PREVIOUS: ( https://www.furaffinity.net/view/19085948/ )
NEXT: ( https://www.furaffinity.net/view/22443185/ )

Weaving her way through branch and bush, Thayi was determined to find what she was looking for. It had already been two hours since she first got started, the heat of the jungle bearing down on her, thirst slowly creeping in. She could have remained back at her office in an air-conditioned facility, and just let the troopers try to find the new asset. But she knew the blockheads would probably just have pelted the poor thing with rubber bullets instead of try to take her in in a more civilized manner.

A few days ago, Vybrylon learned an asset it lost had been located in a small village on the edge of the Hidean Outskirts. A group of soldiers were dispatched in order to bring it back in. While the village was hesitant to reveal where the asset was, eventually it was found by soldiers the next day. The asset had removed the horn scales from her head at some point, and thus didn't draw too much attention. But the asset had a daughter while they were free, and the daughter escaped. Vybrylon now had the mother, so that was no longer an issue, but for containment purposes they wanted the daughter brought in as well. Having worked with these sorts of assignments previously, Thayi saw this as a good opportunity to get out of the office and do something good with her time.

On the way to the village, Thayi inquired about the nature of the asset, and why it was so special for Vybrylon. The head trooper refused to impart any information of that nature to her, claiming it wasn't necessary for the assignment. Given that they still had forty minutes until they arrived, she made use of that time and pushed further onto the trooper, not satisfied with being left in the dark. The trooper finally caved in, growing annoyed of her, and simply informed her that the child's venom could be dangerous. Thayi wasn't impressed with the answer. A horned viper sagha having dangerous venom was a no-brainer - even a young one could be dangerous. Either this guy was just stating the obvious to keep her quiet, or there was something else to the asset that made it special.

Following the fresh trail of the new asset, Thayi was certain to get the answers she wanted, and give the young one the help it needed. She was fortunate the ground was soft and moist, and that the child left an indent to follow. It also helped she could still smell the girl's scent - the modifications she had received from Vybrylon proved quite useful for tasks such as this. While many other members of her people had enhanced smell, her family has remained more human throughout the generations, and thus weren't as ophidian as others. When it was time for her to receive membership benefits, she felt the enhanced smell might prove useful. The new vomeronasal organ and forked tongue took some getting used to, but in the long run, it has proved quite useful for assignments such as this.

She was on the right path. She could feel that it'd be only a short matter of time until she found who she was looking for. And do what needed to be done.

---

After almost an entire year, I'm finally getting back to this story! =D

We are now introduced to the other main character in this tale. A Hidean woman, but of human form and not serpentine like many other Hideans. One thing I want to stress is that while my other nations are predominantly more animal in form for the sake of creating unique and interesting races in addition to having a sort of metaphorical purpose, that there are still some members of these nations who are still human, not all having been reformed in accordance to their culture's affinities and beliefs. I haven't quite worked out how exactly the metamorphisis works and how some avoided this, especially considering how strong and demanding some cultures could be in terms of "everyone needing" to comply. But in time, I'll get things figured out.