The Forgotten Zodiac

Forin frowned at her. "Mask...is that a decoration of some sort?"

"Like earrings," Diana said quietly, peeking at Seria again. "He doesn't understand some things. I only summoned him recently..."

Forin started at the mention of traveling with them. He pondered it for a moment, then frowned again. "I refuse. I--"

"I want to go," Diana tugged on Forin's sleeve. "We...we have to repay her anyways, she healed me, didn't she?"

Forin stopped at this, then sighed again. "Yes, mistress. She did heal you. I cannot object with your desires, I can only follow and protect." He pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked at Seria. "Very well then. We will travel with you, though I begrudgingly."

Seria smiled softly at Diana, then stared flatly at Forin. "Trust me when I say that I asked you to come begrudgingly as well. It was mostly for the girl and her safety." She then turned on her heel and strode out, holding the door open for those that followed. "Coming?" she asked, speaking sweetly to Diana and rather sourly to Forin, though she was beginning to warm up to him. She did, after all, understand that he had been worried for his mistress. "A word of warning, however." she said. "You are not, under any circumstances, allowed to harm any of my friends. Watch yourself." It was obvious that she was talking directly to Forin when she said these things.

Forin snorted. "You and your friends are not, under any circumstances, allowed to harm my mistress." He countered. "That would be my only purpose for harming any one of you." He wouldn't outright say it, but they could beat on him all they wanted. But if Diana was harmed, Forin retaliated with everything he had. And he certainly had a lot.

Diana smiled a little bit and pulled on Forin's sleeve again. He crouched and she climbed onto his back. He carried her, practically effortlessly, out the door after Seria.

Seria smirked and said "Why would I do that? If I wanted her hurt, I wouldn't have healed her in the first place, nor would I be taking you both with me if I didn't think my friends wouldn't hurt her." She led the way back to the inn, which was a quiet walk, since none were really willing to talk to each other. Seria opened the door and walked in, holding it open for the others, then said "Wait here." and went upstairs. She marched down the hall, not bothering to be quiet (she was VERY tired by this time, which made her grumpy), and went to Nate and Luen's room. She opened the door and walked over to Nate, where she promptly tumped him over. "Wake up!" she said. "We've got company. Downstairs. Now." She then turned and marched back out, heading down without another word.

Nate was awake before she had turned over his chair. He landed easily on his feet, catching the chair so it didn't make any noise and wake up the others. He pushed the chair upright once more and followed Seria down the stairs. He stopped, blinking in surprise. "A summoner. How intriguing."

"Dragonian." Forin sniffed pointedly. "Watch where you're breathing."

"Naturally," Nate smiled a bit. He looked towards Seria. "Where did these two come from, then?"

"He kidnapped me in the middle of the night and forced me to go at knife point to a place where I could heal the child behind him, then I asked them to come with me out of concern for the girl. Goodnight." Seria said, then turned and went upstairs. She barely even realized that she passed Welk, who had woken easily at all of her noise. The blonde half-cat slowly made his way down the stairs, rubbing lightly at his crimson eyes. "What's going on?" he asked, yawning.

Nate watched Seria go, scratching the back of his neck. Werr was following Welk out of curiosity, though he was doing a better job of hiding his tiredness. "As far as I know, Seria was kidnapped to heal that girl there, and she brought her here because she was worried for her. The girl is a summoner, and that man is a summoned creature, and...yeah."

"What are their names?" Werr asked.

"Forin. My mistress is named Diana." He said briskly, after letting Diana slide off his back. She stayed behind Forin, peeking at the rest of them nervously.

Welk leaned against Werr, still tired from running around earlier. He was smaller than Werr and Forin, being only fifteen, but he was tall enough. His tiredness didn't stop his eyes from widening as Nate spoke, however. "Kidnapping? Really?" he said, glancing over at Forin while at the same time sliding a few more inches behind Werr. Just a few. "Summoner...that's a witch, right?" he asked. "Neat. Now we have a full house!"  He smiled, then yawned again, flicking his tail once. "I wish Cynyr were here." he said. "He'd like talking to a witch. Maybe. What do you think, Werr?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a witch, alright..." Werr nodded, his mind racing. A summoner...that was much more complex than healing or wind-powers. "Um...what all can you do, Forin?"

"I specialize in subtle removal." Forin said bluntly.

"...what kind of removal?" Werr just blinked at him.

"The kind that doesn't show on the outside. I can take out your heart without breaking your skin, human. Or your brain. Bones, muscle...souls, magical abilities, and to some extent, knowledge and memories. The more complex the item, the longer the removal takes. And the more painful it is." He said all this in a light tone, as though it didn't matter at all. "It's a refined version of Shadow Magic, something only creatures of Tartarus can use."

By the time Forin was finished, Welk was shaking. "He's not sleeping in our room." he whispered to Werr, tugging lightly on the boy's arm. "I don't know why Seria wanted to bring them along. He scares me." He then said "I'm going to bed. Right now." and turned and fled up the stairs in cat form.

Luen was next out, looking two times more exhausted than any of them. He pressed against the wall when Welk shot past, then carefully sat down on the stairs to observe.

((We need time passy to the next day soon. Not yet, but soon.))

Werr glanced behind him, watching Welk go upstairs, and Luen come down. "What is he concerned about?" Forin raised a brow. "I'm not scary. Yet. Would you like to see scary?" He asked curtly, his mouth curling into a smile, which seemed unnatural for his face.

"No, Forin," Diana tugged on his sleeve. "I don't want you to, don't scare them...I want to stay with them, remember?" She objected. Forin's smile vanished.

"Yes, mistress." Forin didn't even bother looking down at her. "You all look, and smell, exhausted. Perhaps you should return to your sleep."

Luen turned and went back upstairs at that, no longer concerned with these new people. A small scattering of frosty snowflakes was left in his wake, billowing softly around the room. A few of them floated over to Diana and melted against her skin, leaving tiny little drops behind. Luen hadn't done this on purpose, of course. Since he was so tired, he was starting to lose control of his powers. If they would have followed him up the stairs, they would have found snowflakes littering the ground and air behind him.

Diana nearly squeaked in fear, but she realized that it was only snow. She giggled, and Forin smiled more genuinely at the sound. "Well...alright then. I guess I can ask more questions tomorrow. Goodnight," Werr shrugged, turning and following Luen up the stairs. He glanced at the snow, but figured it would take care of itself by melting and such. Nate followed, and decided to take care of the mess himself. Namely by blowing hot air on it. The snowflakes dissolved instantly, and Nate went to back to bed (rather, his chair) without another word.

Forin watched them all leave, deciding to pull a few coins out of his pocket and leave them on the counter, to pay for a room. He and Diana went upstairs as well. Diana curled up in the bed and went right to sleep. Forin, however, didn't sleep. He never really needed it. Instead, he sat in the middle of the room and stayed alert as the night wore on.

((That's how you get Forin to trust you, by the way. Get Diana to like you. And Diana likes things like snowflakes. xD))

The next morning, Werr was woken to the feeling of a large blonde cat pressed up against him. Welk was completely and utterly asleep, but he must have known that he was near Werr, because he was purring like a maniac. He tail occasionally flicked and hit the boy on the leg, but other than that, he was out like a light.

((Hee hee hee.))

Werr lay there for awhile, smiling a bit. Eventually, though, he decided he should get up and see if the inn served breakfast. He rolled off the bed on the other side, creeping to the door, not wanting to wake up Welk.

Welk didn't stir, but the purring stopped almost as soon as Werr moved away. By some weird cat sense, he could tell that he was no longer next to the boy. It was quite strange, but funny.

Downstairs, Seria was eating a few pieces of fruit, in a totally different mood than she had been in hours earlier. She looked up when Werr came down and said "Good morning." She smiled happily at him, then asked "Is Welk up?"

Werr blinked in surprise, but shook his head. "Nope, he's not awake." He looked around. Airlia was eating fruit with Seria, and Nate was at the bar. "May I have some?" He asked Airlia and Seria, sitting down at the table with them.

Seria nodded and handed him an apple, then was sorely tempted to chunk one at Nate's head. She still didn't like his drinking.

Luen came downstairs moments later, still looking fairly tired. He was starting to develop dark circles under his eyes and a few pieces of his soft white fur from his tail fluttered to the ground as he walked. He almost looked sick, but Seria didn't sense a single thing wrong with him. He didn't even feel very tired. He walked over to the table and stared at the fruit, then asked quietly "Is there anything else to eat? I can stand fruit, of course, but it wouldn't be my first choice for a meal. I am half wolf, after all."

Seria nodded and ordered him some bacon to eat, then asked "Are you okay? You look terrible."

"Yes, I'm fine." Luen said, sounding a bit confused. "Why do you ask?"

"You're shedding," Werr pointed out, looking at the floor as he took the apple from Seria. The white fur stood out quite prominently against the wooden floor. "Do wolves normally do that?"

"And you look really, really tired. Did you not sleep last night?" Airlia asked quietly. "In fact...Werr, you look tired too!"

"Er...we were kind of woken up last night. You'll see when they get up, I guess." Werr shrugged.

"No." Luen said, glancing back in concern at his lost white fur. "We only shed in the spring. It's fall."

Seria frowned and said "I think you need to eat something. And I mean more than one piece of food."

Luen frowned in a sad sort of way, but nodded and said "I guess I can try." When Werr spoke of the two newcomers, he asked "How did they get here, anyways?"