I want to write a story, of a young girl, and a boy who can speak with beasts.

She approached cautiously, arms wrapped tight about her favorite toy, a fierce tiger that had long ago lost its fierceness to time. The fabric was faded, from gold and black to platinum and gray; one faceted eye lost, the ‘where' faded by time and childish memory; a paw mangled beyond repair, stuffing vanished like mist before the sun. It was an old toy, a guardian, given by a guardian she could no longer remember, a man nothing but a comforting shadow and calm, wild-amber eyes that watched and guarded as she slept.

The shadow she approached started, alerted by a twig snapping beneath a foot. Golden eyes the wild amber of the beast-kings snapped into focus on her, glowing like embers in moonlight, reflecting like a memory, of calm nights and soft rumbling purrs of a guardian lost in shadow and mist-memory of warmth and protection.

She froze, freeing a hand from the ragged toy and offering it to the boy-shadow, "Hey, it's alright... I'm Neeka. Who're you?"

He crept forward, a too-slender hand reaching up, fingertips resting on her upturned palm, tracing delicate figures on the sensitive skin.

"You are... Beast?" A frown, as the boy nodded, "That's no name... everyone has a name, even the creatures of the wild."

Beast shook his head, fingertips tracing letters once more for her.

"The circus named you that? Why..." her eyes widened, "You're the beast-speaker, the Na'caru'si that everyone's in an uproar about."

At his nod she knelt beside him, tilting her head to one side as she examined him, "You're like Raheowl, the great Wolf King of legend... alone, but at the same time, not."

His eyes narrowed, brows gathering together, expression like a child lost but pretending not. He didn't even need to lift his hand to write, for she, smiling, was already reciting the legend...

"Once, a long time ago, before man lost the key to the beast-tongue, there was a great war between the Fox and the Wolf......"

I want to write a story, of a young woman, and a man who can speak with beasts.

"Hey! Get away from that tent!"

She looked up, eyes wide and innocent as she clutched to her favorite toy, a tiger long since faded into obscurity. The fabric was faded, from platinum and gray to white and silver; the second faceted eye lost, pocketed long ago and set aside in a box of trinkets; the body limp, stuffing squeezed into a tiny ball in its heart. It was a toy older than most, a link to a past just as faded as the toy itself, a past more than one keeper had attempted to drive from her mind.

"'m sorry, sir," she spoke softly, freeing a hand and offering it up to the man, silver glittering in the light, "My parents don't want me here, but I want to see the beast-speaker... please, sir?"

The man's scowl softened, and he nodded as he scooped the silver from her fingers, "Go ahead, then. But don't tell anyone of this, alright? You'll have the manager after my head, and probably after yours as well."

"Thank you," came her whisper, as she ghosted through the opening, barely disturbing the flap that covered it.

The inside was dark, filled with the soft breath and rustle of sleeping animals, the beasts that the beast-speaker did his show with, kept with him at all times. Enough light filtered through for her to see the large cage in the center, metal and wood worked together to keep that which should be free locked up.

A head rose at her approach, wild amber eyes focused sharply on her, the hunting gaze of a falcon, or a wolf.

"Raheowl..."

::It's you.:: The man relaxed, lowering himself once more as he slid an arm through the bars, letting his fingers curl as he waited for her to offer her hand.

She blinked, "You can talk?"

A shake of his head, sending strands of inky blackness across his face, answer enough, followed by a small gesture with his free hand, slender fingers curving to beckon her closer.

"I heard you. You said, ‘It's you,' right?"

Wild amber eyes narrowed, surprised and wary, ::You understand me.:: Her nod made him frown, ::Why? It is not the nature of humans to understand Na'caru'si...::

"But it used to be," she pulled a stool near, settling onto it gracefully and tilting her head back to look up at him. "We've just forgot the way."

::Then how is it that you, of all the humans, understand me?::

A smile, the barest curl of lips, easily missed in the darkness, even by a Na'caru'si, "Because, Raheowl, I'm more than human..."

No, this is my story, I want to live it.

She set the quill pen down in its stand, gazing down at the stained parchment that she'd been writing on, attempt after attempt at writing down her dream, the haunting story of the night that would not, could not leave.

* * *

In the darkness, only wild amber eyes shown with reflected light, glorious in their power and confidence. She could no more make out the form of he who was in front of her than she could dance on a star, but he who stood next to her was as her, wrapped in shimmering snakes of light, coiling about how they wished, living light that moved to its own desires and whims.

"You are my children. The last of the speakers. The last of the knowers. Come to me, follow me, rejoin me."

"How, father?" It was Raheowl at her side, as she well knew - her brother, as she was his sister. As the man before her was their father.

The eyes narrowed slightly, as if the face they were part of was smiling, "You will know the way, as it is presented to you."

She looked over at her brother, meeting his glowing eyes, and said as she always did, "I will come when the moon is new, dressed as a man, and we will flee."

"I will be waiting, Neekaori."

* * *

Her eyes glanced outside, at the sun that was setting, the sky like a rainbow in darkness, shimmering through the colors, a grand display of nature's unfettered magic. It would be tonight, if her dream was truth. Raheowl would be waiting, their father's protection would be upon them.

It was time to flee.

Blowing out the single lamp, she settled herself into bed, closing her eyes dutifully as, when the sun finally sank below the horizon, her keeper, the woman called ‘Grandmother,' entered her room to check upon her. She whispered words of protection and safety, as she had done every night since a half starved she-child was brought to her door by hunters, found curled about in a clearing, guarded by a doe who had died by their arrows.

And still she waited, as the woman left to go to her own room, her own bed, confident that all would be the same when she awoke in the morning. She waited, listening as the old woman shuffled about, preparing herself for bed. She waited, patiently as she could, as sounds of life began to quiet down, becoming sounds of sleep.

Only then did she make her move, rising silently from her bed and pulling off her shift as she crossed the dark room, opening her dresser and tossing the shift back in, to carefully remove the false bottom that she had created as a rebellious child. Beneath it were clothes and a pack. Man-clothes, that she had stolen and duplicated for herself, as well as a special shirt she had sewn by the light of mother moon, to keep her true gender a secret.

Neeka swiftly pulled the clothing on, settling it about herself as comfortably as she could, before shouldering the empty pack. It was a matter of seconds to unlatch the window, and a short jump later to land calmly on a branch as slender as her arm. Keeping to the trees would cut down the hunter's ability to track her, and so she had practiced this diligently, knowing that her and her brother's life depended upon her knowledge.

She crept along the branches, keeping closer to the ground where the limbs were thicker and better able to support her weight. Behind her, the house remained quiet, as she traveled swiftly away from its confines, towards the carnival grounds, where Raheowl waited.

It was the work of moments, to land outside the grounds, to slip ghostlike past the laughing guardsmen, to find Raheowl's tent and slip within. His wild amber eyes pierced her as she approached, wary until he recognized her, then surprised once he had.

::I thought it nothing but a dream created of longing.:: He spoke softly, watching as she fiddled with the lock, another skill she had practiced long and hard to master. Finally, it clicked open, and she pushed the door open and waited for him.

Together, they left, walking out the same way she had entered, past the guards who were busy with their game of dice, past the animals who watched them with too-intelligent eyes, and into the sheltering trees.

"Here, we take to the trees here," she whispered, cupping her hands to boost him up into the branches.

Raheowl frowned at the offer, then resigned himself to it after a glance upward. He gripped the branch tightly as she boosted him up, pulling himself the rest of the way, then turned to look, wondering at how she would make it.

Only to find her already there, a smile on her lips that even he could barely make out in the shadows.

"Come, I'll keep towards the ground, it won't be as hard then." Came her voice as she flitted from branch to branch, as if she walked upon solid ground and not living branches that swayed and bent with each movement.

He cautiously followed her, knowing that she was slowing her typical pace to one he could follow, but he could detect no annoyance from her, even when he came close to falling.

The night was nearly over when she finally called a halt to their travels, the sky lightening with false dawn.

"I took as direct a route as possible," she murmured, as she helped him down from the tree and towards the disused shack on the edge of the clearing, "But we can't stay here more than long enough for a meal and a rest."

::How did you find here?:: He asked as he followed her into the dark shack, frowning at the lack of dust upon the floor.

"I never forgot here."

Saying nothing more at his puzzlement, she knelt beside the fireplace and began building a stack of wood and tinder, pulling a firestarter from a hidden nook and whispering the words to activate it. Fire licked across the tinder, devouring it like a hungry beast, then moved to the larger sticks, then finally to the logs, settling into a comfortable flame.

"There are woodsmen out all the time," she spoke, as she moved to rifle through a cupboard, "as long as we put it out soon, no one will be the wiser, nor will anyone really be able to track to here. They don't like this section of forest that much, so no one recalls this hut anymore."

He merely watched as she split a loaf of bread that she came up with and handed half to him, before taking a small kettle and putting it over the fire, beginning to toss things into it that, to him, didn't much look like food. But he wasn't about to argue. She was the one who had been free her entire life, learning and growing and exploring, not him.

"Here, eat," she handed him a bowl of whatever she'd been making over the fire, and promptly put the fire out. "Then sleep, we'll move out around dusk again. We have to get far enough away that no one will recognize us if we start having to go through towns."

He nodded and did as she said... what else was he to do?

* * *

Raheowl perched in a tree, staring down at the glade where Neeka worked to build a fire and cook their next meal. They'd been on the run for days, skirting towns and villages until, ash Neeka said, they could ‘properly pass themselves off as two boys traveling by themselves.'

He had to admit, with her chest bound and her hair cut short, Neeka could pass herself off as a boy, if a rather effeminate one. But the role he had to play, that of a shy mute, wasn't suiting. He wanted to look up, to glare into the eyes of strangers, to challenge them as was proper. He didn't like just rolling over and accepting them as dominant.

But she was right, his eyes would give him away, as they always had.

He sighed, lifting an arm as a small bird landed on it and tilted its head curiously, [A great King? Such has never been seen in many generations!]

[I am no more a great king than you are an eagle,] he replied, smiling faintly as the bird ruffled its feathers.

[Perhaps I am no eagle, but you speak the tongue. Are you saying you have no idea what you are?]

Raheowl shook his head, [The humans call me Na'caru'si, beast-speaker, and lock me in a cage to put on shows for them.]

The bird sang a bit of song, expressing astonishment, then fluttered away, [Far be it for me to reveal your fate, then!]

[Hey!] he lunged forward, trying to stop the swiftly vanishing bird, forgetting for a moment that he rested on a branch instead of the ground, and tumbling head over heels down to the ground, landing sprawled on his back. He glared up at the tree and the sky, thankful that he could hear no more laughter than the well-muffled snickers of his sister. If the animals themselves had chosen to mock him...

"We'll have to try a town tomorrow, we need more supplies than I can scrounge for us. I don't suppose your little bird was helpful in terms of where to find food?"

Raheowl shook his head as he pushed himself to his feet again, still glaring up at the tree and the sky. Around him he could hear the whispered voices of the forest, but none were mocking him. They were... discussing him, awe in their soft voices.

Behind him his sister-turned-brother was finishing cooking their meal. He could feel her eyes on his back, considering him, weighing him against... something.

::Must we? I don't wish to face more humans.::

"You'll have to learn eventually," came her calm reply, "Father says so."

He opened his mouth to say something, then swiftly snapped it shut. He'd get nothing more out of her than that, just as he'd gotten nothing more out of the bird.

He was getting more than a little annoyed with secrets.

* * *

The city... reeked.

It was the only word he could think of to describe the mingled aromas that assaulted his nose. Neeka's ‘town' had turned out to be a city of stone, with a wall so high he thought it surely must sway at the least wind, like a tree in full growth.

So, taking stock, he was trailing behind her like a little lost puppy, eyes down and shoulders slumped as she had instructed, as she strode like she owned the place, a good imitation of the typical walk of a male. According to her, they were looking for the marketplace, whatever that was, so that they could buy food and rations for times when they couldn't find enough food to live off of.

He fidgeted as strangers brushed past him, giving him no more attention than they would a speck of dust, except as one more obstacle in the way that needed to be pushed aside. With every push he fought back the increasingly strong urge to snarl and snap at the offender who was invading his personal space. Even his sister wasn't this bad!

"Excuse me, how much for two loaves of bread?"

Raheowl tilted his head to glance out of the corner of his eye at Neeka, taking in their surroundings for the first time. Booths lined the street, piled high with all sorts of food and goods, the one they stood in front of was filled with bread that smelled... different.

It wasn't the flat, hard bread his sister had said was the only thing she could bake out of their supplies and in such primitive circumstances. Nor was it the half-stale heels that his keepers had occasionally given him when times were apparently slim. No, this glistened in the sunlight, perfectly golden brown and looking as delicious as anything he'd ever had before.

"Ten cati, lad."

He could feel Neeka start beside him, and frowned, what was wrong?

"Two loaves of bread aren't worth ten cati. At most, they're worth one."

The baker snorted, "After all the work I put into these? Nine cati."

"Two, just two cati. No more..."

"You'll make me take a loss, laddie. Go run home to mamma and ask for more money, I don't..."

"I trust, Baker Cavre, that this will be enough for whatever the two lads want, plus my typical request?" came an amused voice, as a gloved hand reached over Raheowl's shoulder, the glint of strange coins apparent on the palm.

Raheowl started backwards and slammed into a hard shoulder, making him whimper in surprise.

Until, that is, a horse's great head wrapped around and fixed him with an amused look, [Erator won't harm you, and neither will I.]

Hesitantly he reached out and stroked the fiery blaze down the horse's muzzle, smiling faintly as the horse pressed into his hand more.

[I'm Tereyrr, by the way. What's your name?]

[My sister calls me Raheowl...]

Tereyrr gave a whinny of surprise, [So! Lucky day that Erator and I ran into you two!]

Raheowl tilted his head to one side, [Why?]

[Because, child, we were told to look for you by your father. Unfortunately, you can't follow him anymore - the land has been sealed, and there's no way for any of us to leave anymore.] Tereyrr nudged him, [Don't fret, though, Erator has a plan.]

"There you go, lad. You and your brother enjoy that, now." came Erator's voice as he turned to put his sack of bread into one of his nearly-flat saddle packs. "Tereyrr, come, we need to get back to our home before night falls."

Raheowl moved, trying to slip away from the horse before its master realized what was going on, only to feel Tereyrr stick his muzzle right in the center of his back and give a shove. With a cry, he collided with Erator, nearly falling to the ground until the taller man caught him in a steely grip.

"Here now, lad, Tereyrr just likes to play tricks at... times..." a finger suddenly appeared under his chin, forcing his head upwards, "Well now. Lady Luck smiles upon me this day, it seems. I've been searching for you for years, ever since your father passed through here and requested that I do so."

Blue-green eyes held him entranced, depthless and intense in everything they did.

"You've been looking for us, sir?" was Neeka's surprised reaction.

"If you're really his sibling, yes," Erator responded with a smile, "Now, come on, lets get going."

* * *

Raheowl watched as Erator almost literally pulled a man into the room, "Look, Selverat, I found them."

As the other man drew closer, Raheowl backed away. The man, Selverat, smelled of fire and inferno, and his instincts were telling him to avoid the other at all costs.

Apparently the other realized the terror he was causing, and stopped advancing, instead saying, "You're right about your hunch. Kerkael says they'd both do well on the sands, and that only with bonds from another world will they be able to escape the seal on this land."

"Then where will you take them?"

Slender fingers rose to tap against Selverat's lips as he considered, "The Abstract Destiny. We'll set them down there."

"Wait, we? What's with this sudden ‘we' business?"

Erator's suspicious look surprised a laugh out of Selverat, "Can't you see, old friend? The boy is afraid of me, while he's not afraid of you. I also doubt he'll do well anywhere without someone he at least feels comfortable with around him."

Erator shrugged, "He has his sister." that with a glance at Neeka, who had reluctantly revealed that she was indeed a girl.

"No, no, you'll have to come as well." Selverat grinned, "Kerkael says so."

"Hrmph. Well, it's not like I have many duties here. I suppose a short trip will be fine." Erator grumbled as he gestured for the two youths to follow him and Selverat.

"A short trip. Indeed." Selverat responded with a smirk.

And with that, they left, to the future, and the easiest way, apparently, for them to find their father.