Art by  MyDrawnWorld
Story is mine and based off the Wings of Fire novels by Tui T Sutherland

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"Aaaand... Poisonous! Very poisonous!"

Lychee threw the handful of colorful sprigs he'd collected into the stream with a frustrated growl, then quickly dunked his claws into the flowing water and rubbed them together to get rid of any lingering residue that might have stuck to his scales. He wasnt about to risk accidentally transferring poisonous sap to his food. Not again.

"Three moons, is there anything helpful out here?" He grumbled to himself. The heavyset RainWing's normally vibrant, green scales were turning orange at the edges, a coloration that was becoming more and more common as Lychee explored the eastern edges of the rainforest. He'd wanted to do an extended foraging expedition at the furthest edge of the rainforest, where the RainWing's jungle and the MudWing's swamps gave way to the SeaWing peninsula in hopes of finding something new and helpful for healing. Today was day three, and the most useful things he'd found were a bunch of tiny, edible mushrooms that tasted like mud and a tall, flowering plant with bunches of small, dark berries. He thought he'd found another one of the berry plants, but this one was apparently extremely poisonous despite looking very similar to the berry plant...

Worryingly similar.

"You better not be broken already and making me eat poisonous plants." Lychee glowered at the small bangle resting just above his right claw. It was some dull, plain metal that looked similar to silver, with a single, large marble resting in the middle and something flaky and brown spreading across the surface. The marble looked inky black... But was quickly fading back to being it's normal, completely clear self.

Lychee had found it shortly after returning from studying - if it could even really be called 'studying', with how obtuse that old MudWing was - healing techniques in Potential. He'd been checking around the tree bases of the RainWing to see if there were any of the plants and lichens he'd learned about growing near them when something shiny caught his eye. There, in the roots of Queen Glory's pavilion, had been the bangle. It took Lychee the better part of the afternoon to carve the thing out of where the roots had shifted and grown around the thing, but Lychee managed to pry it free with plenty of grumbling and swearing.

Lychee didn't much care for treasure like dragons from other tribes seemed to, but maybe he could trade it for something useful the next time he left the rainforest? That had been his initial plan until he noticed the marble changing colors while he was sorting healing herbs, anyway. He'd thought it was a trick of the light at first, but it was impossible to deny the marble was definitely turning white the longer he held an herb. It was only the next day, when he was on foraging duty with the other tribe healers, that he noticed the marble turn black while he was brushing poison ivy away from a sunny patch in the rainforest floor. A bit of experimentation away from the other healers confirmed his suspicions; the marble turned white if he held something helpful, and black if he held something poisonous. The more helpful or poisonous the thing in his claws, the more the color would fill in.

"Come on, turn white just once today. Please?"

Lychee gave his wrist a shake, but the marble remained perfectly, frustratingly clear. Lychee glared at it for a moment longer... Then turned back toward the bunch of poisonous plants with a sigh, orange washing over him. He might as well make sure to note the look-alike in his field guide, at least. It would be pretty awful to learn that one of the other healers got sick - or worse - thinking they'd come across one of the new medical plants he'd discovered. He dug into his heavy leather satchel where he left it hanging in a tree - 'borrowed indefinitely' from Potential's healer, since she never asked for it back - and from it produced his field guide, a thin slate to write on, and the charcoal he'd need to add to his notes.

He'd never been particularly good at art and writing even after his time at Jade Mountain Academy, but he'd forced himself to improve his plant-drawing while he was in Potential. If he wasn't bothering the healer and watching her work, he was in her greenhouse and drawing, drawing, drawing. He wanted his records to be as accurate as possible, given how careless his fellow RainWing healers could be while foraging... Even if it meant having to work odd jobs around Potential to replace all the scrolls and ink he'd used at the healer's shack

Lychee rolled his scroll to the newest section, scribbled a brief warning on the look-alike, then brought his gaze to rest on the clump of plants. His claws moved quickly, sketching out the shape, then the deep lines along the thick stem, bladed leaves, the starburst flowers... As he drew, Lychee began to notice the subtle differences between his new sketch and the berry plant, quickly adding them to the notes. After a few more minutes of careful sketching, Lychee added a 'VERY POISONOUS!' next to it for good effect, double checked his work, and with a satisfied nod began to roll the scroll back up. It wasn't until after he'd put it away that he noticed how quiet it was.

Normally there would be animals calling and chirping and growling all around him, but all Lychee could hear was the small stream and the buzz of nearby insects. He turned and gazed into the trees, eyes straining to find something other than plant life, ears perked to try and make out nearby animal sounds... Wait, there was one. He closed his eyes and listened intently, trying to identify it. Loud, whiny, rapid chittering, almost like a sloth. The crunch of sticks and leaves and undergrowth, like an enraged hog crashing through the jungle but slower. It was no wonder everything around it had gone quiet. What sane, normal creature was so *noisy*? Whatever it was, it was coming in Lychee's direction, and he didn't much feel like dealing with some fever-mad animal. He made his scales shift and change to blend in with the surrounding trees and make himself invisible, eyes scanning the trees where he heard the chittering coming from, ready to leap into the air if whatever it was came charging through the small clearing. What finally emerged from the undergrowth wasn't a sick boar or jaguar, but something altogether much more surprising;

Scavengers.

Three of them, two smaller following an older-looking one. They all had those strange animal skins over their squishy, scaleless bodies, and the older scavenger had something that looked like a spear in one hand. It was chittering animatedly to the two smaller scavengers, who would occasionally warble something back. For the most part, though, they seemed more interested in everything else around them than the bigger scavenger.

Lychee relaxed and had to keep himself from letting out a relieved sigh. No big, mad animal to avoid, just some very loud, careless scavengers. He watched the older one chitter something to the little ones and point at the stream, then turn to start slowly walking around the opposite perimeter of the clearing like it was looking for something. The little ones ran toward the water and immediately began pushing aside reeds and plants to look for something as well. It wasn't until one of the little scavengers let out a loud noise and held up one of its paws that Lychee realized they were here to forage, too.

Interesting. Guess they hunt and gather like we do. Lychee mused. He watched the trio go about their business for a few minutes, splashing and chittering and occasionally getting distracted by something, before deciding it best to slink away before they got any closer. He turned slowly, careful to make as little noise as possible while stretching a wing to cover where he'd hung his satchel in the tree, looped it over his neck, and turned to give the scavengers one last glance before he snuck off--

"Woooohh..."

Lychee froze. Right beside him were the two little scavengers oggling over his slate. He could do nothing but mentally chide himself for forgetting to put it back in his bag after he got distracted and listen to the two chitter over it, pointing at the idle scratchings he'd left as offhand notes during his travel. He didn't normally write on the slate itself, but when he was in a hurry or it was too wet to risk taking out a scroll he'd scribble down a note or reminder, and for whatever reason the little scavengers seemed to find it fascinating.

Lychee held his breath and started to slowly, slowly move his claws away from them-- and was rewarded with a surprised cry that made him freeze once more. One of the scavengers was pointing right at him... No, not him, his bangle! Even invisible, Lychee couldn't help but make a sour face. He only ever had it on during foraging trips since learning of it's power, but he'd gotten so used to wearing it the last three days that he'd hidden himself without realizing it wouldn't hide with him! He kept perfectly still and watched the scavengers cautiously approach, marveling at the seemingly floating jewelry. The braver of the two stepped forward to prod at it and quickly jumped back... But when nothing happened they both stepped closer, poking and tugging at it with their tiny, useless paws.

Yes, yes, floating jewelry that you can't move or wear anyway so leave it alone and go back to foraging, please! Lychee thought pointedly at the scavengers as they chittered and tugged. He briefly wondered if they'd piece together that they were trying to grab jewelry being worn by an invisible dragon, but if their careless romp through the trees was any sign they likely weren't bright enough to puzzle that one out. There was nothing he could do but wait for them to give up on trying to pull it off him and either go back to his slate or the water. One of the scavengers eventually wandered around to his front and promptly tripped over his hidden claws, barely catching themselves against his bangle. Clumsy as well as unintelligent, then, Lychee ruefully observed. He was almost sure the two were close to giving up when one let out a surprised cry and--

"That is not yours to take, thank you!" Lychee roared, snatching his forelimb away from the scavenger trying to pry the marble from it's setting.

With his cover blown, he let his scales turn to their natural mood-reflective state, leaving him bright orange. He glared down at the temporarily stunned scavengers, looking between both of their fearful, shocked faces. Were they going to move? Or just let the big dragon in front of them potentially eat them? How did scavengers manage to survive long enough to build settlements?! Far after they should have, the two little scavengers screamed and started to scramble away from Lychee, slipping over each other and the slick mud near the stream. The RainWing sighed and shook his head at their screaming, gibbering nonsense and reached over them for his slate--

"OW! Ow ow ow, that stings you squishy sloth wannabe!"

Only to have the bigger scavenger jam its spear into his other foreleg. He didn't think scavengers were capable of piercing dragonscale, but the crafty little bugger had angled his stab upward to get it beneath one of them. The shallow angle kept it from going deep, but there was still a trickle of blood running from the weapon and onto the scavenger's hands. Lychee hissed in pain as the scavenger tried to wrench his weapon free, but it was stuck fast against the rest of Lychee's scales. The angry little thing didn't even notice Lychee's other claw reaching around to grab it around the middle until it was already being lifted into the air, kicking and screaming and motioning at the two smaller scavengers now huddled together against a tree.

"Calm down and-- no, biting me isn't going to help you escape. Moons, you are angry!" Lychee growled. He carefully moved the larger scavenger trying to claw its way out of his grip to the smaller duo and let him drop unceremoniously onto the wet forest floor. The still screaming tiny scavengers started to tug and garble something at the bigger one, who pulled them in close and glared right back at Lychee. The RainWing just sighed again and rolled his eyes at the incredibly noisy show, then turned his attention to the spear stuck in his leg. He gingerly grabbed it by the haft and - with a snarl of fresh pain and a hard tug - managed to pull it free like an oversized thorn. Lychee was about to just let it drop to the ground... Then thought better of giving the big scavenger a second chance to poke him, and instead balanced it between two branches just above the still-screaming trio.

"There! No more poking, please. I just want my slate and you can get back to being noisy and trying to find... Whatever it is you were foraging for."

Lychee gave them a stern sidelong look before he reached over them for his slate again, getting a few more scared noises from the scavengers but much fewer sharp things jammed under his scales this time. His slate was soon back where it belonged in his satchel, and while he was rooting around Lychee pulled a Lamb's Ear leaf from his field supplies to wrap around the stab in his foreleg. The residue in the fuzz helped to soothe the stinging pain almost instantly, and once the impromptu bandage was tied off, Lychee turned to the blessedly quiet, trembling trio of scavengers. He'd never heard of bands of them getting this close to the jungle... Maybe they didn't realize this was dragon territory? Not that Lychee was worried RainWings would try to eat them, hunting still wasn't a particularly popular way of finding food in the jungle. But, a few dragons from the other tribes were still in and out of the rainforest, and for some reason the thought of one of these terrified creatures dying a slow and painful death after being nipped by a NightWing made his stomach turn.

"You," Lychee grunted, pointing at the big scavenger. He then pointed at the spear, then the opposite direction of the denser rainforest and his home. "Take your spear and go, don't go any deeper than this, or else,"

Lychee pointed at the scavengers, then the deep jungle, then opened his maw and pointed inside before snapping it closed loud enough to make the little scavengers whimper in fear.

"You'll end up as someone's snack... Ugh, what am I doing? You can't understand me. It's like I'm trying to talk to a sloth."

Lychee rubbed his eyes and shook his head, feeling beyond foolish. If these loud, stupid creatures were trying to take what was clearly dragon treasure, how would they be smart enough to understand what he was trying to tell him? He gave the cowering trio one last look over, gave them a derisive snort, then stretched his wings and leapt into the sky. While that had been an... interesting little distraction, Lychee was still determined to find at least one more medicinal plant before he returned to the RainWing village, and it was already late afternoon...

END