Lost... Again (OPEN)

[Kaelu]

Kaelu didn't very well remember how she had gotten separated from Khasar and the others. They had been fighting off a rogue band of bandits attacking a poor village who had no way to defend themselves. She knew that she had been racing after the stragglers and doing her best to defeat them and chase them off for good. Kaelu lost her transformation and came to in a strange place very far away.


"Yep! Definitely lost!" Kaelu declared, hands on her hips. She had no idea where she was or how exactly to get back to that village. She had tried tracking back, but she had ended up following the wrong set of tracks. Those tracks brought her to this place. It reminded her of home a little, of her Warren in the wilds. It wasn't at all a place she had been to and none of the trees here were familiar to her. in the end, she accepted her fate and took it to mean that more adventure was out there for her. She scoured bushes for berries and the bases of trees for mushrooms and on more than one occasion considered chasing down a few little critters for something that would really keep up her strength. "Oh well. Let's go... this way!"

She followed an animal track, or monster track, and went on her way. Kaelu couldn't go wrong. Eventually she would have to run into someone. Or something, but that was an after thought that she didn't dwell on long. A village was bound to be somewhere and the forest might seem to go on forever yet she knew there was a border to it just like the one she had entered at. Kaelu at least felt a little bit at home here in the forest, even if there were eyes watching her that she was not aware of. She never was keenly aware of her surroundings.

[Yukaida]

Yukaida had been taught about Valor by her parents. A very powerful and ancient place, and one that should be treated with the utmost respect. When she'd arrived here a few days ago, she had known to make her presence known to the council there. They had been...not welcoming, but acceptable. Keep your stay brief, don't cause trouble, and stay out of the way of the Sentinels. Easy enough, right?

She had been getting ready to leave when she smelled something, moving through the many forests of the island in her true form. This was something not natural. Wait no, that was wrong. It was natural, but it wasn't indiginous to the island. The scent ran against anything she'd felt here before, it was foreign. She leaned down to the ground, inhaling deeply. She wasn't a tracker, but she got a good idea of the direction whatever this was, was moving. Her steps weren't exactly quiet, but they were as quiet as she could be while being bigger then a house.

She finally saw her 'prey', a young taguel walking around like she was just skipping through a medow. Did she have any idea how much danger she was in here?! If the Sentinels found her, they might just eat her, and that was assuming they found her before some horrible monster did. She spoke to the bunny, he low rumbling voice coming up behind her.

"This is not a safe place for you to be, little one. How did you come here?" She asked, looking down at the taguel.

[Vendil]

Vendil walked through the forest, looking around at the rare sight. I knew forests existed! Or do they? What if I'm imagining this? What if its a grassland? What if...  Do forests exist? He caught sight of all the trees. I knew forests exist! He kept walking, stopping a few times to grab some berries. These acorns are delicious! There was a whispering sound and he immediately bent to press his hands against the earth.

"PEOPLE?!" Vendil shouted, which was immediately followed by a hysterical laugh. "That is a good one, mother earth. I swear they get better every time."  He chuckled as he spoke. "We both know people don't exist." He stopped and mumbled "Perhaps they did..." as if remembering something, something through the fog. "People." He laughed again and moved forward, tripping on a bush and flying into the clearing the two unsuspecting children were in.

"EXCUSE ME," Vendil shouted as he jumped to his feet. He was glaring at the bush and had his finger ready to shake. "Can't you see I'm walking here,Couldn't you at least warn me after telling me such a good joke that I got side tracked? You-" He stopped as he caught sight of the other two. Everything froze, except his finger.

"People," Vendil breathed. "People! By the gods, people exist! By the beard- by mother earth her self, people!" He scrambled over to the two, eyeing them to make sure they were real. He poked the fleshy one in the face. "Real people!" He drew back a bit and mumbled to himself and then turned back to them. "You simply must come and have tea with me! I haven't had guests in ages- what are your names children?" He eyed them with huge eyes as if they were the most interesting thing in the world, the only thing in the world.

[Kaelu]

Kaelu had paused to look up and admire a largely and clearly old tree. She was trying to compare it to the trees in the forest that her Warren resided in. Was it as large? Was it as old? Kaelu knew that this forest was akin to her own. There were magics here, but all she could do was feel them and respect them. Lost as she was, Kaelu knew better than to anger the spirits of the trees and rocks and air that could be all around her. She leaned to one side as her eyes were drawn upwards to the canopy. She did not feel the presence until right before the girl appeared and drew nearer to her. Only then did Kaelu spin about and instantly took a defensive position, slightly crouched in preparation to either parry an attack or evade it and make her escape.

What she found when she turned had her eyes wide as saucers. A dragon! A real, live dragon! She let out a breathy whisper of, "Wow."

There was no menacing aura, however. A creature bigger than she, likely much stronger as well, but nothing made her feel as if she were in any imminent danger. Not only that, but the words uttered to her were those of caution. She relaxed a little, eyes no longer as wide and she smiled, "I just sort of wandered in, you know." Kaelu giggled softly. She straightened up and regarded the dragon carefully. She was definitely a Manakete, had to be, and from the tales she had heard when she was younger, they were allies of the Taguel. In any case, it was a great relief to find that she was not alone any more. With a big and bright smile she said, "I got lost after chasing off a bandit gang when we had been helping to defend a town from their attacks. I couldn't track back right, so I ended up here, but it's not so bad. It's a lot like my home." Was it that this dragon was worried for her? How nice of her! She was a her, right? Kaelu knew that she needed to count herself as very lucky for having met with so many nice folks even when they could ignore her or attack her.

It was not just the pair of them for long.

Someone appeared out of the bush and approached them. Kaelu didn't leap away from him. Even after he poked her forehead she did not recoil from him. She rubbed her forehead and replied quickly with a pout, "That wasn't nice. It sort of hurt." She rubbed her head a little longer. It took a moment longer for the meaning in what he had said to sink in. He was alone? She started and gasped, "Are you lost, too? And tea! I like tea! I'm Kaelu by the way, Kaelu of the Rabbit Tribe!" She giggled a little. She was glad to follow this stranger with the promise of company and tea. It was far better than being alone whether they were lost or not. A companion made everything much cheerier and she looked to the other wondering if she would join.

[Yukaida]

Yukaida arched one of her eyebrows (or the closest similar motion a dragon was capable of) at the taguel's explanation. Got lost after defending a town? They were on an island! An island that was well known for being uninhabited by humans, due to the heavy populations of dragons and monsters. How in the world could she wind up here by accident?

Before Yukaida had a moment to express her disbelief, another being joined the two of them in the foray. Oh sweet lands, another one. An elderly one too, and clearly mad by the way he spoke. She couldn't just leave them here, that would be little better then killing them with her own claws!

"No I...what? Do you have any idea where you are? It is dangerous here, you must not tarry here. This is not the time for tea or idle conversation." She spoke, exasperated by the utter cluelessness of these creatures. She didn't want to remain here much longer herself, large collections of people tended to draw attention to themselves. And on Valor, all attention was bad attention.

[Vendil]

"Lost?" Vendil questioned in his booming, and slightly hysterical voice. "Why I know this forest like the back of my hand." He look at his hand a moment, studying it as  if to make sure. He suddenly came back to reality, asking, " A rabbit?" He eyed her suspiciously as if not believing. "Are you sure? You look normal to me. Not like lizard brains over there." His attention was suddenly on Yukaida.

"And what is your name, I don't remember hearing it," Vendil said, knowing full well he could have heard it and not remembered. Or could he have? "And of course I know where we are, we're in a grassla- forest." He smiled and then seemed to realized what he had said. "Wait a second... forests exist? By the gods, that's amazing!" He scurried over to a tree and pressed his hands against it. "And trees are real," he breathed. There was a whisper in his ear. He immediately planted his hands and ear to the ground.

"My bag?" Vendil questioned. "And child- children!" He suddenly hopped to his feet and looked at the other two with a knowing grimace. At least he thought it was a grimace, it could very well of been anything between indigestion and constipation. "Excuse me a moment." He scurried into the bushes and returned with a bag that seemed to just be a cloth strap with extra material on one end with stuff in it. His name was printed on it in faded gold lettering. At least he thought it was gold, it could have been lavender for all he knew.

"And now that we have tea, we should go to my cave," Vendil said matter a factly, the only thing he had been completely sure of as he said it. "It's just that way," he said pointing behind them. He frowned. "Or maybe it's that way," he said, pointing the way he had come, all while scratching his head. He didn't know he had been wandering in circles for days, no where near his cave. "Have you guys seen my cave?"

[Kaelu]

"I like tea!" Kaelu shouted excitedly, raising a hand and rising up to her tippy toes. She giggled a little and looked back at the dragon. She kept insisting that this place wasn't safe, but it felt like the safest place she had ever been in. Maybe that was just because it reminded her of home? In any case, she looked curiously at the nameless dragon and asked, "Don't you like tea, Miss Manakete?"

That was the least of their troubles. If Kaelu thought that she got lost and confused frequently, clearly it was not so bad as what happened to Vendil. She checked herself over and turned about to make sure that her little tuft of a tail was still there, a wiggle of it when it was in her hands, and then nodded. She was quite sure that she was what she was. Cheerily she replied, "Yeppers! I'm a bunny!" It was almost difficult to keep up with the strange train of thought. Kaelu's facial expressions fluttered in and out of understanding and confusion. Forests weren't real? Trees were real? Lost bags and found bags? Kaelu began to wonder if her conversations were just as bad because she knew well enough that there were times when she was not altogether there.

"Oh yes! Forests exists, trees make a forest and there are whole bunches here. That's what I like best about this place. Umm, I haven't seen anything... and nope, no caves from my sights." Kaelu replied. She lifted a finger for each point that needed making to keep herself on track. She couldn't allow herself to get lost in her own thoughts with Vendil being lost in his.

[Vendil]

"You are a bunny?" Vendil said. "If you're a bunny then I'm a dragon." He cackled and slapped his knee. He had thought bunnies were little furry creatures, but then again, he thought a lot of things, didn't he? "I believe you if you say it's true. I think." He puzzled it out a little. "Yes. Now weren't we doing somethi-

"Tea! We were going to have tea! This way!" He pointed one way and  walked the other. "It's definitely this way, or my name isn't- isn't-" he looked down at his bag. "- Vendil!" He then began trudging through the forest not even bothering to make sure the youngling was following. "So does that mean trees and forests are the same thing? If both exist and one makes the other, then the other must make the other that makes the other right? Or is it like babies? People make babies but babies aren't people. Or is it people aren't babies? 

"Squares and rectangles?" Vendil asked as he suddenly changed direction again. "You're really gonna like my cave. The earth is so vibrant there and the tea is wonderful! The sweetest thing you'll ever taste if I ever put sugar in it. Or was it salt?" He rambled on for a few moments, some of it coherent and some of it not. He might of even began talking about the fine process of making tea and all it entails, but he doubted it. He didn't know how to make tea, did he?

"So where are you from Kaelu?" The name felt strange as it came out. Vendil thought it was her name but he wasn't sure. He hope it was her name. At least he thought he did. "Are there more people like you? I've never heard of people-bunnies." Or had he? He wasn't sure.

[Kaelu]

Kaelu cocked her head to one side and inched a little closer to the older man. "Aren't you?" She asked him, and then as if on second thought she added, "A dragon that is. You know, Manakete?" She did remember that right, didn't she? Dragons were Manakete just like she as a rabbit was Taguel. It seemed right to her memory, though Vendil bounced about in conversation much like her own thoughts so it was difficult to remember what was right and what was wrong.


"It's true! Really it is! See my ears? They're super soft! And back here is my tail. I think it's cute! And when there are monsters about I use my special Beaststone I've got and I can transform in a super mega awesome bunny!" Kaelu giggled. She was very excited to show off her ears and spin about to give her tail a couple flicks. The thin fuzz of fur was hardly anything to point out, though it was there all the same. She cast another glance at the dragon who had first found her, but found that she was silent as of yet, so maybe she believed she was a bunny or was just confused by Vendil altogether. She turned back to him, "What? Oh right! Tea! I like tea!"

She giggled and followed after him. A cave? Had she ever been in a cave before? Burrows; yes. Caves; not likely. Kaelu was excited about visiting a cave when she couldn't remember ever having been in one. If Vendil ended up being lost again, they would just have to stop and think over where they were until he remembered. Kaelu was utterly useless in this strange, new, and wonderful place. "Umm... I think it's more like the people and babies thing. You can't have a forest without trees, but you can't have tress with a forest. Wait... does that make sense? I know that you can have two or three trees and you don't call it a forest. You need whole bunches of trees to have a forest. And a forest is whole bunches of trees all together, but a forest isn't just... a... forest..." Oh dear. She was starting to get confused. It had made sense to her just a moment ago. As soon as she started to speak in an attempt to answer him, her words and ideas got all jumbled up together. Kaelu's face screwed up as she tried to force her way through the mess.

"Huh? Where?" The squares and rectangles comment sent her in a new direction of thought. She continued to follow Vendil and looked at him curiously. He didn't say anything else about the shapes, but he did go on to talk about his cave. Kaelu sped up to walk along side him and with wide, excited eyes remarked, "I've never been in a cave before! It's so exciting! This is exciting!" She bounced along and fell back to follow behind Vendil again. She was vaguely aware of where they were going, the trees that they passed and the ferns they brushed by. Maybe she could remember this path if they got lost and retrack it. When he inquired about her, he opened a can of worms. Kaelu instantly began to chatter happily, "I'm from a big, deep, old forest like this one only not on an island. It's so big you almost can't think of there ever being anything but the forest. Trees so big you could never hug them on your own and all. Mountains and valleys and trees and hollows and everything. I like it here, it's just like home here. And there is a whole Warren of bunnies! All of us Taguel! You've never met any Taguel? There's different kinds, but I'm very happy being a bunny. Birds and cats and dogs and bear and bunnies all Taguel."

[Vendil]

"Never been in a cave?!" Vendil questioned. "Why that's like saying one has never eaten or breathed or- never been in a cave?" He thought being in caves was one of the most normal things ever. Which probably meant it wasn't. Or was it? "A cave is like a giant hole in the ground. It is a giant hole in the ground. At least I think it is. Either way caves are real and not rare like forests." He tossed another berry into his mouth.

"Wait, you live in a forest?" Vendil eyed her as he walked. "You sure keep saying strange things. First you're a bunny, next forests are real and now you say you live in a forest?" He stopped a moment. "You did say that right? Of course you did, I was there." He was, right? He thought so. "And there's people-birds and people-dogs and cats? I've never heard of there being so many people."

There was a whisper and Vendil promptly reached for the ground. "THE WRONG WAY? GO LEFT? If it's the wrong way why'd you let us go this way?!" He kicked a nearby rock, hurting his foot. "By the beard-" He began hopping on one foot, inching backwards toward another. He was then sent cartwheeling backwards into a clearing. With a cave. Or was it a cave? He wasn't sure.

[Kaelu]

"Is it really that strange?" Kaelu asked. She was feeling rather down about that. If caves were all that common and wonderful and the like, why then was it that she had never seen one or heard of one or been anywhere near one before? It troubled her now. Even more so now that Vendil said that caves weren't as rare as forests. She leaped at Vendil, grabbed a hold of his arm, and looked up at him fearfully. "Forests are rare? Really? But why? What's wrong with them?"

It hadn't occurred to her to mention that they were standing in a forest. Kaelu wasn't thinking properly. She was much more worried about the hows and whys that made forests rare. She trembled a little and maintained her hold on Vendil even as they contined to walk on and on. It took her a few more steps before she did come to her senses. "Hey! But this is a forest! We're in one right now! You and me both." How could she have gotten so confused. Well drat! Kaelu needed to keep her senses about her with Vendil. He was like to get her to forget so much and be turned all around and abouts.

"I do! Well, I did until I left it.. Actually, I got lost from my forest but I'm sure I'll get back to it someday" Kaelu nodded meekly. She might not know anything about caves, but she knew a little about forests. She was going to try real hard to not forget the next time Vendil said something strange. At the same time, her hold on him loosened. That included the moment when he was saying it was strange that there were Taguel. "Oh, but it's true Vendil, it is! I'm one and there are all different kinds of Taguel just like there are different kinds of Humans. Surely it's the same for Makankete too. There must be different kinds of dragons out there, right?"

Before she knew what was going on, Vendil was out of her grasp. She looked at her empty hands and then to where Vendil was. He was talking to someone. Or was it something? She hadn't heard anything and looked about, her ears perked up and twitched one way and another. Nope, there were no voices that came to her ears. "Say, Vendil, who are talking to?" No sooner had she looked away, but looked back and found a great lack of the elderly man. "Vendil? Vendil? Where did you-- Oh! There you are!" Kaelu looked about and found him tumbling into a patch of light. There was a clearing there where he had hopped and stumbled into. She bounced her way after him and scrunched down to check on him. "You okay Vendil, hmm?" She asked after him.

[Vendil]

"Why I outta-" Vendil said, making exasperated sounds, "Why I outta-" He pulled at his beard and then looked up at Kaelu. "Of course- well I think-" He poked random places on his arms and legs, "- Yes, I do believe I'm fine. At least I think so." Didn't he? He pulled himself to his feet, his back still to the cave.

"Well I suppose you are right, there are different kind of dragons. I think. Why I'm- I'm-" Vendil had been slowly turning and began to stutter when he saw the hole in the ground. The cave. At least he thought it was a cave. His cave. "By jove, we've found it!" He laughed and then threw his arm under Kaelu's, swinging her round in a sort of dance as the faced opposite directions. He let go after a few circles, doing a jig before striding purposefully toward the cave.

"Well mother earth, you were right," Vendil said, a big smile on his face. At least he thought she was right, which could make her wrong. Right? He took a big whiff from the edge of the caves mouth, exhaling deeply. "It even smells like my cave!"  He quickly made his way in, forgetting Kaelu for a moment.

"Such a mess," Vendil said, straightening the chairs and tables that happened to be there."All we need is a fire and we can have tea." He felt like he was forgetting something important. "Now what in the devil am I missin- KAELU!" He turned on his heel, looking around for the youngling with his wide eyes.

[Kaelu]

Vendil was so old a fellow that she was sure he must have hurt himself some. He was the oldest person she had ever met or ever spoken with, and since Taguel almost never got so old she was sure that a fall just might be lethal. What silly fears Kaelu had. Vendil was muttering and poking himself in a very lively manner. He was back on his feet in no time and she clapped her hands in victory.
"Oh good! You had me worried for a bit, Vendil. I was afraid you might have died!" She giggled softly over her folly.

"You're what? Hey Vendil! Tell me! OOOH--" Kaelu found herself airborne and swung about. She forgot about wanting to learn more about dragons and their different types. A fit of giggling consumed her as did the surprise that so old a man had such strength in him. Truly dragons were fantastic creatures after all! She felt a might bit dizzy once he had released her and Kaelu spun wobbly about on her own before following after Vendil in the direction of the yawning mouth of the cave. It took her some time to enter the place. She tripped and tumbled in her dizziness and had to pick herself back up. Her head still felt dizzy when she remarked with a smile, "That was... fun."

Kaelu wandered in cautiously. She peered about the cave and breathed in deeply the air of the earth. The smell had a similar scent to her nose. Like the little barrows she and those of her Warren lived in. It was colder, the ground harder, but the scent still held some similarity as if they were related to each other. Vendil was busily setting the place up and organizing the mess of chairs and tables by the time she had rejoined with him properly. "Oh! Here I am!" She answered him when he called to her. With a big smile Kaelu hopped the rest of the way to his side, one ear upright and the other half-cocked.