…
A common misconception in ground birds is that they are the top consumers, where as dragons are thieves. No, in actuality the dragons (well, most) were at the top of the food chain. When they stole (the majority that did), they were only rightfully taking all of the contraband and whisking them off to be given to a greater cause --- trying to save their own lives. The tribal community the ground birds inhabited had fished out the dragon's supplies to near extinction at one point until parts of the ocean were sectioned off; and a great portion of their wildlife had vanished as well as their different abiotic resources.
The Night Fury crouched down along the moss covered rocks and surveyed the ground bird like it had before; the scrawny creature was vulnerable and the Night Fury could easily pick him off --- as he, the ground bird himself, could have easily picked off what many of his other kind did on a regular basis. The question remaining: why hadn't he?
Suddenly, the ground bird took notice. His green eyes flashed onto the Night Fury in stunned terror. So… he was just as taken with the dragon as the dragon was with him. Curiously, the Night Fury forgot its aching and alit down to the top soil, keeping a steady-eyed gaze with the ground bird as it patrolled the gully grounds in deliberate side-steps. Finally, it came to a stop and made full eye-contact with the nervous creature. The Night Fury let its head tilt back as the ground bird opened a skin flap and showed it the dismembered talon. It balked back and issued a warning growl to him. He had come to finish the job!
'Try'. The Night Fury thought, seething, remembering so many of its kind lost. 'Just try'.
The ground bird, forever full of surprises, slipped the talon out of its skin flap, held it out for one momentary suspension in time --- and dropped it. He then performed an artful, amusing little trick by tipping the talon up onto its base end and kicking it delicately off into a nearby pool of water. The Night Fury met his gaze again, but without amusement.
It gave the ground bird time to pull out a traveling nest and cocked its head with quaint simplicity as he then emptied out a spill of untainted mackerel. Things seemed to it to be moving along more in the favor of peace when it suddenly spotted a bright flash of yellow and black. Hiss! The ground bird shouted out apologies and started stuffing the eel back in but grimaced at its electricity and instead tossed it back into the water. The Night Fury eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he had been watching it before when it had been fishing to itself. But the ground bird tried once again now to hand out a peace offering. The Night Fury backed away a bit as he tried apprehensively with only one fish.
What did the ground bird expect?
There came a low, deep growl --- from a point other then the Night Fury's mouth.
'Oh.'
The Night Fury leaned over and smelled the fish. Its stomach craved, its tail throbbed in pain that it had never experienced, but, to accept this offer… the ground bird then made a comment it knew involved its teeth. Deftly, without anymore need for convincing, the Night Fury unsheathed two rows of dagger-like teeth and slurped up the fish greedily in plain view of the ground bird. Now, in pleasant gratitude, the dragon hacked up half of it for the probably famished ground bird; no wonder he was so scrawny, he dined on eels!
The clueless yearling looked down and back up at it. Patiently, the Night Fury fell on its rump and the ground bird copied it. They looked up and down continuously. And then ---miraculously --- it dawned on the ground bird. He picked up the fish in his hands and let his eyes travel down to its slippery surface. The Night Fury slurped its tongue in and out to demonstrate that it was good to eat. Was the creature so disliked by its own kind that it was reduced not only to machine-making but the sole gather of food as well? A surge of sympathy welled in the Night Fury's mostly spacey heart as the yearling took a rather large chomp. The poor creature, the way he ate… he had probably never eaten decently.
It watched casually as the ground bird took brave first bites of his only real meal, before he let down a big gulp and finished off with thump to his chest. Burp. The Night Fury let him swallow it down completely before giving one more tongue slurp for good measure.
The ground bird looked up at it --- and smiled. 'What?' It was only returning the favor of its captor's release! Why was the ground bird approaching it? Why ---? He reached out.
The Night Fury hissed and glided off on its own, fuming. Did the ground bird not have a mother to watch after it!? Against its better judgment, the Night Fury looked back at the ground bird. He watched after it wistfully, causing the Night Fury to jerk its head around stubbornly and face forward. Against its worse desires, it too felt the need to turn back.
…
