Terri
"Stay quiet, follow me." Cuia whispered, taking his talons away from her snout.
What is going on?!
She followed his writhing crimson tail through the bushes, stumbling over fallen remains of dead plants multiple times.
Where is he taking me? She wondered, coming to a halt as he froze in front of her.
"What is it?" She whispered, puzzled.
He said nothing, his tail twitching nervously as he slowly backed into Terri.
"Hi." She whispered.
"Shhh." he responded, pointing at something in the clearing up ahead.
It was oddly familiar, glowing purple and sparking with an unnatural light.
Another gate!
Cuia must have noticed her excited expression, because he extended an arm to hold her back.
"Look." he said quietly, tipping his head back towards the portal.
It was…
Open?
"I thought we were to only ones who could open that." She mumbled quietly.
Cuia nodded. "Me too."
They watched as three figures jumped out, either stumbling when they hit the ground or doing a shoulder roll on the way out.
One of them Terri thought wasn't human, but then she realised the figure was just covered in a strange white armor. The other two were human, one of them wearing armor like Cuia had been wearing and the other just a black jacket.
"Who are they?" she asked.
Cuia shook his head, signaling that he didn't know. "There's a village beyond it. I think they're heading towards it. I would say we should follow them, but the village looks heavily fortified for a good reason. Archers, small artillery, but nothing too terrible."
Protecting against dragons. I wonder how it feels to live here, constantly worried about being picked up and torn to pieces in the sky…
Okay, that was a little too gory to picture.
"What now?" Terri asked, peeking her snout over his shoulder.
He shivered. "I don't know. The reason I'd originally told you to be quiet is because a SkyWing patrol had passed overhead and I really didn't want to put their hearing to the test. They seemed to be arguing pretty fiercely though, something about who was queen and how Scarlet wasn't dead. So I think Jyn did his job correctly."
She blinked. "What did he do?"
"Huh? Oh, we must've forgot to tell you. Jyn stayed behind to wound Scarlet, allowing Burn to kidnap her." he said simply, not drawing his eyes away from the Gate.
I mean, if it's the only option, that's still okay, right?
Bad things should happen to bad people.
Right?
The three people engaged in a short conversation, then one pointed toward the village.
They talked for a while longer then headed toward the encampment of huts and archers.
"Who do you think they're here for?"
He shook his head once again. "Who knows? Could be with the U.S.C.M., but from one of their armors they might be from some other organization I've heard of that starts with a 'U'. I might know someone. I don't know. That gear looks oddly familiar though…" he mumbled, trailing off.
I hope they're nice.
Suddenly something sharp pricked the back of her neck.
"Hey um, is it okay if you did something for me?" she asked nervously.
"Uh-huh?" he said, not looking away from the gateway.
"Can you uh, turn around?"
He spun around, his neck suddenly having a crooked spear directed towards him.
They had been found by SkyWings.
Cuia poked the tip of the spear, drawing his head back away from the sharpened tip.
"Ah. Spears, hehe. Sharp."
The two SkyWings wearing helms stared at them both dubiously.
"Who are you two, and what are you doing out here?" One of them asked immediately.
"Ahum, I uh.." Cuia's words had failed him for once, Terri observed.
Maybe it's time I do the talking
I'm going to mock him forever about this.
Crusoe'll wanna hear this too.
She patted Cuia's talons.
"Oh, we were just on a hunting trip!" She said excitedly.
She racked her brain for names.
Crusoe mentioned they were commonly named after birds of prey, uhm….
Goshawk can be what I'll call Cuia, I just have to hope he catches on.
I'll be Phoenix, but it's a bit of a stretch.
"Me and Goshawk here were going to try that scavenger village over there."
One of them looked suspiciously at Cuia as the other dragon's expression softened under her helmet.
"Oh. And if this is Goshawk, who are you?" the dragon asked curiously.
"Phoenix." Terri responded.
"Have you been recorded in the records?"
Uh-oh.
"Records?"
"M'kay, so no then." The dragon responded, looking like she was trying to remember her name for future reference.
The other dragon leveled his spear closer to Cuia, who was looking utterly surprised Terri had convinced them of something that almost certainly didn't make sense.
"How closely are you two affiliated with each other, and how long have you been waiting in this cover? Are you with the Talons of Peace?" the one with the spear pointed at Cuia asked.
Terri forced a mischievous grin, along with a not-very-forced blush. "Very close, you could say. And the Talons of Peace? Who are they?"
The female dragon with the helmet eyes widened, but the male wasn't impressed.
"I'll just assume you live outside the kingdom then. You two are….. mates?"
Cuia's face went from shock to recognition faster than Terri could blink as she replied "Yes." with another smile.
Cuia nodded, a weak smile spreading on his face.
"Okay then. We'll leave you two, ahem, alone. A good day to you, and make sure not to get into any trouble at the borders please." The two dragons slunk away into the trees, later taking off into the sky.
Cuia rubbed his neck, as if realizing how close to having a spear through it he had been.
"How did you….how'd you do that so quickly?" he asked, dumbfounded.
Terri giggled.
"Trade secret."
(That was a reference that nobody will understand.)