Between Two Kingdoms

8) Shadows Home

*Artemis's pov*

I kept a hold on Ronin as he ran through the forest I know that Ronin was mad at me even if he said he wasn't but I've always been good at detecting what emotions someone's feeling no matter if they hid it or not. I have comforted a lot of people because of that.

"I'm sorry." I said and Ronin slowed down a bit as we got closer.

"Please just don't do that again. If you want to go out please tell me. Rikku was very worried when she came back." Ronin calmly said and I held him tighter. Avian came and landed next to us and looked at me with a soft smile

"Hey you'll be alright kiddo" Avian said as we got to the gates and Ronin opened them walked in. Everyone was basically gathered up as they looked twords us and Ronin gently set me down

"Artemis!" Rikku ran over and hugged me and Ronin kept me balanced with his leg

"Be careful he's got broken leg." Ronin said and Rikku immediately let go

"Oh I'm sorry" Rikku said as Avian handed me these things called crutches.

"It's ok, that lady said maybe three week?" I mentioned thinking about it before I nodded

"Good to know, three weeks of me watching you" Ronin said and I looked at him before walking off and I already got the idea

"No! Your not putting me in that!" I yelled before I hobbled around going closer to Kiyo and Sapphire and hugged them and they hugged back as Ronin came back with a kid harness

"You realize I'm going to get you in this and watch over you until your healed right?" Ronin gave a serious look as I looked back at him

"I'm 18! I can handle myself" I huffed and Kiyo snorted as he wrapped a few tails around me.

"God you all are unbelievable.... Fine but If I hear you have gone out on your own without an adult I'm putting it on you." Ronin sighed as Jack poked his head out and shook his head before coming out of the water fully.

Yuki came over and gave him a towel to pat his face dry before putting on the speaking mask.

"So Artemis, besides obviously being attacked. How was it? What was it like over there?"

"Oh it was so cool! Rikku and I we got to see so many strange things." I exclaimed as Kiyo sat down with me in his lap as I let him fiddle with my hair.

"It's true, and there was this really nice lady that knew about us. apparently she sees someone that's from over here." Rikku mentioned and I looked over at Avian who was walking away

"It's Avian" I just said making Avian stop and everyone looked at him

"Wait but wasn't it against the rules to go see humans?" Sapphire asked and we watched Ronin grab Avian and drag him over and had him sit with us as he sat close to me and Kiyo

"Well today's your lucky day kids, Avian is going to telling you stories of what it's been like with human" Ronin said obviously setting him up to make him stay as Avain looked at him with a slight glare before sighing

"You guys are very obvious you know" Davis flatly pointed out and Ronin huffed. Well some of the smaller kids where confused but everyone in the area got to sit and listen as Avain explained his first encounter.

*3rd person*

Story #1

Avian walked around the forest gathering the fall time wild barriers. He's usually doing this with some of the old veteran creatures to do something peaceful with them. Doing these kinds of activities helped them and also gave them small stories to tell if their kids ever came by to chat.

Avain wandered a bit far from the group having followed a trail of bushes and trees before he was finished and looked around seeing he's not with the group and he sighed and he made sure things were secure before spreading his wings but then froze when a small gasp sounded and he quickly turned around his feathers puffed up to make him look bigger

Venus the woman there looked at him startled because she usually comes around the area for the sort of same reason Avian was right now. She took some steps back before noticing the big basket with a cloth covering it. She looked at it then back at the creature in front of her.

"Umm.... Your collecting berries as well?" She asked still careful but Avian blinked

"Ya?" Avian slowly responding after a moment of hesitation.

"Are there still some left on the bushes?" Venus asked and Avian slightly mellowed out as he looked around

"Ummm ya there's still that whole section" Avian pointed his finger around in a area and Venus moved walking into that area

"Thank you for letting me know." Venus was a bit nervous but Avian blinked as he folded his wings back and watched from afar as Venus started picking a few and she noticed him not leaving so looked at him and he backed up

"So who are you gathering the berries for?" Venus asked calmly as Avian slowly relaxed.

"Ummm the children. They love them" Avian said looking at the basket before he heard a chuckle and looked back at Venus who had a soft smile

"I'm sure the kids love them" she said and Avian blinked before he took a deep breath.

"Ummm.... I'm Avian, what's your name lovely lady- I mean human?" Avian grew a bit red with that and Venus blinked and smiled

"It's Venus, it's nice to meet you Avian"