"Miss Luxana, please do not go so far ahead." Sighed Brillum. He had hurried after us at the last moment, when he saw that we were wandering from the camp site. I felt that three body guards was a bit of an overkill for to woman going for a stroll withing shouting distance of camp. In the middle of a barren forest.
I rather doubted that we were going to be jumped by bandits, after all. Still, it wasn't like I was unaccustomed to the over cautious behavior of my people. And that vigilance had saved me more than once.
"Oh! My apologies." Gasped Luxana, hurrying back to my side. She was almost too innocent. I didn't mind, however. It was nice to see such kindness and openness amongst monsters who normally were prone to evisceration rather than chasing butterflies. Not that there were any butterflies this time of year. "I have never come to this part of the forest before."
"If you've seen one tree you've seen them all." Sighed Brillum while Draxly eyes the near by barren trees, looking like he expected an enemy to pop out of each and every one of them.
I laughed. "I don't know... I feel like everyone of them has a slightly different feel about them."
"Well, you would, wouldn't you?" Laughed the red foxie. "You are a land god. It wouldn't surprise me if you went and named each one individually."
"That wouldn't surprise me either." commented Lagdon dryly.
"Rude!" I snapped. "I have not named a single tree, I'll have you know."
Luxana giggled, now keeping close to myself and our guards. "I don't think it would be horrible for them to have names. Besides, I like the side of Lady Enna that cares so deeply for us and our forest."
"Is that not every side of her?" Drawled Lagdon again, sounding exasperated with me.
"But isn't that wonderful?!" The pretty young Foxmen lady said happily, her silvery white hair just as sparkly as the untouched snow around her.
I was about to huff about how I was right here, and that I would appreciate that they all stop talking as if I weren't.. But then I caught the smile, and the soft expression on the black furred foxie's face.
Oh? Draxly, with a smile? Do my eyes deceive me?
Well, well, well...
Draxly was normal so stern and aloof that I most often associated him with a ninja. He certainly had the skills of one. His stealth was killer, as was his speed in a fight and his accuracy when throwing a knife. There was no concept of throwing stars in this world- none that I had seen at least- but he really did give off that vibe.
I knew he was also kind and compassionate, and took his job very seriously, but I had never once seen him out of his 'work mode', so to speak.
"Wonderful or not, i can not seem to figure out why we are out here right now." Grouched my ever present shadow, Lagdon.
He was pretty tense for a situation that didn't really call for it, but I couldn't blame him either. I mean, look what happened the last time I decided to go for a little walk out in the forest. Mind you, this was a forest next to a well used and marked road, and not a shadowy place know by an ominous name like 'The Dark'. I thought Lagdon could do with a little less hyper vigilance. Poor guy was going to give himself a n ulcer.
Could monsters get ulcers?
"I enjoy the forest in the winter." Stated Draxly. It was a rare thing for him to share personal information, even information as mundane as that. "It is silent, and clear of all disturbance. It reminds me of new beginnings."
"Oh, that is a lovely point." Sighed Luxana as she and Draxly walked side by side.
Brillum was directly behind them and shot an uncomfortable look over his shoulder at me that made me giggle. Poor fellow was feeling like the third wheel over there.
"I'm surprised." I called out to the dark furred foxie. "You always seem to like to blend in, and your fur sticks out so much out here. Do your parents also have dark fur?" I asked, the thought simply popping into my squirl brain. It occurred to me that I had no clue if I had actually met Draxly's parents? Or even Brillum's for that matter...
"They did..." Draxly stated. It wasn't exactly sad, the way he said that, but I suddenly got the feeling I may have hit on a sensitive issue.
Brillum patted his long time friend on the leather padded shoulder while Luxana looked on with concern. The Red foxie looked back at me once again. "Draxly and I are orphans, Lady Enna. My parents died when I was far too young to remember them... Draxly's passed due to illness when we were a little younger than Ozzie."
"Oh... I am sorry for bringing it up." Way to go Enna, sticking that foot in your mouth once again.
At my words I saw Draxly shake his head, then look over his shoulder and gift me one of his smiles. Though, this one was a little sad compared to the smile full of affection he had used on Luxana. "You need not concern your self with it, Lady Enna." He said softly. "It was several years ago. Besides, the blight that took them, you cured. I am nothing but grateful to know that no other children must loose their families due to the sorry state this forest home of ours was once in."
"We finally live in a time where we need not worry about bringing kits into this world!" Smirked Brillum, nudging the other male in the shoulder suggestively as he wiggled his fox faced eyebrows, eyes darting to the oblivious Luxana.
Draxly glared at his oldest friend, glancing at the she fox to be sure she had not caught on to what the red Foxie was eluding. Luckily, Luxana was even more of a doey-eyed innocent than I was, and was currently examining the icicles hanging off a branch, blue eyes wide with wonder.
Sighing, Draxly addressed me once again. "When my parents passed, Elder Brax took me in. He was already looking after Brillum as well. Brixie was there as well, of course, but she was a little older than us two, and already learning to be the next elder."
"So she was like an older sister to you too?" I asked, eager to learn more about the lives of the men and woman I had come to love in this world.
Brillum nodded. "Though, like Draxly said, she was older by about ten or so years. So Draxly didn't really get to know her as well as me. But their family has been really good to us. It was a great honor to have been made trusted guards by Elder Brax, and then to be entrusted with your safety, Lady Enna."
I smiled at the foxie male, also glad to have gotten to know them. People like Lagdon and Kishi may spend more time with me these days, but these two fox males had been with me since nearly the beginning. It warmed my heart to see them both living and thriving, all thanks to what little strides I could make to the improvement of life here. I hoped to continue in that way as well.
With any luck, the summit with the other monster races would go well, and then I could add those others under my care as well.
Well, actually, it wasn't like they had much of a choice. So long as they wanted to live on my lands they would be under my care. Still, their cooperation and active participation would be of great help in the long run. I knew that, in the past, many of these races had a weak truce at best, and open hostility at worst, so it would not be simple to bring them together cohesively...
Still, i managed to get the foxes and the goblins to see eye to eye, and they had been basically mortal enemies since Aeros was in power around here! And there were our newest members, the kobolds. Until a couple months ago, demi-humans would have been killed on sight, never mind living right along side monsters.
I didn't want to toot my own horn, but it would be nice if I could pull off just a little more of that Enna magic, and get the others to be part of our ever growing family.
Heck! Even the humans of Pern seemed, at least, open to discussing future relations. If humans could see eye to eye with monsters, surly that meant that other monsters could get along as well, right? Or was I just being ever the optimist, once again?
"Enough." grumped Lagdon, four fingered hand resting on my shoulder. "Lets go back. We have wandered far enough away from the others as it is."
Party pooper.
"But we have hardly gone any distance at all." I pretty much pouted. Not sure why I thought 'puppy dog' eyes would work on my hobgoblin... they never had before now.
At Lagdon's steely glare, Brillum laughed. "No, he is right my Lady. We should return. I am sure the afternoon meal is finished now anyways."
"Hnnnn!" Pouted Luxana, her puppy dog eyes far more effective than my own. Though, as a foxmen, I rather think she had an unfair advantage. "But I would like to see farther down stream! the ice hangs off the trees so splendidly along the river."
"Ice is ice." Huffed Lagdon, physically turning my around and frog marching me back through the snow from whence we came. "We have seen nothing but the stuff since departing the estate."
"You just have no sense of beauty nor adventure." I said, doing my best 'Lagdon being grumpy voice'. "Hobgoblins..." I sighed.
I listened as Luxana laughed behind us, Brillum and Draxly bringing up the rear. I too, wanted to keep wandering, but I knew that there would be no talking Lagdon out of it if he had already resorted to man handling me. Besides, I could already smell the stew wafting on the wind... Now that I was back to my proper shape, I did not need to eat, but that smell was even making my needless stomach growl.
I suppose I could let Lagdon have his way. This time.