Creature Sanctuary

An age worn dirt path leads you away form the main garden, with its tall hedges, ivory statues and regal looking flowers. As you continue on, the little drake chitters happily, as if knowing a secret that you don't. All around you, wild flowers sway in the gentle summer breeze, growing freely next to tall grasses with tiny pink flowers along the top that others might concider weeds, but you think they are quite lovely and are glad that no one pulled them out. Here and there you see an old wooden barrel that's been filled with soil and then pushed over, so that the flowers look as if they are spilling out like water.

Finally, you make your way to an area that looks like a wonderful place to rest. The path continues off ahead, but where you stand, the flowers grow in a great circle, surrounding an old wooden table with wooden benches on either side of it. A small and plain birdbath is nestled into one edge of the sitting garden, where many birds splash and chirp without paying you any attention. Suddenly, a pretty brownhaired girl appears behind you, smiling cheerfully. "That's Rowan! She's a princess, you know, and she made this garden all by herself. She has very good taste, don't you think?"

Selakity jumps off your shoulder and onto the wooden table, making a seat for himself. You decide to join him and sit down on one of the old benches, warmed by the sun. All around you, you hear the sounds of a lively and happy garden, and you can't help thinking that maybe this old country style garden is nicer than the noble gardens of the rest of Sanori. But before you can continue that thought too far, a flock of wonderful creatures swoops out of the sky and lands at the edge of the circle garden. Excited, the grey drake shouts, "The Pegasi! Aren't they pretty? I really like them because they play with me once in a while, and they're so nice! They love any other creature they meet."

You smile to yourself as you watch a little pegasus play with a bird that it finds. You wonder to yourself what it would be like to have wings and to be able to fly through the sky the way they do. But you decide that if man were meant to fly naturally, they would have been born with wings, and you look around for more interesting creatures in this garden. Far off into the tall grass and wild flowers, you spot some very small, horse-like creatures about the size of a crow. They fly around quickly despite the size of their small wings on their backs. "Ooh, those are Sky Horses. They're very pretty, too, but they're not quite as friendly as the pegasi. But they love to be in a garden full of flowers, because that's what they eat!"

"And look there!" he exclaims excitedly, almost tumbling off of the old wooden table. You follow his gaze to a tall, white flower that is being nuzzled gently by a lovely green and purple creature. Curious, you ask the little drake what it is. "That," he says, very matter-of-factly, "Is a Humming Dragon. They've very swift and agile, and they love to play tricks on people wandering through the garden, but most of all, they love to nibble at the sweet nectar of the flowers. I don't blame them! It's pretty good!"

Suddenly, another green and purple creature comes romping out of the tall grasses, scaring the poor Humming Bird half to death and giving the rest of the garden creatures a start. It skids to a hault close to your feet, grinning playfully up at you and the guardian. You only laugh and pat the little Digeral on the head before making your way back the way you came.