The sound of a monkey screeching was what snapped Aeicus awake. He looked around sleepily, starting when he realized he fell asleep on a dragon, but remembered the straps that kept him hitched in the saddle were around him tightly, preventing his fall. The bronze drake would not have let him die if he had fallen though, they were nearly brothers. He patted the drake's neck and it rumbled at him, glad he was awake, and took off from the rock it was perched on, flying low through the foliage.
Stranglethorn was thick with bugs on this particular day, but they were starting to thin out as it grew more humid, heralding some coming rain. The mage rubbed the spot on his face where scales had made a red mark on his tender skin, amazed the skin had not broken completely. He turned his attention to the trees and the surrounding area, searching for a green and yellow parrot. His friend Aeishelis, a hunter, had sent him here to bring the parrot back; apparently it had been too crafty for him. Aeicus smiled a bit to himself, I'll show him, and I'll catch that parrot even though I can barely run. He shifted his legs subconsciously, and they were indeed rather weak.
He had almost dozed off again when he spotted a yellow smudge in the tree line. When guided to the ground a ways away the dragon crooned some and started to relax, laying down and closing its eyes. Aeicus approached the small parrot with a cage in hand, trying to tiptoe. He paused every time it looked up or made a noise for fear of spooking it, and just as he slammed the cage down it flew away with a mocking cackle. He grunted and got back up, struggling a little with the cage due to his weak muscles, and ran after the parrot to the next place it landed.
The chase continued on for a while when suddenly Aeicus tripped, falling down a small hill. He winced when he landed, knowing something happened to his leg. He searched for the whistle to summon the drake to his side but it had been lost somewhere during his chase after the bird. He sighed looking at the latest mess he had gotten himself in, but noticed the bird was sitting on his head now, looking at him from his position laying down.
"Are you Polly?"
The bird squawked at him and ruffled its feathers, settling down more onto the mage's forehead. He reached a hand up and it hopped onto his finger, letting him sit back up, his back propped against a tree so he could pet the bird on the head.
"I found you," Aeicus smiled and offered the bird a bit of fish he had packed with him.