Since I haven't been able to include too many scenes with our beloved animals in the main-series, I've decided to indulge in a side project, exclusively focusing on how the two experience the journey.

This was very much inspired by the yaks my husband and I own for about two years now and I think the experience reflects in the writing. It feels quite different to interact with pony-sized, horned animals opposed to dog/cat-sized ones.

Through Different Eyes
Dedicated to ML8991

Chapter 1 The First To Know

It was in the middle of the night, and it was raining. No one should have been out, yet that was when Barefoot brought him into their midst.

Appa sleepily looked at two shapes stumbling through the rain and mud. Barefoot was supporting a man. False fur hung from his legs in tatters, lots also sticking to his skin. It was the only thing he was wearing, almost like he was going swimming, Appa disapproved very much, it was too cold, and the body looked way too fragile. Appa grumbled, inviting him to come closer, to warm up.

The two-legs collapsed as soon as Barefoot released her hold on him, right in front of Appa, it was then that Appa got close enough to get hit with the pungent smell this body was emitting. This guy was in desperate need of a good cleaning, so Appa started licking. There were the smells of infection, rotten fruit, and similar ungood things. He also smelled faintly like fire-spreader, like the one his herd disliked. Well, he was obviously sick now.

Appa could feel the body twitching below his tongue, then it frantically tried to roll away from the licking. Appa disappointedly lifted his head, he'd only been trying to help.

Barefoot barked out, voice turning gentle a moment later, as she held onto smelly shoulders. The body scrambled up and took the false fur that Barefoot held out. Appa was proud of her.

The man's movements were slow and unsteady, shaking terribly, but eventually he'd gotten the top half of the false fur on, and after shedding the old coat around his legs, he replaced it with a new one. It still rained, though not quite as badly as a few minutes ago. Nonetheless, fresh coats got wet too. Barefoot said something again, pointing at Appa.

Fire-Spreader tiredly made his way to Appa, and Appa obligingly held two legs apart so slipping in between was possible. Finally, Fire-Spreader took him up on the offer. Appa released a pleased groan, moving his legs to fit the two-legs a bit more snuggly. Fire-Spreader was quickly asleep, now that he was somewhere warm, Appa laid his head down again, ruminating some more, he'd stand guard.

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Momo eyed newly-here in their midst curiously. He looked dead-ish, kinda smelled like it too, but there was a slight rise and fall to the new one's frame. Momo carefully creeped closer, getting another whiff of unpleasant odors.

This was the third attempt to get closer to the lump of smelly unknown. The first two, Blue Girl had shooed him away, but now she was speaking to Bald Boy and Pony-Tail was peering out onto the green below, Momo took the chance.

There was a hand half-hidden under the fake-fur and when one finger twitched, Momo quickly pulled back his own, but Smelly didn't move again. Momo really wanted to get his hands into that dark mess of hair, one may find some snacks somewhere. Now Momo had reached the new one's head, false fur was covering the real fur, but now that he was near the face, something else caught his attention. Below the dirt and grime the skin was flaking, on one side more so than the other, Momo couldn't resist poking at the discoloured patches and different textures. Filthy was still breathing, despite smelling like death and whatever else. Momo grabbed onto the false fur on Smelly's shoulder and pulled himself up. It was still damp and Momo could feel shivering below. Momo could also smell blood, both fresh and in the form of crusts. There was a slight groan, but Momo wasn't deterred, he was close to his target, the fur wasn't very long, this would be easy.

Carefully he grabbed the hood, pulling it down. And so, Momo was on the hunt. Where there were lice and fleas, Momo was quick to grab them, every so often pulling at the hair. There was an occasional moan from Smelly, but he didn't really stir. It was a treat.

Blue Girl turned around and saw him. "もも, 鳴き声!" came out of her mouth, and she, once more was moving to shoo him away. But then, Pony-Tail held ing her back, noising "嘘だよ". She sat down again in response

Momo, after seeing that nothing was happening, went back to looking for snacks.

When he felt like the head was groomed enough, he decided to see if he could find anything in the fake fur. Blue Girl was watching him, a frown on her face. Momo nestled in the folds. Fake fur was always really weird, a plane, you couldn't just part some strands and get down to the skin where all the fun things hid and those who used it regularly shed it all at once. You had to find the holes to do anything at all.

There wasn't much in the false fur. Momo could smell blood and dirt below, but he couldn't get to it. There weren't really any crumbs. Momo however found that the body was warm, despite the shivering. Warmer than two-legs normally were, and he was down to a little nap now, after all that searching for food. Momo nestled to find the perfect spot, finding it in the cloth-fold the head had been wrapped in and then curled up in it. Momo was a restless creature however, so he nestled, rearranged his limbs, and nestled some more. Luckily, the body below him was just too out of it to be bothered.

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Appa watched as every two-leg stepped down, the new addition only with help. He'd heard the unhappy chittering of Momo. It sounded like the winged lemur had been disrupted in whatever he'd been doing. If Appa was to guess, Fire-Spreader probably hadn't been as happy with arrangements as Momo when he woke.

Fire-Spreader now staggered a few steps, looking like he was about to fall over. He did not spread any fire, thankfully. Appa groaned, letting him know that he was always welcome to lean against him. Appa would even walk with him, if he needed some leg-fur to grab on for support.

But the sickly two-legs didn't pay attention, and after a few steps he just sat down on the ground. Appa went over to lick him, but the boy flinched at his shadow, so maybe he shouldn't. Momo was already on the way, too. Maybe he had a better chance.

Fire-Spreader voiced something, grabbing Momo, who had flown on his shoulder, and holding him in his arms, close to his chest. Momo chirped happily, but after a few minutes, he was bored, having slept half the ride, and wound out of Fire-Spreader's grasp. The guy looked after him with a lost expression.

Appa's own two-legged companion came over to Fire-Spreader pretty soon, holding out one of those weird pouches that Appa knew held water. Fire-Spreader just drank at first. When he wanted to give back the pouch, Aang shook his head and the other boy let his arm sink again, keeping the pouch in his lap and taking a swig every so often.

Appa took another step closer, groaning again. The boy however still didn't look as the others sat to him to form a circle, passing around some of their food. His companion was making happy strings of noises, Lanky groaned something back. Momo tried to steal, testing out their newest addition as a potential food source.

Fire-Spreader shared his food, Appa approved, Water-Girl apparently did not.

A little while later, they were still all sitting there, Fire-Spreader's scratchy voice near-whispered something before he got up on wobbly legs, stepping away. Appa would have followed, but the woods weren't really made for sky bison and soon he had disappeared, Momo sprang after him.

When they returned, Momo chirped and klicked that he'd gotten some more crumbs and that the smelly one had just searched for a quiet place to piss. Appa didn't understand why one had to go away to do that, but two-legs were strange like that.

The afternoon fly wasn't very spectacular. Fire-Spreader seemed a bit more alert when getting back to solid ground this time though. Water-Girl sent him and Barefoot away, when they came back, the smelly two-legs wasn't as smelly anymore. Appa could still detect the sickness, though. Appa would have licked him, but he'd learned that two-legs who were freshly wet and non-smelly did not appreciate this, he'd give this affection another time.

Later that evening there was a commotion. Water-Girl had been trying her glowy hands on Fire-Spreader once again, but then suddenly she was moving away, shouting. There was a loud exchange of noises, some croaks from their new member.

Soon after, Fire-Spreader came to Appa... and Appa, of course, made room.

The body nestled between his legs shook. Unlike at times before, Fire-Spreader didn't go to sleep for a long while, instead he dove his hands into the thick fur and gave Appa a bit of an elbow-rub and Appa decided that he liked this one regardless.

Let us know what you think - ystv

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