Spirits of the Earth

It had been a long night of work, but the exhaustion would be worth it soon enough. Eihmo'tei's party came into view just as the sun began to rise above the distant boulders. He noticed that Kiara had already woken up, and the rest were not far behind. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he arrived at the small, makeshift camp they had made the day before.

"Good morning..." he said with a yawn.

Just then, the Zerdani noticed the spears that were made yesterday. He remembered then how he promised Tala and Ras to take them hunting this morning. He absolutely dreaded the idea of going on a serious hunt, as well as teaching two younglings who had never done it before. He simply had no energy. Hopefully, they would not remember. That would make things so much more simple...

"Where've you been?" Kiara asked, tilting her head at him. The children were waking up now, yawning and stretching. Kit snorted in greeting, nodding as the Zerdani approached.

"Are we leaving now?" Bibi asked, beginning to help the others pack up.

"Wait, wait!" Tala was suddenly wide awake. "Eemo said he'd take us hunting."

Kiara glanced at her small friend. He looked exhausted- whatever he'd been up to, he must have been awake all night. She knew he wouldn't deny the children anything, so it was up to her to play bad guy. "Sorry, kids, we gotta hit the sky. Maybe Eihmo'tei can take you hunting when he stop next to make camp."

It was Tala, the one who seemed the most excited about hunting, that seemed to remember Eihmo'tei's promise. He figured she would be the one, if any. The tired Zerdani blinked. He was preparing to take up the spears when Kiara interjected. It seemed she had told her something to the contrary. He let out another yawn, but inside, it was a sigh of relief.

Eihmo'tei gave his giant friend a small but meaningful smirk. She seemed to always be able to read him. The Zerdani knew she had done that for his sake. He gave Tala a pat on the side of the arm (He could not reach the shoulder). "I am sorry." he said. He was not really sorry, but it was all part of the act. There was still a level of secrecy to maintain.

Picking up the spears like the bundle of sticks they were, a new problem arose.

"How do we carry these?" the Zerdani asked aloud.

"Give them here," Kit said, reaching out with one front paw and delicately wrapping his claws around the spears. Then he snorted at them, small trickles of smoke leaking from his nostrils. "Go on then, get up."

"Always the charmer," Kiara told him, pressing a kiss to the end of his nose. He grumbled and shook his head as she climbed onto his back, reaching down to get the others up behind her.

"You should rest now," she said quietly to Eihmo'tei as she pulled him up. "I don't think Tala and Ras are going to leave you alone." Kit coughed a laugh and rumbled a quiet translation.

It was comical how small the spears were in Kit's paw. They might as well have been darts to the great creature. Never before had the Zerdani realized how long and how sharp those talons were. He was glad such a beast was so kind. Between the claws, the fire, and the rock-hard scales, as well as the ability to fly at such fast speeds, Kit really could have been a terror if he wanted to be. Although he considered Kit his friend, Eihmo'tei was still a bit intimidated by him. He offered his normal, friendly smile, and thanked him for the assistance.

Settling in on Kit's back, Eihmo'tei half-closed his eyes. "As long as I am only sitting, I should be fine..." He started a chuckle, but it turned into a yawn.

Kiara laughed, rolling her eyes at him. "Seems men are stubborn no matter what species they are," she muttered teasingly.

Kit rumbled a chuckle and took to the air with a bound, causing the children to gasp and cling onto him and Kiara. "Showoff!" she called, and he snorted, pleased with himself.

Their flight leveled out and Kiara relaxed with a sigh. "We'll probably make camp on the plains tonight," she told her charges. "Eihmo'tei should be able to take you hunting there."

The burst of speed was just what the little Zerdani needed to wake him up, at least for a while. There was that word again: hunt. Eihmo'tei knew the sitting would be good for him. Walking such a distance would have been a challenge in such a condition, but here, Kit did the work. The Zerdani knew that by the time the great creature landed again, he would be rested enough to go hunting. He would not let his two students be disappointed again.

Looking down, the landscape seemed to change very gradually. It was more flat, no more rolling dunes like he was used to. Also, a strange plant seemed to poke out from the ground all over. The curious Zerdani inquired.

"Kii'arah, what is that stuff down there? It's everywhere!"

"That's grass," Kiara told him, a little surprised. But then, of course he wouldn't know what grass was, outside of maybe an oasis. "The plains are almost all that tall grass. Think of it like a green desert. There are hardly any trees or anything else, unless you're near a source of water."

The children seemed to be just as enchanted as the Zerdani, and she realized they would never have seen much outside of Essyrn's oasis either. Except Perryn, who seemed less shocked than the others but just as interested. She supposed it would be a change from bamboo forests on Thanatos.

Eihmo'tei looked back at Kiara, wide-eyed.

"Grass?!"

He was surprised. Such a plant grew in his homeland, but it was rare. It grew on riverbanks and oases. He looked back down. It grew everywhere here, with no water source in sight.

"How is that possible? There is no water... Does this grass not need water to grow?"

She chuckled. "Yes, grass. It does need water, but I'm pretty sure it uses whatever's in the soil." She gestured to the ground broadly. "There's no sand here, it's all dirt. The soil soaks up water when it rains and the plants use that to grow..."

Kiara trailed off. She wasn't exactly a scholar, but that was the best explanation she could give.

"Dirt... It holds water? It does not dry up in the sun?"

Eihmo'tei's eyes were now firmly fixed on the seemingly golden terrain below them. With each new question Kiara answered, the less the little Zerdani realized he knew about the world. There was still much to learn, and perhaps he should hold off on the questioning. He did not want to end up annoying Kiara, or Kit for that matter, who had to translate it all.

The quicker he could learn the language, the better...

Kiara floundered for an explanation. "Er...it does dry up, but there's enough water that it keeps the plants alive. And it rains a lot on the plains, there's no mountains or anything to block the clouds..."

As if her words had summoned them, Kit began banking left to avoid the thick, dark gray clouds that seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere on the horizon. "Speaking of rainstorms," he grumbled, tilting into a slow descent.

Kiara cursed quietly. They wouldn't be able to fly in that. Maybe if it had been just her and Kit, but she wouldn't make the children and Eihmo'tei get soaked and  freeze up here. "Looks like we're taking an unplanned break," she said as Kit touched down onto the plains.

The grey clouds in the distance actually excited Eihmo'tei. Grey clouds meant rain, after all.

"The clouds are dark! It will rain! It will rain!"

There was such jubilation in the Zerdani's voice, almost as if he was cheering them. As Kit touched down, he was the first to begin the climb off. The grass was taller than it looked from the air.  Eihmo'tei was almost hidden in it. The ground was different too. It was like sand, just more dense. This was dirt, and he liked it. His ears rose to the thunder rumbling in the distance. Instead of frightening him, the thought of thunder actually excited him more. He jumped up and down in the air, repeating the same word.

"Rain! Rain!"

As though Eihmo'tei's exuberance had called it down, the skies opened and rain began to fall, lightly at first but quickly picking up in intensity.

Though she could understand why a desert-dweller would be excited by a storm, Kiara also figured the Zerdani had no idea exactly what they were getting into. Had he ever even seen lightning? That was a real concern- out here on the plains, they were the tallest point.

"Kit!"

The dragon snorted, knowing her mind before she even voiced it. Though the plains looked level from above, on the ground one could find shallow dips and bumps in the earth; Kit gathered the children under his wing and slunk into one such miniature valley, flattening himself as close to the ground as possible and telling them, "Stay under there."

Satisfied that the dragon was no higher than the grass and the children were safe and dry under his wing, Kiara tried to get Eihmo'tie's attention. "Hey! Come on, take shelter!"

The rain was pounding down now, almost painful as the wind suddenly whipped it against her face. She winced and squinted, trying to make out if her friend was listening to her.

Eihmo'tei danced under the light raindrops. Rain was such a rare thing to his kind, and the few times it did rain, it was cause for great celebration. So overjoyed was the little Zerdani, that he barely noticed it pick up in intensity. He called out to his friends.

"It's raining! Isn't this great?!"

Looking around, he saw Kit and the others retreating down the slight incline. They seemed to be in a hurry.

"What is wrong? Where are you going?"

He saw as they hunkered down in the grassy dip. Something seemed amiss. Did they know something he did not? Eihmo'tei scanned the surrounding area as the storm grew around him. As moments passed, the storm became less friendly. The rain fell harder than the Zerdani had ever experienced before, and the buffeting winds nearly knocked him to the ground. The others had the right idea, and he would go to join them. But where were they?

The raging storm had left the Zerdani all turned around. He could not remember which direction they had gone, and the driving rain and tall grass hid them from view. He stayed put, and continued to look around. Eventually, he saw Kiara's silhouette in the rain-filled distance. She was calling out to him. Eihmo'tei could not have felt more relieved. He started down the slope as quickly at the harsh winds would allow (which was not quick at all). This proved to be a lucky move on his part, for the Zerdani had been marked by the storm.

CRACK!

A vicious white bolt struck the top of the slight hill right where Eihmo'tei had been standing. Now a good few feet away from the spot, he had just avoided certain death. Unfortunately, he was not far enough away from the area. The blast sent him flying into the air. When he once again made contact with the ground, the forward momentum sent him rolling down the wet grassy slope towards Kiara. Eventually, his violent roll stopped, but he did not move. The shock caused Eihmo'tei to loose consciousness. He was soaked and badly battered, but still alive.

"Eihmo'tei!" Kiara's shriek could barely be heard over the roar of the storm. She raced forward, skidding on her knees beside the small, furry body. Frantically she checked for a pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when she found one.

Hunching against the wind and rain, she gathered the Zerdani up in her arms and made her way back to Kit and the others, keeping as low to the ground as she could. The dragon had raised his head to looked for them, and once he spotted them he ushered her under his wing, curling tightly around all five two-leggers and hiding his head the little cave his body made with them.

"Eemo!"

"Is he going to be alright?"

"What happened?"

Kiara shushed the children, settling herself against Kit's side with Eihmo'tei in her lap. "He's just unconscious," she assured them with a smile. Privately though, she was worried. The storm had prevented her from seeing what had happened clearly, and though she knew the Zerdani was alive he was quite battered. It was possible he'd taken a blow to the head. She checked for blood and found none, but couldn't let herself relax until he woke up.

The storm raged around them and the children gathered closer, eyes wide and frightened. Kiara reached out to pat shoulders and heads, cradling Eihmo'tei in her other arm, and waited.

Eihmo'tei began regaining consciousness, or at least, he thought he was. He could not move, or even open his eyes, but for the most part, he was awake. His cold, damp fur made him shiver violently and against his will. His ears were still ringing from the lightning blast.

"I don't like the rain here..." he said in his subconscious.

When he began shivering Kiara tightened her arms, gratefully taking the small blanket Bibi offered and wrapping him up. She rubbed his arms in an effort to both warm him up and dry him off.

"Hey, you awake?" she asked. "Come on, say something. Can you open your eyes?"

This new warmth was pleasant. Feeling was starting to return to the Zerdani's muscles, and the ringing in his sensitive ears was dying down. It was then that Eihmo'tei heard Kiara's voice.

Everything was so soothing. He nearly fell asleep in, what he assumed was, Kiara's arms. However, the pain of his aching muscles helped the opposite. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and snapped back to reality.

"Ow..." he let out with a grunt

Kiara let out a shaky breath of relief. Impulsively she hugged Eihmo'tei closer. "Don't you scare me like that!" she reprimanded, pent-up panic making her voice harsher than she'd meant it to be.

Forcing herself to calm down, she helped the Zerdani sit up. "How do you feel? Does anything hurt?" she asked, checking him over for the umpteenth time. The children were silent but clearly worried, staring at them with wide eyes. Even Kit huffed, craning his neck around further and pressing his wing closer to tighten their little shelter.

"Owowow..." said Eihmo'tei as Kiara squeezed him. His entire body was rendered sore from his ordeal. What was probably meant to be a hug felt more like a punishment, with Kiara scolding him with a worried tone.

He sat up, with very little strength to do much else. "Everything... hurts... Just need to sit."

Looking around, Eihmo'tei got his bearings. His unconsciousness left him disoriented, but now he could remedy that. He listened to the rain pound against Kit's wing. Although his head was inside, the Zerdani couldn't help but worry about him.

"Rain is harder here than it is home... Kit, are you alright?"

The dragon huffed. "Course I am. It's just a little water." His scales were hard and slick enough that the water sort of bounced off him, but she knew his position couldn't be entirely comfortable.

Kiara smiled at his grandstanding and reached out to pet his nose. He rumbled affectionately and sniffed at Eihmo'tei. "Aside from some pretty nasty bruises, looks like you'll be alright," he said.

The children seemed to relax, shifting slightly so they weren't hovering so much. Then there was a massive crack of thunder and Tala squeaked, launching herself forward into Kiara's arms. The others immediately surrounded her and Eihmo'tei, reaching out for comfort.

"Shh, shh," she soothed, patting the girl's head. "It's just a storm. We just wait it out."

Eihmo'tei was incredulous at first. Kit seemed like he was just being noble. Then again, the scales he was covered in were like stones, and he was very big. Maybe he really had no problem with it. The thunderclap made the Zerdani's hair stand on end. That loud sound replayed the traumatic memory in his mind. He shook out of fear. The fearful faces of the frightened younglings came into view.

"You would make a good dad."

Eihmo'tei had no idea why those words popped back into his head, but he knew what he had to do. He was an adult, and they were younglings. The Zerdani began to rise. He still shook, but not from fear. The soreness made it hard to use his muscles, yet he persevered. Now on his feet, he put his arms around the heads of the young ones around him and brought them close into his chest. He pet their heads, making calm and consoling sounds.

The children calmed slowly, wrapping their arms around Eihmo'tei and Kiara and seemingly trying to cling as close to them as possible.

Kiara gave the Zerdani a small smile. She knew he must still be hurting, but he was putting the children's comfort above his own. She nodded at him slightly, petting Perryn's back as he clung to her.

"How about another story?" she asked quietly, hoping to distract their young charges.

Another thunderclap made Eihmo'tei hug the younglings even tighter. He was frightened of it himself. His droopy ears perked up at Kit's translation.

"Ooh! Do you have a story, Kii'arah?" he asked.

This was just the thing that was needed here. Hopefully, it would distract the four younglings from the raging storm outside. The Zerdani was just excited to hear stories of the outside world. He moved around to help his young human friends get comfortable.

"Well..." Kiara wrinkled her brow in thought. She tried to recall the stories her mother had told her as a child. "Alright then." She settled back against Kit's side and began to talk.

"Many ages ago, when the world was young, a star fell to earth. He was afraid, because he knew he could not survive outside of the heavens for long. But it just so happened that a human child stumbled upon the place where he fell, and she offered to help him. She took the star in her hands and pressed him to her heart until he became a part of her.

The star was happy. He'd always wanted to see the world he watched from so high above up close, and now he could. For many years he and the girl traveled the world. The girl grew into a woman in this time, and one day she met a young man. They fell in love, and they were happy."

She paused, trying to remember how her mother had told the next part.

"But the star was worried. He could not feel love as mortals did, and he was afraid his only friend may forget about him. So late one night, he let his light fill the young woman and took her with him into the sky. For another while, the girl was happy. She played in starlight and watched the world go by below.

Then she grew sad, knowing her love was missing her, and asked the star to take her home. But stars can be jealous creatures, and he refused. Heartbroken, the girl wept, and her tears became a rainstorm, and then a flood. The water poured from the sky and formed a massive body of water, and in the water her earth-bound love saw her reflection. Thinking he could join her in the new-formed sea, he dove into the water."

Tala's eyes were wide and she drew in a soft breath. Kiara smiled and continued, "Of course he didn't find her there, but he searched for so long that he became a part of the sea and could not leave. He looked up to the sky and saw his love, and he reached for her. Knowing he still wanted her, the girl ceased her crying and began to glow, brighter and brighter until she outshone all the stars around her. She reached for him in turn, knocking stars out of the sky."

She shrugged. "And that's why the ocean has waves, and reaches for the moon when she is full. It's also how we get falling stars, it's the moon reaching out to him."

Eihmo'tei was enchanted by the story. Although it was probably just a legend, the naive little Zerdani took it as a history lesson. The moon had always been an important part of his people's culture. This must have been the reason why they were so drawn to it.

"Ma... Magic? Is that magic? That brought her into the sky? And the light... Is that also magic?"

Kiara shrugged again, smiling a little. "Yeah, I suppose it's magic. But that's kinda the point of the story, we can never really know."

"I liked it," Bibi said, snuggling against her side. Tala and Perryn nodded.

"But it was sad," the younger girl added quietly, leaning into Eihmo'tei. "It's sad they can't be together."

Kiara winced. Maybe not her best choice of story. "Well, yes...but like Eihmo'tei said, it's magic. Maybe they can be, somehow..." She trailed off a little awkwardly.

Gently, Eihmo'tei scratched the top of Bibi's head. So that was magic... The Zerdani thought about all the great things magic could do. He thought back to the story. In times when they stared at the full moon, Eihmo'tei, as well as other Zerdani, noticed something about it.

"Kii'arah, does... does the moon have a face? Is it her face, the girl from the story?"

The face was only barely visible on the moon, and some Zerdani had their doubts that it was a face. It was too flat to be a Zerdani's, so maybe it was a human's.

"Some people say it is," Kiara responded with a smile. "Some say it's a little old man who lives on the moon and fishes for stars." She shrugged. "It's whichever you want it to be, I suppose."

The rain outside was slowing down, the rumble of thunder more and more distant with every clap. That was one nice thing about plain storms, they tended to blow over fast. She tilted her had back against Kit's flank, looking up at the gold and silver threads through the black expanse of wing that enclosed them.

"Should only be a few more minutes now," she told the others, Kit nodding in confirmation.

Eihmo'tei was not satisfied with that answer. There was a definite answer to that question. One distinct fact. He just could not be happy unless he knew the exact answer.

"Aww... Is there no one that knows?"

If Kiara did not know, maybe she knew someone who did.

She arched an eyebrow. "If there ever was, they're probably long dead," she replied. "I personally like the girl in love story." She shrugged. "Mother might have had another version to tell you, but I don't remember it."

The thought made her sad- even so many years later, it still hurt to think of her mother. "Kit, how's it looking out there?" she asked by way of changing the subject.

The dragon withdrew his head, leaving a crack in there shelter through which they could see the gray sky and silvery sheets of rain. There was blue on the horizon though. Kit uncurled slightly, still leaving his wing over them but more like a porch roof than a closed tent.

Eihmo'tei stood up and looked outside. He was careful not to exit, due to the (irrational) fear that the storm could come back. He looked to the cloud-laden sky, still thinking of the moon.

"Maybe we can go there... Kit, can you fly all the way to the moon?"

The Zerdani spoke serenely. He seemed lost in a dream as he said this. Perhaps he was already imagining them going there.

"We can go find out for ourselves..."

Kit gave a rumbling chuckle. "I can do a lot of things, little one, but I'm not sure even I can do that."

"So modest," Kiara teased, getting to her feet and arching her back into a stretch. She poked her head out from under the dragon's wing then quickly withdrew it as a few water droplets hit her nose.

"At least the thunder stopped," Tala muttered, coming up beside her. Perryn nodded in agreement.

"I didn't like that part," the boy said quietly. Ras snorted at them and Kiara bit back a smirk; he hadn't been any less afraid than the other three by her reckoning.

"Oh..."

Eihmo'tei seemed downtrodden, looking at the ground rather than the sky. The grasses were thoroughly soaked all the around the group. Still, the Zerdani lacked the confidence to leave Kit's protection.

"Is... Is it safe now?" He asked, looking around.

Though she didn't love the idea of getting wet, even the little bit that this drizzle would do, Kiara stepped out from under Kit's wing to show the others there was nothing to be afraid of.

"See, it's fine," she said encouragingly. "Blue skies ahead."

At that moment, the gray sky opened to reveal soft beams of sunlight in an azure field. She blinked and stared upward. "Wow. That was convenient."

Kit snorted in agreement. "Great. Now say "smooth flying all the way to Cerenis. And a whole herd of deer will suddenly appear over that hill"."

She glowered at him, then gestured for the others to come out onto the plain.

Although hesitant, Eihmo'tei stepped out into the open. The desert dweller had no problem with getting wet. The fear came from almost being struck by lightning. Using his very sensitive ears, he scanned around. Any thunder that could be heard was far in the distance now, but even that made the Zerdani double take. Kiara was right. All seemed safe.

"No... no..." He looked for a word, but thought of nothing. Instead, he tried to recreate the sound of the lightning's crack. "No KRRSCH?" Eihmo'tei moved his hands around frantically, to emulate the chaos of lightning striking. 

Kiara laughed. She couldn't help herself. Even without Kit's translation, she understood the Zerdani's question.

"No, no more lightning," she assured him, smiling. Then her expression slipped into something more concerned and she added, "We really should take a look at those bruises now that I can see properly." She twisted to fish around in her pack. "I know I have a poultice in here somewhere, it should help with the soreness..."

"No... Lat niin..." he repeated.

The Zerdani was glad that his friends cared so much about his injuries, but they were not very severe, and he did not want to trouble his friends on.

"I will be fine, really. Just need to sit. It will go away soon!"

He claimed his injuries were small, but really, even walking was a bit challenging. He tried his best to tough it out, biting his tongue in his mouth to distract from the soreness.

Kiara rolled her eyes and muttered something about men being stubborn idiots under her breath. Putting a hand on the Zerdani's shoulder, she forced him to sit she she could dab the poultice onto his bruises.

"There," she said when she'd finished, leaning back and storing the jar away. "See, that wasn't so awful."

The rain had truly stopped now, and the sun was shining bright again. She shaded her eyes and looked up, judging the time. "We can still cover a good bit of ground today," she decided, standing and brushing herself off. "Come on, you lot, up you go." She set about helping the children up onto Kit's back.

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.

"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.

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.

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."

"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?"

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.

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.

"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.

"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.

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?"

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..."

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

"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?"

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.

"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.

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.

Eihmo'tei snapped out of his daze. Climbing down his friend's side reminded him how much he had gone through today. Although mostly healed and rested, he still was not one hundred percent, and he felt it. He made his way over to the stream, still with some difficulty on the strange new terrain. Reaching the running waters, he put his muzzle down until his nose nearly went under. He began lapping up water in a dog-like fashion. Once he had his fill, he readied his waterskin, and went to fill it with the cool, refreshing water.

He looked up to the young ones, and held his flat paw over his eyes. "I will go scouting soon. Any of you want to come?"

"I will!" Tala said, evidently excited to be doing something.

Kit lumbered over to the bank and flopped down with a sigh. Kiara gave Eihmo'tei a worried look. "Are you sure you shouldn't rest some more? You almost got hit by lightning today."

Eihmo'tei looked up to Kiara. He appreciated her concern, but he hated feeling useless. "I have rested enough. The medicine did a good job. We will just take a quick look around, not very far."

The Zerdani looked to Tala, who seemed eager to go, much to his approval. Looking back at Kiara, he added, "I will teach Ta'la some lessons in scouting and tracking. If we find prints, we can see what animals are around."

Kiara nodded slowly. "Alright then, just be careful you two," she said, wandering over to sit at the river bank with Kit.

She didn't think they should encounter anything too dangerous on the plains. Mostly herd animals and rabbits and such. They should be fine.

It took a few moments of preparation before Eihmo'tei was ready to leave. Collecting one of the spears from where Kit had set them down, he went over to Tala.

"We should leave now, while there is still sun." he said, pointing to the lowering sun. Once it had set, there was no telling what creatures would come out to hunt. Besides, by now, the Zerdani had figured out that humans could not see as well as he could in the dark.

"Goodbye Kiara!" he called out. "We are leaving now. We will be back soon!"

With that, he began to go off, slow enough for his student to follow.

Kiara watched Tala follow after Eihmo'tei, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. Kit nudged her shoulder. "They'll be fine," he said quietly, "he can take care of himself. And you know he won't let anything happen to the hatchling."

She nodded, twisting back around to keep an eye on the other children. "I know. I just feel like I've gone into some sort of hyper-protective mode with all the little ones around," she said, nodding to Ras, Bibi, and Perryn.

Kit chuckled, watching Ras and Perryn sneak up behind Bibi and throw fistfuls of river mud at her. She squealed and leaped to her feet, chasing after them as they laughed. "Looks like someone actually requires your protection."

She shook her head vehemently. "Oh no, I'm not getting in the middle of that," she laughed. Leaning back on her elbows, she muttered, "Let's hope they actually find something worth hunting, I could do with something besides travel rations for a change."

The scouting had been rather uneventful. Traveling around had confirmed Eihmo'tei's suspicions. The outlying area was just flat grassland. The river, as well as a few scattered trees, were the only features in this desert of yellow grass. There was not much talking between the two, because of the language barrier. They stayed close to the river, both for navigation, and because it was the best place to look for evidence of fauna.

"Prey... Drink from River." he said, cupping his paws and licking his palms to simulate drinking. Then he pointed to an eye, and brought the pointed index finger down to the dirt where he had printed. "Find... Prints." He smiled as she nodded in agreement. He was glad he could get the point across without language. With some more exploring, the only signs that could be found were that of small mammals. Some even skittered around as they moved, taking the Zerdani by surprise. He was not used to small animals being about during this time of the day.

Finally, Eihmo'tei found something. He beckoned Tala over to see. There were hoof prints in the dirt, made not too long ago. They looked antelope-like, yet a little different. He figured it was some sort of relative of the animal found back home. He made sure Tala was able to get close enough to the prints to observe them. "Big thing... With horns." There were two signs for this: the typical holding the hands apart for "big", and the "horns" sign, made by putting two index fingers up beside his temples. The young student found the latter amusing, stifling a giggle. Eihmo'tei could not help but to chuckle as well with the thought of how silly he must have looked.

They continued their searching for several minutes. Every moment spent was another little bit that the sun fell. Soon enough, it was time to head back. The Zerdani was about to call it when he was interrupted by his young student.

"I found some!" she cried, impressed with her discovery.

He came over to examine the prints, but became unnerved by what he saw. Tala noticed this and questioned, wondering if she had done something wrong.

"You did good. Very good!" he reassured her, forcing a smile. It was time to leave now, and he let her know it. The Zerdani pushed the girl along, still a bit worried. As they came into sight of the others, the sun was about to set. Eihmo'tei was visibly scanning the surrounding area, nervously looking for something he hoped was not there.

Kiara instantly noticed Eihmo'tei's wary behavior and was on her feet in an instant. "How'd it go?" she asked, keeping her voice as casual as possible as she approached. It seemed like he was trying not to worry Tala, so she followed his lead, smiling at the girl as she excitedly began to relay their little adventure.

Her eyes looked Eihmo'tei over questioningly and she nodded toward Kit meaningfully. "Did you find something?" she asked, lowering her voice so Tala wouldn't hear.

Eihmo'tei went over to Kit's head, whispering at a volume that only they two could hear.

"Tell Kii'arah when Ta'la leaves. There were prints... A cat's prints. There is no mistake... It's a cat like back home, but the prints... It is much bigger! I do not want to scare any of the young ones..."

He looked over to Kiara, giving a smile. This cat was easily twice the size of cats back in the desert, and even those were terrifying. As vicious and skilled as wildcats were, one would not dare attacking while Kit was around. Of that, he was sure. However, night was soon upon them, and it would begin hunting soon. With so much in which to hide, the Zerdani was cautious.

Kiara nodded. It wasn't exactly uncommon to encounter hunting cats in the plains. But with Kit around she wasnt too worried. "We won't tell the kids," she said softly. "We'll keep the fire going all night. If that doesn't scare them off Kit will."

Eihmo'tei nodded.

"Yes. You are right... Kit will scare them away!" he said with a nervous chuckle.

As long as the young ones stayed close to Kit, there should be no problems with wildlife. However, the Zerdani was still on edge. He went off, in an effort to collect the small humans and bring them close to to the Dragon before the darkness of night came.

The children moved easily enough at Eihmo'tei's coaxing, but by the time everyone was actually settled down the sun was kissing the horizon.

"How's a bout a fire then, Kit?" Kiara said cheerfully. She'd set up a circle of stones with some dead branches inside on the relatively clear, flat ground closer to the river. The last thing they needed was to start an accident brushfire.

The dragon nodded and blew gently, lighting a cheery blaze. Kiara settled next to it and hinted around in her lack for rations, passing them around.

Eihmo'tei breathed a sigh of relief once everyone was gathered close. There would be no problem with predatory animals now. Pushing the thought from his mind, he decided to distract himself with the odd way Kiara had organized the fire.

"What are these stones? Why are they in a circle like that?"

"It's to keep the fire from spreading," she explained. "The kids helped me gather them from the riverbank."

"Back home, we used shells from the beach," Perryn said suddenly, scooting closer to Kit's side. "We'd spend all day trying to find the biggest ones, then we'd make little fires on the sand. Sometimes we'd try to see who could get the closest to the tide without their fire going out."

Kiara looked at him and felt her heart twist. The others had been born into slavery, and as awful as that was, she couldn't help thinking that it may be worse to have a life of freedom snatched away from you. She reached out and laid her hand on his shoulder.

Maybe after Cerenis, she would make a trip to Thanatos. It wasn't part of her deal with the Essyrni trader, but she had to get that boy home.

To keep the fire from spreading...

Eihmo'tei looked around at the grass that surrounded them. It was time for an experiment. As cautiously as possible, he went over and collected a quick handful of the dry grass, being sure to remain as close to his companions as he could. He went back over to the fire and threw the blades on. He expected them to burn, as dry foliage does, but he did not expect it to go up so quickly. He realized then just how flammable their surroundings were.

"That is so clever!"

Kiara chuckled softly. "Yeah, well, nobody wants to accidentally set the plains on fire." Tilting her head, she added, "Actually, we're lucky that lightning came with rain- any fires it may have started must have been put out before they got too big."

Kit nodded in agreement, eyes flicking around, searching the darkness. He was on guard. Tuning out her young charges for a moment, Kiara closed her eyes and listened. She could make out soft rustling, very faint and far away, sort of circling their position. A hunting pride, maybe.

"They're curious," the dragon told her quietly, "but they won't attack. They're not stupid." He shifted his bulk slightly as if to emphasize his point.

She nodded, not wanting to worry the children. It was rare for wild cats to attack humans anyway, usually they stuck to the prey they knew. With a dragon thrown into the mix, only a suicidal creature would dare to try to hunt them.

Eihmo'tei was nearly asleep when his ear twitched, picking up the movement from the brush. Kit and Kiara were aware and cautious, but not worried. The Zerdani settled in, trying to make himself more comfortable. He had faith that the prowling cat... no, cats would not bother them with a giant dragon around. Still, he was nervous, wishing that he had a nice hole to hide in like back at home.

Despite his nerves, the Zerdani's eyes grew heavy. With everything that had happened today, sleep was the one thing Eihmo'tei desired above all else. Before too long, it overtook him. His eyes closed, and his consciousness began to fade. He made his peace with the surrounding danger. He trusted his giant friend's very presence would ward off danger. Eventually, he was off, and would be at least until sunrise.

Eventually Kiara got the children to settle down to sleep. She smiled slightly when she realized her Zerdani friend was already gone and placed her spare jacket over him as a blanket.

Moving everyone's bedrolls in close to Kit's side, she told the dragon to grab some shuteye while she took first watch. It was simple, really; all she had to do was listen to the cats and make sure the fire kept going. She amused herself by making shapes out of the flames.

Gradually, her eyes began to drift. She didn't even realize she was dozing until Kit nudged her side, urging her to get some proper rest. She obeyed with a yawn and a nod, curling around her five smaller companions and drifting to sleep.

The sun rose slowly over the distant grasses, adding its glow to the already golden blades all around. Eihmo'tei uncurled himself, realizing he had done this sometime during the night. His body was heavier now. There was something on top of him. He shook off the strange thing and inspected it. The Zerdani smiled as he realized it was an article Kiara's clothing, given to him for warmth.

Quietly as he could, he perform his ritualistic morning stretches. He returned the jacket, draping it over Kiara's legs. A sudden realization hit. Eihmo'tei had forgotten all about the hunters last night. Suddenly worried, he checked to see that all four young ones were still around, and that no one had been dragged away in the middle of the night. To his relief, all four younglings were still sleeping, blissfully unaware of the dangers in the night. He listened around, and could tell that there were no beasts around, save for some singing birds. They were safe with the sun up.

Sunlight touched the back of her eyelids and she murmured sleepily, drifting toward consciousness. Sitting up, Kiara looked around and rubbed her eyes. "Any trouble?" she asked quietly.

Kit shook his head. "Fire's gone out, but they were well gone by that time."

She nodded. "Good." It was then that she noticed Eihmo'tei had draped her jacket across her legs. She smiled slightly and picked it up, looking around for the Zerdani. "Morning," she said quietly when she'd located him.

"Marnin!" he responded.

By now he had gathered the spears, inspecting them. With a little bit of additional sharpening, they would be in perfect condition for hunting. It would not take long, and he would be done before the younglings were ready to go. Out of concern for his giant black-scaled friend, Eihmo'tei inquired.

"Kit, have you been awake all night?"

The dragon shook his head. "Kiara took first watch. Besides, I don't need much sleep." He stood and stretched, catlike, sending the children rolling out of their bedrolls with muffled protests.

"You gonna take Tala and Ras hunting, then?" Kiara asked, chuckling as she set about properly waking her younger charges. "We can spare a couple hours before we should get flying again."

Eihmo'tei stuck his tongue out in protest.

"Everything needs sleep!" he said, half-serious.

He got to work on the spears. He gave a nod and a smile in response to the question. Now properly rested, he was ready to head out. The Zerdani was even excited to once again take up the role of a mentor.

"We can leave when they are ready. Give them some time to completely wake."

"We're up, we're up!" Ras and Tala were instantly awake, evidently excited. Kiara chuckled, passing out some squares of thick, flourless travel bread.

"Here, make sure you all eat something, keep your strength up," she said, tossing another piece of bread to Eihmo'tei.

Kit arched his neck back, basking in the early sunlight. "If you all are heading out, maybe I will grab a nap," he said, stretching his massive jaws in a yawn.

"Now, now!" Eihmo'tei said, raising one finger. It was entertaining to act like a teacher.

He held up his bread, assuming by now that this weird somewhat-spongy thing was food. "Your first lesson is patience. Eat. Get your energy up. It will be time to hunt soon enough!"

The Zerdani thoroughly inspected the bread. Taking a bite, the strange food crumbled between his sharp teeth. It was dry, and had very little flavor. Eihmo'tei was not a picky eater by any means, but this was truly disgusting. Of course he could not let Kiara know this. He did his best to hide how much he disliked it, even suffering a few more bites for good measure.

Kiara sighed as she finished her portion. "What I wouldn't give for real food," she grumbled, chuckling a bit at the face Bibi made biting into her bread.

"We can help with that," Ras said cheekily.

She rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose at him. "Hey, you heard your teacher. Food first, hunt later." Kit rumbled softly and curled up tighter, cracking one eye open to glare around at them all.

"I don't care what you two-leggers do about food, as long as you do it quietly."

Eihmo'tei stood up once he deemed his two students ready.

"Alright. Time to move." he said with energy in his voice.

He held out the spears for the others to take. Each of his students would get one, while he held the other three. Once they were all situated, he led his two students into the grass, waving goodbye to Kiara as he did so.

Kiara waved in response and Kit snorted. "Becoming quite the den mother, aren't you," he drawled lazily.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh shut up and go to sleep."

He chuckled and closed his eyes, crooning contentedly as the sun bathed his dark scales. Kiara stood and stretched, then made her way down to the water. She was dusty and sweaty, and a dip in the water seemed like a wonderful idea.

(OOC: ugh... Long post...)

"This is easy..." the Zerdani thought to himself.

Working with the two young ones was not as difficult as Eihmo'tei thought it would be. They read his signs easily, and followed them without question. Even if they could understand each other, there was no need to talk anyway. They had to stay silent while tracking and stalking potential prey. Of course Eihmo'tei took care of the tracking, since there was no time to teach such a skill to his students. The hunt had been rather uneventful at first, but the two young humans did not care. They seemed excited to just be out on the hunt. A few times, the Zerdani had to hush some giggling with a finger to his lips. He did not blame them though. Such excitement reminded him of his first hunt with the tribe. However, it was time to be serious.

Eihmo'tei once again found the tracks of the strange antelope, similar to the ones he and Tala found the day before. This was not dry sand, which made it easier to judge how old the tracks were. The ground was still wet, meaning that they had been made fairly recently. There was a quarry now, and once the two humans realized this, they got more excited. Slowly and carefully, they followed the trail through the tall grass. After what seemed like forever, the animal came into sight. It was odd. Its horns were a lot shorter than what the Zerdani was used to, and they forked into several directions. It was a lot more lithe, and covered completely with short brown fur. Eihmo'tei snapped out of observation mode, and got back into hunting/teaching mode.

He pointed to the animal, and helped his young students get in position. They seemed a bit hesitant, so Eihmo'tei readied one of is own spears, just in case. Just then, a quiet rumbling sound approsched from the distance. The beast heard it too, and took off. The Zerdani cursed under his breath, then gave in to curiosity. What was making such a noise? It drew nearer and nearer, so he looked above the grass to see. The sight was magnificent. There were huge wooden boxes being pulled by beasts, similar to the ones seen in the human community of Essyrn. Humans rode on the fronts of the boxes, while others rode on the beasts that were not attached.

He looked back to see that his two students were seemingly scared by what they saw. What had caused this sudden fear? Who were these strange humans? With their current course, they were due to pass right in front of them, yet they had not seen the three because of the grass. Eihmo'tei tried his best to comfort the two, but it did not work. Ras said a word under his breath that the Zerdani did not recognize.

"Slavers"

Knowing the two would not calm down, Eihmo'tei would lead them back to the camp.

"Come." he said in his rough common. "Kii'arah..."

They hurried along, almost seeming panicked. Whoever these humans were probably were not nice. The three tread slowly, using the tall grasses for cover. The boxes were close now. Just then, Ras' foot caught a large stone and he fumbled over, making a bit of commotion. Unfortunately, one of the bad humans saw this and rode his animal over. The three were exposed now, much to the human's delight. Dismounting, he went over and forcefully grabbed the fallen child by the collar. Tala was frozen in panic at the scene. Eihmo'tei too could not believe what was happening. The human said some words whilst laughing, and picked Ras up off the ground. Even if he could not understand it, it still angered Eihmo'tei. He had to do what he could to protect his friends.

Jumping as high as he could, he sunk his sharp teeth into the arm that held Ras. The young one fell to the ground with a thud and Eihmo'tei released. The bite had drawn blood, which was present on his muzzle. "Go!" he cried, pointing towards the camp. They obeyed, but another rider pursued. Perhaps it was the taste of blood, but Eihmo'tei was in a frenzy. In this state, there was nothing he would not do to protect the younglings. He picked up a spear, and lobbed it towards the second rider. It hit, digging into the back of the shoulder, and caused the rider to fall from his steed. The two were far now, but Eihmo'tei had no time to feel relief. The bloodied human wanted revenge for what the Zerdani had done to his arm.

He swiped and kicked, but Eihmo'tei was too quick. Looking around, he was surrounded by the rest of the bad humans, who snickered and jeered. There was no way Eihmo'tei could fight all of these humans, but Kit could. He had to last until the two could get the word to the rest of his friends. It seemed only the bloodied human was willing to fight, so the crazed Zerdani continued on with tooth and claw, fighting like the wild animal he resembled. With the circle around, there was less room to dodge attacks, so he did the next best thing. Once again, he clamped down on his attacker, digging his teeth into an exposed leg. He began howling in pain, but in the end, this was a poor decision. One lucky punch to the side of the head made Eihmo'tei's world grow dark. Before losing consciousness yet again, one thought crossed his mind:

"At least they are safe..."

Kiara heard the thunder of hooves before she saw the two young hunters racing through the tall grass, eyes wide with fear and shouting in a jumbled mixture of Common and Essyrni. Immediately she was leaping to the shore, Bibi and Perryn following from where they had been playing in the river.

Kit's head snapped up and he listened, eyes narrowing. Kiara raced to meet the children, who collapsed into her arms. Ras was still babbling while Tala just broke down in tears. Somehow, they managed to relay what had happened.

Her vision tinted red. "Get on Kit, now," she snapped, practically throwing the children onto the dragon's back. Barely waiting to make sure they were seated, she took off into the grass. She heard Kit launch himself into the air behind her and followed his shadow until she could make out the caravan of slavers in the grasses before her.

"Keep the kids out of danger!" she shouted up to the dragon. She vaguely heard an acknowledgement before she shouldered her way into the circle of horsemen.

"Who-"

"What?"

"Where did-"

She ignored their stunned protests and the few grabbing hands, dodging easily. In the center of the circle she found the man who had been fighting Eihmo'tei, his companions laughing at the bite marks on his arm, and the Zerdani limp on the ground.

She growled. It was a feral, distinctly inhuman sound, and it caught the attention of the slavers. She stepped into the center of the circle. "Is he alive?" she demanded.

Apparently some of them were still too confused by her sudden appearance to answer, but the man with the bloody arm just shrugged, smirking. "You should really know better than to walk into danger, little miss," he taunted. "We'd normally have to put some work into finding a pretty thing like you, and here you just deliver yourself up-"

In a lightning quick movement she drew one of her knives and let fly. The blade embedded itself in the man's throat and his voice choked off as he fell. Using her moment of surprise, she darted forward and snatched Eihmo'tei off the ground.

He was breathing. Thank gods.

Before the slavers could react she  threw her hand toward the sky and shouted, "Fire!"

Kit, who had been circling high to disguise his presence, suddenly swooped low to the ground, roaring and releasing a torrent of flame. Kiara's own magic added to the onslaught, and the slavers shrieked as a circle of leaping heat burst into being around them.

She used the distraction to dart back out of the circle. But the flames were spreading fast, too fast for her to control. The best she could do was create a tunnel of safety for herself and Eihmo'tei as they ran. The sky was blotted out by smoke.

"Kiara!"

Iron claws closed around her middle and they were being lifted up up up as Kit soared into the sky. She clutched the Zerdani to her chest and watched as below them the plains burned.

Eihmo'tei let out a cough, some blood falling to earth as he did so. It was a mystery exactly whose blood it was. Eihmo'tei began to slowly wake, but then quickly snapped into consciousness. His heart raced, ready to continue the fight. However, that was not necessary. Feeling the sensation of flying, he calmed down. There was only one reason why he would be suspended in the air like this.

"Ki-Kii'arah...?" he said, nearly choking on the word.

His voice was low, like what a child sounds like when they first wake up. He continued in this soft, almost sad, tone.

"Ras... a-and Ta'la..."

Kiara sighed in relief when the Zerdani began moving in her arms. She managed to hold him in one arm and clamber up onto Kit's back using the other. "They're fine," she assured him, twisting so he could see all four children were safe and sound, if a bit shaken. She checked him over for injuries; it seemed a blow to the head had been what knocked him out, but nothing seemed broken thank the gods.

Tala and Ras leaned forward anxiously. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Kiara glanced over the dragon's side as he turned, heading north. The fire was spreading. She had to do something- maybe that slaver caravan deserved to burn, but with no sign of rain on the horizon who knew what the flames would do to the plains. She reached out a hand and concentrated, reaching for the magic at the core of her being.

Her whole body seemed to be flaming from the inside. Frowning with the effort of controlling the magic, she slowly clenched her hand into a fist.

The flames below them began to splutter and die. Kiara gasped, the magic snapping taught in her chest. As the last embers died, her vision flickered and she fainted across Kit's neck.

Eihmo'tei clung to Kiara as they climbed up. Although mostly used to flying, he was not at all ready for climbing around in mid air. He smelled smoke, and a lot of it. However any concern that was felt was instantly replaced by relief upon seeing his two students alive and well. He shook his head to their question and instead offered a tight, heartfelt hug to the both of them. He was happy they got away. Over their shoulder, he saw the rising black smoke of the brushfire, and the concern was back.

"What?!" he questioned with terror in his voice.

Just then, the flames began to extinguish themselves. The Zerdani turned to see Kiara doing what he knew had to be powerful magic. He looked in awe, but panicked when she had fainted.

"Kit!" he called. "Kii'arah is unconscious! What happened to her?!"

Kit snorted, resisting the impulse to turn his head and check on his rider. The faster he got them to a safe place to land, the faster he could look after her.

"She used too much magic," he explained briskly, searching the ground below them for a place to land. "If you try to use a spell beyond your personal capabilities, it can burn you out." He could feel his rider's skin fever-hot against his scales, but her breathing was even, and her heart rate only a little faster than normal.

"Just make sure she doesn't fall off," he instructed, heading into a shallow dive. He'd been following the river north and had reached a fork. With water on two sides they should be fairly well protected until they could get everyone back on their feet.

So this was one of the dangers of magic. Eihmo'tei nodded and put his weight on top of Kiara's unconscious form. It was not much, but maybe he could anchor her down just enough to keep her from sliding. Looking back, he could have sworn he saw humans exiting the mostly-burned boxes. He bared his sharp, still-bloodied teeth at them. This was a good lesson. Some humans were bad, even to each other. That must have been the reason his elder never told his fellow Zerdani about humans. He wanted to protect them from the bad ones. Eihmo'tei considered himself lucky to have met one of the good humans first.

Kit touched down as gently as he could and without preamble reached back to pluck Kiara up by the back of her tunic, like a mother cat with a kitten. He laid the unconscious girl on the ground between his paws and sniffed at her, concerned.

Her temperature was returning to normal, which was a good sign, and the burning smell of magic was fading. He jerked his head at the little ones, saying, "One of you get water," as he nodded at the river.

"Wait!" Eihmo'tei interrupted.

He undid his waterskin, and brought it to Kiara. "I have this..."

He held her mouth open, and poured a minuscule amount of water in. He paused, then poured a little more in. The Zerdani went slowly, careful not to drown the friend that had perhaps just saved his life. He put the half-emptied waterskin, still cool with its contents, on Kiara's forehead. It was an old Zerdani trick to bring down fever and heat exhaustion.

Eihmo'tei refused to move from Kiara's side until she came to.

Kiara gulped, spluttered, and opened her eyes. "Where...what...?" she croaked out, looking around.

The first faces she registered were Eihmo'tei's and Kit's, hovering over her anxiously. A little further back she saw the children, eyes wide and biting their lips. She tried to sit up and groaned as the world started to spin.

Kit growled, snaking his head out to support her back and help her up. She smiled shakily, realizing that the cool, comforting presence on her forehead was Eihmo'tei's water flask.

"Thanks," she said softly, reaching out to pat his shoulder. "You doing okay?"

"Take the rest!" he added.

Eihmo'tei fell on his rear, absolutely drained. The Zerdani was overjoyed That his friends were all alright. He went to wipe blood from his face, but it was too dried up already. He chuckled, and asked jokingly. "Do things like this happen often?"

Kiara gave a tired chuckle, pouring a bit of water on her hand at wiping at the blood drying on her friends face. Then she realized it was useless, and that she herself was covered in blood and soot. Actually, everyone was smoky to some degree or another.

"I've never tried anything that big before," she said, wincing slightly as she sat up straighter. At least her dizziness had subsided. "But no, I've never actually passed out from a spell before." She smiled wanly.

She was trying not to think about it, but this wasn't a great sign. Her body should have given her some sort of signal that she was overstepping her capabilities before she just up and fainted like that.

Eihmo'tei laid down, taking in the sunshine and blue sky.

"Not that... Fighting bad humans. Does it happen all the time?"

His voice was more serious now. It dragged on, showing just how drained he really was.

She sighed, leaning back against Kit's flank. Seeing she was okay, the children were beginning to relax a bit more.

"Sometimes," she told the Zerdani. "It depends on where we're traveling, and what the job is. I should have warned you about slavers. I shouldn't have let you go hunting. This is my fault, I'm sorry."

"You make it sound like they were hunting us." the Zerdani said with a chuckle.

"I was there. They came by chance. It is not your fault."

Although he spoke the truth, Eihmo'tei really had to be convincing. He was in danger of never being allowed to hunt again. Without that, he would truly be useless to the group. He looked at Kiara, and continued.

"It is my fault really. I heard them coming, before Ras and Ta'la, but did not know they were bad. When they came by, I tried to lead the two back. We were hidden. We should have stayed. I am to blame..."

Kiara shook her head. "No, you couldn't have known. It's no ones fault but theirs, the slavers." Her lips curled and she muttered, "Viscious bastards."

"I'm not translating that," Kit said promptly, simply relaying that it was an insult. Kiara rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, I think maybe you should hold off on hunting expeditions until we're out of the plains." She saw Ras open his mouth and fixed him with a stern gaze. "No," she said firmly, heading him off. "Hunt all you like when there's no chance of slavers coming after you, but until then we're sticking together."

Eihmo'tei sat up quickly, now with a sudden burst of energy.

"But our hunt was unsuccessful! I must get us some food..."

He took his satchel off his back, and opened it up.

"Everything I had began to spoil. I emptied this a few days back!"

Looking into it, he closed the satchel quickly and tight. He had only just remembered what was inside when he saw the faint glow come from within. He was glad no one was close enough to see what was inside before the realization hit.

"Umm... I will go alone, when the sun gets lower. I will gather some small things for us!"

Kiara started to protest but Kit cut her off.

"Let him go," the dragon said lazily. "He's a grown man...fox- whatever. He can make his own choices."

There wasn't a whole lot she could say to that. Besides, she realized that Kit was actually defending the Zerdani- though to others it may not seem like it- and that was a rare enough thing that she decided to leave it be.

"Fine," she huffed after a moment. "Just- be careful, alright? And here..." She reached forward and touched one finger to the center of Eihmo'tei's forehead. "This may twinge a bit," she warned, and pushed out with her magic.

It was a simple enough thing to form a temporary link between two magic users, but after her trouble with the plains fire it tired her out quickly. She say back with a heavy breath. "There. If you get into trouble, just think my name, loud as you can. Kit and I will come find you."

"Wow." said the Zerdani, looking up at his own forehead.

"So... Can you hear ALL of my thoughts?" he inquired. If so, he was not so sure if he liked this. He had a lot of private thoughts he did not want Kiara knowing. But wait, perhaps his thoughts were in his own language? Kiara could not understand it, so maybe the thoughts were safe?

He noticed Kiara had tired herself out again. "Nevermind. Stay here and rest. I will get food for us."

Of course he meant to go later in the day, but perhaps now was better than later. He rose to his feet, and was off. As he passed Ras and Tala, he looked them in the eyes and gave a smile. "I am proud of you." He put paws on his chest to relay the sentiment. Then he was off.

She laughed softly. "No, just my name. I made that the trigger word. And the bond will fade in a few hours-"

He seemed to not be paying attention. She shook her head and smiled when he spoke to Ras and Tala and the children beamed with pride as Kit translated softly.

Then she leaned back against her dragon's side, truly and utterly exhausted. "Unless the plains catch on fire again, let me sleep," she muttered, closing her eyes.

She heard Kit and the children chuckle, then she was drifting off.

Looking around, there were very few animals to catch. It must have been the wrong time of day to go hunting. Eihmo'tei was also keeping an ear perked for anything, or anyone, dangerous. There was nothing. Nothing but him and the open plain.

The search continued. Using his animalistic hearing and speed, the Zerdani was able to catch a few birds before they flew off. Later, he dug some rabbits from the ground. Now, there was enough for everyone. Well... Except for Kit. With the spears abandoned in the blazing inferno, there was no way Eihmo'tei could catch anything big enough for him.

Once again looking around to see if the coast was clear, he headed back to the camp, with four birds and two rabbits.

Kit raised his head at the Zedani's approach, snorting appreciatively as he saw his catch. "Good hunting?" he rumbled.

The children came closer, curious. "How'd you catch 'em without the spears?" Tala asked.

Perryn hung back a bit, evidently a little disturbed by the sight of the dead animals. Shifting slightly so his bulk veiled the child's view, Kit leaned down to nose his rider awake. "Kia, get up. Eihmo'tei is back."

The Zerdani, having reached the camp, gave his company a warm smile. He held up the caught game, showing off how successful the hunt was.

"It went well. This is all I could find at this time of day..."

He found a nice spot and sat down, laying his catch in front of him.

"Without those spears, I could only catch small things... Even if I had them, there was nothing much bigger around."

He spoke apologetically, since he knew inside that he could have done better than two young rabbits and some scrawny pigeons. At least it was better than nothing. He noticed the dragon tried to wake the sleeping Kiara. He interrupted as gently as he could.

"No... Let her sleep. I have to prepare these anyway if we are going to eat soon."

Kit shrugged, leaving his rider be. "Fair enough," he rumbled. Nosing the children forward, he suggested, "Show the young ones how to clean game. I doubt they've had the opportunity before."

Tala, Ras, and surprisingly Bibi seemed interested while Perry again hung back, shaking his head and wrinkling his nose.

Eihmo'tei laughed when he saw Perryn's reaction.

"I do not blame you, Perryn! This is not pretty. Also, these things smell a lot worse on the inside. You three may want to cover your noses!"

He started with the rabbits. They were almost exactly the same as the hares his people would catch in the desert, so he knew exactly how to prepare them. He began swinging one in small circles in front of himself. Then came one of the most gruesome tasks. He applied pressure to the rabbit's midsection, cracking bones and forcing the stomach to bloat out.

"You may not want to see this..." the Zerdani warned.

He paused a second or two before continuing. Then he pointed the rear end of the rabbit towards the ground and squeesed the bulge downward. With a sickening POP, the rabbit's entrails were emptied. The smell forced even Eihmo'tei to crinkle his nose. He picked up some dirt and sprinkled it on the pile.

"This helps with the smell." he said as he did so.

The next step was also a gruesome one. This is why Eihmo'tei preferred lizards and scorpions. Once caught, they could be put over the fire almost instantly. Hares and birds needed so much preparation. The Zerdani used his claws for this part. On the back ankles of the rear legs, he tore the skin, and began to pull. Once the legs were clear, he simply kept pulling. The skin was coming off as if it was a wet shirt being forcefully pulled off of someone. After only a minute or two, the rabbit had no more fur. It was an empty fleshy she'll, ready to cook. Eihmo'tei put the skin on the same dirt pile that hid the entrails, so no one would step on it by mistake.

"That is how it is done." said the Zerdani to anyone still watching the grim process. He laid the prepared rabbit on the ground, and took up the second.

Kit was impressed. Though Tala covered her nose and wrinkled her brow, she watched the whole process intently, learning. Ras didn't seem to have a problem, evidently morbidly fascinated. But it was Bibi that surprised her. The girl came closer to Eihmo'tei and sat, eyes flicking over the process with interest.

At one point she glanced up and saw Kit's curious look. She smiled. "I wanted to be a healer," she said quietly. "For a while, I was owned by an apothecary. She taught me ana- anada- anatomy," she said the word slowly and carefully, "using little animals. Said I needed to know the body if I wanted to fix it. So this doesn't bother me."

Kit nodded. That made sense, he supposed. Then his attention flicked to Perryn, who'd been sitting with his back to the others and his head between his knees. "Hey." He reached out and touched his shoulder with his nose. "You alright?"

He nodded jerkily. "I don't eat meat," he mumbled after a moment.

Kit scowled. He should have noticed that, what with how the boy only ate rough travel bread whenever Kiara had passed out rations. He glanced at his sleeping rider, unsure what to do. "Kiara could help you make a soup, when she's up," he offered in a low rumble. "One with no meat in it. We'll make two fires."

Perryn glanced up, smiling gratefully and nodding.

Eihmo'tei repeated the steps with the other rabbit. He was surprised by the young ones' fascination with the process. He remembered how squeamish he had been, as many younglings were, when learning such skills for the first time. This also perturbed the Zerdani. They were not suppressing disgust, but legitimately taking interest in it. Was this human nature? Perryn was different, and hid from sight.

Two rabbits were prepared. Now it was time for the birds. They seemed much smaller now than they had when Eihmo'tei had caught them. Eihmo'tei was constantly underestimating just how big his companions were. When hunting, he had to consider that an adequate size for himself was too small for humans. He held up one of the pigeons for someone to take. If they were so interested, the younglings would learn hands on.

"We need to pull these feathers off."

Once all the volunteers had a bird of their own, the Zerdani would take one himself, and demonstrate.

The children took a bird and set to work, carefully and maybe a little uncomfortably.

Kiara shifted in her sleep and Kit looked down at her, nudging her gently. She mumbled something fuzzily and her eyes fluttered open. "Wass 'apening? Whad'eyemiss?"

The dragon chuckled at her."Eihmo'tei brought back some food. He's teaching the hatchlings how to clean game."

"Mm?" Kiara sat up a bit and yawned. She was feeling better, if a bit groggy. She looked around and saw Perryn sitting by himself, drawing patterns in the dirt with a stick. "Not a carnivore," Kit explained quietly.

"Ah." She nodded in understanding and stood, stretching her arms over her head and arching her back. Touching the boy's shoulder lightly, she said with a smile, "Come on, let's find some herbs to make a broth, yeah?"

He smiled in turn, nodding up at her as he stood.

Eihmo'tei finished plucking his bird, and went on to coach the others. All the feathers had to come off, including the longer tail and wing feathers. He noticed that the process was a little uncomfortable for the younglings. Should any of them quit, he would not blame them. As for the next steps, the Zerdani decided it was best if he did it, and they watched.

The younglings seemed to understand. Eihmo'tei looked to see Kiara and Perryn rising.

"Oh! Kii'arah! Feeling better?"

"Much, thanks," she replied. Seeing the game was mostly cleaned, she patted Kit's side and suggested, "Why don't you start a fire? We're going to need to cook those."

Tapping Perryn's shoulder, she set about showing him which small plants growing by the river were edible, and among those which actually tasted good. She left him to plucking contentedly and meandered over to Eihmo'tei and the others.

"Good catch," she said, smiling. "I'll go boil some water, we can make a stew out of the rabbits."

"Make... Stoo?" he repeated, trying to capture the sounds of Kiara's common.

He collected the plucked pigeons from his young students, thinking how silly they looked covered in feathers. Sitting back down, he looked to Kiara.

"What is that? Rabbits... and hot water?"

Kiara smiled, nodding. "More or less, yeah. With some herbs, and usually some grains and stuff thrown in. I'll show you."

She helped Perryn and the other children set up two circles of stones for fires, giggling a bit when Tala accidentally swallowed some down feathers that had caught on her face. Kit started the fires and Kiara fished two small cooking pots out of her pack.

"Well, these won't hold much, but it'll do," she said with a shrug. Perryn approached with a full water flask and she emptied it into one pot, settling it over the flames.

"Here, put the herbs in this one," she instructed, then gestured to Eihmo'tei. "You can put the rabbit meat in the other one."

Eihmo'tei walked over to the pot with the two rabbits. He was still confused about what Kiara was asking, but would follow the instructions anyway. One by one, he dropped the whole skinned rabbits in. With such limited space in the pot, a good portion of each was still sticking out of the hot water. This did not look right...

"Like this?" he asked, hoping Kiara would correct any mistake he made.

"Oh!" She bit her lip to keep from laughing, fishing the rabbits out quickly. "No, um...here, you have to carve the meat off first," she explained, chuckling. She used a simple, clean cloth and spread it out on the ground, laying the rabbits out and using her dagger to begin to carve of flesh.

"Like this, see?" She handed the dagger to Eihmo'tei as she threw the strips of meat into the pot. "You take care of this one." She turned to Perryn's broth, sprinkling a few pinches of the spices she always brought along to flavor travel food. The boy had found a stick and peeled away the bark, washing it in the river to now use it to stir.

That made more sense. It seemed odd to put so much more work into preparing rabbit when it was already ready to hold over the fire, but Eihmo'tei wanted to see what Kiara had planned. Her knife was a bit long for such a task, and it somewhat hindered his work. However, he loved how much more easily it cut through the meat than his own knife. It was great to learn something himself as opposed to teaching. Before long, the meat was cut up and in the pot, just as Kiara showed him.

He moved on to the birds, snapping the ends of the wings and legs. Next, he dug his clawed fingers under the breastbone to remove the entrails. Now, the carcass was akin to a prepared goose. Once that was done, he moved on to the next.

Tala cleaned two sticks, and handed them to Eihmo'tei. "For the birds," she said, indicating he could use them as spits over the fire.

Kiara smiled, fishing some random utensils out of her pack so they could eat the stew when it was ready. Perryn seemed to have recovered enough to chat easily with Bibi. Kiara set about adding herbs to the begin be of the rabbit stew.

"Should be ready soon," she announced eventually.

Eihmo'tei accepted the sticks, and offered Tala his thanks. They were easily long enough for two birds each. He pushed them through the empty chest cavities of the pigeons, and looked for s place on the fire to cook them. Unfortunately, the pots took up too much space. The Zerdani just stared, trying to think what he could do about this.

Heedless of the heat, Kiara reached out and removed Perryn's broth from the fire, handing him a crude wooden spoon.

She noticed Eihmo'tei's dilemma and beckoned him over, indicating he should put the birds over the now free fire. She snapped her fingers, and the flames jumped to life, rising from flickering embers to an actual blaze.

"Oh..." Even that small bit of magic seemed to drain her and she wavered unsteadily. Instantly Kit's head was at her back, propping her up. She turned to look at him, eyes wide. She didn't want to worry her charges-

But something was wrong.

The Zerdani went over to the fire, and put the ends of the sticks into the dirt, so that the birds were suspended near the flames. He noticed that Kiara was still weakened, even after her rest.

"Don't use your magic." he said in a stern tone. "It needs a break too. I can keep the fires going."

She forced a chuckle and nodded. "Alright, alright."

The stew seemed to be just about done, so she moved it from the fire and tried a bite. She shrugged. "Not bad."

Kit snorted, curling up more comfortably and using his tail to push her back against his side. "You keep resting. Let the hatchlings experiment with cooking."

She smiled and nodded, letting her eyes flutter open and closed. Why was she so tired. "Watch the metal, it's still hot," she warned sleepily.

Eihmo'tei was concerned by how much sleep Kiara needed. He figured, however, that if Kit was this calm, it must not have been serious.

The pot's contents became the center of the Zerdani's attention now. There was a very good scent coming from the hot water that he absolutely could not ignore. He thought it such an odd way to cook meat. Back home, this method would have been considered a waste of water, and probably would have been scorned. At the same time, he was growing more and more determined to try the strange concoction. But how?

Heeding Kiara's warning, Eihmo'tei avoided the metal, which was apparently extremely good at holding heat. Even avoiding the pot itself, the water was too hot for his tongue or paw. Maybe it was meant to cool down? He simply stared at the contents, trying to think of how a human would go about eating this.

"Here." Bibi smiled at the Zerdani and used her crude spoon to get a mouthful of the stew. "Like this, see?"

Kiara smiled as she watched the children tuck in, gathering around the still steaming pots to eat. Perryn moved his broth closer to her, offering her the spoon.

"Oh, thanks." She wasn't really hungry- her stomach felt strangely full and warm- but she took a few bites anyway, ruffling the boy's hair fondly.

Eihmo'tei marveled over the utensil, perhaps looking a bit silly as he did so.

"So simple... so clever!" he said with excitement. He admired human ingenuity. This must have been such a simple thing to them, but to him, it was one of the greatest inventions he had seen so far.

Mimicking what Bibi had shown him, he shakily lifted up some stew, and brought it to his mouth. He lowered his tongue down to lap up the good-smelling liquid. However, once it made contact, he dropped the spoon to the ground.

"OW!" he cried. He did not think it would be so hot still. He brought his numbed tongue back behind his teeth with a whimper, and covered his snout with his paws. "oww..."

"Oh, here!" Tala quickly offered Eihmo'tei her water skin. "Put something cold in you mouth, it'll help."

Kiara had to bite back a chuckle, sitting up a bit. "Sometimes it helps if you blow on it first," she tried to explain, using her own spoon to scoop up a bit of the broth and blowing on it gently to show him.

Eihmo'tei quickly took water from the child's waterskin. The cool water did help his burnt tongue, but it was still somewhat numb. A few minutes later, he took a second attempt, this time doing as Kiara demonstrated before cautiously tasting the liquid.

Eihmo'tei took a double take, and his eyes widened. This had to be the greatest thing he had ever tasted! Flavor overwhelmed his palette as he continued lapping up the contents of the spoon. He nodded with approval, and took up another spoonful.

The humans laughed happily at Eihmo'tei's delight. Kit snorted, but even he seemed contentedly amused.

Kiara watched her charges with a small smile. It had been a long, hectic day, and she was perfectly happy to just sit around the campfires with Kit curled behind her. The sun was kissing the horizon now and she yawned.

Damn, that magic had really taken it out of her. She probably should have been worried, but she was just too warm and sleepy to manage it. "Why don't we have another story?" she suggested with a tired smile. "Eihmo'tei and I have already taken a turn- any of you kids got a tale?"

(OOC: Sorry. I've been sick)

Eihmo'tei's ears perked up as his attention snapped from cleaning his spoon with his tongue. A story... from the younglings? At first, he imagined that such young ones would not have many stories to tell. However, that was his Zerdani subconscious talking. They were older than he was, even if they were still young by human standards. He listened in, waiting for one of them to start.

(OOC: no problem!)

It turned out Perryn and Tala were quite accomplished little story tellers. The boy started, a folk tale from his home about a small rabbit who tricked a fox out of eating him. Tala jumped in with sound effects and wild gestures, making Kiara smile and the other children clap and laugh.

"Clever little things, I suppose," Kit rumbled, quiet enough that only his rider heard. She smiled, settling against his side contentedly.

Eihmo'tei scoffed at the story. He realized it was just a tall tale, but a rabbit convincing a wild animal to not hunt it? It was utterly ridiculous.

"It was not hard catching them." he said bluntly.

"This... fox, whatever it is... must not be very clever to fall for such a trick!"

He chuckled, and gave a light smirk.

Kiara bit her lip, trying not to chuckle. She saw Ras open his mouth and Bibi elbowed him, shaking her head subtly.

"Maybe we'll see one while we're travelling," the young woman said innocently, eyes dancing. Kit chuffed a laugh. Shrugging, Kiara added, "I've never heard that version before though- usually it's Fox doing the tricking."

Perryn nodded. "Rabbit is the only one who ever outsmarts Fox, at least in the stories my mother told me. She said it's because Rabbit made a deal with the old gods, and in return they took his tail."

Kiara laughed. "Well look at that, learn something new every day." The sun was sinking ever lower and she jerked her head at her charges. "Alright then, bed you lot. Come on."

They complained, but she thought it was more for the form of the thing than anything else. They'd had a long day.

Alright, the group was definately hiding something. Some common fact that everyone but him knew. It made Eihmo'tei feel a bit uneasy. After a moment, he shrugged it off. It was something that would be revealed later, or simply forgotten.

The Zerdani settled in with his friends. It had been a long day. Just thinking about the confrontation this morning made the Zerdani's heart race. He took a deep breath, and was calmed himself back down. He thought more clearly, and put a paw on the side of his head that had been punched. It began throbbing as the memory played on in his head.

He remembered throwing a spear at the one human, which had made him fall to the ground. Did he actually... KILL that human? In the frenzy, Eihmo'tei did so without hesitation, but now he was feeling regret from it. The feeling was lessened because he knew it was in defense of the younglings, but the burden still weighed on his mind.

Once she was sure everyone was settled in, Kiara curled herself up against Kit's side, closing her eyes with a heavy sigh.

The dragon huffed at her affectionately, nuzzling her side. "I'll keep watch."

She nodded tiredly. "Thanks, Kitten."

He scowled and snorted. "Don't call me that." But there was no bite to his words, and he curled more tightly around her, head high and alert while his body curved protectively around his little two-leggers.

Eihmo'tei found it hard to sleep that night. He laid there, curled up like normal, but his eyes would not close. The events of the day kept replaying in his mind.

With a sigh, the Zerdani rose. Maybe a drink of water would help. He also needed to refill his waterskin from earlier. He did his best to sneak away, trying his hardest not to awaken any of his friends.

Kit watched the Zerdani get up, eyes narrowing. He seemed to be moving toward the river and the dragon huffed softly, keeping one eye on him as he kept watch.

"Can't sleep?" he rumbled quietly, not looking directly at him, knowing Eihmo'tei's sensitive ears would hear him.

Eihmo'tei spun around to face Kit. He should have known the dragon would be keeping watch.

"No. Not at all..." he replied flatly.

He waddled back over to the camp. He kept quiet, eyeing up the others. He was almost jealous of how easily they could sleep.

"What about you? How will you fly if you don't rest?"

Kit rumbled a chuckle. "I don't need much sleep. Besides, we'll be out of the plains tomorrow and we'll find a nice forest or something to take a rest in, I can sleep then."

He winked at Eihmo'tei. "I'm not gonna tumble out of the sky, don't worry."

"Alright..." he replied, still incredulous.

"I need water I think." With that, he continued down to the rocky riverbank.

Kit snorted, watching him go. Perhaps he was being hyper-protective, but a free the day they'd had he was t taking any chances

"Try not to fall in," he muttered, feeling the need to say something snarky to cover up his concern.

The Zerdani began by splashing the cool water on his face. This did a lot to calm him down, but it also undid what little sleepiness he had felt. After lapping up a few mouthfuls of the refreshing liquid, Eihmo'tei was completely at peace. That is, until he heard a sound from the opposing riverbank.

He lifted his ears to the rustling of the grass. Whatever was making such a sound was big, definitely bigger than he. He quickly scurried back over to Kit's side. He felt so safe beside his enormous friend. 

The dragon tilted his head as Eihmo'tei came hurrying back. "What is it?" he asked quietly, body tensing in preparation to pounce or roar or- something.

Beside him, Kiara made a small noise in her sleep, frowning, but he didn't notice.

Eihmo'tei was still, careful not to make a sound until Kiara had settled back down.

"Just some animal." he responded calmly and quietly. "Nothing to worry about..."

Kit snorted, nodding, and relaxed slightly. It was then that he noticed Kiara's heat against him. He narrowed his eyes, twisting his head around to better observe his rider.

She was frowning in her sleep, breath coming harder and faster than was normal, as though she'd been exerting herself. He could feel the heat of his skin through his scales, which was never a good sign. "Eihmo'tei," he said sharply, worried. "She's too hot. Can you- water, she needs water."

He tried not to sound panicky, but something like this had never happened before.

"Wha-what's wrong?" asked the Zerdani, suddenly nervous by the dragon's worried tone.

Eihmo'tei realized then that the creature in the grass had forced him to return before he refilled his waterskin. There was some left, but it was better if he could get as much water as possible. He looked down to the riverbank, hesitating. Whatever was there could still be around, waiting for him to return.

"I'll go..."

Swallowing his fear, the Zerdani started down the slope. He had to be brave for Kiara's sake. Keeping an eye out, he readied the waterskin, and held it below the cool flowing water.

Kit tried to keep his attention split between his rider and the Zerdani, ready to leap to aide whichever of the two needed it.

Kiara gave a pained whimper, back arching slightly. Her dreams were dark and restless, shot through with streaks of blood red flame. Fire had never hurt her before, but this burned, and she just wanted it to stop stop stop.

The dragon crooned softly, sensing her distress and nuzzling her comfortingly. She was burning up.

Eihmo'tei's eyes darted between the waterskin in the river and the grass in front of him.

He looked up... Nothing. Back to the waterskin.

Looking up... Nothing. Back to the waterskin.

Looking up... Cat.

Across the shallow water, slitted eyes met the Zerdani's. This cat was a lot larger than its desert-dwelling cousin. It also lacked the intricate patterns that he was used to seeing. The sandy-colored wildcat simply stood there, watching its strange intruder. The sudden sight nearly stopped Eihmo'tei's heart. Deep down, he knew a confrontation was coming. The waterskin was not full yet. Kiara needed this water, and nothing - not even this wildcat - would stop the Zerdani from getting it.

Slowly, he drew the dagger from the sheath on his back using his free hand. His ears flattened, and he bared his teeth, trying to look as fierce as possible to hide his fear. The cat stayed at bay, but not because it was afraid or intimidated. It seemed to simply observe him. The uneasy standoff lasted until Eihmo'tei judged the waterskin to be full. His eyes never left the beast's as he pulled it from the river, and retreated backwards towards the camp. Once he was at the top of the slope, the cat disappeared back into the brush.

"I have it..."

"Thanks," Kit breathed in relief. He thought the Zerdani looked a little tense and narrowed his eyes in concern. "You okay?" He nodded toward Kiara while he asked the question, indicating that Eihmo'tei should get the water to her.

The young woman whimpered again, tossing onto her side and making a low keening sound in the back of her throat. Her restlessness was starting to stir the children, and Kit looked back and forth in near panic, unsure what to do.

"Here." said the Zerdani, pressing the cool waterskin to Kiara's forehead.

"How did she get so sick? Was it the magic?" Eihmo'tei looked up to see that Kit seemed a bit frantic. For such a large creature to be panicking, even somewhat, was unsettling. Observing where his attention fell, Eihmo'tei saw the younglings begin to stir.

The Zerdani did something now, something that would hopefully keep the children asleep and calm Kit and Kiara. He began singing a lullaby that he had learned from his mother. The tune was calm, and the beat was steady. Every word of his language flowed gracefully from his muzzle. The higher pitch of the little Zerdani's voice - although masculine among his kin - sounded almost feminine by human standards. As he sang, he slowly poured water into Kiara's mouth, careful not pour too much for her choke. After, he moved the waterskin to the back of the neck, following the process the tribal healers used to cure overheating.

Eihmo'tei's lullaby seemed to do the trick for the children, soothing them back to sleep. It even, to Kit's surprise, seemed to calm Kiara somewhat. The lines between her brows softened some, at any rate.

"Thank you," the dragon said quietly, lowering his head to be closer to their level and looking at his rider with worry-filled eyes. "I'm not sure what happened, but she hasn't been quite right since she put out that fire." He growled softly, adding bitterly, "That was my fault, I shouldn't have set the damned plains on fire."

Kiara gasped softly, limbs twitching, but didn't wake. Kit made a sound that in a lesser creature might have been called a whimper. "I don't know what to do," he admitted softly. "Nothing like this has ever happened before..." Should they wake her? Would that help or make things worse?

It was unsettling that Kit did not know what was wrong with Kiara. Eihmo'tei was even more nervous now. He was no healer, but what little he had picked up from home was completely useless when magic was involved. He felt the heat of Kiara's skin even without touching her. It almost seemed that instead of putting out the blaze, she had somehow absorbed it.

"I may not know humans..." the Zerdani started, looking Kit right in the face. "... but this heat seems unnatural. We may need to put her in the river to keep her cool."

He looked back down. He felt helpless to do anything for his suffering comrade. After she had helped him so much, he hated the feeling of not being able to return the favor.

"She will wake up when you put her in. Do you think it's better to wake her up now?"

The dragon nodded, muttering in frustration, "I'll need to stay here, keep an eye on the hatchlings. If we get her up you can go to the river with her and keep an eye on her." He leaned his head down and nudged Kiara's side, gently at first but with increasing persistence.

Moaning quietly, Kiara slowly surfaced to the waking world. Out of her dreams, the flames seemed to suddenly disappear, leaving her feeling oddly cold and empty. She shivered violently, though Kit could still feel the heat of her body through his scales.

"Wh-wha-?" she started, realizing it was still night and looking between a very concerned dragon and Zerdani. Gods, she felt awful, some combination of the world's worst hangover mixed with a savage influenza. She shivered again, clutching at her aching head, but manage to grind out, "What's wrong? Are- are the kids okay?"

"They are fine." the Zerdani responded, doing his best to reassure his friend.

There was worry in his voice. Kiara still looked terrible, obviously still suffering from her affliction. She was shivering, even though her skin was as hot as desert sand in the daytime.

"You are not... You are sick and we do not know what to do."

"I'm f-fine," she chattered out, shaking her head and trying to give them both a reassuring smile. "Just tired from using so m-much magic, that's all."

"Horse shit," Kit responded evenly. "I think...Kiara, I think this is a fae thing. We need to-"

"No." She cut him off. "No, hell no, absolutely not." Some of the bite to her words was lost as she continued to shiver, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Sorry, but you're in no shape to make a decision," Kit said firmly. Twisting his neck so he could reach into Kiara's pack, he delicately grasped a small chain between his teeth and turned again to hold it out to Eihmo'tei.

It was a simple necklace, a small charm- a disk with runes etched around the edge- on a silver chain. "Take it," Kit said out of the corner of his mouth. "I know you're not trained, but Kia says you have magic, and she's in no condition to be using hers. Take it and say the word Aeolthaine three times, focusing on your magic."

The dragon wasn't sure if this would actually work, but it was the best chance they had. He was getting desperate.

(OOC: Happy new year!)

Eihmo'tei took hold of the necklace. He took a few moments to simply inspect it, observing the exotic beauty of every part of it. The silver links, the charm, the unique writing... Everything was simply lovely.

The sense of urgency struck once again. The word Kit wanted him to say was very complex for him, unlike any word Eihmo'tei had learned before. Was it the same language? It was obvious now that humans had more than one language. He did his best to repeat, but the sounds were difficult.

"Ay... Oh... Tain..."

The Zerdani was doubtful of what he could do. He did not even know what magic was a few days ago, let alone the fact that he had it. Now, in his panic, the dragon wanted him to use it. He hesitated.

"I... I don't know if I can. Are you sure?"

(OOC: And to you!)

Kit snorted. "You're the only one who can, Eihmo'tei. Please, you have to try- repeat after me, A- ole- thane."

He shifted and Kiara opened her mouth to protest, but he covered her mouth with the tip of his tail. "Please, Eihmo'tei. I don't know what else to do."

The Zerdani's ears flattened down. He was nearly on the verge of tears. This seemed like the only option, but there was so much pressure to do it.

Clenching his eyes, he held the amulet up to his chest. "If you think it will help..."

"Ay... Ole... T-thane..."

Eihmo'tei spoke slowly, and focused on each syllable. He was getting a handle on the "th" sound, putting his tongue between his sharp teeth.

"Ae... ol... thaine..."

He looked inside now, trying to find the magic Kiara claimed to have found. He doubted at first, but knew to trust her. There was magic there, and he would find it for her sake.

"Aeolthaine..."

Kit and Kiara both held their breath. For a long, long moment it seemed like nothing had happened. The young woman let out a sigh. "I told you, we shouldn't even have bothered-"

"Well now, that's hardly a comforting for a father to hear."

"First fires!" Kiara yelped, borrowing her dragon's favorite curse and whirling to face the fae creature who had suddenly appeared at Kit's head.

The children stirred at the commotion, but Aeolthaine simply waved a hand and they subsided back to sleep. He smiled vaguely at the dragon, girl, and Zerdani. "Hello."

Eihmo'tei opened his eyes upon hearing the new voice. He jumped into the air when he saw the new figure, surprised how close he had gotten so quickly.

"Um... he-hello?" he greeted, repeating the strange sounds of Kiara's language. The Zerdani was very cautious of the strange new visitor.

Aeolthaine's eyes- sharp and slightly tilted, a trait his daughter had inherited- flicked to the charm Eihmo'tei clutched and he raised a thin, pale eyebrow. "Fascinating," he murmured, but said nothing more.

Looking to dragon and rider, he said, "I assume you called me for a reason? It's never just to say hello."

"Something's wrong with Kiara," Kit rumbled before the young woman could answer. He began to explain about the slavers, and the fire on the plains.

The fae being's face grew more serious as he listened. When the dragon finished, he knelt at Kiara's side, brushing long, pale blond hair out of his face. "Give me your hand, child."

She scowled but obeyed. She didn't like being called "child" at the best of times, particularly by someone who didn't look much older than her- regardless of the fact that he was her parent and probably older than she could imagine.

Suddenly he looked to Eihmo'tei, beckoning sharply. "You, come here please," he said in the Zerdani's tongue. Kit and Kiara exchanged surprised glances behind his back.

Eihmo'tei silently observed the stranger, being sure to keep a safe distance away. He looked more or less like any other human (which the Zerdani thought he was). The only thing that stuck out were his ears. Although much smaller than a Zerdani's, they were just as pointed. It was an odd trait, considering the humans in Essyrn had rounded ears. Kiara ears were only semi-pointed, a difference that did not seem significant at the time. There was a strange feeling in the air where he stood. Not one that could be picked up by the nose or ears, but something else... Almost like... an aura.

Eihmo'tei recoiled again when the stranger's eyes met his. The last thing the Zerdani expected to hear was his own language from a being his kind had never encountered before. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He froze, unable to make a single movement. He wanted so badly to ask "how do you know my language?", but the words could not escape his throat.

Aeolthaine tsked and beckoned to him again, speaking in Common this time, with Kit belatedly translating. "Come here, little one. I need your help, you are the one who summoned me."

Kiara wanted to pull her hand back but found she couldn't. She frowned. "You're all overreacting, I'm fine. I just used too much magic, that's all."

Her father gave her a sharp look and she fell silent. "Do you know what's wrong with her?" Kit asked anxiously.

His frown deepened. "I have an idea, but I need the smaller creature to be sure."

"His name is Eihmo'tei," Kiara grumbled. Looking to the Zerdani, she offered an encouraging smile. "It's alright. Could you come over here a moment please?"

"I... summoned him?" he thought to himself.

The Zerdani looked to the amulet, then back up. He trusted Kiara's word, moving cautiously over to the visitor. He seemed to know what was wrong with Kiara, and was going to help for some unknown reason.

"Alright. What can I do for Kii'arah?" he asked the pointed-ear human.

"I need you to act as a conduit," Aeolthaine explained. "Take my hand and Kiara's."

Kit translated for the Zerdani while Kiara narrowed her eyes. "Why can't you just use your magic directly?"

"Because our power has grown too similar," he said shortly. "Now be quiet, I'll explain everything in a moment." He snapped his fingers impatiently at Eihmo'tei.

Kiara grimaced apologetically at her friend, holding out her hand to him while the dragon continued to translate the conversation.

"A condu-wha?" he asked quietly. There was no word in his language to properly compare.

He did what was asked of him anyway, albeit with some hesitation. The visitor seemed safe, just a bit rude. Eihmo'tei was not sure if he approved of his behavior, but put those feelings aside for Kiara's sake. He may have been her only hope. There were many things recently that reminded the Zerdani of his small stature. Seeing how easily his paws fit into the humans' was one of these things. Eihmo'tei awaited what would happen next, thinking it silly to link hands in this fashion.

The fae creature dropped his head and closed his eyes, brow furrowed. Kiara sucked in a sharp breath as she felt magic spilling into her through Eihmo'tei's paw, originating from her father. She would never get used to the feeling.

She gave the Zerdani's paw a reassuring squeeze and a small smile; she didn't know exactly what he'd be feeling, it varied person to person, but she imagined it must be strange to him.

After a few moments Aeolthaine dropped his hand and Kiara took that as her cue to do the same. "Well?" she asked expectantly after a long moment of silence.

He shrugged, looking at her with his head tilted curiously to the side. "Your magic is changing," he told her, "growing actually may be a better way to describe it. Becoming more like mine, less...human." His eyes flickered with worry, something she didn't see in them often.

Well damn.

"It's- burning you out," he explained. "If you use too much at once, or even too many small spells in quick succession..." He shook his head. "Your body is too human to support fae power, I suppose would be the simplest way to explain it."

She blinked at him, trying to process that. Then she groaned, dropping back to lean heavily on Kit's flank. The dragon huffed, concerned, and nuzzled her. She covered her eyes with her hand and swore colorfully. "Well this is just godsdamned wonderful," she growled out eventually.

Kit rumbled a worried growl of his own, doing his best to relay the most important parts of the conversation to Eihmo'tei as Kiara and her father talked.

The magic flowed through the Zerdani's meek form. It was a lot, much more than Eihmo'tei could handle. Had the magic stayed inside him as opposed to flowing through him, he knew he would have fainted. Instead, the experience was dizzying. Once it was over, the little Zerdani was left with feelings of disorientation and vertigo. He plopped down on his rear, trying to get his bearings. Being a "con doo it" was not fun.

Now almost completely back to normal, Eihmo'tei's sensitive ears picked up the last bit of Kit's translation. It did not help, however, for he understood nothing that was said.

"Faaay... pooowerr...?" he asked. His speech was slurred.

"The kind of magic Aeolthaine has," Kit attempted to explain quietly, still watching Kiara and her father.

The fae being seemed restless. "I can't stay much longer," he muttered, looking over his shoulder as though suddenly hearing something none of the others could hear. Turning back to Kiara, he reached out and ran his hand over her hair, looking regretful. "Try not to use your magic Kiara, as much as you can. I believe rest will help you now, but I'm not sure what will happen the next time you overextend yourself."

He paused and his eyes softened a bit. "Please be careful, little one," he murmured, leaning in abruptly to kiss her forehead, then standing, moving away from them.

A little surprised, Kiara struggled to her feet as well. She still felt woozy, but actually not as bad as before. "Aeolthaine, wait-"

She wasn't actually sure what she'd wanted to say, so when he paused and looked back at her, she was silent for a long moment. Eventually she settled for, "Thank you, Father."

He smiled, and then with a feeling like an intangible storm breaking overhead he simply disappeared.

Kiara sort of collapsed back to the ground, rubbing her temples. "You alright?" she asked softly, looking at Eihmo'tei with a small smile.

"That was... Aeolthaine...?!" asked Eihmo'tei still dazed. He looked to Kiara with a tired and confused look. "Kii'arah... Is this a dream?"

The question was sincere. Everything that happened, mixed with lack of sleep, seemed utterly unreal. He expected her to answer yes, even though he knew deep down that this was all real.

She laughed quietly, reaching out to pat his head. "Afraid not," she said with a sympathetic twist to her mouth. Laying back with a sigh, she added, "But I'm certainly ready for dreaming. Go on, get some sleep while you can."

Turning onto her side to get a better look at him, she added a completely heartfelt, "And thank you for what you did."

Eihmo'tei gave a slight chuckle in affirmation. He was obviously tired now. Moving even an inch was a chore, and a difficult one because of the heaviness of his eyelids. Slowly, he made his way over to Kit's flank. Before he lay down, there was one thing that he needed an answer for.

"Kii'arah... Who is Aeolthaine? How does he know my language?"

The exhaustion was clear in his voice, but the Zerdani worked as hard as he could to focus on an answer.

She sighed. Well, she'd known this was coming- how should she explain? "Do you remember how I told you some people can live for a very long time? Like, thousands of moons? Well, Aeolthaine is one of those creatures. We call them the fae."

Kit was translating as slowly and carefully as he could, and she paused a moment to allow her words to sink in. "I don't know how he could speak your language," she said eventually, brow furrowing in confusion and a little frustration. "Honestly, I don't know much about him at all. Fae beings are incredibly mysterious, most mortals don't really know anything about them."

She tried not to let bitterness color her tone; her very small knowledge of what exactly her father was and what he could do had always been a bit of a sore point with her.

"The fae, are not... humans?" he said with a yawn. Consciousness was difficult to maintain now, and the little Zerdani could not deny it. His eyes closed, but he continued to speak. "Maybe... I can call him again... sometime and... ask... him."

With a final yawn, he was out cold. He felt the weight of the last few days weighing down on him. Such a rest was needed after all the things the Zerdani had been through. It was hard adapting to a new and different world. There was so much to take in and to learn about.

Smiling a bit, Kiara settled in to sleep herself, though she murmured, "Let's try to call him as little as possible."

Kit huffed a soft laugh, curling around her and the still sleeping children. She just had time to worry that her father's spell might not wear off by morning before she fell into sleep herself.

The next day, Eihmo'tei would not rise like he had done every other morning. He slept with a newfound exhaustion the likes of which he had never felt before. Such a feeling was not completely natural in nature either. The sheer amount of magic that had coursed through him that night was more than was his kind was ever meant to handle, and the aftereffects were crippling. The rising sun did nothing but warm the fur on his face, and the morning song of the birds simply entered one giant ear and exited another.

Kiara was also completely drained and slept through the sunrise. Kit on the other hand woke easily, glancing around at his charges and huffing affectionately. Carefully so as not to wake them, he rose and made his way toward the water for a drink.

Making his way back to the others, he noticed the children were beginning to rise. He shot a quick glance at Eihmo'tei and Kiara, hoping desperately that one of them would wake up- he wasn't good with the hatchlings on his own.

Eihmo'tei still would not budge. It was not that he was ignoring the new day, but rather, he was oblivious to it. He continued his slumber in a state similar to a coma, completely unaware of everything around him. There was a faint and vague energy emanating from the Zerdani's sleeping form. It was residual magic, still pooled inside of him from the tranfer of last night.

He entered a state that strange to him. It was like he was dreaming, but not entirely. Instead, the Zerdani's mind drifted in some strange void. Quiet, intangible voices could be heard faintly from every which way. There was no telling what was being said, or even, what language it was in. His mind did not question it, and did not ponder what it could mean. It was like a child listening intently to a new story.

"Oi, get up," Kit rumbled, nudging both Kiara and Eihmo'tei in turn as the children began to sit up, blinking into full awareness. His rider mumbled and sort of surfaced halfway to consciousness, but the Zerdani seemed almost lifeless.

Starting to panic a bit, the dragon nudged him again. Well, he was definitely breathing, and his heart beat sounded steady enough. So why wasn't he getting up. "Oh great," he growled. "This is just what we need, another invalid." He couldn't quite keep the worry from his voice.

"Kit? Is something wrong?"

Wonderful. The hatchlings were gathering around now. At least that got Kiara closer to fully awake.

Physical contact began to return the Zerdani back to reality. His face scrunched up in response, and some other parts shifted a bit. However, he still did not wake, at least not yet. Whatever was happening in his head was slowly coming to an end, but the residual magic was still there. It was not apparent to Eihmo'tei yet that his dream, if it could be called that, was ending. Because of this, he was not ready to let go of it. He made no effort to wake himself up.

"What's wrong with Eemo?"

Kiara, now fully awake, shot the children a reassuring smile as she reached out to lightly shake the Zerdani's shoulder. She had to make an effort not to snatch her hand back like it'd been burned. Magic. Faint, but it was there.

"He's just tired, we had quite a day yesterday, didn't we?" she said with another smile, making the quick decision not to tell her charges about her father's visit. "Why don't you lot get a fire going so we can have something to eat when he gets up?"

They nodded and set about collecting suitable material for Kit to light. Kiara turned her attention to her small friend, leaning over him and closing her eyes. Aeolthaine had said not to use her magic, but she wasn't quite sure what else she could do.

Laying a hand on his shoulder, she sent out the thinnest thread of power she could, trying to spark him back to consciousness.

Just then, there was a light in the void. Such a warm and welcoming light, the voices around seemed to fade as it grew on intensity. The Zerdani found himself following the light, not knowing where it would lead him. All around, the void began to dissipate. He was returning to reality, and outside his mind, his body began to stir. Following the light further, Eihmo'tei found that the light was becoming like sunlight. He once again regained his feeling of being, and consciousness was returning. Eihmo'tei's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the light of day. The dream was over.

"Kii'arah...? How... how long was I asleep?"

He spoke with the grogginess expected of recovering from such a deep slumber.

Kiara smiled at him, relieved, and helped him sit up. "Not much longer than me. You were really out though," she said.

She wanted to ask what he'd been dreaming about- with that much magic in his system it may have been more than "just a dream"- but before she could the children were gathering around with food and smiles.

Eihmo'tei gave the young ones greetings and apologies for sleeping for so long. It was a new day, and everything seemed to reset into a nice calm serenity. The troubles and fears of the previous days were in the past now, and everything just felt... nicer. All of the sudden, memories of last night began to flow into the Zerdani. They were hazy, like that of a half-forgotten dream, but they were there.

He snuck a glance at Kiara, hoping to read the thoughts on her face. He did this because he needed confirmation that the events of last night actually happened. Not meaning to stare awkwardly, he gave a reason to be taking such a look.

"Are we flying today?"

Hoping she was interpreting his look correctly, Kiara gave a short, sharp nod. Then her expression relaxed a bit and she nodded again. "Yeah. Once we eat and get packed up, we'll be off. Should be only what, one more stop to camp before we reach Cerenis?" She glanced up at Kit for confirmation.

The dragon nodded. "Probably, barring any more...surprises."

Eihmo'tei gave another one of his childlike chuckles.

"Yes. I think I have had enough surprises for one moon!"

He took from the pot of stew from last night. He had to admit that it tasted a lot different than when it was hot. He did not care, however. Breakfast was breakfast, and he was not picky.

As the children and Eihmo'tei were finishing up their breakfasts, Kiara set about breaking camp. She still felt a little off kilter, but much better than she had the previous night.

When everyone seemed just about settled, she vaulted onto Kit's back. "Alright, saddle up everyone, let's go." The dragon crouched down to make it easier to climb on his back and the children scrambled up.

Eihmo'tei tried his best to contribute to cleaning up, but felt as if he was only getting in the way. In turn, he scaled Kit's side and took his place on the back. There, he braced for takeoff. The lurching was the one thing he thought he would never get used to. Perhaps in the air, he could think more about what exactly happened last night.

Kit took to the air in two bounds. As was becoming her habit, Kiara glanced back to make sure everyone was on safe and sound.

The children seemed to have gotten used to flying rather quickly- then again, children were easily adaptable. "You doing okay?" she asked Eihmo'tei, glancing down at him.

"I... oh kay." he responded, repeating what common words he knew. "Just thinking."

He sat there, eyes fixed forward and feeling the air rushing through his fur. A few moments passed before he thought to ask her the same. "You... oh kay?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. Silence for a few long moments, then she asked quietly with Kit translating over his shoulder, "Do you...have any questions? About what happened?"

She wasn't really sure if she could explain, but she figured she owed it to him to try.

"Aeolthaine is... your father, right?"

This was a complete guess. From Kit or Kiara, the Zerdani never received complete confirmation of this fact, but assumed it from clues given from last night.

"He is fae... which is not human? Are you not human?"

Kiara blinked. After a long moment, she nodded. "Yes." Her voice was cool and stiff and she cleared her throat, trying to relax her tone. "Yes, Aeolthaine is my father. Which means I'm not human, entirely. A lot of people call what I am a half-blood, or a half-breed if they're not feeling particularly polite."

Kit translated quietly, trying not to draw the children's attention to the conversation.

Eihmo'tei tilted his head in confusion. "Half-breed? Half... blood? I do not understand..."

The terms that were translated for him were strange to the little Zerdani. He could not even begin to imagine what they could be. Was Kiara human? Or Fae?

"It means..." She trailed off, biting her lip. There really wasn't a great way to explain it. "It means I'm...both," she said eventually. "And neither. I'm not entirely human, but I'm not truly fae either. It's...complicated."

Her voice trailed off in a sigh and she rubbed a hand down her face. Half-breeds weren't exactly unheard of occurrences, but they were rare enough that it was a complicated thing to explain. And live with. If she could help it, she actually tried not to tell people.

"Both..." he repeated. How could someone be two races at once? There was so much the Zerdani could ask, but decided not to. In actuality, he did not know the difference between the two races. Aeolthaine was very similar to humans in appearance, with the differences being subtle.

"Are fae and humans all that different from each other?" he asked looking up at his friend.

Kiara snorted. "Yes. Yes they are. Fae are...well, nearly immortal, for one thing."

"That means they never die," Kit added into his translation.

"And they all have magic, it's in their blood, more a part of them than anything else," Kiara went on. "Not all humans have magic, and even those that do have a different kind of power. No one really knows a lot about the fae, so I can't exactly explain it properly."

So they really were very different beings after all. It actually surprised the Zerdani how quickly and easily Kiara answered that question.

"But Fae look very similar to Humans..."

She nodded slowly. "Some do. Some of the time. A lot of fae have the ability to change their shape. Aeol- my father prefers his human form." She shrugged, looking ahead again. "I know it's a lot to take it," she murmured after a moment.

"Change... shape? Human form?"

All of this information was indeed making the Zerdani's little head spin, which was reflected in his tone. It seemed that with every answer he got from Kiarra, more questions popped up. The answers to these questions had all challenged his imagination. The world was much bigger than him or any other Zerdani ever knew. At the same time, there were so many new concepts and ideas to know.

Eihmo'tei was not sure he could handle it all.

"Yes." She looked back at him, mouth twisting sympathetically. "Look...don't worry about it too much. You probably won't have to deal with fae much, if ever again."

Kiara shrugged, facing forward again and leaning against Kit's neck. "Don't let it bother you. Let's just focus on getting these kids where they need to go, yeah?"

Eihmo'tei thought hard on Kiara's words, or rather, Kit's translation of her words. He remembered the an old proverb of his people: "You do not need to climb a dune until you reach the bottom of it". If they would not encounter Fae often, there was no need to concerned themselves with them.

"Yes... Alright!" he replied in a more optimistic tone.

Taking a look at the earth below, there was a noticeable change in the greenery. There was more of it. Trees were a little more bunched together now, and some seemed to have grown taller than the ones the Zerdani was used to.

Kiara caught his downward look and smiled. "We're really out of the plains now," she said by way of explanation. "Maybe another half day of travel and we'll be over real forest. That's a place where it's all trees and bushes and things, no tall grasses or sand."

When the group had first started this journey, Eihmo'tei would not have been able to imagine such a place as this "forest". However, as they continued on, the idea of a place full of trees became more realistic. The scenery was not the only thing that was changing. The air was becoming colder as they flew. A sudden chill briefly shook the Zerdani's frame. He shrugged it off thinking it the rush of air or the slowly aging day that was responsible.

"Cold?" Kiara asked, tilting her head at him. She mimicked a shiver and rubbed her arms, raising her eyebrows questioningly. "I have a jacket in my pack, if you want it," she said, Kit translating, then added with a smile, "It might be a bit big on you, though."

The Zerdani shook his head and waved a paw in the air. "No... Kold. It was only a chill."

He continued observing the scenery below, looking for anything new or exciting. Finding just that, Eihmo'tei focused on the horizon. A thin column of smoke rose in the distance, its source hidden by the trees.

"What is that? A human tribe?" he asked inquisitively.

Kiara chuckled. "Of a sort." Patting Kit's neck, she urged, "Circle above the village, let him get a look."

The dragon snorted and obeyed, arching to fly around the cluster of houses set into a clearing in the trees below them.

Eihmo'tei's eyes widened seeing the quaint tribe from above. Once again, the homes were quite large and were built above ground, but in a different style than in the desert. The humans seemed to cover the tops in dry grass, for some odd reason that the Zerdani did not understand. The humans below had mixed reactions to seeing them. Some cleared away, others stayed and watched. Eihmo'tei scanned every inch of the scenery below.

The children seemed just as fascinated as Eihmo'tei, leaning over Kit's side to point and wave at the people below.

With a snort, the dragon veered away, leaving the village behind. "We don't call them tribes," Kiara said to the Zerdani. "That's a village, or a town. Essyrn was a city, which means it's bigger, has more people."

The Zerdani thought it strange that a group of humans living together in one community would not be called a tribe. Then again, humans were vastly different from his kind. It was actually surprising seeing a human "town" so far away from the dessert. Although Zerdani communities were split up, they were relatively close together. This made Eihmo'tei wonder.

"Humans have moved all over the world. How can they go so far? Where did humans begin?"

"Well," Kiara said slowly, "I'm not sure anyone really knows about that second bit. But...we travel all kinds of ways. Dragonback is just one of them." She gave Kit's neck a pat and he huffed. "People use horses to get around, or wagons, or if you want to travel over water you have to use a ship or a boat."

"B-Boat...?" he repeated.

This new word puzzled the Zerdani. It was enough to make him turn the upper part of his body around, tilting his head when he looked at his human friend.

"What is that?"

She bit her lip. "It's...well it's sort of hard to describe." She tilted her head at him. "Have you ever put a leaf or a piece of bark on a puddle or a stream or something and watched it float away?"

The Zerdani answered honestly, using his paws to help illustrate his response.

"I have seen reeds and sticks floating in the oasis and river, yes."

He was confused, which reflected in his voice. He wondered why such a question was necessary.

"Okay. Well, imagine a reed as big as Kit, carved to be able to carry people. They can be different sizes and the shapes sorta vary, but that's basically what a boat it," she tried to explain, using her hands cupped together to try to pantomime what she was talking about.

Eihmo'tei giggled at the idea of a bunch of humans floating on a giant reed. It seemed silly at first, but the laughing Zerdani soon silenced as new ideas filled his head. A piece of wood big enough to keep one Zerdani afloat, or even more than one... Crossing the river would be so much easier.

Through his daze, he uttered a single word: "Clever..."

Kiara chuckled when Kit translated. "Yeah, humans can be that. Sometimes," she said with a small smile.

"Are the Fae like this too? Do they make clever things like humans do?"

Although there was still much to learn on humans, Eihmo'tei thought he should do his best to learn a little bit about this mysterious other race. He looked back down to earth, but listened intently for the answer.

"Well...yes and no," Kiara said after a moment. "Humans make a lot of things due to necessity. The fae focus more on their own amusement- which doesn't mean that don't make beautiful and amazing things, but there's usually a whole lot more magic and sparkle involved."

"So... fae can put magic into... things?" the Zerdani inquired. The thought suddenly sparked a brilliant idea inside his mind. If it was possible, it could have been just the thing to help his human friend. Eihmo'tei fought to suppress a giddy smile forming on his face.

"Hm? Yes, they can, sometimes. Why?" She tilted her head to look at him as Kit translated. "You could probably learn to do it too, if you wanted me to try and teach you."

Those were the words Eihmo'tei wanted to hear. He once again turned to face Kiara.

"I have an idea!" he started with an excited tone. "Last night, your father said you had too much magic, right? That is why you have been sick!"

Eihmo'tei took a breath to avoid talking too quickly with enthusiasm.

"If you can put magic into an item, you will have less inside you! Then you will not get sick anymore!"

His smile was wide, stretching from cheek to cheek. He truly believed he had solved this problem.

Kiara gave a long slow blink and Kit snorted in surprise. "That...actually might..."

"Work," the dragon finished, utterly bewildered. "At least for a little while."

His rider nodded dumbly, turning the idea over in her mind. It wasn't a "cure" exactly, more of a quick bandage slapped over a war wound- but it was certainly better than nothing.

With a slightly startled laugh she wrapped her arms around her little friend in a tight hug. "Eihmo'tei, you're a genius," she told him, beaming.

The Zerdani relished the sudden embrace. His idea must have been a good one, based on how Kiara reacted. Eihmo'tei had worried that the idea would be rebuffed, that there would be some complex complication that rendered it useless.

"I issa genus!" he said through his own laughing. The next words he added in his own tongue. "Whatever that is."

This new word was strange, and he did not know its meaning, but it was obviously a good one. A word he could be proud to call himself.

Kiara giggled. "It means you're clever," she said when Kit translated, rubbing the Zerdani's head affectionately.

With that confirmation, Eihmo'tei felt even more pride. Although he was simple, the little Zerdani was not naive. He acknowledged the fact that he knew next to nothing about the world around him. This is why he was so happy to be able to contribute. Any time his primitive mind could think up a solution to problems that vexed such advanced beings he counted as personal victories. Eihmo'tei felt warm inside as he answered.

"Like the... Rah'bit... that tricked the... Uhm... F-Foks, right?"

Kiara laughed, quite unable to help herself. "Yes, like the rabbit," she agreed. "Though in a lot of stories the fox is pretty clever himself," she noted with a tiny smile, rubbing his large ears absently.

Her mind began to wander a bit, considering what sort of item she might be able to channel magic into. Slowly, an idea started to form.

Eihmo'tei's mind trailed off a bit. He remembered the story that the youngling had told of the two creatures, but the Zerdani found himself at a loss when trying to place an image with the word "fox". What manner of creature could this beast be? It was a predator, that much was obvious. After trying to decide, Eihmo'tei decided it would be better to ask Kiara instead. He would also try his best to ask in the human tongue.

"Kii'arah? Wha... issa foks?"

He hoped that question was asked correctly.

She blinked down at him. "Err..."

Kit was choking back a laugh, his sides shaking, and she dug her heel into his flank in admonishment. "Well, foxes are canines- that means they look a little like dogs," she started to explain slowly. "There are a few different kinds, but the ones common where we'll be going are red foxes. They have russet fur and they're about this big..." Here she held her hands apart the approximate length of a fox.

"Um, they had bushy tails and pointed ears, the sorta long muzzles..." She trailed off again, at a loss as to what else to say.

The Zerdani watched intently as the explanation continued. The more Kiara talked, the more Eihmo'tei tried to put together an image in his mind. With each new description, however, a very familiar picture formed. Bushy tail? He looked down at his own tail. Pointed ears? He thought of his own ears. Long muzzle? The Zerdani crossed his eyes and peered to the tip of his nose.

"So... Kinda like... well... Me?" he inquired, eyes once again fixed on her.

"Well...yes," Kiara said after a moment. "But they walk on four legs, and they ant talk- at least not the way we think of talking.

"They're animals..." he said flatly.

Eihmo'tei's own statement made him reflect. Although his culture did not particularly look down on animals, it was a bit unsettling that he and his kind were so similar to these creatures. His tone shifted from merry curiosity to a sullen gloom. Humans knew foxes well. If they thought this Zerdani to be a beast just because he resembled one, would they take him seriously? How would he be treated? Eihmo'tei said nothing and looked down to earth, lost in thought.

"Hey." Kiara layed her hand on his shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. "Ya know, humans are animals too. So are fae, and dragons. Doesn't mean one is worth more than the others or anything."

Eihmo'tei looked back up to his friend. His saddened frown was slowly giving way to a soft smile.

"You are right..." he responded.

Although he was not sure how the humans of this new land would treat him, the Zerdani knew there were five (as well as a dragon) that would be friends no matter what. There was a feeling of security with them.

"Thank you."

Impulsively she leaned down to press a kiss to the spot between his ears. "What are friends for?" she said kindly, smiling.

Kit huffed an agreement as he translated, banking slightly to avoid a Harvey layer of clouds. "We should land soon," the dragon noted, obviously feeling uncomfortable with the displays of emotion. "Let the hatchlings stretch their legs a bit."

It could not be seen under the fur, but the Zerdani blushed in reaction to Kiara's kiss. There was nothing he could say in such a situation, so he simply looked to Kit. The sudden banking took him a bit off guard, but Eihmo'tei recovered rather quickly. Listening to the dragon, he agreed.

"Yes. I would like that too."

There was also a chance here to explore this new "forest". The trees were grouped so closely, the Zerdani only caught glimpses of the ground through gaps in the leaves. Excitement began to well in him.

Luckily Kit managed to find a clearing rather than crashing through branches and creating one of his own. Once he'd landed, Kiara slipped to the ground and stretched her arms over her head, back arching languidly.

"Alright, you lot, come on down," she called to the children and Eihmo'tei.

The youngsters seemed just as taken aback by the forest as the Zerdani, and she had to remind herself that they'd lived most of their young lives in Essyrn. All except Perryn, who didn't seem quite as shocked by the surrounding trees and was the first to clamber down.

Before disembarking, the Zerdani took a quick look around. The trees were bigger than the ones he was used to, much taller and with thicker trunks. There was a seemingly infinite number of them in every direction. Under the cover of the leaves, the forest was dark. Although his kind possessed exceptional night vision, the Zerdani found it harder to see than normal. The amount of sunlight than shown into the clearing made the shadow of the forest seem darker by comparison. A rare instance that messed with his vision.

Eihmo'tei made his way down in time, realizing just how much he needed to stand on his own legs. They had been weakened by the ride. He was not accustomed to sitting for such long periods of time. Even if he had, it was always on the desert's soft sand. A few stretches and he would be off to explore the curious new landscape.

Kiara gave a satisfied sigh, closing her eyes and tilting her head back as she drank in the forest. This was what she knew. This was home.

Snapping back to herself, she set about making a quick camp, telling the children to gather firewood. It would give them something to do and an excuse to explore the trees. Kit cracked his jaws apart in a wide yawn and settled himself in the center of the clearing, watching his little two-leggers as they scurried about.

Eihmo'tei immediately charged headlong into the brush. The saplings and bushes were not as high as the grasses of the last area, but were much thicker. Although it was harder to move around here, the Zerdani continued undaunted to circle the perimeter. He was careful to keep within earshot, just in case. He searched and searched, but had no idea what he was searching for. Anything useful, or anything interesting.

"Oh- be careful!" Kiara called after him, but he was gone so fast she wasn't sure if he heard. With a sigh she set about making some sort of camp, laying out bedrolls and clearing a spot for a fire.

Eihmo'tei continued to explore the strange new area. Everything was exciting for him. The soil beneath his footpads was more solid than desert sand, and was cooler to the touch. The trees grew so tall, he could not see the tops. There were many more leaves on these than the trees at home, and they did a good job of blocking sunlight. As some fell, the Zerdani noticed their weird shapes. Listening around, he heard all the life the forest held. Birds sang strange new songs, distant brush rustled with the movements of small and medium animals.

Of all the sounds, there was only one that was familiar to him, but it was a bit far away. Because of this, he was hesitant to go investigate. Eihmo'tei stood tall to peek over the brush. His party was still in sight. He figured as long as he walked in a straight line, it would be easy to find his way back. The Zerdani then started off towards the sound.

The children returned with firewood and wide smiles, chattering about all the new things they were seeing in the forest. Ras had found a salamander, and they were quite fascinated by the little creature, passing it around while Bibi squealed and giggled at the strange texture of its skin.

Shaking her head, Kiara told them to "leave the poor thing alone" as Kit lit a fire. Her eyes scanned the trees around them and she frowned slightly.

"Did you lot see where Eihmo'tei went?"

They shook their heads. She bit her lip, wondering if she should go after him. Well, there wasn't anything too dangerous around, Kit would have noticed if there was. She supposed she could let him explore a bit longer.

Eihmo'tei continued his trek through the brush, his movements hindered by the thick underbrush. Despite this, he trudged onwards for what seemed like an hour or more. This sound he followed was that of running water. There must have been a river nearby.

After several grueling minutes, he saw a gap in the treeline. What was ahead was not a river, but a small and narrow creek. The Zerdani was a bit disappointed, but water was water. Eihmo'tei was almost upon it when he felt a sharp pain in his right leg. Looking down, he noticed a long winding plant wrapped around himself. On this plant were sharp barbs that were akin to his own claws, which were digging into him. He tried removing the strange plant with his paws, but all that accomplished was them being hurt as well. He tried simply pulling his leg out. Not only did that cause more pain, but it also succeeded in further tangling himself in them.

Drawing his knife, the Zerdani attempted his last option. However, even if it was sharp enough to cut the plant, he could not find purchase on it in which to hold with his free paw. He had to call for Kiara to help, or remain stuck. That is what Eihmo'tei was thinking deep down. However, he refused to call. Kiara has had to fix all of his mistakes in the past. This time, thought the Zerdani, he would prove to himself that he could fix his own mistakes. He sat there, trying to think up a way to get unstuck.

Kiara worried at her bottom lip. With a sigh, she stood and brushed her legs off."Alright, I'm gonna go after him," she told Kit quietly, moving into the trees. "Watch the kids."

"Eihmo'tei?" she called, slipping easily through the forest with the grace of years of practice. "Hey, where are you?"

Eihmo'tei heard his friend calling in the distance. Now was the moment of truth.

Slightly panicked by the rapidly closing window of time, he hurriedly tried to dislodge himself anyway he could. Grabbing the spiny plant with bare paws was not a good plan, and the Zerdani discovered this time and time again. He closed his eyes and tried to think, but the now numbing pain in his leg made it hard.

Eihmo'tei was desperate. He racked his brain for any possible solution. He wanted to be free of the painful plant. Just then, the pain began to dissipate. Opening his eyes again, the Zerdani saw that the spiny coils had released him. How was this possible? It was almost like they moved on their own!

Quickly, he rose to his feet, wincing at the pain the barbs had inflicted. Slowly and carefully, he limped over to the creek's waters. Here, he cried out:

"Kii'arah! Here I am! I found water!"

Ah, there! She heard her name, pronounced with that distinct accent, and a few words in his language she couldn't understand. She thought she was starting to recognize the pronoun "I" though.

She moved toward his voice, letting out a quiet breath when she found him kneeling by the creek. "There you are," she murmured, giving him a quick smile. Her eyes flicked to the water as she knelt beside him. "This is good, we can fill up our flasks here."

A sharp, acrid scent hit her nose. Blood? She frowned at him in concern. "Are you hurt? What happened?" Oh right. Kit wasn't here, he couldn't understand. "Eihmo'tei...hurt?" she tried, reaching out to touch the water and jerking her hand back quickly, miming being stung or burned.

Without the dragon, Eihmo'tei could not understand Kiara. She asked him something, seeming concerned. She had used a word he had not learned yet.

From her pantomime, the Zerdani could tell she meant "pain". She must have been asking if he was hurt. She must have known...but, how could she? She did not see his dilemma... right? It was a bit frustrating how this human always seemed to know when something was wrong. Kiara's intuition reminded Eihmo'tei of a Zerdani mother's. Although he wanted to deny it, perhaps it was best to tell the truth.

"This plant..." he said, somewhat ashamed.

Limping over, the Zerdani pointed out the long winding plant that had previously ensnared his leg.

Kiara's eyes followed him, frowning at his limp, and when he indicated the vine she hissed and winced in sympathy. She remembered getting caught in one herself as a child, crying until her mother found her and freed her.

"C'mon, let's get back to camp and look at that leg," she said kindly, standing and walking toward him. "We'll come back here for water later, alright?" She offered her hand.

Eihmo'tei, without knowing exactly what his friend had said, had understood that she meant to go back to the clearing. He nodded and took her hand, putting some weight on it as he did so. He had struggled walking through this foliage before, but it was harder now with the pain in his leg. His pace was slow, but he would not give up. Determination to prove himself to his friend drove him forward.

Resisting the urge to simply pick her little friend up, Kiara matched her pace to him, letting him bring them back to the clearing as quickly as he could.

When they finally reached it, she urged him to sit down and went to her pack, rummaging around for a few healing supplies.

"What happened to you?" Kit asked, tilting his head at the Zerdani.

The trip took quite a while, but Eihmo'tei was glad that Kiara had let him lead. His leg may have been hurt, but his pride was still intact. Once they had finally came to the camp, he sat down, exhausted from the trek. He appreciated both Kiara and Kit's concern, but believed that the wounds were not deserving of it.

"A plant..." the Zerdani began to explain. "Like a cactus, but very thin and long. It had big spikes all over it."

Kit snorted in understanding. "Ah, yes. Kia got herself stuck in one of those when we were hatchlings. She cried-"

"Yes, alright, thank you." Kiara cut him off, kneeling next to Eihmo'tei with a small vial of medicinal salve and a roll of bandaging. "Here, let me see your leg."

"Is it really that bad?" Eihmo'tei asked, sticking out his injured leg.

The wounds were not too deep, just enough to break skin. It certainly was not the worst he had ever been hurt. All he needed was some time off of it. At least, that's what the Zerdani thought.

Kiara was a lot more knowledgeable about these things than he was. Also, those special potions she carried with her always seemed to help. For these reasons, he decided not to fight it too much.

"Nah, you'll be fine by morning," Kiara said soothingly with a smile. She smoothed some slave over the little puncture marks and wrapped his leg up. "Those things can be pretty nasty though. I've seen small animals strangled in them once or twice."

Curious and concerned, the children began to huddle around them, asking the Zerdani what had happened.

The Zerdani winced at the twinge the medicine caused. At the concept of "strangle", Eihmo'tei threw his paws to his neck with an audible EEP. Today had shown that he was, essentially, a small animal. At least, compared to Kiara. The Zerdani's grip around his own throat loosened once the younglings were involved. He did his best to weather the barrage of questions, trying to reassure them that he was completely alright.

"Alright, done." Kiara sat back. Her eyes flicked to the children and she shooed them away, saying, "Eihmo'tei found a creek, why don't you go and get us some water?" She wanted to give the Zerdani some space.

"And watch for the vines!" she called after them as they nodded and hurried off. With a sigh, she ran her hand through her hair and gave Eihmo'tei a weary but sort of fond look. "Remind me to never have kids," she joked, Kit rumbling a chuckle as he translated.

"You do not want younglings?" Eihmo'tei asked in response.

His tone was serious, but not very. He could tell by the lighthearted chuckles that he was perhaps taking the statement too literally. It was most likely a joke, but Eihmo'tei could never really tell unless it was very exaggerated. Maybe Kiara meant what she said.

Kit and Kiara both went quiet. "Well, I, um..." the girl hedged, looking away. "I'm still not- I haven't really put that much thought into it," she mumbled.

With a sighed, she ran her hands through her hair and added, "Remember what we were talking about before? About me being half-fae?" She shrugged. "It's...difficult for half-bloods to have kids. Younglings. We don't always...match well, I guess."

Shrugging, she put the thought aside and gave him a quick smile. "Come on, let's see what we have to eat."

Eihmo'tei flattened his ears. He had not realized that this was such a touchy subject for Kiara. Once again, his ignorance to the ways of the outside world has come to bite him. When his human friend had so obviously changed the subject, he let the subject drop.

"There is nothing left in my pack." he responded.

The Zerdani did not open his pack. He did not need to. Any old foodstuffs were emptied back in the plains, and he had not stored any of the new catches.

"My leg will be fine by tomorrow. I will go hunting if we need it."

"Hmm..." Kiara ruffled through her own pack. "Well, we have enough travel rations for the next two nights, but it'll take longer than that for us to get to Cerenis... Maybe we should take the chance to hunt while we're here," she mused, glancing back at Eihmo'tei.

Frowning in concern, her eyes flicked to his leg. "You sure you'll be alright? Don't push yourself."

Eihmo'tei gave a confident smirk.

"Do not worry. It's just a bunch of cactus pricks. I just need to sit."

The Zerdani believed his own words, and his confidence reflected in his voice. However, one thing was on his mind. As ridiculous as it seemed, it was a question that needed to be asked.

"That plant... The one that did this. Is that plant able to move on its own?"

There was a noticeable shift in his tone as he asked this.

Kiara glanced at him. "Wait...what?" She paled a bit. "Are you saying...the vine you got tangled in, it moved?" Kit gave a low growl, eyes narrowing in concern.

"Well... I did not really SEE it move. My eyes were closed."

There was something in the way Kiara reacted that unsettled the little Zerdani. Was it shock, or concern, he wondered. He continued, doing what he could to give as much information as possible.

"One second, I was tangled. The next... they let me go. I did not touch them."

"Did anything feel different before they let you go?" Kiara asked urgently. Those vines had looked harmless enough, aside from the thorns, but it was entirely possible they were something she hadn't encountered before. They could merely look like the vines she was used to.

They could be magical in nature. Or possibly poisonous, which was really had her worried.

The Zerdani thought hard. Between having no options of escape and the self-imposed race against time, the situation had been too hectic for feelings of any kind.

"Not that I remember..."

With his eyes closed, Eihmo'tei had seen nothing. That was the only sense that could have detected it. Now, Kiara's concern was beginning to worry him as well. He did not know what to think of the seemingly normal plant.

"Alright. Here." She dug around in her back again and pulled out a small vial of lightly blue tinted liquid. "Drink this. It's a basic antitoxin. Just to be safe."

It was actually quite rare and expensive, but she didn't want to risk him getting sick from a stupid fine. Or worse.

"An... Tee... Wha?" he asked, taking the vial. He sniffed the liquid, and drew his head back in disgust. It smelled terrible, and he was supposed to drink it?

"Do I HAVE to? What does it do?"

"Yes, you have to," Kiara told him sternly, arching one eyebrow. "If that vine was poisonous, it'll keep the toxins from harming you. Or at least help."

"Plants can be POISONOUS?!"

This was a shocking new fact. In the desert, there were types of snakes and scorpions that could poison a Zerdani, but never a plant. He was still hesitant, but there was no choice. He downed the strange liquid, and scrunched his face as he fought the urge to spit it back up. It was just as gross as it smelled, but at least he would not get sick.

Kiara wrinkled her nose, giving him a sympathetic look as he downed the contents of the vial. "I know it tastes horrid, but it's better than the alternative," she said with an encouraging pat to his shoulder.

Giving him a wry smile, she added, "Yes, there are poisonous plants. Some you shouldn't eat and some you shouldn't even touch. I didn't think that would be a problem around here, so I didn't think to warn you." She frowned a bit.

Eihmo'tei continued attempting in vain to get the horrible taste from his mouth. As he did so, he had a thought.

"That one that caught you when you were a youngling... Was that one poisonous as well?"

He was curious, for his health did not seem so endangered when Kiara had first seen the thorny plant.

She shook her head. "No. It didn't move on it's own either, which is why I'm worried that one might be poisonous." She gave him a concerned look. "How are you feeling? Not woozy or anything?"

"Oh..."

Kiara had asked if he felt woozy, but all he did was shake his head with confidence. Zerdani hunters were no strangers to toxins, and Eihmo'tei knew what being poisoned felt like.

"I'm fine." he replied. "Maybe it was the yucky stuff, but I do not feel poisoned."

"Good." She let out a breath of relief and flashed him a smile.

The children returned, chattering and toting flasks of water, asking after Eihmo'tei's health when they saw his leg was bandaged.

Suddenly, the besieging concern was back.

"Eihmo'tei issa good."

The Zerdani was proud of his growing ability to speak the human tongue. Before long, he hoped to be able to speak and understand it well enough that Kit's translation was no longer needed.

To reassure the worried and questioning children, Eihmo'tei rose from his place on the forest floor. His leg, although no longer hurting, was still sore. He slowly put some weight on it, holding back any wincing. He stood completely upright with his combined weight distributed evenly between both legs. Acting alright, he knew that he would still need some time to heal before it got dark.

That seemed to settle the children, and they gathered around when Kiara sparked a fire. "Come on then, settle down," she urged them, throwing Eihmo'tei a concerned look. She didn't want to smother him, but she also wanted to make sure he wasn't pushing himself.

"Why don't you come here," she said with a smile, holding her hand out to him as she settled in her spot by the fire, her back to Kit's flank.

Eihmo'tei hobbled over to the fire, and sat down beside Kiara. Truthfully, he was glad to sit again, even if he had only been up for a minute or two. He stared intently into the growing flame. It was best to take it easy now, so he could be at the top of his game for the hunt tonight. It would not be long now.

Kiara patted his shoulder when he sat beside her, an absent and habitual gesture. The children chattered away, exclaiming about all the new things they'd found in these forests.

"Is Cerenis like this?" Bibi asked curiously, looking at her with wide, sparkling eyes.

Chuckling, the young woman shook her head slightly. "Not really. There are some trees, but they're different kinds. It's mostly beach."

"This... Beech... It is by the See?" asked the Zerdani.

He remembered what Kiara had told him back in Essyrn. It was the ocean that he wanted to see the most. Water as vast as the desert's sand? He envisioned such a sight as he gazed into the red and orange flames of the campfire.

"That's right." Kiara nodded. "It's a stretch of sand- but not quite like desert sand, exactly, sort of softer- that leads into the ocean. The sea," she explained with a small smile.

Perryn nodded, this information not new to him, but the other children were listening with wide eyes. She assumed they knew what a beach was in an abstract way, but had never actually seen one.

This excited Eihmo'tei, yet he did not let it show. The only indication was a big smile on his muzzle.

"Are we far away? How much longer until we get there?" he asked, at the risk of sounding like a youngling himself.

"Maybe two and a half more days by air," Kiara said with a smile when Kit translated. Her eyes flicked to Perryn and she added, "Then maybe another day to get us to Thanatos."

The boy jerked slightly and looked up at her with wide, startled eyes. She nodded and smiled at him- she saw no reason why they couldn't try to get him home.

Wordlessly he stood and suddenly leaped at her, throwing his arms around her neck. She squeaked in surprise and tottered, almost losing her balance, then awkwardly returned the hug. "Oh, um...that's alright. You're welcome?" She patted his back hesitantly, looking to Kit and Eihmo'tei for help.

The sudden activity startled the Zerdani as much as it did Kiara. It occurred to him that Perryn had never learned of that plan. It must have felt so good to go home after such a long time. Eihmo'tei could not help but to laugh at the display of emotion, and the look on Kiara's fact in reaction.

Her surprised face soon changed, and Eihmo'tei saw the pleading in her eyes. Wiping away tears, he asked, "How long has it been since you have been there?"

Sitting back a bit but still keeping his arms around Kiara's neck, Perryn sniffed and muttered, "Not since I was seven."

Kiara patted his head a little awkwardly and offered a small smile. The other children gathered around, reaching out to touch their arms or shoulders and beaming, murmuring quiet congratulations to Perryn and thanks to Kiara.

Kit huffed a bit, lowering his head to nuzzle the boy's side briefly. "Well, just give it a few more days. We'll get you home."

Hearing "seven" nearly made the Zerdani gasp. That is, before he realized that it was seven years, not seven moons. Perryn, although older than Eihmo'tei, was still a youngling. Seven years was is a very young age for a human, and leaving home so young could not have been easy. He searched for something to say to console the young human, but was drawing a blank. Instead, he gave a warm smile.

Once the congratulations had been delivered, and the emotions were beginning to settle, Eihmo'tei had a special request for Perryn. "Tell me about your home! What is your family like?"

Perryn fell silent, then a small smile twitched at his lips. "Home is...small, but nice," he said slowly. "We lived on the coast- I think everyone in my village is related somehow or another, so we alltreat each other like family."

He began to talk about parents and grandparents, older siblings, and Kiara listened with a small smile. Her heart ached for him a little though- from the way he talked, it seemed very unlikely to her that his family would have willingly let him be taken as a slave.

Just what would they be bringing him back to?

The Zerdani's mind drew many connections between Perryn's description and his own home.

"Our homes are not so different!" he said, chuckling.

He rose from his sitting position, with only a small amount of discomfort from his leg. He placed the palms of his paws on Perryn's torso. "You villij..." He put the same paws on his own torso "Me... t-tribe."

Perryn nodded, a smile breaking out across his face when he realized the sentiment the Zerdani was trying to convey. "Yeah, my home is a lot like yours actually," he agreed happily, nodding.

Watching the exchange, Kiara gave Eihmo'tei a quick smile, nodding at his progress in Common. "Alright you lot, sun's going down. Time to get some sleep," she said after a moment, unwinding the boy's arms from around her neck kindly.

The children groaned and complained, but she thought it was more for the form of thing than anything else. Shushing them, she ushered them closer to Kit's side and stretched, yawning. "You too, Eihmo'tei," she said, rubbing her neck. "Go on, I can take first watch."

"Oh Kay!" he responded, taking a spot among the younglings. Curling up to sleep felt better than he could ever imagine. It seemed like a week had passed since the Zerdani was able to get a full rest.

His leg suddenly kicked out. It was still rather sore, and the pain made it hard for him to position it normally. After some experimentation, Eihmo'tei found the most comfortable place in which to keep it. He closed his eyes, feeling the heat of the campfire on his eyelids. He had nearly forgotten such warmth in this colder land.

Smiling as she watched her charges settle herself, Kiara leaned back against Kit's flank and closed her eyes, humming contentedly.

"Happy to be home?" the dragon rumbled, quietly so as not to disturb the children.

She gave a small nod. They may be wanderers, and she could never say she felt exactly homesick for the place, but Adela and her woods and mountains were the closest thing to a true home she had.

"We should reach the coast in a few days at this pace," she murmured sleepily. "I suppose I should enjoy this while it lasts..."

Eihmo'tei was fast asleep, his face bearing a contented grin. In his slumber, the Zerdani began to dream.

In his dream, he sat on the banks of the great river back home. To each of his sides were special Zerdani from his tribe. Friends, family, even the village elder sat on the banks. Their gazes were not in him or each other, but rather, they were focused on the far eastern distance. He too looked out to see what they were seeing. The opposite bank began to stretch farther and farther away. Before long, it stretched far from sight. There was only water now. This was the "sea".

Excited, he giddily looked to his fellow tribesmen. It saddened Eihmo'tei to find that they were no longer there. Tears welled in his eyes as the sun set behind him. The full moon rising before him offered a bit of comfort, however. It's pale rays calmed him as they did many times before. He stared at it, and felt just as alone as it was. This feeling was misplaced, though. There was a hand that fell on the Zerdani's shoulder now. Turning around, he saw that it was Kiara, with Kit towering over her. To his sides were the four younglings. All of the attention was on Eihmo'tei, who teared up once again with happiness.

Looking up to the moon again, he noticed that it was never alone, not while there were stars all around it. Although many were far away from it, they still shared the same dark sky. Laying beside the fire, Eihmo'tei grinned wider, as a tear rolled down from one of his closed eyes.

Kiara's sleep was, blessedly, dreamless. She couldn't handle anymore fevered dreams or nightmare-memories just then.

She woke before she others, rising quietly and stoking the dying embers of the fire so they might be able to have a cooked breakfast. She tried to keep as silent as she could in an effort not to wake her charges, but Kit rolled over in his sleep with a massive thud, pretty much rendering her efforts useless.

Eihmo'tei rose quickly in response to the suddenly shaking earth. Still half-asleep, he scanned all around for any sign of danger, only relaxing again when he saw none. The sun's light had only just begun to illuminate the forest around them, even it was not visible as of yet. The morning air was chilly, and in the absence of the fire's warmth, the Zerdani began to shiver somewhat. Although his clothing was heavier and warmer than the normal desert garb, it was meant for desert nights, and this chill was a bit cooler than those. Now in a sitting position, he instinctively curled into a fetal position to conserve body heat.

The children began to stir and Kit himself blinked blearily awake while Kiara rolled her eyes at them all. Eihmo'tei's evident discomfort drew her attention though, and she stood, crossing over to kneel beside him.

"You alright?" she asked, laying a hand on his shoulder, brow furrowed worriedly.

Eihmo'tei nodded to Kiara's question. Those two words were asked so often, that the Zerdani knew their sound and meaning without Kit's translation.

"A bit cold... I will be fine once the sun rises more."

He lowered his ears. The large and thinly skinned appendages made to radiate body heat in the hotter desert climate were suffering the most. However, Eihmo'tei did his best to stifle his shaking. He did not want his friends to worry so much about him.

Cold. Of course he was cold, he was a desert creature. "Here." She rifled around in her pack for a few moments and emerged with a rather worn travel coat. It was more like a blanket when she wrapped it around his shoulders, but at least it was something. "It's gonna get a little colder the further north we go," she warned. "Keep ahold of this."

"It is?" asked the Zerdani, clenching the warm cloth.

"How much colder does it get? It gets hot again when the sun comes up, right?"

Living in the blistering heat of the desert all his life, Eihmo'tei has had little to no experience with the cold. The thought of the the air getting any more frigid than this was worrisome.

She tilted her head. "In Cerenis? Not too much colder. Much further north than that though and snow becomes more common." With a smile, she added reassuringly, "It will get warmer once the sun's up, but not too much, so keep the jacket, alright?"

Eihmo'tei smiled and nodded. It was a nice gift, and a little more coverage was always welcome. The smile faded as a thought came across the Zerdani's mind. Looking up at Kiara, he asked,

"Snow? What is that?"

Oh gods. She'd forgotten he wouldn't know what that was. "Er, it's like rain...but colder. And it's white..." She trailed off, frowning. "It's sort of hard to explain."

Eihmo'tei took notice of how flustered his question had made Kiara. He backed off.

"Just show me sometime, Oh kay?"

He gave a warm smile. The sun was visible through the trees now, and the Zerdani took notice. Using one claw, he began cutting and ripping the bandages from his leg. It felt as good as new.

"I need to get going if I am to catch anything..." he said softly.

Kiara gave a noncommittal grunt and a nod. She wasn't sure if he'd really want to see snow once he realized how cold it had to be for the stuff to exist.

She watched him prepare to hunt with a small frown. "You sure you're feeling up to it?" They definitely could use some more food, but she didn't want him to overexert himself.

Finishing unwrapping himself, the Zerdani rose with confidence.

"Yes. It is my turn to take care of you."

Eihmo'tei meant this sincerely. He felt that for most of the journey, Kiara had been his caretaker. She protected him, solved his problems, and guided him through this world. There was a debt owed here, one that the Zerdani was willing to repay any way he could. His leg felt weird underneath him, but it did not hurt anymore.

"I will bring something back for all of you. Do not worry."

She frowned a bit, but sensed this was something he felt he had to do. "Well...if you're sure." She gave him a small smile and a nod. "Thanks. And good hunting."

Eihmo'tei left the camp, leaving the jacket behind. He would not need it now that it was warmer. Also, moving around should also help. He took to the brush, keeping an eye out for any other harmful plants.

A long while later proved unsuccessful. This was not the desert. Every step he took through the brush made much more noise than he would have desired. All the animals that were around were adept at either climbing and flying, and detected the Zerdani long before he could get close enough to pounce.

A new beast soon came into view. It was too big for Eihmo'tei to hunt without numbers or tools, so he laid low in the brush, hiding and watching. It looked like the antelope back in the desert, but bigger. Instead of horns, there were tiny trees growing from the top of its head. Even with its advanced size, it moved with grace between the trees. Eihmo'tei watched with both awe and caution, waiting for it to pass.

Kiara attempted to keep a hold of the excited children while Eihmo'tei was busy with his hunt, eventually resorting to using Kit as a makeshift playground to keep them occupied.

The creature eventually moved on, and Eihmo'tei raised himself above the underbrush. He started for the stream. If there was any place to find good-sized prey, it was by water.

The Zerdani patrolled up the bank of the creek in the opposite direction of the water's flow. He scanned for any movement, any sign of life. The Zerdani grew anxious with the more time that passed. He had to find something. Going back empty handed was dishonorable for a hunter. Soon, he found something. Some animal was swimming along in the creek. It was bigger than a rabbit, with brown fur and a long, sleek body. It would make for a good catch if it could be caught.

Eihmo'tei followed it from the treeline, waiting for a moment to catch it. It continued up the waters, never breaking for shore. The Zerdani knew that if he went into the water to go after it, it would easily escape. He needed a better plan than that. Thinking quickly, he picked up a large stone, and continued to follow it. A good throw would stun it, hopefully long enough for him to move in. It paused, offering the perfect opportunity. Eihmo'tei let the stone fly, but misjudged the target. Instead of the head, he hit its rump, only alerting it. It started for the opposite bank.

The Zerdani cursed under his breath, and bolted for the water. It was no use. The strange beast was an accomplished swimmer and reached land in no time. He was desperate now. All Eihmo'tei wanted was to stop it from reaching the protection of the brush ahead. He scrambled through the water, but made no progress. All seemed lost. That is, until something strange happened. Another plant, just like the one the Zerdani was tied up in, snapped up from the ground and ensnared the creature. It let out a high pitched squeal, and died.

This was both a pity and a blessing. Eventually, Eihmo'tei made it across to the other bank and approached the long body of the furry river creature. He was surprised to see that the plant retreated as he neared. Was it helping him? If so, why? What would a plant have to gain? The Zerdani collected the carcass and made his way back to the camp. This would make an interesting story.

Kit heard the Zerdani approaching before Kiara did and alerted his rider with a soft huff. She glanced up and smiled, seeing that he'd managed to catch something after all.

"How'd it go?" she called as the children noticed his approach and scrambled forward, his prey as new to them as it had been to him.

It brought pride to to the Zerdani to be able to provide something for his companions. He dropped his quarry down in front of Kiara. Its slender, brown-furred body lay motionless on the forest floor.

"I think I went too late..." he admitted to the group.

"I managed to catch this... water-creature... Whatever it is."

Looking at the wounds all over its body, he thought on the circumstance in which the creature was subdued. It was still a mystery, but he had to be thankful for the miracle it brought.

"An otter?" She raised an eyebrow but set about preparing to skin the creature and prepare to put it over the fire that she'd started back up. "I've never actually eaten one of these before, but-" she glanced up at him and grinned, shrugging- "first time for everything, yeah? Thanks for hunting."

The children obediently mimicked her thanks, Ras and Tala scooting closer and asking how he'd caught the thing without any weapons.

"Ot-ter..." he repeated. The fact that Kiara had never eaten one before amused Eihmo'tei. It must not have been a very common animal, or they were hard to catch, or something. There must have been some reason humans did not eat these. If it was bad to eat, Kiara would have known. She would prepare it, so it must have been safe. He gave a grin in agreement.

Once again, it seemed Eihmo'tei would have to take the role of teaching the younglings. It was a position he enjoyed, anyway.

"When you hunt, you need to be clever. Sometimes you do not have a weapon, but that cannot be an excuse. If you fail, that means no food, and no supplies. You must know about your prey. Follow it, see what it does, how it moves..."

The Zerdani was beginning to get lost in his explanation. There was a good amount of emotion in his voice, almost as if he was telling a story.

"You must know your abilities, and look around. There are weapons everywhere if you look. I used only a stone. A stone can be as good as a spear if you use it right. A quick blow to the head, and if your prey does not die, it will be sunned or knocked out. That is when you move in."

Kit did his best to translate the emotion behind the Zerdani's words, but Kiara thought the children were rather getting the gist of it just by watching how expressively he spoke.

He really was good with them. She smiled to herself as she set about putting the otter on a stick and creating a makeshift spit over the fire.

"These are what we are taught back home." the Zerdani finished.

The memories flooded back into him now, but he did not feel too homesick. Maybe it was last night's dream. Thinking of his community and his tribesmen used to fill Eihmo'tei with sadness. Now, it did not hurt so much, not while the others were around.

"It is best to practice. Find a target, toss some stones at it. When you get better, throw harder."

His attention turned to the spit Kiara had made. Not everything was different about the humans. There were always some things that the cultures shared, even if it was by accident.

"Well, thanks for hunting," the young woman said happily. "Gods, fresh meat smells good." Even otter meat.

The children nodded agreements and gathered around, Tala tugging the Zerdani's arm to pull him with them.

Eihmo'tei was proud of himself. He really was. There was no better feeling than contributing to the party. It gave him a sense of purpose. It was an old Zerdani mindset that each tribesman had to do his part, and be a productive member, for the good of the tribe. That was why Eihmo'tei had such pride, with only a toothy smile to show it.

The Zerdani allowed the youngling to lead him over to the rest. Feeling the fire's warmth, he remembered how much colder the air was here.

Kiara sat back and watched the children chatter animatedly, their jabbering switching between Essyrni and Common with ease. She gave Eihmo'tei a quick smile when she prodded at the meat and dubbed it acceptably cooked.

"Alright everyone, dinner's served." Then, feeling like she had to because she was the "responsible adult", she added to the children, "What do you say for the food?"

Almost in unison, they turned to the Zerdani and chorused a well practiced, "Thank you!"

Eihmo'tei's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. He was surprised beyond words, not expecting such a gesture. This was yet another strange human custom. The show of appreciation was not the strange part, it was the ability to do it in unison and on command like that.

The shocked gape quickly changed into an expression of heartfelt joy. It felt good to receive such thanks from the younglings. He bowed his head low and smiled, his way of returning the sentiment.

Giggling at his response, the children tucked into their meal with gusto.

Kiara glanced over at her little friend and gave him a wry smile. "I take it Zerdani have different customs?" she ventured, judging by how surprised he'd seemed.

This... "Otter"... didn't taste too different from other kinds of meat. In fact, the Zerdani was comparing it to hare meat in his head. His focus was mainly on the small pocks he saw all over the cooked flesh. They were hard to see, even for Eihmo'tei, who was searching for them.

Kiara's question caught him by surprise. He paused, his sharp teeth halfway finished ripping a chunk of meat off his share. He released it, ready to answer her.

"Not exactly... It was just strange to see everyone say the same thing at the same time."

Kiara chuckled lightly at that. "I guess there are some things most kids just know," she said with a shrug, grinning.

After giving a smile, Eihmo'tei was back to it. He continued ripping the meat from his portion. It was easy with such sharp teeth. It must have looked savage to his human companions, but he did not care. He was lost in the taste of it. It had been a long time since his last flame cooked meal. All the other human manners of preparation were a nice change, but this was the most familiar. Back home, all meats were cooked like this.

Picking at her own food, Kiara waited until it seemed her charges were mostly finished before she started packing up, patting Kit's flank to wake him from the doze he'd fallen into.

"Alright." She smiled around. "Ready to hit the road again?"

The Zerdani was at work cleaning every scrap of meat off his bones. Looking up, he saw Kiara pay Kit. It must have been time to leave. Eihmo'tei discarded the nearly polished bone in his paws. He was finished eating.

"Redee!" he answered.

Smiling at his ever increasing use of Common- heavily accented though it was- Kiara stood aside and let her charges clambor aboard the dragons back before swinging up herself and patting his neck.

Kit flared his wings and shook himself lightly before launching into the air, banking left to turn in a small circle as he oriented himself before turning off to sail over the trees.

Eihmo'tei always forgot how much of a strain the lurching takeoffs put on his body. The flying was not so bad anymore, but maybe going directly after eating was not a good idea. There was a slight feeling of nausea this time.

It was not too strong, so the Zerdani did his best to power through it. He locked up and looked around at the scenery in an attempt to take his mind off of the feeling.

"What do you think?" Kiara called over the wind, gesturing to the forest below them. "Different view from the desert, huh?"

"Yes..." he responded. A conversation was just what the Zerdani needed now.

"So much is different. The place with the grass... This "forest"... Your world is so strange, but so wonderful too."

Eihmo'tei spoke casually. This topic did not sadden him like it used to, but neither was he overjoyed. The tone was balanced evenly between the two extremes.

Listening to Kit's translation, Kiara responded softly, laying her hand on his shoulder, "It's your world too, you know." She leaned around to smile at him.

Those words really got to Eihmo'tei. This was his world, the same one he and his people have lived on since the dawn of their history. The only thing that changed was the location.

"My world..." he said flatly.

"Perhaps. My world... the world of my kind, was only sand and rock. This is all unfamiliar."

His eyes never left the landscape below. The Zerdani scanned it for any changes that would be of interest.

Kiara bit her lip. "Maybe you can make it another part of your world," she suggested quietly, hoping it was the right thing to say.

"Yes..."

For the first time, he looked not at what was below, but rather he looked on towards the horizon. His voice rang out again, confident and bold.

"I will explore it all! Then all the Zerdani will know how large our world really is. For the first time ever, we will know that there is more to the world than desert!"

Kiara smiled delightedly at his exuberance. She rubbed the spot between his ears encouragingly. "You'll be the greatest adventurer scholar your people have ever seen."

"Aven'tara Skala." he repeated.

"Exploring and... Skala-ing..."

He did not understand what that new word meant, but it had to be positive for Kiara to say it in such a positive manner. Eihmo'tei was now filled with excitement.

Sensing his hesitation at the new word, Kiara asked, "Do Zerdani not have scholars? Ah- people who's job is to learn, study."

Eihmo'tei had listened to Kit's translation intently. He repeated it carefully in his head a few times, trying to understand it. It was just an odd question. Someone whose job is to learn?

"Umm... Like a youngling?"

In the tribe, younglings were taught several skills by both their parents and professionals. Most of the teaching was paws-on, but if they were still young, perhaps their only job was to learn.

"I don't understand." he said with a shrug.

This puzzled the Zerdani. More explanation would probably be needed.

Kit chuckled as he translated and Kiara bit her lip. "Er...not quite." She tried to figure out the best way to explain, saying slowly, "A scholar can be any age, but most of them are older. People who make it their goal in life to learn as much about the world as possible, and share that knowledge with others... Does that make sense?" She'd hoped she'd got the point across, but she was hardly a scholar herself.

"Oh!" he said once realization hit. Understanding the question, he continued.

"Well... no. Our world is only the desert around the tribes, or so we thought. There is not much more to learn about... Anything we learn is taught by the adults. When we are young, we learn to hunt... to make tools... how to survive. That's really all we need to know."

Kiara gave him a crooked grin. "Then you can be the first," she said cheerfully, patting his shoulder.

This proved to be another stroke of confidence.

"Yes!" he answered with the same cheerful tone. "One day, I may even be wiser than Takalo. When it is my turn to be elder, there will be so much I can help my people with."

Eihmo'tei was lost in the thought of the day he would become the new elder of his tribe. It would be a long while away, but it was nice to think about it all the same.

That was something about his tribe that had intrigued her. "So...your elder," she began slowly. "Is that just...the oldest member of your tribe? Or do you choose them somehow?"

Eihmo'tei looked to Kiara now. He was happy that she wanted to learn about his tribe, just as he wanted to know about the human world. This reflected in his widened eyes.

"Oh yes! The elder is the oldest. When an elder has died, the next oldest of our tribe takes their place. There is a ceremony, and they change their name."

"Change their name?" She tilted her head. "How do you mean? Like...they just take on the title?"

Once again, Eihmo'tei found himself in a teaching role. He relished this, to be able to teach beings that were so much more advanced than he was.

"They become "Elder", yes, but they also change the name they were given. A male will become "Takalo", a female will become Ufi'ke."

"Huh." She considered that for a moment. "Dot hose names mean something specific then? And what was Takalo's name before?"

"Actually... I do not know Takalo's before name. I was young when he became elder..."

Not knowing the elder's before name was normally not such a bad thing. However, Eihmo'tei felt almost embarrassed for not remembering it. He answered the other question to take his mind off of it.

"All the tribes do it. Takalo and Ufi'ke were the first two Zerdani created by our god. They are father and mother to all of us."

Kiara smiled. "That sound like quite a story," she said, glancing back at the children. "Would you mind telling it?"

"Oh... Umm..."

Eihmo'tei, too, looked at the children from around Kiara. They certainly seemed eager to hear it. The story of their race's creation was a rather interesting story. He looked back to Kit, somewhat apologetically. It could not have been easy to constantly talk for both parties. He owed it to the dragon to one day learn the human tongue.

"...Sure. All Zerdani know the tale."

He hesitated only for a moment, collecting his thoughts and thinking how to start the story.

"A long time ago, the Zerdani did not exist. We were only animals, just like the other creatures in the desert. One day, a god showed up... We do not know from where. The god favored us, and used its power to make us smarter. There were only two, a male and a female, that the god named Takalo and Ufi'ke. They stood up on their back paws, and their front paws were free to grab things. They were able to speak now, in a language like no other animal's. However, once the two were created, the god disappeared. In its place, a huge tree grew, with an oasis around its roots. This tree grew fruit, and that fruit fed Takalo and Ufi'ke. They had younglings, their younglings had younglings, and so on. They were the first tribe."

The children listened with rapt attention as Kit did his best to translate diligently.

Kiara tilted her head, struck by how similar the story was to some other creation myths she'd heard. Although perhaps it shouldn't be surprising- she seemed to be constantly discovering little connections between Eihmo'tei's people and the rest of the world.

"What happened to them?" Bibi piped up curiously. "The first tribe. Does it still exist?"

Eihmo'tei gave a slight chuckle. It made him happy to be asked such questions.

"No... Not anymore. The first tribe grew too big, and they had eaten all the fruit on the tree. With the first two long gone, the Zerdani did not know what to do. There was no one to guide them. It was the elders, the wisest of all the tribe, that came up with a solution. The tribe would be split up, and would spread out into the desert. Everyone was so scared, but they had no choice. They broke up into groups and settled in different areas around the tree. That is how the different tribes were made, and all of them are still around today. We learned how to survive off the land, kinda like our animal ancestors did before us. To honor those elders and their wisdom, each tribe would have one elder, a Zerdani that is wise enough to guide their tribe when there is trouble. The tree eventually grew fruit again, but we do not eat it out of respect for the first tribe."

"Have you ever been to the tree?" Perryn asked in fascination, eyes wide.

Kiara simply smiled at the children's interest, letting her hand rub back and forth of Kit's shoulder absently as the dragon translated.

"Oh of course! Most Zerdani have seen it at least once."

Eihmo'tei spoke smugly, loving the attention he was getting from the young humans.

"It is as tall as the trees here, but the trunk is much much wider. It almost looks like it grew from the oasis itself. I cannot explain it, but you can feel something... strange there. It is a kinda... feeling... in the air..."

The Zerdani went quiet, but only for a brief moment. He looked away, seemingly pensive about something.

"Elder Takalo says it is the spirit of the first two, looking over their younglings."

Listening with interest, the children's eyes went wide as Kit translated.

"That seems nice," Tala murmured after a moment. "Having someone looking after you..."

Kiara winced a bit at that. These children had been slaves most of their lives- they probably never had the chance to have real parents.

Eihmo'tei easily detected the tone of Tala's murmuring. This was almost enough to put a damper on his mood. The Zerdani knew their background, and felt pity for all four of them.

Instead of staying quiet, and letting the atmosphere become awkward, Eihmo'tei thought of an appropriate response. When he had felt homesick or insignificant, there was always something Kiara would say to make him feel better. Now she said nothing, so it was his turn to help.

"You would know. You have us looking after you!"

He offered a smile to the young girl. His tone was kind and sincere.

Both Kiara and the children started and stared at him. Then Tala's face broke into a grin and she nodded happily.

Kiara smiled at him and said softly, "That's awfully sweet of you, Eihmo'tei.

Eihmo'tei once again smiled with pride. Perhaps he was already wiser than Takalo.

"It is true! That is exactly what any of you would have said to me."

She gave his shoulder a quick squeeze, then let her hand drop, glancing over Kit's side as the landscape flashed by below them.

"How you holding up, Kitten?" she murmured, patting his flank.

The dragon snorted at the pet name and muttered, "I could fly for days. I'll land us at sunset for the hatchlings."

Eihmo'tei continued looking down to the forest. Everywhere he looked, there were green trees. Their canopy stretched as far as the eye could see.

"The forest is really big!" he said aloud. "Much bigger than the dese- ...What is that?"

In the distance, there was a huge and very faraway shape. It looked like a dune, but green. It loomed on the horizon, over the trees that stretched out that far. Upon closer examination, there were more behind it, somewhat hazy and veiled behind what looked like low laying clouds. The curious Zerdani pointed at them.

"What are those, Kiara?"

"It's probably about the same size, actually," Kiara mused, then looked where he pointed. "Oh, those are mountains. Smallish ones, those are the foothills of the Thunderblacks. Er...huge piles of rock that stretch into the sky," she tried to explain.

"Huge piles of rocks..." he repeated under his breath.

Inquisitively, he asked another few questions. "So, they are like giant dunes? They go all the way into the sky? As high as us?"

She nodded slowly. Well, if that was how he best understood it. "Some of them come this high. Some are taller, some shorter," she replied with a little shrug.

"Taller?!" he exclaimed, looking straight down to the trees below. They were so high up, it was dizzying. Eihmo'tei imagined the image of such a thing.

"Every Zerdani in the desert could make a home in just one of those..." he said softly.

"Probably," Kiara agreed, chuckling. "but I don't think they'd like it too much. It gets cold, especially the closer you get to the tops."

That piece of knowledge was disappointing to Eihmo'tei. "Oh... Yes, we would not..." he muttered.

The cold was something he had nearly forgotten about. Now on his mind again, he felt it. The passing wind also did not help this. The Zerdani pulled Kiara's gifted jacket closed around him. Luckily, it was big enough to cover most of him.

She noticed him huddling further into the jacket and frowned slightly. "Hey, you doing alright?" she asked, laying a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at her in reaction, then looked back. Kiara asked him that so many times, the word "alright" was known by heart.

"I issa alrite. I am not used to this. I need time to adjust..."

Frowing a bit, still concerned, Kiara said slowly, "Okay... Just tell me if you get too cold or something. Promise?" The last thing she needed was him getting hypothermia, or worse.

Eihmo'tei laid his paw on Kiara's hand, pressing it down into his own shoulder. He turned to face her, and stared into her eyes.

"I promise." he said sincerely.

He wholeheartedly meant this. His people knew the importance of a promise. However, he believed that this weather just needed some getting used to. Like anything, he hoped a day or so of exposure would be just what he needed.

"Alright." She ruffled the patch of fur between his ears affectionately. "It'll be warmer when we're on the ground. And the coast is pretty mild, you'll like Cerenis."

"I cannot wait!"

He spoke with an excited tone. He faced forward again, looking into the horizon with determination in his eyes.

"I want to see this "Sea".

Kiara chuckled, patting his shoulder encouragingly. "Just a few more days, we'll get there."

The Zerdani became lost in fantasy. He imagined the endless waters of the sea, and the human city that supposedly lay next to it. He imagined another Essyrn, although something was telling him it would be different. With different landscapes, and different environments, perhaps the human communities were different as well.

Belowthem, the ground became less flat. The elevation changed ever so slightly, gently rising and falling as they flew. Eihmo'tei observed, thinking of the terrain of his homeland.

Hours of flaying and the landscape changed below them. A few hours before sunset, Kiara called for Kit to land, not wanting him to overexert himself and have to lose a day of travel while he rested and got his strength back.

Eihmo'tei braced himself. Landings always seemed to put a rock in his stomach, but this time it was a little more intense for some reason. It was nothing the little Zerdani could not handle. He looked as the foliage got closer and closer. The trees here were amazing in both size and greenery. He felt as if he would never tire of seeing them.

Kiara jumped down from Kit's back almost before his paws touched the ground, turning in a small circle to scope out his landing site.

It would do for a quick camp, she decided after a few moments of consideration. Over her shoulder, she called to the children and Eihmo'tei, "Alright, everybody climb down, you know the drill by now."

Eihmo'tei admired how his human friend was able to leap from such a height. Then again, it was not so much of a height for her. The terrain here was much more rocky, with stones of varying size littered everywhere. The Zerdani knew that if he had done the same, he would most likely hurt himself, so he did not. Instead, he carefully climbed down.

Once on the ground, he too scanned around. The air seemed... thinner... here than the last landing location. Also, the air was cooler and more fresh. He held the jacket somewhat tightly. This time, he did not rush off right away, for the forest was not as new to him. Eihmo'tei hung around, making sure everyone was successfully situated.

Kiara glanced over at the Zerdani, seeing him hug the jacket closer around himself, and frowned slightly in concern. They were at a higher elevation now, maybe it was getting to be too much for him.

"You doing okay? Too cold?"

"Just keeping it close..." he answered.

There was a brief moment of thought. The jacket was low to the ground, and heavy. Eihmo'tei knew that he could not perform well in it. However, it would become a necessity if the air became any colder.

"It is so heavy." he started again. "Maybe in Serenis someone can make one that will fit me?"

When Kit translated that, Kiara nodded with a quick smile. "I'm sure we'll find something." Maybe a child's coat? He probably wouldn't be thrilled with the intended owners of such a thing, but it might serve as a quick solution.

"Thank you." he replied warmly.

The Zerdani paced around, feeling the rocky earth beneath his feet and feeling the cool, crisp air on his fur. He did this to get more used to his surroundings, for he intended to leave soon.

"Soon I will go scout around." he told his human and dragon companions.

Kiara frowned at that, helping the children set up a small camp. "If you like," she said with a small shrug. "Just be careful. Don't go too far."

Eihmo'tei gave a small chuckle.

"You worry too much." he chided playfully.

Now with his bearings, the Zerdani decided which direction to go. "I am just going to look around, maybe find some water."

With that, he put the jacket down and made peace with the slight chill. He started off slowly in the direction he chose.

"I worry exactly the right amount," Kiara called after him, huffing, but she made no further protest. It seemed silly to try to keep him in camp when his whole reason for leaving the desert was to explore.

Eihmo'tei explored with a more hurried pace. After all, he wanted to be back before the air became too cold. Leaving the jacket behind was risky, but the weight of it alone would have slowed him down. Also, there was too much brush for it to get stuck on.

Eihmo'tei quickly but carefully treaded the precarious terrain. The steep slopes of this area reminded him of the desert's dunes. However, where those were mostly soft sand, this was hard stone and tree roots. Eihmo'tei headed downhill, where water always tended to be.

Kiara flitted around their little campsite, keeping an eye on the children, who seemed much less inclined to wander here, where it was a bit chillier, than they had been down in the warmer forests.

Before long, Eihmo'tei discovered something quite odd. There was a long and narrow path between the trees, devoid of underbrush. It stretched out of sight, and continued downhill. The Zerdani had no way of knowing just how far it went, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. Slowly and carefully, he continued forward.

On and on he followed it, until he heard it. Rushing water. Eihmo'tei's caution faded, and his pace quickened. This water was louder than usual, which was odd to the little Zerdani. There was something different here, and he was determined to find out what. At the base of the hill, he saw it a river. It was just like the one at home, though not as wide, and with much faster moving water. However, that was not the end of the path. It curved off, running parallel to the riverbank.

Eihmo'tei had a decision to make here: Go back and report this, or continue down the path to see what was at the end. Logic told him to do the former. It was getting later by the second, and with it, the air was getting cooler. Without Kiara's jacket, he would surely freeze if he took too long, and there was no telling just how far it went. Unfortunately, the natural curiosity of the Zerdani proved once again to be his weakness.

"If I take too long, I will turn back. I should not get lost if I follow this path..." he said quietly to himself. And with that, he padded on to discover what mysteries the trail held.

They set up camp, started a fire, gathered enough wood to last the night, passed out rations, and Kiara even told the children a short story and still Eihmo'tei hadn't returned.

The young woman was getting worried, glancing in the direction he'd gone every few minutes as she fidgeted.

She'd give a few more minutes. A few more minutes, then she'd tell Kit to watch the kids and she'd go after him.

(WHEW!!! My fingers hurt! Sorry for the long read, I accidentally wrote a novel... :o)

It took a considerable amount of time, but the Zerdani eventually made an amazing discovery.

"It seems moving forward paid off! But... What is it?" he said quietly.

Eihmo'tei looked upon a strange structure. It vaguely resembled a human's dwelling from Essyrn, but instead of stone, the sides were made of fallen tree trunks. Sitting on the side of the coursing river, there was definitely no way this was natural.

"Humans must have made it. Is it a home?"

Once again persuaded by caution, the Zerdani carefully advanced. By the looks of things, there were no humans outside anywhere. If any did live here, they were either inside or out in the wilderness. Remembering the hostile humans in the plains, Eihmo'tei knew he should not be taken by surprise. He moved in, closer and closer, ready to react to any sign of life.

Now at the wall, the Zerdani continued to survey the area. There was great tension, and a fear that many beings rarely felt. However, there was also excitement as well as the feeling of discovery. Every step was cautious. No corner was turned without checking first. All seemed perfectly safe so far.

With some more ground covered, Eihmo'tei happened upon a strange human... thing. Made of tied sticks, it stood like an animal with four legs. On the horizontal stick, five long fish were suspended by their tails. The Zerdani stood in awe, both of the contraption and the size of the fish. These things were almost as long as he was tall, easily dwarfing any fish caught from the river back home.

Already cut open and gutted, they were pretty much ready to cook. But, who did this? There was still no sign of anyone anywhere. A thought entered Eihmo'tei's mind now. If he brought some of these back to camp, the whole group (well... not Kit.) would be fed for the night. Maybe Kiara even knew a special way to cook these like with the rabbits.

Unsheathing his knife and stretching as high as he could, the Zerdani cut the binds of two fish. He would leave the other two, not wanting the one who caught these to starve. He draped the long fish over his shoulders to carry them. They were heavy, and had a rather unpleasant scent, but it would be worth it to get these back to camp. Just then, a sharp sound rang out from the river.

HEY!

There was a human out on the water, the one place the Zerdani did not think to look. It sat on a long floating thing. A "boat"? Eihmo'tei had no time to gawk. The human was angry about something, and kept yelling something in the common tongue. He started for the bank, and Eihmo'tei panicked. He did not want to face the human's wrath, not again. He ran off for the trail, fish still shouldered. The Zerdani had a head start, but the weight of the fish slowed him down. Should the human make it to shore and give chase, he was not sure if he could get away.

"I have to get to the camp!"

Those words kept racing through the Zerdani's mind as he trotted off.

[Haha, no problem!]

"Alright." Kiara stood with a sharp breath, brushing herself off. "Kit, watch the little ones, I'll be right back." She turned and trotted off after Eihmo'tei.

She was starting to get really worried, but she didn't want to show it in front of the kids. But the Zerdani had been gone a while...

The climb up was harder. Between carrying two heavy fish and the difficult terrain, the Zerdani could not move fast at all. At least the way was clear. Had there been brush in the way, progress would have stopped entirely. Behind, he could hear the heavy footsteps and angered muttering of the human behind him. Eihmo'tei could not stop. Any faltering could lead to an uncertain, and most likely harmful, fate at his hands.

Up the slope in the distance, there was another figure. This one was more friendly, however.

"Kiara!" he called out.

The Zerdani raced for her as quickly as was possible, knowing she would protect him from the angry human. Once there, he would duck down behind her.

"Eihmo'tei!" Kiara breathed a sigh of relief that was quickly replaced with confusion when the Zerdani scurried around behind her. She knelt and twisted to look at him, flicking her eyes down the path at the figure chasing after him.

"What happened-" Her eyes found the fish and she started to put pieces together. "Oh dear..."

"Get back here!" the man huffed as he closed the distance. He was very obviously annoyed, and chasing the creature uphill did not help improve his mood. Eihmo'tei tucked in behind Kiara, positioning himself on the opposite side of her from the aggravated man. The Zerdani had never been so frightened before.

"And who are you?!"

Kiara raised her hands peaceably, trying for a sheepish smile for the stranger. "Hello. Look, I'm sorry, it seems there's been a misunderstanding..."

Glancing down at Eihmo'tei, she tried to confirm her suspicions. "Hun, where'd you get those fish?" She pointed at the fish, then shrugged her shoulders up and furrowed her brow in dramatic puzzlement.

"I'll tell you where he got them." the man interrupted with his harsh tone. "Your little... pet... here cut them off my fish rack!"

Eihmo'tei's ears flattened against his head. He could tell from Kiara's actions that he had definitely done something wrong. He would not speak, but his face reflected his guilt. He did not dare to protest, for he was wrong here, and he did not want to upset Kiara as well.

He readied the fish for what he knew Kiara would ask of him next.

Resisting the urge to scowl at the word "pet", Kiara forced another smile and tried to talk the man down. "Look, I'm really sorry about this. Eihmo'tei- my friend here- isn't really...he's not from around here, he didn't understand."

Kneeling next to the Zerdani, she held her hand out for the fish. "I know you were just trying to help," she said kindly. "But you can't just take things like that. We'll hand them over and everything's gonna be okay."

The Zerdani could not understand her words, but got the gist of what she was saying. It was just like back home, when a mother gently reprimands their youngling. Kiara could have been more annoyed, but she was not. For this, Eihmo'tei was thankful. However, the whole scenario was still rather embarrassing.

The two heavy fish were already off his shoulder. Now, he handed them over. His eyes only watched the ground, his lips were closed and silent. The Zerdani was not pouting, but feeling remorse. He meant no harm, only to bring something back to feed the others. He was still fearful of the annoyed eyes of the man looming over them both.

"Thanks." Kiara ruffled the fur between his ears affectionately as she took the fish, then stood and turned to face the stranger.

"Sorry about that," she said, holding his catch out. "But look, they're fine, see? No real harm done."

The man merely huffed as one of his crossed arms reached out to receive the fish. He grasped them right below the tails with one strong hand and brought them back to his chest. His expression never changed.

"Just take that... that whatever-it-is, and get off my land." He snarled and looked down upon the Zerdani, pointing with his free hand.

"If I ever see that thing near my cottage again, it will be the one hanging from a rack!"

Eihmo'tei gave a quiet, yet audible yipe in response. Again, the words were unknown, but he recognized a threat when he heard it. With that, the woodsman stormed off back down the steep path. The Zerdani was still remorseful, but honestly considered himself lucky to be alive.

Kiara narrowed her eyes at the man. Alright, so Eihmo'tei shouldn't have taken the fish, but it wasn't like he'd done any real harm.

"Jackass," she muttered, making a face at his retreating back. With a sigh she ran her hand through her hair and glanced down at the Zerdani. Her lips quirked up on one side.

"C'mon, little troublemaker," she chuckled quietly, reaching down to take one of his paws and starting back toward camp.

The chuckling was perplexing to Eihmo'tei. He was in trouble, right? All the Zerdani could manage was a nervous smile. He let Kiara lead them back to the camp, but he genuinely believed that this was not over.

Kit greeted them with a questioning huff when they returned to camp and the children smiled and waved, asking after Eihmo'tei's adventures.

Releasing his paw, Kiara gave the Zerdani's head another pat and moved away to talk to Kit quietly, explaining what had happened.

Eihmo'tei was happy to see the others, but still had a sullen look on his face. Collecting the jacket he had left behind, he sat down beside the fire. The adrenaline rush from what had happened died down now, and the Zerdani could once again feel the chill in the air. He stared into the flames, contemplating on how he could redeem himself for his actions.

Settling herself against Kit's side, Kiara tossed some of their travel rations toward Eihmo'tei. "Here, we ate while you were out exploring."

The rations hitting the ground beside him startled the Zerdani, and snapped him out of his guilty daze. He picked them up and looked to Kiara. His eyes still reflected remorse, but also showed gratefulness. He was appreciative that Kiara had not further scolded him.

"Thank... You." he said softly. Those were human words he had practiced quite a few times.

"Yeah, of course." She grinned at him. "I mean, not as good as fresh fish, but..." she teased lightly, Kit chuckling as he translated.

Eihmo'tei recoiled at this, once again flattening his ears. From Kit's chuckling, he could tell that Kiara was joking around with him. Even so, he still dreaded the whole ordeal. He ate his rations silently, wanting nothing more than to forget.

The children, of course, wanted to know what had taken Eihmo'tei so long that Kiara had gone after him. Kit translated their questions with a small smirk, eyes glinting.

"Oh... Well..."

The last thing that Eihmo'tei wanted to do was recount the tale. However, he did not want to disappoint the younglings.

"I found a river... and something else too. There was a home there, made of trees... The human who lived there had four fish hanging outside. I wanted to bring two back for you all, and leave two for him. Well, he saw me and got mad. If Kiara was not there..."

It was a painful memory. The Zerdani found it difficult to utter another word.

The children immediately started yammering, wanting to hear more details. "Alright, alright, guys," Kiara said, hushing them with hand gestures and a quick look. "Been a bit of a long day, leave Eemo alone, yeah?" She shot him a quick smile.

Eihmo'tei returned the smile, thanking her for getting them off his back. He finished the rations, then pulled the jacket tightly around himself. The day was getting late, and the little desert-dweller was the most affected by the steadily dropping temperature. The fire was a godsend.

Kiara smiled kindly as the Zerdani huddled up. "Think it's time to turn in, guys," she called to her charges, standing and stretching and then making her way around to usher them all into bedrolls.

Eihmo'tei looked upon them intently. Leave it to humans to invent a warmer thing to sleep in. It was so clever, and so simple at the same time. Back home, the Zerdani slept only in the soft sand inside their holes. Curling up in clothing with a bushy tail to cover oneself usually did the trick on even the coldest of desert nights, but this was not the desert. It was much colder here for a member of a species that only knew heat.

With the jacket still over him, the Zerdani pushed his way nose-first between the two sheets. It was cramped in here, even for him. He spent a few minutes just moving around inside the bedroll.

Kiara giggled quietly, watching him get settled. Lowering her voice a bit, she knelt next to the bedroll and said, "Hey, if you're getting too cold you can share one of those, alright? Body heat helps."

Finding the entrance again, Eihmo'tei poked his head out. "What was that."

After hearing Kit translate the option, he refused. "Thank you, but I think it is warm enough in this... thing."

"Suit yourself." She patted his head and moved to slip into her own bedroll, curling up against Kit's side with a tired sigh and almost immediately drifting off.

Eihmo'tei smiled and brought his head back in. Inside the bedroll, he curled up like always. The jacket did make this a bit difficult, but the Zerdani was able to manage. Being surrounded on all sides by warmth was a nice feeling.

It was different from desert warmth. The heat, instead of falling from the sky, came from all around. It seemed to stick to the Zerdani all over his body. He was not sure if he was comfortable with this kind of warmth.

Soon, it became hard to breathe. The air was becoming thinner by the second. Finding the entrance again, Eihmo'tei poked his muzzle out and took some fresh breaths. Now comfortable and not suffocating, the tired Zerdani was able to gently fall asleep.

While Kiara was used to the climate, none of her charges were. Tala, Bibi, Perryn, and Ras all somehow moved closer and closer to her over the course of the night so when she fuzzily woke at sunrise and moved to roll over, she found herself blocked by the girl's at her back, Perryn and Ras just a bit further away.

She gave an amused little huff and shook her head, sitting up slowly so as not to wake them and looking around for Eihmo'tei.

All that could be seen of Eihmo'tei was the end of his snout, poking out of the bedroll. He was snoring, something he usually never did. The rest of his body was a motionless lump under the top sheet of the bedroll. With his face mostly covered, he did not notice the sunlight yet.

Kiara decided not to wake everyone just yet and climbed up onto Kit's back to avoid clambering over the children, sliding down his tail to move around and stoke up the dying embers that had once been a campfire.

The scent of smoke from the smoldering fire made it to Eihmo'tei's nose. He started waking up slowly, surprised by the chill on his nose. He began to emerge, and squinted in response to the amount of light that was present. Seemingly none of it made it inside the bedroll, and the Zerdani found himself confused and disoriented.

Now half-in and half out, Eihmo'tei proceeded with his morning stretching routine. Then it hit him. The transition from extreme warmth to the chill of the morning air left the Zerdani shaking. He zipped back inside, only exposing his face to the outside world.

Kiara glanced up when she heard the Zerdani shifting around, then chuckled. "Chilly?" she asked quietly, nose crinkling up slightly and eyes glinting.

"How can humans stand this without fur?" he asked quietly. Only his eyes and mouth moved as he talked.

"Oh wait..." he added, noticing that Kit was still sleeping. He withdrew the question. There would be no translation from him any time soon.

While she didn't understand exactly what he was saying, Kiara thought she got the gist. "Bring the bedroll over here," she urged, beckoning with her hand to indicate he should come closer to the fire.

Kiara was gesturing or him to come over, but he was hesitant to leave the warmth of the bedroll. Looking at the fire, the Zerdani saw that his human friend had gotten it lit once again. It looked nice and warm. He took a breath and left. He quickly and clumsily made his way over, shaking violently the entire way. Now sitting beside Kiara and the fire, Eihmo'tei felt warmer. There were still some shivers every so often, but it was better than nothing.

"The Zerdani would not like this..." he muttered quietly.

She didn't know exactly what he'd said, operating without Kit as a translator, but Kiara could tell he was obviously uncomfortable. "Here." She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tugged him against her side, rubbing his arm slightly in an effort to keep him warm.

The Zerdani rested his head against the human's side. She was warm somehow, either because of the clothes, or because she was physically better at holding body heat. Perhaps both. Eihmo'tei was not completely awake either. He sat there with his weight against his human friend, the occasional shiver still going up his spine every so often. Once the day got warmer, this would be better. The Zerdani wished he was used to it already.

Gradually, the children and the dragon awoke, going through various stages of yawns and stretches and shuffling closer to the fire, a few mumbling different variations of, "Good morning."

Eihmo'tei greeted the waking members of the party, realizing how dry his throat was as he talked. Picking up his waterskin, he took some cool gulps of water. Unfortunately, his supply had been low. The few gulps he took depleted it, much to his dismay. Of all the times to run out of water...

He knew where the river was, and where the path was that led to it. However, he did not want to travel there because it was close to the hostile human's dwelling. The Zerdani's brain was still in desert mode.

"I must get water when it is available, because I do not know when I will find some again."

He thought on this, looking pensively at his empty waterskin.

Starting to pack up, Kiara took stock of the supplies they had left. "Kit," she called, grabbing the dragon's attention. "Watch the little ones for a bit, I'm going to refill on water and see if there's any useful herbs down by the riverbank."

The children protested, wanting to come along, but she firmly told them to stay put. She didn't want someone wandering onto that fisherman's land by accident and pissing him off again.

Eihmo'tei was able to read his companion's movements. Also he recognized the word "River". She was going for water.

"I need to go too!" he called out, holding up his waterskin.

The Zerdani did not want to go alone. Going with Kiara would help him feel safe.

"Well..." She hesitated, then relented with a sigh, "Okay, but stay close, alright? Close," Kiara repeated, gesturing between herself and the Zerdani and making a "small" gesture by holding two fingers together.

"Close..." he repeated, quickly closing the paw with the waterskin in the other.

He would then follow Kiara's lead. He was confident she knew the way to the path, and he really did not want to go off and risk losing her.

It was fairly easy to follow the sound of running water tot he river, and Kiara spent a majority of the time glancing over her shoulder to make sure Eihmo'tei was still with her before she eventually climbed down the bank and set about filling the water flasks.

Heading to the bank himself, the Zerdani paused when something glinted on the path's bend. It was not far at all, only a few dozen feet from Kiara. Padding over, he saw what it was. It was a human contraption made of dull metal. It was in the shape of a circle, with sharp spines facing the sky. It reminded Eihmo'tei of an open mouth with teeth. It was definitely more complex that the other pieces of metal he had seen throughout the journey. It must have belonged to that human who lived in the water further down the path. Why was it here? Did he put it down for a reason, or did he simply drop it and not notice?

"Kiara? What issa dis?" he called out.

""Hm? What-" She looked up and her eyes widened. "Get away from that!"

Springing to her feet, Kiara lunged forward and grabbed his shoulder, yanking him back from the trap.

Eihmo'tei could not react quickly enough to Kiara's shrill command. He had only begun backing up when he felt her grip on his shoulder. He almost lost his balance due to this.

He was extremely confused now. "What?! What?!" he questioned. This think must have been extremely dangerous to warrant such panic.

"That's a trap," Kiara explained, wincing guiltily and reaching down to try to right him. She'd probably over reacted.

"Um, see the teeth?" She pointed. "If you trigger it, it snaps closed." She mimed the motion with her hands, quick and violent.

"Eep!" he cried, seeing the motion of the human's hands. He was horrified. To think something like that could exist... And he almost touched it!

"Thassa... Trap." he repeated, looking back at it. His eyes were still wide in horror.

"Yes." She nodded. "Trap. Very dangerous. They're normally used for hunting. Um- hunting," Kiara repeated, miming throwing a spear in an effort get the concept across.

"Oh! Hunt!" he said. It was a word he remembered learning from Takalo back in the desert. Now his look changed from horror to amazement. Humans had such weird ways of doing everything.

"How does it work?" he asked.

"Well, ah.." Kiara glanced at the trap. She supposed as long as she reset it, springing it wouldn't do too much harm. "Like this." She searched around for a moment, found a reasonably long stick, and prodded the trap.

With a click and a snap, the teeth of the trap cracked the stick in two and even Kiara- who had been expecting it- instinctively flinched back.

Eihmo'tei watched intently. That only made the the shock more intense.

Once it activated, the Zerdani sprang backwards. Between the speed, the power, and the damage done to the stick, he had never been so startled in his life. Once he landed again, he found that the terrain was not kind. There was a gentle slope here, and the earth was much softer. He fell backwards, rolling down the riverbank and into the rushing water.

"Oh, fu-!" Cursing, Kiara slipped down the slope and waded out into the water a bit, reaching her hand out for the Zerdani. "Eihmo'tei, grab on!"

Raised in the desert, Eihmo'tei had never really learned how to swim properly. He could keep himself afloat, but that was pretty much it. This water moved rather quickly, faster than anything he was used to at home. Before the Zerdani could even reach out, the river had pulled him well out of range of Kiara's outstretched hand.

The current had him now. Staying afloat was challenging in the racing waters. He tried calling for help, only to be dunked under. Yelling was useless. Eihmo'tei focused only on staying above the water, surviving as best as he could.

Swallowing panic, Kiara stripped out of her tunic and ripped her boots off before diving into the river, swimming with the current to reach Eihmo'tei as quickly as possible.

Looping one arm around the Zerdani, she tried to hoist him above the water and grabbed for something to hold onto as the river continued to carry them along.

Eihmo'tei had never known such panic. The water tossed him around seemingly with a mind of its own, with no pattern to recognize. Kiara holding him did little to calm the Zerdani down. Even if she helped him stay above the water, his movements were restricted by her body. He threw his arms wildly, hoping to make contact with anything solid.

Trying- and failing- to avoid her friend's flailing, Kiara managed to grab at what might have been a tree root trailing into the water. It broke, but the hold lasted just long enough for her to drag them closer to shore and get her footing, stumbling up onto the bank.

Eihmo'tei took some deep breath of air, finally being able to do so without risk. His body, now much heavier from the weight of the water, hung limp in Kiara's arms. The entire experience had left him disoriented and frazzled.

He let out some coughs, clearing the water from his throat. "Th-Thank you..." he managed to say between breaths.

Still getting her breath back, Kiara hefted the Zerdani in her arms and patted his back as he coughed, panting lightly.

"Okay?" she rasped out, collapsing onto her butt and setting him on her lap, looking him over with concern.

The Zerdani did not move much anymore than what was needed. Mostly, he was trying to get his strength and breath.

"Okay."  he responded.

Looking around, he realized that this area was unfamiliar. The river had carried them quite a distance downstream.

"Where are we?" he asked, despite knowing that Kiara probably knew just as much as he did.

Looking around in turn, Kiara murmured, "Damn, we got carried pretty far." She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. She patted Eihmo'tei's shoulder absently and urged him to stand, muttering, "Come on, let's start walking."

Eihmo'tei got the hint, and began slowly rising to his feet. Even this was a challenge after being tossed around by the river's waters. Once he was up, he followed Kiara to the best of his ability. The water that was soaked into his clothes and fur was making him shiver slightly. All he wanted to do was shake it out like he had in Essyrn, but his body was still too sore for such an action.

Pausing, Kiara looked down at her small friend and bit her lip. "Um...don't be made at me, okay?" she muttered, kneeling and wrapping her arms around him, rubbing his arms and back briskly in an attempt to dry and warm him a bit.

After another moment of hesitation, she scooped him up and balanced him on her hip as she might a small child, wrapping one arm around his middle in to try and share some warmth.

"What are you-" there was little time to react. Not knowing what his friend was doing at first, Eihmo'tei resisted. However, he stopped when he felt how good this felt. Water captured by the Zerdani's coat went everywhere, now freed by her rubbing. The embrace was warm, and Eihmo'tei relaxed, letting Kiara continue with whatever she was doing.

However, he soon snapped out of this daze and looked around. Eventually he had to say,

"Maybe we should go back to Kit..."

The others must have been worried, and Kiara probably was not planning to spend so much of the morning here.

Recognizing the dragons name, Kiara nodded as she set off back down the riverbank, eyes searching for the path they'd followed. "Yes. Kit," she agreed, pointing ahead with slightly forced confidence. "We're going back to Kit and the children."

Eihmo'tei shook off what little water remained, despite his soreness. He then quickly followed his human friend to the riverbank. It was best that she led now, for she seemed more at home in the forest than he was.

The scenery really was beautiful. Something about all the foliage around was almost... welcoming. The Zerdani wished only that the air had been warmer. This chill was the only thing that made all of this unpleasant.

Kiara absently patted the Zerdani's head as she picked her way back along the path, trying to keep him as warm and dry as possible.

Eihmo'tei continued moving down the path after Kiara. He soon saw something familiar, but not exactly pleasant.

It was the dwelling, the one that belonged to the angry human. In his attempts to stay afloat, the Zerdani did not realize that the river carried him right past it. He stopped in his tracks, hesitant to continue.

Hearing the footsteps pause behind her, Kiara glanced back. Quickly realizing the problem, she smiled and held her hand out. "C'mon. We're just walking past, don't worry."

Eihmo'tei took hold of Kiara's outstretched hand with both paws, huddling in close like a frightened youngling. There was no sign of the human man, neither of sight or sound. Perhaps he was away? If he was, this would be easier on the Zerdani. Guilt once again befell him as he saw the fish rack was cleared of fish.

"Hey, it's alright," Kiara soothed absently, giving his paw a little squeeze. "We're almost back, everything's fine." She continued along the path.

Still holding on, the Zerdani followed along. It was going well enough. He was still on edge however, although there was no sign of the man from before. That is, until they continued on down the path.

It was definitely the same human. He was down the trail, crouched beside the very trap that startled Eihmo'tei into the river. Carefully avoiding the metal teeth, he pulled them apart. The Zerdani knew not why he was doing this, but did not wish to continue on.

He pulled against Kiara, hesitant to continue on.

Kiara realized the problem quickly and gave his hand a quick, encouraging squeeze. "C'mon," she said softly, nodding down the trail. "We're almost back."

As the Zerdani expected, the human was not too happy seeing them again. Having re-set the trap, he rose to face them.

"You two again? Didn't I tell you to stay off my land?!" he said, crossing his arms in an annoyed manner.

Eihmo'tei could do nothing else but take cover behind his friend.

Kiara scowled for a moment, then forced a polite smile and continued on her way, pulling Eihmo'tei with her. "Sorry, sir. We had a bit of a mishap, we're just trying to get back to camp."

She continued down the path, hoping that would be the end of it.

The man could only let out a huff as they passed, perhaps thinking an argument was a waste of his time. He glared at the Zerdani, who only looked away. He searched desperately for something to look at other than the human's disapproving face. His eyes found the trap. He had observed it long enough before, so there was nothing really to inspect. He knew what it could do, and feared the metal contraption. Something crossed his mind then. A grim thought.

This trap was set by the man. He just re-set it now, after Kiara had activated it before. Obviously, it was his, but it was not out yesterday. Could it be... that the trap was placed for him? Eihmo'tei stared at it with newfound horror in the thought.

"Don't worry about it," Kiara murmured as she tugged the Zerdani with her along the path. "We're never gonna be back here, don't worry. Everything is gonna be alright."

His friend was able to successfully snap the Zerdani out of his horrified stare. He looked up with a modest smile, being able to do so confidently for the first time in a while. He padded on after Kiara, not sparing so much as a glance backwards as they continued to the camp.

Everyone was up and worried by the time they got back into camp, and Kit gave their wet and bedraggled state an arch look. "What happened?"

"Long story," Kiara sighed, starting to pack up. "I'll tell you on the flight." Finding a smaller blanket, she turned and tossed it to Eihmo'tei, saying, "Here, dry off."

Eihmo'tei was stunned as the blanket hit him. He proceeded to wrap it around himself, relishing the warmth it gave. The Zerdani watched Kiara intently, feeling a bit guilty for standing idly.

"Can I help?" he asked, hoping for some job to make him feel useful.

Only needing a bit of translation from Kit to understand what he meant, Kiara smiled and gestured to the children's packs. "Help them get things packed away?" she suggested as the younger members of their party seemed to be idling a bit, enjoying their new surroundings.

Eihmo'tei gave a nod. He enthusiastically hurried over to help whichever youngling was closest. Although unaware of the exact procedures of packing, he did his best to "help" them. A few corrections and a little bit of effort later, both the Zerdani and the young humans were ready to travel.

Kiara smiled to herself as she watched them, then nodded briskly and started boosting the smaller members of their party up onto Kit's back. "Right. Off we go."

She made sure everyone was situated before she swung herself up and settled onto the dragon's shoulders, patting his neck. He took a few running paces forward and bounded into the air.

Eihmo'tei once again observed all the features he had come to know on the ground. The river, th clearing, even the human's dwelling. It was humbling seeing just how big the world seemed from up here.

"We go... Cerenis... Today?" the Zerdani asked curiously in what common he had picked up thus far.

Kiara smiled back at him. "We should be there by sundown, yeah," she said with a nod. "Maybe tomorrow morning..."

The Zerdani grinned a wide and toothy grin, completely unable to hide his excitement. It was close now, the place that he wanted to see since the journey's beginning all those days ago. He looked out to the horizon, as if the "sea" was just going to magically appear.

Kit was flying slower than was strictly normal, the toll of carrying five passengers as opposed to one finally starting to show. Around Midday Kiara called for a break and he landed in a rather open meadow, panting lightly.

"Sorry, all," the girl murmured, sliding down and stretching her arms over her head. "We'll only stop for an hour or two." She patted Kit's side. It was a testament to how tired the dragon was that he didn't protest.

Another open area...

The Zerdani was very cautious of his surroundings this time. So far, bad things have happened whenever the party was in an open area like this. At least the grass was not as tall here as it was last time. Eihmo'tei, having grown up surrounded by mounds of sand, was still made uneasy by flat land such as this. Although there was a certain sense of beauty and wonder here. The white clouds rolling overhead were much larger than the Zerdani had seen back home. They were the first things that caught his little eyes.

Bibi and Tala seemed content to sit and relax against Kit's side, chatting away in Essyrni. The boys wanted to explore, wandering further and further away with little glances back.

Kiara kept an eye on them, but she wasn't really worried. This place seemed safe enough.

The cautious Zerdani wandered around a bit too, keeping within relatively close proximity to the dragon. Upon further examination, the grasses here were different than the grass seen anywhere before. It seemed much softer, much more smooth than the rough grass of the plains. Searching around a bit more, Eihmo'tei found something else. Hidden in the hip-high grass were little white flowers. He was simply amazed at the sight. Flowers grew back in the desert, but only atop of cacti. Also, those were much more colorful than what was here in the meadow. They were still beautiful, just... weird.

Kiara noticed Eihmo'tei starting to wander and drifted closer to her charges. "Boys, stay close!" she called to Perryn and Ras.

Kneeling next to the Zerdani, she asked with a small smile, "What'd you find?"

Eihmo'tei looked up at his human friend, then back down to the ground.

"Flowers..." he said with a serene smile. He did not know the human word for it.

He brushed the white petals with his furred finger. They too were soft, like everything else here. He could have picked them, but subconsciously chose not to. He could not explain exactly why, but it didn't exactly feel right to do it.

Kiara's smile grew. "My mother called those cloverdillys," she told him, letting Kit translate and then repeating the name slower so he cpuld better understand it.

The Zerdani looked at the flowers differently now.

"Klo...ver...dil... lees..." he repeated slowly.

Humans had a word for these as well, just like everything else. The Zerdani as a race could not in their wildest dreams have imagined anything like what Eihmo'tei has experienced. Yet, humans had words for all of it. It was astonishing just how much they knew about the world.

He continued staring at them silently, contemplating all the things he could learn from Kiara and the humans.

She gave the Zerdani a fond pat on the head and stood up, looking nice around to make sure the boys were still in sight. Bibi and Tala had set about making a small chain of the little white flowers.

Kiara grinned and pointed them out to Eimoh'tei. "Pretty, right?"

Exact wording was lost on the Zerdani, but by now, he was pretty good at interpreting Kiara's meaning. He looked at the two younglings and gave an friendly smile.

"Yes... Pritty!"

Leaving the flowers behind himself alone, he slowly walked over to Bibi and Tala. He genuinely took interest in their crafting, but felt inclined only to watch. He examined the movements carefully, seeing the similarities between this and twisting twine.

The girls were delighted to have an audience, slowing their motions so that he could more easily see how they braided the little buds together.

Kiara flopped down next to Kit with a small smile, watching them contentedly.

Eihmo'tei did his part to entertain the two. It was nice letting them be the teachers for once, and they seemed to be getting a kick out of it. There was nothing better than this. Everything was calm, the weather was nice, and most importantly, nothing was going wrong. The Zerdani let his guard down, enjoying the peace of he day.

When Kit seemed to have his strength back, Kiara started gathering her charges together again, urging them up onto the dragons back with an encouraging, "Not much further now!"

The wind felt good blowing through the Zerdani's fur. Now that the day was warmer, it was simply pleasant. Eihmo'tei held on tight to his flowery tiara, crafted with care by the two young humans. He ignored the snickering of the two boys. It must have looked so silly, but the Zerdani did not care. It was a precious thing.

He looked on towards the horizon, waiting for the destination to come into view. Rather, waiting for Kiara to tell him that the destination was coming into view. Eihmo'tei did not know what Cerenis looked like, but knew that the sea would probably be a good indication.

It was almost two hours later when Kiara caught a glint in the horizon. A moment later Pereyn gasped. The island boy must have recognized it.

"See that?" Kiara called to the others, pointing. "That's the sea. A piece of it anyway. We're really close now."

Eihmo'tei gasped in delight at the distant line of blue. The closer they came, the more his excitement grew. It took the Zerdani every ounce of self-control to keep himself from bouncing up and down in his place.

"Can we go faster?! Can we?" he called down to Kit.

The dragon simply could not fly fast enough for his liking. The overstimulated and suddenly impatient little Zerdani wanted to see the ocean up close as soon as possible.

"I'm already trying not to pass out here," Kit grumbled in reply, but he gave a few quicker flaps of his wings to pick up their pace slightly.

Kiara laughed, shaking his head. "We'll get there," she assured the Zerdani with a smile. "It's not like it's going anywhere."

That ever-present fear of plummeting out of the sky returned with Kit's retort.

"Oh! I am sorry Kit. It's just so... Exciting! Please do not pass out."

The Zerdani was genuinely sorry for making Kit work harder than he already was. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the dragon was the hardest working member of the team. Flying at such height and speed while carrying six all on raw muscle alone could not have been an easy task.

Eihmo'tei looked on to the sea in the distance. No mater how close they got to the edge, there was no end in sight on the horizon. It truly was a desert made of water. Now more patient, the excited Zerdani anticipated the moment where they would reach it.

Kit huffed a small chuckle, banking a little to the left to correct their course slightly as they drew ever nearer to the shore.

In a few more minutes, the dragon was bringing them down to land where clusters of scrubby beach grasses gave way to soft white sand that stretched ahead of them for maybe two more dragon-lengths before reaching the water.

Kiara slid easily to the ground, but when she glanced back the children seemed to be frozen, eyes wide and mouths agape.

Eihmo'tei spent no time waiting to get off the black dragon. He leapt to the ground, landing in the soft sand below. There was a brief pause in the Zerdani's excitement as he felt the sand in his toes. It was different than he was used to, or maybe he had been gone so long that he was used to the feeling of dirt instead.

The moving sea ahead once again caught his attention. He darted across the sand with the grace and speed his race had perfected over years of evolution. Once he made it to the wet sand, he stopped just as suddenly. The water reached out and pulled back, then repeated back and forth in an endless cycle. He just stood there, simply gazing with wide eye into the endless water before him.

Kiara laughed, urging the children to come down and join them on the sand. Perryn came easily, but the others were more hesitant.

To show them there was no danger, the young woman tripped lightly toward the surf, kicking her shoes behind her and rolling her breeches up so she could wade out to her ankles in the water. "C'mon! It's just water, see?"

Eihmo'tei eventually gained the courage to follow. The water was cold, much colder than any desert water. However, this did not deter him from going out to where Kiara was. Water that was up to the human's ankles reached above the Zerdani's shins. The water still moved back and forth, each time trying to take him with it. He held strong and continued until he was next to his friend.

It was impressive how so much water existed in one place. Such a vast amount of water would surely be welcomed back home. That was when Eihmo'tei remembered something Kiara had told him back in Essyrn.

"You cannot drink it."

That could not be true, right? It was WATER after all! Then again, she had been right about everything else. There was really only one option here. On the next swell, the Zerdani cupped a handful of sea water, then proceeded to pour it into his mouth.

The feeling of regret came instantly. Not only did it taste horrible, but it also burned the whole inside of the Zerdani's mouth. The water poured right back out, and whatever was left was ejected by Eihmo'tei's constant spitting. He had learned the hard way: you cannot drink it.

"Oh-!" Kiara tried to stop him, but she moved too late. With a sigh, she bent to pat his back as he coughed and spluttered.

"See, what did I tell you before?" she scolded gently, feeling very much like a nursemaid all of the sudden. Forcing herself not to laugh, she added, "There's salt in this water. Salt." She repeated the word slowly, letting Kit translate.

Once he had regained his ability to speak,

"Is that what hurts my mouth? This... salt?"

Even as bad as it was, the taste of "salt" was reminiscent of something else. Eihmo'tei pondered exactly what. The memory hit him suddenly. The food that Kiara carried... the dry meat. The stinging sensation was almost identical. It too had this "salt", although much less than the sea water had.

She covered her mouth when Kit translated the question. "Yes. If there's too much of it, it's very bad for you. But a little can be good. Preserves food, seasons things, you know. But not this salt." She pointed to the ocean. "Too much salt. Not good to drink."

Once again, the thought of an infinite water not being potable both confused and annoyed the Zerdani.

"But look at it all! Why would there be so much water that you cannot drink?"

The sun shone brightly upon them as the sea continued pulling and pushing at the Zerdani. It felt good despite making it harder to stand. His feet were soon peacefully buried in the wet sand undertoe, only adding to the comfort and serenity of this situation. This was why, although being annoyed, Eihmo'tei could not be too angry or disgruntled.

Kiara shrugged. "That's just the way it is."

Eihmo'tei cupped more water into his paws. This time, he just looked at it.

Looking closely, it seemed clear enough. If anything, there was just sand in it. There was enough salt here to ruin his mouth for some time, yet he could not see it. What did it even look like?

"Is there a way to-"

Just then, a slightly larger wave rolled through. It was not enough to topple the unsuspecting Zerdani, but it did slap into his chest with an icy touch. His small body stiffened in response to the unforgiving cold of the swell. In his surprise, Eihmo'tei let out an audible and high-pitched yip.

Kiara chuckled again, wading back toward shore. "Come on then, let's get you out of here before the shock of the cold really starts to get to you."

Eihmo'tei followed obediently. Arms still stiff and outstretched, his stride was more like hopping than walking. The water and wet sand greatly inhibited his momentum.

Eventually, he made it to the dry sand. The wind either just picked up, or the Zerdani had not noticed it earlier. He felt it now, and it was biting at his semi-soaked form. Eihmo'tei did what he could to shake himself off, but this was different. The water was almost... sticky. He felt something clinging to his fur and clothing, even when most of the water was gone.

He padded through the sand, still awkward from whatever was stuck to him.

She couldn't help laughing at her little friend. Kiara rummaged through her belongings and came up with the sheet from her bedroll. "Here." She knelt with a smile and started toweling the Zerdani off.

The warm, soft cloth felt great wrapped around the Zerdani. During the drying session, he took hold of it and held it tight around himself. It was much longer than him, and being covered with it gave Eihmo'tei the look of wearing a hooded cloak. He began walking away from the ocean, towards warmer and more dry sands. The sheet dragged on the sand behind him.

"So? What do you think?" Kiara asked as they approached the children. The response she got was a chorus of laughter and awed exclamations . The children ran for the water and she called after them, "Not too far out."

"Mother hen," Kit teased quietly, nudging her shoulder.

Eihmo'tei sat down in the soft sand. He looked out at it, the thing he was waiting to see for what seemed like whole moons. The pure amount of water was incredible. He sat there, thinking about home once again. His people would absolutely love to see this. Why was it that he should be the only one to see it?

The Zerdani reflected on the luck he had in finding these two. If he did not perish in the middle of the  desert, he would have went back to his tribe. He would have lived the way his kind had since the first two came into creation, never knowing just how big the world was or what wonders it held.

The sun began to set over the water and Kiara whistled for her charges, sitting back against Kit's flank as they gathered around.

"Alright. Last night outdoors, then you lot go to your new homes," she said brightly.

Eihmo'tei questioned the dragon for a translation. Once he got it, the Zerdani's ears dropped down.

He had grown very fond of the younglings. After all, he knew them almost as long as he did Kiara. Eihmo'tei knew this was coming, but it had come too quickly. By this time the next day, they would be in a new home and no longer tagging along on the journey. The Zerdani would miss them dearly.

"Can we have another story?"

Kiara glanced up and realized Tala was looking at Eihmo'tei with a soft smile.

"Oh! Umm..."

Thinking as hard as he could, Eihmo'tei could not think of any other stories to tell. He had well used up his repertoire, and was hard pressed to think of anything else. Still, he did not want to disappoint the younglings on their last night together. The Zerdani was pensive, doing what he could to think of something to say...

Hushing the children, Kiara urged them all into their bedrolls. "Go on, we're all tired. Maybe we'll have a story in the morning."

Eihmo'tei became saddened from the groaning of the younglings. He had let them down.

"There must be something..." he thought, racking his brain.

Suddenly, something popped into his head. A memory from several nights ago.

"W-Wait!" cried the Zerdani and he threw his bag off his back.

He opened the mostly empty sack and reached in, burying himself up to his shoulders. It only took a moment or two. Emerging once again, he held something amazing in his paws. Four necklaces made from twine. Hanging from them were the gems from the cave back in the plains, crudely cut into rings by the Zerdani. They shone just as brightly as they did back then, easily piercing what darkness that the fire had not banished.

"For you..."

Eihmo'tei held them out, and offered them to the younglings.

"I have no story, but we do have memories."

"Oh..."

The children took his gifts with wide eyes and murmured thanks, oohing and aahing over them happily. Then the girls threw their arms around his neck and Perryn beamed, Ras patting his shoulder in gratitude.

Kiara smiled as she watched.

The Zerdani was surprised how quickly the mood went from sad to excited. The tsunami of gratitude was heartwarming. He tried his best to repay it, despite being thoroughly surrounded.

"They took an entire night to make, but now there is something to remember all of us by." he said with a smile.

There was a brief flashback to that night. Eihmo'tei remembered breaking the tip of his knife off to collect these from the cave walls, and finishing up the last one when the sun rose the next day. All of that was worth it at this moment. The happiness in the younglings' eyes made it so.

Kiara let them clamor excitedly for a few minutes more, then herded the children off to bed.

"That was very sweet," she told Eihmo'tei quietly with a smile, gesturing for him to get some rest too. "Those kids will never forget that, or you."

"Even without one myself, I will not forget them either." he replied solemnly.

The Zerdani claimed his spot in the sand, digging out a slight pit. It seemed like ages since he slept in the comfort of soft sand (and this sand was even softer than that of the desert). Even after curling up however, he felt he could not sleep yet. With the lack of "excitement" today that had become strangely typical for this journey, Eihmo'tei was not drained like always.

Lifting his head up quietly, Eihmo'tei locked his vision onto the rising and falling waves of the sea. It  was quite the sight, even in the darkness. Well, not total darkness. Reflecting off the water was the light of an old friend. The full moon had completely snuck up on the Zerdani these past few nights. He averted his gaze from the water to see it, letting its light fill his eyes.

"Another moon older..." he said under his breath.

Girl and dragon slept curled together as they always did. Kiara was asleep quickly, while Kit took longer to settle down, curling protectively around the smaller members of their party.

Eihmo'tei continued looking out unto the sea. Its dark color camouflaged with the sky, fusing them together. Only the white rolling was plainly visible at this late hour. He watched them, hypnotized by their constant and repetitious motions. Although not as weary as he was the other nights of the journey, the sounds and sight of the rolling waves made the Zerdani's eyelids heavy. Slowly but surely, he lowered his head and closed his eyes, falling into a contented slumber.

Kiara woke first, sitting up and arching er back in a long stretch. She woke Kit with a few soft taps, wanting to let Eihmo'tei and the children sleep a little longer as she prepared to leave again.

The sun was rising from below the horizon, warming the face of the Zerdani. He had not been this comfortable since his own burrow back home. Eihmo'tei was slow to consciousness, and even slower to open his eyes. It was the same scenery as yesterday, a vast body of water moving with continuous motion towards them, only to break on the soft sand. Eihmo'tei's sensitive ears perked up to catch the sounds of sand shifting underfoot. That was the only part of him to move besides his eyelids.

He still did not stir, knowing without seeing that it was only Kiara. She was always the first one to rise for some reason. The Zerdani continued looking out, completely at peace.

"Hey there." Kiara approached and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "How ya doing?" she asked quietly, still not wanting to disturb the kids.

Eihmo'tei's eyebrows rose as his pupils looked up at his human companion, them being the only part of his face to move. These particular words were so familiar to him now. Of course, Kiara had asked this quite a few times. Focusing back on the water, he replied softly and sleepily.

"I'm happy... This is everything I hoped it would be."

The Zerdani let out a wide yawn, exposing his sharp teeth. It took a little longer for him to open his eyes once again afterwards.

She smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder. "Well, take your time then. We're not in any real rush to get moving."

Eihmo'tei's eyelids grew heavier and heavier the more he watched the sea. He let the thought that perhaps it was not time to be awake yet bounce in his mind. Whatever was caus this contented drowsiness was doing a good job at it. Before too long, the Zerdani's eyes had closed once again. He was on the verge of falling back asleep.

As she was packing things up, Kiara glanced over at her little friend and smiled. Kit huffed questioningly and she shook her head.

"The kids are still out. Let 'im sleep, we've got time."

Once the sun rose high enough over the horizon, it was impossible for the Zerdani to sleep any more. His large and sensitive ears could also pick up the telltale sounds of the younglings beginning to rise. Raising himself slowly from the silky sand, Eihmo'tei began his daily stretching routine. With that completed, he was able to freely stand up and look all around. He Kiara was packing things up, and knew it must almost be time to leave.

"Morning!" he called.

"Good morning," Kiara said with a bright smile. "Mind getting the little ones up?"

Looking down at the younglings, Eihmo'tei could see they were already somewhat awoken by the golden morning rays. The Zerdani barely had to move at all to close the distance between them. He tapped and nudged each one, trying to be as gentle as possible. Only when he saw eyes open did he move on to the next. The sun would do the rest.

Raz was the most stubborn of the four. Clenching his eyes closed, he waved off the Zerdani's attempts like someone would wave off an insect. In one motion, the hand almost made contact with his snout. Eihmo'tei quickly thought up a way to solve this. It was a trick used in similar situations back home. Once Raz had stopped, he let his tongue fall from his mouth and proceeded to drag it across the young boy's cheek.

The youngling definitely awake now. He sat up in the sand and rubbed the spot with his forearm. Eihmo'tei delighted in hearing the silent snickers from the rest.

Even Kit chuckled at that particular antic, and Kiara raised a hand to cover her small bark of laughter. "Alright, you lot. Eemo's got you up, let's get moving!"

Eihmo'tei assisted any way he could in getting the little ones ready. All except for Raz, who had decided to do everything himself. That youngling was still pouting after what happened, but the Zerdani knew this would not last too long. He only smiled softly in response to the sour looks.

Eihmo'tei would be last to board. He wanted to be sure all the young humans would be safe before takeoff.

Once everyone was up and settled on Kit's back, Kiara did a quick headcount and re-checked all their supplies, then leaned down to offer Eihmo'tei a hand off.

The Zerdani grabbed hold of his friend's hand, just as confidently as all the other times. With this assistance, he was able to climb up and take his place amongst the rest. To think... This was the last time all seven of them would take the trip together. It was somewhat sad to think about.

Technically they didn't even need to fly to get to Cerenis quickly, but Kiara thought it would be nice for the kids to get in the air one more time.

Once in the air, the Zerdani looked forward. He had seen the waters of the vast sea. Now, there was something new approaching, another human dwelling. A city, supposedly different from Essyrn, and they had a bird's eye view of it!

Kit circled the port city twice before coming to land near the south gate. Kiara slid down tot he ground and stretched.

"Alright you lot. Kit's gonna camp out in the woods a bit further inland, we're on our own from here on out."

Eihmo'tei gazed down into the human city with wonder in his eyes. This one was indeed different in many ways from the desert city.

The human homes were still made of stone, but this stone was grey as opposed to the light sandy color of Essyrn's dwellings. Also, the structures had much different shapes and sizes. What really amazed the Zerdani was the stone that topped each building. Humans here had apparently discovered a new kind of rock altogether, one that was as red as flame. These red stones lay in perfect and uniform rows atop each unique dwelling.

The humans below, although rendered very tiny by their altitude, seemed calm and uninterested by the dragon's arrival. Eihmo'tei could not help but to wave in greeting to them. Unfortunately, none returned the sentiment. This did not discourage the Zerdani however. He was too excited to see all the sights. Once Kit had landed, Eihmo'tei was the first to hop off. He was prepared to simply run into the city before the others, but he was able to control this urge. He would follow Kiara with a spring in his step, making sure to stay close to not get lost in this new foreign land.

The children bid farewell to Kit, and the dragon even deigned to lower his head and nuzzle at them affectionately, crooning softly. Then he lumbered off, probably to hunt.

"Alright." Kiara looked around at her charges. "Everyone stay close, okay? Eihmo'tei, help me keep an eye on the hatchlings." She ruffled the fur between his ears and set off.

It was a quite sad to watch the dragon and children give their farewells. There was a certain reality that hit there. This was the final destination for each of them, save Perryn. Even he would not be with them much longer.

Eihmo'tei pushed sentiment aside, and responded to Kiara's request with a confident nod. As beautiful and new as this city was, the Zerdani could not afford to get distracted by it. This task was very important. There would probably be time to explore and to sightsee later.

Kiara gripped the girls' hands and made sure Perryn and Ras were walking close to her as they entered the city.

"Alright." She looked around, trying to find the correct street. "Try not to get underfoot, and we'll do fine."

The feeling of being so small once again hit the Zerdani as they all entered the city. He kept his task in mind, but could not help to get distracted from time to time. It was not his fault really, there were so many new things for Eihmo'tei to take in. The fact that he was able to focus at all on the children in front of him showed such great willpower. So much was different from the last human city, but at the same time, so much was also similar. All of this was much more apparent from the streets than it was from the air.

First things first- Kiara needed to get some food in her charges. Semi-familiar with the streets of Cerenis, she managed to lead their group to the market square.

"Alright." She jingled her coin purse and smiled at the kids. "Last day of our trip, I say we deserve a treat- you all get to pick something you want to eat, okay?"

The children beamed at her, wide and curious eyes flicking from stall to stall. Perryn seemed to be trying to mine to Eihmo'tei what Kiara had said.

Eihmo'tei's eyes went wide. He was successfully able to read Perryn's pantomime, as well as the actions of the other children. He raced off immediately, as they had done.

They were looking for food. The Zerdani sniffed the air, only for his sensitive nose to be besieged by a multitude of different scents. Oblivious to the strange looks and hushed comments that were directed towards him, Eihmo'tei darted from stall to stall, observing the foodstuffs at each.

Some things he recognized. He was no stranger to fish and meats, even if most of them seemed strange. Some things he recognized from what Kiara had shared. Other stalls, however, had much different things on display.

One had just plants, greenery that came in all different shapes and sizes. Another had strange containers. They were tall and narrow, and contained some sort of foul-smelling liquid. Eihmo'tei did not much care for that stall. The next stall had little hard, round things. They smelled earthy, like dirt, and seemed utterly useless. When the Zerdani attempted to pick some up for further inspection, the attending human protested angrily. He immediately dropped them and ran off.

In the air, there was a very sweet scent, one that really caught the Zerdani's attention. He followed it to a stall that had a strange kind of bread. They were almost like what Kiara had with her, but they came in bright colors the Eihmo'tei had never seen before. His eyes were fixated on them, warranting a look of concern on the face of the woman behind the counter.

Kiara chuckled to herself and moved to a small fountain in the center of the market square where she could keep an eye on her charges as they scurried about. As one by one the children chose what to eat, she moved from stall to stall and passed over coins.

Eihmo'tei once again sniffed the air around the pastries. This was a step too far for the vendor.

"Hey! Umm... Get away! Shoo!" she said with as aggressive a tone as she could manage.

From the other side of the counter, the woman moved both hands in a sweeping motion. These movements were awkward, obviously because she had no idea what she was dealing with. The Zerdani began to back away slowly. He did not understand why he was being dismissed. Had he done something wrong? All he wanted to do was get a better scent.

Looking around, Eihmo'tei realized just how much attention he had drawn from the other humans. He looked around nervously for Kiara. He was too frightened to get close to anyone else but her or the younglings.

Spotting a bit of a crowd gathering, Kiara bit back a sigh. She'd bet she knew what that was about. "Kids, c'mon."

She gathered the children and slipped into the crowd. "Eihmo'tei, problem?" She laid a hand on the Zerdani's shoulder and nodded to the vendor.

Eihmo'tei huddled in closely to Kiara. In doing this, he felt much more safe. He scanned the crowd, eyes flicking from face to face. The Zerdani could not utter a word. The tension was too much for this. Instead, he stayed where he was, hoping his human friend would get him out of this situation.

Quickly ascertaining not the problem, Kiara handed over some coins to the vendor in exchange for the food, the passed it to te Zerdani. "Here." She smiled reassuringly and ruffled his ears.

Eihmo'tei held the sweet smelling bread in his paws. He wanted desperately to taste it, but all he could do was examine it before looking up once again at the crowd. The tense atmosphere made it too awkward to eat the pastry. The Zerdani picked up some murmuring from the crowd, but could not understand the foreign tongue. He held on to his pastry, feeling it stick to both his fur and pads. He stayed close to Kiara still, and followed her when she moved.

Kiara led their little group back to the fountain, perching on the edge and looping an arm around Bibi's shoulders when the girl hopped up beside her. "Alright, everybody. Eat up, then I'm gonna see about getting you lot to this contact of your old master."

The kids nodded, gathering around her and chatting quietly as they began to eat.

Now free of the crowd, Eihmo'tei felt free to eat the food that was stuck to his paws. However, a new problem arose. How exactly was he supposed to start eating it? Each angle he tried seemed like a bad idea. After feeling how it stuck to his paws, the Zerdani did not want the same to happen to his face. He was utterly perplexed by this new food. The only thing he could manage was to give it a lick.

That lick made his eyes grow wide. It was even sweeter than it smelled. Now, it did not matter if it stuck to his face. Eihmo'tei dug right in like the hungry animal he appeared to be. Each bite was amazing to him, this flavor was nothing he had ever tasted before.  Before long, the pastry was gone. The Zerdani licked at his fingers both as attempt to clean himself, and to get what last bits he could of the strange food.

Kiara and the children giggled at Eihmo'tei, unable to help themselves. "Alright, alright, here." The young dragonrider chuckled and dug around in her pack for a spare cloth, wiping at his muzzle.

"You lot clean up to," she ordered her charges kindly, ruffling hair and straightening clothes as best she could. She felt quite maternal all of the sudden- perhaps it was because she'd be saying goodbye soon.

Eihmo'tei took hold of the cloth and continued the motions Kiara was doing. This stuff was harder to get off than was expected. The cloth, as well as the Zerdani's face, went into the fountain water. With a good amount of effort, the sticky but tasty substance was completely cleaned from his fox-like muzzle. With his face still dripping wet, Eihmo'tei watched over the rest of his party. Some of the other humans were still staring, but it did not matter anymore. Not to the Zerdani.

Kiara watched the lot fondly, but she kept a wary eye on the gathering crowd. In her experience, curious states weren't always innocent.

One everyone was finished up, Eihmo'tei looked up at his friend.

"Where we go?" he asked in common.

There was a soft gasp from somewhere in the "audience". Obviously, they did not expect him to be able to even speak, let alone in their language. One big ear twisted to face its direction, then the Zerdani turned his head. He could not help but to do that. It was reflex.

"That man back in Essyrn gave me an address," Kiara replied, ignoring the bystanders. "It's just on the other side of town, c'mon you lot."

The Zerdani's attention snapped back to Kiara. He understood only the order to follow, and smiled. Eihmo'tei did his best to ignore the crowd as he followed along. Their stares would not dampen his mood. Not this time.

Kiara led their little group through the port town to the address she'd been given- she took a wrong turn once or twice, but she hoped the kids wouldn't notice if she just played it off.

Eventually, they wound up in front of a moderately sized house just outside of the market district. "Alright." She turned and looked her charges over, straightening clothes and combing hair with her fingers. "Everybody ready?" She patted Eihmo'tei's head.

Eihmo'tei may not have known what this place was, but he knew that it was important to be singled out from all the others.

"Reddy!" he responded, taking his gaze off of Kiara to inspect the building in front of them.

The Zerdani said this with confidence, and knew full well what it meant. However, he was not sure just how ready he was. Mostly, the simple creature did not know what to expect here. He eyed up the dwelling, picking appart both the similarities to and differences from a dwelling in Essyrn.

Kiara knocked in the door. After a few moments, it creaked open to reveal a be speckled, skinny man with rather disheveled hair and clothes.

"Oh." He blinked at them. "Hello. Who-" his eyes flicked over the children and some sort of understanding seemed to dawn. "Ah. I see. Won't you come in." He stood aside to let them enter.

Any next course of action was taken with caution by the little Zerdani. It seemed like an invitation to enter, but Eihmo'tei was not exactly sure if that was the intention. He looked to Kiara, hoping to see some sort of indication that it was alright to enter. Even if she entered first, he would follow right behind.

She nodded and led their little group into the building. "You know who we are then?"

The man nodded. "Yes, I received word you would be arriving this week. I trust your travels went well?"

"Ah- sure." She glanced back at the children, who seemed to be too nervous to speak, or do much of anything.

Eihmo'tei followed the rest inside. The interior of the dwelling was much more wondrous than the exterior. The Zerdani was off in a flash, anxious to explore.

"Oh." The man blinked and watched Eihmo'tei zip off. "Ah- well, no matter." He tilted his head at Kiara. "He is...housebroken, yes?"

She frowned. "He's not a pet. He'll behave himself." She hoped. Waving it off, she and the children followed him into a room off the entryway that seemed to be some sort of parlor.

"Now. Shall we discuss what happens next?"

Eihmo'tei zigzagged his way throughout the building. There were so many strange things in which to inspect.

All around, there were strange constructs made of wood. They were furniture, like what had been it the Essyrni Inn. Some were augmented with softer material. The Zerdani climbed onto one, testing the softness in the only logical way: by bouncing. Up and down he went, mystified by its ability to retake form after being pressed so.

Bounding down to the floor once again, something else caught his attention. A structure similar to a human bed. This piece, however, was much taller and contained no bedding on top. Eihmo'tei could not see over the top, but he did not need to. Instead of wood, the platform was made of a hard and clear material. The Zerdani put a law against the underside. Making sure it was not some trick. Looking around, the openings leading outside also held such a material.

The next thing (or things) was another tall wooden structure. This thing was huge, much bigger than two or three humans combined. Stacked inside were a bunch of colorful... things. Eihmo'tei carefully walked over to grab one. Stretching quite a bit, he was able to grab one, but it was heavier than expected. It hit the ground with a loud THUD, startling him somewhat. Although, what was inside was even more curious.

The impact had opened it on the floor. This item was filled with paper, the same material as the map was. It was a lucky thing that they were stuck to the inside of the hard cover, otherwise they would have surely made a mess. Each one had strange symbols and images on them. This must have been human writing. He flipped through each piece, carefully observing what each paper had depicted. As time went on, the Zerdani flattened himself on the hard floor, studying the content of this item.

Kiara spoke with the owner of the house for some time, giving the children and Eihmo'tei plenty of time to explore the building.

Eventually though, they emerged back into the hallway and she called for her charges, hoping she wouldn't have to work too hard to wrangle them all.

Hearing his companion's call, Eihmo'tei closed up the thing he was reading. He carried it over to Kiara and the other human, clutching it with both paws.

"Ah..." the man blinked at Eihmo'tei approached. "Hello, little...fellow. Where did you find that?"

The Zerdani noticed that the man's attention was on the thing he was holding. With a clawed finger, he pointed to the tall piece of wood furniture. He hoped he had heard the question correctly. His grip on human language was much better than it used to be, but he was not entirely fluent yet.

"Uh-huh." He frowned slightly and held his hand out. "Would you remind returning that? It's quite a rare edition."

Kiara knelt and smiled at the Zerdani, gesturing for him to give the book back.

Eihmo'tei was not sure he should hand the item back. There was still more in it he wanted to examine. However, the older human was its owner. It was only right to return it.

The Zerdani hesitantly held his arms out, feeling the weight before him. It slowly landed on the human's outstretched palm. His grip eventually loosened with some more willpower, and the item was relinquished back to the one it belonged to.

"Atta boy." Kiara ruffled the fur between his ears, then straightened up. She sighed and glanced toward the small parlor where the children were waiting, looking quiet and nervous.

"I guess it's time to say goodbye," she murmured. She put a hand on Eihmo'tei's shoulder with a small smile and steered him into the room.

"Alright. Derrik here is going to take care of you three," she said to Ras, Tala, and Bibi. "He's going to find you work and make sure you have food and clothing, proper training in a trade. Alright?"

They nodded, then suddenly she was swarmed by small bodies, the children throwing their arms around her.

The mood shifted in an instant. It was that time at last, the moment where the younglings were to be left behind to start their new lives.

The Zerdani's eyes became glassy as he looked on. How could this moment have come so soon? Although their time together was so short, it felt like an entire lifetime. Eihmo'tei cared so deeply for these young humans, yet could not bring himself to move and join them. He stood there, frozen in a heartbroken stupor. A single tear escaped from his eye.

Tala seemed to notice Eihmo'tei's distress first. With a small, squeaking sort of cry, she flung herself forward and wrapped her arms around the Zerdani's shoulders.

Kiara turned as the others followed suit, smiling sadly and keeping her hands on Perryn's shoulders.

"I'm not...staying?" the boy asked slowly, looking up at her.

Her lips twitched up on one side. "You can if you want. But we thought we'd take you back to Thanatos, try to find your village."

His eyes went very round and suddenly his arms were around her waist, face buried in her chest.

Eihmo'tei nearly collapsed under the weight of the children that rushed him. His arms were pinned to his sides by the children's embraces, so he instead returned the sentiment by rubbing the side of his face on whoever was closest. This was what finally yanked the tears from his eyes.

It was unknown whether or not they would ever meet again. If they did, it was unknown how long would it be. It was this uncertainty that saddened Eihmo'tei the most.

Perryn quickly joined the group huddle, now that it was clear he'd be leaving his friends as well. They may be on the coast, but it would likely be hard for the children to see each other again once they'd been separated.

Kiara watched, feeling a little awkward with her arms folded around her body, biting her lip and clearing her throat every once in a while to hold back tears.

"Alright," she said softly after a few moments. "Come on, guys, we should be going..."

Eihmo'tei followed obediently, but not without hesitation. Looking back, he did not see the young humans. Instead it was his tribesman standing there, bearing similar sad visages. The Zerdani blinked a few times until he saw the three younglings again. This slight vision, real or not, made sense. Eihmo'tei once again had to leave those he cared very deeply about. There would only be memories of their adventures.

The Zerdani walked back over, using his finger to direct attention to the glowing gem necklace around Tala's neck. He spoke one word in his native tongue: "Memory"

These necklaces were made from the gems found on their first day traveling together. In Zerdani culture, this meant they held the memories of everything that happened since. Both the good and bad ones. He slowly went to rejoin Kiara, finally ready to leave.

Kiara reached out, taking Perryn's hand in one of hers and Eihmo'tei's paw in the other. She gave a small and a nod to the children, then they were gone.

She led her two small companions to the edge of town where they would meet Kit.