A/n: Ok, this is kind of like a side-chapter but it'll add up later.
~Reviewers~
LeopardDance: Thank you for your two reviews! I hope you like this chapter.
MiniMage: Thanks for the review, it's nice to know that new people are reading my fanfics. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ch. 11:
Eos flew leisurely as a bird. She was supposed to be spying on Darkan Finousri, but somehow couldn't make herself spy on this unknown person. Soaring above the clouds, she felt free and-no necklace! She nearly dropped out of the sky in excitement. Perhaps she could escape and go back to Scancra, or maybe....she dipped and caught a thermal happily. For hours, she flew while she reveled in her newfound free will. She wasn't bound by anyone here, she wasn't controlled anyone. For the first time in her life, she didn't need to worry about someone finding her and her siblings, or the necklace choking her to death... Then her stomach dropped as she realized she might only be able escape the cold, harsh reality of the necklace by transforming into another animal. Hope rising in her chest, she landed in a secluded part of the rainforest and changed back to the human form. Hope died as she recognized the heavy weight of the enchanted necklace on her neck. [Wing-sister?] An alien, male voice sounded through her brain that sounded distinctly naughty. Eos looked around. [Who are you?]
[Rainbowspring.] A series of images flooded her brain as the bird communicated to her. [Same kind. I am People. You are People.] Eos cautiously turned back into a bird. She...(thought out?) [Wing-brother, what is People?] A distinct feeling of surprise flavored the reply. [People is all. People is wingèd folk, four legged folk.] A shower of images came with that, images of birds, deer, monkeys, tropical bats, even griffins. [People is everyone but two-leggers.]
[I am two-legger.]
[You are like the two others and the Ban-ji-ku. The others in the big snake den. All two-legger shape but People inside. Ban-ji-ku less People. The others are People.] An image of a smiling, brown-haired young woman came to her. Daine. Veralidaine Sarrasri. Another image, of an intent young man in fine robes came to her. Although young, he had barely-noticeable white in his corn-flax hair and ice blue eyes. The man turned, and the eyes smiled. Then the image was cut off by the rainbow colored bird, who hopped on the ground and looked at her with bright, intelligent eyes. [Big man. Big heart.]
To Eos's shock, the man with the wild magic nearly stepped on her as he suddenly burst into the small clearing. [Rainbowspring! I need you!] The bird reluctantly said, [Must go. People-two-legger calling.] Eos, curious, followed the bird onto the man's shoulder. He stroked her neck with an experienced hand, while he crooned (a rather odd thing in such a big man), "Who's your friend here?" He sent feelings of love and friendship toward Eos, whom he presumed to be a bird. Eos preened in her bird form, reacting as any normal bird would. [Wing-brother?] He smiled fondly, obviously used to meeting new birds. [Wing-brother.] Rainbowspring hopped excitedly on the man's shoulder. [Wing-brother!] The man turned his attention to Rainbowspring while still stroking Eos. [Yes, wing-brother?]
[Wing-sister is like you. Wing sister is two-legger shape and People inside. But Wing-sister is proper shape and size now.] The man's eyes widened. [Is this true, wing-sister? Rainbowspring has been known to make tales.]
Eos, uncertain, hopped on his shoulder and flew away into the branches. The man sighed, but stared at her intently. [Wing-sister! I ask for your assistance.] Eos did not reply, but spread her wings to fly away. Quickly, the unknown man caught her with his magic and pushed rudely into her mind. She struggled hard, then shrieked out a panicked cry for help. In response, birds flew in from all parts of the rainforest to attack the outsider, but did not attack at the sight of the man. Obviously familiar with him, a large male of Rainbowspring's species approached him. [Wing- brother, why do you treat one of the People this way? She says she has done nothing to deserve it and she is a newcomer. All newcomers are treated with respect.] The man looked at the bird. [It is for her safety. Rainbowspring says she is like me, two-legger outside and People inside. If the bad two- leggers find out, she is dead.] Formally excused, the birds watched while Eos struggled, changing from bird to bird and trying to nip him. The male approached her now. [Why do you struggle? Wing-brother is trying to help you.] Eos sent feelings of invasion, hurt, anger, and fear to the bird. The man murmured to her in Common, "Change back to human form and I promise I won't do this to you again." Eos thought quickly, then nodded as she realized she could easily best him with her dagger. [Let go of me.]
Eos changed back to human form as requested, but slapped the man hard enough to leave red marks. "Haven't you ever heard of privacy?" she hissed. "How would you like it if some two-legger grabbed you and started invading your mind like that?" The man stared in shock at her. "Varianne of Hialla?" Eos snapped, "Yes." The man looked thoughtfully at her, then said in Kaei to his bird, "It's a good thing she doesn't know Kaei, that might create a problem for me. Eos went furiously red. In fluent Kaei, she scathingly answered, "Well, then it's probably a bad thing that she does know Kaei, idiot."
He bowed to her. "Then you must know that you are as beautiful as the rumors say." Eos still glared at him. He sighed, and stuck out his hand. "Alright, alright. My name is Darkan Finousri. I'm here on some private business, but I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to know my name." Eos looked him over. "You're the person that's supposed to-" she smacked her forehead. "Never trust Tristan Staghorn with anything ever again. Ever, ever, ever," she said as she smacked her head. Darkan watched with amused eyes while she hit herself, but cursed when he heard Tristan's name. "You're the person that I'm supposed to-" He stared at her. Then he broke into a friendly smile. "So how is it that you're hazel eyed and red haired when most of our countrymen are....not?" he asked in Kaei. Since very few knew that language, it was relatively safe to speak it in the open. "Must be a hereditary thing."
"No, it's not. Your father was blue eyed and blond haired like the rest of us. Or them, I should say. I'm not exactly the Scancran ideal either." He smiled, and offered his arm to her as they went back to the palace together.
~Reviewers~
LeopardDance: Thank you for your two reviews! I hope you like this chapter.
MiniMage: Thanks for the review, it's nice to know that new people are reading my fanfics. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ch. 11:
Eos flew leisurely as a bird. She was supposed to be spying on Darkan Finousri, but somehow couldn't make herself spy on this unknown person. Soaring above the clouds, she felt free and-no necklace! She nearly dropped out of the sky in excitement. Perhaps she could escape and go back to Scancra, or maybe....she dipped and caught a thermal happily. For hours, she flew while she reveled in her newfound free will. She wasn't bound by anyone here, she wasn't controlled anyone. For the first time in her life, she didn't need to worry about someone finding her and her siblings, or the necklace choking her to death... Then her stomach dropped as she realized she might only be able escape the cold, harsh reality of the necklace by transforming into another animal. Hope rising in her chest, she landed in a secluded part of the rainforest and changed back to the human form. Hope died as she recognized the heavy weight of the enchanted necklace on her neck. [Wing-sister?] An alien, male voice sounded through her brain that sounded distinctly naughty. Eos looked around. [Who are you?]
[Rainbowspring.] A series of images flooded her brain as the bird communicated to her. [Same kind. I am People. You are People.] Eos cautiously turned back into a bird. She...(thought out?) [Wing-brother, what is People?] A distinct feeling of surprise flavored the reply. [People is all. People is wingèd folk, four legged folk.] A shower of images came with that, images of birds, deer, monkeys, tropical bats, even griffins. [People is everyone but two-leggers.]
[I am two-legger.]
[You are like the two others and the Ban-ji-ku. The others in the big snake den. All two-legger shape but People inside. Ban-ji-ku less People. The others are People.] An image of a smiling, brown-haired young woman came to her. Daine. Veralidaine Sarrasri. Another image, of an intent young man in fine robes came to her. Although young, he had barely-noticeable white in his corn-flax hair and ice blue eyes. The man turned, and the eyes smiled. Then the image was cut off by the rainbow colored bird, who hopped on the ground and looked at her with bright, intelligent eyes. [Big man. Big heart.]
To Eos's shock, the man with the wild magic nearly stepped on her as he suddenly burst into the small clearing. [Rainbowspring! I need you!] The bird reluctantly said, [Must go. People-two-legger calling.] Eos, curious, followed the bird onto the man's shoulder. He stroked her neck with an experienced hand, while he crooned (a rather odd thing in such a big man), "Who's your friend here?" He sent feelings of love and friendship toward Eos, whom he presumed to be a bird. Eos preened in her bird form, reacting as any normal bird would. [Wing-brother?] He smiled fondly, obviously used to meeting new birds. [Wing-brother.] Rainbowspring hopped excitedly on the man's shoulder. [Wing-brother!] The man turned his attention to Rainbowspring while still stroking Eos. [Yes, wing-brother?]
[Wing-sister is like you. Wing sister is two-legger shape and People inside. But Wing-sister is proper shape and size now.] The man's eyes widened. [Is this true, wing-sister? Rainbowspring has been known to make tales.]
Eos, uncertain, hopped on his shoulder and flew away into the branches. The man sighed, but stared at her intently. [Wing-sister! I ask for your assistance.] Eos did not reply, but spread her wings to fly away. Quickly, the unknown man caught her with his magic and pushed rudely into her mind. She struggled hard, then shrieked out a panicked cry for help. In response, birds flew in from all parts of the rainforest to attack the outsider, but did not attack at the sight of the man. Obviously familiar with him, a large male of Rainbowspring's species approached him. [Wing- brother, why do you treat one of the People this way? She says she has done nothing to deserve it and she is a newcomer. All newcomers are treated with respect.] The man looked at the bird. [It is for her safety. Rainbowspring says she is like me, two-legger outside and People inside. If the bad two- leggers find out, she is dead.] Formally excused, the birds watched while Eos struggled, changing from bird to bird and trying to nip him. The male approached her now. [Why do you struggle? Wing-brother is trying to help you.] Eos sent feelings of invasion, hurt, anger, and fear to the bird. The man murmured to her in Common, "Change back to human form and I promise I won't do this to you again." Eos thought quickly, then nodded as she realized she could easily best him with her dagger. [Let go of me.]
Eos changed back to human form as requested, but slapped the man hard enough to leave red marks. "Haven't you ever heard of privacy?" she hissed. "How would you like it if some two-legger grabbed you and started invading your mind like that?" The man stared in shock at her. "Varianne of Hialla?" Eos snapped, "Yes." The man looked thoughtfully at her, then said in Kaei to his bird, "It's a good thing she doesn't know Kaei, that might create a problem for me. Eos went furiously red. In fluent Kaei, she scathingly answered, "Well, then it's probably a bad thing that she does know Kaei, idiot."
He bowed to her. "Then you must know that you are as beautiful as the rumors say." Eos still glared at him. He sighed, and stuck out his hand. "Alright, alright. My name is Darkan Finousri. I'm here on some private business, but I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to know my name." Eos looked him over. "You're the person that's supposed to-" she smacked her forehead. "Never trust Tristan Staghorn with anything ever again. Ever, ever, ever," she said as she smacked her head. Darkan watched with amused eyes while she hit herself, but cursed when he heard Tristan's name. "You're the person that I'm supposed to-" He stared at her. Then he broke into a friendly smile. "So how is it that you're hazel eyed and red haired when most of our countrymen are....not?" he asked in Kaei. Since very few knew that language, it was relatively safe to speak it in the open. "Must be a hereditary thing."
"No, it's not. Your father was blue eyed and blond haired like the rest of us. Or them, I should say. I'm not exactly the Scancran ideal either." He smiled, and offered his arm to her as they went back to the palace together.