Jigano was as surprised as the rest of them when Remi's voice cut through the quiet conversations and murmured prayers, subdued games and silent contemplations. He twisted to see what was happening, but by the time he stood to get a better view all that could be seen was disappearing tailfeathers and an angry young governor snarling into the night.
Well, there were quite a lot of things that he could do to make the situation worse, but perhaps the best thing was to stay silent for once.
Isuma was trundling along with a small lantern of her own; she knew that she had lost friends along the way, that some of those she had known had never returned and others had met a bitter end, but memory and mourning were not things the little gryphon normally dwelt on. Still, she had admired his lanterns and he had made one for her this year, guided by her preference for colors and shapes as he shared memories of friends who wouldn't play with her again. Bobi and Coffee, the fierce kitten who had helped teach her to hunt and the dragonling she had tussled and napped with in the sun of brighter days. Her lantern was a small and fragile thing of slender wires and paper, and she fluttered down with it in her beak, hooking it over the topmost branch of the 'tree' he had created to hold their memory-filled little collection. As with his own, he lit her lantern with a tiny spark of magical flame, careful to corral it so it didn't singe the paper that encompassed it.
Well, there were quite a lot of things that he could do to make the situation worse, but perhaps the best thing was to stay silent for once.
Isuma was trundling along with a small lantern of her own; she knew that she had lost friends along the way, that some of those she had known had never returned and others had met a bitter end, but memory and mourning were not things the little gryphon normally dwelt on. Still, she had admired his lanterns and he had made one for her this year, guided by her preference for colors and shapes as he shared memories of friends who wouldn't play with her again. Bobi and Coffee, the fierce kitten who had helped teach her to hunt and the dragonling she had tussled and napped with in the sun of brighter days. Her lantern was a small and fragile thing of slender wires and paper, and she fluttered down with it in her beak, hooking it over the topmost branch of the 'tree' he had created to hold their memory-filled little collection. As with his own, he lit her lantern with a tiny spark of magical flame, careful to corral it so it didn't singe the paper that encompassed it.
