| Shire looked above, sensing something nearby. Scanning the cloudless sky, she gasped as what looked to be a huge bat appeared out of nowhere... except it wasn't a bat; the neck and tail were too long... "Ryu desu," she whispered. Two smaller dragons appeared as well, one a dark night sky colour, the other a bright rainbow, even in the pale moon and starlight. She gasped and backed away into the thick underbrush, watching warily. They swooped down, landing surprisingly softly on the beach. A boy was seated on the dragon. She figured that if a human could ride it, it wouldn't eat her. Still, she wasn't all too sure about revealing herself. The boy dismounted, looking around. He thought there was nobody around, so he wasn't all too quiet. "What do you think, guys? Give your input too, CS, since you came along. This place looks nice," he said. The red dragon rumbled slightly, and Shire heard him say in her mind {Looks good to me. Pretty, and rather isolated. I asked some of the others who've been here} Others? {and they said the people who used to own this island have declared it a wildlife preservation and moved everyone off. After that the people had to leave, and then they forgot it was even here. No technology or even many resources, excepting charcoal and few people use that anymore, with computers and stuff.} Shire was a bit worried that she could hear what he was saying. He wasn't talking to her, and he wasn't even talking out loud. The dark coloured miniature dragon chirped, and the rainbow one seemed to agree. "Well, if we're all in accord, shall we make this our home? I don't think there're any inhabitants," the boy said. The great red dragon looked right at Shire then. {Ak'rei, I don't think we're entirely alone,} he said, moving towards her. Frozen, she stayed stiff, wondering if she just stayed still it would leave her alone. Blinking, the dragon reached out a forepaw and picked her up, pulling her out into the moonlight. The boy, Ak'rei she supposed, blinked in astonishment at her appearance. "Who're you? Is this your island? We can leave if you want," he said nervously. Only in his late teens, she noted. "No, it's alright. I'm Shire, and this is sort of my island. Me and my friend. It doesn't belong to anybody. They've all either forgotten it or want to forget it. Mostly my doing, but the cats needed the island more than them," she said, fairly protectively. She had taken great pains to capture and get rid of all the feral domestic cats and their people. The humans' oxen ran, well, lumbered, free now, making for a good food source, along with the existing rice paddies, overgrown and wild now. "Um, this may sound stupid, but do all Earth people look like you?" Ak'rei asked, shifting from foot to foot and staring at her a little cautiously. He'd seen various strange looking beings, it was impossible not to if you lived at Ryslen, but none quite like her. She smiled ruefully. "No, very few look like me. I am not human; most people look like you. Excepting the whole dragon thing. Nobody around here has a dragon," she said. "As for me, I'm no human. I'm a half-vampire, and about seven hundred years old. Can't remember exactly. Sometime in the twenty-second century." She had to smile at the boy's expression. He looked completely shell-shocked. "You're a vampire? Would... would you try to eat me?" he asked, gulping slightly but regaining his composure. The red dragon glared balefully down at her, his eyes turning as dark red as his hide. {She would not. I would eat her first,} the dragon said. "I'd like to see you try, my reflexes and strength are rather formidable. Besides, my friend wouldn't be too pleased," she replied, folding her arms. "Wait, you heard Nyroath?" Ak'rei asked, blinking surprisedly at her. "Well.... yeah," she said. "Why wouldn't I?" "Well usually people can't hear other people's dragons unless they talk to them directly," he said, rubbing the back of his neck confusedly. "Maybe you're one of the few who can talk to and hear all dragons. By the way, who's this friend you keep talking about?" "His name is Tsuki-Neko, he's a halfling like me, but not of the vampiric sort. Would you like to meet him?" she asked, and Ak'rei nodded. "Tsuki-Neko! Got some visitors, and not the poacher sort," she called. A pair of brightly glowing yellow eyes lit up in the tree foliage, closed slowly, and opened back up. A dark form leaped from the tree, backlighting against the moon before dropping to the sand. He stood, and in the moonlight his short tail and ears were clearly visible. They looked to be brownish, but it was too dark to tell much else about him. "I am, as you've heard, Tsuki-Neko. I'm the guardian of this beach and this island. I make sure nobody messes with my Iriomote cats. And... you are?" he asked, crossing his arms. "I'm Ak'rei, currently of Ryslen. This is Nyroath, my lifebond, and Aurezinc, my flitter. Oh, and Coloured Snow, he just kind of hangs out with us," Ak'rei responded, motioning to each in turn. "Shire said you were a halfling... what sort? If I'm not being rude, that is," he asked. "I'm a half demon, of the Iriomote cat sort. That's why I protect them, they're sort of my half siblings. Why are you here?" he replied. "Well, we're looking for a permanent home. Ryslen is just a temporary weyr until we get settled somewhere," Ak'rei said. "So far we haven't found a single place we all like except this one. Would we be allowed to stay?" <It is my opinion that they should return to the weyr with us. If she can hear all dragons, she should be Searched. He should come too,> Nyroath rumbled. "Come to the weyr?" Shire asked, astonished at the red dragon's unusual request. "Well.. I suppose. Would you mind, Tsuki-Neko?" The half-demon paused, frozen undecidedly. "I... I don't know," he said, looking back into the underbrush anxiously. Sensing what was holding him back, Ak'rei said, "If anything happens to the cats, we can always come back between times to prevent it... Technically speaking we aren't supposed to know about this, but it was in some of the older Records that I doubt anyone has bothered with for years. Do you want to come?" "Well... alright," he finally agreed. The three climbed aboard an obliging Nyroath. With a strong push-off and three powerful wingbeats, they were airborne. "We're about to go between, don't panic," Ak'rei shouted back just as they transferred to the freezing black nothingness that would take them back to Ryslen. |