The Forgotten Zodiac

Isslia was okay with Welk taking care of Werr. That much was obvious. She watched comfortably as Welk took good care of the human king. She even giggled when she realized that Werr was asleep, and he started snoring. Isslia changed into her small dog form, hopping up onto the couch behind Welk. She climbed up onto Welk's back, flopping down in the jungle of his mane and getting comfortable.

Werr, in the meantime, shifted so that his head was in Lexi's lap, while his fingers were still clinging to Welk's fur.

Lexi ran her thin fingers tenderly through her boyfriend's black hair, kissing his forehead again and again, occasionally moving her lips to his eyelids or nose, and finally, to caress his lips. Welk watched from the corner of his eye, smiling softly. He tilted his head a bit and looked at Isslia, and immediately, the heavy purring in his throat grew louder. He curled his head around and licked her fur gently, wanting to give her a touch that was soft and kind, not rough and hard, like she had felt before. And of course, his touch was only kind and loving. His rough tongue caressed through her fur, cleaning and grooming it with every stroke. He licked her forehead, then quietly asked something of her.

"Can I kiss you?"

It would be the second time he kissed her, and he wanted to make certain it was okay with her first. The concern on his face was touching as he rested a heavy paw gently over Werr's chest, tucking both him and Lexi and little closer to his warm belly. Isslia knew that if she so much as gave an indication of not wanting him to kiss her, he would pull away without hesitating.

Surprisingly, Isslia ducked her head. "N-no...not right now. Everyone's watching...later, though..." She hid her little muzzle in his mane, licking him back once or twice. She was tiny compared to most Lerloch; as though her animal form had a connection problem with her human form. A problem with the connection in her soul. Naybrin could see that it was so; Lerloch, when young, could indeed lose their animal forms due to depression or mental trauma, things of the like. If the connection is weakened (a rare case, as it's most often completely severed), the animal form stops growing altogether.

He licked her forehead again, murmuring "Okay, okay," in order to soothe her. He brushed her ear gently with his muzzle, then rested his head on Werr's chest, sighing and closing his eyes. Later, she had said. That meant she wanted to kiss him. Just later.

He suddenly smiled widely, giddy in an instant. He held completely still, however, and let it fade, though his smile stayed for a while after.

The set of Lerloch and humans fell asleep together, peaceful and happy. Not everyone in the room was peaceful, though. Or happy. "Well," Obelisk stood. "I'm going to go see if I can talk to the maid at the castle. Sylas, I might need your influential speech. Galai, would you like to come, or would you prefer to stay here?" He questioned. Diana was sleeping again, and probably wouldn't be waking up until morning.

"I wish to stay," Galai said. "I promised Diana I wouldn't leave her, and well...if I'm to mother her, then mothers shouldn't break their promises."

"Agreed," Naybrin said, sounding quite weary. "But first..." He turned to Keir and Mirage, then carefully untied them. "I want to get to the bottom of this," he said grimly.

"I won't speak to him," Mirage growled, closing her eyes as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"She wouldn't listen to me anyways," Keir said, in an almost identical growl.

"Hold," Naybrin said. "Let's start simple. Keir, you are really a wyvern?"

"Aye."

"Mirage and Dmitry are your daughter and son?"

"Aye."

"Your wife is not alive any longer?"

"...Aye..."

Naybrin nodded his head lightly, then said "Tell me, Keir. Tell why you left your only two children alone? Why did you fairly well give them away?"

Keir was silent, his hair hanging in his face. "I had to," he said softly. "I needed to go find my wife. Their momma. She was pregnant, see. She...we were attacked. I was positioned to be next in line for the throne. But I didn't want it. They only wanted me to be king for my blood-line. And apparently, others just wanted me for my blood. Amali, she ran. Heavily pregnant with what would've been our third son..."

Naybrin's tail twitched sharply, but he said nothing.

"They chased her. They wanted to take our son right from her womb," Keir continued, his body shaking. "My Amali...my darling...I had to find her. So I left Dmitry and Mirage in good hands. At least, I had thought it was good." He looked over to Dmitry, sighing heavily. "He took after his mother..." he said softly. "In his face. Mirage, she got her mum's hair. But Dmitry...he got her face. And her blue eyes..." He lowered his head further, nearly bent in half. "It's a shame...a shame I'll never live down..." Tears dripped down his face in waves.

Mirage, still not looking at him, was crying tears of her own.

There was silence for a long while, until it was broken. "Peace to the hunted, for they will soon find solitude and rest." Obelisk murmured quietly. "But lo, they shall be filled with sorrow as their kin are sought out with renewed fervor."

"Why do you do that?" Ophile questioned.

"Do what?"

"Say stuff like that, whenever anyone else is upset over something. Retelling the past, mostly....why do you say those things? Are you quoting something?" Ophile blinked.

"Have you never read the Book?"

"What book?"

"'The Goddess' Writ?' The book written by the Goddess herself?" Obelisk raised a brow.

"I've read about it, never read it myself. No one has." Sylas blinked. "The book itself and the only two copies were destroyed shortly after the faries' downfall. The Demigods destroyed them to protect the Goddess' will, supposedly."

"The Demigods had nothing to do with it. I destroyed two of the copies and locked the original in the Realm of Shadows." Obelisk said solemnly. He chortled. "So I suppose it makes sense that you haven't read it."

"What?! Why did you do that?" Sylas exclaimed.

Obelisk had to think about that one. He shrugged. "I was angry at the faries for trying to lock me up. It was one of the last things I did before they managed to bury me. I couldn't get to the Artifacts, so I took the next best thing. Regardless," He stood again, kissing Fawn on the forehead this time and looking at Naybrin. "Can we go now?"

"One moment," Naybrin said softly, a subtle desperation in his voice. "Keir...tell me. What were you going to name your unborn son?"

Keir sighed heavily, then murmured slowly "She wanted...to name him for the color of my scales. The color Dmitry inherrited, though he got patches of his mother's black, too."

And Naybrin, with infinite sorrow in his voice, murmured "Grey..."

"What? How did you know that?" Keir said, staring hard at him.

"Because...I raised a young wyvern as my own son," Naybrin whispered. "I and my mate found him when he was just born from his dying mother's womb, still wet and tiny. He couldn't have come but mere minutes before. It was cold. The mother had put all of her warmth into her baby. But wyvern naturally aren't good against cold either way. Before she died...she murmured his name to us. 'Grey', she said. And then she breathed her last."

Keir put his hands over his face, sobbing softly.

Just across from them, Dmitry was staring at Naybrin, able to lay still for a moment. "That...that's why...you were staring at me," he said softly. "Because..."

"Because you look so painfully close to your younger brother," Naybrin said. "He even wore glasses. It pains me to know that he was killed..."

Naybrin sighed heavily, then forced his sorrow away, exhaling heavily through his nose. He bent and gave Werr a soft lick, noting that Welk opened his eyes slightly in order to watch him, then curled up tighter around Werr, almost jealously. Naybrin sighed, then turned to Obelisk and said "Alright. Let's go find that maid."

Slowly, behind him, Mirage reached out and touched her father's shoulder. He extended an arm lightly to her, and she curled up in his lap.

((A'right.))

((Oh mai.))

Zelana was watching from the upstairs window, leaning out of it with one tan arm handing low. Her piercing eyes followed Carlyle's movements as he walked, but she seemed uninterested. She closed her eyes, seemingly falling asleep right there.

Leo padded right by Sylas' side, as usual, both nearly a mirror image of their sons. He looked up at Sylas, then quietly pressed his forehead to his friend's hip, sighing.

Leo glanced over at Carlyle, then opened his mouth to speak, only to have Sylas clamp a hand over his mouth. It was for the better, really. Leo hardly ever said kind things, after all.

Naybrin, who was following them, tilted his head. "How are we going to go about this, Obelisk?" he asked, still a tad quiet from the information he had learned about his adopted son's family.

"Well," Obelisk said thoughtfully. "If the maid happens to still be there, then we have at least somewhat of a lead. If she's not there, it's extremely likely that we've found our culprit, actually."

"Remor," One of the guards looked a bit surprised. "Out and about already? Rumor has it you and your guests were attacked."

"We were. But our healer is a talented woman." Obelisk said quietly. "We're looking for a castle maid. She may have information that will lead to the one who hired the one who attacked us."

"Er...I don't think I can..." The guard looked uncomfortable at that.

"Ohh, there's no need to be nervous," Sylas slid off of Leo, suddenly sounding...old. He smiled a wizened smile that obviously helped the guard relax a bit. "Would you be so kind as to take us to her? What was her name...Julia, Hannah..." He snapped a few times, as though trying to recall. He hadn't actually heard the name before.

"Nerin. The maid's name is Nerin." Obelisk tutted. "Your age betrays your mind."

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Sylas snapped back at him, then turned back to the guard, who shook his head.

"She took trauma leave. She witnessed the death of the king, and decided to stay home for awhile." The guard explained. "She lives in the middle district. 24th Payelle road, I believe."

"Ah. Thank you for that information," Sylas bowed slightly, then climbed slowly back onto his 'steed'. As they walked away, out of earshot, Obelisk had to hold down laughter.

He settled for a chortle. "That was quite the act, Sylas."

"What act?" Sylas smiled, ever the smooth one.

Naybrin smiled softly, looking down as Leo said "It wasn't an act. He really is that old." Despite his words, the way his tail slid smoothly from side to side told Sylas that he was only joking. If his tail were stiff, however, well...that was another story.

"Come along," Naybrin said, taking his human form and putting a weary, thin hand on Obelisk's shoulder. "We should head toward her home, then."

"Indeed," Obelisk said, eying Naybrin's human form suspiciously. "I haven't seen that before. Where'd you get it, exactly?"

"Yeah, that's new, Naybrin." Sylas blinked. "Unless my 'age' is 'betraying me' again." He chortled as they passed the gate that divided the rich district from the poorer ones.

"No, it's definitely something I haven't seen before. Do tell," Obelisk suggested. They did have a little time to spare as they walked, anyways.

"It's nothing, really," Naybrin said softly. "I have long craved a human form, secretly. Cyprus gave this to me, though at first it was out of fear and a desire to end my life. Luckily for me, I was able to calm the poor chap and keep this form, along with my dragon one." He scratched at the light-blue stubble on his cheeks and chin, saying "I should use this form more. I really do like it." He closed his emerald eyes and purred softly, then opened them and said "The only problem is I find myself much frailer in this form...I feel older."

"I know the feeling." Sylas chortled. "No matter. You'll get used to it."

"We're here," Obelisk sighed as he stopped in front of a certain small house. It was attached to another one, but the number was painted right onto the door in little curved numbers. He stepped forward and knocked twice. A young woman slowly opened the door. She took one look at Obelisk and promptly slammed it shut again.

"No, no, no, leave me alone!" She cried.

"Excuse me? I am--"

"GO AWAY!" She screamed, hysterical in seconds.

Naybrin glanced at the others in shock, then slid forward and put his mouth close to the door. "Young lady," he said softly, his ancient voice soothing. "My name is Naybrin. I mean you no harm. I have a few things I would enjoy speaking to you about. If you would care to speak only to me, I would ask my dear friends to wait outside. But this information is something only you can clear up for me. It is of utmost importance..."

His voice was calming, almost magical. Soft and tender.