The Forgotten Zodiac

Luen shifted, pressing his back against Forin's side (to feel protected from behind, no doubt) and wrapping his arm fully around Diana, kissing her forehead repeatedly. "No, n-no," he stammered, moving his hand up to wipe her tears. "S-shh, it's okay. W-we're all safe now. Please, d-don't cry..." He gently kissed the tip of her nose, flicking his soft ears back. His fluffy little deer tail curled between his legs as he wrapped his arm around Diana and held her close, nuzzling his chin against the top of her head.

((Deer don't have that much of a tail. xD It's just a little tuft of fur. :T))

"I-I have to cry. I have to," Diana whimpered. "I have to cry everything out. F-Forin sa-said, when we f-first met...that te-tears carry unhappiness. A-and th-the longer you wa-wait to cry, the m-more it hurts t-to. Th-that's why I cr-cry a lot, and th-that's why I'm crying now!" She buried her face into Luen's shirt, weeping all the more.

((True. 936))

He whimpered and held her close, brushing her hair back with his single arm. Several times he instinctively tried to move his right arm before remembering that he didn't have it anymore. He pressed his cheek against her forehead, whispering that he loved her and that she could cry for as long as she wanted. He nuzzled back against Forin, sighing heavily.

It took several minutes before Diana started to calm down. She had tried to hold back, she really had. She hadn't cried in the cave. She hadn't cried after being healed from the stab wound. She had tried to be strong, she really had...but Forin had been right. It made her heart feel heavy, holding tears in. It only made her feel sad and, as a result of that, weak. And crying now hurt her heart and mind so much, it made her want to cry more, until the tears wouldn't come anymore. Then and only then did she calm down, her breathing steadying again as she pulled her face out of Luen's shirt and pressed her cheek to it, instead.

Luen nuzzled her gently, sighing. She wasn't afraid of him, not too bad, at least. Luna's explaination had helped a lot with calming them, convincing them that Luen hadn't deliberately harmed the little girl of his own will. He crossed his arm over her back and rested his fingers against the back of her neck, gently rubbing her back. He sneezed once, a quiet, tiny sound, then rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, slowly dozing off.

Diana stayed awake, like she promised Forin she would do. She sat up and wiped her eyes once Luen was asleep. "Thank you, Luna..." She said quietly, moving back to her chair. "For watching over them with me. You don't have to..."

((Smallpost, sorry.))

((S'okay.

I looove youuu~))

The Amnairian smiled and said "Think nothing of it, miss Diana. It..." She glanced over at Forin and risked a smaller, more seductive smile, one that held a different love, then she quickly shook it off and smiled at Diana again. "...was my pleasure," she finished, fluttering her wings a bit and fiddling with the silver bangles around her wrists. She ran her fingers through the blonde wig on her head, closing her eyes with a soft smile as she thought about it.

Boko let out a disheartened sigh. The magical barrier between the entrance of the cave and the outside world was too strong for his magic-resistant scales to break through. He had clawed it, head-butted it, he had even tried licking it for the longest time. Not very effective, but he was starting to get hungry. So now he was sitting right up to the barrier, his nose touching the wall of spells and enchantments. He had cried for the longest time, too. He knew it was useless, though. Timeouts...one of few things that the little Drakeling actually hated.

There was a quiet rustling of wings, then two large creatures landed outside. "Boko?" Vaira's worried voice came. She hated the timeouts almost as much as Boko did. "Boko, are you okay?"

"He'll be fine, dear," Zephyr's voice followed. "as soon as we get him out of this contraption." The two dragons approached the barrier, each looking worried, and Vaira at once moved to go forward, tears forming in her large yellow eyes. Zephyr threw out a wing and halted her, however, preventing her from taking the barrier down. "Boko," Zephyr said quietly. "We're going to let you out now. But I have to know if you understand why you were put in. Do you know?"

"'Cuz I hurted the rabbit." Boko backed away from the entrance of the cave, looking as guilty as ever. "I hurt him and so I was put in time out. Boko is not supposed to hurt people." He murmured, his wings and tail dragging on the floor. "Boko knows that." He suddenly sounded...angry. "But rabbit was trying to take Boko away! Boko did not trust the rabbit-boy, so Boko tried to kill him so I would not be taken away from papa. And now, time out! It is unfair, is Boko not allowed to protect myself?!" He demanded of his parents, his claws clicking against the stone floor as he started pacing around the cold cave.

"Boko, the rabbit was going to take you from me and return you to mommy," Zephyr said. "Was I baring my teeth to him? Was I striking with my claws? No, I was not. Was the rabbit attacking us? Was he using his weapons to inflict pain? If you listen to the flow of a being's energy, their life-magic, you can sense their intentions most of the time. You learn to read how they stand and how they speak. I know from time before how to understand these things, and it is my job to teach them to you. It is very good to protect yourself, Boko, but you need to learn when and where." He blinked his great red eyes at his son, then said "Perhaps I was a bad father to you. I should've taught you sooner the ways of spirit-reading. Maybe this was my fault..."

"Oh Zephyr, no!" Vaira said, flaring her wings upsettedly. "I am his mother, I should've taught him! I hold just as much blame as you."

He licked her muzzle gently, then said "I would be true if he were a female, but he is obviously male. It is the father's job to teach the young males of the litter, and in this, I have failed. Perhaps I am a bad father..."

Vaira crooned a note of sorrow, tears dripping down her cheeks.

Boko then said something rather unexpected and...well, hurtful. "You aren't my father. Boko is Drakeling. Zephyr is Dragon. You are not father and never will be father." He clawed at the ground, short of growling. "You cannot be bad father and mother because you are not father or mother. You aren't. You killed them. YOU killed my mother and father and YOU are not dead, so you are not them! You hear me?!" He snarled and roared, then backed into a corner unhappily. He started to cry, unable to contain his wails.

Zephyr flinched at that. His heart gave a sharp double-beat. Vaira had grown still, her head low as she crooned her sorrow. How could he explain everything to his s- to Boko? How could he tell about what his real parents had done? Could he truly expect Boko to understand the joy that he and Vaira had gotten from taking him as their baby? After Vaira had found out that she was infertile? Since they would never be able to rear little ones of their own, they had adopted Boko, who they loved dearly and would die for.

Zephyr slowly turned and walked away.

Vaira threw back her head and wailed the dragon-song of mourning, which they only usually cried when someone had died or if they were in great pain. In this moment, her pain was clawing at her from the inside out.

Boko flinched at Vaira's song. He trembled terribly as he realized what he had just said to his adoptive parents. And over what? His confusion about a stupid Rabbit-boy? His heartache from being seperated from the ones he just hurt? He had just insulted and spat at his parents, and for nothing. Boko realized this. He proceeded to dig up some of the dirt in his corner of the cave, burying himself halfway, where he stayed until Vaira finished wailing.

He realized briefly that he may be left here altogether. He only cried all the harder at that. "L-leave Boko here for death, then." He said, forcing his voice to stay steady. "Boko will starve and die and you will not have worry about Boko anymore. Boko will be gone."

((Also, Boko will run off (If released) and return a little hurt and very sorry. No idea what'll happen in between. Mehbeh you can help with that? I could just have him run off and maybe you can have a guardian of some kind? 'Cuz it's boring, being the only one with those. xD Or something else. Perhaps an encounter with Malice or those two not-so-bad bad guys? Or perhaps someone else. You pick, but it should be one of your characters to council the little guy, for the sake of interaction.))

Vaira shook her head, still crying quietly, then turned and slammed her paw against the barrier, bringing it down in an instant. She didn't move to pick him up and she didn't say anything to him. She just stared at him, as if wanting to go forward and grab him up and shove him down into her pouch, where he could never get away. But she didn't. She turned and flicked out her tail, to put the barrier back up, but her tail missed. The barrier remained down and Vaira didn't notice as she walked off to find Zephyr, thinking she might as well die of heartache.

((Yes yes, it will be the two, as spoke of last night.))

Boko waited until they were out of sight before bolting. He took flight at once, determined to get as far away from the dragons as possible. He flew on and on, not even sure where he was. At least he knew he wasn't going in circles, though. After awhile, he noticed how hard it was to continue on. Every beat of his wings was a challenge. Drakelings weren't designed for sustained flight; they lived underground. He pressed on until he found a mountain to stop at. Hot springs flowed into small pools before cascading down to a creek that met the cold river that fell from the peak of the mountain. Boko took the opportunity to drink something, taking large gulps from the hot springs. The water was soothingly hot, and Boko soon found himself slipping into the water for a bit. Just a bit.

Boko woke with a sharp squeal. The first thing he noticed was the sunrise. That meant he had fallen asleep here in this pool for quite some time. The second thing he noticed was the blood in the water. His blood. Boko screamed and scrambled out of the pool, coming face-to-face with the lance-wielder that had hurt him. The human looked scared out of his wits, a long strip of Boko's scales and skin in his hand. Boko recoiled, unsure of what to do. This person was about the same as the rabbit-boy, in size. But hurting people was bad! Should he defend himself, or let him do what he wanted?

Boko's confused thoughts were interrupted by an arrow whizzing out from the rocky outcrops above. Within seconds, Boko's right wings were pelted full of arrows, and several of the arrows had found their way between his scales on his neck. Boko screamed with agony, plunging off the mountain and dropping like a rock into the river. He swam with the tide, knowing it was his best shot at escaping.

And then he dropped over a waterfall. Which would have been no problem if Boko had been expecting it, and if his wing wasn't hurt. But no, Boko plunged like a rock, smashing into several of the real ones, which immediately rendered him unconscious.

A squeaky, almost nasty little voice was what Boko heard next, some time later. "Ooooh~! Just look at the shimmery scales! Tygan, this is a gold mine for research, yet you won't let me do squat! Blasted budgie..."

"If you call me a bird name again, Flanis, I'll tie your wings together and throw you over a cliff."

"Eep!"

Something gently touched Boko's head, moving caressing fingers down his skull in a soft stroke. It was the hawk avon Tygan and his little bat friend Flanis. They had been flying over when Tygan's sharp hawk eyes had spotted Boko, washed up in the river below.

"Here, drink this."

"Flanis, what is that?"

"Some of it's blood. Don't give me that low look! If I can't take it apart, then I at least get to understand it, so you get to do it too!"

Tygan sighed, then took the small vial and threw it back, swallowing easily and dropping the vial on the ground. Flanis smiled and flicked his pointed tongue, then bent over Boko's side and quietly lapped at the drakeling's wound until Tygan forced him to stop. "You're just being a vampire bat," the hawk said sternly, pushing him off and going back to gently petting Boko's head as Flanis wiped his mouth off disdainfully.

"Ugh..." Boko stirred, lifting his head weakly to look up at his new attackers. He blinked once, twice, then his head dropped to the ground again. "Mama," He whimpered before remembering what he had done. Mama wouldn't be coming after him. Nor would papa. He had been a bad son, adopted or not, and now look where he was. "Who...are you?" He murmured, opening his eyes again, unable to keep fat tears from slipping down his face.

Tygan smiled and stroked Boko’s head, saying "There there, little one, stay still. You're safe here." He blinked his kind black eyes down at the drakeling and said "My name is Tygan. I and my friend Flanis aren't going to hurt you."

He flicked a wing out and knocked Flanis away from the drakeling's wound before the bat’s teeth could get close.

"We won't hurt you at all," the avon said, glaring at the bat, who adjusted his large glasses in a rather miffed way. The hawk turned back to Boko and said "Where did you fall from, little one?"

"Hot springs...I-I fell asleep, and when I woke up, these bad people threw sharp sticks at me and tore off my sc-scales, and so I jumped straight into river, but then falling...and now Boko is here! Boko is scared be-because m-mama and papa aren't going t-to come find Boko be-because Boko was a bad, bad boy, and...and..." He burst into tears, pushing his face up against Tygan for comfort.