Out of the Desert (Dragonsong)

[Kalak8538]

In his condition, Eihmo'tei was powerless to resist. The cloth felt strange on his skin, but eventually, he felt better. It was an odd treatment, but the effectiveness was something of awe. There was no medicine like this back home.

"What is this?" He asked, walking over to Kit's flank. Whatever this paste was, it would prove a bit difficult to get out of his fur. He gave it a sniff, and stuck out his tongue in response to the odd scent.

[DragonSong]

"Mostly ground up herbs and sap and such," Kit told the Zerdani, nosing him up onto his back. "I'm no healer, you'd have to ask someone else for the exact ingredients."

Seeing that everyone was settled, Kiara vaulted onto the dragon's back, patting his shoulder. He snorted, ran a few paces, and jumped into the air. "We didn't lose that much time, all things considered," she muttered to herself, pulling out the map to try to figure out how much time had been added onto their journey.

"We'll land before sunset so Eihmo'tei can take you hunting," she said over her shoulder. Tala and Ras beamed.

[Kalak8538]

Eihmo'tei was starting to get used to flying. Now, he only slightly braced on takeoff. It was hard to believe they were doing this only a little while ago. The storm almost made it seem like a whole night had passed.

"Actually, hunting is better in the morning!" the Zerdani corrected. It was hard to speak over the fast moving wind.

"That is when the predator animals go to sleep, and when prey comes out to sun themselves! Besides, we have time to scout around and rest!"

It had not crossed his mind that this land held different kinds of prey than the lizards and scorpions he would catch at home.

[DragonSong]

Kiara shrugged. "You're the expert," she said with a smile. Kit has always been the one to do the hunting when they traveled on their own.

She leaned back slightly, tilting her head into the wind. "You starting to like flying a but more?" she asked her small friend, gently teasing. "You're not getting your claws stuck, at any rate."

[Kalak8538]

"Yes..." the Zerdani responded, chuckling and blushing nervously at the embarrassing memory.

"It still feels strange... but I am learning to accept it. Although, I feel deep down that my kind was not meant to fly."

The terrain was unchanging. The scenery, an exciting change from deserts, was now become old and dull. Eihmo'tei asked a question that has been on his mind for a while.

"How long have you been flying? Since you met Kit I would guess. How long have you two known each other?"

[DragonSong]

Kiara smiled softly. "Kit and I have been together since he hatched," she told him. "My mother gave me his egg when I was three years old. He didn't learn to fly until I was about six. After that you couldn't keep us on the ground for anything."

Kit's sides rumbled as he chuckled, remembering. His breed grew fast, and technically he was still growing, but even the size of a large dog he'd been taking them on short flights around the backyard, her mother screeching at them to be careful.

They were good memories.

[Kalak8538]

Then there was a word the Zerdani did not understand. Years

"Years?" he asked. "Do you mean moons?"

Three moons was a very young age to have known someone from. They must have had a very strong bond. But flying at six moons? That was extremely hard to believe. The incredulous Zerdani realized this "years" thing was perhaps a different measure of time.

[DragonSong]

"Oh, um..." Kiara bit her lip at Kit's translation. Moons? Perhaps a cycle of the moon, one month? She twisted to face the Zerdani and asked, "A moon, you mean the time it takes for the moon to go from full-" she cupped her hands to form a circle- "to nothing-" she clenched the circle into a fist- "to tull again?" Once more the circle.

"If that's a moon, then a year would be twelve of those," she explained.

[Kalak8538]

"One year is... twelve moons?"

Eihmo'tei chuckled to himself once the point was translated by Kit.

"How did humans decide this?" he said, still amused by the idea.

"Eleven was too few? Why not thirteen or fourteen?"

The chuckling evolved into slight laughter. Humans really were stranger creatures than he thought, and with each lesson he learned, they only grew stranger.

[DragonSong]

Kiara chuckled a bit herself. "Alright, I suppose it's a bit arbitrary when you think about," she said with a smile and a shrug. "It's just how humans are, I guess. If we counted everything in moons it might wind up being tedious."

She thought for a moment. "Nineteen years...I guess that means I've lived- wow, over two hundred moons." She chuckled again, looking at Eihmo'tei. "Doesn't counting ages like that get tiring?"

[Kalak8538]

His laughter ceased, as he wiped a tear from his eye. He was scanning the skies and the ground.

"It's what we know..." he responded.

"Perhaps it does... But counting 12 of them to make a year? It may be difficult..."

[DragonSong]

She shrugged again. "I guess it just depends on what you grow up learning."

Leaning over Kit's shoulder, she smiled as she saw the thin ribbon of water coming closer with each wingbeat. "We should camp by the river tonight, what do you think?"

The dragon snorted agreement and changed course slightly to bring them toward the river.

[Kalak8538]

As they flew on, Eihmo'tei was silent. In his head, he tried to calculate how many of these "years" he had lived.

One year... Twelve moons. Two years... Twenty... four moons. Three years... ... ... thirty... six? thirty-six moons...

It was difficult for him. Thinking about all these numbers was something he was not used to. It required a lot of thought, and no small amount of concentration.

"Ten... ... ... Ten years?" He said quietly.

The Zerdani had passed one hundred and twenty moons. That was ten years. His mind could not handle any more addition.

"Ten years." He said with more confidence.

[DragonSong]

Kiara's eyes widened. "You're ten?" she repeated incredulously. Then she hastened to explain, "It's just- that's young, by human terms. Tala is probably only eleven."

Kit snorted, drawing her attention as he went into a shallow dive toward the river.

[Kalak8538]

"Maybe I counted wrong... I am not good with numbers..."

Eihmo'tei had been sure about that number, but what Kiara had said made him doubt himself. Had his math been correct, that would mean that Tala was older than he. The others were about her age if not older. How could they be older than an adult Zerdani, yet still be younglings?

"Last moon was one hundred thirty..." he said.

Maybe Kiara could figure this out for him.

[DragonSong]

Counting in her head, Kiara nodded slowly. "No, I think ten years is right," she told him. Then she shrugged. "I guess humans and Zerdani have different life cycles. It's not that odd- some species can live to be hundreds of years old, like dragons or elves. Humans rarely even make it to a hundred."

She gave him a smile as Kit touched down. "I feel like I'm always learning something new with you," she chuckled, and the dragon rumbled an agreement as he translated.

[Kalak8538]

"One hundred... years?!"

The Zerdani was awestruck. That was a lot of moons! He did another quick calculation in his head.

"Our elder is the oldest in our tribe... Four times my age at least! Umm... Forty years..."

He held up four clawed fingers.

"But humans live longer! And dragons..."

Eihmo'tei looked down to Kit. He was now speaking directly to him.

"How long do dragons live?"

[DragonSong]

The children, evidently bored with this topic of conversation, scrambled to earth and raced to the river bank. Kit huffed at them, then craned his neck back to respond to Eihmo'tei.

"Depends on the breed of dragon. Most of us grow fast and live long. A few hundred years at least." He rolled his massive shoulders in a shrug, causing Kiara to grab a spike with one hand and the Zerdani's shoulder with the other, anchoring them. "I'm not sure how long I'll live- some dragons don't even die of old age, so I suppose that's a possiblity."

Kiar frowned slightly. She never liked thinking about this sort of thing; her fae heritage probably meant she'd live longer than most humans, but she didn't know by how much. She hated to think of leaving Kit alone.

[Kalak8538]

"Never?! Woah..."

So entranced was the little Zerdani, he did not even realize it was time to disembark. It must have been hard not knowing exactly how much time he had left, but the possibility of never dying? Eihmo'tei, like the rest of his kin, had learned that everything that is born eventually dies. Now, there were creatures that never died? Other things that lived for hundreds of years? It was too much for his primitive mind to comprehend. He sat there, utterly stunned.

[DragonSong]

Kit shrugged again as Kiara slipped down to the ground. "Well, not never, necessarily. I could still get sick, or meet the business end of a spear."

His rider frowned at him. She didn't like thinking of that either. To distract herself, she turned to the children and called, "Careful! The current may be stronger than you think."

"Yes, ma'am!" Ras called back, and he set about pulling the others closer to the bank so they wouldn't be swept away. Perryn, to her surprise, seemed to be the most adventurous of the lot. He reluctantly moved back so he was no longer waist deep in the water and she let out a quiet breath of relief.