The arteries which feed the muscles and wing membranes run along a groove in the inner side of the wing bones, where they are best protected. Flicker flared his wing struts at the end of his wing. Ancillary muscles work the wing struts, allowing the entire surface an unparalleled adaptability of movement during flight. Do you understand so far?
Enough. Lia was pleased. Her Dragonish was starting to come much more naturally now, although he still used words she did not understand. How’s this?
Adequate, I suppose, as far as Human work goes.
Lia bared her teeth at the wall. For a creature who had saved her life, Flicker could rile her like stinging-nettle rash.
During this healing time, Lia’s thoughts turned to the outside world. She observed the Fra’aniorian Dragonships flying by overhead on a regular patrol schedule, and reasoned that Ra’aba now exerted absolute control over the Island-Cluster. Her situation was hopeless. Marooned, she was powerless to leave the Island unless she could grow wings of her own. Should she leave, she had no allies. Should the Dragons find her living on their holy Island … Hualiama sighed. Yet, she was daily gaining proficiency in Dragonish. Surely that gave her an edge, even a tiny one?
When a Dragon wished to crush her beneath its impossibly enormous paw, she could plead for her life in fluent Dragonish. Bravo!
Flicker was a strange one. Lia grew accustomed to him flying away to be with his warren, but sometimes at night, she missed the warmth of a curled-up dragonet. Where did he sneak off to for hours on end? And how, by the fires of Fra’anior itself, did he know so much about Humans?
One night, Lia pretended to be asleep so that she could watch for his departure. He flew deeper into the caves, not up-Island to meet his family. Odd. Should she confront him about it? Or just keep her impertinent nose where it belonged? Flicker could be touchy about the most unexpected subjects, such as his habit of slurping up intestines, or the way he cracked the knuckles of his paws, which invariably made her wince. Perhaps she could try to follow him?
The following day, Lia was bathing in the warm pool, singing to herself as she rubbed a natural soapstone on her legs, when a flight of dragonets swooped into the cave, all a-chatter with excitement–perhaps a dozen in number, mostly reds, but she also saw yellow and two light-green, almost identical dragonets among them. Lia had not realised how much dragonets’ shades could vary, but seeing all the reds together, she immediately picked out a range of colours from coppery red through to a deep burgundy. Several dragonets had underparts which were definitely more orange than pale cream.
A pretty yellow dragonet sang out, Found you, Flicker!
Another dragonet gasped, A naked ape! Look, every dragonet!
A chorus of alarm rang out. Leaping eggshells … by my mother’s paws … disgusting … it stinks … careful, it might be dangerous!
At the top of his lungs, Flicker shouted, Quiet, you troop of chattering monkeys! She’s friendly. Don’t scare her and she won’t harm you.
Flicker, what’re you doing with this creature? the yellow dragonet demanded.
Flicker flickering flick flick, chattered one of the reds.
Is this your pet, Flicker? Are you keeping a pet?
In seconds, a dozen curious pairs of eyes ringed Lia. Half of the dragonets perched on the edges of the warm pool or clung to the walls, while the others zoomed around her at high speed, enjoying a game of aerial acrobatics. Hualiama wished she could follow their rapid-fire chirping. Clearly, she was an object of great wonder and speculation. She began to cover her breasts with her hands before halting the movement with a chuckle. Dragonets cared nothing for nudity–all they had was Dragon hide, and that suited them perfectly well. Could this be Flicker’s family? Hualiama observed them curiously, trying to separate the slender, quicksilver females from the slightly more thickset males, noting the differences in musculature and facial features and scale-patterns.
Flicker was clearly vexed, breathing out sharp gasps of fire and flaring his wings at his fellows. Go away, he snarled, baring his fangs. She’s my pet. Leave us alone.
To Lia’s surprise, the chattering died away as the dragonets appeared to communicate as a group, without need for speech. She sank down in the water in order to present a less threatening posture. The scrolls said to do this in the event of a rajal attack. Presumably, whoever wrote that scroll had been