Where are we going?” Ashaedia asked. Ashaedia, Marikai, Sethos, Ashaedia’s dragons, Myloros, and Thania were once again riding on the backs of Kurneo, Gareveth, Noen and Eva southward. King Ashnero, King Firoh, and King Malikinth were riding on their own dragons while the Laguz Rulers followed behind them either on the ground or in the sky.
“We’re taking you to Sareneth Forest, home of the Falcon Laguz and the resting place of Gaedin. We want you to meet him.” Marikai said.
“What? You mean Gaedin?” Ashaedia said, confused. How could she be introduced to a dragon that was turned to stone?
“Yes. And don’t think this is a waste of our time ‘because it’s not. We want to give you little tour of Tellios.” Sethos said.
“No, you mean a big tour.” Ashaedia said. She looked over the side and saw that they were flying towards a lush forest. They landed in a clearing at the edge of the forest and everyone hopped off their dragons and the Laguz transformed into humans again. One of the men with the white wings clapped their hands together.
“Okay, I’ll lead the way –” The man said, but was interrupted by Thania.
“Hey! You haven’t introduced yourself and your brother and sister to Ashaedia yet!” Thania said. The man bowed his head.
“Ah, yes I forgot to introduce myself and my sister and brother to you, Ashaedia,” The man said, and held out his hand. “My name is Prince Raylu of Sareneth Forest. This is my younger sister, Princess Lillina, and my older brother, Prince Rafial.” Princess Lillina walked up to Ashaedia with her eldest brother, Prince Rafial.
She wore a long white dress with long sleeves. A gold sash was tied around her waist and connected to it was a long flowing piece of white clothe. Lillina had beautiful green eyes and long flowing light blonde hair that shone like stars when the sun’s glare hit her hair and pointed ears. She wore brown slippers. She looked like an angel with her long white wings.
Prince Rafial wore a long white and gold cape that draped over his shoulders. He wore a long white over coat that split near the bottom middle and long white dress-like pants and long sleeve shirt. A gold and blue sash was tied around his waist and he wore white boots. Rafial had green eyes and pointed ears and long light blonde hair like his younger sister.
Prince Raylu wore a vine-like band around his head. He wore a gold and white long sleeve undershirt and a long white overcoat that split at the middle half point. Raylu had a light bluish-greenish belt, long gloves that didn’t cover his fingers, and boots. He had, like his younger sister and older brother, long flowing light blonde hair, green eyes, pointed ears, and long white wings.
“Hello, Ashaedia. How are you?” Rafial said, and shook Ashaedia’s hand. “Such a lovely day, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s very bright and sunny today.” Ashaedia said. Lillina walked up to her.
“Hi Ashaedia, you well? I Princess Lillina. It’s pleasure to meet you” Lillina said, and shook Ashaedia’s hand. Lillina’s sentence and incomplete, but Ashaedia understood her perfectly.
“Please forgive her lack of speech, Ashaedia. She’s learning how to speak the modern language.” Raylu said rather bluntly. Ashaedia nodded. Perhaps she can teach Lillina some English later. Ashaedia decided to ask.
“Um . . . Princess Lillina?” Ashaedia said. Lillina snapped to her attention immediately. Wow, Ashaedia thought. If Lillina is this polite, it would be easy to teach her.
“Do you think I can teach you some . . . modern language?” Ashaedia asked her. Lillina smiled and nodded. And then she turned to Raylu. She spoke to him in a beautiful but somewhat fast language that Ashaedia kind of recognized. When she first met Marikai and Sethos, Sethos spoke to Marikai in this language. After Raylu and Lillina finished their conversation, Raylu turned to Ashaedia.
“Lillina said that she would love to learn from you. Her old teacher had retired.” Raylu said. Ashaedia blinked. She, Ashaedia, a twelve year old girl, teach a Laguz Princess English? For real? Ashaedia considered this for a moment, and smiled.
“Yes, of course, Princess Lillina. If you don’t mind me asking . . . who was your old teacher?” Ashaedia said.
“He name Narluke. He’s a Raven Laguz. Narluke old. He about eight hundred years old,” Lillina said, her smile turning into a frown. “Narluke kind, but he retired from teaching me. He live far away. In Kivlos.” Ashaedia imagined what Narluke looked like. A wrinkly face, kind smile, graying and thinning hair, large feathery black wings, fair skin, and black robes seem to fit Narluke’s description. Raylu and Rafial led everyone into Sareneth Forest.
The forest was so green and full of life. Chipmunks’ and squirrels’ scavenged the ground for seeds, nuts, and acorns. Occasional blue jays and red robins soared over Ashaedia’s head and landed in their nests in the trees. Stags and deer would prance across the dirt path that Ashaedia and company walked on. Wild hares hopped through the grass and sniffed at Ashaedia’s foot and Ashaedia would bend down to pet them on their heads. Once she was done, the hares would hop away into the grass again. Ashaedia would sometimes see clouds of gold dust float through the air. Was it pollen blown by the soft breeze? Or tiny golden butterflies? Perhaps bees? A gold cloud of the strange dust floated right up to Ashaedia’s face and floated there for a moment. Ashaedia saw that amidst the dust was a small humanoid figure. Ashaedia identified the figure as a female because of its long blonde hair. She wore a white dress and bright green eyes and sticking out the back of her dress were two beautiful golden butterfly wings. With every wing beat the wings would drop a large amount of gold dust. The small girl had a strange resemblance to Lillina.
“That’s a forest fairy, Ashaedia.” Rafial said. Ashaedia looked up at him and the fairy flew away. Rafial smiled.
“You’re a very curious child, are you not?” Rafial said. “I was the same when I was young.”
“Yes, I am very curious, but my curiosity can sometimes lead me to peril.” Ashaedia said.
“Well, curiosity can be a good thing and a bad thing. The forest fairies protect Sareneth Forest along with many other magical creatures like the Sareneth Centaurs. Forest fairies protect an animal’s spirit when the animal passes away. They seal their souls within Spirit Jars. The Spirit Jars are made to help transport the animal’s spirit to Heaven. Once that is done, the fairy that protected the spirit is free to do whatever he or she wants. But if the Spirit Jar breaks, the fairy will be punished by the High Fairy.” Rafial said.
“What’s the High Fairy?” Ashaedia asked.
“Oh, Ashaedia, you are so full of questions. The High Fairy is the leader of all fairykind on Tellios.” Ashnero said. The forest fairies flew around them, sometimes perching themselves on Ashaedia’s shoulder and whisper into her ear. Ashaedia couldn’t understand their soft language.
“What are they saying?” Ashaedia asked while they walked on. Raylu looked up at a group of fairies. They were huddled close together and were whispering to each other.
“They’re whispering about you, Ashaedia.” Raylu said. The whispers grew more frequent and much louder when Ashaedia and company got near a spring. Small orbs of white light were floating through the air above the water’s surface. They had white wings that produced white dust.
“What type of fairies are those?” Ashaedia asked.
“Those are Healer Fairies. They enchanted the spring so that any hurt animal or person that steps into its clear waters will be healed instantly.” Rafial said. A healer fairy strayed from the beautiful spring and flew towards Lillina. She held her hand out and the fairy landed on her hand. Ashaedia looked at it closely. Its feet weren’t visible and a she couldn’t make out a body in the white orb. The small fairy was beating its wings softly. Lillina pointed towards a small waterfall at the mouth of the spring.
“There. Gaedin there. He sleep peacefully in sapphire.” Lillina said. The healer fairy flew off of her hand and perched itself on the top of Ashaedia’s head. It was as light as a feather; Ashaedia could carry the little fairy around all day and not notice it. She walked in the direction where Lillina pointed to with Marikai. Marikai had been very silent and pale during the ride to Sareneth Forest. Ashaedia had been pondering his strange silence. Was he ill? No, he didn’t look ill. They approached a sapphire statue. Ashaedia crouched down and saw that it was a dragon.
“Do you like him?” Marikai asked. Ashaedia stared into the dragon’s half-closed eyes. Sorrow washed over her. The thought of this dragon enduring a slow and painful death was unbearable to think about. She pet Gaedin’s large snout and thought she heard a muffled hurr from within the petrified dragon.
“So this is him?” Ashaedia said.
“Yes, this is him. Gaedin, the Divine Dragon of Faein.” Marikai said rather sorrowfully. He knelt down beside Gaedin and pets him also on the snout. The strange guttural hurr continued. Marikai smiled and stood up.
“There was a rumor that Gaedin was a descendent of the most powerful dragon that lived on Earth. His name was Galain, but he too was turned to stone.” Marikai said.
“Who defeated him?” Ashaedia asked.
“No one did, for he was too powerful and divine to be destroyed by a human’s blade. But he died of old age,” Marikai said, his smile turning into a frown. “But I will tell you his fable later. Let’s go rejoin with the others.” Marikai helped Ashaedia up and together they walked back to the group. A forest fairy was relaxing under a shady leaf when he spotted Marikai and Ashaedia walking along the dirt path. He wore a golden tunic with white pants, white sandals, the usual gold wings, and a gold hat that looked almost like a replica of Robin Hood’s hat. The curious little fairy jumped off his leaf and floated after them.
“Alright, time for the trip to Sapherial.” Rafial said once Marikai and Ashaedia approached him.
“Sapherial?” Ashaedia said.
“Yes, Sapherial is an Elven Kingdom near the forests of Arylorn.” Sethos said.
Yes! Mydia hurred happily.