Keeper of the Dragon
Chapter 2 - The Laurel's Divination

Did I die? Azumi wondered for the second time in a day. She feared to open her eyes. She feared what she might see. I don't feel dead. She took the risk and opened her eyes. Not that keeping them closed would benefit her at all.

Her rescuers had put her in a plain room with walls and floor of wood. Several simple tapestries hung over them for warmth. The popping of a fire and the smell of burning wood somehow made it feel welcoming. She had never felt a bed so soft, and the homely feel of the colorful quilt pulled up to her chin warmed her more than the brightest fire could at the moment.

"How did I survive that?" Azumi wondered to herself.

"A warm fire and a strong spirit," answered a vaguely familiar voice, the first speaker she had heard in the snow.

Azumi started. The man in the chair next to her smiled. She had not noticed him before. Had he just come in? No, by his relaxed and comfortable posture, he had sat there watching her for more than just a few moments.

He has such strange clothes. Really, his clothes did not look so strange, but for the laces of his white tunic tied in a neat knot at his neck—tunic? Not everyday clothing on the Earth—not in this century, anyway. A wrist-thick, golden braid hung over his shoulder; probably past his waist should he stand. She found it odd, even considering some of the wild hairstyles she had seen on the rebellious of her age. The warm light in the room reflected from eyes a most unusual and beautiful shade of blue, but it made them impossible to read. What a mysterious man! He had a pleasant air about him, though, and his smile proved disarming.

All right, so maybe I didn't die.

"Where-?" Azumi paused. I have so many questions. Which one do I ask first? Maybe I should wish that I had died.

The man folded his arms, taking her hesitation in stride. "Welcome to the guild-home of the Abaharaki," he told her, answering her question before she could make herself feel foolish by asking it.

"Abaharaki?" Azumi frowned, stumbling over the word. "I don't understand."

"You've never heard of us before?" The man appeared slightly shocked, a bit confused. "Most at least recognize the name." He leaned forward. "Please tell me your name, Miss."

"K-Kuronari Azumi," Azumi stuttered.

"Azumi?" He gripped the braid hanging over his shoulder unconsciously. Goodness, she had never seen a man with a braid like that. "I've never heard a name like that before. Where did you come from?" Azumi eyed him with suspicion. "Don't worry, you can tell me. We won't harm you. If you live nearby, we can take you home."

Azumi paused a moment, then gave him the name of her city. The man frowned.

"I've never heard of that place. Miss, do you feel all right?" he asked.

"I've lived there all my life." Azumi sat up slowly, thankful to find herself fully clothed, though she wondered for a moment how they had dried her dress. "I'm sorry, but, who are you? Where on Earth am I?"

"Scherazade, could it be-?" He leaned forward farther, studying her hard for a moment. Azumi shrank away. "It must be." He nodded slowly. "I believe I might understand the problem now. You aren't in 'Earth.' Miss Azumi Kuronari, my name is Leland Blackhawk, and I am the Guild Master of the Abaharaki. You are on Gaea, in the lands that lie between the Gray Griffin Clan and the Red Demon Clan."

"Gaea?" Azumi twisted the quilt in her hands. That's what the man in the green cloak said, she thought. Leland chuckled.

"All right, Leland, what're ya doin' ta her?" The sound of ringing bells grew louder and louder, and the owner of the female voice from the previous night poked her head in the room. Azumi screamed. "What's th' shoutin' an' th' faces for?" Sapir demanded, planting her hands on her hips. "Ya never saw a cat-person before?"

"No!" Azumi cried. Oh, God, this Sapir was blue! Short, straight, navy hair fell across lighter eyes but didn't hide distinctively catlike ears. Her skin was a pale cerulean, with darker stripes on her arms and legs; even her clothes were blue. Silver bells hung from blue bands around her wrists and ankles. She looked small, probably even shorter than Azumi. And she had a tail. A tail!

"What're ya starin' at? Lemme guess—ya never saw an animal-person before, right? Or ya thought that cats shouldn't be blue? Humans! Ya all think alike!" Sapir huffed with a toss of her head. "Well, there's nothin' wrong with me, so stop starin'!"

Leland glanced back over his shoulder. "Sapir, bring Riyad, please."

"Leland!" she protested. "I ain't your messenger girl!"

"You are right now," Leland laughed. "And that's 'Guild Master' to you. I said please, didn't I? Go on, Kitty."

Sapir meowed and stalked out of the room, fists clenched, bare feet pounding on the wooden floor, tail lashing behind her, the jangling of her bells and her sheer lack of height subtracting away any menace she might otherwise have managed to radiate. "I'll go Kitty you, 'Guild Master'. Try ta send me off like th' royal message boy!"

"She-she's a cat!" Azumi stared at the door, wide-eyed.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Leland studied her with glittering eyes. Azumi shook her head.

"No, I don't have a problem with it," she told him. "I've just never seen anyone like her before."

"You don't have animal-people where you come from?"

"No, just humans." Azumi kept her eyes on the door. "Does she always snap at everyone like that?"

"Thank the gods, no," Leland laughed. "One of the Apprentices dropped a candle and caught her hair on fire just last night; she used to have it long. And he singed her tail. It's put her in a bad mood all day. She'll get over it soon enough."

The door banged open and a bristling Sapir returned, dragging by the collar of his tunic a sweet-faced young man with raven, page-boy hair and blue eyes. He looked no older than Azumi. "Journeyman! Please let me go!" the boy begged. "You're hurting me!" A smile turned up the corners of Azumi's mouth. The boy stood a good two heads taller than Sapir, but clearly she had him terrified.

"After last night's candle ya got no right ta complain! If anything ya deserve it!"

"I tripped, I swear!" the boy protested.

"I've heard it already! You're gonna be one of th' Abaharaki, you're supposed ta have more coordination than that!" Sapir gave the boy a shove toward Leland. "Here ya go, 'Guild Master.' Anything else ya want me ta fetch? Your whetstone? A squirrel, maybe?"

"A little less sarcasm," Leland suggested. "And a bit of forgiveness?"

"Hmph!"

The frantic rate at which Riyad adjusted his clothes did little to help the mess Sapir had put him in; he gave up his attempts to tuck in his tunic, and stood before Leland as he was. "I would have come on my own, Guild Master."

Sapir flashed a grin. "I've gotta get my revenge somehow, an' my fun too."

Leland stood and took Riyad by the arm, drew him aside, speaking in a low voice. "Our guest seems a bit edgy around the other Clans, Riyad. Explain what you are beforehand. She's very confused. I want to know what she is and where she's from."

"Yes, Guild Master." Riyad moved aside Leland's wooden chair, replacing it with a three-legged stool. "It's good to see you awake, Miss," he said pleasantly. "What's your name?"

"Azumi Kuronari," she answered.

"Azumi. That's a nice name." He nodded. "I'm Riyad Heatherwilde. Don't be afraid. I'm going to help you. We just need to know a few things about you."

Azumi eyed him. "Why should I be afraid?"

Riyad laughed, an innocent and disarming sound. "Most people get a little skittish around us at first. They think that we Delphi can read their minds. Well, I guess we can, but it's hard and it's not polite, and it's obvious when we're doing it, so we don't."

"Delphi?" Azumi wondered.

Riyad reached up and pushed his bangs away from his forehead. Azumi could see—a birthmark? A tattoo? On his skin, a pink dot with a sinuous line extending down from it ended between his eyes. A line arched over it, rays pointing outward from the line forming a second arch. "We come from the Blue Siren Clan, if it helps."

Azumi stared at him helplessly. "What are you people?"

Riyad looked to Leland, who had taken up a position leaning against the wall, his arms folded. Leland nodded. "Go on, you can tell her. It's no secret. Anyone else would already know"

"Yes, Guild Master." Riyad looked back to Azumi. "We are the Abaharaki, the fighters' guild," he answered. Fighters' guild? She had never known that someone could make a guild of fighters! "Don't worry; we'll keep you safe here. We'll find where you belong." He untied a small pouch at his belt and withdrew a dried leaf.

"What's that?" Azumi asked suspiciously.

"It's just a laurel leaf," he told her. "It's for me, not for you. You don't want me to faint off the stool, do you?" Riyad popped the leaf into his mouth and chewed for a moment. Leland straightened with expectation, prompting Azumi to wonder. Just what would eating a laurel leaf accomplish?

Riyad's eyes widened. He tilted back slightly, his neck craned so that he stared at the ceiling, the markings on his forehead glowing with a red light.

"I can see it," he gasped. "The Wing Goddess descended from the Mystic Moon will awaken the Dragon. The land and the sea and the moon will die, but the sun and the sky will live on. Gaea will be reborn. I can see it." He swayed on the stool.

"Someone catch him!" Azumi yelped, clutching at her quilt. Riyad straightened, shaking his head and blinking.

"No, I'm all right." Riyad told her, and looked back to Leland. "What did I say, Guild Master?"

"I can see it," Leland repeated back, clearly accustomed to this. "The Wing Goddess descended from the Mystic Moon will awaken the Dragon. The land and the sea and the moon will die, but the sun and the sky will live on. Gaea will be reborn. I can see it. Good job, Riyad. It could have come from the Oracle himself."

"Oh, I'm not as good as him," Riyad argued, shyly proud of himself.

"What did all that mean?" Azumi interrupted. Sapir tossed her head.

"It sounds ta me like she's the Dragons' Wing Goddess. 'Course, they're so secret about it that I dunno much."

That again? Azumi held up her hands as though to ward the others away. "I'm pretty sure it's a mistake-"

"Riyad's never wrong, at least not when he's divinin'!" Sapir interrupted, jabbing a finger at Azumi. "If he says that you're th' Wing Goddess, you're th' Wing Goddess! End o' discussion! But don't think that this gets ya off th' hook for burnin' my hair, Riyad!"

"Journeyman!" Riyad moaned, covering his face with his arms to shield himself.

"Wait a minute!" Azumi argued.

"Miss Azumi, would you come here, please?" Leland beckoned for her to stand next to him and drew the homespun curtains back from the large window. Azumi pushed away the quilt and went to him. Cold radiated from the window, a cold that the fireplace kept from permeating the rest of the room. Leland rubbed a spot on the glass free of frost with the cuff of his sleeve and pointed up at the clear night sky. "Do you see that blue moon, Miss Azumi?" he asked. Azumi followed his finger. She gasped. That was no moon! That was the Earth! "Y-Yes," she stammered.

"I believe the Dragons say that the Wing Goddess will come to them from the Mystic Moon." "That's not a moon." Azumi wanted to press her hands against the window. "That's the Earth. That's my home." Or was it just a moon, circling a greater planet? How could she know? "Oh, I think I'm going to faint!"

"Guild Master, do you think that maybe we should leave her alone for a bit and let her rest?" Riyad asked timidly.

"Don't go!" Azumi blurted out. Leland tilted his head to the side, glancing down at her. "I-I don't want to be alone in this strange place," she finished.

"Weak," Sapir muttered. "I've got things ta do. I'll see ya later." The cat-girl left, banging the door shut behind her.

"What is the Wing Goddess?" Azumi asked. Leland pulled the curtain shut and took his chair again, and lifted his shoulders in a shrug. Azumi climbed back into the bed and pulled the quilt around her shoulders. Her dress did not suit this kind of weather at all; even that short stand at the window had chilled her!

"I don't know," Leland answered.

"You don't know?" Azumi squeaked.

"I've only heard of him," Leland told her. "Her or him, the Dragons don't know. Her, I suppose, now that you're here. She is a matter of the Dragons alone. Something about a goddess who is not quite a goddess coming from the stars, something to do with their Armour. The other Clans have no business with her."

"I'm sorry." Azumi looked down at her hands in her lap. "I don't understand."

"Neither do I. The Abaharaki only have a few Dragons, and they are all off in their own lands at the moment." Leland sighed, gripping his braid again, and stood. "Riyad, please explain what you believe Miss Azumi will need to know. Answer her questions. And find her some proper clothes. I'll decide what to do with her. Know that you are a welcome guest, Miss Azumi. We'll take care of you."

The door clicked shut softly behind him.

"Well?" Riyad abandoned the stool for the more comfortable chair. "Any questions? Or do you want me to just start talking?"

"Ah—" Azumi's head spun like a feather in a whirlwind. Clans? Armours? Wing Goddess? Where to even start? Which one to ask first? "Will you tell me about these Clans that everyone keeps mentioning?" That seemed like a good place to begin.

"Of course!" Riyad nodded. "Gaia is divided into six Clans: The Blue Siren Clan, the Gray Griffin Clan, the Green Erinyes Clan, the Red Demon Clan, and the White and Black Dragon Clans."

"Why are there two Dragon Clans?" Surely there were enough mythological creatures to go around! Faeries, Wyvern, Kirin, Spriggans, Kappa—Riyad had not mentioned any of those.

"It's always been that way. The first royal family had two sons. They went to the Oracle to decide which one would take the throne. The brother who did not have the signs on his side became angry, broke away from the White Dragon Clan, and formed the Black Dragon Clan. History always repeats itself, with one brother taking the White Dragon Throne, the other the Black Dragon Throne. Not that any of the Clans actually have a throne; it's figurative. Believe it or not, they usually manage to keep the peace, but not lately. The other Clans have a Keeper to rule them always, but since there's two Dragon Clans, there has only ever been one Keeper of the Dragon, Chosen just before they split. After he died, they never Chose another; they have a completely different way of Choosing anyway. Now they've decided that it's time to find another, and of course both brothers want it.

"Forgive me; I shouldn't have gone off into our political problems." Noting Azumi's confused look, Riyad continued to speak. "Yes, I said Keeper. Each Clan has a guardian god of sorts to protect it. Well, they're gods, but not quite. An Armour. The full title is the Keeper of the Dragon. Oh, what do they call the Dragon Armour? They all hasve names." Riyad thought a moment. "Escaflowne."