Aurora - Book One of The BrightStone Saga

-Four: Troublsome Stone-

When Aurora awakens, she can feel every muscle, aching and sore; she opens her eyes to brightness behind her. Her tongue feels thick. She turns her head, spitting out blood. I must have bitten my tongue, she thinks. As she tries to get up she stumbles and falls bumping her head. 'Ouch.'

Aurora sits up and waits for her head to clear. She looks at herself realising it's daytime outside. She's covered in dirt and grass stains and some blood here and there. She wriggles her toes, shakes her legs and then wriggles her fingers. Feeling a stretching on her left palm she turns it over to see a small burn there. It looks like a small circle, with different length wavy lines, going to each finger and thumb, with three straight lines ending at her wrist.

As she looks at this strange burn she realises the pain has gone. She stands, avoiding hitting her head this time. She walks to the opening, looking out at the new day. She starts to climb out then stops herself. She looks back and sees it lying there, looking at the strange stone that gave her this burn. The glow has gone from it now; it's just an ordinary fist-sized gemstone, 'probably still worth a fortune,' she thinks to herself.

She scoops it up into her hand and freezes, waiting to see if anything happens. Nothing. She sighs, remembering to breathe. She puts the stone into her pocket and makes her way out of the nook.

As she's scrambling outside, she looks down to see the young-ling still there, curled up against the tree waiting for her, her furry ears twitching as she dreams. She starts her climb down, being careful with every step. As she nears the base the young-ling stirs, by the time Aurora reaches the bottom, the young-ling is awake and seems to be smiling at her.

Aurora looks at the youngling. 'Good morning little one. were you waiting for me?'

'Hello, Aurora,' says a small sweet voice.

She jumps out of her skin, her jaw going wide. 'What did you s-s-say?'

'I said, hello Aurora, you understand me now, don't you?' says the youngling.

'What is going on? I must be dreaming,' Aurora looks around, trying to process this in her head.

The youngling touches her hand, 'Aurora, it's still only me.' She looks up at her with deep dark eyes, with a twitch of her snout, she smiles.

She takes a deep breath, 'Why am I able to talk to you? This is mad. How can I understand you little one?'

'Because of the rock, it's why I brought you here,' the young-ling says.

Aurora starts to pace, looking from the floor to the youngling and back again. 'What is it?' she asks.

The youngling looks puzzled, 'I'm not sure really, it's been here a long, long time. It's the reason for all the forest here, we think.'

'Why can I understand you though? That's what's hard, little one.' She stops and looks at the youngling.

'I don't really know,' the youngling looks around. 'But there is something you can do.'

'What is that?' Aurora asks.

'You can stop calling me little one. I don't mind it, but my name is Yanny.' She seems to laugh, but it comes out more like a snarl.

'Oh sorry. It will be nice to finally call you by your true name though. Yanny, I like it, it suits you well.' She ruffles Yanny's ears.

'Yanny, why did you bring me to the gemstone?'

'I felt I should,' Yanny squeaks. 'I don't know why I just felt compelled to.'

'I'm sorry, Yanny, but this is crazy, I'm really talking to you and you're talking back.'