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Can we keep her? - Briella, Tahigwa & Ilyra

On the way to my new home my new mommy and I ran into my bestest friend in the whole world!
I'm happy that Tahigwa likes my new mommy, Briella even promised to get her a spear to fight with!
My mommy is so awesome. We are going to go on an adventure with Tahigwa's big brother and try
to set them up!

This isn't what it looks like! - Briella, Kadriye & Ilyra

TBA

Ilyra had been exploring more and more as of late. She was allowed to leave for longer periods of time as long as she told Briella where she was. Her mother was protective of her, but she couldn't blame her, you never knew what you would run into out in the forests. She had already heard stories of crazy shifters, or even just wild animals that were so hungry they tried to eat people. She really wished she had someone to go with her while she explored. There were many times when Tahigwa was to busy, or she couldn't find her best friend. She would take Amadi, but he was her mother's companion and she didn't want to take Amadi from her mother. No, what she needed was a companion of her own. A friend to go places with her. She really wanted a sprite like Amadi, however she had yet to see one. She had seen plenty of other animals that lived in the forest, but so far none of them called to her.

Today she explored, like always, keeping her eyes open for possible pets. She had heard of different kinds of animals being found in the forest from time to time. One of her older sisters had told her about a small dragon like animal that lived in Sauti, however that was a little to far for her to travel. Then there were the bug like creatures that were everywhere in Jauhar as well as the Chibale Island, however she found the things stupid looking honestly. They were also used for food, and why would one want something they ate as a companion? It was silly to her really, but to each their own. She did like the sound of a dragon creature, Sailscales they were called, but she doubted that she would ever find one in Jauhar. Maybe she would talk to Briella, maybe the two of them could take a trip together? But she didn't want to bother her mother, she needed to do this all by herself.

She sighed, and suddenly heard a chirp from under some bushes. She moved towards it, and was soon rewarded by a snapping sound as sharp teeth barely missed her fingers. "What the!" she screamed before scrambling backward and falling on her butt. What was that! She hadn't even got a good look at it before it tried to bite her. Again it chirped. It sounded so cute, so harmless, but now she knew better. Whatever it was, it was dangerous. She got up and dusted herself off before moving slowly back to the chirping bushes. She grabbed a stick on the way there and moved the bushes out of the way carefully, the thing snapped at the stick, but it wasn't her fingers so she didn't mind. Now that she could see it, she realized that it was a sailscale! How crazy that the animal she was looking for happened to be the one she found! That was what she called fate. However, just because she found it doesn't mean it would make a good companion. It was still small, and from the look of it hurt, on top of that it didn't look too friendly. The sailscale started to growl lightly at her. "I'm here to take care of you, can you just try to be nice!" she chided. However her words were harsh, and the sailscale didn't seem to like that very much and he snapped at the stick again. "Really!" she said moving the stick so the bushes fell over the sailscale once more, hiding him from view.

Okay this was not fate, and this sailscale would not make a good pet. She shook her head and started to walk away when it chirped again. Why did it have to keep doing that! It needed to make up it's mind, either it was going to be cute and sweet, or mean and bad. It couldn't be both, though the mixed chirping and growling sure made it seem that way. Closing her eyes she thought, thought about how she had been crying when Briella had met her. She was crying, but at the same time being a little hard. Wasn't this kind of the same thing? The sailscale needed her, she was sure if left alone it would die for sure, but it was being too tough and didn't want to admit it. No, she wouldn't give up on the creature. Even if she brought it home just to feed and keep it safe until it was better and then let it go when it was all better, that was what she would do. Opening her eyes she grabbed her bag and took everything out of it. It was mostly fruits, and one knife so she left the fruits there and then hid the knife for later. Luckily the bag was pretty thick, so when she put her hands in it she was sure that the creatures teeth wouldn't be able to hurt her.

Walking back over to the bushes Ilyra moved to grab the sailscale, as she assumed it tried to bite at the bag but thankfully her hands were safe. She would have to explain to Briella why she needed a new bag though, but she was sure her mother would understand. With her arms outstretched and the sailscale safely in her bag Ilyra started to make her way back to her home tree.

_______TIME SKIP_______

Weeks had gone by, and though at first Ilyra had trouble with the creature, as time had passed he had become much nicer to her. That didn't mean that it didn't try to bite her every once in a while, but for the most part her hands were healing nicely and free of any fresh bite marks. Finally the day came that the sailscale looked healthy enough to leave. He had tried to fly in the house a few times, and was already killing little creatures in their tree for it's own dinner. So Ilyra took the sailscale outside. She wasn't going to say she wasn't sorry to see the little guy go, she had become attached to him, but she wasn't going to cage something that wanted to be free. That was what her old mother did and she didn't want to ever do that to anyone else.

"Okay little buddy, you are free. Don't get hurt again." she chided with a smile before turning back to her tree and walking in that direction. She had to make herself not look back, but as she went to start climbing she heard a chirping sound. Looking down the sailscale was at her feet! "No, your free. You can fend for yourself, you don't need me anymore. Now go on and be free." she said sadly before she started to climb back up the tree.

Once in her tree she went to her room and laid on the bed. She had done the right thing. Right? Closing her eyes she felt the wind rush into her room and then heard a thud. Opening her eyes she saw the sailscale had flew through her window and into her room!

Laughing she watched as the creature walked over to her and cuddled up into the bed. "Okay, I guess you aren't going anywhere..." she said before cuddling around him and closing her eyes. "I would have missed you Abrthur." she whispered before falling asleep.

word count : 1244

They never saw each other anymore... She got to see her best friend rarely as time passed by, she was always traveling with her brother and stuff. That wasn't fair, sure Yaholo was her family but that didn't mean that Tahigwa had to be with him all the time! Had she so easily forgotten her best friend? And she hung around with Pahana all the time. The two of them weren't even related honestly, not even a little bit. So was Pahana her replacement? Could it be? They were called 'sisters' just like her and Tahigwa were. Ilyra threw her self on her bed and hit the bed. "Uhhhhhhh!!" she said angrily as she hit the bed a few times.

She heard her mother hit the roof of the room under her and Ilyra hit the wall in anger. Couldn't she just be mad in peace! That was the worse part of still living at home. She was still to young to leave the home tree, unless she found some elder to move away with which wasn't going to happen since she didn't live anywhere near an elder that would be willing to take her in. She heard Briella hit the roof again and grabbed her bag. Before she could even get herself out of her room Abrthur was attaching himself to her back. Normally she wouldn't care, but today she was just in a bad mood. "Not today Abrthur, leave me alone." she said as she pushed the sailscale away from her. He feel away with a sad chirp, she normally took him everywhere so he didn't understand why he couldn't come with her this time.

As she stomped out of the house she could hear her mother tell her to quiet down. She rolled her eyes as she continued out of the tree. Her mother didn't understand, her best friend with Dyakida and the two were rarely apart. She had even dared to suggest that maybe Ilyra felt more than just friendship for Tahigwa! The nerve of that woman! To think that she would see her best friend as anything more than just her best friend. And if she did like Tahigwa, what did her mother know about things like that? She didn't like anyone ever, all she did was stay home and take care of Ilyra and Dyakida these days. She rarely even went out by herself anymore. It was boring, and not how Ilyra wanted to live her life.

With her bow slung around her back and her arrows in her bag Ilyra quickly started to run into the forest, she ran for some time and when she was almost to tired to go on she started to climb the biggest tree around her. She climbed until she was as high as she possibly could be in the tree while keeping safe. When she was at the top she settled into a branch and just screamed. She screamed, and screamed until she felt like she couldn't scream anymore. She could think clearly now.

So think she did, she thought about how she felt about losing her best friend, and how she really felt about her best friend. Tahigwa was amazing. She was beautiful, and nice, and the two of them always had fun together. That was what best friend was, right? She had talked to her mother, her aunt and Dyakida about it, and they both said that they didn't feel that way about their best friends. But all best friends were different right? Not all friendships are the same. She sighed. No that was a lie, she knew it even if she didn't want to admit it. She cared for Tahigwa more than anyone that she knew, well not more than her mother but that was a different kind of feeling. She had never felt that way before... Her birth mother had been alone, and she had never seen Briella with anyone romantically. So how was she supposed to know what it looked like, what it felt like.

She sighed, okay so her mother was right about how she felt about Tahigwa. So one of her problems were fixed, now it was time to fix her second one. The problem was that she didn't get to see Tahigwa as much as she wanted, which was a problem because she liked Tahigwa. So there were a few things she could do. She could go and tell Tahigwa how she felt, and hope that Tahigwa felt the same way and wanted to spend more time with her. Or she could keep pretending to be just friends with Tahigwa and tell Tahigwa how much she missed her. Although the second option was much safer, it was less satisfying. She didn't want to be just friends with Tahigwa, and she knew that if they went on being just friends and Ilyra never said anything than she would always want more and that would suck. But it would be even worse if she told Tahigwa and Tahigwa didn't feel the same. Once it was said there was no way that it could be unsaid. Sure maybe Tahigwa didn't like her and the two of them would ignore what Ilyra said and things would be fine, but it could also backfire on her and Tahigwa could see her differently.

Decisions, decisions... Did she want to live her life in as a lie, or did she want to risk it. The reward was well worth it, she just didn't know what she would do if Tahigwa didn't want anything to do with her anymore... Well she would find out, she would tell Tahigwa and than hopefully the two of them would be able to hang out a lot more. Ilyra smiled and started to climb out of the tree. Time to go home and say sorry to her mother and Abrthur.

word count : 1011 / 1000

She could do this. She would be brave and awesome and it wasn't even that big of a deal. Her mom was going, and all of her sisters that were of fighting age would be there. It was simple, when war called hr sisters had no problem answering. Plus this way she could prove her worth, prove that she really was a sister and that she deserved to. When they all saw that she fought as good with her bow as the rest of them they had to accept her. A small part of her also hoped that Tahigwa would be there. Everyone from everywhere was going to war, Earthlings and Sisters would be there. Why would Tahigwa be there? No matter where she was she would know about the war, and it wasn't like Tahigwa to miss out on the action.

With her things packed up and Abathur ready she headed to the front of their tree where her mother and Dyakida were already ready for her. "Okay, I'm ready! Let's go, to war!" she said with a laugh. Briella gave her a stern look, but she knew that it was just the nerves getting to her. Briella didn't want Ilyra to go to war, but there was no chance that she was staying him. She was a fighter too. Plus she wouldn't be a sister if she didn't go, and Briella knew that Ilyra would never hear the end of it from other sisters, Ilyra had every right to protect mother Aisha as everyone else did.

__after war__

The war was over, well not really but this part of it was done. They lost, but that didn't matter too much to Ilyra. Her family was safe and she was OFFICIALLY the girlfriend of Tahigwa! Tahigwa asked her right before the battle, and of course Ilyra had said yes! She would never not say yes. Although at first thoughts of Tahigwa clouded her mind, she got her stuff together and kicked some Oban butt. She killed a good many of them, and she didn't feel all that bad about it. They wanted to kill her, kill her family. No she had no regrets about what she did. Her family had been safe too, bot her family and Tahigwa's family. She saw some sisters dead, but thankfully she didn't know many of them personally. That would have just been horrible...

She had decided to stay with the others, waiting for the new war. Tahigwa was there too, and as long as Tahigwa was there than Ilyra wasn't going anywhere. They had been separated for to long already, Ilyra wouldn't let it happen again. She walked around the camp, trying to come down from the high she was on. She still wanted to fight something, let go of all the energy that she had pent up. She wasn't even close to done fighting when they were forced to leave the battle field. Unfortunately it seemed that she was one of the only people who were of that mind set. Everyone was tired, no one wanted to battle or do anything. Those who were good medically were taking care of those that were hurt, but that wasn't something that she was good at. With her luck she would end up doing more damage than good.

Ilyra sighed and went to the edge of the camp, into the forest. She climbed up into the trees and just climbed around, blocking out everything and just letting off steam. She thought about attacking the Oban's herself, not all of them but the ones that were dumb enough to be alone in the forest that they didn't know, but in the end just ended up heading home. To attack on her own would be stupid and end badly most likley. She just needed to get home to her mother, girlfriend and family memebers. She was finally ready to go to sleep. She would have time to attack Obans soon enough, the first battle was done but she knew for sure that the war was not over. "You hear that Oban's? It isn't over, and this was just the start of it all. Things are only going to get worse for you... We will not loose." she whispered to herself as she walked into camp.


word count : 716 / 695

She wasn't sure what exactly the catalyst what that made her decide to leave. Maybe it was her younger sister and seeing that traveling was helping her and her friend heal. Or maybe it was just that she had seen many heal by traveling in the past. It could've just been that she was sick and tired of seeing the same thing every day, the same walls the same trees and the same people. There was nothing new in her life. Nothing exciting. And she was sick of it. Sick of laying in bed waiting for something that would never happen. Waiting for someone to come back that was never coming back. In her heart she knew that she would never see Tahigwa again. That the girl was gone. However it was still hard for her to accept. Hard for her to take in that she would always be alone with Tahigwa by her side. That the one friend she had carried from childhood and beyond was gone. That her one true love was gone. Still she had to accept it. Had to accept it and move on with her life. It was a miracle that she was even alive, and she wasn't going to let that miracle granted by Aisha go to waste. Not any longer.

Packing up her things Ilyra had already told Briella that she was leaving. She wasn't sure if it was to be a permanent thing, only coming back for festivals and to worship Aisha, or just something that would take some of her time before she came back to the forests she had grown up in. Either way her adopted mother accepted it, for there really was not much she could do to stop Ilyra, with the promise that Ilyra send her letters whenever she stopped somewhere or when she decided where she would be living for good. There had also been talk of a tournament, which neither woman would miss, so they agreed to meet up there in case Briella hadn't heard from her daughter before then.

Finally done with packing and making sure she had enough provisions for both her and her two animal companions Ilyra set out. She knew it would be a while before she even left the forests, but she had plans to stop and see sisters and others that she knew on the way out. The more that she thought about it the more she knew people from all over the world, people who she hoped would be able to house her while she traveled. If she got that far she could even go and see the woman that helped take care of her while she was in her coma. Who knew where she would end up, not her that's for sure.



Ilyra didn't know why anyone would travel by foot. She had seen a few people doing so during her trip, but really they were going so slow compared to her atop Devoss's back. It had only taken her a few days to reach the edge of the forest, and that was with her stopping and visiting people. Really she thought that it would have taken her much longer to get from place to place. She was told that once out of the forest things would take longer, but she couldn't see that happening. If anything she would move faster since Devoss would have no trees or roots to stand in his way. "I'm glad we decided to take this trip Devoss, Abathur. I feel better already."



When she got to the edge of Jauhar and Tale Ilyra felt very accomplished. This was the first time that she had gone so far from her home alone and so far she hadn't had any issues. No run ins with negative or dangerous people, no running out of supplies at any point. She felt like a grown up, very grown up. However she knew things would change. They would no longer be so easy. Tale was a place where she knew some, but not as many as back in the forest. People here were different, and there weren't many sisters that she could stay with. Then there was the issue of her skin. The cream that she normally wore was enough while in the forests, but if memory served her right it wasn't very helpful under the direct sunlight of Tale. She had gotten herself a hooded cloak in the last marketplace she went to, and hopefully it would be helpful with her cream to protect her easily burned skin. As for her eyes she just had to be careful not to look into the sun, it was also possibly dangerous.

Still even with those procations Ilyra decided that it was best to travel either at night or when there was very little sunlight out. Although those times were more dangerous in terms of bandits and other things that went bump in the night but she would have to tough it out. She was strong, and hopefully be able to fight anything that came her way, or it would be even better if nothing came her way at all. Resting under one of the bigger trees at the edge of the forest Ilyra mentally prepared herself for what was to come in the next few days.



Passing through Tale had given Ilyra not much trouble, nothing she hadn't expected. She had almost run out of food one night and after being found by a group decided to travel the rest of the way with them. The group was also moving at night so it was perfect for her fair skin. They stayed together a few days and Ilyra had started to grow found of the mixed group of Earthlings, but when they got to Sauti their paths split. With a thankful goodbye they split and Ilyra made her way towards what they told her was a regular marketplace in Sauti, making sure to keep her skin covered in cream and out of the sun as she did so.

word count : 1011 / 1000