Beginnings

They picked Selima, and without her having any say in it, she was dragged off to this wierd garden place in the middle of nowhere. The robes provided to her by the Orphanage were now crumpled and dirty, not that she cared overmuch, but it was getting uncomfortable. And now, after all this, they weren't even coming to the gate to see who was there.

"I'm sure they'll be here any minute, Selly," said the disgustingly cheerful employee.

Selima resisted the urge to smack her. "I'm not 'Selly', if you don't mind."

"Of course, dear," the woman chirped, rearranging her hot pink robes.

The girl shook her head in disgust. It wasn't that Selima disliked people; but really, how would you react in this kind of situation? Any other sane person would have tackled the lady. (We'll just be thankful that our main character had more self-control than that.)

Finally a woman in a long red gown came jogging up, waving and calling out. "So sorry for the wait! I had some,er, complications with a snargle in the third greenhouse," she panted as she reached the wrought-iron gate. There were long rips in the sleeves and along the skirt of her gown. "I'm Sahara. Welcome to Gemini Gardens!" Sahara turned to the employee-woman. "I'll take it from here. All the paperwork's filled out, correct?"

The cheerful lady nodded, her shiny blond hair bouncing up and down. "Bye, Selly!" she said, tugging lightly on Selima's dark red hair. "Don't get into too much trouble!" With that she was (thankfully) off.

"Phew," Sahara surprised Selima by saying. "What a relief! I can't stand people like that." She winked, and the girl let out a small laugh. "I suppose we ought to get down to business, though. Here, follow me," she said, and then turned and headed toward a large row of hedges.

Selima pushed the gate and began jogging to keep up with Sahara's long strides. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"To the aviary, naturally," was all she said. Selima decided not to ask questions, and simply continued her jog. She figured she'd find out anything she wanted to know anyway. Eventually.

The hedges had seemed to be small and very close; as it turned out, they were very big, and very, very far away. It was an almost ten minute jog, in which very little was said. Once they reached the hedges, it was like looking up at a wall of green. Rather than the usual, prickly-type bushes, these were leafy, and speckled with small blue flowers. "How do we get in?" Selima asked, glancing around for an opening of some kind. "It's totally solid... and I don't plan on climbing through that."

"Oh, okay then. You can head back to the gate and wait there, in that case." With that, Sahara pushed her hands through the dense branches, then began to pull them (her hands) away from one another. As they went, a large opening formed, quickly tall and wide enough to accomodate several people walking single file. ;) Sahara climbed through, and turned around to close the hole.

"No!" Selima said quickly. "I've changed my mind. I'll climb through," she said, feeling a little sheepish that she had to go back on what she'd said.

"All right," said Sahara, "but hurry up. This kind of hedge is bred to stay open until closed, but Jari managed to get me this stubborn specimen. It's very protective of the Aviary, and won't stay open for long. I told that apprentice not to dilly-dally, but he insisted on examining the walls of the opening while he was inside." She sighed and shook her head. "Poor Karonin." That was the only prompting Selima needed to hurry through the hole. Once she was safely on the other side, she stopped to examine her surroundings.

The aviary was a vast, open field, with huge, ancient-looking trees dotting the lush green grass. Gazing up into the branches of a nearby tree, Selima could't help but wonder how they'd ever gotten so big. It would take more than twenty men to encircle the trunk of the smallest one, and many of the branches were three or four feet thick. "They're oaks," said Sahara absently, beginning to walk straight ahead. "They look ancient, but-" she stopped and looked at Selima. "Are you coming?" She didn't wait for an answer, but continued, "but they're actually spelled that way. It only took Jari three - or was it four? - tries to get it right."

Selima was already forming an idea of these people in her head - something she'd learned to do a long time ago - and she decided that Sahara wasn't all that bad. A little absent, maybe, but not bad. Maybe it wouldn't be so horrible living here, after all.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, there was a loud crack in one of the oak branches overhead. A second later, something small and soft hit Selima's head with a loud THUD! "Ugh!" she exclaimed, then reached up to grab whatever it was and give it a good talking to. Once she took hold of it, it immediately began squirming, trying to break free. Holding it out in front of her, Selima saw it was some kind of lizard. It was green with bright yellow markings, and small yellow wings that looked like they could barely support it.

"That would be Atechoni-Tagid; he's a flutterer. We found him hidden in a shipment of plants from Sanori Gardens when we were first planting out here. His name means Falling Green, and he's not got a scrap of sense, I'm afraid. You can have him, if you'd like." Sahara's voice had a hint of underlying hope in it.

Selima had had enough people without sense around her in her lifetime (like the orphanage employee, for instance), and did not intend to increase the number. Carefully she set the flutterer back on a branch, but when she began to walk with Sahara again, he hopped off and fluttered after her. "Will you stop that?" she said, trying to bat the critter away, but he only looked at her innocently and continued along.

"I think he's taken a liking to you," said Sahara, looking cheerful. "You should keep him with you. Forever."

In the end, Selima only kept Atechoni (whom she affectionately nicknamed "Techo") because he got tangled in her hair and they couldn't get him out. Sahara continued wandering through the aviary, and Selima noticed that there didn't seem to be a large amount of life among the trees.

"Sahara?"

"Hmm?" said the woman, turning to look at Selima.

"What kind of creatures live here? Are there any?"

Sahara jumped a little, and then a look spread across her face like she'd just remembered why they were there. "Come, follow me!" she cried, then set off at a run in the opposite direction from the one they'd been heading. Selima shrugged a little, then set off after her.

"Of course!" Sahara was saying mostly to herself. "How could I have forgotten?" She turned back to Selima, still running. "Why didn't you remind me!"

They ran for a long time. Finally, Sahara stopped in the middle of a large open space. There was nothing there, as far as Selima could tell. Sahara spoke. "Ugh, this is taking too long. Can you fly?" Our main girl just shook her head. "Fine, then I'll have to carry you." With a snap of her fingers, two large, black-and-grey feathered wings appeared on Sahara's back. Selima gasped, and the newly-winged woman explained, "This is how I normally look. I only hide them when we have visitors; it's such a pain to have to explain them all the time."

Selima only nodded, and stepped forward slightly, wondering how exactly Sahara would carry her. "Hmm," the woman said quietly to herself. "This will be more difficult then I thought. All right, then, 'Deith will have to carry her." Before Selima could ask who "Deith" was, Sahara let out a shrill whistle. There was a moment where nothing seemed to happen, then a spot appeared on the horizon. The spot quickly grew into a dragon soaring through the air, who eventually landed with a thud on the ground next to the two women.

" 'Deith, meet Selima," said Sahara. "Selima, meet my dragon, Muad'Deith." Muad'Deith was a huge dragon (by Selima's standards), around forty-five feet in length, with tawny-colored stripes over his body. His faceted eyes swirled with blue and green. At this sight, Techo squeaked loudly and curled himself around Selima's neck.

Sahara showed Selima how to climb on and lodge herself in front of the wings, then 'Deith launched himself from the ground. Selima had never left the ground before (at least not by much), and kept her eyes closed through much of the flight, clinging to the dragon's neck for dear life, tucking her chin down over her flutterer to prevent him from falling. At last they landed once again, and when she opened her eyes again, she was surprised to see Sahara hovering next to her, wings beating powerfully to keep her afloat.

"C'mon down," said Sahara, then she grasped Selima around the waist and lifted her off the dragon's back. She flew out a few feet, then set her back down again. They were probably now somewhere near the center of the great aviary, Selima guessed, standing under one of the huge oak trees.

"Now what?" Selima asked sarcastically. Rather than responding, Sahara climbed deftly into the tree, high into the canopy of branches. She was there for a moment, then dropped from the branches, landing on the soft green grass standing up. She was holding a large sack. It was sewn from large leaves, just a bag and a single strap, and there was a large amount of grass, straw, and twigs protruding from the top. It seemed as though it had been hanging from a branch by the strap.

"This, is my very own, hand-made, dishwasher-safe, flion nesting sack," Sahara proclaimed to all present.

"What?" Selima asked, dumbfounded. "What's a flion? And what in the name of Ioyumo the Beautiful is a dishwasher?"

"Er, never mind the dishwasher," Sahara said. "But a flion's a kind of wyvern. A dragon without legs," she added when she saw the blank looks coming from her audience. "This aviary is especially designed for them; that's why the trees are so big. Anyway, here's the most important part of my nesting sack: The egg." She reached into the sack, dug through the grassy contents, and pulled out a large, grey, oval-shaped egg, which she handed to Selima.

"And... why are you showing me this, again?" Selima asked, examining the slightly warm egg with fascination.

"Well, that's why you're here, of course. Didn't they tell you?" Sahara asked innocently. "To take care of the flions."

Selima choked, giving way to a sputtering cough. "What?! I'm here to take care of this thing? I've never taken care of anything in my life!"

Sahara sighed. "You'll do fine. It's in your nature. Remember, we chose you special. Unless Jari screwed up again. But that's highly unlikely. Not after last time."

"Where will I stay?" she asked, still cradling the flion egg.

"Here. There's a cabin around the other side of the tree. Hopefully you'll like it there, and this way you'll be close to the egg at all times."

Selima sat quietly in the cabin, the large nesting sack on her lap. Her new home was small, but comfortable. There was a cot to sleep on, but it had a feather-stuffed matress, and two quilts on top. (Which she'd never need, as it was almost always warm in the aviary.) There was a small kitchen, a fireplace, and a few couches.

The sack was warm, and reluctantly Selima headed outside to hang it back in the tree. She slung it over her back while she climbed, then sat down on a large branch that would be good to hang it on. Gently slipping it over the thick, leafy branch, she said quietly, "Sleep tight," and began her climb down.