Stop! You've violated the law!

Eos and Snowbird were a pair of pale, long-necked giants striding across the barren wastes of the ashlands. Or rather, what used to be barren wastes. Despite the inhospitable nature of the land, where only the toughest vegetation grew from the fertile ashen soil in an area known for its volatile habit, more and more plants had been sprouting up at the fringes. They erupted from the earth from the lava tunnels, poured out from caves formed by active lava flow from long ago.

For herbivores, this should have been a bounty, a new source of food becoming available. The island’s burned, scarred face had the sudden ability to recover from the fires that poured from the active volcano, but it came at a price. Every plant that seemed to come from this prolific growth was hostile in one form or another. Thorns, spines, and nauseating scents were the least offensive. The worst sights that they’d come across were the plants that were toxic when fed upon and left an array of corpses that would rot down to feed their roots. The ones that could move and use their tooth-like spines to bite anyone who touched it - and consumed them.

Snowbird had been bitten enough times in her life already. She wasn’t really keen on being chewed on by a plant, and made it a point to destroy those in an especially vicious manner. Long claws ripped fleshy plant matter into ribbons, its “teeth” useless against her keratinous scythes.

It seemed a waste to leave it laying lifeless on the ground, uneaten, but… Eos exhaled in a rush, forcing out the scent and taste of the fallen plant pieces as she lifted her head from the carnage. “Sour,” she whistled softly, and shook her head. Snowbird returned Eos’s look with a level gaze. She agreed - the scent made her nostrils burn slightly, which meant it was probably better to leave it there to rot. Neither theri planned on becoming plant food by eating the wrong thing.

Another quiet sound caught Snowbird’s attention and she craned her neck, peering out over the charred surface of the earth. It was difficult to make out any detail at this hour, as the sun had sunk just past the horizon, and she didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary. It was just the sound that was strange.

“Did you see something?” Eos asked quietly, stepping closer to Snowbird. She followed Snowbird’s gaze, but couldn’t see anything of note either.

Snowbird appeared to shiver, but Eos knew that it was a featherless “rouse” to appear more comfortable and assure her that everything was fine. Whatever Snowbird thought she heard, she couldn’t see anything. They could carry on and look for something to eat. They could visit the forest perhaps, and look for some honey to find something more palatable than the minced plant, and make up for the rough start to the night that they’d had.

Eos seemed amenable to the idea, “But you don’t have to make up for anything,” she murred quietly. She nuzzled her beak under Snowbird’s jaw, who closed her eyes in calm delight.

The forest was vastly richer in resources than the ashlands, if cooler than Snowbird would have liked and harder to navigate. There was plentiful clean, fresh water, food of all sorts (not just honey), calm and pleasant spots to sit and groom plant debris off of one another. They spent much of the night amongst the trees, tearing down branches and digging up tubers to browse on. They were even fortunate enough to find some odd little caches - large seeds that someone had apparently planted, or perhaps stored for later. Whatever the case, they were going to waste stored in the earth where they could be left to sprout and grow, and Snowbird did enjoy something with a good crunch.

The return journey was largely uneventful. The two of them were pale enough in colour to stand out in sharp contrast against their surroundings, almost seeming to glow as the moon rose over the horizon with its silver light reflecting off their pale hide and feathers, but they were large enough and fearsome enough to not be afraid of most carnivores that roamed the island. Even an acro would think twice about approaching a pair of theris.

Yet something was approaching them. Or following them, at least, because they had barely made it back into the ashlands when Snowbird heard the sound again. Something like a soft sigh, or the shifting of sand - except they were surrounded by ash, not sand, and she knew Eos’s voice too well to be alarmed by it. Eos heard it as well, and when she glanced back, she noticed a flash of white against the dark earth. It darted over the ash field, only to freeze when it realised that the theris had stopped and were looking at it.

Snowbird tilted her head, studying the odd shape with an even stare. It almost looked like a theri. A very, very small theri, with long fingers instead of long claws, and it had an odd… growth on its head. It sported a dark coat which almost blended into the ashlands, save for the flash of white on its crest and feathers, and the odd streaks of deep red. When the wind shifted and stirred up the ash, it carried with it the creature’s scent - it reeked of greenery, and something like fish. They’d heard something about these odd little creatures - the oviraptors - but this was the first time they’d actually seen one.

They regarded one another for a long moment, Eos made only slightly uncomfortable by the apparent standoff, before the ovi decided to break the silence. “Don’t mind me,” Pokie said in a somewhat cheery, if nervous tone. She shifted her feet.

Snowbird huffed out a heavy breath, her eyes hard and scrutinizing. “You’re following us,” Eos said quietly, reading Snowbird’s gaze. She turned her attention to the oviraptor, trying to add some firmness to her voice. She was a fully grown theri with weaponry that kept her safe, and she was in Snowbird’s company. She had nothing to fear from this small bundle of feathers. “Why?”

Pokie cleared her throat and shifted her feet again. “...You both seem like reasonable topsiders, since you haven’t made to attack me yet, so I’m sure you didn’t understand what you were doing, but I was sent here to discover the source of a recent string of destructive activities interfering with our efforts to make this place more habitable. Having followed you for some time now, I’m certain that you are the culprits, and I’m afraid that I have to say: you’ve committed crimes against Atlantis and her citizens.”

Snowbird snorted, looking doubtful. What crimes, exactly?

The oviraptor continued, not needing to be prompted. Now that their presence was becoming more and more known across the island, she felt quite comfortable in doling out these sentences. She had work to do, and the topsiders were getting in the way. This wasn’t the first time she’d recited these words.

“You are accused of destruction of Atlantean property, including killing defensive plants and disturbing, uprooting, and even consuming -“ Pokie sounded appalled “- seeds dispersed to aid in our efforts to settle this place. Do you have anything to say in your defense?”

Well… no, they didn’t. Snowbird hadn’t spoken properly in years, so she had little to say anyway, and Eos didn’t know what she could say. How could they commit “crimes” by breaking some kind of rule that they didn’t know existed?

“I’m sorry, I- I don’t-” Eos’s voice was small and uncertain. Snowbird made a quiet rumbling grunt, a rough sound that stutter-stopped every few seconds. It was gravelly and broken, but got the point across. They didn’t have anything to say in their defense, because they hadn’t truly done anything wrong, not from their points of view. They were defending their home from dangerous plant life, and feeding themselves. Pokie was in the wrong for bringing these dangers to their home.

Pokie took a few steps back at the sound Snowbird made, but remained resolute. “Then you must face the Queen’s Justice.”

This was just ridiculous now. Snowbird spread her arms, her long claws flashing in the moonlight in a threatening display, as she opened her mouth and hissed. She took a few couple steps forwards, as if to run at Pokie, and the oviraptor disappeared into the trees with a quiet sound of alarm.

Snowbird huffed again and relaxed, calming more when Eos stepped up beside her after a few moments. Snowbird’s eyes were gentle and almost teasing as she glanced at her mate. What utter nonsense that was. Eos didn’t look comforted by Snowbird’s teasing gaze, though; instead her eyes widened in shock and fear.

Snowbird turned to see what had unsettled Eos, only to see something else charging at them from the forest’s edge. It was a haunting sight - something pale and squat to the earth barreling towards them across the ash, the silhouette jagged with quills and spikes that stuck out at all angles. Worst of all was the bony skull in the place of the creature’s head. What monstrosity was this?

Kielo bellowed a challenge as he approached, and a warning. They had been tried and found guilty by a court of one acting in the Queen’s name, and he was here to deliver Her justice.

The voice of the euoplo emboldened Snowbird. Despite having a ghastly visage, it had a living voice, which meant it was something that could be fought. She wasn’t about to let some ghost that the cowardly little creature had summoned drive them from their home. She spread her claws again, warning the skull-armoured euoplo as it skidded to a stop before her. His feet sank in the soft ash. He wasn’t used to fighting in the ashlands - Snowbird was. Despite her towering frame, she moved almost feather-light across the shifting ash.

Eos joined her, hissing with her arms spread wide, her wing feathers making her appear even larger and more imposing. Moonlight shined between her claws as she circled around the side of the euoplo to help trap him and make him feel like he couldn’t win the fight. Despite the euoplo’s aggressive appearance, she couldn’t help but be curious about the materials that looked so securely bound to its body. Why did he have a cow skull on his head?

Kielo had no teeth or claws to fight them with, just - just the heavy club at the end of his tail, not unlike a shuno’s, which she realised she was now too close to. She scrambled to get away as he swung his hammer, screeching as it caught the tip of one of her claws and shattering the keratin. Snowbird squawked, an ugly and painful sound, and dashed forwards to rear up and smash her clawed foot repeatedly down on the flat surface of the skull’s forehead. Again and again she kicked at the euoplo’s head while Eos escaped from his range, holding her hand close to her chest, and then once more for good measure even though Kielo already seemed dazed.

Snowbird beat the euoplo’s head into the ash and when she was satisfied, she nodded for Eos to pick a direction to go. He was quite small, compared to them, but he was covered in bony protrusions and quills - armour that their claws wouldn’t do well against, so they’d do better to move on while he was still reeling.

Pokie approached Kielo when the theris had moved a considerable distance away, confused and stunned by how events had unfolded. The warriors were the Queen’s Justice, carrying out sentences as dictated by the Queen and those acting as her Voice - how had these topsiders escaped with hardly a mark on them? … It must have been their size, and purely their size, that saved them, for they rivalled even the iguanodons in their tremendous height. Nevermind the new fractures in the cow skull that adorned Kielo’s head.

Snowbird hummed roughly when they got to a covered outcropping, eyes full of concern for Eos. Eos’s eyes watered against the pain, and her whole hand ached from the impact, but it had fortunately just been a glancing blow. Still, Snowbird cradled Eos’s hand in her own, claws supporting the injury with extraordinary delicacy. The tip of the keratin had been broken clean off, revealing bone underneath, and the keratin was cracked further along the claw. Snowbird sighed. It would heal, in time, but it would be sensitive and painful until it did.

Her eyes smiled at Eos, saying what she could not without her voice. Reckless. But no more reckless than she had been in approaching the unknown threat. Now they knew for next time, if another of the “Queen’s Justice” approached them. And now they knew how to treat the oviraptors, and any other “Atlanteans” that they came across if they came bearing the same “sentence.” If the Atlanteans already believed them criminal and would not hear a word otherwise, then they would show them exactly how criminal they could be.

They would tear down every strange plant they came across. They would rip up their roots, shred their greenery, destroy their flowers. They would dig up the seeds and drop them in flowing lava if they managed to find a source, or perhaps just eat them again. Pokie seemed upset enough with that. They traveled quite a bit across the ashlands, and met many other herbivores. They even knew of a large styracosaur herd in the area, who could spread the word even further. The oviraptors might have been treated poorly upon arriving to the islands, but the Atlanteans as a whole would meet an even poorer reception as they surfaced if they didn’t change their attitudes.