Niraii

Juniper wakes up, abruptly, uncomfortably, with something green poking her in the eye.


It’s really VERY green.


She twists her head free, blinking, and stares at the green poking thing, now curled gently against her left wing.

A tail? Someone’s tail? Who is green and would be sleeping on her? She blinks again, waking up a bit more, and looks for the dragon attached to the tail. Tiny, green, with orange wings folded over everything but the dangling tail… She and Sandwalker haven’t had a nest recently… surely she’d remember?

She nudges the pile of wings and limbs, gently, and the tiny sleeping creature unfolds a bit more, so she can see the brighter orange curve of its belly, and the tiny green head. It’s a Nocturne hatchling.

A… Nocturne hatchling?

Juniper tilts her head, and blinks a few more times, but, no, her eyes are working, and the hatchling continues to exist. It’s probably not a prank, then, or… anything else. Slowly, gently, careful to move nothing else, she lifts her head to look for Sandwalker. Perhaps her mate will have some idea where this tiny creature came from? It’s really very strange, for any hatchlings at all to appear, alone, upon one’s back while one is sleeping. And a Nocturne…

Juniper knows perfectly well that this hatchling could not have come from any of the Nocturnes— or, indeed, any other pair of dragons in Clan Fyari. These colors? No. The only dragons whose offspring could hatch with this specific combination of colors… are herself and Sandwalker. So… where DID it come from?

Sandwalker is curled up next to her, his head hidden by a wing. There is no indication, in his sleeping form, that he is aware of the sudden existence of a Nocturne hatchling. (Juniper is not sure HOW he COULD seem aware of the existence of the hatchling while asleep. Perhaps he could have left a note? A quick scan of their carefully carved and painted walls reveals nothing at all like a note, or… any indication that anything has changed.)

So.

Juniper looks at the hatchling again, who is still fast asleep, curled up tightly in the space between her wings. As she watches it, it makes the tiniest noise, and flips its wings back over its head. Her head, Juniper thinks, and shifts her wings a little, to make the hatchling shift a bit more, so she can see it again. Yep, almost certainly a female Nocturne.

From what she knows of Nocturnes… “Mimicry?” Juniper asks no one in particular, very, very quietly. This, of course, doesn’t explain where the hatchling came from, but if she’s HERE because Juniper looked like her…

Shusheh would know, Juniper thought, and considered the hatchling’s location again. Perhaps if she shifted her wings a bit— it’d be uncomfortable, but she could PROBABLY keep the hatchling safely on her back, if she was careful, and didn’t move too fast…

With her very first motion, the hatchling screeched awake, grabbing at Juniper’s back and wings with tiny, sharp, alarmed claws. This, of course, caused Juniper to jump up and spin around, trying, unsuccessfully, to REMOVE the CLAWS from HER FLESH! Which made the hatchling panic more, or, at the very least, LOUDER.

These things in combination woke Sandwalker, who stared at his mate blearily, trying to figure out what was wrong, so they could FIX it and he could go back to sleep…

And so, when Shusheh came to their room’s ‘door,’ (really just a thin shimmer of magic, intended to warn them when people approached, and also to tell those dragons who approached if they did not currently want company, for any number of reasons. Zaz had had too large of a hand in making the door-magic for the lair, so it liked to make up truly WEIRD reasons that occupants of rooms did not want company. In this case, it told the absolute truth— but it didn’t matter, since the Nocturne hatchling was making entirely too much noise for anything else to be audible.) she walked into CHAOS.

She watched it, for a few moments, opening and closing her wings, absently, in the unconscious habit of a Skydancer who was born a Fae, before walking calmly into the room, plucking the hatchling gently from Juniper’s back, and tripping Juniper with her tail, so that the alarmed Wildclaw would STOP.

“Who is this?” Shusheh asked, still calmly, examining the hatchling carefully. “I didn’t know you two had found an egg.”

“We didn’t!” Sandwalker objected, staring, wide-eyed, at the tiny Nocturne. He glanced at Juniper. “Surely I’d remember?”

Juniper, who was shaking out her wings, examining her shoulders, and wincing, shook her head. “I woke up and she was sleeping on me,” she informed the others. “And then she woke up, and attacked me!”

All attention instantly focussed back on the tiny hatchling, who squeaked, and hid her face with her wings. Shusheh frowned at her.

“Do you talk, little one?” she asked, gently. “How did you get in here?”

The little one, it was quickly determined, did not talk.

She did, however, make plants grow.

Lots and lots of plants.

By the time THAT was cleared up, and Sandwalker and Juniper had a room again, instead of a jungle… they had acquired a fascinated audience far larger than just one medium-sized Skydancer.

“Niraii,” Shusheh said, firmly. “Niraii, I would appreciate it if you never created a nearly uncontrollable jungle within the lair ever again.”

Both Wildclaws stared at Shusheh. “Niraii?” Sandwalker asked Juniper, quietly. They looked, together, at the tiny Nocturne on the floor between them.

The newly-named hatchling, wide-eyed, stared up at Shusheh in what looked rather a lot like awe. Shusheh tilted her head— and the hatchling leapt into the air, hovering awkwardly at roughly the height of Shusheh’s head, nodding emphatically— so much so that she nearly knocked herself right back out of the air, wobbling dangerously, until Juniper caught her, carefully.

“Niraii, huh?” Juniper said, and examined the tiny dragon carefully. Shusheh, busily shooing all the random onlookers away, made a noise that was probably not laughter. Niraii met Juniper’s gaze, bravely. “Wouldn’t you be happier with the clan’s other Nocturnes?”

Niraii shook her head, and tried to bury her head against Juniper, or maybe under the Wildclaw’s wings. This didn’t work very well, but Juniper found herself laughing, anyway.

“Do Nocturnes eat meat?!” Sandwalker asked, jumping straight to the important questions— after all, it WAS still early! None of them had eaten breakfast! Niraii’s tail twitched, and Shusheh said “Yes,” from the doorway. All the eavesdroppers had been successfully sent away, and she was smiling.

“She’ll eat meat,” Shusheh repeated, “Even though her name means ‘Plant!’”