Away from most of the chaos of the campsite, near the water's edge under a great big tree are four little dragon children and one adult who seems to be entertaining the four with a story. Her arms move about, giving a somewhat idea of how big it was, or how scary, or how sweet.
Taareek stretches as he comes out of the guest tent, wings fluttering a bit before he looks around the area. Spotting the small gathering, he approaches, head tilted to one side as he edges closer to see what's going on.
The language is in Argalian, but from the actions and changing tones in the adult's voice, she is defenitely telling them some sort of story. No one has yet noticed the curious approacher, all eyes are on the adult. After this goes on for a few minutes, the children all gasp as the adult holds her hands up and looks very silly as she playfully menaces her audience, continuing to talk and action out her story from a seated position. The children cheer as the monster or whatever scary thing it was is appraently defeated or run off.
Taareek finds a large enough rock to settle down on, curling his tail around all four paws. He doesn't try to pretend he understands what is said, but can tell a fellow storyteller with no problem.
The adult smiles at the childrens' enthusiastic response to the story. They all start chattering and pleading, seems they want another story. With a smile, the storyteller makes a bit of a drama over thinking about what to tell next. After deciding on another story to tell she dives right in, starting off really quiet. The children hush really quick, not wanting to miss a thing. As the storyteller looks around to be sure she has everyone's attention, she pauses, looking up at the silent watcher. The kids all turn to see why she stopped. Everyone is now staring at the gryphon. The adult switches to common, "Greetings to you."
Taareek gives the best kind of smile his kind can, bowing his head a bit. "And to you." He looks over the childern, then back to the adult. "Seems you have quite an audience; must've been a good tale."
The adult dragoness smiles and nods, "They like them well enough. Would you like to sit in and listen with them?"
Taareek fluffs his wings a bit. "If you do not mind. I'm always on the look for a good story."
She smiles and waves the kids to spread out and make room for their new guest. Not wanting to delay the story any further and to share it with a new friend, the children readily do so. The adult says, "By the way, my name is Kissi and this is Deron, Hurath, Marith and Wivn." The kids all pipe up in common, "Hi. Hullo. Greetings." The fourth just shyly waves.
Taareek gives a soft purr as he nods to each in turn as he settles down a bit closer. "I'm Taareek."
Kissi smiles, "Pleased to meet you, Taareek." For the benefit of her new visitor, Kissi speaks in common so he can understand the story. She starts out soft again. "It was a looooong time ago, here in Argalia. The Tal, as we call ourselves, were a great people. Back then, they did big things." She spreads her arms out wide to show just how big. "They we great and fierce warriors." She sits up stiffly, holding her hands before her in imitation of the guards with their spears. "One day, a bright star could be seen in the night sky." She opens her eyes big and holds her hands spread out in wonder to either side of her face.
Taareek settles back on his haunches again, tail resting against his side as he listens.
Ashia is out for a walk when she spots the group and wanders over... Trying to remain quiet, she stands at the rear of the group, facing the storyteller. She lets her eyes wander over the group, a smile on her face.
Kissi says, "And everyone started to wonder." She speaks in different tones and pitches of voice to imitate different people wondering, "What could it be? It's so bright, it must be Spiritus itself. Will it be back tommorrow night? It must be a sign of god fortune to come, that's it!" She goes back to her own voice and continues the story, "Word spread around that night about the new star. When the sun began to rise, it's bright light covered the light of the star." Her face goes sad and droopy to show how sad everyone must have been. She spots Ashia, but continues telling the story, knowing if she needed anything she knows she is welcome to interrupt.
Taareek 's ears are perked stright as he listens to Kissi as his tailtip twitches just a little.
Ashia nods as she's noticed, but makes no move to interrupt... A smile shows she's not here on business.. and though the story is one she's heard many times before, she listens to it intently.
Kissi goes on with her story. "Everyone was sad that this shiny new star was gone. They thought it wouldn't come back, but then night came again. And do you know what they saw up in the night sky?" She looks at everyone so see if they might know. Predictably, the children all raise their hands and says in excited voices, "Ooh, ohh! I know! I know what they saw! They saw the star again!" Kissi smiles and nods, "Yes. They saw the star again. And it was as shiny and bright as ever."
Ashia gives a soft chuckle as she listens to the children's responses.
Taareek gives a slight and soft chuckle at the reactions as well, then smiles at Kissi.
Kissi changes her tone to one of contemplation, "But one dragon thought, 'What if this star is not a good thing?' But the other dragons laughed at him and made fun of him. It was so pretty and shiny, how could it possibly be a bad thing?"
Taareek starts to pay more attention as the story moves on, wondering what's going to happen next just like another kid listening.
The children look at each other and shrug, then look back at Kissi to hear more. "Every day, the sun's brightness would outshine the pretty star, but each night it would come back as bright and shiny as ever. But this one dragon did not believe it could be such a good thing as everyone thought. So he set to sharpening his spear and sword and set out to find others who believed him."
Ashia pauses in listening a moment to ease into a sitting position.
Kissi says, "This went on for many days, then weeks and even into months. The star would go away at daylight, bu return each night and yet the dragon did not stop looking for others who also thought there might be danger from that new star." She holds her hand up over her head like she's looking far and wide for someone. "And find them he did. They began following him as he searched for yet more who believed him." She holds up one finger, "Then...." She dramatically pauses before continuing, "...something odd happened." The children unconciously hold their breaths, waiting for what happened next.
Taareek is still listening to the adult intently, his tail switching over the ground a bit faster as he gets a bit more into the story.
Kissi explains, "The sun came out as usual, but the star did not fade away. It had become so bright and shiny, even the sun could not outshine it!" She gasps in dramatic surprise at this new twist. "The Tal began to wonder, was that one dragon perhaps right? Nothing can outshine the sun! But this star did. And little by little, it got shinier and brighter. Everyone started to realize it was getting bigger too."
Taareek gives a bit of a smile as Kissi continues, having an idea where the story is going, but wants to see what else comes next.
Kissi's voice soon holds a hint of danger to it, emphasizing the story with it, "The Tal didn't know what to do. But the one dragon did. He called everyone together and said..." She changes to a deep voice as if speaking for the male in the story, "...That star is falling and brings danger with it! We must band together as warriors to fight it! We must not let it fall and hit us!" Kissi's voice goes back to her own. "The Tal who didn't want to fight and destroy such a beautiful star decided to use their magics to shield and defend themselves from this falling star should it actually do so."
Taareek gives a slight nod, having suspected that's where Kissi was going with the story, but is even more curious about what she'll do now.
Kissi says, "Spiritus tested those Tal back then with this falling star. The Tal split apart in their decisions of what to do about this star. They didn't even know if it was even a danger to them, yet they prepared, each in their own way, just in case. One group hand a grand army ready to take the fight to the star, while the others simply wanted to defend themselves." She pauses to let this sink in to her's lisenters's minds before going on.
Taareek finds himself quite envolped by the story, just now remembering to breath a bit as the storyteller builds the tension.
Ashia, knowing the story well, chooses to watch the listener's faces as the story is told... faintly whispering the words to herself.
Kissi holds her hands out and waves them in a big arc, "The ones who wanted to protect themselves used their magic to build a huge bubble to shield them from what might happen as the star grew larger and larger. In time, they could see it even had a tail made of stardust, like a vengeful dragon. How could this little magic bubble protect them from that?" She holds her hands out and shifts herself so it looks like she's a warrior holding an invisible spear ready to fight. "The others who wanted to fight just readied themselves and wanted the star dragon to finish it's journey so they could fight and prove just how fierce they could be."
The children have mixed looks on their faces, some scared, some in wonder, one is even sad. Kissi continues her story, "The star dragon fell with each growing day and the Tal knew the time of testing was upon them. Would they survive? Would they make it? The warriors were ready to fight, the defenders had finished their bubble. Both wanted to protect what they had. Then the star dragon fell to Argalia." Kissi goes quiet to let the suspense sink in and grow.
Taareek holds himself still, anticapting the outcome of such a nice buildup to the story.
One of the children finally breaks the silence to ask, "What happened next, Kissi? Did they beat that mean ol' dragon for scaring them?" Kissi chuckles softly, "Let me finish, Deron." The other children giggle at him being hushed like that. Deron blushes and sits back quietly. Kissi smiles and goes on with the story. She holds one hand up high above the other and brings it quickly to the other, showing the star dragon falling and hitting the ground. "The dragon fell so fast, but one warrior was there in time to face it. But he was no match for the dragon of the stars and he was struck down in a terible way, striking the ground and going beyond it. Mountains were shaken up all around where he fell. The star dragon continued to fall to the ground and hit the magic bubble of the Tal.
Taareek 's wings twitch a bit as he continues to listen intently.
Kissi says, "Then something happened that no one was prepared for. The magic of the star dragon merged with that of the bubble is a great explosion. Everyone was struck down by the force of the meeting. The sky lit up so bright it blinded every dragon that saw it, from all across the land. As fast as it had happened, it was over. The Tal picked themselves up and rubed their eyes until they could see again. Where the star dragon hit, there now stood an imense pyramid of the blackest obsidian. The star dragon came and took all the Tal in the bubble to the Core, where it became a part of it's collection of worlds. It had also changed the Tal to remind them of their split decision on what to do about it's coming. Those who sided with the warrior Viktiss had their spines changed to the red of fresh blood, for that was all they wanted then. The spines of the rest were changed to the blackest of black, just like the pyramid." She sits back and finishes, "And now you know how we came to be a part of the Core." She looks to Taareek to see what he thinks of the story.
Taareek gives a beak grin and thumps his tail against the ground in lue of being able to applaud. "A very nice tale, Kissi. I'm glad I was able to hear and learn part of you kind's history."
Ashia bobs her head lightly at then end of the story, and begins stretching a little. After a bit she adds in her own appause, "Yes, wonderfully told, Kissi."
Kissi bows from where she sits to Taareek. "Thank you. We write all down our history, but reading something does not compare to hearing it, in my honest opinion." She bows to Ashia, "I am glad you liked it High Priestess." The children all turn to see Ashia too and they bow from their seats on the ground, "Good Morning High Priestess." they all say in unison.
Taareek nods softly. "Of course writing is a bit easier to you." he says with another smile, then turns to see who everyone is addressing, giving a small head bob to Ashia as he recgonizes her.