It was a beautiful sunny day on Reiflem. The thick, bright beams of sunlight filtered down throgh groves of trees, scattering bright patches of sunlight across the forest floor. Insects buzzed lazily in these patches, floating carelessly in the heady warmth. The air was thick with the scent of wildflowers and the soft twittering of songbirds. It seemed that, for a moment at least, time had slid to a stop.

These were Joy's favourite days. The kind that seemed to last forever, suspended indefinitely in a comfortable blanket of calm and quiet. Where one could find a cozy roost to relax on and let all their troubles melt away, like so much ice cream under the summer sun. 

The same could not be said for his friend, Grudge, however. She gave a frustrated huff as a swarm of gnats brushed pa.ssed her nose, tail twitching idnignantly as she glared through a beam of sunlight at Joy. 

"It's too hot," she grumbled. "My fur feels itchy."

"Oh, pfft," Joy waved off her complaints. "It's a perfect day out! Just look at the sun! Look at that clear, blue sky! Smell all those flowers!"

"Yes," the black otachie rolled her eyes skyward. "They smell lovely."

"See?" Joy grinned widely, ignorning, or perhaps not even noticing, Grudge's sarcasm. "Even you admit it's a wonderful day! I dare say, we couldn't have picked a better time to go exploring!"

Grudge continued her grumbling, but her tail began to twitch nervously. Going exploring with Joy wasn't very high on her 'Favourite Activities List', but someone had to keep an eye on the crazy bird. The last time they'd strayed from home hadn't ended very well, and the dang easero probably didn't even remember it. 

Though she certainly did. 

She threw another glare in Joy's direction, but he was too busy happily twittering back to a flock of songbirds to notice. So she smoothed out a nest of gra.ss, curled up, and attempted to catch at least some shut eye. 

Though, with Joy around, she was definitely fighting a losing battle. 

"Grudge!" he whispered loudly, hopping down from his roost. "Psst, Grudge!" The easero skipped lightly over to her and began poking her in the nose with a foreclaw. "I hope you're not sleeping! You can't sleep on a day like this!"

The otachie glared at him with one bright, golden eye. "Watch me."

"Oh, come on!" Joy pecked impatiently at her tail. The poor creatu obviously didn't know when to quit. "We're wasting daylight! Let's go!"

Grudge heaved a tremendous sigh and hauled herself to her feet. One of these days, she was going to have to learn how to say 'no' to Joy. Well...Someday, anyway. 

"Do you even know where we're going?" she muttered, following the easero as, he hopped and skipped along the ground. "I'd like to get back home before dark, you know. Last thing I want is for our owner to find out we left."

"Yes, yes," Joy carelessly waved a front leg, glancing back at her. "We'll be home before then, don't you worry, Grudge! Enjoy this fantastic sunlight while it's here! And those flowers! Absolutely divine!"

Personally, Grudge couldn't care less if the flowers were made of solid gold. Enjoying a bright sunny day would have been a terrific idea, if she didn't have to keep an eye on Joy. The crazy bird was liable to get himself hurt if he was left to his own devices, what with his over-trusting attitude and careless demeanor. 

Typical Scrian. 

Eventually, the forest path they were following met a river, and meandered along the banks of the gushing torrent of water. Joy continued prancing along, immersed in his own happy little world, but Grudge gave the water a wide berth. Like most Reiflemites, she wasn't very comfortable around water. She hoped the easero would steer clear of the river, too. She didn't fancy the thought of having to leap in after him. Joy, however, seemed determined to give her a heartattack. He skipped and hopped atop the rocks lining the embankment, chasing a pair of blue dragonflies, seemingly oblivious to the danger that rushed past beneath him. Grudge hung back, constantly keeping the prancing bird in her line of sight. 

Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, Joy missed the rock he was aiming to land on, and ending up skipping right off the embankment. 

At first Grudge didn't move. Surely Joy would simply fly out of this predicament. He was a bird, afterall. 'Yes,' she thought, 'that's precisely what will happen. He'll fly up and onto the trail again, and keep on skipping away like a crazed-'

The loud sploosh of water from below interrupted her thoughts. 

"You've got to be kidding me," the otachie grumbled, rushing to the edge of the bank. Sure enough, there was Joy, quickly drifting downstream and thrashing around like a mad chicken. 

Typical Scrian. Should have learned how to swim. 

Grudge fearfully stared after her friend, caught between leaping into the rushing river after him or keeping her fur dry and staying safe on the bank. Eventually, the awesome power of friendship won over her desire to keep dry, just as Joy's feathered head disappeared under the raging rapids. 

Grudge flung herself off the bank, spread her wide, gorgeous wings, and glided over the torrential river. It wasn't difficult to spot the easeros' mint-green feathers amongst the dark brown of the river bed, and Grudge plunged her front paws into the cold water. Her face contorted into a deep scowl at the disgusting wetness of it all. She gave a mighty heave upward, wings pumping as she tugged against the current, and plucked the soggy easero from the river. 

"You useless turkey," she gasped, dropping Joy unceremoniously back onto the trail. "I bet you didn't even think about flying back onto the bank! Didn't even cross your happy little mind, now did it?" She disgustedly shook the remaining water from her front paws as Joy continued to thrash in the dirt. "What are you lookin' at?" she growled at a family of chimbies that had stopped to watch the spectacle. "Haven't you ever seen an easero have a panic attack before? Geez."

Grudge turned back to the gasping easero as the chimbies fled at top speed back into the brush. "For Otroe's sake, you aren't dying!" she nudged the easero with a front paw. "Now get up and get a grip, Joy! And stop rolling in the dirt like a freakin' zenirix!"

"Haaaaaa!" Joy gasped, dragging himself clumsily to his feet amidst his bath of mud. He patted himself with his arms, amazed that he survived such an ordeal. "I'm alive!" he shouted, flinging his wings wide and prancing happily on the spot. 

"Glad you noticed," Grudge grumbled sarcastically, turning back towards the forest. "Now let's head home before we get in even more trouble."

"You saved me!" Joy flung his arms and his wings around her. "Thank you!"

"Uh huh," she nodded, ducking out from beneath the hug. "Sure, whatever you say."

"Oh, Grudge," the easero threw his arm happily around the otachie. "I know you were capable of more than just holding grudges and being ornery."

Grudge slowly turned her head towards, Joy, fixing the other creatu with a cold, blank stare. "Care to repeat that?" she asked. 

"I'll start walking," Joy jumped ahead and began briskly skipping home. 

"Yeah, you do that," Grudge mumbled and trudged along behind him, avoiding the puddles of water he left in his wake. 

What the heck are you doing here? Go away! I have no time for the likes of you! Can't you see I'm a very, very important creatu? Don't answer that, of course you can; everyone can. As soon as they hear the sultry melody of my voice, they know I'm not a pet they'd want to mess with.

Since you're here, I suppose I could tell you a bit more about myself. Take a seat, human, this might take a while. Though that really shouldn't bother you. Listening to my epic tale is the most important thing you could be doing right now. Trust me, I know.

Anyway, name's Linwau, but people I like get to call me Lin, free of charge. And before you ask, no, you aren't one of those people. My owner, on the other hand, is someone I actually can't complain about. She has impeccable taste, so she collects iluvu. I, of course, was the very first iluvu ever had the pleasure of obtaining. Yep, you heard me, the first. You know what that means, right? Means I'm the best, the very best. Out of those hundreds and hundreds of iluvu only one can claim to be the first, the one that started it all, and that's me, baby! Stick your eyeballs back in your head, human! I know I'm awe-inspiring, but have a little self control, will you?

Gawd.

I suppose I could add a bit more about my friends, especially since it looks like you're having some difficulty listening to my epicness. As I was saying, my owner, Alchaeon, is pretty cool, for a human at least. You should drop by and check out her iluvu collection. Why? Because I told you to, that's why! You humans and your useless attention spans. Pah.

Moving on, I do, of course, have more than just one friend. Heck, pets line up for blocks just to share a few words with me! They're just not awesome enough to have me remember their names or anything. Not like Lieve, now there's an iluvu worth talking to! She's going to be mine, someday. She just doesn't know it yet, so you'd better stay away from her. You can oggle at the other iluvu all you want, but we're going to have a problem if I catch you staring at Lieve.

And you won't want that, trust me. 

Bah, you're starting to bore me now. Why don't you go stare at albinos or pick up eggs, like a good little human? And you'd better be taking that dirt with you! What is it with humans and bringing the outside inside?

Useless species.