"There is a sense of watchfulness," Tyrande whispered softly as she and her lover stepped through the concealing shadows, unhindered.
"That is true," Malfurion said, "but there is no malice."
Anara and Meras strode silently in the wake of their mounted leaders, bows at the ready for any danger that might threaten.
Eyes were geared toward the tree branches, and the nearly invisible webbing within them, seeking for an entrance up above to the town. Something that looked to be more important than average and would be fitting to announce themselves at.
The sound of voices in the trees ahead called their attention easily enough. It was a high-toned set of voices, and not something they would expect coming from the throats of adult humans as Anara and Meras had described the kumojin as resembling.
*****
"Give me that back!" Kimiko said frantically as she tried to reach up for the stuffed spider held in the hands of the older boy in front of her.
"Eww look at this thing, Kimi," the boy, a kumo, said. "What kind of spider is this?"
"It's my spider!" the little drider said, she was about twelve years old herself, and stilling dealing with the changes as best as she could. "I made it, Miki."
The drider girl gathered herself and leaped for the toy in her taller brother's hand, easily jumping to the needed distance, but finding herself disappointed as the toy flew from her brother to her brother's friend.
"Is that a cat head?" the kali asked with an arched eyebrow. "And what kind of spiders have tails."
"I want my toy!" the drider said leaping from her brother to the other boy. The kali tossed the doll past her and into Miki's hands. "I'm telling Mom!"
"Hey, Chuzo catch," Miki said, giggling.
The drider was able to the jump much higher with her eight legs than either boy could stand, but she was still young, and excitable and wasn't approaching the problem of getting her toy back in an effective way. She was, basically, acting like what she was, an upset little kid.
"No fair!" the drider whined stomping one of her legs into the ground as she neared the verge of crying.
The toy, crafted with patience and care if not much skill, tossed through the air over her head again, and again she was too slow to catch it, but it didn't land in one of the boys' hands either.
The three children froze as they saw the hand that had seemingly appeared from nowhere to snatch the spider out of the air. Nervously, gazes followed the line of the hand connected to the arm to see a tall, forbidding woman with deep purple skin and pale, pupilless eyes.
A slight smile turned the corners of her mouth up as she held the toy out to the drider girl, curiosity playing in the edges of the purple woman's eyes.
Kimiko very cautiously reached up to take the doll, moving slowly at first, and then, as soon as her hands touched the silk, snatching it away and backing away from the scary woman with huge ears as quickly as she could, skittering and leaping.
Miki and Chuzo stepped between the woman and Kimiko, also backing up slowly. Then the three children found a tree and, in a twinkling, had climbed up into the branches.
The woman watched them disappear into the foliage above and cocked her head slightly as the other three members of her party faded out of the shadows.
"We've made contact at least," Tyrande said.
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(Posted Thu, 07 Apr 2005 06:19)
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