Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jijikko felt satisfied, and enormously proud, perhaps more so than was due, as Mirela built up confidence and skill and lingered longer in the air over him. It felt as though he had done something, made something better, and helped someone, and that warmed him. When her snout nuzzled to his neck, he felt warmth ripple beneath his scales — affectionate and protective — and glanced outwards at her bidding. His gut knotted a fraction at the sight.

Though mild still, the sand was roiling and building fast. A dark, murky wall, yellow-orange with the desert and dark brown and black in the deeper parts where it had turned to shadow. Sandstorms built in minutes and destroyed in seconds.

“We must find shelter,” he said, sweeping low and coming to a land on the earth, one wing already raising to protectively block what of the rising winds he could. “Stick close to me, I will keep the sands from cutting too violently. They can be fierce…”

And deadly, for the unprepared. He narrowed his eyes on the storm. For a gaili, a sandstorm was only a test of strength and durability, keeping the dust at bay long enough to find one’s way to shelter, and this time — he had a well-protected guest under his care.

Jijikko growled, settling his body weight low as the vibration rumbled through his long throat. He was perfectly familiar with sandstorms, but he didn’t like the thought of his little companion ill at ease, and as such, he called at his magic. For a gaili, a sandstorm was a perfectly viable means of seeing — simply in an entirely different way. As the granules of sand came biting down upon them, he pulsed his magic out, creating a protective bubble to see to it that they did not cut into the vulnerable scales of his companion.

And then, he shut his eyes.

Sand was a part of the earth. A different substance, certainly, and not one he was as fond of as silt or soil, but earth nonetheless, and with a pulse of magic he could ‘see’: all the flying particles, all the wild debris, all the points at which the grains of sand batted themselves against other, more solid objects. With his eyes shut, Jiji spoke.

“Follow me. I’ll see you to shelter.”

And so, he did. It wasn’t an entirely difficult process, despite the ferocity of the storm it was all his element, wild about him and fierce as a woebegone demon. He found the cavern in the nearby rock outcropping that he generally took nightly shelter in and guided her in.

Jijikko shook himself, walling up the entrance to cut off the encroaching storm and hoping that his companion was not bothered by darkness. As a diabi native to the night land, he expected not, but kept on alert for upset regardless. He wasn’t particularly fond of the dark, but when it came due to being surrounded in earth, he wasn’t as bothered. That, at least, was safety. Home. After plucking with his magic at the lingering granules stuck under his own scales to remove them and then doing the same for his companion, he settled on his haunches and cocked his head.

“It is very different,” he admitted, thoughtful for a moment before rumbling and edging down further to a lay on the earth. Given the darkness, there was little point in staring at black, so he shut his eyes, setting his snout atop his forepaws. “I am native to an area where the earth is more compact and I prefer that to sand, which is…loose and unreliable. But the heat and the storms…” He shrugged, shifting his wings. “You grow used to them. Every place has its issues. Soudul’s air makes all my scales stick together. Most unpleasant. Though, the plantlife is fascinating and beautiful.”

Jijikko relaxed in his posture, relieved that his companion — as predicted — seemed to have no issues with the darkness and enclosed space. “There are many beautiful things about the desert…and it holds with it many mysteries and surprising clusters of amazing fertility and life. If you spend some time here, you will see, though not everyone likes it as others. The storm…”

He shifted raising his nose to sniff and then settling again as he sent out a thread-thin pulse of magic, seeking to test the outside winds and force of the biting sand.

“They vary,” he said. “Though of this sort…short. Over by the evening. Others, though, can run for days…”

So the storm went, beating over the desert dunes and howling outside of their makeshift shelter. Jijikko was not bothered by them, having encountered so many and the nature of such storms being his element, tossed by the wind. Under other circumstances, he might well have gone out despite it; magically draining on some level, certainly, but not debilitating, and he enjoyed the wildness of it on some degree. Due to his company, however, he thought it improper to simply leave her tucked in an unfamiliar hole of a rock cave, and it made for perfect timing for a late afternoon nap in any case. Thus, after some more brief conversation, he settled to do just that.

He woke to the last whispers of the fading storm, and yawned, stretching and giving a testing pulse of his magic to ascertain that it was, indeed, safe outside for his company before tapping his hindleg to the earth and drawing away the rock ‘door’ he’d made for their cave. Outside, the desert was a sea of red-gold, dunes like waves that glinted and caught the light, and a deep, burning sunset was at full glow, like blood and fire melting along the horizon.

Jijikko beamed, puffing up a fraction at the youngling’s exclamation. It pleased him to hear, and — in spite of himself — he found himself wondering if this was what it would be like to have nestlings of his own: little, bounding, curious and explorative bundles of energy. He was, of course, nowhere near having such things himself, but in this moment, watching the younger khehora stare wide-eyed out at the desert that had been home to him all his life and trill with wonder, he felt a new, subtle want somewhere. A want for more, one day.

He leaned down, nosing his snout against her in a gently affectionate gesture. “It is beautiful,” he said. “As are the dawns, and oases…and even some two-legger establishments, though they are strange as they are fascinating to behold. You’ll see more, if we’re going to make a trip to the coast…”