Lyllia woke up slowly, and groggily looked around.  Seeing nothing but sand and water, she bolted to her feet.  Or would have, except for the severe dizziness that struck her the instant she moved.  After her head calmed, she tried to get up slowly, but had to untangle her legs from the seaweed wrapped around her lower body.  Before she got very far in that, she noticed a shadow gradually getting larger, slightly to her left.  Alarmed, she looked to the sky.
   The dragon that was apparently coming in to land scared her more than waking up on an unknown beach, and she hurriedly untangled her legs.  Then she quickly, albeit unsteadily, rose to her feet.  She was no coward, to meet her fate lying down.  Her heritage had given her strength, and if this was to be her death, she would go down fighting.  She glanced around for something, anything, to use as a weapon, but despite the fact that it appeared she had been shipwrecked, there wasn't so much as a splinter on the beach.  As she completed her circle, she saw a brightly colored blur streak towards her.
   The red and blue furred creature launched itself through the air, and landed just in front of her, taking up a defensive stance.  Both were taken completely by surprise, when the dragon landed and could barely stand for laughing.  Lyllia looked down at the rukel, confused.  "I'm glad you're still with me, Arlio.  At least, if this dragon decides to eat me, I didn't die alone."  Though she was still very confused; what kind of dragon has a laughing fit in front of it's prey?
   "Don't..."  laugh  "...worry,"  laugh some more.  "I'm not going to eat you.  I don't eat humanoids."  He looked at her closely.  "Are you human, or something else?"
   Still very confused, she answered, "No, I'm not human.  Humanoid, yes.  I'm an elf.  And why did you come down here if you're not going to eat me?"  She looked at the dragon skeptically.

Arlio was a gift rukel from Darkling Dawn

  "I saw you lying on the beach, and since there are often rough seas and shipwrecks, I decided to check and see if you were alright.  My name is Storm.  Who are you and where are you from?"  The dragon looked honestly curious, so Lyllia decided it was safe to tell him her story.
   "I left home a few years ago, and I've been traveling around for a while, but I never found anywhere I wanted to stay.  So I decided to try somewhere new.  I got on a ship and was headed for a new land.  Halfway across the sea, we ran into a huge storm.  I remember the ship hitting something, and starting to sink.  We all got in the lifeboats, and then I woke up on your beach.  The weirdest part is, there isn't any any debris on this beach.  I was really surprised to see that Arlio made it here with me.  I don't even know where here is."  The elf's green eyes were puzzled.
   "Well, I don't think you'll find much here that is familiar.  I don't know exactly how you got here, but you aren't on the same world that the shipwreck happened on."  At the elvin girl's startled gasp, Storm continued, "I'm sure of this, because Malnev, this planet, has no humans or elves.  It has humanoid beings, but they are also animal: the lynnx, wolv, pan-thar, faax, and beyr.  You are actually the first elf I have ever seen.  I haven't seen a human either, but I know we have a few coming here soon.  Would you like to come somewhere warm?  The den is not too far from here and there are sulanu who your rukel might like.  The catch is, you'll have to ride on my back.  Can you handle that?"
   She looked at him, sizing him up.  "Okay, I think I can do that."  She climbed onto his back and they flew to the cliffside cave that housed Storm and, at the moment, a clutch of anjir eggs.  And a black and white horse.
   "Actually, I did have another reason for bringing you here.  I need someone, a humanoid, to help me run this place.  We have the anjir, who will be hatching, hopefully soon, and I hope to get others to come and live here too.  With some luck, maybe they will clutch here, too.  I need someone to keep track of everything and keep things running smoothly, someone who won't scare the daylights out of the more timid candidates.  That and I don't think I have the energy to keep up with everything that needs to be done.  I think you'll do a better job being in charge.  You look like someone who can handle responsibility.  Do you want to have a test run?  Think about until the anjir hatch, see how things will work?"
    Lyllia's eyes sparkled.  "I think it could be fun.  What do you want me to do first?"
   "Actually, I heard about a meeting for agency leaders that will be happening soon, on another world.  I'd like you to go as my representative.  Then, if you decide you likethe job, you'll already have gone to you're first official meeting.  Are you up for it?" 
   She thought about it for a few seconds, then said, "Okay.  I'll do it.  How do I get there?"

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