The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr smiled as he watched them, then led Lexi away. "Zephyr!" He smiled up at the much larger dragon. "Lexi would like to meet you."

"LexiLexiLexi!" Boko sang, flying in circles around Vaira's head. "Mama, look! Lexi is here, Lexi wants to say hi! Le-ehx-see!" He mispronounced her name on purpose, finding it quite amusing to say her name. His voice clicked funny every time he made the 'x' sound. It had for a long time; this was just his first time noticing it.

Vaira smiled at her beloved child, then she and Zephyr both lowered their heads down towards the two humans. Lexi moved behind Werr and put her face against his shoulder, shy at once, and Zephyr smiled. "It seems Echo-Song is more than a tad shy," he said, giving Vaira's muzzle a gentle lick.

She hummed and tilted her head at Lexi, saying "You're very pretty, little one. Don't hide from us; I promise we would never dream of hurting you."

"They're really nice. And true to their word," Werr smiled slightly, moving around so that Lexi was in front of him, but he stayed close behind her. "Just talk. You can understand them now, and they can understand you. Thank you for that, Boko," He called up to the Drakeling baby.

"Dark-Eyes is welcome! And Echo-Song is good name for her, daddy," Boko landed on Zephyr's head, right behind his horns. "I like it."

"That's right, Echo-Song. They like to give us symbolic names, Lexi. To them, I'm Dark-Eyes. Nate is Noble-Wing, Welk is Fire-Heart...I don't know all of them, but I'm curious about something. Why is Boko...well, Boko?"

"That is Boko's name, duh," Boko purred. "Boko is Boko, and that's all Boko is!" 'Boko' was actually an old Drakeling word that meant 'runt', but he had been called that since the day of his birth, so that was his name. He actually was the runt of his litter; but his two siblings had fallen ill and died mere days after their birth. Which was why he was meant to be the guardian of the mountain, but no matter. He was here now, and such things were completely out of his mind.

Lexi smiled and said "I love my name! Thank you so much. It's an honor to be given a name by a dragon. I imagine this is something not everyone in this world has received."

"It isn't," he said. "Werr was actually the first one I sensed the name of. After that, the gift just came to me. I could see everyone's true name as clear as day. Each soul is different, you see, and dragons can often see the name that lies there. Many, many times, the name clings to a prominant feature of the person. Seria's bright fur and hair was her giveaway; Red-Fur she became. Werr has dark, piercing eyes, and from the moment my own eyes saw his, Dark-Eyes he was. Others, like Welk, receive their names from their internal features. Little Welk has a deep and passionate heart that burns brightly; Fire-Heart radiated warmth from him. You have a beautiful singing voice and talent that echos far, Lexanna, therefore Echo-Song you became."

She was quiet for a moment, then she smiled widely and said "I understand. Thank you, Zephyr."

He hummed happily in return.

Werr smiled away. Boko jumped off of Zephyr's neck and stood where the dragon could see him. "What's mmmmyyyyy name?" He questioned, tilting his head this way and that as he looked up at his adoptive father. "Is it Boko?"

"What if it's not?" Werr nudged the Drakeling with his foot, smiling still.

"Then Boko will purrrrrrr." He licked Werr's boot, then looked back up at Zephyr.

Zephyr smiled and tilted his head down, touching Boko's muzzle with his. He closed his eyes for a moment, then smiled and said  "How odd. You have a dragon soul name. A dragon has their soul name after their actual one, and yours seems to follow suit. Boko Silver-Fire. A strong, burning name." He pulled back, his eyes twinkling. "Even I would be envious of that name. Shining-Scales is nothing compared to that."

"Ehh?" Boko blinked, then chased his tail around in circles until he managed to nab it with his mouth. "Silver fire? Boko cannot blow much fire though, papa. Boko's fire is weak and not strong." He sniffed Zephyr's muzzle curiously. "Maybe you see things wrong. MAMA! Daddy is blind now!" He cried.

Zephyr blinked, then he was quick to reassure his son. "No, no, Boko, I'm not blind. And I think the fire means your internal fire. Your spirit. It means you have a strong will and you'll do great things." He nuzzled the drakeling gently, murmuring "It's okay, my little Silver-Fire."

Vaira ran her tongue over Boko's back, saying "A handsome name for my handsome little one."

"I love you, papa~" Boko squeaked, licking Zephyr's muzzle once or twice.

"Right then," Werr smiled. "You've already met Obelisk, so...I'm pretty sure that's everyone. Aside from Tasia, Jag and Lily, of course." He tilted his head to the side, patting Lexi on the back. "You look tired. Maybe we should sit down?" He asked in concern, frowning slightly with worry.

She her smile dimmed down to a shyer level and she murmured "I...I would like that. To just sit with you. You...well, you reassure me. Just your...presence. I...I really like...you." She fidgeted with her fingers, then said "I-I'm just going to sit down now," and turned sharply, walking into Cynyr.

The panther had Naybrin on his shoulder, and the force of Lexi walking into him made the half-cat stumble and fall backwards, landing solidly on his back on the ground. He blinked in shock, staring at the ceiling as Naybrin scurried off of his shoulder and made his way to Werr, saying "Goodness, it's dangerous in here."

Werr sighed a bit and helped Cynyr back up, smiling a bit. "Are you okay?" He asked, looking from Lexi to Cynyr. "Where did Welk go? He didn't pass out in his cake, did he?" He asked with concern, knowing that sugar highs usually wound up crashing on the floor somewhere sooner or later.

The panther rubbed the back of his head, shooting Lexi a glare that made her turn away in fear, then said "He's still going at it." He pointed at the table, where Welk was sitting in what was left of his slice of cake, licking his fingers and (at this point) just rolling around in what was left. After all, how often did you get to eat cake that was twice your size? He was looking a bit tired, however, and Werr caught him yawning exhaustedly.

Werr smiled a bit at Welk's yawn, then turned to Lexi. "Come on then, let's go sit." He smiled at her, then nodded at Cynyr. "We'll be leaving 'round evening. We need to get to Amnairus as soon as possible. So make sure you're ready, yes?"

((Also, taking the Artifact into Amnairus itself will explode the magical imbalance and thus, pretty much everything on all worlds would suffer and be destroyed. o3o))

((Is that going to happen or a warning to make sure it doesn't happen?))

The panther nodded, saying "I'll be ready. Don't forget Welk when you leave, a'right?" He turned when Seria walked over, smiling and taking his hand gently. She beamed up at him, then looked to Werr and said "Glad to have you as part of our family, Werr," and gave Cynyr's hand a tug. He made a cat-like meow and turned to follow her, leaving Lexi and Werr alone. The girl leaned against Werr, watching them go, then said "They're too cute."

Naybrin watched them go, then said softly "They have a dark future ahead of them, and they'll need you more than ever, Werr. Their future will grow very bleak before it gains light again..." He rested his head low, closing his eyes.

((A warning. Zelu will probably pop up and be like, "STUPID FOOLS, GIVE ME THAT GIWGIWHI THING, DON'T TAKE TO IT AMNAIRUS, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" xD))

"Eh?" Werr blinked at Naybrin, a little confused by that before he nodded. "Alright. I'll keep that in mind, Naybrin, thank you. Now come along, Lexi. You go find a seat, I'll get you a drink, yes?" He smiled brightly at her, blinking in surprise when a large wolf appeared behind the girl.

"Greetings to the both of you," Ophile sniffed Lexi's hand, then looked up as Werr scratched him behind the ears.

"Hey there, Ophile." He smiled before walking off.

((xD Nice.))

Lexi patted Ophile gently and then took her seat, looking up as Welk barrel-rolled past in the air, singing "I am lion, hear me ROAR!" He paused to stare at Lexi, icing coating his silver body like a shell, then he said "Hi," and plunged off, rolling over and over until he fell into Nate. "It's aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive~," he trilled, pushing away from Nate and darting off to whip in circles around Luen's head, confusion the kirin rather quickly.

Nate reached out and nabbed Welk out of the air, sighing a bit. "Don't bother Luen," He said sternly. "Go finish your cake." He shooed the Spectral away, letting him go again before Welk felt trapped or anything. Goodness knows the little hyper icing mess didn't need any more stress on him.

Werr sat down next to Lexi, handing her a glass of apple juice. "Here you are." He smiled.

Welk squeaked and said "You're no fun!" He darted off, though, needing no further bidding to go and eat even more cake, which he probably didn't need but didn't care to stop eating.

Lexi took the cup gratefully, saying "Thank you." She took a politely small sip, resting it on the edge of the table nearby, then looked over at Werr and said "Was your little silver friend always like that? He's the first Spectral I've ever seen and I've never heard of them before him, so... I was just wondering." She shrugged her shoulders and kept her hands tucked in her lap, watching him quietly.

"Well...not normally. He's had a lot of sugar." Werr smiled slightly. "He's usually pretty hyper, but this is the most excited I've seen him in a long time. Plus, he's tiny now. And he can't fly normally..." He scratched the back of his neck, then sighed a bit. "We'll get him back into his body. We will." He looked down, frowning slightly.

She blinked, watching him for a moment with her mouth open slightly, then gently put her arms around him and said "I'll help you. I'm not sure what that means to you or how much help I can actually be, but...I'll help you." She stroked his back gently, resting her head on his shoulder.