Well... I haven't been up to too much... other than realizing that I am really good at losing things (I lost some books in my desk!)... reading the Inverloch comic... (just beware, the language is questionable, and also a lot of magic is dealt with)... talking to friends online... seeing who could swing back and forth the most times holding yourselves up with your arms (I, er, lost my balance and fell off once... *cough*)

And writing more fantasy story.  So here's some for you... (the first part was posted here)

“J’Dak,” called the voice.  Now he was alarmed.  He did not want to be found yet.  Still curious, J’Dak peered out from behind the shimmering leaves.  “Oh, J’Dak!”  The voice was full of pain.  “Jor’Dak!  Oh… manen elye etevanne norie i melanelye?”   It was an elvenmaid’s voice, and she began to sing.  Her song wa not joyful, but mourning.  The intensity of her grief hit J’Dak.  It so surprised him that he let go of the branch and tumbled out of the tree.  The elf sitting on the coppery-orange dragon looked at him, unbelievingly.  She was Aze.  Older now, but J’Dak was sure of it.  Her blue eyes were wide, her coppery brown hair almost obscured her face.  Shock flowed over her face, and Aze shook her head.  J’Dak closed his eyes in pain.  She did not remember him.  A tear slid down his face.

A sudden impact jolted him as Aze leaped off of her dragon and landed on top of him, knocking him to the ground.  “JOR’DAK!”  He knew. 

“Aze-Silme, Orestel,” he said.  It was her true name, not her everyday one.  Aze smiled through her tears.  Any doubts they had about each other’s identity and reality were gone. 

She yanked him onto Copper.  K’el soared beside them.  They exchanged a few stories from the last few years, and laughed what they had just done, both thinking that the other had forgotten them.  Suddenly Aze brought Copper to a swooping halt, and led an astonished J’Dak into a small grove of trees.  “Wait here,” she told him, running off.  In a few minutes, she returned with J’Dak’s oldest brother, J’Sûl.  J’Dak jumped onto his brother, as Aze had jumped on him.  “J’Sûl!  Mae govannen!”

J’Dak’s stomach growled as they walked to mount their dragons.  Aze half groaned and half laughed.  “J’Dak,” she scolded.  “Since when are you afraid to say that you’re hungry?”   He shrugged sheepishly.  An hour later, no one was afraid that he would starve– because he had eaten more meat, drank more half-wine, than even J’Sûl.

Everyone was glad to see him.  Everyone, that is, except for Monrag.  Monrag, the half-elven.  Some said that he was half-orc.   

On the way out from the Gathering Grove, J’Sûl felt a tug on his arm and saw J’Dak stumble and fall.  He looked at his younger brother, alarmed.  Aze shouted and all the fires went out.

By the time Vearew managed to get another fire started, Lemi had somehow gotten herself lost.  In the excitement of searching for her, only J’Sûl and Aze were left with J’Dak.  His arm was bleeding. 

J’Sûl was not easily angered but he was furious now.  “Where is MONRAG?” he demanded, spitting out the name.  Aze was frightened.  She did not know why he was so enraged with Monrag.  “I don’t know.  Please, calm down.  We need to take care of J’Dak.”  J’Sûl’s attention returned to the situation at hand. 

Ebey ran over to them.  “J’Dak?  J’Sûl?  What in Lothlorion happened to him?”  Kalim, their youngest brother was on Ebey’s heels.  He looked frightened. 

“Did you find Lemi?”  asked Aze.  Kalim nodded, still staring at J’Dak. 

“Good,” said Aze.  “Now run like the wind and go find Ciana for me.  We need her.  NOW!” she added when Kalim didn’t move.  He took off, hair flying back in his own wind.

Ciana was there in almost no time, being pulled along by Kalim and Nic-Kutlin.  She dropped to her knees beside J’Dak.  “I don’t know why you were so worried,” she said coolly.  “It’s only a small cut.  He’s just tired.”  She stood back up, the pine-needles crushed beneath her feet giving forth a fragrent scent.  “Nic,” said Ciana, “what is that on… oh never mind.”  She stepped carefully over a thorny plant and took a closer look at a branch of the nearby tree. 

“See?” she said, snapping it off and holding it up to J’Sûl and Aze.  “He scraped his arm on this.  That’s all.”

More gently, she looked at J’Dak again.  “He’s very exhausted,” said Ciana softly.  “Let’s take him home and he can get some real rest.”

~~~~~~~~

Life was not all so tense, or so memorable.  That summer was wonderful.  Flying was wonderful.  Aze had tried to put it in to words once. “It’s… well… it’s flying!” she said, and laughed at her own poor description.  The days slipped past, nothing distinguishing them much in memories, but together they consisted a happy, safe time.

The dragons were fun.  Aze flew that summer with J’Sûl and Ganeve.  She watched as Lemi’s small, yellow dragon named Quessi broke through her shell and took her first, uncertain steps.  Narië and Aze and Ciana worked together to help Narië’s purple dragon, Irene, heal from a broken wing-rib.  (Monrag had an accident in Irene’s cave.  What he was doing in there was anyone’s guess.)  They laughed at Asora’s goofy tricks. 

But flying with Kalim and Ril seemed the best, or with J’Dak and K’el.  They were so much alike; brother-elves, brother-dragons.  Aze’s dragon Copper didn’t really care who they flew with.  She just wanted to fly! 

Aze was Lemi and Narië’s a storyteller, too.  Occasionally even Kalim would listen to her stories.  But she had somehow gained the love of Narië and Lemi.  They thought that she was an extra sister.  She did live with them a lot, so it must have seemed that way to them.  Her own foster-parents had been killed in the wars which came shortly after she was born. 

Ebey and J’Sûl were both busy, they were both growing up far more than she could comprehend then, but they somehow all found time to talk… occasionally at the expense of their chores. 

G'night y'all... have a good day at church tomorrow. 

Cool story.