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VIII
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Stork, she repeated inside her head as he looked away. What an odd name. Although, as she noted his long neck and limbs, she supposed it was rather fitting. She lingered on him for a moment, her eyes carefully taking in his tired face and shaking body and scarred green skin--he looked so fragile and weak it made something in her chest wrench. Stork, her mind said again, in a solemn whisper. How many horrors has this war made you endure, I wonder? The thought was unbidden, and Piper frowned, her eyes promptly finding the floor to examine as she tore her gaze away from him.
She didn't ask anything else, although she wanted to, and he didn't say anything else as they rode the rest of the way down. Minutes passed silently until the elevator began to slow.
"We're here," Stork said as the metal shaft surrounding them slowly gave way to an arch-shaped gap between the wall and the floor, and as they descended she saw that beyond the opening there was a passage leading somewhere yonder, carved completely from stone. The levitation crystal dulled as they reached the ground, until it ceased glowing completely and the lift stopped. She peered down the corridor as she stood; she could see light at the other end.
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A/N: Hmm, appearently there was fluff last chapter. XD And here I was trying to write that scene platonically. ;
- hazel