"Who, or what, is Usagi?" Lina watched as Elkin sketched a design into the ground with a stick.
"Usagi is our younger sister, my half-sister, Zel's full sister."
Zel tapped Elkin on the shoulder, gesturing for him to stand aside. "Ok, this should work."
"You think so? It's a bit crude."
"It'll work." Zel raised his hands over the diagram, and began a soft chant, the liquid syllables he spoke sliding from the mind almost as quickly as they were heard. The diagram on the ground began to fill with a soft light, the lines and symbols showing clearly. Zel's voice took on a more imperial tone, commanding in soft tones. The light began to flow upwards, filling the space between his hands, forming a round globe of incandescent light. The globe whirled around, slowly seperating into two in a liquid, flowing motion. One of the two rose above Zel's head, paused briefly, then shot away to the north, soaring easily over the trees.
Lina opened her mouth to ask, and Elkin cut her off. "It's a communication globe, like the one we sent to him."
"There we go ... " Zel murmurred softly at the globe of light in his hands seemed to unfold into the image of a young girl with green eyes, black hair, and a strong resemblence to Zel. "Hello Usagi. You've grown quite a bit."
"It's been six years. I'm sixteen now."
"I can see that."
Elkin stood on the other side of where the diagram still glowed in the ground.
"Elkin, don't do that! It translates really weird through the message-globe."
"Can you hear me?
"Hear you just fine, but you look like some big blue sausage standing behind Zel."
"Well as long as you can hear me, that's fine."
"My brother the blue sausage. What a world."
"Can it. Listen are you still friends with the Manjambos' daughter?"
"Yeah .... why?"
"Ok, I have a large batch of people to take through the null zone - "
"And you want me to borrow their van to ferry them through? No way bro! I'm still in trouble for the last time I borrowed one of their vehicles."
Zel blinked a few times, no real expression showing on his face. "Which one was that?"
"The camper. Managed to wrap it around a tree."
Elkin butted back in. "Actually, I wasn't thinking of the van, or any of the larger vehicles. Just the ATV."
"That only seats two people."
"Or one person and a baby seat."
"You want me to ferry a baby across the Null Zone? Shoulden't the baby stay with his mother?"
"He's an Ancient Dragon, currently in human form. His foster mother, Firia, is a Golden Dragon."
"I think I see ... Ok, I'll go ask if I can do this. Not promising anything though. Expect me within an hour. If I can't borrow it, I'll see what else I can do and call back with the details."