Imprisoned Spirit [MadEmperor]

[DragonSong]

Alright. She shook her head lightly, causing the teacup dragon to shuffle down her back and take up a perch between her shoulders, then stretched and trotted off after him.

The minute dragon cheeped happily and scampered up and down her back, sniffing at the air curiously.

He needs a name, Asta noted, glancing back over her shoulder at the little creature. He seemed young--she didn't know a lot about his species, but she'd overheard some of the menagerie workers mentioning that he was a fledgling, that he'd been "rescued" from mortally wounded parents; though she had a feeling that cause of those wounds had been the collectors themselves.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr looked at the little dragon as if asking a question. It cheeped and the tiger nodded. He says to call him Windstrider.

He chuffed. Dragons. Even the little ones are proud of themselves.

[DragonSong]

She chuckled a bit in a feline way and dipped her head to her tiny passenger. Well met, Windstrider.

Increasing her pace so she could walk beside Zephyr, she asked, How far north do we need to travel?

[MadEmperor]

He glanced at her and then at the path ahead. To the mountains, or at least the foothills. It will be a long trek, but we won't be such an odd sight there, in whichever animal forms we wish to take.

Zephyr shifted into something new in that sudden way of his. He was now some kind of tiger man, dressed in the same manner as his human form. "Such as this beastman."

[DragonSong]

Asta skittered to the side a bit, seemingly ever-wary of sudden motion--though that perhaps wasn't so surprising, given her recent experience.

She cocked her head at Zephyr's new form, then gave a little sniff. I've never seen a creature like that, she noted curiously. Sort of...in between.

[MadEmperor]

"Remembering the past is difficult for me, but I have a vague memory of getting the idea from a pack of wolfkin up north. Its uses are limited; however, it is good for combat, and there are races that respond to it more favorably than my human guise."

Zephyr was struck by the sudden realization that he hadn't taken his true shape in a very long time. Most mortals were either terrified of it, or sought to use him for their selfish ends. He wondered if her skittish nature put her in the former category.

[DragonSong]

Why is remembering the past difficult? Asta asked, hopping over an old fallen tree in the path. She flicked her tufted tail and looked around, tasting the air with a pale pink tongue.

Windstrider seemed to have taken up residence between her shoulders, curled up tail-to-snout with his colorful plumage fluffed up for warmth.

[MadEmperor]

As Zephyr casually walked over the same tree, he said, We are creatures of the now. We don't put much value in the past, remembering only the last few decades with any clarity. Or perhaps we lost something during the days of the Fell when the curse returned us to the aether. It's hard to be sure.

[DragonSong]

The days of what?!

She stumbled a bit, looking up at him. Maybe that shouldn't have surprised her—he'd been honest about what he was, after all—but it did. It was one thing to hear that someone was some sort of guardian spirit; it was another entirely to hear the phrase "the days of the Fell" uttered so casually.

[MadEmperor]

"Not even we remember the name of the nation in which we were born; only that it was swallowed by The Fell. We ceased to be for a time before waking to the world as it is now, with our charges having divided into two very different peoples."

The spirit didn't seem sad, wistful, or even nostalgic about the loss—it was just a fact. Those required too solid a picture for him to feel.

[DragonSong]

Asta digested that quietly as they continued to walk. She had more questions, but she wasn't sure which she should—or could—ask. Zephyr was certainly amiable enough, but she'd seen how powerful he was; and she'd heard many stories of captions nature spirits throughout her life. She had no interest in inadvertently earning his ire.

They travelled in a surprisingly companionable quiet for a while longer, until the trek that they'd already finished and her weeks of imprisonment finally started to catch up with her body. Her steps began to slow, almost stumbling, and she found herself blinking frequently as her vision threatened to fade.

Windstrider was napping quite contentedly in her back, and she found herself envying him.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr watched her curiously until he remembered that mortals needed sleep. For him, sleep was only a deception. He stopped, nodding as he fully understood. "We should rest here. You look tired."

Expecting no argument, he returned to his tiger form and lay down to provide a comfortable place for her to curl up in. Come, sleep at my side.

[DragonSong]

She was not so prideful a creature as to argue when he suggested rest. She just nodded thankfully and watched him as he settled in to sleep in his tiger shape.

She hesitated a bit when he seemed to be waiting for her to join him, still just a tad instinctively wary. But he'd had a hundred and more opportunities to hurt her—she knew he wasn't going to, it was just an instinctive wariness that had only been enforced over her time in captivity.

Eventually though, she settled herself into the curve of his body, their differences in size rather making her look like a kitten curled up next to her mother. The teacup dragon on her back huffed and burrowed down into the warm spot between the two of them, chirping tiredly.

[MadEmperor]

It had been a couple of days since Zephyr had found her, and the spirit was just as mysterious as ever. He was straightforward enough but volunteered little beyond what was asked of him. The moment was all there was.

Simply scavenging was beginning to make him restless. He was a tiger at heart, and no mortal guise could change that. He needed to hunt, to feel the fear of his prey in their last moments, and to taste their fresh blood on his tongue.

A tiger again, he looked at her and stopped. If you truly wish to take this shape, you will need to be able to think and act like a predator. Beasts such as I do not... scavenge.

[DragonSong]

Asta had been traveling in the of a wolf pigeon for most of the last day—though with her natural coloration she looked more like a dove—and had to pause in an inane chase game that she'd been playing with Windstrider to look down at him from her branch.

I have taken on predators' shapes before, but I don't... She fluffed her wings, looking somehow embarrassed. It is difficult for me to properly hunt. I'm too noticeable.

[MadEmperor]

He chuffed in amusement. Less so than I. That's why I usually hunt as a man when this far south. But that doesn't compare to the feeling of killing with one's own jaws. I find myself in need of it now.

Thus, it is a good time for you to learn.

[DragonSong]

Asta fluttered from her branch to take her wildcat form on the ground, looking skeptical in only the way a feline can.

As someone who frequently finds herself living as a prey animal, allow me to express my dubiousness about just how much I'll enjoy this, she chuffed at him. In the last few days she seemed to have grown more comfortable expressing herself around him.

Rolling her shoulders, she added with a flick of her tail, Though I know the hunt is a natural part of the cycle. I suppose I should learn to do it properly.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr rumbled approvingly. Excellent. At the very least, doing so will give you new insight on how to continue to not get eaten.

He started by making sure she could properly stalk, pounce, and chase by having her practice on him in his cat form. It took many tries before she caught him, though he most likely allowed her to. His smug expression as he looked up at her pretty much confirmed it.

"You learn quickly."

[DragonSong]

"Well, I have to, don't I?" She sat back in her human shape; she knew he'd likely let her have the victory, but it was still mildly gratifying. "Learning new shapes, how to live as those shapes—the world doesn't slow down and let you get your bearings just because it's your first day as a wolf or an owl."

She shrugged, head cocked to one side. "So? Am I ready?"

[MadEmperor]

The white cat cleaned himself off before turning back into a man. "I believe so. And  I believe I smell our prey."

He had become much more comfortable changing shape on a whim around her. That seemed to be how he did things: suddenly and without warning, like the element he embodied.  But he couldn't have remained unnoticed by the Connloathian Church for so long if he couldn't turn that off.