The Forgotten Zodiac

Airlia looked down, then sighed a bit. She looked up again, and shook her head. "Sorry, I..." She turned and flew off with tears in her eyes.

Sylas and Leo found her not too long after, in the gardens. "Hey, kiddo. That's a fancy staff you've got there," Sylas sat down on the bench next to her, smiling. "Ohh, I recognize that style. Very nice, a healing augmentor. You can turn any sort of magical energy into healing powers with this. Considering your abilities of power transfer, you could make such a thing extremely powerful."

"I know...that's why I kept it." Airlia smiled slightly, but she couldn't bring herself to look up at them.

"Hey, now," Sylas touched her shoulder gently. "Didn't Naminai say she didn't want you to be sad?"

"Yes...but I..."

"She was a good teacher...yes, indeed." Sylas sighed. "Do you think you might be able to help me with something?"

"I...I guess," Airlia looked up, and her jaw dropped immediately. Blood was trickling down the side of the aged man's face, and his arm had a stick quite literally skewered through it. "Holy...what the...what did you do?!"

"Oh, I was climbing a tree. Got up a bit too far, a branch broke, and..." Sylas tutted. "Just me being silly again. Hit my head a bunch on the way down. Wouldn't have made it here if not for Leo," He chortled a bit as Airlia hurriedly got to work.

"Honestly, Sylas..."

"You're such an idiot," Leo growled in his deep, rumbling voice, his long black tail thrashing around behind him as if it didn't belong to him and was simply held captive, trying to escape. He opened his mouth (which was quite scary, as he was nearly the size of a smaller-ish horse) and 'bit' Sylas' knee. To anyone else, it was a horrifying move, but Sylas knew Leo well. The 'bite' hadn't even threatened to break clothes or skin; more like if someone put their hand there and gave a light squeeze.

"Ah, but I have you for the brains," Sylas said jokingly. Airlia teased the stick out of its place, healing over the spot with all the expertise of a true Divine Healer. She was still obviously learning, though; her work left bruises in place of wounds, and she wasn't good enough to fix the scars yet. But it certainly did the trick regardless; she healed his arm and got to work on his head, relatively quiet while she worked.

"Dear Airlia, you're normally so chatty." Sylas said quietly.

"I'm sad." She sighed.

"Well," Sylas smiled at her. "At least you admit it freely. There was a time when I refused to admit anything at all...I was so grieved by many things, and I hid it all from almost everyone. I think that was more painful than anything. So yes, Airlia, you should be sad. You should be unhappy. But you should not hide your unhappiness, even if you want to. No, I'm not saying you should roam the halls of the castle weeping, but...don't be afraid to show it when you get upset. After all..." He brushed her cheeks with his fingers delicately, though he left a smudge of blood in place of salty water. "You can't run from tears."

Airlia closed her eyes and hugged Sylas suddenly, crying a bit. Sylas pat her shoulder gently, and did all that he could to comfort her; but they were both interrupted by the roar from the front gates that Naybrin used to signal his arrival.

Leo jerked his head up from where he had been awkwardly looking around at the ground (if you hadn't guessed from the previous books, he wasn't a hugger), looking around quickly for the sound of the roar. He jumped up and paced, saying "Sylas, move your aft-end, let's go." He closed his mouth over Sylas' arm (gently, of course) and proceeded to start dragging the man off towards the gates. "It's our sons!"

"Alright, alrightalrightalright," Sylas pulled away and brushed himself off. He settled Airlia down on Leo's back, then ran off ahead.

"O-oh..." Airlia blinked. She wasn't too uncomfortable; she had ridden on horses before, and this was about the same. Aside from the fact that there were no reins...and no saddle. And not really much of a place she could hold on to. "Um...do you want me to get off?"

Leo didn't answer, instead choosing to spring into a strong gallop, racing off after Sylas. Airlia had to grab hold of his thick fur so as not to fall off. The panther easily kept stride with Sylas, and they reached the gates momentarily.

Naybrin was there, already letting people off of his back, Zephyr behind him.

"Well, look at what the dragon dragged in," Sylas grinned. "How's it going, Werr?" He looked over the group, all of whom seemed rather...grim-faced. "Eh...not good, I guess. Let me see...Luna's missing, and something happened to you, Werr."

"Yeah." Werr grimaced.

"How could you tell?" Airlia blinked.

"Well, Forin's incredibly fidgity. It can't be Luen missing, or he'd have a look of pure hatred in his eyes, not worry. If Diana were missing, he'd be throwing a fit, or he wouldn't be here. So, it must be Luna. Werr here is sticking awfully close to Lexi, moreso than usual. And Naybrin is looking rather...distressed. So, something happened."

Naybrin blinked up at Sylas, looking weary and like his age had caught up with him. He shook his head, quickly drawing himself together, and said "Everything will be okay, lad. I assure you." He bent and brushed his chin across the top of Werr's head, saying "Dark-Eyes, I wish you to acompany me somewhere after you have rested. Do you agree to this?" He tilted his head at the boy.

"We can go now, Naybrin. I'm...not in a hurry to sleep." Werr shook his head. It was an understandable thing; Someone could easily find it hard to sleep when they could potentially...not wake up.

"Come along, Diana. We'll talk to Galai about getting the rest of your memories back." Forin murmured, leading her by the hand to the palace. She looked about in curious wonder, smiling a little as she walked along the white streets.

Naybrin watched the two go, then sighed and said "Alright. Walk with me for a moment, Dark-Eyes. Lexi, I promise to return him to you safely. If you would go with Obelisk and Cynyr..."

The girl looked up at him in worry for a moment, then hesitantly stepped away, but not before kissing Werr's cheek. After that, she turned and found Obelisk, taking his arm when he offered and walking off with him, looking at Werr over her shoulder.

Once they were gone and he and Naybrin started walking, Werr felt something sad and distant pulse lightly along his bond with the dragon king.

"...Naybrin? Are you okay?" Werr looked up at his old friend, frowning slightly. "You're not usually so...sad. I mean, I know I was sad for a long time, but that's not still getting to you, is it? I should hope not..." He sighed a bit, looking down. "I really am sorry for that. I shouldn't have been so...foolish. I should have...could have done better..."

((IS HE GONNA DIE?))

"No, it's fine, Werr. You were grieving. It is understandable." Naybrin sighed, shifting to human form. Werr heard the creak of ancient bones as they shifted, heard the sigh in the first-created-being's lungs. "You know, I really love this world and the people inside it. Many have fallen, true, but we cannot think of the past. There is only the way forward."

He went back to dragon form, padding along in a size that was double Werr's.

"Life is too short, Dark-Eyes. Even for me. There are many things I wish to have done, and even with my seemingly-eternal life, will never be able to do. Minor things. For instance, I wished to have learned to play the bagpipes. They make a very melodious sound."

He tilted his head back, staring up at the sky.

"Dark-Eyes, what do you wish for? What do you want more than anything else?"

Werr looked down. "You know perfectly well what I want, Naybrin...but it cannot be so. He's gone, and like you said...we can't keep ourselves caught up in the past. We have to...move forward." He sighed heavily, then climbed up into Naybrin's hands. "I still hear that sound. In the back of my head, just a persistent...scream. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going crazy, or if Snider is just messing with my head again..."

((It's neither. 936 It's Veros messing with him.

ALSO, while you've got that whole Naybrin granting wishes thing going on, you should give Luen his real arm back. And maybe give Allie her legs back, if you wanna do that.))

"It is unknown to me," he answered. "But..."

The dragon was silent for a moment, then he slowly lifted Werr up while bringing his nose down, so the two were on eye-level with each other. The dragon gently moved his nose forward, closing his eyes as he touched Werr's body. The boy put his arms around the dragon, as far as he could reach, feeling the hum of the great beast's purr through his entire being.

Is that truly what you wish for, my young Dark-Eyes? If you could have anything at all...this would be your choice?

Werr thought for a long moment, then slowly nodded. "Yes. It's my only wish...it's the only thing I could ever want. Ever." He closed his eyes, then opened them again. "But...you know all this already, don't you? You know the deepest desires of everyone here. I know you do, Naybrin. I'm no exception to that." He smiled a bit.

"Yes," Naybrin answered, giving a faint, weak attempt at a smile. "That's usually the problem...I cannot grant the desire of everyone alive, as much as I wish to." He sighed once more, then said "We are here."

He bent and pushed through a long curtain of hanging vines, revealing a beautiful garden, where in the center, set into the ground, was a huge, round, stone circle. In the very middle of the stone circle was a large red gemstone, and the entire garden was full of flower and tall, beautiful trees. Fountains were scattered about in the ponds littered throughout the area.

Here, Naybrin set Werr down, saying nothing.

"It's lovely," Werr blinked, looking around. "But why..." He trailed off, captivated by the crystal. It was beautiful, and shone brightly in an inviting sort of way. A few moments of silence lapsed, and Werr realized that the rock was actually...humming. A quiet, happy tune that made Werr feel at ease. "Naybrin, where is this? What are we doing here?" He asked, unable to keep himself from smiling.

"You will see shortly," Naybrin said, shrinking down to a smaller size, so he was just at eye-level with Werr. "But first...I have a request of you." He walked forward, tilting his head back at Werr and finally giving a smile.

"Shall we play, Werr? I have not enjoyed myself like a young dragonling in thousands of years. I wish to feel it once more. So...you might say, 'you're it'. But only if you catch me."

He touched his nose to Werr's forehead and was off, cantering around the garden, his eyes bright.

Werr grinned and took off, his spirit at ease around the crystal that had seemed to absorbed his unhappiness into itself. He ran after Naybrin with unrestrained happiness bubbling up inside him. Naybrin was quick, though; he was only able to catch the dragon by the tips of his fingers. "Ha! You're it!" He darted away quick as a wink.

The dragon whipped around and ran after him, smiling widely. For a brief moment in time, he was able to forget everything. His troubles vanished, his worries disappeared, the pain of his age was gone. For a small window of time, he was young again. He was vibrant and vivid, and he laughed as if he had never laughed before. He chased after Werr and tackled him from behind, sending the two spinning off into the tall, soft grass. There, the dragon laid down, sighing and smiling.