Prompt# 128 - Paltry- Summer Heat - Tekia - original

[tekia.livejournal.com]

Title: Summer Heat
Fandom: Original
Prompt: paltry
Warnings: None.
Rating: G
Summary: Eafa and Heri spend the day gathering food for winter while the humans take a break in their own hunt.


“You’re so small,” Sigheri remarked as he effortlessly lifted Eafa into the air. Eafa growled at him, glaring death until the dragon smiled and gently set him on his feet once again. Eafa continued to glare until Heri took several steps back and had his attention elsewhere. Shaking his head, Eafa returned to plucking out bits of grain from the wheat field to grind later into flour. Mentally, he recited all of the other items they were going to need before returning home.
Water from the river. Fruit from the trees as a treat. Maybe a hare or something for meat. He scratched his head and frowned. They had survived their first winter only because of the immortally pool and Heri’s ability to fly great distances. Still, most of their meals consisted of fish. He was well and truly sick of that stable diet. He crumbled grains between his fingers and glared once again.
He was sick of this paltry diet as well, bread and bread. He sighed, defeated and gathered more to store away for winter. At least during winter they’d have something to break the monotony of fish.
He was really looking forward to the fruit that must be lush and heavy by now. He could feel his mouth watering at the mere thought. Oranges, apples, and even bananas would be ripe just about now. He turned his eyes to the smudge along the horizon and thought about his people. They would be scampering about the trees and banks, taunting snakes and playing in the cool water. They would be building nests and storing fruit away for winter. Just as he had done every year before coming out here to die in the empty savanna.
Except it wasn’t quite empty.
His eyes moved to the dragon now chasing a flying bug, grinning like a child. He caught the bug in two hands and smiled happily at Eafa before bounding over to him.
“Look.”
“I’m not eating that.”
Heri gave him an astonished look. “You’re not supposed to eat it. Look.” He opened his hands and the bug took to the air, buzzing up and away. They watched it go for a moment before Eafa’s brow lowered and he returned to glaring at Heri.
“We’re supposed to be gathering food. You know, so you won’t have to fly out ever third day to find us something to eat during the winter?”
Slowly, Heri smiled and held out his hands in a show of nonchalance. “I don’t mind.”
Eafa snorted. “One of these days, we’re going to suffer through a blizzard in the mountains and we’ll starve to death.” He turned his back on Heri and plucked out more wheat with forceful jerks.
His ear twitched with irritation when he felt Heri touch it with one finger.
Finally, Eafa decided that they had enough and turned back to their cave. After dropping off their bounty, Heri pulled Eafa by his arm back outside and into the air. Heri transformed into his dragon form and Eafa followed him, albeit, lower. They drifted through the air toward the river, but not near the fihu village. Heri landed in the river itself, splashing and making a ruckus. Eafa watched him a moment, silently enjoying the fresh air and summer breeze. How he missed summer when winter took its hold.
Finally, he turned to the fruit trees, eyes going wide with lust for the abundance of fruit. He quickly scaled a tree and greedily grasped handfuls, nibbling on everything he could reach. Ah, the flavor!
Licking his lips, he stuffed his bags full, fighting to remember how to preserve them for the winter. Heri was no help, catching fish and gobbling them up in one chomp of his massive jaws. The dragon was so childish at times, but Eafa had to wonder how much of it was just a ploy. He’d never heard of dragons being so careless. Settling onto the branch, leaning back against the trunk, he sipped on an orange while he watched the dragon play.
~*~*~
Capua wiped sweat from his brow and frowned at the waves of heat rising from the field before them. There was nothing but lengths and lengths of tall stocks of grass and wheat before him, nothing to change the horizon for miles and miles. He sighed and looked back at their camp, nearly obscured by the grass.
Rodo had unsaddled his dragon and was holding out a bucket of water for her to drink from, his back to Capua. He had dropped their supplies on the ground and the young lordling descended upon them for his own bottle of water. They day was quickly becoming much too hot.
Rodo finished watering his dragon and sought out his own water before smiling at his companion. “Well, this one’s going to be a challenge.”
Capua nodded. “I noticed. It wasn’t this hot last year.”
“Last year we came at the beginning of fall.” He shrugged. “It’s only to be expected with it being early summer now. It’s only going to get worse.”
Capua took another draft of water and let his eyes roam over the tips of the grass. He hated how uniform it all was. Never changing. “We should build here.”
Rodo’s head snapped up. “Build? Build what?”
“I don’t know. Something. Maybe a farm.” He dwelled on that a moment. “Yeah, a farm. Turn this land into something prosperous.”
“More so than dragon hunting?”
Capua glared. “More so. We’ve only seen the one dragon. I thought dragons had communities?”
Rodo nodded. “They do. And in communities, they panic, making it much more dangerous, but so much easier to capture them. I’ve never seen a dragon so cunning as this one.”
Capua set his water flask down and frowned at Rodo. “So, we’re here to capture one paltry dragon while there are dozens more, easily captured dragons elsewhere?”
Rodo smiled. “Yes.”
Capua rolled his eyes. “All right.” He drank again and looked up at the endless blue sky. It was nice to just sit here and relax, even it the view was limited. He smiled then shot to his feet. “Did you hear that?”
Rodo had, his whole body as still as stone. His eyes were turned toward the sound and he smiled. “It’s our fihu,” he whispered, one hand raised to motion Capua into stillness.
Carefully, ever so slowly, Rodo gained his feet and withdrew his crossbow and charge.
Moments later the fihu came into view, on all four with its nose close to the ground. One glance up at the two humans, and it froze and Rodo frowned.
He lowered the bow only slightly. “It’s not the same one.”
The chimera flinched and Rodo returned to holding the arrow centered on it.
“How can you tell?” Capua asked. He frowned. “They all look the same to me.”
“It doesn’t have wings.”
Capua took a closer look and realized that Rodo was correct. It had long black hair, ears curled at the tips, and the long lizard like tail, but no pure white wings on its back. He couldn’t remember for sure, but he thought that this one was bigger as well.
“Why doesn’t it have wings?”
“Its younger than our dragon’s fihu.”
“But it’s bigger.”
Rodo glared. “You’re bigger than my but younger than me.”
“That’s true.”
“Get the net and rope.”
Capua carefully pulled out the rope and net and gave it to Rodo, taking from him the crossbow while the fihu shivered in fear, too afraid to move. As Rodo carefully opened the net and walked closer, the fihu’s eyes widened comically in fear. Then the air was ripped by a scream of rage.
Rodo didn’t have time to react before something slammed into his head, bouncing off and tumbling to the ground.
“Was that an orange!?” Capua said in disbelief.
Then the roar returned and another fihu appeared, fully matured with wings spread wide as he slammed full force into Rodo, throwing him to the ground. The younger fihu screeched in surprise and took flight, running back into the tall grass and into oblivion.
“It’s him!” Rodo shouted, trying to catch hold of their fihu that was hissing and chattering rage at him. With one quick slap of a clawed hand, the fihu was gone, leaving them dumbfounded.
Rodo glared at Capua. “You didn’t shoot?”
“I didn’t want to hit you.”
Dusting himself off, Rodo stood and sighed. “Just as well, we don’t want it dead either.”
Looking at the direction they had disappeared from, Capua wondered, “Were they mates?”
“Can’t be, they were both male.” Then he smiled. “But they did look alike.” His smile turned smug. “I think we have a family of fihu nearby.”