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Click the journal to view Elena's journal as a thread. Warning: it is image intensive, which is why I put the images here as links instead.







Page One
Page Two

Elena was the first one through the door, tugging eagerly on Jerava's hand, as if that would speed her passage. "I'm coming," the elf muttered as she too exited the doorway. Rasalis bobbed along overhead, projecting an air of thorough disappointment.

"This does not look like a good place to buy books," the Fandangle opined, swiveling about his center axis slowly, silently expressing his complete and utter disapproval. "Furthermore, I do not think that this is a suitable environment for my Mistress." Elena had already darted off ahead of her familiar and mother, heading straight to the bookstore she and Jer had visited on their previous jaunt into Aekea.

"There's a good used bookstore not far from here," Jer explained patiently as they followed after the girl at a more sedate pace. "Not only normal, everyday books, but there's a section with the more esoteric and magical tomes in the back," she elaborated, which more than explained her interest in the shop. "Elena can't go back there, of course, but there are plenty of other, more appropriate books to keep her occupied." Rasalus didn't reply, but privately felt better about the choice of bookstores; after all, his Mistress' mother was an avid and knowledgeable collector of rare books. However, he still felt apprehensive about the location, maintaining a strict surveillance of everything around.

"Perhaps you should have purchased a location closer to this store," he complained instead as they finally caught up to the impatiently waiting Elena. "If only to minimize the time spent walking in this dismal place."

"Perhaps," Jer replied enigmatically as she opened the door, ushering her daughter and familiar into the shop. "I don't think coddling Elena is the correct method, but you're welcome to your opinion." There was an audible emphasis on the last word, door closing behind the trio as Jer arched an eyebrow at Rasalus, almost daring him to say something. He declined the challenge, instead ushering Elena to the children's book section.

"Salus, the books I want aren't over there," Elena said in exasperation. She made a beeline to the Young Adult area, instead, happily finding the two books Lance had recommended to her on display. "See?" she said proudly, holding them awkwardly until Jer claimed them from her.

"They seem a bit thick," the Fandangle said somewhat dubiously, eying the books askance. "What was the other title you were looking for? Something about Princesses?"

"The Princess Bride," Jer said, making a motion with her head towards the Adult Fiction section. Elena nodded in confirmation and headed over there. This was a little trickier to find, as Elena didn't know the author's last name, but Rasalus quickly found it, thanks to a nearby unsecured wireless network.
"That's enough for today," Jer said firmly, heading for the cashier. "We can come back another time to get you more books." Elena looked disappointed, but followed along, Rasalus above and slightly behind her.

Elena stuck her head into Jerava's bedroom, the rest of her following once a light was spotted. "Mum?" the girl said quietly to the woman curled up in a large armchair, who was currently slowly reading from a small leather bound notebook.

"Yes?" Jer replied absently, closing the book quickly before tilting her head backwards over the arm of the chair, her long brown hair spilling backwards where it glinted redly in the firelight. "Is everything alright?" she continued more seriously, noting Elena's pinched and worried face.

"I don't know," her daughter responded slowly, standing briefly by her mother's chair before slumping down to sit and thump her head next to Jer's. "I feel achy and sore and sort of stretched out, I have weird dreams, and everyone's annoying me," Elena attempted to explain, waving her hands about in emphasis, although she mostly succeeded in nearly knocking Jer's glasses off.

"More so than usual?" came Jer's dry, joking query. Elena wasn't known for getting along well with the majority of the House's inhabitants. Indeed, it was a rare day when someone didn't manage to aggravate the somewhat high-strung princess. Jer's light and airy tone masked a deeper concern, however. While she might have grown more distant from her first and eldest child, Jerava still loved her daughter deeply.

"Funny," Elena breathed out after a moment, clearly not picking up on her mother's worry. "I'm trying to be serious, and here I thought you'd do the same," she continued, frowning sharply and standing up. "I'd have expected something like this from Malira, not my mother," Elena said waspishly, walking towards the door without giving Jer a chance to reply. "Hopefully Arya's lucky, and you'll learn from this," she added spitefully.

"Elena!" Jer called out harshly, wanting only to stop the girl and explain that it had been an attempt to lighten the mood, but Elena left the room, head held high, not deigning to slam the door as she so desperately wanted to do. Instead of going after her, Jer stared at the door for a moment and then sighed, twisting herself upright and pinching the bridge of her nose. "What do you suppose she meant by that last comment?" the elf dully, closing her eyes briefly, before glancing at the room's other occupant.

"Tempting though it is to dismiss it as mere jealousy, I imagine she said it because she's feeling hurt and ignored. Something we have in common, for once," the speaker said, voice drier than Jer's had been previously, coming out into the open, metallic skin ruby red in the now dying firelight.

"I suppose so," Jer said, looking at her familiar with troubled eyes. The mental bond between the two was as strong as ever; indeed, it would take nothing short of Jerava's death to break it. But there had been an increasing distance between the two, since Elena's arrival, and while Jer had recently begun to take steps to close that distance, she still had to balance that with two children, as well as everything else in her life. "Apparently, I haven't been doing anyone any good." Laure didn't reply, but the recrimination was strongly implied in her silence as she made to leave the room as well. "I--" Jer said, stopping in mid-sentence as she found herself unable to think of anything, except to wonder, oddly, when Sesostris was going to return. It seemed as though lately, that was the sole relationship going well in her life. "I don't know," she admitted finally, slumping back in her chair. Laure looked back, her mechanical features revealing nothing of her thoughts or emotions.

"You'd best figure something out," came the sober reply as Laure entered the elevator to descend to the lab, the door closing on her last word. Jer sighed again, heavily, and stared into the fire until it had long since burned itself to ash before heading to her bed, where she slept fitfully.



Elena also slept restlessly, although her nightmares were not fueled by nagging guilt. Her dreams consisted of wandering in a densely forested area, an equally dense fog obscuring anything beyond a few feet. A faint voice muttered inaudibly in the background, causing the already wound up girl to feel increasingly on edge.

"What do you want!?" Elena yelled finally, stopping her wanderings to stand defiantly, hands on her hips.

"It's not what I want, little princess," the voice replied, childish tone at odds with the smooth and vaguely menacing intonation. "No, my dear, it's what you want that matters right now."

"What I want?" Elena parroted back, blinking dumbfoundedly. Instinct finally kicked in as the girl realized she was not, in fact, dreaming, and that there likely was real trouble to be found here. "Why do you want to know?" she asked warily, eyes narrowed in suspicion. The sound of two hands clapping, as though in amusement, caused Elena to let out a low snarl. She was being mocked, patronized even, and she clearly knew it.

"Very good. That suspicious, if slow, mind will serve you well later," the voice said, merriment overlaid the ever-present hint of threat. Elena bristled slightly at the insult to her intelligence. "Calm yourself, little princess. I mean you no harm." That a 'yet' was implied was understood quite clearly by the girl in the fog. "I simply wish to know what you want." Elena hesitated, and in that moment's weakness, she was lost.

"I just want my mum to love me again," she whispered, crumpling to her knees, nightgown billowing out around her before settling in a ragged circle.

"You know what the best way to do that is?" the speaker whispered soothingly. "Be different. Be better. Show her that you've grown, changed, become more deserving of her affection than anyone else." Elena swayed back and forth slightly as the voice spoke to her, as if in a trance.

"How?" she croaked out finally, the word barely audible. "I can't change everything about myself overnight! I don't know how!"

"That's what I'm here for," came the ominous reply as the sudden, gentle yet firm, press of a small hand on her forehead caused Elena to blackout.

I need to make up paper for Rasalus. Hell, I just need to do more WITH Rasalus argh. ):

My Mistress has grown, as have I. I changed before her, as my previous form was not best suited for protecting and guiding her. I am still unsatisfied on this front; the Widget form is nowhere near as useful as Armature.

She's grown quite suddenly and I gather from Jerava's reaction that this was wholly unanticipated. If it were possible, I would be more disappointed in her, as she clearly knows so little about her daughter. For that matter, she knows very little about anything she interacts with, even things that she claims to have built or designed. Thankfully, she is not my Bonded. I do not envy Laure at all.

I wonder how this new growth will affect my Bonded's temperament. Perhaps, hopefully, she will be more receptive of my guidance. After all, I am wiser than she is and am better able to see what's best for her. Jerava has already hinted that she is going to be allowing Elena more freedoms, which is a clear indication that she simply doesn't care anymore. I fear that Elena will need my guidance even more, now that her erstwhile mother has effectively abandoned her.

She didn't know why, but Shauna had insisted on coming to this place. Eight really had no clue why, honestly! She didn't! She saw much more interesting things at home with all the pets that came in every day, and even the other day another Mozou had poofed into their house out of another clay totem. This one they called Ai.

"Hey! Look at those! They look like...weasles." Shauna blinked, leaning over the fence to get a good look at some white ferret-looking animals with black tips on their tails. Eight glanced at the sign next to her daughter, stepping up to the fence after her with her hands tucked in her pockets. "What are they?"

"Look to your left and you'll find out." Eight said, smiling. "Aw, look. Those two are cuddling." She cooed, tossing her head a little to get her hair away from her eyes. Shauna did what she was told and read the sign. It read:


"Huh...so they're little white weasles...?"

"Sounds like it." Eight blinked and turned, watching Shauna run off. She'd only noticed it because the girl had decided to put her hair into one big braid with two bells at the end.

Eight wanted to rip those bells to pieces.

"Where're you going?"

"To see other animals, of course! Come on!" Shauna grinned, coming back to grab Eight's hand and drag her away to see more animals.

Yes, they were at the zoo for once. It was all Shauna's idea, really. She wanted to do something new, something she didn't usually do...okay, she just wanted to see some real foxes, maybe even hold one.

Jerava's ears twitched slightly as she heard bells approaching, and moved off to the side of the wide road/path that she'd been standing on. Thankfully, only Aurion, who was holding Anarya, was still with her, and the Tahnee had already moved off to the side, his hearing even better than the elf who had adopted him. Jer flicked open her pocket computer, looking at the map of the zoo, attempting to once again find the snake house, which is where Arya had wanted to go. At least, that's what her mum had assumed the girl meant by 'Snake!' when the family had arrived at the zoo earlier.

"Fox," Arya said, pointing at Shauna. "Dif'ent fox," she continued as Jer quirked an eyebrow and looked - Aurion was, after all, a Tahnee fox, but where Shauna had a reddish tail and ears, he had snowy white ones, with black tips. "'Lo!" Arya cried out, waving happily. Aurion rolled his eyes slightly and shifted the girl - she'd said hi to everyone they'd come across, and been disappointed when most didn't return her greeting.

Jer was more tolerent of the child's behavior; it was a far cry from Elena, who had a tendency to be overbearing and somewhat haughty when first meeting someone, although she had gotten much better about that, apparently deciding that good princesses were gracious and polite. And Elena really wanted to be a good princess.

Just...a little...closer...damnit! Eight missed them again. Eight really wanted to get those bells out of Shauna's hair, and she'd been trying the whole time they'd started looking at the other animals; the thing is, every time she got close enough to grab them Shauna turned her head.

Shauna's ears suddenly perked up, however, when she heard a child call out in their general direction, gasping and clapping her hands together underneath her chin. "Hi~!" Oh, what a little darling! And she even had a...was that a snake for a tail? How interesting! And this girl was such a firey little child, she had a feeling she'd be a very good friend for Ilistala. Shauna changed her route from the animals nearby to the little girl and the group she was with, smiling warmly. Eight came with her of course, ignoring how Shauna's bells jingled with every step.

She would get those bells out of her hair, damnit!

"'Lo fox," Arya said, waving her little arm enthusiastically. "Two foxie!" she said excitedly, wiggling in Aurion's arms, her tail curled around the Tahnee's arm in a slightly vain effort to keep the Shattered child from falling. After all, if she was going to fall, odds were her tail wasn't going to be enough to save her.

"Yes, two foxes," Aurion said somewhat dryly. He'd learned early on to be tolerent of Arya's more extroverted behavior, even though he preferred not to talk to everyone who walked by.

For her part, Jerava was content to watch and not speak, although she was certainly close enough to do so if the situation warrented it, or if she needed to introduce herself.

"Pretty fox~" Arya crowed, her wings flaring out to the side, flamed feathers dropping off and disappearing before they hit the ground. "Fox make noise," she continued, eyeing the bells curiously.

"Foxie? Me?" One of those brief moments where one forgets what they are, Shauna smiled and wagged her tail a little. "Yup! Two foxies!" It was then that she realized she'd just walked over like she knew these people, suddenly blushing and putting her hands on her cheeks, the girl looked up at the woman and fox Tahnee with a sheepish smile on her lips.

"Oh my! I'm sorry! I guess I wasn't exactly paying attention!" She apologized, laughing a little and rubbing the back of her head. When the little girl pointed out the bells in her hair, Shauna giggled and held the end of her hair just above the bells, leaning forward and jingling the little things in front of the little girl. "Pretty cool, huh? I'm Shauna!"

Damnit! Those bells caught everyone's attention! Eight sighed and shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest, leaning into one leg and tilting her head to the side. She was also just content to watch them interact.

"Foxie foxie foxie," Arya said in a sing song, reaching a hand out to bat at the bells. "Arya," she declared, pointing at herself in case Shauna didn't realize who she was naming.

"She's Anarya, and I'm Aurion," the Tahnee said, shifting the toddler in his arms slightly. "It's nice to meet you, miss," he added with a slight bow, careful not to tip Arya out of his arms and onto the ground.

"And I'm Elena," another voice said, clear and bell like in tone. The speaker came around a bend in the path, dressed in a long navy blue skirt that brushed the ground as she walked, with a silvery t-shirt embellished with blue thread. Behind her came another Tahnee - this one a sardonic looking vampire, clearly the one assigned to escort the girl around the zoo. "Mum, the theater's closed," she said petulantly to the elf. "So I can't go watch the movie," she ended, tapping her foot imperceptably.

"So go find something else to do?" Jer suggested with a lazy grin. "This is a large zoo, after all."

Shauna giggled, putting her fingertips to her lips. "Little children are so cute!" She chirped, allowing the firey girl to hold the bells as long as she was careful not to pull too hard on them. "It's nice to meet you, Ary--Anarya!" She corrected herself when the Tahnee repeated the girl's name correctly. Shauna pointed at Eight. "That lady back there's my mom, Eight!" Eight's headwings twitched a little and she blinked, finding herself suddenly being mentioned out of nowhere. Oh wait...she was being introduced.

The fox jumped a little when another voice spoke up, peeking around the Tahnee to find a lovely girl standing with the other woman. Wow! Were those stars in her hair?! Cool! "The aquarium?" She suggested, then looked down for a moment to check on her bells at Ana, gasping softly. "Is that a snake?" Obviously she couldn't tell it was the girl's tail.

Elena wrinkled her nose; she didn't think Arya was cute at all. But maybe she'd think someone else's little sibling was cute. Or maybe not, she tended to prefer people who were able to express their adoration for her.

Arya giggled and thumped the bells together, not really paying attention to whether or not she was pulling too hard. "Hihi~" she chirped at Eight, waving a hand still occupied with a bell.

"Um?" Elena replied intelligently. "Sure, I guess," she continued, still unhappy that she'd missed out on seeing the movie. Dyran supressed a smile at the girl; she didn't like to think she was being mocked.

"Tail!" Arya said, dropping the bells to tug her tail out for Shauna to see. "Snakeytail." Said appendage hissed in greeting, blinking it's black eyes.

Shauna's ears flicked every time the bells were rung so close to her head, it was probably from irritation to the sound due to her hearing being so sensitive. Her hair was so long now that it hadn't mattered when the bells were ringing behind her back and farther from her head than they were now. Eight smiled sweetly and waved to the firey little girl. "Hi there."

Elena wasn't being mocked, Shauna was merely making a suggestion on something else that the girl could do! She liked this girl's hair, it was beautiful with those...were those stars? Wow! "Wow! A tail that hisses and everything! That's so cool." Shauna held her fluffy tail and pulled it around so Ana could see some of it, smiling brightly. "I've just got a fluffy tail. It doesn't say anything."

"Hihihihi~" Arya chirped at Eight, waving her tail a bit, to which it responded with an irritated hiss.

Dyran was still smiling when Elena kicked him in the shins, lightly, while smiling sweetly. The vampire winced and directed a glare at the girl. "What was that for?" he hissed at her, very manfully not rubbing the sore spot.

"Because you didn't think of anything else to do," she said imperiously, flipping her hair around to get it all behind her shoulders. With the motion, the stars in it sparkled to life, which was clearly visible in the shaded area she was standing in. Or under, if you took into account she was standing under a tree.

"Fluffytail," Arya echoed, patting Shauna's extra appendage with her hands. "Fluffysoft!" she squealed happily, wiggling in Aurion's arms in an attempt to bury her face in the fox tail.

"Careful," the Tahnee said, readjusting his hold on her. "Don't want you to fall."

Shauna blinked and looked up when she heard a hiss, putting a hand over her mouth. Oh dear! That wasn't exactly nice or lady like. Her attention was drawn away from the vampire and Elena when she felt a hand on her tail, giggling and nodding. "Isn't it?" She smiled. "My mom's got one too! And my dad!" She remembered when she was small enough to hide under that tail! It was fun!

When Aurion moved Ana around to hold her better, Shauna blinked. Holding children was hard for her sinc she wasn't as big as an adult...but he looked older than her! Would holding children properly always be hard? "I can hold her if you want!" She chirped, smiling. Eight blinked. Oh dear...that meant Shauna would want to spend the entire day with them...and that meant that they'd be walking soon...and those bells! "We were going to go into that giant bird habitat over there! Wanna come? Maybe we'll be able to pet some birds!" It was one of those rooms that they just let the birds fly free inside a caged environment...cage being high quality chicken-wire, of course.

Elena continued to glare at Dyran, who now looked unruffled and calm, completely unbothered by her annoyance.

"Mum has tail. Not fluffytail," Arya said, patting Shauna's tail happily.

"She's wiggly," Aurion warned the other fox, handing Arya over to her. "And watch out for the wings," he added as Arya flapped her in midpass.

"Bird!" Arya chirped, wiggling a bit. "Bird please?" she asked Aurion, before looking over at her mum.

"Alright," Jer said with a nod. "Elena, why don't you come with us? Since you're so bored," the elf added with a lazy drawl towards her older daughter.

"Fine," she snapped out before regaining control. "I'd be happy to come along," the girl added in a honeyed tone. Jer chuckled and pushed herself off the fence she'd been leaning on.

"Where's the aviary at?" she asked, tail flicking around as she looked.

"Wiggly isn't a problem!" Shauna chirped, taking Anayra when she was handed over, settling her comfortably on her hip--that was getting a bit easier now that her body was growing older and developing into a more womanly figure until it was her time again--Shauna tickled under Anarya's chin. "You just want to flap your wings and fly away, eh?" She teased with a smile.

Shauna smiled when Elena agreed to come with them to see the birds, bouncing the child on her hip to hold her more comfortably. The fox girl looked around for a moment when Anarya's mother asked where the birds were, pointing with one arm at a large habitat nearby. You couldn't really hear the birds over the crowd. "There they are! C'mon let's go!" She cheered, waiting for everyone else to follow after her and hurrying along the path--she was careful of Anarya--to the aviary. Yay for birds!

"Surely something is the matter," Rasalus pressed stubbornly, hovering closer to Elena's head. She swatted at him, irritated, and the Fandangle darted back out of reach.

"I told you, I'm fine," she replied - again - mood turning more sour at the thought of listening to him nag at her. "Nothing's going on." Rasalus let out a low sigh and moved closer to his Mistress' ear.

"I know about your dreams," he hissed out, spinning himself about to be in front of Elena. "Now, is there anything you'd like to tell me?" he asked, radiating smugness. The sudden slap was unexpected and as he stabilized in midair, he could feel a slight dip in temperature, slowly feezing the ever present water droplets on his body. Elena's eyes were narrowed and glowing slightly, hand raised for another attack.

"How dare you?" Elena asked, outraged. "You're spying on my dreams, my thoughts?" Rasalus was stunned and didn't reply; he hadn't expected her to react like this, not at all. Couldn't she see that he was trying to protect her? Trying to do what was best for her?

"Not your thoughts," was the only thing he could muster in the face of her indignation. "The Dream sprocket, that was all."

"Too much. Overstepping your authority," Elena declared imperiously, finally lowering her arm. "What's in my head is mine and private, unless I choose to share it with you." Rasalus again made no reply, merely bobbing his assent and making a note to keep further surveillance secret.

"What else have you been doing that I won't approve of?" she asked sternly, although she didn't really expect a straight answer.

"Nothing that would harm you," came the expected evasive reply. Elena sighed and waved a dismissive hand.

"Try and keep things quiet. And don't spy on me. I'm not a little kid anymore, I don't need you looking over my shoulder all the time." Rasalus murmured something that Elena chose to take as assent.

"Will you tell me about the dreams, then?"

Elena snorted derisively, earning her a sharp look. "If I wasn't before, I'm not going to now. And don't look at me like that." She sat down on the edge of her bed, pulling one leg up to tighten the laces on her slippers before doing the same with the other. "What's the rest of the agenda for today?" she asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Archery after lunch, then free-study in the library. I hope today you pick a better subject," the Fandangle said, allowing the other matter to pass. "I believe lunch today is some sort of salad. Anli hadn't finalized the menu when I last checked." Elena nodded, not really paying attention as they headed back downstairs.