In Form

Invite from Enine

Enine above^^^ (eh-neen)
She's way more feminine than this picture...

    Summer this last year was hotter than expected, which means I got tired quicker. Dragolya would keep saying, "drink more water", that helped a little but heat really wasn't my thing. I was given a short break more often after my skills have improved over time. Sometimes I was permitted by one of them to not go to practice at all. When winter came, practices got shorter as well as the days themselves. We never did much when we did have practice though, Dragolya told me about how it's not good for your muscles to be in the cold.
    My mom has had almost no change since that incident in the window. Some days she seems normal, but you see the crack in her mood after a while. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the problem. I mean, I am a dragon and all just like my father, and my father did start this. Maybe it's a chain linked between my father and I, and that's why the madness is still happening. Whatever the reasoning, I hope it goes away.
    As spring came closer, our practices became more fluent and often. We became less focused on the physical stuff and more on mental protection, stealth, sound of mind, and less anger outbursts.
    I sat quietly up in a tree with my legs crossed, eyes closed, and attentive to all that is around me. Now, before I met my new friends, I would have never even thought about doing this, to me it would have been considered a death wish or something. I could hear birds' high pitched whistles from across the river, the small trickle of a tiny stream below me, and the small pitter-patter of a squirrel scampering on the ground. I was at peace, there was nothing else like it.
    I felt a vibration go through the tree. I opened my eyes. Mistory likes to take these quiet times with me so I thought she was climbing up to join me. I leaned over to look around the tree, but no one was coming up. I shrugged and turned around. I closed my eyes again and got comfortable. Then a rush of wind from something flying by nearly knocked me off my perch. I reopened my eyes and searched for the source. I saw something white sore through the trees branches below me. To investigate I willed the branch I was on to lower myself to the ground. Once on the ground I trotted over to where I thought it would have landed, but it disappeared. I put my hands on my hips. Where did it go?
    "Uh, Mistory! Geez your good at hiding!" An unfamiliar female voice said behind me. I turned around. "You have know idea how long it took to-" she stopped talking then examined my face. "Your not Mistory." She said. She had a smooth clear face and pointed ears that held back shoulder length dirty blond hair. She wore armor with all different kinds of designs, shoulder plates, chest plate, right down to a chain mail/imperial looking skirt and metal boots. An orange pot with soil and a small three armed fern, that sat inside the pot, sat atop her shoulder, the roots came out of the cracking bottom of the pot and clung to her armor. She had sword holsters on both hips, with swords in them, I kept end eyeing her movements.
    "No." I said. I wasn't quite sure what she was, but my money is on Elf. I went to ask who she was but she beat me to it.
    "Who are you then?" Her hand moved over her sword holster, I tried not to notice. She relaxed her hand and seemed calm and almost worried. She glanced around. "Do you live around here? Sorry I'm meeting here for a rave that is going to be here, that's why I'm wearing this, -you know for a costume party- so if you can keep this on the down low that would be awesome."
    I got really confused. Okay, I know she's something strange, at least that's what my nose says. What was she trying to cover? "Um, who are you?" I pointed at her.
    "Never mind that, can't have you blabbing off information about our party to the cops, silly, now how 'bout you run along home now." She shooed with her hands.
    "Enine?" I heard Dragolya say behind the elf lady who's name was Enine.
    Enine spun around to face her. Wings unfolded from underneath a plate on her back and spread out within a second and expanded until they stopped almost twenty feet across. I just about had a heart attack and stumbled back. "Oh, there you guys are... I've been looking for you." I stared at the beautiful wings and how soft they looked I wanted to reach out and touch them. They were white and looked as soft as a cloud, like an angels wings.
    I heard Dragolya cough out a laugh. "What are you fitted?"
    "What this?" Enine said. I saw her arms gesture to her outfit. "It's kind of my job."
    "A job that sends you back a few hundred years?" Dragolya asked.
   "Hey, I like it. But I only where for a couple hours on a job." Enine replied. Her wings began to relax but then straightened out again and she seemed stiff.
    "Come on Enine, what to do you have behind you?" Hex said, probably beside Dragolya.
    "Nothing for you." Enine barked. Does nobody like Hex? Enine's wings started to show
    I was suddenly grabbed and then I found myself standing in front of Enine instead of behind her, Hexs' hand was on my shoulder.
    Enine widened her eyes and put her hand on her sword. "Dragolya, do something..." She only stared at Hex.
    I smacked his hand away from my shoulder. Hex just kept smiling at Enine.
    Dragolya sighed. "Enine, this is Amber. She's our... trainee." I looked at Dragolya thinking that was best she could do?
    I looked at Enine and gave a short smile.
   Enine relaxed her hands. "No. Really? No way." She kept looking at me then Dragolya. She looked at Hex and glared. "You jerk. I would have killed you..."
"Sure believe what you want." Hex glanced at me from the side of his eye. "You don't need to be worried about me. I got you really good though. It's just too fun to annoy you because your reactions are the best." He smiled.
Enine rolled her eyes. "Whatever." Her wings relaxed. I stared at them in awe.
"Amber, this is Enine. She is an Elven Valkyrie." Dragolya said gesturing to Enine. Enine smiled but was looking at Dragolya and glancing to the plant on her shoulder. "Oh and Emily, the fern you see on her shoulder. They have a um, special bond to where they can speak to each other."
I looked at the plant on Enines shoulder, one of its arms moved up and down, but I refused to believe it could think and speak like a person. "What's an Elven Valkyrie?" I asked.
"Haven't you ever heard of the the war angels? I'm like one of those but I'm also an elf at the same time, so I'm like really good at combat." She nodded enthusiastically.
"So what's your meaning for this visit Enine?" Dragolya asked.
Enine put up a finger. "Oh!" She opened a little pocket made of metal, latch and all, and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Here you go." She handed the paper to Dragolya. "Special delivery for the Renegades to attend the gathering next week." She said in a formal voice.
"Gathering." Dragolya quietly said as she took the paper and opened it. She began to read it in low whispers but I couldn't hear her, I tried to look over Hex's shoulder. "Who else is attending?" She asked.
"Well, I would assume everyone from last year." She shrugged.
Dragolya looked up. "Would Dire be present. For so I wouldn't think of it." Dragolya said in her old way of speaking.
Enine shook her hands. "No no, no way! I'm positive of that one!" Enine had a more present way of talking.
"Capital!" Dragolya said closing the invite in her hands. "Then we will make present to be there!" She said. She cleared her throat before speaking. "I mean, we will be there. Count on it." She nodded.
"Awesome!" She shrieked. "Oh I also wanted to see Mistory is she here?" Enine asked.
"Yeah, she's in her nest, reading." Dragolya pointed towards where there nests were located.
"Cool, thanks! See ya later!" She waved goodbye and thundered through the trees with her beautiful wings.
"What's the 'gathering'?" I asked.
"A gathering every five years of a lot of different species of creatures like us, gathering together to... well to see how things are going. Like a big family reunion." He smiled with no teeth in his cocky kind of manner.
"Could I come?" I asked. "Wait, where is it? And did she say next week?"
"Yes. It's in Canada this year. And yes, exactly a week from today." Dragolya opened back up the invitation again and looked at it for a second. "... Yeah next Tuesday." She concluded.
"So like, other creatures are real?" I mused. "Just like your scenarios, Hex!" I pointed at him. "I totally thought your just messing with me! So like, werewolves, their real?" Hex nodded. "Elves?" He nodded again. "Shifters?" He nodded, and as I could tell, was already annoyed. I just couldn't believe these were all so real. All of Hex's scenarios were real, and I had just been passing them off because I thought most of them were fake. I began to ask more. "Vampires? Uh, witches? And what were those other things called, oh Nymphs?" I was almost especially scared to know if vampires were really real because of all the scary movies I've watched of them. My favorites were the wars between werewolves and vampires.
It took him a while before he actually nodded his head. His lips were concealed inward making his face look uncomfortable.
    "What?" I asked, no longer excited.
    "Nothing." Dragolya answered for him.
Strange it was, whenever he or I would even mention a vampire in our lessons, he would suddenly get uncomfortable. "Why do you hate vampires so much?" I asked him, hitting my hands at my sides. Dragolya took in a breath to speak but instead, waited for a response from Hex himself.
Hex only looked down and around anywhere but my eyes.
I gasped slowly. "Did you know one? Did it hurt you? Did you hurt it? Oh wait no I know, it-it did something to your family that's it." Every time he looked away I moved my face to look at his. Why wouldn't he tell me? "Is that it?"
He finally looked at me, but I held still under his red eyes that bore through me. He was mad, his jaw was clenched tightly. I stared until realization clicked. I looked down. "Sorry." I mumbled under my breath and took a step back. He turned and walked away, not even stopping to lift my chin because I looked down. Probably because I deserved to be cowardly. I looked back up to watch him walk away. How could I be so stupid, asking about his family like that. I felt terrible.
Dragolya stared at me. Not in pity, or reassuringly, but she too was mad. "What. In the HECK. Was that that?" She asked me in an aggravated tone. I only glanced up not wanting to meet her disapproving eyes. "Do you know how many hundred years that set him back to? Amber! Look at me." I looked up to her blue and brown eyes. "Why did you think that was okay? There's a reason he never spoke about this stuff. And now he's going to ponder his memory in negative ways, and I know you didn't mean ill will upon him, but you need to think before you act Amber! Your still a cub, but everyday you get older so I think it's about time you start learning!" She breathed heavily now and began pacing back and forth, pondering her thoughts. She sighed. "I'm going to go take care of him now, to see if he's okay. You'd be off better to apologize!" Her jumbled words said. "You- you know what I mean!"
She stomped off after Hex. As she disappeared behind me, Hex suddenly zipped in front of me. I gasped and held my chest in fright. He looked off the where Dragolya left too. He bent down to my level. "Okay, I'll accept a sincere apology now and I'll probably forgive you." He said quietly.
I looked him over wondering why he wanted an apology so quickly. "Uh-um don't you-don't you want to talk about it-or-or something?" I stuttered.
"Nope, I'm good, thanks for asking though. Just say your sorry if you mean it and I'll forgive you. Yeah?"
"Uh sure." I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry Hex, I was way out line." I nodded feeling accomplished.
He thought for a moment, then brought out his bottom lip and shook his head. "Sounded a little rehearsed."
"Are you kidding me?"
"Say it like you mean it before I take it personally..." His eyes turned red.
"Are you threatening me?"
He stood up straight. "Depends on how you define threatening.." He said taping the dirt with his shoe. I groaned at the sky. He looked at his watch. "Feelings are kicking back in. Soon I'm not gonna be able to forgive you..."
"Hex, look I'm really sorry okay. Sometimes I don't have a filter and I'll just spew words out. I did mean what I asked about I should have kept them to myself and not crowd you with your unwanted memories... Dragolya is way better at this I'm sure, so she'll figure out your here any minute now, and she'll calm you down because weirdly, you two are similar." I stopped realizing I was getting side tracked. I looked up hoping it was good enough.
Hex just had his head down and was in thought. His eyes were back to normal.
"Okay hold on, I can do better than that-"
"No." Hex stopped me. "It's okay I forgive you. I musn't mourn for the while when there's more to live in the 'morro." He smiled and brought me in for a hug. I was hesitant at first but I let the hug happen. No wonder Dragolya was so fond of him, he was always so warm and he smelled so good all the time, plus he's like the perfect pillow. I actually almost got upset when he let go. All three of my friends seemed to be very physical with greetings and makeups. Like they still didn't understand 'the bubble' concept here.
Dragolya ran out of the woods and relief came upon her face when she saw us. "Hex, you scared me for a second..." Dragolya took in a few breaths from her running.
Hex furrowed his brows at her. She then made a face too, the made gestures with her hands at him. They must have been silently speaking. Dragolya put her hand on her hip and made a 'seriously?' face. It was pretty entertaining. She finally waved him off.
Hex looked down at his watch. "Amber, your moms gonna wonder where you are, I'll take you home." He said putting a hand on my back. He turned his head to Dragolya as if she said something. It was obviously something she didn't want me to hear.
"Doubt my mom will ever notice if I stay the night here?" I said, pushing his hand off.
He gave me a weird look. "Come on. You need to be there for her if she's suffering from dragon sickness."
"But I'm a dragon!" I proclaimed. Dragolya and Mistory notified to me, the dragon sickness. The dragon sickness happens to humans sometimes who get to close to dragon relationship-wise, even friendship, where they start hoarding shiny objects, repeating daily motions, and just plain going mad.
Mistory walked into view, looking confused. "I just talked to Enine, what did I miss?" She looked between us three. "She said something about an all you can eat buffet?"
Dragolya stomped her foot and widened her eyes in a threatening way as she looked at Hex. Hex just laughed a little and waved her off. Again, silently speaking. Dragolya sighed. "The Gathering is this year. That's probably what she meant."
"Oh really? Where are we moving to this year?" She excitedly.
"Canada." Dragolya said blandly.
Mistory's excitement went down. "Canada..." she put her hands on her hips and searched the ground for the answers she was looking for. She moved her eyes in an upward pattern as she thought, like she was drawing something out. "Okay," she nodded. "So, that would put us closer to Alaska, sounds fun. You know it gets colder the more north you go right?"
"Psh," Dragolya scoffed. "I know this. Living in colder weather for the next five to ten years won't be to much of a problem."
I put my hands out to stop the conversation. "Whoa whoa, wait," I said. "Your moving?"
"Yeah, what else do you think we do all these years we have lived, stay in one spot?" Dragolya asked.
"We move to wherever the next Gathering is or will be, if we already know the next location. It had been tradition ever since this Gathering started in 1688." Mistory cleared up.
"Wasn't the best year either." Dragolya added.
"Yeah I know a lot of people killed their leaders then." Mistory agreed.
    "Actually I think it was like a unity thing or something." Said Dragolya.
"Yeah, like why not pick another year?"
"Girls." Hex interjected. You guys can chat up a storm about what happened four hundred years ago... but I am going to take Amber home." He picked me up in a cradle position.
"Put me down!" I demanded.
"Oh, you don't have to do that." Dragolya said all sweet-like to him.
"But you want me to so you don't have too. Correct?" He asks with a sly smile.
"Yep." She answered right away. "You got it, now go!" She sang as she raised her finger in the air.
"Hexicious! Put me down!" I demand again. I tried to wriggle out of his arms. I didn't want to leave.
"Wow you squirm a lot." He laughed. "And your little Elder charms don't work on us, cub." After that a blur of green went by for a few seconds before we were at my house. He dropped me on the ground near my front steps. "Oops."
I got up and dusted myself off. "Jerk." I mumbled. Hex heard that and smiled to himself. "Why can't I stay?" I whined.
"We don't cub sit." Is all he said before turning around and running back into the woods.