Between The Crystals

Ch 100 That is Not an Eagle

It felt longer than usual before Citrine lifted her head and yawned. She got to her feet and shook herself. Liam walked beside me as we followed Citrine out the open doorway.

I stepped into the sunshine with a faint sigh of relief. Even if I was getting more comfortable with being in the airship, there was just something deep inside me that remained on edge. Liam also relaxed marginally.

There were two more logs on the cart, and three people were still chopping with their backs turned to the airship. The others had relieved expressions when they saw us emerge. Citrine trotted ahead and made a large circle of the group while the two youngsters squeaked and hummed at her from the top of the log pile.

Those chopping paused their work when Citrine passed in front of them, resuming their tasks once she had moved away. I sat on a log near the crystal since there wasn't anything I could help with at the moment. The hunters weren't about to let me use the axe with the Saursunes present, and there wasn't anything close by to collect.

I was tempted to try braiding some thin saplings, but considering how Saursunes seemed to react to most woven objects, I opted against the idea. Resting my elbows on my knees, I looked around, already growing bored with nothing to do even though the energy drain had removed a lot of my motivation.

The scrabbling of claws on wood had me turning my head as the youngsters made a less than graceful descent. With high-pitched, excited squeaks, they bounded over and nudged my knees before skipping away and sniffing various plants. I couldn't help but smile at their antics.

They were so cute they needed nicknames. They were too young for their horns to have grown enough for me to determine if they were male or female, and for all I knew, the horn length theory might be wrong, or this alien race might have four genders or none at all. Some lizards didn't need a partner to reproduce, and there wasn't a way for me to tell.

Going with my original theme of naming the Saursunes after gems and precious stones, I decided to call the green youngster Emerald and the blue one Azure.

I fiddled with a piece of grass, wondering if there was a polite way to inquire their gender. I'd been using the term "it" like I would with an unfamiliar cat or dog, but...that didn't seem right, especially if I was giving them a nickname.

Digging in my belt pouch, I found a small stub of charcoal and a scrap of leather. Hoping this communication attempt didn't go completely astray, I knelt on the grass and began sketching two Saursune heads, one with longer horns, one with shorter.

The youngsters soon noticed and sat in front of me, peering at the crude sketches. I pushed piece of leather toward Emerald, motioned to the horns on the two drawings, then to the youngster.

Emerald turned to look at Azure, and they exchanged a long series of squeaks and growls. Citrine ambled over to see what we were doing. Hoping she was better at this guessing game, I motioned to the drawing with the shorter horns, then to her, before holding my palm toward Emerald and then moving my hand over the two sketches as if unsure which to indicate.

Citrine tapped the shorter horns and motioned to Emerald. Next, she touched the other drawing and pointed to Azure. Emerald touched the shorter horns then pointed to me, and I nodded.

Azure picked up the piece of charcoal and drew over my drawings. On the horns for the females, he made the horn tip more pointed, and on the males, made it more rounded. Now that I knew what I was looking for, I could see the difference on Azure's and Emerald's small horns.

"Thank you," I told them as I folded up the thin piece of leather and tucked it back into my belt pouch. Azure helpfully handed me the charcoal. A carry net fell out of the pouch, and Emerald nudged it with her nose in curiosity. The strip of leather came unraveled.