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 Welcome to the GardenYou wander though an ornate oriental style garden filled with elegantly sculpted trees, delicate blooms, and finely crafted stone lanterns and figures. You follow a path that winds through the trees until you reach a clearing. In the clearing you can see a young red Draik practicing his swordsmanship. He is hitting a series of wooden pillars with a long pole in quick, rhythmic movements. He is dancing on the balls of his feet, spinning and turning to hit the pillars in rapid succession at specific points with pinpoint accuracy. The look on his face is shear determination, and he seems so deep in concentration that you figure he must not have heard your quiet approach. But he surprises you by turning quickly with a warm smile and bowing to you. "Greetings traveler, welcome to my garden." The Draik says. I was just about to take a break and have some tea. Won't you join me?" He continues as he puts down his practice sword and approaches you. When you agree he leads you down another path through the garden to pond. On one side a small waterfall runs down to the pond, and the soothing sound of running water mingles with the soft whisper of the breeze rustling the leaves of the trees and the songs of small birds in their branches. In the pond brightly colored fish swim lazily just below the surface. At the pond's edge in an area shaded by a large tree are some cushions surrounding a short table. The Draik prepares hot green tea and you both sit down at the table. About ReihakaiThis draik is slightly different than your average red draik. He has a pretty normal draik build, although he is equally comfortable standing on four legs as on two. He doesn't have that little bit of hair on his forehead. There is a row of long, slender spikes starting on his forehead and continuing down his neck, back, and ending at the tip of his tail. A thin membrane runs between each of the spikes. His tail ends in a delicate point. His large wings each have three fingers supporting the membrane instead of just two, plus a fourth small support at his elbow joint. At the wrist joint of each wing is a sharp claw. The membranes of his wings, between the spikes running down his back, and the three-pronged ear spikes on the side of his head are orange. There are irregular lines of darker orange radiating out and upward on his membranes. His belly scales are a very pale orange, almost yellow. Along his back and sides are dark red markings that form irregular branching stripes that taper to points and end midway down his sides. They start halfway down his neck, and continue most of the way down his tail. His claws and back spikes are deep red, and his eyes are bright orange. My name is Reihakai." The Draik says. "My friends just call me Rei for short. What's your name? guest? That's a very interesting name. Names are powerful things, they can hold many meanings. In the ancient tongue of my ancestors, the Shenkuu Draiks, my name means 'beautiful destruction'. It means I was destined to become a great warrior. It may sound like a name of contradiction, but it is actually a name of balance. Destruction can be beautiful, and should be, for it is part of the natural order of things. Things must be destroyed for new things to be created. A warrior must understand that, and also understand that there is a beauty to combat. It's more than just beating your opponent or wantonly destroying your enemies. It's an art form really." He shrugs. "It's hard to explain, and I'm still learning it myself. There's a lot to take in when you're training like I am. But enough about that for now. Is there something else you'd like to talk about? Hm? My color?" Reihakai laughs. "Yes, I get that question a lot, 'why am I just a plain red Draik?' Well, it's just my color, it's who I am, I'm a red Draik. I've never wanted to be anything different. Oh sure, I could be painted some fancy color if I wanted to, but that's just not me. Each to his own, right?" Rei shrugs and grins modestly. "Besides, there are some advantages to being a 'basic' color. For one, since Meer, my owner, didn't have to save up for an expensive brush, she can put more money towards other things for me. Like my training. Codestones and Dubloons aren't cheap ya know, and neither are weapons, armor, and all the other equipment a good warrior needs. Plus I have my garden, that takes a lot of up-keep. And soon I'll have my own gallery section as well. And there's another advantage, since I'm the only basic color pet in the family (well, I will be once my brother Saerhyn gets painted) I get to be the active pet most of the time. Just in case Boochie, that annoying little pipsqueak shows up and decides to blast me." Rei shudders. "I wouldn't like to be turned into a baby, that would be embarrassing. But if I did, it wouldn't be too much trouble for Meer to get me back to normal. Certainly much cheaper than if one of my siblings got zapped. Although I wasn't born red," Rei continues. "Oh no, I was actually born blue. So how'd I end up red you ask? Well, there's actually a story about that, would you like to hear it? Okay. . . The Birth of Beauty and DestructionWell like I said, my ancestors are from Shenkuu, and that's where I was born. You didn't think all Draiks came from Meridell, did you? Nope. There have been clans of Draiks living in Shenkuu since long before Shenkuu had much contact with the rest of Neopia. It's just that they keep mostly to themselves, living high in the mountains, so not many neopians outside of Shenkuu know about them. Anyway, it was from one of these clans that I was born, in the dead of winter. My parents' clan had to move suddenly, while I was still unhatched. A huge blizzard blew into their territory. All the destructive beauty of nature was raging outside, while my clan huddled in their caves high in the mountains above the villages. But an avalanche started and the caves began to collapse, they had to get out fast! My mother grabbed my egg and ran out of the cave with my father and flew high into the air. The wind flung snow and ice hard against their scales like tiny daggers, making it all but impossible to fly. But they had to keep going and get to safety. While my mother struggled against the wind and tried to protect her egg from the ice they flew onward_ They had to get to the lowland more populated areas of Shenkuu where they could find shelter. But in the storm sight was next to zero, and with the wind buffeting them from side to side they got turned around. They ended up heading the wrong way, farther away from Shenkuu, deeper into the mountains in the direction of the haunted woods. That was when my mother, exhausted from fighting against the wind, and her hands numb from the cold, dropped her egg. She screamed 'NOOO!' And flew down after it, but the wind gusted and knocked her off balance and she fell toward the frozen ground after her egg. The rest of the clan followed but they were two late to catch either of them. Both my mother and egg hit the ground. There was a deep blanket of snow to cushion the fall, so my mother was only injured. But the egg had cracked open. So I was born there in the snow, premature and freezing. The cold snow quickly sapped my body heat. I was unconscious and dying. My mother crawled towards me trying to save me, but there was nothing she could do. My father picked me up and tried to warm me, but he was helpless as well, it was too late. The Elder Draik came over to see what had happened. I was not breathing, blue from the cold and lack of oxygen. I'm afraid there's not much hope now,' He said sadly to my parents. He looked into their desperate pleading eyes, and he must have decided then that there was no harm trying, even if for just the slimmest chance. 'Well there is one very old spell, a reviving spell. But it may not work, with the fall he took and the cold. . . And it is very dangerous; the spell may kill him just as surely as the cold.' But he is dead without it. Please you must try to save our son!' My mother cried. So the Elder agreed. He told my father to lay me in the snow while he prepared the spell. He whispered an incantation, and then used his breath weapon to breathe fire onto me. The fire covered me, and when the flames died down a bit I was glowing bright red. My mother screamed, she thought the fire was consuming me. But the flames guttered out and I revived. But I was permanently turned red. And I guess that may be why I have the markings I have. These dark red stripes on my back, and the orange ones on my wing and spike membranes. The Elder was quite astonished that the spell had worked. My parents of course were overjoyed. 'This one is destined for greatness.' The elder said. And that's when they named me Reihakai, Beautiful Destruction. I don't remember all of this when it happened of course, but I heard the story countless times when I was little. And that's I guess how I ended up where I am now. My clan found shelter in caves to last out the storm. When it was over they realized how close they were to the Haunted Woods. They knew I would need to leave the clan and find an owner if I was to train to be a warrior, so they looked there and that's when I found Meer and ended up in this family. Perhaps it was fate?" I miss my clan but I'm really very happy here. We live near the edge of the Haunted Woods in the mountains, and we visit Shenkuu quite often. And I have my own little piece of Shenkuu right here in my garden. My adopted siblings are kind of weird, but I like them. For the most part they're great. And I have my petpet. Hey that reminds me, where did that little trouble maker get of to?" Tobu the HunterRei turns in his seat and looks around. "Tobu! Tobu where are you?" Just then there is the sound of something crashing through the tall grass and flowers to one side of the clearing. There is a flash of black and white, then a small Biyako comes bounding out of the grass, leaping in the air, batting at a butterfly. He continues to chase the butterfly, paying no heed to you, Rei, or any of this surroundings. He bounds headlong towards the pond, leaps up at the butterfly, and almost falls right in. When his paw touches the water he lets out a startled 'yowl!' and does a clumsy sort of half leap, half fall backwards onto the bank. Rei laughs and shakes his head. "Tobu you have got to pay attention to where you're going!" He tells the Biyako as he bounds over to the table. Rei reaches down to pet the Biyako on the head, and he tries to grab Rei's hand in his paws, batting at him playfully. This is Tobu." Rei says turning back to you, while trying to extract his hand from his petpet's grasp. "His name means 'jump,' and that's what he's always doing. He thinks he is a great little hunter, always going after bugs, bits of string, waving leaves, and . . . And my tail." He finishes with feigned irritation, turning as Tobu has giving up his assault on his master's hand to go after just that, his tail. Rei sighs and turns back to you with a grin. "He really needs to learn more restraint though. He's too eager, he rushes into everything and ends up getting into trouble. He doesn't think ahead or watch where he's going. He's a bit clumsy too." Tobu then jumps up into Rei's lap, almost spilling his tea. Rei lifts his tea cup up and puts it down on the table out of Tobu's reach and pets him. "He's great though, he always wants to help me train, and train with me. I'm trying to help him learn to be the strong hunter he wants to be. He's just so young and full of energy. Although he's actually about the same age as me. I got him just when I came here to live, not long after I hatched. Tobu is really fun to play with, and he helps me relax after a day of training. Although sometimes keeping him out of trouble is not so relaxing." Rei chuckles. "He gets along great with my sister's Zomutt, Claudio. Which is kinda weird, because Claudio is a dog. But ah. . . well that's a weird story, if you wanna hear it you should go visit my sister, Lyre. As Rei pets Tobu, the little Biyako begins to purr, then he curls up contentedly in Rei's lap and closes his eyes. "Ah there. I finally got him to settle down. That doesn't happen often, so we should take this opportunity to finish our tea while we still can. Before Tobu wakes up to wreak havoc again." Rei grins at you and winks. Rei's Stats
Name: Reihakai Rei's CollectionPretty soon I will have a gallery of things I collect. I collect oriental or Shenkuu themed items and blade weapons. But weapons are expensive, so that collection is going to grow very slowly. For a start though, here are a few things in my collection.
Family
Likes/Dislikes
Makeables of ReiAwww, little likenesses of me!  
Normal Red Draik AdoptablesSome appreciation for good ol' basic red!" ^_^ 
Well, that's everything. Gardens are always changing and growing though, so come back any time to visit, and there may be something new to explore! |
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