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Sunny watched the small brownish dragon exchange a few words with her mother, Thorn. She towered over him, almost three times his size, but she remarked with a pang of melancholy that they were quite similar in appearance. Compared to her, he would most likely pass off as her child. She lifted her paw to look at it. The color, now that she had seen Sandwings, was really quite different; she wondered for a moment why no one had ever questioned it.
But she was stopped by a chattering sound. Qibli was looking at her, seemingly waiting for something. Sunny awkwardly waited, looking to thorn, then back to the dragonet.
“I… Don’t understand.” She said.
The dragonet furrowed his brows.
“You don’t speak Thsekii?”
He seemed perplexed, almost like he didn’t believe her.
“The guardians never taught me. I suppose they found no use for it.” She replied. Her mind wandered to Tsunami, who had learnt that Seawings didn’t talk, they glowed. It must have been what she felt like, underwater. Thorn had told her once that Thsekii was their language, but it felt almost as foreign as anything else she had encountered outside the cave. Nothing was really as she had expected.
“Well, come. I speak Pyrrhian. There’s no problem.” Qibli continued. It felt a bit out of place, to have this dragonet, who was 4, maybe 5 years old? Who knew more than she did.
He trotted away, and Sunny followed him, smiling when he turned to check that, this time, she was behind him. He was quite cute, in a dragonet way, head and tail held high like a little soldier. Sunny understood why Thorn trusted him, even at his age, he had a sort of ferocious loyalty to her, and showed it in every way he could. It’s probably because she asked him that he bothers with me, too.
“Thorn asked me to show you where you’ll sleep, and the center part of the city” He explained, like to mirror her thoughts. He picked up the pace, and stopped near a veil of glass beads, marking one of the royal rooms.
“Here” He said, pointing with his tail, before curling it back to it’s usual position.
Sunny brought one of the cords of pearls to her eyes, admiring how the light played through it. Qibli had already entered. He, too, was checking out the place, but he seemed more interested in the view over the city.
Brusquely, he turned his head toward her, and flicked his tongue, with a curious expression on his face, seeming to hesitate. He opened his maws, then closed it, so Sunny decided to end his internal struggle.
“What is it?” She gently said. She expected something about her tail, or her scales, a lot of Sandwings seemed to either find her very pretty, or very disturbing due to her lack of stingers. She supposed it would explain his hesitation.
“What was it like to grow up with other tribes?” He exclaimed, maybe a bit louder than he had anticipated, ears pinning back as he watched her startled expression. She hadn’t expected that, she hadn’t thought about it much.
“It seemed normal, when we were dragonets, and, I mean, it still is. It’s mostly other dragons who make it weird.” She explained.
Qibli seemed to drink her words, fascinated.
“Is it true that your brother is fire resistant? Oh, oh, can nightwings teleport?”
Sunny chuckled.
“I suppose you are talking about clay, yes, he seems to be fire resistant. It still hurts him, though. If Starflight can teleport however, he has never shown us!”
Qibli nodded as if she was a wise teacher.
“I wish I could meet other tribes, too. Now that the war is over, I mean. I would never betray Queen Thorn, if we were at war” He said solemnly. “Tsatsi said that drakes explored the world when she was young. I hope I’ll be able to when I’ll be a drake.”
“Tsatsi?” She prompted.
“An old lady at the Scorpion’s den. Every dragonets called her like that.”
One of sunny’s ears pinned back in slight confusion.
“Does it mean anything?”
Qibli seemed to be slightly taken aback, thinking for a second.
“... I suppose it just means old lady? I never thought about it. it’s like a nickname, i’ve never asked myself where it came from.”
She sighed, and laid down on the fabric that draped the ground.
“It feels so weird to be here. I had always expected that once I'd go home, everything would just be… normal. But everytime someone talks, I'm reminded that I don't understand them, everytime someone references something like it is the most natural thing in the world to know, I just feel…”
“... estranged ?” Qibli said, with an understanding tilt of his head. “...I think I understand you. Before Thorn, I don’t think I really belonged anywhere.” He said, looking away at the window like lost in thoughts.
Sunny smiled sadly. She hadn’t wondered much about his own life before he had met her mother. For him to be given away, and from his comment, she guessed he was better where he was now. It explained the deep attachment he had for Thorn.
“I suppose we are both a bit lost then.” She finally said.
“Yeah, but you know a nightwing!” He immediately exclaimed in response.
Sunny laughed.
---------
They had left the palace at nightfall, Qibli insisting to Thorn that he had wanted specifically that time to show Sunny around. The draka hadn’t been sure why, but as they had stepped out, she understood the appeal.
Although the surroundings of the palace were beautiful during the day, all in white stones and colorful glass reflecting the sun, it was stunning at night. A lot more dragons had left their den than in the warm hours, strolling in the streets, talking in idioms Sunny struggled to even follow the pacing of. She followed a greenish dragoness with her gaze for a moment, surprised by her color. Had she tinted her scales? Or was she born that hue?
She almost lost the small dragonnet in the crowd a few times, but he peeked out at her like a meerkat every so often, giving her a chance of spotting him again had she been distracted. She wasn’t sure where he was taking her, but she adored the view nonetheless.
Suddenly, he seemed to stop. She walked up to stand by his side (partly to verify she was following the right dragonet) and stopped too. In front of her was a rather massive building. It’s door wasn’t locked, but a draping of glass beads like in the palace. It was beautifully decorated with carvings, little figures of white dragons fighting snakes and painted enemies. She could see some skywings, and what seemed to be an enormous seawing. She wondered how old theses were when she spotted the carving of a human city being burnt down.
“It’s pretty isn’t it?” Qibli said, joining her in analyzing the bas-reliefs. “It’s a Moon-source, the biggest in the capital. It’s called Hoosseh Todut, in Thuok. Todut was the old name of the capital, from even before the scorching. The old city is still called that.”
He entered the religious site, gesturing at Sunny to follow him.
She felt a bit uneasy at first, afraid to be committing some mistake that would make her seem rude.
But the place was strangely home like. She had expected something clean and white like the palace, but it was a lot more colorful and cluttered. There were nestings of fabrics scattered on the floor, where dragons were laying, chatting to each other. Paintings and carvings of dragon faces were placed carefully on the sides, surrounded by colorful objects and foods in decorated plates. Sunny assumed this was a way to give respect to relatives that had passed away. Something about it comforted her, especially when compared to what she heard of Sandwings from other tribes. They were far from heartless manipulators.
Qibli himself trotted toward a small shrine. Looking at the offerings, it seemed likely he was the only one coming to it. On it were a few dried flowers of the desert, as well as some honey candies. She watched as the dragonet reached in a pouch under his wings and deposited a caramelized scorpion, murmuring a few words that she did not understand. Sunny felt a pang in her heart when she studied the scribbled drawing. The featured Sandwing seemed young, he could only have been a drake. She reached in her own pouch, taking out some of the golden scale shaped coins used in the city. She presented it to qibli, who nodded, and placed them down carefully.
Qibli then trotted away to one of the sitting spaces, waiting for her to do the same.
“I like coming here when I don’t know where to go. It feels like I'm not alone here. I like to think it’s because he watches over me.”
She sat down, watching the other groups of dragons.
“I can understand that.” She finally said.
“The Thsek-Thsek think no one ever really dies, they just become what they love most after their body passes. Since he adored birds, I like to think he soars above us now.”
Sunny didn’t ask who the dragon was, it seemed irrelevant and rude at the moment. However, she did have another question burning her beak.
“Qibli, do you think you could teach me Thsekii?” She asked softly. “And…” She gestured with her tail to the whole room. “What I missed, I guess.”
The dragonet tilted his head.
“Me? Why not a teacher? I’m sure Thorn could provide you with one.”
She hesitated. It was true, but something about it felt wrong.
“I guess it’s because Thorn trusts you, so I do too. But you are right, I don’t want to impose things on you.”
“No! No, I’d do it!” He said quickly with a clack of his beak. “I can do it right now!” He continued. His sail flared up in excitement.
Sunny giggled.
“Are you sure?” She asked with a smile.
“Yes!” He stopped for a moment, looking at his claws with a frown on his face. “How about… how to tell your name.”
He looked up, and quickly let out a series of clicks and noises. Sunny’s head moved back a little, overwhelmed by the speed. Realizing the problem, the dragonet started again, much slower.
“Se’hh Qibli tskitski’thk- I am Qibli. Or more… Mine is the name Qibli owned?... Se’hh means mine, Qibli is, well, my name, and tskitski means name. This-” He clicked his beak quickly, making a strong and short noise. “-means that it’s owned. It belongs to someone. So mine is the owned name Qibli, more.”
Sunny tried to follow, repeating after him.
“Se…”
“Se’hh. With a noise like that, at the back of the throat.” He showed.
“Se’hh Qibli tskitski” She said, and tried to replicate the clack. Qibli had done it much sooner, at the end of the word, but she had been focused on saying it.
“Not bad! But your name is not Qibli. That’s mine.” He smirked.
“Se’hh Sunny tskitski’thk …?” She tried.
“Yeah! Well. I can understand it. It’s a bit weird sounding, but I think it’s because you only talked pyrrhian, I guess it’s an accent.” He rambled, a claw to his chin. “Is Sunny pyrrhian? My name is the same in pyrrhian and Tshekii, but it’s not the case for Thorn, and it wasn’t for my mother either. It was for Sirocco, though. Something sunny is called Kiki’thk, sun owned, in Thsekii.”
“Kiki’thk?” She wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Something about this talk of names reminded her of something, however. She dug in her memory and the voice of Dune came back to her, from when she was a dragonet.
“I… I think Dune called me something else when I was a dragonet, but Kestrel and Web didn’t like it.” She felt a bit confused. She wasn’t quite sure, but it felt like it.
“Dune knew Thorn.” Qibli remarked. “And Thorn had a name for you.”
Sunny looked at him, both curious and hopeful.
“It was… Iethru, I think. Beetle.”
“Iethru… Se’hh Iethru tskitski’thk.”
Qibli smiled at her, and with a happy flap of his wings, responded.
“Koo’hh Iethru tskitski’thk!”