Author's Notes: X] It continues.

<=To part 1
Idol Conversation 2

~*~
“I know you’re there. I can sense you in the stone.” The dark stag stared at the Crying Idol, gazing at it with blue eyes full of expectance.



Not receiving a response, he continued, sure he was heard. “I don’t claim to be a real ninja like I try to be, like the humans I’ve seen…but I do know how to gather information.” His voice gained confidence with each word. “I know who you are, and that you’re the one who spoke to me before. I know it wasn’t the Idol. I’ve never been able to understand objects…” he stated with a shake of the head. “You’re the deer known as the Crimson Drifter.” He paused then, to see if his words had any effect.

Still no response, but he thought he could sense a feeling of slight surprise or awe coming from within the stone. It encouraged him to keep speaking. “I heard you after, when you thought I was asleep. I almost was, until I heard grass crunching sounds leaving the Idol. I heard each word you said clearly.” The “ninja” inhaled a deep breath, releasing it in a faint “whoosh”. “You said…the names of my family I lost might be a key. I’d like to know what you mean. Also…you’re right. This isn’t my real pelt.” He sighed, and in a rare fit of spontaneity, sneezed. In place of the dark and white beluga pelt stood out the brown and gold swirls of the golden butterfly pelt, the sunlight reflected off the Idol’s tears making it shine brightly. “My true pelt stands out too much for my liking. Gold tends to be like that,” he commented with a bit of dry humor.



The wave of surprise grew into a tidal wave. He swore he’d heard a quick gasp when he’d sneezed off his pelt.

---

Images filled his head, of a little golden fawn, looking similar to himself, but with the start of peacock feathers adorning her head instead of the small antlers he proudly adorned—with eyes a shining sky blue. Of those eyes being filled with nervous laughter at how they’d outsmarted those wolves as they took in the view from the cliff.

…of how the cliff gave way under small hooves, sending the golden doe over the edge and through the trees below where he could no longer see her, and couldn’t follow.

He’d promised to look after her.

Radeon thought he’d lost his little sister that day. From then on he had worn the red pelt of the Crying Idol in his grief.

…had he been wrong?

He held his breath, hoping and not hoping that the younger stag would say the names he wondered about. Part of him didn’t want them to be the ones he was thinking of…

It was the longest wait he’d ever been through. And it couldn’t have been for more than a few seconds!

He nearly jumped out of the Idol when the other sighed.

“I guess I should…tell you the names then.” A kind of nervous amusement laced that voice.

---

Kinsha’s heart threatened to burst out of his chest.

Why was he so nervous?!

Oh yea, that’s right. The names could be the key to something important. Could it be that the red stag had known them somehow? It might be possible in the case of his mother, though very slim. But with the case of his missing sister? Even thinner of a chance. Not that he had anything to lose if the Drifter didn’t recognize the names…

Decision made, he took a deep breath, as if to plunge into deep water.

“My mother’s…name was Aerust. And my sister…was called Richter…” There. He’d said it.

If he really had been sensing surprise before, then what he could feel emanating from the Idol now was more like extreme shock.

---

To say he was shocked was putting it lightly.

For a moment Radeon forgot to breath.

Aerust.

That had been his sister’s name!

He…really had been wrong then.

And…Richter. She’d be his niece.

Add that with this young stag’s pelt—the same golden pelt his sister had been born to have—and he couldn’t respond. All he could do was gape from within the stone at the other deer, who was awkwardly pawing the ground now. He’d been silent too long.

Why would his voice not work?!

Blue eyes blinked at him from beyond the rock. Then the younger deer stilled his shuffling with a sigh. “I’m going to assume that your silence means I hit a nerve. I can come back later if you want.” He just blinked back, unseen, watching as the other turned to go, shooting a “I live at the Ruins if you wish to talk before I return” over his shoulder as he went.



His gray-green eyes widening, the red stag finally found his voice again.

“Wait.”

The retreat stopped.

---

Kinsha paused at finally hearing a voice. He turned back as a form emerged. The red-pelted deer seemed much larger than he had the other day. He nearly towered over the “ninja”, causing his ears to go back. He may have fled if not for the expression the other wore. A mix of shock, sadness, and intrigue. No where in there was a sign of danger.

“Um…” He was unsure of what to say now. “…so…you said their names may be a key. …are they?” he finished lamely, feeling awkward. He was out of practice talking to other deer. It had been different when he couldn’t see the Crimson Drifter and was more like he was talking to the Idol itself.

There was a sigh as the bigger stag lowered his eyes. “You may not believe this, but…I knew your mother…when she was a fawn.” Blue eyes grew huge as the words went on. “A pelt the same gold as yours, with eyes almost the same shade.” The larger deer seemed to be weighed down as he spoke, lowering himself to the ground to sit beside the statue. Unsure, Kinsha followed suit a short distance away, listening intently. “I was a little older than her, just getting my antlers,” the tale continued. “We wanted to explore the forest on our own. We weren’t supposed to wander far, but being young, we did anyway.” His voice grew tight, strained. “There were wolves…” Kinsha tensed at the word, the image of gleaming fangs coming to mind. “We outsmarted them and got away. We thought we were safe. The view from the cliff we found helped calm our nerves after that chase. …but that’s when the rock crumbled. It happened too fast for me to get to her in time. I could only watch as she tumbled over the edge…out of my reach…unable to save her…”

‘This is familiar somehow…’ he couldn’t help but think as he recalled some of the stories his mother had told.

The Crimson Drifter kept speaking, his voice heavy with weariness. “I thought I’d lost Rust that day…”

His ears perked up. “Rust?”

“Yes.” A nod. “That was my nickname for her.” The head tilted to the side in thought. “Is there a reason you ask?”

“…my mother liked to be called that.”

Those age-wizened gray-green eyes continued to regard him. “There’s probably no need for me to confirm this any further then, since not only is the name of your mother the same as the fawn I knew, but the nickname is too…”

“…confirm what?” Now he was really interested. He would finally know why the names were important to this stag. It was almost like solving the biggest mystery of the year!

He watched the older deer exhale a deep breath. “Aerust…was my younger sister.”

He gasped, leaping to his feet to stare at the deer before him. “Wait! Then…that would mean…!”

“I am your uncle,” his sentence was finished for him.

---

Radeon couldn’t even imagine what must be going through the young stag’s head right now. As for himself…there was a great deal of weight lifting from his shoulders after concluding that.

“But…” He refocused on the younger deer when he started speaking, the slightest bit of skepticism coloring his tone. “…it’s just…my mother said she had a brother…but…” Blue eyes stared.

“But what?” He wished to know.

Those eyes scrutinized him. “That’s not your true pelt either, is it?”

Ah. So that was it. If his sister had indeed talked about him, then she wouldn’t remember him having a red pelt… He shook his head. “No, it isn’t. I started wearing this after…that day. Out of my grief. I’ve begun wearing it less lately in lieu of my true pelt.” With that, he rose to his feet, sneezing off the Crying Idol’s pelt to reveal the white Secretary Bird pelt, with its black wing marks and red dots.

If he didn’t think those blue eyes could get any wider before, he certainly knew they could now. It seemed to take him a moment to find his voice.

“So your name is…Radeon?” At the nod he gave in response, the younger deer lowered his eyes, falling into thought. “Well, this is awkward…” he mumbled.

“And what is your name?”

He seemed to jump, stuttering some. “Umm…Kinsha.”

Kinsha. A foreign word that meant “golden sand”. It seemed fitting somehow.

“Well, Kinsha…this may seem like too much to take in so soon, but I may know your sister as well…”

“What?!” Again the size of his eyes amazed him. “You mean she’s alive?!” His voice seemed to crack at the emotion it was gaining.

He nodded again. “If it is indeed her. Do you wish to find out?”

---

What kind of question was that?

He thought he’d lost his own sister, had no family left, and here he’d met the uncle he’d only been told about in humorous tales spun by his mother! And who might know his sister!
Of course he wished to find out!

…but what if it wasn’t her?

He frowned, decision made.

It didn’t matter. If it wasn’t, he’d just move on. And besides, he had family now. That was enough if it had to be.

He nodded.

“Then let us go.” The larger deer—his uncle Radeon he reminded himself—began to lead the way towards the bridge, towards the shallows of the pond, and where he could see a few deer gathered at the dragonfly cluster. “Oh, and if it isn’t her, then you just have a third cousin who was adopted.”

Ok. He could live with tha—wait.

‘Third cousin?’

---

And thus the Dragonfly Deer gained—or “regained”?—another family member.

It had been a crazy reunion…

…but those details will be left to your own imagination.