Semola
Imported from SF2 with no description.
This is another one of my little 'intro' sort of stories I've had done for awhile but never really made an effort to post. Anyway. This is more or less a history of and an introduction to Semola obviously. An awkward gryphon with perhaps a bit of an... unhealthy view on life. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.
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She didn't hate anyone.
That was the first conclusion that she reached and elected to live by on the day that she had taken wing from her clan. It was not a difficult decision for her to make really. They may not have been friendly to her or truly made her feel welcome among their number, but she could not deny that their odd version of kindness had kept her safe to maturity. Semola wouldn't hate them. Though she had decided she would not be grateful to them in the same way. Their kindness did not extend that far.
She had been born to a loving mated pair. A strong father and a loving mother who doted upon her with all the devotion that parents showed their hatchlings. At least that's what happened at first, she wasn't sure when her father had noticed it. Perhaps it was when he finally realized that her plumage held far more crimson and clay colors to his rich browns and earthen tones. Perhaps it was when he gazed into her eyes and found a striking blue color that neither he nor his mate bore themselves. Or perhaps it was the day that they first met her true sire upon her mother's back.
She liked to think it was the first option when she was alone with her thoughts.
The male left as quickly as he was able, but the damage was done and her parents had gone to war. Her father's weapon was betrayal and her mother wielded a spear of repressed disdain for her mate. Semola herself had been too young then to properly understand what their scornful words meant. All that she had known at the time was that when her mother had flown away, and her father had held her when she cried.
Some part of her was glad for that, though she couldn't quite be certain she would have said that at the time. If her mother hadn't left then she would never have understood just how good a person her father was. Her father, with whom she did not share a drop of blood, raised her. He tended her as if she were his own and brought her up to be strong. It wasn't a popular decision to be sure, but he made it… and she would never forget it for the rest of her days.
She knew that he loved her as his own as he always had. The clan didn't approve of his choice. They did not hate her, but they believed her mother's blatant betrayal had tainted her in some way. They never seemed to realize that she was listening when those conversations took place. In fact, other than her father, the other clan members and their offspring had never seemed to take note of her at all. Well that wasn't quite true. The adults ignored her.
The youth's tormented her.
Children were cruel in packs no matter what species one was. They recognized her for what she was, an outcast, and they exploited that. More than once she had returned home to hide beneath her father's wing and cried at some knew taunt or minor wound her peers had seen fit to inflict upon her. Over time she found herself venturing less and less from her father's side as she reached an early conclusion. They had no desire to be friends with her, so she would stop trying.
Long hours spent chasing after tight-knit groups of hatchling and pining for their companionship turned into long nights learning the stars with her father's. Hours of reckless play turned into hours of theory as her father tried to explain the wonders of flight and the tactics of the hunt. She had been too young at the time to properly understand, but she listened all the same. She listened, learned, and cherished every moment with her father.
Semola knew that she was an odd creature to be sure and that perhaps this was what the elder clan members had been referring to in regards to her mother's 'taint'. Gryphon's tended to be relatively social creatures and even in the face of such adversity would likely have persevered to acceptance. She did not. She abandoned the companionship of other's entirely. Even when her former tormentors grew older and apologetic, she accepted their remorse but rejected all else from them. She didn't want to know them anymore. She had all that she needed to be happy… and she was for a time.
As her fellow youth's grew and wanderlust overtook them, they departed from the clan. Semola did not. She found a home for herself near the mountains of her youth and remained there, splitting her time between silent contemplation and visiting her ageing father. He encouraged her to wander and seek the lesson's the rest of the world had to offer, but she never dared to follow his advice. She feared that if she left… he would not be there when she returned.
She had never regretted her choice and she still didn't. While her fellows were off on adventures or fixating upon the opposing gender as they finally took notice of the difference, she spoke of far off places and day to day monotony with her father. Until she met Jenna for the first time.
Semola had never met the gryphoness before that day and honestly could have done without meeting her at all. She was a kindly female who had left years ago in her youth as many were wont to do, and returned to the place of her birth in search of comfort and stability in her later years. The life of adventure and travel only appealed to one for so long apparently.
Semola's father had known her in his youth. They had been friends, but Jenna's wanderlust had taken her too far off shores. Had she stayed there… then things may have been different.
Her father didn't notice it at first, but Semola did. He didn't see the way Jenna would look at him when she thought no one was looking. He wasn't privy to the way her eyes would wander like the eager whelps Semola shared her generation with. For Semola it was simply obvious that the female loved her father… or at least craved him. Semola herself hadn't been sure which of those options were worse.
She wasn't particularly proud of what she had done at the time. How she had clung to her father and done everything she could to become a permanent fixture in his life once again. She was jealous… this female she had never met showed up out of the blue to take the one thing she had grown-up to cherish. Looking back, she realized that it probably wasn't just that she was jealous of. No… somewhere along the way her feelings for her father had changed, they had grown into something… different.
She wondered what her eyes looked like when she thought her father was not looking. She wondered if that was why Jenna would excuse herself from time to time. Did the older female see in Semola what Semola saw in her? Opposition? A challenge to something that was hers? Semola didn't know. What she did know was that, for whatever reason, she lost.
Her father noticed Jenna and pulled away. He gravitated towards his long lost friend and offered her his open heart as he had to Semola's mother and the daughter that wasn't his. Jenna responded in turn and a beautiful love blossomed between the pair. Semola had been bested and, though she was sorely tempted, she could not hate them. How could she?
For all her jealousy against Jenna, no one had truly made her father appear so happy and carefree. No one had lifted away the burden that Semola felt she had created in her youth from his shoulders. No one had cared to stand beside him through the long years raising her. The clan accepted him… but they were not a part of his family any longer. Yet those doors that had been closed with her mother's departure were opening again with Jenna's return.
Semola couldn't imagine they would stay that way for long with her clinging to her father's tail. So she had made a decision, the wanderlust she had always seemed to lack would have to sustain her now. She was going to leave as so many other's had before her. Not because she wished to see the world. Not because she wanted a change from her carefree life. She was leaving so that her father could have what he deserved for all his kindness. A life with a loving mate and a clan of friends to call his own.
She could not give such a thing to him herself and could only see herself hindering it with her presence. She had nothing with her that she needed to bring. She had no long winded goodbyes to offer as she vacated the small cavern that she had taken residence in a scant few years ago. No destination. No plans. Nothing to cling to. It was an odd feeling that lingered somewhere between exhilaration and paralyzing fear.
Still, her mind was made up. The gryphoness closed her eyes and tilted her head back slowly, breathing deeply to calm her suddenly racing heart. She opened her eyes once more and glanced off to the south along the familiar pass she knew led to her father's clan where he and his new mate were likely still lost in slumber. She wouldn't wake them. There was no need.
In truth, she didn't trust herself to follow through with her plans if she saw her father. She wouldn't want to fly off. She'd want to curl beneath his wing as she had in her youth, but that wasn't her place anymore. No. It simply made sense to her that the only goodbye she needed to speak was to the wind. Even then her throat felt dry and the words fought against her beak as though trying to escape their unjust imprisonment.
“…Goodbye…"
It was only the barest of murmurs that was swiftly swept away into the mountain winds, but it was enough for her. Her wings snapped open and she took to the sky, leaving behind everything she had ever known and cared for in one fell swoop. Jenna would take care of him. Perhaps Semola would return one day, when she felt she could no longer feign an interest in the world. But for now… she would see what it had to offer, and hope that her father found the happiness she had stolen from him once again.
She sighed softly and shook her head as she inched her way down the winding dirt pathway sprawled out before her. It had been a long two years away from her clan and Semola had learned far more than she cared to admit during that time. She had finally finished growing into the fine young gryphoness she had always been meant to be. Her auburn plumage had darkened slightly into a warm tone of earthen clay and her wings had grown strong. Her body had grown more finely proportioned with careful curves and accented hips that offered a painfully obvious air of both allure and predatory efficiency.
Not that she had much use for such an appearance.
Not long after leaving her father's embrace, Semola had learned something quite surprising about herself. She had been scarcely been gone a week when she finally realized that she was lonely. She, who had never had what one would properly call friends, found herself longing for the teasing words of her fellow youths that had evolved into cordial conversation. She wanted her father by her side to talk of monotonous things and she wanted to hear more of Jenna's grandiose tales of adventure from her travels. Semola had left for a reason, and such thoughts only weakened her resolve to avoid what she knew, so she opted for the next best thing.
She had flown to a town at the base of the mountains her clan had called home… and had swiftly learned another rather important detail. All humans were racist bastards. Her first foray into a human settlement was met by a swift hail of arrows that had nearly clipped her wings permanently. Fortunately the town was apparently rather small and none of their guards had exceptional aim, allowing her to slip away with a few scratches and minor nicks at the worst and a new-found appreciation for not startling a human. They were skittish creatures afterall and were quite quick to turn to violence when surprised.
She avoided everyone again for a time, allowing the sting of her minor wounds to fade into memory as a reminder of the danger human's represented. Though it didn't take long for her loneliness to return… but this time she had a distraction. She had elected to make a project of the whole thing and swiftly settled into a new pattern. She would sweep carefully about human settlement's, examining them from afar and doing everything in her power to avoid detection, trying to figure out what had set off the first town's response.
She watched like that for months, postulating and moving from settlement to settlement until she simply forgot where she was. Still, she couldn't quite figure out just what made them so… oddly skittish around other creatures as they seemed to be. She tried for a solid week longer to learn what she could from a distance before making her final decision. She would have to approach a settlement again if she wanted to learn anything of her new research project.
One could perhaps call it an obsession, but Semola really didn't care one way or another. The odd blend of conflict and teamwork that humanity seemed to represent was a fitting subject for her. It kept her attention and gave her something to do. Fittingly, it was a puzzle that she honestly didn't expect to ever solve as well, which only made the idea more enticing to her. She had doubled back for miles, aiming for a smaller settlement on the edge of a forest for her second attempt at 'field research'.
While she wouldn't have called the original visit a resounding success, she had definitely learned far more from her brief interactions there than she had being shot at during her first attempt. When she left not an hour after entering the settlement with no love lost between herself and it's inhabitant's, she grew bolder and began going through to visit every settlement she had passed by in an effort to discover the best way to mingle with the humans.
It didn't take her long before she had discovered a certain set of rules that a gryphon had to follow to keep the human's calm. First, always enter by foot unless someone was expecting you. She had been shot at far more than once from sweeping down over a settlement unannounced and had collected several scars for her efforts. She didn't mind them all that much as she clearly hadn't learned her lesson until the last had been stitched up by a healer in one of the more approachable settlements.
Second, humans liked useful things. It had seemed quite odd to her at the time, but she had gradually come to accept the notion as distinctly human in nature and endeavored to follow it. Ironically, it had been the same healer that had tended to her final scar that had first seen her 'potential' and Semola, feeling indebted at the time, had gone to assist the villager's in their fields at the healer's request. She hadn't exactly been terribly fond of being hooked up to an odd contraption to plow through the ground, but she was unable to deny that the humans she worked with seemed to relax far more around her when she was helping than when she was wandering about on her own. They had even offered her temporary lodgings in exchange for her continued assistance, something an entrepreneurial researcher like herself simply couldn't refuse… even if she was more or less being treated as a beast of burden.
That brought her quite quickly to her third conclusion. Humans were not equal opportunity racists. In fact, they seemed to get along well enough with the lizards of Alyria or the Avians of Zelos when one wandered through on some pilgrimage or quest. While that didn't happen often and the humans were definitely still wary of them in a certain way, they were much more welcoming when they realized that their new visitors kept a healthy stash of gold on their person. This led Semola to what she felt was the single greatest epiphany she had ever had about the odd creatures.
Gold it seemed, was the great equalizer for humans. In a way Semola felt that she could compare them to the dragon's Jenna and her father had told tales about as they seemed quite intent upon obtaining as much of it as they could in spite of its limited uses. The idea of using a hunk of metal as currency was, to this day, an odd notion to her but she had already reasoned it to herself that gryphon's simply had no need for a medium of trade. Most were quite capable of feeding, defending, and securing a safe place to rest for themselves. The gryphoness herself had not had any trouble in those regards during her little adventures and she hardly considered herself a prime example of her specie.
The gryphoness paused briefly and glanced back at her hip, eyeing the leather pouch full of twinkling golden coins that she had collected over the past two years. After spending her tenure as a workhorse in the first settlement, she found that the people there had found more tasks that one of her… particular attributes could accomplish. No longer feeling that she owed their healer for her aide, she had asked for a small amount of gold instead of the lodging. By that time she had gone to great pains to memorize the currency and its function's and ensured that her request for payment was, by any human standards, quite pitiful really.
But two years of mindless errands along with two harvest and planting seasons beneath her belt had left her with quite the collection of the shining coins. It had also brought her a bit of a reputation among the human towns throughout the area as something of a freelancer. Give her a request and for a modest sum of coin, Semola would handle the task. While this reputation did open a few of the more skeptical settlements to her perusal, there was still an odd wariness and fear lingering beneath the surface of the human occupants.
The gryphoness sighed softly and shook her head as she wandered further along the path, unable to understand how they could still fear her as they had back then. Oh not all of them did of course, but they all seemed to have their own colored impressions of her as well. It honestly reminded her quite a bit of her fellow youth's back at the clan… and when she was feeling particularly contemplative she considered that perhaps that was the reason for her 'obsession' with them.
She froze suddenly and her ears perked up as a seemingly out of place cry rang out through the morning silence. She wasn't all that far from the next town and it certainly didn't sound like the usual calls from worker to worker or shop to shop that she had become accustomed to from her adventures among the settlements. Her brow furrowed slightly in curiosity as she deliberately spread her wings and abandoned her legs in favor of the mobility offered by the skies. She hoped she hadn't made a grievous error as she didn't exactly wish to be shot at again but it swiftly became apparent that she had not when she spotted several familiar figures racing down the dirt road away from the town.
The gryphoness blinked and bypassed them, following the path from high above towards the seemingly normal tone and sweeping down as she finally took note of the problem. It was rather hard not to take note of him actually…. He wasn't exactly the quiet type.
“AH! No! Wait a second! Don't run away!"
An adolescent voice called from the town square with a distinct hint of pleading as he plodded recklessly after a fleeing young human woman. Semola swept down and landed a good distance away, raising her head to stare at the creature's backside as he, and it was definitely a he as he seemed to have no concept of modesty with the way his tail flicked around to dislodge the contents of a few of the stalls in the marketplace.
“Oh. Sorry! But- Please stop running!"
Semola just stared for a long time as the usual denizens of the town square were swiftly replaced by the armored forms of the town guards, brandishing their weapons at the poor creature. The gryphoness tilted her head slightly as she simply observed, trying to gauge the depth of the situation… and nearly laughing when she realized just how insignificant it was.
Unfortunately the human's didn't quite realize that the 'threat' they were surrounding to try and quell likely had no idea what he was doing. The adolescent dragon that had no doubt 'attacked' the small settlement was smaller than even Semola herself, barely coming up to her shoulders. He was a mess of bright yellow scales that deepened into a beautiful gold towards the tip of his tail and along his overly broad wingspan. No doubt he would be quite the looker... if he got the chance to grow up.
At the moment, the poor boy didn't seem to understand why everyone was so upset and honestly looked to be rather upset himself at his own lack of comprehension. Though the gryphoness could see a familiar tinge of fear in his eyes that she herself could remember from her first foray's with humanity. She didn't know why she thought it was a good idea… because it really wasn't mostly, but she couldn't just leave the thing quivering beneath the drawn swords of the town guards.
The gryphoness shook her head and drew herself up proudly as she stalked forward's, shoving her way carefully between the wary guards and inching towards the draconic youth with a warning glance back at the human soldier's. They seemed none too happy with her interference, but also seemed to realize that she was following the second rule of dealing with humans, being useful.
Semola stopped a respectable distance in front of the young dragon and plopped herself down on her haunches, merely sitting there and letting the whelp stare at her as he seemed so keen upon doing. His eyes were wide and his muzzle had opened into a surprisingly adorable little 'O' as he took in the delicate blend of auburn feather's and fur that made up her sleek figure. She held back the urge to roll her eyes, not wanting to insult or scare the thing as the human's had done if she could help it.
It was with that in mind that Semola decided to remain silent, letting the dragon size her up and trusting that she had the advantage if he decided to do something… foolish. Luckily for them both, his foolish act wasn't something that required any real retaliation.
“HI! My name's Lief and I'm here to pillaf-pilleag-… get some gold for my mom! Can you help me?!"
The golden whelp questioned cheerfully, his tail swaying from side to side like an excited puppy's as he gazed hopefully at the gryphoness before him. Semola just blinked at the sudden question, something about the terribly blunt yet eerily polite manner he employed in attempting to rob her made him oddly endearing to her eyes. She had scarcely managed to gather herself and begin to respond when Lief interrupted her once more.
“OH! But you gotta promise not to tell my mom okay? It's a big surprise!"
The golden whelp sat back on his haunches and drew himself up proudly with a nod as though the mere idea of surprising his mother was worthy of a grand medal and celebration. Semola just blinked again, dimly aware of a few of the human guards gradually lowering their weapons with their own expressions of stupor and confusion. Lief took a moment, but at least he seemed to notice when several people were looking at him oddly… though he didn't seem to like it. The golden dragon sagged slightly and blinked, tilting his head and leaning closer to a still stunned Semola.
“Why are you staring at me? Is there something on my nose?"
Semola stared at him for a moment more and then slowly shook her head no, still reeling a bit as she processed what the whelp had said. She would later berate herself for her idiocy in the face of a potential crisis, but she was currently far too busy trying to reconcile years of epic tales about the danger and regality of dragons against the whelp in front of her that seemed to defy every word of them.
“Oh… good! So can you help me?"
Lief replied with a pleasant hum that seemed to vibrate his entire frame. Semola finally seemed to snap out of her stupor at the reminder of his request and glanced around them at the still prepared human guards. A few had lowered their weapons, but most still looked quite prepared to see the whelp slain if he put a claw further out of line.
While there had been no love lost between herself and the guards garrisoned at this particular town, she had no wish to see how well they would fare against a dragon, even a young one. Although Lief as he was called hardly seemed to be a proper example of his species lethality, she had no doubt that his claws were far sharper than his wit seemed to be. It didn't take her long to come up with a rather easy solution at least. She had always found herself comparing humans to dragons for their love of gold afterall.
“…Alright. But you need to go home after alright?"
Semola replied in a soft tone of voice, tilting her head and bringing a forepaw around to dig into the coin purse she always carried with her. She had briefly debated with parting with the entire thing, partly because she had no real need of it and partly because she didn't want to offend the whelp. However, she had to admit she was rather attached to her funds. They were the result of all of her hard work and research into humanity afterall; so she elected to part with a mere five coins. It was still a fair sum considering her blatantly underpriced services and it honestly seemed like Lief was young enough to believe she had parted with the world for his benefit.
She idly drew the coin purse shut and turned back towards the golden drake, very nearly trying to dart away as she realized he had inched far closer in an effort to discover what she was hiding. The gryphoness shook her head and held out her paw beneath his nose, opening it to reveal the glittering gold of her coins as she offered them to the whelp. His gaze was drawn to them quite quickly and she gave a mental sigh of relief to have his scrutiny directed away from her to some degree.
“Here. You can ha-“
“AWESOME! THANKS!"
Lief cheered, completely cutting her off as her looped his forelimbs around her and yanked her firmly against the surprisingly warm yet unyielding scales that made up his body. Semola tensed and dropped the coins in a clatter, her heart racing in surprise and fear as she realized his hug was keeping her wings pinned down nicely against her sides. She was dimly aware of a few surprised exclamations from the human guards surrounding them, but she was more focused upon finding a way to escape his grip. Thankfully, the oblivious golden dragon failed to notice her panic and released her to swipe up the gold, still purring excitedly as he wandered away from her to count them as though they were some grand investment that needed a daily inventory.
“You're the best! I have to go show my mom right now! I'll bet he'll be so happy! Thank you!"
Lief called out as he spread his overly large wings and awkwardly tried to take to the air. Semola just lay where he had dropped her in the middle of the square, staring with wide eyes at where the drake had sat just moments before, unable to forget the odd warmth that had flowed through her when he had cradled her against his frame. It hadn't been the same as the hugs she had received from her father as a child, but it was similar in a way. Her father's hugs were warmer, but they were almost always expected when they came. This had been completely random and the little whelp had clearly meant the embrace with cheerful thoughts rather than the attack she had first construed it as.
For the first time since her departure from her clan, she found herself wondering if this was what it felt like to make… a proper friend. That warm fuzzy feeling that seemed to spread through her at the obvious joy in the young dragon's face and words were well worth the five coins she had spent on it. She half-regretted not parting with her entire purse. The gryphoness blinked and jerked back up to her paws quite suddenly to stare dumbly at the sky, unable to believe just how much she had discovered in the odd encounter with an odd little dragon. Not only did she feel like she had made a 'friend' without meaning too… she also realized that she had technically made her first ever purchase with human currency and that definitely warranted a bit of celebration in her books.