This is a commission I had done by  EvilLabRat! She did an amazing job with this image, and oh my god Sarah and Salickya make such an adorable couple! I had this image as my desktop wallpaper pretty much all winter, and even gloomy winter days that were stupidly cold didn't feel so bad with this picture around. Yay for wholesomeness! c:

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It was a nice warm day out. The sun was shining, and there was just enough of a breeze to keep the sun from getting annoyingly warm. For Sarah, it was the perfect day to do whatever she wanted. She could read a book, but she felt more in the mood to stretch out on her nice comfy lounge chair and take a nap. Yes, doing nothing felt like the perfect thing to do on this fine day.

“Hello Sarah!”

Looking over, Sarah could see a small figure eagerly half walking, half hopping over to her. It was Salickya, the little gryvern that she had seen with that hydragryph, Rook lately. Hopping over to the gryphon, Salickya put her arms up against the side of the bench and stood up, popping her head up over with ears perked up. “You're that nice gryphon that's with that scary gryphon, Sparra!” Sarah smiled. “That's me yes, though Sparra isn't here. If I recall, I think she's with your Rook right now.”
Salickya nodded.
“Yeah, those two are having a bit of a fling right now... I didn't feel like sticking around, and Sparra mentioned you would be around here, so I went looking.” The little gryvern then hopped up and down a few times, wriggling excitedly “But did you know that I'm famous now? I'm in a book! I know you like books, so did you want to read my book?”

Sarah wasn't sure how serious Salickya was being. She knew shi tended to exaggerate and stretch the truth quite often, especially if in doing so was to her favor. “Alright, I'd like to see-” and shi was gone. It surprised her how fast that gryvern could move when shi really wanted to, especially since she could see how Salickya flew through the air in an up-down motion thanks to hir front-heavy weight. She didn't have to wait long. She spotted Salickya coming back, still dipping up and down, though now shi carried a sack in hir beak. Once the gryvern had landed and half-carried, half-dragged the sack over, shi pulled out a startlingly large book and held it up for Sarah to take. Truth be told, Sarah was half expecting a simple picture book, not because she felt Salickya was dumb, but she felt that Salickya's temperament would be more suited to simpler books and stories. But this, this was more like a reference book! Taking the book and looking at it, she saw that it was titled “Interviews with Exotic Hybrids, Part II” and penned by a Reynold Halloway. And it was indeed a reference book, part of a collection of books containing detailed sketches, information, and interviews with quite a variety of creatures. As she was flipping through the pages, she saw that Salickya was still perched at the edge of the chair, golden eyes bright with excitement and expectation.

“Salickya, would you like to come up here and read with me? You could show me where you are in this impressively large book!” Sarah couldn't think of a more excited expression she had seen on a creature than the look on Salickya's face just then.
“Yes, of course!” And the little gryvern hopped and pulled hirself up onto the lounge chair, and Sarah pulled hir into her lap, giving her a rub behind the ears for good measure, which she got a happy purr in reply. It took no time at all for Sarah to find “gryvern” in the book, as Salickya had memorized the section and page number shi showed up in. And there shi was. Several detailed sketches of Salickya stared back at the pair, showing off various parts of hir body, and with it a number of pages of text. As the two read the section, Salickya had clearly nearly memorized the whole thing and stubbornly refuted a few passages (which Sarah felt were actually accurate).

And so the two spent the afternoon reading together from a reference book, and between the two of them, they had actually met or heard of most of the creatures listed. Salickya actually made an excellent reading companion, hir enthusiasm and eagerness to share hir book easily making up for some of the more dry portions of the reading. Sarah knew that she would have to spend more time with Salickya, as the little gryvern was delightful company, and far sharper than she had given hir credit for.

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Artwork by  EvilLabRat
Character by  SparraWingshard