Topic: A Little Bit of History

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-19 13:17 EST
There was something very ....empty ....about the Shanachie Theater when there wasn't a performance in progress, or a rehearsal happening. It was filled with the ghosts of roles played, the echoes of songs sung and soliloquies enacted. It could have been spooky, if it weren't for the fact that Fliss had been all over every inch of the place with the STARS. She'd had a moment of genius when she and Lucas had been discussing their latest assignment. They'd already decided to visit the Divining Shoreline, just for kicks, but the real clincher was in this visit. After all, where else could you find a real ghost who didn't mind talking when it was quiet'

Sitting in the circle, Fliss flashed Lucas a grin. "Ready?" she asked impishly.

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea, Fliss," Lucas confessed, not exactly scared, but definitely a little nervous. Maybe if they'd asked permission to be there, he might have felt a little better about it, but it wasn't so much that as it was the idea that they were looking to interview a ghost, of all things - and it wasn't even Halloween! It was like two kids sneaking into a haunted house on a dare, except that they hadn't been dared, and it wasn't that kind of haunting - or so Fliss had said. "What if she doesn't want to be disturbed?" he asked, not exactly skeptical. He'd seen too many weird things in Rhy'Din to be skeptical, including some of his classmates and teachers. Then again, this was nothing compared to their last assignment, which involved exploring the Imp's Little Shop of Horrors.

"If she doesn't want to be disturbed, then she won't come out," Fliss shrugged, supremely unconcerned about how close to the line of legal they were skirting by not actually having permission to be here. No wonder Johnny had taken to calling her his Mini-Me on occasion. "Just ....so long as we don't ask her anything too personal, I don't see why she'd have any problem telling us about this area and what it was like when she was alive. It was built for her, after all."

"Yeah, about that ..." Lucas started, obviously feeling a little reluctant about this whole idea, but then, between their two families, he was definitely the one that was the goody-two-shoes of the bunch. "I don't know much about her or the theater at all," he admitted. Fliss was the one who was in STARS; Lucas' extra-curricular activities revolved around the beach, not the theater.

"Maybe we could ask her about it," Fliss suggested. "The only thing Mataya says no one should ask her about is how she died. Apparently it's this big dark secret, and it'll upset her to talk about it."

Lucas wasn't sure what the point was of talking to a ghost if you couldn't ask them how they'd died, but he could understand why it might upset her, too. "That makes sense, I guess. I mean, don't people become ghosts because they have unfinished business or something?" He wondered if he could ask her that much.

"I guess so," Fliss mused thoughtfully. "I never really thought about it. I wonder what hers is?" If she'd been paying attention, she might have noticed that it was a little colder near them than it should be, but as it was, the sudden formation of Hortense's accustomed form in front of them made her yelp and jump in her seat.

The Grey Lady of the Shanachie Theater turned to look at the two teenagers with a faint smile. "Why don't you ask me and find out?"

Lucas had noticed the chill, but hadn't thought much of it, thinking it was just a draft of something. The building was pretty old, after all, but then most of this part of town seemed even older. He echoed Fliss' yelp and mirrored her yelp, grabbing tighter hold of her hand. Despite the fact that they'd come here to meet the ghost, he'd had his doubts whether she'd actually appear, or if she even existed.

"Uh ..." Suddenly at a loss for anything to say, Fliss held tightly to Lucas' hand. It had seemed like a good idea at the time - let's talk to the theater ghost. Now that Hortense was right there in front of them, she had no idea what to say.

The ghost smiled at the frightened pair, solidifying a little more for their peace of mind. "Shall we make this a little more usual?" she suggested in a gentle voice. "My name is Hortense Docquey. A pleasure to meet you. And you are?"

Oddly, though this had been Fliss' idea, it was Lucas who found his voice first. "I-I'm Lucas Foster, and this is Fliss ....Felicity Storm. We're students at Bristle Crios Academy," he explained further.

"How lovely," Hortense replied to the polite, if nervous, response to her initial greeting. "And what are you studying there that might bring you here, young man?"

Beside Lucas, Fliss bit her lips, glancing at her boyfriend. She was a little bit in shock, if she had to admit it. She'd never really thought Hortense would show up.

Maybe that was why Lucas was the one who'd spoken up first. Though he was newer to Rhy'Din, he'd half expected Hortense to show up, where Fliss had not. Maybe he was finally getting used to some of the weirdness that was Rhy'Din. After all, there were worse things in Rhy'Din than a theater ghost. "History, ma'am. The History of Rhy'Din," he replied dutifully.

Hortense's smile gentled. "Ah, I see. And you would like to speak to me about that history?"

Finally finding her voice, Fliss swallowed. "Um, yes, ma'am," she nodded, following Lucas' lead on how to address the dead woman in front of them. "We ....we're supposed to be doing an assignment about Dockside, and, well, this area is apparently part of Dockside, and ....I guess I got cocky. Sorry."

Hortense shook her head, laughing softly. "Never apologize for natural curiosity," she told them. "But I can remember when this was not part of Dockside."

Lucas gave Fliss' hand a reassuring squeeze, reminding her he was right there. Frightened as they were, this was exciting, too, and he would never have dared without Fliss. "When it wasn't part of Dockside?" he asked curiously. That wasn't something that had been part of Ms. Tolmay's lessons, as far as he could remember.

"Rhy'Din was not always as it is now," Hortense told them. "When I came here, this area was just a small village, on the outskirts of a small town. A city does not simply come into being. It begins as a hamlet, a village, a town. It grows, and absorbs other villages, other towns, until they are so connected that the place can only be called a city."

"How long ago was that?" Lucas asked, even more curious. Somehow remembering that they were supposed to be taking notes, he let go of Fliss' hand so he could rummage in his pack for pen and paper.

Hortense watched as the boy rummaged for his notebook, as the girl blinked in surprise and hurried to do the same. She waited patiently for both of them to be ready, and began to talk. "I came here in 1885," she told them. "I was newly married, and my husband took rooms in a hotel across the street from the land on which he was building our home. The hotel is long gone - it was destroyed in a fire, oh, eighty years ago now. But the building was restored, at least in its facade. I believe it is an apartment block now."

"Were you born here on Rhy'Din?" Lucas asked, as he scribbled some notes on his notepad, taking note of what she was telling them so he wouldn't forget. "This was your home?" he asked, lifting his head to regard her as she told them her story.

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-19 13:18 EST
"On the planet of Rhy'Din, yes," Hortense confirmed. "A small town that has been almost completely forgotten by now, a few miles to the south of here. This place has always been the nexus of the universe, but it is only in the last hundred years or so that people have chosen to stay when they stumble through the portals. In my youth, it was commonplace to take a person back to the portal they had come through and send them home without telling them where they were or how they had come to be here."

Both brows lifted in further curiosity, not having expected that bit of information. "When did that change ....and why?" Lucas asked, his natural curiosity and interest precluding any fear he might have been feeling. The theater ghost might just make the most interesting interview subject yet!

"I could not say why it changed," she apologized softly. "I died in 1892, not so very long after coming here. But from what I have observed, and from what I have overheard through the years ....it would seem that there was a period across the multiverse when homeworlds seemed to erupt into civil war with themselves. Specifically human civilizations seemed to be most badly affected. Those who came through the portals at that time ....they fought not to be sent back, and of course, as the population increased, the city began to grow, and acceptance of newcomers became the done thing."

"You were ....human?" Lucas asked, for lack of a better word. At least, she appeared to have once been human. He wondered what Rhy'Din natives had been like long before beings from other worlds and realities started pouring through the portals, but that might have been ever before her time.

"Yes, I was," the ghost nodded. "But this planet has always been home to a myriad of different races. When I was alive, we were deeply intolerant of anyone who did not appear humanoid - that is to say, anyone who did not walk upright on two legs. I have heard it likened to racism, the way we behaved. We simply did not accept the unalike."

Fliss looked up from her notes, fascinated by this viewpoint. "You said this area wasn't part of Dockside," she said, steering them back toward the main focus of their conversation. "Did Dockside exist back then?"

Lucas flushed as he realized he'd deviated from the subject they'd come here to ask her about - Dockside and the building that had become the Shanachie Theater. He ducked his head, scribbling a few more notes while Fliss refocused on the subject at hand.

"It did," Hortense told them, seemingly amused by the two teens and their scribbling. "This river has been a trading center for generations; it was the main source of income when I was a girl. Goods came down the river from the crafters inland, and went up the river from the ships that docked at the harbor. It was only natural that dwellings should proliferate along the banks of the river."

Not unlike cities on Earth, Lucas mentally noted, where ports had sprung up and cities around them, ships following trades routes via ocean and river. Over time, the city of Rhy'Din had become a hub of activity on a planet of the same name. "What about the history of the theater" You said your husband had once built it?" he asked, further.

Hortense's smile turned bittersweet, regretful as she looked back on the last years of her life. "He had inherited the land from his first wife," she explained to them. "There was nothing here, and the land wasn't suitable for farming. Not that it truly mattered; Terens made his fortune as a trader, and he was very good at it. When we were married, he said it was his intention to provide me and his daughter from his first marriage with a home of our own, a home we could be proud of and feel safe in when he was away on business. He built a mansion; he had the gardens created from nothing. In a single year, he had created the home we wanted. It was a grand place, all baroque beauty and gothic style, the height of fashion at the time." She looked around at the auditorium with a sad glint in her eyes. "I often wonder what he would have made of knowing that it is now a theater."

Whatever it was that had caused her death, it seemed her husband had not shared her fate - or at least, it did not seem he was stuck here with her between life and death. Lucas sympathized with her sadness, but wasn't sure if there was anything they could do to help and was too afraid to ask. "It gives people a lot of joy," he pointed out helpfully.

"It does," she agreed. "It was never intended to sit empty for a hundred years or more, and yet it did. Until a very determined woman decided to make my home a theater, and bring happiness back inside its walls." She considered them for a moment. "Well, then, let me tell you about the mansion, and the world it inhabited ..."

As the two teens listened and scribbled their notes, she spoke. She told them about the area as it had been in her youth, who had lived there, how they had lived. She told them how the area had begun to change, even in her own lifetime, with the building of the mansion, and the arrival of newcomers from the port and the town that had been Rhy'Din's starting point. Skimming over her own death, she told them the story of how the city had grown to encompass this area, and how, eventually, it had become a part of the district known as Dockside. She told them everything she could recall, only too happy to answer their questions as she went.

By the time she was through, Lucas and Fliss had more than enough information for their assignment, though they still planned on exploring Dockside a little more before they were through. There was one thing that Lucas didn't understand, besides Hortense's death, and that was what kept her here in the theater, instead of moving on to wherever it was she was supposed to move on to, but he didn't want to upset her by asking.

"Thank you so much for talking to us," Fliss thanked the ghostly woman, still mildly astonished that her silly suggestion had actually produced such an amazing source of information for a history class. "We really appreciate it."

Hortense smiled her sad smile, her form beginning to fade into transparency as she looked at the pair. "I wish you both well with your assignments," she told them. "I have enjoyed your visit."

"We can come visit again, if you like," Lucas was quick to volunteer. Though he thought it might be better to ask permission next time, he doubted Ms. De Luca would deny their request, especially since Fliss was part of STARS. Lucas had considered trying out, but his shyness prevented it, and he didn't want to stifle Fliss by becoming her shadow.

"I would like that." Hortense inclined her head to them both. "You should go, before you are caught somewhere you are not supposed to be."

Fliss bit her lip, giggling at being warned to escape adult authority by a ghost. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Yes, thank you," Lucas echoed, frowning a little as he watched the ghost disappear from view, evaporated like so much smoke until she disappeared all together. "Why do you suppose she's stuck here?" he asked, turning to Fliss.

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-19 13:20 EST
Tearing her eyes from the now empty space where Hortense had been, Fliss frowned thoughtfully as she met her boyfriend's eyes. "I don't know," she mused. "Maybe it's got something to do with how she died. But she seems pretty at peace with the whole ....being dead thing."

"It must be lonely though, don't you think?" he asked, though now that the mansion her husband had built for her had become a theater, there was certainly more to keep her entertained than there was before.

"I couldn't imagine being that alone," Fliss answered quietly. "Always being on the outside, looking in, even when you're in the middle of the stage in the middle of a show. It's so sad."

"I wonder if there's some way we could help," Lucas mused aloud. Even if it was only coming to visit now and then and keep her company. "Maybe we should talk to Ms. De Luca about it," he suggested further. It was her theater, after all, and she probably knew more about the ghost than anyone else.

"That's a good idea," she agreed, tucking her notebook and pen back into the pocket of her coat. "C'mon, let's scoot before people start showing up for rehearsals and stuff."

He nodded, shoving his notebook and pen into his backpack and pulling it over his shoulder as he moved to his feet. The last thing they wanted was to get caught and asked what they were doing in here.

It wasn't difficult to get out of the theater - Fliss just flashed a sweet smile and a beautifully faked sob story for Elouise, the owner of the cafe, and she let them out that way, complete with free sandwiches to get them home in one piece. "I love the Shanachie," Fliss informed Lucas with a grin around a mouthful of bread and ham. "They're all so nice."

"How many people do you know there?" Lucas asked as they stepped out into the cool, spring afternoon and took a bite of his own sandwich. He knew she was involved with STARS and must have met quite a few of the actors by now. At least one of them lived with them on the grounds of Maple Grove, but Lucas was not the social butterfly Fliss was.

"I wouldn't say I know anyone, but I can talk to most of the folks there," she admitted, shoulder to shoulder with him as they passed through the Shanachie's park to the main road. "I mean, there's Elouise at the cafe, and Blue who runs the bars. And Mataya, and her brother, and Charles, the manager guy. Yasmin, too. You've met Jonathan Granger yourself. I think I probably know more of the crew than the actors, really."

"So, are you hoping to become an actress someday?" he asked further. It was a question he'd been meaning to ask for a while, but for some reason, the time had just never seemed right. He'd been thinking a lot about the future lately, but that's what you did when you were seventeen and it was time to make some important choices.

"Oh, God, no!" Fliss laughed, tucking her hand into his as they walked along. "I enjoy it, don't get me wrong, but there's no way I could do it for a living. It's just so ....exposing. And Kaylee's been really nice about me not wanting to go professional with the singing, too. She said I should do whatever appeals to me, so long as I explore my potential."

"I've been thinking about it, too. I like painting and working at the shop, but I don't think I want to do it for a living," he confessed, taking the last bites of his sandwich as they walked along hand in hand.

"What sort of thing are you thinking about doing?" she asked curiously, pulling a map out of her pocket to check they were going in the right direction. Neither one of them had even known that the Divining Shoreline existed before class this week, so it paid not to get lost today.

"I'm not sure yet, but I'm thinking about getting into something medical. An EMT maybe, or a rescue squad worker. I want to do something to help people. I'm just not sure what yet," he told her, with a serious look on his face. He'd always thought he'd want to be an artist of some sort, but the older he got, the more he wanted to do something to help people.

"Wow." Smiling, it was obvious that Fliss was impressed with his change of heart. She squeezed his hand fondly. "Well, Dad could get you into the clinic at the Old Temple Fire Station. You could shadow one of their EMTs, or even one of the nurses - you know, see if that really is what you'd like to do."

"You think so?" he asked, face brightening at the prospect. "It's not that I don't like working at the surf shop, but I just don't see myself doing that for the rest of my life, you know" Anyway, what about you? Any idea what you'd like to do when you're done with school?"

"It's not like Tommy would begrudge you making a career for yourself," she pointed out with a smile. "Hell, knowing him, you might end up on his speed dial for emergency medical issues." She giggled at that thought, though it wasn't far-fetched - both Tommy King and Jack Granger seemed to prefer dealing with people they knew when it came to their families. Lucas' query made her smile fade a little nervously. "Okay, but you need to keep this under your hat for a while," she warned him ruefully. "Mom might not like it very much. But, uh ....I think I wanna be a firefighter. Like Dad. I've got an advantage that could really help people, you know?"

"Really?" Lucas asked, sounding a little surprised, but then it made perfect sense. A smile touched his face as he realized a few things. "Your Dad is gonna love that," he told her, though he knew her mother might not be so happy about it, if only because it was dangerous. "Is he still teaching you stuff?" he asked curiously, knowing her father had been teaching her how to control her flame and learn to fly.

"Yeah, he is," she nodded. "Like how to absorb the heat out of a fire and kill it, things like that. Stuff that's useful to know, but he probably doesn't think I'm even contemplating following in his footsteps. I have no idea how to tell him, or Mom, that's what I'm thinking about. Their reactions are gonna be off the charts in different directions."

"Maybe we should spend a few days at the fire station, see how things work, see if it's really what we both want to do," he suggested, though she was considering becoming a firefighter, while he was thinking about rescue or paramedics.

"I think that's a pretty cool idea," she agreed, although it would mean telling her parents what she wanted to do with her life a little sooner than she'd originally planned. "I'm not gonna lie - I love learning, but I'm just not cut out for this academic stuff. I'm better at the hands on, practical stuff we do, and I retain it better, too. Being a firefighter, I'd only have to study things like policies and safety updates, and those have real practical applications."

"I wish I was as sure as you about what I want to do," he said, with a sigh. He didn't want to admit it, but the wings on his back often seemed like more of a nuisance than anything else. What was the point of having them if he couldn't put them to good use, but how" It was something he'd been thinking about ever since his brother had suggested they become superheroes.

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-19 13:21 EST
"But that's the point of being a teenager, Luc," she pointed out, checking the street signs before drawing him onto a street that declined gently downward toward the sound of the sea. "You don't have to know what you want to do. Lots of people don't know what they want to do with their lives, and they turn out just fine." She gently bumped his shoulder. "I have faith in you."

"But at some point, we have to decide, Fliss," he countered, smiling a little shyly at her praise. "I have faith in you, too," he returned as they started across the street. "You don't really think this is gonna work, do you?" he asked, regarding their destination. He didn't think there was much difference between the Divining Shoreline and a Ouija Board, really.

"Who says what we decide has to be the only decision we make about it for the rest of our lives?" she countered warmly. "What if being a firefighter doesn't suit me" I can always change my mind, Luc, and so can you." She flashed him a fond smile, glancing ahead as he spoke again. "Well, no, I don't think it is," she laughed, then sobered abruptly. "But then ....I didn't think Hortense was going to show up."

"Do you know what you're going to ask?" he said, his cheeks flushing, presumably because of the chill in the air. He'd already decided what he was going to ask, but he wasn't so sure he wanted her to know.

"Yeah, I know," she chuckled. "Well, I could ask why Mom's suddenly gone neat freak on my bedroom in the last few weeks, but I figure that one will answer itself eventually. So I thought I'd ask if that dragon egg is the real deal or not. Doesn't matter if I don't get a straight answer, either."

Lucas only had one possible answer to that question, though he wasn't sure if it was the right one. "Maybe she's pregnant again," he suggested, though Baby Bess was only a few months old. "I still don't understand how that got there. It's not like it hopped into your backpack."

"Oh God, I think if she was pregnant again, she'd be really freaked out," Fliss laughed out loud, shaking her head. "She's really got her hands full with all of us." His comment on the dragon egg made her shrug. "And we didn't steal it, exactly. I didn't put it in my bag, and you didn't, and Dad was haggling for those silly glasses. So the only way it could have gotten into my bag is if one of those imps put it there, right' So it was a gift."

"I guess," Lucas admitted, somewhat reluctantly, but there was no other explanation really. He was torn as to whether he was hoping it was real or not. He'd been the one who'd thought it was cool to begin with, but if it was real, a baby dragon would presumably grow into an adult dragon one day. "You realize if it's real, it's got a mother out there somewhere who's missing an egg."

"See, that wouldn't make any sense," Fliss pointed out. "If the mommy dragons are anywhere near here, then Imp's would have been leveled ages ago when they tried to get their eggs back."

"Well, a female dragon had to have laid the eggs, right' So, how did they end up at the shop?" Lucas countered. He didn't want to think that maybe someone had killed the mother to steal the eggs, but it was a possibility, and if that was the case, then when the egg finally hatched - if it ever hatched - the baby dragon that emerged would be an orphan.

"I don't know!" she protested, feeling a little like she was on trial all of a sudden. "Am I supposed to know where it came from' I don't even know how it got into my bag, Luc!"

"I'm just trying to figure it out!" he exclaimed in return. He hadn't mean to accuse her of anything; he was just trying to sort it all out in his head. They'd been joking about getting a dragon egg for Alex, but had decided it wasn't a good idea, and when they got home, there it was in Fliss' backpack, like magic.

It was a wonder Liv hadn't found it yet, really, given how suddenly clean and tidy Fliss' bedroom had become in recent weeks. It was almost as though Liv was trying to guilt her eldest into keeping her personal space tidy by overdoing it. "Maybe we could go and visit a real dragon, then," she suggested. "Find out from them if the dragon eggs Imp sells are stolen or whatever."

"A real dragon?" Lucas echoed, looking suddenly alarmed by that idea. Being new to Rhy'Din, he didn't know much about dragons and they hadn't really been covered in any of his classes. He knew there were friendly dragons, benevolent dragons even, but he had no idea how or where to find one.

"Hey, maybe the prof could help us find one," Fliss teased him gently, nudging her elbow against his ribs as they passed out from the line of buildings and onto what was apparently the Divining Shoreline. She looked around curiously. "Huh."

"Maybe," he admitted, though he wasn't sure what Professor Tolmay would say if they told her they were in possession of a dragon egg.

"Oh, lighten up a little, Luc. The world is not going to end just because we don't always communicate clearly with each other." She grinned, tugging him down into a soft kiss before moving away along the sand. "How do we know if this really is the Divining Shoreline?"

He was about to protest and assure her that he wasn't worried that they had disagreed. He'd only been considering her suggestion. He blinked out of those thoughts as she kissed him, his thoughts turning back to her and their arrival at the shoreline. He looked toward the water, where the tide was slowly rolling back and forth in an almost musical rhythm. "We ask a question?" he ventured.

"Hmmm." Fliss considered their options. "I guess that really is the only way. What did the prof say again? You write your question in the sand, and then water washes it away and leaves an answer behind?" She raised a brow quizzically in Lucas' direction, wondering if they had to do it with a finger or if there were sticks around here they could use.

"Yeah, I think so," he replied, a little nervously. "I guess we better find some sticks," he suggested, reading her facial expression more than her mind. The question he wanted to ask was kind of personal, and he wasn't sure he wanted Fliss to know he was asking it, but it was either ask now or come back another time, and he wasn't sure it would work a second time.

"There's gotta be something we can use," she agreed, moving to explore the tideline. There were plenty of sticks around, even a few that were sturdy enough to write in the sand with. "So ....I guess we find a place where the water's gonna come up and wash it away, and try and write it in between waves?"

"I guess so," he replied, uncertain once again, though that seemed the obvious thing to do. He hadn't asked what she planned on asking, nor had she asked him. There were so many questions he could ask - some serious, some not so serious - but there was only one question that seemed really important to him at the moment, and it had nothing to do with his future career path.

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-19 13:23 EST
Luckily for Lucas, Fliss knew her boyfriend's mannerisms pretty well by now. She could tell when he didn't really want her to know what he was planning on doing or saying. She gave him a gentle nudge. "You go there," she suggested, pointing to a smooth patch of sand that was damp enough to suggest waves passed over it, but so far hadn't been washed since they'd got there. "I'll find another place. That way we can get it done and go home sooner."

"Okay." He nodded before setting off a short distance away. No argument there, though he was a little curious what she was going to ask. Wouldn't it be funny if they both asked the same question' But he didn't think that would happen, and he worried that maybe he was taking things a little too seriously ....again.

Smiling, Fliss wandered along the shoreline, finally crouching down to scratch her question into the sand. She wasn't asking anything deeply personal, or even anything particularly important; even if the Divining Shoreline worked the way it was supposed to, she didn't think she wanted to know the answer to her important questions too soon. Fifteen was definitely too soon to be thinking about marriage and children, after all, and she'd already decided what she was going to do with her life. And her siblings' problems were not something she was going to write in the sand. No, her question was very simple ....Will my dragon egg hatch"

She stepped back, discarding her stick to put her hands in her pockets. Fliss didn't really think this was going to work, but what the hell ....it would make for an entertaining anecdote on the end of her essay for this week. The waves rolled in, the white crest pouring up the beach to bleed into the sand and wipe away her query, just barely touching the toes of her boots. And as the water bled away once again, her question was, indeed, gone. There were new words there. Fliss' jaw dropped as she read them. There is no egg.

Meanwhile, Lucas was struggling with his own question. He could have asked any number of things - whether he passed History Class, whether he graduated with honors, if he should ask Fliss to prom, if he should pursue a career in medicine, whether his father would ever come around and join them in Rhy'Din, if his mother was happy here. Though he was still young, with his whole life ahead of him, when it was time to scratch his question in the sand, there was only one thing he really wanted to know. Does Fliss love me"

He had a feeling Fliss' question wasn't half as serious as his, and though he should already know the answer, his young heart yearned for some affirmation. It never occurred to him that all he really had to do was ask her. She was wearing his ring, after all, and she spent all her free time with him. It should have been answer enough, but for a young man who had watched his parents' marriage fall apart and come to a place where he felt like a stranger, it wasn't that easy. He held his breath as he waited for the waves to come up and wash away his question, hopefully leaving behind the answer he wanted to see. As the water washed over the words he had scratched in the sand, new words appeared, a little cryptic, perhaps, but an answer, nonetheless. Is lifelong companionship love"

Still puzzling over the answer to her question, Fliss came wandering back along the shoreline as the waves washed away his answer, too late to see the response he had been given. "That was ....interesting," she admitted, coming up to stand beside him. "Did you get an answer?"

Lucas' hands were shoved in his pockets, the feathers of his wings stirring in the breeze, even as they remained tucked against his back. He blinked a few times at her approach, as if to blink back tears, though if asked, he'd likely blame it on the sun or the wind. "Yeah," he replied, though he was still puzzling over what the answer might mean. Did it just mean they'd be lifelong friends, or did it mean something more" And yet, he'd never expected anything more than friendship, and even if that was all she had to give him, he'd be ever grateful for it. "You?" he asked, in return.

"Yeah," she said, drawing the word out thoughtfully. She knew he probably wouldn't tell her what his question had been, and she wasn't going to ask. "I ended up asking about the egg, after all. I got there is no egg for an answer. What do you suppose that means?"

"There is no egg?" he echoed, furrowing his brows in confusion. "But ....That doesn't make any sense. Is the egg a fake then?" he wondered aloud, as puzzled as she was by the sea's response.

"I don't know." Fliss chuckled, insinuating her hand into his pocket to tangle her fingers with his. "Either it's not real, or it's gone, or something else. Or the magic sand is playing with me." She shook her head cheerfully. "C'mon, let's go home. We've got plenty for our assignment."

Lucas considered all that, realizing there was one possible solution neither had considered. "Or it's hatched," he suggested. As unlikely as it seemed, it did seem like the most logical explanation - if the Divining Shoreline was telling the truth.

Fliss paused, looking up at him in vague alarm. "Which means there's a newborn dragon in my room," she pointed out, a little worried by this thought. "And Mom's home with the baby."

Whatever it was Lucas had been about to ask her about his own divination was forgotten in the wake of that realization. "We better go then," he said, reaching for his pack and slinging it over his shoulder before retaking her hand.

"I really need to get a suit like Dad's," she muttered, stepping close enough to curl her arms around Lucas' neck. It wasn't that she didn't like being wrapped up in his arms to fly, but she was capable of flight herself. Unfortunately, her form of flight involved flames, and her clothing never survived the trip.

Lucas, at least, didn't have to worry about his clothes burning up whenever he took flight, but there were other concerns. It wasn't exactly easy carrying around a heavy pair of wings on your back. It made almost everything in life awkward, if not downright uncomfortable. He had to have his clothes custom made, and sitting and sleeping were a challenge because his wings almost always got in the way. But when it came to having to get somewhere in hurry, there was no better form of transportation than flying, and he had to admit it was a little exhilarating, too. Flushing with color as she wound her arms around his neck, he handed her his pack and unfurled his wings, which spread out widely at his sides. "Don't worry. I won't drop you," he assured her, taking a running start before beating those wings to take flight, not unlike a bird or even a dragon.

"What, not even if I start feeling you up in mid-air?" she teased, lifting her feet from the ground as he began to run. Thank goodness she was slight for her age and size, otherwise she would have been too much of a burden for him to have been able to carry her like this, much less to take off while holding her.

It had taken time and practice before he'd mastered flying, and whether he realized it or not, there had probably been at least a little magic involved, too. "Do it at your own risk!" he told her, as the wind found his wings and they soared upwards, turning south toward Maple Grove and home.

((Stay tuned to find out if the Divining Shoreline really did give Fliss a real answer! More to come!)