Sleeping Dragon Hiy hiy

On her third day in Sleeping Dragon, Wildfire finally felt well enough to get up and move around a bit. Stretching carefully, she poked her head out of the den where Thuringwethil had left her, then slunk out into the streaming April sunshine. She blinked slowly, her gaze sweeping over her unfamiliar surroundings, then began to meander slowly away from the den. It felt good to stretch her legs, though she kept her pace easy to give her poor, battered body a break.

She wished Thuringwethil or even Magpie was with her, yet Wildfire understood quite well the demands of leadership (not to mention one currently under the threat of war). As she moseyed, she thought of Floki but quickly pushed it out of her mind. She would have preferred company, yet Wildfire was a scout for a reason. Here was a whole new territory to explore and map. Her heart beat with anxious excitement at the prospect of, well, prospecting. And she would hopefully meet some other pack mates while she was at it.

Avoiding the heights of the mountain itself, the slender Kappa tracked a sulfurous scent and found herself standing in a geyser field. She drew in a deep breath—her ribs ached dully in protest—to catalog the smell. Wildfire then approached one of the smaller spouts, her nose skimming over a nearby stone rimmed with salt like a margarita glass. Curious, she gave it a tentative lick, the sharpness of it tingling on the tip of her tongue.

There had been a number of intruders lately, or that's what she thought, and it had been a wonderful moment to have witnessed the wolves of Drageda driving one out. She was immediately impressed with all of them, and felt a swell of pride for the kingdom her aunt had formed upon the mountain. Seregryn had not participated as the patrol had routed Esaro's attempts — whatever he was after — and she was left with an overwhelmingly high level of energy that had to be worked off. Maybe the event had been her awakening? She had been lost in the doldrums of this quiet place since her inception among the ranks, listless, bored, and now the girl had ample interest.

Seregryn had such thoughts in mind as she traipsed about the mountain this day. She thought of all the things she could do to benefit herself and the pack, all the skills she could develop, and wandered while she plotted. Her route was as irregular as her thoughts. Every moment she was hidden in the shadows of the trees she thought, I could be a spy! And yet every moment she came to a patch of sunlight filtering down across the mountainside, her mind wandered — hunter, she thought for an hour, guardian, her mind said next.

She marched straight out in to the minefield of geysers without even noticing where her paws were taking her; so enthralled with the competing ideas in her head. Seregryn imagined herself as the heda next, and with the full bravado of a mindless child ignorant of their audience, she assumed the required posture; her head lifted to match the clouds, her tail flagged behind her. She was only playing at being Thuringwethil now — and with one wrong step she tripped and nearly went face-first in to a geyser as it spat a nice column of sulfurous air.

With a surprised yelp she tumbled back, smacking her tailbone against the stony ground — and as the mist in the air cleared, she thought she saw fire on the other side.

It tasted like seawater. Wildfire wrinkled her muzzle, then jumped when she caught a flurry of movement out of the corner of her eye. Her head snapped upward to watch as a wolf stumbled into another nearby (spouting!) geyser, then tripped backward with a yelp. The Kappa's amber eyes widened slightly at the gush of sulfurous steam, though she tore her gaze away to glance at the wolf beyond.

Wildfire had never seen one like her. She immediately thought of the stranger as ugly, which made her lips twitch downward in guilt. As soon as the geyser finished spewing, the new Kappa took a tentative step toward the homely wolf. Her posture immediately adapted to reflect her rank in the pack; she was at the very bottom of the hierarchy, naturally, so her head and tail remained respectfully lowered.

"Are you okay?" she asked, wondering if the steam might have burned the other she-wolf.

Briefly the fire-creature on the other side of the smoke is a golden color, a flash of sunlight illuminating them. Seregryn stares at this more than the gust of sulfurous air as it whistles by her face. She narrowly misses being singed by it — if one could be singed by hot air — and feels the heat of the geyser's bellow like a great breath upon her cheeks. Her eyes begin to water, and the air is thick with the strange smell, so the girl pulls back in the next instance and begins to softly gag. She does not want to look weak before this other thing, whatever or whoever they are, and tries to stop herself from coughing too loudly. Seregryn chirrups and hiccups instead (which could be worse).

As the air cleared she got a better view of the golden thing and, upon noticing it was a petite wolf, she tried to breathe in the stranger's scent. The girl's words are lost on Seregryn who dismisses them for the time being. She is more intent on slipping closer (without potential harm from the dragon sleeping beneath the ground) and eagerly attempts to probe the red-furred girl with her snout. The stranger speaks with the tongue of warriors but she is small, like Seregryn; she looks to be built for speed and cunning rather than strength, which is also like Seregryn; the first thought the dark girl has is, is this another fos goufa? Is this a rival? And the fine furs along her spine begin to prickle.

Laik yu sheidgeda jus goufa seintaim? It does not cross Seregryn's mind that this girl might not know their language yet. Her body holds the mark of Thuringwethil - and Sangilak, which surprises her - but it is not so thick upon her.

Rather than answering her question, the stranger crowded Wildfire, thrusting her snout against the Kappa's hide. The yearling automatically flinched away from the touch, though she didn't go far. Her lips pressed together and her brows knitted when the strange she-wolf spoke to her in a foreign tongue. Although the lilt of it caressed Wildfire's ears pleasantly, her heart gave an anxious squeeze. She noticed the stranger's bristling and scooped a deep breath into her lungs.

"I don't understand you," Wildfire answered plainly, wondering if the other she-wolf spoke the common tongue. "Do you understand me? I'm a new recruit." Despite her misgivings, Wildfire made herself hold still to be checked for scents again, knowing her pelt would be a dead giveaway since she had been resting in the den of the Heda herself.

She need not be so hostile as she gathered intelligence, but Seregryn had enough rivals to contend with and was not keen on another. The stranger's words were evidence enough to clear her of any aggression the girl may have had — this new recruit was not one of their own people. They were not of importance to Seregryn then. Learning this, the girl withdrew her sharp nose from the other's red fur, and regarded her with a calmed expression. She gave no indication that she understood (though she did, easily), and looked away from her, as if suddenly taken by boredom. Behind her another geyser burst and the girl's fur stood on-end from the shock of the sound; she scrambled up and around Wildfire with the express desire of hiding behind her — placing the new girl between her dark body and the distant boom of the vent.

Maybe this was an act to get closer to the girl and study her? Or maybe Seregryn was simply afraid of the strange sound and the steam, and wasn't plotting anything clearly. Either way, she was hunkered down next to Wildfire and trembling even after the far-off second geyser stopped its bellowing. When she realized the air was quiet again, she opened her eyes and raised her head - skeptical as well as thoroughly embarrassed - and angled her head across the red girl's shoulders for a better view of the surroundings.

She made no reply, so Wildfire took that to mean she well and truly didn't understand her. She wondered if there were others who didn't speak the native tongue. How would this impact integration into Drageda? Before she could worry her head too long, a sudden noise snared the young Kappa's attention. She whirled to watch as another geyser spewed its contents into the air, a warm and odorous cloud of steam wafting over the pair of wolves. Wildfire blinked, then realized she could no longer see her pack mate. Where had she gone so abruptly...?

Then she spotted her, crouching and quivering half a foot behind her. Wildfire blinked again, glancing at the settling geyser and then back toward the homely she-wolf as comprehension dawned. Her lips parted to say something, then she stayed her tongue, realizing her words wouldn't be understood. Her face scrunched up in thought as Wildfire pondered how to overcome this language barrier. There was only one way, really: through touch and posturing.

Had the other wolf been a male, Wildfire probably wouldn't have reached out nearly as readily. But this was a fellow woman, so the Kappa stretched out her neck and gave the other canine a reassuring poke to the place where her neck met her shoulder. It's all right, it can't hurt us, she thought, hoping she was also conveying this message through her tactile method of communication.

She did not cower for any wolf of the mountain, and she would one day have a clan of her own bowing to her; yet here Sere was, hiding behind a foreigner on her own land because the ground would not stop shouting. It was pathetic. The slight touch of Seregryn's chin upon the red girl's shoulders did comfort her a tidge, but not enough. Her hindquarters shook softly, and her tail dusted at the ground. Her companion pulled away after a second and Seregryn jolted to try and keep up, not wanting to be left exposed and alone to the strangeness of this place; but then she felt the reassuring touch of the stranger's nose upon her shoulder, and allowed herself to be calmed.

In response to this motion Seregryn's snout drifted close to her companion, sniffing at the rancid air as she pieced together what little information she could. She knew this was a new wolf among them, but she smelled thoroughly like the heda, which intrigued her. Had the woman taken a special interest in this girl? And if so, why? Her kindness, brief and alien though it was to Seregryn, was something new among the dragons. Perhaps that was it. This girl might have been more pliant than Seregryn originally thought, making her a good candidate for molding to their purpose.

She absently bupped Wildfire's shoulder in response, letting her thoughts idle, and then with a sharp motion of her chin towards herself she muttered, Seregrýn. Her red eyes gleamed, wondering if this girl would understand what she was trying to do — to make sure, she reiterated, Ai laik Seregrýn, and motioned with a head bob at herself.

She seemed a little reassured by Wildfire's touch. It occurred to the Kappa in the next moment that moving away from the geyser field would probably be best. Even as the other canine's nose skimmed her again, Wildfire motioned for her to follow and began trotting away from the pockmarked grounds. This led them out of the mountain's shadow and nearer to the territory's borders, though Wildfire came to a halt before they could broach them. Her eyes scanned the flat ground around them before she turned at the sound of the other's voice.

"Seregrýn? You like Seregrýn?" she repeated, trying to understand. "I'm not sure what that means," she admitted a little inanely, a sliver of frustration edging into her tone. "Sleeping Dragon?" Wildfire guessed in the next breath, feeling like she was grasping at straws.

They moved off together, and while Seregryn wanted to see understanding in the fiery girl's eyes, she waited until they were clear of the strange bellowing landscape; then once they were a safe distance from the geysers, she turned to regard the girl with a scrutinous eye. What came from her mouth made her eyes roll, and she huffed in mild frustration. She shook her head quickly, and decided to try something else.

Yu, she intoned with a flick of a paw, motioning towards Wildfire; then she motioned to herself, Ai. How dumbed down could she make this? And why even bother — it wasn't like this girl needed to know how to speak the language of their people. But Seregryn had it in her mind that this red-furred girl was important. At the very least she had been saved and cared for by their heda, so that must make her valuable in some regard. Finally she added, Seregryn, Ai, and then her patience ran out. Chit do ai call yu?

The shaking head and rolling eyes could have offended her, yet all Wildfire thought was, Wait, she does understand me! Perhaps it was limited, yet there was better than nothing. She found herself smiling, heartened, suddenly more hopeful. She leaned inward, listening raptly, as the she-wolf tried again to bridge the gap. Wildfire pointedly ignored the spasm of pain as her ribs reminded her of their current status.

The combination of cognates and gesticulations certainly helped Wildfire to understand. "I gotcha," she replied, head bobbing, then added, "Oh! I'm Wildfire. It's nice to meet you, Seregrýn." She felt a sense of accomplishment and waved her black tail, glad to have made her first acquaintance outside of Thuringwethil, despite the unanticipated challenge of a language barrier.

Motioning in a direction parallel with the presumed boundaries, the Kappa asked a little slowly, "I was just having a look around. Would you like to join me?" It was more of an idle tour than anything, though it could also double as a patrol. Wildfire just hoped they didn't come across any trespassers, as she was in no shape to deal with them (even in the best of times, really).

She heard and understood, but kept her face void of understanding to the best of her ability. Seregryn wondered at just how much fun this could be — how entertaining her tricks could get, provided this girl never caught on to the truth. She would have liked to venture around the territory with her, to patrol and show her the ropes, which was more than could be said for others of the dragon-wolves. Instead of doing that, Seregryn found it more appealing to appear incredibly offended. She looked at the area where Wildfire motioned as she spoke, and her ears fell flat against her head. 

Seregryn pulled her face back as a what the fuck did you just say expression planted itself across her dark features, and then went off on a tirade of useless dribble she knew the red-furred girl would not understand: No! taim osir ge attacked den yu will be stedaunon, yu ste kwelen en need kom fis fou yu strechplei disha maun's eno-de. Chit taim osir don veidas? Ai will nou strechplei kom yu taim yu laik fis.

With a huff she turned and strode confidently away, her tail lashing at her hocks and fur raising across her spine in a feigned spell of irritation. Seregryn was outwardly very angry, but internally she was doing her best to hold in a great peal of laughter; mentally she was praising herself for having such a great acting ability, for surely it showcased her immense talent as a spy. She was hasty in her retreat — in part so that the act could be maintained without Wildfire's interference, and in part because the geysers legitimately worried her.

Exit Seregryn! I laugh.

LMAO, I already love these two.

The unexpected and strong reaction to her invitation caused Wildfire to freeze like a deer in headlights. Her eyes slowly widened during the course of Seregrýn's tirade. By the end of it, her pupils were dark and blown, her lips slightly parted and her expression otherwise the picture of bewilderment. She didn't make a move even as the dark she-wolf huffed angrily and marched away into the distance. Not even her eyes followed her departure. The yearling just stared off into the middle distance, wondering a) what she had said wrong and b) why foreign languages made her stomach swoop like that.

After a solid three minutes, Wildfire's limbs unlocked and she shook her head. "What just happened?" she asked no one in particular, turning in a semicircle. She replayed her words in her head, lips moving silently, yet she could find nothing wrong with them. "Well." Amber eyes blinked in the direction Seregrýn had gone. "All right then." Head shaking slowly again, the Kappa turned to make her way back toward the Alpha female's den.