Thekherham

Author bio:

Thekherham: I was born on the planet Tereskàdhar, and my species are called Tereskàdian. The closest animal I could relate to would be a fox. I am bipedal and digitigrade (I walk on my toes). I am six feet tall, slender, with a somewhat pointy muzzle, large black eyes, black nose, and whiskers (two sets, a smaller set near the front of the muzzle, and a longer set further back, with a little blank space between). My ears are small (well, not small-small, but not big either, because I come from a very cold environment), and because I'm a male, and because males keep their... ahem, privates inside their body when not in use, I have ear tufts, or should I say fine hair running along the perimeter of the ears, with the hairs at the tip of the ears a bit longer than the ones on the other two sides. I have auburn fur, and a long, bushy tail which is also auburn, although the tip is black. The tail is carried up along the back, and when viewed from the side, looks sort of like the letter 'S', with the black tip hanging down. (Tereskadians are rather vain about their tail... our (ahem) one fault). My eyes are black, and unlike Kykherhenha, they do have pupils. I have four claws on each of my forepaws and my hindpaws, so sixteen alltogether. When Tereskàdians reach sexual maturity a poison called desdhak’hŏr appears in the claws. This is an extremely deadly poison to which there is no antidote. It does come in handy when hunting, because we are pure carnivores (meat and only meat.).

Kykherhenha: Even though her species is popularly called a whistling dragon, Kykherhenha is a mammal. She is quadrupedal and digitigrade. If you want to compare her to an Earth animal she would be the size of a large tiger. Anyway, she has a streamlined body, with what could best be described as a canine-type head. The muzzle is long, but roundish (not pointy like yours truly). She has no external ears, and her eyes have no pupils. They can change color, according to mood. You might say the default color of her eyes is sky-blue. Like her Tereskàdian, her entire body, which could best be described as... what? regular... well, not skinny and not fat, is covered with auburn fur. She has a long tail which ends in a tuft, something like a lion's. Her wings, which are black and bat-like, are fairly large, but when folded up they are locked to the side of her body, so if you don't know your whistling dragons or you're not looking too close, it looks like she doesn't have any wings, but just a black color in with her auburn color.

A few more things: Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons are conceived and born at exactly the same time. They are linked from birth until death. A Tereskàdian can communicate telepathically only with his or her own whistling dragon, but a whistling dragon can communicate telepathically with other whistling dragons. Whistling dragons produce milk that belongs exclusively to his or her Tereskàdian. (When you really come right down to it we are very specialized… meat only, milk only.) Both Kykherhenha and I wear collars. These collars are white, with a red diamond shape at the throat. These collars are a reminder of our history, when thousands of Tereskadians and whistling dragons were killed indiscriminately, just because we were thought of as animals. Each collar also has our names on it, such as Thekherham/Kykherhenha. (The names may be too small to see, but the red diamond symbol is far more important).

Also: Female Tereskàdians and whistling dragons produce three cubs, five years apart, and all three are the same sex. Both male and female Tereskàdians and whistling dragons, who are marsupials, nurse their cubs. The cubs spend the first year in the pouches (the Tereskàdians call these chambers) exclusively, the second year in and out, until the end of the second year when they are turned out. They nurse for three more years, then at the age of five they switch to the milk of their whistling dragons.