a muzzle emerges from the rocky crags. charmander looks to freya, but the draconid shakes her head. she squats down, holds out a cautious hand, and the beaky snout sniffs once, twice, and then the deino's little body squeezes out from behind the rocks. 

"you must be far from your nest, little hatchling," she says. 

with all the disruptions in the earth, she wouldn't be surprised to know it's been displaced. still, she'll take some time to look for its nest. 

"keep an eye on it," she says as he curious little creature starts to follow them.

DRAGON INCENSE

☉

the deino is the first to feel it. it stops suddenly, mewls, and then scurries into another rocky crag, black tufts of fur poking out as it quivers. and then freya - she reaches immediately for another ball, knowing that even if her charmander were to perform perfectly, it could not overcome the salamence that scrapes its way to the rocky outcropping above. 

it leers down at them, considering, and aeris' tail rattles. fire gathers in the salamence's mouth and then sputters. it coughs and then collapses.

"with care," she says as she palms aeris' neck and swings herself on her back. charmander stays behind to keep an eye on their hatchling friend.

teeth gnash as they near. aeris stays out of the salamence's radius, but she and freya realize quickly that they are not in danger. a studded wound bleeds on the wild salamence's flank. crystal shards are embedded in its side - red and green and blue. 

"must've gotten caught in a distortion," she murmurs with a grimace. she dismounts. aeris threads waves of light over her mistress as a safety precaution. 

the salamence lifts its head, pupils narrowing, and hisses a warning. freya hums, draws a ball out from her hip, and promises in its language that she will heal it. she will help it. 

it's a relief, later, when she finds the deino's nest intact. the hydreigon is nowhere to be found - which saves them a headache. it crawls into the bed of moss and fungi and freya departs. 

CATCHING SALAMENCE

☉