Dwarvia - Sari and the Rogue Halisaur

Sometime after the Drabens occupied most halisaurs but before the darkness.

Sari was a young dwarf who lived on the outskirts of town with her three younger sisters, Sali, Sadi, and Sami; triplets only two years old. The four of them and their four halisaurs lived rather happily in their small dirt hut. The three small halisaurs would sleep most of the time as Sari's great uncle Fred, who was pushing 150, would help take care of the toddlers. During the day Sari worked the fields, and each day there was just enough cereal to go with their milk.

Then one day as Sari rested in one of her fields she noticed some rustling among the stalks of wheat. She stood to watch as the agitated kernels approach from the distance. Was it a rabbit, snake, dunder dog? Whatever it was it seemed to be headed directly towards her. She grasped her hoe ready to defend herself as it drew near. Then, a tiny creature jumped out of the wall of stalks and onto the grass in front of her. It was a tiny halisaur.

She had never seen one so small. It scurried over to Sari's halisaur, who was always by her side, and jumped on its back. So, there they were. Sari's full grown reptilian companion with the minuscule creature on its back. And there it stayed the rest of the day as Sari worked the field. This was rather unexpected.

That evening she walked into the tiny hut and sat in her chair adjacent to Fred's. They both looked at Sari's halisaurs, the tiny one clung inseparably to the larger one, who sat on the floor casually and obliviously in front of them. Fred lit his pipe and reclined. They both knew the tiny halisaur would not be able to live with them. As much as she desired to keep it the consequences would be disastrous. No tiny halisaur arrived without the inevitable consequences, and in this case there simply weren't resources to accommodate them. She knew it was her decision alone. She knew she must resolve this.

Of course, in all the rest of Dwarvia a rogue halisaur was an unheard of fortune. Seldom if ever did one arrive without the availability of a larger one. The small ones are apparently drawn to the bright green anterior scales common to the halisaurs who happen to be owned by female dwarves. Anyway, this thought made her decision very, very difficult, as a luck dragon of any size is a precious commodity and not to be dismissed lightly.

Sari knew that sometimes rogue halisaurs would simply vanish, wanted or not. Well, not really vanish, but go away nonetheless. Well, not really just go away either. A peculiar and well-known trait of the halisaur is its capacity to cannibalize smaller ones. Yes, in a flash they will suddenly turn their heads, snap at the poor critter, swallow them whole, lick their chops, and continue with their daily business. No one knows why this is, but sometimes it happens, and without apparent reason.

In any case, all halisaurs are identical with one exception. Each has a special reflex that can only be triggered by the halisaur's owner, and only if she is female. If, for whatever reason, a rogue halisaur appears, its owner can find the pressure point beneath the tail to trigger this reflex. The halisaur will immediately turn its head and devour the little one, swallowing it whole. No one knows why this reflex exists, but since it does, Dunder Village has no choice but to allow its female dwarves to use it as they see fit. Of course, the village depends on the restraint of this practice, as there can be no new dwarves without new halisaurs, but that has never been an issue - and nothing could be done about it anyway short of complete authoritarian control of all female dwarves.

Of course, there are no halisaurs in Dwarvia outside Dunder Village, so this technique is not available generally. The Draben ranch always encourages their arrival and requires maturation of rogue halisaurs for their valuable milk regardless of the circumstances. But, since the owner of each halisaur at the Draben ranch isn't even on the same continent, the reflex method isn't an option anyway. So, the Drabens are thankful for the vast separation of the two entities.

Incidentally, when a dwarf is killed, its corresponding halisaur also perishes, so it is always in the best interest of the Drabens to encourage at least the bare survival of every halisaour's corresponding dwarf. But unfortunate is the dwarf who has neither met his own halisaur nor even had the option to voluntarily sell it. Certainly such a terrifying condition is unheard of in Dundar Village. However, in greater Dwarvia, this is standard as parents usually sell any halisaur as soon as it arrives. The Draben's pay twice as much for the tiny rogue halisaurs who haven't met their dwarf - they tend to cause less trouble among the giant herds.

So anyway, when she had garnered enough will, Sari approached her halisaur, found the pressure point, and the critter was instantly devoured. Fred, Sari, and the triplets ate their meager dinner in somber silence. Such was the nature of her hut in Dunder Village those days.