AN: this was written more recently, but it's still generally plotless and doesn't even have consistancy with Water's Birth.
**
It was part of a chapter of history that even the Great Ones don’t know; part of a past too soon gone and never truly understood before it was too late. That I wasn’t always like this is something even my compatriots seem to have forgotten, turning deaf ears to my plight and the pain I live in. How can I forgive myself for letting go of the greatest thing I’d ever known? I don’t know. Even living a thousand lifetimes I can never find the meanings behind the riddles that were spoken to me that day, nor will I truly comprehend the extent to which those precious moments affected me.
On the other hand, would I appreciate it if I could?
**
The world was a lovely blue and green gem in the depths of space, one of the older planets- one of the first created by the White Dragon. Life already existed on it, and had done so for ages, hardly a blink to ones such as the group of four that watched the slowly turning sphere of mostly water.
“It’s an absurd idea,” Air stated, though there was a hint of curiosity in that entity’s tone. Air wasn’t all that adventurous, as far as the other Elements had seen, but that could easily be cured by experience and knowledge.
Earth, somewhat shy, but in full favor of the plan spoke up, nudging Air gently, “Not so, the Darkon have already taken on forms of their own. So must we to keep with the contract.”
Water rippled with amusement, “And, besides, it’s rather fitting that the protectors of life live among those we protect, otherwise what would be the point of protecting them.”
For a time, Air remained silent, brooding over misgivings left unsaid. Fire spoke up, breaking the moment of lag, “The decision is final, Air, you can’t back out.”
“You voted for it too, you know,” Water reminded.
Without answering, Air darted forward, seeking escape from the jabbing comments of the others. Hurriedly, the other embodiments of the elements followed, sailing downwards towards the world that would be their first home- even though they would likely see it consumed by the sun’s eventual nova before they gave up life and returned to the White Dragon.
**
Nearly twenty-four hours of labor, but at last, Lyla had a son. She stretched a little and shifted, a smile curving her lips as she turned her head towards the incubator that sat beside her bed. He’d had a tough time of it, gotten wrapped up in his cord then inhaled some blood, but he was already showing improvement. Reaching over, she touched her fingers to the glass, “Ah, my sweet Avlon,” she murmured, then rolled onto her side, folding her arms and rested her chin on them, “That’ll be your secret name,” she murmured mischievously, “The name only I’ll call you. Everyone else will call you Avlondar, it means Wolf Rider.” The baby wheezed softly, but opened his eyes and looked towards her, hands opening and closing slowly. “I’ll take you home soon, love,” Lyla added, touching the glass again and the infant boy turned his head slightly to look towards her, his eyes a wolf-like gold in color. He blinked a few times at her, but uttered no noise of complaint for his captivity.
Lyla laid back in bed once more, lifting a hand to rub her breast, they’d swollen to twice their normal size. Certainly the director would like it, but they hurt...
**
Avlondar sat where he’d been set down in a playpen with three other children supposedly his age. They’d only briefly looked up from playing with blocks when the caretaker had placed him with them. He didn’t care, in fact, he rather liked that they weren’t interested in him. He had yet to quite master his tongue, so speech was out of the question, and coordination was far from perfect. He’d discovered how to force his limbs into a crawl, but he had nowhere of interest to go, so he simply stayed where he was. Some of the children enjoyed rolling away from the caretakers whenever they had their diapers removed, but personally, Avlondar found the whole situation a mite embarrassing and would rather do such things in private, but he didn’t have much choice in that either as he had yet to quite learn all the signals his body gave him when it needed or wanted something.
Inconvenient, that was what it was. Inconvenient and dangerous this living as a mortal! Anything could pick him up and haul him off and what could he do about it? Gum them to death? Adult bodies had teeth, but no, he didn’t. Why hadn’t he chosen an animal of some sort? Like a Gant? Gants had rather nice teeth, they were born with large molars to grind up roots and leaves and any small animal they happened to catch, as well as tusks. Avlondar wished he’d picked a pair of Gants for parents.
At least there was one thing he’d mastered.
The Frown.
His ‘Mama’, as she insisted on calling herself, kept saying he had such a fierce expression. She paid attention to him when she was around, and she was the only one Avlondar actually wanted the attention of. No one else cared it seemed. They just dropped him into a playpen with other babies and left to go drink coffee by the counter and talk about things he could hear and understand the words of but not the importance. Didn’t they all know they were going to grow old and die someday? All this getting promoted and getting a raise didn’t mean a damn thing in the end. Perhaps when he actually could talk, he’d ask his Mama about it. She might be able to explain.
For now though, Avlondar was stuck and bored. Falling back, he curled his legs up and started exploring the possibilities of movement. It would be eight hours till she came and picked him up again. Well, that was if he was lucky, sometimes it took nine hours or ten. Of course, she’d apologize for leaving him for so long and explain that the shoot had taken longer than she’d expected because so-n-so kept screwing up his lines or the techies dropped something and they had to wait till it was fixed before they could shoot. It seemed a rather accident-prone place this work she went to. She talked of making him into an actor too, she couldn’t wait to help him learn methods and pick out a script to do.
Whatever all that was. Avlondar already had a job to do. He was an Emelet. A spirit entity of Air, created for the purpose of protecting life and creation, a being of incredible power- and he was stuck on his back with a dirty diaper. Though he didn’t feel like calling attention to himself, but the thing was more than a little uncomfortable. Avlondar dropped his feet and rolled onto his stomach, pushing himself to his hands and knees and crawled towards the bars of the pen. Levering himself up the bars, he put his almost ball-like feet on the floor and pushed. “Hey!” he snapped sharply- voice trailing off in a sharp squeak.
The caretakers looked towards him as one and finally one of the group put down her cup. “That’s Avlondar Berkeski,” the woman said as she strode across the room and reached into the pen, taking him up, “You got a dirty diaper then?” she asked, but since Avlondar had gotten the attention he’d wanted and she’d already guessed what the problem was, he gave no further comment.
“Berkeski?” one of the other girls asked, “As in Lyla Berkeski?”
As she carried him to the changing table, the woman holding Avlondar replied, “Yep. He’s the strangest baby I’ve ever seen too, look at those eyes? Maybe it’s the camera light that radiated into her and mutated him? He doesn’t play, doesn’t make noise unless it’s that squawk you heard, and that’s only when he’s got a dirty diaper.”
Leaning against the table, the woman sipped her coffee and watched in curiosity, “Sounds like a low maintenance kid, to me, don’t see why you’re complaining.”
The woman shook her head as her hands busily took care of cleaning her charge, “Creepy. That’s what it is.”
Avlondar gave a huff and frown, wishing he could tell them to go to hell or something like that. No, he didn’t like them much either. It wasn’t his fault his eyes had gotten stained by his power. There’s only so much a body can hold after all, and in truth it was rather cramped in this tiny ball of flesh. At least he had the knowledge that it would grow- well, if something didn’t kill him before he was out of this rather helpless stage.
Another woman made her way over, tipping her head to the side, “Hm, sounds like my son,” she commented. Avlondar turned to look at her, using his power to reach beyond the five senses of his body... Yes, Water’s power had touched this woman. He hadn’t thought to look for his sibling Emelets anywhere near, perhaps Water had chosen somewhere nearby to keep him company? Avlondar hoped so, all the strangers around was unsettling.
Once his diaper had been changed and he was placed back into the pen, Avlondar closed his eyes and searched through the other children, finally locating Water in the pen next to the one Avlondar was in. Pushing himself to his hands and knees once more, he moved to the bars and peered between them, locating a boy with sea-like blue eyes working with one of the other children to stack blocks. Slapping the bar, Avlondar gave a hiss and click of his tongue, the best approximation he could come up with to sound like Water’s spirit name.
The boy looked up and blinked, “Myah?” he asked curiously and Avlondar slapped the bar again, frowning. The boy’s eyes brightened, and he gave a laugh and crawled over, reaching between the bars. Reaching out in return, their fingers touched lightly, and in that moment, communication happened.
I still say this was a stupid idea and whoever came up with it should have something unfortunate done to them.
Ah, Air, you’re pessimistic as always, you haven’t even tried.
Tried what?! What’s there to try? I can’t wait till I can wipe my own ass. This is an indignity!
Water burst out laughing and contact broke, but he reached out again and touched fingers with Avlondar once more, Try to socialize, take advantage of this time, our enemies aren’t in any better shape than we are. Call it an extended vacation.
Vacationing is a mortal concept Water.
Call me Seaselous. What’s your new name?
“Aww, look at that, they’re so cute!” one of the ladies exclaimed.
Avlondar.
Wolf Rider? Hm, fitting, your eyes are a bit spooky. –Geez, no need to scowl at me like that. Lighten up a little, okay? Nothing’s happening right now that needs our attention, so we can just relax and learn how to use our bodies.
Fleshbags. I wish I’d picked the body of a Gant. Those are up on their feet in ten minutes and rooting out rabbits in the next.
I’d like to see the Darkon that took a Gant seriously.
They’d be fool not to.
Once again, Water- or Seaselous as he’d been named- started giggling and lowered his hand, shaking his head. Avlondar huffed, waving his hand but Seaselous ignored it. “Basard,” Avlondar took care in pronouncing and withdrew his hand, turning his back towards Water and put it against the bars, aware that Seaselous was giggling once again.
Seaselous’s mother made her way over and leaned over the bars, looking down at her son, “You shouldn’t tease him,” she admonished lightly, then reached in and picked her son up, holding him for a moment before setting the boy into Avlondar’s prison. “There, you two play nice.”
One of the other ladies made her way over- the one who’d changed Avlondar’s diaper. “So that’s your son?” she asked, looking down at Seaselous who played to his audience and did a few cute tricks such as standing up on his own and waving his hands. “Wow, he’s adorable.”
Avlondar snorted and picked up a block and tossed it at his brother Emelet. The impact unbalanced Water and the boy fell to his rear once again, laughing cheerfully as he went, much to Air’s irritation.
**
Lyla smiled over at her son as he sat in his booster seat beside her, pausing briefly in her application of chapstick. Motherhood had done her wonders, it seemed. She’d always been a good actress, but since the baby her gawky teenage look had faded into a more mature rounded figure that all the directors wanted to use when they had a part that called for the dusky sexy woman. With wavy raven’s wing black hair, shining blue eyes, and a slight but tall build, she was now the icon of beauty seen around the world. Honestly, Lyla had done her best to keep her son out of a lot of the limelight, but the paparazzi had taken to the idea that taking pictures of her little Avlon was forbidden, thus everyone wanted to see him.
As for Avlon himself, he didn’t seem to care in the least. He was a boy of few words and even fewer smiles. She’d never heard him laugh certainly, though when asked, he would say he was happy. “So, hon,” she said down to him, “Are you excited? It’s your first time to Mama’s work, and you get to work with me!”
Seven years and he finally got the privilege to go to work with her. Avlondar was just glad he wasn’t going to school. The children there were heartless bastards that picked on him. It was some sort of social thing that he didn’t even try to understand. Pulling his mind back to the conversation, he thought about what sort of answer she would be expecting and finally gave a nod. “Do you remember your lines?” she asked.
Quickly, Avlondar rattled all seven of his lines off. That was the extent of his part in the movie. He was almost an extra. Almost. His character was that of a forest sprite that when asked can only lie. The movie wasn’t the usual type his mother went for, but she’d agreed to the part so long as Avlondar got to play the forest sprite. The car came to a stop at last and Lyla reached over and unclipped the seatbelt from herself first, then her son. The car door opened and she stepped out, and reached in to help Avlondar out then took his hand.
It was almost just before dawn, earlier than he got up to go to school, but this movie’s costuming would take longer prep time than anything Lyla had done before, so she opted to come early. She’d worked with Avlon though the scene before and hoped that his stiffness would go away once he had the costume on and was in the set.
Looking around, Avlondar frowned faintly. So, her work was a collection of large warehouse type buildings. Lyla took his hand and together they walked into the large double doors that stood open. Inside, the building still looked like a warehouse, but lights had been strung from the rafters, all aimed towards the set, which was a forest with the trees cut off at a height where the camera wouldn’t see. “Lyla!” a man called, swishing his way over excitedly, then leaned down to look at Avlon, “And this is our little forest sprite! Even better than the picture you showed us, Lyla!” The man straightened with a laugh, “My girls won’t have much to do with him. Are those contacts?”
“No,” Lyla replied, “Those are the eyes he was born with,” her hand gently petted Avlon’s hair. “Lets get into costume and give it a try, Baily.”
The man gave a nod and clapped his hands together. “Alright, little Avlon, just follow me-“
“Avlondar,” was the immediate and rather stiff correction.
Baily pulled his hand back, as if bitten, “Ah, yes... Well, follow me!” The man turned away and started off.
Lyla restrained Avlon long enough to give him a kiss on the cheek, then pushed him off. “Be good honey!”
Following the man, Avlondar passed many techies and other actors moving about purposefully. Quickly, he dodged a two man team carrying a log towards the set. On the other side, he was ushered into a small room with a crowd of people. Swiftly, his clothes were taken from him and replaced by his costume and from there it was adjusted to fit him better, from there, his shoulder length straight black hair was braided in several places with feathers and beads. The rest of his hair was left free and somewhat ratted. His clothes were of dark green and brown, a knee length vest coat with baggy pants that were tied around his calves. His feet were left bare except for extensions on his toes that gave him claws. The same was done to his fingers. Then came his makeup, which involved nearly an hour of sitting still and opening or shutting his eyes as they told him.
At last, he was freed from the stifling room and turned loose upon the stage. Another man came over then, leaning heavily on a cane as he walked. “Well, now, Avlondar. Your mother said you could do this for us.” Avlon nodded once. “Little kids are good at pretending,” he stated, “So, pretend you’re an elemental spirit that’s far older than what you appear to be.”
“Air,” Avlondar stated. “I’m Air. Created to protect life and creation, and having a mortal body was stupid.”
The man grinned, “Wonderful! Now, in this scene, Galina is lost in the woods and she’s the one who’s supposed to save the world, but a power higher than you is in a game with its opposite and the rules are that you’re supposed to lie and your enemies are supposed to tell the truth.”
Again, Avlondar nodded, “Seems reasonable,” he stated, “Balancing of pros and cons, interesting that the White One would agree to have the Emelets lie, but the Dark One would find it ironic. Certainly the Darkon would do their best to lead Galina astray though the truth.” He turned away and paced a bit, then turned back towards the director, “But as an Emelet and constrained to lie and knowing the stakes, I would try to have more of a hand in leading her out of trouble.”
This time, the director lifted his chin, looking down at Avlondar, “And what sort of thing would you do instead?”
“Reverse psychology. What is someone as curious as Galina going to do when told not to go in a certain direction?”
“There you are, oh! Hon, you look so dangerous!” Lyla called as she strode over, eyes bright and painted lips smiling. She was Galina, the protagonist of the story.
The director looked towards her with a smile, “Quite an intelligent boy you’ve got here,” he said, “He had some interesting comments on the scene. If this goes well I’ll see about changing the script a bit.”
Avlondar, folded his arms, “So, that’s permission to adlib?” he asked.
Briefly, the man’s lips quirked, “Go with the lines first time, get a good recording of that, then do it again and see what you can come up with.”
i really like this. Ah, Air,
thats my favorite part lolol