Arielle
Introduction
"I welcome you to my small cottage stranger, and give you thanks for giving me company. Mostly I am alone tending to the forest and the creatures that live within it. Mortal and faerie alike, both accept my presence for I have a good heart. Seeing that you made it through the forest unscathed, the faerie deemed you worthy of coming into their glen."
Arielle rises from the chair seated on the cottage porch, and motions you to follow her into the woods.
With Arielle as your guide, you feel as though you aren’t walking in the woods, but walking through a gateway into the faerie world. Your sense of time is obscured, and you feel like you’ve been walking for at least an hour. Suddenly she comes to a halt, and turns around smiling at you.
“We have reached the faerie glen. You probably felt dizzied from traveling. Here, sit down on this toadstool."
She smiles at you kindly and motions to a large, flat topped toadstool which springs from the ground as she moves her hand. You sit down, agreeing that you do feel a bit dizzy and should rest.
Across from where you sit, another toadstool springs up, and Arielle sits down softly.
“Now we sit and wait for them to show themselves to us. While we wait, tell me of yourself. I do miss having human company. One cannot talk to them, as we can to each other."
As you wait and talk to this young woman, you feel at peace. Then you notice them. Small, blurry shapes zig-zagging their way through the trees and shrubs, circling around the two of you. One shape breaks off from the others and flies up to Arielle and perches on her shoulder.
Its tail wraps gently around her neck, and cocks its head to get a better look at you. Small black eyes stare into your own, staring into your soul and mind. Suddenly it speaks in your mind.
-You are new to this glen, I have not seen you before. Nor have my brothers and sisters that sit amongest the trees. I looked into your soul and mind, and see that you are indeed good throughout. The faeries chose wisely as always.-
“You see, these are the pygmy dragons. Unlike their larger kin that roamed the human world so long ago, they live in this glen. Before our ancestors cut down their forests, they roamed about our lands freely. Now that there are no more sacred glens that have not been destroyed, they came back here. The last place where they can survive.
This my dear, is where you come in. Most of these dragons itch to see the human world once again, but inorder to to leave, they must be bound to a single soul whom they deem worthy. You have been deemed worthy to be bound to one, and only one pygmy dragon."
The dragon unwinds its tail from Arielle’s neck, and leaps across the distance and lands on your own shoulder. Claws gently dig in to steady itself as it turns around. Arching its neck it looks you over more closely. With a slight nod, it rubs its head on your cheek accepting you.
-Come forth my brothers and sisters, for we have a new keeper amongst us.-
