Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Pannu on Duty

There were many sideways looks when they returned, but Firmen's extensive notes allayed many suspicions. Not all, of course, but that couldn't be helped.
   And in the end, observing the way the basketnuts grew did help his experiments proceed. He didn't say as much, but knowing that night never truly fell also progressed his understanding of the planet. Any plant, or plant-like organism, would have to account for the possibility of sunlight for several days at a time. They also had to store sunlight for several days, if Charon found a particularly tasty meal. The latter was less likely, as it would require more than one dragon to die in one place, or a battle, or a mass extinction event.
   That must be why the plants are so hardy! They're storing up everything they can, but also hardening against sunburn!
   He wanted to sample the trees as well, but to prevent another murmuring, he asked one of the gryphons for a ride when they next hunted.
   That hunt happened to be the one where Onnu let Pannu handle guard duty, so he saw everything that went down.
   He was at the edge of the grove with a catkin, trimming the ends of branches to avoid killing the trees. His claws were not thick enough to pierce their trunks, even for pathfinding purposes, so he knew to ask for help removing twigs and leaves. He wasn't entirely sure "leaf" was the right word, but it was what they had on Earth-that-was, so that's what he used. If anything, they resembled rubber tree leaves, in size and texture, but their shape was closer to clover.
   I suppose clover does have leaves, but these look like petals. Why are plants here more blue-tinted? Is it the lack of lunar light? I have yet to see variegation--
   A high shriek interrupted his thoughts.
   "It came from the water!"
   The foragers rushed out of the trees to see what they could. There was a bit of a slope down to the water's edge, so the answer was: everything.
   Pannu had an aquatic predator of some kind in his jaws, shaking it like a dog. They couldn't see what it was; just a blur of iridescent scales.
   Onnu was fending off a second predator, wings mantled over the kin it was trying to reach. Her great head snaked back and forth, snapping at it when it tried to advance.
   "Pannu, back!" she roared.
   He was a hair too slow, caught up in trying to kill something without tasting its blood. A third creature scratched his ankle as he backed out of the water. The onlookers couldn't see red in the water, so maybe his hide saved him?
   Onnu finally nailed the creature feinting at her wards, and wasted no time gulping it down. They could see the reason for her haste: three more scaly fins homing in on her location.
   Luckily, all of the smaller kin had made it beyond the water's edge, to the safety of the long grasses. She backed out of the water, swiping her paws at the oncoming prey--for prey they were, to her. But she'd eaten two of them, they later learned, and did not require more sustenance.
   Pannu was clear of the water, trying to eat the squirming snaketurtle that he hadn't killed yet. Onnu snapped at him to bite the head off, which he did with great reluctance. The thrashing continued for a few moments more, but he was already chomping off anything that came near his mouth, so there was quickly little left to thrash.
   Onnu relayed a request from one of her little group to try to salvage the shell for materials, so he settled down with it in the grasses, and wedged his smaller muzzle into the neck hole, like a dog with a Kong.
   "Huh, wonder why we didn't think of that before," the catkin said.
   "'Cause we're so used to her chompin' straight through," a gargoyle replied.
   "Yeah, I'm not even sure her toes are small enough to fit in there," Firmen mused. "She is quite large. I wonder why she's so large, though? Even if we are supposed to reproduce at some point, there is no cause for her to be so much larger than Pannu."
   "Maybe he's younger than she is?" the catkin asked.
   "Oh yeah, we keep forgettin' we don't know how big anyone is s'posed to be!" the gargoyle said, slapping her forehead.
   The dragons were such a fixture in their lives, few thought to analyze their existence, or life cycle. Sure, some had been "shipping" them, but they hadn't exactly thought about the process. There was something about this place that sort of glossed over the more salacious, worldly aspects of life. No one noticed their nudity, or thought about bedrooms, or privacy. They simply went about their lives, unburdened.
   As Onnu oft said, they were as children here. The world was new, and there was too much to sort out to be bothered by carnal thoughts.
   That was unlikely to last; of this, Onnu was fairly certain. There would come a time that the world must be populated. She did not know if that would be when the Tribulations were over, or if those who died during the trials would arrive as they passed.
   She wasn't even certain that this was Rapture. They could be the only people from Earth-that-was who would ever be transported here.
   The "why" was a constant question in the back of her mind. If it wasn't the end of everything, why did He bring them here? Was this a test run, to see how humanity would handle being transmogrified?
   The "Who" was irrefutable, in her mind. Her belief was firm that He had brought them here. To what purpose, she had yet to discover. It nagged at her in her downtime, and He wasn't answering any of her prayers, except for immediate needs.
   Keep your secrets then, Old Man. It's not like we need to know what we're supposed to be doing here, or anything, she was wont to grumble.