AN: I'M ALLIIVVEEE! ~cough~ Well, my computer brokded down for a
bit, but it's all better now ^_^ As always encouraging reviews make me
feel oh so lovely ^_^
Megumi of the Moon/Kohuei- Your reviews are fun to read! And you pronounce Smoaks' name like smoke. I just like playing around with spelling ^_^" Glad you liked Thayannas name too, spelling check gives me what for for the spelling -_- As for the shortness of it well..I kinda ran out of ideas to pass from one part of the story to the next.but I'm doing my best! Right now I'm kind of going to go into Rose's past.bwahahahah!
Thayanna watched the slumbering child by her side, finding relief that they were once more home in their dens. 'Although I must admit, I was surprised that Smoak revealed his name to her so soon. Perhaps Vargain was right in his guess.' She lowered her head, curving her neck protectively against their 'little princess' as the lesser dams called her affectionately. Sighing, Thayanna sent a silent prayer to the clans ancestors. The dreams would not be easy for Rose to accept. They may even be painful for her. Thayanna closed her eyes, breathing warm air on the child. 'More clothing must be procured as well. That dress won't hold up for much longer.' With that, Thayanna released her hold on the memories, letting them trickle slowly into Rose's dreams. 'And soon she will be able to handle the language of the Allies.'
Rose blinked, looking at her surroundings. 'Oh, this can't be good,' she murmured mentally. Blue and red swirls of light surrounded her, forming a sort of mist that was impossible to see through. Somehow she knew that she wasn't exactly awake, but this wasn't like any dream she'd ever had in her life, which had to count for something. Suddenly, the scene changed.
She was standing in a courtyard, there were lots of strange flowers, and it was sunny. That was all she could really see, because she couldn't move her head. Realization dawned slowly on her. 'Oooohhh..I HATE these kind of dreams.' (Y'know the kind where you're acting things out and can't move on your own? ) She heard footsteps behind her, and a gloved hand descended on her shoulder. A sense of warmth surrounded her, and she fought to recognize it. 'Whoever you are, turn around for Pete's sake!'
" Aranor, you shouldn't be walking around at this point in time." Rose froze, blinking. 'No. Way.' A reply came from her mouth, sounding equally as warm and caring as Vargains had.
" Oh come now, a little exercise won't hurt either of us, husband." Turning, she faced Vargain and smiled. Rose watched, nearly in giggles, as the stern face of the king she saw in her first dream melted into one of helplessness. He gave a rueful smile, placing his hand on her stomach, which, Rose noticed belatedly, was engorged. 'She's pregnant,' Rose thought slowly. 'So, if they're still alive here, then I'm in the past.creepy.'
" You know I can't resist that look. Why do you insist on using it when I'm only concerned for you?" She giggled.
" Husband, I use 'that look' for the express reason that you just stated. All I wanted was a little fresh air." She walked over to a stone bench, lowered herself onto it, and gestured for Vargain to do the same. He did, and put an arm around her shoulder. Rose watched with a sense of detachment, free to look around now. She felt a slight pang at the sight of the two sitting there, and sighed. Feeling the vague stirrings of consciousness, she fixed the image in her mind. 'I know those two are important somehow.I just don't quite know yet.' Just before she woke, Aranor said something, but it was badly faded, and Rose had to strain to hear it.
" Our.princess..se." With that, Rose woke up.
" Sire, are you sure about this?" A huntsman glanced at the forest from their position on a far off hill. Van nodded, strapping his sword to him. He was in a small crowd, Dryden and Allen among the other hunters.
" We're going to look for Rose. Hi.I have reason to believe she's still here, even after the pillar of light illuminated the sky a month or so ago." An older hunter stepped forward, frowning slightly.
" Lord Van, we're not doubting your judgment.but it has been a month, as you've said. Who's to say that she's still alive?" At this, Van fixed the hunter with a black look.
" She's Rose." He answered simply, as if that explained everything. Allen and Dryden exchanged glances, smiling. Allen chose this moment to step forward.
" What our young king means is that he cares about Rose more than he'd like to admit to, so she's going to be found alive whether she likes it or not." Van glared at Allen amidst the chuckles of the hunters, his cheeks turning a dull red.
" Remind me to arrange a 'hunting accident' for you, Allen." Allen chuckled.
" You know it's true, Van. You're not going to give up until you find her." Van flushed minimally brighter at this. He was about to announce that they were to be starting soon, when a commotion down the street towards the marketplace distracted him.
" Come on, let's go check it out." With that, Van rushed down into the city, quickly followed by the group.
Smoak could never understand humans. All he did was show up with another drake and try to get some clothing for Miss Rose, and they started to scream and run around. It hurt his ears. Then when he tried to talk to the man that sold human clothing, he fainted. Giving a little shrug of his wings, Smoak nuzzled through the piles of clothes. Snorting, the drake looked around.
'I don't know why humans try to protect themselves with such flimsy material.' He stated, voice full of obvious disgust. From behind, noise of many feet rumbled against the ground. After swinging his head around, the drake roared, eliciting screams from the humans still around.
' The warrior humans come. Just grab a few things and be done with it.' Smoak gave a mental sigh. He wanted more time to pick out something that Miss Rose would like, not just grab blindly. Oh well. He snatched a mound of material in his mouth, careful of his teeth, gesturing for the older male to do the same. Grumbling about being a fetcher-dam, he did so. The human warriors ran into the street, swords drawn. The older drake snorted.
' Now let's go before the warriors cause trouble.' Smoak nodded, grabbing onto the drakes tail as he took off. He hoped that the clothes would fit Miss Rose.Thayanna wouldn't be pleased if they didn't, and he still owed her for telling Miss Rose his name. But really, he reasoned as the wind whipped by, she wasn't exactly human. She didn't have the scent normal humans did. It was close, but not even he could mistake Rose for full human. 'She's ours,' he thought proudly. And nobody could take her away from us again.
Rose sat up, rubbing her head. She couldn't seem to stay awake today.and she'd had another dream. She shivered.
" Urg, that Sargon dude gave me the creeps." Hearing a chuckle behind her, she turned. Rose smiled in relief.
" Oh, hello Thayanna. Did you sleep good?" The dam nodded slowly, watching her. Rose was content to stare back, studying the dragon that she was until moments ago curled up against. She was old, that much was certain. Her eyes still glittered a light amber color, catching the bits of light reflected off of the stalagmites and the stalactites of the cave they were in.
' We have brought something for you, child.' Rose perked up, looking around.
" Really? What is it?" Thayanna chuckled and let loose a low growl. Rose giggled at the sight of Smoak strutting in with a bundle of something in his mouth, followed by another drake. They both deposited the materials on the ground, and backed away slightly.
' That dress won't stay together much longer. The climb down into our caves was disastrous for it, I'm afraid. I sent Smoak and Smalythe to fetch some new garments for you.' Rose blinked up at the drake. 'Cool name.' Thayanna seemed to realize what she did at the same moment Rose did, and let out an animal sounding groan.
' I guess I'm no better than Smoak at keeping names a secret anymore, hmm?' There was a trace of amusement in her voice, so Rose could assume that Thayanna had meant to do that on purpose anyway. Meanwhile, curiosity had overtaken her and she went to examine the 'garments'. Picking them up, she held various pieces up to her, grinned, and put them in a pile. She then picked up the entire pile and looked back up at Thayanna.
" Anywhere I can change?" Thayanna nodded, and started walking to the hallway carved into the rock. Following, Rose looked around the caves that she had been to tired to look at the night before. A strange fungus grew on the walls, glowing slightly and giving off plenty of light to see by.
" Very cool." Thayanna glanced back at her.
' Are you cold, child?' Rose giggled, shaking her head.
" Human expression." The dam nodded, stopping at a small cave. Rose peered into it. A curtain of the fungus hung in front of it, providing an opaque curtain. 'This is weird.it's almost like this place was expecting me.' Shrugging the thought away, Rose thanked Thayanna and stepped into the cave, and began the process of trying on the clothes.
In the end, some clothes didn't fit, and others had teeth holes in them, but Rose now had a fair-sized wardrobe. Unfortunately, the clothes seemed to come from a Tarzan novel. The outfit she emerged in was a black halter-top that ended above her navel, and the skirt was long, but had slits up to her mid-thighs on either side. After a bit of grumbling, Rose decided she might as well accept it because she could move better in it anyway.
' Child.it's time you came with me. There's something that I have to give you. But, we must journey to a cave deeper in the forest. You can ride on me, if you'd wish, or walk, if you think you can keep up.' Rose smirked, stretching her wings.
" I can keep up. Just 'cause I'm a girl, and a human.sort of.doesn't mean that I can't pull my weight around here." Thayanna shot her another puzzled look, and Rose sighed, waving her hand in the air.
" Never mind." 'This is going to take some time.' she thought tiredly. Smoak wobbled up to her, looking slightly anxious.
' Do you like the clothes we brought you?' Rose smiled down at him, wrapping her wings around herself. Crouching, she pulled him into a hug, and he squeaked.
" They're wonderful. Thank you Smoak. And you too, Smalythe." Raising her voice, she caught a faint swirl of embarrassment of being caught eavesdropping. She giggled, letting Smoak go. Thayanna dipped her head.
' Come child. The journey is long, and we'd best get started. Bring a weapon.' Rose nodded, patting her leg for reassurance, and stood, following Thayanna out of the cave.
Van paused in his work, standing to stretch his back and wipe off his forehead. It seemed that the gods wanted him to stay in Fanelia, for all the distractions that had been occurring. First the delay in gathering a hunting team, then the dragon incident, and then repairing the square..he sighed, accepting a glass of water from another worker.
" Lord Van?" He felt a tug on his pant leg, and looked down. A young girl with black hair smiled up at him, holding up a flower. It was a white rose. Smiling, he gently took the flower from her, careful of its' thorns.
" You'll find your girlfriend again, don't worry!" He stammered, blushing. She giggled and ran back to her mother, who was at an undamaged part of the market place looking over wares. He sighed. Rose wasn't really his girlfriend.though the gods knew he wanted her to be.wincing, Van glanced down at his hands. He had forgotten about the flower, and clenched his fists. Now he was bleeding. Cursing his stupidity, Van examined the pricks. They weren't too deep, but a bit of blood still came out of the wound, staining the fragile white of the petals. He chuckled. Way back then, when Allen compared Rose to her namesake, he was right. But more than he knew. She was beautiful, but if anybody messed with her she would show her thorns and punish those that sought to crush her. 'Not that anybody really crushed her..except me,' he thought glumly. Sighing, Van resumed his work.
Rose woke up screaming. Groaning, she clutched her head, biting the inside of her cheek. 'These stupid dreams.why do I keep having them? I can't warn Aranor or Vargain.it's not fair!! Sargon is going to..to.'
' Child, what's the matter?' Thayanna rumbled in concern. Rose sighed, shaking her head to clear her mind of the dream as soon as possible. She rustled her wings, then wrapped them tighter around herself, shuddering slightly.
" It's nothing. I'm fine, really. Don't worry about it.it was just a nightmare, that's all." Thayanna sighed, heaving herself upward.
' I understand. Well, since you're up, we might as well continue. It will take 2 more days to reach the den.' Rose nodded, standing and stretching to work out the kinks that resulted in her sleeping on a tree branch the last night. 'Ugh.if there weren't so many creepy animals out there, I'd prefer the ground.' Hopping to the ground, Rose froze. Noises came from close by. Glancing at Thayanna, she unbuckled her sword from her leg and tensed, standing ready.
" I think I heard it from over here! Hurry, or the beasts might have gotten her!" Rose sent out a quick mental thought and paled. Hunters! If they saw Thayanna..but before she could say anything, the group of males burst through the bush at a full run, skidding to a stop in surprise. Taking a quick inventory, Rose's heart sped up when she realized that all 9 of them were heavily armored. She couldn't take that many at a time!
" Miss, are you." Thayanna roared, coming in front of Rose, taking in a deep breath as cries of alarm spread throughout the hunters. 'She's gonna flame them.' The next part came out loud.
" Thayanna, no! We can't hurt them!" Rose rushed forwards, wings flaring out in reflex. She readied her sword, glaring at who seemed to be the leader.
" You touch her and I swear, none of you will leave this forest alive!" 'Oh yeah Rose, this is perfect. Lets threaten 9 big scary-looking men with swords!' But to her surprise, they panicked.
" I-I-it's a dragon-girl! Run!!" There was a clatter of swords being dropped, and the hunters practically disappeared back into the bush at a full run. Rose blinked, letting her guard drop.
" Well, that was-" She was about to say odd, but it got cut off by a war cry and one of the hunters bursting from the bush behind her.
' You were saying something about not hurting them, child?' Thayanna asked sarcastically while Rose was trying to fend off the idiotic hunter who had taken it upon himself to destroy the so-called 'dragon-girl'.
" Yeah, well," Here she parried an attack, steel clanging against steel. Whirling, Rose aimed a well-placed kick to his gut, sending him flying.
" I didn't exactly expect one of them to come back...gods, why won't you just go already?!? And keep your thoughts to yourself!" The hunter sprang back up, running at her with his sword out in front of him. She side-stepped him, adding to his forward momentum by cuffing him over the head with her hand. He turned and glared at her, panting. She shook her head.
" Tsk, tsk, tsk. That's not a very nice thing to say about a lady, sir. Surely you have more respect than that, hmmm?" Flaring her wings once more, she pinned him against a tree and backed away, tilting her head to look him over. Her eyes caught on an emblem on the right side of his breastplate, and she heaved a large sigh.
" So, you belong to Fanelia, hmm? Guess I have to let you go then." She stormed up to him, leveling her sword inches away from his face.
" However. If you EVER come into this forest to try and hunt either me or my clan down, you will die by my hand, so help me Aranor, Queen of the Arethians. So do I make my vow." Turning, she flicked her now ruddy hair behind her shoulder, taking a small satisfaction in hearing him fall to the ground.
" Come on, let's leave this pathetic piece of flesh to himself." Rose spread her wings and took off into a run, Thayanna close behind.
' Do you really think that was wise, child? He'll be telling everybody he can about you, now.' Rose shrugged.
" Let's just get to the den so that I can find out why I made a vow to Aranor."
Van sighed, getting onto his horse. Now that they had repaired most of the damage in the square, he could get to finding Rose.
" Lord Van! Lord Van, there's a band of hunters who wish to speak to you. They say it's very important!" A pageboy ran to the stables, puffing. 'Of all the..why are the gods trying to punish me?!?!?!'
" Very well. Come with me, I'll go see them immediately." He grumbled all the way to the throne room, Allen and Merle joining up with him.
" Can you believe my luck? Every time I get close to being ready.something else comes up." Allen clapped him on the shoulder.
" You'll get out there eventually.even if Merle and I have to cause a distraction." Merle snickered as they entered the room. Van cast his glance over the group. They all looked terrified, and one looked fairly beat up. 'Zaibach.'
" What happened to you?" He wasted no time, walking up to the hunters.
" S-s-sir! There's a girl in the forest!" Van nearly fell over. 'They came all the way here just to tell me that?!?!?!?' Van nearly went for his sword.
" Did you bring her back? Was she lost?" He talked slowly, taking deep breaths. The beat up one spoke.
" No sir.she was travellin' with a dragon, she was! We thought she was in trouble and went for the beast, but she warned us off! Huge wings she had, flared and dangerous. She looked ready to kill us!" Van blinked. They didn't act like they were drunk. Wait..dragons.
" What did this girl look like? Tell me quickly!" Van demanded, taking a step forward. They seemed a bit taken back by his sudden attitude, but did as they were told.
" She was average height for a girl, methinks. Looked about 16, but I've no doubt that she's hundreds of years old. She had ruddy hair, the color of red clay. Not quite black, not quite red if you catch me drift. Looked slightly tanned, fairly scratched up, didn't get a good look at 'er face. But the wings! Black wings thin as paper an' as transparent as silk they were!" Van raised an eyebrow. If he changed the description a bit, it could fit the sorceress of Zaibach, but that was impossible. She was killed in Zaibach, from what his spies told him. Just vanished off of the fortress. And since she would be killed in Fanelia, there's no point in her coming here.
" Did she do anything else other than protect that dragon?" The hunter nodded quickly.
" Yessir, the dragon let loose fearful roars and rumblins' at times, and she replied! She can understand 'em beasts!" Looking off in space, Van considered. The girl seemed relatively harmless.and she let the man go. Even if she did control the dragons, which he doubted, they would turn on her eventually.
" We'll leave her alone for now. If she attacks." He blinked. The marketplace! So THAT'S why the dragons took all of those clothes.he shook his head lightly. No matter, nobody was killed, and clothing can be replaced easily enough.
" If she attacks the city, then we'll hunt her and the dragons down. But don't antagonize her. That's final." He bowed, glancing at the sun outside the window, scowling mentally. It had taken him the better half of the day convincing his advisors to let him into the woods to look for Rose, and that was AFTER the meeting.now it was too late to start the search. Bowing stiffly to the hunters, he spoke.
" Now if you'll excuse me, there are things I have to attend to." 'Like a hot bath and a good sleep,' he added mentally. Allen and Merle seemed to understand what he intended, and so left him alone to go to his room.
After his bath, he picked up Hitomi's pendant. He had brought it in from Rose's room, telling the maids to leave everything as it was. Sighing, he held the necklace to him. He only hoped that in the morning he could start his search.if the fates would allow.
" Until then.goodnight, Rose. Be safe, wherever you are."
Megumi of the Moon/Kohuei- Your reviews are fun to read! And you pronounce Smoaks' name like smoke. I just like playing around with spelling ^_^" Glad you liked Thayannas name too, spelling check gives me what for for the spelling -_- As for the shortness of it well..I kinda ran out of ideas to pass from one part of the story to the next.but I'm doing my best! Right now I'm kind of going to go into Rose's past.bwahahahah!
Thayanna watched the slumbering child by her side, finding relief that they were once more home in their dens. 'Although I must admit, I was surprised that Smoak revealed his name to her so soon. Perhaps Vargain was right in his guess.' She lowered her head, curving her neck protectively against their 'little princess' as the lesser dams called her affectionately. Sighing, Thayanna sent a silent prayer to the clans ancestors. The dreams would not be easy for Rose to accept. They may even be painful for her. Thayanna closed her eyes, breathing warm air on the child. 'More clothing must be procured as well. That dress won't hold up for much longer.' With that, Thayanna released her hold on the memories, letting them trickle slowly into Rose's dreams. 'And soon she will be able to handle the language of the Allies.'
Rose blinked, looking at her surroundings. 'Oh, this can't be good,' she murmured mentally. Blue and red swirls of light surrounded her, forming a sort of mist that was impossible to see through. Somehow she knew that she wasn't exactly awake, but this wasn't like any dream she'd ever had in her life, which had to count for something. Suddenly, the scene changed.
She was standing in a courtyard, there were lots of strange flowers, and it was sunny. That was all she could really see, because she couldn't move her head. Realization dawned slowly on her. 'Oooohhh..I HATE these kind of dreams.' (Y'know the kind where you're acting things out and can't move on your own? ) She heard footsteps behind her, and a gloved hand descended on her shoulder. A sense of warmth surrounded her, and she fought to recognize it. 'Whoever you are, turn around for Pete's sake!'
" Aranor, you shouldn't be walking around at this point in time." Rose froze, blinking. 'No. Way.' A reply came from her mouth, sounding equally as warm and caring as Vargains had.
" Oh come now, a little exercise won't hurt either of us, husband." Turning, she faced Vargain and smiled. Rose watched, nearly in giggles, as the stern face of the king she saw in her first dream melted into one of helplessness. He gave a rueful smile, placing his hand on her stomach, which, Rose noticed belatedly, was engorged. 'She's pregnant,' Rose thought slowly. 'So, if they're still alive here, then I'm in the past.creepy.'
" You know I can't resist that look. Why do you insist on using it when I'm only concerned for you?" She giggled.
" Husband, I use 'that look' for the express reason that you just stated. All I wanted was a little fresh air." She walked over to a stone bench, lowered herself onto it, and gestured for Vargain to do the same. He did, and put an arm around her shoulder. Rose watched with a sense of detachment, free to look around now. She felt a slight pang at the sight of the two sitting there, and sighed. Feeling the vague stirrings of consciousness, she fixed the image in her mind. 'I know those two are important somehow.I just don't quite know yet.' Just before she woke, Aranor said something, but it was badly faded, and Rose had to strain to hear it.
" Our.princess..se." With that, Rose woke up.
" Sire, are you sure about this?" A huntsman glanced at the forest from their position on a far off hill. Van nodded, strapping his sword to him. He was in a small crowd, Dryden and Allen among the other hunters.
" We're going to look for Rose. Hi.I have reason to believe she's still here, even after the pillar of light illuminated the sky a month or so ago." An older hunter stepped forward, frowning slightly.
" Lord Van, we're not doubting your judgment.but it has been a month, as you've said. Who's to say that she's still alive?" At this, Van fixed the hunter with a black look.
" She's Rose." He answered simply, as if that explained everything. Allen and Dryden exchanged glances, smiling. Allen chose this moment to step forward.
" What our young king means is that he cares about Rose more than he'd like to admit to, so she's going to be found alive whether she likes it or not." Van glared at Allen amidst the chuckles of the hunters, his cheeks turning a dull red.
" Remind me to arrange a 'hunting accident' for you, Allen." Allen chuckled.
" You know it's true, Van. You're not going to give up until you find her." Van flushed minimally brighter at this. He was about to announce that they were to be starting soon, when a commotion down the street towards the marketplace distracted him.
" Come on, let's go check it out." With that, Van rushed down into the city, quickly followed by the group.
Smoak could never understand humans. All he did was show up with another drake and try to get some clothing for Miss Rose, and they started to scream and run around. It hurt his ears. Then when he tried to talk to the man that sold human clothing, he fainted. Giving a little shrug of his wings, Smoak nuzzled through the piles of clothes. Snorting, the drake looked around.
'I don't know why humans try to protect themselves with such flimsy material.' He stated, voice full of obvious disgust. From behind, noise of many feet rumbled against the ground. After swinging his head around, the drake roared, eliciting screams from the humans still around.
' The warrior humans come. Just grab a few things and be done with it.' Smoak gave a mental sigh. He wanted more time to pick out something that Miss Rose would like, not just grab blindly. Oh well. He snatched a mound of material in his mouth, careful of his teeth, gesturing for the older male to do the same. Grumbling about being a fetcher-dam, he did so. The human warriors ran into the street, swords drawn. The older drake snorted.
' Now let's go before the warriors cause trouble.' Smoak nodded, grabbing onto the drakes tail as he took off. He hoped that the clothes would fit Miss Rose.Thayanna wouldn't be pleased if they didn't, and he still owed her for telling Miss Rose his name. But really, he reasoned as the wind whipped by, she wasn't exactly human. She didn't have the scent normal humans did. It was close, but not even he could mistake Rose for full human. 'She's ours,' he thought proudly. And nobody could take her away from us again.
Rose sat up, rubbing her head. She couldn't seem to stay awake today.and she'd had another dream. She shivered.
" Urg, that Sargon dude gave me the creeps." Hearing a chuckle behind her, she turned. Rose smiled in relief.
" Oh, hello Thayanna. Did you sleep good?" The dam nodded slowly, watching her. Rose was content to stare back, studying the dragon that she was until moments ago curled up against. She was old, that much was certain. Her eyes still glittered a light amber color, catching the bits of light reflected off of the stalagmites and the stalactites of the cave they were in.
' We have brought something for you, child.' Rose perked up, looking around.
" Really? What is it?" Thayanna chuckled and let loose a low growl. Rose giggled at the sight of Smoak strutting in with a bundle of something in his mouth, followed by another drake. They both deposited the materials on the ground, and backed away slightly.
' That dress won't stay together much longer. The climb down into our caves was disastrous for it, I'm afraid. I sent Smoak and Smalythe to fetch some new garments for you.' Rose blinked up at the drake. 'Cool name.' Thayanna seemed to realize what she did at the same moment Rose did, and let out an animal sounding groan.
' I guess I'm no better than Smoak at keeping names a secret anymore, hmm?' There was a trace of amusement in her voice, so Rose could assume that Thayanna had meant to do that on purpose anyway. Meanwhile, curiosity had overtaken her and she went to examine the 'garments'. Picking them up, she held various pieces up to her, grinned, and put them in a pile. She then picked up the entire pile and looked back up at Thayanna.
" Anywhere I can change?" Thayanna nodded, and started walking to the hallway carved into the rock. Following, Rose looked around the caves that she had been to tired to look at the night before. A strange fungus grew on the walls, glowing slightly and giving off plenty of light to see by.
" Very cool." Thayanna glanced back at her.
' Are you cold, child?' Rose giggled, shaking her head.
" Human expression." The dam nodded, stopping at a small cave. Rose peered into it. A curtain of the fungus hung in front of it, providing an opaque curtain. 'This is weird.it's almost like this place was expecting me.' Shrugging the thought away, Rose thanked Thayanna and stepped into the cave, and began the process of trying on the clothes.
In the end, some clothes didn't fit, and others had teeth holes in them, but Rose now had a fair-sized wardrobe. Unfortunately, the clothes seemed to come from a Tarzan novel. The outfit she emerged in was a black halter-top that ended above her navel, and the skirt was long, but had slits up to her mid-thighs on either side. After a bit of grumbling, Rose decided she might as well accept it because she could move better in it anyway.
' Child.it's time you came with me. There's something that I have to give you. But, we must journey to a cave deeper in the forest. You can ride on me, if you'd wish, or walk, if you think you can keep up.' Rose smirked, stretching her wings.
" I can keep up. Just 'cause I'm a girl, and a human.sort of.doesn't mean that I can't pull my weight around here." Thayanna shot her another puzzled look, and Rose sighed, waving her hand in the air.
" Never mind." 'This is going to take some time.' she thought tiredly. Smoak wobbled up to her, looking slightly anxious.
' Do you like the clothes we brought you?' Rose smiled down at him, wrapping her wings around herself. Crouching, she pulled him into a hug, and he squeaked.
" They're wonderful. Thank you Smoak. And you too, Smalythe." Raising her voice, she caught a faint swirl of embarrassment of being caught eavesdropping. She giggled, letting Smoak go. Thayanna dipped her head.
' Come child. The journey is long, and we'd best get started. Bring a weapon.' Rose nodded, patting her leg for reassurance, and stood, following Thayanna out of the cave.
Van paused in his work, standing to stretch his back and wipe off his forehead. It seemed that the gods wanted him to stay in Fanelia, for all the distractions that had been occurring. First the delay in gathering a hunting team, then the dragon incident, and then repairing the square..he sighed, accepting a glass of water from another worker.
" Lord Van?" He felt a tug on his pant leg, and looked down. A young girl with black hair smiled up at him, holding up a flower. It was a white rose. Smiling, he gently took the flower from her, careful of its' thorns.
" You'll find your girlfriend again, don't worry!" He stammered, blushing. She giggled and ran back to her mother, who was at an undamaged part of the market place looking over wares. He sighed. Rose wasn't really his girlfriend.though the gods knew he wanted her to be.wincing, Van glanced down at his hands. He had forgotten about the flower, and clenched his fists. Now he was bleeding. Cursing his stupidity, Van examined the pricks. They weren't too deep, but a bit of blood still came out of the wound, staining the fragile white of the petals. He chuckled. Way back then, when Allen compared Rose to her namesake, he was right. But more than he knew. She was beautiful, but if anybody messed with her she would show her thorns and punish those that sought to crush her. 'Not that anybody really crushed her..except me,' he thought glumly. Sighing, Van resumed his work.
Rose woke up screaming. Groaning, she clutched her head, biting the inside of her cheek. 'These stupid dreams.why do I keep having them? I can't warn Aranor or Vargain.it's not fair!! Sargon is going to..to.'
' Child, what's the matter?' Thayanna rumbled in concern. Rose sighed, shaking her head to clear her mind of the dream as soon as possible. She rustled her wings, then wrapped them tighter around herself, shuddering slightly.
" It's nothing. I'm fine, really. Don't worry about it.it was just a nightmare, that's all." Thayanna sighed, heaving herself upward.
' I understand. Well, since you're up, we might as well continue. It will take 2 more days to reach the den.' Rose nodded, standing and stretching to work out the kinks that resulted in her sleeping on a tree branch the last night. 'Ugh.if there weren't so many creepy animals out there, I'd prefer the ground.' Hopping to the ground, Rose froze. Noises came from close by. Glancing at Thayanna, she unbuckled her sword from her leg and tensed, standing ready.
" I think I heard it from over here! Hurry, or the beasts might have gotten her!" Rose sent out a quick mental thought and paled. Hunters! If they saw Thayanna..but before she could say anything, the group of males burst through the bush at a full run, skidding to a stop in surprise. Taking a quick inventory, Rose's heart sped up when she realized that all 9 of them were heavily armored. She couldn't take that many at a time!
" Miss, are you." Thayanna roared, coming in front of Rose, taking in a deep breath as cries of alarm spread throughout the hunters. 'She's gonna flame them.' The next part came out loud.
" Thayanna, no! We can't hurt them!" Rose rushed forwards, wings flaring out in reflex. She readied her sword, glaring at who seemed to be the leader.
" You touch her and I swear, none of you will leave this forest alive!" 'Oh yeah Rose, this is perfect. Lets threaten 9 big scary-looking men with swords!' But to her surprise, they panicked.
" I-I-it's a dragon-girl! Run!!" There was a clatter of swords being dropped, and the hunters practically disappeared back into the bush at a full run. Rose blinked, letting her guard drop.
" Well, that was-" She was about to say odd, but it got cut off by a war cry and one of the hunters bursting from the bush behind her.
' You were saying something about not hurting them, child?' Thayanna asked sarcastically while Rose was trying to fend off the idiotic hunter who had taken it upon himself to destroy the so-called 'dragon-girl'.
" Yeah, well," Here she parried an attack, steel clanging against steel. Whirling, Rose aimed a well-placed kick to his gut, sending him flying.
" I didn't exactly expect one of them to come back...gods, why won't you just go already?!? And keep your thoughts to yourself!" The hunter sprang back up, running at her with his sword out in front of him. She side-stepped him, adding to his forward momentum by cuffing him over the head with her hand. He turned and glared at her, panting. She shook her head.
" Tsk, tsk, tsk. That's not a very nice thing to say about a lady, sir. Surely you have more respect than that, hmmm?" Flaring her wings once more, she pinned him against a tree and backed away, tilting her head to look him over. Her eyes caught on an emblem on the right side of his breastplate, and she heaved a large sigh.
" So, you belong to Fanelia, hmm? Guess I have to let you go then." She stormed up to him, leveling her sword inches away from his face.
" However. If you EVER come into this forest to try and hunt either me or my clan down, you will die by my hand, so help me Aranor, Queen of the Arethians. So do I make my vow." Turning, she flicked her now ruddy hair behind her shoulder, taking a small satisfaction in hearing him fall to the ground.
" Come on, let's leave this pathetic piece of flesh to himself." Rose spread her wings and took off into a run, Thayanna close behind.
' Do you really think that was wise, child? He'll be telling everybody he can about you, now.' Rose shrugged.
" Let's just get to the den so that I can find out why I made a vow to Aranor."
Van sighed, getting onto his horse. Now that they had repaired most of the damage in the square, he could get to finding Rose.
" Lord Van! Lord Van, there's a band of hunters who wish to speak to you. They say it's very important!" A pageboy ran to the stables, puffing. 'Of all the..why are the gods trying to punish me?!?!?!'
" Very well. Come with me, I'll go see them immediately." He grumbled all the way to the throne room, Allen and Merle joining up with him.
" Can you believe my luck? Every time I get close to being ready.something else comes up." Allen clapped him on the shoulder.
" You'll get out there eventually.even if Merle and I have to cause a distraction." Merle snickered as they entered the room. Van cast his glance over the group. They all looked terrified, and one looked fairly beat up. 'Zaibach.'
" What happened to you?" He wasted no time, walking up to the hunters.
" S-s-sir! There's a girl in the forest!" Van nearly fell over. 'They came all the way here just to tell me that?!?!?!?' Van nearly went for his sword.
" Did you bring her back? Was she lost?" He talked slowly, taking deep breaths. The beat up one spoke.
" No sir.she was travellin' with a dragon, she was! We thought she was in trouble and went for the beast, but she warned us off! Huge wings she had, flared and dangerous. She looked ready to kill us!" Van blinked. They didn't act like they were drunk. Wait..dragons.
" What did this girl look like? Tell me quickly!" Van demanded, taking a step forward. They seemed a bit taken back by his sudden attitude, but did as they were told.
" She was average height for a girl, methinks. Looked about 16, but I've no doubt that she's hundreds of years old. She had ruddy hair, the color of red clay. Not quite black, not quite red if you catch me drift. Looked slightly tanned, fairly scratched up, didn't get a good look at 'er face. But the wings! Black wings thin as paper an' as transparent as silk they were!" Van raised an eyebrow. If he changed the description a bit, it could fit the sorceress of Zaibach, but that was impossible. She was killed in Zaibach, from what his spies told him. Just vanished off of the fortress. And since she would be killed in Fanelia, there's no point in her coming here.
" Did she do anything else other than protect that dragon?" The hunter nodded quickly.
" Yessir, the dragon let loose fearful roars and rumblins' at times, and she replied! She can understand 'em beasts!" Looking off in space, Van considered. The girl seemed relatively harmless.and she let the man go. Even if she did control the dragons, which he doubted, they would turn on her eventually.
" We'll leave her alone for now. If she attacks." He blinked. The marketplace! So THAT'S why the dragons took all of those clothes.he shook his head lightly. No matter, nobody was killed, and clothing can be replaced easily enough.
" If she attacks the city, then we'll hunt her and the dragons down. But don't antagonize her. That's final." He bowed, glancing at the sun outside the window, scowling mentally. It had taken him the better half of the day convincing his advisors to let him into the woods to look for Rose, and that was AFTER the meeting.now it was too late to start the search. Bowing stiffly to the hunters, he spoke.
" Now if you'll excuse me, there are things I have to attend to." 'Like a hot bath and a good sleep,' he added mentally. Allen and Merle seemed to understand what he intended, and so left him alone to go to his room.
After his bath, he picked up Hitomi's pendant. He had brought it in from Rose's room, telling the maids to leave everything as it was. Sighing, he held the necklace to him. He only hoped that in the morning he could start his search.if the fates would allow.
" Until then.goodnight, Rose. Be safe, wherever you are."