The Forgotten Zodiac

Boko purred and nuzzled Shiya. "Let's go, let's go!" He wrapped her tail loosely around her arm and scampered forward, though he waited for her to catch up before starting to run. No flying...this would be perfect. He had left his wings near Zephyr; hopefully his father would realize what they were and pick them up.

"What do you think the first obstacle will be?" Boko questioned. "Did you get a good look at the map? I've forgotten already..."

"I did," she said, easily keeping stride with him. "The first one is a river. It shouldn't be too hard..." She flinched as Leonen charged past, making no effort to avoid them as he hit Shiya with his tail, making her whimper and shrink back against Boko. He was followed by several of the other pairs, all eager to get moving.

"It's not a race..." Shiya said softly, her eyes full of hurt-tears from Leonen's brutality.

Shiya watched him closely, moving to follow after a moment's hesitation. She scurried after him, the tree taking her weight better than his, though not by much. He wasn't too much bigger than her, after all. But nevertheless, they went up and over, making it safely down onto the other side.

Their next obsticle would prove more difficult.

A large, booming crevasse loomed before them.

Boko paused at the edge of the ravine, peering down. The river crashed down into the rocks below, carving a path for the water that zig-zagged between the cliffs. "Right...it's too wide to jump, and there aren't enough trees around to squirrel our way over," Boko said thoughtfully, then looked around. "We can use this," He trotted towards one side, where a tree had been knocked over. Probably by one of the larger pair. The tree looked rickety, as it had already been crossed by most everyone else.

Boko noticed Shiya's nervousness and smiled at her, wrapping his long tail around her middle, just under her arms. "There, there," He giggled. "We'll be fine. We'll cross at the same time." He smiled and nuzzled her.

((Don't skip across, I was gonna have it fall. Boko will lunge for the edge and Shiya will be dangling by his tail.))

((Woo!))

She nodded nervously, but she trusted him completely. Slowly, she fell into step just behind him as they headed out onto the tree, walking as carefully as they could. She tried not to look over the edge; it was a long way down, and the tree was already really creaky. She swallowed heavily, pressing her nose to the top of Boko's tail in fear.

Boko moved forward carefully. The log was slick with spray from the waterfall, but Boko had the idea to dig his claws in. Before long, they were halfway over.

And then there was a blood-chilling crack. Boko watched in terror for a few split seconds as the tree began to fall forward, the thin top half broken in two. The dragonling leapt for it, slamming his claws into the stony ridge and digging in so that he wouldn't fall. He tightened his tail grip around Shiya just as she started to fall with the tree. That left Boko clinging to a rock wall, Shiya hanging from his tail.

"Yo-you okay...?" He panted, not wanting to move his claws for fear of causing a rock slide.

She held on tightly to his tail, her face pressed into his scales, her skinny body shaking. "I...I'm ok-kay..." she stammered, hardly able to get the words out. She knew she could fly if she had to, but Boko couldn't...

"C-Can...y-you...m-make it?" she called timidly, her voice shaking as much as her body.

She looked up at him with tears shinning in her eyes, but Boko could also see trust glowing inside. She gave a weak nod and began to climb, ever so slowly, afraid of making a wrong move. She slowly worked her way up Boko's back, finally settling down against him. She was glad, in this moment, that she was small and light; perhaps it wouldn't be so much of a hinderance to her future-mate.

Boko carefully unhooked one set of claws from the rock face, then slowly moved his hand upwards. He quickly hooked onto his next hold. He moved his other hand, and nearly panicked as rocks started sliding to cover up the holes he had made. He scrambled up the rock face desperately, grabbing onto the edge and pushing Shiya up with his tail. "Pull me up," He panted, scrabbling for a new hold on the ground.

She scrambled up as fast as she could, quickly turning around and grabbing Boko by the back of his neck scales, trying hard to help pull him up. She threw all of her weight into it, digging her claws in and struggling to pull the drakeling up onto solid ground. She even managed to get her tail around the edge of a nearby tree, like an anchor.

Boko was slowly heaved up, but the back of his neck started bleeding from the force of Shiya's teeth. He didn't seem to care, sighing heavily once he was on solid ground. "Ha...thank goodness." He smiled happily, nodding slightly. "We're good. We made it," He grinned up at Shiya, then stood again and darted around her in a circle. "Are you hurt? You don't look hurt. Are you hurt somewhere on the inside?" He questioned, inspecting his mate-to-be carefully.

"No, I'm not hurt," she said gently, licking his nose once, softly. "I was just scared..." She spotted the marks her teeth had left and started to lick them tenderly, concerned. Her saliva wasn't as powerful as a fully-grown dragon's would be, and it would remain that way until she reached a mature age. Hers was more powerful than most her age, though; a sign that she was already growing.

Boko licked her neck in return, smiling. "Thank you," He said, twirling her tail around hers. "Let's get moving. It's already getting to be noon. We should probably find something to eat, soon..." He murmured, then shook his head. "But we also need to catch up with the others. I don't want to be late..."

She nodded and the two set off at a run again. Boko discovered something as they moved, their bodies close to the point of nearly touching. He fell into stride nearly perfectly with her, easily matching her pace, and he found himself able to faintly sense her breathing and the faint pulse of her heart beating. They were already developing the bond that would anchor them together forever at the Skydance.

Boko found it slightly odd, to be hearing someone else's breathing. He didn't hear it with his ears, though...it was like he was hearing it, but he knew that he wasn't. It was just a faint sound in the back of his mind that he somehow knew belonged to Shiya. He was thoroughly confused, but made a mental note to ask his father about it later.

Finally, they reached the next challenge. Brambles. Something dragons could easily get by, but would hurt Boko; his paw-scales were soft and too easily punctured. This was so that he could feel things. Soft dirt and hard rocks obviously had a distint feel. Sometimes he would hold hot rocks, for comfort when his mother and father were away.

He tried to set foot in the thick bushes, and immediately jerked back with a soft yelp. He sat back, licking his wound until the thorn popped out. "Ow...those Elders had something to do with this, probably..." He sighed heavily, resting his head on the ground for a moment. He looked up at Shiya sadly. "Why do they not like me?"

((If you're sending text messages, I'm not gettin' em. .3.))

((Huh. I'll try again.))

"They just don't understand," the red and gold dragoness said, sitting down next to him and passing her tongue gently over his face. "What they don't understand scares them, so they try to get rid of it or squash it away where they can't see it anymore. But I understand it." She put a claw under Boko's chin, lifting his gaze to her soft blue eyes. "I...well, I more than understand it," she said softly. "In fact, I...I love it..."

Boko smiled up at her. "I love you, too..." He murmured, but sighed still. "I...still, I can't help but be upset..." He thought for a moment, then smiled a bit. "I guess they're my bullies, like Leonen is yours. But I'm taking care of your bully, don't worry..." He licked her forehead. "Vuker said he was trying to talk to the elders. They like him..." Another smile, and Boko slowly stood. "Would you help me strip some bark off of a tree? I can use them like...shoes. Like Diana's shoes, that protect her feet from things on the road...humans need those. I think I need some now."

"Okay," Shiya said, her face alight with her smile, then they proceeded to remove quite a lot of bark from the nearby trees, where Shiya very carefully molded them to fit Boko's feet. She helped tie them on with long vines she found hanging off of the edge of the ravine, and when Boko was ready, they began to make their way through the haze of thorns.