The Weyr

Trust Issues

      The weyr gained anew member. A sand worm had made its way to their most recent kill and rather than attack the dragons, it focused instead on their freshly killed meal. The weyr scattered as the sand worm pushed itself out of the sands and snatched up the yellow bi-pedal thing.Instead of dragging the creature into the sand to devour and hide once more, the worm gulped it down and stayed above ground.

      The dragons and wyverns milled about with unease. Lady, having been separated from her parents by the worm's sudden appearance, trotted over. The worm noticed the tiny footsteps and turned toward the little one. She moved cautiously and leaped away any time the worm moved even lightly.

      Kross began to pace nervously; his little one was too close. If he tried to get her the worm might suddenly attack. He gave a growl of annoyance and finally made up his mind. As soon as the worm turned away, he crouched and slowly turned invisible. He inched across the sands toward his foolish daughter.

      Lady reached the massive warm and circled around it. The worm's terrifying head followed her, hissing softly. After a full circle, she sat down before the beast and stared up at it. After a few seconds, when nothing happened, she trilled shyly at it. The worm, in turn, took a deep breath and attempted to make a similar sounding grumble.

      Some of the others began to approach as well. Lady's older sister Glay, Cena the magma plasma who had yet to die ever, May, the father of Kross, and the green plasma Fox all slowly began to approach. They came from all directions to make sure the worm could not focus on any one of them in particular. The worm shifted, trying to get a good feel of where all the dragon-kin were. At the base of the worm's trunk-like body,Kross scooped up his daughter and exploded from his crouch into a run.

      All the dragons scattered again save for May, who feared nothing and obeyed no-one.The purple fire dragon confidently pranced onward. Despite the temptation of the running dragons, the sand worm stayed in place. The fire dragon's mouth split into a toothy grin and he turned to face the nervous weyr.

      We got ourselves a Pookie.

      His voice rang clearly in the minds of all the members of the weyr. They glanced at each other, considering the information May had tossed at them. Lady wriggled free of her father's mouth and charged forward, gurgling with excitement. Silver started to grab at her, but was stopped by Kross; May was down there and could take care of Lady if there any problems arose.

      The other members of the weyr also began to calm down and go about their business once more. New food was needed and a few of the adults were planning to head out to Three Pond for water and to scout. Life resumed to normal in the valley. Time passed and Pookie was gradually accepted as neither a threat nor a stranger. Thus the weyr gained a new family member.

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      After the attack by the unknown plasma, the weyr had become distrusting of other dragon-kin and weyrs. Having Pookie to back them up was helpful, but the worm had a large appetite. The dragon-kin's bi-pedal prey were just barely enough and the adults still had to hunt for the rest of the weyr as well.

      Thus, a difficult decision was made. The weyr voted to allow Pookie to feast on any adult of sub-adult who were not associated with them. They had forced the worm to stop in the past, but it was to difficult to feed it on top of the needs of the large weyr.

      And to be honest,the dragon-kin of the weyr were really not fond of strangers. Koser dragons were a very real threat; the followers of the elemental god Koser believed in establishing dominance through the death of all other living things. Other weyrs vying for territory, jealous dragon-kin, starvation and desperation, and a whole slue of other reasons could be used as an excuse to attack the weyr. Some were even simply asking for death.

      So the very night Kross gave permission, a few members of the weyr took Pookie hunting.And they had a target in mind. A small weyr made up of three very young plasmas had landed near the weyr and started a battle of taunts and threats. After the adults had actually initiated a fight, the three had smartly fled in the direction of One Pond. Knowing that there was easy prey, Cena, May, and Fox set out with Pooks following obediently in the sands below.

      As soon as she heard what was going down, Lady began to pester her parents to be allowed to go and watch. Most of the weyr had stayed behind and the two wyverns, Silent and Bacon, would keep vigil over the valley to ensure their safety. Silver grumbled at the father-daughter pair and curled back up to sleep with Glay and Zureta. Kross picked up his bouncing daughter and flew away from the familiar valley.

      As they arrived atOne Pond, they found that the three plasma dragons were hovering over a kill of their own. May assured the others that the trio was simply being defensive at the sight of the newcomers and had not seen Pookie. Lady glanced up into the air thoughtfully before wriggling away from her father's grasp. Kross let her drop to the ground with an audible thud, curious to see what the little terror was planning.

      Hey! Which one of you is leader?

      She called out to them mentally, letting her shrill, young voice ring out and catch the attention of all dragon-kin in the area. The three saw a kit addressing them and immediately lowered their guard. These strangers were probably just trying to mooch off of their kill, hah! The proud young leader of the three dropped to the sands near the kill to stand proudly and welcome them.

      I am Cheese!What do you want? We will allow-

      Before the yellow magma could respond with anything else, Pookie erupted from the sand and flung him into the air. It then gulped Cheese down and vanished back underground.

      Cheese's two companions cried out in horror and flew higher. The dragons of the weyr could not help but to chuckle darkly to themselves. Lady,however, kept her calm and continued to communicate.

      That leader of your's insulted my grandpa awhile back! Pookie is with us, It's nice, I promise. Do you want to see? We have no grudge against you!

Kross looked down at his offspring with approval. May chocked back a snort of laughter as Cena looked on with a blank expression. Far above the weyr, in the sky, the two dragons glanced at each other uncertainly. Lady's tail twitched with excitement, but she otherwise looked calm and serious.The two refused to budge, so she approached the place Pookie had last been.

Familiar with Lady's footsteps, Pookie peeked it's head out of the sand. Lady nuzzled it affectionately and turned to look at the two plasmas.

See? You can trust me.

Foolishly,the two trusted Lady.

  That night,Pookie ate very, very well.

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AN:
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