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 Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:24 pm
Seto lost his breath as he sow his egg grow a crack. He stood there stuned then he knew to get the others to his back as it hatch so it wouldn't think of them as it parents.
He put the egg on the ground and knelt there watching it hatch. He then brought out a rag to clean off the chick.
He yelled to them not looking back. "Don't come over here till I say so." He order not in the mood to chid. He smiled as he watch the crack get bigger.
He was exicted but hid it from the others. He always tryed to hid his emotion to people...well this griffan will be diffrent. He thought. "My egg is starting to hatch.
He could see a small peice of a beck stick out. His eyes stayed normal but his heart grew.
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Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:01 pm
Silence was about to reply to Cecil, and then to Seto, when an enormous white griffin bearing a familiar rider landed with almost complete disregard for the black griffin called Mia.
"Valour?"
"Get on!" the rider commanded, not replying to her query.
Conditioned to obeying the Eyrie's leader, Silence obeyed, skipping onto the back of Valour's griffin, whose head had turned so he could inspect Mia.
Could it be possible that Valour hadn't noticed Mia and her rider? Surely not. He was usually on the alert and aware of things before those who were supposed to see them. She settled in front of Valour and then realized that she, to had forgotten Mia and her rider temporarily.
"I'm sorry. If you mount Mia quickly, and can convince her to follow the griffin I'm on, we can lead you to the Eyrie in the quickest manner," she called as Valour kneed his griffin to take-off.
The white part-avian leapt into the air with a sweep of his gigantic wings and they were off at the fastest Silence had ever flown.
"What's going on, Valour?" she asked, thoroughly confused.
"Si, where have you been? The whole Eyrie's been looking for you. Your egg started to hatch ten minutes ago. Courage said he'd seen you heading toward the cliff faces. You weren't thinking of jumping, were you?"
Her egg! High ones!
"My egg, really?"
"Yes, really, Si, now get in there," Valour said, giving her a shove in the right direction as they landed.
She landed badly and caught herself on her palms, but she scrambled to her feet and bolted to the nest. Everyone gave her a wide berth to allow her to make her two-legged flight. A few young children hovered outside of the area where the nest had been made, hoping to take her place if she didn't make it.
Maybe next time, younglings, Silence thought. This one's mine. Finally, mine.
She darted into the enclosed area, from which her egg's mother had been removed, thankfully, considering the she-griffin's temperment, in time to see an avian beak pecking through the egg's speckled shell.
Someone had thoughtfully placed a large bowl of fine-cut raw meat close at hand, and so when Silence knelt beside her hatching chick.
The whole process was a blur after that, and Silence only remembered holding her chick in her arms after it had fallen asleep there, its seemingly endless appetite finally sated. She fell asleep seated in the same kneeling position she held to keep the chick in her arms.
While she slept like the dead, someone had moved her to her own room, and her griffin with her. The griffin had hissed like a kettle, but Silence had remained asleep. The entire hatching had taken more time in reality than it seemed to have in her head.
Silence woke with a soft trilling in her ear and found herself staring into wide blue eyes. Her griffin. With an effort, she recalled his first noise upon hatching, a trill which was quite impossible for human vocal cords to replicate. It was important that she do this, for traditionally the Eyrie's griffins were named according to the first sound they made upon hatching. The exception being Valour's griffin, who had not hatched at the Eyrie.
"Trill, then. You'll be Trill."
She fed Trill and fell asleep once more, thoroughly exhausted for whatever reason. It wasn't until she woke once more that she remembered Seto and the other griffin rider, whom she had left to their own devices to fly off with Valour.
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Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:22 pm
Seto was at his wits end. His griffan he couldn't feed at all. He had gaven her all his food which left him hungry that morning. "Uhh why she left me like that." He said as he sat with the hungry chick in his arms.
He knew he had to feed her. "Ming-ming plese I don't have anything left." He said with the chick looking at him with hungry eyes. It made a chirp then went and laid down at his feet. It was looking poorly from not being fed well.
He felt so bad that he was almost to the poing of cutting himself to feed her. He looked around the trees not a rabbit or squirll to be seen.
Ming laid her head on her paws as she looked off into the bush in front of her. She didn't want to bother him since he didn't have anything for either of them. She would have to sleep at this rate and hope some kind of food passed by.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 12:29 pm
Swearing, Silence threw herself from bed and ran into the hall and then down the corridor to Valour's rooms.
"Valour! I need to tell you something important!"
She couldn't believe she had forgotten about Seto, and left him. There was one person who would never totally trust her.
Sagacity, Sage, opened the door and said in her annoyingly superior way, "Valour's gone. He left earlier this morning. What was it you needed to tell him? I can relay the message when he returns."
"Don't worry about it, Sage. Courage can handle it," Silence said, leaving as quickly as she could. She didn't like Sage, which put her in the minority.
Courage seemed to have anticipated her visit. He forced her to sit down and stop dashing about, as it was upsetting Trill, who had struggled to keep up with her much longer legs. The young griffin hissed a gentle scolding at her while Courage explained that Valour was already seeing to the young boy and the other griffin rider.
Relieved, Silence remained with Courage, who seemed to welcome her company, which was an oddity, as he rarely welcomed the company of any who had griffins. It reminded him of his lost griffin, Gra'ack. Before he had lost his griffin, he had been on the fast track to being the flight leader.
Unfortunately for everyone in the Eyrie, his griffin, which had been a magnificent beast, had been killed fighting Valour's griffin, Hr'aik, which had started life as a feral creature. They had been fighting for the right to mate with Sage's griffin. Convolution.
_____
Valour flew on H'raik's back to the place where he had last seen the young boy whose griffin egg had just begun to hatch as he had come for Silence. At the time, finding Silence had been his priority, but now that he knew she was safe, and that the griffin she rightly deserved had 'printed to her, he had other duties to attend to.
It took him several hours to find the boy, and when he did, neither the young man nor his griffin looked in terrific condition. He wished that he had thought to bring something to feed them, but it would be a much shorter flight back to the Eyrie, having found the boy, as it had been the finding which had taken so much time.
"I'm Valour," he said, dismounting, casting a gaze over the boy and his white and black griffin chick after glaring severely at Hr'aik. They did seem to have 'printed completely, else the young chick would have abandoned him in a search for food. That was a good thing.
"I've come to take you to the Eyrie, where you and your griffin will receive rest and sustenance, if you so desire."
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 12:46 pm
Seto opened one eye. He had already skipped two days before today and was tired enough to just sleep in rain. He looked the man and the griffan over.
His face was blank as he looked them over. He had a chance to kill me...I can't fight him if I wasn't tired.
He didn't hear the man talking. He was in a semi comma just sitting there.
Even his body was stressed. He didn't care now. "Kind of late isn't it..." He said as he tryed to get up to fall to his keens with his hand on the tree.
He haden't then relised with a start how long they had been asleep but his body said hours.
"Ming-ming...Ming-Ming..." He said shacking her. He then relised she had gone into a hunger comma. He sighed and knew that he could only trust the man to a point. He then picked up his comma griffan and walked to ward the man stumbling.
Ming-Ming opend an eye slowly to see the griffan looking at them as she felt her rider walk. She felt bad about making him worked but she too was tired to a point. She made a low purr to say thank you to her rider.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 1:23 pm
Valour caught the stumbling boy in his arms, feeling how distressingly light the combined weight of the boy and his griffin was. The boy had a point. It was certainly a bit late, but hopefully not irreparably so. It would be a great loss if either the boy or the griffin failed to survive.
H'raik clicked his beak threateningly as Valour helped his young charge and his griffin onto the white male's back, but he did no more than that. The griffin had learned to bear what his rider would have him bear, unpalatable though the burden might be. Half-dead boys and chicks fell under the unpalatable category, to H'raik's mind.
Valour twitched the riding harness and cued H'raik to take off. They could seek the other griffin rider at another time, if he was still about. Now, this youngling and his plight took precedence.
In a short time, Valour landed within the Eyrie, calling for Patience, the Eyrie's healer. He had never ridden a griffin in his life, and had no interest in doing so, but he knew more about human and griffin physiology than most anyone else.
Patience took one horrified look at Valour's find and relieved him of Seto and Ming-Ming. He began his treatment and repair as soon as he reached the infirmary. They'd both live and neither should suffer any permanent ill-effects, but the situation had been dire for a time, he told Valour later.
_____
Silence heard Valour's unmistakable bellow through the Eyrie. Courage nodded toward the door with a wry grin.
"Get gone, nosy. I know you have to know what's going on."
She arrived in time to see Patience taking a limp Seto and chick to the infirmary. She trailed after them, feeling horrendously guilty, despite Trill's encouraging cheeps and well-meant gnawing on her sleeve. It was her fault that they had been allowed to regress to such a state.
Without prompting, Silence volunteered to help Patience care for them, hoping to redeem herself somehow.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 1:41 pm
Seto woke up with a head ack and a sore body. He leand forward to see what was going on to fall back to his pillow. He felt ligter.
He reached down to his side to see that his sword was gone. He then looked to his left to see it leaning on a wall. He then tryed his best to get up which was just leaing on the wall. He turned his head to the side of the bed and vomited on the floor.
He looked around. The room was empty expect for his griffan who was in a cradle. He put his bare feet to the floor and winced from the cold. "My head." He said as he put it in his hands.
Ming-Ming lifter her head enough to look at Seto. She was still sick but was able to make a worried wimper. She then looked around to find some food that she smelled.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 6:15 pm
Silence heard the unmistakable sound of retching, and then the tell-tale splatter which was what had come up. With a soft sigh, she rolled out of the infirmary cot she was occupying to be nearby to Seto and his griffin, should she be needed. Mostly her ministrations had come while they were still asleep, which was more comfortable for her, considering the guilt which gnawed at the pit of her stomach.
Trill followed her into the partitioned area of the infirmary where Ming-Ming and Seto were located. He investigated Seto's vomit curiously, and then scuttled backwards, making a disgusted "feh" sound. Silence had long since given up wondering how griffins made such sounds without the oral faculties to do so.
She pulled her hair back and set about cleaning up the mess without saying a word. When she had finished, she went to a pump and poured some tepid water with which Seto could wash the aftertaste from his mouth. She handed him the cup filled with water and an empty mug and instructed, "Swish it in your mouth, then spit it back out into this."
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Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 4:14 am
He took both of them. He tiltled the cup with water around a few times till he found his griffan beside him. He already had half of it in his mouth and in the empty mug
She must of been crawling over here. He then notice her growling toward Trill. "Stop..." He said to her as he moved the rest of water for her to drink.
He then looked away from Silence and said. "Sorry..." He then looked at his gryphon how had her entire head in the mug.
Ming-Ming was using her entire face to get the water in her mouth. When she pulled her head out she growled at the griffan on the floor. She thought she was going to take her rider.
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Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:01 pm
Trill, already larger than the other griffin, never having gone without food for more than a few hours, hissed fearsomely and stalked to Silence's side. He needed none of that from such a tiny creature. He did not recognize her as another griffin. He had seen only one other griffin, and that had been his father, H'raik, who, though white, bore no resemblence to the small ball of fluff who had just growled at him.
Silence shrugged. "There's nothing to be sorry about, but stop her drinking that. We've food for her, she needn't take yours."
So saying, she left briefly to go into the cellar beneath the infirmary, which was kept cold so that things could be stored longer. It was the job of younglings to fetch ice to line the walls each morning. She remembered that back-breaking labour and didn't look forward to resuming that duty as a rider-in-training. It was one of their assigned tasks. From the cold cellar, she withdrew some frozen meat already cut into chunks and broke off a chunk from a large block of ice. These she carried back to the infirmary and set in a bowl on a table away from both the white and black griffin and Seto.
Silence boiled the components, creating a mild broth for Seto and softening the meat for his griffin. She separated the two meals and placed them near their recipients.
"I expect to find most of that gone when I return," she said.
Trill passed out of the infirmary before she did, and led her down the hall to visit with his father. Silence was one of the few people H'raik tolerated, and she enoyed spending time with the big griffin. She hoped that Trill would not turn out to have his father's temper, which would prove inconvenient for everyone.
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Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 1:23 pm
Before he was even to pick up his bowl Ming-Ming was swallowing almost half her her food. He smiled at the fierce little griffan.
"That right, stand up to prove that you are better no matter the size..." He had another mother rember numbers as he looked at his little white griffan.
He remeber how his father would stay at the griffan stables and how his mother would care for him. That is how he started to hate both of them and love them at once. He frowned as he thought about how complecated it was for him.
He petted his little griffan how was now finish with hers and was waiting to see if he was done with his. She sat on a pillow watching him her tail wagging and making filled chirps. She was also waitng for any scraps he didn't eat.
He ate in silence. "I should say sorry for being so rude..." He thought as he got up and head toward the door. His little griffan following him.
He could see her head into a room and he followed too and went in to find a surpise which made his spine run cold.
Ming didn't know weather to growl and get in front of her rider or get behind his leg. She deised to stay at his side and show that he was not going to be harmed. She was smart and sow that it was point less to fight the large white griffan.
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Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 1:35 pm
Trill kept a safe distance from the great white beast which was his father. He had seen H'raik's glare entering the roost. It had not been a hostile glare, merely a warning. Nevertheless, he knew that he was of a size to be edible to the older griffin.
Silence watched with some amusement the interplay between Trill and his father before returning to her self-assigned task of grooming H'raik's chest. The griffin enjoyed the grooming and made a soft rumbling sound deep in his throat which resembled either a purr or a growl. He ignored completely the she-chick's presence.
"Did anyone say you were allowed to get up?" Silence asked without turning to look at Seto.
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Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:11 pm
From were he stood his heart had stoped a beat. He then shock it off. "No...just Ming-Ming." He said pointing to the little griffan. He watched as he griffan walked over to Trill and sat be side him.
He had to take a breath from what he sow. The big griffan was twice his side and twice he knew it. He made sure to stay behind Silence. "This is the flight leaders griffan right." He asked in scorn. "I heard it was a feral and that is how it killed another one." He also said as he looked it up and down. "Wonder how he tamed it..." He asked barly interstead.
Ming watched them half interstead and half sacred from the griffan. It was larger then her and Trill combined. She sat next to him with his fur touching. She then made a wondering chirp. She was curious about things also.
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Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:36 pm
Silence had been there, watching the entire thing, from Valour's arrival at the Eyrie years earlier to H'raik's, and the subsequent power struggles between the griffin and human. The flight leader at the time, Fortitude, had wanted to have H'raik killed, because he would not tolerate other griffins well, nor would he tolerate humans, but Valour had fought for H'raik and strove to bring the wild creature to some semblance of civilisation.
She remembered the battle between H'raik and Gra'ack, too. It had been vicious and violent, and even though he had been triumphant, H'raik had been grieviously wounded. Patience hadn't been sure that the griffin would survive in the moments immediately following, but H'raik had been determined. It was that mating with Sage's griffin which had produced Trill. Afterward, H'raik had been grounded for almost a month, too injured to fly, while the Eyrie mourned the loss of Gra'ack.
"That's right," Silence said sharply, detecting the criticism in Seto's tone. "He worked for nearly a year to tame H'raik, and then he had to train him to be a griffin of the flight. It was harder than any 'printing anyone ever had to go through. H'raik doesn't see Valour as our griffins see us. He respects Valour as a griffin does another, stronger griffin. As to killing Gra'ack, it happens occasionally, when two griffins fight and neither will yield. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was once feral."
She shut her mouth with an almost audible click of her teeth, still not looking at Seto. She had little tolerance for those who criticised Valour. He was the flight leader, and he had earned that position, had been elected from among the riders. They had all acknowledged that he was the best, despite his youth. He was, now, barely twenty one years old.
Trill, sensing the shift in her mood, ventured closer and uttered a reassuring chirrup. H'raik opened one eye to glare at his son, but he couldn't be bothered to do anything while the she-human he was so fond of groomed him in the difficult place behind his wings.
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Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:59 pm
He looked it over. "So he is the flight leader..." He thought as he remeber him with a frown. He had been the one to shack him off before. "..." He stayed quite as he looked at them then closing his eyes.
"I wasn't trying to tell you the deffrence. Ferals are much stronger then regular griffan. They fight to live while." He nodded toward trill. "Are more soft from being out of the wild. Ming-Ming would of died from being a weaker at birth...if it was not for Valour she would be dead as in a cluch in the wild..." This was kind of hard for him to indicate how they both nearly got killed.
"I owe him my life..." He said solmely then more quitely for none then the griffans to hear. "Even though I have a burning hatered for him." He said then went back to finishing his first part. "I plan to make it up...atleast to he is dead..." He said with a displeasing sigh. "That might be awhile from his looks." He said as he leand on the wall.
Ming-ming made a low growl to the griffan. She had seen him try to outsize him now she wanted to prove she was better then him. She held her white head high then relised that the other chick was a coward toward the bigger one. She then working up enough coruage walked in front of H'raik looking at his face but not in a challenging way as Seto went pail. She made a friendly chirp toward him.
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