Chapter Text
“I don’t like it here.”
A small SandWing dragonet drew her skeptical gaze over the ramshackle town.
Small merchant shops and houses lay in disarray, appearing as though someone threw the whole of the town into a mixing bowl, stirred it violently, then dumped the concoction in the middle of a desert.
That was the Scorpion Den for you.
Poor begging dragons, or what appeared to be, could be seen down every street, and experienced dragons knew you could find assassins and dangerous material sellers in even what appeared to be the safest corners of town.
Debris and litter lay ignored in the streets, and small skinny dragonets could be seen darting through the alleys, scrapping for food and fighting for intangible rank.
“I know you don’t Trill, but this is where that merchant said was the only place to get tajín spice.”
Another SandWing dragonet, darker in color and taller of stature cocked his head at the latter. His keen orange gaze cast a fond look over his distressed sister.
“Besides, I’m here to protect you.” He offered her heartening grin.
Trill managed a small smile back, which slowly faded as she turned to look back out at the town.
“I know. I just.. have a bad feeling.”
The darker SandWing nudged her with his shoulder. “And I know your intuition is never wrong. Buuuut..” He rolled his eyes at her, waving his barbed tail back and forth eagerly and allowing it to bush against hers, careful not to prick her with the venomous tip. “I really like tajín. And I know you do too.” He said playfully, enticing her.
Trill rolled her eyes, allowing a whisp of smoke to escape her nose as she huffed. She continued to act unconvinced, but her brother knew better.
“C’mon,” he said with a grin, enticing her with her favorite food. “Imagine it on some cooked fish with a little bit of rock salt? Mmmm!”
He jumped away from her swinging tail with a laugh.
“Cayenne, quit enticing me!” Trill snapped. But a grin had broken through her sullen expression.
She shook her head as the warm-scaled SandWing danced out of striking range.
“Alright, fine. But don’t blame me when we both get murdered in a dark alley.”
“We’re not gonna.” Cayenne said, triumphantly prancing into town. “It’ll just be quick. In and out. Now one will even know we were here.”
Trill trailed after her brother, eager not to be left behind. “I feel like papa said something important about this place.”
Cayenne paused, for the first time appearing unsure at their venture. He looked back at the light-scaled SandWing. “Did he?”
“I don’t know.” The latter responded, peering warily through a broken hole in the house next to them. “If he did, I can’t remember what it was.”
They both sat in quiet thought for a moment, whilst the sounds of city life drifted through the silence.
“Well if we can’t remember what he said, it must not’ve been important.” Cayenne said with a note of uncertainty. He looked back at his sister, who hesitated to follow him out of the alley and onto the main road.
“It’ll be quick.” He repeated. “Promise. Nothing bad will happen.” He mentioned with his head for her to follow him, feather earrings waving lightly with the movement.