Pollen Theif

Bright was a lonely creature. Fae vikai weren’t especially common, and wild ones were much less so. Bright’s days were filled with the same general routine; look for food, eat the food, avoid being eaten. A simple existence in theory, but it was extraordinarily difficult in execution.

One thing Bright learned was that things to eat normally hung about around where there was water. Being around water also helped with preventing thirst. But where there was a vital resource, there were predators and parasites. 

One eye to the sky, with a mind to swooping shadows. One eye scanning everything closer to the ground, with a mind to sudden movement and eye shapes. There wasn’t much around at a time like this, though. High noon, when everything wanted to get out of the sun and nap. 

Bright flitted out to the river and perched on a rock. They gave the water a glance, then another with a tilted head, then lowered their snout to take a sip. Bright suddenly alighted from the rock, zipped around, then landed again and kept sipping. They repeated this process until they were satisfied, and flew off back towards the shade. 

The branch shook with Brights' weight when they grabbed onto it. Bright kept its vigil, scanning every which way as they rested, almost taking off every time anything around them so much as twitched. 

It was a surprise to even Bright when someone landed next to the stream for a drink, and Bright didn't take off in fear.

A gold and brown mytheren with an amber gem was drinking from the stream and refilling a hip flask of the same water. He looked haggard and exhausted, more of a victim waiting to happen than a threat to dart away from.

Bright slowly crawled down to the ground, trying not to make too much noise. The mythren didn't notice the vikai approaching for quite a while, to such a degree that Bright was certain that this creature would be completely unable to survive by itself out in the wild. By the time it had noticed Bright's approach, they had made up their mind. 

The mythren stood up, swaying on its feet. It was still tired after taking all that time to rest? The mythren's stomach growled, and Bright realized the problem. It had been having trouble finding food.

"Nice to see you again." Saolage grumbled, slowly screwing the top back on to the flask. "Thanks to you, the village has to work double time to replenish its pollen stores, and I've been officially blamed for luring you in to the village in the first place."

Bright tilted its head at Saolage, then crept closer. Saolage now looked like the one about to dart to safety, but he stayed where he was. 

Bright simply walked up to Saolage and sat down next to him. Saolage gave him an odd look, which Bright returned in full innocence. 

"Okay, what do you want?" Saolage grumbled.

Bright leaned forward and nudged him, lowering its head. Saolage didn't comprehend at first, so Bright just kept on nudging. Saolage got up and tried to walk away, which was just the opportunity Bright was waiting for. Bright quickly dived between the Mythren's legs and shimmied the light creature onto its back as a rider. Bright looked back at Saolage, expression positively cheeky. 

"...You could've just said something!" Saolage snapped. "You can talk right?"

Bright shook their head. 

"Oh. Well...you can definitely understand what I'm saying, so you could've tried some other way, right?"

Bright thought about it, then looked away again. They started to walk forward, purposefully bumping Saolage around but stopping just shy of bumping Saolage off onto the ground.

"I'LL HOLD ON DAMMIT!" Saolage shreiked and threw his arms around Bright's neck. He was still holding the hip flask, and Bright glanced to check that the leather strap was still around Saolage's wrist. 

Bright buzzed their wings and took off into the air. Saolage didn't seem all too startled, perhaps he was used to flying at such speeds? In any case, Bright kept their pace up, the landscape beneath them flew by in colorful blurs, the grassland creeks and wildflowers giving way to dusty gray and brown dirt pathways, that joined up into cobblestone, then concrete.

"H-hey, what're we doing in the big city?" Saolage asked nervously as Bright alighted on a seemingly safe spot. "We could get hurt if someone doesn't see us."

Bright ignored their rider's trepidations and looked around for the place they were looking for. Different storefronts had different wares on sale, but Bright was looking for shiny artifacts brimming with magic. This was likely to be a much more closely guarded area, protecting the wares from theives and unsuspecting customers from the wares. 

At last, Bright crawled into a crevice with a veritable treasure trove of goods on sale. But Bright was looking for one in particular, one that even Saolage knew of. 

"An Amulet of the Moonflower..." Saolage whispered. It was as tall as both of them, and it glittered in the artifical lamplight. 

Bright put their mouth on one side, looking at Saolage. Saolage hesitated, but reached forward and took the other side. 

"Ready?" Saolage sounded a little too nervous to be ready. "Okay. One, two--"

Bright tossed their head and the amult snapped in two. Saolage jumped in surprise with a yelp. 

Sorry. Saolage heard the voice clear in his mind.

"...I guess you can talk now, huh?" Soalage laughed nervously. 

Only to you. Bright idly scratched behind their ear with a hind leg. Which is fine, since you'll probably need my help if you want to survive. 

"I..." Bright could see in Saolage's thoughts that couldn't argue. "...Fine, you're right. So, lets get out of here before someone spots us?"

"Hey, what happened to my Moonflower Amulet?" An older voice barked. "If that damned intern messed with the wares again--!" 

I guess we'll have to survive this first! Bright thought in panic. Climb on, we're getting out of here!