I continue laughing as I see Akken sulk away, probably embarrassed. It's easy to see the signs of young age especially when you're an auditor for the great caravan. No matter the races or species the signs are always there. That thought kills my laughter as I think of my father and how he probably sees all those signs in me too.

  Ket that chipped fanged idiot, he barely prepared for this trip and It just had to be this one for my first lone assignment. Attached to a caravan to the forest of Salkin, with a incompetent guide who all but lied about his skills to get this job, the rest seem competent enough but without a translator there has been barely any profit or new items to sell once we return to the great north caravan.

  Akken should bring some good to this venture. Even though he probably won't be very welcome with some of the tribes he might even be kept out but if he could teach Veln and the rest some words that we could actually have a productive time here. Akken might even be a good conversation partner unlike the fools who act like admonished hatchlings around me if they can even see me.

  Akken has good senses, seeing me from as far as I was and shrouded by the trees and moss. He's cute too in a monstrous sense, it could see the trouble in his eyes before he walked away when he heard my laughter. But he's putting more effort into my name than Ket has and it's been months since we started traveling together and he still doesn't have the teeth click and strike right.

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  Should I try to give him some coaching on how to do it right, no it's a lot more fun to watch him try and fail but it's nice to hear my name almost said right after months. I should probably get his name right too. There was a slight growl at the end of his name.

  “Aacccen… Aken… Akkeeen… Akken” it took me longer than I thought to make it sound somewhat like how he said it. But Shifter names are hard so there is so much difference between them. Maybe that's not even how others say his name and that's just how he says it.

  There weren't any Shifters around in the great caravan, before we set off. I think I've heard talks of one or two taking up work with us but I've never seen them myself. I have heard that the great desert has a few villages of them but I've barely any memories from there. My father took me to join the grand caravan soon after my hatching. Soon I hear the other members of this small caravan waking soon after the first sounds of bedrolls shifting. I notice Akken standing up, perhaps ready to meet the rest.