The Seventeenth, Pt. 3

                                    

                                          
Sada listened, entirely focused on her friend's every word. She had never seen Dedrei's eyes so serious, brightened with the intensity of what she imparted. Her features were no longer animalistic, but that quickly changed. Once she'd instructed Sada, she stepped back.
And she began to shift.
All in the same moment, Dedrei's nose broadened and flattened, her canines grew sharper and protruding, her claws lengthened and thickened, her antlers receded. Dedrei's long, pale hair shortened and thickened into a lion-like mane, her hands broadened into paws, and a tail sprouted above her glutes. Then Dedrei was curling over to stand on all fours as her body grew, her legs lengthening and thickening as slabs of muscle developed in her flanks, shoulders, neck, and back. Her skin became fur spotted like a leopard, and her feathers, which were light yellow in her Spiritkin form, filled out along her flanks and legs and took on hues and patterns of every color—green, blue, yellow, striped, spotted. Her tail, which was as long as she was, filled out and feathers sprouted from it as well. In just a matter of seconds, Sada was no longer staring at a tall, supple woman with antlers, but a feathered leopard as tall as her chest. The only remainders of Dedrei were the flowering vines, which were still tangled into her mane, and her brown eyes like pine bark after a rainstorm with their diamond pupils. 
Despite the impossible transformation she'd just witnessed and the fact that there was a chest-high leopard staring at her just feet away, Sada felt no fear. She nodded to Dedrei, then after holding her gaze for one more second, a second weighted with an unspoken urging for her to be safe, the Druid bounded away on silent paws. The chimydra had drawn near to them in the time Sada had rested, and she could once again feel the vibrations its clawed feet sent through the earth with each pounding step. Dedrei would now follow those tremors, along with the stench she claimed the Beast to have, until she met it in its path. Then she would prove as a distraction while Sada searched.
Sada had confidence in her friend's strength, especially in what seemed to be such a powerful form, but a part of her felt guilty for allowing Dedrei to run headlong into danger while she ran about gathering supplies. Had Father been there, he would have been fighting the chimydra before they could stop to formulate a plan. But she was not her father. And she knew that if he was there, he would also tie her to a tree before allowing her to go anywhere near the Beast. And so, she reasoned, doing as Dedrei asked was doing a great service, one greater than the Duke would allow her to.
I'm sorry, Father, she thought, and then she went away from where Dedrei had gone.
.  .  .
Dedrei
Dedrei didn't bother with silence as she went to the Beast, though she made little noise in this form regardless. The leoteryx was one of her strongest forms in both senses: she had spent nearly a year with a family of them, learning their ways and customs, and it was an easy form to adopt. The big cat was also known for its stealth and ferocity, especially when defending its young or its pride. And so it was with complete focus and confidence that Dedrei tracked the chimydra as it tracked Sada.
She had not liked the girl upon their initial encounter, and that was now something she berated herself for. She had acted in the same manner that Fairfolk acted toward the rest of the Spiritkin, with haughtiness and arrogance. It was true that her identity as a Druid compelled her to aid the girl, if not in finding the Elf king and a path home, then at least guiding her to sustenance and out of the Dell. But her duties did not require her to converse with Sada, nor answer her strange questions and entertain her strange comments, like those ones about her head and stomach, or when she asked what her favorite leaf was. And they did not require her to care for Sada. And yet she found herself doing all of those things. It was also true that her identity as a Druid compelled her to reconcile this evil presence in their world. But that wasn't what fueled her forward with such urgency, and such anger. Instead, she found herself urgent to reach this Beast because she feared what would happen to the girl if she didn't.