2.
avoiding the others. Near the smaller group, a boy about his own age was bouncing a ball off a wall and looking longingly at the other boys playing at the playground, but none of the other boys paid any attention to him, and North couldn't understand why. He was the strangest looking boy he had ever seen! His body wasn't covered with plushy fur like his own, but with golden, shiny scales that looked almost metallic. Without hesitation he walked acrossed the playground and approached the youth. When he neared the other boy stopped bouncing his ball and turned to look at him.
"Why do you look so funny?" asked North.
The other boy stared at him with eyes that were far more intelligent than they should be for his age. One of The Lord's Guards started to come forward, but the youth raised his hand and motioned him away.
"Because my mother is a Hashon," he said, "the wife of The Lord God. She's that one over there." And he pointed in his mother's direction.
"I saw her," North acknowledged, nodding. "She's very beautiful."
"That's my father's opinion, too!" the other boy smiled with his comment.
"Why don't you play ball with the other boys?" was North's next question.
"Because they won't play with me because my mother is a Hashon. Their parents tell them to stay away from me."
North wondered about this for several minutes. "That's not very smart," he frowned. "If The Lord God, who is The Maker Of All Things finds her beautiful, and she is your mother, and He is your father, that makes you very special, to be admired, not shunned."
"You know, you're about the only person I've met so far that's thought of me as anything besides some kind of threatening monster. I'm Morning Star, what's your name?"
"I'm Northern Star," North replied. This person was kind, he thought, and added, "but my friends call me North. Can I call you Morn?"
"Morn," the other smiled. "Yes, I like the sound of that. Will you play catch with me, North?"
"I sure will! On foot, or air-borne?"
"Air-borne!" Morn cried, and headed for the take off ramp with North close behind. In a few moments they were air-borne, circling the playgorund and throwing the ball back and forth. North had a good throwing arm, but Morn's strength was tremendous. The ball stung North's hands when he tried to catch it, but Morn was not as agile as his companion, and North quickly took advantage of this, so the game remained quite even. It was not long before it was obvious that Morn was tiring.