The Adventures of Elaesree Shevat and the Unexpected Dazzling

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The Adventures of Elaesree Shevat
and The Unexpected Dazzling

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Beating her wings steadily to maintain her altitude, Elaesree Shevat
looked down over the mountains beneath her and squinted. It had been a
few months since her last adventure, and she was slightly ashamed to
admit that she was eager for something else of interest to happen.
Matters had been, quite frankly, very dull since then, and she was
itching for something to do other than courses at the University.

She went out somewhere different every day, patrolling for curiousities
to catch her attention. Unfortunately, it did not seem to be working
out. She watched the scurrying of other people far below her, fighting
the gusts of wind that threatened to shift her balance, and managed to
hover in place for a brief time. Some walked singly, stopping frequently
- likely harvesting herbs, she told herself. Some seemed to gather
followers as they went, and others still zipped from here to there,
apparently in quite a hurry to get somewhere else.

With a sigh that sounded only slightly dramatic, Elaesree flew back
towards Hallifax. Circling wide to avoid other possible fliers, she made
a shallow descent to draw out the moment before she should head back
home. And as she circled back past the entrance in the mountains again,
she caught a glimpse of the unfinished statue on Emerald Road. Somebody
was working on becoming a Lord of the Transphenortex Grid, but wasn't
what she had noticed.

No. It was something she didn't expect to see. There was a crowd,
standing by the statue, every single one of them staring at it. Winging
down in front of the statue and landing gracefully, she called out a
cheery, "Hello!" and raised her hand to wave at the small group.

Not a single one of them responded.

Not even the cow.

Instincts on high alert, Elaesree refused to turn around. She started
with the cow. Why not? Admittedly, she had not seen a lot of cows up
close and personal, but she felt like they were usually more skittish
than this. And definitely less focussed.

She turned to the trill next to the cow, then a pair of lucidians. Each
one was the same - a vacant sparkle in the eyes, a dazed expression, and
no movement at all. She slowly looked at each and every one of them,
before guardedly beginning to turn the final step to gaze at the statue.

And suddenly, a twinkle of something sparkled from the statue's face.
Thinking it through carefully, Elaesree continued her slow movement, and
the sparkling continued to dazzle the crowd.

Shielding her eyes to prevent an unexpected glimpse, Elaesree lifted her
free hand and -grabbed- for the twinkling mass. She had gloves on, a
lucky coincidence thanks to her earlier trip high above the mountains,
and her fingers managed to clasp on something small, with no real
substance despite the shape she clasped in her fist.

"Hmmm," she said to herself, thinking out loud. Turning her face away
from her prize, she instead dug her free hand through her satchel - a
new one she'd just purchased recently, of shimmering cerulean silk -
until she found what she was looking for. "Aha!" she cried as she drew
out a veil. Why she had one in there, she couldn't remember for certain,
but it looked like it was about to come in handy after all.

Drawing it across her face, she studied the dream mote in her hand
through the translucent material, and as she slowly covered the mote up,
the crowd that had gathered nearby managed to come slowly to their
senses.

"Oh, thank you, Miss Shevat!" was heard over and over, and even the cow
let out a deep and booming, "Moooooooooo." She shrugged her shoulders,
mildly embarrassed by the attention and praise, as she tucked the
now-concealed mote into her satchel. With a blushing smile, she nodded
her head politely at everyone, said one last time, "It was hardly
anything at all," and took to the skies as the sun began to set.

It was time to head home for dinner, after all.