Cut teeth, better believe
I got a feeling that I'm underneath
But I know what I am
They know what they are, so let me be
Jayati didn't fly enough. But there would never be a day when she did fly enough, at least not while the humans had too much of the earth. These days she just went flying a few times a month, only in certain areas, over the oceans, sometimes the Catskills, wore a charm that made her harder to spot with human eyes and instruments that didn't hide her completely. It was never enough. If the world were as it should be then she would be able to fly for days as far as she wanted in any direction, hunting and taking as she wanted. Back in the days when her father and her father's parents reigned.
Instead, she went flying a safe, tested distance, did a little light hunting. Stretched her wings. Missed. Yearned. Thought of Lalita and her flying through the skies back before radar and missiles were what they were today.
Jayati cooped a shark out of the ocean in a smooth dive that would have impressed her mother, you know, if she were alive. These were the sorts of moments that made life worth living, especially these days. Simple joys and simple achievements. Jayati had never liked complicated things, the grey areas of life that she faced more on two legs than like this, in her scaled form.
That wasn't all dragons, but it had always been Jayati's way. Lalita, Xi, even her parents, were philosophers in their own right. Saw the grey area in things, they had wisdom, evolved and grew, voracious learners. Jayati was a creature of habit. That, at least, she had in common with her mother and her grandmother before her. Things were how they were, you dig your claws in and you survive, protect you and yours until the tides go by. Her father was of the consume until you cannot and longer mindset until he met her mother. That was in her veins too, and she embraced it for a time after Lalita's death. It was the (literal) fire in her blood.
Her wings took her home, to the beach where she had taken off from, landing soundlessly. Jayati had never hidden from the town like some did, though she respected their decision to do so. Her power, her heritage, was worn with pride on her sleeves. There was no shame in what she was, except, perhaps, a widow. But that was because it was of her own actions. The shark was tossed high into the air, catching it easily and consuming it with one bite. Yum. She felt calm. Serene and a bit at peace as she settled down with her eyes towards the moon, like a cat sunbathing. It was a good, calm night, a bit cold, but not near her. Jayati ran hot on two legs, but served as a scaled furnace in this one, a circle of warmth radiating from her. Golden eyes drifted down from the sky to one of the 'cliffs' that over looked the beach and saw, much to her surprise - though not alarm - that someone was watching her.