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Jijikko sniffed the air, nostrils flaring.

With himself, his two sisters, and his brother all growing to the age of young keindred — high time for them to begin learning more actively about the world around them and its workings — his parents had taken them to explore further reaches of the desert. Namely: closer to the two-legger city of Tukyere. Of course, Nallah and Tokkoro warned them extensively about going too close, and stressed that they ought to focus on stretching their wings and taking in the world. Not engaging in contact with dangerous Magescians.

Naturally, Jiji had ignored their warnings entirely. While his sisters and brother continued to work on trying to tap into their magic at will, Jiji readily snuck off, chasing a smell on the wind. His magic would come in time, he knew it. He could already feel its energy pulsing beneath his scales, rippling under his claws whenever he got excited. Yes, the earth, sand, and stone were his element, and their power would blossom with him when it pleased.

For now, though, he shuddered at the thought of missing such a perfect opportunity to see these ‘monstrous’ two-leggers for himself. He lifted his snout again, eyes squinting shut at a brief gust of desert wind, and then snorted, his tail swishing behind him curiously. Kargoths. He knew that smell well enough — wild herds of them occasionally roamed the areas near his nest as a keinling. Sheron and leklans. He knew those scents only very briefly and identified with them as ‘those beasts that the two-leggers raise for food and milk.’

Why two-leggers couldn’t make their own milk had never quite computed with him. All the creatures he knew of that made milk provided it for their own young, so why did two-leggers need to steal it from others? That, though, was a question for another day, because the most interesting smell on the wind now was not any of the farm animals, but something else.

Jiji flapped his wings briefly — not enough to take flight, just a curious shuffle as he dropped his nose low to the packed desert earth and headed off towards the source of the strange scent. There weren’t supposed to be two-leggers around until he actually approached the town, right? But this one smelled so distinct…

Jiji stopped short just in time, spotting the source, freezing in his tracks, and nestling low in the shadow of one of the desert stacks as he watched. An actual two-legger. A bit smaller than he expected, but perhaps this one was young? And why had it covered itself in so many strips of cloth? It smelled like one of Soudana’s children — ‘soulless’ — but also quite strongly of kargoth and sheron droppings.

Jiji snorted once, ever curious, and then after only a moment’s debate, threw caution to the wind and lifted himself up, drawing in a deep breath. His ferocious squawk of warning came out a bit more like a squeak than he intended, but at least it was bound to get the two-legger’s attention.

Jijikko blinked, head perking up at the first few sounds — was the two-legger attempting to communicate with him? Did it not know how to speak yet? What was it trying to say? Then, the actual words came, and Jiji swished his tail, pleased that they could communicate, before bounding forward in several half-leaps aided by some messy flaps of his wings. He needed to learn to fly in earnest, but he could work on that later. First things first.

“Salutations, two-legger!” he greeted in return and then sneezed, shaking his snout. He'd stirred up a bit more dust with his approach than he intended, though not enough to bother himself with really. Immediately after, he began to sniff the young Oblivionite’s feet, wings quivering with his curiosity. “You smell like refuse and adventure. I've never seen a two-legger before. Don’t you belong in a city? I was told two-leggers live in clusters, like insects. Why is your body in wrappings? Do you have any food? I like food.”

He emphasized the last question by nosing at the two-legger’s carrysack meaningfully.

Jiji sniffed, then huffed dismissively at the sack and root therein. “What is that? Not food. I’m not a dragon, no…I am better than a dragon.” He puffed himself up, lifting his head and arching his chest in an attempt to make himself look bigger. “I am drakein. And…” He dipped his head again, sniffing more. “Yes. Everyone ‘smells’. How could you not? It is part of you, it’s good, mm…yes, everyone has a scent…you should take me to your city. Together we can smell it. And see it. I would love to see a two-legger city. Do you travel there often? You can pretend I am your…mm…”

Jijikko considered for a moment, trying to recall the word his parents had used to describe the slaves lashed by their magic to two-leggers.

“Bonded. I can be your bonded and you can show me the city. Yes?”

At the words ‘I’m not allowed there anymore…’ Jijikko dipped his snout, tail giving a small, disappointed swish. All this way, so close, and the two-legger couldn’t even get into his own city. He huffed, adjusting his wings a bit, and eyed the two-legger child again, focusing in on the rest of what he’d said.

“Sketch?” It sounded like a compliment, though Jiji wasn’t precisely sure what all it entailed. Perhaps it would help him learn more about two-leggers? “Yes, you may ‘sketch’ me,” he answered, then wrinkled his snout a bit, wary, and pawed the earth. “So long as it doesn’t hurt. If it hurts, I’ll bite you.”

He tilted his head at the last bit. He hadn’t even realized there were two-leggers who didn’t know what it meant to be bonded to a drakein. Perhaps this one was especially stupid? Or maybe just sheltered. There were a lot of things he still didn’t know himself about the world, after all. Deciding that it would be too much effort to explain something he wasn’t particularly interested in talking about in the first place, however, Jijikko opted to ignore that part of the small Magescian’s questioning and divert the subject back to what interested him most.

“We could be friends, but why can’t you go into your city? Do you belong to someone?” 'Do two-leggers do that to each other?' Jiji wondered privately. “Or perhaps you’re too young to leave your nest without a guardian?” The fact that he'd said 'anymore' seemed to suggest the contrary, which lead Jiji to another, perhaps over-eager guess. “Did you get in trouble? Did they ban you forever? Was it fun?”

Jiji watched the oblivionite youngling’s fingers with fascination. The kind of dexterity two-leggers were capable of in that particular area was a wonder to him. All the possibilities such nimble little digits could provide. Then again, he thought, they were certainly lacking in a few other key areas, but perhaps it all rounded out one way or another.

His attention only jerked fully back to the boy’s actual words when he named Ashen city, and Jiji’s snout twitched up, head tilting. “The city with the feathered two leggers? Why would I want you to bring me there? It’s so far…I meant the place with many two leggers close to here. I know it must exist, I can smell them. My sires wouldn’t let me near. Said it was too dangerous. But with you — you could sneak me in. No one would suspect!”

He glanced, eyeing the youngling’s sketchpad again and stepping in close to sniff it. “Is it done yet? Am I sketched? Can I eat it?”

“Mmm…the close one,” Jiji responded distractedly, most of his attention on the sketch pad as the oblivionite youngling held it out to him. “If it has many two-leggers, I want to see it.” He sniffed the paper curiously. It didn’t smell like food. After a moment’s debate, he gave the corner of the page a brief, testing lick, and made a face, jerking his head back. “It doesn’t taste good.”

He eyed it quizzically, zeroing in on the image, and his stare widened again, head tilting with fresh curiosity.

“What is that? It looks like my sister. Is that me?”

Jiji blinked. “She looks…” He eyed the sketch again, contemplating. “Like me, I suppose. Lucky her.”

Much to Jiji’s pleasure, the small oblivionite didn’t seem to need much more prompting than that, and soon they were off, presumably to the boy’s home first, from the sound of things. Jiji gave a soft, rumbling noise in his throat as they walked, tail swishing happily in excitement and wings fluttering every now and then. He would get to see a two legger city after all — what a magnificent catch this boy was!