Welcome to Gaia! ::

Suluksati cleaned the blood from her feathers and healed the wounds that lingered on her body. She didn't want to think about the dragons she had killed right now- She just wanted to take some comfort in the methodical cleaning of her feathers and of the life she had saved. It was so rare that she got to save a dragon's life, and it filled her with a warm and soothing sort of joy, just short of ecstasy. It was truly a shame that this one, like many, had to be saved from its own kind, but it was still alive, and was so because of her claws.
She would rather think on that instead of the three dead dragons whose orbs shone white-grey next to her in the small light of the cavern and her own magic.
She looked up at a sound by the cave door and was unsure how to react to the large shape that suddenly blocked her light. It was a dragon, its scent told her it was Ysali, possibly the very Ysali from before. She looked at it warily. She hoped it would not attack. It would be such a shame to kill it, after just saving it. She stared at it, and it stared back.
"Well." said the Ysali, "I'm not going to thank you." it said, it's voice smooth but gruff.
"That is fine." she said cautiously. More watchful silence unfolded.
"Have we not met before, Drakein?" it asked, tilting its head in polite curiosity.
"Have we?"
"I think we have. Months ago."
"Oh?"
"You killed the Ayrala dragons attacking me then, too." it remarked thoughtfully, "And rescued my familiar from their jaws."
"Oh. Yes." she did remember the incident.
"Hmm. Well." rumbled the dragon, “Thats interesting.” turning around to walk away, "Goodbye." It said abruptly, leaving the opening of the cave. But Suluksati had a distinct sense that it was the sort of goodbye that had an implied 'see you again'. She stared at where it had been, surprised, but happy. She had just had a conversation- a meaningful if short one- with an adult dragon. Neither had died or had been injured. It was refreshing.

Suluksati finished her preening and left the cave at a walk, seeing the large green shape of the Ysali dragon in the brush.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, after watching it for a moment. The dragon crouched, startled, then relaxed slightly, returning to its business.
"Gathering plants." it said, almost dismissively, "I intend to take them home for magical purposes."
"I see..." said Suluksati, wondering just where the dragon lived. A chirp at her side drew her attention, and she looked down to see the Silx looking up at her. She could see that it had a little green bow around its neck.
The dragon watched with undisguised amusement as the silx rubbed affecitonately against her leg. "She likes you." it remarked, "Normally, she bites."
Suluksati normally didnt snuggle pets. Children and hatchlings, yes, but pets were a whole different story. But after being rubbed and poked by the little thing, she broke down and gave it a nuzzle. The silx immediately ran along her neck and nestled in her fur. The dragon laughed as she had never heard a dragon laugh since the pieseo hatchling, before turning away and feigning disinterest. Suluksati looked up at it, then further up as something caught her eye on the edge of her vision. Her strange, almost ethereal good mood vanished as she saw the white shapes hovering above them, waiting to strike.
"Watch out!" She hissed, crouching, teeth bared, at the sky. The dragon looked up and growled.
"More?! Truly?! I am doing nothing that should offend them! Stupid airbrains." it tried to stoop in the crass and let the plants hide it, but Sulu knew it had already been spotted. The new trio circled before diving as one, the beat of their wings and the sound and fury of their wind magic pinning them down with one word.
INTRUDER!
She shielded herself and the dragon, the large shield only winking into existence for a moment, but in a battle, a moment was fast enough. The initial assault was avoided as they swerved to avoid the shield and she blasted one with a burst of light, forgetting for a moment it's power.
The Ysali shrieked a word in the ancient tongue and one of the Ayrala was dragged to the ground by a vine, thrashing against it as it began to be choked. Suluksati dashed over with the intent to help it, but as it slashed and bit at her, she simply clawed it and ended its life mercifully and quickly. The third called out for reinforcements and took to the skies, firing missiles of compressed air as it kept moving, darting and weaving as the ysali tried to hit it with poisoned thorns it summoned and threw. Suluksati took to the air, the compressed air slamming her wing and pulling her muscles as she was glanced by one of the projectiles. She dueled against the dragon in the air, it's claws scratching her less than she had thought they would. Was she stronger? Faster? tougher? How was this so? She did not feel stronger or faster or tougher, but as she clawed grevious wounds into the Ayrala, she realized that she must be. She bore the Ayrala to the ground, and it fought to the bitter end, giving her a nasty scratch across the nose before it finally slumped and disintegrated in death.