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| Page One ~ Page Two ~ Page Three ~ Page Four ~ Page Five ~ Aka KelticRose Isle |
| Yasha strolled back into her new forest on human feet, feeling much better. She had hunted and the bathed in her small river a little upstream. Now she came back to the burned section of her forest with the intent of taking a really long nap. She slowed, then stopped her walk as she saw things lying on the ground. Things that had not been there when she had left. Someone had been here. She moved over to the biggest new thing. It seemed to be a nest, made out of burned ivy. A quick look around told her that someone had indeed stripped ivy off the trees. Sitting in the center of the ivy nest was a cream colored oval, instinct telling her it was an egg, though she had never seen an egg this size before. She placed her hand on it's shell, feeling the warmth and life beneath the protective encasing. She pondering what would hatch out of it. Something large, obviously. A shout behind her made her spin and drop into a defensive crouch, ready to defend her life, and, for some reason, the life of the egg. Her would-be-attacker was a small human girl, about 16 or 17. Hardly much of a threat. As soon as that thought passed through her mind, she sensed another creature behind the girl. A dragon. It was one born to water, but still dangerous none the less. Then it struck her: the girl was the one who had brought the egg here, and the dragon, it's mother. That made Yasha want to abandoned her new home and run. The anger of a mother-dragon protecting her own was notorious. Then Meito's image sprung into her mind, as she was forced to flee her last home. Her eye's narrowed. She would not be forced from her home again. The girl took a step forward, never taking her eyes off Yasha. "What do you want?" Yasha stiffened, and said nothing. "You weren't harming the egg, were you?" She bristled at the indignity. "I would never harm something as defenseless as an unborn child. What do you take me as, a�" "�demon?" The girl finished for her. Red eyes narrowed with anger. "I am a demon. But I will not abandoned my home in the face of humans!" She was shouting now, her emotions getting the best of her. "I did that once, and I lost the one good thing in my life. I won't do it again!" Tears rolled down her face, and dripped into her black tunic. Hurriedly, Yasha wiped them away, lest the human see her in a moment of weakness. The girl paused for a moment, considering the demon. "I won't drive you away." Yasha froze, wondering if she had heard right. A human, not wanting to kill the 'evil' demon in their land. Unheard of. She must have been staring, for the girl smiled. "I know humans can be harsh, but we aren�t all like that. You can stay." Yasha didn't know how to respond to that, so she simply stood there, staring at the girl. "There is just one thing that I would like you to do in return." Yasha growled slightly. She knew there had to be a catch. "I would like you to look after the egg." She indicated the cream colored egg behind Yasha. "I couldn't find a keeper who would be willing to live so close to an active volcano. So I would like you to be the eggs keeper. You would only need to watch it while I was gone, and that's not very often. What do you say?" Yasha considered for a moment. She remembered the feel of the warm egg beneath her hand, the feel of life within it. Her thoughts, again, turned to Meito. Had they been together longer, they could have had a child. Maybe two. Yasha had always wanted to be a mother. She looked down at the egg. It wouldn't be the same, of course. This little one had it's own mother all ready. A mother who would love it no matter what. But, maybe, it would come to love her as well. Not as a mother, but maybe as a friend, or an aunt. Yasha turned back to the girl, her eyes filled with something akin to hope and desperation, and slowly nodded. The girl smiled, and came forward, the dragon following. "I'm called Deborah." "Y-Yasha." She mumbled. The demon was being overwhelmed by emotions and the events. She looked up quickly to see the dragon. A beautiful thing, all pink, blue and crystalline white. The dragon smiled down at her, warmly. Maybe she was home, after all... |