Lavender's Secret

Chapter 9: The City of Aviana

The centaur did not look afraid, he showed no emotion to having been almost stabbed. Jace stared at the centaur in wonder. The centaur's eyes swept over everyone until his eyes landed on me. Slowly he moved his form to glide into a graceful bow. Lavender eyed me with a questioning look and I returned the same look. The centaur came back up into his standing position and Astrid got a better look at him. He looked quite human from the waist up if you leave out his tiny horns sticking out the top of his long black hair. From his waist down he was a horse. He was also very tall. He was a tower next to Jace who was tall himself. The centaur motioned for them to follow him and everyone looked at each other questioning if they should follow. In the end Astrid was the first one to follow him and slowly everyone else followed also. The forest was very strange. One minute it would seem to be spring but as you walked on snow would start to fall. Upon walking for what felt like very little time they approached a large city. All the houses very a simple white standing side by side but each house had little pops of color waking it feel light and cheerful. Among the streets strange creatures filled the streets. They were animals but also human. They had human bodies but their features were like animals. A small child skipped past Astrid which she saw to be a little girl with white ears sticking out of her curly hair and a fluffy tail and whiskers. After staring at the girl she realized this was a rabbit. Astrid spun to look at Lavender who looked just as stunned as she did. There were simple creatures that colors were dull and they seemed to be of the lower class. Dressed in ragged clothes and faces smudged with ash and dirt. Then there were magnificent creatures. Unicorns, nymphs, dryads, peacocks, bright birds who fluttered around. The centaur lead them into a huge glass dome building and in the lobby they were ushered into a large office. Behind the desk there was a fox who looked quite smug and proud of himself. They all say down in the chairs before the desk and waited quietly for the fox to speak. If he even could speak. "Welcome to our humble kingdom of Aviana." From the moment the fox spoke Astrid knew that it was male. "Princess Blossom it is a pleasure to have you back." Everyone looked up and looked around but when Astrid looked at the fox he was staring right at her.