| You can never understand the importance of one�s presence until they are gone. -Rules of Life, pg. 3 Part 25 He knelt there for a long time, crying into the sand as he called for her. But she did not return. Standing, he headed back to Conde Petie. The others were standing there quietly, watching him. Vanel stepped up to him and opened her mouth, but upon seeing his face, she closed her mouth and backed away, giving him room to move past her. Dagger was the only one who dared to follow him. When she found him, he was singing some kind of sad dragon song in a soft, rich tone. It was lovely. She waited until he was done before going to stand next to him. She did not look at him, knowing that he did not want her to see him crying. Instead she stared out over the canyon at the ocean and remained silent for a long while. � She�s dying,� he said finally, in a voice hardly above a whisper. � She is?� � You know how I punched her in the nose? The weak spot on every dragon is its nose. I hit her there and gave her a nosebleed. That was critical damage to a dragon. She�s probably dead right now. They�re performing burial rites and I�m stuck down here.� He shook his head and brushed at his eyes. � I never got to tell her.� � Tell her what?� � That I�m grateful for her taking care of me and raising me. I know I must have been a handful.� She knew there was more. � And?� � That I love her. She never gave up on me, no matter what I did. I yelled at her a lot when I was younger and thought I knew everything, but when that mindset got me in trouble she always rescued me. I never apologized for it and now . . .� His voice cracked. � Now I wish I had!� � She knows you didn�t mean it.� � No she doesn�t! All I�ve ever done is shout at her and make trouble for her and beat up on her and all she�s ever done is brush it off like it didn�t matter to her! But that�s a lie because later at night, when she thought I was asleep, she would wander off and find someplace to rip up trees to ease her frustration!� He sniffled loudly and scrubbed at his eyes again. � I�ve been such a jerk and she�s put up with me for all these years. I don�t deserve to have a mother like her. She would always listen to my problems and give me advice and half the time I never paid any attention to her words only to find that she was right.� � Stop insulting her intelligence. She knows you better than you think she does. Didn�t you say she said she could read you like a book?� � Yeah, but . . .� he sighed. � I guess . . . I guess I�m presuming again.� He chuckled wryly. � She always said I assumed too much.� She finally looked at him, took him by his shoulders, and shook him gently. � Stop being so pessimistic. I�m sure she�ll be just fine. We�ll probably see her again real soon.� He let her hug him. � I doubt it, but if you think so . . .� � I don�t think so. I know so. Now come on, you have a hatchling to feed.� � Oh yeah.� He wiped his tears away a final time and headed to where Vanel waited. She didn�t pester him for milk, as he�d expected she would, and he was forced to call her to come get it. However, once he�d called her she ran over and leapt, flopping happily on her back into his arm. She wrapped her tail around his wrist and began to suckle at the pouch. Watching her reminded him of his milk-drinking days. They were rather vague memories, but thanks to the dragon�s milk he could recall a lot of things he�d done as a baby. One of them happened to be feeding. . . . The searing hot milk burned down his tender throat, but he did not cry. It didn�t hurt that badly, so he kept drinking. The one who provided the milk did not look like his mother, but he was hungry and as long as he was fed, he didn�t really care who fed him . . . And every day his eyes had gotten greener and greener until they were only somewhat human-looking and were more like those of a dragon. He had grown a fuzzy tail which he�d been able to put to use right away and through it all, his surrogate mother had cared for him and kept him from all harm as she continued to do until he left the forest and went out on his own. Tears stung his eyes and he blinked rapidly, trying to hold them back. No one but Vanel noticed initially and she actually abandoned her milk to make sure he was all right. When she was finally convinced that he wasn�t lying to her, she went back to feeding, keeping her eyes locked on him. There was no more trouble that night, though Zidane woke several times to find tears tracking down his face for no known reason, and in the morning he and Dagger spoke to the twins guarding the exit to the west. However, they were witness to a thief and her moogle friend rushing past, both flying, with food from the shop. The twins gave chase, but she quickly outdistanced them. He and Dagger agreed to follow her and see where she went. If they could catch her, maybe she could tell them something. So they gave chase, finding her caught on a tree root on Mountain Path. Quina went chasing after the moogle, freeing the girl in the process. Zidane caught her and looked her in the eye, surprised to see that she had green eyes as well. He almost dropped her, so much was his surprise. She was equally surprised and backed away a few steps to observe him from a safe distance. Then she growled and lunged at him. He stepped aside, snarling in return, and picked her up by her collar. � What was that for?!� She smiled brightly. � Just testing you!� He frowned. � That wasn�t funny.� After a short discussion she invited them to her house. There was no real reason to say no, so they agreed. He followed along behind everyone else, lost in his thoughts. He almost walked by the place when they got there, but Dagger and the little girl called him back before he got into trouble. They had dinner and talked for a while afterwards. Eiko, the young girl, told them about how she lived alone with the moogles and other relevant things. Then they all decided to go to sleep and do some exploring the next morning in the area around Madain Sari. <--Part 24 Part 26--> |