A new story about my friend  TwistedMichie's albino StarEater Oriel about how she first met her future mate, my StarEater River.

This might be the first installment of a series...

StarDragons are a closed species created by  DeleteTheStars,  Cloneclone and  RaptorSlut

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A First Meeting, Part One: The First Day of School


In the town of Summervale, there lived a young StarEater girl, her name was Oriel. In most ways, Oriel was a normal girl like any her age. She had a mother and father who loved her very much; she lived in a cozy house and had plenty of toys to play with. However, unlike other girls her age, Oriel was different in two important ways: first, she was an albino, the soft fur that covered her body was pure white and pale grey and her eyes and the life gem in her chest were pink. The second thing about her that was different was that she was mute, she was completely incapable of speaking, she could make sounds like laughing but not words. If she had to “talk” to someone she used a small notepad she carried around or when she was at home with her parents she used special signs with her hands. She had never really been bothered by any of this; to her it was perfectly normal.
Today was a special day for Oriel; it was her first day of school. She was all dressed up in a nice purple blouse and skirt and her mother, Furia, had just finished styling her hair.
“All done,” said Furia, “you look so cute for your first day of school.” She turned her daughter around to face the bedroom mirror. Furia had reddish purple fur and bright yellow eyes and gem. She bent down and gave her little girl a hug,
“I’m so proud of you,” she said, “my little girl is ready to go out into the world on her own.”
“It’s not like she’s moving out dear,” said a voice from the door, it was Oriel’s father Jag. He was a tall man with green eyes and gem and sleek black fur,
“You’re talking like she’s going to leave us forever,” he said. Furia turned to her mate and hugged her daughter tighter,
“I know,” she said, “but this will be her first time on her own.” Jag walked over and put a hand on his mate’s shoulder,
“She’ll be fine,” he told her, he knelt down and smiled at Oriel, “Are you all ready to go” he asked.
Oriel nodded her head and smiled,
“Yes I am,” she signed.
“Okay then,” said Jag, he took hold of Oriel’s hand and they headed out the door and off to school. As soon as they had walked out the door, Oriel spotted a somewhat familiar face, the neighbor boy from down the road. He was a year older than Oriel but even then was big for his age; he had light grey fur, green eyes and gem and long, two-toned grey streaked hair he wore in a high pony tail just behind his horns and was wearing a red shirt and dark blue pants. Oriel had seen him walk to school every day through the front window, always alone, she had never seen him with his either his parents or anyone else. When he saw Oriel he smiled warmly and waved to her like he did every morning when he passed by. Oriel started to wave back but Jag stopped her,
“No,” he said sternly, “I don’t want you to have anything to do with that boy.”
Her father always said that when he saw that boy, apparently the boy’s father was supposed to be a bad person, but Oriel had always wondered what exactly that had to do with the boy, she certainly hadn’t seen him do anything bad.

Oriel was a bit awestruck by the school. She had never been around so many people before. She clung close to her father as they walked into the building.
“It’s okay Oriel,” Jag told her, “you’ll make lots of friends here.”
When they came to her class room the teacher, a StarDasher lady named, Ms. Stella was waiting for them.
“Pleased to meet you,” she said with a big warm smile, “I look forward to having you in class.”
Jag knelt down next to Oriel, hugged her tightly and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“You have a good day okay,” he said, “Your mother will pick you up at the end of the day.”
Oriel nodded and followed Ms. Stella into the classroom. After she was introduced to the rest of the class she made her way to her seat and there was the neighbor boy again. He was sitting at the very back of the classroom all by himself, there was no one in the seats immediately around him. Oriel didn’t have a chance to ask about that though, Ms. Stella had the class straight to work with her lesson.

Later that day, the students were let out for recess. Oriel had been able to meet a few of her classmates but she didn’t know if they were friends yet. So she kept to herself as she and her classmates went outside. She found a spot on the grass in the shade of a huge, old tree and sat down. She thought about everything that had happened to her so far today, she looked forward to getting to know her new friends and the things they could do together. Then she thought about that neighbor boy. Why did he always walk to school alone? Why did her father tell her to stay away from him? And why did no one in class want to be anywhere near him? It hadn’t been just sitting in class; she had seen other students go out of their way just to avoid him. But he hadn’t done anything bad. So why was everyone treating him that way?
“Hey you!” yelled a voice. Oriel looked up to see who it was. It was one of her classmates, a StarWeaver boy named Luka. Luka was two years older than all the other students in class, which meant he felt he could order them to do whatever he wanted. He had five other boys with him; they all stood in a circle around her giving her strange looks. Luka bent over and stared into her eyes.
“You’re that freak girl who can’t talk aren’t you,” he said.
Oriel didn’t like what he had said but she nodded any way and gave a weak smile, hoping that this boy was friendly.
“So how come you can’t talk?” asked one of the other boys, “are you stupid or something?”
Why did he say that? That wasn’t very nice. It made tears well up in Oriel’s eyes. Holding back her tears she reached over for her note pad but Luka knocked it out of her hands.
“What’cha using that for?” he asked, “I don’t think you’re stupid.” Oriel looked at him hopefully, maybe he really was friendly.
“I think you’re too lazy to talk,” he said. He looked down at her with a mean smirk,
“So come on,” he said, “Why don’t you start talking.”
Oriel looked at him, tears streaking down her cheeks, he just laughed.
“What’cha cryin for?” he asked, “We both know you can really talk. So come on, talk!” He slapped her across the face and knocked her down on the ground. He stood over her leering down with that mean smirk,
“Come on,” he said, “Talk!”
“Leave her alone.”
The voice had come from somewhere overhead; Luka looked around for whoever it was that had spoken,
“Who said that?” he yelled.
“Someone who doesn’t need to hit a girl to feel good about himself,” said the voice. Luka scowled,
“Why don’t you come out here and say that to my face!” he demanded.
“If that’s what you want,” said the voice.
There was a rustling of branches overhead and someone dropped out of the tree and landed right on top of Luka. It was the neighbor boy! He stood up between her and the other boys and folded his arms across his chest.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size,” he said calmly.
Luka let out a laugh as he stood up,
“Like you?” he said, “I would love to see you-“
Luka fully stood up and found that he was eye level with the neighbor boy’s nose. The neighbor boy may have been a year younger, but he was a bit bigger than Luka.
“-try,” finished the StarWeaver.
Luka and the other boys all took a step back; the expressions on their faces were of complete terror. They were afraid of this boy. Luka swallowed, stepped up to the neighbor boy’s face and put on a mean look.
“We’re not scared of you,” he said with a quavering voice, “just because your dad’s a murderer doesn’t make you scary.”
And that was when Oriel understood why everyone treated the neighbor boy the way they did. But to Oriel it didn’t seem fair to the boy, just because his father was a bad person didn’t mean he was the same. For his part the neighbor boy didn’t react beyond his ear flicking, he just kept standing there with his arms folded. Luka seemed to get some courage back,
“My dad says murderers are cowards,” he told the boy, “I’ll bet you’re a coward too.”
He gave the boy a shove, which didn’t work. The neighbor boy didn’t budge. Luka tried shoving him again and still nothing happened. The neighbor boy let out a quiet sigh, unfolded his arms and gave Luka a one handed shove. Luka was sent stumbling back into his friends who caught hold of him. He shot the neighbor boy a venomous look,
“Get him!” he yelled, “There’s no way he can take all-“
Luka was silenced by a swift kick in the mouth from the neighbor boy. The StarWeaver was knocked to the ground and did not get back up. Another boy stepped forward and threw a punch, the neighbor boy caught his arm and punched him once in the stomach, once in the chest and finally once in the head. The third blow knocked him face first to the ground. A second boy tried to fight, the neighbor boy just kicked him in the groin, when he bent over the boy kicked him again in the jaw and he flipped completely over and landed on his stomach. Then another boy came running in, the neighbor boy grabbed him by the shoulders and kneed him in the stomach. The last two boys tried to came at him together. One was dropped with a single punch to the face while the other had his arm twisted around behind his back and slammed face first into the ground.
Luka and the other boys lay on the ground moaning in pain; they slowly rose to their feet one by one. The neighbor boy folded his arms across his chest again, he wasn’t out of breath, he wasn’t sweating, he wasn’t even angry. He just fixed them with a calm stare.
“Leave,” he said, “Now.”
The other boys didn’t argue, they turned around and walked away. After they were out of earshot, the neighbor boy turned to face Oriel. He looked down, reached out a hand to help her up and smiled warmly.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Oriel took his hand and he helped her up. Without thinking she signed to him.
“I’m okay, thank you.”
The boy’s eyes widened suddenly and to her surprise, he signed back.
“My name’s River,” he said and signed, “What’s yours?”
She spelled out her name with signs, O-R-I-E-L.
“Oriel?” asked River. Oriel nodded.
“I like that name,” said River, “it’s pretty.”
That made Oriel blush a little, she wasn’t used to being complimented like that, especially by someone she had just met.
“Where did you learn to sign?” asked Oriel.
“My parents taught me,” replied River.
Oriel smiled, River was the first person outside of her family who knew how to sign. She wanted to talk with him and become friends, unfortunately at that moment a very stern looking Ms. Stella came walking up.
“River,” she said, “come with me.”
“Okay,” said River and he followed the teacher back into the school. Oriel didn’t need to guess what was happening; River had gotten in trouble for fighting with Luka and the other boys. It didn’t seem right to her that he should get in trouble for helping her. She picked up her note pad from where it had fallen when Luka knocked it out of her hands and headed inside straight to the principal’s office.

The principal was a stern looking StarCrafter with glasses perched on the end of his nose. When Oriel peeked into his office window he was being yelled at by an angry StarWeaver man, Luka’s father.
“This is unacceptable!” he said, “I told everyone that boy should never have been allowed to attend this school.” He pointed to River who was calmly sitting in a chair to one side of the room with his hands in his lap. On the other side of the room sat Luka looking at the younger boy with a cocky smirk. Oriel drew a short message on her notepad and walked into the room. Luka’s father fixed her with a glare,
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“This girl is your son and River’s classmate,” replied the Principal he looked at her and smiled warmly, “It’s Oriel correct.” Oriel nodded and handed him her notepad.
“River isn’t a bad person,” he read, “He helped me.”
Luka’s father snorted,
“Help?” he said, “that monster’s brat isn’t capable of helping anyone.”
“Really?” said a voice, “have you asked him what happened?”
Oriel turned to see who it was and was greeted by a familiar face, Mist, her mother’s best friend.
“Mother,” said River, he got up from the chair and walked over and hugged Mist. Oriel’s eyes widened in surprise, Mist was River’s mother! Seeing the two of them together it was easy to see the resemblance. They had the same eye and gem colors and River had streaks of blue in his hair and tail that could only have come from Mist. She was dressed in her usual outfit, the white and red robes of a Temple Guardian, an assassin trained to protect a shrine to the Great Dragons and the Gods. Mist put her arms around her son and looked at the principal and Luka’s father,
“Well,” she said, “aren’t you going to ask about his side of the story?”
“I know exactly what that brat’s side if the story is,” said Luka’s father, “he’s just like his murderous bastard of a father and he decided to pick a fight with my son,” He pointed a finger at Oriel, “and nothing that little freak can say will change my mind.” No sooner had he said those words then he was violently shoved into the wall behind him. All StarDragons had a bit of magical power but Mist was a fully trained mage. Raw magical energy swirled around her like a fierce storm, her eyes and gem lit with arcane fire.
“You can spout whatever filth you wish about my family,” she said angrily, “but I will NOT allow anyone to insult the only child of my best friend!”
“Lady Mist please calm down,” said the principal. Mist’s eyes and gem dimmed and the storm of magical power died down, “We’re all here to determine what happened,” continued the principal.
“I just told you what happened!” said Luka’s father, “That murder’s brat was itching for a fight and he decided to bully my son.”
That made Oriel very mad, she signed at Luka’s father furiously, the older man just snorted,
“Idiot girl,” he muttered quietly.
“You’ll excuse me if I don’t believe you,” said the principal, “considering that this is the third time you and your son have been called to this office.”
Luka’s father let out a huff,
“And how many times has that brat been here?” he said pointing at River, “Ten times? Twenty?”
“Actually this is the first,” said the principal.
Luka’s father snorted, “I refuse to believe that,” he said, “you’re telling me that the son of a notorious criminal is better behaved than my son?”
“I don’t really care what you believe,” replied the principal, “it’s a simple matter of fact: this is the first time in the entire period that he has been a student here that River has been called to my office.”
Luka’s father gritted his teeth and made a growling noise, “All right,” he said, “let him tell his little lie then.”
“During recess,” River began, “I was sitting up in a tree by myself when I saw Oriel walk over and sit down. Then Luka and his friends called out to her and come over.” River shot a chilling glare at the boy sitting across from him.
“They called her stupid and lazy, and then Luka hit her,” continued River, “So I told them to leave her alone. When Luka dared me to come down I jumped out of the tree. I might have landed on top of him. He tried to push me so I pushed him back and then they all decided to gang up on me and fight. So I fought back.”
“You honestly expect me to believe that?” said Luka’s father, “That my son is the one who started the fight?”
“He has on the two previous occasions he’s been called in here,” said the principal.
“I can’t believe you’re taking the side of a murderer’s wench and her brat,” said Luka’s father. If looks could kill the one Mist gave him would have made him burst into flames.
“I’m not on anyone’s side,” said the principal, “I simply want to resolve this situation.”
“I know exactly how you can resolve this,” said Luka’s father, “You run them out of town!” he pointed at Mist and River, “Ever since they got here this entire town has had to live in fear of Storm threatening to butcher everyone!”
The principal gave him a confused look,
“And when exactly did he say that?” he asked.
“The day he came to this valley,” replied Luka’s father.
“Then everyone in Summervale remembers that day very differently,” said the principal, “the day Storm came to town our esteemed former mayor, being a criminal and a thug, decided to blackmail Storm into working for him.”
“Let me guess,” said Luka’s father, “Storm just told the mayor to pay him instead.”
“No,” said the principal, “no he did not.”
“Oh,” said Luka’s father, “he blackmailed the mayor into giving him that house.”
Mist laughed, “Hardly,” she said, “Our dear former mayor didn’t have the brain capacity to fall for that.”
“So what DID he do then?” asked Luka’s father.
“He slaughtered the thugs who worked for the mayor, then locked him inside his own house, tortured his wife and son to death and then burned the mansion down with him inside it.” Mist said it so casually, like something that horrible was completely normal. Though from what people said about her husband, Oriel supposed she would consider it normal. Luka’s father just stood there in slack jawed silence.
“Why would we let a monster like that stay in Summervale?” was all he could say.
“Because,” said the principal, “in case you didn’t notice. The previous mayor was a criminal who wanted to rule Summervale like his own personal empire.”
“So the old mayor was a crook,” said Luka’s father, “what’s the point of your little story?”
“The point,” said Mist, “is that most children, like your son, are told stories about monsters that will devour them if they misbehave, but that’s all they are. Just harmless stories. But my son? He has a monster far worse than any story living in the house, one who tells him stories like that and worse every night before he goes to bed.” River looked down at the floor sadly. His mother continued.
“And do you know why?” she asked. Luka and his father just shook their heads, “So that River will grow up knowing about the REAL evil in the world,” said Mist, “and one day, when he’s old enough and strong enough he can put a stop to it. Forever.”
In that moment Oriel suddenly understood a great deal about River, the entire time when Luka had insulted him and even here in the principal’s office he had been completely calm. When he had been walking to school in the morning and when he landed between her and the bullies he stood tall and proud. Until that moment Oriel had wondered how someone could act like that at all times, but now she understood. River’s parents were training him. Every child liked to pretend they were legendary heroes on a quest to save the world, but River was being groomed into one for real.
Upon hearing this Luka and his father had different reactions. Luka just stared at River quietly, his expression a mixture of awe and confusion. Luka’s father just scoffed,
“You’re delusional lady,” he said, “that brat will never be anything but a murderer. Just like his father.” He turned to the principal and growled, “Fine,” he said, “you go ‘resolve the situation’, but my son and I are leaving.” He took Luka by the hand and started leading the boy to the door.
“I have not dismissed you from this meeting,” said the principal, “now that we have established what happened we still have to come to a solution to this conflict.”
Luka’s father growled again,
“Fine,” he said, “do what you wish.”

The principal’s decision was that River would have detention for the rest of the week. Luka however was suspended. Mist kept silent, for their parts both River and Luka accepted their respective punishments, Luka’s father however was livid.
“Unbelievable,” he said, “my son is suspended from school and that brat gets off with detention. This is ridiculous.”
“I believe I told you that this is the first time River has been in trouble,” said the principal, “While Luka has already been called to this office twice before.”
“That’s only because he never got caught!” declared Luka’s father. The young Weaver reached up and took his father’s hand,
“Dad,” he said, “let it go.” He kept staring at River. Luka’s father grunted and walked out of the room, his son in tow. Before he went out the door Luka turned to face Oriel.
“Oriel,” he said, “I’m sorry.”

The next day after school, Oriel was helping her mother in the front garden when she saw Luka and his father walking down the road. The younger Weaver looked at her and waved meekly as he passed, his father grabbed him by the shoulder and tugging him along. A few minutes later both Weaver came back up the road, running as fast as they could and the sound of laughter echoing behind them.
“Mama,” signed Oriel, “what is that sound?”
“That,” said Furia, “Is Storm, Mist’s husband.”
“Oh,” signed Oriel, “River’s dad.”
“Yes,” said her mother.
“Is he really a bad man like people say?” signed Oriel.
“Well,” said Furia, “he’s hurt people and worse. But I don’t think he’s a bad person, he’s just had a very bad life.”
“I’d like to meet him one day,” signed Oriel, “Maybe if I can make friends with him, people won’t think he’s bad anymore.”
Furia let out a chuckle, “You know what,” she said, “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”

And Oriel would indeed meet the infamous Storm, but that is a story for another time.