Contact
Completely faded, she crept around the two-leg nest while keeping distance from them. There was enough cover from the bushes and thin-tooth-leaf trees that she felt safe against being seen. Two-legs probably could not see through fade.
But she still walked very slowly: one paw at a time and alert for any signs of danger.
The two-leg nest was different from what kin did in their nests. Kin found and took caves to be dens, yes, but most kin did not make new caves where there were none before! The spinning-teeth rock-diggers could make their own caves, but there were no kin that piled trees into new dens like the two-legs could.
She stuck her nose out past the last bush so she could see everything. There were maybe four tens of two-legs she had counted so far, though there were more throughout the nest. There was no better way to learn more about them than to get closer.
Carefully and after checking her fade, she crept out of the bushes and walked into the nest.
Strange scents filled the air. The two-legs had a very clear mix of their own scents, but there was far more life there too. Small four-legs covered in fur walked freely in the nest. Those four-legs were not afraid of the two-legs. Further, they were treated differently from the four-leg prey-animals that were trapped on the edge of the nest. The two-legs and the four-legs occasionally touched or showed warmth with head to paw nuzzling.
The female two-legs were probably the thinner ones which held the smallest two-leg young. The bigger two-legs, likely the males, walked around with the stick-claws and did most of the work of carrying things, mostly furs and piles of wood. What was the wood for?
The smoke flying up from the tree-cave-dens answered that question. The wood was burned for warmth.
She watched as a pair of the males walked to each other and... hit each other, knocking one of them down onto the ground. What? Why would they do that? Was it a fight?
Their fight was even stranger since the standing two-leg lowered a paw and helped the other one up. Then the two-legs held each other. Maybe the fight was a type of bonding as packmates. They were being very twisted.
She kept her fade and her distance from the nearest two-legs. They were still very much unknown, and she wanted to learn more about them before doing anything else like showing herself and meeting them.
She was very sure that two-legs were not small-thinking life, even though their growling and hissing sounded meaningless. Touching their life-fires and sharing thought had to wait until she learned more about them and their life-ways.
A group of the males kept going from the nest down to the water and back again. They always returned carrying many fish in their carrying-things. She knew since she could smell the fish from downwind.
Curious, she crept toward the water while keeping as much to the trees as she could. She sat at the top of a small cliff and looked out over the tree-dens floating in the water.
The two-legs worked with woven vines which had no clear purpose at first. The woven vines were thrown into the water and pulled out many times. Why put tangled vines into the water unless… they were for catching fish!
Very clever.
The cold wind gusted, so she glanced at herself to check on her fade. There was still a feeling of warmth on her hide, and she saw only shimmering in the air, but her fade was failing. The cold air gradually ate up the fade-warmth.
She jumped from the cliff, flew a short flight along the cliff, and flamed before herself to strengthen and warm her fade, which worked. She returned and saw that some of the two-legs had lifted their paws and were pointing up past her at the darker clouds flying toward the range.
They surely could not see her. Could they?
She dove for the shore and touched down as silently as possible, her paws kicking up a little cold sand when she landed. She sat down only a few pounces from the walking-path the two-legs used to go from the land-nest to the water-things. A pawful of the two-legs walked past her while holding carrying-things filled with fish.
Thankfully, none of the two-legs faced her or pointed at her with their paws. They could not see her.
Seeing. The two-legs glowed like any life to life-fire-sight. If only she could hear the two-legs' thought-whispers, that would make knowing them much easier. She could hear and understand the thought-whispers of all kinds of kin, of anything that had strong-thinking to hear. Two-legs lived like they had strong-thinking, but she could not hear anything or even feel their life-fires. Touching their life-fires was not as easy as doing so with a kin. The difficulty was not clear.
She waited until the nearest two-legs had walked away, and then she took flight. She glided over the expanse of green and white to return to the cave-den for rest, thought, and shelter from this angry cloud and wind. Back at her cave-den, she landed, dashed inside, and curled up to consider her problem.
Even if she could find a lone two-leg to meet in peace, or if she found the Alpha or Oldest-Knower of this pack, she did not know how to help the two-legs not fear her.
Kin were hunters and much bigger than two-legs. Any two-leg would likely see her as a threat or a hunter. How could she meet them in peace without any threatening? Not being able to share words or thoughts made it very difficult to see the other as like each other, as not small-thinking life.
There had to be a way to show them that she was not hunting them or trying to kill them. Hunting...
Maybe I should bring them a fish.
Bringing a fish-gift was always a good way to greet others. They would see that peace- and respect-sign for what it was.
The angry wind and clouds had flown past the range, leaving far more snow and cold air in their place. She left the cave and glided down to the two-leg nest again, intending to search for the Alpha or another important one. However, something was different about the two-leg nest when she got there, faded as usual, and landed outside the nest.
There were more of the males standing around outside the dens. The males were holding their sticks and were looking toward the forest, as if they were worried about something. She had not seen any other big life in the trees. Further, all the females and young ones were nowhere to be seen, likely within their tree-dens.
She could not be certain, but it was likely that this male was the Alpha. He was the biggest and loudest of them, and others appeared to obey him, listening whenever he roared at them or pointed with a paw.
Maybe the two-leg pack was being very careful right now. Why? What were they being cautious about? Maybe they were looking for her. But how would they know about her being there? They could not see through fade.
Somehow, the two-legs knew that something big, probably her, was in their range, so they were being more careful. That was prudent, even though that made her meeting with them more difficult. They were already thinking of her as a threat.
She waited a full dark-light cycle, and then returned to watch the nest and wait for an opportunity. A lone two-leg, probably a male, eventually left the nest and walked out among the trees, so she followed him at a distance, curious what he was doing. He walked along a path worn into the snow, which meant that he or others walked this path many times. He continued until he came to a small valley filled with ice, maybe a stream in warmer times, and crossed it.
Where are you going?
He came to a clearing in the trees and inspected the bushes and what looked like a pile of vines and sticks.
The two-leg picked up a small four-leg-fluffy-tail which had been trapped in the vines. The two-legs made traps of things to catch more prey!
Very smart!
The two-leg looked around, as if it heard something. It could not see her as long as she kept her eyes closed, so she watched its life-fire until the two-leg left to return to its nest.
Then she relaxed and looked around the clearing. This was probably the best place to do what she knew must happen eventually. A two-leg probably came to check this prey-trap every light-cycle or so.
First, she had to catch a fish, which would be easy. The cold would help the fish not go rotted while she waited for the two-leg to appear.
There was still that tail-nibbling problem that there was no way to share words. Some signs were understood by all: showing teeth meant anger and threat, purring meant pleasure, and leaving a wing out was a trust-sign or invitation to grooming.
What about two-leg signs? Surely they had their own ways of sharing ideas and wants without words. She could use those.
Hmm, the males in the nest greeted each other by hitting. Maybe that is a greeting-sign.
The next male was one of the smaller ones, perhaps not as grown as the others. Its face-fur was not as long as the bigger males. She followed the two-leg as it went into the trees. There were no other two-legs following it. This was very good.
She would have a chance to show this two-leg what she truly was: curious, wondering, and interested in them! Then she could learn from it and maybe show that she was also strong-thinking!
A twisted idea had grown in her liver the more she thought about the problem of talking and thinking. Two-legs were strong-thinking like her and like light wings, but she could not hear their thinking.
Maybe their life-fires needed special effort to link with and share thought-speak. Other kin she could do that with only by seeing them or feeling their life-fires from a distance. Something different probably had to happen with two-legs.
The two-leg arrived at the traps and started checking them. One trap had a four-leg-fluffy-tail waiting to be taken.
She could make her move once the two-leg was busy with the trap. The male had knelt down and was taking the prey out from the trap-vines.
She took one step toward it, and paused as fear flared inside her liver.
'Be careful. It is dangerous...'
That warning was very twisted. The two-leg was so much smaller than her. It could not fight back at all. No, there was nothing very dangerous about two-legs.
She picked up the fish in her jaws and slowly walked out from behind the bushes while letting her fade die. The two-leg had not noticed her yet, but her full shape was visible now. It would easily see her if it only turned around.
One pawstep closer at a time, she came nearer and nearer to meeting a two-leg for the first time!
The two-leg stood up, spun around, and faced her, its brown eyes going very wide. It did not move a paw as it stared at her.
She sat down, tossed the fish before the two-leg, and remained still, not wanting to do anything that might scare the two-leg. Its life-organ was beating very fast, so fast she could hear it.
The two-leg glanced down at the fish, but did not pick it up to eat the fish-gift. Maybe it needed encouragement.
Do not fear. I am not hunting you.
There was no sign that the two-leg heard her thought-voice, but staring into its eyes... something felt slightly different. Almost like there was a whispering just far enough away that it was unclear whether it was wind or more.
Was that the two-leg's life-fire?
She slowly stepped closer to the two-leg as it stepped back away from her. Why did it not see that she was being peaceful and not threatening at all? Maybe it needed her to show familiar bonding or do something else it would understand.
She lunged and gently shoved at it with a paw, pushing its shoulder as she had seen the other male two-legs do to each other.
The two-leg fell back on its rear and, whining and shaking, scrambled against a tree. It did not get up and push her shoulder in return. This was not going well at all. What was she missing? The males had finished the pushing-greeting by offering the downed one a paw to help them up. Maybe that was it! She had just not done the ceremony the right way.
So she held out a paw, claws fully hidden, before the two-leg. But the two-leg did not move to touch her; rather, the two-leg looked very afraid. Fear and worry were bright in its eyes. This was going very badly.
But there was something else behind the fear: defiance and strength. Maybe the two-leg was not as completely afraid as she thought it was. Good!
The two-leg slowly reached with a paw inside its furs.
What are you doing?
The two-leg moved very fast, swinging its arm and striking the flat of her paw.
Fire flared in the cut in her paw. Red life-water dripped from her paw and the two-leg's false-tooth-stick onto the white snow.
She hopped back and growled in pain and shock. The two-leg attacked her! She tried to be peaceful, and it attacked! It...
The two-leg probably did not understand. It had to think she was a predator or hunter trying hurt it. This was her fault, but there was still a chance. The two-leg had not moved from where it sat, so she licked her hurt paw and refused to move. Not striking back or running away had to show the two-leg she was not trying to hurt it.
The two-leg just held onto its false-tooth-stick with both paws, pointing the little stick at her in a threat-sign. This was not helping.
Showing was not enough. Words and idea-sharing were needed. There was no other way than to use her life-will-powers to try to link with the two-leg. Then she could explain everything and apologize for scaring it.
So she carefully put her hurt paw in the snow and narrowed her gaze on his eyes. Deep into the dark of his eyes and behind into the fear, worry, despair, defiance, and terror at the sight of a monster!
Her: a monster? No! False! Wrong! He had to learn the truth.
Her life-fire stretched toward his, as she assumed it was. The life-fire and shape of memories and life-winds was very different from a kin, but there was similarity. Ability to want, to question, to wonder, to have sleep-visions, to think in the future, to be more than only simple wants... both kinds shared it.
But there was a very powerful difference. The two-leg's life-fire could not reach out and touch hers, nor did it react to her touching it. Thoughts, memories, and feelings were there, able to be felt and known, but they were unchanged by her life-fire. They were beyond influence. Why not?
The answer burned to life. Maybe two-legs could not share reach out and touch thoughts with each other or her. Two-legs were not in the link as kin were.
Was there a way to change that and put them, or one, in the link? Doing that would remove the entire problem!
A small flame, a spark of her life-fire, caught in the two-leg's life-fire and began burning, pulling, and nudging its life-fire. From within that spark she spoke in a soft whisper which the two-leg should hear and know as her.
'Two-leg, I will not hurt you.'
Silence was the only answer. No returning whisper came from his life-fire to say that he heard or understood. It was as though-
Thud.
She blinked and shook her head, recovering herself and shaking away the confusion. To her shock and horror, she saw that the two-leg had collapsed in place and was hurting.
Red life-water was dripping from its nose. Its eyes rolled up in its head, now only showing the whites of the eyes. Its limbs were shaking uncontrollably, and foam bubbled from its jaws.
"No! Stop!"
She forcefully shoved it with a paw and muzzle, but that did not help or change anything.
An echo of thought-pain struck her life-fire. From the shock and fear and no-wrong-this-should-not-be came one possibility and explanation for this hurting. The pain and hurting only started after she tried to link with it, and as she was still holding a small link with it.
There was nothing she could do to help except to stop trying to link with the two-leg.
With a passing thought, that small spark of her life-fire in the two-leg was reclaimed, entirely gone from the two-leg's life-fire. She could not feel any of its feelings or senses at all.
The effect was immediate.
The two-leg's limbs stopped shaking, the flow of life-water slowed, and everything else calmed down until the two-leg was very still. Ignoring the foam and life-water, the two-leg looked like it could have been sleeping in the snow.
Great lights, what was that?
Something bad had just happened, but what had happened? She had just wanted to share thoughts and touch life-fires with this two-leg which was now unaware and barely breathing.
She stepped back, deeply chilled. Maybe life-will-powers could not be used on two-legs. Maybe they were only for kin to use with each other. Maybe two-legs could not be linked with to share thoughts directly.
She could not have known that! She did not want to hurt this two-leg! But she had. There was no other reason for why the two-leg was unaware in the snow, covered in red life-water and mouth-foam on its face, and barely breathing. At least it was still alive.
Her fault.
She hurt an innocent person. Even his striking her and cutting her paw was only him defending himself against a mistaken threat. That was not his fault.
I... I did this.
He needed help. That much was clear. Flee and leave him here in the cold, or try to help him somehow? Fleeing was much safer for her, but she had wronged him and had to try to help right this wrong. She did not know how she could help a two-leg. The only help he could get would be in his pack back in his nest. Sitting here and waiting would not help the two-leg, so she took a breath and chose.
She easily picked him up, her toothless maw around his furs-covered belly to carry him. It helped that two-legs did not weigh much. His limbs hung limp with him not reacting at all.
Walking was not easy with her cut paw stinging and biting with every step. Each step was like a small new cut or a claw being dragged across her paw, which she probably deserved for wronging him.
As she neared the nest itself, she looked attentively for any guarding watchers, certain there had to be two-legs nearby. They would see her very easily since she was not faded. The longer it took for them to see her the better. What she was doing, carrying the two-leg back to its nest, probably looked very bad to the other two-legs. She was just trying to help, but they might only see what this one saw: her as a monster or a hunter.
She stepped out past the last line of trees and bushes into the clearing.
A strange call, like a clanginng of rock falling down a slope, sounded from ahead among the tree-cave-dens. A pawful of the male two-legs appeared with very long sticks and started running at her while roaring in their weak way.
She dropped the two-leg on the ground, spun around, and ran, bounding as fast as she could until she could take flight from another clearing. The two-legs could not run fast enough to catch her. Safely up in the cold sky, she faded and turned her flight back toward the two-leg nest so she could learn what happened.
Far below, the nest was swarming with activity. There were far more two-legs out in the open, and they were gathered around the one she hurt. It was alive and being helped by its kin.
She exhaled in relief that it was not dead.
The bright sky-light was still flying high, but its light did not feel warm at all. The wind was very cold. Nothing felt warm anymore after how bad this first contact went. At least it could have gone worse.
It was the dark-cycle, and the white light-rock was flying high in the sky. The distant two-leg nest down below in the distance was lit by small fires that gave warmth and light. There were even a pawful of two-legs standing guard.
She whined and limped back into her cave. Safely in the dark and out of the wind, she lay down and licked her hurt paw. The cut was shallow and would heal well, though it would leave a hurt-mark. Her first hurt-mark was not even from a proper fight or a hurt-mark to be proud of.
How had meeting with the two-leg gone so wrong? It did not want her fish-gift, did not greet her with its pushing-bonding greeting-sign, saw her greeting as an attack, and then-
What had happened?
Using her life-will-power to try to link with and share thought-speak with the two-leg had badly hurt the two-leg. There was no way she could have known that would happen, but that changed nothing and did not wash away the responsibility. She hurt that two-leg. That two-leg's pain was her fault and that of no one else.
Not intending a bad result was not an excuse for the bad result which happened anyway. Intent could not ignore the result.
Sorry, two-leg. I did not want to hurt you.
Trying to link with a two-leg was not an option. Feeling a two-leg's general sensations might be possible, but doing that was still risky and might hurt the two-leg.
She glanced out the cave-mouth, wondering what would come next. The two-leg was safely returned to its pack, and hopefully all of its packmates would know that she had helped it.
This was the only nest she knew about, so this was the best one to try. Further, they knew she had not truly hurt any of them and had helped the one she brought back to them. Maybe she could fly to find another nest if this one was angered against her.
She let three light-dark cycles pass in which she followed the same routine. She hid in the cave during the cold, dark-cycle in which none of the two-legs were out.
She hunted for fish during the light-cycle. The hunting was both for herself and for another purpose. She could not talk to two-legs, but wishes could be shown another way: gift-giving. The two-leg from before had not accepted her fish-gift because the two-leg was probably afraid. It thought she was hunting it. That was a fair fear, though very wrong.
The biggest fish she caught she saved and brought with her to the two-leg nest. Without any fade, she dove low over the nest and dropped the fish for the two-legs to pick up. Surely they would understand the fish-dropping as food-giving. She glided above the nest until she saw the two-legs pick up the fish, and watching her flight. At that point she flew away without letting them know which direction she flew so she could safely return to the cave.
Let a pawful of these light-dark cycles pass in which she never hurt any of the two-legs, and they had to learn that she was no threatening them. Then she could try again to meet them up close.
If thought-speak could not work to help them understand her, actions alone would have to speak for her.
Author's Note – I'm considering making these chapters a little shorter so they are more readable and easier for me to edit, but this will still be a shorter one compared to future chapters.
On a different topic, telepathy is commonplace in intelligent dragon stories, but I wanted to take a different approach and make that communication method impossible between dragons and humans. There have been subtle and obvious hints of that impossibility all through BON and COD.