Snowhorn Hunters
#7 of Breakhorn (Series)
Pyxis and Nerlin begin their adventure, leaving the safety and comfort of the airship to start the journey home. Together they must make it through the wilderness--flying, hunting, and surviving with no one else to rely on but each other.
This story is part of a series. If you haven't read the other chapters, here's a quick summary:
Nerlin and Pyxis are two young dragons who are friends and schoolmates. And now they are expedition partners too, on the Fledgling Wilderness Survival Expedition--a special event where fledglings on the verge of adulthood ride out from the City of Wings on an airship, to be dropped off in the wilderness to make their way back home by their own wings. But flying home safely is easy compared to sorting through the awkwardness and uncertainty of their freshly developing relationship.
When Nerlin woke up the next morning, the sky was barely bright enough that he could tell sunrise would be coming soon. He carefully climbed down the ladder from the upper bunk and headed towards his locker. Caden and Jarzyl were still asleep in their bunks at the other side of the cabin, but Pyxis's bunk was empty, her blanket messily bunched up.
Nerlin grabbed his toiletries pouch (containing toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, etc.) in his jaws and left the cabin. He trotted down the corridor towards the rear of _Majestic_where the airship's washrooms were located. Other than the quiet hum of the thrusters, the airship was surprisingly quiet despite the fact that the sun would soon be rising. Nerlin glanced to the closed cabin doors on the left and right side of the corridor and wondered how everyone else was still sleeping. They were all going to leave the airship and begin their expedition in just a few hours! How could they still be sleeping? Weren't they excited?
Entering the common washroom, Nerlin went to the rows of sinks and washed his forepaws before beginning to brush his teeth clean. Two other fledglings were also standing at the sinks and washing up, but they finished before Nerlin did and left the washroom.
After rinsing his mouth, Nerlin went over to washroom's showers (which were individual stalls arranged in a compact row). It would be best to wash and clean his scales one last time before the expedition started. Once they were roaming out in the wilderness, there wouldn't be many chances for such comforts until they returned to the city, or at least to the more developed settlements of the Outer Colonies.
But before Nerlin could enter a shower stall, the door from one of the other stalls swung open and a familiar blue-scaled fledgling stuck her head out. "Oh, hi Nerlin!" said Pyxis, raising her neck frill and nodding at him. Both in the city or out in an airship, drakken didn't segregate washrooms, so it wasn't a surprise to see her here.
"Good morning," replied Nerlin. He grinned at his expedition partner, and she grinned back at him.
All over her body Pyxis's blue scales were covered in soap suds, and she waved him over before he could say anything further. "Say, since you're here, could you help me rub some soap on my back? It's a little hard to reach."
Something seemed off about this request, but Nerlin didn't put too much thought into it. "Yeah, sure," he agreed. He had helped Pyxis to put camouflage paint on her back before, so soap wasn't that different. Nudity alone was not a concept which concerned most dragons, because they needed their scales exposed to sense airflow in flight. Flight harnesses never covered too much of the body for specifically this reason, though Pyxis wasn't even wearing her harness right now. Yet it wasn't as if she was she was raising her tail for him or spreading her legs. Surely this request was completely reasonable.
Designed to fit in the compact internal space of a drakken airship, the shower stalls only had enough space for a dragon to partially unfurl one of their wings at a time. Yet even as Nerlin walked into the stall, Pyxis squeezed past him and pulled the door shut with the tip of her tail. Nerlin found himself up close with his expedition partner, so close that her tail kept brushing against his paws as she moved around. "Wow, we are awfully close..." the young drake thought to himself.
"Here, just rub it on." Pyxis passed over a tube of soap gel and turned around so that her back was facing Nerlin, then she sat back on her haunches. Taking a position behind her, Nerlin began to help rub the liquid onto Pyxis's back, spreading the soap to all the places that weren't so easy for her to reach on her own.
"Lower... Need more soap down there," Pyxis murmured. Her scales felt smooth but warm under his touch. As Nerlin traced the outline of Pyxis's furled wings and then her lower back, he had to deliberately focus on getting her body cleaned, but it was quite a challenge.
Pyxis was so close to him. The warmth coming off her body felt like a magnet attracting his paws, and he couldn't stop touching her. That warm, wonderful feeling began to invade his body and take control. Try as he might, there was nothing he could do to resist the sensuality of the situation. As his paws went lower and reached Pyxis's hips, Nerlin couldn't take his eyes of her tail, or what was below it.
Blue scales, taking up so much of his vision--Pyxis was so very close to him. Suddenly she leaned backwards and her back brushed against Nerlin's chest. For some reason he instinctually wanted to move forwards and hug her, yet it felt like he was completely paralyzed. He couldn't move at all. The only thing he could do was hold his breath and wait to find out what happened next.
Then Pyxis took one step further and her haunches brushed against Nerlin's groin, with her tail rubbing against his. At that exact instant, he felt that warm, wonderful, delightfully tingly feeling exploded from the point of contact and blasted away all his conscious thought.
As Nerlin jerked awake, aftershocks of pleasure were still running through his underbelly. For a moment he couldn't move and all he could do was take deep breaths and savour the sensation, but then his mind kicked into gear and started wondering what was going on. What? What just...happened...?
Nerlin raised his head and found that he was still lying in the upper bunk back in the cabin, clutching a pillow tightly against his chest and feeling his groin pressed up against the mattress. The sky outside was completely dark, and the only illumination in the room was from the thin sliver of light coming through the crack under the cabin door.
"Wait, did I just dream all that?" he realized, and this revelation led to several confused thoughts which fought for attention in the forefront of his mind. "Did I just dream about waking up before I woke up? What a waste of mental power," which was followed by, "Now I need to brush my teeth again. Bother. Is it even time to wake up yet?"
Nerlin carefully reached over from the bed and grabbed his pocket watch off the top of his locker where he'd left it just before sleeping. But before he could check the time, this motion made him notice that his bed seemed to be slightly...wet.
Oh no, did I just...?_It was too dark to see clearly, so Nerlin reached a paw down towards his underbelly and felt around. His penis was in a half erect state, partially protruding out from his genital slit, and there was undoubtedly a wet spot of considerable size just under his hips. _Oh no, I did.
The young dragon quietly pushed himself up to a sitting position and leaned down to sniff at the mess. It was definitely not urine. His subconscious mind had apparently realized that he was spending quite a lot of time in the close presence of an attractive female (who seemed very fond of him), and so his body had decided to clear the pipes and make sure that all his seed was freshly produced just in case said female came into heat and needed an egg put inside her. Not that Nerlin had any plans to do any such thing within the next decade, but keeping his arousal pent-up had still led to an uncontrolled release. Vaguely he could recall hearing this sort of thing mentioned during sexual education classes a few years ago, but it had never happened to him before. And of all the possible times, it had to happen when he was on an airship far out of the city, sharing a cabin with three of his peers.
This was troublesome. Nerlin felt around with his paws to evaluate the size of the wet spot on his mattress. This is quite a mess. I need to get a towel...no, it's too late for that. The bedsheets need to be changed completely. Picking up his pocket watch again, Nerlin checked the time. Sunrise was already beginning, so it wasn't a bad time to wake up.
Nevertheless, how could he change the bedsheet without making it quite obvious to everyone else in the cabin that he had experienced a climax in his sleep? Perhaps he ought to just leave it and hope that his semen dried without leaving a stain. The bedsheets would all be thoroughly washed before the cabin was used again, after all. Nerlin mentally apologized to whomever's job it was to perform said washing, but he hadn't intentionally made a mess.
Next he used his paws to touch around his slit to feel if any of his semen had gotten onto his scales. Until he could head to the washroom and clean himself up, he wanted to know if he would be walking around with a large (and highly suspect) stain on his genital slit. But his scales all felt quite clean, and instead all his semen had been released out onto the bed. What an unfortunate mess.
Raising his head, Nerlin sniffed the air to see if there was any noticeable scent, then just to be sure he took a blanket and tossed it over the wet spot to try and smother any odour. The cabin was well ventilated by an air shaft in the roof, but it was currently occupied by three other young dragons who were also sharing the close space. This would be quite embarrassing if someone asked about the smell coming from his bed. He didn't want to have to explain to his friends that he lost control of his body in such a sexual manner.
Now that the mess had been resolved (or at least, ignored), Nerlin tried to recall his dream and what exactly he had been thinking about. Was I dreaming about sharing a shower with Pyxis? Wow that's...moderately kinky. I've only kissed her once. I suppose rubbing soap onto her back wouldn't feel so different from applying camouflage paint, and it was quite nice to feel her wing and back muscles then. Hmm, I wonder what it would feel like to hold her hips and actually mate with her...
Nerlin stopped himself before these salacious fantasies went any further, but even briefly entertaining the idea had made his erection perk up and stubbornly halt its gradual retreat back into his genital slit. To accelerate the process, Nerlin grabbed his phallus and pushed it all the way back into his slit before tensing up the muscles of his underbelly to keep his reproductive organ contained. Just a couple of years ago he could remember this being a minor teasing point amongst all the young male fledglings--many of them had reached the age of partial sexual maturity where their penises grew to reach adult size, but they had not yet attained the corresponding muscle control in their genital slits to keep up with this increase in virility. So if a male fledgling got aroused for whatever reason (or sometimes randomly for no reason at all), there was the embarrassing possibility that his penis would shove its way out of his slit without heed of how vastly inappropriate this would make a social situation, and there would be nothing he could do to stop that from happening.
Anyway, it was time to go wash-up for real. Nerlin climbed down from the upper bunk and went to his locker. Pyxis was still sleeping in the lower bunk, curled up into a ball with her tail in her mouth. Seeing his expedition partner looking so innocent and peaceful made Nerlin feel bad for fantasizing about her in such a blatantly sexual manner. Not because Pyxis wasn't a grown dragon who probably had her own desires and needs, but because he was projecting his own sexual desires onto her and dreaming that she felt the same back to him.
"No, it was just a dream. I shouldn't feel guilty over I dream I wasn't in control of. It is way too early in the morning to be worrying about such things," Nerlin decided. He grabbed his toiletries bag in his mouth and headed out of the cabin.
Pyxis awoke when she heard the faint click of the cabin door. Rousing from a dream she immediately forgot, she blinked her eyes open and glanced around. The door had been opened by Nerlin, who must have just returned from washing up.
Pyxis straightened herself out and stretched, extending her four legs, then her wings, and then finally her tail and her back. As she slumped back down on the bed, she realized that this last stretching posture might have inadvertently allowed Nerlin to get a glimpse of slit underneath her raised tail. Whoops. Oh well. "Good morning..." she murmured.
"Good morning to you too. I hope you slept well," replied Nerlin. "Today's the day we start the expedition! I can't wait to get started." He walked over and pulled the empty frame of his flight harness from under the lower bunk, which Pyxis was still sitting on, then he began to take all his equipment pouches from his locker and reattach them to the harness frame.
Pyxis couldn't help but reach out and tug on the tip of Nerlin's tail as he walked by. "Tail!" This was increasingly becoming an affectionate habit whenever the appendage got within grabbing range. Nerlin snatched his tail just out of paw reach, so Pyxis extended her neck and playfully snapped at his tail. "Got it!"
Turning around, Nerlin did the same thing to her. He grabbed her tail in his jaws, so both of the fledglings ended up in a circle, biting each other's tails. "Mm. I've got yours too! Give mine back," Nerlin said, his words muffled from the tail in his mouth.
"No! You first," Pyxis replied.
For a moment they both just locked gazes, each daring the other to let go. Pyxis faltered first, because she saw out of the corner of her eye that Caden was awake and watching them. On noticing their roommate's attention, Nerlin hurriedly dropped Pyxis's tail as well, and both of them awkwardly went to their separate lockers.
"Ok. So I know I've said this before, but seeing you two interact brings joy to my cynical, weary old soul," Caden told them.
"Why so... Why are you guys always waking up so early?!" Jarzyl muttered, speaking from the upper bunk. Her voice got harder to hear as she wrapped a wing around her head. "The sun hasn't yet... even risen yet. No's... What's wrong with you people?"
"Next pair will be Halley and Kulitare!" declared one of the master hunters. Pyxis turned to watch as the two summoned fledglings got to their feet and trotted to the side of the mess room before heading up the staircase.
After eating breakfast, the young dragons had all remained in Majestic's mess room. The airship had continued flying across the Julnir Mountain Range through the night, and now the master hunters were ready to declare the expedition open. Through the large viewing windows, snowy mountainous terrain was visible far below.
Now all the expedition pairs were waiting in the mess room, wearing their flight harnesses as they each awaited their turn to be called to the top deck, from where they would leave the airship and officially start their expedition. Nerlin and Pyxis were sitting side by side, both fully equipped with their own flight harnesses. Nerlin was sitting calmly, but Pyxis kept anxiously looking into her harness pouches, double checking that all her expedition equipment was accounted for.
One by one, other expedition pairs were called to the top deck to begin their journey, but not in any predictable order. Majestic was still moving through the air, so each pair would begin their flight at a different time and place, and everyone's journey would be unique.
"There you are!" Nerlin said, as Caden entered the mess room and trotted over to sit beside him and Pyxis. "Where's Jarzyl?"
"She'll be coming soon. She misplaced her locker key, so I had to pick the lock for her to get her flight harness," Caden explained.
"You can pick locks?" Pyxis asked.
Caden nodded. "Yeah. It's a really useful skill." The green-scaled fledgling mimed several twisting motions using her claws and the tip of her tail. "I learned it after my parents began locking me inside my bedroom every night, back when I was a hatchling."
Nerlin and Pyxis glanced to each other, wondering if this was a joke.
"But anyway, it turns out that Jarzyl somehow left her key locked inside her locker," Caden continued. "Something about puppet affinity? She made a puppet of herself which also had a magical duplicate of the key, then she took off her original key and put it inside the locker to go take a morning shower, and then as she left the room she used her puppet to lock the locker because the aircrew said we're supposed we should lock lockers when we leave the room. Except that when she shut down the puppet, the puppet copy of the key also flashed back into magic...? Or something like that. You know how it is. Jarzyl is Jarzyl."
"Huh. That's interesting," Nerlin said.
"Jarzyl is Jarzyl," Pyxis agreed.
Right on cue, the orange-scaled fledgling in discussion came trotting down the corridor, hopping from step to step, her neck frill bouncing. Jarzyl sat down next to Caden and grinned. "I'm here! Did you guys miss me? I missed you."
Caden shook her head. "I make no comment."
Regardless, Jarzyl had enough enthusiasm to make up for her expedition partner's indifferent calm. "Aww, this is great! We're about to start our grand adventure! Yeeeeah!" She excitedly tapped her forepaws against the ground.
Pyxis found it impossible to stay immune to Jarzyl's contagious excitement. She started grinning as well. "It's going to be fun."
"Damn right! This is such a big moment. We should have some sort of final farewell speech."
Caden snorted. "What--in case we die on the way back?"
"Exactly!" Jarzyl flicked her wings open and close dramatically. "Friends, comrades, fellow drakken! Behold, our moment of glorious freedom and independence has arrived. This is the point where everything changes! We journey bravely into the unknown, trusting in the strength of our wings and the strength of our hearts! May our flight be swift and purposeful, and may we pierce the fiercest storms with naught but our determination and skill!"
"How are you coming up with this stuff?" grumbled Caden.
"Pyxis and Nerlin--you're up next!" declared one of the master hunters, beckoning the two fledglings over before Jarzyl could continue her grandiose speech any further.
Nerlin pushed himself into a standing position, and Pyxis copied his motion. "Our turn to go," he said.
Pyxis nodded a quick goodbye to Caden and Jarzyl. "We'll see you guys back in the city! Fly safe."
Caden smiled, just ever so slightly. "Fly safe, you two."
"Good luck! And have fun! Byeee!" Jarzyl added.
"Thanks. Good luck to you too," Nerlin said, then he and Pyxis were off, heading out of the mess room and up the circular stairway. As Jarzyl had just said, their moment of independence had come.
At the top deck, before they could head outside, one of the aircrew took their room and locker keys back from them. She then had them take out their tracking beacons so she could check them. "Just to make sure the equipment works," explained the drakka. "You almost certainly won't need to use your emergency beacons, but just in case."
Meanwhile, one of the master hunters had the two fledglings take out their navigation maps and show their planned route. "I see you've already plotted your course back to the city. Hmm, yes. That's acceptable. Lots of places for drinking water, and the winds should be in your direction. Good work, you two." The master hunter dipped the tip of her tail in an ink pot, and put a small mark on their maps. "This is our current location, as per the latest information from the bridge. Any last questions before you set off? Any doubts?"
Pyxis and Nerlin both of them shook their heads.
"Good, then. I hope you're ready to start the survival expedition!" The master hunter pushed open the door leading to the upper deck, and beckoned them outwards. "Takeoff when you're ready! We'll see you back in the city. Remember what we taught you!"
Stepping out onto Majestic's top deck, Pyxis shook her wings open and glanced to Nerlin. Her expedition partner glanced back at her, and he briefly let his tail brush against hers. Then he spread his own wings open and fully extended his flight scales. "Pyxis, shall we?"
"Yeah. Let's do this!" Pyxis took a deep breath, then she bent her hindlegs and sprung into the air. Her wings caught the breeze, and she pulled away from the airship in a wide turn. Nerlin was right behind her, flapping his wings steadily and in time with hers.
The day was bright and sunny, with scattered clouds across a broad blue sky. Now that they were clear of Majestic, the wild landscape opened up around them--tall, rocky mountains peaked with snow and ice, surrounded by rolling hills covered in boreal forests. Pyxis glanced around as she flew, circling slowly to take in all their surroundings. The air felt crisp, cool, and delightful beneath her wings. She turned until she was flying in the direction of their planned route, then she just kept turning because the scenic sights amazed her.
"You're flying the wrong way! We're supposed to be heading southwest!" Nerlin yelled. He was flying beside Pyxis, trailing just behind her left wingtip.
"Tell me something I don't know!" Pyxis playfully did a roll in Nerlin's direction. "Kryy-yah!" she squawked, just to hear him roar back at her.
"Rahh!!" Nerlin snapped up his flight scales and cut his speed to dodge out of her way, then he flapped hard to regain momentum. Both dragons began weaving and swooping at each other, playfully dancing across the skies. Nerlin made a short dive from above and behind her, but Pyxis inverted herself and also entered into a dive. They both dropped rapidly, losing altitude side by side as they both dared the other to pull up first.
"..." Pyxis heard Nerlin yelling something at her, but the rushing winds caused by their rapid dive snatched away his words. Their fall lasted for no more than a few seconds. Taking off from Majestic, they hadn't started with much altitude over the mountaintops, and in unison they flared open their wings and levelled off their flight.
Majestic had continued its flight even as they'd been skydancing, and the vessel was increasingly shrinking into the distance as it powered away from them. Just as Pyxis glanced towards the airship, she spotted another pair of hunters leap off to begin their own journey. They were too far for her to see which two dragons it had been, but regardless they weren't going to meet up. The point of the expedition was to be independent (with your expedition partner), not to group up and all fly home together.
"Pyxis!"
Hearing her name being called, Pyxis snapped her head around to look at Nerlin, who had once again taken up a position just beside her. "What?! Yeah?" she replied.
Nerlin rocked his wings from side to side, grinning widely. "You're... you're great!"
His simple compliment made Pyxis feel a flash of shy elation. Her neck frill twitched, even as it fluttered in the wind. "Thanks? Thanks! You too!"
"Yeah! Onwards?" Nerlin asked. He did another quick twirl, snap-rolling fully in a flashy display of aerobatic skill. Pyxis grinned, for she adored watching her expedition partner show off his wings.
"Onwards!" she replied. Wings flapping in lockstep, they turned and flew towards the southwest, letting the winds carry them forward. Their adventure together had begun.
The two young dragons had started flying in the late morning, and soon they settled into a steady rhythm. For efficiency they would each take turns--either holding the lead flight position, or flying beside and just behind their partner in a wingmate formation, swapping positions every now and then. It was calmly pleasant just to fly nonstop for so long. Back in Avaeria, less than an hour's leisurely flight would be enough to encircle the whole city, but now they could just keeping flying nonstop.
Sometimes they would slow down and chat, letting their airspeed drop just enough that the rushing wind would not drown out speech. Their conversation ranged from light-hearted jokes and stories, to deep discussion about their personal beliefs and background, drifting from topic to topic. Often times they would simply just remark on the terrain; they were still flying over snowy mountain peaks, but slowly their course was taking them towards the lower heights, where rolling forested hills instead dominated the land.
Flying steadily, Nerlin hardly felt any strain at all even as they flew for hours. Part of this was because they were gradually trading away their altitude for forwards speed, reducing the strain on their wings. But part of this was also the company. Talking and chatting with Pyxis was a simple pleasure, and even when they were silent it was still enjoyable to fly with her. He occasionally asked her how she was doing, just to check that their pace wasn't too fast, but Pyxis assured him that she was fine with their speed.
As the day dragged on, Nerlin occasionally took out his expedition map to estimate how far they'd flown. The expedition map was a navigational chart filled with numerous useful details, and it was made from thick waxy paper which was waterproof and stiff enough to resist the wind. One of its corners had an eyelet (a small metal ring) so it could be attached to his flight harness via a string, allowing him to read the chart in flight without the risk of dropping and losing it. However, it still wasn't an easy task to hold the chart in his paws and read from it while trying to fly straight.
Morning became midday, then midday became afternoon. Both Nerlin and Pyxis would point out terrain features such as mountains, hills, lakes, rivers, and anything which they could navigate by. Sometimes they stopped to take short breaks or to drink water, but mostly their flight continued uninterrupted.
"Should we stop and make camp?" Nerlin finally suggested, turning to speak to his expedition partner.
Pyxis rocked his wings from side to side in affirmation. It was getting late in the afternoon, and they needed sunlight to hunt for dinner. Dragon eyesight was excellent in the day, but at night they were near blind (since Nerlin and Pyxis were both diurnal dragons). "Sure! How about we land over there? Beside that lake? It's uh, southwards." She turned and pointed her head towards a large lake located in the crook between two mountains, surrounded by tall forest on all sides.
"Let's go scout it out."
The two dragons descended towards the lake and flew over it once, looking to see if they could find a good campsite. Finally they settled on a spot where a large rock outcropping created a sheltered space. There they would be shielded from wind and weather, while the ground was flat enough to sleep on and high enough away from the water.
As Pyxis touched down on the ground, the constant sound of air rushing past her head faded away, and the hilly forest seemed quiet in comparison. The only noise was the chirping of birds and the distant rumble from a waterfall which fed into the lake. The ground was covered in short grass and a thin layer of fallen pine needles, with small wildflowers growing amongst the grass like flecks of bright colour.
Nerlin landed beside her with a small trot. "This is a good spot! We can sleep with our backs to that cliff so the heat from our campfire will be reflected back," he said, recalling one of the lessons from the training hunts.
"Alright." Now that they'd decided where they were spending the night, Pyxis pulled the release catches on her flight harness and let most of her equipment slide off her shoulders. After so many hours spent flying, she suddenly felt exceptionally light and agile without her equipment weighing her down. But before she could relax, there were still other things to be done.
Together she and Nerlin began setting up camp. Shared between the two of them, they had a single moderate-sized tent which they could both sleep in. This tent was currently being carried by Nerlin, rolled up and packed into his flight harness, but the rocky outcropping provided enough shelter from the elements that they didn't bother to set it up. Instead, they took out their sleeping bags and spread them on the grass. Then the two dragons started walking around the area, gathering branches, small logs, and even tree bark to use as fuel for their campfire. This took quite some time, but they made sure they had a considerable pile of firewood so their fire would last the whole night.
After these simple errands were done, they could move on to a more exciting task--dinner. Sitting down, Nerlin unfurled his expedition map and checked it. "We're beside this lake, here. We've made good progress today, but we're still high in the Julnir Mountains. I'm not sure if there's going to be much wild game to hunt."
Pyxis sat behind him and let her chin rest on his shoulder. "I think I saw some animals on the east side of mountain as we were flying in. Goats, maybe? Or rabbits?"
"Just because there are animals here, doesn't mean we'll be able to catch them." Nerlin shrugged, making Pyxis's head bounce on his shoulder. "We've got about..." He opened a pouch on his flight harness, which he was still wearing, and took out his pocket watch. "I think... two hours before sundown, based off our current position and altitude. We can see if we get lucky hunting, but if not then we'll have to just eat rations for dinner."
Nerlin plucked a ration bar from his flight harness and put it in Pyxis's mouth, since she was still resting her head on his shoulder. He didn't bother to remove the wrapper.
Rations bars were included as part of the equipment bundle given for the expedition. These were small, compact snack bars made from fruits, nuts, sugared candy, biscuits, and even dried meat. These ration bars were tough and didn't taste very good, but they could last for a long time without spoiling. Furthermore, they had excellent nutritional value and were packed with energy. The ration bars were meant to give the young hunters enough sustenance to continue their journey home, even if they totally failed in attempts to do any hunting.
Pyxis pretended to gnaw on the bar, wrapper and all. "Mm...naaa..." She gently nipped at Nerlin's paw. "If we were starving to death with no food, would you let me eat your body for energy?"
"Would this be before or after I died of starvation?" Nerlin asked.
"If it was after you were dead, then you wouldn't be able to stop me anyway." Pyxis sniffed at Nerlin's scales. "Mm, you smell nice. I bet you'd make good eating." Playfully she opened her jaws wide and tried to bite at his neck.
Chuckling softly, Nerlin shook his head. "Haha. We've been flying all day. I'm covered in dirt, and I probably smell terrible." The red-scaled fledgling twisted his neck, moving backwards so that Pyxis couldn't get a chokehold around his throat. In a real fight this would have exposed his head to being bitten instead, which was just as bad, but instead Pyxis's snout bumped against his.
Pyxis felt a faint shudder go through her body at this close contact, like a chill running down her spine which ended up as a warm tingle in her underbelly. "Hey, you want to start, uh..." She had been about to say kissing, but suddenly her self-consciousness reasserted itself. "...hunting?"
Nerlin blinked as well. "Right. That's a good idea."
Hopping to her feet, Pyxis strolled over to her flight harness and began putting her gear back on. Technically she didn't need any of this equipment to hunt and it would actually slow her down, but it was more of a precaution in case something went wrong. Her flight harness had all the equipment she would need--among other things, it contained her compass and map in case she got lost, a healing crystal in case she got injured, and the emergency beacon in case they needed to call the master hunters for help.
As she pulled her flight harness back on, Pyxis noticed Nerlin watching her closely. Was he just observing her don her gear, or was he was admiring her body? Normally she might have felt shy, but now they were all alone in the wilderness, and that made her feel more unrestricted. Pyxis straightened herself up and curled her tail around, showing off her slender figure. Wait, what am I doing? Once again feeling self-conscious, she hurriedly clicked her harness straps into place and unfurled her wings. "I'm ready to go."
"Are we flying together?" Nerlin asked.
"We should split up so we have a better chance to catch something," Pyxis decided, which was unfortunate because it meant she wouldn't get the chance to admire Nerlin's wings as he flew. Then again, this was probably for the best or she'd be too distracted to actually catch anything.
"Alright. Let's see who manages to catch dinner first." Nerlin unfurled his wings and sprung into the sky, climbing with smooth, strong beats. Pyxis leaned back on her hindlimbs, then she leap up as well.
About an hour later, Nerlin was circling above the mountainside when he heard a dragon's roar in the distance. "Skr-yah!"
The red-scaled fledgling turned his head towards the direction of the sound, and he instantly spotted its source. Pyxis was approaching from a different part of the mountainside with something clutched in her claws. Nerlin rolled to bring his flightpath into an intercept. "Rahh!" he roared, answering her call. It was rare to hear Pyxis roar. Normally she was quiet and demure, but now she sounded proud and victorious.
As he got close, Nerlin saw that Pyxis was carrying something with a furry white hide--she'd managed to hunt some prey. "Looook! I got it! Race you back!" Pyxis yelled, then she spun around and dived sharply, heading back towards their campsite. Nerlin followed behind her, flapping his wings to pick up speed. It wouldn't be very hard to overtake and land first, but he deliberately raised the row of flight scales in the middle of his wings to drag off some speed and let Pyxis land before him.
Back at the campsite, Nerlin got a good look at their dinner. The dead creature resembled a cross between a goat and a bison, with long curling horns and a thick, white, woollen hide. It was a mountainous relative to the breakhorn they'd caught just the other week, called a snowhorn. Snowhorns were smaller than breakhorns, and they usually lived in much smaller herds. This particular catch wasn't an overly large specimen, but it would be large enough to suffice as dinner for both of them, and anyway, eating too much would leave them too heavy to fly tomorrow morning. Nerlin nudged Pyxis's side affectionately. "Nice work."
Pyxis was grinning widely, her neck frill perked up. "I told you I spotted animals on one of the mountains!" Leaning down, she started tearing into the snowhorn's side, ripping open its thick woollen hide to get into the meat. They were sitting near their campsite, but just far enough so that the blood and gore wouldn't dirty their sleeping space.
Nerlin sat back and let Pyxis eat first. The snowhorn wasn't large enough that they could both eat at once, and it was only polite to let his expedition partner get first pick of the meat, since she'd been the one who'd caught it. After tearing out a few mouthfuls of flesh, Pyxis pushed the snowhorn towards him so he could grab a bite.
The meat was warm, raw, and bloody, and something about it made Nerlin feel almost...wild. For this expedition they were living like the dragons of old, roaming far across the land and hunting prey for food. They weren't even wearing their flight harnesses anymore; the moment they'd landed, the two fledglings had both removed their gear and left it by the side. He and Pyxis took turns eating until the snowhorn had been reduced to a pile of fur and bones, with most of the meat and fat picked cleanly off.
Once dinner was done, Pyxis trotted over to the lakeside to wash herself clean. Nerlin picked up what was left of the snowhorn and flew a short distance to dispose of the carcass, so as to ensure that scavengers wouldn't bother their campsite.
Returning, Nerlin flew in fast and low over the lake, towards where Pyxis was standing in the shallow water. He'd been planning to land on the shore so he could wash his paws and muzzle, but then a better idea presented itself and he changed course.
Pyxis glanced up, and from the way she looked at him it was obvious she'd realized what he was doing. "Nerlin--ahhha!" She half-laughed, half-yelled as Nerlin landed in the water right in front of her, creating a wave which splashed over her.
"Ahhh!" Nerlin yelled as well, but for an entirely different reason--the water was breathtakingly chilly. Immediately it felt like heat was being leeched from his body. "Cold, cold, cold, cold!" Hurriedly he jumped out of the lake and stood on the shore, shivering slightly. "Ahhh...! So cold..."
Pyxis was unsympathetic. Still standing in the water, she unfurled a wing and tried to flick water in Nerlin's direction, making him leap backwards. "Serves you right for splashing me! And it's not that cold."
"It is!" Nerlin quickly tried to dry off his scales by shaking himself all over. Even though they were still relatively high up in the mountains, the ground was free from snow and the air didn't feel too cold. However, somehow the lake water felt much colder than the surroundings. It was almost freezing, he'd have guessed. Nerlin carefully dipped his tail to test the water's temperature, and the tip of his appendage immediately started to feel prickly and numb. "It is cold! It's so cold. How are you just standing there? Come out before you get a chill. Brrr... I'm feeling cold just watching you stand in that icy water."
"It's really not that cold. You're just exaggerating." Pyxis was still standing in the water, and now she dipped her snout down to wash away the blood and gore from the snowhorn.
The lake was clear and clean. It was probably fed by glacial runoff from the nearby mountain peaks, which might also explain why it was so cold. Reluctantly Nerlin inched towards the water and used it to wash his paws and snout. He moved as quickly as possible, trying to minimize his contact with the chilly water. In contrast, Pyxis seemed to be in no rush at all. At first Nerlin wondered if she was upset from his attempt to splash her, but soon he realized that she wasn't just pretending not to mind the cold water. Instead, she genuinely did not seem to find the water too cold. "Do you normally take cold baths?" Nerlin asked curiously.
"No...?" Done with her wash, Pyxis strolled out of the lake and shook the water off her scales. "This water isn't really that cold, is it?"
"It is," Nerlin insisted, but he didn't press it any further.
The two fledglings strolled back to their campsite together. Dusk had fallen, and in the fading light they tried to get their campfire started.
Raising a paw, Pyxis scraped her claws against the fire starter crystal, sending a few sparks showering down on their campfire. For a moment the sparks sat on the clumped up dried leaves, but they winked out without the fire catching. Pyxis felt her neck frill drooping flat. It would be a cold, frigid night if they couldn't get the fire started. "This would be much easier if one of us could breathe fire..." For a moment she imagined what it would be like to open her jaws and spit flame, but then her daydream faded away to reality. She didn't have magic yet and neither did Nerlin, so they'd have to rely on their manual fire-starting skills.
"Can I try?" Nerlin asked, so Pyxis handed him the fire crystal. Stored within the crystal lattices of the gemstone was a concentration of heat magic, intended precisely so a fire could be started with ease. "Is our wood too damp? Hmm..." Now it was Nerlin's time to try messing around with the fire starter crystal, trying without success to get their fire going.
As the sky grew ever darker, Pyxis was finding it harder and harder to see anything at all. She could see Nerlin briefly illuminated in those tiny showers of sparks, but the forest around them seemed dark and foreboding. By the light of day it had been picturesque and scenic, but no longer. All their distance from civilization had made her think of freedom during the day, but now it felt like they were isolated.
Pyxis turned to her flight harness. She'd been meaning to take out her lantern to give them some illumination (which worked via an enchanted crystal not too dissimilar from the fire crystal), but then Nerlin managed to get the fire going. "Oh, hey! Hey, I got it! Look at that." Small embers began burning in the tinder, encouraged by Nerlin gently blowing on them. Then the kindling caught aflame, and just like that they had a fire.
Nerlin sat back on his haunches, looking pleased with himself. Carefully he fed more fuel into the fire, letting it build up from a single flame into a proper campfire. "There we go. Would have been much easier if we could breathe fire, but no problem."
"No problem," Pyxis agreed. With the campfire casting a warm, flickering illumination, the forest no longer seemed so cold and foreboding. She went over to the sleeping bags and pulled them slightly closer to the fire so she could lie down and relax. Dinner had been eaten, and now they had a fire to keep them warm. Even though the sun had only just set, there wasn't much else to do other than sleep. Flopped on her back, Pyxis spread her wings open and closed her eyes. Her whole body felt worn out and tired from their long flight, but in a satisfying way.
She heard Nerlin walking over, and then she felt him nudging her wing. "You're on my side," he said. Each of the two fledglings had their own sleeping bag, and the two bags were spread open and placed right next to each other. Right now Pyxis was partially on her own bag and partially on Nerlin's, lying right in the middle and taking up lots of space.
Pyxis didn't feel like moving. She ought to, but she didn't feel like it. "Hmm...? So what are you going to do about it?" she murmured.
"This." Nerlin walked over and sat down right next to her, resting his chest over her unfurled wing.
"Hmm...hnngggrr..." Instinctively, Pyxis made a rumbly noise in her throat which was half sigh and half purr. It was just as relaxing to feel Nerlin's weight pressing down on her open wing, keeping her pinned down. Out of nowhere, she wondered what would happen if she tried to pull her wing closed. Were her flight muscles strong enough to push Nerlin off? That was easy enough to find out.
Pyxis tried to flip her wing closed, and she discovered that_yes_, her wing muscles were strong enough to lift a dragon's weight (which was obvious in hindsight, since she used them to lift her own weight and fly) but also that she weighed less than Nerlin, so her whole body shifted before he did.
Nerlin let out an amused huff as Pyxis somehow flipped herself over and rolled on top of him. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know. What are _you_doing?" Pyxis replied. Nerlin was still lying down on all fours, but she ended up clinging to his back with her wings wrapped around his side. It was pleasing to feel Nerlin's warm presence below her with all his scales touching against hers. She could just fall asleep like this, lying on top of her expedition partner as if he was a giant pillow, although this position would probably stop being comfortable soon enough.
Rolling off Nerlin's back, Pyxis furled her wings up and lay back down on her own sleeping bag. Each sleeping bag was designed as two separate but linked pieces. There was a stiffer padded mat to provide cushioning from the ground, and on top of that there was a larger lightweight fabric covering for insulation. Now Pyxis sandwiched herself between the two layers, using the bottom as a soft surface to lie on and the top to keep herself warm. It was comfortable, but not as good as being snuggled up beside Nerlin. "So now we just sleep?" she wondered aloud.
Nerlin took out the navigational chart from his flight harness, which was right next to his sleeping bag. With only the unsteady light from the campfire, it wasn't very easy to read the map. For diurnal dragons like the two of them, their eyes had tremendous optical resolution during the bright light of day, but not much capability in the dark of night. "We've been flying right on course, so there's nothing else we need to plan for tomorrow's flight. Sleep is a good idea. We'll be in for another long flight tomorrow."
"Today wasn't so bad. All this flying is fun, and not too tiring at all..." Regardless of her assurances that she wasn't tired, Pyxis yawned. "The company is fun too..."
"Thanks." Nerlin tucked his navigational chart back into his flight harness, then he lay down to sleep as well. "Good night, Pyxis. I'm...glad that I'm here with you."
Pyxis nodded, and she leaned over and licked the side of Nerlin's snout. "Rest well!"
Nerlin didn't rest well. At first his tiredness from a long day spent flying helped him fall asleep quickly, but then he would wake up every hour or so and find himself briefly unable to return to sleep.
After awakening for what seemed like the fifth time that same night, Nerlin opened his eyes and raised his head. The forest was dark and quiet with only the occasional frog croak or cricket chirp to break the silence, and his sleeping bag was reasonably comfortable and warm, but somehow being in a new environment kept him from sleeping deeply. Being out in the wild was obviously very different from the comfort and familiarity of his bed at home back in the city.
Nerlin took a deep breath of the chilly night air and looked up to the sky. The moon and stars weren't visible tonight, obscured behind a layer of clouds, and the campfire had died down to a gentle burn. Standing up, Nerlin walked closer towards the campfire and fed in some more wood to keep the fire going. The night was cold enough where he could easily see his breath fogging, illuminated by the faint light from the campfire.
With the fire rekindled and burning brighter, Nerlin went back to his sleeping bag and covered himself up again. He glanced towards his expedition partner, but Pyxis didn't appear to be affected by the cold. In fact, she had thrown off the upper covering of her sleeping bag and was sleeping without any protection from the chilly temperature. Nerlin contemplated going over to tuck her sleeping bag back over her, but he decided not to disturb her since she didn't appear to be shivering or in any discomfort.
Other than this sudden bout of insomnia, Nerlin was finding this expedition very enjoyable so far. The airship journey out on Majestic had been great fun, and now it was exciting that they were roaming out here all alone, fully independent from anyone else. He was tired and a little bit cold, but that was to be expected of this expedition. It was relaxing how things were so peaceful out here in the wilderness. Nerlin looked over Pyxis, thinking how pretty she looked. Her blue colouration was hard to make out in the dim, orange-hued light from the campfire, but she was coiled up into a ball with her tail in her mouth, which Nerlin found endearingly cute.
Thinking about it now, he found himself already missing their shared conversation. Despite her propensity for staying quiet, Pyxis was incredibly smart and very well-spoken once she opened up about herself. They'd talked about all sorts of topics as they'd flown, and this was yet another part of the expedition which Nerlin had liked. He really did enjoy her company.
Sighing quietly, Nerlin rolled around and closed his eyes to return to sleep.
When Pyxis woke up, the sky had begun to lighten. Dawn had come. The blue-scaled fledgling tried to stretch her legs, only to discover that at some point in the night, she had rolled over from her sleeping bag and was now cuddled up beside her expedition partner, who was still sound asleep.
Nerlin hadn't bothered to zip up his sleeping bag, so now they were both lying side by side on top of the two sleeping bags, with Pyxis's wing resting over Nerlin's back. Huh. That's nice, Pyxis thought to herself. She spent the next few minutes feeling warm, snug, and happy.
Eventually as the sky continued to brighten, Pyxis carefully lifted her wing away from Nerlin's back and furled up the limb. Getting to her feet, she looked around their campsite. The campfire had gone out completely, leaving behind nothing but charred wood and ash. Other than the faint odour of burnt wood, the air felt crisp and fresh.
The grass was dewy beneath Pyxis's paws as she strolled away from the camp. She crouched down and relieved her bladder, hiding behind a bush (even though Nerlin wasn't awake and wouldn't be looking anyways). Then heading towards the lakeside, she took a quick dip to rinse her scales.. After she was done with washing up, Pyxis returned to their camp. She took out the drinking water packs from their flight harnesses and went down to the lake to refill them in preparation for their continued journey homewards.
When Pyxis got back to the camp again, Nerlin still remained asleep with his head tucked under a wing. Pyxis smiled at the sight of expedition partner and she didn't wake him up yet. The sun was only just barely peeking over the horizon, and they weren't in a rush to continue their expedition. But then just as she was going to sit back down on her sleeping bag, something else caught her eye.
Nerlin's scales were a bright red colour all over, but the bottom of his wings and his underbelly were countershaded to a lighter shade of coppery orange. And hidden underneath his body there was a certain part of his anatomy which was yet another different shade of red. Oh! Is this his... I wonder what it looks like. Pyxis glanced up to check that her friend was still fast asleep, and then she went to take a closer look.
Unfortunately it was hard to see much because Nerlin's half-unfurled wing was blocking the way and it was still quite dark out, but nevertheless Pyxis felt her neck frill twitch. Even though she couldn't get a good look, what she saw was enough to intrigue her. Can't really see much... what a pity. I wonder what he's dreaming about that's making him so excited?
Then right on cue, Nerlin took his head out from under his wing and blinked his eyes open. He glanced around confusedly, then his gaze focused on her. Pyxis hurriedly leaned back, hoping that Nerlin hadn't noticed how close she had been examining him, and specifically where. "Uh. Good morning," she said.
"Aahm. Mrning..." Nerlin cleared his throat and mumbled out something which vaguely sounded like a return greeting, and then he rolled over sleepily onto his back. To Pyxis's shameful delight, this gave her a perfect look at exactly what she'd been so curious about. Her neck frill snapped up so fast it might have made a faint "swish" sound, and her eyes went wide. Oh wow...!
Extending out from a vertical slit right between Nerlin's hindlegs was his reproductive organ. Of course Pyxis had read books and magazines, as well as attended sexual education lessons in school, but pictures didn't compare with seeing the real thing right before her. Nerlin's phallus was a sleek rod of scaleless, reddish-pink, blood-engorged flesh protruding outwards. Right at the base there was a slight spherical bulge, then it tapered smoothly to a narrow tip, curving slightly to point towards his chest. It was nicely proportionate in size compared to his whole body, yet Pyxis found herself marvelling that something so _impressive_managed to stay hidden away most of the time. It certainly didn't look like it could fit back into his genital slit in its current lustfully enlarged state.
Pyxis only got a few brief (but thrilling) seconds to enjoy the show, and then Nerlin's half-lidded eyes snapped wide open and he hurriedly used his paws and wings to cover himself. The red-scaled fledgling rolled over into a crouch, though he kept his wings unfurled and covering his underbelly. "I...I... uh..." he stammered, looking thoroughly wide awake all of a sudden. "Did you... see...?"
Oh, wow...! Pyxis's neck frill was still standing all the way up, and short of being physically pulled down, it was going to stay that way for a while. She opened her mouth to say something, realized she didn't know what to say, so she just closed her mouth and nodded.
Nerlin appeared equally lost for words. The two young dragons stared awkwardly at each other for about half a minute. "Sorry, I didn't mean to, uh, expose myself to you. That was indecent," Nerlin finally said.
"No problem. I didn't mind," Pyxis replied. If Nerlin had dropped his wings and acted more confident about his arousal, she wouldn't have minded at all. Part of her was actually wishing that she could get another look, or even a more hands_-_on demonstration, but she was far too embarrassed to ask.
So the awkward silence resumed. Nerlin glanced to the trees, pretending to be distracted by the sound of birdsong. Pyxis pawed at the ground and sniffed at a fallen pinecone. Neither of them moved. After another pause, Nerlin opened his left wing slightly and glanced under himself.
"Is it...still out?" Pyxis asked, not even daring to say the proper name for 'it'.
Nerlin kept his wings unfurled, blocking out any view of his underbelly. "Umm... Yes. It is. How much did you see?"
"Some of it? I don't know! I saw it, and it was out of your slit, so I guess all of it?" Pyxis swallowed nervously and licked her lips. "Can you control it and make it go back in, or is it like a reflex thing?"
"Sort of both. I can control the muscles to prevent it from coming out of my slit, but once it's out it gets bigger and I can't make it go back in just by flexing my muscles," Nerlin explained. He glanced under his wings again. "I'm trying to ignore it and think about unrelated things--that's how I normally make it go away."
"Do you, um, need to touch it and relieve yourself? Is that your normal routine?" Pyxis made a very awkward motion with her paw.
Nerlin hurriedly shook his head. "No! Usually it just goes back in by itself."
"Oh, that's good. But so you've done it before? Touched yourself there? Not just to clean but to... stimulate yourself?" Pyxis asked. Part of her mind felt like she was dying of embarrassment and couldn't believe the words she was saying, while another part was curious and insisting that this was a mature conversation between two (almost) adults, and then there was a third part which was just horny. Right now she wasn't quite sure which emotion would win out--embarrassment, curiosity, or her own arousal.
"I have done that, but I don't normally need to. Usually it goes back into my slit within a minute," Nerlin insisted. "Have _you_done that before? Masturbated?"
Pyxis felt her blue scales tinting purplish as blood rushed into the sensitive scale plates which covered her body, but she managed to hold Nerlin's gaze. "Oh, you said the word! Yes... yes I have."
Nerlin's gaze darted across Pyxis's body, making her blush even more as she realized what he was now thinking about, then he averted his eyes and stared at the extinguished campfire. "Wait, I shouldn't have asked that. I'm supposed to be thinking about unrelated things. Admittedly, your presence is... somewhat counterproductive for that."
At this compliment, Pyxis felt a tingle in her own loins, alongside a sudden surge of boldness. "Counterproductive? I'll show you counterproductive..." And then she walked right up to Nerlin and kissed him.
Feeling Pyxis's muzzle against his, Nerlin found himself wondering if he was still asleep. But if this was a dream, it was the best dream he'd ever had. Their kiss didn't last for as long when they'd been together on Majestic, yet now such an intimate embrace was becoming delightfully familiar and casual. Whereas before Nerlin had been tense and nervous, now he found himself relaxing and enjoying things. "Mm, so now we're... we're doing that," he murmured. "I bet my breath smells terrible. Sorry."
"If your breath smells bad, mine smells bad too, so it cancels out." Pyxis pulled back slightly, and Nerlin found himself captivated by her gaze. "It's not a bad way to start the day, is it? Our first morning out in the wilderness together. I like kissing you..."
"No. Or yes? No? I mean, I liked it!" Nerlin frowned. It felt like all his scales were tingling, and his phallus had immediately reversed course to force its way back out of his genital slit. "Seriously though, that isn't doing anything to help with my...situation. You're getting my body all excited here."
Pyxis glanced downwards, her eyes looking over Nerlin's unfurled wings which were still covering his underbelly. "Excited? Can I...see it?"
"What? Why?" Nerlin replied. His words seemed to make Pyxis slightly embarrassed and her tail swished from side to side, but she didn't back down.
"Why not? It's not some I normally get to see. A drake's...penis." Pyxis's tail went completely still, and she used her forepaws to cover her snout. Within the span of a few seconds, she switched from looking shocked with herself, to embarrassed, to on the verge of laughter. "I said it. I said it! I said the word! It's...penis! I said the word again! I'm being so naughty!"
Nerlin was taken by surprised for a second, then he couldn't help but burst out in laughter. "Ahahaha! What?"
Pyxis started giggling as well. "Haha... You've got a...a penis! And I saw it! It was all red and big and...oh! I want to see it again!" The blue-scaled fledgling sprung to her feet and started darting around, trying to peer past Nerlin's unfurled wings.
Shaking his head, Nerlin turned so that he was always facing Pyxis. "No, you first!" he replied without thinking.
"Me first? I don't have anything to see down there." Pyxis sat back on her haunches and glanced down between her own legs.
"But that's fair. If you want to see my genital slit, I should get to see yours." Nerlin found himself staring at Pyxis's underbelly. He switched from his crouch into a sitting position, but he kept his wings covering himself.
"Deal!" Pyxis put her paw on Nerlin's shoulder, making him pause.
"Are you...sure about this?" Nerlin asked. He was hardly able to believe what was happening. His body knew what he wanted to happen, but his mind was still in doubt.
From the looks of things, Pyxis was also acting on instinct. "Shut up! Don't ask me questions that I can't answer!" Her paw slowly slid down his shoulder and onto his wing's leading edge. Nerlin didn't stop her or make any move to resist.
For a moment both fledglings simply stared at each other, then Pyxis pushed aside Nerlin's wing and they both glanced downwards towards his exposed underbelly. Nerlin saw exactly what he'd expected--he was fully erect, with his phallus rigidly pointing outwards from his genital slit. It was a familiar part of himself, yet his penis was a body part like no other. That one organ was so tied to the idea of male virility, and its presence now was unmistakably sexual, yet at the same time it him feel vulnerable and exposed. His masculinity was on display, open to being judged. "So what do you think?" he asked, wondering what Pyxis thought of him.
Pyxis just stared, her face expressionless and unreadable. But when she glanced up and met his gaze, her neck frill instantly drooped all the way flat, collapsing against her neck. Was that a look of disappointment? Nerlin felt like his self-esteem had taken a direct hit, until Pyxis's next words explained her sudden reaction.
"Uh...uh...! Nerlin! Nerlin! Don't make any sudden moves, but there is a bear right behind you," Pyxis said quietly.
"What?!" Nerlin wanted to turn around, but he didn't dare to move. "Was that a joke? Did you say a bear?"
"Yes!" Pyxis squeaked, her voice barely a whisper. "A bear! A big bear. It's brown, and it's bigger than us both. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no."
There were very few sentences that could have killed the mood more effectively than that one. Nerlin felt his penis rapidly lose blood pressure, retracting back into his genital slit. He recognized it now--Pyxis's expression was of fear, not disappointment, so at least she hadn't been horrified by his physical anatomy. This wouldn't be much consolation if they were both about to be mauled by one of the few types of predators which were large enough to threaten dragons, but still it was better than nothing. "That's unfortunate. So when you said the bear was 'right behind me', how close exactly are we talking about?" Nerlin asked, still not daring to look.
Pyxis looked equally shocked by this sudden turn of events. "Still in the forest, just barely in the clearing. I don't know if it's seen us. Should we try and fly away? I missed the training hunt where they were teaching us about bears. Oh, oh no. What should we do?"
"Huuh." Nerlin sighed softly, then he turned to look. Sure enough, there was a bear. It was a big, brown-coloured bear that was at the far side of their campsite. The animal looked bigger than either of the two dragon fledglings, and it was slowly walking towards the lake, moving perpendicular to them. Fortunately the creature was alone. A mother bear with her cubs might have been more aggressive, perhaps even aggressive enough to try attacking them. "If we don't provoke it, we should be fine. Just let it go on its way," Nerlin said.
Pyxis nodded quietly, and the two young dragons remained quiet and largely motionless as the bear lazily lumbered its way to the lake, where it started swimming towards the opposite bank. After it had finally gone out of sight, Nerlin and Pyxis both stared at each other again, and then in unison they burst into relieved laughter. "Hahaha!"
"Heheha...! That was the first time I've ever seen a bear, but that thing was huge! It's also not the only thing I've just seen for the first time that was huge. Uh, let's pack up and get out of here," Pyxis decided. It was an absurd and abrupt end to what had been a very intimate moment, but the moment had definitely passed. Nerlin's erection was gone, his penis completely retracted back into his genital slit.
"Alright. Time to continue our flight," Nerlin agreed. By unspoken agreement, they chose to not to speak about what they'd been doing before they'd been interrupted. Both fledglings got to their feet and set about breaking camp. Nerlin rolled up the sleeping mats and secured them onto their respective flight harnesses, while Pyxis poured water onto the remains of the campfire to ensure the ashes were completely extinguished. Breakfast was a single ration bar each.
After a quick check of their navigational charts, Nerlin and Pyxis pulled on their flight harnesses. Then together they took to the skies, leaving the mountain lake behind as they flew onwards towards home, continuing their journey together.
END
Next story is HERE.