People shouldn't stray in a forest when they've no knowledge of its shadows. Not that the shadows in these parts are all that threatening. Maybe if I were a human, Mother help me if I were, I would need to err on the side of caution whilst lurking about my forest, but alas, nothing will touch me here. I was born of this land, and every being that thrives here, living or arcane, would do me no more harm than they would their own kin. Which leaves me with the issue of cannibalistic creatures I suppose, but most forest beings, no matter how fearsome they may appear under the moon's mask, understand the importance of achieving symbiosis with their surroundings. So yes – everything that surely would attract my attention, force me to be wary, sees me as their own, so I've no reason to watch my steps.

Do you know how banal life is when confined in this labyrinth of ageless trees without threat? At least if something would attack me, I would have some entertainment, some motivation to fight back. I need inspiration, and if I could gamble my life to attain that, I would.

But it seems while I'm here, I simply can't.

Okay, so you see these tattoos of mine? They bind me to the outer limits of Sol Forest. They are the reason I'm here and they are the reason my life cannot have meaning.

Mother, I'm sounding like Cannre. My mate is quite the perpetual raincloud, I won't lie. I do love him though. You should meet him, if he decides to reappear. He's off bartering with my brother – he got some spices from Wolmtyr. Dear Mistress, I hope he didn't have to talk to Lorelei to get those, their interactions these days are venomous. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'll slow down a bit – I'll start with general small talk basics, that'd be good, right? I tell you mine, you tell me yours.

I would generally call myself immune to the pleas of prey – I've seen far too many last breaths for this lifetime. If I hadn't accepted the reality of the food chain a long time ago I would have driven myself insane through an ineffectual desperation. I'm not exactly sure what possessed me to single Darre out however. I say we are siblings because we are. Our souls were bonded just as I am to this forest, because tragic as the death of a baby bunny is, nothing could have possessed me to take responsibility for another in the way I took on Darre other than an unseen force.

We came upon him whispering to one of Sol's Greater Redwoods. Cannre dismissed him as unhinged whilst I became concerned he would harm my tree, so I shifted into human form and reprimanded him. Lorelei began on a diatribe on how he was truly sorry to have offended me, and he was just trying to communicate with the tree to gage its innate power and – oh wow, I had sticks in my hair. It's truly tragic how often, when I am as a human, people just assume my horns are twigs that got snagged by my mane. At least be decent and say 'there are branches in your hair.' It's offensive to hear my horns referred to as twigs, or sticks or what have you. I told Lorelei this, who then became aware of my tail and decided I was the most interesting creature he had ever come upon.
So you're really a dragon? Show me! Can you speak in that form? Astounding! Why anthropomorphise yourself then?'
And many more questions, followed by answers eagerly etched into the parchment he'd produced from his rucksack. All was amusing and giddy until Cannre decided to make an entrance, shocking Lorelei into a further state of enthusiasm, and the tamer had been on the verge of spontaneous combustion as was. When I demonstrated Cannre's form change (instigated, without warning, by myself) Lorelei squealed – 'what an anomaly of a yune you have! Are the extra ears an aesthetic of your doing? Wow, he was born with them?' Unlike myself, Cannre cannot communicate well in his natural form. I suspect it is an elemental force that allows others to comprehend me when I am a dragon – unfortunately Cannre is not blessed with this gift. So his only reaction to Lorelei was to snarl and snap in his direction.

I condescendingly (but soothingly) scratched Cannre behind one of his ears, and he attempted to bite me. I hadn't realised quite how unhappy I'd made him.
So when he's in his natural form he's simply a wild animal! How fascinating!
Cannre hadn't liked that deduction and I could tell he was preparing to maul the other man, so I put Lorelei's questioning on hold to allow Cannre back into human form.
I am not just some wild animal. He huffed, as soon as he could again articulate his thoughts.

I explained to Lorelei that Cannre simply was incapable of speaking when a yune but was otherwise as sentient as any human, though this was intermittently interrupted by Cannre's misanthropic snipes. Lorelei simply gazed on as if he were entranced.

I'm no nymph, I hope you realise. I felt obliged to interrupt his ogling. You don't really have an excuse for being this interested. Not that I minded, I was used to having to bargain and blackmail for the attention I craved. Lorelei rolled his eyes and laughed.
I'm not daft, dragon. But you have to admit, there aren't many creatures who are of this realm that can change shape as you can. I've met many spirits capable of recreating their appearance, but you seem as much a being of water as I. As does your yune here.
Cannre didn't like Lorelei's attentions. I'm sorry, what did you just call me?
Am I mistaken? You are a yune, right?
Ugh. Stupid man.

Lorelei and Cannre never really got over their initial incompatibility – a wound perpetually reopened by Lorelei's blatant favouring of Darre and me.

I forgot to mention how important Darre is to my relationship with Lorelei, didn't I? Rather, I forgot to emphasise how vital Lorelei was in facilitating Darre's independence. You see, I was incapable of reforging Darre into an anthropomorphic form for a very long time. While Cannre and I could walk as virtual humans, Darre was forced to remain in his embarrassingly vulnerable rabbit form. He never has completely forgiven me for permitting 'such an affront to his pride' to occur.

When I first spoke of Lorelei, I told you he was a talented tamer, nay? Well to rephrase, talented doesn't cover it. His insatiable curiosity – while it may have killed the cat – has also made him an apt warrior and a better Samaritan. When I introduced my brother to him, a small white rabbit at the feet of myself and Cannre, he was first curious as to whether Darre was our meal (absurd) and then as to why he didn't appear as we did. It was with abashment that I told him I didn't know how to change a rabbit's form. I am always loathed to admit it, even to this day, but I still have trouble communicating with smaller mammals, and it was due to my incompetence in this particular area that I could never get the elements to function properly for Darre.

You'll never guess who offered his humble assistance. As Cannre scoffed and Darre craned his neck, Lorelei bared his teeth in a grin and told me if Darre so desired, he could help out. I found it somewhat unbelievable a mere human could aid in the plight of my lagomorphic brother, but it turned out he had wisdom beyond his years. Is that phrase not the most ridiculous cliché? Wisdom and years are hardly relative units of measurement. It's as if I were comparing distance to the weather. Regardless – it describes Lorelei flawlessly.

Over the next few days the man stayed in my forest, camping in a small clearing, speaking with the flora, periodically the fauna, which responded less neutrally, and arranging a collection of rocks into patterns in the bracken. Cannre avoided him entirely while Darre and I watched him with the same attentiveness he had shown us earlier.

The top ones are all of Erri, the bottom of Darre, her little brother.

If you steal them, I probably can't do anything about it now, but I'll find you and hire a good lawyer and sue you for all you're worth. Kay?

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by zan