Talk Without Speaking

This my first fanfiction, so go easy on me, haha. This is an epistolary fanfiction set in ancient times, a very very long time before the events of the main series. Written by Banquo.
==~~ Introduction ~~==
"You've got to cry without weeping,
Talk without speaking,
Scream without raising your voice
You know I took the poison from the poison stream
Then I floated out of here
Singing a la la la de-day, a la la la de-day ..."
         "Running To Stand Still" by U2         
==~~ Day One ~~==
Dear Diary,
Hello! This is kind of exciting for me. I love new journals- it’s so new and fresh. It’s like a blank slate- a restart. I’ve been writing in this old journal for so long, but now it’s completely filled up, so that’s why I’m starting over.
It’s good for the mind, I think. And the memory. This will be a brand-new chronicle of my life, to last me as long as I keep this journal. Whatever I forget will be preserved forever in these pages. How exciting!
I suppose I should start writing about what has been happening to me lately. It’s pretty interesting, which should make for some good journaling. Usually my life is pretty monotonous, but recently something big and important has started to happen.
Here’s the important news to start us off:
I have to visit the Alchemist.
From what I’ve heard, she lives deep in the jungle, west of the RainWing kingdom. She makes potions. She has a sort of a laboratory stocked with herbs and berries and skulls and weird things you find in the dark when you’re looking for something else.
She’s more of an urban legend than anything else, at this point. The last time anyone saw her was ten years ago at a summer festival. I wasn’t alive then.
I’ve heard that she specializes in healing and killing. She’s sold potions to diplomats for assassinations. She’s sold potions to bureaucrats for sleeping guises. She’s sold potions to injured dragons or sick dragons with lifelong conditions, and they claim they’ve been healed.
Me and my best friend Moss- we’ve been told to see the Alchemist. Funnily enough, it’s not because we’re disabled. It’s for another reason entirely- although I can’t help but wonder if the Alchemist wants to “cure” us with some odd bit of potpourri or blood stew.
We’re not really struggling as much as you’d assume, you know. Some of our peers avoid us a little, but we’re alright.
I was born with one malformed wing. It’s weak and I can barely move it. Moss is different in a different way. He doesn’t talk hardly at all. Some dragons think he’s stupid or slow, but he’s not. He’s been one of my closest friends for a long time, and I know that he is razor sharp- smarter than me, for sure. He just doesn’t talk. And that’s okay with me.
If either one of us should be “cured”, it’s me. I can’t fly. Some would say that’s a problem, but I manage. I’m very good at climbing. It just means I can’t do as many things as some other dragons can.
Sometimes I wish I could fly. I want to know what it would feel like. Every once in a while, when I see a baby being tossed into the air and learning how to fly in the nursery, I feel some sort of nostalgia- or maybe grief- for something I’ll never know. But I brush it aside.
I’m not a victim- I have my limits, but I am a whole dragon in and of myself. God knows it took me too long to learn that. I need to remember it to do it justice.
Anyway. That’s not the reason we’re going, even though it seemed that way. There have been plenty of other RainWings I’ve heard of that are disabled in different ways. The reason we’re going to see the Alchemist is that we got a letter.
I say “we” as in the tribe. About three weeks ago, there was a letter nailed to a tree in the village, signed by the Alchemist. It said this:
Greetings, dear RainWings,
I am in need of a new apprentice. I am growing older, and I want to have time to pass on my knowledge to others before I go.
I know specifically of two young and able dragons in the tribe that I would like to meet, if the Queen is willing. Pará and Moss are their names.
Please have them come and visit me before winter comes.
Best wishes,The Alchemist
The signature was written in beautiful swooping calligraphy. Below the signature was a beeswax stamp with some sort of complex insignia on it that looked like a tangle of ivy on an archway.
Obviously, this is a very vague letter, but the village elders were delighted. They decided immediately that not only was it legitimately from the Alchemist, but that Moss and I should leave as soon as possible to go and visit. It’s autumn- with winter fast approaching.
I wish the Alchemist had said when we’d be back. I have duties to the tribe, and so does Moss. But I suppose the Alchemist wants me to succeed her when she passes away- I hope that’s not binding. I don’t know if I want to be the next Alchemist.
Personally, I don’t know how to feel about this. It’s not like I had any grand plans for my life- but I still wish I had more of a say in the matter.
I need to think about this more. I need to clear my head- everything is so confusing and new. I don’t have anything meaningful to say about the matter yet, because I haven’t figured out what to feel about it.
This is all for now. But I will update this as soon as possible when I know more! I will ask one of the elders, Boa, tonight what he thinks on the matter. Hopefully he or someone else will have some helpful guidance for me.
Sincerely,Pará
== ~~ Day Two ~~ ==
Dear Diary,
I met with Boa last night, just like I planned to. He had some good words of wisdom for me, which I appreciate very much. I often forget how good it is to talk to the elders about things like this when I'm confused about how to feel.
He was sitting by the fireside with many of the other RainWings, the evening bonfire casting a flickering glow on the bony features of his thin, worn face. I think fire makes dragons look interesting- mysterious, lovely, ugly, bright, dark... sometimes it depends on the individual. For Boa, it makes him look ancient and a little sad.
I don't like intruding on the bonfire gatherings, even though they're technically open to all the tribe, because it's mostly the elders who sit there. Category:Genre (Epistolary)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)