A dragon is a dragon unless it's not a dragon

[Sharinya]

Sometime in middle summer EraXI PF

So much had happened since she had left Midpoint. Mind you whom was she going to tell about it? She had gone back to Kel’rondar but what happened there was of business to none but those that were present. So here she was in Frigid River and wondering where to find the elusive Willow. She wanted to show him how much she had learnt since last they were together. She had seen the butterfly dragon and wanted Willow to help her with the whole shape shifting stuff that she was supposed to be able to do.

If memory served her correctly Willow was rather fond of dragon booger…. Strange male that he was. He and Bink were nut’s there was not escaping that fact; still she was fond of them both and often wondered just where Bink had gone off too. A shrug of the shoulders as she shook her tiny head, he was somewhere probably growing fat on the drippings from a dragons nose.

[Maddyn]

Willow had ways of getting around, and usually moving towards trouble like iron fillings to a magnet. Likely something about Faerie-dom... or not. Sharinya managed to keep her head about her; so blaming it on just boyishness was probably a better altenative. Trouble had means of following Sharinya too it seemed, which suited Willow perfectly fine considering he considered it his Carmelyan Given Right to be Sharinya's personal attender, guide, annoyer and generalised pest at any given oportunty available. It was the kind of job he excelled at and found thoroughly enjoyable.

As Sharinya entered Frigid River, there was the slightest brushes of something arcanic against the Faerie Queen's mind as if coming up against another Archmagi before it shuffled off as if having found out enough to not bother further. After that, there was almost nothing other than the standard bustle and movement to be found in absolutely any city in the Empire with a population of several thousand whilst in summer. People moved, making the most of a brightening filled with comparitive warmth and took a break from all the concerns in Lauryl's midst.

True Acting Govenor Kaldres was still missing, but at least Acting General Riconus; in reality the Commander of the Prince Marvarius Regiment and the Black Dragon Syndicate had returned. Answers had yet to be attained.

There was a noticable smell of rotting fish hanging about the air, a slight gust of wind coming from the pass in the Great Mountains that led towards High Peak. And then the familar voice, filled with exuberance and grinning from ear to ear. How the top of Willow's head remained on sometimes was a mystery given that in all logic he should've not only dislocated his jaw but broken it off. "Ta--da! Shaaaaarinya!!! Daal-lah said you were here, oooh...beeen aaages Sharinya!" he cried, a tiny little six inch figure of bronzed skin, moppish brown hair, a rose bud behind an ear and a cloth wrapped about his waist for decency.

[Sharinya]

”WILLOW”

The pleasure at hearing the irrepressible fae’s voice was something to not be denied, she had missed him and he surely had not change one little bit. The smells of Frigid River faded into the background although it would be at a later time that she would remember to ask Willow about the fishy smell given their distance from an ocean.

”You haven’t changed a bit Willow….

Let me look at you…

…Are you still eating dragon booger?

And where did Bink go?

I’ve not seen him since that trip to Kel’rondar when you both seemed intent on flying up that poor dragons nose.” so many questions that required answers as she hugged the little Fae to her.

[Maddyn]

Laughing happily, Willow had the decency to look just a little bit embarressed about the notion of his dietry delight in that particular discovery in Kel'rondar. If only because he'd found after one particularly embarresing encounter with a Dragon in Frigid River who wasn't very accomodating of having a Faerie try and ram itself up his nose. Odd that. "Umm.... no, I was told not to Sharinya on pain of explodididions.... with me as the umm... target..." Willow replied bashfully, and then gave up completely with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Dunno... last I saw he was saying something about there being suger nuggets deeper... and then... umm... well, Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhh!!!! sneezed and we both went flying really, really fast in the other direction and umm... I found my way here through the old gate near the funny Elfy city in the Forest and then here 'cause Dalla's here an' Celeste an' Garyl an' Cally an' Callig an' Anda an' an' an' umm.... an' there's heaps of other people who'd be heeeaps of fun if you wanna go meet?" Willow queried, bouncing from foot to foot, hovering in the air a second with a flutter of his wings before dropping and repeating the pattern.

[Sharinya]

It was not unusual for Sharinya to not understand the half of what Willow was saying and this was certainly one of those times where she was going to have to ask him to slow down and tell her again what it was that he had just said. She did however understand that Bink had disappeared and was somewhere in Kel’rondar looking for more sugar boogers.

”Who is Dalla?

Celeste is your sister?

And who are Garyl, Cally, callig and Anda?

And will you stop bouncing around? I have to tell you about the faerie dragon, but only if you stop bouncing and we can go and find a nice place that is quiet so we can catch up.” she said trying to sound more like a Queen and be serious when all she really wanted to do was talk ten to the dozen and tell him everything that had happened since they had last parted company.

[Maddyn]

Tilting his head to the side, Willow in his constant haste to make sure anything on the tip of his tongue was uttered meant that very little the Faerie thought wasn't actually said. The Faeries mind too was dangerous to trust when it came to retaining information, anything said generally passed in one ear and out the other. About as useful as sieve for acting as a water bucket. "You don't know them Sharinya, how weeeird... well,. yup! Celeste's my sister but she's umm...in Diana-city or was though she comes here to make sure that I'm not in twubble and stuff because there's soldiers and people here who don't like me or sumthing."

Closer to, they disapproved of his ideas of fun and entertainment. Not everyone understood the joke of attacking Frigid River with an army of snowmen and with Cally and Garyl in a bid to ransack the toy and candy stores for the hidden wares.

"Garyl an' Cally are my fwends and Dalla is tooo, she used ta live in the Pegasi Woods near the cottage where you met me an' Celeste an the funny Lutran an the Lady I turned into a twee until you decided she'd be pweetier as a Centaur thingie which she was an'.. anyway, Dalla's a big person and an Elfy and she's lotsa fun an' and knew you were coming an' she be saying you Willow, you there should be saying hullo because she's a fwend and that's the polite thing. And to make sure I don't get distracted and drag you off to go Dwagon hunting, but I won't be doing that 'cause the Dwagon here doesn't like the idea of having a Fae up his nose 'parrently 'cause it's un-dig-in-if-fried." Willow burst onwards, grinning happily.

[Sharinya]

Sharinya listened intently to Willow’s explanation; it struck her that if anything since the last time they had been together his speech had gotten faster and was making a little less sense. Perhaps it was just something that would settle down once he was over his apparent excitement at seeing her again.

”So let me get this right…

Celeste is your sister whom I’ve yet to meet and she is in Diana but came for a visit to make sure you weren’t in any kind of trouble…

Garyl, Cally and Dalla are friends too, and Dalla lived near where we turned that poor traveler into a tree and then a centaur…

There is a dragon in Frigid River and you were going to have snowmen do something that perhaps you shouldn’t….

Well that all makes sense now I think.” she said giving him another hug

”So tell me where can we go now to find something to eat and drink so that you can tell me more about your adventures and I can tell you about the faerie dragon from Kel’rondar that saved the Empress.”

[Maddyn]

Hugging back happily, Willow wasn't talking all that fast if one understood what he'd been doing a good half a candlemark before Dallandra had told the Faerie-Boy of Sharinya's imminent arrival. Drinking honey'd mead was all well and good for Humans and Elves who could drink the stuff without suffering ill effects except through the more severe quantities - but for Willow it was like strapping the Fae down and hitting him with a lightning bolt. Definetely alive and hard to prevent him from bouncing about until the suger rush ended.

"Ooooh... a Faerie Dragon, it be like teh Dragooon Mister Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!?" Willow queried with a broad grin, nodding his head heaps at Sharinya's assessment at having at least managed to follow along with Willow's ramblings. An impressive feat to say the least. "Stories! Lots and Lots and Lots and maybe an extra Lot because that'd make four Lots which is Heaps and Many. Awright... cannae go to the Spear and Skull because the people there are icky and cannae go to the Trellis Inn because that's an Inn not a rest-rent-raunt... ummm..."

"Could go have a picnic?"

[Sharinya]

Willow was somewhat excited and that was no lie but then she knew if she could get him to sit still long enough he would calm down considerably.

”A picnic sounds grand Willow… lead the way” she told him and followed his lead.

Once they had found a suitable picnic location and some food to enjoy Sharinya told Willow all about the great battle with the dragoliche. ”You should have been there Willow it was indeed awesome…. And when all the bugs and such attacked now that was a sight to behold indeed.

So there you have it really, I stayed in Midpoint and spoke with the Empress… a nice elven lady… not young but not old and I think she will be just fine.

I really need to get the rest of the army together though that I promised…. The Treants are with us and the fauns too… I’m not sure about the centaurs and then there are the pixies, graces, nymphs, sprites… brownies and gnomes…” she said shaking her head at the thought of it all.

[Maddyn]

It was a nice little place that Willow led Sharinya towards, it was a garden designed for a winter climate really with a fountain in the middle with evergreen tree's lining the edges of the place and underneath for summer and spring rose bushes grew healthily and seemingly cared for immensely. Not all the tree's though were evergreens, two of them seemed to be appletree's however and it was these Willow... 'borrowed' to make up the meal for Sharinya and himself.

Taking bites that Willow had trouble even swallowing as he listened to Sharinya's story, the Faeries normally overlarge purple eyes were even wider than normal as he listened in rapture. He'd have given someone elses' right hand for being able to have witnessed that - Willow tended to use his right hand a bit so wasn't inclined to sacrafice his own of course. Eventually Willow actually managed to swallow part of his apple, coughing a few times and looking rather miffed about it before clearing his throat.

"Mmm... would've been fun, might have-ta stay and pester you more then Sharinya if I'm gunna miss out on more Dragons... if it was a nasty one then it's boogers might've tasted different.. like umm... licorice perhaps? Umm... anyway, yeah... if this Empress lady's Elvish then she's probably nice unless she looks down her nose at people 'cause that's annoying and then they need to have their nose tweaked. Yup!" Armies though were outside Willow's experience however, he'd never needed one with the singular exception of his snowmen and nobody ever took those seriously. Well, except these funny people in Frigid River... but they were well... funny.

[Sharinya]

She munched happily on the apple as she listened to Willow talk. He was an innocent and she had always known that. She questioned herself as to why she even spoke to him of such things as war and battles. They were foreign to him unless it was something playful; but to spite everything he was a friend who was always there to guide her in his own unique way.

”Well that pretty much sums up things Willow, I want to get the army from Kel’rondar together and march with the Empress to Alleria Prime…

Then I want to take the Fae home to Kel’rondar so that they may know more of their heritage and choose where they belong…

…but enough of that tell me more about your friends and what you have been up too. Perhaps you should take me to meet these friends of yours.” she said smiling fondly at the little fae.

[Maddyn]

There was however one question which puzzeled Willow, or one of his own concoction at any rate. "Why Alleria Prime? I mean... I know that's where we firs' met and stuff in the Pegasi Woods at home where Miss funny Lady Baroness Kena Lion used to come and stuff. But why you be needing an army there? I know there used to be a biiig Sprite city in the Pegasi Woods but they didnae like us... 'haps you could ask them if they want to play swords and soldiers Sharinya?" he queried with a slight frown, unsure whether or not of course the city still existed or had been razed. The Faerie couldn't help but remember that that meanie Julos had decided to think Fae's should be killed.

What a gimp.

"Okay... well, Celeste's in Diana teachin' cause she wants to an' Garyl and Cally and myself... well... Celeste enrolled us in schola which isn't any fun and made Mister Nightingale our Guardian. An so we have to learn stuff like maths and funny stuff that's all booooring; but Dalla has to go to class too 'cause her Papa thinks she's being a know-it-all and it's terribly unfair. But... other than that... ooh, and there's a gnome here called Eimile and he wears a kilt an people keep calling him a she and he says he's a he because he's a He. But Dalla says he's gender confused because Eimile really doesn't know what he is on account of being a gnome and just wants to be definete about something for once.", the words tumbling over each other with very little pause inbetween. Unfortunately.

[Sharinya]

She was able to make a great deal of sense out what Willow was saying but sometimes he really did confuse the issue with his childlike manner. Still she loved him like a little brother.
”Alleria Prime because that is the capital and that is where the Empress lives… her home. I have Treants, and maybe centaurs and some fawns, fae and sprites and pixies too, then there is the faerie dragon and well if we are ever going to be safe we have to do this Willow.
Perhaps you should take me to meet some of your friends?” she asked looking at the little fae.

[Maddyn]

Friends, ha! Now this was something Willow actually understood and could rather help with. The only problem though with friendship was the Faeries classification of who warrented such a claim. There were meanies who were few and far between - usually the kind of people who tried to use a flyswatter on Willow. There was the other people who were boring and did nothing important ever it seemed. And then there was friends which happened to be basically anyone and everyone that Willow liked and was interested in. This liking just usually wasn't reciprocated in the same fashion.

"Well, how about I take you to Kira and then while you two get to talk I'll go grab Dalla, an Cally an Garyl and we'll have a pick-ed-nick out somewhere pretty hmm?" Willow offered, already bounding to his feet and the apple cast aside from the Faerie Boy's immediate attention. "Course, I'm not sure where she'd be... been about Mister Kaldres place a bit but the funny man isn't there lately which is weird but then... umm.. yeah. " he trailed off, looking just a little bit sheepish before shrugging his shoulders.

Bouncing, leading Sharinya towards the place where Willow knew 'Kira' to be sometimes: Andavariel's Office as Advisor to the Lauryllian Govenor