In the Winds of Muse, lives a fabulous bird, doned in shimmering colors. He is surrounded by devoted congeners, all at his service. Yberkan, such is the name the homins gave him. Like a king, he does not fear homins and lets them approach him and even caress him for the most audacious. But the homins like challenges and the stories that run about this king lead them to come and fight him to prove their mastery.
And it is one of these stories that I will tell you tonight.
“Once upon a time, when the homins were just emerging from the Prime Roots, there were two young Trykeris. They had their inexperience and their desire to live in common, but everything else separated them. Saxy was small, a bit chubby, but pretty as a picture with her two long blonde pigtails and wide blue eyes. She was a coquette and loved nothing more than to sew brightly colored clothes. Dancing and singing kept her busy all day. Homins would often turn around to follow her with their gaze, but she would look at them distractedly and go on her way, laughing.
Copsan was so thin and tall that her dark brush hair stuck out wherever she was. Her clear gaze seemed to scrutinize you to the core. The sword at her side looked ready to jump into her hand. But by the fireside, she was displaying unsuspected storytelling skills
The storyteller pauses.
“Saxy liked to go to the Winds of Muse to harvest there materials for her clothes to craft. Her guild leader had shown her the interesting places. He had also taught her to love "Yberkan" and brought her in the area more than once to approach and admire him.
One day, while walking around, she came across Copsan practicing on stingas. Saxy couldn't help but admire the finesse and agility of this unknown Trykera, who seemed to be the same age as her. She seemed inexhaustible, twirling from one stinga to another. But suddenly the machine jammed, a stinga a little more resistant, a breath a little shorter, another stinga coming to help the first one. Before Saxy could even reach for his amplifiers in the bag, Copsan was lying on the ground.
- "Don't move! I'm coming," Saxy shouted. But then, healing was not Saxy's strong point.
Painstakingly, one little heal after another, Saxy managed to get Copsan to her feet, but then they both had to drop to the sawdust to rest.
- "Grytt!" Copsan finally articulated.
- "O’tan!"
- "But, excuse me, I thought you wouldn't manage it."
Saxy blushed, hurt anyway by this little remark.
- "I know, I need to make some progress. But I like sewing better. There are so many good healers within my guild."
Copsan saw Saxy's face change and immediately repented.
- "Senn, excuse me, I have been alone for so long, I don't know how to behave nicely anymore. I'm hurting you when you just revived me. My name is Copsan and I just arrived in Fairhaven."
The smile lit up Saxy's face again.
- "Saxy of the guild of the Fairhaven Guardians. You just arrived and you're already training on those big stingas? You'll be of great interest to my guild leader! Come on, I'll introduce you!"
Copsan laughed.
- "No, no, not so fast. I want to discover more before choosing. Do you want us to train together? You could train your healing!"
- "Oh, is that true? Do you want me along?"
For all answer, Copsan grabbed her sword and, camped in front of the stinga, let out a brief cry.
- "Forward!"
The stingas went on and on until both Trykeris collapsed, exhausted. Saxy then took out of his bag some wood and oil to light a campfire. There, Saxy began to sing in her sweet voice a lullaby from the depths of time that brought tears to Copsan's eyes and Copsan delighted Saxy with the story of her arrival at the Rangers' base camp.
Their friendship had been born.
Inseparable, they could be seen running on the pontoons, unconcerned with the angry looks of the more calm Trykers. Each pushed the other to excel. Of course, the leader of the Fairhaven Guardians had been delighted to meet Copsan, but at Saxy's request, he had been content to offer her the guild's services.
One day, however, this friendship was put to the test.
As usual, Saxy and Copsan had met at the Winds of Muse. As they went to train, Saxy suddenly exclaimed:
- "He's here! Come, come quickly, let's go see him!"
There, shimmering in his blue plumage, Yberkan, surrounded by his guard flitted lazily. Seeing the Trykeris coming, he raised a bit in the sky but no threat was coming from Saxy whom Yberkan had already met. Saxy went forward, happy to be able to show the beautiful bird to her friend, but soon realized that something was wrong. The troop was anxious, vigilant.
She spun around, looking for the cause of this anxiety, and saw Copsan, frozen, her hand clenched to make her phalanges turn white on the hilt of her sword.
- "No!" she shouted.
She rushed towards Copsan, trying to stop her from drawing his sword.
- "No! We're not in danger! Come on, he's as gentle as can be. He knows we wouldn't hurt him much with our little swords! Come on! Let's go pet him!"
Copsan, stubborn, refused to let go of her sword. All the warrior's tension was evident in her stare at the king. Saxy continued to shake her, trying to get her to drop the sword. Copsan seemed to come to.
- "Yes, you're right, let's get closer."
Saxy released her friend and walked confidently over to the king, followed by Copsan. She started to caress him, when Copsan drew her sword to attack Yberkan.
- "Nooo!"
The response was instant! The entire guard assaulted Copsan and Saxy, who had been healing her friend out of habit. Soon, silence returned to the Winds of Muse.
The storyteller pauses again.
“It was a fury that appeared up at the Fairhaven teleporter, called back by the Karavan.
- "But why did you attack him? He wasn't doing anything to us! I don't want to see you again! Never!"
Saxy ran off to hide in the guild hall, crying hes eyes out. It took all the persuasion of her guild leader to get her out of her hideout.
- "She attacked him just like that without saying anything. Oh why Ny-chief? I never want to talk to her again!"
- "Oh, come on Saxy! Stop it right now! You are not going to get angry with your best friend for Yberkan! Yes she attacked him, that's her warrior instinct! You see his shimmering dress, she sees his fighting ability, his sharp beak. But I'm going to get her a good telling-off and teach her not to attack in any way!"
- "Noooo! Not you too! You love him like I do! You're the one who taught me to get close and to come and caress him."
Her chief smiled.
- "Of course Saxy! With your big heart you wouldn't know how to do anything else! But tell you something, when a warrior sees that king, he won't rest until he's over the trial and gets the better of him. So, you can stay indefinitely angry with Copsan or help her in her quest. As for Yberkan, he will disappear, yes, but only to be reborn as beautiful as ever."
Several days passed but she was missing her friend horribly and when she finally decided to leave the guildhall, she found her there waiting for her, just as desperate. They fell into each other's arms and vowed never to hurt each other again.
The storyteller pauses one last time and smiles.
“A Jena year later, the emerging daylight reflected off the guild crests of the two friends and made the colors of Yberkan shimmer. Copsan turned to Saxy, smiled at her, drew her sword as Saxy was doning her amplifiers, and set off towards her destiny!