Lutis, Rebellion-Held Aviye
The night after the Nightravens departed Lutis
(See Ch. 14 of Ascendant Struggle, Vol 1)
Jiji
Life as a pangolin was pretty easy.
As an insectivore, all she had to do was stay up at night and move slowly to find all the crunchy bugs she could eat.
Sure, she didn't have any teeth, but that's what rocks and sand were for!
Most of the time, though, Jiji liked to stay up past morning to hang out with the human that took care of her.
Shenmi was a nice human, unlike the little humans that sometimes poked or rolled her when she balled up.
Sometimes, Shenmi would lay out a little plate of sugar for ants to climb all over, making it easy for Jiji to get them.
She still liked to dig up their nests though.
Digging into the earth was fun for her, and somehow she felt like Shenmi was there whenever she did.
She felt that way because for some reason, the nests would always close up before Jiji could get at a queen.
Jiji loved eating ant queens, they were like a big, fat treat! But lately, she was forgetting what they were like.
She thought, maybe, that ant queens were like termites. Shenmi had taken her over to a different house one time, along with her siblings, and let them loose on a big old mound that had formed on one corner. She still remembered the taste. Like wood but good.
Taste was very important to her since she had to close her eyes and ears so the little buggies didn't get at them while she ate. And even though termites were good, ant queens were the best... she thought.
Sometimes, she would imagine that when she licked between her scales, she was poking at a big queen ant, but mostly all she found were little ants trying to bite her. Silly little ants, didn't they know she was big?
Not dragon big... like the big beasts that lumbered through the town with, well, lumber strapped to their backs. But Jiji guessed that compared to an ant, she was definitely a dragon.
Today, Jiji was resting after all the excitement of having more humans in Shenmi's house.
A bunch of stuff had happened, the humans ate plants and human food, and then Jiji had watched from the front yard as a bunch of humans took another bunch of humans and it was all very confusing behavior for a little pangolin.
But not to worry, tonight she found a new anthill! And this early in the evening, it was all hers since her siblings were in their dens.
She snuffled happily as she dug down, eager to eat as she opened up a hole and let her long tongue out. She slurped up ants by the tongueful, and half a meter was a lot of tongue!
The ant, of course, tried to bite her, but they were ants, and she ignored them except to close her eyes and ears.
That didn't stop her from hearing the humans though.
"Are you sure this is it?" One asked in a low voice.
"It's gotta be this one. The old hag got us arrested in the first place, Captain." Another voice replied.
They both sounded like male humans.
"Sergeant, once we get our guns, we're going to get everyone and have us a little raven hunt," the first man said.
"You're the boss, Captain," the second replied.
Jiji heard a set of thuds as both men landed nearby. It made the already panicking ants frenzy and get harder to catch, which was annoying.
"The hell is this?" The first voice asked. As the second started answering, Jiji felt her whole world start to tilt as she was kicked in the side. Instinctively she tucked, which turned her fall into a roll that brought her to the edge of the house. She hit the wall with an angry grunt.
"It's a pangolin, sir. You don't have to kick them. The most they can do is squeak." The second voice protested.
"I don't care, Sergeant. Now get us inside... and once we have the guns, don't be afraid to spend a bullet on the hag." The first voice growled.
Jiji unrolled as they broke the glass pane, reaching inside to unlatch the door.
One thing she liked about her human was that Shenmi was clearly a strong human. Jiji felt she was the same, but for pangolins, and so as the men stepped inside, she followed them.
They started digging around the house, the first of them grabbing a kitchen knife while the other looked under the table.
Jiji stalked them, pretending like they were big ants as they scuttled about trying to be quiet, pulling open drawers and cabinets and taking whole rows of books off shelves as they searched for guns.
She saw her chance when the first man stepped onto his tiptoes to get to the top of the tall bookshelf in the living room.
Tucking and rolling, she brought herself under his body, right where his foot landed as he came back down.
The man cried out, falling backward onto the floor with a huge thud that shook the house.
"Captain! Are you okay?" his partner in crime asked.
"I'm fine! Just slipped on a book or something... where's that damn knife?"
As Jiji had rolled back, she'd landed under the couch. She saw the glint of the blade where it rested on the carpet and remembered day after day of watching Shenmi prepare meals with it. Using it to cut plants and stuff.
Humans were softer than plants.
Jiji marched out, her steps unheard on the soft carpet. She picked up the knife, very awkwardly because of her claws, and marched up to the second man, who was casting about without luck as he searched.
With all her tiny body weight, Jiji poked him in the back of the leg with the knife, drawing blood and making him cry out even louder than the first man had when he fell.
Stabbing his leg drew his notice.
"That little shit!" the first man gasped, raising his leg back for a kick.
Jiji had been kicked by little humans before. She instinctively tucked into a ball as his leg came forward, and sent her flying across the living room, to the corner of the house that had the staircase.
She felt almost no pain as she landed, after all, her scales could survive getting chewed on by dogs, which was how Shenmi found her. And whenever someone kicked Jiji, Shenmi would always show up soon...
Jiji unrolled to find the light had been turned on.
She felt a familiar presence beside her and looked up to see Shenmi, crossing her arms, dressed in a soft, fluffy robe.
"You two were so loud, I'm surprised the village hasn't caught you already," she said flatly.
"You!" The first man said. "Give us the guns or you're a dead woman!" He reached down to the carpet and picked up the knife.
"How disappointing, Captain Khoe," she chuckled. "You assume that because I'm some kind of a leader, I need weapons to protect myself? I am not a queen in this village, just an old woman."
"Then tell us where the guns are, old woman." He sneered, brandishing the knife and stepping closer.
Shenmi laughed. "Oh please... Go to sleep."
"What?" The first man asked, as beside him his companion collapsed into the heap of books. He turned, eyes growing wide. "How..."
"You woke me up the moment you climbed the fence and kicked my dear Jiji," she replied. "I only let your friend sleep because he's not a malicious idiot like you, Captain."
What followed, Jiji had little context for. Pangolins didn't fight like humans when they fought at all. She watched as Shenmi poked and punched the intruder until he was black and blue and unconscious.
Then, when Shenmi returned to sit by the stairs, Jiji climbed up her arm and gave her an affectionate poke on the cheek with her tongue.
"Good girl, Jiji. This was a fun night."