Nick gasped nervously as Taylor hugged her and she turned bright red. She then gingerly returned the hug. "Y-you're welcome Taylor." She smiled and translated what Jeda said. "She said 'Yatta', which means 'I win'." Nala then padded over to the two. "I'd hate to say it...but I like you as a boy better. You at least have some backbone woman!" Nick flicked Nala on the nose. "Go eat a rat." Nala grumbled and then Smokey sniggered gently.

Coban

She giggled slightly and stroked Keth's head. "Adina stop hiding and come say hello." Coban said and the smaller canine peeked out from behind Coban. "Hello Keth..." she trailed off and Nala blew on her tail. This scared the small fox enough to bury her head in Keth's side. "Is the boogy-man gone? Eep..." She looked up from the white fur and then recieved another blow on the tail from Nala and Adina turned into a scared puff of black, white and red. The little fox then sneezed and the fluffy puff sagged like a baloon. "Adina, there is no boogy-man. Just try not to freak when something just happens to blow on your tail." Coban laughed and scratched under Keth's chin and throat.

Jeda

Jeda laughed gently at the sight of Nick stacking it and falling on Taylor's lap. Yep, she had been watching the whole time. She tugged Nala's tail in reprimand for scaring Adina and Smokey was taking a nap on her backpack.

Nick smiled and was content to sit in Taylor's lap. It started raining outside and she watched it fall down. She then looked out the window and saw Jeda looking out at the pelting raindrops. Nick then nudged Coban and Coban tapped Jeda on the shoulder.
"We have a story to tell, just the thing for a rainy day. It starts like this. Once, many moons ago. On a day like this, a young maiden was just coming home from doing the shopping when she spotted the door to her home wide open. Her parents always left the door open, but this time the maiden felt like something was wrong. She went into the livingroom of the house and found her parents. They were both dead or dying. She watched them die and could do nothing to stop it." Nick stopped and looked at Jeda, she was making little puppets out of fire and illustrating the story as it was told.

Coban

She nodded as Nick stopped telling the story.
"She tried her hardest to find someone to listen to her. But they all called her stupid and crazy. She was only a small girl, aged 8 at the time. She spent the night underneath an uprooted tree in the forest, to frightened to return to her home and too angry with herself for not trying to save them.
By the time the went to the Lord's palace in the village, word had spread to a lady samurai. "Show me where your parents lay. I shalll see if your word is true." The samurai followed the young girl and was shocked by what she saw. Soon the Lord was very interested in what happened at the house. He searched for the culprits throughout the countryside of Japan, but they were never found. The lady samurai decided to take the little girl under her wing and call her, her own. The girl accepted and they moved away from all the painful memories." Jeda had been up until this point, doing fire representations. She ended it with a face, the face of what she interpreted the girl to look like.



Jeda

She ignored the awful uncomfortable feeling that went through her heart when they told the story. She put on her emotionless mask and continued making fire puppets.
"She is still living today...and may be in this very room." Her quiet voice rang through the band. Her hair threw a dark shadow over her face then she looked up and started laughing.
"That was so hilarious! Have you guys seen your faces?" She made it look like she was laughing so hard that tears were running down her face...but she was really only just crying. not laughing at all.

Nick smiled and wriggled a little in Taylor's lap, her head now resting on his shoulder.
"He's right Taylor...life isn't always lollypops and rainbows." She scolded and then tried finding his ticklish spot instead.
"Jeda...play something for us!" She suddenly stopped her tirrade and looked at the other girl. Jeda nodded and took out her piccilo (sp?) flute. She then looked around at everyone.
"You are welcome to join in...the song's called Meditation." She said and

**not finnished!**