Arboretum of Artemis. (Animal RP).

Returning to the surface, she looked around to judge the direction of the original cave. The tunnel would have to be far enough from the river to avoid accidental flooding. Her gaze returned to Klik. Stepping in, she nudged his head again. "Friend."

He sat next to her. "Friend." He went into the water, and began paddling with his tail. "Lyea pretty." He was frustrated at his limited grasp of the language, being unable to properly communicate with his friend.

Her tail swished at his compliment. Much as she wanted to join him right at that moment, she had a task to complete. While their digging skills were not as effective as their sprinting or swimming ability, they did have one advantage over other cave animals. Facing the wall for the tunnel home, she took a deep breath and let her small fire heat the dirt wall. It crumbled away in the middle, allowing her to dig quite fast into the steaming mess.

He sat and played guard while Lyea dug. Unbeknownst to him the biologists were monitoring his progress. "Interesting indeed."
"He picks up new words well."
"Only when given examples."

Sniffing at the smouldering end of the tunnel, she closed her eyes and sprinted at it. Breaking through the last of it, she coughed out the dust for a few moments before proceeding onward. Tyriia was just waving to the three as they went berry hunting. Lowering her spines in a nervous manner, she sat down and began. "Tyriia, I've decided to make a new den. I've already tunneled from it to here."

He curled up on the soft grass. It was warm and comfortable. But then he thought. Lyea was a nice person, but he wanted to meet the other dragons. "Dragons?" He called, hoping to be heard by the ones in the den.

Tyriia looked over Lyea at her friend, approaching through the tunnel. "Of course. I assume that you... are approaching the time?" She noted Lyea's reluctance to answer and patted her shoulder warmly. Circling around Lyea to face the tunnel, she ducked her head down to speak. "Yes, dragons my friend. Would you like to meet them?"

He had picked up a bit of language on his own. "Yes, he answered, "please." He then awaited response, because entering another's territory without asking would be very impolite, and could end in a fight.

Nodding, Tyriia led the two out into the open of the small pond in the river system. Across the river for some distance were the three dragons, picking bunches of black berries off the thorny branches and dropping them into large leaves. The vines were growing down over a cliff face, making it easy to pick without getting scratched. Lyea nudged Klik before jumping into the water and swimming over.

Klik also swam across, taking his time so as not to scare them. "Friends." It was a greeting, honorary despite these dragons being strangers to him. Upon reaching the bank he approached them as one would a finicky cat.

Skoi was first to look down at the approach of the pair, feeling much more comfortable now that Lyea was down there. However, it was Lyea, and she wasn't exactly the brightest firefly in their nest. Mhyri sniffed at the air briefly before returning to foraging. Vei jumped down and trotted over to them, rubbing her head affectionately against Lyea's leg.

He kept his head bowed and went up to the one male dragon in the group. "Hello, friend." A greeting more for politeness than actual acquaintance. He did not know Skoi yet, but something told him he would soon.

He flattened his spines down as the stranger approached. Why him, he didn't draw attention to himself. Still, he instinctively moved to protect Mhyri before responding. "Lyea's friend, perhaps more?"

He shook his head. "Friend." He backed off to show he meant no harm to the nervous creature. He hoped he wouldn't run away like last time. That would be embarrassing. Of course, that was mostly unlikely.

Mhyri rolled her eyes at Skoi's over-protectiveness and dropped down, leaving the berries in their transport for the moment. Walking over to the creature, she sat down slightly awkwardly, the growing egg hindering her normal posture. "Mhyri." She flicked her head for Skoi to come down. "Skoi, mate."

He pointed his head toward the female, saying her name. He did the same for Skoi. Mate meant breeding pair. He added that to his memory. He then said, "Skoi, Mhyri mates." That stated that they were a breeding pair.

She nodded tiredly. Obviously his grasp on language could do with a booster course. Getting up, she dragged the leaves containing the berries over, much to Skoi's horror. Ignoring his attempts to help, she began going through them. "Leaves." Picking up an assortment of berries, she held them up as the went. "Blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, peach." She paused to look at the peach Vei had sneaked into her hand. Shrugging, she handed it back and waited for his response.

Klik followed the lesson well, learning the different berries. He named them, in order of the names. He pulled up a leaf. "Leaf." These dragons were very friendly creatures, very very social. He guessed they had nothing to fear back home.

Mhyri nodded accordingly. He was a quick learner it seemed. She walked over to a bush and pulled off another berry. Taking a blackberry, she ate that one. "Good." Swallowing it down, she cautiously bit into the other one. The horrible taste and smell of it forced her to spit it out. "Bad." Hopefully they would better communicate with the simple phrases learnt.

Ara'kal was flitting around, above the river, looking for food when he heard the dragons talking. He swooped down, staying out of their range at a safe distance. He hovered around six feet off of the ground. "Oh thank god, someone more intelligent than a bluejay. How do you know English, my draconic friends? I don't suppose you picked up a textbook."

Lyea's eyes widened upon seeing another species use the language they did. Skoi resumed his position of protecting Mhyri. Lost for words, Lyea struggled to speak. "Well uhm... our adoptive nest mother was taught it, and she taught us. Now we're teaching my... friend."

Ara'kal nodded. "That makes sense." He flew over to the cliff and clung on, swiveling his head around. "Say, what's with the salamander?"
Klik was staring at the little lizard-bird. He spoke fluently, and had a brightly colored skin. Before he could stop himself, he said, "Pretty."

Lyea moved towards Klik slightly. "He's the friend we're teaching." Mhyri was already dragging the leaves back to their cave, Skoi keeping his attention focused on the new arrivals beside her. Tyriia walked up to Lyea's side to get a look at the flyer. "I'm afraid our own flight is limited at best. You are lucky my friend."

"It is better, I am told, for swooping down onto fish. He seems to have a basic grasp of the language, seeing him staring at my scales." He fluttered down to the ground, now walking on folded wings and his rear legs.
Klik stared at the tiny flying fish eater. It was easily small enough to eat. But to eat another intelligent organism was abhorrent to him, he didn't know why.

She lowered her head. Speaking with another newcomer wasn't exactly the sort of thing she was looking forward too. But she couldn't be rude and leave either. Poor Klik knew so little, or maybe perhaps she knew too much. Why did it have to be so hard for him to work out how she was behaving? "He's a fast learner, just needs more time."