[Silver]

Kyrx had never seen a thing so curious.

Perhaps that was not literally true, but at that moment she really believed it. She was endlessly fascinated by the strange world around her, and every new experience left her more intrigued than the last. Finding something this interesting was starting to become a rare experience, so she savored the way it made her feel.

The odd creature bolted across the grasslands, and she only barely caught a glimpse of it at first. She knew from the way its head gleamed in the sun that she wanted a closer look. The brief glimpse she got of it reminded her of gemstones.

[Silver]

The creature was quickly gone into the tall grass, but she was easily able to track it. Its heavy footprints, pressed down with the weight of its stride, were easy to find in the grass and dirt. She pulled out her journal and sketched one after the other, and even took a few samples of the glass to stuff between the pages.

As it was brightly colored, Kyrx assumed the creature might be a bird of some kind, but she did not see any feathers being shed among the grasses. Also absent was any kind of fur. She could only assume the creature was instead skinned or scaled, which she found odd for its method of movement and bright color.

[Silver]

When it came to surface creatures, Kyrx knew things that ran quickly on four long legs to often be furred creatures like Fellox or Tali. She also noted that many brightly colored creatures were feathered, like Matches and Pollies. She was just that much more interested in the creature knowing it wasn’t any of those based on the tracks it was leaving.

She was not surprised to see that the trail of bent grasses and occasional footprints led to a rocky trench in the ground. The area had them in abundance, and it made sense that a creature would run toward something unique in the landscape.

[Silver]

There were no trees to hide behind around here, and no caves to duck into. A scared creature would have to settle for the weird tears in the earth that dotted the plains. Kyrx found many interesting things in them over her time exploring the plains.

Kyrx folded her journal closed and tightened the locking mechanism. It was already fit to burst with the amount of information contained inside. She would have to get a new one soon, but she was always so reluctant to let a good one go. It was always hard to start over again, even if the novelty didn't last long.

[Silver]

It was her dream to someday fill enough volumes to create her own library. She could bring all of her new knowledge back home with her and share all the things she had learned about the surface world. Of course, that would require her to actually write books instead of stuffing as much information into disjointed journals as she could. She could always do that later.

She was eager to get a few pages on this strange new creature. One of the things that fascinated her most about the surface world was the creatures. It was of great surprise to her that the people of this world found elements of her own home equally fascinating. She once described, then drew a picture of a common creature from her home, and the person she was showing it to was very upset.

[Silver]

As she approached the crevice in the ground, she could hear heavy breathing and low rumbling growling. It must be the creature, she was sure of it. She used her wings to help her balance as she hopped down into the rocks below.

She jumped from one rock to another, using her long tail and wings to swing her weight around and keep her balance. She was able to swiftly make her way to the stable ground at the bottom. She stopped to look around, hoping that she hadn’t startled the creature by stirring up the rocks.

[Silver]

There it was! The bright white hide of the creature seemed to glow against the dirty brown canyon. It had pink stripes and a glowing blue bulb on the end of its tail. Kyrx stared at it in wonder and it stared back. Well, she thought it was looking at her, anyway. It didn’t seem to have any eyes. Unless that large shiny thing on its head was an eye.

This creature seemed alien, even to her. She expected surface creatures to have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth underneath. This one had a large bubble on its head and a row of teeth that didn’t seem to fit together properly.

[Silver]

She immediately pulled her journal back out to sketch the creature. First its odd face and weird teeth, then its hulking stance and long tail. What she first thought was a bulb on its tail actually seemed to be two. It was also covered in claws, even on its back.

Much to her surprise, the creature did not immediately run away. As she sized it up and sketched its details down, it watched her very carefully. She was lucky that it didn’t feel like attacking. With those powerful limbs and many sharp teeth and claws, it was sure to win in a fight.

[Silver]

Kyrx did not feel afraid. It was not the first time she was face to face with some odd monster, and she did not feel threatened by it. Mostly just fascinated. She wondered why it was so still and peaceful and if she could perhaps get closer to take a sample.

Kyrx reached out one of her free claws in the space between herself and the creature. It looked at her claw, then back at her, then sniffed the air, but it did not approach. “Ah, food?” she asked as though it could understand and answer her.

[Silver]

She reached into her overstuffed messenger bag and pulled out a piece of food. It was a kind of meat jerky that they sold at the market. It lasted a long time and was favored by surface dwellers. Unless they didn’t eat meat, in which case she had some lovely grasses to offer. Creatures with this many claws often ate meat, though.

The creature seemed to like the smell of what she was holding. It took a tentative step forward to snap at the food, but it missed. Kyrx did not flinch and continued holding it out at arm’s length so that it could grab the food.

[Pet Found]

[Silver]

The creature took a step back and looked at her as if it were trying to determine what she was and whether or not it was safe to take the food from her. She was doing the same thing, of course, so they looked at each other in wonder for a few moments.

It occurred to her while she was looking at the ‘face’ of the creature that it did not appear to have any eyes. Not that she could discern, that is. Surface creatures always had eyes. Something to do with all the sunlight. She desperately wanted to get closer and figure it out.

[Silver]

Was that big thing on its head an eye? It was pointed at her in the same way an animal’s eyes might be if it were looking at her. She moved a little bit to one side, then the other, to see if the creature’s large shiny orb followed her movement. She was a little surprised when it did. That must be its eye!

It seemed like it would take a lot of damage by being on top of its head and so large to be exposed this way. She found it very interesting. She really wanted to touch it, but she had learned a long time ago that creatures (and people) did not usually like to be touched in the eye.

[Silver]

Instead of poking it in the face, which she knew was a bad idea even though she really wanted to do it, she pulled out her journal again and started drawing it. She sketched the creature’s large mouth and the shining orb on top of its head. She noted the way the sun reflected off of it and that it seemed to be still and without pupils.

It was a mystery to her why the creature had not yet run away. It seemed very interested in her the same way she was interested in it. She wondered what it might be thinking, and if it was capable of complex thought as she understood it. Some creatures worked only on instinct, and others could think things she could hardly imagine.

[Silver]

Kyrx looked at the creature, then down at herself. It had smooth skin and only four limbs, but she had six and a hard carapace keeping her insides in order. Did it wonder what her carapace was like? Why she had such large eyes? How she had extra arms? She could only speculate about the answer to such questions.

She was regretting not replacing her journal sooner. The fact that the creature was sticking around meant that she had a lot of time to sketch various parts of it, and she was nearly running out of room. She squeezed notes into the margins and randomly onto the backs of other pages.

[Silver]

Kyrx jumped  back as the creature lunged forward toward her. Fear quickly replaced her curiosity and she was frozen stiff with indecision. She was very lucky when it turned out that the creature only wanted the jerky she was still holding in her off claw.

She breathed a gasping sigh of relief and let go of the food so the creature could take it from her. Her fear was so intense that she almost forgot what she was doing for a second. The creature was fast and powerful, no doubt it could have seriously injured her if it wanted to. She would have to be much more careful.