Act 2- White Feather

"So this is the one Blaze?" sounded the husky voice of an old man as he entered the room, Blaze following close behind. Kript had opened his eyes in time to see him enter, his eyes looking over the elderly looking eagle in front of him. He had a tribal look about him, the feathers on his head braided into a long pony tail except for one the stuck strait up, the bone vest that panned from his shoulders to his waist was scratched up and battle warn. From his waist down to his ankles were leather jeans hand sown at the seams with more thick strips of leather. Lastly upon his feet were a set of large and sharp talons, Kript was sure they could do a lethal amount damage with a good kick behind them. The old bird took his seat behind the desk, much to the relief of hiss creaking bones, and gestured for Blaze and Kript to take the seats in front of the desk. "Please you two, sit down, this may take a while." He said pulling out a rather large book from one of the drawers on his side of the desk.

"As you wish White Feather." Blaze replied, taking her seat as asked. Kript quickly followed, taking his spot in the other chair beside Blaze. Though it had no cushion the chair was quite comfortable. So comfortable in fact that the two almost fell asleep waiting for White Feather to find the place in the book he was searching for.

"AH! Here we are." The old eagles' voice rang though out the room, making both Kript and Blaze jump and wake from their sleepiness. "Now then, your name is Kript is it not?" Kript nodded, still rubbing his eyes free of the chairs tiring effect. White Feather nodded and took a quill pen from an ink pot beside the candle, quickly scribbling down Kripts name on top of the blank page. "Kript. How was it that you came to pass?" Kript gave him an unsure look and the old man promptly changed his wording. "What I mean is how did you die? Do you remember what happened?" Kript looked over at Blaze with embarrassment.

"It's ok Kript, you can tell him." The young cat said to him reassuringly. Kript took a deep breath, trying to find the words to explain things.

"Well," He started with a slight hesitation, still looking for words. "I remember being in a car." Kript looked at White Feather to gauge his reaction, the old eagle only gestured for him to continue. "And I was speeding real fast because," Again he paused to think, lying had never been his strong suit but it was too late to go back now. "Because I was in a hurry you see." White Feather nodded listening to his story.

"It is common for you younger ones to be in such a hurry. And these 'cars', had they been around in my time I guess I too would have been going really fast and 'in a hurry' to get somewhere." The old bird chuckled to himself. "I am sorry to interrupt you Black hair, please go on." Blaze let out a giggle and Kript looked at her with a slightly confused look.

"Looks like he likes you already Kript. He even gave you a nickname." She explained, trying to cover the quivering smile with her hand. Kript rolled his eyes and pressed on with his lie, maybe they would believe it after all.

"Anyways. It was raining and I just," He let out a convincing sigh and finished, "lost control." With that Kript fell silent, his lie finished.

"Is that all Black Hair?" White Feather asked raising an eyebrow at this. "Surely there must be more to your tail that that?" Kript shook his head, staying firm that his story had been told. The old eagle sighed and plucked a feather from his head; marking the page he had open with it before closing the book. "I see then, you are free to go Black Hair." Kript knitted his eyebrows together.

"I thought you said this would take a while?" He asked somewhat confused.

White feather shook his head and explained, "It is late and you both look very tired. You and Blaze will stay here for tonight, and in the morning we shall find a place for you." With this he got up and put the book back in its former place. "Beyond that door black hair is the stairwell to the upper levels, go pick out a room you like." Kript quickly rose from his seat and walked through the grass door, leaving Blaze alone with white feather.

"How dare he lie!" Blaze snapped, furious that he had lied right to both of their faces. Red hot sparks began to fly from her clenched fists as she let out a hiss of frustration. "Just give me five minutes; I 'will' have the truth from him." The agitated feline was about to dash up the steps after Kript when the old man grabbed her arm. Blaze shot him a look, wondering why he had stopped her.

"Leave him be Blaze. In time the truth will come out. So long as we don't rush him." He explained to her calmly before going on. "It isn't like he is going anywhere for a long, long time." Blaze nodded agreeing with him. She knew White Feather had been her for many years more that most of the people, of exactly how many years she wasn't sure bust she knew it to be a great many. "Now go upstairs and get some rest, were going to have a busy day with him tomorrow."

"Alright, I will." Blaze answered rubbing her sleepy eyes. White feather released her arm and went up to his room. Blaze kept going past his room on the second floor up to the guest room on the third floor, passing through the hung grass door she saw Kript laying in one of the three beds already asleep. She sat next to him with an angry scowl spread across her face, the red moon light shining though the window cartoonishly coloring the whites of her eyes. Had Kript been awake to see this he may have thought she meant to kill him, or worse. "I'll get the truth out of you eventually, mysterious little fox." Blaze muttered to herself as she swatted him across the nose.

Kript yelped as he jumped awake, letting loose a glare to Blaze who was now smirking to herself. "What was that for?" He demanded to know rubbing his sore nose.

"Oh just seeing if you were asleep." She said letting out a snicker before strolling over to an empty bed and lying down.

"Of course I was asleep, I'm exhausted!" He snapped back, exhaustion getting shortening his temper. Blaze only laughed at his reaction to her petty swat across his nose. "Maybe I should fill your pants up with snow in the middle of the night?"

"And just how would you do that?" Blaze said shooting him a look. Kript bit his tongue, unable to believe that he had just about spilled his secrete. No matter what he wouldn't be called a monster here too. Blaze watched his eyes go cold to her from across the room before he rolled over and curled up above the blanket. "I'm sorry if I said something that upset you." Blaze said slightly worried she had stepped over some unseen line. Kript gave no response; he just laid there, the only sign of him being alive was his sides going up and down with each silent breath. Blaze tucked her ears backwards and sighed; now she felt bad about waking him in the first place. With a sigh she closed her eyes and the two drifted into much needed sleep.

Kript found himself once again in a strange dream, this time rather than surrounded by fire, he was in a labyrinth of flouting stone platforms. Wandering around this strange new area Kript had a strong sense of uneasiness. Coming up to the edge of one of the platforms Kript took a look around. This place had no solid surface as far as he could see, say for the platforms hovering in the air, some connected by stone stairways, others flouting around independently. Looking beyond the platforms was a spectacle of stars and cosmic phenomena that painted the sky a thousand colors in all directions. Peeking over the edge of the platform Kript saw a bright blue light shining from a platform beneath him. Intrigued he began descending connected platforms to investigate it.