FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Short this time around, but time is lacking. Very busy. While here, might as well say that I am gonna be deleting at least half the gallery here. 90% of my DA is also gonna be gone.So...yeah

--

You asked me what I like about you

I cannot answer

Not because I am not attracted to you

But I just can't picture anything that I don't like about you

You are my light

You are my home

If you wish me to die

Then die I shall

If you wish me to be your servant

I would obey with no questions

I am yours

Now and forever

I just wish that I had the courage to tell muzzle to muzzle

I want to be your mate

But most of all, I want you to be happy

Even if you are with another male

Cyrno looked down at the poem he had just written. I was short and to the point. He could profess his love for her to anyone else in the most poetic way, but addressing her personally...it was hard. It was as if his heart clenched shut and forbid him to speak of her like this lest it fail.

Looking outside, he saw that it was trying to snow. The snow swept into the room and flakes started to stack up on the desk he was writing on. Extending his claw, he caught a small piece and examined it. The way that the crystals reflected the light reminded him of Shiva's own crystals. Inspiration flooded through him again.

Sunlight adores you

Showing off your true beauty whenever you are under it

When the bleak winter strikes

You brighten it.

I need you to guide me

For when I am without you, I am lost

The angels sing their anthem

And my own heart aches for your love

Cyrno really needed to stop: He didn't want to destroy this poem like the fifteen others he did. It was starting to get late. The blue flames danced outside and he imagined him and Shiva inside the fire, dancing until they dropped. What would he do without her? He was too cowardly to fight for her...

Distressed, Cyrno left the poem and walked from his room. That raven, Ephiral, somehow managed to comfort him. There was no real way to explain how it happened, but he suddenly wanted to talk to him again. Maybe he could learn something.

Leaving his quarters, he walked past Shiva's door. No sounds came from inside and he was almost tempted to open it. Yet, he couldn't force himself. He cursed his fright and continued on, words forming in his head. He didn't want to offend Ephiral, but he wanted answers.

The darkness spooked him. Every now and then, he would hear clicking of claws but there was no definite form of movement. His heart pounded and his eye went in every direction possible. No one was there. Picking up his pace, he traveled near the throne room to find the lights on and the door opened ever so slightly.

Out of curiosity, Cyrno held his head to the door and listened. Nothing came from the room, so he decided to have a look. Off in the corner, he saw that there was a red dragoness with three black horns talking with the King. He could not understand what was being said, but he just knew that it was important from the expression the king had. It would be better for him not to interrupt...

"My king, I believe you have a guest..." the female announced and nodded towards the door. Cyrno felt like fire had washed over him.

"Come in..." Glace said. He wasn't angry, but the tone of his voice said that he would if Cyrno did not.

Seeing no other choice, Cyrno walked in, his eye shut just in case he was yelled at. When nothing happened, he opened his eye and found that the red dragoness was right up in his muzzle and Glace was simply looking at him. He was intimidated by her and tried his best not to show it.

"Is this the Cyrno you adopted, Glace? He doesn't look at all what I expected..." her voice had a distinct accent to it. Not like his, but still there. She cocked her head and he felt very small compared to her, "I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing, though..."

Cyrno had no idea how to react to that. All he could do was meet her eyes with his. All he felt like was that he was on a stage and the audience was waiting on him to do something other than have stage fright. He shot a glance at Glace, who caught it and nodded.

"Don't pressure him, Aura," Glace said, "He just lost his eye and came back from war. He is still on edge."

"I didn't meant to do that," Aura scowled, but relented her stare; "Still, it is a wonder he does not have a mate yet. Most females I have seen act like misguided hatchlings around them, latching and bonding with the veteran they see. Or have I been looking in the wrong area?"

Cyrno was subtly alarmed by the way she phrased that. Was she...coming onto him? This just made matters worse. It was as if someone had thrown a rock in his head and he acted like a statue for a minute. Not even Aura's bladed tail waving in front of him could not break him from his trance.

Only when she finally poked him on his forehead did he snap out of it. "Blanking out others is quite rude, you know..." Aura said with amusement.

Oh great, now he offended her, "I-I-I...didn't meant to. I just....when you said that I...." Cyrno tried to form words but that was as effective as throwing ice in a furnace.

"Wow, you weren't kidding," Aura laughed. Cyrno was too busy dying from embarrassment to really notice, "I like him already. He is trying for your daughter's claw, is he not? If he loses, I will gladly take him..."

Cyrno fell over from his body stiffening too intensely.

"Enough torturing of the lad," Glace chuckled, "Go back to Ephiral. As entertaining as it was to speak with you, I need to rest."

"Very well," Aura bowed her head and started to depart. From the ground, Cyrno started to realize something: This dragoness...she bore a striking resemblance to the one who made him lose his eye! Her black spine, wing membrane, and body shape was the same...but how she acted and her eye color, which was gold with no pupils, was different.

Thinking quickly, he started to get up, "Wait!" he called after her. She stopped and looked back, a seductive smile forming. Fighting through a blush, he continued, "I...I need to speak with Ephiral as well. Can I follow you?"

"Of course you can, my dear," She purred, wagging her tail, "Feel free to lag behind and look at me like a stalker if you want as well. I don't mind."

"N-no! I just need to..." Cyrno folded his wing over his eye. He didn't want to look at her if she was going to continue to tempt him.

"No need to be shy...but I guess you have your eye set on Shiva. Oh well, my offer still stands..." Aura shrugged, waving with her wing for him to follow her.

Cyrno instantly scrambled to his claws and walked beside her rather than behind her. He was not going to have her seduce him. Aura seemed to catch onto this and giggled silently but, thankfully, did not do anything more.

"So what do you want to ask him, if you don't mind me asking? It's not often that someone asks Ephiral for advice," Aura asked.

"Erm...it has to do with...what's going on...." Why was he telling her this? Oh well, she already seemed to know.

"Oh, the courtship ritual...thing?" Aura's expression was virtually unreadable for a moment, "Well, like him, I have seen my fair share of that stuff. Always seems to go a bit further than it is supposed to when I am there. Strange, huh?"

Cyrno tried his hardest not to think about it, "I-I'm sure...but...I need to know how to win Shiva's heart. I blew it when I ran out on her when she was doing that...test. I just can't handle that kind of pressure. I just came home from a war and I don't want to be scared for my life again!"

"Understandable, Cyrno," Aura patted his shoulder with her claw. It was there that he noticed that she had a scar on her shoulder that looked like a claw had torn away chunks of flesh, "I'll tell you what; from what I have seen of her, Shiva seems like the kind of female that would rather be impressed with intellect rather than a fighter's mind. Glace was telling me that you are a poet, yes?"

Cyrno nodded. He felt no shame in admitting that. "I did write her one...but I keep messing up on it. I must have written fifteen drafts and I still can't do it right."

"Hmm...well, I want to see it. Ephiral may be a raven and weird, but he is not a female. I am the last time I checked, so I sort of think like one," Aura responded. Cyrno was not sure how to react to her saying that. Yet...there was something in her eye that made him trust her. Still, if she really was the one who took out his eye, then he would be having his enemy do something personal and that may end disastrously.

But...he was desperate.

"...Fine. Just please...don't tell anyone yet..." Cyrno pleaded. It wasn't finished and he didn't want Shiva finding it just yet.

"Hey, I may be seductive and be counted as a whore to some, but I don't betray others. Still, I wonder why I am called a whore. Is that what it is called for simply enjoying mating?" Aura asked. Cyrno faceclawed and started to move swiftly away, instantly regretting his decision.

--

"And my own heart longs for your love..." Aura finished, looking at the final draft that Cyrno had wrote.

Cyrno was hiding in a corner, watching Aura lay on her stomach on his bedding. He kept trying to figure her out. She was random and perverted, there was no denying that. Yet, as he watched her read, he couldn't shake the feeling that she was something far more than she let on. As to what, he had no idea.

Still, the knowledge that a beautiful dragoness (Cyrno admitted that she was) in his bed sent waves of panic through his body. What if Shiva came in? How would he explain to her that it wasn't what it looked like? Maybe she knew Aura and how she was and could understand his situation.

Movement from Aura caught his attention. She was scratching her chin with her tail and mouthing the words again, "Hmm...the meaning is there and there are quite a few things I like. However, the ending seems a bit abrupt and doesn't fit the flow. We know that you want her in your bed, but you don't need to state it. Get rid of that and place and revise how you write it and you got it down I think. If that was for me and I was younger, I would have found the one who wrote it and leapt on him or her."

"Younger?" Cyrno was perplexed by her statement. She looked maybe a year or two older than him.

"Oh, let's just say I am not how I appear and leave it at that, m'kay?" Aura fastened her eyes on his. For a brief second, he understood what she meant, but when she turned away again, he was at a loss.

"...ok..." Cyrno said slowly, not sure what to make of what happened.

"Well, I had better go. Ephiral is probably getting annoyed at me and I really don't want to deal with him flapping his beak like someone who is high," Aura got up and walked over to him. It was there that he realized just how tall she really was; she was at least a head taller than him.

Then, out of nowhere, she licked his cheek and he felt like he had melted in place. Unable to move, he simply watched her leave. When she was about to exit, she turned around and gave an unnatural smile, "We will meet again, Cyrno. I can't speak freely, but I can give you a warning; six months after this ends, something tragic will happen. Shiva is the key. Protect her."

With that, she simply left. A few seconds later, Cyrno found that he could move and he mulled over what Aura had told him. What did she mean by that? How was Shiva the key? And why couldn't she speak freely? He was right about her being more than she appeared, though...

Still, he was tired and couldn't think properly. He'd have to ask about that later and figure out who she really was. If she was the one who attacked him, why was she so nice to him? Was she trying to bait him? It was working a bit...but there was no way he would fully go through with her requests if they get too far out there.

He'd have to think about it in his sleep. It was past midnight and only guards would be up at this hour. Without really thinking, Cyrno crawled into his crystalline bed and felt asleep instantly.