Through Smoke and Ashes

Eighteen||First Snow

As promised, I took Naxan to see a porcupine. We had flown down from the towering mountains, his wings slicing through the cool air as we descended into the thick, shadowed forest below. I had been eager to show him the creature I had spoken of so often, a spiny little animal that I'd met countless times during my childhood. I tried to explain it to him by projecting an image from my memories, but Naxan remained skeptical, his expression dubious. He thought I was making it all up.

It wasn't until we found one, small and prickly, scurrying through the underbrush, that his curiosity truly piqued. But Naxan, being Naxan, didn't just observe. He got far too close, drawn in by the strange creature's awkward movements. His curiosity got the better of him, and before I could warn him, he was nose-to-nose with the porcupine. In a flurry of hissing spikes, Naxan learned exactly what happens when you invade a porcupine's space.

And so, there I was, standing beside the irate dragon as I carefully removed each quill that had embedded itself in his softer scales around his face. Naxan's pride was clearly the biggest casualty of this encounter, though I could tell his patience was being tested. The quills, though not terribly dangerous, were a painful reminder of his mistake.

"Should've let Naxan eat the pork pine," Naxan muttered under his breath, glaring at the growing pile of quills that had accumulated at his feet.

"If I'd let you do that, I'd be pulling these out of your tongue by now," I shot back, finally tugging the last quill from his nose and tossing it to the side. His nostrils flared in response, and with a mighty sneeze, he sent a gust of air through the forest, scattering leaves and twigs in every direction.

"Bless you," I laughed, wiping my hands on my trousers.

"I will hunt pork pine down and kill it," Naxan seethed, his gaze burning as he looked deep into the forest, as though he could summon the porcupine back just to exact revenge.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm the storm brewing inside him. "The porcupine was just defending itself, Nax," I said softly, walking over to my pack and securing it to my shoulders. "Come on, let's move on. We'll find something else to eat."

We continued on, deeper into the trees. I had managed to catch a rabbit, but Naxan, growing bored of my slower methods, had already flapped his wings and soared off in search of something larger. He'd complained that I was too slow, too loud, and that my bow and arrow wouldn't take anything bigger down. He was right, of course. My hunting skills were nowhere near as impressive as his, given that he had claws and teeth large enough to take down anything in his path. Mine seemed pitiful in comparison, but I was hesitant to hunt like an animal. The arrows proved useful enough.

I roasted the rabbit over the fire, keeping an eye on the smoke that curled into the evening air. Naxan returned soon enough, his massive form cutting through the trees with the ease of a predator. He landed gracefully, his claws gripping the earth as he gently placed a large boar at my feet. He covered it protectively with one massive paw.

"Nice catch," I said, glancing up at him with a smirk.

"Want?" he asked, already tearing a strip of hide from the boar and tossing it toward me. It landed in my lap, blood and all.

"Thanks, Nax," I muttered, making a face as I quickly began to clean the meat. The rabbit's meat was almost finished, and my stomach was growling in anticipation.

Beside me, Naxan tore into the boar with violent satisfaction. His teeth cracked through bone and flesh like it was nothing, a rhythm of destruction as he devoured his prey. Occasionally, his tongue flicked out to taste the air, a silent warning to anything that might be lurking nearby.