Cyan

Apparently someone had a pet store near the old Black Mesa township... Because there are always so many of the things scattered around! Cyan's abilities to nudge birds into action seem to work very well on them as well as her 'fathers' ravens. It wasn't the birds that drew another of Black Mesa's current inhabitants to Cyan's side, it was the plant life.

"You... need what now?" Eden asked, tilting her head and getting about the same response from her green and red dragon beyond.

"Millet. Millet plants," Cyan said, holding one of them up. It wasn't the whole plant, but it was a seed cluster similar to those which the pet store out there used to carry. It was old, though, it was dried and useless as a seed cluster. The small birds, the budgies and lovebirds and parakeets that seemed to like Cyan's presence, thought they were just fine. Stale? Who cared. Two of them picked at the cluster until she shooed them off her shoulder. Cyan handed the stem and what was left of the seed cluster to Eden. "Can you use this to... well, I dunno, make a bigger one?"

Eden, normally up for any given challenge, carefully examined the seed plant. "Hm, yes," she seemed to go into a sort of Vortal trance while examining the plant with her power. "It's very hardy and good for this climate... better than I expected, actually." Eden's green eyes finally blinked and she looked about them. The top of the Mesa was still unadorned, and would have to remain that way for a while, lest any Combine satelites detect radical changes. But the rest of the area... There would be very little in terms of coloration to notice, particularly if she tweaked the strain to lose its green, earlier than it normally would.

She muttered to herself, getting some chirping from her dragon in response. They apparently could make something big enough that it could replace any given section of their grain gardens, as well as produce big enough seeds for the dragons to enjoy without destroying entire seasons worth of crops.

Since many of her siblings as well as almost every Pantheon adult she'd ever met would do things like 'wander away muttering to themselves', Cyan just let the woman go her own way. It wouldn't be long before the area near the southern waterway had 12 foot tall versions of plants which usually only grew to a tenth that size. It wasn't weirder than some of the imported Xenian plant life, at any rate!

***

Nishaa twittered and chirped, and while the bulk of those listening heard only a sing-song trail of vocalizations akin to a crowded bird shop, the Vortigaunts nearby perked up. Their large red eyes scanned the skies: there was something on the way? Cyan could understand Nishaa easily, of course, but that was among her own Vortal powers. She sent a telepathic message to someone in the Rookery's control room.

Nishaa says there are Scanners coming, she said, probably want to get things locked down quickly.

Cyan heard the ping of response, received loud and clear. Almost immediately, she could see the exterior of the Mesa begin to change. Almost like the Combine buildings, the Citadels themselves would alter their exteriors to allow for defense or offense. She'd seen one open its upper slotted walls once, spilling its contents of flying Scanners out like a waterfall. Nishaa's keen vision had made out the magnetic signals even before one of the dragon-riding scouts could see them in the distance. The Mesa's Vortal protectors, draconic and Human alike, all pulled together to force the semi-natural shields over the openings in the rock faces, to hide the large lake on the mesa's uppermost plateau, to slide camouflaged netting over key technology that would otherwise give away their position.

They couldn't move the Mesa, but they sure could pretend that there was nothing in it worth having. That the Combine were still sending Scanners and even sometimes patrols out this direction was worrisome, and Cyan knew that it bothered her sire. Keenan appeared in a subtle Vortal ball of turquoise light, teleporting to the side of his daughter to make sure that she herself knew it was time to move.

"Let's not dally, my dear." He said, waiting for her colorful dragon to approach and curl his very long form around them. The Vortigaunts would remain, as would several other dragon-rider pairs, but not this one - and not just because there was little else they could do to prevent the Scanners from finding them. They could defend against the little things easily of course, smacking them out of the air was hardly an issue for anyone! But... Keenan didn't want his daughter out here when they came. He preferred it if she, her sister and brother, and a good number of others were safe inside when the Combine came snooping around.

They vanished as he'd arrived, with a burst of Vortal energy that only those with the right senses could detect.