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 Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 7:52 pm
If she didn't want a cold reception...
Suluksati watched the sun rise as her light magic healed her, thinking about the dragon whose orb glittered ice-blue and proud in the sand, and whose iceberg melted in the warming morning light.
Could a new era of dragons and Khehora really begin? Could the two leggers be destroyed? That would certainly solve the problem of them hunting dragons, but it wasn't just the two leggers that hunted, but her own kind. Killing them was a solution, yes, but short term. She still believed that people of all stripes, feathers, and scales could be turned and made to follow her cause, if she only went about it right.
If they were convinced to not hunt the dragons, then they would not need to die. That, to her, was simpler than just killing them all, and it was more long term, in her mind anyway.
She retrieved the Aiskalan orb and watched the iceberg become one with the ocean. There was still hope.
But maybe what the dragon said might have had truth in it after all, as all powerful opinions do; the slightest grain of truth that some two leggers would need to die...
She shook the water from her feathers. None of that, now. If she went about killing twolegger dragon hunters, then they would really hunt her. Suluksati didn't want to be hunted.
With a final glance at the blooming dawn and a swish of her tail, she set the thought aside and disappeared into the Serenian Forests.
But she didn't dismiss the thought.
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 5:51 am
Watch the Skies
In now-darkened Ayr, lit by only a few stragglers of the starfall, Suluksati wondered what it all meant.
The starfall was a once-in-many-lifetimes experience that she would never forget. She had watched it with many, but she was still, totally and completely and painfully, alone.
She had convinced no-one to her cause, and dragons still died nearly every day to tooth, claw, sword, arrow, and magic, their souls falling to the ground like the stars had above her. It had been years, and she still had nothing to show for her efforts but failure, marked in the countless scars that hid beneath her feathers.
She lay her head down on her forelegs, thinking - as she had done often since the fight - of the words of the Aiskalan dragon. Was she going about it the wrong way? Were the ears of magescans closed forever? Would they need to be slain to see the rightness of her way.
Again, as she had done before, she shoved the thought away, burying it as she thought of two-leggers she liked. Esme... Raemos... Little Minerva... Sueno... Xenosa. Not all of them were cruel hunters, just as not all of her kind were vicious marauders.
There was she reassured herself, Still hope
But every time she thought about what the Aiskalan had said, she knew she believed it more and more, and she dreaded the time when no hope remained for her to bury it with.
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:10 am
Whippersnapper
Suluksati as grateful to take wing for Eowyn from that dark shore. Cool sea sunlight - dimmed by Soldul's power - graced her feathers and lightened her soul.
She hadn't even known if it were day or night under those dark, whispering, hostile canopies, her usual sense of her light magic stifled under the power of the Blood Moon and the land of darkness itself.
She was glad to be away.
She was also glad she had met the Elder.
He had been a kind Kiandri. He had showed her the way out though... she wondered... could he see? If not, he still saw more than her. He was far sighted, understanding... good. He had eased her terrified soul and soothed the torment of her spirit.
Suluksati was young, but powerful. Yet that power had failed her so many times in so many battles. Yes, the dragons were defeated and lay dead at her feet. But that was no victory.
She had been fighting to protect her beloved dragons for most of her adult life, and had little to show for it but a few smattering bittersweet 'victories'. She had become discouraged, an emotion which the shadowed trees had only grown.
But the elder had renewed her hope, and she could only thank him as the blood moon rose in the sky, making her magic shudder at another dark, frightening night.
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Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 4:47 pm
Morning Hunt
Suluksati sunned on a rock after her meal, her stomach and mind both full.
Her talk with the strange and polite little Oblivionite had given her food for thought - rarely did anybody bother to get into the philosophy of hunting dragons. Mostly, they just shouted her insanity at her, and chased her off.
Or, they listened politely and made their exit. Had that happened here? Sulu didn't think so, and she didn't care anyway.
She was thinking about what he had said, about the impossibility of harmony, how the creations of dark and light had unbalanced the world. Well, that was how she was interpreting what he had said.
Because she knew - she knew it with all her wild heart - that the world had once been in harmony with itself, back when the dragons were king.
And then what hat happened? The Oblivionites and Orderites and Dovaa were born, and the world erupted into war and chaos. And as long as they were around, they would fight each other and take their power from the rightful rulers of the land - the dragons.
Could it be that dragons and magescans would never be able to live in harmony?
What if it was as the Aiskala dragon had said, that the magescans needed to be destroyed? That peace would only come if there was nobody to war?
Suluksati shivered in the warm summer day. That was not a pleasant thought, and not something she wanted to think of herself as doing. Besides, some magescans were decent, polite people. Some magescans were children.
But what if it was the only way...?
No.
She would not think on that.
Instead, she took a nap. She would be flying to Ayr soon, to patrol there. She would need her rest.
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Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 4:53 pm
Fluff n. StuffSulu was pleased with her day. She had rescued a baby khehora from the jaws of a dragon, without having to kill the dragon. She had taken said baby khehora flying. She had been introduced to the pleasure of the hot springs of Kaitaisel, and she'd managed to get the little one home before her tribe had started to search for her.
The hot springs water had relaxed her muscles, and she stretched on the still-warm sun-baked rock.
Yes. A day well done.
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 5:46 am
Bad BunniesAs Suluksati flew off into the lashing winds of the Ayr storm, and as harsh rain beat away any remaining pain from her injuries, she wondered, angrily, how such small beings could nearly outwit her. They were unintelligent and uncivilized and wild. They had little power of their own (though she had heard of their use of Firani magics) How could she have lost to them? Of all beings, them? She growled and snapped at the thunder, remembering how the smaller ones had tried to hunt that dragon. She felt no pity or mercy, only wrath. Perhaps the Darvithri have a village near here she thought, tilting her wings to circle around, I wonder if I shouldn't pay them a visitShe wanted to teach them a lesson about dragonkin that they would not forget. Or, just wipe out the little beasts. But then, she realized, if they had tactics like what they had demonstrated to her before, they could hurt her very badly. They might even kill her. She refused to die at the hands of these primitive beasts. She would be felled by a dragon's claw or a hunter's knife (or whatever they would use), and there was no room in that fate for Darvithri. I'll think on it. she murmured to herself, I'll think on it. but the thought was getting more attractive by the moment.
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 8:06 am
The Hunting PartySuluksati glided through the valley at dusk, landing on the hard stone of the expanse and sneaking forward to where the ragged and battered hunting party had made their encampment. She stuck to the shadows and out of their line of sight, knowing how visible her white feathers made her on the dark ground. She crept close, hiding behind a rock. The magescans were gathered around a fire, speaking urgently, and she settled in to listen. "So. We are all agreed. The white khehora must be hunted down."Suluksati cringed. That was not a good sign. She had been hoping that they would retreat, that they would give up their hunting expedition, cut their losses, and return home, leaving the dragons they sought unharmed. "Yes. She... he... it... has been a consistent nuisance over the last few days... we've lost too much." The voice was sad and deep, clearly mourning. They had lost so much, hadn't they. "Our water, our caravan supplies, our Hastar, our..." the voice choked up, "Our friends..." Suluksati closed her eyes, feeling her soul rend at his words. She hadn't cared when she had killed their beasts and their people. She had thrown her magical blasts wherever it pleased her - and it had pleased her to do it. Seren's light... what was she doing? What was she becoming? A thrill of fear - at what, it was hard to say - set her feathers to rise. "And the expedition." piped up one, "There are too few of us now, and we have too little supplies. We cannot continue on to Soldul like this." Good. she thought, Go home."No." interrupted a voice. It was the voice of before, the voice of a leader. She peered out to see the speaker - an orderite male, scarred and bearing a large mace. He stood tall and, she thought, stoic over the fire, his face lit from below. She decided she did not like him. "We've come this far. We will not go back to Ashen city without the Diabi orbs.""But sir..."He stopped them short. "We can still do it. We simply need to meet up with the smuggler's boat." she hid again as the man smiled, "In the meantime, we will continue forward and hunt down the khehora. I doubt it has stopped its hunt of us, for whatever reason..." There was a murmur of uneasy assent, and Suluksati began to creep, dejectedly, away. "Besides..." she heard, as she left, "Its feathers will make fine trophies."
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:15 pm
The Path to Power
Response to the Meta:
XXX
511 wordsSuluksati continued her duties by the lake, striking out at any Mara that dared to show its stone-featured face to her. She had incinerated a few groups of bodies to ash with blasts of light magic, but she had discovered that a lot of light magic was required to do so: unlike flames, it didn't propigate itself and so all the energy required had to be provided. And, since the Aedaun dragons did not show themselves, and the Orderite army appeared otherwise occupied, she was the only source of light magic for miles. Deciding that her magic needed to be conserved for destroying Mara and healing herself (So she could destroy more mara), she had set about convincing the Ysali dragons that the bodies made better fertilizer when buried. It was sensible, and when she respectfully implied that they knew best where to bury them for great effect, they even deigned to assist. Of course, a few of the bodies were eaten, which she considered an acceptable alternate disposal method. Though she was not usually one for eating Magescans, it did return them to the proper cycles of life and death, and it was clear that the dragons had no problems with eating them. With the lack of game animals around – scared away by the Mara – and the fact that most of the plants in the area were not in an edible state, eating a few of the dead bodies was a necessity. If Suluksati wanted to rationalize it further, aside from removing them from the viscinty of the lake, she could consider it payment for the services she was rendering to them. But she didn't need to rationalize it much further than necessity, and didn't need to comfort herself any more than the honest statement that she would not partake in Magescan flesh in the future. Either way, she was proud of her efforts, and Criani's efforts, and, as the Mara began to recede somewhat, she knew she had made a difference. Yet, her failure at the barrier to the Maralan penninsula bothered her and, as things quieted at the lakes, she began to think about it more and more. She had known, for some time, that she needed more power. Her cause; that desire to protect dragons that had ripped her from the normalcy of her clan and consumed her life, that conviction that remained strong all through the years of loneliness, failure, and death... it required a lot from her. She herself had to be powerful if she dared to call herself the defender of dragons. Thus, the idea of the ritual had lingered in the back of her mind, growing stronger as she had seen the power that Samael and Toki wielded, and the grace and beauty of their two-legged forms. And now, she felt, very strongly, that that was the next step for her. Tomorrow perhaps, once she had checked the woods again for mara, she would seek out the leaders of the khehora, and see if she could undertake the ritual for herself.
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:22 am
The Olrawk's Song
584 Words
"Another story, Suluksati?" The Orakoi Alikhora nodded vigorously, turning her bright orange eyes to the top philosopher-elder of her tribe. She could still only speak a spattering of toddler-draconic, but the elder understood well enough. He laughed, giving her a nudge with his nose. "Soon, little one, we will run out of stories for your little head to devour."
Little Sulu chirped, begging. She wanted another story, and another and another!
The elder laughed. "Well, little one. Heres a magescan story, as if I hadn't filled your head with enough."
"An orderite warrior wished to make himself more efficient at finding and destroying his Oblivionite foes, so he sought a guard animal that would only alert him when they were near. He asked his elder about it, and was told that, of all animals, only the quiet olrawk could sense an Oblivionite and would call only for it.
So the man set about finding and taming an olrawk, traveling into the forests and seeking it in the trees. One day, he heard the most beautiful song, one that filled his soul with joy. He set out to find that sound, but could not, for it seemed to come from all around him. Finally, he looked up to see an olrawk. It was singing, and its song was the melody that made his heart soar so.
He tried to catch it but it flew away, leaving him in a silence so painful that it made him weep. In sorrow, he began to head back, when he saw an Oblivionite. Sorrow turned to wrath and he struck down the soulless one without mercy.
Eventually, he found an olrawk, but could not get it to sing. All it did was hoot and call quietly. He tried to bribe it tender meats and herbs and berries, but it would not call. He watched it day and night, but did not sing. He grew angry at it, and hit it, but it did not sing. He squeezed it between his arms, but it did not sing.
Eventually, it flew away from him, and he went to chase it and retrieve it, if only to punish it for its insolence. He thought he was nearby when he heard the singing, as beautiful and pure as before. He followed it to a clearing.
There was his olrawk, singing its battered heart out as it perched on the shoulder of a lone Oblivionite spy. They stroked it and preened it, as he had, but it sang for them, and not for him..."
Suluksati listened intently. She did not understand everything the elder said, but she knew what an olrawk was, and what an Orderite was, and that was enough for her to understand something.
"He attacked the Oblivionite in a jealous rage, and the olrawk flew away to a nearby tree. The Oblivionit stabbed him in the heart, and he collapsed, dying, to the ground. The last thing he heard before his soul joined Seren at her side was the olrawk's song..."
Suluksati tilted her head. Now she did not understand. "Why he die?" she chirped.
"Because he did not appreciate what he had."
Sulu blinked. "Oh..?"
"Never mind, little one. I didn't tell it right. You'll understand when you're older." he said, nuzzling her.
She bounced. When she was older she would be able to do all sorts of things! Understanding was one of them. She barked happily at him, wiggling playfully.
"Another?!"
She nodded.
"Oh very well..."
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:27 am
Play Hunt
833 Words
Play Hunt
Suluksati squeaked as she tackled her sister, pouncing the fellow Alikhora to the ground in a swarm of downy orakoi feathers. They cheeped together, giggling, rolling in the feather lined nest with total abandon.
"Suluksati? Mahrani?" called their mother, poking her feathered, orange face in the shelter. Her sister, who had ended up on top, hopped off, almost guiltily. Suluksati, from her position on her back, reached up to bat at her mother's nose.
"Mama, Play!" she said, her sister cheeping encouragement. "Play with!"
She got a soft nuzzle in return. "Mmm. Not today, my little ones."
"No play?" Mahrani mewed in dissappointment, snuggling next to her sister, who quickly righted herself.
"No play." replied their mother, rumbling softly, "Mama has to go out for a bit and hunt dragons with cousin Jagima, aunt Tusati, and uncle Pudra." She rearranged the nest lining with a careful paw, flicking a few stray feathers off her orakoi's heads. "Elder Kagira will be here to keep his eyes on you two."
"He no play." grumbled Suluksati. She pouted, lashing her little tail through the feathers.
"Old." agreed Mahrani, "Elder Kagi is old." As if that explained everything.
"Don't let him catch you saying that, my little sunbeams." Their mother snickered, glancing behind her, "Or he'll put you to work. But maybe you can get a story out of him. Do you want a story?"
"Story!" squeaked Suluksati, prancing in place. She stopped, looking at her sister. "Story?"
"No like story." responded Mahrani, "Want play."
Their mother shook her great head at them. "Either way. I'll be back at nightfall." she said, giving them both a nudge with her face. "Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone, all right?"
"No trouble." said Mahrani.
"No trouble." agreed Suluksati.
"Good." their mother drew away, "Fair weather, darlings.” They poked their heads out of the lair to watch her join her group and fly away, before wiggling out of the lair entirely and waddling up to an aged Khehora. Elder Kagira was one of the few non-Alikhora in the clan, and his exposed scales fascinated the two feathered orakoi.
“Hi Elder Kagi!” chirped Mahrani, her sister just behind her.
“It's 'Kagira' but hello yourself.” murmured the elder, resting his head on his paws as he looked at the two hatchlings. Suluksati pranced around her sister.
“Story?” she chirped, lightly pouncing his nose, “Want story!”
Kagira lightly batted her away. “No stories.” he said firmly, his eyes lidding tiredly, “No play, and no bothering me.” he mumbled. “She owes me for this...”
Mahrani peeped and tilted her head, puzzled. “Whats 'owe'?”
“Nothing.” mumbled the elder, half asleep, “Just don't kill each other, and we'll be just fine.”
“What's 'kill?'” Suluksati asked, wiggling impatiently. The Elder was sleeping when he should be telling stories!
“Come on Sulu, Elder is being boring. We go play.” said Mahrani, gently biting Suluksati's foreleg and dragging her away.
“'kay!” chirped Suluksati, “Mama's hunting dragons!” she said, informing the elder very self importantly.
“I know. She is a powerful warrior of our clan. One day, you will be too. Go off and play. Leave me be.” grumbled the elder impatiently, giving them a grouchy glare.
Suluksati did not resist her sister's pull. “We play dragons!” she said excitedly wigging playfully.
“Dragons?” Mahrani asked, flicking a tongue out at her.
“One of us is dragon, other is hunter, and hunter hunts dragon!” said Suluksati with an excited yip. Rarely did she come up with games herself, so she was very pleased with her ingenuity.
Mahrani frowned. “No want hunt Sulu.” she said, dejected, “We hunt dragons together.”
“But who is dragon?” asked Sulu, confused. “Who hunt?”
“We both hunt.” peeped Mahrani proudly, “Dragons im... im... 'maginary.”
“Oh.” Suluksati wasn't sure if that would work, but she trusted her sister to do something interesting. “ ' kay.”
They played their game for a time, chasing imaginary dragons and tufts of wind and pretending to be grown up hunters. Suluksati had trouble, at first, with imagining, but once she got into the running and jumping part of the game, it started to come easier. Eventually, though, the two orakoi tired and returned to their nest, cuddling up to sleep until their mother returned.
“Mahri?” murmured Sulu, her eyes drooping.
“Mmm?”
“When we older and big, we hunt real dragons?”
“Mmm!” Mahrani made a noise of agreement and snuggled into Sulu's side, “We hunt together when we older and big and strong.”
“Fun.” said Sulu, hiding her head under her sister's wing, “Hunt together.”
But Mahrani had fallen asleep, and Suluksati soon followed after her. Their mother returned, with food, but at the sight of them curled up together, reserved it until morning, instead curling her vast, feathery mass around her children and joining them in sleep, a new pile of dragon orbs joining the few that already graced her lair...
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:40 pm
Pets, Pride, and Power
Response to XX TAMING: Lets Fly! (Toki and Suluksati)
339 Words
Suluksati glided through the part of the ocean where the tumultuous storms of Ayr met the steadier winds of the ocean, angling her wings to catch it as she flew towards Eowyn. The past few days had made her think – really think – about the world, and that was a credit to Shaman Toki's wisdom as an elder.
A good elder made you think. A bad elder told you what was, and made sure you knew it was so, it was always so, would always be so, and must always be so. She wished that she had known Toki as an Orakoir. She wished he had been of her Clan, instead of from far-off Eowyn.
Her elders had expounded on the virtues of philosophy and questioning, calling themselves 'thinking warriors'. But how much questioning did they really do? Did they really investigate the world, or did they ask the same questions every time, and say the same answers, like some sort of convoluted call-and-response ritual. Or, for a better analogy, like an Orakoi chasing its tail.
Toki did not chase his tail. He nudged yours, making you see the knowledge that was just beyond the corner, just beyond your realm of understanding.
That prey could be companions, that power could be gained but not sought, that the dragons and hunters alike were arrogant and that both were blinded by it... these were only the few tidbits of knowledge she had gleaned from her short time on Ayr with the elder that she could call to mind immediately. She knew that she would have to seek him out later and learn more.
His wisdom might well hold the key to ending her hopeless despair, or, at least alleviating it. He might help her understand why she felt this way, and how to best explain it to others.
But most of all, he might be a friend. And, as she winged off into the cold, lonely, dark-blue of the evening ocean sky, a friend was what she wanted the most.
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:42 pm
Learning: To Protect Oneself (Shield)
595 words
“Suluksati, pay attention.” scolded the elder as the young Orakoir grinned at her sister, “You too Mahrani. This is important.” the elder shuffled his feathers, rearranging them in agitation, “This is the most important part of our magic, and you need to learn this and learn it well.” he narrowed his eyes, “It will save your life one day”
Suluksati followed her sister's glance to one of the males in their teaching group and nudged her, giggling – she had been looking at him too. The Elder growled. “Sorry, sir.” she said, trying to tamp down her amusement and interest, “We will try to pay attention, Elder Hitzo.”
“All I ask is that.” muttered the elder, “Why must I teach orakoir... flighty creatures... Very well.” he slammed his tail to the ground, “From the beginning.” his class groaned. “We are Aedaun Khehora of the clan Senasadri. We are warriors, but we are not reckless beasts of tooth and claw. We are civilized...”
“Here he goes again...” whispered Mahrani, “Watch, sister, he is going to go on and on again about magic...”
“And how our magic makes us more than beasts?” commented Suluksati.
“I am willing to bet a fish on it.” Smirked Mahrani, “He's going to do it, you will see – as if he hadn't already done it ten minutes ago.”
Suluksati coughed, hiding a chuckle as the Elder gave her a smoldering, annoyed glare.
He continued. “Our magic is what sets us apart from the barbarians, the beasts of tooth and claw. We are philosopher-warriors. We think. We feel...”
“You owe me a fish, Sulu.” whispered Mahrani.
Suluksati gave her sister a gentle, playful nudge. “I do not! I never bet against you.” she replied, baring a single fang in protest.
“True.” said Mahrani. She smirked, winking one of her sapphire eyes, “You're smart.”
The elder's tail whapped against the ground once, and the sisters turned back to him, crests half raised guiltily.
“And as Aedaun khehora, we are blessed with the powers of light, and are able to fight in a thoughtful, reasonable way, moreso than our brethren of other clans.” he continued, fixing them with a sulfurous glare, “Our magic is triplicate: damage, healing, and protection. Protection, the creation of a magical shield, is the most important of our abilities. No other clan truly has this ability and, when mastered, will allow you to show your superiority with ease.” he paused, “Now. You two troublemakers...” a diamond of light appeared over both Suluksati's and Mahrani's head, marking them in the crowd, “Lets have a demonstration. Attack me.”
Suluksati looked up at him, puzzled. “But...” Attacking one's own tribe and kin was wrong...
“Do it. Both of you. That is an order.”
Suluksati looked at her sister and nodded. She was curious as to why he was asking for an attack. Mahrani nodded in turn and, in the unison that had earned them the nickname of 'the Twins', they attacked, one from each side.
They charged in, claws raised to strike, only to crash against a shimmering barrier that appeared before their faces. As if mirroring the other, they recoiled back on their haunches, blinking in surprise.
“That, children, is a shield.” said the elder smugly, flicking his tail as the barriers dissipated. “You can all cast it, and you will all learn to use it effectively.” He smirked at each sister in turn, “You two may return to the class.” he said, shooing them away with a gesture of his wings.
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:44 pm
Hunting
564 Words
Mahrani beckoned with her tail as she sniffed a set of large tracks, Suluksati following behind her at a patient pace. They were on the trail of a group of Ghargon, meal enough to fill their bellies and, maybe, eve bring back home to share with their mother. “They're close.” murmured, Mahrani, lip upturned to better scent her prey, “Very close.”
Suluksati nodded and moved alongside her as they lowered themselves and began to creep along the ground. Sulu could hear the ghargon grunting and mhurring: they were indeed not far off. She licked her lips in anticipation of the kill and the filling of her stomach. Her sister nudged her with her tail and gave her a look, gesturing with her head.
Suluksati nodded.
They crept off in different directions, to either side of the sounds. Sulu went a ways to give her sister distance, and then went towards the sounds, keeping hidden in the brush until she saw them – a herd of the beasts, munching peacefully, grasping twigs in their forepaws and chewing sedately.
She peeked up over the bushes, catching sight of her sister's light green snout with its white stripes, the exact inverse of her own markings. Their eyes met, and Mahrani nodded. There were seven ghargons in this part of the herd, and probably more nearby. If they attacked as a group, they would easily overwhelm the two orakoir; Which meant they needed to separate one or two from their family and take them down individually. Suluksati scanned the herd, looking for likely targets.
There.
She sent a brief sparkle of light to encircle and mark a ghargon with a slight limp. It would lag behind its fellows, and they would have a chance of separating it out as the group moved on. She caught Mahrani's nod and they waited until, as a group, the ghargon began to move.
Sure enough, the limping one lagged behind ever so slightly, and Suluksati cast a shield. It ran into the shimmering barrier with a confused harrumph, then attempted to placidly go around it. Another shield sprang into being, and it huffed, annoyed, as its group vanished into the trees. They toyed with it in this way for a few minutes more, letting the herd get a bit ahead.
And then, at the signal of Mahrani's raised and waving fan of a tail, they leapt out of the bushes, tackling it to the ground in unison and ending it quickly.
“Well.” murmured Suluksati, looking towards the herd, “Shall we get another one, sister?” she asked, contemplating.
“Mmm...” Mahrani regarded the ghargon, “No, I think this will be enough for us both. No need to go through all that work if we don't have to.”
Suluksati looked at her sister thoughtfully. “No, I suppose not.” she said, “Then let us eat.” she said, picking up the carcass in her mouth and spreading her great wings.
“The rock?” offered her sister, referring to a large boulder in the clan's territory that they had claimed as their own. Sulu nodded, tensing for a jump that would bring her into the air. “Then I will meet you there.” said Mahrani, purring as she effortlessly and unburdonedly took off.
Suluksati eventually made it to the rock with their meal, and they ate their fill, proud of their first real hunt on their own.
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:46 pm
The Peisio Rain
807 words
Suluksati and Mahrani were excited: today they would go on their first real dragon hunt! They were old enough and strong enough to be allowed to tag along with the adults. Their targets were the Peisio dragons that lived along the lakes, and it seemed an awful lot of trouble to Suluksati. The lakes were at least a day, maybe more, away, and it seemed a far way to go to battle dragons, when there were Ysali and Aedaun dragons that she knew of in the area.
Either way, though, it was an honor to be considered to go, and a sign that, maybe soon, she and her sister would undertake the ritual argument that would mark them as adults of the tribe. Suluksati had no idea what she would argue about before the elders, but she felt that she had some time yet. This hunt was the first step.
She and her sister were the only two orakoir in the group – the others were older Orakovan, wise and powerful and experienced. It was difficult to keep up as the adults moved swiftly through the Serenian forest. Soon they were beyond the territories that Suluksati was familiar with, and she knew that if she or her sister fell behind the adults even a little bit, it would be easy to become lost.
She and her sister gave up on walking and instead flew along beside the adults, able to stay with them by gliding on their young wings. The adults were very jovial: It was as if they were going to a festival or celebration of sorts. Was that, Suluksati wondered, what a dragon hunt was? A festival? A party?
Either way, their mood was infectious, and Suluksati found herself joyfully anticipating the hunt ahead.
The group's pace was so fast that they made it to the lake shore with daylight to spare, assembling next to the shimmering water as one of the adults – a leaderly sort of khehora that Suluksati did not really know well – hopped onto a rock and addressed them.
“All right, then,” he said, “We're here, and we will be killing Peisio dragons. The goal is to kill as many as possible without endangering yourself too much. We're doing the Orderites a favor, but we owe them nothing, so no stupid stunts. Just have fun.” he looked down at the two Orakoir. “You two get to pick up the orbs as they fall from our fighting. You will sort them into piles so that everybody can easily figure out shares of the souls.” he nodded, “That said, the shares will be even. Share and share alike. So if you want a bigger share of the dragon souls, kill more dragons.” So they weren't going to fight? Suluksati was disappointed, but it was to be expected: just being allowed on the hunt was a great honor. “All right.” he said, turning to the lake, “lets stir up some water.”
The group winged out over the lake, leaving the two Orakoir on the shore. Suluksati could hear their taunting roars and the beat of their wings, and she looked up, watching the group return to the shore, sinuous blue shapes following close behind.
Once over land, the khehora attacked, and the fight began, the sky above Suluksati and Mahrani becoming choked in a storm of blue limbs, feathers. Blood fell like a thick, red rain and gleaming blue orbs, smelling of water and swirling with magical power, dropped among it. Suluksati thought it was beautiful and awful, a mass of surging power and terrible, thunderous noise.
She rolled the orbs into piles with her sister, but her focus was on the masses above, and the terrible screams of khehora and dragon as they injured each other.
Her attention was brought back to the ground as a dragon fell next to her, shuddering once before disintegrating into ash, it's soul rolling out along the ground.
It was over not long after sunset, and the group – shimmering with healing magic – landed to apportion the orbs. Suluksati and Mahrani waited eagerly, but they got no share. They had not, after all, fought. One of the adults, though, hunted down an olrarik and gave it to them in thanks for their efforts.
They stayed the night on the lake shore, and returned home the next day, orbs in tow. The group was laughing and cheerful, showing off new scars and bragging about their prowess in battle. Mahrani was with them, delightedly enthusing over the warriors.
Suluksati, though, was troubled and quiet, bothered by something she could not put her claw on. When she got home, she set to preening as thoroughly as possible, cleaning herself until she shone white amidst a pile of broken, damaged feathers.
It made her feel a little better.
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:47 pm
Learning: The Dragon I Hunt (Light Ray)
872 words
Suluksati was out hunting for her supper. She was alone this time, the better to contemplate the ideas that had been stewing in her head for some time now. Why did nobody care about the why of things? They could talk about how and what for hours, but, in a clan full of philosophers, nobody questioned why.
Suluksati had a lot of whys to ask. Her elders told her that the world was divided into vast lands, but the lands seemed so limited. Why was one land light, and the other dark? Why was there a land of sand, and a land of ice, and a land of wind? It felt like there could be so much more, a whole extended potential of what the world could be, and yet there was not. Why? Why did Abronaxus create the world this way?
Why, too, did the khehora hunt? They could eat plants and fruit, and could keep pets. Yet they also ate the flesh of animals. Suluksati liked her meat and was perfectly happy to kill for her supper, but why did she have to? Did she have to? Did she have a choice?
Nobody had answered these questions for Suluksati. In a clan that taught that questions should be asked, she had asked too many strange ones. She hadn't been chastised – it had been worse. They'd given her the same answers that they always gave – the what and the how. But Suluksati wanted the why.
She huffed as she walked along, grumbling to herself. She wondered why she was the only one asking why. Why – indeed – did her fellow khehora not ask it? She wondered if it was because nobody cared.
A bouken raced out from its hiding place, bolting to its hole, and Sulu put her thoughts on hold. She pounced, catching it with her talons and breaking its neck with a swift bite. She was about to eat it when her keen amber eyes found a strange depression in the ground.
She put the bouken in her mouth and wandered over, sniffing at it.
It was a dragon's footprint.
She wiggled excitedly and began to follow it, going in the same direction through the brush until she found another, then another, then another. Soon she was running, tracking the massive dragon through the forest.
It had to be big, bigger than any dragon she had ever yet seen in person, and Suluksati was curious. She knew she was close when she heard the commotion, a combination of dragonic roars and Magescan cries and the clanging of metal and stone.
She ran towards it, stopping just before she broke into the blood-soaked clearing. A pure white dragon fought a group of Orderites on the ground.
It was a beautiful creature, all grace and power and as it reared back and roared, a ball of purest light formed between its jaws. Then, as if spitting it out, the ball of light launched forth. It flew in an inexorable line, striking one of the Orderites and sending them crumpling to the ground. Suluksati watched as the dragon closed in, its eyes cruel and cold, its claws metallic and blade-sharp.
But before the Orderite could meet its end, an arrow sprouted out of the dragon's chest, right where its heart should be, and with a surprised shriek, it fell.
It crumbled to ash, its soul falling to the ground, and Suluksati backed away into the brush with her catch, saddened by the death of the great beast. She made her way to safety, where she could eat in peace away from the scene of battle.
Why did khehora hunt dragons?
It was a question she had thought about but hadn't yet asked. She doubted that, if she did ask, she would get a satisfying answer, or any answer at all.
Dragons were beautiful creatures. They were graceful and powerful and, with some vague half-formed hope, Suluksati envied them and wanted to be like them when she grew up. Plus, they were kin to khehora – khehora had once been dragons, after all. So why did they hunt their own? Why did they brutally murder such amazing creatures?
Why did they have to be hunted at all?
She found a nice spot to set down her meal, and looked down at it, unsure of how hungry she was now.
Self defense, she could understand, but seeking them out to kill them like common prey? Why? It didn't feel right, and it hadn't felt right to watch, not when the Peisio had loomed overhead or when the Aedaun had died and likely not ever, she felt, in her life. Suluksati looked around the gleaming forest around her, and up at the pearly blue sky above her, and then back at her prey, lying dead on the rock.
It wasn't right.
She opened her mouth, bringing her young magic forth into her mouth, mimicing the dragon as she collected it into a ball of energy and released it. The dead bouken shimmered and blazed with light as it was flung off of the rockc. She looked down after it, her feathers ruffled and her crest half raised in anger.
It wasn't right.
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