This Chapter Ends (Open)

[K'hali Suitangi]

K'hali
_{Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake}

A dense morning fog remained heavy on the ground this early in the morning in the Naja's End, the majority of the occupants of the city still asleep.

Yet one section of the city was slowly beginning to murmur awake, the hushed tones of the servants within the splendid household's of the capitals elite hinting at the beginning of a new day. Elven servents were mingling within or just outside the gates of their respective family's homes, yawns and gossip commonly traded before breakfast.

A dark-haired man, stockier than the other elves, stepped out the side door of a mother-of-pearl mansion built within and around a small cluster of whitewood trees. He was dressed differently from the other servants, garbed in rough-shewn traveling cloak the color of summer leaves. A animal skin rucksack was slung over one shoulder, a beautifully crafted bow and quiver over the other. He paused to trade a few words with another servant before softly strolling outside the gates and down the stone road, headed into heart of the city. Other servants watched him go, disapproval on their faces. The male elf didn't seem to care, leather brown eyes focused and head held high.

K'hali wasn't that sad about leaving the Rivorera family employment, although he had no malicious reason to be unhappy with the time he'd spent in their services. Like most elven aristocratic families the Rivorera were a model of decorum, grace, intelligence, and honor. Working for them had been a delight... they paid well and appreciated his professionalism almost as much as his discretion. For twenty-two years he'd worked for them as servant and valet to the young Lord Rivorera and had gained much standing amongst the members of the family. But the time had come to move on again and go back to living a life on the road and in the woods until circumstances would invariably push him back to the capital again.

I'll miss the young Mistress though. Especially her eagerness to explore the world and admire every flower in it. The solemn expression on K'hali's face softened a touch as he thought of the young Lord's daughter, a little girl who appeared no more than five or six human years old. But that must all be behind me now. It'll probably be another forty of fifty years before I will be back to serve the capital families and she will have forgotten me by then.

He sighed, his expression turning solemn again, and picked up his pace. By now the road resembled a human garden path, the stone lined with soft soil as it twists through the odd mixture of curved buildings and straight trees. As he proceeded to the city center the path was lined by more and more small family businesses, the occupants stirring as they prepared for another day of business as usual. K'hali felt his sensitive nose tingle as he smelled a baker's first batch of apple tarts and a woodsmith's pungent oils take over the fresh morning air. Slowly other elves (and the occasional human) began to join him on the street, bustling this way or that as they prepared for a new day.

K'hali shifted his rucksack once and continued, his eyes looking upward as the city's greenery parted enough for him to just make out the outline of the capital's south end and the towering oak that marked the south gate. Odd perhaps, but something tells me south is my best bet.

K'hali
_{Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own breaks}

[-Pan-]

Pan descended the stairs from her home to the ground, leaving behind her mother, who was leaning over the balcony yelling down endless goodbyes, with tears in her eyes but nonetheless joy in her voice. She was certainly sad to see her little girl embark on a journey, but was so happy that she had been blessed with a dragon. Said dragon was lingering at the top of the steps, though, looking out at the surrounding scenery. He had just hatched the night before, but Pan had gotten to know enough of his personality that she was afraid he might try to jump off and fly down. An attempt that would not end very nicely, since he hadn’t actually learned to fly yet. Something he was oblivious to, though, as he had already jumped off the fridge, the lamp, and every other relatively high perch he could find. The poor girl and her mother had spent the entire night chasing after him and making sure the little creature didn’t hurt himself on something. Miraculously, they had succeeded in keeping him safe, by finally figuring out that food was the only thing which could stop him in his tracks. And so, they had fed him everything he would willingly eat, and finally, with a full belly, he had settled down to sleep. But troublesome as he was, Pan still loved him as soon as he had hatched. He was a precious little thing.

“Come on, Leo.” She called up to the dragon, who gave a snort of reluctance but followed his rider down the stairs. Once they reached the bottom, he decided that he didn’t feel like walking, and hopped up to perch precariously on Pan’s satchel, being barely small enough to keep his balance and not break the strap. The girl gave him a frown of annoyance, because he wasn’t exactly light, and instead ushered him up to hold on to her shoulder. The claws against her skin weren’t very pleasant, but they weren’t breaking her shirt or digging in, so she got used to it and let it be. To keep his balance, the dragon wrapped his tail around the strap hanging off her other shoulder, and that was sufficient to keep him perched there without disturbing her as she walked. Pan just shook her head in exasperation, but kept walking, waving one last farewell to her mother.

It was early in the morning, and so there was a great deal of hustling about, even in the residential area. She wouldn’t expect so many people out this early, but apparently they all had things to do in the morning. However, the crowd thinned as she got closer to the gate leading out of the city, and soon, the towering exit loomed before her a little ways away. Well, this was it. She was about to embark on the journey that dragon riders were famous for, and become a nomad like them. Sure, her dragon couldn’t fly her around and protect her yet, but they had to learn sometime. Maybe she would travel to some of the human cities, and learn a little bit about survival there. Because let’s face it. Leo wouldn’t be very much help in defense for quite a while, and Pan would be even worse in a fight. The girl ran at the slightest sign of danger, and didn’t even have a shift with scary teeth and claws. For the first time, she was wishing she had a different shift. A mouse was pretty lame.

In her thoughts, the girl had paused, and the red dragon on her shoulder whined in eagerness to get on. But since the girl wasn’t moving fast enough, he took it upon himself to lead her, and leaped off his perch. The little creature scampered along the ground at a surprisingly quick pace. Pan went after him, but the dragon was able to dodge between the peoples feet, and the shifter was not. There weren’t a great many people, but she still lost him every few seconds, and it took a somewhat ridiculous amount of time for her to actually catch up with the little beast. And by the time she had, Leo had grabbed on to the bag of a rather large, gruff looking man who maybe looked unpleasant. He was obviously pretty strong, but he couldn’t miss that extra weight, and Pan was almost mortified. Messing with her was one thing, but he wasn’t even a day old and was already getting in the habit of messing with total strangers. And then of course, he couldn’t let well enough alone, and started poking at the bow slung over the man’s back. “Leo, stop!” She called out to him, wishing to stop this before he did anything else. The creature looked at her in obvious annoyance, but stopped messing with things anyway, and hopped down to the path again.

She ran up quickly and scooped him up, wrapping arms around him firmly and apologizing profusely to the stranger whom he had disturbed. “I’m so sorry, sir. He hasn’t learned manners yet, and it’s really hard to keep up with him.” The dragon wriggled in her grip, but was thankfully unable to free himself and run off again. She murmured a stern “Stop it.” to him, and looked up at the man, hoping he wouldn’t be angry at her and/or her dragon. He was an elf, with fair features one couldn’t find even in an elf-like shifter, and so probably would be reasonable about things. But the timid girl was nervous anyway, always fearing the worst. Especially from large, intimidating people.

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OOC: So, so sorry that this took so long to actually get up. I never got around to hatching my dragon, but I got it up finally. So if you're actually still around and interested in the site, I promise I'll be punctual with replies.