Harmon Sings of the Beginning

Harmon sang out a note to the dragon and it bumped into his chest. He cradled it and gave it a bottle blended meat and milk.

"You are just as much of a trouble maker as your namesake, yes you are, yes you are," He cooed at the creature in baby talk. Jessica put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. When he glanced at her she stuck her tongue out at him. He straightened himself up and walked over to her and kissed her forehead, "And also just as worth every minute of it too." he added speaking normally. Jessica scrunch up her nose and hugged him. They got on the telepad and before anyone could port away Jessica pulled a steel bar out of her everbag. She walked over to the device and slipped it in.

"Where are we going?" she asked Harmon. He walked over to her and pointed to a telepad on the sun continent that was away from the main one. She selected it a selected a trip for five to make sure she included the dragon. They were then suddenly on a telepad without the machine. The Q's are slacking off she thought to herself.

"Why did you do that for?," Jimmy who had actually remember this time he would need to add Jessica to his spell asked.

"I hadn't actually used the machine myself yet and I wanted to try it before I make them obsolete," Jessica said offhandedly.

"Oh, because you are so awesome that even though this breakthrough technology is brand new you already came up with something better," Jimmy said in a sarcastic tone.

"Um, Jimmy, think about who you are talking to," Amarilla pointed out gently.

Jimmy looked at Jessica and sighed, "Well doesn't that get annoying for you sometimes?"

"YES," Jessica and Harmon said in unison and they both started laughing. Their laughter soon infected the children and they laughed as Harmon started leading them where they were going. The dragon flew off to the top of a building and perched itself on the roof to nap. Harmon almost sang out to it to get it back.

"She needs her sleep she did get a lot of flying in today," Jessica said placing a hand on his arm and watching the dragon. Harmon nodded it would be difficult to do his job if he was still holding her after all.

They arrived at a small daycamp for kinders. 25 children ranging in age from 1 to 4 cycles old were running around a very patient looking older human woman. She spotted Harmon and her smile grew. She was glad help was arriving.

"Harmon, are you ready to get started?," She called out eager to get the children to settle down and learn.

"I need to set up the mics and lights but look who I brought with me," He called back making his way to the raised platform in front of long stone benches.

The woman looked behind him and spotted Jessica. She began clapping her hands together and called, "Children, children it is time to take your seats. We have a very special guest with us today."

"It is just Harmon, silly," a little boy called back not wanting to stop play time.

"Oh, is that how you talk about my friend?," Jessica asked him directly. The boy looked at her and dropped the ball in his hand. His friends confused by his behavior turned to look. The children quickly sat down and whispers of excitement at the prospect of Jessica teaching them something had the air buzzing with excitement.

"Well as you see I don't need to introduce you. Could you keep them busy while Harmon sets up I want to take a break," the woman asked not waiting for answer as she walked away while saying it. Jessica smiled at her back and walk up to the front of the group not getting on the stage. From the way she is walking she must really need to urinate, Jessica thought to herself.

"Hi, there kinders," She said smiling and waving at them.

"HI JESSICA!," they screamed back at her. Jessica eyes water a little but she blinked them dry quickly.

"So, I don't have a lesson plan so lets do some freeform learning," Jessica said used to teaching on the fly.

A young boy raised his hand and Jessica pointed to him, "What is freeform learning?"

"Actually you just made a perfect example of it. Can anyone make a guess from those points of reference?" she pointed to a little girl with her hand half up. She clearly knew the answer but was a little scared.

"Is it where we raise our hands and ask for whatever information we want?," the child looked at Jessica who mouthed the word "and" at her. The child's eyes light up with understanding, "And you give us just enough information that we can guess for ourselves!" This second part was said with confidence and she watched the child relax.

"Yes, exactly, so who would like to ask me a question," Jessica asked the group and all their hands shot into the air she pointed to one of them.

"Why is the sky green blue?," he asked looking up at it.

"Actually, that is a very observant question. Our planet is surrounded by layers of different types of air held together it forms something we refer to as atmosphere," Jessica saw a young dwarf raise his hand and she gave him the one second finger. "The light from the sun is full of lots of different colors of lights and many of them are reflexed away or filtered out when they hit it. The sky is on green blue for humans." She pointed to the young dwarf who stood up.

"It looks kinda purple to me," he said and sat back down.

"Thank you for sharing that information with your fellow students," Jessica said and scrunched her nose at him.

"Can anyone guess why it looks different to him than to a human observer?" she selected a raised hand.

"Is it because our species perceive different wavelengths of light?," a clearly nearer 4 than 1 cycle old asked.

"You have been doing some reading I see. Yes that is right," Jessica said. The kids got how this worked now and all raised their hands she selected a closer to 1 cycle old.

"Why do the clouds have rainbows in them?," the child asked softly. Jessica smiled sweetly.

���Who here knows what a cloud is made of?" hands and selection

"Evapor evapor rated water." A 2 cycle old said struggling with the big new word he had just learned.

"That right well done," Jessica said, "Earlier I told you that the sky is made up of different types of air. Here on Karth there is a special kind of air that wasn't on Earth that we named magic. The tiny particles of this element get trapped inside the evaporated water that makes up the clouds," she enunciated the word evaporated to help those learning it, "and this changes the shape of the water particles so that when the light from the sun hits them they create prisms and prisms look like little rainbows. This is the same special air that we filter in our bodies so that I can still do things like this," She raised her hand a show a small flame.

"Now can anyone guess why when we had the big storms recently there were still rainbows inside of them," Jessica issued her challenge Jimmy raised his hand along with the kids he had gotten sucked into the learning process. Jessica called on one of the younger children first.

"Did they get trapped in there?," She asked Jessica shook her head no.

"A very creative guess but not the correct answer," Jimmy's hand was waving back and forth begging to be called on. The other children had lowered their hands less confident now that someone had gotten something wrong.

"Ok, Jimmy what is your guess," Jessica asked.

"Is it because the sun was still shining behind them even though we couldn't see it because they were blocking our view of it?," He asked in one breath then took a deep one in and held it. Hoping he was right because he really didn't want to look stupid in front of the kinders.

"That is absolutely right, Jimmy," Jessica said smiling she glanced behind her and saw that Harmon was almost done setting up.

"Ok it looks like Harmon is almost ready would you all like to try some Earth candy?" She asked

"YES PLEASE," they shouted at her. She pulled bags of peppermint sticks out of her everbag and Jimmy and Amarilla stepped forward and started handing them out. Jessica looked up at Harmon. Her eyes were watering again. He reached down and touched her cheek. She sat in the back as Harmon got started.

"Hello kinders," He called out his voice amplified by speakers. It was just loud enough so everyone could hear him clearly.

"HELLO HARMON!" they shouted back. He pretended that their shout had pushed him back a few steps.

"Would you look at the lungs on this group," Harmon said catching himself.

"Now, then let's get started," Harmon said stepping to the center of the platform.

He sang in a sweet soft tone that was more like talking than singing but still felt pleasant to hear.

On day one of year zero and exacting 15 o clock

Three hundred thousand humans woke up on this strange rock

(A floating globe of Karth appeared to his right)

They didn't know how they got here

And they were kind of scared

It didn't take them long though to decide

This new world was not entirely unlike their own.

(Imagines of people walking around and interacting with trees and things floated to his right.)

They had come here from a planet very far away

They noticed almost right away that things were not the same

(They people next to him began displaying strength and magic)

It was kind of like artificial version of their home

The Earth that they came from

(A smaller blue and green planet appeared next to Karth that was a model of Earth)

And that's why it is known

(he pointed to class)

"As KARTH," the kinders called out, some had heard this song before but even those who were knew understood what he was doing.

These humans adapted and had a lot of fun

There were things to discover and magic was just one.

(the people were shown holding up beakers and conduction experiments then,

a man casting a spell a large spell became the focus of the images of people)

For 5 full cycles they lived here all alone

Then on day one of cycle four

Three hundred thousand dwarfs appear on the continent that looks like a star

(the Karth globe rotated and lit up the star content,)

(The people images change to now include dwarfs)

They were surprised that they could speak the same language it was really weird

(he half scrunched his nose and pulled a face)

The dwarfs explained that humans were speaking the language their of gods.

(A dwarf and human were sitting and talking)

They had small disagreements but worked hard to be friends

(the two talking images stood and shook hands)

And just when things settled down, it happened once again

(the dwarf and humans suddenly looked mildly surprised)

On day one of cycle nine on the continent of MOON

(the globe rotated and now light up the crescent moon shaped continent)

Two new peoples arrived here and they could not be removed

(the globe zoomed in on the ying yang symbol shape that was main MOON city)

300,000 in number but not from the same place

150 from light and 150 from the dark

(the people were now the two elf species looking around, scared as they were approached by the humans and the dwarfs)

These elves found themselves here, with so many unknowns

(the humans and the dwarfs were shown setting off fireworks that said WELCOME)

But the celebration of their arrival was soon out weighed

(both the globe and the people disappeared)

12 short days after they got here came the Fae

These dear creatures seemed to be of here and we thanked our gods they were alive

(the people image reappeared show humans, dwarfs and elfs embracing all the young Fae)

One thousand year we lost some and their small number dropped

(an image of the og 6 missing fae appeared and vanished and the image of people appeared to be crying)

We took precautions but we've lost some since it first began

(people holding up signs saying no more teleporting keep our Fae safe)

(the images now showed only Harmon bowing behind his actual bowing form)

When he bowed Jessica clapped and whistled. She was sure these children had learned a great deal as most of them had stopped sucking on the peppermint not long after he started to listen, to observe and to learn.

Their teacher arrived just as the song ended and took the kids back into the building nearby. Jessica, Jimmy, and Amarilla helped Harmon take down the things he had set up and they headed back to the telepad. Harmon called out to the dragon with a whistle. It came back over and landed by their feet.

Amarilla pulled the rock toy she had made earlier out of her everbag. The kids ran up ahead playing with dragon.

"Are you doing ok?," Harmon asked concerned he hadn't thought about what it would be like for her to be around so many children when he asked her to come.

"I am a little sad and a little mad that Peter is still being a butthead," Jessica said tugging on her left braid.

"Tomorrow why don't you teleport to him and force him to talk to you," Harmon suggested not surprised she had chosen to change the subject.

"I can't, I messed up today and did a spell," Jessica said referring to her little light show.

"That is what I would classify as necessary magic," Harmon said smiling lightly at her. She gave him a quick side hug and they soon arrived at the telepad.

"I wanna do it you got to port her last time," Jimmy was whining at Amarilla.

"Only because you forgot her," Amarilla replied wagging her head at him.

"I will be the porting Jessica," Harmon informed them, "She is going to come with me to my house for a bit and you two should get home now."

They both sighed and they gave each other hugs and waved goodbye. The kids ported away first and then Jessica went with Harmon.

Reaching the Moon contenant the dragon took off towards Harmon's family home ahead of them. They let her go getting more accustomed to her personality. They were on the yang half of the city and all of the tall buildings were sleek and solid black. The window all heavily tinted. The yin side also has tall sleek buildings but those are silver and the glass tinting was reflective and shiny to match.

Harmon put his arm around Jessica's shoulder and starting guiding her somewhere. She trusted him and had other things on her mind so she just put her arm around his back and let her mind wander. Soon they had arrived. When Harmon stopped walking Jessica took note of her surroundings.

"This isn't your house," she said reflexively, a little surprised. Harmon just smiled at her and walked her to the door. He gave three soft taps and it flew open.

"Jessica," a tall dark elf woman said bending down and hugging her. She lifted her off the ground breaking the light hold she had on Harmon. This wasn't the first time a complete stranger had gotten overly familiar when first meeting her but it was the first time she had no clue why.

"Um, hi," she managed to say as air final returned to her lungs as the woman set her down.

"Jessica, the kids you saved the other day, this is one of their mothers," Harmon explained studying her face.

Jessica blinked in surprise. A dawn of realization coming to her. She was mildly upset that Harmon had brought her here. She had just down what any Karthing worth their salt would have done.

"Oh, I am sorry, I never did introduce myself," the woman said laughing at her own behavior, "Sorry if I scared you by just grabbing you up like that."

"Its ok," Jessica said as long as this doesn't become a habit for people she thought.

"Come in, come in, come in welcome," the woman said. Jessica waited for all three inventions to be given. In dark elf culture it was only polite to wait until the third time someone had invited you somewhere to actual accept and go. They normally ask all three times at once.

She stepped into a dimly lit living room and suddenly the lights were flipped on, "Surprise!," called out Arholo, Alohra, her parents and a family of dark elves she had never met said. Fully lit the room was clearly the home of dark elves' everything was made from stone. The couches had cushions on top of them but had been carved out of large boulders. The soft rugs on the floor were clearly there for the benefit of guests and looked slightly unnatural on the marble floor. The solid rock face walls had vines growing patterns holding up pictures and shelves.

"What the banana cheese are you guys doing?," Jessica asked smiling and shaking her head.

"I wanted to thank you properly for saving my children," the woman said.

"So she called me and we decided to give you a party," Harmon said, " I was a little worried you would figure me out." He removed the holo glasses he was wearing as there was no longer a need to keep the surprise a secret anymore.

Jessica smiled and just shook her head, "Are the children feeling better?"

Instead of answering her the woman led her to the back of the house and pointed out the window. Jessica looked out and saw the two clearly healthy children playing tag by slinging mud balls at each other. Her face softened as she watched the children play.

"Thank you, Jessica," the mother said tears brimming in her eyes. Jessica could hear the relief and sadness in her voice.

"I am just happy to be able to help," Jessica said rubbing the woman's back a little, "So if this is a party where do I find the banana milk?" She smiled up at the woman and tilted her head.

The woman laughed a little, "I will get you some." She went to the kitchen and came back with a nice tall glass. Jessica took it and sipped at it happily walking back to her mother.

"Mommy, look banana milk," Jessica said hitting her mother's hip with her own.

Mrs. Strongwell hadn't been sure how Jessica would react to a thank you party and had forced Harmon to make it a surprise. She knew that she could have forced her by making it an appointment but she didn't want to put any stress on her right now. She took the glass from her and took a sip. "Yummy, but drink something else today to you can't just drink your favorite thing all the time," she said handing it back to her.

The party lasted a couple of hours. They played games and had fun. As they were leaving the family attempted to give Jessica a present but she declined. The children tried to insist so Jessica had to explain to them.

"Being who I am I receive unsolicited gifts all the time," Jessica said, "If I accept them people tend to send more. Sometimes to the point of spending all their free money on me. I make it a rule to only accept compliments and thank yous." She then flicked the end of her braids at their faces and laughed. She left with her family and friends feeling at ease. The family was a little disappointed she hadn't taken their thank you gift but accepted her explanation. They would just have to pay the kindness they had been shown forward someday.