Nila's Story 1: The Kind Sharptooth
#66 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
Part 66 is now up for everybody. Read, enjoy and review.
"Wow! I would like to know her!" asked Slam, grinning wide to the sight of that beautiful sharptooth. She was not a bonecrusher like him, but was surely beautiful. Enough to gain half of the sharpteeth in their attention, and even of some leaf eaters.
She had beautiful shiny in her eyes, along with perfect skin and shiny white teeth, that made good pair with her beautiful scales, and both beautiful face and body, all this combining to create what some would say, was the most beautiful sharpteeth they had ever laid their eyes upon.
Balcan adopted a quite sad look, along with others, like Bayron, Melissa, Kala, the Minnies and Zeiran "She was part of the order years ago." Was all that Zeiran said. "She was born into a normal family. She was the only survivor of a clutch of seven eggs."
"Wow." was all that Yu could say. He too didn't understand what this sharptooth had to do with all the things that happened until now, but he decided to listen. Zeiran sighed and said "When she was born, it was a hard time. Her parents weren't exactly the parental kind, and it was even harder because she was born all white."
Snowbound, that was among the sharpteeth, nodded. For some dinos, when a dinosaur suddenly is born white, it is a sigh that the kid is a bad thing, or that it probably will not live long, being weak and sick. Some even said that it was a sigh that the child would bring problem and tragedy to all the pack if not abandoned or killed in the spot. She remembered she had hard time when she was young, and had to struggle to make her place into the army. And yet, there were some who gave her stares and squints.
Zeiran continued "She grew hard, and had to struggle to live." As the great wyrm talked, the images cast by the silvery rock changed, to show a small white sharptooth, trying to climb up a hill to follow its parents. "It was specially hard to her to survive, because she didn't like to kill other dinosaurs."
This caught the attention of many dinos. A sharptooth that didn't liked to kill? Zeiran continued "In the place were many would simply hunt down leaf eaters to simply kill and eat them, she would try to play with them, laugh with them, and try to be friends with them." And the images changed, showing the young Nila trying to make friends and play with leaf-eaters hatchlings. Many mumbled among them at those words and the images.
Chomper was, in fact, happy, for knowing that some sharpteeth wanted to have good living with the leaf-eaters, and felt sympathetic for her. Yu and Rex felt very much the same.
"Though Nila was of a great hear, her parents accepted her even less due to her attempts to make friends with what was supposed to be her food." Zeiran said "That was a time were she simply couldn't live with her family anymore, so she ran away." The image once again changed, now showing two adult sharpteeth sleeping as young Nila walked pass them. She turned back and nudged both one last time, before finally running away to the Mysterious Beyond.
"She lived in the Mysterious Beyond by her own?" asked a shocked Spellbound. Normally a sharptooth hatchling had to stay along with the parents, or die either by starvation or killed by another dinosaur. That not to mention the many risks that a lone hatchling could suffer by being without any parents around.
Zeiran turned to him and said "Yes, for some time she had to live alone in the Mysterious Beyond. And it was hard to her." The images show now the same hatchling, but now looking very thin and weak, having difficult to walk. "She almost didn't make it out." Zeiran said, and the small sharptooth fell to the ground, looking completely exhausted.
"So, it was her end." said Jackel "Well, you couldn't wait different from a sharptooth that don't kill to survive." Chomper silenced him with a dead-glare, along with Yu and Rex. Zeiran then cleared his throat and said "Well, many would not have so luck like her, but for what it seems, the spirits were looking for her." As Zeiran said those words, the images that showed the sharptooth, now showed a great shadow covering her from the fierce sun. She opened her eyes and looked up, to see a great dragon looking down at her.
Chomper's eyes widened "Hey, it is you!" he pointed to Zeiran, who only nodded. The young Nila recoiled in fear, and ready for being eaten, but instead of attacking, the great wyrm reached out and gently brushed her side with his great claw, granting her to look at him. He showed her a kind smile, and gently picked her up, and soon raised flight.
Zeiran sighed as everyone now looked at him "I'm not sure why I did what I did, maybe the spirits were guiding my actions, maybe I just was being soft. But I couldn't just let that poor kid die there, alone. So I took her to our valley." The images changed again, to show Nila, now more wealthy, eating lots of bugs and fish.
Zeiran chuckled at himself "She just loved our valley, she loved to see leaf-eaters and sharpteeth being friends and playing together, like she had dreamed." the images showed the young Nila playing with young dinos of different species, all laughing together and playing along like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"She soon became interested in your healers ways" the images changed to show her, a little older, at the side of an elder sickleclaw that was applying some mix of herbs in the wound of a threehorn. The sickleclaw was talking to Nila, who seemed completely focused.
"She was dedicate, had a good heart, and dreamed of the world being a perfect place for both leaf-eaters and sharpteeth. So, I guess that no one was surprise when she became a member of the order." The images now show Nila in front of the Great Stone of Cold Fire, soon a piece of it separated from the great rock, and flew right to Nila's neck. It stopped there and turned into a necklace. Nila looked surprised at it, and smiled brightly.
"I guess that a few times I had seen someone as happy as her in the moment she received her amulet and discovered its powers." said Balcan. And the images changed to show Nila reaching out for a wounded spiketail, touching his wound, and making it quickly disappear without leaving any mark. "Nila was one of the best healers our valley ever had. She never complained over her work, and only cared about the good of the others. But yet." he said with some anger in his voice "There were people who didn't like her simply because she was different." The images changed.
Nila was now taking care of a small spikethumb in the ground. The little one had cried, it was of a shade of blue with black feather running down her back. She stopped crying as soon as Nila removed her hand. She got up and kicked her leg a little "Thank you, miss Nila." She said, Nila smiled at her and said "You're welcome Kala. And I already said that you can call me just Nila."
"Oh, okay miss- I mean, Nila." the young Kala corrected herself. Nila smiled at her, and soon a voice called her attention, as well as the one of the young spikethumb. "Kala!" they turned around to see three other kids and two adults coming over. It were younger versions of Bayron, Melissa, Zera, Miname and Minaple.
"Hi, Bayron. Hi, Zera, Hi Melissa." she greeted, the two-crested swimmer approached her and asked "Are you okay? I heard that you had fallen from the hill." Kala nodded "Yeah, I did. But Nila healed me, she is the best in all the world.
"Yeah, she knows a lot of healing, right Minnie?" said Minaple, and Miname answered "She may really be the best, may not Minnie?" and Minaple answered "You can bet on it Minnie."
Nila could only laugh a little. Miname had arrived recently in the Valley of Leaf and Claw, and by what she had heard, she was quite delighted for finding out about the friendship between sharpteeth and leaf-eaters. And had heard too that she and Minaple, due to having so much alike, started walking together and often considered one another sisters. They too didn't like the thing of eating another dinosaurs, so it wasn't surprise when they quickly became friends with her.
"She really is the best!" said Melissa, "Once I broke my arm and she fixed it again." then Bayron talked "Once I was sick and she healed me really fast, no other healer would do it like she does. She is the best!"
Nila just stood there, listening to the nice comments that the children did about her and blushing at them, they all looked at her with respect and admiration. Nila was only able to smile at this, it felt good to doing the good to others.
"Well, at least a sharptooth here helps." came a voice from behind, everyone quickly looked around to face a dark-green longneck with a scar over the side of his neck. the Minnies quickly groaned. This guy again.
"Oh, hello Sauron." Nila greeted friendly. Sauron smiled at her and narrowed his eyes "Well, well, how many times I have to keep telling?" he said in an annoyed tone "You sharpteeth don't have to keep this pretending near me. You can fool the others with this play of nice, but I'm not this easy fooled." The minnies snarled at him, but Nila raised her hand for them to stop. She then turned back to Sauron "Sauron, I know that you have already your opinion about sharpteeth, but you have to believe that things can get better for both. I believe in it, and I hope you can see it too."
Sauron looked at her for a few seconds, and then started chuckling, he walked to her and, without a warning, slammed her with his tail, sending her to the ground. The ones in there gasped as one, and the sharpteeth in the place snarled. They were about to jump on him, but Nila said "No!", they turned to her, she gestured for them to keep it down, and so they did, but Zera asked outraged "Why did you did it?"
Sauron turned to her and said "Two reasons: Firstly, because she is a sharptooth, a cruel and emotionless predator who may seem friendly, but will probably eat you if you give her your back." This granted him dead-glares of Bayron, Melissa and the Minnies. "And second, because she is a freak, just look at her." he said gesturing to the fallen dinosaur "Who many times did you saw someone who was completely white. This isn't natural, and last time someone like that was born in my herd, many died from sickness."
The group was now glaring angry at him, but he ignored "Besides, freaks like her don't have long life, even with help." He approached her, seeing her face that looked back at him, not with anger, but with sadness. He chuckled and said "Tell me, Nila, do you want to hurt me?" she looked him in the eyes, he laughed "Of course do you want." she turned her look away. Then it came another voice "Enough, Sauron."
Everyone turned to see a younger version of Balcan. His eyes burning in anger "Leave her alone right now." each word was shaking with anger "She did nothing, and I doubt the council would like to know what you are doing in this moment." Sauron looked at him and shrugged "Okay then." he turned around and started to leave, but had time to look at Nila one last time and say "You may fool the others, but I am smart, besides, like I said, freaks like you, without colour, blind, deaf, who think that doesn't need to eat meat, or any other strange thing that appears around, you don't live very long." then he turned around and walked away. Nila looked in his direction for a while, and then to the ground, closing her eyes.
Many who just saw this scene were completely revolted. Specially the sharpteeth, Even the leaf-eaters were completely shocked by this show of ignorance and prejudice, even Mr. Threehorn was in shock for how that longneck could be insensible. Balcan then spoke again "Really, there was guys like that living in our valley, and they had opinions like that about the different. For then it didn't matter that Nila was the kindest dinosaur in the whole world, she was different, and it was enough reason to mistreat her."
"This is horrible!" said Sylvia. Melissa nodded, and Miname said "He was a horrible person." Minaple agreed "He sure was Minnie." Chomper turned to Balcan "You let him live in the valley?" Balcan sighed "He was allow, along with his herd. He was just one bad fruit in one tree. We thought it was worth to handle him for the good of his group. The images continued
"What a despicable dinosaur!" said Miname, Minaple said "He sure is Minnie. If he was nicer then the sharpteeth would not want to bite off his neck." Miname agreed "Sure thing, Minnie."
"This kind of guy has a kind of hate that feeds of itself." said Balcan "Luckily other dinosaurs of the Valley of Leaf and Claw have a better opinion about the others." Everyone nodded. Nobody noticed that Nila had already get up and was walking.
"The kids of his herd are not mean like him." said Kala. Balcan nodded "They had open-minded and are good kids, I just hope he can't poison their minds with his ideas-Nila?" he asked as the sharptooth passed in front of him. She seemed lost in thought as she walked away. The others shared a look and went after her.
(the music is God Help the Outcasts; from the Huntchback of Nothredame, rewrite and adapted)
She gently caressed her amulet as she walked, almost unaware that she was being follow. A soft song started playing as she walked. Sauron's words about the different not lasting long still in her head. She kept walking for a while, half-conscientious of where she was going, until she could see over the trees, the top of the Great Rock of Cold Fire. She sighed as she thought about the teachings of the order, the seven brothers, and she sang softly "I don't know if you can hear me, or if you're even there." the others following her listened to the song singed by her beautiful voice. "I don't know if you would listen to an albino's prayer." she sang as she walked "Yes I know, I'm just an outcast, I shouldn't speak to you. But still I think of it and wonder: were you once outcasts too?"
She walked as the others followed her "Spirits help the outcast, hungry for birth. Show them the mercy they don't find on Earth. Spirits help those people, we look to you still. Spirits help the outcasts, or nobody will." She finally could see clearly the place in front of the great rock, there were many dinosaurs in there. Many were not members of the order, but they all were praying, after all, many considered this rock sacred "I ask for health." someone sang "I ask for fame." they sang "I ask for glory to shine on my name." then a female tubehead sang "I ask for love." Then others sang with her "I can posses." they raised their hands and heads in praying "I ask for you in your glory to bless me."
As she watched, Nila walked around to avoid the crowd, when she was out of their hearing, circling around the rock, she sang again "I ask for nothing. I can get by. But I know so many less lucky than I." The others followed her "Please help those people, with their pains and goodbyes. I thought we all were the same in your eyes." The others watched her as she sang the final verse "Spirits help the outcast, all the same in your eyes." she sang the last part, knelt in front of the great rock, and put her hands together in prayer.
The others watched from far for a while, and then approached her. She was quite surprised, but they to knelt and started praying with her. She smiled, and a tear escaped her eye. They all prayed together.