic field for navigation. Daria and James were about average sized for their kind – what the college feared was that they were the average personality for their kind. Celespids had earned a reputation as mean, determined and cunning hunters capable of stalking and taking down humans lost in the desert (a story that had much of the ring of an urban myth).
Daria and James were cute with their big eyes and long exotic hair which they had kept in a braid. James didn't terrify anyone. He had a polite, quiet and shy personality and could make the fairies forget he had eaten a cat. The male Celespids were much more docile and wired to be obedient followers and so James was following instinct. Daria provided more reason to take caution. She stood two foot tall – Alfea's garden gnomes towered over her – but her instincts told her to command the pack. Roxy desconstructed this to mean James and the human fairies but gave out hope her sharp intellect made her capable of learning to better fit in.
"Get off!" Tecna commanded Daria. "This is my bed."
Daria lay on her bed in a ball with her quills sticking out. Tecna knew this had to be Daria because James sat on the couch and was watching news and he had greeted her in a civilized manner.
"I know you can hear me because you don't need to sleep." Tecna spoke with command and authority. "Roxy explained this to us."
Daria unfolded herself and flew out of the bedroom.
"I don't remember having a say in adopting two demented cat eating parrots." Tecna huffed as she sat on her bed. The Winx, thought Faragonda, had more experience and tolerance that the fairies in the rest of the school and they stood the best chance of keeping Daria from eating another cat or of keeping her from being a brat with fangs. "I have to wonder if I need a chair and a whip each time I go into the living room."
"Daria has settled down quite a bit in two days." Musa walked in the room holding her toothbrush. "She has stayed here two days an after a couple of stern lectures from Bloom with a promise from Stella of nice clothes tailored to their taste – she quit hissing."
A subdued hiss came through the walls of the bedroom.
"Unless you try and grab the remote." Tecna replied sardonically. "As fairies we have to care for those in need. Daria and James have fled the clutches of the Trix and so if the witches are back; we have to protect them. That doesn't mean I have to like Daria."
"At Alfea, we share." Stella's preachy voice reverberated through the walls. "You've had the TV all evening – now it's my turn."
"Griselda told me to see her about coming home late – after curfew on a school night." Tecna made a quick motion and the set of drawers under her bed opened and her pajama set rose out of it like a comedy prop. "She wants to see you and Stella in her office at nine tomorrow."
Musa began to speak and a loud hiss filled the room.
"I'll give you a time out..." Stella admonished.
"One has the reptile brain the size of a lemon." Tecna balled her fists and walked out of the room. "The other one won't give up the couch. I can't believe I came home from the computer lab for this."
"I didn't want pets." Musa shrugged and followed.
"What is with all the noise?" Tecna asked as she saw Daria sitting on Stella's knew as Stella braided her hair.
"What noise?" Stella asked as she played keep away with the television remote.
"The hissing and you arguing?" Tecna walked up to the coffee table.
"Well...the couch is pretty much theirs so you have to make sure you don't intrude on them." Stella said sweetly and gave an eager Daria the remote.
Daria looked very happy as she watched television and yawned contentedly showing a long pinkish grey tongue and rows of fangs. James remained in a ball with his ears and eyes looking out at the TV.
"They are highly intelligent, quite possibly sentient creatures." Faragonda made her case to Griselda. "We have only the most tentative knowledge about them but we have reason to believe the Trix somehow created them for some purpose."
"They have shocking habits." Griselda felt the need to explain. "They drive our own wild life into a panic when they take to the air and no cat or pixie is safe."
"And yet Daria has said she finds our food revolting." Faragonda walked beside Griselda across the quad. "Meat can't be cooked – she told me after she witnessed how bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches were prepared by Bloom."
"Lucky no one has been bitten by her." Griselda said starkly as she walked beneath a cedar tree.
"Fortunate indeed: the venom of such creatures can kill a human many times over." Faragonda mused. "As I see it, the problem we have is that those creatures have both venom and minds capable of expressing their thoughts about themselves and their world. I don't share her opinion that bacon is revolting but she did have an opinion about bacon."
"I want to remind you they are not fairies and do not qualify for admission to Alfea." Griselda kept the records and while Daria and James had remarkable natural abilities and a high level of natural intelligence; they were magically inept according to the preliminary studies." Griselda cleared her throat. "Roxy and the Winx have tested them and found they have a remarkable level of intelligence and are at least as adept at problem solving as us. They have keen sight, keen hearing and yet have little or no sense of smell or taste. With such differences between us; should we even consider offering them safe haven at Alfea."
"I have not decided upon a course of action." Faragonda told Griselda sternly. "They came here and may leave of their own free will. I will admit Daria can chip away at a fairy's reserves of kindness and patience but I see nothing in her to suggest she wishes us any harm."
Griselda heard the sound of no ill wishes over her head as Daria and James flew over the quad screeching at each other. If a creature could make a disquieting noise; they could. Roxy said the cries was a kind of language they used to allow them to coordinate their attacks and to plan their flights. She winced as the lead one – Daria let out a loud rattling hiss and skimmed over the tree just missing the top.
"You have to get used to that." Faragonda explained to Griselda.
"How loud she is or that she has big black bat like wings and a spear for a tail?" Griselda watched as Daria glided to a landing and then hung a meter off the ground. James followed and they flew together across the quad and then when the air gave up on holding them; pulled their feet out and landed on the walking path.
"Solaria didn't always have magic." Faragonda strode down the path. "Had humans not settled there; the kin of those two could rule the planet. I am not oblivious to your concerns and so I have enlisted the help of the notable Doctor Passerine – the leading expert from Solaria on Celespid behavior. He will help shed some light upon their true natures."
"I grow weary of these tests." Daria said in a tired and surly voice. "All of you have waved your hands at me and then stepped back astonished when nothing happens."
"Fairy magic doesn't work on you." Flora stepped forward and offered up an explanation.
James looked up at the crystal roof of the greenhouse. Roxy watched his pink eyes tracking something and this struck her as a bad thing because James had a sweet personality but was impulsive.
"Did you notice anything James?" Roxy asked as a means of distracting him.
"Uh...no." James rattled his quills.
Daria and James could speak but had many other noises. Roxy had come to realize the soft rattling quills meant surprise or frustration to Daria and James and to her, this meant that they had active inner lives like any person.
The evil side wanted creatures immune to magic to fight against the Winx but Daria and James didn't want to fight or like any living thing – wanted to find happiness doing their own thing and not live as a slave. Scrappy Daria chafed at being told to follow the rules and slavery would make her desperately unhappy. She wanted freedom but unlike Icy or Kalshara; had no aspirations of conquests and unlike her, Daria's cohort, James was also smart.
"We have imposed on you." Bloom spoke apologetically to placate Daria. "We need to know more about you so we can figure out where to place you in Alfea and how to live and get along with you."
Daria nipped at James and made a sharp sound. Roxy had at first taken this to mean fear or aggression but only Daria ever nipped or bit the air; James did not. Daria used the sound to express frustration or annoyance and convey this. When she nipped at James; it often meant he was to say nothing because she was the female.
"We have been staying on your couch." Daria affirmed. "Do we take up too much room?"
James and Daria rested curled up together in a tight ball and slept off and on during the night if they could be said to sleep because they had the ability to place one hemisphere of the brain to sleep at a time to keep an eye out for threats. They pointed their quills out and Tecna who often stayed up late to work, had nearly sat on them. Had one of them not hissed in anger, the end result might have required stitches.
Roxy had not told them of the impending visit of the good doctor. Daria had tolerated Roxy enough to allow Roxy to examine her and pronounce her fit and ready to dispense doom from the sky. She didn't wish to antagonize her by telling her she faced more testing at the hands of another human – a male at that.
"They have the three virtues of a computer programmer – laziness, impatience and pride." Tecna stood in front of the shattered glass on the dining room floor and opened the conversation with Bloom with that line. "James told me he never saw the window – the stained glass window with a rose in each of the three panes of glass."
Bloom held up a thick piece of broken wood that had once formed the window frame.
"Is he alright?" Bloom asked with concern.
"He shook his head and when I came out running after the noise I heard; he told me he never saw the window." Tecna emphasized. "He flew off again."
"Roxy told me they had thick heads and strong necks." Bloom told Tecna. "I should still find him and check on him."
"And tell Griselda to call a carpenter." Tecna reminded Bloom.
James proved easy to find. Bloom had only to walk outside and follow the path of destruction. James could solve complex math equations and had a fully developed concept of 'self' seen in higher animals like dolphins and humans. Despite the advanced mental functions; his basic nature made him seek to eat living things and while the rules of Alfea forbade him access to cats and pets and cute bunnies; he found food.
Daria hissed and chirped as she helped him eat through the wall. Both of them clung to the wall using the top of the window and their wings to keep balance as they bit away chunks of the wall to get at the wasps that had made a nest inside it.
Bloom dodge the pink stucco dust as it fell past her and swatted at very angry wasps who sought to avenge the destruction of their home.
"I want a word with you." She yelled and swerved out of the way of a wasp.
"We're very busy." Daria replied. "Can it wait?"
"You have a delicate sense of humor." Bloom called out. "Did I forget to mention you can't destroy Alfea property? You are not allowed to rip apart walls – we were clear on that."
"You never mentioned it." Daria said as she glided down following the ivy that grew up the side. "You told us we couldn't eat cats and dogs and other assorted pets. We've found this huge wasp nest and we thought we'd eat them."
Daria flew in circles snapping up wasps in her mouth.
"You are not allowed to wreck the building!" Bloom resisted the urge to reach out and strangle Daria – the same urge Griselda reported. She pointed to the destroyed window and the head sized hole in the wall. "James breaks a window and now you have gone to war against the walls of our dorm!"
"We thought it was open." Daria flapped in circles like a vulture. "Or rather that Tecna would open it for us – she screamed instead – the timing was bad."
"James!" Bloom yelled. "Get your head out of the hole and get down here – we need to talk."
"You can at least move!" Tecna told Daria.
"I let you have the remote." Daria remained curled up on the couch. "I have a metabolic rate three times higher than yours." Daria didn't know this as a fact but Roxy had measured her resting pulse at two hundred and twenty beats per minute and Daria had done the math. "A given action on my part takes three times the effort than it does for you and I don't take up much space."
"No you don't take up much space..." Tecna grumbled to herself. 'But you hiss and otherwise act like a complete brat if you don't like someone sitting on the couch.' Tecna thought this part to herself as she looked at the plastic tarp over the windows. "I don't buy this argument that it takes more effort to move because you have a high metabolic rate – prove it."
"Get your feet off the couch Daria." Flora swept in the room. "Where is James?"
"That is a good question." Daria's voice rose from withing the black ball. "He went out with Bloom to put plastic over the window but human tape sticks well to us and so he is in the infirmary hissing at Roxy as she tries to peel off that red tape."
"Get your feet off the couch!" Flora commanded. "We have to work together to keep this place neat and clean so we can all live in harmony."
"At least clean up to eye level." Daria said sarcastically.
"Get in there!" Bloom said in frustration as she shoved James from the back and he flapped over to the couch. "Daria get your feet off the couch!"
"What did Batman's stunt double do?" Flora asked Bloom.
"Made himself a huge pain by helping out and getting trapped in tape." Bloom pointed at him as he sat on the couch and checked his wings. "When Roxy, me and Nurse Ophelia tried to get it off of him; he squirmed and hissed and tried to run off so I had to hold him down. Instead of behaving himself as we tried to help him! You have no idea how strong he can be when he chooses to be."
"Or how much it hurts to have tape peeled off your wings." James said defensively.
"You two have eaten a wall; broken a window and managed to get stuck in tape." Bloom told them off. "We will have time to go over the rules when Headmistress Faragonda meets with you two tomorrow."
Daria had a braid that ran down to a spear shaped tail. It looked like a braid because it formed out of the hairy keratin that grew out of their skulls much like human hair but formed a hard leathery covering over her flexible spine. Stella had no means of styling this but Daria kept it impeccably clean.
In spite of eons of biological differences; Stella, Daria and James fussed and primped over their appearance.
"I consider myself lucky to work with such unique and quirky creatures." Good Doctor Passerine sat across from Daria and James as they sat on the examination table in the infirmary. He had a head of balding grey hair and a clean shaven face that made him look on the high side of sixty.
Roxy followed the doctor and kept an eye on Daria and James in the event they decided upon acting 'colorful'.
"As Celespids, you have inherited a number of unique biological quirks." Passerine faced the pair as he warmed up his speech. "You have wings that evolved from the bones of the skull – the only vertebrates to have done this. You have a warm blooded metabolism; yet are reptiles with three chambered hearts and very efficient lungs."
"Are you preparing us for the blood tests?" Daria glared at the doctor.
"I have to establish trust and make friends with you first." He said in a saccharine voice.
Roxy had come to regard Daria as one cynical and hard to fool lady. Blood tests were required to check their overall health and to figure out their genetics but no one wanted to tell Daria this until it could no longer be put off. Roxy didn't know if Daria would be compliant (though bitching through the procedures was likely) or turn into a hissing demon of fangs and quills. Roxy suspected the latter since Daria did not seek to make life easy for anyone.
"I will ask Roxy to draw some blood but that will come later." Passerine assured Daria. "I can't do this because I know you don't like human men touching you."
"What do I get out of this!?" Daria shot back verbally.
"You will help further our knowledge of your kind." Doctor Passerine explained in a detached manner. "Doesn't that suffice?"
"Enlightened self interest informs me that I should hold out for food." Daria crossed her arms defiantly. "I want to eat the cherries off the trees at the cafeteria end of the courtyard."
"Cherries?" Roxy asked in a confused tone. "I thought you ate meat."
"They need Vitamin C so they eat fruit." Passerine gave the brief explanation. "A pack can destroy an orchard in a night because they are often not neat."
"I'd have to talk to the groundskeeper." Roxy tapped her upper lip. "He doesn't want the trees damaged."
"I had no idea you were so hairy!" Aisha exclaimed in with some degree of surprise as she picked up a dark red hair up off the couch.
"You haven't been paying attention." Daria sat on the couch and quartered an orange. "We're not really all that hairy; I don't have pit hair or have to shave my..."
Daria was technically correct: the 'hair' grew from scales in odd patterns. She had hair on her back and her tail had quills and their odd velvety hexagonal felt like flight scales.
Daria popped a piece of the orange in her mouth.
"That one is yours." She pointed the finger of the hand holding the orange at it. "Mine are striped if you look closely."
Aisha looked at Daria in the afternoon light. She had a long mottled striped 'braid' which looked like the pattern on a rattlesnake drawn in dark red and charcoal black. Aisha had only noticed the candy cane like quills but Daria had finely patterned wings and her braid – the one which served as a tail – also had the same fine patterns.
"Well okay." Aisha decided not to pick that fight.
Daria could have spoken of the fact her hair actually grew as extensions of scales and she shed in a moult where she lost her hair in small patches. This occurred about once a year depending upon food availability and had not yet been witnessed by the Winx.
She also she her quills once a year or when they were damaged or injured. Roxy had some idea of this but had not mentioned this through forgetfulness.
Musa held a dagger like quill as she entered the living room.
"Does this belong to you?" She asked accusingly.
"No...James dropped it." Daria peeled more of the orange. "I have all six of mine and you'll notice he has five and a bloody stub where a new one will grow."
Musa noticed the quill had a bloodied end with some tissue stuck to it which reminded her of what it looked like to lose a tooth.
"Maybe he wants to put it under his pillow and leave it for the tooth fairy?" Musa gave Daria a sideways glance. "Where is he?"
"On a mission to eat the nest of those ants he saw crossing the path outside the dorm." Daria dropped the peel into a bowl. "They're fire ants and are spicy." She added with emphasis.
Musa found it a scary and beautiful thing. The quill had red and translucent white banding that had the look of glass. The spike ended in a hypodermic like point with a sharp end quite capable of poking a hole in the hand of the careless handler. She ran her hands along it as she looked at the thing.
A quill could cut a hand open but served no purpose as a weapon. In advance of Doctor Passerine's visit; Roxy had done research. Daria and James had six main quills on their backs called 'Pitot Tubes' that sensed altitude and speed and five on their tails which sensed magnetic north.
This number of quills – three each side of the spine and five tail quills placed Daria and James in the family of Celespids. The name Celespid gave up the riddle – it meant fast or high fliers. When the planet warmed back up and stayed warm; Celespids evolved their toolkit of tricks such as a sure sense of direction and the ability to sense altitude and speed. They flew high and fast to cross the horrid deserts in hunting packs. They needed the tools to help them navigate and to fly high so they could fly fast. This strategy allowed them to cross vast distances and become effective hunters in an environment with less to hunt.
Tecna had timed Daria in level flight over Alfea. Daria could cross the campus in thirty seconds which meant a level flight speed of about a hundred and twenty clicks.
James let himself be examined. His braid was long and was not a braid. Hair covered it but it formed a covering for the tips of the vertebra under the skin. This formed a layer of thermal insulation that protected his back from cold. Why? As Roxy found out; James and Daria could fly as high as a passenger plane.
As a weapon, Daria and James had few flaws. They had fantastic flight capabilities; great vision and were intelligent. The Trix had tinkered with them to make spies and killers.
The Enemy had not made them human. This proved one of the weaknesses they found in their new weapon.
Daria and James remained Celespids albeit intelligent ones. Unlike humans, they sought balance with other living things. They were formidable predators but when they were fed, they no longer hunted. They could not see the reason for mindless killing. They couldn't kill a person because they had nothing to gain and it wasted effort on their part.
When their super weapon project failed – the Trix dumped them at Alfea to get rid of them.
Roxy had deduced this much from her talks with them and her own observations of their behavior.
Her breeder must have found Daria endlessly frustrating. Daria had her own motives and a strong will. Daria proved the value of efficiency. She didn't kill or want to kill to serve the twisted goals of the Trix. She wanted to be free and hunt.
James must have proven a disappointment; a cuddly raptor. He loved to pillage ant nests but he never destroyed them – his food supply depended on farming them. James had a shy yet kind nature – imagine Icy finding out he cared about being a good person.
The good Doctor Passerine and Roxy watched Daria show off her flying skills and the strength of her skull.
Daria hit the branch of an old cherry tree head on. She didn't screw up; she had a plan of action: she hit the branch, knocked loose cherries free and gobbled them up – pits and all before they struck the ground.
"How healthy is that?" Roxy winced.
"She has a thick skull built to do that sort of thing." Doctor Passerine explained as he crossed his arms and watched the show.
The good doctor didn't have a skull built for bashing into trees. He was from Solaria, had a grey moustache and balding head of grey hair and was well over six foot tall.
Daria flew directly over their heads and both of them felt the breeze of her broad wings.
"She's a show off." Roxy said as she admired her.
James landed in front of Roxy.
"Sorry." James spoke quietly. "I arrived late but the clocks at Alfea and the sun don't agree. I have no idea who I contact to fix this problem because the sun is out by three minutes if you take the tower clock as correct."
"Doctor Passerine..." Roxy smiled broadly, "I'd like you to meet the charming and sweet James."
"Hi James." The doctor held out his hand and James stood and looked at it as he carefully folded up his wings.
"Don't touch his hand!" Daria shouted as she circled and gave out a loud hiss. "Everyone knows their hands are filthy."
"Uh...yes?" James looked at the doctor in confusion. "Much of what you apes do confuses me. Aisha tried to explain dancing to me and it made me uneasy."
Daria landed and folded her wings and walked up to the group.
"The sun or Alfea has the wrong time." She told Roxy. "Any change in the laws of planetary motion I wasn't briefed on?"
"May I introduce the charming Daria...you'll come to love her in spite of her peculiar wit." Roxy told the doctor.
"Having consulted with the faculty; I have decided to admit James and Daria to the first year program." Headmistress Faragonda told Bloom as they walked down the hall of the faculty wing. "I have also assigned them to their own dorm room sp you'll get your couch back."
"Daria has pretty much taken ownership of it." Bloom referred to the annoyance Daria expressed if anyone moved the cushions.
"She'll recover." Faragonda said confidently as they walked into the living room of the Winx dorm.
"Quit hissing at me or I'll smack you with a rolled up newspaper." Aisha told Daria. "I just went for a run and I want to sit on the couch and rest. We have a rule here in the dorm – we share."
"Sharing is a human concept." Daria sat on the couch and glared with her slitted eyes and hissed. "Like external genitalia and nipples; neither of which I seek to obtain."
Aisha sat down on the couch.
Daria promptly hissed and made a great din by rattling her quills and then having made her point – went silent.
"Good morning Headmistress." Aisha picked up her cup of herbal tea. "As you can see; Daria has a talent for rude behavior."
Daria crossed her arms.
"Maybe we can help her learn to behave like a proper young lady." Faragonda raised her eyebrow. "Where is young James? I want to talk to both of you."
"In the cupboard under the kitchen sink." Daria explained unemotionally. "He went on a mission to see if the earwigs tasted good."
"Can you please go get him?" Faragonda asked.
Daria made the kind of hiss that sounded like fax machine noise at high volume.
"I could have done that." Aisha complained as the ringing in her ears picked up.
"I wasn't born, I was hatched so whats this..." James walked into the living room, "stuff about a birthday party..."
"We have decided to admit both of you to Alfea so you can learn of our ways." Faragonda spoke formally. "I know you can never become true fairies but you will gain much knowledge and wisdom with a proper education."
"Will I have to dress like the other fairies?" Daria asked skeptically. "I won't wear a dress."
"I have learned in the last few days to never tell you that you can do what you want but you can wear your uniforms to classes." Faragonda assured Daria.
"Too bad – she'd look pretty in a dress – like a cute fairy princess." Aisha said sarcastically. "You'd look so cute and innocent that your evil would take people by surprise."
"Thank you – we appreciate the opportunity." James said more diplomatically.
"James could pull off a dress. He has nice legs." Aisha snickered.
"You will also have your own dorm." Faragonda continued. "Bloom has the keys and will explain the rules you must follow to live in the dorms of Alfea."
"Can I have this couch." Daria asked sheepishly.
Tecna sat on the couch and reveled in the lack of any hissing and in the ability to watch something other than plane crash documentaries.
"Quiet around here." Flora sat on the couch and put her fruit juice on the coffee table. "I don't have to check for Daria – our lovely reptile ball of rage – hiding on or under the couch or in our beds."
"We should be tolerant." Tecna pulled up the menu hoping to watch a movie on TV. "According to what I've read; Daria's only a three year old girl and while lacking in social grace; she's very clever – both of them are smart. She finds us strange and she had to learn how to speak our language and they have to learn about human relationships."
"Hi Bloom." Flora declared. "How do the little insect eaters like their new dorm room?"
"Daria didn't openly disapprove." Bloom shrugged. "She tested the couch and complained that the sun gave the wrong time – she knows our language and obfuscates it flawlessly."
"They use the sun to navigate." Tecna spoke as she read the guide summary for The Windsors comedy series. "She subconsciously uses it to keep time but Alfea uses Standard Time and they differ. A lot of sophistication hides behind the thick skull of hers and I mean that in terms of her awful bad temper and stubborn nature."
"Kiko will feel safer." Bloom suggested. "I never have had to tell anyone not to eat my pet."
"On the positive side of things; they don't cost much to feed." Flora offered her opinion and then nodded to Tecna in agreement that she wanted to watch that show.
"We can eat eggs again." Bloom sat on the couch between Tecna and Flora. "I ate a breakfast sandwich in front of James and he looked at me like I was eating bunnies."
Daria flew through the window and perched on the couch.
"Our couch doesn't work." Daria paced the top of the couch.
"I'm at a loss." Tecna said in a sarcastic way. "Did you forget to plug it in?"
"I think you have mistaken me for Stella." Daria stared down at Tecna's head. "I may not have a brain the size of a bowling ball but I use what I have in an efficient way."
"What do you mean by 'doesn't work'." Bloom asked more diplomatically.
"The cushions don't come up." Daria walked along the top of the couch and stared down at Bloom's red hair. "You have told me about the interesting and sometimes apocalyptic history of this place. I assumed the cushions would allow us to duck and cover underneath them in the event dragons or magic evil knights rape and pillage the place."
"You will fight beside us to defend our home." Bloom coyly answered back.
"You know I come up to your knees." Daria told Bloom in a stern way. "I fit under the cushions of this couch and James and I can build forts with them."
"You can fly faster and higher than any magical creature so you offer aerial support." Flora told Daria. "You will fly up and tell us what you see and drop things on the enemy."
"I'd rather build a fort with couch cushions." Daria told Flora.
"I believe you'll cope." Bloom said in order not to indulge or be drawn into Daria's little world of want. "Hide under it if we come under attack."
"In genetic terms, Daria – your little friend – is closer to snakes and lizards than any other animal." Doctor Passerine stood back and took a photograph of Daria as she sat on the examination table of the infirmary. "Of course they are members of the distinct Euthermid family."
"Are we done yet." Daria squirmed. "The good doctor has a grey beard and is losing his hair and has a disturbing interest in my skull."
"You have a skull of unique interest to biologists." Doctor Passerine explained in a clinical manner. "You'll have to excuse me – you are the first Celespid I could speak to. After making a career of studying your unique, clever and quirky group of animals; please indulge my curiosity."
'She has a unique and quirky personality to put it politely.' Roxy thought to herself.
"Indulge me but what do I get out of this?" Daria asked stubbornly. "If you find the cure for cancer in samples of my venom; will I get huge royalty checks?"
"I doubt we will find the cure for cancer in your venom." Doctor Passerine pulled up the sleeve of his blue shirt. "I've taken several bites from your kind and it left these scars as it dissolved my flesh. Dominant females can become quite cranky – but you wouldn't know anything about that."
"Her venom can do that!?" Roxy stared at the chestnut sized scars and the depression in the hairy arm of the doctor.
"The venom can dissolve bone." The doctor rolled down his sleeve. "I don't think we're at risk. The Red Spear Tailed Celespid actually doesn't bite although it has powerful venom. The younger girls act like spoiled princesses and will get punchy but they are all about making noise like most teenagers. They can make nice pets if you can handle them."
"I am not a pet." Daria jumped off the table and rattled her quills. "I don't need to be handled."
"What about bribed?" The doctor surprised Roxy when he began negotiating. "I have access to grain fed, fat lab rats."
"Go on..." Daria stood and looked up at the doctor.
"What if I could set you up with a breeding colony and show you how to manage it?" The doctor smiled slyly. "They reproduce like wild but have a nice meaty texture."
Roxy found the idea a tad unsavory but Daria didn't.
"If you agree to help me in my studies; I'll set you and your friend up with your own lab rat farm." He explained patiently.
Much weirdness ensued when Daria and James became students at Alfea.
The fairies of Alfea found Daria to be a thief. In all fairness; Daria held the opinion that anything thrown in the air was hers. Aisha discovered Daria had a fondness for lime neon green tennis balls; James found the orange ones more to his liking.
No one could figure out where Daria and James took the frisbees but suspected the tower roofs would collapse under the weight of the stolen flying discs.
Fairies also soon discovered Daria and James would snatch fruit out of the air. They looked cute as they homed in on tossed apples and caught them in their hands only to carry them off to some high place on the campus to eat them.
One first year fairy tossed a water balloon at them. She did this once and discovered meek James wasn't a fool. He caught the balloon and tossed it back when he figured out the nature of the prank.
Daphne found out Daria and James often took naps in her class. The unique problem came out of their brains which had the ability to use one hemisphere at full pelt while the other went to sleep. Daphne could see Daria falling asleep and even knew which side of her brain had dozed off because Azula had a clear membrane that covered the eye when asleep. The challenge came out of proving she had caught Daria sleeping in class – Daria could remember the class lecture using the side of her brain that didn't fall asleep.
Sort of...
The part of her brain that did the explaining sometimes lost track of the bits that paired them to words and so Daria could recall the lesson but she either came up with absurd gibberish and a word salad or perfectly coherent speech about a topic completely unrelated to the matter at hand.
James didn't fall asleep. Daria told him to take notes for her.
Daria had a short attention span but could be downright insightful if she decided to work at it. Daphne found her one of her top students and so often let her naps 'slide'.
"Welcome to my boutique. You two need a new look." Stella greeted Daria and James as they walked into her boutique. "Why not a gold hairpin and a new dress for Daria?"
"I don't like the sound of that." Daria quietly rattled her quills. "Our clothes serve us well – you conjured enough of them to last us years."
"What can I do for you two?" Stella bent down.
"Hide us from Flora." Daria answered back. "Grant us sanctuary."
"What did you do?" Stella stood up and wore a stern look on her face.
Daria grabbed James and they flew behind a display counter.
"I can see you two rat farmers!" Flora stormed into the boutique.
"Calm down Flora." Stella begged.
"Daria set free a colony of rats in my greenhouse!" Flora clenched her fists. "Do you know what rats do? I have an infestation of rats living in my greenhouse!"
"Ew!" Stella made a disgusted squeal.
"The market cries out for free range rats." Daria called out. "We could keep them in a cage but that takes all the fun out of hunting them. Next thing you know, we'll cook our food and that makes for a pile of no fun."
Flora stomped behind the display counter following the nervous rattle of quills.
"Are you going to hit me with a rolled up newspaper again?" James pleaded softly.
"I have a forgiving nature." Flora said in a voice filled with only partly subdued anger. "Get out from there and we're going to have a talk with Griselda about plague carrying rats and the rules against farming vermin."
"Not content with beating James with the paper, you'll have Griselda torture us slowly?" Daria asked with fear in her voice.
"You have a choice – I carry you or you march." Flora told them sternly. "Now move."
Daria and James flew out of the room hissing loudly to each other.
"You should have seen that coming." Stella looked at Flora as she slapped the palm of her hand to her head.