A silent night passes through the forest, moonlight sliding off of leaves and branches like spring rain. As the first streams of morning light begin to come and hide the stars, a tiny sound like the cracking of dry leaves rattles in the forest's central valley. The crystal ball is silent and the bark of trees and blades of grass are damp with morning dew. Sleeping in the crook of a tree root, between a few stuffed toys, the human girl named Quis has no idea that her Bishen Dragon egg, wrapped in her arms, is hatching. A piece of eggshell falls off of the top of the egg like a small trap door and a new, curious muzzle pokes out into the fresh air for the first time followed by wide, bright eyes. He holds his head from the shell and sniffs at the air, letting the sights, sounds and smells of the forest become a first memory. As dawn starts to soak the sky in it's colors the Bishel wyrm turns and looks at his sleeping human bondmate Quis, and tilts his head like a little bird. He blinks for a moment, seeming to memorize her face, before turning his curious look back to the trees all around. The egg shell doesn't move enough to wake the girl as he slides out and slithers to the ground, then into the brush of the woods.
As the sun breaks the horizon the plants and creatures of the forest wake up, flowers blooming and birds singing. Quis eyes blink open and with a protective grin she looks down to the egg- and with a horrified gasp sees that it's empty. "Oh by the Realm, no, he..." She sets the shell down and scans the clearing with her eyes, stiff and fighting down a white rush of panic. With a deep breath she looks around the tree's roots, into bushes, anywhere that small a wyrm could hide- nothing. "He is gone." She whispers, barely believing it. She takes a few deep, calming breaths and walks over to the crystal ball held at eye level by a live sapling. She places both hands on it palm down and stares into the globe, murmuring to it quietly. "What has passed here... show me what has passed here during the night..." A little more like a command now, "Show me what has passed here, what has happened." Nothing changes, and she stomps her bare foot on the clearing floor. "Oh by pegasus feathers! Very well you, I will find him myself!" A small voice in the back of her mind scolds that she should have put more practice time into learning how to use her limited magic; she pushes it away. "Sweetling, please don't have gotten yourself into any trouble..."
Several hours later, the sun high in the sky, Quis was beginning to panic again. She had tried another spell, holding the egg's shell and trying to follow what had happened to it with her mind- it only worked well enough to show her that the hatching had been very early in the morning, giving the wyrm plenty of time to disappear, and it hadn't even been able to show her what color he was. What if he was green? He would blend in perfectly. ("And to think I chose this forest just for that reason, to keep anyone unwanted from finding us.") She had pressed through brush and vines, through several clearings, and around a few trees that were so enormous they might be mistaken for barrier walls if they weren't covered in bark. She made the mistake of assuming there were no kelpies in the forest's river and had ended up having to cross by climbing the branches of trees growing overhead, dripping wet from trying to cross over stones and muttering crossly about creatures that lived to play tricks. She was amazed by the other residents of the wood, which included everything from squirrels, raccoons and deer to fairies and a silvery flash that she thought must have been a unicorn. And kelpies, of course. But-
"Nothing. Not a trace. He's probably hiding in some nitch somewhere, lost and alone, scared and helpless." The girl tries to pull herself together, taking deep breaths of the fresh air and using her trick of listing whatever creatures as she can think of to keep her mind off of something. "Unicorns, pegasi, firelizzards, pixies, kelpies... Alright, alright. This is doing me no good at all. If he is scared and alone then all the more reason to keep looking." She looks left, right, then up. "I can see more from above. Besides, it is faster that way..." She trails off as she uses vines and branches to pull herself into a particularly tall and strong tree with far reaching branches. "About three house-heights up, this should do." She begins to walk calmly down a long branch, thinking to stop just clear of the other branch's leaves for the best view- but halfway across it's length she frezes as a little sound reaches her, like a person might make when they see a friend's face in a crowd of people. Eyes wide she whips her head to another branch on the right and there, looking as if he might be thinking 'Oh there you are, can we go home now?' was her Bishen wyrm!
With a joyful yelp she leaps over to his branch and sweeps him up, finally letting herself cry... just a little. She spins a twirl and then leans back to look at him. He tilts his tiny head to the left, then the right, and then with a tired sigh rests his head on the blissful girl's shoulder. "You are a green, I should have known." She sighs as peacefully as he had done and walks to the tree's trunk, careful not to disturb the hatchling, and sits with her back resting against it. "I suppose it is finally time for you to have a name, hm?" She gazes down at him, bright curious eyes closed restfully, and smiles. "Alucinor. The latin word for wandering dreamer." She nods, satisfied, and decides to wait for him to wake up before heading back to the clearing so that he might gain a sense of where it is. "I have a feeling that it would be quite useful for you to have a good sense of direction, Alucinor," she whispered, watching him breathe in his sleep.
Back in the clearing once more with evening begining to fall, Quis shows Alucinor the stuffed toys that he had apparently not noticed before he left. Now he nudges and sniffs at them with all the energy of a puppy while the girl watches happily, deciding to hold her lessons about what kinds of creatures the toys are modeled after until Alucinor is at least a little older. "Oh, I almost forgot, his information." She takes the down note stuck to their home tree with a bit of sap and updates it-
Name- Alucinor
Type- unknown
Color- Green
Special Skills- Exploring and climbing
Gender- Male
Age- Wyrm
Breath Weapon- None yet
Species- Bishel Dragon
Parents- Unknown, wild clutch
"There." She presses it back onto the smooth bark of the tree's trunk and lookes back down to the wyrm, relieved in the back of her mind that he is still right where he was. He looks up at the sound of her voice with a Bishel Dragon beenie in his teeth and the girl can't help but laugh at her new partner.
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Some time past...
"Haha! That tickles, you silly little creature," Laughed Quis as Alucinor climbed up her shoulder and wraped himself around her head to get a better view. Indeed it was quite a view from the top branches of what the girl had started to call their 'home tree'. Worried for her wyrm's safety she had tried to keep Alucinor on the ground for days, but he insisted on trying to climb this tree and she decided that it would be better to go with him than find out he had snuck up on his own and gotten himslef stuck on a weak branch. Besides, she enjoyed being up here as much as he seemed to. They were higher than most of the forest's canopy here, and Alucinor looked over all of it with amazed eyes and a hushed whistling sound. He looked all around and seemed to smile a little until his gaze fell on the north-western edge of the forest, where the trees ended and gave way to other lands. With a questioning head tilt and chirp he looked down at Quis, then back to the boundrey line of the green canopy. "Hm? Oh, that is the edge of the forest Alucinor."- she had learned that the young wyrm could understand human speech, even if he couldn't answer back yet. He blinks at her for a moment, looks back to the border, and then back to her face with another confused "Twhit?"
"You know, where the trees stop and... Oh, goodness, you don't know do you? There are places without trees sweetling, with just grass or water or snow and what have you." His vibrant eyes grow wide for a second and he lets out his species shrill warning call, "TREEEEEEEE!", making Quis wince and cover her ears. He was loud for just a wyrm! "It's alright! Our forest is not going anywhere Alucinor!" He quiets suddenly, realising what she means, and with an stunned "thwiooo..." settles back down on her head. "Cherreh? Twirrrrrrret?" Quis smiles. Of course you can go see the other places someday. Once you're a full Bishen the two of us will go and see whatever you want." *Wait...* The girl thought slowly. *How was I able to answer him just now? He is too young to mind speak already... isn't he? But I would swear I heard something...* She looked up at the awestruck dragon and smiled. *How silly. Of course he cannot mind speak already. But...* He notices her frown and gives a concerned chirp. "Ha, no, nothing. Go ahead and finish looking Alucinor."
Eventually dusk began to set in, darkening the sunlight for their view and making Alucinor yawn. They climbed down, Quis laying the drowsey green wyrm around her neck before walking to the crystal ball against the edge of the clearing and placing her hands on either side of it, taking several slow, deep breaths and closing her eyes. "Mind clear... focused... I can do this... show me...ah, show me-" she let her mind wander for a moment and it landed on her memory of the river running through the forest. "Kelpies, hrmph. Show me the river!" Her eyes fly open expentantly, but the clear surface of the ball shows nothing more than reflections. "All right. Concentrate... river..." A pale shade of blue swirls through the crystal but as soon as the girl peeks through her eyelashes it whisps away and she sighs. "Pegasus feathers! Cypris tails! UnBonded-" She stops, seeing that her frusterated shouting has woken Alucinor up, and he stares, puzzeled, at the crystal and seems to wonder how something like that could make his bondmate so upset. Of course the sight makes her smile as she explains. "It is a special kind of seeing crystal. See the way it is held up by a living sapling? That binds it's magic to the life of this forest, so anyone who knows what they are doing (she blushes just a little) can use it to see past, present or who knows, maybe even the future of this place." He slides down one of her arms to wrap himself around the sapling and peer into the ball. He presses his muzzle against it, cute as only a young creature can be- making colors swirl and fly through it. After a moment they take shape; a bird's eye view of the clearing with Quis and Alucinor staring at the ball like they are right now. "I'll be a featherdrake, you can use it?" She sighs and shakes her head, a little jelous. "You were born here so I suppose it should not be a suprise that-" But at that moment he ruins her awestruck respect for him by falling asleep on the spot and sliding off, almost before she can catch him. "Haha, alright, message recieved, it's sleep time." And so cradling him in her arms she pulled them both up onto a leafy branch for the night.
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Few days later...
"Ah! Look Alucinor, the messenger bird is returning." Quis says as a small bird with shining black feathers glides in from the trees on the south side of the clearing, carrying a slightly beaten envelope in it’s claws. Obviously trained for this sort of thing it shifts to hold the letter in one claw and uses the other to land on her arm with a flutter, not even a little off balance. Alucinor dosen't seem to know what to do about this from his place around her neck and he leans forward toward it, hypnotized. He sniffs and tries to nudge it and gets an irritated peck on the snout for his curiosity, making him jerk back with a small “Treee!”. Quis gives the bird a light glare, mad at it for Alucinor’s sake but thinking it's a bit funny at the same time. “Now see here, that’s not very nice of you! Leave him be, you should be more used to curious wyrms where you’re from.” She slides the letter away from it and shooes it off her arm before it can peck Alucinor again (since he was leaning in to sniff it for a second time already). It cries a quick chirp to Quis and a scolding sound to the wyrmling before flapping off back through the trees way it had come and Alucinor gives a sad whistle… Quis would swear she had heard a voice say ‘Too bad'. He was really too young to be using mind speach already but sometimes she wondered. "I wrote the Kailan sweetling, the wise old leader of your kind. To see if he approves of how I'm taking care of you." He whistles excitedly and leans over her shoulder to look. "Haha, alright, although you will give me a great shock if you can read it." She brakes the wax seal on the letter and reads it- it is short, but that dosent matter. The girl practically glows and Alucinor can tell it's important. "Cheerit?" She turns and gives him a kiss on the muzzle. "It says we are doing well." She sighs, relived, and tucks the letter into the bag she keeps in the tree's branches. "Well what do you think of that! Haha!" She holds him tight and twirls, and he answers her question with a joyful "Cherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrripiet!"
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Perhaps about a week...
Quis woke up to see that Alucinor was not on the branch next to her, where he had fallen asleap the night before, but she was only a bit worried and certainly not at all suprised. It had been a constant fight to keep the little adventurer safely nearby until a few days ago when a large and angry griffon had charged through the clearing, violet feathers flashing, growling furiously about something and looking like they would rip some claw tracks into the first thing they saw. Luckily the pair had been in a tall tree and they kept quiet until it was gone. "Griffons are quite moody and protective you know." She told Alucinor matter of factly. "And I believe there are a few of them living out here." He had looked more curious than intimidated, but since then he didn't stray quite as far- mostly. On the brighter side, Quis was getting fairly skilled with the crystal from having to figure out where he was all the time.
At any rate, Alucinor wasn't where he had been when bird song and sunlight woke Quis up. She could hear him though, at the top of their tree, whistling a melody that made it sound as if he was singing to himself. It sounded familliar, almost as if there were un-sung words to it. She made her way up silently so he wouldn't hear her and when she could see him she found that he was stretched out on the highest branch looking to the horizon. He used the last few inches of his tail to hold tightly onto the branch so that he could lean out farther, as if a few extra inches would let him understand what it must be like for a place to not have trees. Quis sighs, making him jerk and nearly fall off his perch. He gives the girl a scolding whistle for sneaking up on him and shifts to one side so she can sit on the branch with him, which she does. "Alucinor, we cannot go adventuring yet. You're too young and if we go and get lost we would miss your Shantel. You would not want to risk not getting a breath weapon now would you?" He let out a sad whistle and Quis was sure she heard 'I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.' "There!" she yelped. "You can mind speak can't you!" All he had to say to that was "Cheir?" which didn't sound like anything more to Quis than a questioning chirp, and now it was her turn to sigh. "Well perhaps you can and perhaps you can't, no point in rushing you." He turned back to the horizon and his desire to get out there and explore just about broke the girl's heart. "Look, sweetling, once you grow into a sharape we can start traveling toward to the Bishen Realm. We will leave nice and early so we can take our time and stop to see anything you want to look at. In fact, you should enjoy the clearing because we probably will not be here for much longer." He definately cheered up at that, turning to give Quis a loud, sharp "Cherp! before turning back to the distance and letting loose a loud, chalenging "Cheeeeeeeeirrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" as if to say 'Here we come!', although she didn't hear any actual words in the sound. As the wyrm turned back to her and crawled up to his spot around her neck she said excitedly "And think about it, once you grow you might even have wings, like the messenger bird. Well, without the feathers that is. Then you could fly right up into the sky and see even farther!" Alucinor gave an awestruck 'Phooo...' at that- aparently the idea hadn't crossed his mind yet. Quis couldn't help but laugh at the sound. "That's right, but how about we finish today first? We can go find some more of those fruits you like, and I'll let you climb into the tree to knock them down." He said "Cherpitchirret, cheip." approvingly at that, and so they set out to find some.
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Quis had been worried about it for some time now, and she had hoped that the magic of the forest would keep it from coming for a little longer- no such luck though, as fall weather was begining to show it's cool face in the valley. Green Bishen Dragons, like Alucinor, were known to hate the winter along with their love for the spring growing season and she wondered how the young wyrm would handle it. He didn't seem to mind at all yet, but what if it began to snow?
She knew her little adventurer would not want to hibernate through several months! He didn't seem to notice the change in temperature yet, but he definately took time to admire the way the leaves on trees began to tint from emerald green to topaz and gold, allthough it seemed to make him a little sad. But once he was done staring at the new colors he didn't hesitate to discover that they were fun to knock down and land on, making them crunch. Quis, who was not so lucky as to have a warm neck to wrap around whenever she was too cold like Alucinor could, was a little snippy. "Good, you enjoy those leaves now." She sniffed, rubbing her arms and blowing in her cupped hands with a shiver. "Once it becomes colder I doubt you will think they're so grand." But as he rolled around in a great pile of golden leaves that he had taken all day to knock down himself, trilling and having the best time of his life, she couldn't have stayed annoyed if she had tried. Hearing the unhappiness in her voice he stopped, and quickly slid up to her shoulders with his face level to her chin. Looking back and forth from her to the not yet entirely crushed heap he chirped questioningly and nodded toward it. An invitation? "Haha, no sweetheart, that's quite allright. You go ahead." He shrugged -as well as a wyrm can shrug- and said 'You're the one missing out.' Quis smiled, no longer suprised by the fact that she could understand him at seemingly random moments, as he used her shoulders as a diving board to crash down into the crackling cushion. She laughed again, knowing he could go on with it for the rest of the day.
And indeed he did play like that for most of the rest of the day, finally wearing himself out and falling asleap in the leaves just before dusk. Quis carried him up to his favorite lookout branch to spend the night on before stretching herself out on a branch a little lower and broader- she had no tail to wrap around her branch and keep her from falling off in her sleep like Alucinor had.
Morning, however, did not come as peacefully as it had left the day before. 'Woah! Quis! Look Quis, look! I- whooooph!" At the loud crash that follows the yelling she jumpes up in a panic the second her eyes open, leaping through the golden-leafed branches of the tree to the ground. "Alucinor! Are you alright? What happened?" she cries frantically, nearly a scream. 'I'm ok Quis, oh come see! Wow! Hahaha!' Then a little less loudly and more impressed, 'Wow, look at me!' Flooded with adreniline she slides down the last few feet to the ground and finally sees, staring at his reflection in the crystal ball and glowing with it't light, her little Alucinor- not so little anymore and with an arboreal Sharape's wings!
She freezes for an instant and gasps, stunned and in awe of his beautiful wings. After a moment she whispers, "Sweetling, you're goregous." and as the trance breaks she runs to the new Sharape and wraps a proud hug around his neck. 'Haha! That's nothing, look!' He pulls himself out of her arms and flapps a few strokes before lifting lithely from the grass and twisting into a gracefull upward corkscrew- only faltering for a beat and catching himself without crashing this time. 'See you at the top! He cries, even more swept up in the excitement than Quis is, evening his corkscrew into a sweeping glide for the top of the tree. The girl laughs and shakes her head, scaling the tree as quickly as she can. Once she reaches the top she can see Alucinor flying in wide loops low over the forest canopy- birds scattering from the treetops as he goes, with the sunrise painting shining colors across his new wingspan. "Alucinor! Sweetheart!" She could barely yell, breathless from the climb. "Come back and let me get a look at you, you silly thing!" Laughing happily he soars to the branch he had slept on the night before and wraps his tail around it. 'Well, what do you think of these?' He stretches out both wings to their full length for her to see, suprisingly wide for a dragon about the size of a large dog. Quis wipes a tear from one eye with the heel of her hand, full of pride, and places the other hand under his muzzle. "Congradulations sweetling. You're wonderful." He smiles, chest swelling. 'So can we get going now? You said we could once I grew and now I have and how could anything live in a place without trees-' "Alucinor! Haha, calm down, we'll get going soon so you can meet the other Bishel Sharapes before your Shantel. The lands without trees are not going to have forests spring up suddenly, you will not miss anything." He dosen't look very convinced.'Are you sure?' Quis nodds, hiding a smile. "Go ahead and try out your wings a little time longer. I will make sure we're ready and we can set out. Alright?" He brightens at little at that and, letting go of the branch, tries a few arial soumersaults. Quis watches him, thinking. *I do not believe it... my little glory nearly a full Bishen. It was not long ago that I was searching the Creature Refuge for the Fourteen Seals, and now I am a bondmate to a Sharape.* She shakes her head, seeing him nearly break the crystal ball from it's sapling while trying to fly as low to the grass as possiable. *A rather excitable Sharape at that. This is going to be wonderful. How did I ever manage to strike such luck...* She slides herself down to the paper she uses to keep track of the Bishel's statistics and updates it once again with her quill-
Name- Alucinor
Type- Arboreal
Color- Green
Special Skills- Exploring, climbing, flying.
Gender- Male
Age- Sharape
Breath Weapon- None yet
Species- Bishel Dragon
Parents- Unknown, wild clutch
"There." She says, pressing it back onto the trunk and looking into her bag for a moment- yes, she has packed enough food, water and blankets for the trip- before hanging it over her shoulder and climbing down to where a calmer Alucinor is resting for a minute, laying flat against the grass. "Save some of that energy Alucinor." 'Don't worry, I won't be tired any time soon.' he thinks to her, smiling and raising his head, and Quis dosen't doubt one bit that he is right about that. "Well since you're such an expidition leader, why don't you use the crystal to find us a path? The Bishen Realm is to the south of us." He nodds, sliding to look into the crystal again- it glows softly as he comes close. He stares into for a few moments while the autumn colors of the leaves flutter through like butterflies before he finds a trail through the trees that heads south. The image follows along the path until it comes to the edge of the trees and then blurres into a swirl of colors, unable to show anything past the border. 'Alright, follow me then!' He rises into a slow glide, stopping by wrapping his tail around the branch of a tree when Quis falls behind him. As they appeared to be swallowed by the greenery Alucinor's 'voice', although fading with distance, could be heard asking 'And why are all the leaves turning gold and crunchy?' as they left Promise Valley, the only place he had ever known.
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They walked for some time, and Alucinor hadn't yet finished asking questions. Lucily, Quis was delighted to answer in as much detail as she could. To her suprise, she learned that even though he seemed to chatter constantly because of his curiosity he stayed politely quiet to listen to the answers, no matter how long they might be. She had explained about the change of seasons, what the other sharapes might look like once they arrived, what would happen at the Shantel -he was nervous about being watched by an audience in front of the Kailan-, and where people live in lands without trees- a sensitive subject since the very idea of a place without trees upset him, let alone the fact that there were those who would cut them down and build 'houses' out of the pieces. Thank the Realm he was a green and not a red or he might have gone on a rampage. As it was he became very quiet for a little while while he thought about it before going back to his normal curious chatter. And that catches us up to where they are now...
...Coming near the edge of the forest, although that edge is not yet in sight. The trees are smaller and more fragile looking here, with twiggier branches and smaller leaves, and dappled sunlight breaking through the canopy without a struggle. That is it would be breaking through if there was any. 'Quis, why is it so dark already? Is the day time shorter in different places or something like that?' She looks to the sky, concerned. If it began to rain now these thin trees would be little shelter. "No, the clouds are dark because soon it will likely..." But as if on cue, just as she had worried, a few fat raindrops began to pound down. "Pegasus feathers..." She runs to stand under one of the trees which works well enough, since it isn't fully raining yet. Alucinor, however, was definately not running for cover. 'Wow Quis, this is that 'rain' stuff you were telling me comes in this season isn't it? It's neat!' Laughing he glides around trying to get hit by as many of the raindrops as he can manage, making last second twists to avoid hitting anything. Without slowing he wonders to Quis, 'Didn't you say this season is when the plants begin to wither or die?' She nods. 'But plants need rain to live because they need water. Why should plants start dying when the water they need is coming?' The question made so much sense Quis could hardly believe no-one had asked it before. "You know something Alucinor, you are right, that makes no sense at all. But it rains even more in the spring time, and that is when all of the plants and trees and flowers do more growing than any other time, so perhaps it makes a little sense." 'Hmmm... Haha, it's still fun though.' But he was begining to pant from the daredevil flight show he had been putting on for a few minutes now, and he had been gliding from tree to tree all day to come this far. Not to mention the fact that he had only grown his wings this morning. Before Quis can warn him to land and take a rest he falters and falls right into a thick, leafy bush of red flowers."Oh! Goodness!" She digs into her bag to pull out a water container before running to him. "Are you alright Alucinor?" He lifts his head out of the bush, still panting. 'Yeah, yeah, I... well I guess I took myself a little too seriously when I said I wouldn't be running out of energy any time soon didn't I?' They both laugh, although Quis' laugh is worried and Alucinor's tired, but he takes a few swallows of the water and feels well enough to push himself foward onto his belly, cool raindrops falling on his back and comming faster now. Quis, nearly drenched allready, takes a blanket from their bag and wraps herself in it, warmer if not drier. She offers a blanket to the young dragon but he turns it down with a shake of his head, not moving from the flowery bush. 'This is a nice soft bush actually. It's not a tree but... Well, do you think I could rest here a bit?' She nods, "Of course, as long as you would like." and sits down next to her bondmate who immediately falls asleap. "Goodness Alucinor, you're like a puppy- either very awake or very asleap, but never tired." She shakes her head and gets comfortable sitting against a leafy enough tree, drifting off for a bit herself.
Luckily the rain stopped reather than begin to pour while they rested and the pair woke up to clear skies. A refreshed Alucinor lets loose a huge yawn, shaking Quis awake. "Look, the clouds have moved on. Are you ready to start out again?" She askes, worried. 'Yes, yes fine, I'm-' He yawns again, shakes his head and seems to snap out of his sleepyness. 'Yeah, let's get going again, we're almost there.' With a few powerful flaps he's airborne again as Quis rises, stretches, and begins to jog to keep up with his excited flapping. "Haha, so much for being tired, hm?" He looks back at her with a laugh before facing front and lowering his head in a flying sprint. The girl follows suit, determined not to be left behind, and they chase eachother for a bit before suddenly Alucinor freezes, Quis slipping on the damp leaves from the quick stop. Breathing hard she looks up to see what has the sharape's jaw hanging open- vast feilds of green grass, glowing with health, and brightly colored flowers are all that lie ahead of them now, on a backdrop of distant snow-capped mountains.
"We've made it sweetling! This is the end of the forest! This is what much of the rest of the world looks like." Grinning widely at his wide eyes and shocked expresstion she turns to watch his reaction. His eyes are radiant as he turns them to look in every direction, first tracing along the smooth grass and then rising to the peaks of the mountains. "It's amazing, I never would have guessed...' He finally blinks and breathes again, muzzle breaking into a smile like a ten year old who just woke up to see his presents under the Christmas tree. With a gleeful 'Wow!' He pulls out of the hypnotised hover he was caught in and turns it into a long, slow, leisurely glide, cackling as the grass and flower buds tickle his belly. 'Haha, this stuff is fun too.' "Well I'm glad you're enjoying it, because this is all we are going to see for some time. Say goodbye to our forest Alucinor, at least for a little while." He nods and makes a few more powerful wing strokes higher into the air, turning to face the tree line- and that motion probably saved his life, because in turning he saw what was coming.
The violet gryphon they had seen before was hurtling through the air straight for him, wings spread wide and cutting through the air at breathtaking speed, screching and slashing with it's blade sharp raptor talons and beak! Quis gasps, not having time to do anything more. Alucinor, just in time, dives and the enraged creature passes over with too much force built up to turn quickly. The dragon dives low past Quis, panicked, yelling. 'What do I do?!' She gathers her senses at that and starts to run back the way they came. "The forest! Fly back in, it's wings are too long! It can't fly inside the trees!" He nods and pushes himself harder, Quis pumping her legs as quickly as she can beside and below him, her mind racing. *What could be making it attack? We can't be near it's territory, there isn't anything here but grass!* It comes back, screaming still and with the wind whistling over it's sharply angled feathers, and this time it isn't so easily lost. Alucinor swoops, dives and loops to dodge it's blows, barely escaping each time. *He can't keep that up...* Quis begins to pull ahead of the arial fight and dares look away for a second, and seeing that the edge of the forest is only a few yards away. "Alucinor! Trees!" He rolls himself loose and streaks ahead, flapping down from the heights to glide low against the ground and faster than Quis would have thought he could go. The gryphon sees the opportunity and dives at him from above- Quis screams- and Alucinor swerves abruptly to the side, leaving the gryphon to slam into the ground at full speed.
Alucinor, breathing heavily, falters and lets himself fall the few feet to the grass carpeted ground. Quis runs to her bondmate, letting the tears of relief streak down her face. Picking his head up in her hands she kisses him on the nose. "Sweetling that was amazing! Are you allright? Are you hurt at all?" Too tired to even shake his head no he projects, 'No, I'm ok, it didn't touch me.' Quis fishes the water from her bag again and helps him drink, spending the next few minutes looking over every inch of his skin for some injury while he mutters- 'It didn't get me I said. Ah, that tickles!' Yes, he is right, it didn't so much as scratch him. Once the girl is sure of that she stands and, cautiously, walks to the unconcious gryphon a few steps away to make sure it isn't going to get up and attack again; at least not any time soon. It looks, thankfully, to be down for quite a while. 'You weren't joking when you told me those are territoral were you?' The joke catches her so off guard that she laughs as the dragon pulls himself into his version of being seated, with the lower half of his body coiled. Seeing how large it is he whistles aloud. That was fun, but I don't think I would like to do it again any time soon. But Quis dosen't laugh this time- her attention is caught by... "What is that?" 'What?' She walks closer to it and, parting the feathers around the great creature's neck, finds a collar. "This must be why it attacked! Gryphon are wild things, there is no way one would be able to stand having to wear-" she inturrupts herself, leaning over to unbuckle it and hold it up so Alucinor can see "any kind of collar!" The sharape whisltes, and she puts it in her bag to look at later. 'So now that it's off it shouldn't attack anyone again, right?' "I should hope so... but just to be safe, lets put some space between it and us hm?" With a nod he tucks his wings against his belly and slithers like he did as a wyrm, too tired out to fly again so soon. 'But why would it have a collar?' "I don't have the slightest idea sweetling." Someone must have put it there though. Why?' They both yawn and notice that the sun is setting at the same time. We have plenty of time to puzzle over that Alucinor, but for now we should find a spot to rest the night. You especially need it after that show you put on." He smiles proudly.
"Here, this will do." After only a few minutes of walking at an angle to the tree line they have come to a side of the meadow where there are strudy enough trees for them to spend the night in. Alucinor slides up the first tree that can hold him and stretches out comfortably across it's branches, Quis doing the same in the tree next to his. He lay facing the open grass and mutters, 'But why would it have a collar...' "Get your sleep sweetheart. You need it. We are still on our way to the Bishen Realm for your Shantel remember? This can wait." He smiles to remember why they had left home in the first place, and falls asleap with that same grin. Quis waits to drift off until she's sure Alucinor has first, but they have almost the same dream- Quis dreams that Alucinor is a strong, happy Bishen and Alucinor dreames that he's a hero.
Sunlight beaming through the trees and lands on Quis' face in the morning, waking her up. Looking to the next tree's branches she can see that ALucinor isn't in it, but just like before they left she dosen't worry... well maybe only a little. She slides down and looks to the grass where the gryhpon lay before and sees that it is quite gone. A shadow glides over the grass- and she smiles, because she would recodnise that shadow anywhere; Alucinor taking a morning flight to look around. She walks out into the open, waving, and he dips down for a slightly less than graceful skidding landing. 'There really aren't any trees! The forest makes a straight line and the trees just stop!' He wrinkles his muzzle a little. 'It's weird.' The girl tries not to chuckle. "Are you dissapointed Adventurer?" His eyes widen and the wrinkled muzzle breaks into a smile. 'No, I didn't mean that! Weird and neat aren't far apart. I kinda miss home, but I want to see more!' "And you will sweetling, just on our current journey, not to mention where we go next!" He tilts his head questioningly like he used to do as a wyrm.'Where are we going next?' "Wherever your wings wish to guide us is where we will go." she whispers, and she can see all kinds of places and adventures springing to life in the dream space past his eyes.
She places both hands on it palm down and stares into the globe, murmuring to it quietly. "What has passed here... show me what has passed here during the night..." A little more like a command now, "Show me what has passed here, what has happened." Nothing changes, and she stomps her bare foot on the clearing floor. "Oh by pegasus feathers! Very well you, I will find him myself!" A small voice in the back of her mind scolds that she should have put more practice time into learning how to use her limited magic; she pushes it away. "Sweetling, please don't have gotten yourself into any trouble..." 
The Story of the Fourteen Seals.
