Elendor
DRAGONS
Gidon's out hunting, when something drops out of the sky and scares off his deer.
Sort Date: no date set
Location: Dunland
Description: The snowstorm has gone, but the evidence remains. Under a pale, wintery blue sky, drifts of snow pile against bushes and trees and rocks. Gidon has waded his way out from the town and its tents to hunt, and now he is crouching in the shadow of a group of leafless oaks. In the center of the field stretched out before him, pawing away the snow so they can reach grass, are several deer. The boy is reaching for his spear, using small smooth motions and never looking away from his prey.
Though winter may chill the land, warm air still rises nonetheless, allowing for a rather large bird of prey to ride the thermals. The outline cast by the eagle upon the ground is a swift-moving shadow - but still a dark spot on the white drifts. Golden-brown wings and tail are angled to pitch her closer to ground. Sharp eyes are focused on her own prey as the eagle quietly circles the sky above the clearing, and the deer. A tilt of her head in one direction, and she begins to pull her wings in, angling for a dive.
Gidon doesn't see the eagle - he is looking down and not up. He pulls the spear over his shoulder, ready to throw, then begins very cautiously to creep closer to the deer. The swift-moving shadow does catch his eye this time, but it is just a bird and he ignores it. The great eagle is high enough that its outline could be that of a much smaller (and more normal) sized bird - one much closer to the ground.
As the boy does not seem to see the eagle, the eagle does not seem to account for the boy, intent instead on controlling her dive. Wings fold inward, and Avanag lets herself drop to the earth. Purposeful and focused, she aims for one of the deer on the outskirts of the herd, the sound of something rather heavily feathered the only noise of her intent. Falling, falling...she spreads her wings at the last moment, backwinging up a sudden flurry of snow into the clearing as talons seek their target.
Another step... one of the deer lifts its head and Gidon freezes. It goes back to eating after a few minutes and the boy creeps closer, only to suddenly be covered with a dark shadow, dived upon by something huge and noisy, smothered by a fine whipping mist of snow. Coughing and choking, the boy tries to hide - but he is away from the trees and blinded by whiteness. Desperately, he attempts to burrow into the thin snow-layer.
As the impromptu, seconds-lasting snowstorm begins to clear, Avanag gives her feathers a good ruffling. The flakes that haven't already begun to melt fall away rather unceremonious. The eagle is left to consider her hunting attempt, a series of quiet squawks and chirps leaving her as she waddle-walks backward. A rather brighter chirp of success escapes her at the fallen deer...at least until the sound of coughing reaches her.
While small for her kind, she is really quite a bit larger than the usual bird of prey. She twists as best she can and maintain a certain dignity, talons digging into the snow and she spreads her wings halfway, searching for the cause of the sound.
Gidon is lying half-buried in snow, his good arm flung over his head in a vain attempt to protect himself, cowering down into the ground as if he could dig a hole by sheer wishing. He has given up trying to dig into the frozen dirt, and is trying to escape notice by pretending to be dead - but he can't stop coughing. He must have inhaled some of the snow.
Wings still outspread in a halfhearted attempt to make herself look bigger, Avanag lets out a soft screech. Almost demanding, in a way. Her head tilts back and forth until her amber gaze finally settles on Gidon. She stops moving as she blinks, considering him. Finally, she seems to come to some decision, tucking her wings in with a snap and stepping forward, head and shoulders angled downward to get a better look.
While she doesn't yet seem to realize she may be scaring the boy by coming closer, his words do bring her curious progression to a halt. Avanag chirps in surprise, beak clicking as she stands a little straighter. "Burn you?" she inquires, "I assure you, little one, I am not made of fire. It is fire you speak of, correct?"
The clicking sound of giant teeth gnashing together! Gidon grits his teeth even in the extremity of terror, with memories of shadows and burning and evil filling his mind, he refuses to tremble. Or - his mind may refuse. His body hasn't gotten the message. His teeth chatter together as he holds this surreal, giddy conversation with a great wyrm. "No, but you breathe it. I- I don' want.. I ..." He coughs again.
Two blinks and a head tilt is Avanag's response his words seem to confuse her more than anything else! The great eagle shifts from talon to talon nervously, perhaps not quite knowing what to do with herself. "I...breathe it? No, no, fire is a human instrument. I have never possessed the ability to create in the years I have lived," she explains, feathers furrowing above her eyes slightly. "Ah!"
In a sudden moment of brilliance to prove her words - or perhaps not thinking thoroughly enough, given the boy is already frightened - she sucks in her chest to take in a great deal of air. Once lungs are filled, she lets the breath out to a product of steam in the cold air. And possibly a fish bone from breakfast that might've gotten stuck on part of her beak.
Whatever the creature is saying makes no more sense to Gidon than his words have made to her. "But.." he coughs, and then shrieks with fear, trying to leap up and run and managing only to fall flat on his face, wrenching his arm. He bites his lip against a groan.
The eagle lets out a sound like a high-pitched squawk when the boy suddenly gets up. She ruffles her feathers in further confusion, stepping backward, and then in a forward half-circle as Gidon falls. "Are you sure you are not ill?" Avanag asks suddenly. Settling herself in the snow as comfortably as she might, she then says. "Perhaps we should start with something simple...do you have a name?"
"No..." Gidon says, his breath hissing through his teeth as he tries to move his arm. He hasn't been burned to cinders. Nor eaten. And for a minute, the pain of his arm bringing tears to his eyes, he is distracted from this possibility. With a grunt, he rolls over so that he is no longer laying on it, and then lies still, his eyes shut and his face white. Some of what the dragon says next, he doesn't hear. But, "Gidon," he says through clenched teeth.
Remembering the result as her last bit of movement resulted in, Avanag opts to remain seated in the snow. "Gidon, then," she repeats, dipping her beak in acknowledgement, "It is...interesting to meet you, and an honor. I am Avanag." Perhaps to give him a moment to gather his thoughts, her gaze darts here and there, between the snow and the fallen deer, then back to the boy. "Were you out hunting?"
"Yes," grits the lad, answering the last question first. The pain in his arm ebbs, and finally he dares to open his eyes. They fly wide with shock. "You're not a dragon," he blurts out foolishly.
"A -dragon-?" The question comes as rather a surprise, as feathers ruffle and Avanag very nearly stands again. She seems to compose herself, plopping back down in on the snow drift, understanding finally coming to her. "Ah, I see now what you meant about the fire. No, I am not a dragon. I have no desire to set your home on fire, and...certainly not to eat you. That is what the deer is for." She inclines her head to her catch, then falls quiet a long moment. "If you were hunting, then...I interupted your catch, didn't I?"
Carefully, Gidon sits up, wincing and cradling his arm. He looks at the bird with a shock no less great for it not being a dragon. "What - what /are/ you then?" he asks finally, sounding rather dazed. And he is too astonished to not answer her last question bluntly and truthfully. "Aye." A pause and then he adds hastily, "There be more."
A glance is given towards the deer, and then back to Gidon. "I am sorry," she offers, shifting to stand and shake some of the snow from her talons. The movement is rather comical as she hops up and down slightly, shaking one foot and then the other. "I should have kept a better watch, to keep from interupting your hunt. The deer is rightfully yours, to make up for the one I lost you."
As curious about the other as he seems in her, Avanag squints down at Gidon. Then, she speaks again: "I am an Eagle, little one."
Gidon glances towards it. "Too much for me t'carry," he says at last. "Share?" Unthinkingly, he shrinks back as the eagle stands - it is so big! "But... eagles, I seen 'em, they ain't so big's that. An' they don' talk!" He shakes his head, then sets his arm to rest in his lap and touches his eyes. They seem to be working all right... his ears>
A good shake gets the rest of the snow off, and Avanag preens a shoulder feather briefly. "The deer is nearly as big as you are, sharing would be the best course," she agrees, chuckling a little. Or, an eagle's version of a chuckle - somewhere between low chirping and a few claps of her beak. "Please help yourself then, small Gidon. I will take what is left." Still his questions seem to catch her off guard, and she stretches her wings out and back thoughtfully. "I am not quite the same as the smaller birds you speak of. I am, well...a Great Eagle. I observe from the skies." After a moment of watching him, she adds, "Your hearing has not been...dulled by the snow? Or your arm?"
"Wrenched m'arm," he replies. "Reckon I'm hearing right..." He gives the bird a doubtful look and shuts his eyes, opening them a minute later. It's still there. "Less I'm dreamin' things..." he mutters, but gets to his feet and goes to the deer, beginning to skin it one-handed. He does this awkwardly, but with a speed that speaks of long practice. His arm has clearly been hurt much longer than just this moment's wrenching. "What... d'you ... observe?" he asks, the words punctuated by cutting. He cuts off as much as he can carry, setting it aside on the snow and struggling to turn the animal over so he can skin the other side. "D'you ... want th'skin?"
A look of slight concern passes through the eagle's eyes, and she tucks her beak close to her chest. "I am sorry for that as well," she offers, "For frightening you. Will you need to see a healer?" Carefully Avanag steps closer, watching curiously. "Some of it I will eat, but not all. If you wish some of it for yourself, feel welcome. I do not know the eating habits of your kind well...do you eat the skin of what you hunt?"
After watching a little longer, she continues, "I observe the ground, and those that travel by land. Where they go, and what their intentions might be."
The boy shakes his head. "Don' eat it," he clarifies. "Use't for shoen an' clothes an' th'like." He cuts off the legs, leaving himself a rough square of hide, and squats back on his heels to rest a few minutes before trying to roll the carcass off and claim the piece of hide for himself. "I be all right. What d'you want t'be watching folk for?"
Continuing to watch with interest, Avanag attempts to help in rolling the deer over, coming close enough to place a talon and gently shove. She spreads her wings to counter balance the movement. "Well...it is something my kind has been doing for years," she offers in explanation, "Usually we are on the lookout for those that might cause trouble for other honest travelers. What is a 'shoen'?"
Gidon tenses, but manages not to shrink back as the bird comes close. It is even huger, if such be possible, from here. He pulls the hide out, and (thankful for the excuse) moves away to wrap his part of the meat in it. This also is accomplished one-handed his teeth being used to tied a cord around the bundle.
"These," he says, lifting one foot. "Shoe. For wearing. Only," he adds, frowning a little at his foot. "This un's a boot. Same thing only stouter." He squats to pick up the deer meat, and manages a quirk of a smile. "Could've used you th'other week, runnin' from them in th'swamps," he says. "Got off though." Carefully, just in case all this friendliness is only a pose, he backs away. "Should be goin' back..."
"Shoe?" Avanag chirps, studying the footwear for a moment, "Ah, these I've seen before. I have never heard it called a shoen, though. When she spots the smile, the eagle seems to relax slightly, before offering a dip of her head and stepping backward. The movement is awkward for a creature meant to be in the air, but it gives the boy distance. "I wouldn't wish to keep you, and I should be on my way as well. Perhaps we will see each other again."
"Shoen, that's for two," Gidon mumbles, flushing a little. As the likelihood grows that he will indeed survive this, his steps speed up, until he is a fair distance off. Here the boy pauses, then lifts one hand in a hesitant farewell, before leaving the area as fast as he can manage through the drifted snow.
Avanag watches him go with a dip of her head, shifting in the chilly air. To the raised hand she pulls herself up to her full height, spreading one wing in an attempt to mimic the motion. She turns then, collecting the rest of the fallen dear in one talon before launching herself into the air.
Though winter may chill the land, warm air still rises nonetheless, allowing for a rather large bird of prey to ride the thermals. The outline cast by the eagle upon the ground is a swift-moving shadow - but still a dark spot on the white drifts. Golden-brown wings and tail are angled to pitch her closer to ground. Sharp eyes are focused on her own prey as the eagle quietly circles the sky above the clearing, and the deer. A tilt of her head in one direction, and she begins to pull her wings in, angling for a dive.
Gidon doesn't see the eagle - he is looking down and not up. He pulls the spear over his shoulder, ready to throw, then begins very cautiously to creep closer to the deer. The swift-moving shadow does catch his eye this time, but it is just a bird and he ignores it. The great eagle is high enough that its outline could be that of a much smaller (and more normal) sized bird - one much closer to the ground.
As the boy does not seem to see the eagle, the eagle does not seem to account for the boy, intent instead on controlling her dive. Wings fold inward, and Avanag lets herself drop to the earth. Purposeful and focused, she aims for one of the deer on the outskirts of the herd, the sound of something rather heavily feathered the only noise of her intent. Falling, falling...she spreads her wings at the last moment, backwinging up a sudden flurry of snow into the clearing as talons seek their target.
Another step... one of the deer lifts its head and Gidon freezes. It goes back to eating after a few minutes and the boy creeps closer, only to suddenly be covered with a dark shadow, dived upon by something huge and noisy, smothered by a fine whipping mist of snow. Coughing and choking, the boy tries to hide - but he is away from the trees and blinded by whiteness. Desperately, he attempts to burrow into the thin snow-layer.
As the impromptu, seconds-lasting snowstorm begins to clear, Avanag gives her feathers a good ruffling. The flakes that haven't already begun to melt fall away rather unceremonious. The eagle is left to consider her hunting attempt, a series of quiet squawks and chirps leaving her as she waddle-walks backward. A rather brighter chirp of success escapes her at the fallen deer...at least until the sound of coughing reaches her.
While small for her kind, she is really quite a bit larger than the usual bird of prey. She twists as best she can and maintain a certain dignity, talons digging into the snow and she spreads her wings halfway, searching for the cause of the sound.
Gidon is lying half-buried in snow, his good arm flung over his head in a vain attempt to protect himself, cowering down into the ground as if he could dig a hole by sheer wishing. He has given up trying to dig into the frozen dirt, and is trying to escape notice by pretending to be dead - but he can't stop coughing. He must have inhaled some of the snow.
Wings still outspread in a halfhearted attempt to make herself look bigger, Avanag lets out a soft screech. Almost demanding, in a way. Her head tilts back and forth until her amber gaze finally settles on Gidon. She stops moving as she blinks, considering him. Finally, she seems to come to some decision, tucking her wings in with a snap and stepping forward, head and shoulders angled downward to get a better look.
What comes next is, instead of a screech or a chirp, is a voice in Westron. "You are rather small for your kind," Avanag observes, bobbing her head up and down, "And you cannot have fainted, I can hear your coughing. Are you ill?"
Dragons don't talk. Do they? Gidon lies frozen against the dirt, his face (what can be seen of it) pale and terrified, eyes squeezed tightly shut. Wait, yes they do. The tales all say they do. The boy moans and then goes into another paroxysm of coughing. "D-don' burn me," he gasps, when he can speak again.
While she doesn't yet seem to realize she may be scaring the boy by coming closer, his words do bring her curious progression to a halt. Avanag chirps in surprise, beak clicking as she stands a little straighter. "Burn you?" she inquires, "I assure you, little one, I am not made of fire. It is fire you speak of, correct?"
The clicking sound of giant teeth gnashing together! Gidon grits his teeth even in the extremity of terror, with memories of shadows and burning and evil filling his mind, he refuses to tremble. Or - his mind may refuse. His body hasn't gotten the message. His teeth chatter together as he holds this surreal, giddy conversation with a great wyrm. "No, but you breathe it. I- I don' want.. I ..." He coughs again.
Two blinks and a head tilt is Avanag's response his words seem to confuse her more than anything else! The great eagle shifts from talon to talon nervously, perhaps not quite knowing what to do with herself. "I...breathe it? No, no, fire is a human instrument. I have never possessed the ability to create in the years I have lived," she explains, feathers furrowing above her eyes slightly. "Ah!"
In a sudden moment of brilliance to prove her words - or perhaps not thinking thoroughly enough, given the boy is already frightened - she sucks in her chest to take in a great deal of air. Once lungs are filled, she lets the breath out to a product of steam in the cold air. And possibly a fish bone from breakfast that might've gotten stuck on part of her beak.
Whatever the creature is saying makes no more sense to Gidon than his words have made to her. "But.." he coughs, and then shrieks with fear, trying to leap up and run and managing only to fall flat on his face, wrenching his arm. He bites his lip against a groan.
The eagle lets out a sound like a high-pitched squawk when the boy suddenly gets up. She ruffles her feathers in further confusion, stepping backward, and then in a forward half-circle as Gidon falls. "Are you sure you are not ill?" Avanag asks suddenly. Settling herself in the snow as comfortably as she might, she then says. "Perhaps we should start with something simple...do you have a name?"
"No..." Gidon says, his breath hissing through his teeth as he tries to move his arm. He hasn't been burned to cinders. Nor eaten. And for a minute, the pain of his arm bringing tears to his eyes, he is distracted from this possibility. With a grunt, he rolls over so that he is no longer laying on it, and then lies still, his eyes shut and his face white. Some of what the dragon says next, he doesn't hear. But, "Gidon," he says through clenched teeth.
Remembering the result as her last bit of movement resulted in, Avanag opts to remain seated in the snow. "Gidon, then," she repeats, dipping her beak in acknowledgement, "It is...interesting to meet you, and an honor. I am Avanag." Perhaps to give him a moment to gather his thoughts, her gaze darts here and there, between the snow and the fallen deer, then back to the boy. "Were you out hunting?"
"Yes," grits the lad, answering the last question first. The pain in his arm ebbs, and finally he dares to open his eyes. They fly wide with shock. "You're not a dragon," he blurts out foolishly.
"A -dragon-?" The question comes as rather a surprise, as feathers ruffle and Avanag very nearly stands again. She seems to compose herself, plopping back down in on the snow drift, understanding finally coming to her. "Ah, I see now what you meant about the fire. No, I am not a dragon. I have no desire to set your home on fire, and...certainly not to eat you. That is what the deer is for." She inclines her head to her catch, then falls quiet a long moment. "If you were hunting, then...I interupted your catch, didn't I?"
Carefully, Gidon sits up, wincing and cradling his arm. He looks at the bird with a shock no less great for it not being a dragon. "What - what /are/ you then?" he asks finally, sounding rather dazed. And he is too astonished to not answer her last question bluntly and truthfully. "Aye." A pause and then he adds hastily, "There be more."
A glance is given towards the deer, and then back to Gidon. "I am sorry," she offers, shifting to stand and shake some of the snow from her talons. The movement is rather comical as she hops up and down slightly, shaking one foot and then the other. "I should have kept a better watch, to keep from interupting your hunt. The deer is rightfully yours, to make up for the one I lost you."
As curious about the other as he seems in her, Avanag squints down at Gidon. Then, she speaks again: "I am an Eagle, little one."
Gidon glances towards it. "Too much for me t'carry," he says at last. "Share?" Unthinkingly, he shrinks back as the eagle stands - it is so big! "But... eagles, I seen 'em, they ain't so big's that. An' they don' talk!" He shakes his head, then sets his arm to rest in his lap and touches his eyes. They seem to be working all right... his ears>
A good shake gets the rest of the snow off, and Avanag preens a shoulder feather briefly. "The deer is nearly as big as you are, sharing would be the best course," she agrees, chuckling a little. Or, an eagle's version of a chuckle - somewhere between low chirping and a few claps of her beak. "Please help yourself then, small Gidon. I will take what is left." Still his questions seem to catch her off guard, and she stretches her wings out and back thoughtfully. "I am not quite the same as the smaller birds you speak of. I am, well...a Great Eagle. I observe from the skies." After a moment of watching him, she adds, "Your hearing has not been...dulled by the snow? Or your arm?"
"Wrenched m'arm," he replies. "Reckon I'm hearing right..." He gives the bird a doubtful look and shuts his eyes, opening them a minute later. It's still there. "Less I'm dreamin' things..." he mutters, but gets to his feet and goes to the deer, beginning to skin it one-handed. He does this awkwardly, but with a speed that speaks of long practice. His arm has clearly been hurt much longer than just this moment's wrenching. "What... d'you ... observe?" he asks, the words punctuated by cutting. He cuts off as much as he can carry, setting it aside on the snow and struggling to turn the animal over so he can skin the other side. "D'you ... want th'skin?"
A look of slight concern passes through the eagle's eyes, and she tucks her beak close to her chest. "I am sorry for that as well," she offers, "For frightening you. Will you need to see a healer?" Carefully Avanag steps closer, watching curiously. "Some of it I will eat, but not all. If you wish some of it for yourself, feel welcome. I do not know the eating habits of your kind well...do you eat the skin of what you hunt?"
After watching a little longer, she continues, "I observe the ground, and those that travel by land. Where they go, and what their intentions might be."
The boy shakes his head. "Don' eat it," he clarifies. "Use't for shoen an' clothes an' th'like." He cuts off the legs, leaving himself a rough square of hide, and squats back on his heels to rest a few minutes before trying to roll the carcass off and claim the piece of hide for himself. "I be all right. What d'you want t'be watching folk for?"
Continuing to watch with interest, Avanag attempts to help in rolling the deer over, coming close enough to place a talon and gently shove. She spreads her wings to counter balance the movement. "Well...it is something my kind has been doing for years," she offers in explanation, "Usually we are on the lookout for those that might cause trouble for other honest travelers. What is a 'shoen'?"
Gidon tenses, but manages not to shrink back as the bird comes close. It is even huger, if such be possible, from here. He pulls the hide out, and (thankful for the excuse) moves away to wrap his part of the meat in it. This also is accomplished one-handed his teeth being used to tied a cord around the bundle.
"These," he says, lifting one foot. "Shoe. For wearing. Only," he adds, frowning a little at his foot. "This un's a boot. Same thing only stouter." He squats to pick up the deer meat, and manages a quirk of a smile. "Could've used you th'other week, runnin' from them in th'swamps," he says. "Got off though." Carefully, just in case all this friendliness is only a pose, he backs away. "Should be goin' back..."
"Shoe?" Avanag chirps, studying the footwear for a moment, "Ah, these I've seen before. I have never heard it called a shoen, though. When she spots the smile, the eagle seems to relax slightly, before offering a dip of her head and stepping backward. The movement is awkward for a creature meant to be in the air, but it gives the boy distance. "I wouldn't wish to keep you, and I should be on my way as well. Perhaps we will see each other again."
"Shoen, that's for two," Gidon mumbles, flushing a little. As the likelihood grows that he will indeed survive this, his steps speed up, until he is a fair distance off. Here the boy pauses, then lifts one hand in a hesitant farewell, before leaving the area as fast as he can manage through the drifted snow.
Avanag watches him go with a dip of her head, shifting in the chilly air. To the raised hand she pulls herself up to her full height, spreading one wing in an attempt to mimic the motion. She turns then, collecting the rest of the fallen dear in one talon before launching herself into the air.
