"Shh! I'm not here to hurt you!"
No. She can't make any noise. If she does, Mum will wake up, and will kill her… I don't want that to happen. I don't want to know the prey alive before it dies. It's horrible.
But she just shouts again and continues shuffling away from me noisily.
"Stop it! If you don't quiet down, they'll kill you!" For a moment I'm afraid that she won't… But she does and stops screaming, and ducks down with her forelegs hiding her head. As if it can make her unseen.
"Get away from here. Don't follow us anymore. You'll get yourself-" I'm in the middle of the sentence when a long wobbly shadow stretches over the sand in front of me. I look back and see Mum walking over.
"Nova? What are you doing?"
"Get behind me," I whisper under my breath. She obeys without question as I turn around to face Mum.
"It's nothing, Mum," I say in the calmest voice I can manage, "I just – just couldn't sleep, so I wandered around."
"Nova, just tell me. What's behind you?"
She already seems to know what is going on. After all, adults are perceptive. I sigh and say. "Please don't kill her, Mum."
"Nova… let me see her first, okay?" she asks in such a pleasant tone I almost forget that the lizard's life is in danger.
"Promise me you won't kill her. Please." I try to make my voice fiercer, but I think I sound like I'm begging. If it were anyone other than my own mother, they'd be laughing at me.
"…Alright, Nova. I promise that I won't do anything to her. Please move now, dear."
I shuffle to the side slowly, looking back towards the lizard. She looks up tentatively, and shivers.
But to my surprise, Mum walks over and places a soft paw on her.
"Are you all right? Why are you out here alone?"
That was my thought, too. But I didn't think Mum would react the same way.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to harm her," Mum turns and addresses me. "She seems quite malnourished, actually."
I hear a yawn. "…What are you two doing?" I turn to find Vie crawling up behind me.
"Nova found a Charmander, the young form of a Charizard," Mum explains calmly. "I know you feel sympathy for our prey, Nova, but you got it wrong. She's not our prey. We don't eat other dragons."
Oh.
"But why is she out here alone?" I continue to ask.
"I don't know, Nova. She must have gotten lost out here on her own…" Mum glances at Vie momentarily, and I understand what she is implying. She doesn't want to say anything about dead parents in front of Vie.
"So, what are we going to do with her?" Vie asks, seemingly oblivious.
"She'll stay with us. What's your name?" Mum asks the Charmander.
The Charmander stays silent and doesn't answer Mum at all.
"Is she mute?" Vie questions.
"No, she shouted when I approached her," I tell them.
"Why don't you two go back to sleep? I'll take care of her." Mum leads the Charmander away, and even though I really want to help, I trust Mum with what she is doing. If the Charmander is staying, that means another mouth to feed. But Mum's the hunter, so of course she has the final say.
Vie sighs. "Let's go back to sleep." She gives another big yawn as she crawls back to the fire. "Why did you check the food in the middle of the night, anyway?"
"I got restless and couldn't sleep. Because we're just walking all day. I wish we would get to Lyrl sooner."
She makes no response, and I hear her draw long, even breaths. I'm glad that she manages to fall asleep so soon after what has happened. To think of my own mother dying – the very thought makes me sick.
Maybe that's why I still can't fall asleep. I lie beside Vie, but keep my eyes open and watch Mum and the Charmander in the distance. I'm not sure what they're saying (if anything), but the Charmander seems to be a let less afraid than she was before.
Soon, they begin to walk over, and I close my eyes and pretend to have fallen asleep.
"So, are you still hungry?"
"No…" Her voice is peculiar. How old is she, anyway?
"You should sleep now. You can talk with them tomorrow."
The Charmander doesn't speak, but instead crawls on top of me and snuggles into my back, and gives me this weird itchy feeling that almost makes me move.
"No, I know you like him, but don't do that."
I feel her get off me and snuggle in next to me instead. Mum gives out a sigh, and picks her up. Then there is only silence, until Mum speaks again.
"Nova, I know you're not asleep. Are you all right?" Well, I should've expected this. She must be a lot more familiar with Trapinch body language than the Charmander. "What's making you so restless?"
"I just… heard this crunchy noise, so I got up and found the Charmander. It's nothing, really."
"I know it must be pretty hard moving so suddenly. But you have an adventurous heart, right? You'll need to be accustomed to moving around. When I was young, I never had a stable home…"
"Okay."
"For now, let's go to sleep. We can talk on the journey tomorrow."
"Okay."
I lie down and lean on her. It doesn't seem long when I hear someone calling me, and I get onto my feet. I realize that it is morning already. I did manage to fall asleep in the end.
Mum is nowhere to be seen – probably trying to find us a morning meal – and Vie's digging a tunnel under the Charmander, who is still sleeping.
"Vie?" I call to her, and she pokes her head out of the tunnel.
"Oh, you finally got up? I'm so bored, your mum told me not to wake either of you. Do you know what going to happen with the Charmonner?" Her tone is rather cheerful compared to yesterday, which I'm glad about.
"It's Charmander." I stretch my legs a bit and walk over to the tunnel. "I don't get why you're digging tunnels. It's funner if you just bury yourself."
"For you," she responds and goes back down.
"You know, I hope you aren't planning to actually dig out the other end, because she's gonna fall into-"
A light gust of wind interrupts me. There are almost never natural winds in this region of the desert, so I expect it when Mum walks over, kicking up the sand slightly.
"It's hard to get prey at this hour. And be careful with Phendrene, she's-"
"Wait, her name's Phendrene?" Vie interrupts. It is a rather eccentric name. Maybe Charizard are different.
"Yes. What about it?"
"That's such a weird name. Does it even mean anything?"
"I don't know. But don't confront her about it. We should go now. If we're fast, we can arrive today."
Phendrene shifts slightly, probably disturbed by our conversation. Mum picks her up after packing some of the usable sticks in the remains of the fire back into her box. And then she starts walking ahead of us. I'm slightly envious of Phendrene, who gets to hitch a ride on Mum, but I say nothing of it.
"Really, I don't see why anyone would name their children that," Vie mutters to me. "It doesn't even have an actual meaning."
"So what?"
"Well… your name means a star of some sort. My name means… well, I forgot. I know it means something. But hers? I have no idea."
"I really don't think it matters," I answer honestly.
The rest of the morning is quite dull like the previous day – Phendrene doesn't talk at all. I know she can because I heard her talk to Mum, but… maybe she's just really shy.
At lunch, while we're nibbling on some Sandshrew, Mum flies out to check how far Lyrl is. "It's not that far," she says after returning, "and I told the Flygon there to expect us." Her tone is completely normal, but I notice her glancing at Phendrene when she speaks.
The afternoon is slightly less dull, thankfully, because Mum starts telling us stories. They are actually fairly interesting; there's this tale where many different dragons come together to defeat the Hydreigon. And then there's this one about riding air currents as a sport, which is apparently how the Aeride desert – the desert we live in – got its name.
It's not until early evening that we arrive at Lyrl. We first see a small, unnatural object in the distance that I would have probably ignored if we weren't heading in that direction. As we get closer, I spot a stone wall that lies across the horizon. It seems to cover quite a large area, too. As we're closing in on a gate on one of its corners, Mum stops us.
"Stay here for now. I'll tell them." She doesn't give us time to respond and takes off really quickly.
"Aw, why can't we just go over?" complains Vie.
"I think they're just being careful," I say. "Because we have a Charmander with us…"
Phendrene fiddles with the sand somewhat nervously while Vie just gives out a tired sigh and lies down. "Well, I guess that's kind of fair. As long as they let us in."
Mum is back shortly and lands in front of us. "Okay… let's go." She says in a somewhat tired tone, glancing at Phendrene again, who gets up with Vie and follows her silently.
In front of us stands a passageway between two upstanding stone buildings. There are a few other Flygon on the walls, which at this angle, seems to go on forever. We pass in through an entrance. Somehow, everyone around is looking at us, and quite intently too. I find myself, too, glancing at the Charmander beside us, when a rough voice to the side speaks.
"I'm reminding you if she does anything out of-"
"Yes, yes, thank you, I get it. Now if you please, I have three children to attend to."
Mum's voice doesn't sound like what it usually does; but then again, this isn't a usual situation. He doesn't look too pleased at her response, but doesn't bother us any more.
As we go deeper into Lyrl, I realize that it is nothing like the Shallows. Sure, there's still the sand on the floor and the sky is the same blue, but Flygon here live in constructed buildings that are more often than not grey with a rigid shape. I'll probably miss sleeping in a cave. It is also a lot more populated; every corner we can see at least another Flygon or two. There were many Flygon at the Shallows but they were much more spread out.
I don't mind these differences too much, though. I just don't like everyone looking at us. But I guess it can't be helped. I'm sure I would have looked over as well if there were someone of another species in the area.
We eventually arrive at a large clearing with a big piece of… cloth on top of it. There's a bunch of Flygon here, too, but I recognize some of them, if only vaguely. Mum leads us to an empty area, puts down her box, and says to Vie, "Your brothers are here somewhere; I'll try and find them." Then she walks off and looks over the place, after whispering something to Phendrene. I don't expect her to find them quickly. This place is really quite big, maybe a hundred times as long as me? A thousand? Probably longer.
My musing about the size of this place is cut short but a tap on the side by Vie. She signals me away from Phendrene who is just lying there and staring at the ceiling. I follow the other Trapinch, and before I get to question her, she starts speaking.
"What are we going to do with Phendrene?" she asks.
"What do you mean? She can just stay with us."
"But… everyone we knew in our entire lives were from the Flygon family. And suddenly, there's a Charmander…"
"Gotta start with someone, right?" I know that I wouldn't be happy if I was stuck meeting only Flygon my entire life. "She might get some unwanted attention, but still."
"I'm just not used to it," she admits.
"Then get used to it."
"Vie?" Mum squeezes through the crowd. "I've found your brothers," she says, indicating Vie to come with her.
"Thanks. I'll see you in a bit, Nova," she says and follows Mum away, leaving me alone.
Heading back to the place where Mum placed her box, Phendrene's still lying there, completely unaware of others that are looking at her.
"…Phendrene?" She tilts her head to the side to look at me, whines something that could be interpreted as a "no", and continues to stare at the ceiling.
"Wow, you know her?" I turn around, and I find a somewhat familiar Trapinch before me.
"Navy? You're here already?"
I know her somewhat from the Shallows, and she's about the same age as me. She's pretty nice, but we didn't talk to each other that much. Although we did kind of became friends when we told each other our name. They're quite similar.
"Yeah, Mum flew me over. But seriously! How did you find that Charmander?"
"My mum found her on the way here, and decided to bring her. Mum does the hunting, so she can bring whoever she wants."
"Hmm, I've never seen anything out of our species before!" she says brightly, "Other than the Salamence… but that doesn't really count. Do you think she might mind talking to me?"
"Actually, she doesn't talk to anyone. Not even me. Sorry." I feel strange apologizing for Phendrene, almost as if I am taking responsibility for her.
"Aw, that's too bad. Anyway, you're so lucky you got to walk here! My mum carried me the whole way, and I didn't get the chance to see her hunt! But enough about me. I heard Vie lost more than half of her family… is it true?"
"Yeah," I respond. "They were… unlucky." I get a little uncomfortable talking behind Vie's back, so I talk of something else. "How's Lyrl been?" I ask, remembering that she's been here for at least a day already.
"It's not bad, actually. I thought the other Trapinch might be mean, but they're quite friendly. My younger sister said she got this really fun toy from one of her new friends. I haven't really made any friends here yet, but I think I'll find someone soon enough. And this place is huge! It has got to be at least five times bigger than the Shallows. They say there are twenty different teaching places. We only had one! They also have a lot more manufactured goods, but that's expected. And they also live in those things they call houses."
Her excitement makes me smile, but I'm worried about something else from what I've seen today. "I hope they're not too harsh on Phendrene. She doesn't seem like she would fit in."
"Um… who's Phendrene again?" she asks, confused.
"Oh, that's the Charmander's name."
"Oh, Okay. Her name's kind of… different. But anyway, I do hope she fits in. Otherwise it'd be terrible!"
The tone Navy uses tells me she's not trying to be spiteful, but it actually worries me. Phendrene really won't fit in… and not because of her name. And it really might be terrible.
"At least my parents didn't get injured. But it still sucks that we can't see the lake again. I don't get why the Salamence had to attack us…" She looks down, somewhat upset.
"None of us do," I tell her honestly. "Maybe the Salamence think differently."
"But the Salamence King shouldn't be mean, right? I heard from the other Trapinch here that he has a lot of mates."
How does that show that he isn't mean? "Isn't being mates is all about companionship or something along those lines? I don't think having a lot of mates is a good thing."
Before she can speak, I notice her move her attention to behind me. "Oh, hi, Vie! I'm so sorry about your parents and brothers…"
"Forget about it," Vie responds as she walks into view. "What are you guys doing?"
"Just talking about the Salamence." I see anger flare up in Vie's eyes, but in a moment it's gone. "How are your brothers?"
"They're… okay. They've signed up to be hunters over here, since the Flygon here don't really hunt." Of course. They need to start somewhere.
"You sure you're okay, Vie? I mean…" Navy starts again.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks. How did you get here?" she returns nonchalantly.
"Mum flew me here," Navy repeats, "so I've been here for a few days. It's not too bad. Nova'll tell you. Anyway, I think I'll leave you two now. I gotta find my sister, anyway. Bye!" she finishes cheerfully, and walks off.
"Bye!" Vie replies, but I just look at the ground. Mates… who cares? Why do we even have to have mates? It complicates things so much.
"So, what did Navy say about this place?" she asks, just as I notice some Trapinch to the side getting a bit too close to Phendrene. Immediately, I walk over without responding to Vie.
"She looks so weird!" the larger one says.
The smaller one wonders as he reaches out his foreleg to the unaware Phendrene who now has her arms plugged into her ears. "What do you think her tail feels like?"
"Don't touch her! What are you doing?" I shout at the two Trapinch whom I don't recognize. It gets their attention, but Phendrene still staring at the ceiling, unaware of what's around her.
"We're just talking about her. Is that a problem?" The larger one says, his voice hostile.
"Yes. I mean, no. I mean, can you just stop it? Please? She's really tired." Why can't I form a clear sentence? I don't want them to do anything to Phendrene but I don't want to get into an argument. The Trapinch, on the other hand, doesn't look particularly wanting to back down.
"Why can't we? We're just interested."
"No. You stay away. I don't give a crap about if you're interested." Vie marches up, and her voice feels far, far more threatening than the big guy.
"You just said a bad word!" The small guy exclaims.
"So? I don't give a damn about that, either. Leave now. Or else." She growls, and crawls forward, each step producing a distinct noise. I'm behind her, so I can't see her face, but the two Trapinch's expressions give me an idea of what it's like.
"She's crazy," the big guy mutters and crawls away with the small guy.
Did Vie just scare away a male Trapinch that was larger than her? "That was… impressive, actually."
"I lived in a family of males. Of course I'm not going to be a sissy."
She doesn't talk much during the remainder of the evening, even when Mum brings back a Sandshrew. She goes to sleep early again, leaving Phendrene and I alone, as Mum went to go find Vie's eldest brother (Bane, his name was).
Phendrene isn't very proactive, and just stays close to me. I let her, because it distracts me of thinking about how gloomy Vie was. Her dark blue eyes and her tail are really unique. How does it stay alight, anyway? It doesn't feel all that hot, either. Feeling tired from the non-stop walking, I close my eyes and lie down. Her skin feels much warmer than a fire's radiation, soothing me to rest in this unfamiliar place.