TALES OF THE WIND | joining

[alaire]

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A b i e n c e . n.
On a swivel almost, the boy's attention returns to the stranger creature as he speaks.  A number of increasingly uncomfortable and difficult questions, relieved only by the fact Alaire possessed little true understanding of death.  The finality of a life had never been explained to the child, who could, in theory, live forever.

Beginning simply, a point of origin represented a curious predicament.  Ardis sang as the name of home and country, but Alaire had known only the countryside of the great Faerie nation.  Almost on auto-pilot the fox's eyes simply move in the direction he came from.  Regardless, he realized the answer must suffice.  Doubt however, clouded his mind, certain the name may be unfamiliar in these equally unfamiliar lands.  "Je viens d'ardis. Ardis."

"Mes parents?" They must be somewhere, deductively.  Only Alaire failed to recall if they possessed a safe meeting place -- a rendezvous for trouble.  They never suspected someone to light their home on fire. "Non.  I... Don't know," he admitted perfectly calmly with a passive blink of his eyes.  "Mais je ne comprend pas."

Still alive?  Nothing else presented itself as a possibility in his mind.  The opposite of still alive simply did not exist.  "Oui.  Still alive."  Quickly, Alaire's mind began moving.  Simple plans and easy-to-follow logic.  His parents and Aine, less capable of changing shape, must have traveled much slower.  They must play catch up, as in a game of tag or chase.

"Les avez-vous vu?" He pressed suddenly, remaining relatively incomprehensive of any possible language barriers.  Collectively his family spoke three languages rather regularly. "Puis-je attendre ici- Can I wait here? For them? S'il vous plaît?"