[Fireheart]: 318.Short Stories.Tal-Inri.Tal-Inri Part II.Tal-Inri Part III

The woods were impossibly green and thick. Yet I found myself walking beside Flamedancer on a path easily wide enough for the both of us. It was difficult to see the path ahead; it almost seemed as if the trees parted to provide us with a trail. Perhaps they did. Moss hung on the branches of all of the large, twisted trees. 
We passed brooks, meadows, streams, groves, and even a river. As we walked I caught sight (briefly) of many of the magnificent creatures that were part of Tal-Inri. In the branches above my head I often saw multicolored lights dancing, and glowing softly. These I instinctively knew were faeries. 
I would catch brief glimpses of tall, willowy individuals that walked along with Flamedancer and I at a distance, moving among the trees silently. They were dressed in forest-like colors as well as many shades of blue and silver, and many seemed to carry swords, daggers, and bows. 
Flamedancer, seeing my wary glances about us, explained that these were the elves; they regularly patrolled the forests, and they were merely curious as to the arrival of a newcomer, a new Royal One in their midst. They dwelt in beautiful, intricate cities that were well hidden in the mountains.
We walked through a village of centaurs, which was a very heartening atmosphere; the doors to several buildings were open and from within I heard merry music, raucous laughter, and saw the powerful, sleek, horse-like bodies and smoothly muscled torsos of centaurs. As we were passing out of the village, a kind-faced mother with the thick, stout body of a draft horse was minding two rowdy colts; she smiled and nodded to us. The elder of the two children looked at me in awe, and waved.
We had been walking for several hours. I was surprised to find myself without tire- this new body of mine was apparently able to stand up to far more than the average human. My conversations with Flamedancer were few in number and brief, but they were companionable, and I learned much more about the world in which I now walked.
In an outcropping of stone we had spotted several stout, squat men with long beards harvesting amethyst out of the rock with pickaxes. I recognized them as dwarves.
I had spotted a troll emerging from a hole in the ground, which had appeared to me to be a large, muscular potato with shiny green eyes and massive, fox-like ears. As we passed under some impossibly tall, soaring cliffs where the mountains began, I had looked far up and seen a mother and father griffin circling high above me, hawk-like wings outstretched. They both were almost as big as I was, and my sharp dragon’s eyes saw that they had fierce looking claws of their own and sharp beaks. Their soft, catlike bodies undulated with the pumping of their wings. 
He saw me looking at them with awe and gave me a glance of understanding.
You have yet to use your wings. He said smugly to me.
The realization struck me. I did have wings of my own… I was overcome with a desire to soar the skies alongside the griffins, to just let go of everything, and-
You must not let your urges get ahold of you. The dragon in you is vying with the human for control. You must achieve a balance, and not allow one to outweigh the other; else you may never leave this world. Your lesson must be learned, and never forgotten, in order for you to return to your world. Flamedancer chastised sternly.
I glanced up one last time at the griffins, sighed, and we moved on. Evening was falling, and Flamedancer wanted to get to his herd before it got dark. Luckily the rain had stopped and the clouds had mostly cleared.
As the sun set, I viewed from the top of the hill the millions of multi-colored faery lights below us in the treetops, and several fires that had been made for the night by forest travelers. In the direction of the setting sun, phoenixes flew, drifting up and burning out like sparks. 
Flamedancer told me we were only a few minutes from his herd’s pastures as we descended from the top of the hill. I was glad. I could feel a breeze building from up where we were located, and though it was difficult to make my furnace of a body cold I felt isolated at the top of the bald hill.
As we descended I looked towards the final red edge of the sun poking over the horizon. I started because I saw- or thought I saw- the winding, twisting body of one of my kind flying away towards the remaining sunset, through the spiraling phoenixes. I blinked, and it was gone. I wasn’t positive, but the sight had sparked a powerful desire to meet more of my kind.
My senses were gradually growing keener. My eyesight was so powerful that I could look across miles of land and see a mouse as if it were sitting right in front of my nose; the darkness barely impeded my sight at all. I heard faintly the haunting, beautiful song of the phoenix, and all around me I heard the rustlings of various creatures. Flamedancer’s hooves also made a soft sound on the path beside me. 
And the smells were overwhelming- I smelled earth and forest, the smell of rock after rain, fresh water, a curious cinnamon-and-lavender odor that I soon realized was Flamedancer, and a powerful cinnamon-and-cloves scent that I realized was myself. As the stars exploded into being above our heads I had become completely attuned to Tal-Inri.
Suddenly we entered a large meadow, and I saw for the first time Flamedancer’s herd. Proudly he stepped ahead of me and said, This is my family.
Almost at once, the head of every unicorn in that field was raised, ears pricked, eyes shining. It was dark, but I realized that it wasn’t because of my eyesight that I could see them- they gave off a faint glow like I did, and their horns glowed even more brightly. There must have been hundreds of them, and together they lit up the field. They were of every color and size, and many bore markings. They were as varied as a herd of wild horses, as brilliant as the rainbow.
Seeing them I wanted to leap for joy, but every eye was focused on me as Flamedancer led me forward among their ranks. They seemed to be somewhat organized by general color, and I realized that this must represent element, or- what was the word that Flamedancer had used- clan. Within each clan, shades, sizes, and shape seemed to vary greatly.
I spotted several poofy, lively foals in their midst, and I smiled gently at one gorgeous, delicately built lavender mare who had three purple foals in tow, and was swollen with another one on the way. Her stallion stood proudly by her; his coat was a glowing plum.
I became nervous as I passed each clan, because they bowed to me as Flamedancer had bowed to me in the field. But I felt Flamedancer pressed reassuringly against my flank, and I relaxed after a minute. We finally came to the fire clan, and I immediately felt the bond with them. They saw me as I truly was; and they accepted me for it, and I knew I was at home with them- part of the family. No matter how different I seemed. 
There was recognition in their eyes as they bowed. They instinctively knew my purpose, I supposed. I surveyed the group of twenty or thirty individuals. Their colors ranged from a deep, almost purple red color, through a fiery crimson, to a bright orange. They each had their own distinct smell under an odor of cinnamon.
As they came out of the bow, there was a general loud rustle as the entire herd followed suit, and then began to settle in for the night. I heard the comforting, faint murmurs of hundreds of soft thought-voices as they bid each other goodnight and lay down, clans huddling together for the night.
As I watched the nighttime proceedings, my clan was conversing, leaving me out of the conversation; I was uncomfortably aware of that fact, but had ignored it as best as possible. Now Flamedancer came to my side and gently guided me to the center of the circle that was his clan. A clumsy foal tumbled from its playmates and landed between my forepaws. Gently I nudged it back to its mother.
Flamedancer told me, As your adoptive family, we the Fire Clan of the Herd are given the right to name you, by Tal-Inrian law. We have chosen your name based on the soul we see shining at the center of your being. We see a hot, burning fire within you, and thus we have chosen your name, Fireheart.
I felt the one-ness with the name. It tasted right, and I knew it was right. Smiling, tears in my large, gleaming gold eyes, I settled down with my clan to sleep. 
Fireeee-heart. I heard the giggling foal say as its mother shushed it.
I grinned again as I felt the warm bodies of my clan snuggled against me. My wings folded over the nearest creatures, and I slipped into a comfortable slumber on the grass.