She didn't respond to father's question, instead she was mesmerized by all the alien equiptment in the room, huge cettles with a boiling stew, glasses and flaskets filled with glowing liquids of all colours and small metal pipes spewing forth tufts of white smoke. Father always said she needed to be carefull when in the lab.
"Wat are you working on, father?" she asked, het inquisive blue orbs surveying the table desk. "At the moment I'm experimenting with.... this!" he said, as he showed a rounded bottle to his daughter.
Her eyes widned. "looks like metal!" she squeeked. "Well it is a sort of metal." replied father. "but it's liquid"
"Indeed! and watch this." The man took from a shelf a dish and poured the said liquid into it. Like a waterfall of pure silver it flowed, Aerillian had never seen such a thing. "Isn't it hot?" she asked, for she remembered the liquid metals found at the blacksmith's. "Not at all" was all of a reply she got. Once all the silver was in the dish he took a rather flat weight from the table and carefully put it on the silvery surface, of course it would sink directly to the bottom but to her surprisement.... it didn't! A sparkle of interest shimmered in her bright blue eyes. "It's magic!" Father smiled and shook his head slightly. "No princess, this isn't magic, it's sience. The liquid is called quicksilver. It's a kind of metal that's heavy like any other, but liquid at room temperature." Fascinated she kept watching the weight, still stitting on top of the liquid's surface.
Again a smile escaped father's otherwise serious expression. "Well princess, if there isn't anything I can do for you right now I need to get back to working. Why don't you go find your brother and play with him?"
She blinked at him, then smiled and turned around... her hooves clattered on the lab's tiles as she left. When she reached the door it opened and closed in the same amount of discression as before...
Once outside she sniffed the air and surveyed her surroundings. The terracotta colours of the rounded buildings made from stone and lime greeted her with the warmth she had always known. The village was small so he couldn't be far, but in truth, she allready knew where he was. In a gait any carefree little girl would have she made her way across the dirt road, the deep green grass still sprouting from the soil here and there. The township itself was full of life, a normal life going about is business in a tenuous peace. Things, the children never realized...
Once she passed the last of the simple domociles she overlooked a hill, like a sleeping ogre it lay silent, the dark green grass with the occaisional blue hue slowly danced in the wind, making the whole hill seem moving, like an ogre's breath... on top of the hill stood exactly seven trees. Aerillian proceeded, waded through the high grasses that reached right up to her nose. It tickled, she sneezed, it wasn't a new sensation. She went to the Shelter. The sound of the soft wind echoes through the grassy leaves as well as the canopy of the seven trees. Looking back on the village it was clearly visible just how small it was, no more then fourty Dranei lived there, she knew most of the people, as well as their children, one big happy bunch that often played together, but not today, most where playing on the village square, but she did not fancy playing ballgames today.
She reached the top. The dark brown trunks of the trees greeted her in much the same way as the walls of her house. She felt secure here, a safe spot, a shelter... As she walked past the first three trees her bright blue eyes caught the two trees right in the middle. Taller and thicker they stood, being older then the others... they might even be the parents of the five smaller ones that stood around them! She walked towards and put her hand on the weathered bark. The two trees stood like sentient watchers, intertwined, their roots sharing the same soil, their foiliage sharing the same sky. "Dolerad?" she called. But her brother did not respond. She climed the for about two feet where the trunks started bending away from eachother, and at that junction, a hole went down between the two. She climbed in and proceeded down untill she passed the entrance of the Shelter, the small hut in the ground between the tree's roots. A light flickered in the room. "Dolerad?" Her brother turned to her. Sitting crouched, holding is head down to not bump it against the ceiling at the central table. "Hello Aery" he replied with a smile. She gazed on the table, it was filled with small wooden figurines. "Can I play with you?" she asked. "Of course!" so she sat down. But just as she did the small oil-lamp on the table started moving... A deep rumbling that shook the shelter, making the lamp and figurines move. In an expression of both curiosity and fear the looked at eachother, then rushed out of the Shelter like rabbits could leave their hole.
Both inquisitive noses popped up from between the two ancient trees, trying to determinate the direction the rumbling sound was coming from. Suddenly several high pitched shrieks cought their attention and with the crack of a whip their heads turned to a flock of birds trying to get as far away from their perches as possible.
The ground shook again and the ominous snapping of branches and trees became audible. "Dolerad, I'm scared." Aerillian whispered. Her brother held her "Me too..."
Without a warning a band of orcs, frantically holding their weapons above their heads and screaming cries of war rushed out from between the trees at the forest's edge running directly at the Dranei settlement."No! Mummy! Daddy" the girl cries as she burst forth from hiding, running down the hill. "Aery! Stay here!" her brother cried, but to no avail...
