Welcome to Gaia! ::

Malta had been reluctant to leave the Terra Expanse, initially. She was the sort of khehora that, once comfortable, she became settled. And she was comfortable, and as she raised her hatchlings in the safety of the settlement, bound by their relative lack of mobility to the territories of her village, she had grown used to sameness, to nonadventure.

But her brother coaxed her out, as he often did (and was so adept at). They needed her in the market, Maike said, to pick out the right alchemical ingredients and to produce other trade goods on the spot. They also mentioned her friend, Naarhiji, who she could also visit – possibly – while there. That was enough to get her to consent to come with Maike and Sorai on their trading run to Tukyere, and even enough to have her looking forward to the trip.

However, when Maike suggested she bring one or two of the orakoi along, she had said no. Absolutely not. Magescians were dangerous, she repeated, her decades old litany. She had many friends among them, now, and understood them better, but they still frightened her in a primal way, and though she could herself walk into a city full of them, she did not trust the twoleggers around her babies. Not yet. Not strangers.

Maike found this a more difficult negotiation. Appealing to Malta's friends didn't help – her friends were not, after all, most of the population of Tukyere. Appealing to her reason didn't help because, as she pointed out to him clearly, she was being reasonable. Khehora were hunted all the time – there were dangers, and the magescians were very, very powerful.

Finally, Maike simply told her that if she refused he would sneak her orakoi to the city anyway and let them do whatever they wanted, unsupervised, because he was their 'fun uncle'. This convinced her, both because she knew he would do something of the sort, and because she could imagine – in bone-chilling detail – what sort of horrible hijinks her children would get into unsupervised in a magescian city.

And so it was that Ysalda and Kuasu – both eager to explore this new city place – got to come with their mother and their Aunt Sorai and Uncle Maike on their trip. Rthyin and Sevan had stayed behind with their father, but just because only half her clutch was present didn't mean that Malta could let her guard down for a second. Especially not with those two.

She tensed as Maike greeted the gatekeepers – hybrids she assumed he knew well – and led them into the city. As they reached the edge of Tukyere's famous, bustling market, Maike turned and grinned at the Orakoir. “Well!” he purred happily, “Welcome to Tukyere! Sniff your hearts out, darlings!” he said, before lumbering happily into the stalls.

“To business...” Murmured Sorai quietly, moving to better keep track of her enthusiastic brother.

Malta could practically feel the crowds around her, pressing in on her, moving everywhere. It was a forest full of twolegs and khehora and half khehora and gods only knew what else, and she knew if she wasn't careful, she could lose one of her babies in it. She nuzzled them close with her wings and head. “Sasa, Kuku...” she said anxiously, “Please stay close to Mama, okay?” She prayed they would...

Kuaso’s gaze flicked every which way, taking in everything around him. He wished he was large so he could see everything — like his mother and aunt and uncle. He dug his claws into the sandy ground and watched as Ysa moved forward farther, away from their mother and him. He watched as her nose sniffed the air and he mimicked the motion. Oh...oh! Everything smelled so different here, amongst the two leggers. While he was wary of each and every person that passed them, Kua found a slight fascination bubble up inside of him. They were so different from what he was used to, living up in the mountains.

When Ysalada spoke, Kua tilted his head and ventured a bit farther forward, towards his sister. He sniffed at the ground and then the air. His nose wrinkled when he caught hold of the scent. Was was that? It smelled like...magic? But it was weak, watered down magic. Were two leggers really that weak? Kua blinked, eyes widening and nose twitching as a two legger passed by their small group, followed closely by a khehora. The same smell made him pull back a bit. Was it the khehora that smelled like that? What was wrong with them. At Ysa’s question, Kua’s attention flit back to his mother, waiting for an answer.

GAAAAAH
Malta ran after Ysalda, terror emboldening her enough to try to stop her daughter from doing something so dangerous. “Sasa, no! Nono!” She'd known Ysalda would do this. She'd known it. Why had those words come out of her mouth at all?

She slowed slightly as she saw she was too late – Ysalda had initiated contact. There was nothing Malta could do but try to stop her from offending the powerful Magescian with a khehora bound to their will...

Sorai only rolled her wings, ever watchful and wary, but unconcerned. If there was trouble, she would react.

~~~

The bonded Peisio alikovan was completely bored out of it's skull. It's bonded had insisted on taking it to the market, and it had followed because it's bonded apparently couldn't do anything without him... or carry anything themselves. “Why do you have to buy this?” they complained, “It's big, it's heavy...”

“It's for furniture!” said the hybrid... of what races, exactly, it had become hard to tell. Said hybrid was Tukyerean through and through, a multi-generational resident of the hybrid city. “Special orders – that's what that's for...”

“It's marble.” grumbled the bonded, “You could have gotten it delivered, but no, you need me to carry it. Get a damn has...” The bonded stared at the Orakoir that had begun to sniff him. It wasn't hard to tell that this was a Ysali and a feral. “What do you want.” they snapped, feathers fluffing up in annoyance. They did not like ferals at all – wild, unpredictable, and much bigger. Cleverer, too, though the bonded would never admit that.

He registered another big – bigger – feral barreling towards him and tensed, tail lashing...

Ysalda rumbled with displeasure, the growl of a sound only building when the subject of her curiosity puffed up, as though offended. She was his kind, yet he chose—if what mother said was true and if was looked to be so was true—to not only make himself weak for a two legger, but follow one about in its clustered city. Admittedly, the two-legger city was interesting, but it was not home. They never bound and stole small two-legger children to their will—

—probably because two-legger children were inherently weak and useless and soft and scale-less at birth with no proper teeth or claws, and ugly besides—

—but that was another matter entirely.

“Why?” Ysalda lashed her tail, flicking it up to jab insistently on the burden upon the bonded’s back as she shook her head, a violent shake of disapproval. “Make it carry it,” she insisted, nostrils flaring as her yellow eyes flicked towards the two-legger at its side. Female, she decided, from the smell of things, though sometimes it was more difficult to tell with two-leggers unless they were excited. Mating pheromones were difficult to miss.

When her brother came up behind her, she shrugged him off, flicking her tail away and grunting dismissively. “Don't care what Mama likes,” she insisted. “Just wanna talk.”

The Alikhora gave the young Ysali a deeply annoyed look. “What, and break her back?” it snapped, “Mind your own business, feral.”

It's bonded, however, was less growly. “Ooo!” she broke away from her shopping to coo over the not-adult-animal. Who was, in her opinion, cute. And it had another one next to it! Look at their big heads and paws and not-yet-developed wings! So cute! “Hello there! What are your names?” she said to the two, delightedly. She'd never actually met a feral khehora before!

“Uggggh,” the Alikhora groaned, “Don't talk to them.” they bared their fangs mildly, “They were just leaving...”

~~~

Oh roots, and Kuasu too! Malta skidded, staggered, and finally bounced (a little) to a halt, panting with the exertion. She was more in shape than she had been years ago, but panicking took a lot of breath. “Y... ysalda! Kuasu!” she took a deep breath. “Yes! Just leaving!” she tried to nudge her offspring away from the too-interested hybrid.

~~~

“Aww, really?” the hybrid was, very obviously, disappointed...