Walking In The Woods (Brinzer)

[Slane*]

Slane, in tiger form, and Temiera walked side by side. Although it had been a while since they had traveled on their own, they loved exploring new places. ...A silver egg with a splash of orange was in the grass next to me and that was how I got your egg. Slane said to Temiera using the mind-speak he could only use in tiger form.

I'm sorry you were all alone for so long. I'm glad I'm here now! Temiera said as she bumped her shoulder against his side. She felt bad for Slane and the loneliness he had to endure. She vowed to herself that she would never let anyone hurt her rider again.

Slane smiled at her as he bumped his side into Temiera and then ran forward a bit so she could not get him back. Looks like I'm winning! he smirked, turning the mood into a brighter one with a game of tag. Although Temiera was getting older, she was not fast enough to keep up with Slane - which made him enjoy the game even more. Slane started to run, knowing Temiera would follow him and try to tag him back.

With a giggle, Temiera ran after Slane. She weaved between trees and jumped over small bushes but despite her efforts, she could not catch up to him. Getting tired of chasing him, Temiera jumped into the air and beat her wings. Although she was not fast enough to catch him on the ground, she was faster than him in the air. Temiera flew forward as fast as she could, once again weaving between trees. Soon enough, she was right behind Slane and with a final jolt of speed she ran right into his side, but only enough to bump him and not hurt herself. After she tagged him, Temiera opened her wings forward to slow her down quickly and then flew up in the air. She was high enough in the air, that Slane could never reach her from the ground - even if he jumped.

Slane slowed his pace, surprised that Temiera had tagged him before he had let her. Once, he was at a slow pace he turned around and saw Temiera rising into the air. You know that's not fair, Slane laughed as he slowed to a walk, I can't reach you all the way up... he stopped as he looked past Temiera and saw a bridge - no, bridges. Going from one tree to the next and another tree to two other trees. They were no longer surrounded by just the forest. They had run into the city of Myrkan.

Come down here now, Temiera! We're not safe here! Slane said urgently and then tried to hide himself behind a large tree. He shifted and once again stood on two feet. Whoever lived here, they would be more likely to welcome a human than a tiger.

Temiera flew down as quickly as she could, hearing the urgency in Slane's mind-speak. What's wrong? She asked with a metal screech as she watched Slane shift forms. Temiera landed on the ground behind him and lightly stepped between his legs. In this form, Slane was a lot taller than her and she felt safer hiding between his strong legs.

Slane looked above and around them. After a few moments of silence, he said, "We're in a city. Probably elven..."

[-Pan-]

Pan closed the door to a house high up in the trees, giggling to herself for a second but slumping against the door the next. Her eccentric mother had coerced her in to visiting her nearby relatives in Myrkan, which of course had been settling for the elf woman. Pan’s mother had originally suggested that she travel all over the continent to share the great news of her dragon egg with every single family member she could think of. But that seemed a little ludicrous, considering the dragon was still an egg and unable to fly her everywhere, which would be the only way she could get to the far reaches of the continent anyway. So instead, Zanita’s mother had settled for calling them all, and pretty much forcing her to travel from Naja’s end and share the news personally with their cousins.

A rather large family, they had detained the shifter since the previous afternoon, insisting that she stay for dinner, and then that she sleep there because it was simply too late to travel at that time of night. So the girl had complied, but took the first opportunity she could find to be off. Before descending the steps winding down through the middle of the tree, she checked that her candy red egg was tucked safely inside. There was no need to stay and buy food, because they had laden her down with leftovers, barely leaving room in her bag for the precious item which was the reason for her visit. But everything seemed to be in order, so the shifter made her way to the leafy ground of the forest. Luckily, the house had been near the entrance to the city, so she wouldn’t have to waste a bunch of time getting back to the road. It was still early, so maybe she would even be home before nightfall.

With this in mind, Pan walked in no particular hurry, instead musing over her future dragon. She hadn’t really stopped to think about it since receiving her egg, but the family had interjected a variety of questions to which she didn’t have the answer. Most of them were things she couldn’t have known, like what abilities her dragon would have, and how big it would be. But the ones who weren’t overexcited children had posed some serious questions that she should probably think about. Such as where they would live. Because she couldn’t very well fit a dragon in her house once it was grown. She imagined they would be more or less nomadic, as most riders ended up being. But the idea of not living at home was foreign to her. She would have to get used to that. Not to mention her mother, who would be lonely without her. And nothing could beat a home cooked meal.

The mouse shifter chewed her lip while mulling over these things, and didn’t see the human looking male who was crouching behind a tree. As a result, she ran right in to him from behind, almost stepping on the small silver dragon at his feet. With a start, she backed up a few steps and began a flustered string of apologies, clutching her bag against her side in instinctual protection of the egg inside. A few pieces of food fell out, bouncing along the ground toward the hatchling. “Sorry, sorry.” Pan calmed herself and took in the man in front of her. He looked human, and that left her puzzled as to what he would be doing in Myrkan. It was mostly residential, and any human would venture to Naja’s end before here. Perhaps he was lost? “Um, were you looking for something?” She asked him quietly, figuring that if he was, maybe she could at least help.

[Slane*]

Temiera was scared as she looked from behind Slane's legs. She had never been in a city before and from Slane's descriptions, this did not look like a city. She was afraid they would be in trouble if they were caught here, but really most of her fear came from Slane. Personally, she was extremely curious about this city and could not wait to ask Slane the string of questions already forming in her mind. At the moment, she knew it would be best to stay silent until Slane gave her more information.

Slane did not see anyone out on the bridges nearby so he believed it may have been too early in the morning for someone to have seen them. He figured they would be able to slip out of the city without being detected and that made his fast pumping heart slow down a bit. Just as he was about to turn around, something hit him in the back and he heard a small screech from Temiera, who was now jumping away from whatever hit him. Slane spun on his heels, an instinctual growl coming from his throat.

Soon, he realized it had been an accident and Slane relaxed, if only just a bit. It was an elven woman, the first he had ever seen. He had heard stories of elves, but none of them had captured the beauty he saw before him now into words. The woman offered many apologies for bumping into him and without hesitation he blushed and rambled, "It's alright, it's alright. Sorry... Sorry, I was in your way. We wondered... lost... and.... yea..."

Temiera narrowed her eyes at the woman who had almost stepped on her, but brightened immediately when food came out of her bag. She quickly sniffed one of the snacks and then snatched it up before ducking behind Slane, again.

"We accidentaly wondered into the city. It's been a while since we traveled and we've never seen this place before. It was a mistake... I've never met an elf before and I was worried we," Slane gestured to Temiera and himself, "Were not welcome here..." he finished, blushing in the presence of such a fair skinned creature.

[-Pan-]

Pan was very nervous for a minute, because the man she had bumped in to growled in immediate response. The girl probably would have shifted in to a mouse and scurried away as soon as she heard that sound, if not for the fact that a mouse couldn’t carry her bag. She didn’t care about the food, which wasn’t that heavy, but the speckled egg nestled among the parcels was rather heavy. And certainly not something she could leave behind. So she was on the verge of turning tail and just running away, and perched on her toes, ready to flee at the slightest sign of aggression from the man or his dragon. But he seemed to relax quickly enough, and she let herself relax as well. At least a little bit.

He muttered out words that didn’t form a complete thought, but she basically caught the idea of what he was getting at. At least he wasn’t angry with her. It had been an accident, but it’s not like he was just standing in the middle of the path. If she hadn’t run in to him, it would have been the tree he was standing behind. So she was kind of thankful it hadn’t been a wall of extremely sturdy bark that could have broken her egg or her nose. And at least she hadn’t actually stepped on the dragon at his feet, luckily. Said dragon’s qualms with her were easily resolved with the fallen morsel, and so at least she wouldn’t have to worry about tiny claws in her skin. Or even worse, tiny but deadly teeth eating a rodent, because she would probably shift if the beast came at her. But not thinking she had to worry about that anymore, she shifted her attention fully to its rider, who was speaking again.

He was indeed lost, and hadn’t even meant to come to the city. That seemed rather understandable, although she didn’t know why he woudn’t be welcomed. Humans weren’t really outcasts in the elven cities, at least not the big ones. And being a dragon rider generally gained them a fair amount of merit from citizens, as it would in any place. Unless he was a shifter, as she was. But she was able to pass here without too much trouble. The lack of huge commerce made that possible, so that shifters were really at the whims of the individual people’s opinions. But seeing as he looked human, he probably came from human cities. And so wouldn’t really know how the elves looked at things. So yeah, that was pretty understandable. She didn’t really feel like rambling all of that off to the stranger, though. She was far too meek for that. So instead she nodded at him and opened her mouth cautiously to speak.

“Well, if you don’t want to be here anyway, you could come with me. . .” She offered shyly. “I could at least help you back to the main road out of here.” The shifter girl thought this person seemed nice enough. He had to be of good merit if the spirits had granted him a dragon, right? Not that she really thought about this before speaking. Pan was too naïve to judge a person’s character properly. She assumed everyone was as innocent as she. So even if this had been a gruff, hunched over and frightening stranger, she probably would have extended him the same courtesy, without the thought of possible danger in his company even crossing her mind. So without even waiting for an acceptance from the man, Pan grinned and turned back toward the road, waving a hand in a gesture telling him to come on and walking back a little bit. To insure that she was still in good favor with the dragon, she took a piece of meat and unwrapped it, holding it out for the small creature. She certainly wouldn’t eat all of it.

[Slane*]

Slane happily accepted the offer of being lead to the main road. The sooner he was out of this city the better... or, at least until his curiosity got the better of him. He followed the elven woman and then offered up his name to start a conversation. "I'm Slane Thaer and this is Temiera," he said, unsure of what else to say.

Temiera followed closely behind Slane. She loved her rider and the dragon who had helped raise her, Sceleris, but besides those two she was not interesting in anyone else. Although she was young and inquisitive, her want to protect her rider was even stronger. When the woman held out a piece of meet, Temiera leaped off the ground, snatched it up with her jaws - nearly taking the woman's fingers off, and opened her wings to fly above her rider. She began eating the meat, using her claws to help handle it.

Slane, surprised by Temiera's sudden movement, turned to see Temiera grab the meat and fly past him into the air. "Hey! Temiera, that wasn't nice! Say your sorry," he said, shocked at her reaction. Then he went over to the woman, "Are you alright? She didn't hurt you did she?

Temiera, wings keeping her in the air, glared at Slane and then laid her narrowed eyes back on the woman. I will not say I'm sorry! She's not welcome in our company and I will not have her near you! she said only to Slane, but never taking her eyes off the elf except to blink.

[-Pan-]

Pan was glad that the man accepted her offer, so she wouldn’t have to go through the awkwardness of him not wanting to that would probably make her feel like an idiot and get all teary. Although, the dragon was another matter, and considering the shifter girl had almost stepped on the poor thing, it probably wouldn’t be very happy with her or eager to be in her company. The rider offered up their names, and she gave a sweet smile at the show of friendliness. “I’m Zanita. But I hate that name. Call me Panya. Or Pan.” She said in return, shooting a small smile at the silver creature, who was still hiding behind her rider.

But apparently the shifter girl was not forgiven in the dragon’s eyes, because she was more than enthusiastic when taking the morsel offered to her. She seemed aggressive about it, and if Pan hadn’t snatched her hand away when she did, she probably would have lost it. But she managed to keep all of her fingers with a yelp, and looked at the beast against with nervous eyes. Temiera was hovering above them now, and the girl became painfully aware of the tiny, razor sharp claws on the dragon’s little paws that could most likely rip through her skin with relative ease, even at the hatchling’s young age. She became rather nervous once against, hoping that Slane’s companion’s act of aggression would not continue in to anything else. Since she didn’t seem to intend to hurt the girl, Pan turned half her attention to the man who was being nice in contrast, but kept one eye on the creature at all times.

Slane didn’t appear to have a problem with the mouse shifter, because he told the dragon to apologize ad inquired about her. “Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” She replied to the rider in a small voice, kind of shrinking in on herself unconsciously. The skittish girl really hoped her dragon had a nicer attitude when it hatched, although she couldn’t entirely blame the silver animal. But Temiera didn’t appear to have any intention of apologizing, and it looked like the two were having a discussion between themselves that she was not privy to. She didn’t really like this, but hey, maybe he was persuading her to be nice? She looked between the two warily but figured they couldn’t just stand there all day. So when it looked like they were done talking, she continued down back to the path slowly and walked along the edge once she reached it, checking back every so often to make sure that the pair were still following her.

[Slane*]

Slane glared at Temiera and then took a few quick steps to walk beside Panya. After a few awkward moments, he said, "I guess, I should have been more careful about where we were going in the forest. Although, I'm glad to have met you, Panya," he finished with a smile at the elf.

At that moment, Temiera, finished with the meat, flew forward with a roar - or at least an attempt at a roar. At Temiera's age, she could really only make a small angry screech. She flew over their heads and landed a good ten strides ahead of them. Hoping she had succeeded in keeping Pan scared, she took one last glare back at the elf and then walked at a pace that matched their's - keeping her distance from them.

Slane looked at Panya and said, "I'm sorry about her. You're the first person, or creature for that matter, that she's met since she was born... And I guess she's very protective of me. I recently told her about my past and being driven out of towns for being a..." Slane said and then stopped with a blush. He turned his head forward with a jolt to stop looking at Pan. He had almost told her he was a shifter, but he had stopped himself because he had never met an elf before and he did not know how they felt about shifters. Perhaps they hated shifters more than humans did - though Panya seemed nice...

[-Pan-]

Slane seemed much nicer than his dragon, but Pan didn’t know what to do about that. She knew just from other’s experiences that it was very hard to reason with most dragons, and nearly impossible to do so with hatchlings. They were pretty stubborn once they made up their minds, unless there was one who had a fickle personality. But this dragon chick seemed rather resolute, although Pan thought she was overreacting a little bit. It wasn’t really fair. And what the youngling did next was just completely uncalled for, and a little bratty at that. The screeching that came from the young dragon’s maw made Pan jump and fly around to see what on earth had warranted such a noise. That proved to be a bad idea, as the silvery dragon zoomed overhead in an obvious display of intimidation.

Even though Temiera was very young, Panya’s skittish nature let this show work on her, and the result was a screech of her own in reply, followed quickly by a spontaneous shift. Where moments before a girl had stood, in her place sat a small white mouse scurrying in a little circle at the rider’s feet. It was letting out a series of squeaks, half in terror, half so that Slane would notice where she had gone and not step on her. After a minute, she calmed down and looked around to see where Temiera had gone to, realizing with a sudden jolt of fear that the dragon could easily snatch her up as a meal. When she saw the glare delivered to her by the small creature, Pan figured this was probably a possibility, so she shifted back in a hurry, her face growing very red in embarrassment. The shifter really hated showing her timidity to others, and couldn’t help feeling humiliated at the fact that she had been scared by a dragon hatchling who in all honesty would probably not to anything but force bad moods upon the girl.

Slane was already apologizing for his dragon’s behavior, and she nodded at him to show that she understood. It was hardly his fault. No one can control hatchlings. But he trailed off at the end of his explanation, and this puzzled Pan a little. For being a what? Was he about to say a shifter? She could understand why he would be hesitant to share that with an elf, but her previous display showed that she was obviously not someone who would cast him away. “For being a shifter?” The girl finished his sentence with a question, ascertaining that that was indeed the end of his thought. “Well, I obviously understand that. . .” She said in a somber tone. Her voice was still quiet and cautious, but this last part was a little more vocal. She had never actually had racial problems, because her childhood area had been rather diverse. But she had heard terrible tales of others parts of Naja’s End and of the human cities. She never intended to travel there.

The girl began to reason that if those were indeed the reasons for Temiera’s behavior, perhaps the so far unruly thing would lighten up on her since she couldn’t possibly discriminate. So she looked at the creature nervously, once more offering up a hesitant smile. By this time, they had reached the path, so if the dragon was still set against her, Pan might just have to part ways with the pair here. She could only handle so much in one day, and the sort of attack by the young dragon counted as a lot for the shy girl.

[Slane*]

Temiera heard the squeaks and had to double-take after her glare to realize that Panya had indeed shifted into a mouse. This made her think. She had been cruel to one of Slane's kind, not one who would treat him cruel for being a shifter. Finding this out made her more interested in the elf shifter. Before now, she had been too blind by her stubbornness to realize that this girl did not smell like a different species than Slane. If Temiera had thought about it sooner, she could have realized the girl was a shifter and not a normal elf. If she had been an elf, Temiera would have smelt a completely new smell - the smell surrounding the trees near them, not a familiar smell.

Slane had been rambling that he barely even notice Panya shift and then shift back. It took him until she finished his sentence for him to realize, she was in fact a shifter like him. "A mouse? That's cool! I shift into a... Slane began and then figuring if she could shift here, then he could too. Before finishing his sentence he shifted into a brilliant tiger. Then he shifted back and finished, "A tiger!"

As Slane was putting on a show, Temiera turned around and looked at Panya - really for the first time. The elven shifter, though skittish and shy, really did seem like a nice person. She may even turn out to be a friend of Slane's, and if she did, then Temiera may have to be around her a lot more than just a short walk. She sat in the road looking at the female shifter with a look of interest and not aggressiveness. She should give her a chance and not be cruel to her.

[-Pan-]

When Pan looked back at the small dragon, she saw for the first time an expression that wasn’t mean, or angry, or even stubborn. It was curious, and the girl was able to muster up a more genuine smile that wasn’t laced with fear and intimidation. Without the aggressions of a small dragon, this journey would be a lot easier, and she might even stay around the two longer for it. Perhaps they would be around when her own egg hatched, and that would probably result in a friendship between the two younglings. Well, at east that would gain her another friend. And one who was also a rider. Very advantageous, because there wasn’t much to do with your friends when you were the only one who had a dragon. Or so she had heard. But it seemed plausible.

Slane seemed rather excited about having run in to someone who was also of his species, and for the first time seemed actually comfortable in talking to Pan. He thought her shift was cool, for some unknown reason, and jumped right up to show her his. He could turn in to something much more intimidating, and at the sight of such a fearsome animal, Pan promptly shifted back in to her mouse form as a reflex. She scurried under the safety of her bag and peeked out at the large animal. She knew who it was, and knew that it wouldn’t hurt her, but still couldn’t resist the pangs of fear that more or less immobilized her. At least as a rodent, she felt more secure in her ability to get away. For some reason. Because a tiny mouse could totally run away faster than a person with legs. Maybe it was just that she was able to hide easier.

But she didn’t feel good about shifting back in to her elf form while Slane was still in his tiger form, so she squeaked at him to try and let him know this. The girl figured she should probably say something back, though, because he was being nice and trying to carry on a conversation. "That's uh, really cool." the shifter said in a small voice, not trying to sound like a jerk, but not really knowing what else to say. She had always thought that the shift of the person generally reflected the personality of the shifter, because thats how it was with her. But Slane didn't seem aggressive or scary enough to match up with a tiger. That was fortunate, though. Even though apparently the rider's personality didn't correlate with his dragon's. That much she knew, but wished that it did. Things would be easier. But at least Temiera was able to get over things.

[Slane*]

Temiera had been inquisitively watching the girl when she shifted and felt bad that she was mean to someone who was not only a shifter like Slane, but a delicate one at that. Temiera took a few steps closer to Panya and sat in the dirt near her. She surveyed the trees and scenery around them while she waiting for the elf shifter to get closer to her. Temiera did not want to get too close that she would scare Pan, but she was close enough to be considered an invitation to approach.

Slane, back in human form, smiled at Panya. "I'm sorry if I scared you," he said, realizing that this was probably just an instinctual thing for her and not that she thought he would hurt her. "So where are you headed? We don't really have a destination at the moment, if you want company," Slane said to Pan, blushing a bit. She seemed sweet and nice, though a bit shy. He was sure that once they got use to being around each other, they could become great friends.

[-Pan-]

At the cautious approach by the dragon, Pan instinctively panicked and tucked herself even farther under the safety of her bag, but upon realizing that it didn’t seem aggressive anymore, peeked out with one little red beady eye. The beast seemed to be making an offer of peace between the two, but was being nice and not getting too close so that the shifter might get the idea easier. The creature was still intimidating to the little mouse, but she was able to muster up enough courage to scurry over on top of one of Temiera’s paws, to show that she understood the gesture. The fact that she was on a dragon’s paw, oh so agonizingly close to those deadly little talons, was still just a little too much for Pan, so she scampered back to the middle of the path after a few seconds. The dragon got the message, so did she, but now it was time to be big again, because there was no longer a large orange cat standing in front of her. So she shifted back and picked up her satchel again, wiping the dust off and checking that nothing had been damaged in the short fall.

Slane also seemed to understand that she was a rather timid person, and apologized for having startled her, to which she responded with a sheepish smile and a sideways glance. It was embarrassing for the small girl to be that unreasonably skittish, but at least this other shifter wouldn’t be intentionally frightening her or anything. He was really nice. Rather cordial, even. She heard that that was hard to come by in nomadic shifters, that they were all ruffians and tough guys who wouldn’t hesitate to kill someone who got too close or rubbed them the wrong way. Of course, she recognized that this was all just a stereotype, invented by those who hated their kind, even if she couldn’t understand why. Her neighborhood had never had a problem with her being a shifter, and so she had grown up without much knowledge of the racism present in a great deal of the human and elven population.

The nice man offered to join her on her journey, and she smiled at him in response, but then frowned. She was on her way back home, to Naja’s End. Her mother wouldn’t have a problem with Slane, but she couldn’t speak for the rest of the people. It was possible that the people at the gates would drive him out because of this, especially since he didn’t even look elven. She would love the company, sure, but Pan didn’t want to get Slane in a tough spot, and considering he was already very wary of other people, he might not even be up for the idea anyway. ”Well, I was headed back to Naja’s End, actually. . .”She said in her quiet voice. ”You’re welcome to come along, but I’m not sure how it’ll go.” The girl spoke hesitantly and sorta slowly, not wanting to offend the nice person or start his dragon up again.

[Slane*]

Temiera inquisitively looked at the mouse shifter's eyes. She had never seen red eyes on a creature before and it seemed almost... unnatural. Despite this, she was glad to have her unspoken apology accepted - as that's what it seemed. Temiera giggle as the little mouse ran away from her once more, the mouse's tiny paws tickling her own paw. She watched the girl shift back and then looked up at the girl with an approving nod.

Slane was a little uneasy about scaring Pan. If he had thought about, then he probably would have told her first or just not shifted at all; although, it felt good to know that he was intimidating as a tiger - that could definitely come in handy next time he unexpectedly meets someone who may cause Temiera and him harm. Based on Panya's hesitant and slow spoken words, Slane figured it would be best not to accompany her to Naja's End. Perhaps, that was a place he should avoid overall, and not just now. He was glad the girl had not just told them not to come, though. She seemed nice that way; someone who would probably never try to hurt you.

Content with the short walk he had, Slane was glad to have had this opportunity to meet another shifter, however weird it might have been. "It sounds like we should probably head home," Slane said as he looked at Temiera with a small smile. He took a few steps to the edge of the path, in the direction Temiera and him had come when they reached the edge of the city. "It was good meeting you. Perhaps, we'll meet again," he finished, thinking it would be good to leave the conversation open. He looked back for one last good-bye. If they did meet again, it would not be here, but it would be nice to see a pleasing face once more.