Tell me what you guys think. Feel free to comment before you have read the whole thing. ^_^
A soft voice floated carelessly up and along the breeze, over the treetops of the Ountberry woods of Kelrto. It was high-pitched, but not shrill; quite pretty, but nothing out of the ordinary. It told of love:
“Will you ever realize
How every day I see
The things you might have thought about
Before you thought of me?
I know I’m not the only one
I know I’m not for you
But let’s pretend that we can see
The reason to be true.”
The girl, having run out of words, stopped singing. She concentrated with a furrowed brow, trying desperately to understand the meaning of the sounds. “Thought… about…” she muttered thickly, the awkward noises numbing her tongue like ice. The song she knew only from the two village girls who came and picked flowers during the spring. They ran through the forest, their thin, pale little legs flailing behind them; they tore loudly through the undergrowth, scaring the animals. It was only once that they settled down enough for Tewhi to get a good look at them. She watched them from behind a tangled bush, her wild face masked by shadows in the moonlight. They started a fire in a small clearing by the weeping willow who hung her hair over the stream, and by its flickering light one held the other’s fair head in her lap, stroking her dark tresses and singing to her as a lover plays upon his pipe. So hauntingly as to rouse goosebumps upon the skin of a phoenix, she sang. The syllables had stuck in Tewhi’s head; though the sounds held no meaning for her alone, the emotions evoked by them in song were real enough. Longing, pining… Tewhi had never experienced it herself, but she knew how it might be because spring was also the season for the woodcreatures to find mates. The air was thick with the scent of possession. The girl sang the song many, many times, until the sleepfae tugged lovingly at her eyelashes, and she, too, succumbed to the night.
But now the time for flower-picking was far off. The seasons in Iberiis were long and extreme; and here it was, approaching Midwinter…
Suddenly there blew a freezing wind from the east, whisking the last of the dead leaves up into the air and carrying them away with gentle hands. These hands also seemed to have fallen in love with the girl’s wispy hair: it courted these long strands by carrying them up over her shoulder and blowing all around them, causing them to wave as one, like a single beautiful banner. They shone in the meager sunlight, the intoxicating color of wine.
Slowly she stood, gazing about herself, for she had been sitting at the base of a tall tree. It stretched almost endlessly upwards like those all around it, bare for the winter, save for long, winding strands of ivy that dressed it in elegant green. The wind ruffled and played with her skirt as well, and it billowed around her long, dark legs wildly, showing off its colors: the dark blue of night, and the pale blue of a cloudless summer sky.
Her hands floated gently to her breast, as if holding something there; invisible blossoms. She remained as still as a statue, save for the mere rise and fall of her chest as she breathed; but fear was trembling in her heart and in her thoughts. Presently the sky began to darken with clouds in subtle shades of grey, and not long after, delicate lacey snowflakes began to fall.
There was peaceful silence. She leaned her back against the great wooden guardian, inhaling and exhaling deeply. The bitter air stung her throat and stroked her lungs with needle tips. The mist formed by her breath materialized and dissipated rapidly, though her breathing was slow. A small amount of snow accumulated on her lashes and settled contentedly in her hair, and the fierce cold wind whipping all around her brought out the color of her cheeks and lips. In this state, she looked a suffering angel, pure of heart and innocent in nature, with skin like tanned leather, and an expression dark as prophecy. And then the winds stilled….
She started as she felt the gentle touch of a paw upon her hand. Her eyes shone such a stunning silver that it almost looked as if they were competing with the sun for brightness.
Tilting her head downwards to look at the creature, she sighed in exasperated relief his name. “Gafn!”
It wasn’t quite a cat, and it wasn’t quite a dog. It looked somewhere in between in size. It had the softest blue nose, and eyes that were twins of the girl’s. A silver horn protruded from a downy, sea green forehead. On top of his head, along his back, and on his breast was a section of exceptionally poofy fuzz, which was also powdery blue, like the nose. It was dusted lightly with miniscule flakes of the falling snow. His ears were shaped oddly like wings, and indeed were backed with down feathers. They were the same blue, but a slightly darker shade. His paws were a delicate childish pink. He had the tail of a lion, with pale bronze tassels, colored like the fur on his tummy. His narrow wings, the green of his body on their underside, were spread wide as he used them to float at the girl’s waist. The long, thin flight feathers on the tops of them were the hue of her hair.
She yanked him out of flight and pressed his body to hers in a tight embrace. Her eyes squeezed closed in sincerity, she didn’t see that Gafn couldn’t breathe due to her fierce display of affection. Only when a loud, sharp ‘squeak!’ rent the still winter air did she let go, only to wring her hands in agony and cry:
“Gafn! You-you--" She finally sighed in exasperation and jabbed herself in the heart. “ANGRY!”
Gafn, massaging his aching chest and throat with tiny forepaws, declared, “Tewhi, here I am now.”
Tewhi screamed in frustration, tears gleaming painfully in her bright eyes. Gafn plopped down on the ground in the rising snow, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “You cry always.”
“NOT always.” Tewhi put her fists on her hips and pouted.
“I fly to Town. I was there.”
Tewhi made a throaty, incredulous sound, raising her eyebrows at her dragon. His ears drooped in shame. “I-“
“You DON’T. You don’t, and you never, never do likethat. You-" She shook her head, unable to comprehend her own emotion. “You be a tray.” Tewhi vented and vented, all the while her eyes gleaming angrily.
Gafn looked up at her, looking ashamed, and hurt by every word, no matter how incoherent the context. Suddenly he turned away from her, cringing with his face in his paws. He began to cry.
Tewhi’s speech slowed, and then stopped. She could see his chest heaving in and out with sobs. The pathetic squeaking sounds filled her heart with remorse, and she felt her expression soften; but her opinion on the matter was solid still.
“Gafn....” She uttered at last to pierce the silence.
“Calm, are you now?” he asked her with uneven breath, gasping and wiping his dragon tears away.
“Calm,” she agreed readily. “Not wanting pain.”
“I know you be upset,” Gafn told her. “But anyway I leave, for your good,” he said, standing up on hind legs to place a paw gently against her breast. He repeated himself slowly, raising his eyebrows at her.
Tewhi could no longer speak even her own slightly coherent English. She knelt down beside him in the snow, gathering the few words she could use. “Yelling for your good, Gafn,” she said softly, stroking his puffy breastfur. “Town… being evil, bad, danger, hate. Fear…” she lowered her head, suppressing tears. “Fear likethat you not come again.”
“I know Town is dangerous. But I am powerful. Your no understanding.”
Tewhi stood suddenly up, clenching fists held stiffly at her sides, face flushing deep with rage. “NOT being annidiot!”
Gafn’s eyes widened and he shook his head rapidly. “No, no, no, Tewhi!” Gazing at him doubtfully, she crossed her arms and sat back down beside him. “Tewhi, you’re being very smart. NO human’s understanding. Good?”
She shrugged and nodded amicably enough, but said nothing further except “Being smart, yes.” She seemed to consider something of great importance, her gaze focused on something nonexistent in the distance.
After several moments she said, “Still fear.”
“I make it go away,” Gafn smiled sincerely. “I have good thing I tell you.” He crawled into her arms, and their bodies fit together as they always had.
Before Gafn could begin, Tewhi parted her lips to speak, but her breath caught in her throat and her words stumbled. “My pain,” she managed softly. It was the closest thing to an apology that she had.
“It’s okay,” he said a little dismissively, understanding what she meant right away. “Just listen.”
And she did. Using short and simple words, he described for her the woman he had met, what she had told him, and why, exactly, Tewhi should return to the town with him.
“Mama?” Tewhi asked, confused. “But Mama, she…. Ate… by house…. when orange was. Hot,” she added desperately, eyes filling with tears of frustration. Gafn put a paw over her heart.
“It’s okay, Tewhi. She died. It’s name ‘fire.’”
“Fire,” Tewhi repeated aggressively. She held up a hand to keep him from speaking while she considered her next words carefully. “Mama not being… here,” she said tentatively. “Not having her… where. Not seeing her. Never…” She paused for a long moment, and then suddenly began to cry.
Gafn looked up at her with a slightly open mouth, completely taken aback. She twisted fists beneath her eyes and stood, allowing Gafn to fall from her lap and form a heap of undignified green and purple fur and feathers in the snow. He hurriedly picked himself up, shaking flakes of snow from his eyes. “Tewhi?” he asked quietly, but she could not hear him.
“Not leaving trees,” she sobbed at last, having worked herself into complete hysterics in a matter of minutes. “Not leaving! Never! Loving walking and-and seeing and trees and… and…” At this point, her speech declined into a string of nonsense words and sobbing.
“Tewhi,” he said, exasperated. She did not respond. Gafn gave her a few seconds, suppressing a sigh, and then finally he shouted her name. “Tewhi!”
She looked down at him, startled. Her eyes gleamed brightly in their tears, and wetness was frozen on her face like dry wax.
“You cannot do this,” he said, slowly and clearly. “You be a woman!”
Tewhi appeared ashamed and she blushed slightly, though it was hard to tell when she had such tanned skin. “A woman?” she asked nervously, shuffling her booted feet about in the snow.
“A woman, like Mama,” Gafn affirmed. “See?” He gestured to her breasts. “There. You be a woman now.”
She folded her arms over her chest protectively and simply turned from him, beginning to walk away at a brisk pace. Gafn tripped awkwardly into flight, hurrying after her. He panted as he flew by her side in the cold air, and did not say anything further.
After a minute or two, they reached a frozen stream. Its surface caught the winter light and shone dully, layers of ice obscuring the view of shadows that flitted about beneath it. Rocks protruded at odd intervals, peeking out from beneath their still place in the world. A small cave mouth further upstream was the source of water. Tewhi trudged through the snow and fell to her hands and knees, crawling inside. Gafn followed, trotting somewhat indignantly.
“Tewhi.” He said confrontationally. She slid forward upon the surface of the river, ignoring him, until she came to a bank on her right where mounds of nuts and fruit were lying on the rocks. There were three or four small holes in the ceiling of this part of the cave, and gentle rays of sunlight tumbled through to illuminate patches of snow on the dry ground. Tewhi climbed into a large nest of fallen tree branches lined with old animal furs and old feathers and curled up, shivering slightly. He came to lie on top of her, limbs askew, trying to warm her up. There was nothing but the sound of water dripping in far-off chambers for a long while. Then, darkness fell suddenly as always, and after that there could be heard the distant sound of fairys dancing their night dances in the sky.
Gafn jumped a little bit when she spoke again; he had thought she was asleep. “Being a woman now,” she said softly. “Going and… and seeing Mama now. Good now… my pain.”
He nuzzled her in the dark and she wrapped her arms around him, drawing him closer to her. His fur was warm on her body and she giggled when his tail brushed her knees, tickling her. The sound echoed in the cavern for a moment, and then their bodies relaxed again.
“Town?” he whispered with a sigh.
Behind him, she nodded, squeezing him. “My Gafn,” she said. “Not there fear.”
Gafn fell asleep with a whimsical dragon-smile on his lips, Tewhi with an expression of mild concern, though when he began to snore gently in the dark, she laughed a silent laugh in her sleep, and then fell into a pleasant dream.
