The Snake's Tail: Scavenging - Mizu/Abramo

It was just becoming dark, the stars beginning to sparkle overhead like tiny flickers of flame from snouts of faraway dragons. The moon was a crest over the mountains, and Mizu flew away from it as she dipped through the cliffs with quiet gliding. A careful breeze gently pushed her on, but eventually she perched herself upon a cliff to stare out over the ravine she was searching through; she’d heard plenty of news floating around about possible resources running in veins in the rock. However, so far, all Mizu had seen were broken rock faces with glittery traces of former ore. As much as it was frustrating, it only confirmed the gossip she’d overheard.

“This dirt is no good on these feathers!” A voice called above, somewhere over the edge that bordered the ravine. Right, her father was there. As much as she enjoyed his jokes, his vain attitude did no good on trips like this when it required a little dirt on the talons. She shook her sandy-colored feathers and flew up to settle down next to Abramo. Her father was a silken, feathered raptor with a deep green base overcoated with a black blanket-like marking and black spots. His face and neck were a shimmering royal blue, with his undersides highlighted with a deep crimson. His wings faded out from feathers to bat-like webbing, which Mizu had always regarded as a curious feature. On top of this, his entire form was speckled in gold-tipped feathers, giving him a shimmering, bright appearance. His two ear-like tufts were perked up as he looked over the edge into the large jagged gash in the earth, the brown bag around his neck lightly swaying in open air, and the furry orange creature around his neck seemed to recoil at the height. “This is in-sand, how do we even know we’ll find something untouched by another bird?” The colorful raptor flicked his gaze curiously to his daughter as the corva stryx waved her fan-tipped tail. He wasn’t wrong in his thinking. There could be nothing left, for all she knew. But, they had to try… she wanted to come back with something for their efforts. 

Mizu shook herself, the feathers on her tail tip fanning out. “We have to look. Come on, we’ll have to go deeper.” The stryx began to trot ahead, Abramo quickly catching up. He eyed the edge. “This doesn’t even feel entirely safe.” He commented lightly, his wo’a nodding in agreement very quickly. “It’ll be fine, Abramo.” Mizu responded, stopping where a stone path curved down and into the ravine. They paused here, the moon shining down and lighting their feathers into a pale glow. 

Abramo gave a soft whistle, and a microstryx fluttered down to hover over them with a chirp, probably having been following them the entire time. Mizu arched a brow at its arrival. “You didn’t tell me you brought all of your critters along.” Mizu commented. She knew her father had a small collection of pets, but she had never paid them much attention in her time with Abramo. She couldn’t help but remember the little teacup kirin he carried under his wing, though, and the odd pet rock he carried everywhere. 

The raptor just seemed to grin at Mizu in the moonlight at her comment. “Why, I couldn’t go anywhere without my pets,” was his simple response. He shook himself again of dust and sand, allowing the stryx to hear a small cry of surprise from the kirin. “I’m getting dusted out here! Down into shelter already.” Her father said with a flick of his tail before marching ahead down the trail, seeming to have forgotten his fears from earlier. Mizu couldn’t help but follow, peering down into the depths of the ravine.

The ravine was deep, from here it fell down into darkness, the various layers of rock disappearing into pitch black. And it only got darker the further they went down. Luckily, Mizu had brought along a torch, and struck it like a match against the rough stone to light it. The orange light bounced off the wall to their left, flickering out into the abyss. At first, the light had bounced back from the opposite wall. But now, as they finally reached the bottom, the gap had widened, and Mizu could barely see the far wall with the torch in-talon. Abramo huffed, seemingly in disappointment and possible irritation.

“It’s even dirtier down here.” He commented wryly. “I think I have de-dusted I’m not getting out of this filth.” Abramo added as he lashed his tail. His lorii microstryx swooped around within torchlight radius, before deciding to land and settle between the silken raptor’s shoulders. Mizu watched quietly. “We should head down the way we were walking,” she said as she flicked her tail forward. “That should bring us hopefully to something, since we’re far from the beginning of this ravine, and deeper.” Mizu began to lead the way into the shadows, the torch lighting their way.

Insects and lizards scurried in front of them, and sometimes the corva stryx would point out some insect on the stone wall making odd buzzing, or a strange reptile with dizzying colors. Mizu did manage to find a few interesting insect carapaces, and stored them in the brown sack she had around her neck. The two carefully looked in every nook and cranny, sticking beaks into holes in the walls, or moving a rock here and there with careful talons. So far, no crystals had shown themselves.

“Hey Mizu, check this out!” Her father called out, as Mizu was scraping at the floor, moving aside rocks. The stryx stood up, wandering over to her father curiously. “It’s a holy rock.” He grinned, holding up a smooth black stone, with natural holes going through it. Mizu tilted her head curiously, for once able to ignore his pun without inwardly cringing. “Huh… Surprised no one found it if anyone has been here…” She looked at her father. Hope flickered in both pairs of eyes, and a little excitement began to buzz in the air as they searched more enthusiastically. 

Suddenly, the ravine walls seemed to fall away, and Mizu realized looking up that no stars were visible anymore. They stood in the middle of a large cavern, the ground smooth beneath the stryx’s talons, and the faint points of stalactites could be made out above, and off to her right Mizu could tell there were also stalagmites. Her father brushed up against Mizu, staring around, looking less secure without the walls defining space around them. “There will be something here.” The sandy stryx said boldly. “There has to be.” Mizu was sure of it. They’d come this far, finding peculiar stones and feathers, now was the time to find something of value. “Yeah, something with a mouthful of teeth.” Abramo responded nervously, his wo’a looking up curiously.

Mizu ignored his comment, and led them on, heading off to her right. The cavern shrunk down into a smaller cave, but was still plenty wide enough for three adult tyto stryx to stand in, wings outstretched. Still, no crystals popped out from the walls. It was all plain stone, with the occasional glowworm. The stryx was beginning to falter in hope again as nothing popped out, and she heard nothing from Abramo about anything interesting.

That’s when she heard the hissing.

She paused, halting Abramo with her tail in front of him. “Do you hear that?” Mizu asked quickly, cocking her head sideways. She could almost hear the raptor strain himself as he tried to listen. “The hissing? Yeah, sounds like a waterfall.” Waterfall? Down here? She moved forward again, more cautiously. Then, she saw it.
The cave gently dipped down into a separate stone chamber, which produced a soft blue glow from a plant beneath the pool in the center. A waterfall at the far wall poured into the pool, hissing and spluttering. The pool itself formed a sort of spiral shape, which made Mizu think of a coiled snake tail. Various bioluminescent mushrooms grew here, and the stryx could swear she heard the soft hum of frogs croaking.

Abramo passed Mizu, entering the gently lit cave. He curiously plucked a mushroom, and it still glowed faintly in his claw. He put it into his bag, flicking his tail. “Now this is… nice.” He commented, walking up to the glowing pool. Mizu quietly joined him, breathing in the air. It had lost its stuffiness, and felt cleaner here. She turned from the pool, and held her torch up to the wall.
“Abramo…”
“Huh? Oh! Woah…”
The wall was covered in veins of purple and blue crystal, some spikes sticking out like fierce teeth protecting the precious mineral. The firelight glinted off the shimmering gemstones, and Mizu felt her feathers lift in excitement. She began to work on one spike of crystal, breaking it from the wall and storing it in her bag. The two worked tirelessly for hours, picking crystal pieces carefully. Then a piece slipped out of Mizu’s talons, and slid across the floor…

Right into the pool.

Lashing her tail, the stryx trotted quickly to the edge, and stuck her head under the pool before Abramo could argue. What she had originally thought were plants, were really thousands of glowing, small fish. They all swarmed away from her as she dove her face under. She watched them curiously for a moment, before fetching out her crystal she’d lost. She marched back proudly to Abramo, who promptly jumped back from her wet feathers as she shook herself. “Hey, hey! Watch the feathers.” He shook himself free of stray droplets, huffing.

Eventually, the two made their way from the cave, and decided to leave the other side of the cavern, and the other cave tunnels for another time. Their torch had burned down, and barely shown as they finally made it out to the pathway up. The moon was past the center of the sky by the time they reached even ground again.

“That was entirely worth ruining my sleep schedule for!” Abramo grinned at Mizu. “Well… Minus the dirt and the water of course.” He quickly added, shivering in disgust. The stryx snorted in amusement, gently nudging him with a talon. “Hey, regardless, thanks for coming with me.” Mizu said. Her father smiled. “Anytime, kiddo. Now, I gotta go to sleep before I really destroy my sleep schedule.” The raptor looked over his shoulder at the horizon, towards his personal home. He turned back to Mizu, hefting off his bag and offering it to Mizu, who was very grateful. 

“Thanks, dad.”
“Anytime kiddo.”

End.