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 Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:26 pm
Abalis wagged his tail happily. That sounded great!
"Arbre?" the tail-wagging stopped as Abalis tipped his head and thought for a moment, "Do you think that I could be a guardian, someday?"
Abalis looked down and his face grew hot.
A stupid question. Of course he couldn't be a guardian. He was just a child. He didn't have any magic... Up until a few minutes ago, he'd thought of ghosts as something to be feared...
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:16 am
"Of course you can!" Arbre said. "You just... well, it can't be anything you ask for. And you have to want it for the right reasons. To help others, to do the right thing... and who knows how the Ghosts decide, or what goes through their minds. Don't... don't get your hopes set on becoming a Guardian, Abalis, it's a hard life I wouldn't wish on most dragons, but yes, as long as you always do your best to help others and never harm another, there will remain the possibility to be a Guardian. A small chance, but a chance nonetheless."
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moineau bavarde Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:12 pm
Abalis lifted his head in surprise.
"To help others... to do the right thing... What other reasons would there be?" Abalis asked in confusion, "and... why wouldn't you try your best to help people?"
He had asked, but he could think of at least one answer; fear.
He had been afraid to help Arbre at first. He had been tempted to run...
As for hurting someone else on purpose... Wasn't that the same thing as not helping someone who desperately needed assistance? It seemed to Abalis like they were the same... Either way, a dragon died...
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:38 pm
A dragon could die from so much happiness. "Sounds like you will fit right in with the pack," Arbre said with a chuckle. "We have only two laws: treat others with respect and never, ever hurt another or let them come to harm. As to the other reasons to be a Guardian... there are those out there who seek power, and to abuse it. They would seek the position to try and rule over the other dragons, to use the increased power for personal gain. But that's not what a Guardian does. They are not rulers, Abalis. Remember that if you ever meet one. Or become one."
He nodded off the left at a flat piece of land with all of the vegetation trampled or removed and some large boulders lying scattered around the edge. "That is the Forum, where we gather to discuss what to do with the pack. Only full members are allowed to participate, but they are all given a voice. We have no rulers, here. Sometimes a dragon might speak with a particularly convincing voice, and the others might be inclined to follow, but there is always a debate, always an argument. Unquestioned decisions are dangerous, as is too much power."
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moineau bavarde Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 5:59 pm
((Sounds like Arbre could teach Syoto a lesson or two. whee ))
Abalis nodded seriously.
"I'll remember!" he promised. He looked over at the Forum... It sounded interesting...
"I can't wait to become a member, so I can help decide stuff!" Abalis said eagerly. Then his face fell. "That is... If... If we don't find my parents... Or if we do and they don't want me to join the pack..."
Abalis looked at the ground sadly. He was feeling so confused... Shouldn't he really want to find his parents? And yet he found that he was feeling more drawn to Arbre's pack... What did his parents look like? Did he even remember? One of them was reddish orange, like Abalis himself... but had that been his mom or his dad? and, what had the other looked like?
The first thing that came to mind when Abalis thought of parents was... Arbre.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:47 pm
If we find them, little one... how long do I dare build up false hope? I'll ask Harar to search, but I doubt he'll find them. They would have been back. But I can't bear to tell you that they're dead, either.
"You may join at any age," Arbre said cautiously, "but can only become a full member as a teen or an adult. All an outsider needs is someone to, to adopt them, not in the real sense if they have parents, but just a dragon or a mated pair or a temporary couple to look after for them for a week and teach them the ways of the pack before coming a student. The life of a student is hard, and humbling. They must train as a Riverstone, a Whetstone, and a Gemstone, passing the tests set before them by all three groups before they may finally select the group they want to properly initiated into. Then they must go through the initiation of the group they want to join, which will last somewhere between two days and a week. Once initiated, they will be forever a member of the pack, no matter where they stand, as long as they follow our laws. Respect and helping others."
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moineau bavarde Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:57 am
Arbre nodded in understanding. He bit his lip.
And then he made a decision.
He'd wait three days. If they didn't find his parents in that time... He'd start the process of joining Arbre's pack. But he wouldn't tell Arbre about his plan...
"So, are there any other hatchlings here right now?" Abalis asked, eager to meet dragons his own age. He knew it was probably too much to hope for, if not too many dragons were there, period... But he still wanted to know.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:43 pm
"Unfortunately not," Arbre said. "Not even students... my nephew Harar just passed the last of his tests. He should be back from his initiation now, actually. I wasn't involved in any of his training, so I don't know which group he chose. Hopefully not Whetstone, it doesn't suit him. He'd make a good Riverstone, though," he said with a certain amount of pride.
"But I'll tell you what," he said, turning to Abalis. "Talk to Harar. He was raised outside of the pack territory for a while and knows the nearby packs. If any of them have hatchlings, he'll know."
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moineau bavarde Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:07 pm
"Harar... Your nephew?" Abalis repeated, "You have siblings? What are their names? What are they like?" He wagged his tail excitedly. We wanted to know all about Arbre's family, and all the other dragons in the pack that he might be joining.
"What do you think I would be?" Abalis asked Arbre curiously, "Whetstone, Riverstone, or... What was the other kind?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:47 pm
"My brother's name is Zephyr. We... we never got along very well, and I don't know if he's living or dead. He left the pack without joining and met Harar's mother some years later. I don't know her name, Harar doesn't talk about her much. She died when he was very little... Zephyr raised him for a while, or tried to. Harar left after a month and I raised him after that. He didn't like me very much at first, but I recognized him straight off as kin and wouldn't have it any other way. Nari won over his heart, healed the scars left by the past... it'd probably be best not to bring up anything that happened before he joined the pack once you meet him."
Arbre thought over Abalis' question carefully. "The best dragon to answer that question is you. And you have plenty of time to decide, not even students are expected to know. Not unless they were born with powerful magic, then they have no choice in the matter... I do not envy those dragons. But as for you, little one, if you like to create things, to build and maintain, or to hunt or explore, you would make a good Riverstone. Outsiders see the Riverstones as a band of misfits, but there is so little they understand. Yes, the Riverstones are made of bards and philosophers, hunters and dreamers, all of the dragons with no powerful magic or desire to fight, to defend, but they are the heart of the pack. They are the most numerous group and most of them are quite skilled. Never underestimate a Riverstone, they will never fail to surprise you. If, however, you find that you are capable of magic, by birth or by training, you must become a Gemstone. The Keystones are a select group of Gemstones, they are healers. Nari... Nari was a healer.
"Finally, there are the Whetstones. My group. If... if you find you have a knack for fighting, or an urge to protect others, become a Whetstone. But never do it because you enjoy fighting, and leave that rank and find another if you ever find you have a thirst for blood. And the job of a Whetstone is about so much more than fighting: we are scouts, we are hunters. We guard the Path, we learn how to survive on our own, we teach Students secret paths out of the valley so that they may escape in times of need. We stop troublemakers, catch runaways, and if necessary we lay down our lives for the pack. But we are not fighters, not true warriors. We live for something other than the thrill of battle."
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moineau bavarde Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:21 pm
Abalis frowned at the mention of death once again. More and more... he didn't like it... It sounded horrible to him... and already his childish mind was associating it with all things bad and cruel and unfair.
"Who's Nari?" Abalis asked, unaware that he was asking about the very subject he'd tried to avoid earlier... Arbre's mate. "Is she your sister?"
Abalis thought over the different rankings of the pack... he didn't feel particularly drawn to any one group... Except... Was he imagining it, or did he feel a slight fuzzy feeling when the talk of 'healing' came up again?
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:29 pm
Arbre winced. Nari... his sister... he could almost laugh if it wasn't so awful. "Nari was my mate." His voice was cold, so cold... but what distant sun could melt away the pain, heal the hurt? Nari was gone.
"There's the cave," he said with a slight nod. "I think... yes, I smell meat. Harar must have seen us approaching. Or maybe another pack member, but probably Harar."
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moineau bavarde Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:37 pm
"Oh." Abalis frowned in dismay. He hadn't wanted to ask about it... He nodded respectfully when Arbre changed the subject.
"Okay, lets go back," Abalis trotted off in the direction of the cave, already feeling pretty at home in the area. He turned back to Arbre. "Comin'? You should probably rest your shoulder, too... I don't think it's good for you to be moving it around that much... maybe we should've let it heal more before we came..."
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Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:29 am
Arbre chuckled at Abalis' bossiness. He would make a good keystone... best not to tell him that, though. Let him make his own decisions.
"I've survived much worse," he said reassuringly. Never mind that you were younger and had Nari to fix you up afterwords. "I'll just be glad to be back home." He hobbled slightly faster, minding Abalis' warning and favoring his weak shoulder. It was a good cave, kept clean and clear, with a smooth sandy floor. And yes, there it was, a dead deer. A clean kill, probably Harar's work.
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moineau bavarde Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:11 pm
Abalis looked with wide eyes at the deer.
"I've never tasted deer meat before," he confessed, practically drooling, "Mom and Dad were going to go find one for me, but then they disappeared, and I couldn't catch one on my own... Just the mice in my cave..." Abalis edged closer to the body, licking his lips. Still, he held back a bit... it was a relatively clean kill, but... It was still a kill... Abalis didn't like when things were killed, and... did that apply to deer, too?
Abalis took a hesitent bite. His eyes widened and a smile came to his face.
Nope. It was fine for deer to die - Abalis decided as he chewed enthusiastically - as long as none of it went to waste.
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