Once In Light

"If you're sure," Aiko shrugged, putting away the coins. She had really good hearing with fox ears and wasn't sure what Terran had meant by "incredible" but she chose to shrug off the thought. When Terran held open the door for her, Aiko grinned. "You're a lady, too, but thanks." The door being held open for her surprised her,since she wasn't used to such actions. Aiko nodded at her what she now considered a friend as she walked inside. Funny, she hadn't known Terran that long and already considered her a friend- almost sisterly, in fact. She walked in, passing two dragonlings. "Excuse me," she said, this time holding back a yell.

"Huh... the rabbit isn't here, yet," she thought alloud, stopping in front of the pair. She turned back to face Terran, "See a clear table?"

Terran smiled back. "I'm sure I'm sure. And let me rephrase myself." Terran started as Aiko entered. "More ladylike ladies first." It was really no secret that Aiko was a bit ladier then Terran. Once the pair was inside Terran kept close to Aiko, as if afraid of being lost in the huge room full of people. The tavern was packed so she barely noticed the dragonling couple push past them. Terran heard Aiko mention something about a rabbit, perhaps her new friend made plans to meet up with the rabbit that had previously fainted at her exchange with the raptor. However Terran didn't have too long to think before Aiko asked her if she had spotted an empty table.

Terran hummed softly as she looked around the room, standing on the tips of her hooves to see better. "Aha!" She exclaimed, pointing to a small table near the back corner. "Found one! And the view of the stage isn't too bad either!" Terran then began to pick her way though the crowd, looking over her should as to not loose Aiko.

Kader was finally getting to eat, and he was very glad. He hadn't bothered to do any more than cook the rabbits to the point of being safe to eat -or perhaps burnt- but he still thought they were delicious. After a moment, Kader decided he was full. He hadn't eaten everything, of course, so he shrugged and placed it in his ice box. It occurred to him that if he hadn't bought the thing, he would've wasted a lot of food over the past few years.

Once he was satisfied with the arrangement of food in his ice box, Kader went into his room. On the nightstand there was a small stack of papers, roughly sewn together into a book. It was handwritten, Kader's handwriting, to be exact, and on the front it said 'Light's Escape' in large letters. It was Kader's own adaptation of a popular story. He hadn't changed much, but he had notes on tone and body language scribbled across the entire thing. Of course, he never told a story the same exact way twice, but it never hurt to practice some. He opened the book and began to read aloud.

It hadn't taken him long to reach the town. After all he was quite large and fast. All he'd needed was his bearings and he was good to go. He's ran most of the way towards the town. He was curios as to what was going on. A festival perhaps? Maybe. Hopefully they didn't break out into Worship of him this time. He about never got away last time a few fanatics did that. They'd apparently followed some old nearly dead religion. But that was decades ago.

Hey. Tell me what's ahead.

Um... Sure? What you want to know for? You never want to know!

This Time I do. So just tell me!

Ah, but that's the point. It would be telling!

Stop doing that. It doesn't suit you.

Fine. It see a great celebration. There.

That's it?

No. I'm just not telling you!

Uh..... I curse the day the gods stuck me with you.

Wha...?!

You know I'm not fond of you.

*Whimper*

I don't care if you cry. I prefer it if you were a bit more melancholy anyhow. Let's go. If you wont tell me I'm gonna have to find out myself anyhow.

Are you sorry?

Yes. And no I'm not going to try and sound sincere.

You take the fun out of everything

Yes I'm aware of that.

Fine. Let's go.

He continued forward towards the bedlam that was the town. It still wasn't in sight, but it was close. He simply had to crest the Ridge he was winding his way up. It was a steep slope, but to him it was just a mildly challenging climb. Then he crest the ridge.

Before him was a large, but not vast sprawl of huts, houses, and what passed for a commercial district in towns like these. It was clear immediately that there was indeed something going on, but it could simply be a lively town, and not anything specific. Either way both of his heads wanted to go down there. One to satisfy his curiosity and the other simply to have a bit of fun. And meet new friends.

Often the best place to meet new folks and to find out what there is to do in a town is the local Tavern. He didn't even need to ask or guess if the town had one. He knew from experience EVERY town had one.

So he headed down toward the town below. He dared not run and so kept a steady walking pace. Running into a town could cause panic. He didn't want that. A good first impression is a good thing to have. And causing panic wouldn't do that for him. He's assumed that him walking into to town would cause a lot of folks to stare at him with him being a massive two headed hell hound beast. But as he started into the edge of town he noted that while he did get a few odd looks nobody really cared. He listened in a bit and noted that it seemed that he wasn't the only unusual creature in town. The town gossip seemed to be all about it. All it did was made things less problematic for him.

It seems that we aren't the only old ones in town.

I knew that may be the case.

Yet you didn't tell me? Why?

'Cuz it would've been telling.

It would've allied my fears some.

No. It would've made you worry about confrontation.

Perhaps. Is this what you meant by 'Friends'?

I'm not sure. Yes and no. They may be, but there are others I see that may be of importance.

Indecisive I see.

Yes. I've told you what I see is never the future, but simply what it may be. Our very standing here too long may change it.

Yes, yes. I know. You've been wrong many a times.

It's not my fault.  Such things are beyond my control. Now we need to learn the location of the largest meeting stop. I assume that will be a place of Merriment and drinking.

A tavern. Yes. They are often as such in towns like these. But they are also the best place to acquire information.

Well?

I see many a paths. Most lead towards the seedier looking area of town.

Well let's go!

I shall lead the way.

Navigating such a town is often a chore for newcomers, but for him it was simple in the He could see the paths that lead not to where he wanted to go. He simply assumed that the paths with the greatest travel would lead him the either a market place or a tavern .Not long after he approached what they assumed was The Tavern. He hesitated before entering. Instead he chose to wait outside for a moment. The place was crowded. Fill to the brim with may people of the many races of Arcan. He's likely wind up knocking over someone.

(Edit: Kudos to who ever spots the movie reference!)

The day progressed as usual, with most of the population slowly finding its way into the tavern. As the sun progressed across the sky, a large amount of people found themselves there for lunch. Those who left after lunch found their ways back to the tavern as the sun went down, and it was just touching the horizon once again when Kader left his house.

He did not take his book with him. He hated telling a story with an obvious script. As the town was starting to get dark, a few people were going up and down the streets, lighting the occasional lamp. Other than those small points of light, the roads were quite dark already. Kader was almost invisible until the moment he opened the tavern door, letting warm light come from inside and illuminate his face, even hidden under his cloak. He walked up near the stage and patiently, silently, waited for the musician there to finish his song.

After they showed up at the tavern they got their breakfast and went about their day together haveing fun, found a place to stay in a near by inn, moved their stuff, and came back to the tavern for dinner since they had a good time eariler that morning. They walked into the tavern holding hands and found a empty table near the bar and grabed a seat.

"Whew what a day I had fun what about you honey?" said Farkas

"Yeah but now im hungery for something to eat then I wan't to go pass out on a nice comfertable bed."

As if on cue a waitress appeared and and began to ask for thier order.

"What can I get you?" asked the waitress

"Hmmm Ill have one your best steaks burnt to a krisp and a rather large leg of meat and two Pumkin Ales for me and my wife."

"Ill be back with your order in a minute."

"Sooo now what?" Unessa said with a sigh she was feeling rather bored and was hoping to get drunk pretty soon.

"Well I guess we wait and enjoy the music" After several moments pass by they listen to the music and there order arived and after eating till they were full and started on their ale.

"Hmm this is pretty good its all pumkiny" Farkas said with a laugh

"I hope you will be ok to make it to the Inn tonight because I know I won't be someones gotta get us there tonight and if theres one thing i've learned it's never drink and portal ever try casting a portal while falling from the sky?"

"No but I do remeber being on the reciveing end of the portal and catching a falling angel."

Unessa just smiled and gave him a kiss and finished her ale before ordering a couple more. Then she relaxed and sighlently enjoyed the music.

Somehow over the coarse of the day Terran had migrated for the table to the bar, dragging Aiko along with her. She stated that since she was seventeen, and seventeen was the legal drinking age for fauns, she would be getting drinks. After a bit of arguing with the bartender, she finally received her first drink of the evening, which later became the first of many. She was purposely buying the cheapest beer on the menu, since she was severely lacking coins herself.

Now having too many drinks to count Terran proper herself against the bar, her furred legs wrapped around her chair and her hand blissfully clamped around Aiko's. She swung their arms together in wide arches, almost knocking into several people. "Man Aiko you sure know how to party!" The faun said with a grin. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her eyes were half lidded. Terran watched as the band left and a rather familiar face took the stage.

Kader took the stage, smirking under his hood.  He had spent the time waiting for his turn coldly ignoring the more... enthusiastic patrons, but once he was on stage, his demeanor changed.  While normally very reserved, Kader was a very good storyteller.  He was not, however, particularly animated.  It was all in the subtle body language and tone of speech, the reflection of light in his pale yellow eyes.  He didn't pull back his hood, leaving him looking almost exactly the same as normal.  He bowed.

"Good evening, everyone," he said.  His voice wasn't loud, but it could carry far when he wanted it to.  "Today," he continued dramatically, "I will be telling my take on a popular story."

His smirk widened into a somewhat evil looking grin, showing a few sharp teeth.  "Light's Escape."

A moment passed where Kader let that sink in.  Almost everyone who enjoyed listening to stories had heard it, but he prided himself on telling popular stories without boring people.

"It all began," he said, gesturing with one arm out to his side, "just over sixty years ago.  In the highest security prison on the Southern Continent.  The dark dungeons under the Golden City..."

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Meanwhile, outside of Springvale, something rather odd happened.  The air shimmered, and with it came a wave of sound, as if part of a conversation.  This, of course, startled the birds in the area.  If someone in the town happened to be looking the right way, they would see an oddly large amount of birds bursting through the tops of the trees and scattering.  That was hardly the most interesting thing going on.

It wasn't much longer before the air shimmered again, but this time it went through.  It wavered an odd silver color before revealing three small tents, already being taken down and packed up.  At the edge of the previously invisible camp, there was a dark gray feline, striped with pale gray.

Gerrin pawed at the runes, painted onto the grass in black ink, his favorite marking.  He could feel the spell ending, and knew that he would not have been able to hold it all day without the large supply of charged crystals he had been given.

As their feline companion cleaned up his spell runes, the other two members of the party gathered up their things.  Kabiri was gathering up several large, heavy bags, and tying them across his back.  It was rather hard for him to carry anything otherwise, being a very large snake.  Lessya, on the other hand, was taking down their tents.  No one said a word, they had done this more than enough times to know what happened next.  But first they had to remove all trace of themselves from the forest.

Aiko just stared in shock at Terran- drinking one glas after another after another of beer. She, personally, had never been one to drink. For one, she found it unhealthy and for another she was really quite terrified of what she would say if ever drunk. She was tempted to tell Terran to stop halfway through, but held back. She wasn't sure how much alchohol was normal for a faun. Now that Terran was quite drunk, she realized the amount of drinks one should be permitted to have without getting drunk is about the same for everyone. "Yes, well, um... no more drinks for you, 'kay?" Her tail waved around in worry as she apologized to people almost hit by Terran.

It was then Aiko looked at the stage and saw Kader preparing to tell his story. She scooted around in her seat to face the stage, her ears pointing forward with attention. "That's Kader, from earlier," she explained to Terran before lifting up one hand and waving at the raptor on stage. She smiled, before adding in to her sentence directed at Terran, "Ready for a story?" She was sure the story was going to be good- Kader seemed so confident in his storytelling skills, he had to be good, right? She was correct. From what Kader was saying, it was a story she had heard before. But his version was so much more detailed and colorful in words... she couldn't help but listen. Aiko leaned forward in intrest.

Luci plodded down the dirt path. She thought to herself, Oh great, nighttime. It was getting rather dark as her slightly aching four legs repeated the motion that she had been preforming for about five hours now, walking. Walking bored her, especially when there was nothing concentrate on besides dragging her big paws across the dirty ground. She had a very slight limp to her step. Her stocky makeup resulted in small endurance levels, therefore, walking wasn't her choice of travel. She had seen a few birds on her journey, as they mocked her chunky body. There was no point in arguing since, well, they were birds. Her plates weighed her down a fair amount. The gems chimed in her pouch attached to her harness. Being a jeweler that did mostly everything by herself had its downsides, no one to talk to, no one to keep her company, no one to help her with her hard work. Although this lead to her getting all the profits and credit. Luci had woken up fairly late in the day, thus having the result of reaching the town late at night with a decrease in profits. She was a bit angered with herself. Why did she have to sleep so late? She went to bed fairly early as well. She reached a point in the adventure where she found a feline. She passed her and her runes, ignoring them. She had no business talking to some stranger, some cat that probably didn't want anything to do with Luci anyway.

Kader didn't aknowledge Aiko, but he did see her.  He was busy weaving a tale, and it was far from a pretty one.  He was telling the story of Sasha, who had almost been brought into her cell before she attacked her guards.  He had just reached a lull in the story, switching scenes to a nondescript character.

"Meanwhile, in the pitch black streets of the Golden City by night, a young dragon walked alone.  He was just heading home from a night exploring the wide city.  As he walked, he glanced to his sides.  Suddenly-" and here Kader himself jumped slightly, his eyes trying to bore straight through his audience, "he saw a flicker of white light out of the corner of his eye."

Kader let just the tiniest moment of silence pass before he continued dramatically, bending over slightly to give the appearance of stalking, silence.  "The dragon was quite startled, of course, he hadn't thought anything would be there.  He barely had two blocks left before he could get home, and so, nervously, he picked up his pace..."

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"Move!"

Lessya was barking at her colleagues.  Or at least, coming as close as she could, considering she was a drake.  "We don't have much time."

Kabiri rolled his eyes.  Even in the dark his pupils were near-invisible slits, and his neon green eyes seemed to glow, reflecting even more light than a feline's.  "We got all night," he said, beginning to be aggravated.

Lessya hissed, "yes, but it is going to take all night.  so hurry!"

The three continued their walk in silence.  Gerrin appreciated the silence, himself, and Kabiri was too scared of his group leader to speak.  Not while she was in that mood.  And so not a sound was made as the group approached the gates of Springvale.

"Halt!" a guard called from his post by the gate, "who goes there!"

Lessya chuckled.  "Oh, nothing.  Just a nightmare..."

With that, her eyes flared bright white, and a wave of magic spread out from her.  It hit the silver amulets, depicting the moon, that Kabiri and Gerrin were wearing, and passed by harmlessly.  However, when the invisible wave hit the guards, they slumped over almost instantly.  Sound asleep.

Lessya smirked, her eyes going back to their usual aqua color, and lead her group into the unguarded town.

Terran stuck out a pouty lip when Aiko cut her off. "Gosh, fine mom." She said in a mockingly Whiney voice. The bartender would allowed to finish the drink she was on before taking the glass away. Without any promise of a refill Terran turned back towards Aiko, rubbing her eyes, still swinging their arms together. She watched as the raptor, apparently the one she met earlier, took the stage with a great amount of confidence in his story telling ability. Terran looked around lazily before he started the locals seemed excited. Maybe this guy wasn't half bad at what he did. But in all reality Terran was too drunk to care.

As the storyteller, whose name Terran forgot already, pranced about and told his story Terran followed him with her eyes although she always was a few seconds late for him to suddenly turn and change direction. Her ears would sometimes be alert to hear the story and sometimes would be flopped over on the side of her head. Terran then switched her hazy vision to Aiko, who seemed to be enjoying the story. Terran sniffed again, holding back a hiccup, trying to follow the story to the best of her ability.

After several drinks Unessa was feeling tipsy and tired she had been nodding on and off for awhile. she coulden't help but listen to the storyteller weave his story keeping everyone's attention. She could easily tell he was a wordsmith the way he kept everyone's attention and expertly told the story. She tried to get up from the table but stubled alittle and Farkas got up to help her but she made him sit back down and sat on his lap before she put her feet on the table and closed her eyes drifting off into a peaceful drunken slumber. Farkas could easily tell she was tired and thought about going back to the inn but for some reason he decided to wait till the end of the story. He wraped his arms around her and held her tight to make sure she wouldn't fall off to the side and listened intently to the rest of the story.

He hadn't touched a drop all night. Something was afoot. It was in the air. It was in the very essence of the area. He hadn't any idea of what it could be and the thought of that terrified him. The future was a blur right now. It wouldn't come into focus. There were too many paths for it to take tonight. But even the far future was iffy tonight. Sure it was always changing and shifting about, but now it was a mess. He needed to be alert.

Time was a funny little thing. Many small things at the right time could change it's flow just the same as one single large event. He's never been one to try and make a large change in the course of it, but from time to time he's done little thing in hopes thing may turn out better than they might otherwise. Messing around with time always has unintended consequences.

But for now he was listening to the storyteller in the tavern telling his tale. He'd wondered into the place about the time the story had started. It was an old tale he'd heard many times and in many variations. No person even told it the same. But that was the beauty of it. He'd never grown bored of hearing the old tales for that reason. Sometimes it could be a small change, such as the tone or inflection, or it could be a large change to the story. He loved the old folk tale he heard out in the hinterland the best. They always seemed to be older, if less refined tales different than the ones most knew. They were same yet often had details left out elsewhere. Many times Grittier and cruder, but more beautiful for it.

At this point though he really just wanted to talk with someone.... Part of him any how

I wish everyone would just talk at once you know!

Sarcasm doesn't suit you.

I know. But I'm bored, This story is a great one, but It's better when you have a companion to speak of it with.

Am I not enough?

Nope. I always have you. So you don't count.

I see. It matters not. All they'd do is spout lies or try and use us.

Maybe. Not even I can tell what lies in store tonight.

Worrying.

Can you tell anything of the past?

Nothing worth noting. Just the usual debauchery you'd find in a place as this.

Alas. At least the Teller is excellent. I shall go back to listen to his exquisite tell.

Same. I like to see how others view the past.

"He was being followed, he knew it," Kader continued, his voice growing quiet, "occasionally he would see a flicker of light, but he could not tell what exactly it was. All he knew was that his pursuer was silent, and that meant they were smart..."

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Gerrin was painting lines almost frantically on the road in the middle of town. The diagram had many runes in it, but mainly consisted of one large circle around two others, and a very small circle along the edge. One of each size of circles were connected with double lines to to the remaining large circle.

Lessya looked on, analyzing each small rune. She didn't actually know exactly what it was meant to look like, but she knew what it was for. It was an amplification spell. The small circle would hold a crystal, to supply the extra power, and one of the large circles would have Gerrin in it, to cast the spell. The last circle, the one connected to the other two, would hold Lessya herself. She smirked, everything was going according to plan, Kabiri would make sure it stayed that way.

Aiko's eye switched from Kader to Terran. "What do you mean, 'mom'? You already are drunk- any friend would stop another at such a time!" she snapped, then noticing she had said the sentence a bit loudly, though it wasn't loud enough to drown out Kader's voice. "Sorry," she mumbled, placing her head on the bar and keeping her gaze on Kader as he told the story.

Her ears were flattenned against her head in embarrassment and annoyance. She shouldn't had snapped. Luckily Terran was drunk so she probably won't remember, right? Unless fauns have a different side-effect to intoxication then most. Either way, she still felt guilty. If it had been a stranger or aquantence, she wouldn't feel guilty at all for snapping. But Aiko was a kitsune, and kitsune are very loyal to their friends and try to cooperate with them and avoid conflict at alk times.

Kader was stalking across the stage, making no sound as his paws hit the ground. His claws, not retractable, were less than an inch from clicking on the solid wood of the stage, but they never did. He had drawn his cloak around himself, and was almost whispering as he continued the story.

"The young dragon had gone a while longer than before without seeing the flash, and was beginning to wonder where it had gone," he said.

"Suddenly," Kader shouted abruptly, breaking the silence that had settled over the tavern, "a flare of light blinded him. A glowing feline creature leapt out from a back alley, growling. It was almost too bright to look at."

He smirked, "the light emanating from Sasha illuminated the road for a block in each direction, and her blank blue eyes were full of hatred. The dragon backed away nervously as she advanced on him."

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Kabiri watched the group's surroundings carefully. His eyes, though slitted to near invisibility, had near perfect night vision. He didn't see anything, but refused to take his eyes off the roads.

Meanwhile, Gerrin was done with his runes. He carefully placed the power crystal in its small circle, then took his own place. He looked at Lessya, his expression easily saying what he couldn't be bothered to.

Whenever you're ready.

Terran kinda sat back after Aiko raised her voice like a child who had just been scolded. She frowned slightly, raising her eye brows. It wasn't that she was really upset over Aiko shouting at her, more confused. Maybe she was expecting for Aiko to not yell or maybe at least whisper. Terran decided not to let it get to her as she released Aiko's hand and went back to watching the story told by the raptor man. She had already missed part of it so by now she was totally lost.