Never play in the snow with a white fox, she reminded herself with a grin. They hide altogether too well!
She formed another snowball with her amazingly dexterous hoof-hands, packing it down harder than necessary. She could hear someone's feet crunching in the snow, coming around the tree, and she aimed her ears at it.
Standing, suddenly, she bolted out of cover and threw her snowball, then dove back for cover rolling in her warm leathers. She glanced back up just in time to see the snowball landing smack on the face of her --
Someone she didn't know!
"Oh! Sir! I'm -- I'm sorry-- I --" She gasped, laughing in spite of having just slammed a snowball right at someone she'd never even met.
But this someone was very odd. He was standing, and clothed, but he... Had no fur. No scales, not a feather on him. No muzzle, his face was flat!
He was a human.
"Sir, forgive me, I was ... well, we were playing," she looked behind her, wary, but still did not see her friends. "In the snow. You know. Snowball fight. It's winter and all."
"Yes, I can see that." The man said, still getting white powder off his eyebrows. He had an unusual leather garment on, it looked like it was meant to keep him quite warm, and he had an insignia of some sort on his shoulder. Seka tilted her head and looked at it.
"Where do you come from, human man? There are no human lands near here. Only past the stars."
Her statement somewhat startled the man. "Well... I actually come from East Rock. It's ... well, it's a place where dragons live."
Seka jumped and clapped her hands together, "dragons! I know several dragons. Are they very wise?"
"...Wise?" He stammered, "well, some of them might be a bit... Most of them aren't all that bright. We ride them, against threats to our world."
Seka's big eyes fixated on him, "that sounds like tremendous fun."
"Well, it is if you don't mind the idea of getting burnt to death, or falling, or --" he suddenly shut up, twisted his head around and made some mocking noise to an invisible 'friend' near him. Seka looked over his shoulder, blinking.
"Ah. My dragon. Perhaps you'd understand better if you met him." The man whistled and a large blue colored hide-skinned dragon approached from over one hill. Seka looked it over. She'd never seen a dragon such as this, her friends in the dragon hills were not at all like this one. They had scales, for one thing.
They were wise, for another. Not wise-guys. The blue dragon snuffled his nose close to Seka, and he almost poked himself on her dark horn.
She smells nice. A good candidate nice.
"Is that so," replied the man, to the mental voice. Seka's jaw dropped open.
"It can speak in my mind?" She whispered. Just then several other critterfolk came from their hiding places, among tree branches and under pillows of snow. Two white ermine, a beige feline female, and several other hoofstock stood behind Seka staring open-mouthed at the human ... Perhaps at his dragon, but more likely at the man because humans simply didn't exist here. Dragons did.
"Let's start this over," the man said, extending his hand. "I'm D'run, and this is Oskerth. We're search riders for Ryslen."
One of the ermine crept up to Seka, and tugged on her leather skirt. "What's a ryslen?"
"Hush, Jiba, it's where their dragons live, I think." Seka nudged the small white ... child? away from her and shook the man's hand. "I am Seka, these are my friends. You just happened to come along during a good round of play is all."
"I think it can be forgiven," D'run said, smiling. His nose was reddened by the chill, but he had a cheerful cast to his eyes. "If I get the next toss in."
"And when my mother was taken, I didn't quite know what to do... So I consulted with my friend Slorin. He's the dragon." Seka said. Most of what she'd told D'run went right over his head. She'd told him about thieving and arrests and meetings with far-distant folk, and her father -- sounded like a right-bastard, he did! Trying to get ahold of some big magical doo-dad which Seka managed to hide away before he'd found it.
"Slorin... That's hardly a name for a dragon," D'run said, but Seka tilted her head. "We've always had dragons named something ending in a th-sound. It's just our way."
"Well, Slorin is a wise mage. He'd helped me before, and helped me learn a bit of magic for myself. Just enough to defend myself against father when he came for my horn..." The siamese-marked grey-on-graphite unicorn female gazed sadly into her mug. "My mother survived... He'd left enough of her horn root in her skull that it grew back over time. I've not seen her in quite some time though. She's far away and protected by our family retainers."
"That's good," D'run stated. "If she was assaulted by her own husband... that just isn't right."
"No it is not. But he killed his brother, and my brothers as well... I suppose that some day I ought to find a way to stop him." Her voice sounded distant and somewhat fearful of that actually happening. "Once..." she continued to gaze at her drink, "once he'd tried to do this to me, and Slorin interrupted him -- he was caught in a magical feedback for a century or more... It was so frightening..." She closed her eyes and D'run placed his hand on her shoulder.
"It's done. And you're well. And," he grinned, "Oskerth thinks you'd be a good rider for one of Ryslen's dragons. What do you say, maybe you could come back with your own dragon?"
Seka looked back up, half a grin on her muzzle. "It's worth a try. I've lived a long time, you know. And I've never 'had' my own dragon..."
"Well, do you have to finish up any business here? We could head back soon."
"Let me pay my bill and keep everything up and up." She winked, and wandered to the barkeep. Apparently he'd had her in this place before, perhaps she'd weaseled her way out of payment that time. But this time, she went upstairs and retrieved her meager posessions, and deposited the bag near the door.
"You travel pretty light," D'run said.
"I'm a thief," she whispered. "I can get whatever I need when I need it. Or," she said more loudly, "I can work for a living..." Others in the tavern laughed loudly at that.
When they went outside, D'run had to shoo off several children and some adults who had decided that Oskerth was quite the good snow-toy.
They mounted up and secured Seka's things, and took to the sky. The snow had begun again, and as they went into the air it got heavier. But Oskerth wasn't bothered by the cold, his human mount was safely bound in warm clothing, and Seka was well-used to hard weather.
They cleared a mountain area, Oskerth was unwilling to simply go between and arrive at Ryslen again. Something was bugging him. They came over the crest of a hill, and Seka took in a breath -- "no, this is --"
"What?" D'run yelled over the wind.
"This is my father's keep! Tell him to turn back! He'd just as soon fry us where we fly!"
What happens now??
Distracted, the whole bunch of hatchings went on before Seka shook herself awake. There were some truly beautiful dragons being hatched from these eggs, and none of them at all like Slorin! They were smooth, scaleless, and so small! She could hardly imagine what Slorin had been like when he hatched!
Laughing, she watched an egg hatch and a two-horned little nose poke through the shell. The cranberry-colored dragoness bolted out from her shell finally, and swept by the girls.
Catch me if you can! her mind clearly beckoned.
"Come back here Caelestith!"
But if I come back, you'll catch me, Seka!
"That's the idea, silly!" Seka laughed, but followed the dragoness out, to feed and clean her up. Oh, how this day would be a fine story to tell! And the kids would just adore Caelestith!
