Freeing a Slave
Sessil's curiosity was aroused the moment Selverat strode into her den. He had that 'I know something you don't' smirk on, and the casual way he was tossing a rolled up scroll told her that something had to do with whatever was written there.
"Oh, Sessil dearest," Rat began, his voice a pleased sing-song. "Do you recall that triple clutch we had a while back? The ones with Myrsilk ancestry?"
Sessil snorted. "Of course I do."
Rat's smirk grew. "Well, it appears that one of them has had offspring of their own. Zeronen, actually, the Water that went with that Zekiran breeder."
She carefully shifted around, setting one massive paw on either side of Rat and bringing her muzzle down to his level. Anyone else, and they couldn't get the news out fast enough when she did that, but she knew how Rat worked. It was a game, and if she didn't play it right, she'd never get the answer.
"I'm not familiar with the clutch-mother, but she's apparently a gorgeous young lady." Rat leaned forward and stroked the soft hide of Sessil's muzzle. "They have ten beautiful little ones, and the Zekirans have sent the news around the Nexus."
"And do you want one?" Sessil rumbled in amusement, "Are two bonds not enough for you, my dear Rat?"
"Oh, sunfury, no!" He grinned. "Between Kerkael and Ara-teli, I'm all bonded-out. No more dragons for me. Nope. Uhuh."
She couldn't help but chuckle. "Until you get too close to another hatching, dear one. And since you are the one in charge of hatchings and candidates around here..."
"Just you wait, I'll find some hatchling for you one of these days, and then we'll see who's laughing!"
"Oh? And is this your thinly veiled attempt to do so?" Sessil doubted it. Rat could be devious when he wanted to be, and this wasn't devious in the proper direction. So, the question was... why bring this up to her?
Selverat scoffed, "Hardly. I was thinking of bonding you to something more Ara-teli's size. You know, for the kicks and giggles."
She rolled her eyes and snorted hard enough to make Rat stumble back a step. "You. Me. Ten thousand feet."
"Oooh, kinky!" Rat patted Sessil's paw, "But, dearest one, I will have to pass on that. We are hardly compatible, and besides, there are children out there for you to rescue!"
"I take it this has to do with the clutch you mentioned."
"Perhaps, perhaps." Rat smirked. "The Zekirans are asking 'trade in kind' for the chance at bringing one of these hatchlings home. Nearly anything goes - another dragon, a creature of some sort, pretty stones, labor, whatever, so long as they believe it equals approximately the worth of the hatchling."
"Trade in kind, hmm?" Sessil's eyes narrowed. This reeked of slavery.
"Mhmm."
With a careful heave, she pushed herself to her feet. "Well then, I'll just have to bring... trade in kind... won't I?" she practically purred.
Selverat chuckled, a wicked grin on his face. "Do show before you leave, dearest. I await with baited breath."
Sessil emerged from the Void, wings flaring as she caught the wind over her old Clan and began to circle. The land was already beginning to reclaim the complex, vines growing in tangles all over the walls, the delicate towers choked by debris and vines, the bridges that stretched between then in crumbling ruin. Her heart ached at the sight, and once more she cursed whatever god or creature had so utterly destroyed her people.
She backwinged to land neatly in the overgrown courtyard, carefully tucking her wings to avoid vines and branches alike.
No time for despair, Sessil reminded herself. Now... where would the koutelli be...
Humming softly to herself, she began her slow search of the grounds. The breathy hissing of the rousha, the great guard-bats of her people, warned her away from the dark Towers. No koutelli would choose to den there!
One by one she checked the small nooks and crannies where the koutelli used to stay, finding one here, another there, but none were quite what she wanted. Too old, too feral, too injured...
With a frustrated hiss, Sessil shoved her way through the great doors and into the Clan proper. Here, a few scattered leaves were testament that some door or window somewhere was open, and more than one koutelli had lived in the den of a favored Myrsilk. Perhaps here she would get lucky.
Her claws clacked against the rock, the sound unnaturally loud, echoing through the hallways. Her breath misted in the cool air, and she had to squint in order to see.
"Hrassha," Sessil growled, eyeing the dim light-crystals.
The command word didn't brighten them.
The cracks in the walls didn't reassure her either.
In and out again. Sessil chanted in her mind. In and out, before you start jumping at your own shadow, girl. Oh, but I don't like this at all... why's all the magic gone after only a few years?
It occurred to her that no one had the time to go through all the empty Clan Homes.
It occurred to her that might be a bad thing...
She poked her nose into den after den, wrinkling her snout at the smell of death and disuse. Skeletons littered the floor in several dens, while others had obviously been used as privies by the new owners. A few times she backed cautiously out of a room, giving voice to a gentle 'chrrr', attempting to calm rousha or koutelli or jinai. They might be only a fraction of her size, but claws and fangs and horns could still pierce her hide, no matter their bearer's size.
It was a surprise, when she finally found what she was looking for, for she hadn't noticed the nest until she had turned to leave. The mother koutelli had remained silent, watching her with calm wariness, and only the glint of amber eyes as she moved had alerted Sessil to her presence.
Cautiously, Sessil approached the nest and peered into it. Five small bodies, two whites and three creams, lay curled against their mother's side, sleeping. Their fangs were just beginning to show.
Perfect. Sessil smirked, then spoke softly, "Mother, I would take one of your littles, as a... gift... for another. I will make sure they are well cared for."
So saying, Sessil shifted to reach out with a paw and carefully scoop up a cream kitten, watching to see what the mother did.
But the mother merely yawned and put her head down, curled around her four remaining kittens, unconcerned.
The kitten cracked a sleepy eye open, looking up at her with sharp blue kitten eyes, before resuming its sleep, nestled in her paw. Sessil settled onto her haunches and carefully slipped the kitten into the cradle slung about her neck, then turned to leave, by way of the ledge outside the den, instead of retracing her steps.
With one last backwards glance, and a promise to herself to investigate further (and bring more koutelli and rousha back, at the very least! It was no Clan without the bat-guards and feline-hunters), Sessil leapt into the air, Akelara clear in her mind.
"Oh, Raaaaat!" Sessil poked her head into Rat's den, grinning brightly at the human and his two bonds. "I come bearing gifts! Well, a gift. For the Zekirans."
She carefully lifted the still-sleeping koutelli from the cradle and set it before Selverat, noting with amusement that it already came up to his knees, kitten or not.
"Do you thing they'll like it?" She asked with false innocence.
Rat looked from Sessil, to the kitten, then back to Sessil. A smirk hovered at the edges of his mouth. "Why, dear-heart, I'm sure they'll absolutely love him. About eight weeks old, would you say? Just old enough to leave mother."
"Indeed."
It was later that day that she approached the Holding where the hatchlings were located. She'd needed to get the kitten a proper meal before hand, of course, so it didn't think the people she was presenting it to were its next meal.
There were other dragons around. She wasn't surprised at that. Several that she recognized the types of, others that she didn't... but that didn't matter.
"I am here to trade for one of Zeronen's hatchlings," Sessil announced, as soon as she had settled herself on her haunches in the courtyard, tail wrapped about her feet.
It was Thahaidy who came out to meet her, trying to look undaunted by the sheer size of the Myrsilkain in the courtyard.
Sessil snorted -- she knew where all the rest of the people of the Holding were, and it wasn't out in the open trying to look calm!
"Ah.. yes. You are... a little large for the compound itself," Thahaidy began, only to hurry her words slightly when Sessil's eyes narrowed. "But we'll just move them out here for a moment. Not a problem."
Sessil grinned, carefully showing every single tooth in her large muzzle. "That will be fine. And here, I do not come empty handed. I bring a koutelli for you, one of our hunting cats."
She carefully lifted the kitten from the cradle about her neck once more, and set it at Thahaidy's feet. "He is a young kitten, about eight weeks old, perfectly trainable, so long as you start now. He needs to eat about three times a day for the next year or so - meat only, the koutelli are obligate carnivores. He'll live between thirty and forty years, I think. Longer if you take good care of him."
Thahaidy licked her lips, looking from the 'young kitten' to Sessil. "May I ask... how, uhm, large is he to get?"
Sessil tilted her head thoughtfully, a wicked glint in her eyes, then raised a paw to hover about twelve feet off the ground. "Here, maybe? Maybe a bit taller. His mother was large, and males are typically larger than females."
"Oh," Thahaidy's voice was faint, "I, uh... I'll get the hatchlings..."
Sessil smirked as she settled in to wait, entirely pleased with her day so far.