FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Jarz?"

The balcony doors were partially ajar, but the curtains were drawn across the entryway, which obscured the view into Jarzyl's bedroom. Atlas could see that the lights were on, but he heard no sound from within. "Jarz," he repeated more firmly, then he tried slapping his tail against the balcony to make some noise, but still no response.

No different from normal. Atlas's regular schedule on most days was to meet Jarzyl here at her home before they both flew over to their school nearby in sector one. Most of the time Jarzyl managed to wake herself up on time for school days, or her father would make sure she was awake to eat her breakfast, but there were occasions where she did oversleep. However, it was currently break period between school semesters, and today's activities were beginning far earlier than normal for a school day. Atlas waited for a moment, then he strolled forward and used his wing to push aside the curtains.

The interior of the bedroom was noticeably warmer than the cool morning air outside. And as always, Atlas could smell a faint but familiar scent from the room--every house had its own unique smell from the furniture and flooring and even the paint on the walls, but also just from its inhabitants too. Jarzyl's bedroom faintly smelled like Jarzyl, which was not an inherently unpleasant scent.

Jarzyl was sprawled out on her bed, with her body flexibly contorted into a weird position that didn't look comfortable but probably was. The amber-coloured fledgling was lying on her back, with her tail coiled around one hindleg and her other hindleg clutching onto her tail tip. Her forepaws were hugging a pillow against her chest, and she had one wing thrown open and half dangling off the edge of her bed to touch the floor, while her other wing was wrapped around her head. Unlike Atlas, she obviously hadn't yet worn her flight harness and the amber-orange colouration of her scales was on full display--Jarzyl's scales were a brighter and more vibrant shade on her back and sides, where her underbelly was countershaded and paler, closer to white.

Jarzyl had the lean, slightly lanky build which was so common amongst dragon fledglings as they quickly grew from hatchling-tiny to full drakken size. Her wings were oversized in proportion to the rest of her body, with the outline of strong flight muscles faintly visible underneath the scales of her shoulders and chest. She was still not yet fully grown to the size of an adult drakken, but Jarzyl had in the recent few months overtaken Atlas in size, although only by a little bit. In just the past year it had been back and forth repeatedly over which of the two of them was growing faster. All hatchlings were uniformly small to be easy to carry by their caretakers in flight, but fledglings flew on their own, and so they developed in rapid but uneven growth spurts.

Since the room light was switched on, clearly Jarzyl's parents had earlier tried to wake her up, though she obviously wasn't up yet. Atlas sat back on his haunches and put down the bread basket. "Good morning," he announced.

"Mgnnrah..." Jarzyl mumbled something that would probably have been incoherent even if it wasn't muffled by her wing. She reached a paw up and pulled down the flight surface that had been covering her head, only to groan and wince at the brightness of her ceiling light. "Arrgh. I'm wake... I'm awake. Launch day. So exciting, but so early."

Tossing aside her pillow, then her wing, Jarzyl uncurled herself and stretched out her whole body with a yawn. Her wings flapped against the bed and her tail tip trembled, with her neck frill perking up as she stretched out. Then the fledgling extended her claws and lazily scratched at her side which dislodged a loose scale just under her ribcage, before she flipped off her bed and tumbled onto the floor with a thump.

Atlas was mildly amused. "I said, good morning."

Using all four legs and also her wings, Jarzyl pushed herself upright and took a deep breath. "Ooh. Ok. I'm awake. I'm up." She looked around at her bedroom, then she blinked at Atlas as he stood near the balcony. Without saying anything she padded over and reached up a paw toward the back of Atlas's head, to grab onto one of his horns. Loosely holding onto that conical horn, she shook it about gently, made his head wobble since the horn was directly connected with his skull. "Hahaha."

As a fledgling, Atlas had only recently started to grow out horns, and Jarzyl had certainly noticed. Atlas didn't quite know why his friend had adopted this silly greeting ritual of toying with his horns, other than perhaps just because it was silly and he had never stopped her.

"Good morning to you too. Hahaha..." Jarzyl laughed comfortably, and her neck frill perked up. Without saying anything more, she trotted over to her bathroom.

---

---

"I'm excited. Are you excited?"

Atlas had been sitting near the balcony entrance and idly licking at his wings' flight surfaces--not that he was dirty at all, but more cleanliness was always a nice thing.

Now he glanced over his shoulder. Jarzyl was washing up in her washroom and she hadn't bothered to close the door. His friend was in the shower, with her body covered in soapy suds which she had impatiently scrubbed onto her scales. The traditional way for a dragon to clean themselves was to use their tongue to gently lick their scales, and Atlas preferred doing it that way, but that was admittedly more time-consuming than just using a soap and a brush. Jarzyl liked moving fast.

"What did you say?" Atlas turned around and strolled closer, until he was standing just outside the washroom.

Jarzyl nodded at him. "I asked if you were excited. About the sector lift today." Opening the shower valve, the fledgling blinked her eyes shut as water sprayed over her from above. Dragons kept their scales exposed to sense the surrounding airflow while in flight, so flight harnesses (if worn) were never meant to cover much. Yet as Atlas looked at his friend, he found his gaze curiously drawn to the way the water was smoothly sliding over the neat lines of hexagonal scale plates, especially over Jarzyl's wings where it flowed in a comparable way to how air would invisibly move while in flight--she had sleek, aerodynamic curves. It was a weirdly pleasant sight. The water poured down across her body, wiping away that film of soapy suds and leaving behind smooth, clean scales, that Atlas felt an odd desire to touch and run his paw over.

After a moment, his mind processed that words had been said. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, it's a historic moment. We haven't had a new city sector constructed in so long."

Still under the shower spray, Jarzyl nodded. "I _barely_remember the last time that happened. It had to be... ten or fifteen years ago? And it was boring."

"They had to land the whole city for weeks to attach the new sector, before slowly lifting everything back into the air again," Atlas said.

"Exactly. But now we're going to do all of that in one single day. This will be the most interesting, fascinating thing I've ever seen!" Jarzyl chirped. She spun around a few times to make sure the water stream had washed all the soap off her body, then she cut off the shower and shook herself all over. This motion sent water droplets flying everywhere--it would have been less messy to just use a towel, but this way was faster. Everything Jarzyl did was about speed and impatient efficiency. Standing at the washroom door, Atlas felt a couple of drops land on his neck and chest, and he used his paw to wipe his scales dry.

Hanging at the side of the washroom was Jarzyl's flight harness--a weave of belts, straps, and pouches to help a dragon carry belongings while walking or in flight. Jarzyl used the tip of her tail to snag her harness off the hook it had been dangling from, then she spread it across the tiled washroom floor, and with practiced movements she stepped her four limbs into the proper loops and began pulling the straps over her shoulders, tail, and back.

With a different fledgling Atlas might have offered to help do up the straps, but from experience he knew Jarzyl would be done before he even could ask. With a flap of her wings and a flick of her tail, Jarzyl strolled forward and trotted back into her bedroom. "I'm really so excited about this launch. I even went to bed early, just so that I could wake up early this morning. This is going to be great! I love launch day. I was at the commissioning launch for the Stormrider-class clippers a few years ago, and that was... uh... hmm." Her voice trailed off as she glanced at Atlas.

"Yes, you told me all about those airships. You were talking about it for weeks. And if seeing an airship launch was so impressive, I suppose that seeing an entire city sector lift off will be even more impressive." Atlas's voice also trailed off as he noticed how Jarzyl was staring intensely at him, almost glaring. "What is it?"

Jarzyl cocked her head to the side and her neck frill perked up. She was still staring. "Why do you look like that?"

"What do you mean?" Atlas glanced down at himself, then back up at his friend. "I look normal. Or did you mean the missing foreleg? I feel like we've had this conversation before."

Jarzyl laughed and she used her wingtip to nudge Atlas's chest. "Haha, no, I don't mean that! Although I feel like there is a story behind that too. But I mean... you look..." Sitting back on her haunches, the female fledgling gestured vaguely towards him. "You look... nice?" she muttered with a reluctant, uncomfortable tone, as if this were an insult in some way.

Atlas raised an eye ridge but said nothing. As always, his calm seemed to make Jarzyl more expressive just by contrast.

Hopping back to her feet, Jarzyl bounced on her left two legs, then the other two, then back again. "I don't know. It's just... different. Why do you...? You look neat. Ah, you're wearing wing pennants! Why?"

Partially unfurling one wing from his back, Atlas let the pennant flag dangle from his wingtip as he stared at it. He reached into one of the pouches of his flight harness and pulled out a card which had the Mintaka insignia printed at the top, followed by neat text. "Jarz, this invitation card that you gave me for the launch viewing today specifically stated formal event_and _clan adornments required. If anything, I'm underdressed because I don't have proper clan flags to wear."

"Pfftt. No, what are you... Naaah." With a dismissive snort, Jarzyl snatched the card from him and squinted at it. Her neck frill slowly drooped. "Oh. Oh, you're right. It does say formal. Grrmmm... What did I get us into? I thought this was just going to be an observation of the sector launch today."

Atlas couldn't hold back a laugh. "Hahaha. Your clan built a whole entire new city sector over the course of years, and you thought they were going to commemorate the launch without formality and ceremony? You shouldn't be surprised."

"Well! At the back of my mind obviously I knew that some level of... of pretentious formality would be involved somewhere. But I thought this was just going to an up-close viewing of the launch...? Or a celebration party of some sort? Maybe I should have read this invitation ticket before I gave it to you. Hmm, no wonder Caden turned down the invitation I gave to her, and said she had to attend her own clan's ceremony. I was wondering why she would rather attend a boring ceremony over an exciting launch viewing, but this is just going to be ceremony too, isn't it?" Jarzyl passed the invitation back to Atlas. "Bother. If you wear pennants, then I guess I'll have to wear them too. Would they not let me attend the sector launch if I don't look neat and fancy like you? I guess I could just find a spot in the city with a good view down towards the ground, but the clan event should have better up-close views."

Scampering over to the side of her room, Jarzyl flipped open the lid of a storage chest and started searching through its contents until she found a pair of wing pennants--the accessories were made from orange cloth that matched her scales in shade, with the elaborate, hexagonal Mintaka clan insignia sewn into the fabric. She half-hearted tried to rub out the wrinkles in the pennants before tying them onto her wingtips. Once again rifling through her storage, she muttered, "Hmmf. I thought my kerchief was in here?"

Atlas glanced around Jarzyl's messy room, but he saw no sign of the accessory she was referring to. "Did you leave it somewhere else?"

"It could be in the kitchen. My father must have taken it to wash, now that I think about it." Slamming down the lid of her storage chest, Jarzyl trotted back towards Atlas. She batted at his wingtip with its pennant, then she glanced at him. "Did you do something with your flight harness too? The straps look less worn out than usual."

Atlas looked down at his own gear. "My normal appearance is more worn out and shabby, I admit."

"That's not what I meant. I like how you normally look. Not that I don't like how you look now with fancy, formal wing pennants and a tidier flight harness. That's good too. Just... I... Normally I look at you and I feel... uh..." Jarzyl's voice trailed off mid-sentence and she paused.

Atlas waited a moment, then he nodded towards his friend. "Yes? Finish that sentence?" he prompted.

Jarzyl had frozen up, with mouth slightly ajar and neck frill perked up, still staring at Atlas but not making eye contact. After a moment she blinked then glanced elsewhere, looking unusually awkward. "Is that bread?"

Atlas could clearly detect an attempt to change the topic, but he didn't press the issue. "I can confirm it is bread."

Jarzyl strolled over and picked out a pastry from the bread basket to start munching on. As was the case with most things she did, even eating breakfast was conducted with an impatient energy. Jarzyl did the bare minimum of chewing before quickly scarfing down her food, as if she were in some tremendous rush to finish eating so she could do something else.

"So, my kerchief is either in the kitchen or the living room somewhere," Jarzyl said, with her mouth slightly too full of said bread. She gestured towards her bedroom door with a toss of her head and a flick of her neck frill. "But I hear noise outside, so I deduce that there are other visitors in the house besides just you."

"Yes, I think your parents have guests over. Just some of your father's co-workers and some of the clan security force. Typical apex clan things," Atlas muttered drily.

"Ah, right. My father works in the design and strategic planning office. I think this is their department party. Just some unimportant guests... Less significant than you. Huuuugh," Jarzyl sighed dramatically. "I want to go looking for my kerchief in the kitchen, but then I'll have to go through the living room and be exposed to all those people. And then some of them might try to socialize. They always say, 'Oh, Jarzyl! Last I saw you were just a teeny tiny hatchling--you've grown so much!'''

Atlas nodded. "Which is true."

"It's true but what am I supposed to say back? I just... I nod? And I have to make minor, unimportant conversation? Which I can do, but it is boring. It's tiring to have to act like a normal, proper, polite member of society." Jarzyl sighed again, but then she stood up straight and folded her wings neatly onto her back. "Ok, ok. No problem." The orange-scaled fledgling trotted over towards the room door and wrapped her tail tip around the door handle to wrench it open.

Sitting right outside Jarzyl's bedroom, in the corridor, was a tiny dragon hatchling with scales of a rich, tawny brown colour. The little dragon was around a third the size of Jarzyl or Atlas, and he was small enough that he had an adult's wingtip pennant tied around his back and shoulders like a cape, also baring the Mintaka insignia. His neck frill perked up, and he threw open his wings and waved them about excitedly on seeing Jarzyl with great, albeit uncoordinated, enthusiasm. "Yarz!!"

Jarzyl froze for a second, then she stepped right back into her bedroom and closed the door again. Turning around, she glanced at Atlas. "It's Maycor. That little pest is waiting right outside."

Atlas laughed. "Haha. Ok? Go say hello to your cousin. You aren't scared of him, surely?"

Jarzyl took a deep breath. "Of course I'm not scared of him. It's just too early in the morning to deal with his nonsense. Children are such_pests_."

Pulling open her door again, Jarzyl stepped out. Maycor was still sitting in the corridor, with his tail swishing behind him from excitement. "Yarzyl!" In an instant he sprung upwards and leapt at her. Jarzyl neatly sidestepped and dodged as her cousin went flying through the air with wings flailing wildly.

Maycor bounced off the door and crashed onto the ground, but he flipped back upright in an instant. He crouched as if about to try jumping at Jarzyl again, however he instead noticed Atlas. "Atlus!" chirped the hatchling, and he raised a tiny forepaw to point.

Atlas lowered his head to peer eye to eye with Jarzyl's cousin. "Good morning, Maycor. It's very nice that you remember me from that last time we took care of you. You're a smart little hatchling, yes you are!"

"Atlas!" Maycor repeated, then he waved his wings. "Can I... can I sit on shoulder?"

"Can I sit on shoulder please?" Atlas corrected. "If you want something, you have to ask nicely."

Maycor's tail swished again from excitement. "Plizzz. Can I sit on shoulder please. Plis, please, plis!" squeaked the hatchling.

"Ok, just since you asked nicely." Atlas extended his forepaw to let Maycor hop on, then he straightened back up and smoothly dropped the little hatchling off onto his shoulder.

Maycor flapped his wings for balance, then he turned around and sat down on Atlas's shoulder, right near the base of Atlas's wing. Maycor curled his little tail around Atlas's neck for balance, then he bumped his snout against the fledgling's chin. "Yay. Yay, yay, thanks."

"He's gotten very talkative. Last time I remember it was more squeaks and chirps, but now he's even using full sentences. Clever little hatchling." Sitting up straight, Atlas made sure Maycor was seated properly and wouldn't fall off, then he turned back to Jarzyl and found his friend staring at him with a disbelieving expression. "What?"

"Sometimes I feel like I don't know you at all," Jarzyl murmured. She squinted suspiciously at Atlas. "How did you do that? Maycor always just tries to leap up onto my shoulder, but you can get him to ask, and even say please?"

"He's your cousin, not mine." Atlas shrugged his wings, which made Maycor bob up and down on his shoulder. "Maybe he thinks you always refuse whenever he asks, so he stopped ever asking? Your cousins are really much better behaved than you always claim they are." Atlas nudged Maycor gently with his snout. "Maycor, do you want to sit on Jarzyl's shoulder? Ask her nicely."

Jarzyl's frill drooped flat against her neck. "No, don't..." she half-heartedly muttered.

In contrast, Maycor's frill perked up around his tiny head. "Ooh! Can I... sit on shoulder, Jarzyl?" he asked, pointing a paw towards his cousin. "Please, please. Oh please."

"Fine, but only because you asked nicely and I'm such a generous cousin." Jarzyl sighed, but she obligingly walked over and snatched Maycor off Atlas's shoulder to let him sit on her own shoulder. "Only for one minute. Or half a minute. Don't get comfortable."

"Yay." Maycor got into a stable position and bumped his snout affectionally against Jarzyl's neck. It was very common for hatchlings to ride on the shoulders or backs of older dragons, usually their parents or caretakers, and they could cling on surprisingly well even while in flight. Jarzyl, however, looked awkward even just having to carry her cousin while standing, as if his presence cramped her graceful, impatiently energetic attitude. Atlas felt a smile cross his face at the sight.

Right at that moment, a drakka came briskly walking down the corridor. The female dragon had a noticeable familial resemblance to both Jarzyl and Maycor, though she was closer in age to Jarzyl's mother, whom she most closely resembled. Her scale colouration was a bold red colour, and she was wearing wing pennants with the elaborate, hexagonal Mintaka clan insignia sewn into the fabric. The pennants did not match her scale shade, however, but were instead a tawny brown colour that visually was an odd contrast against her red scales--indicating that this drakka was mated to someone with that brownish scale colouration. Those light brown flags also matched Maycor's scales, so clearly the young hatchling had inherited his colouration from his father, not his mother.

"Well, well! What do we have here?" asked the drakka, peering at Jarzyl, Atlas, and Maycor with an amused look. She gave a pointed look at Jarzyl as she strolled up to them. "I was wondering where Maycor had run off to."

"Aunt Mira!" Grinning widely, Jarzyl ran over and threw open her wings to wrap them around the drakka in a tight hug.

"Come here, you little rascal." Mira flipped open one wing to return the embrace and hug Jarzyl back. "Or not so little anymore. You just keep growing every time I see you. Seems like a few months ago you were barely hatchling size, but now look at you." The drakka dipped her head and affectionately licked at the side of Jarzyl's neck, then she licked Maycor too, making the hatchling chirp.

"Eeep. Mama!" Maycor leapt up from Jarzyl's shoulder onto Mira's, and he briefly seemed to enjoy the higher viewpoint, but then he changed his mind and hopped back down onto Jarzyl's shoulder.

Releasing the hug, the red-scaled drakka stepped back and looked over Jarzyl. "Good to see you again, Jarz."

"Good to see you too! What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Mira playfully retorted.

"I live here," Jarzyl pointed out.

"True. I know this pre-launch party is meant for the strat planning office, but I thought I'd drop in anyway and say hello to your parents. The clan's the clan, but family is family too."

Jarzyl grinned, but then she looked at her aunt and frowned. "Hey, are you wearing my kerchief?"

Her aunt just smiled. She had a kerchief tied around her neck--but then Atlas noticed she was actually wearing two different kerchiefs, one on top of the other, with one being a red colour which matched her scales, and the other being a different, familiar, orange colour. "What? This thing? I found it in the kitchen and your father said I could have it."

"He did not!"

"No, sorry, I own this now. And it matches my scale colours so nicely, don't you think?" continued the drakka playfully.

"It doesn't! It matches my scales! I'm orange, you're red, and that's my kerchief!" Jarzyl exclaimed, but her neck frill was perked up and she was visibly trying to hold back a laugh.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you need to get your eyes checked, hahaha." Snatching the orange kerchief off her neck, Mira tossed the cloth square towards Jarzyl, who darted her head forward to catch it in her jaws. "So have you been skulking away in your room all this time, avoiding this whole little party?" she asked with a smirk.

Jarzyl folded the kerchief into half to make a triangle and tied it around her neck so that the Mintaka clan insignia was over her chest. "I only just woke up," she admitted. "It's so early in the morning."

Mira replied with a dismissive, playful snort. "Pfftt. In the fleet, you learn to sleep on time and wake up on time, even if those times aren't to your fancy." The drakka nodded casually towards Atlas, who had been standing in the doorway behind Jarzyl. "And who's this you've got snuck away in your room with you?"

Jarzyl poked Atlas with her tail tip. "This is Atlas. He's a good friend. I invited him to watch the sector launch, since we had some spare tickets." Turning to Atlas, Jarzyl instead pointed towards the drakka. "Atlas, this is my Aunt Mira. She's Maycor's mother and does airship stuff for the clan."

Atlas lowered his head in a respectful bow. "Good morning, drak."

"Oh ho, drak? He's so polite!" Mira's smirk widened. She addressed Atlas directly. "Good morning to you, fine mannered young drake! Are you from Mintaka too? It's too dark for me to see your wing flags. Your scales are very stealthy."

Atlas shook his head. "I'm not from Mintaka."

"Which clan, then? Another one of the big ones? Or just a small, friendly, neighbourhood clan?"

Atlas hesitated for a moment before replying. "I don't actually have a clan."

"Really? Clanless? That's pretty rare." Mira looked surprised, but she grinned again at Atlas. "Are you a troublemaker? Is that a mischievous glint that I see in your eye?"

"I doubt it. If you see mischievousness in my eyes, you're just seeing the reflection of Jarzyl," Atlas drily replied.

Mira beamed widely and let out a cackling laugh. "Ahaha! I like this one--he's got wit." The drakka's gaze briefly dipped to Atlas's shoulders and his missing foreleg, but she didn't ask. "So Jarzyl, you said he was your... friend?" There was a slight implication with how she placed an emphasis on that word, which Jarzyl appeared to completely miss.

"He's a friend. A good old friend. I've known Atlas for a long time," Jarzyl cheerfully replied.

"Hmm, a good old friend? Everyone needs one of those," Mira said. "Always useful to have someone watching your flanks."

"Mm hmm," Jarzyl hummed agreeably.

Strolling closer, Mira used her wing to pat Jarzyl on the back. "Of course, for those like you and me, there's usually no shortage of people willing to watch your flank. But you've got to be careful." The drakka pretended to squint suspiciously at Atlas. "Once you let them watch your flank too long, they'll want a touch, and then it's all downhill from there. Before you know it, you'll be trading pennants and they'll be wanting one or two of these!" Mira lifted Maycor from Jarzyl's shoulder, and she nuzzled at the hatchling. "Aren't you just the cutest little thing, you tiny bundle of loveliness, you...!"

"Mama!" Maycor bumped his tiny snout against his mother's.

"I love you so much! But you shouldn't just be running off anywhere," Mira muttered to her son. She placed the hatchling on her shoulder, where he clung on which practiced ease. "We're going to go back to your sister and your father, and don't you run off again. Got it?"

"Ohh-kay," chirped Maycor.

Mira looked over towards Jarzyl. "We'll be setting off soon, so get yourself ready to leave." The drakka also nodded towards Atlas. "Nice to meet you, Jarzyl's good old friend. Do take care of my niece. It's a really busy and important day, so I doubt anyone will be chaperone for you two fledglings. You two better behave yourselves."

"I always behave myself!" Jarzyl insisted.

"Ahaha." With a bark of sarcastic laughter and doubtful glare, Mira turned around and strolled back towards the living room, with Maycor clinging to her shoulder.

"Bye, bye!" Maycor babbled, waving his wings. Atlas flicked his own wing in a wave, though Jarzyl didn't.

Jarzyl was still for a moment, then she let out a relieved sigh and visibly relaxed, leaning against the wall once her aunt and cousin were around the corner. "Phew! For a moment I thought she was going to ask me to take care of Maycor or Demaeter for the day. Today of all days, I do _not_want to be busy babysitting hatchlings when there's a sector launch to watch."

Atlas nodded agreement. "Your aunt is an interesting person. What is it that she does, you said?"

"She used to work in the Airguard, now she's a shipmaster in the Mintaka merchant fleet. Roaming the open skies in an airship, keeping our trade routes running. Sounds like a good vocation." Jarzyl stared into blank space for a moment, then her gaze snapped back into focus and she glanced at Atlas. Reaching out a paw, she held onto one of his horns to gently wobble his head. "Hahaha." She stopped after a moment and looked curious. "What's a chaperone?"

"It's... a person who makes sure that you behave and act properly," Atlas replied.

"Isn't that already what you do?" Jarzyl retorted.

"It's different." Now Atlas felt slightly awkward, wondering how to explain it. After a few moments, he finally settled on repeating, "It's different."

"Eh. Whatever." Trotting forward, Jarzyl moved forward down the corridor towards the living room, gesturing for Atlas to follow her with a flick of her tail tip. "Come, good old friend, let's go."

---

---

TO BE CONTINUED