[center][h3]Djinn Mischiefs[/h3]
[b][color=ff4500]Luna, The Twilight Queen
Level 6 Hero 
45 Khookies[/color][/b]

[sub]Brought to you by Cyclone and Vec![/sub][/center]

The Firewind Desert, a treacherous place for some, a blessed land for others. However, putting aside the matter of one's allegiance, one fact about the desert that almost everyone agrees upon when asked is that, the desert gives out a feeling of timelessness when first gazed upon.

No matter how strong the winds howl, crashing onto the sand dunes and creating mighty sandstorms, no matter how scorching the rays of the sun are, forcing some of the weaker native to the desert creatures to live underground in a bid to not get burned to death or die from dehydration, the feeling that, no matter what happens, the desert will always remain the same is... quite something alright.

Luna experienced this feeling in its entireness during the first five days she traveled through the Firewind. However, the werewolf belatedly regretted her thoughtless decision to be mischievous and go against Ventus' words. She didn't regret that fact that she disobeyed Ventus, no, she regretted the fact that she didn't foresee that the desert would be such a boring place to travel in! During those five days, the only thing she'd ever seen has been sand, sand dunes, sand, and more sand dunes! Of course, there was the occasional sandstorm and dust devil to break the pace, but aside from that, nothing!

So, it is understandable that, when she finally came across a river of sorts, she would become ecstatic. She immediately dived into the cooling waters of the river. The sudden change in temperature sent a delightful shiver up her spine that made her hair stand on end.

[color=ff4500][b]"Ah yes, finally..."[/b][/color] She sighed as she swam against the current. A few meters away, on the muddy banks of the river, the Sunderer was impaled into the ground, akin to a flagpole without a flag. Luna glanced at Ull'Yang's weapon from time to time as she swam, but didn't think about it much since there was basically nothing dangerous about the area. There was a forest one the other side of the river that piqued her interest, but Ventus' words echoed inside her mind, reminding her of 'the empire within the desert' he was the so-called protector of.

Little did Luna know, however, that while she bathed in the waters of the river, mind-boggling changes were occurring inside the pocket dimension of the Sunderer.

[hr]
It had now been three days since Luna came across the river, and she had decided to follow it downstream. 

In her travels through Cygnea, the werewolf had found out that one of the best ways of finding new prey was what she was doing at the moment. Oftentimes, there was a lake or even a sea at the end of the river, and the creatures living in the area near the river would most likely depend on it for survival and thus, gather in groups and graze the riverbanks.

Nevertheless, even with numbers on their side, the grazing animals were not entirely safe. Where prey gathers, the predators are quick to follow. Lurking in the depths of the river or behind the bushes and amongst trees, waiting for just the right moment to lunge at their prey.

Of course, even the tamest of Cygnean animals would be ferocious monsters in the eyes of Galbar's natives, but that did not matter in the grand scale of things.

At the moment, Luna was walking along the river, gazing at the sights around her. She had morphed the Sunderer into its previous earring shape and it was now resting on her left ear as usual.

[color=ff4500][b]"Huh, what is that?"[/b][/color] Luna thought to herself, squinting her eyes and barely making out the faint silhouettes of houses in the distance. The desert heat distorted much of what she could see, but when she realized that she had stumbled upon civilization, her face broke into a smile.

It had been almost a week since she had spoken to someone else, and she was eager to find out more about the rest of the inhabitants of Galbar. She'd had enough of the djinn for a while.

[color=ff4500][b]"Let's see now, If I remember correctly, there were quite a lot of intelligent races on Galbar. Master mentioned two, though, that he reckoned dealt the most with his siblings, humans of flesh and blood, and the hain, a bird-like species. I wonder which one of those resides in this damn desert..."[/b][/color]

As Luna raced the distance to the village, she found herself able to discern more things about it. "Hmm, i-is that clay the houses are made of? How do they make it stand like that and not crumble?!" Luna was surprised by the sheer ingenuity of the desert folk. Truthfully, her master barely bothered with building any structure of sorts back in Cygnea, the only exception being the Reverse Mountain, and calling that a structure was pushing it. Thus, Luna had quite a low bar when it came to appraising architecture, and basically, anything that had four walls and a roof was a palace to her eyes.

[hr]
By the riverside there walked a young man. He trod with a walking stick in one hand and pouch in the other, his back to the village as he ventured away from that tiny realm of man and into nature's dominion. He was a shaman, and he was seeking audience with the local water spirits. Within that small pouch of his were powdered herbs and small nuggets of gold; when sprinkled into the Mah'd sacred waters, such offerings gathered the attention of the djinn within.

When he was quite a distance away from his village, the shaman, at last, came to a stop. He opened his pouch and began to make his offering, speaking the words that he had been taught. He watched as the powders fell into the waters and were swept away by the current, the nuggets falling into the mud untouched. That was most unusual; the flustered shaman stood there dumbly, wondering if the local spirit had rejected his offering or else had ventured away from its usual home. Either way, the shaman could only speculate why. His face grew into one of confusion and his thoughts became as muddied as those gleaming specks of gold that he had dropped.

After much delay, the river finally appeared to answer the shaman.

[center][img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/8e/7c/86/8e7c86ea5053601bd36cbeda4ff68fb0.jpg[/img]
[i]First there was only an inconspicuous ripple, but then a tiny humanoid form emerged from the water.[/i][/center]

[b]"Where were you?"[/b] he demanded.

She haughtily crossed her arms upon hearing his tone. [color=00FFFF]"Here, there, somewhere else,"[/color] the elemental crooned back with a laugh, its face twisting into a mockery of the anger that was painted upon his own.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm; the water was volatile and prone to fits of emotion. One had to remain calm so as to not excite it.

More level, he tried again, [b]"I did not mean to be rude, dear Flo. I only wondered why you did not come sooner."[/b]

[color=00FFFF]"I was talking to my friends further upriver. They brought me to look at some strange, furry [i]beast[/i] walking by the shore,"[/color] Flo sang. Fortunately, she was acting more cooperatively now; there had been days before where no amount of apologies could appease her once she had taken offense to something that he had said. She giggled a spray of mist, then suddenly looked bored. [color=00FFFF]"But what did you want from me? Watering your village's fields again?"[/color]

The shaman blinked. [b]"Nevermind what I came for,"[/b] he said, [b]"tell me of this beast that comes!"[/b]

[hr]
As Luna approached the village near the river, she started passing by fields filled with all sorts of peculiar plants, plants she could only assume were vegetables or herbs since the fields were so close to the village.

[color=ff4500][b]"Seems like these desert people are quite advanced when it comes to finding food. I believe these are called 'crops'?" [/b][/color]Luna had never bothered to grow any plants since all she ate was meat, thus it was understandable that she didn't know much about agriculture. What she knew came from Ull'Yang, and even he didn't know much about it since he didn't even bother learning anything about it.

Like that, Luna set a fairly swift walking pace as she traversed the riverside, and soon she arrived at the village.

She set her eyes upon the houses and was greatly surprised to see that the clay from which they were made was not as simple as it looked from a distance. It did not seem as frail and brittle-looking as the clay she was used to seeing. [color=ff4500][b]"Interesting..."[/b][/color] she murmured as she stepped further inwards.

Luna walked for a couple of minutes, gazing at the buildings around her with awe, but after some time she noticed something particular. The village seemed to be empty.

[color=ff4500][i]"I would not be so unlucky so as to have found myself in an abandoned village, right?"[/i][/color] She asked herself. [color=ff4500][i]"Of course not,"[/i][/color] came the answer to her question.

[color=ff4500][i]"The fields from before were perfectly fine, and the houses seem to not have been ransacked to the ground, so this village doesn't seem to have been attacked by bandits..."[/i][/color]

Although she found her latter thought quite impossible; would bandits even deign attack such a small village? What's there to gain from it? So, she immediately discarded the thought.

As she was trying to guess what had happened to the village, she noticed movement with the corner of her eye. Her ears perked up, trying to pick up any sound as she turned around swiftly towards a house. There on the window of the house, a small head full of black hair stood out of place, its eyes peering straight at Luna with a curious look. When the person realized they had been discovered, the head quickly disappeared from Luna's view.

[color=ff4500][b]"Oh~"[/b][/color] Luna was surprised. It seemed that the people of this village had not abandoned it after all.

[b]"The beast is here!"[/b] the shaman's piercing voice cried out, and then at least a dozen men sprung out of hiding places. In the blink of an eye, they had encircled her. With a triumphant cry, they brandished their spears, bows, and nets.

Luna winced at the sudden noise piercing her sensitive ears and showed a shocked expression when the humans surrounded her in a flash, weapons in hand and ready to attack her.

[color=ff4500][b]"Woah-woah-woah, easy there humans,"[/b][/color] Luna said hurriedly. However, once she took a second to see her 'enemies', she relaxed somewhat.

The way the villagers brandished their weapons said a lot about their fighting skills, and in her eyes, the villagers seemed a little more experienced than a toddler waving around a wooden stick. Nevertheless, she didn't want to kill these people as it would have no meaning even if she did. Who would care about a bunch of villagers?

Thus, she decided that communicating with them would yield the best results. She could feel, no, smell the fear intermingled with curiosity in their gazes and that set her more... bestial instincts reeling, yet she reigned herself in.

[color=ff4500][b]"I come in peace,"[/b][/color] she eventually declared and raised her hands above her head.

The locals steeled themselves as a series of growls and strange noises came from the beast's maw. Then when it raised its claws in preparation to strike, they too readied their weapons and inched closer.

"What is it doing, shaman?" one man cried out.

[b]"I do not know, but surely it is the work of Y'Vahn, and so it be our duty to smite it in the Master's name,"[/b] came an answer.

Throughout the whole conversation, all their eyes remained trained upon Luna. All was tense, but then there was a noise from the side. All eyes darted to it: a pail of water had fallen over and spilled its contents, yet rather than seeping into the earth, the puddle of water writhed as if living and rolled over the ground to appear in the middle of the commotion.

In a shower of mist, Flo exploded upwards from that puddle on the ground.

[color=ff4500][i]"Oh for the love of Ull'Yang, not another djinn..."[/i][/color] Luna thought.

Ignoring the villagers and their useless weapons, Flo sang to Luna in the language of gods, [color=00FFFF]"You can speak?! And here I told them that you were only a beast!"[/color] She erupted into a fit of laughter that sprayed, even more, mist over the (now thoroughly bewildered) villagers and Luna.

[color=00FFFF]"They can't understand a word that you're saying!"[/color] she managed to explain before erupting into another fit of laughter. Whereas the villagers looked at Luna in fear, Flo seemed to think that the werewolf was nothing but hysterical.

Through the whole event, Luna retained a deadpan expression, yet if Ull'Yang were there to see her, he would know how ticked off she was at that moment. [color=ff4500][i]"Everywhere I go, there are damn djinn following me!!"[/i][/color] She shouted inwardly in frustration.

[color=ff4500][b]"Ye-"[/b][/color] Luna tried to reply before she was promptly covered in djinn spittle. She wiped her face with her hand before continuing. [color=ff4500][b]"Yes, I can talk. Of course, I can talk. I'm more surprised by what you said though about them,"[/b][/color] she told the djinn while pointing at the villagers.

[color=ff4500][b]"They can't speak the common language of all creatures?"[/b][/color] she asked.

[color=00FFFF]"We speak the language of gods and djinn, but you aren't a god and you most certainly aren't a djinni! What might you be?"[/color] Flo giggled. She rolled forward across the ground like the surf rolled over the sand of a beach, advancing until she was practically on top of Luna. She started to poke the wolf with a watery finger.

[color=ff4500][b]"What language of gods? Do you mean to tell me that these humans speak a different language?"[/b][/color] Luna asked the djinn. [color=ff4500][b]"And hey, stop poking me!"[/b][/color] she added.

Blissfully ignoring Luna, Flo's icy cold waters seemed to run over the wolf's body and almost seep into it. [color=00FFFF]"Well at least you weren't made by Jvan!"[/color] she declared. The humans remained on guard throughout the whole strange conversation, though now they seemed more confused than afraid.

Once the water djinn had retracted itself from Luna, she was left standing there soaking wet. She looked at the djinn, then back at herself, and sighed before her eyes flashed with a golden color. Instantly, the area immediately surrounding her increased in temperature, and the water on her body vaporized.

[color=ff4500][b]"Now that's out of the way,"[/b][/color] she turned to the water djinn once more. [color=ff4500][b]"Yes, Jvan's not my maker. Ull'Yang is. However, you have not answered my question, djinn. Why can't they speak our language? Don't all creatures speak this language?"[/b][/color] she asked again.

Flo spun to face the shaman and called out to him, [color=00FFFF]"It turns out that the beast can talk! She's a little bit crude, but at least she wasn't sent by Jvan!"[/color]

Rather than in the language of gods, Flo communicated to the shaman in the bastardized dialect of watery elementals; each syllable was like a raindrop in one mighty storm of speech, but it was nonetheless somewhat recognizable. The carefree Flo hardly seemed to mind if Luna overheard her comments, though.

[color=ff4500][b]"HEY! Who are you calling crude?!"[/b][/color] Luna burst in a fit of rage. She could tolerate the djinn's quirks up to a point, but calling her crude was pushing it a tad too far. [color=ff4500][b]"But of course, a djinn's worth is proportional to the size of its mouth, that's a true and tested fact..."[/b][/color] she said dismissively.

In outright mockery of Luna, Flo twisted around and then inflated the size of her amorphous head to the point of absurdity. She started loudly singed some gibberish with her newfound giant mouth, then finished off the performance by spraying water at Luna and giggling. [color=00FFFF]"You seem irritable!"[/color] she exclaimed, [color=00FFFF]"Maybe you should talk to one of those dust devils out there if you think I'm abrasive!"[/color]

Luna started at the djinn dumbfoundedly, before vaporizing the water once more. [color=ff4500][b]"Has all this time of staying in the river turned what little brain you have into muddy water, djinn? What dust devils? Sand doesn't ta-"[/b][/color]

Luna stopped abruptly and peered at the giggling djinn with a conflicted look. [color=ff4500][b]"Do you mean to tell me I'VE BEEN WATCHED ALL ALONG?!"[/b][/color]

Luna burst into a fit of rage once more, this time angry at Ventus for daring to spy on her again. [color=ff4500][i]"That damn Ventus's gonna get it the next time I see him..."[/i][/color] she thought as she tried to calm down. [color=ff4500][b]"Look, just tell me why they can't understand our language. Isn't what I'm asking simple??"[/b][/color] she told the djinn as calm as she could.

[color=00FFFF]"Silly questions get silly answers! Why does the wind blow sand all over the place? Because the skylords are stupid! Why do only the shamans speak like djinn? Because humans are stupid! Why does this wolf-thing keep asking me silly questions? Hmmm..."[/color] By the end, Flo acted as if she was contemplating the answer to that final question much harder than was necessary.

Luna looked at the djinn with a serious look on her face, yet a slight twitch over her left eye could be observed if one looked hard enough. She realized that the djinn was not going to cooperate, and thus turned her attention towards the human the djinn had talked to previously.

[color=ff4500][b]"I guess this is the shaman the djinn mentioned..."[/b][/color] With that thought in mind, Luna bolted towards the man, swiftly passing by all the armed villagers before they could even react to her leaving her previous location. In one second, she appeared by the shaman and placed her pawed hand on his forehead, imitating what Ull'Yang had done to her before leaving for Chronos.

In that instant, myriads of sentiments flowed from Luna to the shaman that described how she was not there to harm anyone and that she simply sought directions towards the desert empire. The process lacked Ull'Yang's finesse but nevertheless got her point across.

Transfixed by the strange interaction, the shaman had nonetheless communicated to the others what Flo had told him: that this creature was no Jvanic monster, that it could speak and seemed to have a mind. So though they kept hold of their weapons, the men had relaxed.

In a moment that changed as she fell upon their shaman in a blur; upon her touch, his muscles spasmed and his eyes grew gaping wide and white. As if in some coma or shock he fell and writhed on the ground from whatever she had done, and so the vengeful villagers roared and advanced forward. Flo watched in... bemusement?

After a few moments, the shaman's eyes returned to normal and he raised a hand at the last instant before a fight broke out. [b]"Do not fight,"[/b] he commanded, and though the shaman was no lord they nonetheless held him in enough respect to heed those words.

Flo then asked the questions that the humans could not, [color=00FFFF]"So who are you and what are you doing here? I've told you some things so now you tell me some things!"[/color]

Luna looked at the villagers as they reigned in their attack, and turned back to the djinn with a smile on her face.

[color=ff4500][b]"Silly questions get silly answers! Why does the wind blow sand all over the place? Because the skylords are stupid! Why do only the shamans speak like djinn? Because humans are stupid! Why does this puddle of water want to know why I'm here? Hmm..."[/b][/color] Luna mocked the djinn as she recounted its words, a thoughtful expression growing upon her face as she thought about the ending to that last sentence.

Flo shot a jet of water at Luna. This time she aimed for the eyes and put some force behind it, giggling all the while.

Unfortunately for Flo, the werewolf was prepared this time. The water jet was blocked by a shield of heat, vaporizing the water into steam. All the while, Luna's face retained a sneer.

Some of the frigid spray fell upon the shaman as he remained sputtering on the ground and it seemed to help shake him back to his senses. Still groggy as if he had suffered a blow to the head, he nonetheless managed to speak, [b]"The beast comes looking for an empire."[/b]

Flo retorted in that slippery language of the water, [color=00FFFF]"Well it seems that the idiot has found it, but not without leaving a poor impression!"[/color]

Flo twisted her liquidated form to face back towards Luna. [color=00FFFF]"Here you trespass upon great Zephyrion's demesne, a land guarded by we who are his children. 'tis a poor choice to try the patience of us, or the tribes of men that are here with his blessing and protection, or the king that rules in Zephyrion's name. Our Father suffers no interlopers, not even if they be gods themselves!"[/color]

And with that tirade, Flo crossed her arms and remembered the tale of Vulamera the Great Interloper, who had similarly trespassed in such rude manners only to be sent fleeing. Alas, perhaps this she-wolf would meet a similar fate.

Luna whistled in mock surprise. [color=ff4500][b]"This is all there is to this so called empire Ventus is guarding?"[/b][/color] She said and gestured at the buildings of clay and brick surrounding her.

[color=ff4500][b]"I would be wholly disappointed if this is the case, and thus I still retain some semblance of hope."[/b][/color]

[color=ff4500][b]"So I assume that If I continue following this river downstream, I will eventually find the capital of the empire?"[/b][/color] Luna scratched her chin before asking the djinn.

Flo began again, [color=00FFFF]"Silly questions get silly an-"[/color]

[color=ff4500][b]"Oh for gods' sake,"[/b][/color] Luna snapped angrily, turned around and walked away from the djinn and its companions. She had a rough understanding of her destination now, and would not subject herself to the whimsies of a random djinn anymore.

Content with driving away that nuisance, Flo returned to the Mahd's waters and thought nothing more of it. The villagers looked on with some combination of concern, confusion, and disdain. Ultimately they trusted in the message that the shaman had relayed from Flo: that the strange creature was not of Jvanic origin. So, in the end, they were content to do nothing and let her become some other village's problem. If she did make it so far as Vetros, surely the great city's mighty army would be able to deal with her if necessary.

[hider=Summary]
A continuation of the A Wolf's ____ collabs. In this one:
[list]
[*] Luna, having chosen to defy Ventus' command and venture into the Firewind Desert in search of an empire (Vetros), travels for a long time without seeing much
[*] Unbeknownst to her, the seemingly desolate desert is teeming with djinn and she is being watched basically the entire time
[*] As she follows the Mahd she finally approaches a small village on the outskirts of Vetruvian borders
[*] A local shaman in that village communes with a river djinni to ask her to water the fields, but as he does so the djinni tells him of a "beast" that is heading towards the village
[*] Luna arrives to a seemingly empty village and investigates
[*] The locals, having been prepared for the "beast", spring out from hiding and surround her. They have weapons and nets. She is unable to communicate with the humans because she only speaks the language of gods
[*] Flo, the water djinni of this part of the Mahd and the one that the shaman had been talking to earlier, pops out of a bucket where she had been hiding. It is revealed that the djinn speak some bastardized form of the language of the gods, and so she can communicate with Luna easily enough, and the shaman can in turn communicate with Flo. They at least establish that Luna the "Beast" is not a Jvanic abomination, so the humans relax some.
[*] Flo is annoying as crap and Luna really doesn't like her
[*] After trying to ask, Luna still isn't given directions to the rest of the empire (mainly the city of Vetros) and eventually leaves out of frustration
[*] Flo goes back to her river and basically forgets about the whole ordeal, whereas the locals let Luna to go bother some other village. They're pretty sure that Vetros' army could stop her if she found the city, so they don't try to hinder her travels
[/list]
[/hider][hider=Khookies][list] [*][b]+4[/b] base Khookies to Luna
[*][b]+6[/b] for the number of characters written.
[/list]
[b][u]TOTAL[/u][/b][list]
[*][b]Luna: 55[/b] Khookies
[/list][/hider]