How Do You Find Somewhere Good To Eat Without Yelp

Hatching solo wasn't uncommon on the Kiama Isles; a lot of eggs simply rolled away from the nest, were stolen or were rescued from ravaged areas by good samaritans. The important thing for a lone hatchling was to find your place in the world as fast as possible. For most hatchlings, this meant finding a group to stay safe in, to find someone slower than you that could take the fall if you ran into trouble if you were uncharitable and someone to trust with your life if you were of a softer disposition. Meatball found herself in the latter category, hunched over to keep her featherless body warm on the chilly summer night she had hatched into. She didn't know it yet, but she had hatched on Isla Kela, arguably the more hospitable of the two islands. She would probably appreciate this fact when she was older with more experience of the world, but as far as she was concerned it was just as cold and lonely a place as anywhere else.  Through the trees, she could see the large inky black expanse of the ocean and had been listlessly heading towards it, stopping every so often to sip the dew from the leaves as they gathered in the night. Each sip was a refreshing boost to her, powering her on another few minutes before she would stop to drink again. Her little feet were beginning to hurt from all of the walking, and instincts told her to find somewhere secluded for the night before even the dew couldn't perk her up anymore.

"Hey," a small voice called from her left. Meatball nearly jumped out of her skin and peddled backwards to avoid whatever had just spooked her. "Wait, wait! Come back, it's okay!" The small voice sounded more frantic now but it stayed just as tiny and anxious as before. Meatball was convinced to stand her ground, her spikes bristling as she prepared for conflict. From the dark, a pair of golden eyes peered out at her through the dense undergrowth. A heavily feathered Utahraptor, a hatchling like her, cautiously stepped out from the shade and Meatball could finally see her properly. Her feathers formed a crest along the back of her head and her tail feathers were as thick as the ferns that surrounded them both.

"Hey," she said again, just as quietly, "I'm Smelt, who're you?"

"Meatball," she answered plainly. A name that had come to her from nowhere and meant nothing to her.

"That's nice," Smelt said pleasantly, "I hatched a few days ago, and I found a way to get food, do you want to see? There's plenty for us to share." Meatball felt her stomach grumble at the thought, her egg meal seemed so long ago now. She nodded eagerly and Smelt beamed at her. "You'll love it, it takes a little while and we have to be quiet but it’s free food.” It was definitely tempting;at this moment in time Meatball wasn't even sure if she could find her next meal, she was just wandering towards the sea in the middle of the night.

"Okay," she said cheerfully, "show me how!" Smelt lit up and hopped a little on the spot.

"Cool! Okay, so, we have to stay quiet and wait a while," she reiterated, "there's a pack of raptors I found and we can follow them and finish what they leave behind." Meatball's brow furrowed in concern.

"Are you sure that's enough?" she asked skeptically.

"It is!" Smelt said insistently, "I'll show you, I saw them hunting earlier." The crested hatchling took off in a sprint and Meatball hurried to keep up with her. She was grateful for her new friend's ostentatious tail as it let her track her through the plants and stopped her from running right into her when she stopped suddenly. "Look!" Smelt pointed into a small clearing in the foliage and at the hollowed carcass of some kind of ungulate. The creature was unrecognisable at this point but there was still meat left behind and Meatball's stomach rumbled. "I told you, they leave this behind when they can't eat any more," Smelt said confidently. 

"Can we eat this?" Meatball asked cautiously. Smelt grabbed her and walked her over to the other side of the clearing, gently parting the leaves and letting the other hatchling peek through. She saw a pack of Utahraptors scattered around the clearing, a mix of adults and hatchlings sleeping in piles together. Smelt pulled her back towards the remains, staying quiet until they were far enough away.

"They've done this every time I've followed them so far," she said, "Kill, eat, sleep. We've got a lot of time to eat before they wake up, trust me." Meatball did trust her, Smelt had been kind and was eager to share any knowledge she had gathered in her scant day alive. Meatball only wished she could offer something in return, but she was even more naive than her new friend. Instead, she thanked her by tearing a thin strip of flesh from the beast and offered the first bit to Smelt, who took it happily. It didn't take long to fill their small bellies, a good thing considering they were soon interrupted.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked right behind them. Both girls shrieked and jumped, their claws at the ready to defend themselves. The Utahraptor hatchling that stood behind them also shrieked, falling over backwards to put distance between them. With his sudden appearance less of a threat than first thought, Smelt realised he was the hatchling they had seen with the adults.

"Oh, you're with that pack," she noted out loud.

"Yeah, they feed me," the hatchling said carefully, "They're not family but they felt bad for me." Meatball and Smelt exchanged glances.

"Do you think they'd feel bad for us too?" Meatball asked.

"Uh, I don't know, it's two more mouths to feed but they're nice. They won't eat you for asking," he reassured them. Smelt still looked nervously over at Meatball, who realised with a sudden sense of dread that she was waiting for the bald raptor to answer for them both.

"I suppose so, if it won't hurt to ask," she said slowly. The hatchling grinned at her and gestured with his forearms, his feathers ruffling with the enthusiastic motion.

"It won't! I'll introduce you. My name's Dexter, by the way," he added, like his own name was a particular uninteresting addendum to the whole situation.

I'm Smelt, and that's Meatball. She hatched today and I hatched yesterday," Smelt informed him with the only trivia possible for a two day old to impart.

"I hatched a couple of days ago," Dexter said, "So I'm close to you guys in age, I think." He said it like it was nothing but it still made him the oldest person they had talked to yet. They supposed that would change when they met the rest of the pack, who were curled in soft feathery beds under the shade of a large tree as morning dawned. Dexter marched straight into their sleeping spaces, waking a pale cream featherless raptor that looked briefly startled, relaxed when she saw Dexter, and then perked up again when she noticed the other two hatchlings.

"Who's this, Dexter?" she asked, rising to her feet and nudging her sleeping companion, a dark gray male with a white underbelly, also featherless. 

"this is Meatball, and that's Smelt," he said confidently, like he was introducing old friends to her. "I found them," he added proudly. The cream raptor looked curiously at the two newcomers, who shrank slightly under her gaze.

"Nice to meet you both," she said, her tone friendly but distant, "can we help you with something?" Smelt elbowed Meatball in an incredibly unsubtle manner, making the hatchling stumble a little before righting herself and trying to make eye contact with the adult raptor.

"Um, I'm Meatball," she said redundantly, "we've been following you." The adult raptors both raised a brow at this and Meatball hurried to correct herself. "Not for long! I only hatched today! Smelt found food by following you guys and eating leftovers so she was showing me, and then Dexter found us and said you were taking care of him and that we should ask you to take care of us too since you're so nice." She stopped to take a breath but the male raptor raised a claw and made her stop.

"So Dexter volunteered our services, did he?" he asked, looking pointedly at the male hatchling.

"They need help! Why not help them?" the tabby raptor protested. The gray male groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Dexter, if we take in every stray then we won't be able to feed everyone," he explained.

"But Magnus, if they've been eating our leftovers then there should be enough for them too!" Dexter countered, fluffing his cheek feathers in indignation. Magnus seemed taken aback by his reasoning and his cream packmate stepped in.

"Dexter, you shouldn't offer places in the pack to strangers, it could be dangerous," she said patiently.

"They're not strangers, they're just like me!" Dexter insisted, tears in his eyes and a tremor in his voice. Magnus nudged the cream raptor and gestured for her to follow him away from the group. They tried to keep their voices low but the hatchlings could hear them anyway.

"Peaches, what harm could it do to take them on?" Magnus asked softly.

"I know, but I don't want to commit to taking in every stray we come across," the cream raptor, Peaches, groaned. 

"Dexter has a point, if they're living off our leftovers they won't add to the burden much," MAgnus reasoned. Peaches sighed and turned away from the male raptor without a word. She faced the hatchlings again and Dexter stood up straight, puffing his chest out in defiance.

"You can stay for now," she said plainly, wincing at the loud cheering that came from the three hatchlings. "But!" Her interruption made the children stop celebrating. "You can't stay forever, you'll have to make your own pack some day."

"We can do that, no problem, the three of us can be a pack one day," Smelt piped up. Dexter looked surprised that he was being included in the future plans of the other hatchlings but he didn't protest.

"Come along then, we can discuss this more after some sleep," Peaches said, already stifling a yawn provoked by her disrupted nap. The hatchlings obeyed eagerly, finding their places wedged between the two adults and drifting off to sleep under the protection of their new guardians.