It has been a long, long time since I last updated. Thank you for all the reviews, they have helped me a lot.
I feel that this story must come to a close very soon, and I don't have anything more to write about the characters here. The next chapter will be the last of this story. Please don't complain or try to plead with me to continue writing with Natala and T'gen, their story ends with the next chapter. However, I do have two new stories for DRoP that I'm currently working on, so I'll continue writing fanfiction in this category.
Oh, and this chapter is in Nalonth/T'gen's POV- their side of the mating flight.
She is mine.
I am the fastest, the strongest, the largest. I will catch her, she will not escape me.
So beautiful her gold hide that streaks through the sky. She taunts me, she challenges me to catch her. I almost catch her, but she flies ahead.
But then there is pain. My inner wing sails are torn, the flesh of my back clawed. I cry out, I fall behind, I cannot fly. I fall.
He will get her, the one who uses violence to reach her. He cannot get her, he must not get her. He is not worthy.
I have failed, I have not caught her. She will not be caught because of-
But she comes to me, she hooks my talons with hers. She twists her tail around mine, she folds in her wings and drops. We come together.
She has caught me.
She has caught me.
Nalonth and I disconnected minds. My back ached, like there where claw marks on my bare back. I leaned against the cave wall, my eyes closed, my arms feeling... empty.
She was not in my arms, where she should be.
I opened my eyes and searched for her. Kaylith and Nalonth were together, but I did not have Natala. I could still felt the immense emotion streaming from my bronze, but there was no one there with me.
I pushed myself away from the cave wall with my arms and raced into Natala's bedchamber. I found R'vin on top of Natala, Natala unclothed beneath him, trying to push him off.
Shard it! I cursed under my breath as my legs propelled me across the floor, where Natala's dress lay torn. My hands grabbed R'vin's shoulders, my fingers digging into his skin, and tore him off of my Natala. I flung his large body all the way across the room where he hit the wall and landed to the floor in a heap.
I hurried and sat on the bed next to Natala, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close and tight against me. I put my body between her and R'vin, shielding her from anymore hurt from that man.
"Shard it, R'vin," I shouted at him, my head flooded with anger, "Bantoth didn't have Kaylith at all! Your sharding dragon clawed mine. Kaylith and Nalonth are together, she caught him. Natala is mine!"
R'vin stumbled and fled the room. My head started to clear as he left, but powerful emotions consumed me still, partially influenced by the mating flight high above us. I looked down into my Natala's eyes.
So beautiful.
Her deep blue eyes, flecked with gray and black, shone with tears. My heart melted. Her forehead was beaded with sweat; her hair, the color of a gold dragon's hide, was ruffled and tangled. She breathed heavily, staring up into my eyes with love and sadness. How could those two emotions show together on one face? Her lip quivered, tears just beginning to fall from her eyes to her suntanned cheeks. I held her tighter and she buried her face into my neck. I ran one of my hands through her hair, with the other I rubbed her bare back.
In my mind, I heard Nalonth cry out in pain. He and Kaylith had broken apart from their dive and were stopping their steep descent. But Nalonth, his inner wing sails torn, could not properly fly or land. I felt is panic as he neared the ground, his body weakening, too weak to possibly jump between and come out closer to the ground.
A hundred feet above the ground, I felt through Nalonth's mind, Kaylith and a few blue dragons came under his wings to help him. His wings still painfully outstretched, the large queen and the smaller blues helped him down to the ground, enabling him to land safely. Through his mind, I saw weyrfolk rushing towards him with buckets of numbweed, ready to lather his wounds in the substance and begin repair on his inner wing sails.
I turned my attention back to my Natala. Her face still buried into my neck, her body shook with sobs. I leaned my face close to her ear and whispered, "Nalonth is going to be alright." Her crying ceased for a moment as she looked up into my face. Eyes red, she smile just a little, but her lips were open partway, like she was trying to speak.
T'gen, I heard in my mind. The dragon voice was Kaylith's. She wants to tell you that she loves you.
Natala was breathing hard, gasping for air. Her lips tried to form words, her throat dry. Was she trying to speak? But she couldn't, her parents had said that she was born unable to speak. I watched my Natala as she desperately tried to make words come out of her mouth. I released my grip on her body just a little, letting her breathe easier.
She leaned to the side and coughed violently. Her coughs sounded like gagging, but she threw nothing up. I held her to keep her from falling over as she gasped for air, her hands gripping her neck as she coughed. She leaned into me once again, her hands on my shoulders, eyes staring into mine, breathing hard, her sweet breath on my skin.
It came out as a whisper, but I could hear her say "T'gen."
My eyes widened, thinking my ears had been tricked. Had she just spoken my name?
"T'gen," she gasped out again, her voice louder, continuing between breaths, "I... love... you."
Her voice was rough and weak, like she had to dig deep to find the words. But she had spoken, her voice sounding just like her dragon's, her voice so sweet in my ears besides its roughness.
A miracle had just happened- my wordless Natala had spoken.
