Ow.

She winced as she woke up to a sore feeling all across her body. When her eyes opened, she hardly could see anything other than a tunnel of light not to far away from her head where she was in the tight space.

Where was she? She scrambled through her mind until memories of yesterday flashed through her mind as though she were rapidly flipping through paintings. Oh, right she groaned with a huff as she started to move her stiff and sore body to squeeze her way out of the tight borrow and out of the tunnel. She poked her head out to look around, blinking tiredly as she checked if the coast was clear. It was just sunrise, the sky was still dark but it grew lighter towards the north where the Ice Kingdom and Sand Kingdom took residence in their own territories.

Still have a long way to go, she thought to herself with a groan as she squeezed herself fully out of the small burrow she had chosen to rest in during the night. Once she was out, she let her body stretch out, which was very much need because of how stiff and sore she felt from sleeping in that small burrow that even she could hardly fit inside of.

She shook out her wings and let out a yawn, before she let her wings fall to the ground.

I'm never sleeping in a hole ever again, she thought with a shake of her head as she started to walk. Her stomach started to loudly growl, demanding food. Shut up you grumbly annoyance!

She soon found a small stream with crystal clear water, it looked beautiful. She went up to the edge and looked into it. She could see small pebbles and rocks that looked as round as an egg and looked really smooth. She wanted to reach in and grab them, just to fell how smooth they were, but, she decided against it and instead lowered her head down to drink from the stream, the cool water tasted refreshing as she swallowed it. Water had never tasted so good before.

Once she had her fill, she sat back and let out a sigh just as her stomach growled louder, demanding it be fed that instant. Her frills twitched in irritation just as she heard a rustle of leaf's not to far from her. Her head shot towards it, looking in the direction to her left where she heard. She saw a bush shudder slightly before it grew still.

As she breathed in, she noticed a faint sent in the air, one she hadn't smelled all to often other than higher up in the mountains, but even then, the sent trails were always faint and would die off quickly. She couldn't put her talon on what it was, so, she slowly stood up and started to silently make her way closer to the bush.

Wait, she stopped in her tracks. Okay, really stupid idea going to check out a noise when I'm trying to avoid being found by a certain hybrid wandering around, secondly, I shouldn't go from the front of what ever it is was watching me. She slowly stared to make her way around it, to approach it from the side. Strongwings taught her this when she was four, and it was useful for when ever she needed to hunt, or, now when she needed to investigate a strange noise.

Definitely need to do this, not just because I'm a nosy drago- wait! I'm not nosy! I'm just curious! Yeah, that sounds much better.

She soon was crouched down behind a tree and the bush was just on the other side. Her scales had returned back to their natural purple during the night, so she stood out more, but that really didn't fully matter in the moment since she had a tree to hide behind. A very helpful tree.

Am I going to start talking to trees? I'd be going mad if I tried that. She slowly started to climb up the tree, moving slowly like a chameleon, pausing every few seconds to listen. Had Salamander found her? Would she forcefully keep her captive and keep saying its for her own good? She didn't really kidnap me, but, still! She's a thief, so in some way, she's stolen me!

She soon was in the branches above the bush, closest to the trunk. That's when her tail coiled around the branch before she slowly started to climb her way down, hanging upside down to take a look at the bush. It was way to small for Salamander to hide in, so it wouldn't be her, but what was it? The smell was stronger and wasn't in the slightest bit faint. What ever is in that bush, is still there and still in that bush, she thought with a twitch of her frills.

The bush rustled, and she froze, her talons digging into the bark. Then, two creatures walked out, standing on their hind legs. She'd seen these creatures sold at markets, dead and alive. They were Scavengers!

One had short, fuzzy brown fur on its head and was wearing green cloth. The second one looked the same but had slightly longer fur that went down to his broad shoulders, it had a broad chest that made it look to be the strongest out of the two. The male with the long fur had warm brown eyes while the short furred female had leaf green ones that matched the lush foliage above them.

I've never seen a Scavenger up close before, she thought in awe as she stayed as still as possible as she watched the two creatures quietly squeak and whistle to one another, as though they were talking to each other.

She shifted one of her talons, and they froze. Oops. The two Scavenger's looked up at her, their eyes wide in fear as well as shock. They were probably shocked to find her so close yet they hadn't even noticed her until now. The male one had an absolutely terrified look on his face while the female didn't look as scared as her body stiffened, her short fur rustling slightly in the soft breeze that calmly blew around them.

"Hello there," she whispered. She didn't dare move, in case she startled them more. Scavengers don't understand Dragon, do they? She questioned as she looked at them. The two critters looked to be frozen in place and the male one looked to be shaking. They're like scared dragonets!

She wanted to move closer to them, to get a closer look, but if she even twitched, she saw the male scavenger flinch.

She took a deep breath as she started to slowly make her way closer to them, her tail slowly unwinding so she could do so. Of course, at that moment, her stomach decided to remind her of how demanding it was, growling out again for food like it had done a few minutes ago. If the scavengers weren't scared before, they were now.

They probably think I wanna eat them.

She froze as the female scavenger pointed towards the bush they had just walked out of, her arm shaking slightly. What was she trying to tell her?

Lavender must've had a confused look on her face because the scavenger pulled her arm back before pointing again. Something in the bush? She looked towards it, she couldn't see anything, but maybe there was something in there she couldn't see. Of course I wouldn't be able to see it, I can't see through a bush unless I stick my snout into it, she told herself.

The hybrid fully climbed down and set her talons into the soft grass before she started to move towards the bush, looking back at the scavengers every few seconds to make sure they didn't run away or do anything. She did notice the female was making a quiet noise, almost like a whisper that was being carried off by the wind before it could reach Lavender's ears. The purple dragon soon was crouched down by the bush and used her talons to lift up some of the leaf's to see a dead animal laying underneath the lush leaf's. The dead animal looked to be some kind of rabbit, the brown fur had small speckles of white and dark brown, and it had a fluffy tail. Definitely a rabbit, she told herself as she reached in the drag it out.

That's when she noticed something sticking out of the rabbits neck, when she looked closer, she saw it was an arrow, a tiny arrow.

She looked back towards the two scavengers to see them slowly sneaking away, walking slightly and moving slowly as not to make a sound, their backs were towards her but they froze as if they could feel her gaze. They slowly turned to looks back at her again and that's when she saw the male scavenger had what looked to be a tiny version of a bow strapped over his shoulders.

"Did you catch this?" She asked as she held up the rabbit.

She watched the two of them meet each other's gaze before they looked back at her and shook their heads, shaking their arms before pointing at the rabbit and then her.

"What?"

The male looked more nervous now, if that was even possible.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand scavenger, and I don't think I can read your mind if I can't understand you." She rapped one talon on her chin in thought. "Hmmm."

She was lost in thought for a few moments before a sound pulled her out of it. The scavenger's stomachs were growling.

"Oh! You both must be hungry," she stated as she hold up the rabbit. "That's why you must've caught the rabbit, and yes Im guessing it's you, but you can't understand me because your scavengers and you can't understand dragon. Do you even talk? Like, do you have your own language? Oh that'd be cool!" She smiled before she shook her head to clear her thoughts so she could focus back on the hungry creatures before her.

"You probably want this back, don't you?" She asked with a tilt of her head as she crouched back down closer to the ground so she wouldn't look so big compared to them. Oh they're so cute! She thought as she watched them both jump back, the female one pulled out a long shiny thing from her side and pointed it at her. What is that? It looks like...I don't even know what it looks lik- wait! It looks like a tiny sword! That's so cute!

Her frills twitched as she watched the two. Slowly, she held out her talon that held the limp body of the brown rabbit with the tiny arrow sticking out of its throat.

"Here," she whispered as she held out her talons not to far from them before she held perfectly still.

Lavender watched as the female scavenger narrowed her green eyes thoughtfully before slowly starting to step closer, clearly ignoring the male's fretting tone. She stayed as still as she possibly could, her pink eyes sparkling in wonder as she watched the scavengers movements. After a few moments that seemed to stretch on forever, the female scavenger snatched the rabbit and quickly backed away, holding it close and her eyes never leaving Lavender's. She let out the breath she had been holding and as she did, the two scavengers bolted deeper into the forest.

Once they were out of sight, she sat up, her heart pounding in her chest. Why did that feel exciting as if I've gone on the greatest adventure in all of Pyrrha's history? She thought with a huff before her stomach growled one more, pulling her back into the present with a groan of annoyance.

"Okay, time to find something to eat."

Lavender started to make her way back to the stream, if she was lucky, maybe she could catch a fish! She wasn't the best at it, but, if she was patient then she might be able to catch something. Then, she'll be off on her way to the SkyWing kingdom!

-~-~-~-~-~-

Flying, that's what she felt like she had been doing forever. That morning she was able to catch a fish and she hadn't stopped once to get something else to eat. She wanted to make distance between her and where she knew Salamander had set up camp, but the other hybrid might be long gone. Though, Lavender didn't want to risk being found by her, she didn't know what would happen to her if she was caught again.

Would she give me to the gang as an offering to let her go free even though I've done nothing wrong? She questioned mentally as she kept flying. Her wings felt sore, almost as though they'd fall off and send her plummeting down onto the jagged peeks of the mountains.

She had been flying through the mountains all day, and it felt as though she were being turned around every time she blinked. The palace was nowhere in sight and her head was spinning because of how she'd hardly eaten that day, plus, it was sunset and she was getting tired once more.

Maybe I should find a spot to rest for the night, she tiredly though to herself as she started to slow down and glide towards one of the cliff sides along the mountains.

She didn't even take the time to find a sheltered spot, as soon as her talons touched the cold stone cold she collapsed down with a huff. The cool stone felt to sooth her sore body. Within minutes, her eyes closed and she let out a tired sigh. She didn't even resist when sleep took hold of her, making her slip away from reality into a dreamless slumber.

When she awoke, the sun was high in the sky, almost midday by the looks of it. "Oh great." She groaned tiredly as she closed her pink eyes once more. She wanted to go back to sleep right that minute, sleep the day away, but no, she had to get up to keep moving, unless she wanted to be caught, be found, by Salamander. Was she even looking for her? Had she just moved on or was she searching ever stone across Pyrrha to find her?

Why would she even want to find me? She found herself questioning as her wings twitched along with her frills as her tail cooled slightly tighter around herself, her head resting in her talons with her wings hunched up close to help shade her tired and adjusting eyes from the sun beaming down over head, warming up her scales. Does she want to use me as a trading offer for The Barbed Cobra's?

"Oh, sorry I did awful things, here, have this dragon, I don't need her!"

"Oh why thank you, well just let you go then! Have a great life!" And leave me with those awful gang members, she frowned in frustration at the thought of that scene playing out in her head.

"Why the long face?" A voice spoke up, making Lavender jolt up, all tiredness long forgotten in that one moment that made her heart thump painfully in her chest. She spun around to see who spoke, and she was met with a dragon who she didn't want to see.

"Salamander!"

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Guess who's back, back again. Yup, Sally's back and she might even be here to stay is Lavender can't find a way to get rid of this two tailed thief.

Chapter 11 might take a little while to come out since I'll be doing some edits to the current cover of Torn Sides. I'll be updating the background so it looks better and not like I rushed it. Once it's done, I'll edit every chapter to have the new cover added in!

That's all I've got to say!

- MindlessTyper