Creative Corner

[u]Day 29[/u] Good news! Today I was passing through the dark forest and found a small herd of Longneck. They were packing up all of their belongings into an honest-to-goodness boat, which they apparently ride around on the river. (Well, they call it a boat—I’ve never seen such a thing before, and I didn’t know you could actually make something that can carry a whole herd and still float on the water. How useful these would be back home to navigate the canyon streams! Note to self, ask them how to make one.) I asked the Mender and she said that the dragons near here had been edging closer and closer to their grazing lands over the past year and they’re going to try to find somewhere else to live. They said that south of here is a huge sea with all sorts of foreign lands bordering it, and once I told them what I was trying to do they said I could ride along with them! It feels so good to be among familiar faces—well, more familiar than Harpy or Serthis or Dunhoof. They said it’ll be at least a week or two before they find somewhere new to settle, so I’m going to write down names so I can remember them. Merino is the leader; Pellie is the Mender with her apprentice Katah; Valas is the journeyman Magi who only recently joined; Sarda and Endal are in charge of the boat, with Amac and Enmoor. There are a few dozen others that I haven’t been introduced to yet as well. (I think someone mentioned that two of the six kids are Vicu and Adal?) [img]http://i.imgur.com/QDY0DW3.png[/img] I have been on this boat for three hours now and I swear I could have walked this far in half an hour. An hour, tops. Amac laughed when I said that and went back to mending her fishing net. Apparently they’ve taken to eating fish in addition to the usual grass and other plants. I think it’s kind of gross but I saw how little grass there was in the dark forest, so it makes sense. [img]http://i.imgur.com/vHgpC6i.png[/img] I hope my herd isn’t worried. I didn’t mean to be gone for this long… @qwertypi303 @Dracknorin

@Mags I'd like to be notified when you write more c:

@sonne You're on the pinglist! Thank you! :D

[u]Day 34[/u] [img]http://i.imgur.com/dnBvvwY.png[/img] I woke up to birdsong, in what was presumably the morning. (How do the birds know? It feels like I’ve slept a normal amount, but I don’t really know under the permanent dark skies. For that matter, I don’t know if I’m keeping track of the days accurately…) Endal usually keeps the boat on track overnight, so Sarda took over from him and steered the boat down the middle of the river. Amac, Enmoor, and most of the other people who didn’t have anything better to do (better being Mender or Magi training and watching the kids, mostly) fished and worked on making or repairing nets. I’ve found that I am good at neither fishing nor net-making so I just tried to keep the kids entertained and out from underhoof. Later I got out of the boat (which usually requires some swimming, although thankfully the river is shallow for the most part) and grazed for a few hours, moving as necessary to keep up with the boat. For the first few days I got out and walked beside the boat during the day, but it’s a fair bit easier to just go out to eat and sit in the boat otherwise, even if the boat moves painfully slowly at times. Oh, and I got to talk to Katah, the Mender’s apprentice. He’s nearly fully grown, with short fur about the color of the stone back home. “Mom said you’re from a long way away,” he said. “What’s it like where you’re from?” “Open,” I said, flipping my journal to the picture I drew before I left. (I will admit I have looked it at from time to time and wished I was back home.) “You can see the sky all the way around you for miles and miles. Less water, no trees, not as many plants. Nobody but Longnecks live there—well, and dragons. They’ve gotten closer and closer in recent years.” Katah shuddered. “Here there are enough Dunhoof that they don’t just run rampant, but it feels close enough sometimes. That’s why we left, you know—too many dragons.” “Too many dragons,” I agreed. That was the problem, wasn’t it? “Is your herd from around here? I hadn’t heard of any Longnecks in the dark forest before.” “We left when I was really little, so I don’t really remember, but I think we used to live on the shore of the Great Sea, in the desert, but there were too many dragons and the new Harpy wingleader was really aggressive. There just wasn’t enough space anymore, so we set sail.” “And now you have to leave again,” I said. “Yeah. But we have the boat still, so in a way we aren’t moving at all—just changing our surroundings,” Katah said with a smile. I didn’t share his optimism. I don’t know where else my herd could relocate if it came down to it—maybe if we start fishing like this herd, we could move down by the canyon streams or into the mountains, but it would be hard no matter what. Longnecks are made for open plains and sky. Later in the day (such as they are) we came upon a faster-moving stretch of the river and Sarda handed out long wooden poles. We used them to push against rocks and fallen trees to keep the boat from hitting any of them—it took the entire herd working together at times. “We’re getting close to the Great Sea,” Merino said once we’d passed the rapids. She lifted her head at the front of the boat and took a deep breath. “Can’t you smell it?” I did the same. I can’t put a name to what I smelled, but it did smell different—sort of less thick and muggy. I didn’t notice it when I entered, but maybe the darkness itself has a smell? The river started to split off into smaller rivers at that point, and Sarda and Endal headed to the front to figure out which fork to take. I left them to it and headed back towards the back of the boat where Amac was cooking fish. She offered me some and I tried it, albeit reluctantly. It was strange on all counts—warm, wet, and squishy—and yet somehow compelling. I ended up eating an entire fish before I’d really made up my mind to continue. I’m writing all this by the light from a mushroom I pulled up earlier, by the way, and it’s about to go out, so I think that’s all for today. @sonne @dracknorin @qwertypi303

@Mags pinglist me???

@tiirran You got it!

[b]Day 38[/b] We crossed into the Great Sea proper this morning. I almost can’t believe it’s been two full weeks since I’ve seen sunlight, although the amount of squinting I (and the rest of the herd) had to do gives it weight. Aside from that, everything’s been quiet, but Merino and Sarda seem a little on edge, and I’m not the only one who’s picked up on it. [img]http://i.imgur.com/LQWPffl.png[/img] There’s been a development. We were heading out further away from the shore when a hand reached up over the edge of the boat and then a figure with long, dripping hair and scales covering her chest hauled herself up over the edge of the boat. A Maren! [img]http://i.imgur.com/HtKsd7J.png[/img] Sarda scrambled in the cabin for thick paper and an oilpen and handed it to Merino. The Maren nodded and slipped back off the side of the boat, and Merino scribbled something before handing her the paper and pen. The Longnecks crowded around while they wrote back and forth, to the extent that the boat actually leaned down to that direction and Sarda had to shoo them off. Nobody really talked, since Merino was tied up and all the communication was on the paper. Here’s what they wrote: [b]Hail, Maren. Merino’s herd asks passage through your territory to go to the reed-cliffs.[/b] [i]No time for that. We’re what’s left of Aya Ellarin, destroyed two days hence by dragons. We number thirty-seven able-bodied and nineteen wounded. Have you any menders to help us? Can we stay with your ship?[/i] [b]We have a Mender, and of course you can stay with us. Is there anything else you need?[/b] [i]If you could drop ropes or nets into the water so we don’t have to swim along, that would be a great help.[/i] [b]How do you want to do the Mending? I could ask her to climb in the water, or your wounded could come up into the boat?[/b] [i]We can’t breathe above water so if she can swim we can stabilize her underwater.[/i] [b]All right.[/b] (Of course, I didn’t know what they were talking about when they did, I just saw Merino scribbling furiously and looking grimmer and grimmer.) Merino handed the paper and pen off to Enmoor and said, “Ask them about the news, we need to know what’s happened. Pellie, Katah, they’ve got injured Maren, and they asked to have the Mending in the water. Everyone else, Aya Ellarin was destroyed two days ago by dragons, and these sixty-odd Maren are the only survivors.” After that even Merino couldn’t be heard over the uproar. I tugged on Amac’s arm and asked, “What’s Aya Ellarin?” “It’s one of the big Maren cities—it’s stood for hundreds of years.” Her voice was a little tight and choked up. “I thought dragons could never take it down.” Katah helped Pellie over the edge of the boat and into the waiting arms of one of the Maren and then handed her her staff. A glow came from the water soon after as Pellie did the Mending. Enmoor popped up from hanging over the side of the boat, holding the paper high. “Aya Villea was attacked but they managed to drive the dragons away. Aya Uleyl was partially destroyed and they evacuated to Aya Simma. They said some Maren are fleeing to the ocean!” “When did all of this happen?” Merino asked. Enmoor scribbled back and forth with a Maren and then answered, “Aya Uleyl was a few months ago, Aya Villea was two years ago, and the ocean thing has been going on for about a year now.” “Damn,” Merino said to Sarda. “If Aya Uleyl is abandoned and they’re strong enough to attack Aya Villea things are worse than I imagined. We might have to go further south than we planned.” Sarda grabbed the paper and pen from Enmoor and had a very serious-sounding discussion with Merino and the Maren. I looked down at the school of Maren now surrounding the boat. “I thought Maren sung,” I said to Amac, looking down at the Maren who were doing something weird with their hands. “They used to sing, yeah. I’ve never heard them but my dad did—he said it was beautiful. The dragons can hear ‘em from far away, though, so they use sign language now.” @qwertypi303 @Dracknorin @Sonne @Tiirran

The confict between Dragons and Beastclans is unpleasant D:

@Mags

It isn't often we get to see this side of the story. This is a heart-wrenching tale, but I'm loving your writing style and the way you tell the story.

I'd feel worse if my dragons weren't all irrevocably evil.

@Tiirran It really is, isn't it? I'm having a lot of fun flipping the perspective here.

@dracknorin Oh good, I'm glad you like it! I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to integrate this fic into my own lair lore, if at all. A lair full of irrevocably evil dragons is certainly interesting!