The day was coming to a close as the sun slowly lowered to rest behind the towering trees. Below the canopy of deep green, it was already dark and growing hard to see. The night life was starting to stir; owls hooted in the trees as deer and other animals scurried toward their resting places. A chill wind blew gently through the trees, making the night more nippy than it would have been normally. Somewhere within the dense forest the sound of a pipe could be heard drifting on the winds through the trees.

Nearby one of the many lakes scattered throughout this massive jungle of trees and undergrowth sat a solitary figure perched neatly on top of a large rock that overhung the water. Satin jade-silver hair flowed down it's back and a little way across the rock over a pair of jade feathered wings. Its eyes were closed as its pale, delicate hands moved over the tiny hopes of the ivory pipe that it played. A slender tail covered all over with jade scales and tipped with fur matching the hair on its head swayed gently in the breeze as it hung from the rock. The being's head was adorned by a single golden horn protruding from the area just above its hairline. Long pointed ears stretched from either side of its head as well, occasionally moving with any sudden movement in the brush. That attire that covered this gaunt, frail-looking being consisted of loose white pants, a bell sleeved shirt, and an ankle length tunic which split up either side and in the back. An emerald sash held the tunic in place where the splits ended.

Beside the rock was a brown leather bag that almost resembled a purse with the flap that hung over the opening and leaned against the rock beside the bag was a swallow--a long pole weapon with scythe-like blades curving in opposite directions on each end making a sort of 'S' shape.

She wondered through the soft canopy of trees. The shades of green and browns filled her sight as she walked down the path she had so many times before. Giving a light smile she went off the path and onto her own as the sun set casting everything into hues of dark purples and some reds. Her clawed fingures brushed over the bark of an old willow tree as she made her way to the lake she sat at every night.

Walking out of the thicket of trees she was greeted with a clear sky covered in healthy reds and lavenders. A few stars dotted the sky here and there. It was not night but it was no longer day...it was the time between both; dust.

As the soft light greated her soft features her tender smile turned to a forwn as she saw another sitting at her lake. Her long black hair fell to about above her ass as the crimson highlights glittered in the soft glow. Her cloven feet rested softly on the new found grass as her tail swang back and foth as if a wind was playing with it...as she took a step forward a soft jingle was heard from the beads that hung off one curled black horn. Her pointed ears gave a light twitch on the top of her head...reminding many of little puppys.

She stepped forward with her staff in hand. Walking over she watched her just sitting there. When she got into ear rang and as her soft grey eyes looked her over she spoke "And you would be?"

The music stopped as the small being pulled the pipe away from its lips. The head turned toward the sound of the bells and the voice and slowly its eyes opened. Deep emerald eyes with slit golden pupils stared down at the gray hues below. A soft, gentle voice spoke from the slender lips as tiny fangs glinted int he fading light with each syllable. "Celestine." he responded in a voice almost as feminine in as he appeared.

His ears laid back slightly and he shifted positions upon seeing her staff, pulling away from her and closer to his swallow just in case. Quickly he grabbed his bag, thrusting his pipe inside and starting to stand. His bare feet bore claws as toenails, as did his hands for fingernails. His clothes blew about him in the wind as it picked up, pushing his hair over his shoulder to billow about in front of him. "Who are you?" He asked in that same quiet and cautious tone.

She looked at him with a bit of shock his his lips parted and he spoke...It was a male and not a female as she first thought. When he moved away she noticed the look to her staff and she gave a little smile So hes afriad then She thought to herself as she stood were she was. "My name is Mizuki...I wonder these lands..." She said looking at him "You I have not seen in these parts before...are you new?" She asked as she made her way to the waters edge.

Sitting on the bank she placed her staff down on the ground beside her and placed her cloven feet within the water. The cool refreshing feeling felt good. Reaching her hands in she began to wash them, whiping away the Dirt and grime from a days traveling.

Celestine turned his head, following Mizuki with his gaze as she went to the water's edge. He didn't moved only to sit back down on his knees, though his vigilant eyes never left her. "...I go where I please... I very likely will not be here by tomorrow." He said simply. His jade tail flicked to the side once and he pulled his eyes away from her long enough to look at the sky to see how late it was getting. He had been sitting her for a good hour taking a rest and cleaning himself up a bit.

After a short pause he shifted positions again, jumping from the rock and landing silently on the grass on the other side. He gathered his bag and his swallow throwing the trap of the bag over his shoulder and then grasped his swallow in one hand, looking as if he were ready to leave. "I will leave you to your grooming." He said simply as he started to walk back toward the trees.

She sat there for a moment...then without really thinking she turned and looked at him "Wait...it would be nice...to have some company for a while" She said looking at him. She mentaly cursed herself as the words fell from her lips...what was she thinking? But it was too late to take back the words now. "It...dose get lonely around here...during the night" Standing she lifted her staff and and stood straight. Taking some steps towards the young male she gave a kind smile "Perhaps...some tea?" She said passing him and heading into the thicket of trees herself.

Celestine stared after Mizuki for a moment. Was she serious? He sighed softly and glanced up to the sky again. Well, he had nothing better to do at the moment so he saw little harm in allowing the girl some company, though he wasn't quite sure how well she would enjoy it once she got it. "...Very well." He said simply, as he started after her, though he kept a food six feet of distance between the two of them. Celestine was timid by nature, so he had no desire to get too close to this woman. "You must be pretty desperate for company..." He said simply.

She turned her head and looked at him as she continued to walk. Her hoofs new the forset floor as well as her eyes so she had no fear. "And why would you say that?" She asked simply. That comment alone made her mind twist and turn. It was like a giant puzzle right now...and alot of pieces were missing.

Moving some branches aside from a wheeping willow she gave a smile and gestured him in. Welcome...so my community." She said softly and walked in her self. From the out side it looked nothing more then an old wheeping willow. So old infact that its branches swayed and swept the floor. But if a magical being opened them a whole new world came into view.

She stepped in and looked around giving a light smile. There were merchants out selling there goods while young children ran up and down the streets. Fairys were flying between open windows and some mothers were doing some late night shopping.

"A spell at been placed on this tree along time ago...before even my parents. It was set to protect those that do not have a place within the human world." She gave a soft smile "We live here...in harmony, elfs, fairys, centars...you name it I bet I could point one out to you" She said and began to walk down a street. "Behind those houses are the achers...our farms" she went on giving nods and smiles to those who said hello "And this" She gestured to a large old house. It was in the style of a japanese tempble "Is mine"

Celestine shrugged slightly at her question. "You do not know me at all. I am hardly a conversationalist." He pointed out. When they reached the tree he tilted his head and sighed, not sure that he wanted to spend the night under a tree though what he saw beyond it perked his interest a bit.

He followed Mizuki inside and listened to her explanations as he looked around. Once they reached her house he paused, his mouth falling open for a moment. He followed her to the front door and then paused. "...Dragons." He said simply, "Can you point out one of those?"

She stood there for a moment and thought...then she gave a smile "Yes...I can actually...there are three that live under this tree...two are old but still dragons...one is there neice...young but very lovely...perhaps you would like to meet them?" She asked as she walked into the house. Inside was as elegant as the outside. Rice paper sliding doors blocked entrance into the different rooms. Carvings of birds and simple animals adorned some walls and most suporter posts.

She walked further into the house untill she reached a back deack that held a low table with two chairs, they were sitting across from each other. "Sit please I shall return in a moment" She said and went to fetch the tea.

Celestine tilted his head slightly and then nodded. "Yes... I may like to meet them... depending on which clan they are from." He said simply before following her inside. He looked around at the interior of the house and sighed, feeling very out of place in the house. He was used to staying outdoors almost constantly so being inside was a bit more strange to him.

He sat down as he was asked and leaned his swallow against the back of the chair and then tilted his head. "...Alright, I will wait." he said simply. He sighed as his eyes wandered around the room again and he crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back as much as he could with his wings folded behind him.

She came back a moment later carrying a tray filled with some different things. It had a tea pot with two cups, spoons, milk and sugar but also it had 4 different containers on it. "I forgot to ask you what kind you wanted so I brought some different kinds with me" Placing the container down on the table she walked over to the sliding doors and opened them. A soft breeze came in through the doors as soft sunlight filled the room. The soft sound of running water came along with the laughter of childeran.

Walking back over she took a seat and pointed to the containers. "This is green tea, this one is red. This one is my own blend...and this one is medical. Good for the aches and pains" She gave a little smile and took a cup. She filled it with water and took some of her own blend. Adding a little bit of milk and sugar she let it steep.

Celestine looked out the door and tilted his head slightly when the sunlight poured in. "This world has it's own time?" He asked, "It was night fall outside." he pointed out as he claimed his cup and poured himself some water. He glanced at the different teas and finally settled on the medicinal tea. He was fairly tired and sore in places; his feet aches from walking, his back from sleeping on the hard ground. He watched the leaves steep in the water and sighed softly as they floated about. He added a little sugar and stirred. His ears pinned back slightly as he started almost tiredly at the spinning leaves.

Hmmm she gave a nod "Yes it dose...it has its own time...seasons...everything you could think of. It even expands out beyond what you see" She took a sip of her tea. "Beyond the city to the north lays the mountains of the nekos...to the planes of the east the inu's live in peace. To the lakes in the south the pixies and nymphs live together. And to the west lays my people...magic users and weilders." She placed her cup down. "We all live together...some choose to fight while others hide. It is life...but this village is one of the few left that welcome all kinds..."

Celestine nodded slightly, glancing back up to her. "I see." He said simply, finally picking up his tea and taking a sip once it looked good enough for him. Apparently this place was bigger than it looked.

He sighed again and glanced back toward the door. If someone had told him this morning that he was going to be inside a tree drinking tea with a...well, whatever Mizuki was, he would have thought they were nuts. Finally he decided to ask a few more questions since he was here. "The dragons that you said live here...what clan are they from?"

Celestine was from the wind clan, the jade dragons whose main element was wind. There were five other clans aside from his own: Earth, Fire, Water, Light, and Dark. Each dragon clan harnessed the element specific to their tribe and their appearance was usually a close match as well. The fire tribe commonly consisted of dragons with scales ranging from red to orange hues; water, from dark to light blue; earth from gold to brown; dark from various shades of black or deep purple, and light from white to silver.

((Ehh... sorry if that was confusing. ^^;; ))

She gave a thought for a moment "Well luna, the adopted daughter is from the light clan...Manoki the father is from the fire clan and Roka the mother is from the wind clan..." She gave a smile and thought about it for a moment. "A while ago there was a whole lot of them living up in the north west caves...One day the three showed up here on my door step...Oh I will never forget that night..." She gavew a little shutter and looked out through the doors.

"It was about 1 in the morning and the wind was howling. I was on my way to bed when I heard a thump at my door...So grabbing my staff I went to see what it was." She took a deep breath "It was Manoki and his wife...they were in bad shape...all cut up and bleeding...I asked what happend but I didnt get an answer...Then I saw that Manoki was carrying something. I looked at him and he passed me Luna. She was 1 at the time. She was wrapped up in a bloody blanket and I knew the blood wasent there's."

She took a pause then turend to look at him. "I took them in and healed them...gave them a place to stay for the longest time. Roka had some scratchs and a busted up leg...Monki...ow he was much worse. He lost his left eye and half of his tail...He had some scratches too but nothing as bad as the rest of him." She took some more of her tea "No luna...oh she was the lucky one. She was fine..not a scratch on her. I still marvil over that" She said.

"Later that same day we got news from the nekos...telling us that the dragon caves have been ransacked. Most were killed. They said that it was lucky if even one made it out alive...and yet I had three of them." She gave a mile and looked down at her hands. "I am a dronie..A magic user and harberor. My people have never faced such a thing so I would not know the feeling...of having your kind whiped out before your very eyes." She shook her head. "They live not far from here...I could take you there...Maybe you know them..."

Celestine raised his head and blinked, tilting his head slightly as he listened. That was a very strange mix. Usually, dragons were very territorial and didn't commonly mix with the other clans. "I see..." he said simply.

"No...I don't know any of them, if I did I would only know Roka..." He pointed out, "I am from the wind clan as well." His pointed ears fell back slightly and he sighed. "The dragon clans fight amongst themselves a lot... A long time ago the earth clan attacked the wind clan and nearly wiped out us all... I was still pretty small, but... even at that, I can barely remember anything. All I know is that my hope was destroyed and I haven't seen my family since."

There was one good reason that Celestine couldn't remember anything from the war. His bangs covered it, but bear the hairline above his left eye was a horrible looking scar from where he had been cracked in the head. He was regaining some memory slowly, but most of it was still cloudy and unfocused. He tried to keep it well hidden so that no one would worry about it. He still suffered a few problems from that hit, but it mostly consisted of him just blacking out for no good reason.

"Yes...but here everyone is at peace...they came from the out world and they began to live together...we were all shocked to see it as well...but some of them mated...and had childern...they were half breeds...one part one clan one part another...but they would not have it any other way." She said and grabbed her staff. Looking at him she gave a smile "Its just down the road...not that far...shall we go?"

Celestine sighed softly and stood after a moment. "Alright..." he agreed simply. He wasn't too sure what he thought of the clans mating, since half breeds were commonly looked down upon, but then again, Celestine had never been one to follow social norms, and this obviously wasn't anything like where he had been before. Celestine was a bit of a social outcast, though he could fit in if he really tried, he really hated to try to mingle with people, but he guessed on occasion it couldn't be helped so he would at least try to be social.

He picked up his bag and swallow, not because he thought he would need a weapon, but he was just too used to carrying it with him to leave it behind. "Lead the way..." He said simply as he prepared to follow her out.

She gave a nod and headed out of the house. Starting down the street she began point out different things. Like houses, people, shops. Simple things here and there until they reached were they were going. Walking up she gave a smile as the house came into veiw. She heard a happy laughter and gave a smile. They were out side...good no need to go in the house then. As they came to the gate she raised her hand and gave a nod "Hello everyone!" everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up...as if on cue they said 'Mizuki!' at the same time.

Opening the gate she headed in and gave each of them a hug "How are you all doing today?" She asked and looked at them. "Oh very well my dear...a little sore today but doing good" Roka said with a small smile and a little silt of her head. "And you Manoki?" She asked...and got a shrug and a soft smile. Turning she gave a smile "And you little luna how are you?" The young dragon gave a frown. "I'm not young and you know it! I am 18 you know!" She gave a little huff. "Oh yes how could I forget...it seems just yesterday that you were 1 years old" Looking over her shoulder she saw Celestine. "Oh my how rude of me!" Moving out of the way she motioned to Celestine "This is Celestine" She said. Then looked to roka as she got up and walked over to him. "I know your face..." She said looking him over

Celestine just followed Mizuki, nodding politely whenever she pointed out something, though he wasn't too sure if he would ever be around here long enough to use much of this information, but he took it in anyway.

He watched and almost smiled at how friendly they seemed to be with Mizuki, though he could hardly stand to look at Manoki. His eye looked awful. Once Mizuki finally decided to introduce him he stepped forward and nodded politely to the trio. "Hello." he said simply.

He blinked when Roka came to him and mentioned knowing his face. He looked up to her and tilted his head slightly. To be brutally honest, Celestine was the spitting image of his mother, with a few minor imperfections brought in by his father. His eyes were the same as hers had been, his skin just as pale, and his hair the same silvery-jade color. His ears were more like his father's, but everything else was nearly a perfect match. After a moment he just shook his head. "I do not know how. I have never met you before." He said simply. "You are most likely imagining things... You have been here far too long to have met me." He could do the math in his head. He was nearly two dragon years younger than Luna, and if they had been here since she was one, he was not even hatched before they came here.

Roka looked at him, the shape of his face, the color or his hair and his wings...there was only one dragon that she knew of that looked like that. "No I dont think we have met...I have met some one you know...maybe a relitve?" She said softly and went back over and sat down again within her chair. "Oh it was soo long ago...I would say about 30 years ago. You see I havent lived here all my life...oh no. Before I met Manoki I lived out there...My clan did not aprove of interclan love..."You can only love another wind dragon!" That was my mothers famous line. But then I met manoki and everything changed. I knew we had to get away. We ran into [Insert your mothers name here] and she begged me not to go...it broke my heart to leave her"

She gave a deep sigh then a soft smile as Manoki grabbed her hand telling her that it was alright. "After running for a year we bumped into some other dragons...they told us about this place but we thought it too good to be true...but they showed us. We lived in the north west caves for many a moons until.." She stopped when she heard a growl. Turning her head she looked at Manoki whos soft face turned hard... "Until the attack happend...then we came here...the last safe havean...and we met muzuki...since then she has let nothing happen to us...and became a mother to luna" She gave a smile and looked at him. "I knew right away that I knew you...it just took me a moment to know from where.

Celestine stared at Roka for a moment, his mouth handing open as he listened. "...Celeste..." He muttered quietly. He knew that name... it was so similar to his. He had been named after his mother as well, though he was having trouble putting a face with that name. "...Celeste...That...that is...my...my mother..." He said finally, though he almost made it sound like a question. He could remember his father's name fairly easily; it was carved into the handle of the swallow that he carried: Enlil.

His ears pinned back a little as he stared at Roka and then he shook his head. "You would have been little better off staying where you were." he said simply, "There isn't much left of the wind clan, and everyone apparently relocated... I have no idea where they went. The earth clan decided to stir up trouble, and I guess you know with their size compared to ours, there wasn't much left of Thuuli when they were finished." Thuuli was the main area where the wind clan had resided. Wind dragons were relatively small compared with some others, like the earth dragons, and those two clans had never gotten along very well. "There weren't many survivors that I know of..." Everyone had already been gone by the time he came to and realized what had happened.

Roka looked at him and gave him a soft smile. "Not many that you know of. Most dragons now know of this place. They come from far and wide seeking peace within this world. I heard of the attack at that time, and was scared. I did not know what happened to Celeste...If she lived...if she was dead...my reasources only went so far. So I put a party together...we were going to find out. Some of the fellow dragons and I grabbed out weapons and headed to the out world." She gave a deep breath. "We did not know what we were going to find...what we did find made all of us stare in shock...everything was gone...bodies littered the floor...we found little to no servivers...one was Celeste. She lived for about one year but her wounds were to great for her body and she left us. She is barried out in the north west dragon grounds. I would take you to see her grave...if you liked." Her eyes then lit up and she went inside...there was some russeling then she came out with an old book. "When we found her...she was clutching this to her chest...It was her journal...she gave it to me when she died...I think though...it would do better in your hands..." She handed him the book with the softest of smiles.

Celestine just stood there, looking near sick. He had assumed that his parents were dead, but knowing for certain nearly made his stomach churn. His ears twitched as he listened to the rustling about inside the house and he looked at her for a moment when she came back out. His eyes went to the book when she held it out. He just stared at it blankly. Slowly, he raised one shaking hand to take it, but before he touched it he balled up his hand and dropped his fist back to his side. He didn't even make eye contact with any of them again before he spun about and started back toward the gate in a fast paced walk.

He didn't know what to say now or how to react. Was he supposed to cry, be angry, be relieved? He wasn't even sure exactly how he felt at the moment, but he didn't think he wanted to do whatever he was going to end up doing in front of a bunch of perfect strangers.