Hello again, young dragons. Hm, and to think I wanted to update weekly! Well, maybe I'll do better now that it's the new year. As always I'm ecstatic to receive any constructive criticisms, comments, suggestions or Other. Today's chapter features our first special guest appearance! It was very helpful to have him, and thank you again to the anonymous who gave me a Lightning dragon when I needed one most. I hope I wrote him to your liking!

The next few times Cynder wakes up, she's able to stay conscious for steadily longer periods of time, engaging the friendly Caroline in conversation and meeting a few of the other resident dragons. Mostly healers, but it isn't long before Caroline's brother stops in.

The fire dragon Ulric is... big. At least as big as Terrador, he has to duck to fit into the room and the wicked, stony spikes on his sides scrape the doorway as he enters. His resemblance to Caroline ends with those spikes, limbs thick with muscle and the rich red of his hide peppered with dark speckles. He's a dragon who could take the Earth Guardian in a claw-to-claw fight, she thinks, but his resemblance to the stern green dragon melts away with an easy smile at her hello.

(She hates this newfound timidness in herself, but she can't really help it. Weak, surrounded by strange dragons and so deeply in their debt for saving her and Spyro's lives. She couldn't really expect herself to keep up her usual bravado, right?)

While she's thinking about it, she asks to see Spyro again, careful to phrase the question to both adults.

Caroline frowns and shuffles her wings, but the gesture is more thoughtful than worried. Cynder holds her breath, then nearly bites her tongue as Ulric's laugh booms out like a thundercrack, making them both jump.

"The purple dragon hasn't even woken up yet, little sootball. What's the point?" he says, not unkindly, but it's hard not to take it personally. Cynder's expression must be quite crestfallen, because Caroline immediately butts her head against her massive brother's shoulder and scowls.

"That's not why I didn't want her to go! Talking to dragons trapped in sleep can be very healing for both involved, and he's not so badly hurt that her presence would endanger him somehow. It's poor Cynder I'm worried about- I don't really think she ought to be moving around yet."

Caroline's positively pouting about it, wings slumping, and Ulric's visibly shocked by her reaction. For Cynder, the implication that she could be so inept rankled with her. She was the former terror of the skies, she should be able to walk down a hallway without breaking anything… She doesn't notice that Ulric is looking between her and Caroline with bemusement, not until his mottled snout is bare inches from her claws, jerking away in surprise and thoroughly snapped out of her sullen inner monologue.

"Hmmm…," he tuts, as overly dramatic as he can be and tilting his head this way and that. He seems to be appraising her, and Cynder puffs out her chest, tail wagging as she tries to look fit and energetic. Ulric lets out another booming laugh, and even Caroline giggles.

"I dunno, sis. Let her try. A dragon like Cynder's got to be one tough cookie. I'm sure she can handle a little walk by now," he says with a shrug, and Cynder's opinion of him soars. She looks eagerly at Caroline as he continues. "And if she can't make it there by herself, I'll just carry her. Shards, I bet even you could pick her up. Poor kid couldn't weigh more than a newborn lamb by the look of her."

Cynder stifles a laugh while Caroline gives Ulric a stung look, huffing and mumbling, 'and just what is THAT supposed to mean?' before finally giving in and laughing again.

"Alright, alright you two! Pull my tail, why don't you? We can go see the purple dragon."

Cynder bites back a whoop of triumph, instead she asks, "Now?" Caroline nods.

"Yes, now. I've got to change your bandages soon and I can do it just as well in his room as I can here. Might even work better, since I imagine you'll be distracted…," Caroline hums thoughtfully at her own comment, looking pleasantly surprised by the realization and trundling off to put away the herbs she'd been grinding before her brother arrived. Ulric gives Cynder a conspiratory wink, and she grins back as she shuffles to the edge of her 'nest.' He was a little rough around the edges and in a lot of ways, but she was quickly coming to like him.

Reaching for the floor, she's a little surprised again by the stark paleness of bandages against her dark scales, but there's no tremble in her limbs and she's able to lean her weight onto her forelegs without any trouble. Relieved, she shuffles around sideways until she can bring a hindfoot down too.

So far so good, but…

It's her other leg that causes some worry. It hasn't hurt much since she woke up, and she can bring it down easily enough to rest on the floor, but the hard earthen cocoon encasing most of it doesn't really let it bend. She can wiggle her toes, but she isn't sure if it will support her.

She gingerly sets some weight on it, and when it fails to buckle the way she expects she tries standing normally. Cynder finds she can even lift two feet, resting all of her weight on the cast and her opposite foreleg, without tumbling over.

"That's coming off today," Caroline tells her, snorting at the sight, and Cynder quickly sets her other feet back down. The curly-maned hen has a large bowl cradled in one arm. Cynder can't see what's inside but there's a peculiar tool peeking out. "I'd be gentle if I were you but it shouldn't hurt."

She nods, and Cynder takes a small step forward, then a few more, only wobbling a little at first. She's more or less steady on her feet and Ulric lets out a snort of approval, turning and walking back to the cloth-draped arch that serves as a door. His spikes make an awful sound as they scrape on the stone.

Caroline keeps a few steps behind Cynder as they follow the spotted male, and it can't quite be described as hovering but it's no less vigilant. She reaches over Cynder's head to catch the curtain when Ulric's tail lets it fall and, finally, Cynder gets to see what's beyond the room she's been kept in.

It's a large central cavern with a high, arching ceiling, wooden lattices built all the way up and across. The wooden beams are largely hidden by the many bushels and hanging nosegays of dried plants strung up, out of the way, but there are open spots giving a safe berth to lanterns and patches of what looked like a glowing fungus. Cynder can see lots of small, cloth-hung doorways leading to what she assumes are smaller side rooms like the one she was in, and a little over half of the room itself is taken up by neat rows of low wooden cots. A few of them are occupied by dragons nursing bandaged limbs or a wing in a sling, but one in particular catches her eye.

She can hardly believe what she's seeing but there's a young red dragon who looks her age, wincing and squirming as an ice dragon rubs something on his palm. The coppery hen standing beside the cot rests a paw between his wings to reassure and keep him still. Cynder can only assume that she's his… His mother.

The sight is gone a moment later, to her immense relief, as they duck into another little room almost identical to the one she'd woken up in: Cozily small and nondescript, soft furs padding the stone floor and recesses carved into the wall for holding herbs and healer's tools. A hearth with a crackling fire sits in the far wall, and she can see the corner of a mirror behind something blocking the middle of the room.

There's a dragon standing watch, one who looks strangely gaunt and fractured in the firelight, but Caroline puffs fire into a few lamps to brighten the room and it turns out to just be markings, jagged bolts of dark color racing across his yellow hide. A lightning dragon, by his horns, he cocks his head and looks at each dragon in turn.

"Healer? I thought my shift wasn't over until nightfall." He practically leaps to his feet as Cynder continues hobbling towards him, giving Caroline a worried look, but Caroline smiles and nods so he steps aside. Cynder can see a familiar silhouette curled up in the nest just beyond him, and she barely hears Caroline explaining the situation to the guard as all of her focus zeros in on that form. She scrambles the last few steps and leans anxiously in to see what's become of her friend.

The purple dragon seems… diminished, somehow, lying limply on his side with wings spread out like a blanket. His right wing is braced by a light wooden frame pinned carefully to his arm, some kind of fuzzy green padding held against the thinner wing membranes. Another strange contraption hangs overhead, glittering sand trickling down from a hanging sack. Cynder reaches out to swipe at the stream with a claw, and the immediate warmth confirms her suspicions. More crystal dust.

He's even more bandaged than she is, only a few spots of tarnished purple scales peeking out from under the strips of fabric, and she winces as she spots the edges of a raw, scaleless patch on his stomach. The memory of Malefor's massive claws pinning them to the stone, the wind screaming in her ears as they all plummeted down into the earth, makes her tremble and itch.

"Cynder?"

Warm breath tickles her scales as Caroline, misinterpreting the movement, gives her a comforting touch.

"It's not as bad as it looks, really," she says, her smile sympathetic. "We were actually expecting Spyro to wake long before you did."

"So why hasn't he?"

Caroline shakes her head, turning to watch Spyro's claws twitch in his sleep. The lightning dragon peers over too, though his gaze is on Cynder, and Ulric remains in the doorway with a confident smile.

"He's just too tired I suppose. Now, let's see what I can do for you. Go ahead and lay down."

Caroline is gentle but briskly efficient, peeling bandages away to reveal raw, healing skin and slathering on pungent herbal mixtures that make Cynder's eyes water. She really was worse off, deep slashes on her flank and a set of cuts perilously close to her eyes. She can only feel those and doesn't know how bad the damage is. Caroline has her close her eyes and tilt her head forward as she brushes on something gooey that tingles. Through it all Cynder keeps as still as she can, wincing and grumbling now and then, but biting back any complaints or scathing comments.

"Atta girl, what a trooper you are. I wish the rest of my patients were so well behaved! Striker, fetch me the coarse grade bandages. I think we ought to let these breathe for a bit."

Cynder opens one eye, watching the black-striped dragon passing things to Caroline and occasionally having to take them back and fetch something different. He doesn't seem to know where a lot things are kept and, when he catches her look, he grins sheepishly.

"I'm not a healer if that's what you're thinking," he mutters, and Cynder tries not to smile. "I'm a scout, and I'm actually pretty good at my job. Honest. The spotty lughead over there-"

Ulric lets out an indignant bark.

"-is my troop captain and had me assigned here for a few days. To help out and help watch you two."

Striker scratches his stomach thoughtfully, looking upwards. "Not that you really need much watching, but I'm useful for other things around the healer hall and they've been pretty short on helping claws lately."

"What else do you guys do around here? I haven't actually left my room until now, so I'm not sure what kind of place this Cliff Town even IS." She cocks her head, trying her best to ignore the uncomfortable tugging of Caroline tending to her wing sails by focusing on a conversation with the guard. She can kind of see it in his shape, body lean but well proportioned. Sturdy and quick.

"Ah, well…," Striker dithers a little as he considers the question, and she wonders what's holding him back until Ulric clears his throat from the doorway.

"Perhaps we ought to wait for Spyro before we dive into the big explanations," he says, and his voice has an unexpectedly reprimanding tone. Striker gives him a sullen look in reply, snapping "I know!", but Ulric grins a moment later and the lightning dragon relaxes. "Calm down, you'll get to show off soon enough."

To Cynder he adds, "The healers actually request him special, and he earned the nickname 'Precision Strike' for a reason."

It doesn't take long to find out what he means, and it's not until much later that Cynder would realize how quickly he'd diverted her from the question. Caroline passes the strange instrument from her bowl over to Striker, and Cynder finally gets a clear look at the strange indentations and designs running along it's length. There's a flat metal disk at one end, and Striker winks over it as he takes a deep breath, bites down, and exhales.

Electricity crackles along his muzzle as he starts a slow, rhythmic breathing pattern, the tool lighting up with a hiss as it sucks in the sparks. The disk at the end starts to spin.

"It's a saw," Cynder says with wonder, admiring the compact device until she realizes it's being lowered towards her leg. "UM."

"It won't cut you dear, don't worry," Caroline assures her, but Cynder finds Spyro's paw under the straw anyway, letting the touch settle her nerves. While no stranger to pain, that didn't mean she welcomed it and she shudders as the blade hits her cast and starts to snarl… True to the healer's word, it buzzes neatly through the earthy plaster and leaves her scales untouched. Caroline even speaks over it's growl to explain how it works, and how a lightning dragon would have to have extremely fine control over their voltage lest they overload it. Over Striker's head, Cynder spots Ulric trying not to laugh, and has to stifle a snort herself as he waggles his heavy brow ridges at her.

"Aaaand… All done!" The shrill buzzing of the saw cuts off, and Striker scoots backwards with it still in his mouth. Leaning in close to examine the cut, Caroline holds each side of the cast in her paws, and Cynder notices that they're surprisingly rough. Not unlike Spyro's, which she releases in embarrassment lest anyone spot her reaching for comfort. His talons stay loosely circled around her wrist, just tight enough that she'd have to give a proper tug to get free. "Now I'll just crack this off and that leg of yours is home free."

SNAP.

"Owch!"

It splits easily, cracking cleanly into two halves, but the corner of one jabs into Cynder's foot and makes her jump. The healer jumps too, gasping.

"Did that hurt you?! I'm sorry!"

"I'm fine, sorry," she mutters, wincing. "It startled me more than it hurt." Caroline sighs with relief and puts aside the broken halves of the plaster, grasping Cynder's foot instead. She presses the rough pads and flexes the toes, turning the entire thing at the ankle, and frowns as she hears a faint moan of discomfort.

"Is it sore?"

Cynder blinks. "I didn't say anything…"

They stare at one another for a moment, puzzled, and Caroline shoots a suspicious glance at her brother, but his gaze is focused intently a few feet to her left. His surprised hiss breaks the silence, followed by someone else's groggy mutter of, "Cynder…?"

Both of them whip around, the healer gasping as Cynder lets out a cry of joy she can't quite restrain. Blinking blearily at his own claws, still clasped around Cynder's wrist, Spyro lifts his head with some difficulty and turns towards her.

"...Wh'happened?" he slurs, voice slow, but he's finally awake. "You yelped. Y'alright?" He blinks slowly down at his paws again, realizing after a moment that they're bandaged, and frowns. "...Am I alright?"

Chaos erupts immediately.

Caroline puts her paws over her face, muttering thanks to the ancestors, then yelps as the blade of Cynder's wildly wagging tail hits a vial of disinfectant and shatters it. Striker jumps back to avoid the splash of solution and Cynder's tail, banging into the wall and bringing a rack of dried herb bundles down on his horns. Ulric, shouting, leaps forward to try and help Caroline mop up the floor furs before they stain, yanking a drying cloth from a shelf with his teeth… And dragging everything else out along with it. Cynder bangs him in the shin with her tail when she turns to try and help.

By the time they manage to settle down again, Cynder is sitting on her own tail for safety reasons and Caroline has a paw over her bruised snout(whalloped by one of Striker's wings when Ulric had stepped on the tip of the other.) She pins the pair of males, heads low and wearing matching sheepish grins, with a disappointed stare. Through it all, Spyro watches with bemused, half-lidded eyes.

"...Are they alright?"

Caroline sighs.

"Ulric, please go let Father know that Spyro is awake?"

The spotted dragon snaps to attention, nodding and slinking past his sister. He winks at Cynder over Caroline's shoulder, then ducks out under the curtain.

"Striker? Go get me a bowl of broth from the pot in Cynder's room, I want to get something in this poor dragonet before he goes under again."

"Yes, Healer," he replies with a grin, feeling that he's been forgiven for adding to the mess, and dashes off after Ulric.

Spyro watches it all without comment, brow furrowed as his brain slowly wakes up. Cynder has to bite back a snicker at his befuddled expression, but for once she has no smart remarks, clambering up into the nest to huddle protectively against his side. She would wrap a wing around his shoulders if she could, but with whatever brace the healers have rigged up on her, all they can really do is drape stiffly down her sides.

Caroline titters behind one of her own wings, trying to hide her laughter, and lays down to get closer to their level, tail curled loosely around the nest. She smiles kindly at Spyro, who doesn't manage to look any less bewildered even as he mirrors the expression.

"Well now! That was quite the welcome you got, wasn't it, young dragon. I'm sure you must have lots of questions, but for right now, let's just get you taken care of, okay?"

It's strange, but this wasn't where I originally intended to end this chapter... Hm, it worked out for the best I think.

As always, I continue to accept reader-submitted dragons for any who would like their characters to make a guest appearance, and I'm happy to take suggestions and even requests. This story is going to be largely slice-of-life, following Cynder and Spyro's progress in physical healing. So if there's anything people want to see in particular, a quick detour won't exactly be hard. Additionally, art can be found for it now and then on the tumblr linked in my profile.

I'm also somewhat actively looking for a Beta Reader, if anyone is interested. It really helps when I have someone to bully me into sitting down and editing the chapter for posting, hahaha. Once again, happy flying, and I'll see you all next time~!