Guardian of the Gate

My first thoughts were composed of utter disbelief: He was always kind to me. My next thoughts were a slur of things I could have said: You don't know him; Don't say that; How can you believe that? My voice was lost, though. I just went numb with shock. They were lying. The person I knew couldn't do harm to anyone. Right? Right!? It was like something broke around me and shattered, leaving shards of whatever it was lying around to be stepped on and broken further. My mind searched for answers, clues, but all it found were memories.
The first time we met, I was six and my family had just moved to the area. It was a gigantic two story house with a huge backyard that ended in a tree line. My father started out the day by warning me not to venture into the woods because I might get lost. As you might have guessed I didn't listen. The woods weren't as foreboding to me as the house was. Anyway, I loved listening to the bird and watching the squirrels, plus I was hunting for treasure. I had a map, and I was going to dig it up and use it all so we could get the hell back to where we used to live.
I really hated our new house.
Pretty soon, my treasure hunting expedition was forgotten and I was just 'messing around' as grownups would have termed it. I however would have told them (and I did up telling my parents this) that I wasn't messing around. I was hunting down a tiger. It had snuck up on me while I was hunting for the second clue to treasure. It was a great big saber tooth tiger that was protecting my treasure, and in order to continue I had to track the tiger and discover its name.
I would later find and catch this saber tooth tiger, but my parents only saw a stray cat.
The ways of the saber tooth are mysterious indeed.
My hunt for this saber tooth I would later name Zachariah (because, as it turned out, he didn't have a name) was interrupted by singing. If I was still Stephanie Cross, six year old, and first grader, I would have avoided said singing. However, I was not. I was Sephie the Archess (Archer didn't sound cool enough), and I was hunting down a saber tooth tiger! I had no time for fear or cowardice!
The arrogance of innocence, he called it.  
So I took up the ancient sword I had found in the Caves of Despair during my treasure hunt, and approached the man singing. I found a tree to climb and observed the singing man from my new look out. His hair was the reddest red that I probably couldn't even duplicate with my crayons back at home. His ears were pointed and long, and his tail was lying next to him. It had a tuft of hair at the end, kind of like a lion's only longer. It was also the same reddest red as his hair. I have to say, though, the most interesting part about him was his horns. There were four with two on either side of his head just beyond his hairline, and small. I was barely able to see them through his hair.
I must have made some kind of noise, because he stopped singing, and looked up at my tree. Seeing me, he raised an eyebrow, and stood up. He nervously looked around, and then back up me. His tail curled around his waist and he crossed his arms over his chest. "What are you doing up there?" he asked.
"I'm looking for a saber tooth tiger," I told him, sticking my nose up in the air. It wasn't any of his business, but I suppose since he wasn't able to catch Sephie the Archess he deserved some kind of explanation.
"I see," he agreed, looking around again. "Well, saber tooth tigers don't climb trees, I'm afraid. Are you alone?"
"Sephie the Archess is never alone," I returned proudly, leaving my look out and climbing down. "I am accompanied by the spirit forces of Guadnella."
"Oh," he agreed, looking around for spirit forces.
"You can't see them, dummy," I cried. "They're invisible."
"Right," he agreed. "I apologize for my ignorance, Archess," he replied, and gave a small bow his tail uncurling and stretching out behind him for balance.
"Yeah well," I looked at him, suspicious, "I guess I'll forgive you." I crossed my arms, mimicking his stance from before, sticking my nose in the air with my eyes closed. After a moment I opened an eye to study him.  "And what is your name and title?"
He smiled, giving another bow. "I am Khaldune the Guardian of the Gate; it is my pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Archess." When he straightened, his tail wrapped back around his waist. "However, as a Guardian, I must require you to tell the spirit forces of Guadnella to not continue forward."
I sighed, and nodded. "Very well, they'll keep their distance." My eye caught sight of the garden he had been sitting in before (the one I had failed to notice while in the tree), and gasped. "Wow!" I cried, moving around him to look at everything.
He turned about, startled.
"It's like your own market!" I looked at all the vegetables growing, and then beamed over at him. "Did you grow all this!?"
"Well … I don't much like going into town," he explained, tugging at the gardening gloves he was wearing. "Speaking of which, shouldn't the Archess return to her Guardians? They must be very worried that you've taken on this … umm … hunt without them."
"An Archess hunts alone," I argued, and turned to a flower garden that was behind the house. "Wow!" I cried, following the path to the roses he hurried after me. "This reminds me of the garden mommy took me too before we moved here."
"You're … new to the area," he realized, and took a step back.
I looked up at him smiling, and then my smile faded when I saw his agitation.
"Perhaps you should leave. I don't think your parents would appreciate … you in my company," he offered an uneasy smile and tugged at his gloves again.
I frowned, and looked at the garden again. "Can I come back!?" I cried, hopefully smiling at him. This seemed to only agitate him more. "Can't I?"
"It's—"
"Stephanie!" my father cried from close by. "Stephanie Bell Cross!"
Dune, as I would continue to call him by for the rest of our strange friendship, looked in that direction and then at the backdoor to his house. "Excuse me," he apologized and retreated indoors.
"Daddy!" I called back, waving. "I'm over here!"
He ran over to me, but once he saw the house, his pace slowed. "Stephanie, you're trespassing," he sighed, holding out his hand. "Come on."
"I am not!" I shouted, pounding a foot into the ground. "I'm not trespassing. Dune just went inside for a moment!"
"Dune?" he echoed.
The back door opened, and Dune came out wearing a hat that covered his horns and ears, and his tail was hidden away too. I offered him a curious look, but he didn't notice or maybe he just didn't want to give it notice. "Hello," he greeted, with his uneasy smile, but he wouldn't look my father in the eye.
"Daddy, this is Dune the Guardian of the Gate," I introduce proud to have made a new friend so close to home. Dad pulled me in front of him, and placed his hands on my shoulders. "Don't you like his garden?" My question went ignored.
"Guardian of the—"
"Khaldune Richardson," Dune introduced, nodding his head as a sign of politeness.
"Jim Cross," my father named himself, giving that same polite nod. My dad often imitated the greeting of whoever he was talking to. Normally, he shook hands, gave a big smile and then the two talked for what seemed like hours. Dune was different, he kept tugging at his gardening gloves. "I'm sorry if my daughter was bothering you, she's … very outgoing."
"Oh, no, she wasn't … a bother," he glanced up at my dad, making eye contact for the first time, and gave a hurried smile. "I was just tending my garden."
"Well that's good to hear. We just moved to the house on the other side of the woods, and haven't really gotten to know any of our neighbors yet. I was worried—"
"No, no, I apologize," Dune interrupted. "I suppose I should have fenced my property long ago. I'm sorry to have troubled you and your daughter."
"But, Dune, you didn't trouble me!" I exclaimed, worried. "He didn't trouble me, Daddy! He didn't, really."
"Hush, Stephanie," he ordered, and I pouted while studying the ground at Dune's feet. Dad returned his attention to Dune. "It's alright. Kids will be kids, as they say. Why don't you come over for dinner? It would be nice to get a friend in the neighborhood."
Dune smiled, a true genuine smile, and then it vanished just as quick as it came. "No. That would …" he glanced to side. "I wouldn't like to cause you trouble."
"It won't be a trouble."
"I'm afraid it would. So sorry." He took a step back toward his door. "It just wouldn't be wise. You'll … understand, I'm sure. So sorry." He turned around and retreated into his house.
"What a bizarre individual," my dad commented, and looked down at me. "What were you doing out here?"
"I was hunting for treasure, but I was interrupted by a saber toothed tiger."
My dad laughed. "I'm sure it was quite the adventure, but the saber toothed tiger will have to wait. It's time to go home." He stirred me around back towards our gigantically horrible house, and I tried to look back at Dune's garden.
"Daddy, what do you think's the matter with Dune?"
"Some people …" he thought about this as he swung me over a fallen log. "Well, darling, some people just don't like the company of others. It makes them uncomfortable." I watched him and he looked down at me thoughtfully. "Not everyone is as social as you and I."
"Like Mommy?"
"Hrmm…" he shook his head. "Worse than Mom. There are people who are just afraid of others. Like how you were afraid of the dark when you were smaller? Or like I'm claustrophobic—scared of small spaces, you know."
"Yeah," I agreed, remembering how he had refused to go into this tunnel at a museum. "So he's like people-phobic?"
"I suppose."
"But people aren't scary," I returned, climbing onto a rock and balancing on it at the top. "Some are, I guess, like Mrs. Jarmen, she's scary and mean, but most people aren't that bad, right Daddy?"
He picked me up off the rock and put me on his shoulders. "Yeah, usually, but not everyone can see that. Like Timothy Clinton, you remember how he always got quiet when strange adults were around?"
"Mhmm," I acknowledged. "Does that mean I'm not scary?" I looked down at him and he looked up at me. "Cause Timmy and Dune both talk with me and even Mrs. Jarmen was less mean when it was just me and her."  
"Stephanie, you are an angel. A picture of beauty. Having you around just brightens everyone's mood. You're my little ray of sunshine!" He gave me his biggest smile, and I smiled back, outstretching my hands to act like I'm flying. "You better activate the buster rockets or we're going to be late for lunch!"
"Roger, Big Daddy, buster rockets activated. Powering now, over," I responded, making the sound of a radio. "Power at full, we are ready to ignite, over."
"Acknowledged, Crossing Bell, ignite when ready, over."
"Igniting."
"Blast off!"
We hurried off.