Good morning Xiha Community!  (well, it's already 11:00, but who cares?)
Today is a perfect day in Brantford~
      -the weather is beautiful
      -everyone's out and about
          -looking at flowers for sale for mother's day
          -M&M's having a barbeque
             -and almost everybody should be in a good mood!

mm hmm, made me feel like going on a road trip.
   -too bad i don't have a car OR my G2 yet,
well, i kindof have a car, but i doubt my dad would let me take it on a road trip anyway ^^

edit:  it's later now ( 4:36), but it still seems to be a perfect day!  when my dad went to pay the rogers bill, we saw that there was another m&m barbeque outside of the... other M&M meat shop in Brantford!  I didn't even know there was another one!
anyway, after that we went to get some hanging baskets of flowers... 2 for my mom and 2 for my grandma... and Home Depot was pretty busy!  Everything's really busy, anyway, everything that... has something to do with... mother's day... or... outside!  bet there were a lot of people who went golfing today!  There's a baseball game... actually, there's probably a few baseball games! at JC park, the parking lot is literally overflowing, with people parked on the grass.  and that's WITH all the people that probably walked there!  it's really......... optimistic-izing! yes! optimisticizing!

i'm so EXCITED!!!!
Richie asked me if i'd go to the prom with him, lol
even though i haven't seen him irl for 3 years XD
and it's at a stinkin rich catholic school who have their morning announcments broadcasted on to every tv in the school, which are in every single classroom!  rich! rich rich rich!
but i bet his school's never broke a world record.  and we are going to! (most people simultaneously walking on stilts for 100 m, doing it on thursday, with doug the great (who has broken two world records involving stilts) and sponsoring participation house)
psshh it's going to be fun but wierd at the same time.  ooooh yes.
so, i'm considering it practice for my own prom, next year XD
and it's on my BIRTHDAY! what are the chances of that?!  -22 days-
oh yeeeeess except i won't have a prom dresss... so i might wear one of his sister's dresses... and i might wear my favourite blouse with a black skirt...  but i'm not going to fit in anyway, so it doesn't really matter... i'm kinda hyper right now lol
wheeeeeew, and i'm hoping i'll get Okami for my birthday.  did i already mention that?  i think i did... aaaand, uhh, we got a new caaar todaaaay, it's a very very shiny shiny blue blue sparkly sparkly malibuuuuu. very.
so, we had our stilt walking practice today.  they're not very high, less than a foot off the ground, but still.  it was soooo much fun!  i fell on the pavement before i got to the track (because our track is not pavement, and that's a very very very very good thing in this case!!!!) because the pavement is SOOOOOOO hard to walk on.  and i skinned my knee, but it didn't hurt very much (even though it started to bleed later)  and my english teacher and sabrina (who was helping me walk) both had to help me get up.  you have to do a kind of hop thing.  anyways, almost half way around the track i fell again, but at least it was on dirt, and ian had to come over from the person he was helping to help sabrina and me to get me up.  up until that point, i was walking without holding onto Sabrina's arm, but after that i held onto her almost until we got to where we started again, because i felt so unbalanced.  i think the stilts shifted a bit (probably did).  and it was easier falling backwards onto the grass than i thought it would be, way.  but it's going to be sooo chaotic when we actually do it.  we have to get 615 people stilt walking to break the record (which is currently 614 lol)  but meghean said they were expecting 1000 ish, which i don't think they'll get.  and i don't know if it's exactly possible, because you need almost as many people helping the walkers as walkers themselves!  anyway, i'll do fine as long as the stilts are aligned right with my feet, keep me balanced.

i'm longing for summer... already
it's only may
-27 days!-
and yet, i can't wait for july for higgin's lake with my cousins T_T
i don't know how i'm going to survive for the rest of the school year *sigh*
and right now i'm stuck in a feeling of wanting to do something, erm, outside, but not having anyone to do it with.  and i don't want to do it without music.  yaaa, i don't know
maybe i'll go play majora's mask or ocarina of time or something.
oh ya, that reminds me
is there any way of hooking up and N64 to a computer?
hmmmm, well, some in between thing would be needed, that's for sure.  computer's obviously don't have input thingies for the video/sound
oops, accidentally posted this in art stuff XD

well, today was... interesting
-29 days till my birthday!-
In physics we played with electromagnets to create a device thingy that made a bell ring continuously... and... not much else...
in english we had ANOTHER lecture, ugh, but we're done with the victorian era now, at least, and we're going to be reading Brave New World again on monday.
at lunch i was TRYING to reteach danielle the basics of moles and stuff so that SHE can teach Sabrine sometime this weekend.  ya, we don't get it either.  then the chemistry test, which i got perfect on, which i know because ms. ham TOLD me, but then...
well, my brain was fried, and the math test,,, was just plain awful.  ugh.  i got stuck on half of the questions and am praying that i got higher than a 60% on it (but i'm pretty sure i got lower than 70)
well... we'll just have to see.  maybe i did better than i thought?
*sigh*
And it's my friend's birthday today- she turned 77! :D

[edit:]umm, what was i going to say?  uurgh... i really... don't... remember..... something to do with my art blog thing? *ish confused*[/edit]

*squeeeaaaal*
guess what i got!  guess what i got!!
nope, not tickets to go see phantom of the opera *shakes head*
better than that!  (well, to me, maybe not to other people)
it's a boooook *jumps up and down, erm, excitedly*
A phantom of the opera booooook
with the muuuuusic in it
*squeeeaaal*
i can even play most of the songs relatively well! (on piano)
well, too many sharps and flats, but oh well
5 SHARPS! i have NEVER seen 5 sharps before...
that's got to be.... b? key signature? or something.  ya.
it's craaaaazy <3 i love it <3
oo, oo, picture!  (if it's not too shiny)
and, of course, this is when my camera's batteries choose to die -___-  i hate batteries
anyways, so how did i get it?  well, my piano teacher bought it at a book fair last wednesday, and my mom saw it at his house when we were there for piano lessons on monday, and he said i could have it for five dollars, but i don't have any money, so my mom paid, an then it was miiiiine
all miiiine
XD

well, i went shopping this morning, with my mom, since i desperately needed clothes
{Edit: April 28th} hmmm, as it's been... requested XD


side note: i suck at taking pictures, i got some stain on the striped shirt already; some mixture of copper, iron, and chlorine, and i hope the button on my brown shrts doesn't fall off{end of edit}
phew
it was exhausting XD, lasted 2 hours
hmmm, i love Hairspray! XD
we saw Charlie Wilson's War last night, it was a good movie.
umm, i'm going to try go-go-gourmet, it sounds like a good game XD
Well, my brother brought me home a fortune cookie... and my fortune told me not to scatter my energies... which really is useful advice, since i dabble in so many things... and am not really good at any of them... DX
*sigh*
there was something... i think it was on the radio, about fostering dogs, and we might do that sometime, eventually XD
it'll be hard to let go though

I wasn't sure whether to put this into art stuff or not... but since i've got a lot of other stuff, it goes here lol
Well, i'm writing this poem write now, and it's rather... epic kindof.  but i don't know anything about epic poems, so i'm kind of just... stumbling through it.  Anyway, i'm using first person, whih i'm rather... tentative about, but I don't think I could write it any other way.  Are any epic poems in first person? O_o  and i'm leaving soon so i don't have much time for this...  umm, what else, what else... well, i'm doing really well in school right now... 89 average for midterm ^^...the mmorpg i'm playing right now is called Ragnarok Online... I love the graphics, but i don't like the fact that you can't see exactly how much health your enemies have... in fact, they don't even have a health bar!! D:<
My birthday's kinda coming up... i want new rollerblades and Okami for wii... but i think i might be happy with my current rollerblades, i just wish my brother had some XD

Oh ya, that's it!  I'm actually working on... being... healthy right now.  eating all fruits and vegetables for lunches (well, mostly *looks guilty and hides pudding behind back*)  and I'm rollerblading home from school... three times a week now!  Mine and my brother's record is 35 minutes (and that's with me rollerblading and my bro jogging to keep up half the time)
Well, gtg!

There's one word I've always known was far too overused: Awesome.  How many people do you know that use it in speech everyday, a common occurrence, when really it should only be used in reference to the only being who deserves such a word, God.  One can look at something man-made and call it awe-inspiring, but is it really?  Man took something that was there and turned it into something else.  God made something out of nothing.  Which of those should inspire awe?  A skyscraper, the CN tower, the Great Wall of China... or flowers, trees, rivers, the sun, the galaxy; life.  This is what is truly Awesome.

I know i've been neglecting xiha lately T_T .....
I know!
ugh
well, it's the first time i've been on my computer since sunday night
and...
ugh, this stupid monitor DX
aaaye
I now have 27 manga!
27... (+1)
hahaha
wow, my brain's really tired
and
uh
uh
oh yaaa
well, i'll start earlier
yesterday morning, we saw national treasure, and we were with my mom's side of the family...
and you know Riley, how his last name is Poole
well, THAT's my mom's maiden name
and 2 of my cousins who were there were Thomas and Amanda Poole
aaaye
it was pretty funny
anyway, that was a good movie
and today, me and my mom went to Ancaster to see Enchanted
hahaha it was great
"I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss"
ya know
and I applauded for Pip after he did his long pantomime
Edward is pretty stupid hahaha XD

I have to design a house for Tech...
and I'm supposed to do 10 bubble drawings...
but the first one I drew I decided to do T_T
so now I have to do... 8 more with no inspiration...
I mean... they're pretty easy...
just rearranging rooms and stuff...
But still, it's boring and I don't want to do it :(
Ah well

well, the house (so far) has the front door going into the foyer, the door is on the east, the front of the house.  On the north side of the foyer, there's the living room, and on the south side, there's the dining room, because then there's this long narrowish kitchen which stretches the whole length of the house.  It's a split level house.  So, from the kitchen, there are two sets of stairs going up to a hallway, which connects to two bedrooms with a bathroom in between.  In between those sets of stairs, there is space, stairs going down, and space.  Downstairs, there's a bedroom on the north side, a bathroom in the southeast corner, and the rest of the space is the family room.  Going out of the family room is a door leading to the patio, which has a picnic table, and gardens on either side of the patio.
...
the front of the house is one floor, and the ground slopes down towards the back, so the back of the house is two floors.  (with the two beds and bath above the other bed and bath and family room)
I'm worried it's going to end up being more than 3500 square feet (which is the maximum)  I wonder if Mr. Kelly will let me design this house in metric.  I hate imperial.

update #1
oy, this is hard...
my rough note drawings would probably not be understandable to anyone but me...
the legend might help though hahahahaha
I don't think I would be able to do it in metric... it would be more confusing :(
so far I have one bedroom with a square footage of 184...
because of the cutout (12 feet) caused by the stairs...
hmm, it will probably end up being smaller
yeeeesss a giant bathroom! hahahahahahaha
it's going to be super ;D

Yesterday morning, we had an assembly on bullying
This guy, Mr. Neuts I guess
He told us about his son, Myles, who died ten years ago
When he was ten years old.
-I'm getting in trouble, so I better get back to work-
^ ^ posted in tech ^ ^
anyways
Myles died at his school
He was hung on a coat hook in the boys washroom.
2 years before, when Myles was in a grade 3/4 split (I think that was it), he had had a bet with one of the older students in his class on who would win a colouring contest.
It was a ten dollar bet.
So every once in a while Myles would go up to this kid and say "Where's my ten dollars?"
because he had won
and then, one day 2 years later, Myles ran up to the kid and said "Where's my ten dollars?"
and the kid had an older guy, a twelve-year-old (the other kid was 11) with him
So after Myles ran away, the kid said to his friend
"We had a bet 2 years ago; He's never forgotten"
And the older kid said "Let's make him forget.  We'll make him forget on Friday."
(because the Principal was going to be away on Friday, or something like that)
and on Friday, Myles Neuts was found, hanging from a coat hook in the boys washroom
The police have still not made any arrests, 10 years later, and Mr Neuts isn't even allowed to have the clothes Myles was wearing that day

This morning I drove to school.  Yep.
It was with a full van too XD
Me, my mom, my bro, Adam, Jill, Rachael, and Danielle
It was pretty adventorous (which I obviously can't spell)
still need to work on slowing down for corners
My speed control is getting better though hehe
Craaap
I barely even looked in my mirrors at alll
that. is not good.

ANYWAYS
in tech we're doing a residential project
it's our first assignment that's architectural.
and I'm done everything but dimensioning it
I HATE DIMENSIONING

so...
next period (american history)
My group has our seminar (does that even make sense?)
It's about... the Gilded Age
(early 1900s, the industrial evolution, you know?)
Well actually, it's about Robber Barons XD
and then I have to write an essay about it...

It's a day... 2-YAY IT'S FRIDAY- today, so that means I have engineering first
We're starting programming today?
today or monday
It's just turing though, nothing fancy
And my circuit, it's a decoder
Soooo complicated
But I think i've got it!
I just didn't have enough time to test it today
this is what i actually wrote^
YESTERDAY!
I didn't have enough time to test it YESTERDAY!
okay, I am officially going crazy
*cucoo cucoo*
Oh dear
and french...
I don't want to talk about french...
Except I'm doing a project on Tunisia ;D lol

So, our thanksgiving this year was... the weekend of October 6, 7, 8.
Of course, this blog starts the weekend before!
rofl

Ok, so,
My church celebrates Thanksgiving the Sunday the week before national thanksgiving (only in Canada XD)
And we always decorate the altar with fruits and veggies and eggs, bread, you name it
(I'll put pictures in this later)
We used to get up really early on the Saturday and go to the market (which was somewhere... 30 min- 1 hour? away) and we'd get all the stuff and it was really fun (plus they had the best apple fritters EVER! lol)
But now we don't do it anymore :(
so anyway, we had some stuff ordered, and we (my parents and bro and me) picked it up and brought it to the church on... Friday I think
On saturday we (more than just my family) set it all up
And on Sunday, we had service, of course, and then turkey dinner! Yum hehe
And... we (the tiny tiny orchestra) didn't play anything this year, like we usually do
So anyways, that's that weekend finished

6 days later
hahahaha
Sunday:
Church, and then to my grandparents house
Unfortunately, not all of us were there
My Cioppi cousins were busy doing something
It was the first time that I can remember that we weren't all there
:(
but anyways, it was pretty fun
Mark called me an "aspiring artist" and they were all very encouraging about Jesterling (you'll see)
they said it was cool but wierd
pretty much all of them said it was wierd
most of them said it was cool too...
ANYWAYS *ahem*
so, we ate turkey and mashed potatoes and salad and squash and, erm, gravy and... food. XD
And then we all played Up and Down (a card game) like usual
aaaand... that's all I can think of right now

So, on Monday (we get the day off), we went to the Rockton World Fair (in rockton XD)
My brother and my friend Jill and I went, and Daniel was there too
It was... interesting...
No, really I had a lot of fun :D
We saw all the chickens, and the vegetables, and the peacock, and the rabbits, and the big turkeys, and we went on a few rides too.
We had to leave pretty early though, and we didn't get to play football, as was planned
So, all in all, my thanksgiving wasn't as great as I thought it would be, but...
I really can't complain

Hahahaha (triumphant)
They blocked Xiha at school, I was so mad.  But then I realized: the homepage isn't blocked.  And it doesn't have the "en." at the beginning
so maybe it's only the "en." pages that are blocked
and so, A plan began to formulate
And today, I sit at the computer, the website in french and NOT BLOCKED ;D
although it makes it a little hard to navigate hehe XD
my scarf is coming along great, but  I think I'm going to run out of yarn :'(
Maaaah

Anyways,
Ta ta for now! XD

Sooooo...
Last year I made a pretty rainbow scarf!
:3
Even though I didn't know how to knit!  And still don't!  And now I'm making another one! (not rainbow though)
How, you ask?
Spool Knitting!
that whole "Knit one, purl two" thing makes absolutely no sense to me!! :D
this is the scarf I made last year (it took sooooo long)

see? rainbow!
Spool knitting produces these circular tube things, so I sewed thim together (kinda.  I don't know how to sew either!)
that's where the purple string things are, where I sewed it.  I guess it's actually more like a tie that goes through the middle.
Anyways, ya.  It's a really long scarf, so I had to make the three seperate things and then tie them together
And we went to Wal-Mart today (I love wal-mart!) to look for curtains for my room (it was repainted in January and I STILL haven't gotten new ones) and my dad went to look at shoes so I went to look at the yarn (because we couldn't find any good curtains) and I found three... um... whatever-ya-callems... ya, that I loved soooo much

see? especially... all of them XD
(the white one is way cooler is person... in... face to... not on a computer screen XD)
to make some new scarves! (...that's only have a sentence)
it will take me sooo long
but it's actually a lot easier to use this skinny stuff then it was for the rainbow one :| wierd.
this is what I have done so far!

Not that much XD
although I've probably got another inch since I started typing this up lol
or two...

anyways...
the old way of spool knitting is taking a spool of thread and getting rid of the stuff in the top and bottom where the middle is (the cardboard or whatever) and putting four nails in the top
but I just use this yellow plastic thing! :D ^^^^
and then... you...
well it's kinda hard to explain hehe
so I won't!
And if you want to know, you'll have to google it XD
go google!
and if you don't know what google is!...
you'll have to google it! XD XD XD XD
jk, jk
But maybe if I feel like it, I'll post instructions later
(probably in a different post though)

and...
what else was I going to say?!?!
I forget
Oh, and I got a new pillow too!
XD
it's soo big

...
fuzzy scarf...

Well, it actually snowed for the first time yesterday (well, here anyway)
But it was too little to count (you could barely even tell it was snowing XD)
So, it was snowing today, which I saw at various times during the day
And even though I don't like winter that much...
(because it kills everything)
...It still gave me a joyous feeling when I saw it
especially since last year it didn't snow until like... January.
ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little

Aaaaand...
I was going to say something else, but I forget now XD
Well anyways...

I can't wait for Christmas!

and...
I ABSOLUTELY ADORE plant tycoon!

love it love it love it X3

The Rosacae Red Oak I believe

I'm at school, and I'm bored (again)
O:
first period's almost over, I'll continue later =P
-------------------
so, it's third period now
I've decided to make a new blog, called Art or My Art or something
Where i can post all my poems and pictures and stuff!
yeeeeey!

I've been really tired lately.
And soooo not able to concentrate
it took me hours to write an essay, and then almost as long to rewrite it 3 days later!

anyways, the art blog will help me show off my stuff to the wonderful Xiha community without everybody having to go to my deviant art page (which you can do anyway, if you want )

later!

Well, I kind of left Xiha Life for... 4 months*...
ya...
I have a major problem of getting bored of things really fast...
But I love Xiha!  How could I have forgotten...
(this is turning into a poem)
All the good times...
Posting in my blogs and meeting new people,
playing games to my heart's content,
Trying, in vain, to accomplish getting 100 000 points...

Well, anyways...
I have a facebook account now ;P
And... Hammer's gone,
he came back once after he left, but...
He's probably dead by now.

O:
I have to get back to practicing my clarinet!
Later, folks

*Edit: It's been longer than 4 months! 7! *dies*
how horrifying
Edit #2: DEVIANT ART!
I'm so proud
www.sharkite.deviantart.com

Yesterday, me and my friend decided to walk home from school-which takes forever-and we were like 7 minutes from home when this squirrel that was right by the side of the road started crawling towards my foot.  He's young, somewhere in between 8 and 12 weeks old.  He climbed partially onto my sandal, and I took my foot out, because I was afraid he was going to bite or something.  He then climbed all the way onto my sandal, so I picked it up and took him farther away from the road.  Jillian and I didn't want to just leave him there though, so we were kinda just standing there and saying "what should we do?"  Then a construction worker guy came over and told us that his wife takes in squirrels, and that we should take this one home and feed him peanut butter and birdseed, or call the vet to ask what to feed him.  We didn't really want to leave him there, so we took him with us (the squirrel, not the construction worker.)  Just as we were about to go, the construction worker found another one over by his truck.  He brought the squirrel over to us, Jill decided to take it, and we left for home.  On the way to my house (cuz it's closer) we were talking about what we should do with the squirrels, and Jill decided, after much consideration, that she couldn't take hers home because her cat would eat/kill it.  I quite agreed.  I couldn't take them both though, because that was much more farfetched than bringing one squirrel home.  We decided that I would keep mine, and hers would go to the forest near my house, after feeding him.  My parents weren't home, of course, they were at work.  So, we brought them to my house (my brother was trying to break in because it takes us so long to walk, and even longer because of the squirrels), and fed them peanut butter and cereal with dried strawberries in it.  Mine wasn't eating anything at first, but I finally convinced him to eat a strawberry, and after that he was feasting.  His brother was quite the same way.  Jill and David left to take the squirrel to the forest, and I stayed back with Hammer (who I named a bit later.)  He is living in a dog carrier thing that we had for Benji (before he died) with a diet of water, peanut butter, cereal (which I'm not sure he's eating) and birdseed (which I don't think he's eaten any of.)  My dad says I have to let him go on Saturday, because he's "wild."  But he's not, really, he acts more like a mouse than a squirrel.  And he loves me <3.  I don't think he'd survive in the wild, he's such a baby.  Not that the forest is really "the wild."  It's pretty small, and the only predators there would be snakes, probably.  I'm not going to let him go.

Suddenly I See, by K.T. Tustall
Other Side of the World, by K.T. Tunstall
Dirty Little Secret, by The All-American Rejects
Move Along, by The All-American Rejects
Butterfly, by George
If I had a Million Dollars, by Barenaked Ladies
The Sound Of Your Voice, by Barenaked Ladies
Blackbird, by Sarah McLachlan
Sweet Surrender, by Sarah McLachlan
Brokered Heart, by The Acorn
This Is Just the Beginning, by The Reason
Paper Bag, by Anna Nalick
Citadel, by Anna Nalick
Keep Holding On, by Avril Lavigne
I Don't Give, by Avril Lavigne
Babe, by Styx
How Does It Feel, by Avril Lavigne
God Save the Scene, by GrandM
Dynamite Walls, by Hayden
Arctic, At Dawn, by Kill the Lights

(Songs not ordered in any particular fashion)

Bill and Ned walk into a fast food joint one afternoon to get lunch. Bill orders and the cashier gives him his meal. Ned goes up to order and the cashier greets him with "Hello Ned! How are you? Hey everybody! Ned's here!" Everybody in the restaurant comes up and says hello to Ned. After everyone has greeted him, Bill and Ned sit down and begin to eat.
"Ned, you're pretty popular!" says Bill. "I'm the most popular man in the world," says Ned.

"Now Ned," says Bill, your pretty popular but you're not the most popular man in the world."

"Oh yeah," Ned replies "I'll bet you a thousand dollars that I'm friends with anybody you can name!"

"That so?" answers Bill, "How about the President of the United States?"

"Let's go!" says Ned.

The two fly to Washington and knock on the front door of the White House. The president answers, "Ned! How are you doing? I haven't seen you in ages!" The three go play a round of golf and then leave.

"That was luck!" says Bill, "Two thousand says you're not friends with the Queen of England!"

"Let's go!" says Ned.

The two fly to Buckingham Palace and, sure enough, are greeted by the Queen. ''Hello Ned my boy! What have you been up to these days?" They enter the palace and have some tea and leave.

Frustrated, Bill says, "Double or nothing, you don't know the Pope!"

"Benny!" says Ned, "Let's go!"

When they get to the Vatican, Ned instructs Bill to wait outside and Ned will come out on the balcony with his arm around the Pope. After a while, a crowd gathers to hear the Pope speak. And as told by Ned, when the Pope came out, Ned's arm was wrapped around him. Ned looks down from the balcony and see's Bill passed out on the ground. He rushes down and wakes him up.

"Bill! Bill! Wake up!" Bill opens his eyes and says,

"Ned. You're the most popular man in the world."

"I told you that, Bill," says Ned, "but you didn't faint when I knew the President! You didn't faint when I knew the Queen!"

"Well I was shocked that you knew the Pope," says Bill. "But I just couldn't take it when the guy next to me tapped me on the shoulder and said "Who's that up there with Ned?"

The Symbolic Journey
by Samie Bauder

It’s a long story of how I got in this forest, so I’m not even going to go there.  But I can tell you that it wasn’t pretty, and it also wasn’t my choice.  It was Korlan’s minions that dumped me here.  Who’s Korlan?  Well, he’s the only shadow elemental here on Ballanore, and boy can I tell you, I’m happy about that.  They are not a nice bunch.  More like evil with a capital E.  He’s trying to take over Ballanore, and the sad thing is, he’s succeeding.
I’m not a suspicious person by nature, more like impulsive, but I had a right to be suspicious.  After all, they dumped me in the middle of the forest and gave me one hell of a headache, but they wouldn’t just leave me here after knocking me out, not when I could easily find my way out of here.  Nope, they probably sent something big, mean and ferocious after me.
Well, anyway, I am wary, especially after all that, so I took a look around.  Hmm…  There, behind me, there’s a wolf muzzle between some branches.  I am really starting to hate wolves.  Why did they have to join Korlan’s army?  Probably because they think that he’s going to win, which he is most definitely not.  But anyway, I better get moving before they send in more creatures than even I can handle.
Yep, they started chasing after me right after I took off, but guess what?  I was faster.  There was even a path I could follow.  Okay, maybe that wasn’t the smartest choice, but it was only faintly worn, and didn’t look like it was used often.  By the time I had thought about it, I was already far ahead of the wolves.
But wait, what was that up ahead on the path?  Oh, it’s only a log.  So I leaped over it and as I did I changed into a panther.  What was that?  I changed?  Yep, I changed.  That’s what I do, I’m a shapechanger.  Everyone in Ballanore can shapechange, except the evil guys, but it’s not that easy, so some are just no good at it.  Like, most of the world.
Whoa, what’s that.  Oh it’s a bear.  A bear?  Well, half of the bears are on my side and half are on Korlan’s side, and right now I’m willing to believe it’s the latter.  Wait, it’s…
“Bear!”  I shouted joyfully as I skidded past him to hit a tree stump.  “I was beginning to think I’d never see a friendly face again!”
His big bearish face split into a grin.  “Dragon!  Everyone has been wondering where you went.”  He sobered up immediately.  “Unfortunately, they were starting to get worried.”  He gave me a bear hug.  Who would have thought of that?  A bear hugging a panther?
Anyway, yes he did call me Dragon, because yes that is my name.  Dragon Spiketale at your service.  I’m Queen of Ballanore, except with Korlan imposing on my throne; some people prefer to see him as the king.  Huh, he’s more dense than a 2x4.  Only a few people call me Dragon, the rest call me Queen Dragon, or just my lady.
“So, are you just going to sit there, dreamy-eyed for the rest of the day or are you coming with me?” Bear asked, chuckling at my normal empty-headedness.  Bear is my best friend, and always has been.  He has a knack for powerful shapechange forms, so he usually sticks with his normal form of the bear, because it takes less energy for him.
“I guess we’re going to have to prepare quicker than we expected.  If his shadow army’s numbers are too high, we’ll hardly even stand a chance.”  I sighed.  “They’re going to need something extra special to motivate them.”  Mischievously I glanced at Bear to see what he thought of my plan.
“Dragon!” he groaned. “How are you going to get the key if you don’t even know where it is?”
“Who says I don’t know where it is!” I said in a slightly injured tone.  Bear looked sorry, but only until he figured out I was playing with him.
“So that’s how you’re going to play, huh?”  Uh oh, I don’t like his tone very much.  Sounds like he’s changed the joke so that it’s on me!
Wary, I shuffled around a bit in my sleek cat form.  “What are you up to, Bear?”
Laughing, he tackled me, but I easily dodged out of the way and started running.  “Try and catch me now, Bear!”  He chuckled and followed after me in his lumbering gait of a run, nowhere near as fast, of course.
I slowed down though, soon after I started running, and pointed my ears forward.  No, no, wait!  Yes, there’s definitely something over there.
“Bear…”
“Yes, Dragon?” he had just come up behind me, probably wondering why I was standing there.
“Do you smell blood?”
He sniffed the air. “Maybe over –“
“I smell blood, Bear.  Something -  Something’s wrong Bear.”
I carefully padded forward, toward the small clearing ahead, Bear following me.
I gasped.  There was blood.  Blood and fur.  Fur that look familiar…
“No!  Lilly, no!”  I raced over to her body as soon as I saw her, my heart racing as well.  “It was wolves who did this,” I snarled, furious.  Three big wolves, with large sharp teeth, sharp claws, and heavy bodies against one small otter, with small pointy teeth, small claws and a small body!  No, I was past furious.
“Dragon, calm down.” Bear said in that soothing voice of his, harsh and soft at the same time.  “I know Lilly didn’t deserve to die, but you can’t change that now, all you can do is avenge her and tell Otter of her death.”
I tried, I really did, but I was too hyped up to calm down.  I’m pretty sure my eyes were starting to go red from blood lust.  “Bear, carry her in your mouth.”
Luckily for him, he knew better than to object, so as soon as he listened, I changed into a dragon.  My namesake, dangerous, and majestic all at once, has a long body, a huge wingspan, spines all the way down my back to the tip of my tail, and large feet with large claws.  Not many people had seen me transform into a dragon, but Bear was one of the ones who had, and still he gasped slightly, which must have been pretty hard to do, considering he held the scruff of a dead otter in his mouth.
I wasted no time, charging straight out of the clearing, down the path and into the next one, pushing aside trees as I did so.  Right as soon as I came into the clearing, I whacked the first wolf with my tail, slamming him across the small clearing and into a tree.  The next wolf that came after me had a small silver thing around his neck.  I head butted him with enough force to kill a fully grown elephant.  The third wolf had started to run, but I grabbed his neck between my large jaws and shook him around like he was no larger than a twig.
“Bear, get the key…”  Right before I blacked out.  I can’t believe I actually had enough energy to say those words, but I did.
Next thing I knew, I was laying on the ground, with Bear sitting beside me.  It’s funny how a bear sits, kind of like a dog I guess.  “Did you get it?” were the first words out of my mouth.  I guess it should have been ‘Thank you,’ but there you go, that’s me.
“Don’t worry, Dragon, I have it.  I put it in your pouch.  You’ve only been out for 5 minutes.”  Luckily for me, Bear understands me, and he has a heart that’s almost too big for his own good.
“Thank you, Bear.”  softly I thanked him, not only for taking care of me, but for understanding.
If bears could blush, I’m sure Bear would have been at that moment.
“We’d better get going Bear.  First to the otter clan, second to the base with the otter clan tagging along, hopefully.
Bear nodded.  “To the river.”
I grinned.  “Bear, you’re the best.”
Bear grinned too. “Not if we’re racing to the river, I’m not.”
I laughed.  It’s good to laugh in times of war.  It keeps you sane.  “Surely you don’t expect me to race you in my dragon form?  That just wouldn’t be fair.”  So, sure enough, I changed into a panther again.  My favourite wild cat.
So, we raced to the river.  Bear and I seem to be racing everywhere these days.  Maybe we should slow down and walk once in a while.  Well, we got to the river, but no one was around.  They were probably all hiding from the wolves.  Hopefully…
“Hey!  Anybody here to greet your Queen?”  It seemed like the most sensible way to get the otters to come out, and sure enough, come out they did.
“My Lady!  What brings you to this part of the forest, If I may ask?”
“Otter,” I said softly.
Bear came forward and gently deposited Lilly’s body in front of her father, without me having to ask.
“I avenged her as soon as we found her body Otter,” I murmured.  “I’m sorry, but we got there too late.”
Grief stricken for only a moment, Otter soon got down to business.  “We’ll help.  All of us.”
I nodded.  “Thank you, Otter.  We have to go, and soon.”
“Oy!  Somebody get the rest of the clan up onto the banks.  Everyone is coming to the Queen’s base camp.  Olivia and I are going with her majesty and Bear.  You are to follow along, but don’t be too far behind.  Children stay in the middle.”
Olivia is Otter’s wife, such a gentle dear, but in battle, she fights twice as fierce as anyone, knowing that she’s protecting the future generations.
We started running to camp right away, with me as a panther, and Bear, Otter and Olivia as themselves.  We got there pretty fast too.
Someone was coming up to greet us.
“Badger!  Nice to see you, friend.”
“As it is to see you, my Lady.  Here is your chalice.”  Badger bowed.
“Thank you, Badger.  Stand back, now.”  I took the key out of my pouch, and inserted into the fifth keyhole.  A chalice that has keyholes?  Yep, this is one strange cup.  It has eight of them in fact.
The chalice filled with a sparkling peacock green liquid.  I poured it onto the ground, and immediately a small fruit tree grew in its place.
“Badger, get someone on this tree.  Tell them to pick a fruit every five minutes.  No more, and no less.”
“Yes, my Lady.”  He bowed before scurrying away.
Time for my speech.  I had no idea how vulnerable my troops were, so I braced myself.  In the middle of the clearing, there was a large tree stump.  This was where all meetings were held, with the speaker, me, on the tree stump, and the rest gathered around.
“My loyal subjects: who’s ready for a battle?”  Since the cheer I got was rather lacking, I said “No?  Why not?”
One brave goshawk told me.  “Craaaaaak!  We will not win this battle!  Korlan will destroy us all!”  He clicked his beak a few times, and there were a few murmurs of agreement.
“Oh really.  What do you think will happen if we lose this battle?”  I figured this would get them thinking.  “Well?”
No one answered.  You could have heard a pin drop.
“Fine, I’ll tell you.  Nothing.  Nothing will happen, because there will be none of you left.  Just Korlan, ruling the world.  How boring.  I don’t think I would want to live in that world, even if I did survive.  And let me tell you something.  You’re not fighting for me,” I paused and amended with a small smile, “Well, you are, but that’s not first and foremost.  You’re fighting for you.  You’re fighting for you, you’re families and your future. That’s first, and then you’re fighting for me.”
“So, who’s ready for a battle?”
Now that was a cheer.  Satisfied, I changed into a dragon.  No point in not stocking the fire a little bit more.  Sure enough, another cheer erupted.
“That’s all for now.  Get back to preparing!”
Changing into a bear, I turned to Badger.  “Where are the squirrels?  I haven’t seen any around since we got back.”
Frowning, Badger replied “Neither have I.  Otter asked me that question too, just before your speech my Lady.”
I nodded.  “I’ll find out what happened.  Did they disappear all at once or gradually?”
Badger was still frowning.  “I don’t know, your majesty.”
“Okay.”  I sighed.  “Well, I’m off.  I’ll try not to be gone for so long this time.”
Bear came up shortly after this exchange.  “I’m going with you.”
“No you’re not,” I said immediately.
He frowned.  “But-“
“No buts Bear.  You’ll have to be in charge if they attack while I’m gone.  Which they probably will,” I added as an afterthought.
He nodded, looking disconcerted.  I knew it wouldn’t sit well with him, but he had to stay here to be in charge while I was gone.  Who knew what the troops would do unsupervised.
“I’ll be fine, Bear.  Don’t worry about me, worry about what we’ll do when Korlan attacks.”  I left him with that, and then headed east out of the camp, towards the edge of the forest.  There was no path here at all, because none of the forest creatures liked being out in the open.  That was more Korlan’s territory.
I had to bushwhack some weeds out of the way, but what better to use than a bears claws?  Forging a path was easy.  The vegetation got thinner fast, until there were only a few scattered trees left.  Then forest ended and the Great Plains began.  As far as I could see eastward there was grass.  Tall, prairie grass, not short green grass.  A breathtaking sight, even for me.
Well, no time to waste dilly-dallying.  I soon got to business, following the smell of deceit, and the sense of something not right.  That way.  It was not quite straight into the plain, more to the side so you had to cut through diagonally.  Like the other sensible forest creatures, I was not comfortable out in the open either.
Soon I spotted something in the distance.  Yes, that seemed to be where whatever it is was coming from.  It didn’t take very long to get to the shack, if that’s what you want to call it.  It really was more like a few pieces of wood stuck together, but the smell of death was all over it.  It was much worse than when Bear and I found Lilly’s body.
I circled the structure, but there didn’t seem to be a door of any sort.  I went back to the ‘front’ and pulled away the first couple boards.  Underneath was… the squirrels.  All of them.  Sadly, they weren’t going to get a proper burial, at least not until the war is over.  I gently placed the boards back on top.
Suddenly, I really felt that something was wrong.  It was probably…
I turned around and confirmed my suspicions.  Yep, Korlan attacked while I was gone.  Good thing I made Bear stay there, or they’d be in even more trouble, being without a leader and all.
I changed into a dragon, knowing I wouldn’t have time to later, and flew back to the base as fast as possible, which is pretty fast when you’re a dragon.  I even got there faster than I expected!
I surveyed the battle.  It was three to one, everywhere, and not in my favor either.  Quickly, I pulled the chalice and key out of my pouch.  Eighth keyhole.  Instantly the cup filled to the brim with a sparkly fire red liquid.  I drank it in one shot, and felt fire going down my body.  Out to my wingtips, down to my claws, and down to the tip of my tail.  Ah, that felt better.
I roared, but it was more like a screech than anything.  Everything from that point on seemed like it was in slow-motion to me.  The whole battle paused.  As one, my army and Korlan’s looked up at me, mixed reactions on there faces.  I screeched again, and this time it went so high-pitched that even I couldn’t here it, but it seemed to be awfully painful to Korlan’s troops.  They were falling down, clutching their ears, all over the place.
And then they came.  The phoenixes.  Like fireballs, 5 streaks of light shot past my head, putting live fire everywhere.  Live fire only hurts things that were dead, like undead, or things made of shadows, like Korlan, or things that had evil hearts, like the rest of Korlan’s troops.  Once the phoenixes were done setting all the bad guys on fire, they disappeared in another flash of fire, and left me to clean up the mess.
But first, I had some business to take care of.  The phoenixes were strong, but not strong enough to destroy the three strongest evil dudes: Korlan, the minotaur, and the manticore.  Well, might as well take out the weaker ones first.
I charged at the minotaur, grabbed the bull by the horns, quite, litteraly, and threw him at the tree stump.  He was gone in a wisp of shadow.  All I had to do to the manticore was whip my tail at him.  He ducked, but the fire on it caught him as he was coming back up.  Then he was gone, too.  Korlan was more of a challenge, but not by much.  I fanned my wings at him, he charged at me, and I stuck my claw right through where his heart would be, if he had one.  So much for that army.
The battle was over, but how many had we lost before I arrived?  “Badger, start counting our losses,” I said crisply.  No time for me to break down when my subjects need their Queen most.
“My Lady,” Badger said tentatively, like he was afraid of what my response would be.
“What,“ I snapped, not meaning to be rude, but not in a very good mood, either.
“I think you should see this,” was all he said.
Wearily, I followed him.  If there was anything worse than what just happened, I had better see it now.
Then I saw him.
“Bear!  No, Bear. No, no, no.”  I wasn’t reacting very well, and I can tell that’s exactly what Badger expected me to do.  “Bear, talk to me.  Tell me anything, please Bear.”
“Dragon…  I said I would die for you.  I’m sorry…”
“Bear!  No, you did everything you could.  Why you, Bear, why?”  I slowly traced the long gash that ran across his heart.
“Dragon… I’m sorry I have to leave you…  How ironic, that the time you need me most is at my own death.  I love you Dragon,” he whispered.
“Oh Bear,” I started crying soundlessly.  “I love you too,” I whispered.  “I promise, Ballanore will mourn, but we will reconstruct first.”
He chuckled weakly, “You know me so well.”  His breathing grew weaker.
“Goodbye Bear,” I said softly, and that was it.
I’m sure I wasn’t really myself for the rest of the day, after all, I had just lost a part of me, but I functioned.  I knew there were many who had died, but also many who were still alive.  Enough to replenish my kingdom.  Fortunately, we found a family of squirrels who had been hiding out the war in a hollow oak tree.  I’m sure they were surprised when they were welcomed with open arms instead of being lectured, but there was no point in being hard on them.  My subjects would soon get used to me sitting on the tree stump, lost inside my own head, and undisturbable until I came out of my memories.  I grew to be like that, often dreaming and thinking about nothing in particular.  I wasn’t a very good Queen, I suppose.
I knew things wouldn’t always be peaceful, but I also knew that when we did do battle, it would be very painful for me, bringing back memories of Bear and the old days.  I knew that when we did do battle, I would fight, not only for me, but for Bear, and I knew that we would win.  I knew that someday, I would have to have children, too, but I didn’t know if I would be able to.  I knew that good almost, but not quite always wins, and I knew that love would always triumph.

The End



Told ya it was long (in my journal entry)
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