Triphena scanned the countryside in boredom. She had already eaten enough to fill her stomach for the night, but it was still too early to go back to the caves. She felt restless. It had been too long since something had happened and she was getting one of her feelings again. It had been awhile since the last time she had gotten one, but she had been trying to ignore them since old Dylian told her that it was not something that happened to many, and that she would be singled out for it. She thought that they had stopped for good after the last time, but apparently she was wrong. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind, tuning her sensitive ears on the landscape below.
What was that? It was like no other sound she had ever heard. But it must just be the wind…. Wait, there it was again! Triphena banked sharply and spiraled down over the forest beneath her, zeroing in on the source of the strange sound. She slowly let herself drift down, large leathery wings turned slightly to give her a soft landing. She got to the canopy and hovered there for a moment, listening. The sound, it was so sad. A wailing of a sort, but unlike any that her kind produced. Finally, her curiosity got the better of her. Folding her wings, she used her claws to climb down among the trees onto the forest floor.
She moved slowly through the trees, large green-gold eyes scanning the ground, trying to locate where the sound came from. Finally, she found it. It seemed to be coming from that tree in front of her. But, trees don’t wail, do they? Still satisfying her curiosity, she crept forward and poked her head around the tree. At the base of the trunk was a small blue bundle. So, Triphena thought, it wasn’t the tree at all! But, what is that? She crept forward on the tips of her long claws and nosed the bundle gently. The wailing stopped for a moment, before resuming again, with much more intensity.
She pulled her head back. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t happy about something. Maybe Dylian would know what to do with it. With that thought in mind, she came around the tree and grabbed the bundle carefully in her forefeet, and with a few awkward wing-beats, was out of the forest and back into the night air.
With a feeling of pride growing in her chest, she turned back towards the caves, ready to show off her new treasure to the others. She rearranged her claws around the bundle, wishing it would stop making that horrible noise, and took off, her red-gold scales glinting in the light of the full moon.