[Official NPC]

// Piper's Boutique • Dafont • Aethereality • Resunik \\


" Mommy...MOMMY! Wheres my mommy! Mo-oo-mm-yyy..."

The piercing high pitched voice split the normally tranquil air of the underground like a knife echoing from building to building and shattering the calm air of a noonday shopping trip. The source of the noise was a small Anyeli girl, she had to be very young, even for a human she would be young, little if any over 4 feet tall with soft grey wings that didnt even measure a foot. Her long auburn hair whipped with her head as she looked from side to side with soft brown eyes, she looked like she had never been to the underground before let alone by herself. She looked around as she walked, frantically searching for someone and seemingly not finding the person getting more and more frantic with each second.

Walking over the ground of the underground the little Anyeli girl stumbled and fell, flapping her grey wings uselessly to try and keep herself upright but failing as her age made her wings useless. The girl fell to the ground and started bawling uncontrolably. Pushing herself upright she squeezed her wings close to her body and crossed her arms over her legs crying and screaming at the top of her lungs rocking back and forth on the hard ground. Her knee was skinned from the fall but she didnt seem to care about that, she seemed to have lost the will to search for whomever she was searching for. Between unintelligable sobs the same word could be heard over and over.

" Mommmmmyyyyy....MOMMY!"

This little girl was making quite a scene and had suprisingly good lungs on her. She was bawling at the tops of her lungs tears running down her cheeks as she rocked back and forth sitting in the middle of the underground seemingly not caring what happened.

[Leeta]

// Piper's Boutique · Dafont · Rainbow Harbour · Anime Rain · Andrea Corr \\

---

Wandering around the underground had been very pleasant, but that was before Leeta had heard the distinct noise of a child bawling their eyes out. Frowning, the demon looked down the street, and she didn't have to search far to find the source of the noise. A little girl was sitting in the middle of the road, howling for her mother ad making quite the scene.

Leeta wasn't really very good at anything, but growing up in a rough neighborhood had taught her by default how to make crying people stop to amend the peace. Gently, and kindly of course, but in a firm, practical way. There was no point being wishy washy, or having sympathy coming out of your ears. And that's a problem that's not going to go away if you ignore it, Leeta decided, and therefore decided to try and fix the situation quickly.

"Hey, you!" she called out, marching over to the small mass of little girl in the middle of the street. Realising that might have been a little too harsh, she crouched down on the ground by the girl and arranged her face into a concerned expression. "Get up now. We're going to find your mom."

[Loranth]

¤ Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Sparkling Tea ¤ Aethereality ¤
Mmm, coffee would be wonderful right about now. Loranth was missing her daily dose of caffiene, and changed her path to reflect her brilliant idea. She backtracked her recent path through the underground until she came to a point where she thought if she turned left instead of the right turn she originally had made, she should be on her way to the cafe she had passed yesterday.

Lora pulled out her map of Elysia and extended the insert that pictured the underground. Surprisingly she was right. Taking the left turn, she continued on her way to get that coffee she so longingly wanted. She hadn't yet tried the cafe's goods, but she hoped that the coffee there was comparable to that back home in Paris. She wasn't holding her breath over it, because it probably wouldn't be the same. She wouldn't complain though.

She came to another corner and heard the odd noise of what sounded like a small child screaming. Pausing for a second, she listened again just to make sure her ears weren't lying, and then quickly rounded the corner and looked towards the source of the sound.

What appeared to be a little Anyeli girl was crouched down, sobbing and screeming, alone and very afraid. Lora hurried towards the little fragile child, even though she was still a ways off. She couldn't quite make out what the girl was crying over, but through the sobs she thought she heard her cry out for her mother. A pang of sympathy ran through Lora and she started running towards the girl.

Before Lora could get to her, a young woman yelled out to the girl, "Hey, you!" Lora stopped a short distance away to catch her breath, panting from running. The woman must've been a demon, because a faint smell wafted towards Lora. Wrinkling her nose slightly, Lora tried to ignore the odor and walked over to where the demon was now crouched down next to the little girl.

Lora kneeled down to the girl's level and tried to ease her by reassuring her, "Don't worry, little one. We're going to help you find your mother, but first we need you to calm down so we can understand you better, darling."

[Official NPC]

// Piper's Boutique • Dafont • Aethereality • Resunik \\


Haela was terrified, she had never been away from her home before...never been away from the hills before. She had been to the big tower mommy went to and seen all the rest of the Anyeli, espcially the Skotadi, the same as her mother...but that was the farthest away she had ever gone. She had come here with her mommy to shop...her mommy said the Underground was a nice place...she got distracted by a display in one of the stores and when she turned around her mommy was gone and she was alone.

She cried as she rocked back and forth, she wanted her mother back. As Haela sat in the street she heard a voice that didnt sound nice at all yell at her, calling her hey you... it scared her so much. Mommy never yelled at her, neither did Daddy, she didnt like it, the woman was scaring her so much she couldnt help but cry even louder. She wanted to get up and run but she couldnt, she didnt want to get hurt by a bigger person. She heard the person walk closer to her and a disgusting smell washed over her little nose causing it to wrinkle and her to bawl even louder. The woman spoke a bit kinder to her as she kneeled beside Haela but the smell was disgusting and she was still being mean. Another woman sat down beside her, this one was nice and sounded very pretty...she sounded like mommy a bit more. Haela uncrossed her arms and opened her big brown eyes to look at the two and screamed even louder.

She tried to get up but fell backwards, pulling herself up she crawled away crossing her tiny wings as much as they could to try and protect her. The women were scary, the one that smelled had evil looking wings and little horns...the nice one had slitted eyes....scary eyes with a very dull color. Haela had never seen creatures like this before, the most strange creatures she had seen were Humans and they were already pretty ugly, these ones scared her.

" AHHHHH! Leave me alooonnenneeee....dont hurt me dont hurt me dont hurt meee.....I didnt do anything I just want my mommmmmmyyyyyyyy!"

[Loranth]

¤ Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Sparkling Tea ¤ Aethereality ¤


At the sound of Lora's voice, the little girl opened her eyes and looked at Lora and the demon woman for a second. Her eyes were big and brown and to Lora they looked confused. A split second later, the little Anyeli girl released a scream that was on a whole new level of loudness.

Wincing at the sound, Lora watched as the little one attempted to get on her feet, but fell backwards. Lora reached out for her, but decided against it, as the little girl seemed more frightened now, because of Lora and the other, than she was before. She watched the girl start crawling away from herself and the demon with her little Anyeli wings crossed.

At this point, Lora was dismayed at the girl's reaction. She'd never met any real Anyeli, and didn't know what their normal reaction to dragons was, but if this was a good example, life here could be hard. Sighing, she stood and looked from the little girl to the demon and back again. Then the girl screamed again, "" AHHHHH! Leave me alooonnenneeee....dont hurt me dont hurt me dont hurt meee.....I didnt do anything I just want my mommmmmmyyyyyyyy!""

Talking more to herself outloud than to the demon, Lora muttered, "This is proving to be difficult, now isn't it? I wonder what happened to her mother." She watched the girl crawl further and decided to try one more time to reassure the little one. Rummaging into her bag, Lora searched for a tissue to offer the little one, but was unable to find one. Instead, she pulled out one of her favorite hair scarves, a very soft colorful one, and walked over to the girl once more.

"We're not here to hurt you, child. Please understand that we only want to help you find your Mommy," Lora said in a soft voice. She held the scarf out for the little girl to see. "Here you go, wipe your eyes on this. Your nose is probably running too, and that never feels very nice, does it? Try to calm down a bit, little one. Then you can tell us what happened to make you so upset, ok?"

[Leeta]

// Piper's Boutique · Dafont · Rainbow Harbour · Anime Rain · Andrea Corr \\

---

Leeta was crouching on the ground beside the little girl when somebody else came running over to investigate the commotion. Looking up quickly, the demon saw that it was a girl about her age (or, looked young anyway), with dark brown locks and a natural bohemian style about her. She knelt down on the ground beside the little angel girl as well, and at a closer range Leeta could see her slitted eyes - she was a dragon. There seem to be a lot of them around, Leeta thought, before realising this was only the second she had actually seen. Well, it still seemed like a lot anyway.

"Don't worry, little one. We're going to help you find your mother, but first we need you to calm down so we can understand you better, darling." the dragon said, a lot more gently than Leeta's shouting. Perhaps she thought I was bullying her or something, the demon thought, slightly put out at her intentions being misunderstood. Her thoughts were interrupted by renewed screaming by the little girl, making her wince as the angel screamed into her ear. Normally shouting at small children enough scared or shocked them into being quiet for at least a moment, in which you could show you were going to help them. If that happened, normally the crying quietened down into small, quiet sobs that could be ignored until whatever was troubling them was resolved.

"AHHHHH! Leave me alooonnenneeee....dont hurt me dont hurt me dont hurt meee.....I didnt do anything I just want my mommmmmmyyyyyyyy!"

This Anyeli girl, however, was not one of those children, and upon hearing Leeta she screamed even louder. These spoiled kids are so hard to frighten into shutting up for just a second, the demon thought, feeling frustrated. And even after that girl was being all nice to her, she's still making a fuss! Getting angry wouldn't solve any problems though.

The dragon looked at her sighing as the Anyeli girl crawled away from them, trying to cover herself with her wings. Leeta felt even more annoyed for a second; in her angry state, it looked like the dragon thought she was being extremely unhelpful, but Leeta didn't like to give up when she was getting close to true anger.

"This is proving to be difficult, now isn't it? I wonder what happened to her mother.", the dragon said, and Leeta realised she was just not quite sure what the next best move was. Standing up as the gypsy-esque girl held out a scarf for the little angel to wipe her face on, offering many kind words alongside it, Leeta realised she might have been mistaken in thinking she could scare this girl into being quiet - girls could be so difficult sometimes. But if this amount of nice doesn't work, nothing will, she decided grimly, watching the pair and giving them a bit of space as she played good cop/bad cop with the dragon.

[Official NPC]

// Piper's Boutique • Dafont • Aethereality • Resunik \\


Where did mommy go, she had been busy but they were going shopping...Haela just wanted her mommy back. She didn't like this, mommy never left her alone around those meany Apalos why didn't she notice Haela wasnt with her? The two women were nice...well the not smelly one was...but they were so weird. Humans didnt have pretty wings and didnt look good to her, but the nice one also had holes in her eyes....the smelly one smelled evil and her wings looked evil too. Haela's wings were soft and had nice feathers, mommy's had pretty black feathers as did Daddy's, the smelley girl had wings that looked like mommy's work clothes...smooth and hard and black.

Haela stopped screaming, her throat hurt too much to keep going. She moved backwards hiding behind her wings whimpering, she didnt want to be hurt, she just wanted to go shopping with her mommy. The nice one moved forward and spoke to her kindly, Haela moved her wing a little to see what she was doing. Haela squeaked in fear at the eyes but noticed the pretty scarf, Mommy always said she wanted a pretty tie around her arm...maybe she could give mommy this one. Slowly Haela moved her wings aside whimpering a little as she did, mommy wouldnt be happy with her for being so scared so she needed to try and be a big girl for mommy.

Reaching her little hand forward she attempted to grab the soft scarf to pull it from the girls hands. She looked up at the nice girl sniffing, her nose still wrinkling because of the mean girl. Speaking in a soft voice she spoke to Loranth

" what...what...happened to your eyes. Did an Apalos stab them?"

[Loranth]

¤ Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Sparkling Tea ¤ Aethereality ¤
OOC: To the lovely NPC - I'm not sure if the first part of this is godmodding as I've never really roleplayed and an attempt at taking the scarf was made in the last post. If it is, I'll change it right away! Sorry!

---

Loranth looked at the young demon woman while she held out the scarf to the little girl. She realized the scarf was sliding out of her fingers and looked back down to the Anyeli and was surprised that the little one was looking at her while taking the scarf. She was even more surprised when instead of more tears, the little one actually said something to her.

"what...what...happened to your eyes. Did an Apalos stab them?" is what she thought she had heard. Loranth vaguely recognized the Apalos word as being one of the factions of Anyeli in Elysia, if her brief study of Elysian history hadn't failed her. She guessed that the negative connotation the girl placed on that faction would mean that her family was off the opposite faction? She didn't want to pry too much, as distracting the girl enough to get her calmed down had proven difficult enough.

She considered for a moment how to answer the girl's question.

"Nope. I'm a dragon, so my eyes were like this when I was born, just like since you're an Anyelos, you were born with those pretty wings," Loranth replied, pointing to the girl's wings to accent what she was saying. "Now, since you got to ask me a question, it's my turn to ask you a question. What's your name, little one? My name is Loranth." Loranth continued talking to the girl in a quiet voice, realizing she still had no idea who either person was before her.

She looked up to the demon again and shrugged with a slight smile that she hoped relayed the message that Lora was sorry she hadn't said anything directly to her sooner, and waited for the little girl's reply.

[Official NPC]

// Piper's Boutique • Dafont • Aethereality • Resunik \\


Haela pulled the pretty scarf close to her neck and closed her eyes happilly. The scarf felt so nice and warm and soft...it felt like Mommy's wings. Mommy always let Haela snuggle with her pretty black wings when she read to her...Daddy didnt like her lying on his wings so much. She cooed happily, she liked soft things and this scarf was colorful and nice. She looked up at the girl who gave her the scarf and smiled happilly showing her white teeth, this girl didnt seem scary and she wasnt an Apalos so mommy would want her to be nice.

" Thank you Nice lady "

Haela looked down and happily tied the scarf around the upper part of her right arm, it was way too big and the extra ends that werent tied hung low, but she didnt care. She stood up happily and grinned.

" Now I'm just like Dazadi Rhea! "

Giggling Haela sat back down and looked up at the nice lady. Mommy was going to be so happy with her, she had made a new friend and even got mommy the pretty armband she wanted. Mommy had said that it was a very big honor to get a pretty tie around your upper arm. She had taken Haela to see Dazadi Rhea once and had told her that only the really good Anyeli got a pretty tie, she whispered to Haela that thats what she had been working at for years. Now thanks to Haela she didnt have to work so much anymore and could be home even more often and play with Haela!

She looked up as the nice girl began to speak. The girl said she was a dragon and just like Haela had pretty wings because she was an Anyeli the girl had the weird eyes because she was a dragon. Haela grinned even more broadly, a dragon? Really? She had only heard of Arkadios Rhea, Dazadi's mate...she knew he was a dragon but she had never seen him before. She also heard Wolf Rhea was a dragon but mommy said he wasnt a nice boy and she shouldnt go near him until she was older...she didnt know why everyone seemed to like Wolfy. However Haela was a good girl and listened to her mommy.

The girl asked Haela her name and smiling she answered

" My name is Haela. You are a dragon? Do you know Arkadios? Have you met him? "

[Loranth]

¤ PB ¤ Dafont ¤ Sparkling Tea ¤ Aethereality ¤ Evangeline Lily ¤

The little girl seemed to be calming down now, Loranth decided. And she clearly had good taste in scarves, because she took a liking to the one Lora had given her pretty quickly.

I guess I won't be getting that scarf back. I wonder how I can get her to open up to me enough to tell me what happened, Lora pondered. She didn't really mind about not getting the scarf back though. She had more of them than she needed, and she was always losing them, so it was a nice change to actually give one away instead of it disappearing. She watched the girl cuddle the scarf for a bit and then received a bright smile from the little one, who looked at her with those big brown eyes again. The girl thanked her and then tied the scarf around her arm and exlaimed, "Now I'm just like Dazadi Rhea!"

Who is Dazadi Rhea? Loranth didn't know who Dazadi Rhea was. Must be someone the girl looked up to though, she seemed very happy to impersonate whoever it was.

Loranth's mind was working over the small amount of information she'd gleaned from the minimal conversation she'd had so far with the girl. Lost in thought for a moment, she realized the wee one was introducing herself when she said, "My name is Haela. You are a dragon? Do you know Arkadios? Have you met him?"

Loranth sat down next to Haela and replied, "Yep, I'm a dragon alright. I don't think I know Arkadios, who is he? I'm pretty new to Elysia and the underground actually, so you're the first Anyelos I've ever met. Isn't that neat? My mother is from here though. Is yours?" Lora tried to steer the conversation back to finding out more of Haela's mother, and how they could find her.

[Leeta]

// Piper's Boutique · Dafont · Rainbow Harbour · Anime Rain · Andrea Corr \\

---

The little Anyeli girl had taken the scarf and was happily chirping on to the dragon. Well, at least the crying has stopped, the demon thought, feeling a little put out at how useless and mean she must have looked to the dragon - Leeta didn't really care what this little angel kid thought of her.

Deciding she was definitely going to help in this missing mommy mystery, Leeta looked around for some worried adult Anyeli with beautiful full-grown wings. Guess I'll go look for her, the demon thought, advancing to the gypsy to tell her she would search for the mother.

Oh, but wait.. the demon girl thought, staring at the angel girl as she giggled and put the scarf the dragon had given her on her arm. She'll probably get upset again if I come near. Anger rippled through her as the demon saw the pretty girl feel so happy when the mean demon went away.

Leeta continued walking over to where the dragon and the angel were, feeling slightly blinded by the anger this small child had caused her through exclusion, but having enough sense to call out before she reached them what her intention was, hopefully before the girl could start crying again.

"Hey, I'm going to go look around for her mom, okay?" she called out to the dragon, looking at the little girl and wondering if she would understand that she was trying to help her too.

[Official NPC]

// Piper's Boutique • Dafont • Aethereality • Resunik \\


Haela looked at the girl, her eyes wide. Maybe she knew Kade too, and maybe Wolfy, and Maybe Dazadi! It would be nice to have a friend who wasnt an Anyeli, she had many Skotadi friends but she never even made friends with Apalos, let alone other Elysians. However the nice lady soon said she didnt know Arkadios, that made Haela a little sad, but the girl was still nice if not a bit ugly with her weird eyes and no wings.

"I'm pretty new to Elysia and the underground actually, so you're the first Anyelos I've ever met. Isn't that neat? My mother is from here though. Is yours?"

So this girl hadnt met anyone else either, Haela grinned widly, maybe she would be her friend. Mommy would be so happy she had made a friend who wasn't an Apalos! Haela smiled at the girl before speaking

" That's neaty! You're the first non Skotadi i've talked to...you're nice though. My mommy isn't from here though shes from the mountains like me...have you ever been to the mountains? Do you like the cold? "

She had more questions to ask but then the mean girl shouted something at them, well maybe not shouted, but she didnt speak softly like the dragon lady. Still it seemed she just wanted to help Haela find her mommy, she turned and shouted at the mean lady, though her shout wasnt exactly so loud with her little lungs.

" Stinky Lady what happened to your wings? Why aren't they pretty and fluffy...did the same thing that made you stinky happen to them? "

[Leeta]

// Piper's Boutique · Dafont · Rainbow Harbour · Anime Rain · Andrea Corr \\

---

The little girl turned as Leeta spoke to them, looking less than happy. Indeed, she decided to shout right back at her:

"Stinky Lady what happened to your wings? Why aren't they pretty and fluffy...did the same thing that made you stinky happen to them?"

Thought the demon was angry, the remark about her smell only made her a little weary. Demons had always been unclean, unwonderful creatures, and it was something all demon children knew and grew up knowing.

"Ew, you stink!"

Of course, over time any creature who wasn't Zanaryan learnt that it wasn't anything to do with the demon personally; that all demons had that unpleasant aroma about them. Eventually the insult turned into something that was dully explained, and meant nothing altogether to Leeta now. Especially growing up in a rather dirty area of Zanarya anyway.

You grow up in the slums, you get used to the smell, she thought as she gazed at the little girl, the rage ebbing away.

"My wings aren't as nice as yours because I'm not an Anyeli," Leeta explained, hoping the girl wouldn't go ballistic when she figured out she was a demon. "I come from Zanarya so I was born smelling stinky and with these little scrawny wings." Leeta smiled at the girl, hoping she would realise she was joking and had nothing to fear. Has your Mommy taught you it's what's on the inside that counts? Leeta wondered, looking at the girl to watch her reaction.

[Loranth]

¤ PB ¤ Dafont ¤ Sparkling Tea ¤ Aethereality ¤ Evangeline Lily ¤

Loranth was hoping that Haela would give some kind of clue as to where her mother would be when she answered Loranth's last question, but the only thing she said about her mother was, "My mommy isn't from here though shes from the mountains like me...have you ever been to the mountains? Do you like the cold?"

Loranth sighed slightly in frustration and then the demon relayed that she'd be looking for the girl's mother. Apparently Haela was curious about demons too, Loranth thought because she shouted out, "Stinky Lady what happened to your wings? Why aren't they pretty and fluffy...did the same thing that made you stinky happen to them?"

Loranth felt a slight smirk appear on her face after the little one's outburst at the demon. She quickly put her head down and pretended to ruffle through her bag to hide her expression, because although the little girl probably didn't mean to be disrespectful, she could only imagine what the demon would say in return. She guessed it would take some thick skin to deal with children, and she decided she wasn't ready to have any yet, lest she lose her temper...and she hoped the demon would realize that the girl was simply ignorant of other races and not being purposely rude towards her.

Then Lora heard the demon respond with a similar answer to the one Lora had given Haela had inquired about Lora's peculiar (to Haela) eyes. She must've at least been listening this whole time that I've been trying to get info out of Haela, so that's a good sign...

Lora chimed in after the demon, "There are many different races in Elysia, Haela. You just may have not seen them all yet. Perhaps your Mommy can help show you them all someday! But first we have to find your Mom, Haela. Hopefully this nice lady here and I can help find your Mom soon, I'm sure she's worried about you." Lora hoped the girl would remember something that would help them find her Mom.

How can someone just lose their child for this long? It didn't make sense to Lora.

Turning to the demon woman, she extended her hand hoping to shake the demon's while she introduced herself.

"Hi. I'm Loranth, you can call me Lora if you like. Looks like we're all headed on a little adventure today to find Haela's Mom, huh?"

[Official NPC]

// Piper's Boutique • Dafont • Aethereality • Resunik \\


The tall Anyeli emerged from a non descript weapon shop, Angelic Arms. It wasn't something many people knew about, prefering to go to the far more skilled Draconic smith, but the woman was use to these sorts of weapons and the shopkeep was use to her and her particular weapon. She looked down at the swords she was holding, each contained two blades curving in opposite directions each sword forming an elongated s, it was an odd weapon and most people who had seen them could only handle one, she used two in a very effective manner.

Smiling she reached back and placed the swords in special holders on her back, they were not so much swords as they were exotic weapons, they really had no classification. She brushed her Brown hair out of her equally brown eyes and pushed the loose strands back underneath the tie, her ponytail never stayed put. Sighing she straightened it out and placed it in the center of her large black wings, honestly she should cut it but Haela and her husband both loved it. Her eyes widened as she realized how long she had been in the shop, she had told Haela to stay put but she had been gone very long. Her poor girl, she was probably so bored this was supposed to be their day out after all.

" Haela I'm so sorry I took so long Honey. I hope you...Haela....HAELA!!! "

She walked out of the shop completley and looked down at the bench outside the shop, Haela...was not there. Nor was she anywhere in sight range, where could she have gone?! She had been an idiot, she should have just brought Haela into the shop her poor daughter hadn't been out of the mountains before, she had no sense of direciton here and no idea who to trust. Had she been kidnapped, had she wandered off, any number of things could have happened to her. The Skotadi had just wanted to spare her daughter from the instruments of death and murder, the Civil War had been at a rest for a time now and she hoped that though she was a warrior, her daughter never would have to be. Now she was missing, so help her if anyone had touched even a hair on Haela's head she would shread them worse than even Dazadi could, you did not mess with a mother.

" HAAAAAAAAEEEELLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! "

Roaring in fear and pain the angel leaped into the air her wings flapping once flooding with adrenaline and sending her soaring into the air above the rooftops of the underground. Where had Haela gone, where had her precious daughter gone, she couldnt fly so where was she. The angel soared in the air above the roof tops until finally she saw a small winged figure huddled by a building surrounded by two other people, a Zanaryan and some other Elysian she could not discern from this distance. It had to be, because of that, a Human, a Dragon, a Human Therian, or a nymph though she didnt seem beautiful enough to be the latter. Her eyes flashed, were they hurting her daughter? She had been trained to have patience as a warrior but her blood was coursing now, if they made one wrong move she was going to end them.

With a loud thump she landed mere feet away from the gathering and pulled out her swords grabbing them by the leather wrapped middle. She twirled them around in front of her creating a constantly rotating figure eight of death before holding them by her sides. She glared at the two women's backs, they probably hadnt noticed her yet and if they had

" WHAT....are you doing....with my DAUGHTER! "

She stalked forward like a vicious animal glaring down at the woman

" For your sakes you better damn well have been trying to help her if you hurt even on hair on her there will not be enough left of either of you to hold services to mourn! "

[Loranth]

¤ PB ¤ Dafont ¤ Sparkling Tea ¤ Aethereality ¤ Evangeline Lily ¤

Loranth was still waiting on a response from the Demon girl when she heard and felt a thump behind her.

She whirled around in time to see a very tall, very menacing Anyelos woman pull two magnificent swords out of their resting places and start walking over to where she and Haela were. Instinctively, she placed her own body between the new angel and the little one - this menacing woman could be anyone, and Lora wouldn't put it past an angel of the same faction to come after another one. This new woman did sort of have the same coloring as Haela though, Lora realized. Perhaps they could be related....she hoped they were anyway. So far Lora had only managed to get a few meager details through her conversation with the child about her family or where her mother was.

"WHAT....are you doing....with my DAUGHTER!"

Ok, Mommy is definitely here, and Mommy is very angry. Note to self: Don't censored Mommy off. Loranth concluded silently as she heard the woman's first words. Before she could manage a reply, the woman spoke again, "For your sakes you better damn well have been trying to help her if you hurt even on hair on her there will not be enough left of either of you to hold services to mourn!"

"Oh thank Xanthorra! Look, Haela, your mum's arrived! Isn't that wonderful?" Lora said to Haela.

She then stepped aside and let the woman see her daughter, but made sure to make eye contact with Haela's mother.

"Ok. First of all, no one here wants to hurt your daughter. We found her screaming, huddled in the middle of the street, and you, her mother, were nowhere to be found. Second of all, please put your swords away, there's no need for such an extreme show of...whatever you're tying to show. I'm sure you're very concerned about your daughter, who, by the way, is a delightful little girl, but before you come in with your swords blazing, perhaps you should reassess the scene that stands before you? Haela's missed you very much, and has only just recently been able to calm down a bit, but unfortunately we couldn't get many details about you through talking with her." Lora looked down at Haela for a moment and then reestablished eye contact with the woman.

"I'm Loranth, by the way. I know Haela, and you are?" Lora said in a low voice to the Anyelos woman. She hoped her tone didn't betray her anger towards the woman to Haela, but she was sure her eyes would convey the message to the adult as she spoke.

[Leeta]

// Piper's Boutique · Dafont · Rainbow Harbour · Anime Rain · Andrea Corr \\

---

The dragon quickly intervened before the little girl could reply, and Leeta looked away, crossing her arms and staring at the ground. Some people might think it ridiculous to try and make a child understand that an outward appearance normally tells you nothing about the actual person, but the demon girl was annoyed at being so rejected and put down by a little kid. And if we don't teach children the difference now, then when do we teach them? the demon thought angrily, conjuring up an argument about ignorance to justify her feelings.

Perhaps if she had been left to brood for longer the demon would have realised she was being a hypocrite, but the dragon had stopped talking to the little angel and was addressing her now instead.

"Hi. I'm Loranth, you can call me Lora if you like. Looks like we're all headed on a little adventure today to find Haela's Mom, huh?"

The demon girl blinked at the dragon, who was holding out her hand, and realised that her arms were still folded. Oh, I bet I look like such a snob now, the demon thought distracted, and was trying to untangle her arms to shake her hand. She'd barely opened her mouth to reply when a very loud voice sounded behind them.

"WHAT....are you doing....with my DAUGHTER!"

Argh! Leeta thought, her eyes widening as she saw an angry Anyelos with two vicious-looking weapons in each hand approach them. She felt her legs twitch as her instinct told her to run away!, but she knew there was no point trying now. Those wings look mighty powerful, the demon thought, thinking about her own wings, small even for a weakling demon. In the corner of her eye, Leeta could see Loranth had stepped in between the angry angel and the smaller one, and she felt slightly ashamed at her rather different reaction to the scary being who appeared out of nowhere.

"For your sakes you better damn well have been trying to help her if you hurt even on hair on her there will not be enough left of either of you to hold services to mourn!" the angel barked. Leeta wavered, not sure what to say, but again the dragon stepped in and took care of things, first reassuring the little angel and then addressing the supposed mother. She's got guts, Leeta thought, feeling very small and weak compared to the two of them. Perhaps I should just stay out of the way, and she turned to look behind the dragon to where the little angel girl was.

"Hey, bub." the demon whispered to the angel. "This is your mom, isn't it?" It wouldn't do to have this kid go off with the wrong mother after all this effort.

[Official NPC]

// Piper's Boutique • Dafont • Aethereality • Resunik \\


She was a Skotadi, a warrior who had been hard trained and was well capable of killing the most dangerous threats in the Dusky mountains. She was trained to be patient and asses a situation, but she was also a mother and she was also an individual. She had her own sense of personal honor and the sense of a mother to protect her child. Both were being twinged right now by this stupid little girl and the dragon, as she now saw her to be by the slits in her eyes, would learn some manners if she lived. She glared at the dragon, but for Haela's sake put the swords in their sheaths. Haela was a sweet girl, she had so far been unexposed to violence and she wasn't going to expose her daughter to it here...but she couldnt let this go.

She smiled at her daughter and bent down, the little girl giggled and bolted straight at her mother leaping into her arms and cuddling her face against the woman's large black wings.

" MOMMY! I missed you Mommy, are we going to go shopping now? "

The angel smiled fondly at her daughter, they were going to be going shopping but not immediatly, She tussled her daughter's hair and spoke to her

" Sweetie why did you run off, I told you to wait on the bench and if you needed something come inside. You worried mommy a lot, I thought something horrible had happened to you "

The girl smiled and started playing with her hair, such a sweet girl

" I'm sorry mommy, I saw some shiny things in a window and then some more and by the time I looked up I was lost. These nice ladies helped me and look! The one with cut eyes gave me a pretty tie so I can be like Dazadi Rhea! "

The angel smiled at her daughter and set her down. Tussling the hair she closed her eyes for a second and reached out to find her husband's mind. He was a mail carrier here, not exactly amazing work but he loved it. She knew he would be around and hopefully he could get some time off work to take Haela to the Cafe for an hour.

" Darling I'm here with Haela. Do you think you could come and take her to the cafe for a minute I am going to do something I dont want her to see "

Her husband didn't answer he never did. As she waited for him she looked up and smiled at the Zanaryan.

" Thank you for helping my daughter, I dont know what I would have done if anything had gone wrong. If there is anything I can ever do for you, please, ask it of me "

Smiling she bowed to the Zanaryan. While concealed it was still a somewhat less than subtle hint that the young demon might want to leave now, she wouldnt be involved though whatever choice she took.

With the sound of flapping wings a male Skotadi appeared and with a somewhat sad look at his wife picked up the little girl in his arms and flapped off into the sky. As she flew off the girl waved at Loranth before cuddling into her father's wings.

As soon as the two were out of sight the angel turned, her happy face gone and replaced by a much more sinister one. She glared at Loranth and walked forward cracking her nuckles, she didnt need her swords for this

" You I will not thank, for helping my daughter maybe. However you pathetic little worm are trying to tell my how to raise my daughter? Where do you get off lecturing me without knowing all the facts you hold so dear you censored. Telling me to reasses my position I am going to have to teach you a very harsh lesson little dragon "

With a kick of her feet the angel jumped slightly into the air and flapped her wings and flew directly at Loranth swinging a fist at the dragon's face

[Leeta]

// Piper's Boutique · Dafont · Rainbow Harbour · Anime Rain · Andrea Corr \\

---

The little girl didn't reply; it was too late. The Anyeli woman had swooped down and picked her up, and Leeta held her breath as the woman came in such close proximity of her. The demon's primal instinct of fear was such that she physically froze up, not even recognising herself how scared she was, her mind was so blank. However, there was no need to worry.

"MOMMY! I missed you Mommy, are we going to go shopping now?" The angel girl perked right up, cuddling her mother and giggling.

Thank goodness! Leeta thought, relief crashing through her body as she smiled at the sight. The demon tried to stand up but her knees gave way at first, her legs were still so shaky. She managed pull herself up properly by pushing on her palms to stand upright before the mother turned to her again. The Anyeli lady was talking to her before she could react to being addressed.

"Thank you for helping my daughter, I dont know what I would have done if anything had gone wrong. If there is anything I can ever do for you, please, ask it of me" The winged woman smiled and bowed at her, but Leeta could tell she was still very angry. And yet, there must be a reason she was acting calm. It wasn't for her daughter because she had yelled before then, so she wasn't afraid to be angry in front of her.

She's letting me go, the demon realised. She's letting me get out of the way. Another wave of shock crashed through her, relief of not being immediately attacked and fear of messing up her escape coursing through her mind. Yet through all her fear, Leeta felt suddenly a lot happier now she knew the Anyeli wasn't going to smash her into oblivion, her confidence returning a little. Quick, quick, don't mess this up.

"Ah, no problem," Leeta chirped quickly, clumsily nodding her head in return. The woman might not have heard her though; a man came down from the skies and picked up the girl.

I assume he's her father..she's not ripping him to shreds. the demon thought quickly, justifying the situation as resolved - and with that she quickly walked away, turning down the nearest alley and breaking out into a sprint, thinking: I'm probably lucky to be alive. And in her selfishness and fear, the demon girl didn't even spare a thought for the dragon that was left behind.

[Loranth]

¤ PB ¤ Dafont ¤ Sparkling Tea ¤ Aethereality ¤ Evangeline Lily ¤

She watched warily as the woman sheathed her swords and bent down to scoop up the little girl as she bounded over to her. Lora took a few steps back and zoned out a bit while the exchange between mother and daughter took place. Something wasn't quite right here.

She knew she had probably said too much to the obviously strong Anyeli, but she wasn't raised to be bullied by anyone, especially if she wasn't doing anything wrong. Why couldn't the woman see she was only trying to help Haela, not harm her? Was it that censored hard? It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she wasn't crying or screaming or being restrained in any fashion.

Her eyes focused again on the woman and watched as she thanked the demon for helping her daughter. Lora felt her right eyebrow raise on it's own as a skeptical expression implanted itself on her face and she crossed her arms in disbelief. If anything, the demon had upset the girl more than she was initially, and the Skodati was thanking her? She found it hard not to shake her head in agitation, but somehow she managed to keep her body still. It was as if the woman was purposely snubbing Loranth, and she didn't take kindly to being snubbed when it wasn't deserved.

Suddenly another Skodati descended from the sky, this one a man, obviously Haela's father, and took off again with the little girl. The mother appeared to be dismissing the demon, and Lora felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as the demon quickly walked away without a second glance. She was alone with the overly angry angel, and it didn't look like she was going to get an apology for the misplaced threat that was made against her earlier...a very angry glare was apparent on the woman's face as she turned towards Lora and said, "You I will not thank, for helping my daughter maybe. However you pathetic little worm are trying to tell my how to raise my daughter? Where do you get off lecturing me without knowing all the facts you hold so dear you censored. Telling me to reasses my position I am going to have to teach you a very harsh lesson little dragon."

Loranth inwardly braced herself. Her heartbeat raced as she went into fight or flight mode...and she wasn't sure which to do. She honestly hadn't done anything wrong, and would love nothing more than to see that realized, but at the same time, that woman was menacing. Suddenly the woman lept into the air towards Loranth and struck out to punch her.

She quickly sidestepped the woman's punch and attempted to grab her arm to use the anyeli's momentum against her, hoping to pull the woman even further foward and cause her to topple onto the ground.