[SpringsSong]

She had returned to this place once again, after being imprisoned here first, freed by that Goddess of Music of Re'klet, and then she'd been brought back here when she'd awoken as that Windgill Paragon with blindingly-bright green feathers and wings, and now, she had returned once more—this time, on foot, as she could no longer fly.

An’ama could not help but smile as she looked at her reflection in the fountain that she’d spent so much time by as a Hunter, and then when she woke up in the first of her Paragon forms.  However, she recalled that she was not exactly thrilled with the Paragon responsible for her sudden change in forms.

I wonder when Yesac’s gonna show up here… she thought to herself, laughing as she flexed her sail fin before examining the rest of her new form, which included swinging her dangerous tail blades around to get a feel for how it felt to have such a dangerous weapon on her tail.

“I could get used to this…” she smirked.

[1.2]

[SpringsSong]

Yesac could only smile as he heard the footsteps of another Paragon entering the sanctuary, knowing that it would doubtless be An’ama, returning to him.  She’d left a few days before, replaced by one of those Mooncheeka-things and a Bobcat Slynx, and he had been quite devastated.  However, he knew this aura, even though it was in quite a different body than before.

“So, you have finally been allowed to take your true form, dearest…” he said as he stepped out of the shadows, approaching the female SailFin Paragon, a devious smile on his skull as he came to stand in front of her.

“You know, I actually missed you greatly those few days in which your aura was gone from the Fire-Forests, An’ama,” Yesac said as he sat by the fountain, his yellow eyes gleaming as he curled his tail close to his body to ward off the cold outside.  “It must be quite different for you without wings, though—that’ll make your usual bit of getting about to cause havoc a bit harder.”

[1.2]

[SpringsSong]

“I think I could live with not being able to fly, Yesac; at least, to a point,” An’ama said, laughing as she walked over to him, glad for the flames that were coming from his tail.  “And plus, even if I needed to fly somewhere, I don’t think I’d need to ask you twice if I could catch a ride with you, yeah?” she asked, a devious smile on her face as she sat down beside him, taking one of his claws into hers as she winked.

“Plus, I don’t think we’d need to stray too far to cause a little trouble today.  It’s been a while since I’ve been here, and I’m sure there’s a few Hunters that are still hiding out around here that would not believe me if I told them that I was the Emerald Hunter that left Basantha bound to a Goddess of Music.  I think they’d find it amusing that I was claiming to be a Hunter.”

[1.4]

[SpringsSong]

Yesac could not help but laugh as An’ama said what she did, but that was because he expected it from her.

“Oh, An’ama; I figured that you’d say something like that,” he said, gently rubbing his skull against her head, a deep rumble coming from his chest.  “Well, you are the Goddess of Trickery; although it’s not a trick, it would still be amusing to introduce yourself as the Goddess of Trickery who used to be an Emerald Hunter—they’d doubtless say that there was no way you could trick them into thinking you’d been a Hunter before, especially since you are no longer bound to Aila.”

[1.4]

[SpringsSong]

"Oh, let them say what they will.  Once I describe to them how it felt to be bound to someone else, they'll know that it's me, whether or not I still share my bond with Aila or not.  Sometimes, I can still feel her--I don't think that it'll ever go away, you know?  But now I can only feel her when she's unexplainably happy or grieved beyond belief," she said, laughing slightly as she slammed her tail against the ground.

"Who are you to think you can destroy our home?" a voice called angrily, and a small pack of Hunters began to emerge from the shadows.  "What makes you think you can strike this sacred stone with those blades?"

"I was once one of you," An'ama said confidently.  "I was freed, but now I've returned."

[1.6]

[SpringsSong]

Well, Yesac had to hand it to An'ama.  She was bold, and when she wanted something, she wasn't afraid to go after it.  The same could be said in social situations: when she was bent on convincing someone one way or another, she would do her best to sway even the most stoic person she knew.  This was one instance that he could tell, no matter how hard the Paragon tried, though, it would push her to her limits to convince these Hunters that she was once one of them.

"If it does any good," Yesac said boldly, "I was there when she formed her bond with the woman who freed her.  Though she has since been free of this bond, I was there and can verify that it happened."

"Oh, can you, now?" one of the Hunters spat.  "if you were a Hunter, female, then what was your Hunter name?"

[1.6]

[SpringsSong]

"An'ama Ver'tina.  That was my Hunter name," An'ama said, holding her head proudly.  "I know that some Hunters who would be as fortunate as me, to be freed and then to change forms, would love nothing more than to abandon their Hunter name, but I proudly own mine to this day.  I will not deny what I was before this," she said, looking at the Hunter who appeared to be the leader of the group.

"I recognize your name!" one of the other Hunters said, leaping up to speak to the leader.  "She is who she says she is.  I remember watching her as she went after Aila, her bond-mate, for the first time, to pick up on her persuasion techniques."

"Did you?" the leader said.  "Well, there's only one was I can verify that--looking into both of their memories, since the male claims he was present."

[1.8]

[SpringsSong]

Yesac stared blankly at the Hunter for a few moments; did she seriously not trust that An'ama was who she said she was?  It didn't matter, though; Yesac was virtually an open book for the Hunter that decided she was going to take up the task of reading his memories.  She only had to look for a few seconds; Yesac had the memory readily accessible at the top of his memory bank, and when she gave a yelp, he grinned devillishly.

"Was that good enough for you, madam?  Or would you like to touch Death's memories again?" he asked, his voice slightly threatening as he said this.

"You... you would be wise to believe what the Sailfin female says," the Hunter said.  "Not only can it be verified through both my companion and this Grim, something... something is odd about him..."

[1.8]

[SpringsSong]

An'ama stared at the leader of the Hunters carefully, her eyes confident as the other Hunter verified what Yesac saw.  However, the Hunter still walked confidently (and almost haughtily) up to the Sailfin and began combing through her memories, leaving absolutely no stone unturned as she searched for the memory she was looking for.

"Ah, there we are..." the Hunter said, watching the memory closely as she saw an Emerald Hunter walk up to a female dressed in purple and black, and then, the bond took place.  She then watched with interest as the the Hunter turned into a Windgill, and then, the Sailfin that was standing before her.

"Now, is your curiousity satisfied," An'ama asked, "or will my mate have to show you more of his powers?"

[2.0]

[SpringsSong]

When the leader of the Hunters gave only a nod in response to An'ama's question, Yesac smiled as he beckoned to An'ama, smiling as he began to walk away.  "Come with me, my love," he said.  "Let us go away from these Hunters and go somewhere else."

As he said this, he began to walk away from the Hunters and into a different part of the Shrine, his yellow eyes gleaming brightly as he beckoned her forth.  While she was Trickery, he himself was not entirely foreign to tricks.  Did he have something up his sleeves?

[2.0]