And so, I'm going to start with an important one.
The adventure Begins
Faleep sat out in a grassy field, her back to a tree. Her fire gryphon Keeper lounged up in the tree, way out of reach of the group of Ammit hatchlings that tumbled and wrestled on the grass in front of her. Her white spotted Ammit, Muerte, dozed peacefully on her lap. Sitting cross legged, staring up at her were a group of bright eyed student magi. Their teacher sat at the back of the class, making sure that nobody fell asleep.
She was a guest speaker today, the teacher, a good friend of hers, had asked her to come in and speak to her class about Ammits. Fal cleared her throat, "Alright, I don't really have anything planned, I'm not a teacher." She said, with a soft chuckle, "But I do have plenty of stories to share from down in the desert. Anybody have a request."
A young female raised her hand, "Uhm... miss Faleep, I'd like to hear how you got your first Ammit."
Fal chuckled, "Ah, that's a good story. Heh, I remember it fondly."
"It all started about a year ago now, I was a magi just graduated. I had previously tried to study pegsi, but I soon gave up after that. I had decided to take an expedition down to the Etian Desert, to see what was down there. I had met up with the caravan few days before, at the small city of Têti, about a day's ride from the start of the desert. It was blistering hot, and me, being the clutz I am, I completely forgot to prepare. I showed up in the wrong outfit, and I knew nothing of their language. Thankfully, there was somebody there who understood me, and she quickly got me outfitted with the correct clothing."
"We left the next day, heading towards the desert. We travelled in the evening, night, and early morning. The desert natives, they didn't like me very much. I tried though, I listened intently, and I had my magi friend Sydney teach me the language, and I tried to converse with the natives. Sadly, I was horrid at it. Still am too, though the natives are a lot more accepting of me now. But, back to the story."
"Anyways, I was often forced to sleep outside, on the sand. It didn't bother me much, I just slept under the wagons, using a cloth as a pillow. When the sun fell, we rose and continued onward. I had a great view of the nighst ky, all the stars one can see in the desert nights, oh it was beautiful. And all the creatures, in the day the only thing moving was Solar foxes, but at night, the desert erupted into life. Lunar foxes, tons of different bats, owls, and ground mammals. Along with all the snakes. Beautiful."
"Well, after several days following this pattern, we stopped at an oasis for the day. It was the only day we were active, we were refilling out water, letting the camels drink, and letting our creatures play in the water. I had left all my creatures at the keep, and thus, once I finished refilling my water, I quickly got bored. To busy my time, I had pulled out my notebook, and jotted down notes about the creatures the caravan had, how they took care of them, you guys know the drill."
"Well, once I finished with that, I wandered off. I was not supposed to, but alas, I grew curious. And, I had seen something move out in the desert, something that wasn't a Solar fox. I left, wandering out in the desert, following the moving object. In the back of my mind, the thought occurred to me that it could have been a mirage, but I had quickly dismissed that thought."
"I hadn't realized how far I had gone, until I had looked back and I couldn't see the wagons. But, the creature was just in front of me. I slowly crept towards it, then a pounced! I scooped up the creature, holding it above my head. The first thing I thought was that it was adorable, until it tried to take my fingers off. I looked at it though, at the time I didn't know what it was. A few moments later though, I heard the sound of voices. I looked over my shoulder, and saw the desert natives running towards me, yelling at me in their language."
"At first I didn't understand, until Sydney came up to me, very slowly, and told me to put the creature down. She told me that it was very deadly, and that it would not tolerate me picking it up. I looked back at the creature, who had stopped trying to bite my fingers, and, with a sad look, I put it down. Sydney grabbed me by the arm, and hauled me off towards the wagons, scolding me like I was just a child."
"A few days passed though, with nothing much happening. Then, we came upon a river. The river was flooding, very badly too. Nothing could get across, not even us. We set up a camp, and decided to wait for the flooring to stop. The desert natives went about their business, and I busied myself with tending to the creatures. Suddenly, everything went quiet, all the animals went still, and the desert natives shut up, even though they're usually very vocal. I peeked around the Camel I was brushing, and saw these two beautiful creatures walking towards the caravan."
"They were an odd mix of lion and crocodile. I recognized that the adult was a female, and that she was also distinctly heading toward me. In her crocodile jaws she held a small hatchling, and I knew it was the same hatchling I had picked up a few days before. I walked around the camel, as the mother walked towards me. The desert natives gathered around, whispering in hushed voices."
"The mother approached me, and gently prodded my hands. A held up my hands, and she dropped the hatchling into my palms. She then gave me a small nod, and I swore she gave me a wink, then left, disappearing into the desert. The hatchling rubbed it's reptilian head into my chest, it's jaws making snapping noises. Sydney walked up to me, a look of amazement on her face, 'The desert watchers, they gifted you a hatchling..." She whispered to me."
"Of course, I had to ruin the moment by asking what the creature was. Sydney couldn't stop the laughter, she and the desert natives all laughed. Even the creature laughed at me, but it was a good laugh, even I chuckled too. Sydney told me the creature was an Ammit, one of the most respected and feared creature in the desert."
"After that, we were in good spirits. The hatchling stayed with me, perching on my shoulder and getting into everything. The desert natives started to like me, they even tolerated my horrid attempts at speaking their language. The rest of the trip passed by uneventfully, unless you count Sydney having the chase down the camels after she accidentally spooked them as an event. We got to the abandoned city before we were supposed to. I was supposed to stay at the city ruins to study them for a few nights, and the Ammit staid with me the entire time. And several uneventful weeks later, I was back home at the keep with my new friend. And when I found out they could be caught in the stream as eggs, well...."
Fal laughed to herself, as the class chuckled too, "An obsession started. It took less then a year for my collection to grow over 1,000, and all of them are stream born. As most of you already know, I'm sort of an expert on them." Fal said, with a blush, "well, I think I'll hand it back to you teacher now, I need to get these guys back to my house, they're all tuckered out from playing."
Fal stood, stretched, and gathered up her Ammits, all of whom had fallen asleep in an unorganized heap. She gently set Muerte on top, before picking them all up. Keeper dropped out of the tree behind her, and she slid onto his back, with out using her hands, "So, since it seems that your teacher wants me to be out here again tomorrow, I'm guessing I'll see y'all tomorrow?" She said, with a hint of a smile as Keeper to the air, slowly circling in the air before flying off.
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Well, there's the end of the first story, stay tuned for more.
