Well, that was stupid.
This was the most appropriate thought in Amalthea's head as she watched the little dragon scurry away, a sparkling ear cuff pocketed in its bulging left cheek like a chipmunk.
Maybe it hadn't been the most well thought out idea to admittedly goad the little reptile, and maybe even mean. When it had sidled up to the stall and tried to peek up over the edge, she'd picked up the cuff in her telekinesis and lifted it so that the dragon could see, even giving it a few shakes so that the light bounced off of it.
That was the big mistake.
She saw the dragon's eyes widen to dark, dilated pools as its head followed. The little thing must have been young, still growing into its head and talons. It lowered itself closer to the ground, wriggling its entire body like a snake sliding over water before leaping up and chomping the ear cuff out of the air.
Amalthea, to her credit, did react swiftly.
She hissed a quick apology to her grandfather, who was staring at her as if she'd just told him not to be alarmed but that she thought that the moon wasn't the same shape every night, and darted off after the scaley little thief.
With the usual crowded and festive atmosphere of the market, it meant a lot of starting and stopping. Which meant always being several steps and counting behind the little dragon, the only way she was even able to keep track of it was the way its raven blue scales glinted in torchlight as it scurried beneath hooves.
A break in the crowd allowed Amalthea to make up some ground, giving her room to raise her speed before the ephemeral meadow in the forest of bodies closed in again all too soon. Much too soon for her to slow her pace as a stranger came into view at an alarming rate.
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