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And when she awakened, a pair of menacing red eyes peered down upon her...

Serrated teeth snarled into Ayliith's face, startling the young hybrid out of her drowsiness and pushing her back against the mud wall of her hideout. Long sinuous body stepped forth, revealing a pair of curved pearly white horns protruding from the back of its snarling jaguar-like head. Dark fur of mossy black covered its cat-like physique, except this was no ordinary feline. With size reaching her shoulders and two tentacle-like protrusions whipping threateningly from its shoulders, Ayliith's only hope upon seeing this fearsome visage was to try and discourage it from attacking. Perhaps she can scare it off? If not, there's no telling what this beast can do... An ordinarily looking bug yesterday made jolts of light and pain, but this creature looked like it came straight out of Dreamscape nightmares.

Snarling out with teeth exposed at the menacing but lanky feline, Ayliith straightened her form to try and take up as much space as possible. Will some posturing even discourage such a beast? This is madness! How can she possibly hope fighting it when she never really fought anything bigger than a zapping bug? Deep red eyes locked onto her fearful blue ones, the horned feline snout twistting into what seemed like disdain. The hybrid dragoness's long and perceptive ears slowly pulled back. A menacing rustle of leaves crunched in the distance. Oh by Tyrth's tail, are there more of them?!

"Arakash! Jish-kami!" The voice that suddenly echoed in the forest was deep and booming, throwing both Ayliith's and Wildcat's attention instantly away from one another. Two prehensile feelers growing from its shoulders stopped moving and pulled back, black cat jumped up on a tree branch nearby and whipped one of its long appendage in split second to seize a branch above, pulling itself much further up into the air to land on a thick branch with barely audible thud.

"Ara..." The voice was closer now, loud thuds echoed as something broke the branches and twigs under its feet. "Poshlaq bai sii kesh." Triungular head peered up at the Wildcat, followed by a brown-green scar-covered form of the biggest dragon Ayliith has ever seen. This dragoness before her had a thick scaled frame with a tattoo of a spear on left shoulder, appeared half a neck taller and had three sharp bone earrings sticking out of her earfrills. Light green eyes that seemed almost comically small for its skull eventually followed the gaze of its pet Wildcat and noticed the alarmed Ayliith pressed against the solid earth in fear. "Zee Khou'ree?"

"Courier? No, I am..." Ayliith realized that it is very likely this dragoness doesn't speak Traditional. Was this Moonwatch language? She knew only the basics - "I am Ayliith. I can't speak Moonwatch precisely."

A deep rumbling purr echoed from above as the Wildcat nimbly pounced from the thick branch it was perching on to the tall outcropping behind Ayliith, instinctually keeping her trapped between its master and itself.

"Stuff your tail and get out. These grounds are ours." The Mud dragoness glared at Ayliith and made a clicking noise towards its pet without even introducing herself. Admittedly, this wasn't how she imagined her first meeting with the Mud dragons to go, but it was also her only chance. Curse the Moons. Why can't I catch a break.

"No." Stepping up to stand closer against the big huntress, Ayliith pulled herself up to make it seem she was a little bit bigger than she actually was. "I didn't travel here for a week, starved, got myself nearly arrested and abused just so I get rejected by the first Mud I meet!"

Still, the dragoness snorted out at Ayliith's face, making the smaller female recoil in disgust. "Slow speak, blue nose. You reek. Arakash think you slept with forest." Judging by the confused look on hybrid's muzzle, the bigger female realized that her taunt was largely misunderstood. Perhaps it was some sort of joke that made more sense in Moonwatch?

"Are you Arakash?" Ayliith glanced back at the Wildcat behind her, seeing that it was intensely watching, didn't make her feel any safer.

"No. Me Yi'kesh, Fertilanborn of Wheel." With a paw extended and pointing at the black feline. "He Arakash Freezanborn of Wheel. Good company."

"Wait, Yikesh? That means... Walnut, right?" Was that right? How can someone's name be Walnut? Ayliith was taunted and dubbed as Bluesnoot, simply because of the color of her nose. Now, what sort of life would a hatchling face with a name like Walnut? That seemed outlandishly easy get picked on. Tilting her head to the side, she felt a pang of sympathy for the bulky dragoness, although... Judging by her size, she and her 'good company' were more than capable of taking care of themselves.

"Yes. Name is Walnut in sun-tongue of they... yours." Her words carried on casually, even though she struggled with some words a little bit. "You desire becoming Warborn. Too bad. Arakash!" At her call, the large horned feline jumped down from its perch and landed on top of Ayliith's back to use her as a platform before its next jump. The force of impact and added weight caused her to temporarily lose balance and nearly fall over onto her face, but thankfully she didn't lose all her dignity as she managed to maintain her stance before it bounced off to her mistress' side. Whisking its tail idly about, it was now also quite apparent that Arakash was certainly a male.

"He likes you." Grinning at Ayliith's seething glare, the Huntress placed her heavy forepaw on the now purring feline.

This wasn't exactly what Ayliith wanted to hear and it annoyed her to have to deal with these cryptic short replies that left much to be desired. "Wait, what is 'Warborn'? What do I need to do to join your tribe? Can you even lead me there?" None of those words spoken were said with any degree of humility, as Ayliith's patience was running dry. One thing she despised was others poking fun at her. Noting that, the Mud dragoness's grin faded and was replaced by a drawn-out sigh.

"You talk too fast. I hunt and you go alone." With those words, Walnut turned away from the hybrid who stepped forth. Despite the fact she was followed, the Huntress and her Wildcat slowly walked off.

"I need your help..." Switching to Moonwatch, the Air-Water hybrid hastened her gait to step in the way of the bigger dragoness. "Yikesh... Please?" If I can't get her to help me, I might starve before I reach anyone else, much less a tribe. I can't survive on just some mushroom for too long.

The agile feline unfurled his feeler, landing neatly on a thick branch several metres ahead. Jumping from one branch to another, it seemed just as comfortable moving through treetops as it was on the ground. Silence hang low in the forest, only the gentle breeze rustling through budding leaves of mid Wakean.

The bigger brown-green huntress placed her heavy paw on Ayliith's shoulder, green eyes bearing down onto the hybrid with a smirk. "You talk slow, you may follow. You talk fast, you get left behind." Her answer was delivered in Moonwatch, and was followed up by her making a series of clicking noises with her mouth. Moments later, the black Wildcat hopped back towards its owner.

"Thank you..." Genuinely relieved, Ayliith, lowered her head down. This was the first bright moment Tyrth blessed me with since my journey began. Hopefully, it will also not be the last...