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 Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 8:55 pm
Zayne's Feien Journal [Beware of Kid?]Sunil was working out on the windowsill (to enjoy the occasional breeze) when Zayne came storming back into her room and slammed the door so hard something pink and delicate leaped off a shelf in fear. Luckily, the plush carpet kept it from breaking. Unluckily, Zayne kicked it viciously into the wall - breaking it into several sharp pieces which she ignored.
"SUNIL!" Zayne screamed, flouncing down onto the bed with her skirt spread in a circle around her. With a sigh, Sunil put down the bolts she had stolen from a drawer in the kitchen and made her way over to perch on her bond's shoulder.
"Yes," the feien said, not bothering to hide her irritation at being interrupted. "What is it now?"
Zayne flipped her hair with one hand, forcing Sunil to jump to avoid getting smacked. Taking that as a hint, Sunil perched again on Zayne's knee. She scowled, however, placing her hands firmly on her hips and staring Zayne down.
"You aren't very interesting," Zayne said, apparently calmer. Her moods came and went like this, except in public where she seemed to try and maintain her veneer of a shy and polite little girl. "So I want Ruya to come out. I'm sure she'll be more interesting, since she has more color."
Sunil privately doubted Zayne and Ruya would get along that well, but at least maybe she would be left to her own devices more. "What the ******** does that have to do with me?"
"Little girls shouldn't swear!" Zayne said, her face clouding again in anger. She reached out with one hand to pinch Sunil, but the fairy easily slipped out of her grasp.
"You're right, of course." Sunil placated, gliding back over to perch on Zayne's knee. "But returning to the topic you brought up - you can't make Ruya bloom, so why don't you look into getting another pet."
This suggestion caused Zayne to clap her hands in glee and bounce her knees slightly. This also had the adorable effect of making the wavy ends of her dark hair bounce slightly. Honestly Sunil couldn't help but be impressed with her bond's ability to appear to be anything she wanted.
"What should I get?" Zayne said, her violet-blue eyes wide. "Maybe a bunny or a kitty?"
Even Sunil didn't want to see the horrors Zayne could inflict on a helpless kitty or bunny. Besides, she had something else in mind.
"How about a lizard, like an chameleon?" Zayne looked confused until Sunil continued. "You feed them live insects."
That thought pleased her bond in a way that both unsettled and pleased Sunil.
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 8:56 pm
Zayne's Feien Journal [Spike]It was a trivial matter for Sunil and Zayne to slip out of the house and head to the nearest pet store, which Sunil had looked up in a phonebook. She was especially pleased to have finally managed to get Zayne to leave Ruya behind, instead of dragging the bloom around everywhere with her and showing it to people who had no idea what the little girl was talking about. It was worrying Sunil that once again she would be left out and Ruya would be the one who got along better with their bond. Not that she really gave a ********, but it was important to keep up appearances. Or so she was learning from Zayne.
The money for their little trip had been stolen from Kam under the guise of needing money for some sort of doll Zayne just had to have. The whole thing had involved a great deal of 'pleases' and has ended in Zayne's favor when Kam got a rather sudden nosebleed and had to leave the room. It was odd for Sunil to look into the eyes of the woman she had been bonded with and feel like not only did she look like s**t, but she didn't even look like she recognized Sunil.
A small walk later, the duo arrived at the pet store and Sunil took refuge on the back of Zayne's neck, hidden behind the girl's curtain of hair. She had tried, on the trip over, to impress upon Zayne that normal people didn't generally believe in fairies - but she wasn't sure whether it had made an impression. Zayne seemed to be more concerned with how heavy everything would be to take home. (This ended up not being a problem, as she managed to sweet talk one of the employees into walking them home.)
As soon as they found the reptile section and a helpful employee in what Sunil and Zayne later agreed was a ridiculous uniform, they didn't have any difficulty obtaining a chameleon and all the requisite supplies. Including, to Zayne's hidden glee, a cage of live crickets.
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:25 pm
Zayne's Feien Journal [Spike, Part 2] Playing with Spike soon became Zayne's favorite past time. As events in the rest of the household spiraled slowly out of control, she simply ceased leaving her room for anything but the occasional morsel of food. Instead she spent her days scribbling in what appeared to be an endles supply of notepads stashed under her bed and playing with her favorite toy.
Sunil wasn't sure what it was that Zayne found so alluring about playing with a lizard, especially since she had to give the damn creature a wide berth - but the girl was obsessed with taking it around her room and watching it slowly adjust it's color to the new environment.
Sunil wasn't afraid of very many things - and would probably said she was afraid of nothing if you asked her - but she made herself scarce during feeding time.
The first couple feeding sesions hadn't been particularly bad. In fact, the feien was in complete agreement with her bond about the fun of feeding helpless, mindless insects to the gluttonous lizard. The crickets had no idea to what fate they had been born and listening to the sound of their tiny exoskeletons crunching in the chameleon's jaws gave her a tiny shiver.
The shiver was the sort of feeling you get while watching a lion rip apart its prey on TV. You would be terrified to be the prey, but realize how exhilerating it would be to be the predator - to prove your superiority over another in such a total and undeniable fashion.
The problem for Sunil was that this sort of feeling only applied when you felt a greater feeling of kinship with the predator than the prey. When Zayne decided to start feeding flies and dragonflies to the chameleon, Sunil felt a bit of a twinge - but she held up. When Zayne decided that it was more fun to cripple the bugs by ripping their wings off first, Sunil decided to start making herself scarce.
The few times the feien had ventured closer than a foot away, the chameleon had regarded her with a very distrubing look. There was just something about it's eyeballs that bothered her - as if its mind had identified her as large prey - and so she disappeared about a half hour before "feeding time" like clockwork. She wasn't sure whether Zayne noticed her absence from the little torturing sessions, but if she did the girl didn't say anything. Sunil certainly wasn't going to bring it up. As long as she still had wings, she was safe from both little monsters - girl and lizard.
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:29 pm
Zayne's Feien Journal [BBQ Secrets] "Oh, I don't think that wouldbe a good idea at all," Zayne said, shaking her head in mock sadness.
She reached out a hand for Sunil to step up onto. Sunil accepted the platform with an unusual amount of graciousness, having learned from experience that Zayne was best when allowed to play her little games. She didn't have wings and therefore Sunil was not supposed to fly too much in her presence.
"It simply wouldn't be nice," Zayne continued, lifting Sunil up onto the shoulder opposite Spike. The feien gave the lizard a warning look and sidled over to the farthest edge of her bond's shoulder. "I wouldn't want Ruya to be gossiped about by people who couldn't possibly be AS GOOD AS SHE IS."
Sunil grabbed onto the soft yellow fabric of Zayne's sundress to stop herself from pitching off the girl and into the now firmly shut window. Something about the situation with Ruya appeared to have touched a raw spot for Zayne. Sunil was beginning to think it was impossible to avoid doing this at least once a week.
"I didn't think of that," the feien lied, not bothering to even inflect her voice properly. She and Zayne both knew she had wanted to cause trouble for Ruya and pretending otherwise made no sense to Sunil. She still had no idea why Zayne seemed so attached to the inactive bloom. Or why she seemed to drag it around with her everywhere and show it to everyone.
"It's ok," Zayne said, placatingly. She reached up a hand and stroked Spike's back. "But I'll have to punish you anyway."
Sunil glared into the stupid lizard's eyes and resisted the urge to swear.
"Of course you will."
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:31 pm
[Lillian Sweeps In] "This is highly irregular," Lillian said, pressing her lips firmly together in a way that perfectly conveyed her opinion on irregular events. She looked again, carefully, at the scrap of paper in her hand and then reached out to press the doorbell firmly. "You will allow me to do the talking."
This last comment was directed to the slightly subdued looking young woman at Lillian's side. Despite the reprimanding tone of the comment, the young woman replied with a bright smile.
"Yes, Aunt Lillian!"
The brightness of the reply only caused Lillian to press her lips more firmly together and she reached out to push the doorbell again, longer this time. The sound of the bell ringing inside the house could be heard echoing around in the emptiness - but no one answered. After several minutes of fidgeting, the girl at Lillian's side looked up at her companion in askance.
"Maybe we have the wrong address," she suggested, glancing around the neighborhood. "I could go ask around!"
"You will do no such thing," Lillian admonished. "We have the correct address. Our instructions were to collect the girl and that is what we will do."
The older woman looked down at the doorknob as she finished speaking. It had begun to turn and the door cracked open to reveal a pair of very wide purple eyes partially hidden by a veil of wavy black hair.
"Zayne," Lillian said, firmly pushing the door open. "It is rude to make people wait on the doorstep."
The young girl behind the door backed away as the door was pushed open and placed her hand on the handle of a cage covered in black cloth. Arrayed around the young girl were several small suitcases which undoubtably contained the entirety of her possessions.
Alena couldn't help but feel sorry for the waif-ish looking child and she knelt in front of the girl.
"Why are you so sad, child?"
This earned her a sharp look from Lillian and a glare from Zayne.
"I told you that I would do the talking," Lillian said, firmly grasping Alena by the shoulder and forcing her to stand. "The child is wearing black, which should answer your question. Make yourself useful Alena and grab her bags. We will leave for the estate immediately."
Alena gave a little gasp at the pain in her shoulder as she was abruptly righted, but said nothing. She nodded to Lillian's command and picked up the nearest of Zayne's small suitcases. She tried to reach out for the cage, but the girl clutched it even tighter to herself. Cringing at how inept she felt, Alena quickly swept the bags out the door and left Zayne and Lillian alone.
This gave Lillian a chance to speak her mind.
"It is highly irregular for me to take in a child of your age and reputed temperment. I owe your... mother... so I will house you and school you, but under my roof you will live by the rules that I set out. If you cannot live with that then I will be forced to find less pleasant environs for you. Do I make myself clear?"
Zayne looked down at the ground and didn't reply. Her dress slowly shifted from black to an indeterminate color that seemed to fade into the shadows behind her. Before she could complete the transformation, Lillian knelt down and slapped her.
"I do not like people who feel sorry for themselves. You will conduct yourself with whatever dignity you can muster. You will answer any questions that I ask of you and you may address me as 'Aunt Lillian'. Is that clear?"
Zayne looked back up with Lillian with wide, shining eyes. This trick didn't seem to have the desired effect and the girl dropped her face towards the large cage clutched to her chest.
"Yes, Aunt Lillian."
From her position around the back of her bond's neck and behind her hair, Sunil peered out at this 'Aunt Lillian' and wondered what exactly she and Ruya were in for now.
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:32 pm
[A New House] After the girl named Alena had swept all of Zayne's luggage out of the house and into the waiting car (with the notable exception of Spike's cage, which Zayne refused to give up) - Lillian swept Zayne out of the house and into the car as well.
It was the last time any of them would ever see it standing.
"Come along, child." Lillian said, placing her hand behind Zayne's head and pushing her - not gently - into the large dark car idling in the street. It was a very unpleasant sensation for Sunil, who already felt like she was being suffocated by Zayne's thick and curly hair. And so, perhaps unwisely, the feien made her presence known by biting one of Lillian's gloved fingers. The bite couldn't have hurt very much, but it definately displeased the severe older woman.
"And what do we have here?" She asked, snatching a struggling Sunil and ripping her out of a knot of Zayne's hair. To her credit, Zayne simply turned around and cooly replied to the angry query. On other occasions having her hair pulled would have reduced her to angry screams, which would not have kept Sunil from being squished unceremoniously.
"Aunt Lillian, that is my fairy Sunil."
Lillian raised an eyebrow at Sunil's angry and garbled obscenities and then chose to ignore the fairy.
"She appears too small to be useful and sounds too vulgar to be an appopriate companion for a young lady. Appearances, Zayne, are very important. It would not do for us to attract attention from the wrong people."
"Let me go you stupid old hag!" Sunil yelled. When Zayne gave her a look, she grinned and amended her request to, "Let me go you stupid old hag, PLEASE."
Zayne giggled, even as Lillian sneered, but then collected herself long enough to probably save Sunil a lot of trouble.
"You can't get rid of her. Sunil and I are bonded, so she has to stay near me."
This piece of information didn't please Lillian, but she did release Sunil. And then wiped her gloved hand on the outside of her dark pinstriped skirt before adjusting her hat.
"Very well, although I expect Sunil to live by the same rules you will in my house. Children - and their companions - are to be seen and not heard."
With that said, Lillian guestured to some anonymous servant and the car door was closed - almost on Sunil's wings.
The ride to their new house was vaguely unpleasant, although not uncomfortable. Sunil wanted to know what was going on and Zayne didn't appear to want to speak about it.
"You packed everything up last night," the feien pointed out angrily. "You knew someone was coming to get us today. What is going on?"
With a sigh, Zayne relented. Listening to the same question repeated for 20 mins was wearing her out.
"Mother told me that she and Chandra were leaving and that I would be going to live with someone else. If you had bothered to look you would have noticed that the house was completely empty this morning except for my room."
Zayne pulled up one corner of the black cloth covering Spike's cage and peered in at him.
"We've been abandoned?" Sunil asked, rather confused by this turn of events. She had noticed the house seemed quiet, but everyone just leaving the house?
Zayne stuck in a finger and stroked Spike's head for a couple minutes before he moved away from her. When Sunil had finally given up on receiving a response and settled in to looking out at the passing houses, Zayne gave Sunil the final piece of information - which raised more questions than it truly answered.
"They're all dead," she answered calmly. "Mother told me they would be and I believe her."
In the end, however, Sunil reflected that the fate of Chandra and Kam didn't really matter very much. What mattered was that once again she and Ruya were being packed off somewhere strange without once being consulted.
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:33 pm
Zayne's Feien Journal [The Cupcake Fiasco] Although Sunil had wished to be sick all over Zayne at the time, she hadn't really expected the cupcake to have any effect on her at all. And when the rest of the day had passed in a blur of happiness and relaxation, Sunil felt that she had been correct. In fact, every thought she had for the rest of the day after the cupcake seemed correct. And everything she did seemed to result in better than expected results.
In her own mind, Sunil was the best, most wonderful, happiest feien in the entire world - and beloved of all who encountered her. She felt like a benevolent dictator, giving out carefully chosen morsels of advice so that those not as fortunate as her could learn from her experiences.
To everyone else she was even more of a pain in the a** than usual.
Zayne giggled at most of what she said, which encouraged her - but Lillian had to physically stop herself from smacking Sunil into the nearest wall on at least three notable occasions. (Or at least the three occasions on which Lillian and Sunil were within the same wing of the mansion.) Alena seemed torn between giggling along with Zayne and her own sense of annoyance at Sunil's insistence on "helping" with whatever Alena was doing. Eventually she simply suggested that Zayne and her feien head out to the gardens for some fresh air.
Out in the gardens, Sunil felt even more alive and at peace. At some point she felt so at peace, she simply fell asleep half-immersed in a fountain.
When she woke up the next morning, she didn't feel paricularly well - nor could she quite pinpoint why she had chosen to sleep in a puddle of water. She adapted to the situation with her usual good grace, climbing out of the fountain to stand on it's edge, shaking, and screaming at the top of her lungs.
"What the ******** felt good to yell, so she continued - not even bothering to make sure her words strung together to make sentences. It was suddenly just very important to her that she get someone's attention so she could make them feel as miserable as she did.
Later in the day, still shaking, and covered in feien-sized blanket temporized out of a washcloth, Sunil continued her whining in the middle of Zayne's bed.
"I just want some SUGAR!" She insisted, throwing off the blanket in annoyance and then snatching it back up. "And I want to stop the shaking. The shaking is driving me INSANE. Make it stop!"
She threw herself face down into the bed and let it bounce her back up.
"I just want something sweet. Something yummy. Something soft and fluffy that I can RIP INTO."
Zayne favored Sunil with a look of pity that would normally have silenced the feien, but which she now ignored in favor watching herself wringing her hands.
"I don't think you need more sugar," Zayne said, speaking quietly in an effort to get Sunil to do the same. "I think you're sick. You shouldn't have slept in the fountain last night."
"THEN WHY DID YOU LET ME?" Sunil said, wild-eyed and fluttering around Zayne's head suddenly before dropping like a stone onto a nearby surface and crumpling up. "God, I'm so stupid and horrible. Do you think I'm being punished?"
Zayne wasn't sure quite how to respond to this outburst, but continued trying to lead by example - speaking slowly and carefully.
"Punished for what?"
"For being mean," Sunil sobbed, curling even further in on herself. "I feel so empty and no one likes me and even you hatemeIdon'tknowwhattodo." The feien trailed off into convulsions, which Zayne didn't want to get close enough to identify as crying or more shakes.
"You're not mean," her bond said generously. "You're just feeling sick. It'll be better if you just get some sleep."
But Zayne was wrong.
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Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:10 pm
Zayne's Feien Journal [The Cupcake Fiasco, Part Two] Sunil not only didn't get better, she got much, much worse. When Zayne went to sleep, the dark blue feien was quietly huddled in a shuddering heap under a large pile of blankets. The hope was that perhaps Sunil would "sweat" out her problems. When Zayne woke up, however, Sunil had shredded every piece of paper in the room and had gotten stuck underneath the door - trying to get back into the room.
"Letmeout. LETMEOUT. Letmeout. LETMEOUT."
As she struggled to awakening, Zayne thought perhaps she was hearing an alarm clock - with the alternating quieter and louder tones. But then as she sat up, she realized it was actually Sunil, who was speaking so quickly as to be unintelligible.
"What?" Zayne said, surveying the little piles of paper and kleenex strewn all over the dark purple carpet. "What has gotten into you?"
"LETMEOUTLETMEOUTETMEOUT."
For something so small, Sunil had a very large voice and it wasn't long before someone came running and shoved the door open.
This was a very bad idea.
Sunil was, luckily, face down but the impact still knocked her out cold.
"What is the meaning of this?" Lillian said, standing in the doorway in her dressing gown. "I believe I said that children should be seen and not-" She looked down as Zayne pointed at her feet.
"Sunil was stuck under the door."
Alena ventured a glance around the doorframe in back of Lillian, a couple tendrils of long blonde hair slipping out of a messy ponytail.
"Aunt Lillian?" She said quietly, hesitating.
Lillian simply sighed, crossed her arms over her chest, and turned to glare at Alena. Visibly nervous, Alena blurted out her message very quickly.
"The cook says someone broke into the pantry and stole a bunch of sugar and baked goods. Including Max's morning croissants."
Sunil took this time to wake up. Putting a hand to the back of her head, she popped bak up to her feet with a bit of flight magic. Her control was shaky though and she overcompensated, backing into Lillian's slippers.
"What the ********?" The little feien squeaked as she turned on Lillian's slippers and slapped at them. "You wanna fight? Huh? Well I don't give a ********." Then she whirled around on Zayne, pointing one accusatory figure in the general vicinity of her bond, but clearly unable to focus properly. "YOU! You gave me the first cupcake. I need MORE. MORE CUPCAKES!" She clapped her hands together pre-emptorily. "TOUT SUITE!"
A moment of silence settled over the room as the three humans stared at Sunil in confusion. It was broken by the arrival of a harried looking maid.
"Letter for Sunil?" She asked, curtseying to Lillian.
Lillian reached out to snap up the letter, but Sunil beat her to it - clutching the letter to her chest and zipping down the hall before anyone could stop her.
"Mine, mine, mine." She called out as she disappeared out an open window. "No one can take what is mine. Thieves," she muttered, coming to a halt on the corner of the large garden fountain. Looking all around her to make sure no one was watching her, she ripped open the letter and read it hungrily.
When she had finished reading it twice, she dipped it into the water of the fountain and watched the writing disappear as the paper dissolved.
She coupld play the waiting game. Oh yes, oh yes - she could play this game. As long as she got her reward. Her precious.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:37 pm
Zayne's Feien Journal [Thinking Outside the Box] The fight with Hitomi had made Sunil angry, but the pink feien's "escape" had left her without a proper outlet. So instead the blue juvenile had continued her search for Averno.
This search had come up empty.
Her tiny amount of patience exhausted, Sunil had begun to explore alternate options. After all, she firmly believed that she was smarter than this 'Shabby Man'. Besides, if Ruby was to be believed, she wouldn't get anything for her trouble anyway.
"All I need," Sunil repeated to herself as she re-read her secret missive, "is one curl of black hair."
It sounded simple, but Sunil was having difficulty thinking of any other feien she had met with black hair. Especially curly black hair.
As is often the case with these situations, Sunil's problems were solved by a happy coincidence.
She had been brainstorming and pacing the windowsill for over an hour when Zayne came home. It had been raining all day long, which both excited and annoyed the young girl. She was excited to carry the yellow umbrella covered in purple polka dots which Alena had bought her on Lillian's orders, but she was annoyed since the extra moisture in the air made her hair curl and frizz.
"Sunil!" Zayne snapped, shaking her umbrella all over the room while Alena attempted quietly to collect it. "Stop pacing and get away from the window." She had taken on a bit of Lillian's abrupt manner. "You're going to get even more sick and I don't need a cold."
Sunil had turned with a scowl on her face, ready to snap back at her bond, but then stopped with her mouth partway open. A solution had just presented itself and she obediently flew over to rest precariously on her bond's shoulder.
All she needed was to cut off one black curl. A small one, since it was supposed to be from a feien and then she could return to the HQ and fulfill her promise to the 'Shabby Man'.
Despite her returning symptoms and the stinging in her scalp, Sunil smiled to herself.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:38 pm
Zayne's Feien Journal [Fall from Grace] Oh god, oh god - it was chasing her and she would never be free of it's breath down her neck, it's touch along her spine, the way it stalked her every move and breath.
Sunil came to, her fingers digging into the skin around her eyes, and blood coming from her ears. This wasn't the first time this had happened and Sunil took a moment to get a grasp on her environment. It was a sign of how quickly she was deteriorating that she didn't stop to dwell on what had just happened to her - or whether the visions and feeling were real.
She knew this was because of the cupcakes, the damn cupcakes - the ones she both craved and reviled. The one that she still had a fraction of hidden on the estate. She liked t look at it, but she couldn't bring herself to eat. Luckily she had not yet eaten during one of her confused states that left bruises on her arms and deep scratches all over her face. She was even afraid once that she had shredded a wing.
Why? That was the question that kept repeating in her mind. What had she done to deserve this - this torture. If someone wanted to kill her, why would they be so cruel? She would either die of the extreme blood loss she seemed to suffer everytime she was injured (despite Zayne's horrified attempts to wrap her in bandages) or she would kill herself in one of her visions of horror.
Sunil honestly wasn't sure which fate she was looking forward to less.
It was, contemplating this thought, that Sunil was snatched up by Zayne and wrapped in a large purple blanket.
"This is for your own good," Zayne said sadly, handing the towel to her aunt. Her aunt grimaced, took the towel, and grasped Sunil firmly inside of it - the juvenile's arms were trapped at her sides.
The adult spoke to the feien with an obvious reluctance.
"Zayne believes you are insane," she said. "There are no asylums for tiny fairies that I am aware of, so you will be restrained until the exact nature of your illness can be determined."
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:40 pm
Zayne's Feien Journal -Visit to the Feien Store-
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:52 pm
Quest Time! So many things have been happening to the young Tale, and while the forces of the Universe often times do things that are beyond our control, Zayne's quest does not fall under this category. Her quest will be two-fold. It has been a while since she has had any contact with another Tale, thus she needs to re-connect with that aspect of herself. Zayne must encounter and charm at least two Tales who she does not know on two different occasions. ((translation: two playdates, each with a Tale she has not met)) The second part of her quest is a gathering if materials. To be included are at least six books on whatever subject Zayne fancies. The rest of the items must in some way be connected to her innate abilities, or at the very least make her stay with her aunt a far more... interesting one than her current guardian would want. These items may vary and be unrelated to each other and can be made, found, purchased or given. However Zayne will go about it, it must be documented in her Tome (either posted or a link is provided). Good Luck
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 5:26 pm
[Playdate #1] Hopefully the PD with Onoway, Ezra, and Chai.
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:44 pm
[Appearances Can Be Deceiving] Due to Alena's increasing absences, Zayne began spending more and more time with her Aunt Lillian. This was not a pleasant exerience for either of them. It was clear to Zayne that nothing she ever did was to Aunt Lillian's satisfaction and Aunt Lillian was having trouble doing business with a small child trailing around town behind her.
Currently the pair was "exploring" a shady part of town packed with antique and curiosity shops. Lillian had a shoulder-slung bag which had gotten lighter and lighter as the day progressed. Zayne's pockets, however, had gotten heavier and heavier. As Lillian absorbed all of each shopkeeper's attention with aggressive negotiating for the contents of her bag, Zayne located and picked up little trinkets she found worth accumulating.
At first the Tale had sought out shiny objects, but she quickly became distracted by artifacts that seemed to "call" to her. If her Aunt Lillian has been aware of how Zayne selected the treasures collecting in the front pocket of her apron, she would have felt obligated to point out that objects which ask to be picked up are often those that should be avoided. Luckily, or unluckily, Aunt Lillian was unaware of how Zayne selected her targets.
In what was to be the final store for the day, Zayne felt the strongest call yet. As soon as Lillian began speaking to the grizzled man behind the desk, the girl scurried off to the back of the store and began shuffling through a dusty tower of old books. After a particularly large cloud of dust set off a sneezing fit, Zayne happened upon her prey.
Disappointingly, it looked like a plain leather-bound treatise on wetland animals - but as the Tale watched it shimmered and morphed into something infinitely more interesting volume. Bound in what looked like rainbow-kissed snakeskin, it glimmered at all angles - one of which revealed words spelled out in the natural variation of color in the scales on the cover.
The Book of Skins
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Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:05 pm
[Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover] Despite her initial hopes, Zayne could find no significance in the items she had been drawn to gather in the varied establishments she had trailed Lillian to. They appeared, at least individually, to be the cast-off remnants of an incomplete puzzle. None of the pieces were complete - Zayne could feel it - but she had no idea how to put them together or whether she even had all the pieces she would need to make a whole.
When she tired of the pieces of nonsense, Zayne turned her considerable concentration to the Book of Skins. She was frustrated to realize that she couldn't read it. She tried sounding out words until she was so frustrated she took a pair of scissors to a dress and then burned its ribbon-trimmed carcass in the garden, but it did her little good. She didn't have the patience, reading skill, or vocabulary to glean anything of use from the volume.
Never one to admit defeat, the Tale began to explore other aspects of the Book. To the household help, it appeared as child's book - Cinderella to most of the maids and Grimm's Fairytales to the cook. Zayne didn't dare show it to Lillian or Max for fear they would feel what she felt. Alena didn't even look at the Book when Zayne brought it to her. She dismissed the girl without a word, a feverish look in her eye.
The girl had hoped that Sunil would be able to read to her, but the feien claimed the words spun and gave her a headache. Zayne wasn't sure if this was true or simply part of her continuing punishment for forcing Sunil to eat the cupcake that had made her so very ill. If she hadn't had something else more important on her mind, the Tale would have put a stop to this behavior. Instead, she had given Ruya's blossom to the dark blue fairy for safekeeping and then abandoned her. If Sunil couldn't be of use, she might as well not exist.
Unsure of Sunil's assessment, Zayne showed the Book to the cook - and wheedled to have a couple sentences read to her.
"Just five minutes," she said, smiling and fidgeting in her light blue dress. "I won't tell anyone and you'll make me so happy!"
The cook, understandably, felt bad for the poor orphaned girl Lillian had taken in. Everyone knew Lillian was hard to work for - what must it be like to be a child in her house?
And Zayne got a few sentences out of the cook before moving on. She had a sneaking suspicion that cook hadn't read the same thing Zayne had heard - but to be safe she skipped around the household staff, wheedling a sentence here and a paragraph there.
Eventually she had a complete unit. A spell to give her the abilities of an animal of her choice for one week. It would take a day to complete, but the ingredients were simple. She needed white cotton thread in a large quantity, glue (adhesive, the Book had said - she'd had to ask around to find out what that meant), and a piece of whatever animal she wished to mimic.
The thread could be stolen from the laundry room, an easy task. Zayne simply ripped the hem out of a dress and then went down to the laundry room in tears. She claimed she'd caught the garment on a nail and needed to fix it before Aunt Lillian noticed and punished her. She played up the punishment - although Zayne had a sneaking suspicion Lillian wouldn't be concerned over a single garment. The ploy worked and in exchange for spending an hour pricking her fingers every minute or so Zayne managed to pocket several spools of thread.
The glue was even easier, since she had some in her art supplies. All she had to do was squeeze it out into a bowl. (Bowls, Zayne had plenty - ever since she had determined the ceramic could contain fires. She simply "forgot" to return them to the kitchen every so often after a breakfast in her room.)
A piece of the animal she wanted to mimic stymied Zayne for quite some time for the simple reason she didn't have many choices. Obviously, she had Spike - but she wasn't sure she wanted to be a lizard. The fish in the fountain seemed like a good choice until she pulled one out and watched it slowly suffocate, flopping about in her hand. She had no desire to suffer the same fate. She even thought about birds, since they were always leaving feathers about - but she didn't think it would be easy to trap one long enough to steal a piece of it.
In the end, she took the easy way out and sliced the tip off Spike's tail. It wasn't easy, but Spike took it surprisingly well.
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