Snippet #1867675

Rina

"Come now, Eeko, we haven't time to waste." She gripped the glowing green tree-like branches protruding out of the beast's head, and struggled to hold on, as the elk-looking steed pranced through the night air.

The beast's appearance was a mixture of a horse, elk, and wolf, with plant-like features, and a glowing green aura. Ranook spirits, as they were known. There were very few in existence, in fact only one for each element could live at a time. Eeko just so happened to be the earth Ranook. Like all Ranooks, he never quite touched the ground, and instead, hovered on a platform of air, 3 inches above the surface. Ranooks were guardians in themselves, with the abilities to walk on water, and bring back the death of their element. Rina had only seen this once, when Eeko had mourned the loss of a forest, do to human logging. He had acted odd at the time, nudging Rina towards the woods every chance he got. When she allowed him to go, he had taken her to a flat area, where trees had been cut down, and the forest floor had been crushed by human machines. He nudged the dead plants with his nose, and they came to life once more, lighting up the forest with an enchanting display of colors.

Not all Ranooks have the same appearance, however. From stories and descriptions, the Fire Ranook has the appearance of a flaming steed, with a main of fire, and hoofs that burn the grass below them. The Water Ranook guards the waves of the ocean, and is discribed as a giant wolf, with white eyes, and a pale blue-grey color for fur, with a tail that tapers off into tears of water. Lastly, the air Ranook, which takes the form of a golden bear, with decorative charms hanging from his back.

Only Rina knows that the Ranook have two forms. Their real forms are much.. cuter than anyone would expect. Though she can't be sure what the other Ranooks look like in their original form, Eeko had trusted her enough to show her his, many times. After all, walking into a market while riding a giant animal god would catch quite a bit of attention.

As Eeko neared a light in the distance, Rina pulled back on his horn-like branches, alerting him to stop. "We'll run from here. It's lively tonight." She climbed off of the spirit's back and gave him the okay to transform. A quick flash came from the beast, and he was enveloped in a big ball of leaf like structures, which slowly got smaller and closer to the ground, until suddenly disappearing, leaving a small forest cat in it's wake. Forest cats were similar to the cats on earth, aside from the color and patterns on their fur, which result in a tribal style. This one was a timid green color, with black tribal stripes lining it's face.

"Come, now, Eeko." The cat quickly jumped into Rina's arms, and the two headed in the direction of the lights.

The came to a large stone road, where on the side, stands were set up to sell items and assistance. Candles flickered in the wind, while children ran hand in hand, and a fountain in the middle sprayed water from the center of a ceramic flower.

"Wow, these are lovely." Rina had spotted what she had came for. Striped mushrooms from the mountains of Legimli. "I'll take a dozen!" She smiled joyfully, dropping a handful of gold coins onto the stand.

As usual, Rina was in disguise, her hair pinned up to hide her bulky horns. That meant that she had to get out quickly before the guards became suspicious. She already had a bounty on her head, for a foolish mistake of a drunken night at the pub. Luckily for her, however, the picture was a tad bit off on the bounty, plus she had Eeko to fight by her side.