Scattered Stars

VI

Thistle awoke staring into two glowing, amber eyes.

Immediately her tail swung around to smack the owner of the eyes sharply in the shin, causing them to jump and whirl around to face their attacker. This gave Thistle time to leap up and tackle her opponent, knocking them to the ground and pinning them down with one muscular arm.

Now the eyes gazed at her in intense fear.

Thistle took a good look at this creature.

She had caramel-coloured skin, yellow eyes that had no pupils, and dark chestnut brown hair, which was long and wavy. She wore a red cloth shirt with thin sleeves, that ended right above her navel, and a bright yellow skirt that reached down to just above her knees. Upon her head was a small wreath of alternating red-and-yellow roses. Her ear feathers (for she was a harpy) were a mahogany red, and were short and puffy. Her wings were pressed underneath her, but from what Thistle could see,  they were large and fluffy, and the same color as her ear tufts.

“So who is this?” 

Thistle glanced in the direction of the voice. 

“Oh great, you’re awake,” she muttered sarcastically. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone (ever), but she was secretly glad that Squall hadn’t died. 

Squall hobbled over to Thistle and the new arrival. 

The girl looked extremely confused.

Thistle gritted her teeth.

Squall blinked at Thistle.

“So…” the dragon-boy began. “Are you going to let her up?”

The harpy focused her pupil less eyes on Thistle, strokes of hopefulness painted all over her face.

Thistle sighed and shuffled off of the harpy, settling herself next to Squall. 

Immediately the girl spread her huge feather wings and leapt into the sky, turning and somersaulting and loop-the-loop-ing so ferociously that the dragons below were tackled by a sudden gale of wind, and before they had time to think the harpy girl was sitting right in front of them again.

“Hi,” she said happily.

Thistle blinked. The harpy sat Indian-style before her, her wings flopped down on the ground on either side of her. She looked extremely cheerful considering that Thistle had just pinned her to the forest floor and refused to let her up for a solid five minutes.

“What business do you have in the--” Thistle stopped abruptly, realising she had no idea where they were. This could be a village, for all she knew. This could be an entire kingdom. Thistle could be trespassing.

“In the…?” the harpy girl probed with a wide smile.

Thistle sighed huffily and turned to Squall, who looked very much like the last person interested in taking control of this conversation. “Um,” he croaked hoarsely. The harpy’s smile grew warmer and wider.

After two minutes the harpy couldn’t stand it. She squeaked and flung open her wings, showering Squall and Thistle with wine-red feathers. 

“Alright alright alright,” she began, still smiling, and firmly placed her hands against her knees. “You are on the outskirts of the Crimson Cove. You’ve probably never heard of that before, so it’s a village. Yeah, but, um, nobody owns it, so it’s, um, completely free; it’s not part of a kingdom or anything. It’s just a village in the middle of nowhere. Um,” here the harpy inhaled for about five hours. “Yeah.”

Thistle gazed at her with an alert and informed expression.

Squall blinked at her sleepily.

Thistle swallowed and asked in a low voice, “Do you have a healer’s place here?”

The harpy smiled and rolled her yellow eyes. “Duh,” she replied brightly. “What’s a village without a healer?” 

“Dead,” Squall muttered.

Thistle glanced at him sharply before quickly getting to her feet. “Can you take us there?” 

The harpy got to her feet as well. “Yep,” she chirped.

Squall clumsily stood. “Where’re we going?”

“To a place,” Thistle answered him absentmindedly. She followed the harpy with her eyes as the harpy spread her great wings. “Now,” Thistle told Squall, “shut up and fly.”