[Gift] Whirlwind Tour

A long, slim body shot over the orchard, flying low so the branches creaked and leaves whispered sharply, waking Quercus from his slumber. At first, he tried to ignore it, but after the third pass that rocked the tree in which he slept, he reluctantly made his way above the canopy, blinking sleepy eyes against the setting sun.

The first thing to notice were the two red pennants flying at her sides, at the ends of golden poles embedded in her flesh. If they at all hindered her speed, she didn’t show it. She moved like lightning, bolting at top speed, a quick flash from one spot to the next, a blue of blue against the oranges and reds of the painted sky.

Quercus contented himself with watching Whirlwind rather than interrupting her. Her yellow fins flattened against her head just before she took off, and her long, thin antennae sometimes twitched. He wondered if she was testing the wind or if the pennants told her enough: speed, direction, perhaps some way of detecting pressure.

She was a lovely blue with darker blotches, spilled ink all over her body. Diamonds in shades of turquoise trailed down her spine all the way to the end of her tail where they disappeared under one of the ink blots that consumed the very tip.

The light caught on the gold framing her face, and Quercus blinked to realize that her red eyes were focused on him, her face serious and imposing.

For a moment, he contemplated scurrying back beneath the canopy.

Instead he offered, “You’re very fast.”

She snorted. “Yes, I am.” Not unfriendly, but not sure what to make of him. “Why were you watching?”

He tipped his head, fluffy antennae flopping. “Should I not have?”

“It’s rude.”

“Rude!” Quercus exclaimed. “Rude, she says. After you woke me up by flying too close to the trees. Some of us are nocturnal, you know.” ‘Some of us’ didn’t necessarily include him, but he’d rather earned a nap, he thought. It had been days of reporting to his rider about all the dragons and riders he’d seen, and getting terse replies to keep looking while no guidance as to what they actually wanted.

That caught her. She glanced at the orchard as if seeing it for the first time, then allowed her attention to wander over to the pumpkin patch, the barn, and the people milling about. “Oh,” she said, not quite admitting guilt but holding her feelings close to her chest.

Quercus, despite not being affiliated with the Orchard in any way, decided to be a magnanimous host. “Why don’t you come and get some food to take home?”

She blinked at him, unmoved.

He soldiered on. “They love to give food away. If they’ve seen you circling for the last… however long, it might make them feel more at-ease.” It might also make them overlook the dragon who simply wasn’t going home and tolerate his presence a little longer.

“Oh, very well,” she snipped, sounding embarrassed at the idea of any of them watching her, and Quercus led her to the ground and to one of the Erré who worked in the Orchard. After some brief negotiation, the Erré left and soon returned with a cornucopia filled with vegetables and fruit, the bounty of the season. They placed it in Whirlwind’s arms, thanked her, then moved on to the next creature hovering nearby, waiting for attention.

As she lifted into the sky, Quercus followed, until she stopped and, quietly, said, “Thank you.”

“No trouble at all,” he said brightly. “Happy harvest.” She made a low rumble of vague agreement, and then she was gone, as lightning fast as she’d been going earlier.