Where Smoke Bleeds Gold

Chapter Ten - Next / + SURPRISE

"Do that again and I'll feed your skin to the cetea myself," Typhoon hissed at me, her dull, webbed talons doing their best to dig into my scales.
"I'm sorry, I won't," I said, curling up as she pushed on my wings. With a chirp, she sat back, nodding. After a moment, I jumped up. "What did you say?" I asked her. She stared at me surprised.
"No more, hurt," she said, her voice not nearly as rough as before. I nodded slowly, a fog of confusion over my mind.
"Okay," I said, nodding, wondering why I would've thought of something so farcical. Not even a moment later Typhoon was poking my side to get my attention.
"What?" I asked, turning to her.
"This," Typhoon said, shrugging her wings.
"What?" I asked, completely misunderstanding what she was trying to do. Why was she dancing?
"Then?" she said, tilting her head and pausing a moment before shrugging her wings again. I stared at her, trying to understand what she was trying to do.
"Xt?" she said, exaggerating the shrugging of her wings.
"I don't understand," I said. She growled, letting her wings fall to the ground. She made a sound that somewhat sounded like "Ermm," But more guttural.
"Ects," she said, taking her talons and making a circle motion.
"Circle?" I asked, leaning closer to her.
"I don't know to speak," she said, making the circle larger and slower. "Ectser," she said, making up gibberish.
"Repeat?" I asked.
"Nee," she said. Her hands stood still in the air as she thought.
"No?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Stop!" she yelled. I snapped my mouth, embarrassed to think that this was slightly fun.
"Neehrmppphhh," she said, making a noise like a creaky floor step.
"Ects nee," she said, shrugging her wings again.
"Ext nee?" I said, trying to understand. "Next!" I exclaimed, finally realizing what she had meant. A smile grew on her face as she pointed to me and repeated "Yes!".
"Next, what?" I asked. She stared at me silently for a moment. Then another moment. Her face was blank.
"No," she said, "Stop, wait," she hissed, turning around. She looked back at me with squinting eyes.
"What next?" she said, not quite trusting herself.
"Oh!" I said, finally understanding it. If it took us the better half of a page, I wasn't sure just how well we'd be able to get back to the others.
"I think we might need help," I said. "Do you know anyone?" before I finished she was shaking her head so fast I was worried if she'd hurt herself "Oh," I said, trying to think. "I don't know anyone else either," I said. That was a lie. I knew Flicker. I might've been able to ask he-, no she didn't want me home. "We can ask Kindling!" I smiled, turning to her.
"Keend?" She asked, staring at me.
"Do you want to go meet them?" I asked, excited at the thought of seeing him again. Typhoon nodded like dragling being asked to help with a very important grown up chore.
"Let's go!" I smiled, beginning to run off deeper into the forest,
"Quake?" Typhoon said, struggling to follow me.
"Kindling will help us get them out! He's really smart, he even went to school once!" I said, grinning ear to ear.
"Ss-choll?" she said, beginning to take after me.
"It's a place where dragling's go to learn about the world and plants and animals and how to stay safe," I said, sprinting over logs and through the brush chasing Sun as he flickered in and out of the leaves above us. Typhoon struggled to stay close, but she never got too far behind.
"Whorld?" She asked, panting as we ran somewhat side by side.
"The entirety of everything!" I smiled as I beat my legs faster and faster. It wasn't even dark when Typhoon fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?" I asked, thinking she just needed a break. Sun had moved pretty far in the sky, and I was getting tired of running, but I didn't think it was so bad.
"Hungry," She said, looking up at me.
"Hungry?" I asked, looking around. "Can you eat fruit?" I asked, but she shook her head, shutting her eyes as if the light burned her retna.
"Hungry water," She said, sitting up and resting all her weight on her front legs.
"Like thirsty?" I asked. She nodded her head, her ear fins standing up again like when she was happy.
"I don't know where water is," I said. I looked around, trying to figure out where we were. I knew that we needed to head north to the desert, but I wasn't sure what else. Typhoon collapsed to the ground, taking a breath.
"Can we just go a little further?" I asked, thinking about finding a river or stream further ahead.
"Yeah?" She said, sounding like more of a question than an answer.
"Walk further?" I asked. She nodded her head, and after a moment of panting, she stood up and began walking on trembling legs.
"I'm sure we can find a river," I said. Again, we were off, walking slowly this time.