Avalon: Pursuit of Power #3

Avalon took in a deep breath of air as she strode through the woods, drinking in the sights around her. Since falling through the rift, she had had relatively little time to just relax and enjoy the world around her – too busy frantically trying to help Benji by hunting for feathers, or helping Gus and his cookies, or tracking down crate owners for Kenwood. For once, it was nice to walk through the woods without trying to evaluate how much something would be worth to Sal - or if the object she spotted from the corner of her eye could be one of the mythical feathers Benji spoke of.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the feeling of a weight thudding against her shoulder, and Avalon playfully batted away Enzo as he crashed into her.

“Cut it out,” Avalon said, although her voice lacked any real conviction.

Avalon’s playfulness turned to concern as the libram crashed into her shoulder again with growing urgency, rustling his pages in agitation.

“Enzo?” Avalon asked hesitantly, coming to a halt as she examined the libram. Having secured her attention, Enzo flitted away towards a nearby tree.

Now that he had caught her attention, Avalon could just make out a low whining sound coming from just off the track.

“Hello? Is someone there?” Avalon called out hesitantly as she followed the agitated libram into the trees.

The whining stopped for a moment, before resuming with more urgency. Trotting forward after Enzo, Avalon crept over a log and stopped in her tracks at the sight in front of her.

A dregonian was curled up behind the log, favoring one of its paws as it let out a low whine. It was small, and still quite young if she had to guess. It flattened itself against the ground as Enzo swooped over its head in excitement, and Avalon gently shooed the libram away.

“I don’t know if you can understand me, but you’ll be alright now,” Avalon spoke, hoping her reassuring tone would be enough to soothe the young creature. She admittedly knew very little about Dregonians - but she was willing to bet if she could get this little one back to G’Ma’s shop, she would be willing to help.

Approaching it, she continued to speak reassuringly until she was close enough to gently cradle the beast and lift it from the ground. It twisted in her grasp for a moment before settling down, curling into her fur. Avalon gave a small smile as the dregonian finally quieted down, holding the little creature close.

“You’ll be right as rain in no time,” Avalon said as she turned back towards town, Enzo leading the way. “You’ll see, I promise.” [454 words]