Making A List
(400 years later)
Aisling's POV
I woke up, as the light of the sun, shined through my window, and onto my bed. When I looked through the window, I could see that the sun was rising. I quickly got out of my bed, and opened the window. I got out of the window, and placed my hands on the bark of my castle home, and using the ability to cling to the bark, I crawled all the way up to the peek of my home.
From up here, I could see almost everything in the forest. The birds flying, the sun rising towards the sky and the rest of the Tuatha Dé Danann waking up and getting ready for another day. I sighed happily, closed my eyes, sat down and relaxed. I loved doing this every morning. I did not have to, but I absolutely loved getting up early, and going up here to feel the warmth of sun on my skin, as the gentle wind blew through my long silver hair and my little grey dress, while the beautiful sound of the air and birds filed my ears.
"Good morning Aisling."
I opened my eyes, and looked over my left shoulder, to see a white dove, standing by the roof, looking and smiling at me. It was my mother. I sighed, stood up and turned to face her. "Good morning mother," I greeted happily, though a bit disappointed, that my relaxation had to end so quickly.
"Get dressed, and come to breakfast. Your father is waiting for you," my mother ordered softy.
"Yes mother," I complied, as my mother flew towards the dining room. I quickly climbed down the bark, and leapt into my room, through my window, closing it as I entered my room. I quickly put on my golden robe over my grey dress, put my grey boots on and placed my little golden tiara, on my head. I got out of my room, and quickly ran down the hallway until I reached the large dining room.
"Good morning my dear," father greeted, from the other side of the table, right next to my mother.
"Good morning," I greeted back, as I sat on the next to them. We mostly ate in silence for a few minutes, until my mother whispered something in father's ear. He then nodded, turned to me and said:
"Aisling my dear, your mother and I have been talking recently…" I put my food down on my plate, and looked at them. My eyes beamed with hope, that this might finally be the day. "…And we have decided that it's finally time, for you to learn how to unlock your animal forms."
My heart leapt with joy, as I jumped out of my seat and happily hugged my father. "Thanks you so much! I have waited so long for this!" Ever since my mother started teaching me the connections with the plants and creatures of the woods, I have always waited for the day she would teach me, how to unlock them. I cannot believe it's finally time.
"Now-now, Aisling. I am glad your excited, but you need calm down. We are not going to start, until tomorrow," my mother chuckled, as I let go of my father.
Wait! Tomorrow? My joy was quickly switched out with a mixture of confusion, shock and disappointment. "But…I why can we not do it today?"
"Well I thought that you could use this time, to go and choose a list of animals, you could try to unlock when we do, begin to unlock your animal forms. That way you will know which one you want to try out, rather than you deciding to try the first animals you see, without even knowing if you really want to try and unlock it. That's how your grandmother taught me," my mother explained to me.
I was about to argue, but she did have a good point. I thought about it for a moment, sighed and said: "Fine. I will go and find a few animals that I would like to try out." I said and turned to walk towards the door, a bit disappointed but still excited for tomorrow.
"Aisling!" My father shouted at me. I stopped and turned to face him, to see he was looking at me with, a bit sternly. "Are you not forgetting something?"
I looked all over myself, and after a few moments I responded: "I do not think so. I have got my clothes on, my tiara is in place, my hair is is how it is suppose to be and there doesn't seem to be a single spot of dirt or any kind of filth on me." My father pointed towards my breakfast, which was still unfinished. "Oh…of course," I said embarrassed, as I blushed slightly and walked slowly back to my seat and finished my breakfast.
After I was finished, I went out of my home, to find a few animals I might want to try, and unlock. As I walked, the citizens bowed to me and greeted: "Good morning, Princess Aisling," "Hello, Princess Aisling," or "Greetings, Princess Aisling." I mostly ignored them, as I kept walking.
"Hi Aisling!" A familiar sounding voice shouted. I turned and saw a young Tuatha Dé Danann, a little taller than me, with short white hair, a small nose and blue eyes, dressed in yellow ropes underneath a with a grey shirt and shorts with grey boots, coming running towards me. It was one of my oldest friends, Oisin.
I smiled and waved at him. "Good morning Oisin," I greeted.
"Me, Ronan and Nuala are going to play, in the forest. Do you want to join?" he asked me, with an inviting smile.
"Oh…" I stuttered. I wanted to play with him and the rest of my friends, but I also wanted to hopefully choose a list of animals, for tomorrow. I stood there in silence not really knowing what to say. I was thinking about something to say, while Oisin was just standing there, waiting for my response. "I would really love to…" I finally began, "But I'm sort of busy at the moment."
Oisin's faded a little as, as he asked: "Do you have training with your mother today?"
"Well…both yes and no," I replied, which made Oisin a bit confused. "Let me explain. My mother said, that I could learn how to unlock my animal forms tomorrow, but first she wants me to go a pick a few animals, that I can try out."
This immediately cheered Oisin up, who said in an excited tone: "Oh my lords, really? Aisling, you are so lucky! You must be really excited for it!"
I chuckled from Oisin's reaction, and said: "I am."
I was about leave, when Oisin stopped me and asked: "Hey, how about me, Ronan and Nuala come with you?"
I raised my eyebrow and asked: "Are you sure? What about your parents? Are you sure that they, will be okay with it?"
"I am sure our parents won't mind. Besides we are old and experienced enough, to take care of ourselves," Oisin answered.
I thought about it for a while, and after some thought I said: "Okay then, if you think that your parents will be fine with it, and if Nuala and Ronan want to come you can help out."
"YES!" Oisin shouted happily, as he ran to get the rest of my friends. "We will meet you, by the field!" he shouted. As he started to disappear from my sight, I turn and ran into the forest, past the otters, the foxes, the birds and the other animals. I finally came to a stop, when I reached the place where my friends would usually play and where my mother, and I would usually train.
It was a field of grass, with white flowers and a few bushes and small hills, on top of one of the hills was a small structure. Next to it was a large oak tree, where a few squirrels and birds lived. And on another hill there were several tress, and waterfall that ran down the hill, into the lake where there were a few frogs and salmon.
Since I came here first, I decided to wait for my friends, by the oak tree. I sat underneath it, and occasionally looking upwards, to see the squirrels and the birds in their homes. While I was waiting, I was thinking about a few animals I could try and unlock.
An otter? That sounds good. I have always really liked otters. They are really great swimmers. And I am pretty good at swimming myself.
A fox? Another animal I really like. They are really good fighters. Not as good as wolves, but still.
A type of bird? Maybe. It would be fun to fly, and they do sing very beautiful songs.
A squirrel? I do not know. They are good climbers, there's no doubt about that, but I can climb pretty well myself.
As I was thinking, I could hear something moving in the bushes. I turned and saw Oisin, along with my other two friends Ronan and Nuala. "Hey Aisling!" Nuala greeted as she walked towards me, with Ronan nearby. He had long white hair, a large nose and dark green eyes. He also had a gold necklace around his neck. He wore yellow ropes with a grey shirt and shorts, and grey boots and was taller than me, Oisin and Nuala.
And speaking of Nuala: And speaking of Nuala, she was a young girl with short white hair, a small nose and was equally as tall as me. She wore light orange robes with a grey dress and shorts and grey boots. However, she was born blind, and because of that, she was very antisocial when we first met her. She did not want to get made fun of because of her blindness. It was not until I asked her to come play with us that she started warming up. Now she's more confident and outgoing, and she can use her other senses to help her "see" where she is.
"Hi, I am glad you could make it," I greeted back, smiling.
"Oisin, told us about, how you are going to unlock your animal forms tomorrow," Ronan said in his normal quiet tone.
"Your lucky. Most of us are not allowed, until we are older," Nuala said, as she stopped walking while crossing her arms.
"Well, mother always says, I am talented with my training," I boasted proudly, before realizing I might have sounded rude and apologized: "No offence."
"Do not worry about it," Nuala replied, as she continued walking.
"Be careful Nuala, you might step on a hedgehog or something," Oisin warned Nuala, in bit of a concerned tone. Nuala just ignored him, and kept walking.
"So, shall we begin?" I asked, as I jumped to my feet.
"Sure, if you think we should," Ronan quietly said.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Nuala asked.
I simply shrugged and explained: "Well, I thought we could walk around the forest, and see if we can find some animals, I might want to try and unlock."
"Alright sounds good," Oisin joyfully said. With that, the four of us walked into the forest.
"By the way Aisling, I hope you do not mind me asking but…do you have thought about any animals, while you've waited for us?" Ronan asked quietly.
Just then, we heard a whinny. We turned toward the sound and saw a wild brown horse with a black mane running through the woods before stopping to eat some grass.
"Hey, maybe you should add horse to the list!" Oisin suggested.
I was thinking about it, but then the horse defecated a few feet away from us. I cringed at this, stuck my tongue out and groaned, "No thanks! Horses are disgusting!"
"But doesn't your mother turn into a horse?" Ronan asked with a mixture of quietness and confusion.
"That is…different…" I answered awkwardly.
"How?" Nuala asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Um…well…" I stuttered awkwardly while looking back and forth to find a distraction. "Well…um…you see…it is because…um…hey, look, I think there are a few animals over there," I shouted as I pointed to a large tree.
The others decided to forget about the horse thing, and followed me to the tree. Once there, we saw a few rabbits and stoats. I felt a small animal walking on my boots. I looked down and saw a small pygmy shrew.
"Aw, it is so cute!" Ronan proclaimed happily, as he gently picked up the small shrew with both of his hands. "Hey Aisling, how about trying to turn into one of these?"
I studied the little shrew for a moment, and gave it some thought. "I do not know…they do look cute, but then again they are the smallest mammals of all of Ireland, and I'm not really interested in becoming something tiny," I said, trying my best, not to sound rude. I gently stroked the little shrew and said: "Sorry there, shrew" before Ronan gently put the shrew down, which then ran off into the forest.
"Well what about a rabbit? They are fast and great jumpers," Oisin suggested, while pointing at a small, brown, kit (a baby rabbit), a few feet away from it's mother and the rest of its brothers and sisters.
"That actually sounds like a pretty good idea…" I replied happily. I was about to walk towards it, to stroke its fur, when I noticed a couched stoat walking towards it. It didn't take for me to realize, that the stoat was planning to eat the kit. Running as fast as I could, I grabbed the stoat by the fur on its back, before it could eat the baby kit. The kit in turn went to its family, all of which quickly hopped off. I turned to the stoat, very angry at it. "Do not eat children! Just for that, I am not going to try and unlock you!" I shouted, with a bit of a snarl in my voice. I climbed up the nearest tree (luckily it was one without a nest), a placed the stoat on the highest branch.
As I was climbing down, I saw something in the distance. I looked, and saw a beautiful red deer eating from a bush. I kept watching it, until it was full. Then it ran away, and before I knew it, it was gone. Still watching the deer, and seeing how fast it could go, made me immediately add it to the list. If there was a thing I really enjoyed, it was going fast. The feeling of energy was felt so great, as I ran through the city and the woods, as the wind would on my face and hair.
"Hey Aisling! Are you coming down or what?" Nuala shouted from beneath the tree, which startled me a little.
"I will be right there!" I shouted. I quickly climbed down the tree, and was soon on the ground again.
"Finally! What took you so long?" Nuala asked a bit annoyed.
"Nothing just saw a deer, which on my list now," I said casually.
"That's great," Ronan exclaimed, while the others were pretty happy as well.
"So what do you want to try next? Bats?" Oisin asked. Ronan shivered a bit at this.
"I do not think that'll be necessary. I already might have a bird, so there is no need for another flying creature," I said. This calmed Ronan down.
Nuala heard something walking in the bushes, and pointed at it. "How about this thing?" Nuala asked, gesturing the animal she was pointing at which was a lizard.
"Well…It would be pretty cool, to be able grow back your tail…but it would also be a bit creepy. I will think about it," I told her.
"Hey guys, I do not know about you but I'm kind of bored. Want to do swimming?" Oisin asked, with bored tone.
"You know I cannot swim," Nuala said offended.
"Oh right, sorry Nuala," Oisin said, in a guilty tone.
Nuala sighed and said: "It is ok. I should probably get back home anyway."
"I will escort you along the way!" Oisin exclaimed excited. He then calmed down a bit, and in a more casual tone continued with: "You know, in case you get attacked or anything." Ronan and I giggled a bit, at Oisin's little crush on Nuala. As Nuala and Oisin walked away, Oisin turned to us and shouted. "Hey, do you think you can wait for me?"
"Sure thing, lover boy," I teased. Oisin blushed, and turned away from me, as he and Nuala kept walking back to the city. A few minutes later he came back, only this time Nuala wasn't with him. "So, do any of you know a place?
"I know a river, not far from here. It is not too shallow or too deep, and it should be warm by this time of day," Ronan suggested to us.
"Sounds good to me," I said, as Oisin nodded. The two of us followed Ronan, until we saw a small lake nearby. We quickly took off our robes and boots, and I carefully placed my tiara underneath my robe for protection.
"Race you!" I shouted, as I ran ahead of them to the lake. We all laughed as we ran towards the lake. I was in the lead, with Ronan coming in second. When I was close enough to the lake, I jumped into it, with Ronan jumping in after after him, and after a while Oisin joined in too (Though he was a bit annoyed he came in last). And so we spent most of the day, swimming around, having a few splash wars, performing a few underwater tricks and we had a contest, to see who could last the longest without breathing. It lasted for a few seconds, before Oisin and Ronan got up for air, me following a little while later. After that fun, we dried off and went to get our clothes back on. While it had indeed been fun, I wish it could've lasted a bit longer. I loved swimming. I would do it anytime I could. I always wanted to be able to swim, without the need to come back up for air. Like a fish! Yes! I add fish to the list.
"*Yawn* Well I do not know about you two, but I think I am going home," Oisin yawned, as he began to walked back home.
"I agree," I said, as Ronan and I began following him back to the city.
"Hey Aisling, do you think you have all the animals you want now?" Ronan asked me.
I smiled and happily replied: "Yes, I do believe I do."
Well here's the revised version, of chapter 3. Hope you enjoy it.