This came out unexpectedly pretty... ^_^ -- The Middle of Nowhere

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Date Posted: 15:38:01 01/18/03 Sat
Author: Tuatha
Subject: This came out unexpectedly pretty... ^_^

"Who are you?"

The question was uttered in surprise, slipping from a blue-furred muzzle to land squarely on mocha-hued ears. Rainer stared in startlement at the stranger that had suddenly appeared, backing up half a pace and sniffing warily. The blue Tuatha, now a young adult, wasn't often caught off-guard, especially by someone of such an unusual scent and appearance. Golden eyes narrowed as the other didn't seem about to answer, and three tailblades sparkled, newly polished, in the sun as an unspoken threat. Song-Singer she may be, but pacifist she was not. "Who are you?" Rainer repeated, lip twitching upwards in the beginning of a snarl.

A tall, lithe female looked up from her observations of a flower, grinning unafraid. Her single blade was tucked under her supple form, tightly-curled mocha fur spattered with toffee rosettes; she was obviously not a forest Tuatha, not with such rocky coloration. More likely t'was that she came from the mountains, far away. "My name is..." she paused, tilting her long muzzle before grinning again, "for you to guess. I'll tell you when you finally understand, Song-Singer, but I won't need to -- you'll already know." Orange eyes twinkled with amusement at Rainer's startled reaction, and the strange Tuatha resumed her examinations of a blooming yellow flower.

"Stranger," Rainer muttered, half-serious, "or is it Watcher? Your attitude is perplexing, whomever you are." The other female stayed silent in her ruminations, and the blue-furred snorted and settled to her haunches. "Observer. Examiner. Wanderer? Traveler?" ... "Am I even getting close?!"

The brown Tuatha chuckled prettily at Rainer's exasperation. "Not quite. Look beyond the surface, Song-Singer. You, of all Tuatha, ought to see my true nature." The dappled Tuatha met Rainer's gaze evenly, and for a long moment they gazed into each other's eyes in silence. Rainer breathed evenly, trying to search the other's soul, trying to identifying a subtly unnerving aura with a name. None came to her, and she finally broke eye-contact, instead looking at the flower. The brown female took the opportunity presented to softly ask, "What do you see, Song-Singer?"

Rainer laughed, but her answer was swift and thoughtful. "A Song waiting to be Sung, of gestation, growth, climax, and upcoming waning and consequential death, only to fertilize and ease new lives into being." The brown-furred nodded wisely, then scooped a pawful of the rich dark soil into her forepaw, and held it out to Rainer. "Now what do you see?"

The Song-Singer well knew the riddles that strangers exchanged, for she had traveled with Striker far and wide since meeting the mysterious male. "Life," she answered, imbuing her tone with false intensity, as such a reply deserved. An mocha-furred eyebrow arched and the strange Tuatha shook her muzzle, "Wrong. Try again." Rainer blinked. In all her travels, the soil-answer had always been Life... though once it had been... "Home."

"No." The brown-furred smiled quietly, "Thinking has no place in such riddles, nor do past experience. Feel it." Rainer mentally grumbled about such luxuries as banter, but gazed at the soil and tried to get a feeling for what she saw. It was dirt, really. Rich and fertile and moist, but still just dirt. Lately, the young adult had become disillusioned with the perfect world that her clan had lived in, and that she left for new experiences. "It's dirt," she finally said, figuring she'd receive another flat denial.

Then, something happened to the plain, simple dirt held in a long-toed Tuathan paw. It twisted, and writhed, and slowly molded into the shape of a single flame. To Rainer's further surprise, it radiated heat when she let her own forepaw near it. The brown-furred Tuatha spoke quietly, almost in a whisper, but the words flowed naturally and smoothly. "I am of Earth, but my powers are not limited to my element. They flow through it like music through the air, and I accomplish what is said to be impossible. Through the strength of Earth, I can wield the other elements as I need, and through the heart of Earth, the beauty of Vytha is never hidden from my eyes."

Rainer slowly backed away from the burning flame, and stared in startlement at the stranger. The dappled female smiled and in the same soft, gentle voice inquired, "Who am I?" The Song-Singer looked once more to the earth-fire, then to the mountains-dweller, and answered truthfully:

"You are Shaper."

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