Kingdom Of Dreams

Chapter 2

        The group sat in an awkward silence, the flames of their tiny fire flickering faintly, providing ample distraction from the situation. They stayed in that silence for what seemed like an eternity, until Bree sighed wearily and looked intently at Faiye, her ears twitching. At the sound, the three others looked at her in expectation. Faiye's mind whirled, straining to remember something about these people, even something silly like their favorite sandwhich. Did they even have sandwhiches here?

        "So..." Bree began uncertainly, looking at the others as if wondering if anyone else was going to volunteer to take the lead. As neither Jaren nor Dan made any move to make conversation, Bree resumed talking, a single one of her brown ears twitching; presumably in annoyance.

        "Do you really not remember anything?" She asked. "Not even-" Bree broke off and glanced at Jaren, who lowered his gaze to his clenched hands, his blue hair falling in front of his eyes. Was that pity in Bree's eyes? Faiye decided she wasn't sure, instead racking her brains once more. Nothing. Not even their faces were the least bit familiar. Faiye knew nothing besides what she'd learned a couple of hours ago, which consisted of the facts that; a) armored shadows came in more than one set, b) people do have cat ears, c) trees are apparently ok with people jumping through them, and d) shadows are allergic to being hit with heavily-armed backpacks.

        Faiye let out a sigh. "No. Nothing at all. None of this makes sense to me. You have cat ears, which are admittidly awesome but a little creepy, that guy has blue hair, and the shorty is obviously content with telling me to, 'shut up and run'. So, no, I am very confused and kinda freaked out!" She answered before letting out another exasperated sigh.

        Faiye started in surprise as Bree let out a laugh and Jaren chuckled lightly.

        "What?" Faiye asked in confusion.

        "DON'T CALL ME SHORT IM STILL GROWING!"  Dan yelled, and Faiye could almost see the pulsating red vein on his forehead.

        In between gasps of laughter, Jaren choked out, "He hates being called short!"

        "SHUT UP IM A MUCH BETTER FIGHTER THAN YOU AND I CAN FIT IN BETTER HIDING PLACES THAN ALL OF YOU!"

        "Exaclty! That means we can fit you inside a pickle-jar and watch you rant while trying to escape your imminent confinement!" Bree giggled.

        Dan leaped at her in comedial rage and Bree skipped around the campfire laughing, her long brown tail swishing as she kept barely out of reach.

        "Guess he has a short temper," Faiye joked. Jaren laughed and soon Dan and Bree rejoined them at the campfire, Dan still red-faced and out of breath and Bree grinning broadly.

        The solemn mood broken, Jaren looked back at Faiye, a smile on his face and his electric blue eyes shining. Faiye felt herself blush, and in doing so almost missed his next words.

        "Since you don't remember... well, anything, I guess we should start off with introductions," Jaren said, looking around at the others.

        Bree nodded cheerily and Dan stretched out his hand, motioning for Jaren to start first. Jaren readily cleared his throat. "Well, um, to start off;  I'm Jaren, the perky cat-girl is Bree, and the red-haired shorty is Dan."

        Jaren then twisted his cloak to the side and gestured to a mark upon the sleeve of his left shoulder. It was a green dragon, the tail nearly touching the snout and the wings curving to follow the circular path paved by the rest of the dragon's body. Faiye looked at the mark intently. She knew for a fact she had seen it before.... but still, nothing came to mind.