.:Chapter two:.
Paladin of the Breeze part 2
The Pact
Ever since Panda came home from the war, he had been contemplating everything Aegyn had taught him and their time together. His feelings switched between joy and sorrow, and he cried and smiled a lot. Even though he was sad of Aegyns death, he remembered his speeches of being kind and caring towards others, and always trying to find something positive in every situation. Panda was glad he had known Aegyn, but he was disappointed that Aegyn never had the chance to fullfill his dream of returning to his old tribe not as an outcast, but as a kind and caring individual. Panda had decided to live by those teachings, and after a few weeks Aegyns death was only painful because Panda loved him as a father. However, he didn't have long to get over Aegyns death.
Five weeks had passed after Panda came home, when someone was knocking at his door. The pace of the knocking was obnoxious, as if a woodpecker drank a liter of coffee and tried to get through a stonewall. That someone must have knocked at the door at least a thousand times before Panda got to the door and opened it.
"Who..!?" he started, but his sentence was cut short by a young, green spiral dragon, carrying somekind of tubes, a satchel, a pack of pencils and multiple sketchbooks.
"Hi! I'm Fujin" I'm here on behalf of the great Windsinger. You've been invited to him. Lets go already!!"
His pace of speaking was incredible. Panda was struggling to understand what he was saying.
"Wait! Slow down" The Windsinger? Why would he..?" he was cut short by Fujin again.
"Yes! He has summoned you to him. He has a mission for us as ambassadors on his behalf. We have negotiations about the war with the plague. We should already be going."
Panda tried his hardest to understand Fujins speech again. The Windsinger wants him as an ambassador to negotiate with the plague flight?
"But I'm not a negoti.."
"Nonononono you got it wrong!
I'm the ambassador. You have been chosen as my bodyguard. Your actions in the war have been recognized as your swift action in the reserves camp saved many lives. I myself like fast action and appreciate how quickly you handeled it. Can't come up with many plans myself though! Needs too much time to concentrate that does. The Windsinger heard of the incident and decided you should come as my bodyguard to negotiate the border issue with the Scarred Wasteland. This would start a truce for the time being and stop all fighting for now. So are you coming?"
All this came out from Fujins mouth in less than a second and in one breath. Panda thought for a second. He wanted to make Aegyn proud. He wanted to live up to Aegyns expectations and teachings, and be the best he could. Panda always liked to help others too, and this would benefit everyone living in the Windswept Plateau.
"Yes, I think I can do that. It's an honour to get a request from the Windsinger himself!" Panda answered.
"Great! Then we should already be going!" Fujin said and nudged hard away from the door.
"Wait!" Panda said "I need to get some equipment for the trip first. I'll just pack a backpack and be right back. I won't take long."
Panda was just about to turn around and go pack his things when Fujin said
"I already took the liberty to pack your stuff. It's right there."
He pointed beside Panda, to the side of the door, where a readily packed backpack was leaning to the frame of the door. Panda looked at it in surprise. Neither of them had moved from the door anywhere.
"When did you..?" he was just about to ask, but was again cut short by Fujin.
"When you where taking your time saying
"Who" when you opened the door. We really needed to be going a week ago. We can talk more on the way."
Panda nodded timidly and swinged the backpack over his shoulder, and with that the left.
Fujin seemed to always be twitching and nudging, as if he would move and stop at the same time, even though he never stopped. Even when they stopped to have a break for Panda, Fujin was always moving. Panda had to see if Fujin moved even when sleeping and stayed up one night. He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he saw Fujin eyes shut for a fraction of a second.
They had been going for a few days, when Panda started to wonder where they were actually going. He never actually heard where the Windsinger is, and they seemed to be heading towards the Sea of a Thousand Currents.
"Fujin. Where exactly is Windsinger?"
Fujin circled Panda apprehensively.
"He's usually at the Cloudsong." he answered, pointing towards the floating platforms slightly to the east of their current position.
"The Cloudsong? But aren't we going the wrong way?" Panda wondered.
"I already went to him and had a quick meeting covering the details of our mission."
"Whait what? We haven't even been close to there. When did this happen?"
"Right after you agreed to leaving with me on this quest. Why?"
"But I've been with you the whole time? How could you have been there and here at the same time?"
Fujin stopped turned to face Panda.
"You mean you haven't noticed?" Fujin asked with a gleeful smile.
"Noticed what?" Panda asked with a confused look.
Fujin laughed loudly for a short moment. Even his laugh was too fast to comprehend.
"Fine. I'll slowdown for a second." Fujin said with a smirk.
Even though Panda had no idea what Fujin was talking about, he observed the spiral and expected something to change. At first it seemed as though Fujin was just staring at him, but then it seemed like he was... transparent? Panda rubbed his eyes in disbelieve.
"Don't blink now!" Fujin said with a grin.
Panda focused his sight on the spirals still trasparent form. For a splitsecond it seemed like there were more of him. First two, then three, then five or seven, Panda wasn't sure. Then they all seemed to mend together, and Fujins movements were suddenly more erratic and confusing than normally. He was twitching and twirling and twisting everywhere, and Panda thought he was posessed or broken.
"What just happened? Can you clone yourself?" Panda asked Fujin. His eyes were starting to hurt watching the erratic patterns Fujin was making in the air in front of him.
"Nononononono!" Fujin answered. His speech was even harder to understand. It sounded like it was coming from a metal tube and from behind a spinning fans blades. It had ripples, tremors, it was trembling and stressed and compressed.
"Justsofast! Can'tbelonglikethis!" Fujin seemed like staying like this was hurting him, and in a few seconds he returned to what he was before. It was like an explosion. It sounded like something exploded, and all the Fujins scattered in every direction.
"What was that?" Panda managed to ask after the situation seemed to normalise. Fujin was breathing heavily and sweating.
"Let me explain. There's this effect that happens when things move faster than you can observe them. This can be demonstrated with this."
Fujin pulled out a spinning top from his satchel. It had pictures of the Windsinger on its top in slightly different poses. Panda looked at the pictures on at a time, and it seemed like the Windsinger was flying through the sky in each picture.
"When you look at it like this it doesn't seem too special right? But see what happens when I make it spin." Fujin said and set the spinning top on a flat rock. He spun it, and told Panda to get closer. The images were blending together, and it looked like the Windsinger on the spinning top was actually moving.
"When something moves faster than you can process it in front of your eyes your brains try to come up with something logical to make up with what your eyes are missing which results in the images to blend together and it seems like the image is moving. The same effect happens with me. I'm actually not here and at the same time I am here. It's a bit complicated but to make it simple I'm moving faster than what your brain can process." Fujin exclaimed.
To Panda this was at the same time extremely confusing and extremely facinating.
"Wow! How is that even possible?" he asked.
"Well to be exact I'm not quite sure but it just happened one day. I was just going along with the wind like always and everything seemed to slowdown so I started going faster trying to make everything else go faster but it only made them go slower and now I can't slow down too much. Needs too much concentration so I can't focus on just one thing so I'm here and there and everywhere to concentrate on all the things I can!" Fujin was spinning in a circle over the spinning top.
"So now I can be in multiple places at the same time while actually I'm in one place any given nanosecond."
Pandas jaw had dropped. He closed his mouth before saying
"That crazy, but I can't argue with whatever you just said and what I saw."
He couldn't say anything more to the matter. After a short break trying to get his brain back online he continued
"So the Windsinger already knows I'm with you. Where are we going then exactly?"
Fujin pointed towards north-east.
"We're going to go through the Sea of a Thousand Currents escorted by someone the Tidelord has appointed to escort us and then continue through the Tangled Wood. There we won't have an escort so we need to be careful. The Shadowbinder isn't actually known to be very kind so we don't know if we're left alone in there or if we'll get ambushed. When we get through the Tangled Wood we should be at the Dragonhome where we'll head to the bottom of the Pillar of the World. There we'll be greeted by someone from the Septarian Shield clan. They seem to be serving the Earthshaker so they'll be there as a third party to ensure the neutrality of the treaty so no one gets the short end of the stick so to say. There will be an ambassador chosen by the Plaguebringer in addition to us and the aforementioned. In addition everyone is allowed one bodyguard." Fujin went through the plan. Panda nodded.
"Well then... Shall we continue forward then? We have an important mission."
Fujin smiled with a grin.
"Waaaaay ahead of you!" he said and darted away playfully, before getting distracted by a butterfly he never before saw, a bird singing and a dozen other things. Panda giggled. Fujin was never still and never quiet, even at night, but maybe someone as lively as Fujin was just what Panda needed to ease the pain of Aegyns death.
They continued to the edge of the Sea of a Thousand Currents, where they were greeted by a familiar face.
"Ahti!" Panda shouted as soon as he saw his old travel companion.
"Greetings, my friend." Ahti bowed before Panda, and greeted Fujin with a smile.
"I have been sent to escort you through the waves."
Panda smiled and greeted Ahti with a nod.
"What a coincidence!" Panda laughed.
Fujin looked to Ahti, then to Panda and back to Ahti.
"I take it you two have met?"
Ahti nodded to Fujin.
"Yes. I take it you would like to make haste. Unfortunately these waves are not to take lightly, so we cannot go as fast as you'd like, mister Fujin."
Fujin looked uncomfortable.
"Can't go fast? Hnngggg!!!" Fujin twisted and nudged. Ahti let out a deep laugh.
"Do not worry my friend. I have planned a route that allows you to move freely."
As before with Ymir, it seemed like Ahti knew Fujin from before and took his anxious nature into consideration.
"This way, please." Ahti turned to lead the two along a beach dotted with colorfull shells. Fujin examined each and everyone of them and seemed to have conversations with some of them. Panda smiled. It felt good to be in a company of such good friends. Ahti had a concerned expression on his face.
"What's wrong?" Panda asked.
"Oh it is nothing, really. It just feels weird to lead you, my friend." Ahti said and smiled.
As always, Panda had no idea where this came from, but he smiled back at Ahti. Fujin came back, shoving his sketchbook in Pandas face.
"Look! I drew a quick map of the area, and it seems that with this speed well actually save a couple of days of the initial scedule!"
"A quick map!?" Panda thought to himself. The picture was like a photograph. Fujin had even drew every single shell on the beach around them to the map. But he was right. The route Ahti was taking them would save them time compared to what they thought they needed to do, which was to cross the Sea with a boat or a raft, or better yet, by swimming. Flying over it was dangerous because of strong sea winds and condenced humidity, which caused thunder storms at places and would make wings too heavy to fly when they got wet.
The journey through the Sea of a Thousand Currents was mostly uneventful, but Panda got to spend time with an older friend and a new friend, so he didn't complain. When they got to the edge of the Tangled Wood, Ahti stopped and said
"This is where I must leave you."
Panda turned to him and nodded.
"Thank you Ahti. It was nice to see you again."
Ahti bowed deeply to Panda and smiled. His smile faded away as he said
"There's one more thing, my friend. I am deeply sorry for Aegyn. I know he meant a lot to you." he bowed again, this time in respect for Aegyn. Pandas smile escaped him. He looked down, regained his smile and nodded to Ahti.
"Thank you."
"He would be proud of what you'll be." Ahti continued. "We will see again, my friend. Take care."
With that he bowed one last time and turned away. Panda and Fujin turned towards the Tangeled Wood, and a slight chill crept up their spines. They took their first steps carefully, but contued with a resolute pace towards the forest.
The forest wasn't actually dark, but no light came through the trees. It was one big shadow. The air was moist and chilly, and everything was suspicious. Sometimes it seemed like the shadows were moving.
"Should we go more west so we can see the Scarred Wastelad? That way we would know we're going the right way." Panda said.
"Smart. Unfortunately we're still not in a truce with the plague dragons so we can't get too close. It would put us in danger of getting ambushed by them on our way to discuss the terms of the truce." Fujin answered. They were somewhere neither of them knew, and the place was confusing. Sometimes it felt like things were changing in front of their eyes, but that could have just been a trick of the shadows. Suddenly there was a rustle nearby in a bush.
Just as they heard the rustling, a dark shape jumped at them from the bush. Panda parried the attacker with a swift wave of his hand, and the attacker continued his flying path to the bushes behind, landing out of sight. Panda wanted to tell Fujin to stay close to him, but as Fujin was always so erratic Panda saw it better to say
"Don't stop moving Fujin! Stay out of reach!"
Fujin gave him a quick nod and darted off. Panda was left to fend for himself. A deep, gravely voice echoed from the bushes where their attacker landed.
"You have stepped upon the land of the Shadowbloods. State your business!"
Panda tried to pinpoint a source for the voice.
"We're just passing through! We're headed for Dragonhome. We don't mean to cause any trouble!"
The voice seemed a little softer this time.
"You are still trespassing. What have you seen?"
The question struck Panda as a bit weird, but he answered nonetheless.
"Nothing! Just trees and mushrooms. We just want to get out of this forest. Can you point us to the right direction?" It was quiet for a few seconds before the voice answered
"Ofcourse!"
The bushes were rustling, and out of the bush stepped a dark coloured nocturne. He blended in the shadows as if a part of them. He walked to Panda, looked to him up and down, and adjusted his posture to match Pandas.
"I can lead you out. I was quite bored anyway."
Panda relaxed a bit. The dragon was a bit weird, but if he could lead them out of the forest he was willing to put up with more weird dragons in his company. Panda nodded as a thanks. The dragon nodded back. Panda looked at him suspiciously.
"I'm Panda. My companion was Fujin. He'll be back when he feels it's safe."
The dragon seemed matchingly suspicios of Panda and introduced himself.
"I'm Loki. I'll help you get out of this forest. We'll be out before you know it."
His voice seemed to change everytime he spoke. Now he sounded exactly like Panda.
"Thank you." Panda said cautiously "Which way?"
Loki started walking to a direction and Panda followed.
Panda was wondering how anyone could know where they were going in the forest, since everywhere looked the same. Suddenly Fujin was whispering to Pandas ear and starteled him.
"So is he okay?" Fujin whispered.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Panda snarled. He regained his calmness.
"I don't know. He said he was going to lead us out of the forest, but I don't quite trust him." Loki didn't seem to notice Fujin was back, so Panda continued
"Stay close, but don't reveal yourself. If something goes wrong, get as far as you can."
Fujin nodded and disappeared to the wind.
Loki seemed weird to Panda. He only spoke when spoken to, and his actions and words never felt like his own. It was like he was mocking Panda. He didn't let it bother too much, since he had heard that nocturnes can be that way. They got to an opening in the forest. There were brables everywhere, and in middle of them there was a doorlike opening.
"Through there." Loki said and pointed towards the opening.
"I must get back to my post. Goodbye." He said and disappeared in the shadows. Panda was suspicious, but this was their only information for getting out of the forest. He went in from the opening, and started walking down a corridor made of brambles. They were poking him and giving him cuts, but he didn't let it bother too much. He walked for a while, following the turns along the way, but then it felt like something was off. He was turning too much to the right. He continued for a while more, until he encountered a deadend. He turned back and started following the same corridor back. Now it was starting to feel really weird. He was going the way he came from, but he was still turning right. He tried to find wholes or other corridors, but it seemed that everytime he saw an opening it grew shut before he could get to it. Something was keeping him in the brambles knowingly. Panda tried to pick up his pace, but still couldn't manage to catchup to the openings. Suddenly he heard a voice above him. It was Fujin.
"The brambles seem to be shifting! The path is constantly changing!"
There was no way Panda could find a way out just by randomly trying to find his way. This was no oridinary labyrinth.
"Fujin! Can you see a way out?"
"I can but it's constantly changing!"
"We can't do much about it! Can you guide me out of here?"
"If you can keep up!"
"I'll do my best!"
Fujin started giving Panda directions, changing them as the path changed.
"A short while forward and then left! Now right! NO! Back up a little and then right! Now straight!"
After two hours of running, turning, backing and repeating, Panda was finally out. He was bleeding slightly from several places and tired, but at least he got through. Or at least that's what he thought. Looking around he saw the same trees and stones he saw when they came to the brambles. He was back at the begining.
"Fujin! I thought you were guiding me through!"
"I'm sorry but that was the only exit!" Fujin defended himself. Suddenly he disappeared again. Loki appeared from the shadows of the trees.
"I just came back to tell you that the brambles are evershifting, so maybe this isn't the best way out."
Panda stood up and snarled at Loki
"You did that on purpose!"
"I did not!" Loki snarled back. He shook his head and calmed down. "It just slipped my mind." he said with a slight smile. "There is another way though. No brambles there, I swear." Loki started to walk to the forest again. Panda looked around if he could see Fujin. He was nearby, trying to stay out of Lokis sights. Panda followed Loki to the forest.
"I'm terribly sorry for that." Loki said.
"Don't worry about it." Panda said. He wanted to believe it was an honest accident. "I've been through war, so that wasn't so bad."
Loki seemed to shiver.
"War? Well that's not good."
After a while they came to another opening. They were walking through the middle of the opening, when Loki suddenly disappeared with a laugh.
"Let's see what a bishop can do against a dozen pawns!" The words echoed through the air, when suddenly Panda heard a sound like a stampede. Twenty centaurs ran at him from the woods with their weapons in their hands. Panda didn't have much time to react, but he managed to put up a protective barrier for himself before the first attacks hit him. As the barrier broke from the overwhelming amount of attacks, Panda took a chance to swipe with his tail, knocking few of the attackers to the ground. A spear hit him in the shoulder, and he retaliated with his claws, sratching fatal wounds on couple of the centaurs. He had little time when two more were on him, and he threw them as far towards the woods as he could. Even when the centaurs were a lot smaller than him, their numbers made it hard to deal with. The battle took its toll on Panda and he was heavily wounded, but he managed to beat the centaurs by the length of his fur. He took this chance to heal his wounds as best as he could.
"Wow! I must hand it to you, I do believe you've been in a war now. Doesn't matter though, you're not fit to defend yourself now. All I need to do is finnish thi.." Lokis sentence was cut short and suddenly he flew out of the bushes, Fujin holding him from the neck with his claws and smashing him to the ground. Panda stood up just as Loki kicked Fujin off of himself. While Loki was getting up, Panda had just enough time to jump at him and grab him by the arms and push him to the ground. He headbutted Loki in the face and shouted at his face
"No more games!"
Loki looked terrified. He was defeated just as he thought he had won. His voice was different now. It was raspy and gravely.
"Yeah I guess so..." He lowered his look in to the ground with a defeated face.
"I'm sorry. I was just trying to follow orders and have some fun while doing it."
Panda felt his disappointment. He calmed down a bit, but held Loki tightly in his grip.
"What orders?"
Loki seemed like he didn't want to answer. Panda decided to let the issue slide.
"Look. We just need to get out of this forest and to Dragonhome. We have something important to do that effects many others too."
Loki looked Panda into his gentle eyes. He felt somewhat eased. He relaxed.
"I'm sorry. Please, let me go. I won't cause trouble anymore." Loki pleaded. Panda realized his eyes were different. They seemed earnest and honest. He let go of Lokis arms and they both got up.
"I understand if you have orders, but why couldn't you just let us go in the first place?"
"It's complicated. I don't really understand the reasoning behind my orders. To be honest, I'm not sure they even came from my leader." Loki said staring down.
"Then why don't you confirm them from your leader?" Panda continued the conversation "I'm sure you could get clarification. If you don't feel like their the best course of action, why don't you think for yourself?" Pandas words hit something inside Loki. All his life he was expected to do as he was told, and all he ever did was do what others do in fear of discrimination. This was the first time ever someone wanted him to think to himself.
"You're right. I might just ask him. I will leave you now." Loki turned away to leave. This whole encounter was confusing to Panda, and he wasn't sure why, but he felt the need to help Loki in some way.
"Do you need me to accompany you when you go confront your leader?" Panda asked carefully.
"Somehow I feel like that would help" Loki answered "but I'm afraid that's not possible. I cannot show you where our clan resides. You have made me think though. Thank you." and with that Loki disappeared to the shadows. Fujin came beside Panda and asked
"Is it fine to let him go? He tried to kill us."
Panda looked to where Loki disappeared. "I think it's fine. There was certain honor in his eyes. The problem we still have is that we still don't know where we need to go."
"About that." Lokis voice echoed in the shadows. "When the moon rises, look for the glowing mushrooms. They will lead you to the edge of the forest, from where you will see the remains of the Pillar of the World. Then you are already close." After that Loki was gone. Panda felt like this time they could trust him. They made a camp for the time being, and Panda had time to rest up and heal his wounds. When the moon was rising, dimly glowing mushrooms started dotting the woods. Sure enough, following them Panda and Fujin found their way out of the woods and saw the Pillar of the World. They had finally arrived to the edge of the Dragonhome.
As they took their first steps on the lands of Dragonhome, they felt the air was dry and hot. They headed straight towards the pillar, and beside some longneck attacks they had no trouble on the way. Below the pillar they were greeted by an absolutely massive guardian dragon standing proudly in the shadow of the pillar. His hands and wings were frozen, and he was wearing a bright armor. As Fujin and Panda approached him, he bowed to them with a bended knee, before rising up above them and starting to speak.
"Greetings. You must be the ambassador from the Windswept Plateau. I am Titan, firstborn of the leader of the Septarian Shield clan and the bodyguard of the arbitrator in this meeting. We will both also act as witnesses in this case."
His voice was deep, but Panda could clearly detect that he wasn't a full grown dragon yet. Panda and Fujin both bowed back to Titan and greeted him properly.
"Tell me, Titan. How does one so young get picked as a bodyguard in a matter such as this one?" Panda asked.
"Certainly. This job was assigned to me by our leader, my mother, Atira. She wishes for me to learn the responsibilies and judgement it takes to one day continue leading our clan in her stead." Titan explained.
"Your mother seems to have a lot of faith in you. Assigning you to this mission shows you already have at least some of what it takes." Panda said with an encouraging smile. Titan smiled slighty and said
"You honour me with your words. I do trust in my mothers judgement, so it must be so then."
Panda nodded.
"Where is this arbitrator though? I would think they would be beside their bodyguard." Panda wondered. Almost immediately after saying this, Panda was startled by a rumbling coming from a nearby rock.
"I am here." said a soft voice very slowly. Panda watched as the rock slowly turned to face them, and noticed it was actually a female snapper. It blended perfectly to the dry ground, save for the black rocks dotting its skin. With a closer inspection the black rocks were pure obsidian. Noticing Pandas stare, the snapper said slowly.
"This is what happens when you take your time walking through a desert. They have quite grown on me though." The snapper let out a toothy grin, as if waiting for a reaction for her bad joke. The grin faded, but a wide smile remained.
"I am the arbitrator, Terra from the Septarian Shield clan. Nice to meet you."
Panda bowed to her.
"I'm Panda, bodyguard of the wind ambassador, and the one circling the pillar is the ambassador, Fujin. He'll be back here after he has drawn the pillar a dozen of times. Don't worry, it won't take long."
Terra sneered.
"Yes, I remember hearing of you two. You were the war hero, were you not? And he is the map maker. Do not worry. We have all the time." Her words were long and listening to her was tedious. She was the polar opposite of Fujin. There seemed to be certain wisdom in her speech though. Now the only ones missing were the plague ambassador and their bodyguard. Titan and Terra had a camp at the bottom of the pillar, and they invited Panda and Fujin there to wait the missing duo.
They waited for two days. In this time they had gotten to know Titan and Terra better, and heard the history of the Dragonhome and dragonkind from Terra in great detail. She told them long stories troughout the days, and each story was told in such detail and accuracy that Panda and Fujin could clearly see the happenings in front of their eyes. Titan was always standing in a high posture, guarding the surroundings, but occationally he would smile and tell stories of his own about his mother and their clan. They seemed to directly serve the Earthshaker himself, or at least Atira does and everyone else serves Atira. On the dusk of the second day, they saw two figures approaching from the south. The other was a brown pearlcatcher, who seemed like he had his skin ripped from some spots, and the other was a female mirror who looked like she was completely skinned and partly rotten. Her fleshy appearance made Panda uneasy. They approached the camp, and as Titan greeted them, they waved him aside. Terras face was serious.
"Those are the ones we have been waiting for." she told. "The pearlcatcher was one of the commanders in the war. He invaded villages with his forces and left no survivors as long as they got their filling of them."
Panda looked at Terra in disgust.
"They ate dragons? How revolting."
Terra nodded in agreement and continued.
"The fleshy one is known as Kalma. She is the daughter of their clans leader, who was killed in the war. As she is not the firstborn her brother was the one to inherit the leading role in the clan. The nature of plague dragons is a horrid one though, and as he was challenged by another and killed in combat, his position was transitioned to the challenger. As their clan already is not a normal plague clan, seeing that they house others than mirrors too, Kalma was not satisfied. There has been rumors that she is considering leaving the clan and starting her own pack, destroying the clan as their goal."
Kalma was walking straight towards them, but stopped at a safe distance.
"Hello." she said with a voice that reminded Panda of the guardian he slit the throat of in the war. It was a mixture of gurgling and hissing. Fujin had appeared to the meeting from wherever he was. After a formal introduction of everyone, a run down of rules and an explanation of what the goal of this meeting was, they started to discuss the truce.
Fujin, Terra and Kalma had set up a makeshift table where they sat, discussing the terms and demands. Panda, Titan and the pearlcatcher were standing ready in case things got out of hand. Titan was squeesing his swords handle and the pearlcatcher was resting a hammer on his shoulder. At this point Panda realized he had no weapon. The pearlcatcher looked at him with an evil grin, tightening his grip of the hammer. Fujin had drawn out a map of the border between the Windswept Pateau and the Scarred Wasteland, and was pointing out parts of it.
"The Windsinger has agreed to forfeit these areas to the Plaguebringer in exchange of these three areas right here. This would allow for more hunting grounds for you and the once lost bamboo forests of the northern part would get a chance to grow back." Fujin was explaining, as Kalma jumped up from her seat and shouted.
"Outrageous! We've been hunting there before your stupid bamboos were even a thing!" She jumped at Fujin. At the same time the pearlcatcher had lunged at Titan, who had blocked his hammer with his sword. Panda managed to block Kalma with a barrier before she reached Fujin. The situation seemed to stop in it's track as Panda shouted
"STOP!"
Everyone was staring at the usually calm tundra. Terra didn't seem to move from where she was. Kalma nodded to the pearlcatcher, who returned to his position as Kalma returned to her seat.
"My apologies." she hissed from under her breath. "How impulsive of me." Panda was surprised to notice that Kalma seemed embarrassed of her behaviour. Terra tried to get everyone back on the task at hand.
"Please, everyone. We are here to discuss the truce between the two flights."
Kalma looked to her with a grimace, but calmed down right after.
"So... These areas? There is nothing to hunt in these two areas, you can have them. But this one is also empty, we require something else in its stead." she exclaimed to Fujin. Panda looked at the map.
"May I interrupt for a second? I'm sorry if I'm stepping over my boundaries here, but this area right here is teeming with animal life. The area isn't large, but wildlife there is lush considering. It's right at the border too." he was circling and area on the map with his claw. Kalma didn't seem to happy that a bodyguard was meddling with their negotiations, but apparently he was right, since Kalmas grimace faded away. Terra nodded Panda to leave the table, and Panda quickly went back to his position. Fujin and Kalma inspected the map and exchanged some thoughts of Pandas suggestion. After a while Fujin turned his head to Panda and nodded with a smile. Panda smiled back and nodded. It was clear that his idea had sparked an agreement of some sort.
The negotiations continued to the morning, but at the end of it a truce was signed. As per one of the conditions, and on Kalmas agreement, Panda and Fujin were to be escorted back to the Windswept Plateau through the Scarred Wasteland by Kalma. They said their goodbyes to Titan and Terra as they left for their return. The Scarred Wasteland was a harsh place. Everywhere was rot and death, and the stench was in accordance to that. Hostilities were everywhere and Panda started to understand why the plague dragons were waging war against them in the first place.
"How can you live here?" Panda asked Kalma.
"Plague dragons are born in a world of survival. The land beneath us rots as we walk, and everything living we find must be hunted before it dies before us. Compared to other areas, this place really tests your survival skills." Kalma didn't seem to mind the harsh environment. Her head still descended and her expression changed to sorrow. Panda didn't know she could even be so expressive, since her basic expression was "I'm going to eat you alive".
"What's wrong?" Panda asked. Kalmas answer surprised him.
"We are hunters, and we don't much care for social life, but as us mirrors usually live in packs, it easily gets lonely when there's no one you can trust."
Kalma walked for a second like this, but quickly shook her head and exclaimed to Panda.
"But don't think I care for that kind of stuff! When it comes to hunting and surviving the Scarred Wasteland, there's no one better than me!"
Panda smiled to her.
"It's okay to feel lonely sometimes. I lost my father in the war, and the following weeks were the loneliest I ever was. But having friends helps a lot!" he said and nodded towards Fujin, who was drawing a picture of a skeleton drowning in rotten flesh pile. Kalma let out a slight smile that exposed her pointy teeth.
"I guess you could be right. I ain't got much experience on that stuff though." she said and looked at Panda.
"Who knows, maybe you could teach me on that!" she winked. Panda let out a small laugh and answered her.
"I guess I could. You know, at first I thought you were just about eating everything and killing what's left, but you seem kinda nice for a plague dragon."
Kalmas expression changed first to embarrasment, then back to her normal angry.
"Bulls**t! There's nothing nice about me!" she shouted and shook her fist at Panda. Panda took a step back.
"Sorry. I didn't mean you're soft or anything. You just seem more social than what you look to the outside." Kalma put her fist down and turned to continue forward with a confused face. They walked quietly for a while until Kalma said
"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, save the praise my father gave me for my hunting prowess." Panda smiled quietly behind Kalmas back. He had seen her battle prowess personally during their trip through the Scarred Wasteland, when some other dragons tried to ambush them but Kalma singlehandedly drove them off. Some dragons seemed to know her, seeing as they cowered in fear when they walked past. They were getting closer to the pateau. Panda could already see bamboo growing in the distance.
"Thank you for escorting us." Panda said as they arrived at the border.
"It was nothing." Kalma laughed "You couldn't have made it without me! Besides, I think that's the most I've ever had a conversation with someone before." she smiled a pointy smile with her teeth. Panda smiled back. It was safe to say he had made lots of new friends on this trip.
"Propably not." he laughed "Goodbye Kalma. Maybe well see on a hunt sometime." He winked. Kalma laughed back.
"I sure hope you can hunt then! Otherwise that would be embarrassing!" She turned around to leave. "Maybe we could do something else that is fun." She wiggled her rear at Panda and winked before she left on her way. Panda blushed. Fujin was giggling beside him. Panda shook his blush away and pushed Fujin.
"Come on!" he said as they continued their way.
"I think she wishes you'd come on her." Fujin said and laughed loudly. Their return was welcomed by a wind sprite, who took Fujin back to the Cloudsong to report to the Windsinger and gave Panda a letter. Panda headed home and opened the letter.
To be continued