Dragonfae
Legacy Name: Dragonfae

Peka Glade

I love Peka Glade. Maintaining the wild beauty of my chosen haven is work I never tire of doing. I am the one who gently straightens fragile stems hit with a late spring gust of wind. I use the flowers on my coat to coax bees to beds in need of their attention. In winter, I bed down and let the snow act as my blanket until the spring thaw warms my blood once again.

There is no hint of chill on this fine summer day. It is one of those rare moments when the sun is just right on my fur and there are no noxious tourists to spoil my view with their checkered picnic baskets. As I check the trees on the nature trail for any signs of illness, I whistle a little tune I picked up in the army. The lyrics are all about a soldier blown to bits but the melody, for some odd reason, is rather cheerful. Rainie's slender legs tap the earth in time to the beat. She's the only friend I've got but don't waste your pity on me. I'm better alone.

The music dies as I come to the daisy patch on the southern stretch. Several flowers are bent beneath the weight of a crumpled fast food wrapper. My sensitive nose can detect the greasy slime saturating the inside. It's enough to make me feel sick.

I cannot leave such an offensive item to further pollute nature but I do not wish to touch it. It is as if the contents are seeping into my fur, negating the natural diet that keeps my muscles strong and my coat glossy. Fortunately, it is not too far to Riverside. I know from experience that the Recycle Beast will never turn up his nose at garbage. As much as I loathe walking among his heaps, I cannot deny he does valuable service for Subeta. I make it a point not to catch his attention as I throw the foul thing amid the trash. I could not care less about recycle points and I desire no interaction with a creature that spends his life swimming in garbage.

I take the time to wash my paws in the river, the trickle of water reminding me of the river my unit crossed. We were green, convinced of our youthful invincibility and unwilling to accept war was anything but glorious. A lot of them came to a stop. Maybe our losses would have been less if more of them had taken sniper courses. I was in the tall reeds at the first click of a barrel. I got to watch the massacre from a prime location.

The memory fades, leaving me standing with wet paws and a stupid look on my face. Rainie waits patiently on the far bank. She knows better than to say anything.

There is still the violator of nature to be dealt with. He's from the city, no doubt. City folk are a bunch of greedy polluters whose only real pleasure in life comes from destroying things. They take whatever they want and give only blows to those who try to warn them of the consequences. It is because of them that thousands of youths die for false causes, breathing poison in muddy trenches while the gluts in Saggitarius Tower get fat on roasted rack of lamb. I hate them all. There is nothing good that comes out of cities.

It doesn't matter that I've been away from the Glade for an hour. I can smell the violator as if he's eating his disgusting snacks in front of me. A patch of daffodils has fallen victim to a discarded fry container and I am just in time to prevent a young xotl from being poisoned by the foul brown ooze coming out of a soda cup.

The crinkle of a plastic wrapper offends my ears as I creep closer. In the silence of the glade, the sound is almost as loud as gunfire. A shudder racks my body as I get my first look at the offender.

He is an overweight human who vaguely resembles Pete. He takes a bite from the chocolate bar in his fist, chewing with his mouth open. The harsh ring of his cell phone is painfully loud. I must stop to lay a paw over my ears as I will myself not to lose control. I do not succeed.

The world is burning. We'd heard the rumors of a new chemical from the factories of Darkside but we all chose to believe that was just the enemy trying to scare us. Some of the soldiers couldn't even cry out as they were reduced to skeletons. I got only a whiff of that horrible smoke, enough to leave me without a voice for nearly a week.

I lie on the ground, trembling and clenching my teeth as Rainie gently rubs her nose against my cheek. The warmth of her small body eventually convinces me that nobody is about to try and blow me up, allowing me to rise.

The offender has not budged in all this time. He's onto his third candy bar now, his wrappers floating on the surface of Tutani Pond as he jabbers away on the phone.

"I'm telling you, Joe, those tree huggers in Riverside aren't going to get in our way this time. We'll leave the little hiking trail but the forest beyond has got to go. Subeta Mega Mall will have an outlet for Go Outside along with a shop for native bonsai trees from Shengui Guo. The nature lovers will be so busy buying that they'll forget we had to relocate a few popokos and priggles."

His words awake a fury in me that burns until my vision takes on a red haze. I must act or lose the only place that allows me to feel safe.

There is only one good thing I gained from that war. I finished first in a class of prime snipers, crawling on my belly in the mud and getting to know the feel of my rifle until it was another part of my arm, as critical as any major artery. I could take out a target with a direct hit to the eye, the lung, the heart. My aim greatly depended on the anatomy of my target. Not all Subetans have one head and two feet, after all.

You will not hear my approach. You will not see me raise the rifle that was my only promise of life in sixteen long months. If you are facing me, you may just get a glance of your killer when my shot takes you down. You will not have time to ask me why.

I hit my target in the center of his forehead. He stands for a moment, staring out on the land he intended to destroy. His mouth widens into an "O" of surprise and he drops, staining the grass as the last piece of his candy bar splashes the surface of the pond. A tutani gulps the foul morsel before I can fish it from the water.

There are plenty of forgotten dells that will welcome the gift of organic fertilizer. The wrappers and the still-buzzing phone are further gifts for the Recycle Beast.

I pay a visit to Emma's shop before making my return. She provides me with packets of seeds and a small vial of Esther's special plant growth tonic. These are the only two Subetans I am able to converse with for any length of time. Even so, I prefer to keep such chats brief.

I uproot the damaged flowers with a precise claw, setting them aside for burial in the compost heap. Their deaths are not in vain if they provide the good service of food for new growth. Rainie places the new seeds as I drip just one drop of tonic on each little promise of new life.

Credits

Profile Code by: Ringo
Extra Code by: Bug
Edited by: Chrysariel
Story by Pureflower
Recolor Overlay By: Necolasa
Background by: Systainability Asia
Reflection Made With: LunaPic
Butterfly by:
Free Transparent Background Nature
Flowers and Grass by:
My Free Photoshop World
Name Art by: Chrysariel