People liked Bezzi, even if he was a bit jumpy. Or perhaps because he was. He was absolutely adorable in so many ways. He was barely 13, but he was perhaps the size of a typical child of almost any Kin. He'd never be much bigger, either, though he was effectively an 'adult'.

He certainly didn't seem like an adult when he was around other people, either. But he did act very serious and concentrated hard when he was hunting or doing some kind of work for another Kin.

Bezzi, it was told by a seeress Elephant Kin who had found him first, had been dropped off on Planet Twenty after having been taken from his mother's lifeless arms on his homeworld. He was not quite two years old, and had wandered Planet Twenty for at least another three before he encountered his first people. Thankfully those were the elephants, because nearby were hyaena and lion Kin, who would surely have eaten him.

The fennec child wandered with the elephants for a while, running errands for them or just generally getting parts of them clean that they couldn't easily reach - their feet for instance, he really enjoyed listening to the deep rumbling speech of his guardians while he was busy picking out small bits from their hard, flat feet.

They passed him on to a group of gazelle Kin, who suited him up with his first clothing. The elephants rarely bothered with such frippery - they were too big to put anything smaller than a tent on, anyway. They taught him to weave, and Bezzi first learned to make ropes and thread with them.

Useful skills, especially when he struck out on his own after a time. Every few months, someone would get worried about him and trail him with whatever "finding" power they might have in their tribe. He'd be sitting curled up under the shade of a rock, in the middle of nowhere, bones practically sticking out from his ribcage but still healthy enough to celebrate being found.

Out there, in the savannah and dry areas, he spent a lot of his time asleep during the hottest portions of the day, and instead roused in the early morning and through the evenings. He could hunt more easily when the glare of the sun wasn't blinding him, when he could more easily concentrate on sounds using his massive ears.

For the most part, Bezzi liked catching rabbits, snakes and lizards, and particularly enjoyed the elusive round-carapaced black-beetles which scurried around just under the surface of sand in the scrub desert. He imagined there were way more of them in the full dune desert nearby, but he wasn't quite brave enough to head out there alone, and with no shelter visible for miles. He didn't much care for digging in sand, at least not to sleep in. Bezzi much preferred the rocks and small bushes that gave adequate shade in midday, and could alert him to anything approaching with whatever sounds they'd have to make to get to him.

Out there in the sand? He shuddered to think of it, alone, under the stars was one thing.

Alone, out in the middle of that hot, bright featureless place? No way.

... And yet, somehow, he wound up there anyway. There were a few beetles, a lizard here and there, and the occasional bird - mostly dead, having made the same mistake that Bezzi had, in trying to cross this place without aid.

A shadow passed overhead, momentarily blocking out the merciless sun, and then it grew bigger - something was coming down on him... And Bezzi was pretty much helpless to do anything about it. He lifted his head, half-blinded by the sun from behind the bright-white object, and he wondered, did vultures come in that color?

I am not a vulture, a telepathic voice came to his mind, and neither is my rider.

When he came to his senses a moment later, Bezzi stood abruptly and was met with a hooked, creamy white face and bright blue eyes. Though this 'face' seemed like it could eat him in one bite, it was also very friendly seeming. Plus, the mind-voice indicated only curiosity, and not hunger.

But Bezzi sure was hungry. His stomach growled so loudly that he made the white-faced creature jolt back a little, and then he heard a tittering laugh from beyond. "You need something to eat, little kit!" It was a female voice, and a moptop of white hair appeared from the side of this white creature's neck. "I'm Mukhai, and this is Mukgo, she's my dragon. She won't hurt you."

Bezzi's ears twitched, and suddenly Mukhai burst out laughing again. "Oh - Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." she giggled, "I didn't mean to laugh but I've never seen such ears! Come on, we can help you out of this desolate place. How can you stand the sand in your fur? What a pretty sash, oh are those belts?" She yammered on, and Bezzi pretty much ignored most of what she said, because it was all about where she'd gotten that vest or this earring, trivialities that even a loner like himself knew were just there to make small talk.

Bezzi nimbly lept to her side, the dragon-creature was small, but bigger than one of the Elephant Kin, so he knew it would be no trouble for it to carry both of them. In fact, Mukhai was quite small herself, dainty in height but kind of slinky, she was a cheetah, but it didn't seem like she was quite right - maybe she wasn't all Kin. Word had passed through several villages he'd been through that other people had come to Planet Twenty. Though truth be told, he hardly knew what Planet Twenty really was.

Thankfully he had no fear of heights, having been lifted from one particularly nasty fray between a jaguar and a hyaena by a large stork-Kin. The white dragon seemed to grow a little, and Bezzi just figured that was what dragons did. Elephants dreamed, gazelle grew plants, dragons ... grew. Or something.

He was so hungry.

It wasn't nearby, exactly, but the Hand cheetah village was where Mukhai decided to drop little Bezzi. They were on the northern side of the Plateau, which Bezzi appreciated the beautiful view of, from the dragon's back. Other dragons were in sight, he realized quickly that they were not native to the planet, and they weren't Kin. But what were they, exactly? He wasn't sure.

But, there were a bunch of them with this village, the Spotted Hand were a reasonably little band of cheetah Kin, real ones - whatever it was that differed between Mukhai and these, it was elusive, but it was pretty easily clear that Mukhai flirted with the males on a regular basis.

The slightly older female of the bunch (since there were only a couple females) came to Bezzi with water and some meat, which he ravenously gobbled. She looked him over, and declared, "he's healthy, no need for my powers on him thankfully."

"He was out in the middle of the desert for how long? And he's okay just like that?" A male blurted, "feh, better to have the sense not to go out there in the first place, eh?"

"I wish," Bezzi said, shrugging off the veiled insult, and continuing to chew on the meat - he didn't even know what it was, it was fish from the seashore nearby. "I just ... kind of wind up there sometimes. It's not so bad, except for the heat."

Bezzi was given a little nook where he recovered for another day, by the afternoon of the second day he was perky and ready to explore his new digs. While it was obvious that the Spotted Hand were okay with him being there, he knew that he couldn't really stay put for long. He'd never been to the coastline before, so he decided a walk out that way would be fun.

The dragons that the Hand supported kept watch on him, until finally one of them, a big yellow-red-golden female, dropped down into the shallow water near the beach, and appraised him from the water.

You should have a bond with one of us, one of our kind. She said, he was getting used to the different voices they had. Hers was warm, like her colors. Maternal in a way, though not overly gentle, she was hoping for the best for him. Do you have anything to bring along? I will find you a place, there must be a good pair for you somewhere.

"Now?" He said, but it was already clear that 'now' was the best time for anything he ever did. "Won't your ... your Kin rider be worried?"

No, I have informed her. They are all too full and sleepy to come anyway.

They'd caught whatever it was they'd been hunting, Bezzi thought, and he wasn't hungry right now. His stomach usually led the way, so this would be interesting.

***

"There are so many ... things, and people... and other things..." Bezzi stood near Maaret with wide eyes and twitching ears. They had come to the Bower, where numerous dragons would clutch and be bonded over the years.

Explore for a bit, they will find you if you do not find them. I will be here for you when you want to return home. Maaret promised him, and then flew off to wherever dragons did whatever they did.

So Bezzi wandered, as was his way.

And wandering up to him, at the hatching grounds, were not one but two snake-like creatures. They were interesting, and Bezzi could tell they weren't just animals. The dragons he'd seen around the Plateau were hardly "animals", heck, he was more animal than some.

A female and a male, the female far more alert than the other - both in shades of dirt and sand - came to him. Bezzi knelt, not like he had far to go to the ground anyway, and waited for them. He wasn't about to just wander into a snake pit, he might heal up but... then he might get eaten first!

It is good to be on the safe side, the female's mind-voice came, My brother and I would like to see this place you live in, he said he dreamed of you.

"He did?" Bezzi was a little shocked, "well, that's... well! Sure, you look like you'd be able to handle the whole place, and... um, you can fly?"

Torup did the closest thing she could to smiling, which was terribly unnerving to the little Fennec kin, but he knew what she meant.

So when they did arrive to the Plateau, the north end and its beaches, the first thing that her brother Atetu did was groan and duck under his sister's still-growing wing.

"What's wrong?" Bezzi asked, "you wanted to see!"

At night, he will come out again, is there a shady place? Torup translated her odd sibling's mood.

They quickly found a good nook, where Torup actually took to immediately. She could move the clay walls of their small cavern, and that was good - because eventually, if they stayed here long enough, the pair would be far too big to stay in the little cave!

As evening came, Atetu came out from his daytime slumber. He headed toward the beach, where the long and wide beach was still warm. He vanished under the sand, briefly, and then came back up nearby - so adept at tunneling and moving the sands around, it was almost like watching the waves of the sea itself!

   (Torup)  (Atetu)

***

They did stay in the north-facing cavern for a while, long enough for Bezzi to get a wild urge to travel again. And so, day or night, they alternated who led their slow paced exploration of the coastline. They headed west, because Bezzi knew better than to go back eastward where the lions and such lived.

• Colours-Based Abilities:
• Can manipulate clay into any form

Size: Medium-Small (7' tall, 21' long)
Abilities: Acid Blood, Hive Mind, Resin Secretion, Telepathy, Amplify Emotions
Basic Personality: Keen, Protective
Requires a Bond?: No

***

Name: Atetu
Gender: Male
Breed: Gem Dragon/Xeno HathHydra/Night Mourner Hybrid
Colour: Sandstone (Black boots)

• Colours-Based Abilities:
• Can create blasts of sand
• Can create sandy whirlwinds
• Can call sand dunes

Size: Medium-Small (7' tall, 21' long)
Abilities: Acid Immunity, Acid Blood, Hive Mind, Resin Secretion, Prophetic Dreams
Basic Personality: Detests Light, Predator, Loving
Requires a Bond?: Yes

Sire: Dosipun Dam: Phantom