| Lostsinger Plains |
| . You finally reach the foot of the mountain around sunset. It's still chilly, but compared to the mountain top, you're happy with the warmth. You hum a little tune to yourself, and realize that you're actually quite content. After all, you went up the mountain, survived an avalance, and...ah, made the aquantence of some interesting creatures and people. This is a story no one will believe when you get home. Suddenly you feel a strange tingling sensation; when it passes, you find you're not on the mountain, but instead on the edge of a wide grassland, trees faintly visiable in the distance. It seems to be the dead of a balmy summer night, and the harvest moon hangs full and orange low on the horizon. The wind seems to carry a sad voice singing wordlessly of loss. Confused-it was only sunset seconds ago!- you turn around. Behind you, you can see the mountain, the path, even your own footsteps....but it too is shrouded in darkness. Deciding that you must have been mistaken on the time, you shrug and walk onto the plains, finding the path to have faded into nothing before long. Dismayed, you realize it would be very easy to get lost, so you head toward the distant trees. Around the center of the field, you find a dried-up old pond. Seeing some movement in the center of the crater, you climb into the old water hole, and head toward its source. In the center of the extinct pond, you find a young girl with wide brown |
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| eyes sitting on the dried mud by a small pool of water, a small, purple-and-gold hatchling nearby. The girl is apparently trying to smother giggles in her hand, either trying not to offend the little one's pride or trying to avoid giving away the game. The dragonling is on all fours, stallking--rather clumsily, you have to admit, but he is only newly hatched--a small, mouse-like creature. The mouse is obviously aware of its current situation, for it looks at the dragon from the cornor of its eye as it continues to gather the heads of dried grasses. The little one finally pounces, misses completely, and lands in a tangle of legs, tail, and wings. The little mouse scurries off without even dropping a grain.The girl bursts into laughter, and after a momment of injured dignaty, the hatchling joins in the |
| Background from Absolute Background Textures Archive. Image of moon from Webshots. Deidre adopted from Sunshiney, sadly closed. |
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| giggling as she tries carefully to untangle him without catching one of his sharp horns. You yourself can't help but grin, and soon find yourself chuckling as well. Both the dragon and the woman look up, the litle one with curiousity and maybe a little suspicion, the girl with an expression that leaves you with no doubts that she won't hesitate to defend the hatchling against anything trying to |
| harm it. Seconds later, the expression passes, and Deidre's face breaks into her surpringly sweet smile. "I remember you!" she cries, as the dragon examines you with a blatent stare. "You were here when Daithi was an egg I was looking in on, right?" she explains, gesturing toward the tiny, very clear puddle in the middle of the pond. You nod and greet the dark-haired maiden, climbing down to sit with them. The hatchling decides you're harmless and not worthy of attention, so he begins to playfully stalk the edge of Deidre's skirt. She reaches out and rubs the scales on the nape of his neck where he can't reach, and he drops where he is, eyes half-closed with pleasure. The girl smiles, obviously enjoying this activity almost as much as the little one. "This is Daithi, one of the Eclipse Dragons I told you about," she says, glancing up as the little one notices a hopping insect a little ways away and begins imitating it. You smile a bit as Daithi scrambles over the edge of the basin and disappears into the grass after his latest prey. "I think I'd best get going after him, but here," She pulls a large book out of the grasses behind her and hands it to you. "This has the story I told you last time you visited, as well as information about Daithi, his family, and Eclipse dragons in general. Come back soon to visit!" she calls over her shoulder as she climbs out of the pond after her active charge. |
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