[Freezair]

"I was a child," Dulce said. "Very young. More or less, I had four years. Things of childhood pleased me. Sweets, toys, games... I lived with my family. I was happy. I did not know of the worries of the adult world. Was very simple."

Esperanza, however, was silent.

"Esperanza?" Dulce lifted her head. "Do you want to tell us?"

From around her neck, Esperanza pulled out a small white pouch. A leather strap drew it closed. It opened only just wide enough for her paws to slip in and out. She reached inside and produced a luminescent pearl. The snow, in the air and on the ground, sparkled and drifted in its milky light.

"I keep wishes," she said softly. "Wishes that cannot be granted. To know my life past... That is my wish that cannot be granted."

[16, 24]

[jobiehanna]

It was hard to believe that Dulce was only four years old when she had died. It was sad as well, such a young girl and her life was over. Well, in the physical world it was. Meeko's eyes saddened with the thought of it, but he was glad that Dulce had enjoyed her childhood, or at least the part she got to live.

Meeko was mesmerized by the pearl that Esperanza pulled from her pouch. It was beaufitul, just like a wish ought to be. "Is that your wish?" He asked, meaning the physical pearl itself. He pointed to the pearl to clarify.

[Freezair]

"Is," Esperanza said. Colors and beams floated through the haze of snow, flying off the pearl. She replaced it slowly, wiggling and worming the glowing sphere to the bottom of the bag. Her nose twitched, sadly and slowly.

"I know my life was real... But don't remember. No one told me I would forget. No one said, 'You will forget your old life.' But I forgot still. You two remember... Anyone say to you, 'you will remember?'"

Dulce shook her head. "Don't know why would forget," Dulce said. "Is as you said. You don't remember, Meeko, you said... There was ever a time you forgot?"

[jobiehanna]

"There are some things that are a little fuzzy," he said. "I remember some of my past, but the longer I live here the more fuzzy it becomes. I know I was a leader with a sled teams of dogs, and I know how I died, but I don't remember all the details of coming back." He thought about it for a little while. "I remembered most of my life," he added. "No one told me I would remember of forget my memories," he finished.

Esperanza not keeping her memories seemed like an odd occurrence, seeing as he and Dulce seemed to keep most of their memories. Maybe it was because she was a keeper of wishes. Meeko didn't really know.

[Freezair]

"Is strange," Dulce observed. "Even Meeko forgets. But if anyone had a reason to remember, is him. He lived a good life; he was a good dog. Should I not forget? I was little, and my death was very tragic. Would be better to allow me to forget. Start new. But no. I remember, and wonder about my mother..."

Esperanza looked into the snowflakes, swirling in the sky. Her deep brown eyes were pensive. Dulce spoke haltingly to her, as she seemed to sense the Diosol was thinking. "...Y... Yes?"

"You believe... That... That I... knew something? Much worse than anything you knew? Something that would stop me granting wishes?

[jobiehanna]

Meeko hadn't really thought about the not remembering thing, he knew the basics, so it didn't really seem to haunt him like it did for the diosol. "Well, perhaps it was that terrible," he said pensively. "What if when you find out and get your wish granted, you can no longer grant wishes?" The thought was a little dark, but maybe that was why it was kept secret from Esperanza. He glanced at Dulce, "Maybe your memory wasn't as scarring as hers, though I admit, yours was pretty traumatizing."

[Freezair]

"Granting wishes..." Esperanza took to the sky in thought. She fluttered around Meeko's head, taking him in: Body, ears, eyes, legs, everything. She moved across him in spirals, inspecting him with a dissecting glance. Her nose twitched in a comforting way, and her eyes were always bright and gentle, if he were to grow worried about her examination. She sighed.

"The first memory I have is this: Woke up in a strange, white place, like cotton. Looked at myself, and I realized I was a Diosol. Was anything else? Believed so, but, was not certain. Then, told was I that I was special... I had something in me that made me suitable for a special job. This job. Maybe... to let out the special thing... I had to forget..."

"Remember something similar!" Dulce suddenly yelped. "Because of what I endured... the cotton room... The voice told me, because something so bad happened to me... I should do this thing I do!" She stared at Esperanza. "Maybe... Maybe you are..." But she trailed off there.

[jobiehanna]

Meeko watched the diosol fluttering about him. Everytime she passed his head, his eyes would go crossed. He would shake his head then continue to watch her again. She seemed interested in him as he just stood there.

"Maybe she is what?" He had followed the conversation up until the talk of the cotton room. He remembered a white room, but he couldn't remember the cotton part the two female's were talking about.

[Freezair]

"Could be we are both special?" Dulce said. "Maybe... maybe you are my sister!"

"You think?" Esperanza said. "But... how would we know?"

"Ask Them!" Dulce said. "We should ask Them!"

"Thought of doing this, of course," Esperanza said, twitching irritably. "But cannot simply 'ask' Them. They are... above us. Beyond us. They are Them."

"All of us here... They favored us, somehow." She held up a claw and indicated both Esperanza and Meeko. "They think something about us... more than other people. Perhaps they will listen."

She looked at Meeko. "What say you, Meeko? Come to the temple with us? We will pray... We will ask Them."

[20, 28]

[jobiehanna]

Meeko was rather startled by this change of thinking between the two females. Perhaps they were sisters, but they would never know. Unless They answered the prayers they wanted to send up. He nodded to the pair and offered a smile. "Of course," he said. "I hope they will help you," he added.

He glanced to the boy on Dulce's back, and wondered if perhaps he should be taken care of before they asked. "But, um, what about the boy?" He questioned the paragon.

[Freezair]

Dulce looked back over her shoulder, and sighed. The little boy still slept soundly.

"Meeko speaks the truth. Have not been diligent in my work. This child must go to his rest."

The tip of her furry tail began to fade, and she looked across her two companions. "Will return," she nodded. "Wait for me, please. When this boy is safe, I will come back." With a flick of her tail and a swish of her wings, Dulce faded into the ether, leaving snow to swirl into the place where she had once been.

Esperanza looked to Meeko. "We shall go in? Will not be long." She picked herself from the snow and faced the temple.

((OOC: Dulce is only leaving for a few posts. I just want her and Esperanza's post counts to even out, so they both level up at the same time. For my sanity's sake. XD))

[21, 29]

[jobiehanna]

Meeko waved farewell to the paragon, "See you soon," he said with a friendly smile. Then he watched as Dulce left them and became invisible to them. "Well, I suppose. No harm in that," he said to the diosol that was left with him. He looked at the temple and wondered where in the temple they were going. "Where exactly are we going in there?" He wasn't sure if there was a special place they had to go or not.

((Alrighty. And I'm sorry my posts are so short.   ))

[Freezair]

"Don't know," Esperanza admitted. "In life... don't know if I prayed or no. Now, not need prayer to reach Them, usually. But if prayer works, then we will try it. This whole place is said to be very holy. But I notice, as I am a spirit..."

She trailed off until they were within the temple. The yellow glow of the candles inside the temple enfolded and warmed her. As with Dulce and the child, few monks seemed to notice her. But her body shivered and her hair bristled, and she suddenly seemed to fill space better than she had. A monk noticed her quickly, and smiled.

"Places that people believe are holy... The servants of Them go to those places, to fulfill the wishes of the people. Thus, the place here that people believe most sacred... probably will be. Wishes are sent to this place, but I am not familiar with it... Are you, Meeko?"

[30]

[jobiehanna]

Meeko followed Esperanza into the temple and decided to go back to his lucain form. He padded behind the diosol as they went in and followed her for a ways. "Well, I don't really know," he said. "I don't come here often," he added with a shrug. "Its often quiet here, so that people can pray in the silence," he said. "But I haven't ever really, ah, prayed," he said softly.

[Freezair]

"Not I have in memory," Esperanza shook her head. "Believe is done by closing the eyes and putting the paws together. Believe you 'think' at the Gods. I believe." She laughed. "Is funny, that I don't know."

She wove through the collections of shrines and effigies within the temple, excusing herself around monks. Eventually, she found a quiet spot. Festooned with more candles than normal, even the monks did not seem to go there unless their faces were very dire. A tall, shrine-like statue of Yepha, surrounded by Nemuwit, reached toward the heavens. It seemed very holy, even in Basantha.

[31]