There were bandits in the outer Draconi Forest, harassing villages on the fringes of it and destroying merchant convoys and selling the survivors off as slaves in Connlaoth. Again. It was a routine assignment--go in, find them, drive them out, and have Ikkaz scorch them (which was fast, at least, what with how hot their fire burned). Fatoumata hated these jobs, but it had to be done, and sending one dragon and their rider was faster and better than sending a troop of knights. More risky, sure, but dragonfire tended to burn itself out within a few minutes. And if it didn't she could choke it.
So the pair of them saddled up and headed out. It was a nice flight, but they didn't find anything on the first day. That was expected--big forest, and the bandits moved around. She'd find them. Telepaths always did. Besides, they wouldn't go too deep in. Too many basilisks.
But with night drawing on, it was time to touch down and make camp. Night might seem like a good time to go after the bandits, since the fires'd show up better and she wouldn't have to strain her mind as hard, but she couldn't hold so many single signatures at once, and when they started running she'd lose most of them. They'd regroup in the morning and be ready when she found them again. And that might mean serious damage for her, Ikkaz, or both.
Not happening. Fatoumata made camp on the west edge of the forest, roasted herself a rabbit while Ikkaz went and found themself a deer, and then curled up against their side and fell asleep. They were warm, and their mind hummed loud enough that she could ease up on the shields a bit. Only reason she didn't do this every night back home was that the dragony smell was hard enough to get rid of without cuddling up to hers every night. (She was pretty sure Ikkaz felt the same way about the humany smell.)
In the morning, Ikkaz said, Wake up!
Unh?
Wake up, we have company. I can smell whoever it is.
Fatoumata snapped awake and reached out. Big, old, female, dragon. Hard to get more of a hold on her, but that always happened with nonhumans she didn't know well. Usually not a problem, but she couldn't tell if the new dragon was hostile or not. Big issue there. She got to her feet quickly and buckled on her swordbelt. Behind her, Ikkaz stood and shifted to protect her back.
That was as ready as they were going to get.
[Note: I get a little splurgey with intro posts sometimes, so please don't feel like you have to match length!]
