The Story of Qiris

[Qiris]

Jiris hummed as she fiddled with her newest gadget. She was pretty tickled to have made her first ever lifelike mechanical toad, and she hoped Kytae would enjoy a new addition to her zoo. Jiris didn't mind helping Xiris with her present for the Winter Veil party, especially since she'd participated the previous year. She'd been so delighted with the gift Gordantell surprised her with—she couldn't make the thorium shells when she opened that present but she'd gone right out and gained enough skill to be able to make them.

To be honest, Jiris preferred to mess around in her little engineering laboratory and steer clear of Xiris and Akiris. Her lab stayed quiet except for the odd whirring and clicking sounds of the various parts she had on hand. Jiris knew Xiris meant well but hearing how critical and restrictive she was with Akiris made Jiris tense. Xiris tended to be a bit overprotective. Well really a lot overprotective, and even though Jiris knew Xiris acted out of love, it was still difficult to be around. Akiris wasn't helping matters much since she had now reached that angst-ridden stage in life where she was eager to declare her independence—she was spoiling for a good fight just to get her points of view heard. Her snippy, disrespectful behavior toward Xiris was getting very obvious and Jiris knew Xiris wouldn't let that go unchecked much longer.

Of course all the drama surrounding Qiris didn't help matters anyway. Jiris didn't agree with the way Xiris was handling—or not handling—the situation with Akiris. Jiris thought the little warlock was plenty old enough to be told the truth; she would hear about it sooner rather than later since even Undead lips never stayed silent for long. Really Jiris had never understood why Xiris brought that smelly orc home. She'd caused problems almost from the beginning, and Jiris had hated hearing the shopkeepers complain about Qiris and her thieving, money-grubbing ways.

Jiris shrugged. She'd just keep her head down and putter around with her gadgets. Maybe she'd start tagging along on some of the runs into Molten Core—surely the tension of a fight in the Core couldn't be any worse than the family tension. The stories Xiris had told her about the Core Hounds, and how some of them stomped and some feared had stirred Jiris' curiosity enough that she was about ready to ask if she could go along. She loved the Clan as much as her family; she was just afraid that she wouldn't be as good a healer as Kytae or some of the other Clan priests.

A door slammed in the house. "Oh good, Akiris must be home from the Wetlands," Jiris thought. She was very eager to hear how things went for the warlock since she'd been working hard to earn her next pet, a Felhunter. Akiris wasn't a little girl any more, Jiris realized. She was already 31 and contributing to the family resources with her disenchanting skills and efforts in tailoring. Jiris smiled as she remembered seeing Akiris toiling over an Azure Silk Vest for a tiny little mage called Freezish. Akiris had a generous heart and she cared deeply for others, both Clan members and her own family. For that reason, Jiris knew Akiris would never be satisfied until she knew what had happened with Qiris.

"Jiris! Jiris!" Akiris shouted, "Are you home?" That was very unlike her little sister, Jiris thought with alarm. Normally she made a beeline for the cookie jar and didn't bother to talk to any one until after she'd had a snack. "Ah'm back here, in mah lab, Akiris," Jiris called.

"Ah need to know the truth, Jiris! An orc in Hammerfall told me a wicked lie about Qiris, and An need to know what happened!" Akiris hollered.

Oh dear, thought Jiris, this was all coming to a head and Xiris wasn't home.

[Tainish]

ohhhh...dis gettin interesting