Welcome to my first Dragonlance fic. I sincerely hope it doesn't suck . . . But, well, this is an assignment for class, and I would appreciate it very much if you would point out any mistakes or any parts that could be improved. It's like being an editor, ne?
This story was only supposed to be a sequel chapter taking five years after the events in 'Dragons of Autumn Twilight.' But, I couldn't resist turning the whole thing into a fic hundreds of years in the future . . . So, all I have left to say is, I'm only going to be following the events from the first book of the 'Dragonlance Chronicles.' (Ok, and maybe some of the other books too . . .) I did read the others, but the whole thing would get too confusing. Other than that, enjoy.
All Dragonlance characters belong to their respective owners and not to me.
Dragons of a Modern Age
chapter one
" . . . and so, the Heroes entered Pax Tharkas by way of the Sla-Mori. After some planning, they decided the most logical way to free the prisoners was to dress up as women themselves . . . "
In History class, Tanis yawned and tuned the teacher, Mr. Bakayarou, out. 'Big deal,' he thought. 'That was all hundreds of years ago. Besides, Grandpa already told me all about it.' He pictured the old man off in one of his tales again, tales of the Heroes he was so fond of. 'Dressing up as women . . . Bah!'
He looked around him to see he could pass any of his friends a note. No luck there, Sturm was listening intently and taking notes, especially when the teacher mentioned the Solamnic Knights. Tanis sighed. His friend had an almost unhealthy obsession with them.
Caramon had fallen asleep at his desk, yet again. Tanis understood why, the class was so boring! Raistlin, Caramon's twin brother, was, like Sturm, actually listening. The only difference was, he took down notes on magic and magi instead of knights.
The only other friend he had in that class was Tas, and he was out in the hall. Again. That's what came of asking the teacher too many irrelevant questions.
Tanis sighed again and resigned himself to Mr. Bakayarou's lecture. 'I can't wait till lunch . . . '
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"So how was the class after all? Was it boring? Was it fun? I wouldn't know, I was out in the hall, but . . . "
"Shut up, Tas," Raistlin barked. "It's hard enough to have an appetite without your chattering." Coughing, he set aside his food with distaste.
"You all right, Raist?" Caramon asked worriedly.
"Yes, just get the kender to shut up!"
Tanis sighed in exasperation and felt the delicate point of his ear that proved his elven heritage. "Tas, why don't you just finish your food?"
"But I'm done already!"
"Then could you please keep a lookout for the rest of our friends?"
"Ok! I'll tell you as soon as they get here! You can count on me!"
"Tas, just do it."
"Righty-O, Captain!"
"Tasslehoff Burrfoot!" Raistlin managed to shout, glaring. Raistlin's glare was quite scary, as Tas just found out. Scary enough to make shut him up for the time being.
A few minutes later, Sturm drifted in, fingering the long, flowing moustaches – his pride and joy – he had grown in the tradition of the Solamnic Knights he was so fascinated with. "Mr. Bakayarou could have said more on the knights," he said by way of a greeting.
"What's so fascinating about them? Those Solamnics are mostly honor guards for ancient artifacts and tombs nowadays," Raistlin remarked scathingly. Sturm just ignored him.
"Tanis! Riverwind and Goldmoon are coming! And they've got Tika with them!" Tas piped. "Oh, and Kitiara's coming from the other side! Was Science class boring? Was it fun? I wouldn't know because I haven't been there yet, but . . . " Raistlin glared at him again. "Eep . . . "
Riverwind, as stoic as ever, placed his tray down on the table and began to eat without a word. His girlfriend, Goldmoon, took pity on Tas and told him all about the class they were just in.
"Hey, Caramon. Do you mind if I sit here?" Tika asked, rather shyly. Caramon nodded, a bit shy himself. It was obvious the two liked each other.
Kitiara sat down quietly and began to reread her notes on Takhisis, the Dark Queen. Tanis liked her, but he did admit she had an unhealthy interest in the evil goddess and her followers, as well as the red, blue, green, black, and white dragons that served the darkness.
"Hey, where's Flint? I hope someone didn't shove him in a locker again . . . " Tas commented, searching for him.
"For your information, I'm fine," Flint, who had a short stature due to his dwarven heritage, said, climbing up on the bench next to Tanis. "I heard there's going to be some new students in our next class." Their next class was one of the three mandatory language lessons they all had together, a lesson in the Elven tongue.
"New students? Hmm . . . but Taliya didn't say anything about any new students . . . " Tanis mused. Taliya was his older sister that had graduated from the school a few years ago and was now a teacher.
"Have you never heard of 'surprise,' Tanis?" Raistlin pointed out.
"You do have a point there."
"Handy to be a teacher's friend, eh? You usually get the news before everyone else," remarked Flint. "Of course, in your sister's case, I think she grades us harder than all the other students . . . "
"I'm sure she actually grades us all equally," Goldmoon said calmly. "It is nice that she lets us call her by her name instead of 'Miss Yousei.'"
"She says it makes her feel old to be called that by close friends. And downright stupid if called that by her own brother." Tanis picked up his tray and brought it to the counter to be emptied. On his return, he found it was time to go back to class. "Well, now we get to find out who's transferring in."
Taking their seats along one of the side walls of the classroom, they sat and waited for Tanis's sister to come in.
"Hello, everyone! Have a good lunch?" Taliya looked much like her younger brother, but instead of the brownish-red hair he possessed, she had extremely dark red hair that appeared black in the shadows.
"Yeah, Miss Yousei!"
"We have two new students today. Their names are Laurana and Gilthanas Tenshi."
Tanis sat bolt upright in his seat when he heard their names. He knew them both from childhood.
"I'm quite sure both of you knew Elven quite well," Taliya continued. "There are two seats in the back, right behind Tanis."
Tanis watched as they approached, then sat down in the proffered seats. Gilthanas coolly glanced at him and did nothing else. Laurana stared at the back of his head, making Tanis feel rather uncomfortable.
The rest of the class passed quite uneventfully, but, thankfully, nowhere near as boringly as History. Afterwards, Tanis and Tas left for Science and Raistlin went to Magic by himself. Sturm and Caramon headed toward the Math classroom while the rest of the group entered History, along with Laurana and Gilthanas.
That was the last class of the day. The group of friends was about to leave, but Tanis insisted on staying just a little while longer, until the two new students came out. They seldom had to wait for Taliya, since she often had to stay late.
Tanis didn't have to wait long. Laurana spotted him first, and hugged him, saying, "Tanthalas! It's been such a long time!"
Gilthanas calmly shook Tanis's hand after his sister was done. "Tanthalas. Do you mind introducing us to your friends?"
Caramon sputtered. "Tanthalas?! What the . . . ?"
"Tanthalas is my Elven name," Tanis replied. "You remember Flint Zenchou, don't you? Sturm Rurouni is the one with the moustaches. He has an odd affinity for the Solamnic Knighthood. Those three are Caramon, Raistlin, and Kitiara Kodoku. This is Goldmoon Seimei and Riverwind Arashi. And the kender is Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Tas for short."
"Nice to meet you," Laurana said pleasantly. Gilthanas nodded.
As they started walking, Tas asked, "So, you do you three know each other?"
"We were childhood friends," Laurana replied. But Tas got the feeling that she eft something out. She was staring at the back of Tanis's head again, with her heart in her eyes. Tas understood then. Laurana was in love with Tanis, and Tanis liked her back, somewhat. But Tanis also liked Kitiara. And that was also why Gilthanas was so cool toward Tanis. 'But why?' he thought. After a while, he gave up. Puzzling it out made his head spin.
A note about the last names: I know some of the characters already have last names, but they are different in this fic for a reason that will show up later. Each one is Japanese and has a meaning.
"Bakayarou" usually means 'idot/stupid/fool,' "Yousei" means 'fairy/sprite/elf,' "Tenshi" means something along the lines of 'angel,' "Zenchou" means 'omen/portent/sign,' "Rurouni" means 'wandering swordsman,' "Kodoku" means 'loneliness,' "Seimei" means 'life,' and "Arashi" means 'storm.'
Thank you for reading, please review!