Archive of Our Own ^beta

          “Guys, where’s Zenya?”

          They were standing in the middle of their inn room, trying to figure out what they were going to do first. Whether Rook liked it or not, they were in the middle of Imerloth, trying to track down a lead on Jay and possibly even Braedon. No one asked who the second man was, but from the way Paddy’s expression darkened it was easy to guess it had something to do with the burning of Bay Hollow. Very few things made that look cross the wood elf’s face, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

          Unsurprisingly, Rook was the one who realised the little pseudodragon was missing.

          Turning and glancing around at the floorboards, he had voiced the question. Everyone else froze and started looking around for the little green dragon. Nagar checked the undersides of his feet, even though they all knew he was unlikely to step on Zenya. She’d dart out from under his feet, or bite and wail until Rook or Gwing picked her up and told her everything was okay. But the pseudodragon rarely left Rook’s side, which was why it was so worrying that she had just…disappeared all of a sudden. “Okay, I guess that’s order one of what we need to do.” Gwing mused, turning to everyone after they’d done a sweep of their room and found nothing more than an open window with little dragon footprints in the dirt from the planter. “Rook, you’re with me. Gimgar, Ava, you’re with Torlin. Nagar and Paddy, you’re another team. We’ll split up and find Zenya, and then come find one another. If not, then meet back here at sunset and we’ll figure out what to do from there.”

          Everyone nodded, and Rook glanced out the window nervously. As the others left with decisions on where they were going to try looking first, he took in a breath and watched the clouds dance by.

          Where are you, Zenya?

+++

          Flaring her wings, Zenya growled at the caged monkey.

          It hissed and spat back at her, clawing at her with long, furry arms. Part of her said, eat it. Dragons are better. Then she remembered that Rook wouldn’t be very happy if she ate a monkey because then he would have to pay the owner. Instead, she jumped forward and grabbed the scraps of bacon sitting in front of the primate, huffing smoke in its face when its claws glanced off her tiny scales. Flicking it in the nose with her tail, she flew off before the monkey seller could spot her and then winged into the air.

          So this was Imerloth. It was a pretty city. She’d heard the tones of Rook’s voice when he spoke of the place—his origin. Yes, she did pay attention even as she chewed on his hat. She was a pseudodragon. She was smart. Much better than any monkeys or birds or—well, maybe not Nala, Nala was sweet and Zenya liked her quite a lot. The panther hadn’t given her any reason not to. Maybe Nala was just a furry black pseudodragon without any wings.

          Buzzing happily, Zenya settled down on a roof and then looked around. She perched on her hindquarters, wrapped her tail around her hind legs, and then started snacking away on the bacon she had…acquired. She’d heard Rook and Gwing use that word before, whenever they were talking about taking something that wasn’t theirs. Sometimes it was by use of force, other times by bribery (another word she had learned from them).

          “Zenya!”

          The voice was familiar. Lifting her head, she looked around and swallowed the last bits of bacon, ears flicking. She could see humans walking through the alley below, but none of them were her humans. Well, human and half-elf, she supposed.

          “Zenya!” There was another voice she knew! When she looked around, she saw a flash of a leaf cloak—the elf! She knew that one! And she knew the big dragonborn beside him.

          Flapping down, she squawked her presence. Both turned to look at her and she fluttered down to look for Rook. “There you are! What have you been doing?” The wood elf asked, holding her close. She chirruped, telling him all about what she’d seen, but he didn’t understand her. “Whoa, okay, okay. Let’s get you back to Rook. He’s been going crazy from what I’ve heard.”

          Settling down into the wood elf’s arms, Zenya grumbled and then closed her eyes.