[Shieba]

The day was nice and warm, yet the nice breeze of the sea prevented it from being too hot. Life went on with its usual, unhasted pace for the Aumakua Paragons on their island a bit away from the Sa'fir coast. While the island the tribe called home was mostly covered in beaches and grassy land, a third of it was full of a lush, green forest.

The first trees of the woods stood still rather far away from each other, yet the ground was already covered with twigs, moss and stones - things easily found in any forest, yet they were interesting enough to provide ample entertainment for the little family that was visiting this area.

Hina and Ailys watched gently over their three little hatchlings playing around with each other or with what the forest provided. There were no natural predators on the islands, yet the fact that their little ones all had different amounts of demon power made it necessary that they kept a close eye on them. Like all small children, the hatchlings had no way of controlling their strength yet and quarrels had to be stopped before they went out of hand.

It was just when Hina and Ailys hurried to distract two of their children from indeed accidently hurting each other when Ilea, the little white hatchling who had no supernatural strength at all, spotted a butterfly. And while butterflies weren't completely uncommon on the islands, the yellow-winged animal intrigued Ilea greatly. It flew out of her reach, however, and then turned to move into the forest. Even though Ilea was normally the most careful out of the three, she had her eyes only on the butterfly now and started to follow it without noticing she left her mothers and sisters behind.

Happily climbing over stones and roots, the small hatchling entered the forest for good now, trying to not lose sight of the butterfly getting rapidly away. Squawking happily, she enjoyed the chase without realizing she was getting lost.

[Jaykobell]

It had been a while since that contest had ended. A lot of couples had bothered to tell him their stories, their lives, and their desires; and ultimately, those who were judged worthy had been granted the chance to make their wish come true. Quite literally, a job well done: granting wishes was his job.



The male Lucain — whom looked more like a real wolf with wingblades — was exploring the forest, quite simply. Among all the couples who had had the chance to wish upon his star, one particular pair had stood out amongst them all. His powers were fed by the desire of others, and meeting living beings with such a strong desire for something was a rare treat. It was also curiosity; the story of the particular Paragons had really touched him, something that didn't happen often. Many wished out of greed, malice, narcissism... but them: they had wished out of love. Even wanting a family can be wished for with different intentions and feelings; some people want children for their own safety, others want them so they won't be lonely, and others want them to continue their lineage... And then, there was the rare category of people who wished for children simply for the sake of raising children with their mate. In a world of modern technology and fast-paced materialist lives, very few had enough dedication to offer their life to someone else.

He wanted to see that. He wanted to see one of those rare, obscure couples. He wanted to feel the power of their desire, and what it had accomplished...

As he was thinking to himself, a butterfly came flittering away nearby. Following quickly after it was a tiny squealing little Paragon hatchling, pale in color, but bursting with energy. He watched the little one chase the butterfly, wondering if this baby could possibly be a link to whom he was looking for on this island. But surely this island didn't host a single clutch of hatchling at one time.

He did not speak, and instead settled for the hatchling to notice him and to inquire about him. Children were curious by nature, and seeing something unknown to them would automatically trigger questions in their little heads. If the hatchling so happened to not notice him, he would then simply follow her. Let strangers reveal themselves to you before you reveal yourself to them.

[Shieba]

Ilea had almost completely lost sight of the butterfly already, but instead saw someone even more interesting: Someone who obviously wasn't a Paragon. Or a very strange one. Ilea, who had never met anyone but the other members of the tribe yet, had no idea what a 'Lucain' was - and was too young to comprehend anyway - but since all she had ever known in her still rather short life were others being nice to her, she was pretty fearless.

Curiously, she made her way over to the stranger and eyed him first from a bit away. Then she noticed his tails. Ilea, like her sisters, loved clinging to the tails of her mothers and getting carried around like that. It was great fun and also meant she was getting somewhere farther away from the nest, which was exciting. Now her new discovery had not one, but two tails! And they looked very different and soft! Squealing, Ilea ran up to them. But while the tails of her mothers reached the ground, these two were higher up and out of her reach. And so, the visitor to the island ended up with a little hatchling bouncing up and down behind him, trying to reach his tails.

At the same time, the little family noticed that someone was missing. A quick search of the area turned up nothing and a slight feeling of panic settled in. Since Ilea had no demon blood inside her, Ailys was unable to sense any unusual aura and so, there was no other option but to search slowly. Ilea's sisters happily held onto the tails of their mothers when they hurried to leave. With her small size, Ilea could not have wandered far, which was why both Hina and Ailys decided to look for their daughter on their own first before getting the rest of the tribe to help. Yet the forest was full of hiding places for such a little hatchling and so, Ailys and Hina made their way into the woods, though slower than their little daughter had been.

[Jaykobell]

It hadn't take much effort on his part for the hatchling to notice him. He had no idea how old or how knowledgeable the tiny Ilea was, and that was another reason why he was opting for a more silent, slow approach. Move too abruptly or too quickly, and you could end up with a sobbing child.

He hadn't expected anything in particular, but when the baby simply talked in squeals and baby sounds, the Lucain quickly realized the hatchling probably didn't know how to talk yet. He concluded that he would have to rely on visual clues instead of words to handle this little one.
It seems like the first thing Ilea noticed was the pair of tails he sported. Since he was standing, his tails were too high for the little one to latch onto them. He bent his head down and looked at the hatchling, watching her as she bounced up and down so she could, somehow, grab onto his tails.

Slowly, the black Lucain settled down on the forest-floor, folding one paw under his chest and leaving the other stretched out. His tails were now low enough for Ilea to grab them and do with them as she pleased; he subconsciously hoped it didn't involve biting and clawing, though. Unlike Paragon skin, his fur was soft and silky, his Mudbelly and StarSpeckled markings shining against his pitch-black fur. He wasn't short or long-haired, but just a nice length in-between short and long.
Since Ilea wasn't used to Lucain fur — or Lucain in general, for that matter — it might potentially trigger a squeeze, if the fur found its way to her nose. Even puppies and kittens fell for that trap at that age; they just stuck their nose against the fur and found themselves sneezing afterwards because of the ticklish feeling it left behind.

[Shieba]

Ilea was quite pleased when the nice, furry person she had found actually settled down so she could reach her targets. Happily, she latched on to one of them - and found herself unable to do as she was used to. The tail was all soft and fluffy, but didn't support her weight like she was used to from the tails of her mothers. Yet that second of confusion quickly passed when she immediately found the tails great to play with. Ilea liked to cuddle and these were simply great for doing so! She nuzzled the soft fur and, indeed, had to sneeze shortly after. For a second, she blinked, a bit surprised by what had happened, but wasn't particularily disturbed. Snuggling with her new playthings, the small hatchling had almost already forgotten that someone was actually attached to the tails. She held on tightly, but without her little grip being painful. Curling up, she seemed very content and, if the Lucain would decide to not move at all for a bit, there was always the chance Ilea would simply fall asleep on him.

Hina and Ailys had fully entered the forest by now. Luckily, Ilea was brightly colored and unless she had fallen into a hole somewhere or was hiding under a particulary huge root, there was no way they would miss her. Yet their search had turned up nothing so far and even Ailys, with her supernatural hearing, couldn't hear her daughter's squealing anywhere yet.

"Ilea? Where are you?!" Hina and Ailys had split up a bit to cover a wider area and while Ailys was searching silently to be able to hear noises of her daughter better, Hina was calling for her child, though she was not yelling since she didn't want to scare her other hatchlings. How far away her shouts could therefore be heard was unsure.

[Jaykobell]

He cracked a little smile when he heard the hatchling sneeze; as expected from a baby. He had no little ones himself, but he certainly enjoyed their company. Their innocent bliss, their carefree little personalities, their curiosity... Childhood was really a wonderful time, and every adult came to miss childhood, in one way or another; either because it was wonderful and carefree — no responsibilities, no work — or because they never had their own childhood, and they come to crave one.

He let Ilea play with his tails, not so worried now that he knew her playing didn't involve gnawing or scratching. He had enough entertainment watching her have fun as well, playing her own little game with her own little creative mind. Children had such creative minds, full of stories and creatures and worlds. If anything, the mind of a child was much more interesting than that of stressed, money-obsessed adults... But let's not generalize.

As he was looking over his shoulder to watch Ilea play, he suddenly heard something coming from somewhere in the forest. His ears perked up at the noise, although he hadn't heard words. However, he was now aware that something was nearby. He uncovered his folded paw and laid both front legs in front of him. Although he wasn't tense, he knew he couldn't let anything happen to that baby — even if Ilea wasn't his own — and for that, he had to remain alert. For all he knew, the sounds could've been from a predator on the island, and not from a worried mother.

[Shieba]

Ilea hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary yet and continued to play around with her two new toys. She still was fascinated by all the fur. Hina had a soft tail-tip as well, but feathers were nothing compared to a tail made almost fully out of fur. Ilea made happy little cooing noises, hugging one tail and watching the other. She knew tails could move and wondered if these could as well.

Ailys still couldn't make out her daughter's noises, but she could feel a bigger life force a bit away. This was unusual, since the biggest animals around here were usually some birds and small rodents. She was still too far away to make out any projected emotions, but the thought of maybe a threat made her panic. Not waiting for Hina to catch up, she quickly hurried towards the life force. Making sure that no one could hurt her hatchling was now top priority and Ailys was rather sure she would be able to deal with whoever that was, given her supernatural strength.

When she came closer, however, she slowly could hear little squealing noises which didn't sound unhappy at all and, since probably no other hatchlings were here at this time of the day, could only belong to her daughter. On one hand, she was happy that Ilea was obviously fine, but also that she was with some unknown person who could just as well be a kidnapper trying to lure her daughter into a trap. Making sure that her other daughter was still happily clinging to her tail and in no danger to get thrown off - demon-strength did come in handy for hatchlings as well - she hurried on, even when she was unable to make out any evil emotions from the stranger.

"Ilea!" Ailys had finally reached her goal - and looked at the curious scene in front of her. There was a Lucain, definitely not someone from around here, and was obviously letting her little one play with his tails. Ilea looked up and gave a happy squeal upon seeing her mother, but made no motion to move towards her and relinquish the hold of her soft toys. Ailys blinked once, unsure what to say, though she couldn't hide her relief. "Good day, Sir. You...have found my daughter, which I am very grateful for." She watched Ilea playing. "I hope she hasn't bothered you too much...I must apologize if she has hurt you. You obviously looked after her, thank you very much for that." It was a bit of strange situation, really. She also probably looked like a bad mother right now, having lost her own child...

[Jaykobell]

Ilea was oblivious to the noises, and unlike the Lucain, she was simply enjoying herself. Out of tension, he wagged his tails only once, rising up and then back down, and then evening out again with his body. He felt the little hatchling as he moved them, which reminded him that he had to stay alert. While he wasn't normal by a mortal's standards, he wasn't a know-it-all; he had no idea what kind of predators were on this island, nor where to go if they encountered something dangerous.

Shortly after he'd heard noises coming from afar, the Lucain was found by a female Paragon. He blinked slowly at Ailys, observing the Placid carefully. Under normal circumstances, he would've tensed and prepared to protect the hatchling... however, after a quick inspection, he came to recognize the Paragon. He gave Ailys a small, gentle smile, and then tilted his head slowly. "She's lovely," he replied as he folded a paw under his muddy-marked chest. Now that he knew the Paragon was no danger, he could relax. "And so is her name." To someone like Ailys, who could sense the aura of others, perhaps she would come to sense the Lucain's. While not overwhelming, it was certainly not like any aura, and it seemed to bear a powerful ability within it. The Lucain himself, however, didn't give out any aggressiveness or tension.

He then stretched his neck to look behind Ailys, and he spotted a second hatchling over there, hanging onto her mother's tail. It seemed that, indeed, Ailys was one of the Paragons he'd been looking for on this island... "I see your second hatchling hanging tight on your tail," he commented, looking back at Ailys then. "Where might your third daughter be hiding?"

[Shieba]

Ailys was very, very confused by now. "Thank you", she replied rather stunned. How did the Lucain know Ilea's name? Ilea herself was too small to speak and had never done so before. And he also knew that she had three daughters? The only logical explanation would be that the Lucain was guest to the tribe and had perhaps talked to someone there, but Ailys hadn't heard of any visitor and was rather sure that Hina would have mentioned it if someone had arrived.

Which led her to the conclusion that she was maybe talking to a mindreader or any other sort of mage. Carefully, she used her supernatural senses to check his aura for any kind of magic - and found it rather different from anything she had ever felt. It was a powerful aura, though it didn't seem threatening, and Ailys didn't know how to place it. The stranger seemed nice enough, but she decided to remain on guard for now. "My third daughter is with my mate. We split up to search for Ilea more efficiently." She sat down as well. "And who might you be, if I may ask? I wasn't told that the tribe had a visior."

With Ailys sitting down, her tail returned to the ground and the little passenger, noticing that the exciting ride was over, let go. Flapping her little, sunrise-colored wings, she looked around. She had never been so deep in the forest before and everything was new and interesting. Yet what intrigued her most was that her sister had obviously found something great. Ilea was, after having learned that the tails could indeed move, even more happy and had a lot of fun with playing with them. As curious as Ilea had been when it came to the Lucain and with Ilea obviously happy, the second little hatchling was eager to make her way over as well. Ailys, however, had kept an eye on her little one so that not another one would go missing and stopped her by gently holding her. Her daughter immediately started to protest, but was at first ignored since her mother kept her attention on the Lucain, which, however, led to the constant increase of the volume of the whining, making any conversation rather difficult. Ailys winced and picked her daughter up. "Now be quiet, my darling. It's more than enough that Ilea is already bothering the man." She tried placing the hatchling back on her tail, but her daughter would have none of it and continued to struggle to get away. Ailys sighed. Well, at least the noise would probably show Hina where they were.

(I need names like whoa. D8 I'll try to settle on some tomorrow. D8)

(EDIT: The black girl is now called Thalassa, so Astrophel is now able to know that, too. 8D)

[Jaykobell]

[ He's not a mind-reader. XD;! He figured her name because Ailys called her out in your previous post and he heard her. He's magical, but mind-reading definitely isn't in his repertoire. ]

He had expected the confusion, although he was glad it didn't translate into aggressiveness. He wasn't against meeting those who had been granted their wish, but he didn't want to tell them who he was right away. That would be unbelievable, for someone to come up to you and say, "I grant you your wish and that's why you have children." So, instead, the Lucain always settled for dropping hints. And sometimes, the lucky ones figured it out. Sometimes they believed he was the one behind their wish, sometimes they still needed some convincing, and other times, they just didn't believe it at all.

When Ailys asked for who he was, the Lucain's ears twitched as he tried to think of a proper response. Saying his name wouldn't hurt the little guessing game, and if anything, it might tipped either mother to the answer. "My name is Astrophel," he replied as he cracked a little smile, showing his teeth just a little. "I had heard about an island inhabited by a clan of Paragons, and I was curious to check it out." Not the full truth, but not a complete lie, either.

As the second daughter continued to squeal and protest, Astrophel tilted his head and observed the scene. Ah, children certainly were stubborn, weren't they? "She can come and play if she likes," he assured Ailys, wagging his tails around to assure her he didn't mind. "There's enough for at least two out of three. I don't mind little ones; that's why I like trying to give others the opportunity to play with them, as well." Another hint, one a little bit more revealing than necessary.

[Shieba]

[Derp. o3o That happens when I reply at 5am - I don't notice the most obvious things anymore. I'm so sorry. xDx Still seeking names. Kodai even aids me. Difficult task is difficult.]

Ailys was still trying to figure this mysterious Lucain out. He certainly seemed to have a habit of implying things without revealing much at all. "Well, you certainly have the correct island, or at least one of them. There are quite a few islands inhabited by Paragon tribes around here. This is the island of the Aumakua Paragons, though the tribe doesn't live in the forest, but outside of it. My name is Ailys, I am a member of this tribe. May I ask how you got here? I don't remember any merchants passing by, though I might have simply missed one. Normally, travellers come with them and their mounts. My mate is the niece of the chief, I am sure I could arrange a meeting. What exactly is interesting to you?" She was trying to hide it, but she was nervous. The tribe wasn't exactly known on the mainland, so how had Astrophel heard of it? It had been months now since Ailys had come here and she had almost managed to get rid of her fear that some hunters from the mainland would find her, but in moments like this one, she couldn't help but be very wary once more.

Still, the man did not have the aura or emotions of one who wanted to kill. Yet Ailys hesitated, still holding onto her daughter. "She might accidently hurt you, though. While Ilea is a really normal hatchling, this one here has...a bit more strength than a normal baby would have." Ailys didn't want to reveal what she was - or, even worse, endanger her daughter - but she also didn't want Astrophel to get hurt. Ilea was squealing happily when the tails moved again, making her sister protest even more, but remembered way too well how she had accidently hurt others with her strength during her childhood and was determind to only release her second daughter from her hold if Astrophel knew the risks. Yet he seemed to be quite good with children to begin with. "You give others the opportunity to play with children?" She tilted her head, trying to remember the jobs available on the mainland. "Are you working at an adoption agency?"

[Jaykobell]

[ Adoption agency! That's so cute. xD ]

When Ailys had explained about the little cluster of islands, Astrophel simply smiled and nodded. He, of course, knew about the Aumakua Paragons and how this island was theirs; he wouldn't be here if he didn't know. He had no interest in the other tribes, after all, so the only one he had researched was this particular one. The others didn't concern him; only the Aumakua tribe was of interest to him, for an obvious reason. He also remained quiet because of how easy it would be to reveal the white lie if he spoke any more on the topic. "I was curious in seeing hatchlings, actually," he replied, this, of course, being somewhat of a lie; he did want to check on the three Placid hatchlings from Ailys and her mate, but that wasn't his only interest. "It's very rare to see any Paragon in its hatchling stage on the mainland. Most are kept by humans as their pets, or they simply don't survive. I heard these islands hosted wild clans, away from humans."

When it came to the little daughter, Astrophel tilted his head. "Oh?" He didn't say any more, wondering whether he should push on or not. He knew about the two having the demon strength of their "father," or Ailys. Of course, revealing that might a bit too much... however, he felt like Ailys was really starting to catch on that he wasn't just your everyday Lucain. He couldn't help but to smile rather widely at her assumption about his job: an adoption agency. "Heh... Close," he replied, his tails wagging happily. "But I do work with a lot of babies..." He paused again for a moment. "This one inherited your demon strength, didn't she?"

She would either jump at him, or she would stare at him in confusion. While he never bothered to really check on those who'd had their wishes granted by his powers, he often lurked, watching over them and just learning about what had come out of it. And quite often, those wishes ended up dying, with people breaking up, dying, just losing interest...

[Shieba]

Well, that certainly was an interesting cause for a journey. "See hatchlings? Well, we do have quite a few with the clan, though mine and Hina's are currently the youngest. A few females have eggs that should hatch soon, though..." She wondered what the chief would say if he heard about this. The clan was very protective of the young children and she doubted an outsider wanting to study them for whatever reason would be overly welcome. Then again, he seemed pretty content with just letting Ilea play with him right now...

"So what exactly do you--" Ailys started - and then felt her blood run cold. This man...knew?! That could only mean one of two things! She quickly snatched her little daughter and almost jumped back in fear. "Headhunter!?" Her first instinct was to flee; to just run and get away as fast as possible. But the Lucain had Ilea! Her mind was reeling. He had said he 'gave others an opportunity to work with children'! "No...if what you say is true...and you know...you are a slave trader?!" She was almost screeching at this point. "Ilea has no demon powers! She...she will not fetch you a good price! My daughter! Give me my daughter back!" Ailys was torn between trying to get Ilea back with force or getting her other daughter - surely the one he was interested in the most, since a hatchling with such powers would surely bring a lot of money - to safety and hoping that Ilea wasn't of any interest for him. "You...you seeked me out, didn't you?!"

Both hatchlings were confused and rather scared by now. They had never heard their mother shout like that before. Ilea had stopped playing and was now staring at Ailys with big eyes while the other child had stopped in her struggles and was clinging to Ailys' arm silently.

[Dramaaaa! D8]

[Jaykobell]

[ Haaaahahah. His social skills be WEAK dawg. xD ]

And... somehow, he'd managed to make a whole mess out of this meeting. Well, he couldn't say he hadn't expected it. Some people reacted the exact same way, wondering how the hell Astrophel could know those things. And the more he thought about it, the more he felt like a creeper and a stalker.

He blinked at Ailys and then tried to smile, though sheepishly. "Ah, please calm down," he inquired as he tried to look as harmless as possible; which would probably mean nothing to Ailys at the moment, though. "I'm definitely not a slave trader. And I'm not after your hatchlings, I can assure you that." Aye, how was he going to get out of this mess now? But Ailys wanted her daughter back, and so, he figured he would obey, as far as this was concerned.
He couldn't reach Ilea from where he was, so instead, he pushed the child with his tails back towards her mother. He then got up and continued to push Ilea back towards Ailys, making sure to move slowly and as smoothly as possible, so that Ailys wouldn't think he was trying to trick her. And once the hatchling was close to her mother, he stepped back to assure Ailys that he wasn't after her daughters at all. Harming the little ones would put the whole thing in jeopardy; and that's not even something he wanted to do.

"Although," he started as soon as the little one was back to her mother, "I have been seeking you out, yes. You, Ailys, your mate, Hina, and your three daughters. Maybe you haven't heard about me, but my name is Astrophel; I'm a wish-granter." Yes, he'd already introduced himself... minus the wish-granter part. "Recently, I gave a few couples the opportunity to realize their deepest desire..."

She would either believe him, doubt his words, or she would still be too enraged or panicked to listen, and she would jump at him. Hopefully the latter wouldn't happen.

[Shieba]

Ailys had trouble to just stay calm and wait, but in the end, that's what she forced herself to do when Astrophel made an effort to push Ilea - who wasn't happy to get pushed around and having to leave the tails completely behind - towards her. As soon as she was in reach, Ailys grabbed her daughter and held her close. She really wanted to simply turn and run now, but since she still couldn't feel any ill intent from the Lucain, she listened to the probably most crazy story she had ever heard.

Before she could calm herself down enough to reply, however, Hina had finally reached her mate. "Ailys! I heard you screaming! What's wrong?!" Hina stopped next to Ailys. "...Who's that? Oh! Ilea!" Relieved, Hina took her daughter from Ailys and hugged her. Seeing her other mother not frightened, Ilea, too, got a bit more cheerful again.

The other two hatchlings, however, were still rather anxious, as they were both able to sense emotions. Especially the little one who was clinging to Hina's tail was looking ahead curiously now and, being the one closest to Ailys' own powers, started to eat the negative emotions around. Seeing what her daughter was doing made Hina frown. "You are scared. What's wrong?"

"This man...comes from the mainland, seeked me, you and our hatchlings out, knows of my demon blood and claims to be a...'wish-granter'", Ailys replied without taking her eyes off Astrophel. She had been alone all her life and had, in such situations, always run, not taking the risks. But now she had a family and not only the hatchlings, Hina, too, needed her protection. "While I certainly have no extensive knowledge about mages and while I have to admit his aura is not normal and he doesn't seem violent, this sounds a bit hard to believe..."

"You suspect he came here to hunt you?" Hina stepped closer to her mate. "Or the little ones?" She looked at Astrophel. "If you want to do that, you will have to deal with the whole clan!" She had obviously trouble to decide what to do. Ailys was prone to be frightened easily thanks to her past, but if he knew so much, it wasn't like her fears were unjustified. "So, what is a 'wish-granter' then? I know even less about the mainland, but I've read books. Are you like a djinn or something and live in a lamp?" Hina had no idea how to calm the situation down, but decided to make the effort. "Maybe if you can explain a bit more, Ailys will believe you and I can start to understand what's going on here."

[I am undecided which of the two little ones I shall call Thalassa. D8 I swear I will figure this out soon. I hope. o3o]