The Forgotten Zodiac

The panther flicked his ears, then said "He asked about me and Seria's relationship, and about my magic powers. Nothing else." He spat the words, as if knowing he shouldn't have expected more.

Welk whimpered at his tone, then slowly spoke quietly. "I-I'm...okay..." He sniffled, and Werr could tell he had been crying. Inside the bear, the tiny silver figure lifted slender, tiny fingers and brushed the tears from his eyes, then slowly uncurled himself from his tight little ball along enough to swim around a bit in the darkness, until he bumped into an invisible wall. He put a hand sadly to it, then looked up and glided upwards in the darkness, again reaching an invisible, glass-like wall. He tapped lightly on it, then realized that he was trapped. There was no way to break the glass walls, which he didn't know was the orb that held his soul inside the bear. He sniffled despondantly, then felt little tears slip down his face. He sank down, slowly sliding against the glass walls until he came to a halt at the very bottom, curling back up into his little ball and covering his face with his hands.

"Oh, Welk..." Werr stroked the bear softly, wondering if the half-cat would be back to normal once they freed him from the bear and got him back in his own body. At this rate, he seemed stuck in a pit of depression and misery, and it hurt Werr to hear his friend crying like this.

Behind him, Sylas cleared his throat. "Good evening, son," He said quietly, watching as Werr tensed before turning around. "Have you thought about my question? Perhaps I should ask it again. Do you hate me?"

"I..." Werr looked away unhappily, not sure what to say.

"If you aren't prepared to give an answer, I can give you more time to think."

"No, I-I know my answer. I just..." Werr stammered, then looked away again. "Yes. I do."

There was silence for the longest time, and then Sylas stood, setting his hand on Werr's shoulder. "Good. What I did to you was unfair and completely wrong of me. I have no right to ask for forgiveness. And me barging back into your life like this is unfair, too. So...if you want, I'll leave."

"No." Werr said, looking up suddenly. "You...you don't have to leave! You didn't let me finish. I hate what you did, I just...I don't think I hate you. Don't go anywhere unless you have to, I...you and Leo are a good pair to have on the team..."

Sylas blinked at him, then smiled. "Very well then. I'll take my leave to collect a few plates of dinner, then." Werr nodded, watching as his father walked out of the door and was gone.

Cynyr watched Sylas go, then he heaved a deep breath and patted Werr's shoulder, saying "I'm proud of you." He flicked his tail, giving Werr a slight smile, then said "That was good." He looked down at Welk, gently bending his head down to press his cheek against the bear's head. "Shh, shh, don't cry," he soothed, pulling back. "It's okay, it's okay. Everything will be alright, I promise."

Welk, deep inside the bear, slowly wiped his eyes and stopped crying, just settling into silence.

Cynyr stroked the bear gently, saying "That's right. Calm down." He glanced up at Werr, wondering if they thought of the same thing; could they actually ever get Welk's body back? And would the lion be normal again?

Werr sighed and shook off his thoughts. Finally, he stood again. "I'm going to go spend a little more time with Naybrin. Something weird happened, I just feel...I don't know. It's hard to explain. I'm going to ask him about it, okay?" He smiled at Cynyr. "You can stay here with Welk, okay? You don't have to worry, Cynyr, I'll be with Naybrin. He'll protect me just as much as you do, after all."

Cynyr's ears flicked back at this, but his expression didn't change. "Alright," he said smoothly, holding Welk tight. "Yeah. I'll stay here..." He laid back down, returning his hand under his head and using the other to stroke Welk's head. The wind mage wasn't happy, Werr could tell, but could already feel Naybrin's feelings tugging at him... Filling him with joy and hope.

Werr hurried out to where Naybrin was, smiling already. Cynyr wasn't forgotten; but for the same reason he was feeling odd, he couldn't bring himself to feel guilty or sad about leaving the half-cat with the teddy bear. "Naybrin!" He darted out, grinning wildly and practically throwing himself on Naybrin's muzzle. "Hey, I had a question for you," He prodded Naybrin in between his eyes, smiling away. "I think you already know what it is, too. I can't really explain my question verbally, either. I tried to with Cynyr, but...it's hard. So yeah, what's happened to us?"

Naybrin purred happily and shifted to lay on his side, stretching out on the soft green grass. "What's happened is that we have formed a Heart-bond. We each can easily feel the mood of the other, and our thoughts and feelings are influenced by this. I, being bigger and more powerful, both in strength and magic, seem to have greater control over the Heart-bond. You are being affected by my emotions, but this could potentially be a dangerous thing. If you are nearby and are placed into a situation where you feel great fear, this will affect my judgement. If I were to feel horrible sadness, my emotions could overwhelm you. So it is a happy, yet dangerous, thing." He rested his head on the ground, sighing and closing his eyes contentedly.

"Well...I'm not sad yet. I'm not sad at all!" He grinned, hugging Naybrin as much as he could. "To be honest, I kind of want to go for a flight, but I'd rather not leave Cynyr when he's hurt...still, I really want to. Riding with you is a lot of fun," He smiled, laying his head against Naybrin's warm scales. If he was being truthful, he didn't want the happy feelings to stop. He had almost ran all the way back here, leaving even Cynyr, in order to have them back.

((It's more dangerous when Naybrin gets so sad over Werr's 'death', that Werr can feel it over the vast distance between them, and becomes more sad than scared. And Zela can't do anything to break the bond unless Naybrin and Werr are touching, so even though she knows Werr is alive, she sees no point in showing up again. xP))

((Ah, okay. I feel bad for poor ol' Cynyr. xD Ditched for a dragon.))

Naybrin thrummed with a purr that made Werr's entire body shiver with vibrations, then said "We could just go for a short fly. I doubt Cynyr would mind, he probably wouldn't even know." He didn't mean to have Werr ignore one of his closest friends, but the dragon knew how hard happiness was for Werr to come by. He just wanted Werr to be happy. "Come, let's go!" the icy blue dragon said, lifting his head with Werr laying on his large muzzle.

((xD It's Naybrin's fault!))

Werr held on tightly, excited. Happiness did indeed come few and far between for Werr. And this happiness filled him up so completely that it was unhindered by his thoughts or concerns for his kingdom, his people, his friends...even his worries about Welk were daunted by the joy that Naybrin had choosen to keep. Werr wasn't sure how it happened between the two of them, but the heart-bond was by far one of the better things to happen to him.

((Ha, he didn't do it on purpose, though. x3))

Naybrin smiled, then flung his wings out and leapt skyward, spiraling up into the clouds. He moved a clawed hand up and curled Werr into his hand, then, when he was able to simply glide, carefully held the boy up to his back, where he could nestle between the huge wings and shoulder blades and hold onto a great spike. The dragon king swept along through the clouds, his long form wavering and curving through the sky as he flew along. Another sensation that Werr felt with his happiness was a feeling of pride and courage. Naybrin knew he was the most powerful dragon alive, and he relished in it. He knew his limits, and they were such vast, powerful limits. He truly was master of the skies.

Werr wormed in front of one of Naybrin's back spikes, slowly managing to actually stand up on Naybrin's back. He laughed and cheered, though he hung onto the spike for dear life. He was pretty sure Naybrin would be able to catch him, but he didn't really want to take the risk of falling. But this was something he was pretty sure no one had ever done before; stood up on the back of a flying Naybrin. He closed his eyes, feeling the wind roar past his ears and push back his hair. It was incredible, to say the least.

Naybrin shook his head and released a giddy roar, sweeping downwards and then coming back up again, plunging around through the sky. Sunlight beamed through the clouds, turning them a soft golden color despite the bright blue around them. Naybrin slowed down in the air, moving into a calm, peaceful glide. He sighed, closing his eyes and feeling content and at-ease.

Werr sat down again, smiling wistfully at the clouds. "Naybrin...I'm glad we're friends," He said quietly. "I'm glad you saved me, that one day. If it weren't for you, Obelisk would have had his way with me, and I would be dead. But you saved me...I think in more ways than one, now. Now you've saved me from my own sadness, too." He smiled and rubbed Naybrin's scales.

Naybrin smiled and arched his head back, showing pleasure at the rubbing, then said "Think nothing of it, Dark-Eyes. Shadow-Step and Fire-Soul have done that more than I have." Cynyr and Welk. Werr's best friends and the people who took him into their family. "Never forget them, alright?" Naybrin said, turning his head around to nuzzle Werr's cheek. "We're all in this together."

Werr laughed. "How could I forget?" He smiled, rubbing more firmly. Not that it really mattered. "Right. I could never make it alone. I need my friends, and we all need to work together. You showed me that, remember? The tree. The formidable foe of the forest." He joked, grinning. Then he sat back and just watched the world go by as the sun set, casting red and orange hues across the sky. Soon, it would mirror the ground; some leaves were already starting to turn yellow colors. It was a bit sad, seeing autumn fall upon them again, but it was a good thing. Winter, however hard it may be, was important for plant and animal life all the same.

They really couldn't go much further. The bitter cold winds swept into the windows of the carriage, causing Diana to shiver in her large coat and gloves, given to her by Forin. Luna had a similar coat, and Forin had gotten himself a thick cloak (complete with hood) and snow boots. The horses were starting to have trouble, though; they only had their short fur to keep them warm, and that was starting to fail as they trudged into the thick snow.

Diana stirred as another bitter cold wind howled past the cracks in the wood of the carriage. She murmured something quietly, then opened her eyes and spotted Luna. "What...what's going on? What happened?" She questioned, clearly still feeling unwell. At least she wasn't vomiting or talking nonsense anymore.

Luna kissed the girl's forehead, then said "It's okay, don't worry, sweetheart. We're finding Luen, that's all." She brushed Diana's brown hair back, holding the girl's hand while trying to keep some of her focus on following Luen's aura. It was faint and flickering, she noticed as they got ever closer to where he was. Like he was dying from something, but this far into the snow, there was nothing left to hurt him but...himself.

"Forin!" she called to the Tartaran. "I'm losing the connection. The snow is making it hard for me to keep it."

"Keep trying," Forin called back. They were getting close, he could feel it. He knew it was so. "I know you can do it, Luna. Please, keep trying..." He said, shaking a little. It had nothing to do with the cold.

"Luen...we have to find him, that's right. That's right..." Diana leaned against Luna, shivering again. "Maybe we could try calling him?"

"The wind would carry our voice the wrong way," Forin answered.

"Maybe...set up a fire so he can see the smoke?"

"Not in this weather."

"Oh..." Diana looked down, disheartened. Forin sighed heavily, urging the horses to keep moving.

Luna closed her eyes tightly, straining her every fiber to hold on to the flickering connection. "That way," she said, sticking her upper-half up through the window in order to point out the direction to Forin. This brought her right next to him. A moment later, and she said "Augh, I've lost it. The snow is too deep and the connection is too weak. But I know it was in the direction I pointed in, and he's not moving from the place." She glanced up at Forin, then looked down at his hands for a moment. She lifted one of her hands, hesitated, then slowly slid her fingers forward and folded them around his fingers, holding on softly. Her fingers were trembling for two reasons, two that Forin could sense immediately. The first was from being so close to him, and the second was fear for Luen's life. Real, honest fear.

Forin drove the horses onwards, not moving his hand away. "Let us make haste, then." He drove the horses onward until they arrived at the place they could find Luen at. Or so Forin assumed. Either way, he couldn't push the horses much forward. If he wasn't here...things would be even more troublesome. And a bit more panicky, perhaps.