Inx Ferno's Story

A lone figure walked barefoot on the dusty path, leaving faint three toed tracks. These tracks hinted at being left by feet both longer and wider than a human's and in some of them discreet evidence of webbing between the toes could be found. Between these footprints a wavy line meandered, sometimes scuffing out a footprint. Various small creatures watched the figure fearfully but curiously. The slowly moving figure moved slowly and smelled different. He smelled of the sea.

Sirken Aquis wasn't aware of his timid observers. He had once been extremely curious about the flora and fauna of land but now his interest had dulled some. They weren't really radically different than sea animals. There were the hunters, the prey, and the scavengers in both worlds. In some ways life was surprisingly similar. Yet in more ways life was dramatically different. People lived in buildings and ate food cooked over a fire. Sirken had eaten cooked food for the first time when he stopped at an inn. He didn't really like the taste too much. Perhaps it was something that was aquired. While fire and its uses were helpful to land dwellers to someone who had spent their whole life underwater without fire the element seemed dangerous and unpredictable.

Yes, I like raw meat better than cooked meat, even if it is the strange flesh of land animals. He couldn't find himself becoming dependent on fire. He planned on coming back home eventually after he found out what this was all about. On land he was awkward and clumsy, a near literal fish out of water. In the ocean his body was graceful and fluid as the liquid around it.

The place his dreams had shown him was close. He could sense it. He slapped his finned tail on the ground in irritation. Why did land dwellers wear clothes? They were scratchy and they chafed. In the ocean Kelpers didn't wear anything except scars, tattoos, and facial expressions. Tails made clothes hard to fit, especially the broadly finned tails of Kelpers.

He reached the clearing his dreams had indicated. A land dweller of some sort was eating dried meat. That was another thing that wasn't in the ocean. Dry didn't exist, everything was wet.

Sirken took a whole fish out his pack and causually bit its head off. It wasn't a really big fish and it was rather drably colored. The muddied green of this particular river fish was bland in comparison to the ocean's flavorful variety. He finshed it up in three more bites. He chewed very little; a Kelper's mouth was made for cutting food into pieces that were easy to swallow, not grind them up into some sort of mush.

He glanced at the humanoid who was near him. There was something inhuman in him, Sirken thought, although he was by no way an expert on land dwellers. On an impulse Sirken walked over to the humanoid and said, "Hello. My name is Sirken. What is yours?" He held out a hand to shake, a custom he had learned that many types of land dwellers had for a greeting.

---

"Merglin, make sure that Kenstae does not even try to bully his cousin to give up her dowry. The girl should start making her own decisions, by the Teeth." The red haired young man said to the older one. Merglin nodded, looking down from his relatively great height. Merglin towered above most people, even his liege's human form. Not that the Beast of the South's human form was particularily tall, but the knowledge that Inx was an enormous horned horsy creature at heart would make one expect that he was taller as a human.

"Oh, remember to have Trent released. The thief's been in prison for just the right time, I think," Inx said. The amount of time criminals should serve was a tricky problem. You didn't want them to be release too soon or you would be viewed as soft or, even worse, you might look like you were endorsing crime. But you didn't want to keep them in too long, either, because then it would be unjust. People did deserve second chances.

"And-"

"Inx, shouldn't you get on the road already? Don't worry. My memory isn't that bad. You did give me a meticulously written out list of things to do. I'll check it every morning. Now get out there and find a magic stablizer, for heaven's sake," Merglin said. The big man nearly winced at the thought of Inx's unstable powers burning up another precious document.

"Yes, I suppose I should. Don't forget anything, Merglin." Inx had to bite his tongue to stop himself from prattling on. The young beast set off on the road to the Place of Meeting. He started running and his form blurred and shifted into his true one: a white-hot Kirin. He galloped away from the only home he had ever known to the mystery of the future. What would his mate be like? He was eager to find out. Truthfully he didn't expect to get along too well with his mate. He didn't know many people not from Avco who would want to live in a volcano. Time will tell.

"Hello? Nice to meet you Sirken, my name's Voras." the humanoid said, removing his hood. Sirken noticed he had longer, pointed ears, unlike the common rounded ears of humans he had seen. What did that mean? Sirken blinked his four vivid green eyes in an effort to remember. Ah, yes, that was it! It meant that this person, Voras, was an elf. External ears were a thing that interested Sirken as there were so many different types on land. Kelpers had no outcroppings that signified ears; rather they had holes in the side of their heads covered by thin disks of skin.

"If I may ask. What brings you here?" Voras said.

Sirken shifted his gaze to the elf's face instead of his ears. Voras's eyes wandered to a tree. Sirken didn't mind this action that others could have interpreted as lack of interest. In the ocean you always had to be on the lookout for dangers. He assumed it would be the same on land. "It sound a little silly, but I had dreams telling me to come here. A little odd for a Kelper's dreams telling him to go so far inland, but what can I do? I'm curious to see why they told me to come to this place. I doubt it is a coincidence."

Sirken shifted his weight, trying to get in a comfortable position. This wasn't an easy task on land. Kelpers may have been an amphibious species but they were still far more accustomed to water than land. He sighed, some air spluttering out of his gills in a noise not unlike a fart. "What about you, Voras?"

A sense of being watched fell over Sirken. His tail stiffened, but otherwise he gave no sign of noticing. After debating for a moment he looked about and called out, "Is anyone else there?" He could be wrong. Things were different on land, different enough to disrupt a Kelper's senses. He still couldn't shake the feeling, though. "Do you feel that?" he asked Voras.



Inx was approaching the Place of Meeting. Or at least he thought of it that way, capital letters and everything. Some other beasts might not, but who cared what they thought? They were entitled to their own opinion as much as he was. What the mates thought of the place interested him a lot more. Did they hold it in special regard? Did they even know why they were going there?

He slowed to a trot before turning back to human form. Traveling for hours with hardly any rest was not something he usually did or really liked to do but sometimes, like now, the situation called for it. It was fast but tiring. Part of Inx really wanted to get a good rest before he met his mate, but another part wanted to get the meeting over with. He wanted to see his mate now.

He ran a hand through his red hair, a little concerned about his appearance. First impressions lasted longer than one might expect, and he did not want his mate or his fellow Beasts to think hom sloppy or uncaring. There was little he could do about his looks at the moment, though, so he would just have to bear with it. He absentmindedly adjusted his tunic and rearranged his leggings so they went over the tops of his boots. Although he still wasn't satisfied with his appearance he started to walk forward.

Some people were already at the Place of Meeting. There was an elf and some strange looking aquatic thing. Were they mates? Inx sure hoped the fishy creature wasn't his. He couldn't see them geting along well. He could sense the nearby presence of another Beast, although he wasn't exactly sure where. He looked about a bit but could see his relation. He or she was good at hiding, or Inx just looking hard enough.

The question was if the elf and the fish man were friendly or not. Inx decided to listen to their conversation a bit more to learn about them. Probably not the most honorable of tactics but definitely a safe one.

Alvaro

Alvaro flinched slightly, afraid that his mistake would have brought more attention to himself. But, when the attention turned to the young female, he decided that they the group couldn't be that bad. Slowly shifting out of his form, he adjusted his bow on his back and stepped out into the open. He listened to the woman's words for a moment before smiling. Dream havers. All of them.

"My apologies for spying you, my friends." He greeted, giving a slight bow as he looked about the others.

"I see that you are all on the same quest. Please, allow me to bring you back to my village for the night; the woods are no place to stay when Sun sinks," He looked towards the males - especially the water dweller - and smiled before looking to the females and giving a light bow. There were others, he could sense them, but he would let the offers stand. This was the way of his people - kind to those who deserved it.