I'm finally here. The music starts up-a lively tune-and I slump in a chair. I don't even remember most of getting here, my mind was such a swirl of images in the the tunnel and voices in my head. I sigh. And then I hear a voice. A familiar one. Too familiar. Catastrophe. I race backstage to spy.

Could we slow this down?

Just a teensy beensy widdle bit?  

Meliisa~

I growled when I heard Icy on the intercom. The darkness told me to get her.

I growled again in agreement and headed the oppositems direction from everyone else.

"Icy." My voice came out odd, and a felt a tear trickle down my cheek.

She turned around and saw me. The fur on my back stood straight up as I slowly walked towards her. Suddely, I was no more than air as the darkness left me. I saw it rush towards Icy and her scream. 

"Icy...careful..." I murmured as I fell unconscious. 

Thank you, Alexander. I have bean waiting to catch Icy. Miss, I am going to have to arrest you. 

I peek from around a corner. The living, breathing Catastrophe, with some Shadows. Wait... how do I know that? Nevermind. Then Catastrophe speaks. 

"Lucky for us, the girl has made a distraction..."

Icy? Distraction? 

"Now, we shall go out and when no one is looking, I will activate the Power. Then the explosives will be activated by you two," he gestured to two of the Shadows here, "and the entire dome will explode as we escape."

The Power of Fin!!!

"Now, come on."

They rounded the corner before I could even think.

"Well. You're here."

"Why not?" I reply.

"Shadows, silence this boy."

The living shadows approach me, and I hear excited whispers from under their hoods. One picks me up... and everything goes black.  

Pssssst, this is before the ball.

I entered an airship exhausted.  I slumped across a cusion, looking straight out the window and not at anyone else.  I felt the gaze of faunalia boring into me and turned around to face her.  She quickly averted her eyes mumbling sorry under her breath.  I nodded then flew and perched on her shoulder, "this may be loud" I whispered in her ear.  She smiled and squeezed her eyes shut.   "Start the engines!!" I screeched.  There was a soft putter and a gentle hum then the airships were in the sky.  We went farther and farther up, a small train of airships making their way toward the ball.   I watched the scenery for a moment then turned to face who was here with me, faunalia,  Icicalwhisper, and sunstroke.  I smiled weerily "hi guys.  Sorry I was late some......stuff came up. ". I yawned and tentavilly made my way in between the luggage.  Aaaah there it was, my satchel stood in the corner.  A little dusty from when I asked Elliot to drop it off but it was there.  I brought it to my cusion, unloading the small items I had wrapped in velvet.  I heard a stifled gasp but didn't look up, carefully pulling the velvet away revealeing a feather dipped in pure silver.  " whats that?". Said Icicalwhisper, "my clan had a tradition of sticking fake feathers along with their real ones throughout their body, it was something we did only on special ocassions.". I picked up a feather, watching the sunset's hazy pink drift onto it's surface.  I sighed, " of course I'm the only one who practices it now." An awkward silence followed everyone looking like they had nothing to say,

"they're very pretty windswift, You'll look very lovely with them on." Faunalia ventured.  I smiled.  "Of course that will only be a dream till I actually have preened. Look at me!  I resemble some kind of bedraggled mud slop." Faunalia chuckled, and then started speaking with sunstroke about what the ball might be like.  

"It has to be a dome"

"Will we be in water in the dome or will it be dry?"

"It'll probably in water because the power they're choosing a guardian for is some kind of water serpent."

"That's true, and many of the nominees are going to be sea creatures."

They all went on, I added a piece  to the coversation every few minutes but mostly I focused on preening.  A small pile of dried blood formed at my feet and I knew very well most everyone was dying to ask what happened.  But they didn't and soon after a few hours had passed we could all make out the ocean sparkling with the sun's reflection imprinted on it's surface.

We were there. 

He?!?! HE!?!?!?!?

Umm...Sorry, but I'm a girl.

~Icy

Uh-oh. Ren and Elliot. I try to swerve around them and Ren tackles me. "Stop right now! Miss, you're under arrest!" Elliot yells. "Erm, I'm too young to be under arrest. I'm 9 for goodness sake!" (okay, yes, I'm not nine, but I'm small for 11 and I always say I am in tough situations.) I say with a sigh, and scramble away from Ren, who lets me go.

"Why in the world are you trying to stop the ball!?" "To save the Power of Fin." "I demand you tell me why." "I can't." "Then I'm going to have to put you under arrest." "You can't. I'm nine. Also, I have no parents to claim me, no ID, and no birth certificate. I was raised by animals." "Umn..." "I think I'm just going to go now.." I say as I edge towards the exit. 

We landed on the beach, the white sand glittering under the sun.  We trekked across the it trying to find the others.  After a few minutes without any success I flew above outroar's head.  Beating my wings to gain altitude.

"I'm going to go on ahead to see if I can find the others.  Caelani I want you to fly lower to the ground and guide the others while following me". Caelani nodded before he took off a distance behind me.  

I flew for a few minutes, glancing down to see if Caelani was still close behind.  I looked up and quickly flew forward.   Trill was a little ways ahead waving her arms frantically.  I landed beside her, my silver feathers tinkling.   " there you are windswift, we've been waiting for your group for forever!". I smiled, "at least were here.  Look I brought some spyro stones, they were out of strawberry and watermelon so I got mint and raspberry". She wrinkled her nose, " I'll take raspberry, I tried a mint one.  They're disgusting". I laughed and started handing out the multicolored stones.  Everyone had taken one except for faunalia, "aren't you gonna get one?". She looked down at her white paw.  " no thanks"

I fished out a raspberry spyro. "At least take one with you.  You'll never know what'll happen, and you can't hold your breath for that long."  She sighed but took the stone.  I grabbed a mint flavored one and popped it into my beak.  Trill was right. It was disgusting. Aaah well.  The flavor vanished in almost an instant.  And soon we were all in the water.  Claaws tentavilly stuck a paw in, grimaced then squeezed her eyes shut before she galloped into the water.  " ugh it tastes awful". Said ouroar who still was only knee deep.  "Of course it does, its saltwater," grumbled Caelani.  "No I meant the spyro stones, but the water tastes awful too." Charla laughed.  Just dive in. 

We did and the sensation (at least for me) was spectacular.  The water felt cool and exilerhating at the same time.  I glanced up at claaws who actually smiled as trill blew a bubble ring and swam through.  I heard aspenhoof laughing as a small flock of fish surrounded him nibbling at his hooves.  

"I wish Storm were here," I whispered longingly.  

Outroar looked like he barely believed his senses as meela dipped and dived through the turquoise water. Caelani also looked a bit flabbergasted, but he soon covered it up. "Come on we have to get to the ball, stop dwadling so we can go." Everyone sighed but followed him as we swam toward the glass dome.

~✴~ 

We entered the double doors and stopped in our tracks as the great regaila of the dome astonished  all of us.  Silks and velvets were strewn throughout the ball.   A small band played a soft catchy tune as a huge school of multicolored fish displayed an astonishing routine.

A small nudge from behind asnd I saw a silver sea snake, he mumbled excuse me and swam into the thick of the dancing.  Then I noticed there were many MANY sea snakes writhing in and out of the crowds.  It made sense though.  The last guardian of the power of fin had been a sea snake hadn't it?

I flew.  Well swam, and perched on a blue silk scanning the room for storm.  *sigh*  guess he hadn't arrived yet.  I was just about to join icicalwhisper in the corner when pain seered through my head.  HeLLO aGaIn.

I clutched my head trying to drive away the voice.  But it overrun every thought and soon I was flying toward a glass balcony.  No not again.  I tried to scream, to warn somebody.  But I couldn't.  My eyes stared straight ahead.  My beak sealed shut. 

A voice came over the intercom. "Excuse me.  I am horribly sorry too say, but the ball has been canceled permanently.  We have already got another guardian.  My apologies.  Now please head to the exit immediately, as the  fireworks unit malfunctioned and we do not want any injuries.". Screams enveloped the room as fireworksd poured from the intercom balcony. 

The guards(mostly bats). Imeddiatley left their positions and swarmed the balcony.  I soon was dipping, barely avoiding fireworks toward the power of fin.  I perched on the balcony bars expecting to pick up the instrument.  Instead I flew behind it.  Oh no.  I thought.  A smaller version of the instrument materialized.  Crimson with flecks of yellow.   I can't activate that, I thought relieved.  A small nudge from behind.  A sea snake.

His eyes were glazed over his black and white scales dull.  My controlled talons handed the instrument over, he brought it to his lips, closed his eyes and blew.  

It wasn't anything like the power's instruments.  

It was hard.  Ugly.

Like claws on a chalkboard.  But a million times worse.

It lasted for only a moment though felt like forever.   The red on it swirled expanded.  The yellow streaks burning my eyes but I stared.  So did the sea snake.  The swirled coil of the instrument grew as a head morphed from the begging.  

A voice came raspy and unused.  The sea snake's jaaws unclenched as he spoke.  HeLlo dEaR sIStEr XâIyoú.

~✴~

Is that okay?  If it's not, forget the whole part about me being hypnotized and all.  Also I had no idea what the power of fin was so ya.  I liked the conch shell because Ayearth is a sea serpent so the shell seems fitting.  Also sorry for controling your guys charries.  And wow is it looooooong;-) 

And Claaws it seemed  cool to have Xaiou come back cuz the giant ground sloth may have been confirmed to be ecio's sideffected power.  And Lucy since you created Xaiou this is pretty much your desicion so ya.  And if someone wrote while I was writing the post super sorry if this entirely the opposite of what happened. 

Ciao, Windswift