SKETCHPAGES; Installment #3!

Jay translated;

‘Do you promise to take care of the Aura’s every need?’

I decided it would be rash to refuse, so I replied,

‘Yes?’

Jay scolded me. 

‘You must be utterly certain, or the Aura won’t appear. Now, say it and MEAN IT!’

‘Yes!’

‘Ala shon de la fon trat e prola la play?’

‘Do you promise to trust and protect the Aura?’

‘Yes.’

‘Ala ickla shur du pilin cu lal?’

‘Do you believe yourself to be of a good heart and noble spirit?’

‘I try to be my best.’

Jay looked displeased with my answer, but Tigress continued with her incantations smoothly.

‘Hoo quarta bilo vical mina garta gur jakka vinex binswat piolick to it shurtikali al es Tweet.’

She took a breath before continuing.

‘Shurtikal fur du es la play?’

‘Do you have a name for the Aura?’

I hesitated. I had always wanted a pet, and if that’s what this aura thing was, then I needed a good name. I had always wanted a husky. So, I would name this thing, whatever it was, like I would a husky. 

‘Frostbite.’

Tigress turned to the box and began to speak to it softly. I didn’t hear what she said, though I could hear the occasional

‘Emiline’, ‘Frostbite’, and ‘Shurtikal’

I looked over at Jay and mouthed ‘Shurtikal?’

She mouthed back

‘It means ‘Soul Protector’. The true name of an Aura.’

She was going to mouth something else but then Tigress turned to me again.

She walked over to me and made me kneel before the box. I felt pretty dumb. She sprinkled some water or something on me, and said

‘Yourrr soul animals arrrre thrrree. Between them thrrree, thy must choose one. Between the fox, with bushy tail and cunning eyes,

the husky wolf, with a howl of ice and teeth of bone,

and of chickadee, cap of shadow and prrrrick sharrrrp mind,

which of thy thrrree does thy wish thy Aurrra to be?’

Well, that’s the easiest question of all, I thought to myself. What luck! I always knew a husky would be perfect for me. Aloud, I said;

‘Of those three I wish for the husky wolf/mine to be.’

Why not add a twist of rhyme to it? Tigress seemed pleased by my rough rhyming. She went on though, her voice flowing smoothly through the words.

‘Then of thy soul, the shape must twist into life inside the spirrrit imprrrisoned here./This spirrrit I have kept safe forrr long, it is verrry dear. So out of thy mouth, say these worrrds thrrree;

Anaklos! Shritikur! Kriticali!’

I repeated dutifully, still partly unsure what I was doing. Then, the box upon the table began to vibrate slightly. Then it began to shake. And tremble. At this point, Tigress took a short stick out of a hidden pocket and rapped the box three times with it. Then, the small golden lock on the box burst open, and with much glitter and sparkling dust, (Too much if you ask me, though my best friend would probably tell me enough glitter is never enough,) something came out of that box of the likes I had never seen before. First, some sort of vague four legged animal shape formed of a sky-blue fog jumped out of the open box. Then, as I watched, the THING slowly began to become a defined form. Lumps of fog became soft fur, misshapen gemstones became sparkling eyes, whitish specks became white teeth, odd areas that poked out became rounded paws, pointed ears, and tufted tail, and then, before I knew it, the misshapen blob before me had become a blue-gray, sparkling (Not too much, thank heavens,)  perfect, beautiful, cute, sweet, husky. He looked perfect, cute and sweet and lovable, but ever curved edge that outlined and defined his body radiated power and a magnificence that only wolves have. He started to move around slowly, then faster and faster as he got used to his body. He didn’t walk, not exactly, since his paws never touched the ground. He kind of trot-floated. He looked at me and barked, and I knew he barked, but I understood what he said, which sent a thrill of excitement course through me. He said;

‘Whatcha lookin at? I’m just a dog.’

He twitched his ear and tilted his head in such a way that made him look very cocky. I giggled, which seemed to please him. He began to sniff around the ‘house’ and as he did, I slowly realized I could feel his emotions. In the back of my mind somewhere, I could tell that those emotions I felt were his from watching him. When he slipped, I felt surprise. When he found some old bones, I felt excitement. When a bird chirped loudly, I felt confusion. This was creepy and cool at the same time. But when he looked up at me, and said;

‘You feel different from the rest of the people here. Why is that?’

In words and pictures, I managed to explain how he had gotten here and who I was and who Tigress and Jay (who had been silent and still this whole time) were.