Zekekii of the Sun
I've got a feeling you could use a little smile
hoping it would stay there for just a little while.

The night was new and Zek had been running for a while. This was only because Kozu had persisted on leaving the poor musician behind the desert dunes, with only a strange trail to follow. Zekekii assumed that his dear friend would *eventually* realize that his rider was missing. But apart of the young man (if he was indeed, young), realized that the reptile had his own ways about things, teaching the poor dancer lessons he deemed not worthy of learning.

Well, Zek was learning this one.

“Kozu!! The sand will damn Zek to a death without water!” He called, desperate. The lightening starry sky was truly beautiful out here; he would’ve admitted that if he had not been so distracted by the faint outline of a lizard on the next dune. Zekekii grinned. With the agility of a fox Zek dashed up the dune and collapsed on his scaly friend. “You would not leave Zek to perish!” Another strong hug for the lizard, but then he backed up and pointed the stick accusingly at his companion. “What was scaled-one trying to teach the dancer?” No one other than Zek would’ve understood, Kozu answered with a blank stare that made the man cringe and nod. He back-flipped back onto the monster of a reptile and tied the stick loosely to his hip. Then Zekekii gripped at the bottom of Kozu’s neck. “Kozu is right of course, Zek should hold on.”

The lizard flicked his tongue, began to move again, slowly as he had been running for far too long and unlike Zek; didn’t feel the pull of the mystical-place. The rider didn’t seem to mind, as long as he kept moving in this direction, the dancer wouldn’t mind.

Kozu slid down the dune on his belly and clambered onto the barren, hard ground. They were drawing nearer to the mountains it would seem. Though Kozu didn’t have the greatest of memories, his instincts and what was left of his memory told him he had been here before. With a flick of the tongue he could tell the air relatively stayed the same, other then the faint tinge of death. Zekekii didn’t have those sorts of senses though, the lizard recalled (amazingly), these strange creatures that had appeared one day long ago, their senses were dull but at the same time astoundingly acute, depending on the situation.

Another flick of the tongue as the wind picked up a bit, and he knew they were alone. He stopped, lifting his head and tilting it to one side as he tasted the air again.

“What is it?” Zek questioned, looking around quickly. “Feathered-flyers?”

Fur, fur is not something usually out here. Not long, short, not a predator… Different, prey... Prey for Kozu.

There was a rough tapping on the lizard’s head and he shot a look at Zek who was pointing to the distance. Kozu followed the gaze and flicked his tongue again.

“The sun!” Zek grinned, leaping off the lizard. “The golden disk blesses us! Zekekii could not long last without the golden fire.”

Then he tripped, roughly. Kozu wasn’t sure if Zek could survive with or without the shining star.

“ARGH!” Zek flipped around and picked up the rock, clenching in his hand with the intent to crush it, but when he failed, the man whipped it across the barren pleateau. “Tripper-of-Zek! Perish in the dunes!”

Zek had the sudden feeling he was being watched, and turned to see he was correct. There were two women on the dune they had slid down, staring at him like he was a foreign beast. He tilted his head at them, it had been so long since Zek of the Sun had company which was not scaled, fanged, and overly carnivorous, he had forgotten how to greet them.

Then the golden disk broke the horizon line, and the sun shined upon him.

In an instant, Zekekii waved to them happily, like a child seeing his best friends in a playground. They sort of stared at him for a moment; perhaps they too had felt the pull? What else had they a reason to be out in the desert? Slowly the strangers on the even stranger creatures approached though they abruptly stopped halfway down the dune and Zek wondered why.

And then, the boy’s eyes drifted to Kozu. The reptile was staring not at the people, but the things they were riding on with keen interest. Zek cringed and leapt at the lizard, covering the beast’s eyes. His companion lifted his head up and Zek was hanging off the ground, his arms and legs wrapped around Kozu’s head like he hung from a branch.

“No no!” Zek smiled as Kozu tilted his head to try and see what he considered prey. “Strange furry-things not for he-who-dines-on-large-mammals!” The man looked at the two who had dismounted their rides and now cautiously approached the odd duo. “Unless you ask first, no munchies on ugly things.”

One of the animals snorted.

Zek, being him, snorted back.

One seemed to keep her distance more, she had a bandana over her eyes, Zekekii didn’t question this. Perhaps the sun would tell him later why, but he doubted. Then his eyes turned to the one closer, her eyes were the deepest of greens, Zek compared them to the rare buds on the mostly-dead tree he lived near. Dead for all but once rains comes so live and lovely. He roughly dropped himself down from Kozu and flipped onto all fours, peering up at the two again.

He recognized the closer one, seeing her once or twice before. The blindfolded one, maybe, Zek didn’t recall what wanted to be forgotten. That it was she reminded him of, like a precious desert flower, which grows too near a dune. The sand will consume it in darkness, and the sun will shine for it no longer. Maybe if he grasped other emotions, it would’ve saddened him, but his mind beamed as the closer one spoke.

“Zek?”

Zek stood up, feeling the sun’s warmth on his back. “Of the sun, yes. Who are you?” Before they could answer he grinned. “Windsong, of Sunfolk. Yes? Yes, of course, Zek would never forget a name.” That was a lie, but they didn’t need to know that. “You however, Zekekii does not know, Kozu doesn’t know you either or surely scaled-one would’ve told the dancer.”

They blinked at him, but Windsong seemed to understand better then the other. “This is my daughter, Ruya.”

Whether she had more to say or not, Zek didn’t realize. He bounded over to her (the daughter), circling the taller woman with some sort of childish fascination that one would have for a shiny coin. Wingsong stepped forward, but Ruya put out a hand, seemingly stopping her mother.

“Hello.” Ruya said, a smile appearing on her face. Zekekii grinned a big grin.

“This is Kozu of the Sand.” He gestured to the rather large, intimidating lizard behind them that simply flicked a tongue at both of them before seemingly settling down. Zek bounded over to his friend, and sat down. “Swift heat comes with morning sun, Zek thinks mother and daughter should stay and wait, rest if their souls require sleep.” He fell back abruptly as Kozu moved away and began digging at the ground.

“What is…” Wingsong paused. “Kozu doing?”

“Scaled-friend is searching for that which the desert hordes.”

They blinked at him, obviously confused. But as Zek somersaulted over to the hole, they soon understood. With a stomp of the lizard’s foot, surprisingly clear water began to seep up to the surface, creating a cool clear pool.

Zek cupped some water in his hands and drank, looking up at the two with a smile. “Zek doesn’t bite, come drink!”

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Tag Kuro and Miryawind ^_~ Sorry if I got your chars wrong X_x