( I love all you guys. Thanks for the great reviews! I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure where this story is going, but it's still fun to write, even if my updates are sporadic at best. I'll try to keep a better handle on updates, but I haven't forgotten this story! I like it too much to let it die, and that would be unfortunate for the people who enjoy it. I understand the feeling of not seeing stories updated. I'll try not to be one of those people who lets a story die. )

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She was being carried. She liked it.

The Big One - the Mommy - was carrying her in her sharp mouth. They were moving through darkness and sometimes brightness, and every time she tried to look around she saw big things. Big trees. But the bumping... the bumping made her neck hurt when she lifted her head up, so she just let Mommy carry her. She wondered where the other bird-lizards were. She didn't like them. They were bite-y, like a furry thing that she remembered. That furry thing made barking sounds. She didn't like it at all.

When Mommy hissed at the other bird-lizards, she felt safe. The hiss meant that Mommy was protecting her from the bird-lizards that wanted to bite her and hurt her. Mommy was safe. Mommy even made hissing sounds at her, but she didn't know what they meant. There was one sound she was thinking about in her head. It sounded like sss-kaaar.

She tried making the sound on her own. "Sss. Sss-ka. Sss-karrr." It didn't sound like it was all the way on her tongue, like the sound wouldn't leave her head and make itself hear-able. She didn't like that. She would have to... patience? That was one of the words in her head, from that place she couldn't remember. She remembered please and patience and practice. They all started the same way in her head, so they meant the same thing to her.

If she wanted to sound like Mommy, she would have to please-patience-practice the hissing. And the growling. And all the other sounds. She liked sss-kaaar the best, because when all the bird-lizards made that sound, they seemed to be looking at her. When Mommy first made that sound, Mommy was looking at her. So maybe sss-kaaar meant her. Maybe sss-kaaar was her word, like how Mommy was Mommy's word. She wondered if the other bird-lizards had their own words that belonged to them and no one else.

Sss-kaaar. It was hard to get right, so she tried making it shorter. "Sska," she started. "Sskr. S-k-aa-r. Skar." Skar. She liked it. It was her word. It was close enough to the sound that Mommy made, right? Mommy made rumbling sounds. She was making one now, and she was slowing down, too. Skar didn't know why - she liked it when they were moving. Maybe Mommy was talking to the other bird-lizards? There were... one... two... two of them close by. Skar remembered what two meant. But if she was also thinking about Mommy and Skar, then there were four. Four meant Mommy and Skar and the other ones.

Skar twisted her neck and tried to look. Nearby, there was a smaller bird-lizard, with lighter colors than the rest. That one was the one who made the tick-tick-tick noise. Skar liked that one, and she squealed, trying to get the tick-tick-tick's attention. At the sound of her squealing, he looked at her, tilting his big bobbly head. This time he only made two ticking sounds, so Skar changed his word in her head. Tick-Tick. That was about right.

Skar, Mommy, Tick-Tick. And the one Mommy was rumbling at now. That one liked to stand close to Mommy. He was big, but he seemed safe. Skar tried to think of the word that went with Mommy, but didn't quite mean Mommy. Daddy? Was that it? It sounded right, so she decided to use it. Skar, Mommy, Tick-Tick, Daddy. That was four. And there were the others, another four. Two fours. Eight? Was that eight?

Skar wondered what words belonged to the other four. Two of them, the bigger two, scared her. They snapped and tried to bite and made rough sound that hurt her head. She wasn't sure about the smaller two. One of them was wobbly, and the other one... a girl? A girl like Skar and Mommy? She had something wrong with her long part - her tail? - a spot that was black and made her look funny.

Wobble. Black Spot. Skar decided those were the names for the smaller two. She still had no idea what it meant when the bird-lizards made noises at each other, but for the moment that was okay. Skar understood that she was safe. The other big two, the ones that tried to bite her, made her feel unsafe, but with Mommy there they couldn't do anything. Skar let her mind wander for a moment as she tried to figure out the words that fit with the other big two.

After a little while, and a little more running and being carried by Mommy, Skar had a good idea for the last two names. The one with all the straight splotches on his back, he was Bite. And the other one, the one who was faster than the others, she was Hurt. Bite and Hurt, because that was what they wanted to do to Skar, but also because that seemed like words that would go well with what they were. Bite wanted to bite things, lots of things, not just Skar.

And Hurt... Skar wasn't sure, but Hurt seemed like she wasn't whole. Kind of like Skar. Like something was missing. All the bird-lizards seemed that way. Skar could feel it - anger and hostility, but there were slumped shoulders and glances at the ground that made her think of something called sadness. Something was missing. And now there was Skar. Somehow, she was making the missing-feeling worse for the bird-lizards. It made her uncomfortable.

Mommy stopped running for a moment. Skar looked around at the unfamiliar plants around them, and listened to the harsh growling sounds from Daddy. Tick-Tick was also there, and now the other small ones had joined him. They were making sounds together, and as Skar watched they glanced back at Mommy, Daddy, and Skar and then ran off into the trees. Not long after, Mommy and Daddy started running again, toward the same place Tick-Tick and Wobble and Black Spot had gone.

Mommy, where? Where we going? Skar let out a squeal, but neither Mommy or Daddy noticed. Instead, Daddy plunged into a wall of green, and a moment later Mommy followed. Leaves scraped against Skar's face, and she closed her eyes instinctively to protect herself. In the darkness she felt the running continue for a moment, and then Mommy stopped. At first Skar didn't open her eyes, but when she heard clicking sounds from the other bird-lizards - and when Mommy didn't start moving again - she opened her eyes.

All the bird-lizards were now in the same place. The trees still surrounded them, but the place where the bird-lizards now stood was open, with water rushing nearby. There were indents in the ground, too, with dirt built up around the edges. Mommy took a few steps forward and set Skar down slowly, lowering her into one of the indents in the middle of the clearing. After setting Skar down, Mommy lifted her head and made a loud rattling call. Daddy and Bite bobbed their heads, clicked twice, and darted off into the jungle.

The other bird-lizards stood about uneasily, and Skar noticed it right away. They all kept looking at her, twitching their heads between Skar and Mommy. They kept away from the indent where Skar sat, almost as if Mommy was keeping them back. Skar couldn't tell why. All she'd noticed so far was there were smooth curved things in the indent - there was a word for it, wasn't there? A bed? - that were captivating her more than the bird-lizards. Shells... that was one of the few words Skar knew. Shells, like the kind on the beach. Picking up a few pieces, Skar held them and felt the smoothness on one side, and the roughness on the other. She had no idea what they were, but they were fragile, a little like Skar. Squeezing her hand a little, Skar quickly discovered that she could crush the smooth things. As soon as she did, she let out a squeak of alarm and dropped them. She didn't notice the sudden spike in tension, particularly from Hurt.

All Skar noticed was Mommy nudging her head with her snout, biting at the shredded clothes on Skar's shoulders. Skar wriggled, pushing her hands and feet into the warm dirt in the bed, crumbling more of the shells. All of a sudden she heard a harsh screech, the kind she'd already heard from Hurt. Crying out, Skar flattened herself into the bed. Overhead, Mommy snarled, and Skar watched fearfully as Hurt tried to lunge forward. In a flash, Mommy stepped between Hurt and Skar, her posture bristling.

It was like at the beach, and Skar didn't like it. Eyes fixed on the ground, she looked at the shells scattered around the bed, and immediately she scrambled away from them, trying not to break any more. Whatever the shells were, Hurt didn't like it when Skar touched them. She let out a distressed cry, tumbling backwards out of the bed and away from the shells, away from Hurt. Mommy's head swiveled around at the sound of Skar's voice, but she did not move. Instead, it was Tick-Tick who came over to Skar. His voice trilled, and he lowered his head down to Skar's, making his ticking noise as he did so. The sound was soft, soothing... safe.

Wobble and Black Spot stood on the edge of the clearing, not making any moves towards Skar or Mommy and Hurt. Skar tried to ignore the snarling sounds from Mommy and Hurt, and she kept her eyes on the other small bird-lizards and her eyes open to the sound of Tick-Tick. Within a few minutes she started relaxing again, shuddering in the dirt and leaves that lay just outside the bed. As she calmed down from Hurt's almost-attack, Skar started to think about Daddy and Bite. They were gone, right? They'd left, disappeared into the green. Where were they? Were they coming back?

Tick-tick trilled, Mommy and Hurt snarled. Skar closed her eyes and whimpered. Some moments she felt safe... then, she wasn't. Mommy was protecting her. Mommy was there, and Skar knew that should mean everything was okay. Why wasn't everything okay? Why did Bite and Hurt want to do those things to Skar? She started crying silently. She knew so little, but she did know what it meant to be scared and hurt. All the bird-lizards felt like that, in one way or another. Skar was part of it, and so were the shells. What were the shells? Why did it make Hurt angry when Skar touched them?

Skar was saved from trying to think in terms of more than three syllables by the sound of hooting in the trees. Tick-tick shadow on the ground moved, and Skar followed it. Lifting her head up, she tilted her head to the side just like the bird-lizards did. Ahead of her, on the edge of the clearing, the green rustled slightly. A heartbeat later, Daddy and Bite appeared, both carrying things in their mouths. They walked over to the center of the clearing, to the bed that Skar had been sitting in, and dropped the things next to Skar.

As soon as she breathed in, Skar wrinkled her nose and gagged. She didn't like the smell... no, she didn't like it at all. The red, gushy thing that Daddy and Bite had come back with had bits of dirt and leaves and twigs stuck to it, and there were several flies now buzzing near it, too. Yet, despite Skar's displeasure at the smell, her body seemed to understand its importance. Her stomach growled, reminding her of the light-headed dizzy feeling that had been quietly lurking just outside her attention span. There was a word for it... ungy? No, hungy, that was it.

Mommy gave a throaty growl. Skar glanced up at her and saw Bite going over to Hurt, nudging her away from Mommy. Hurt dipped her head and fixed her eyes on Skar for a moment before looking away. Skar looked away as well, turning her eyes to Mommy and Daddy. Cocking her head to one side, Mommy hissed, and Daddy hissed back, lowering his head and poking the red lump with his snout. Tick-tick retreated backwards as Mommy circled around behind Skar, stepping so that Skar was almost in-between her feet. Curious, Skar watched as Daddy bit off a small chunk of the red lump and then held his head close to Skar. The red chunk dangled from between his teeth, and Mommy nudged Skar's back.

The red lump still smelled strange and bad, but it was also making Skar's stomach make noises. Still, she wasn't sure what Daddy and Mommy were trying to do. The three smaller bird-lizards were making puzzled chirping sounds, but Mommy quickly silenced them with a snarl. Her shadow remained over Skar as Daddy set the red piece down in front of Skar. As she watched, he ripped of a piece from the chunk, tipped his head back, and swallowed it. Skar stuck out her tongue and coughed. It smelled bad, why did Daddy put it in his mouth?

Then Mommy nudged her back again, pushing her towards the chunk. Again, Daddy bent down and ripped off a small piece, though this time he offered it to Skar by dangling it right in front of her. Just by looking at it, Skar heard her stomach growl. Wrinkling her nose, she very slowly started to mimic Daddy and Mommy. Lifting herself onto her knees, Skar opened her mouth and craned her head back. After a brief pause, Daddy lowered the red piece into her mouth.

Immediately Skar gagged, but she forced herself to close her mouth around the red. It tasted wet and soggy and rough, but underneath all that, it tasted... well, not as bad as it smelled. Sitting back onto her butt, Skar tentatively started chewing, trying to find the best way to make the red piece smaller. She discovered that it was easier to make it into smaller pieces using her front teeth rather than her back teeth, even though it took longer. After a few minutes of chewing, she finally swallowed it. Some of the empty dizziness went away, and she let out a happy squeak. Daddy seemed to understand what this meant and started tearing off more small chunks for Skar. While she waited, Skar decided on a word for the red stuff - red-eat. It didn't taste the best, but it made her less hungy, so she would eat as much of it as she could.

It stayed like this for a little while - Daddy tearing off chunks of red-eat, Skar stuffing them in her mouth, and Mommy standing over her like a large snarly shadow. When Skar finally felt no more emptiness in her stomach, she stopped eating, and Daddy seemed to understand. He sent a click-growl to Mommy, and she responded with a throaty rasp. Skar tilted her head, wondering what all the sounds meant. Maybe someday she'd understand them. For now... for now she was starting to feel tired. She remembered sleep, and she hadn't gotten any, not in what felt like a long time.

A yawn escaped Skar's lips. Rubbing her palms into her eyes, she craned her head back to look at Mommy and gave a soft squeal. Glancing downwards, Mommy bent over and pushed Skar back towards the bed with her snout. Skar tipped forward and then rocked onto her knees, crawling back into the bed as Mommy pushed her along. Skar was still tentative of the shells, and tried her hardest not to touch them. One side of the bed was mostly free of the shell fragments, and that was where Skar went to lie down. Mommy was standing right overhead, and her breath was hot against Skar's cheek.

This place... it was starting to feel safe again. Mommy was there, and Skar wasn't hungy anymore. Closing her eyes, she smooshed herself into the dirt, squirming into a comfortable position. Mommy started making a soft crooning noise, soft and soothing like the sounds she made on the beach. None of the other bird-lizards made any sounds.

Safe. Safe feels like this.

Mommy was here and she was safe. Forgetting about the ocean and the cuts on her arms and the bird-lizards that wanted to hurt her, Skar let herself fall asleep.

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She sleeps.

Burnt, Hobble, and Ticker exchanged a glance when they heard Talon speak up. Their alpha had spent several minutes standing over the nest, snout gently touched to Scar's head. Burnt was not yet sure if she was comfortable with her mother's decision to keep the human hatchling, but as she watched Talon hush Scar to sleep, she remembered when she was still a hatchling confined to the nest. Talon often crooned her to sleep when she was restless. If Scar was already asleep... she felt safe with Talon. She was already imprinting on the alpha raptor.

Maybe there was a chance she could become part of the pack after all.

Stepping back from the nest, Talon lifted up her head and rasped, No one touches her while she sleeps. Not yet. With narrowed eyes, she added, Especially you, Quick. Do not challenge me.

Talon, she was crushing the eggshells! Quick protested venomously. Stripes quickly brushed against his mate, trying to console her, but Quick was not so easily swayed from her anger. She does not belong in our nests, Talon.

Clever started to bristle at Quick's blatant hostility, but Talon snapped at him softly and he calmed. Turning her head to Quick, the alpha raptor hissed, Those shells are dead, and Scar's presence does not change that. She doesn't know why, but you can see she understood your anger. She left the nest out of fear. She knew their importance. She is already learning. She stays. Do. Not. Challenge. Me.

Talon's words were harsh and uncompromising, and her posture was every bit as rigid as her tone. There would be consequences if Quick continued to disobey the alpha, and if her mate could see that, surely she had to as well. The young gammas understood Quick's pain, but Talon was right. The eggshells meant nothing. They were just scattered fragments of could-have-been hatchlings. Scar was alive and real. She mattered.

Talon was also right about Scar learning. None of the gammas had really expected Scar to eat the prey-flesh, but she did, and by the looks of it she even liked it. That already put her above other humans. Honestly, the raptors didn't know what they ate. But if Scar could eat their prey, hopefully someday when she was bigger and stronger she could hunt it, too. There had to be a way for un-sharp things like humans to hunt, right?

Scar likes you, Hobble murmured with a throaty purr. Ticker hunched forward, shaking his head and neck. Did she like him? If she did, good, but he thought she liked his vocal tic, not him. You and Talon and Clever, Hobble continued, you make her feel safe. I don't think she likes the rest of us.

Do you want her to like you? Burnt needled.

Hobble flinched away and hissed at the larger gamma. Yes, yes I do! Talon says she belongs in the pack now, that makes her our sibling. You should want her to like us, too! Unless you want to kill her like the betas do!

A cutthroat snarl whipped past Burnt's fangs, and she stepped uncomfortably close to Hobble, looming over him and forcing him into a submissive pose. I'm not stupid, Hobble, she hissed sharply, I won't disobey my mother, but I can still think my own thoughts, can't I? Or do I have to choose - think like Quick and Stripes or think like Talon and Clever? Kill Scar or love her? I should be able to pick neither!

Ticker could see Burnt's aggression mounting, and he was starting to get worried that she might lash out at Hobble. Despite being Talon's descendant, in some ways Burnt was a lot like the betas. She felt she had something to prove. Ticker didn't really blame her - when they were hatchlings Burnt left the nest when she wasn't supposed to and was caught in the brush fire. If she'd stayed at the nest she would've been fine, but she'd been wounded, and two other hatchlings died. Hobble was the same way, but he was just grateful he was accepted into the pack, and he never tried to jeopardize that by acting out.

Burnt, on the other hand...

I don't know what I think of Scar! I don't know! Maybe keeping her is a bad idea, maybe it isn't, I don't know! All I know is I don't like it!

A guttural growl split the air and overpowered Burnt's increasingly irate snarls. All three of the gammas cringed as Talon's voice rammed against their ears. That is enough! she snarled. Leave Hobble alone, Burnt. Do not be angry with him for trying to accept change. All of you will have to learn to adjust eventually. For now, if you can't accept Scar, ignore her. She will find her place in this pack. I expect you to find a place in your heart for her as well.

Bitterness seeped away from Burnt's body language, but she quieted and gave no response save for a submissive bob of the head. Hobble glanced at Ticker, who could only tilt his head. He wasn't sure what to make of what was happening, either. With Burnt frustrated and confused to the point of lashing out against her siblings, and the betas still at odds with Talon... Ticker quietly appreciated the fact that at least he seemed to be doing something right. Scar liked him. That was good.

And now she was asleep... she'd fallen asleep so easily. Out of everyone in the pack, she seemed to be adjusting the best. She clearly believed that she was safe with Talon, that this place was home. Perhaps she truly was starting to think of Talon as her mother. Didn't that already put her on the path to becoming a raptor?

Ticker weighed his thoughts heavily. First Scar must feel safe. Then she must eat prey-flesh. Then she must learn to speak, and run, and hunt. But she had to grow before she could do that. How quickly could Scar grow? Humans were strange. Ticker had a feeling it would take a lot longer for Scar to grow than it would for a raptor. If she survived that long, at least.

The pack was settling down now. Talon and Clever were not leaving the center nest. Talon was circling, head lowered to keep close watch over Scar as she slept. The betas retreated to their own nest, to mourn and to let their anger fester. In the corner of his eye, Ticker saw Burnt nudge Hobble's side, a gesture of apology. He accepted it with a gentle nip on her neck. All the young raptors were pack-siblings. Burnt and Hobble would get over their spat soon. Ticker, for his part, was more concerned for their newest pack-sister.

We have lost so many unborn hatchlings. So many.

He stepped closer to the nest. Clever noticed, but made no move to stop Ticker. By now Talon had laid down outside the nest, her head resting next to Scar. The human hatchling was so tiny, but Ticker could still watch the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Her claw-less hands dug into the dirt, and her strange second-skin was so torn that Ticker could see most of Scar's pale, easily damaged skin.

Ticker paused by the nest and flattened himself down to the ground, joining Talon in her vigil of watching the sleeping hatchling. The night would come soon enough, and the pack would likely stay in the nest rather than hunt again. This day had been exhausting on many different levels. None of the raptors really wanted to do anything but stay in the nest and try to sort through their mixed feelings.

Ticker's opinion was simple enough.

I'll help her learn, he rasped softly. Talon's eyes wandered over to him and he continued, I'll help her learn to run, to stay quiet, to fade into the trees. I can help teach her to be one of us.

Good, the alpha hissed in reply.

Ticker let out a soft purr. I want her to live, Talon. I know you lost hatchlings, but Hobble and Burnt and I lost unborn brothers, sisters. Maybe they don't know it, but I think they also want Scar to live. She feels safe here, with us. I don't want her to not feel safe. I don't want her to be scared.

It was Clever whose clicking voice reached Ticker's ears now. Then protect her, Ticker. You and Hobble and Burnt... protect Scar. She is the only one who will determine if she is worthy of being part of this pack, but she is like all hatchlings. Weak, defenseless. Protect her until she is strong enough to become a raptor in her own right.

We will. I promise.