Present day
"Hey, wake up..."
Cynder groggily opened her weary eyes at the sound of that familiar voice and blinked a few times in confusion. At first, all she could see was a big purple blur in front of her muzzle, outlined by what looked like the first faint rays of morning sunlight pouring in through the open bedroom window. Judging from how utterly shattered she felt at this point, it must have been very early indeed, and a great big yawn escaped her mouth all on its own as a result.
"There you are!" The voice then chuckled warmly, "Morning, beautiful..."
She didn't really understand what was happening at first, but answers eventually came a second later when she felt a tender kiss being planted on her forehead, her mate's comforting scent reaching her nostrils at the very same moment.
"Spyro..." She purred, a pleased but tired smile tugging at her lips as he promptly leaned forwards to affectionately nuzzle her cheek a second later. The touch of his warm scales sent a tingle of bliss all the way down her spine, and Cynder couldn't help but giggle out loud when he also unexpectedly licked the end of her snout; his violet eyes twinkling with obvious delight at her rather startled reaction.
"Gosh, you're such a twerp! Why don't I ever get to lie-in anymore?" Cynder laughed in jest, lightly slapping a paw to his cheek in a somewhat feeble attempt to make him stop.
"Gee, thanks!" Spyro chortled cheerily in reply, "I love you too, Cynder..."
It was hard to believe that nearly an entire week had come and gone since Spyro's return. Even now, it was still quite the refreshing thrill for her to be woken up on a morning in this manner, to be greeted with such tenderness and affection. Just gazing up into those beautiful lavender eyes at this point was almost enough to make her entirely forget about everything else, as she inexorably found herself getting lost in those entrancing, swirling depths. Whatever it was that Spyro saw in hers in return, her mate seemed to be just as equally enthralled, their muzzles steadily inching closer and closer without any kind of conscious thought to their movements.
Almost naturally, their lips then came together in a long and passionate kiss that quite rapidly became rather more heated than Cynder had been expecting first thing in the morning. Nevertheless, feeling rather emboldened all of a sudden, she wrapped her forelegs around his chest and pulled him closer. He hummed deeply from the back of his throat in obvious approval at this action, and although she couldn't see it, she could feel his tail entwining with hers as well. A knowing spark glistened in one of his eyes then, and he even unravelled his wings to cocoon her somewhat possessively, something which she utterly adored and purred all too happily in response to.
"See? This isn't so bad, is it?" Spyro mused warmly, allowing her to nuzzle under his chin by raising his head ever so slightly. He knew that this was her favourite spot, and so she took the opportunity to cuddle closer gladly. Cynder's whole world quickly shrunk to nothing else but this tender moment, the rhythmic beating of his heart becoming the only thing that she could hear, his scent the only thing she could smell, and his warm and comforting scales the only thing she could feel...
To put it simply, it was pure bliss. She simply had no other words to describe it. For the longest time they remained thusly, their bodies wrapped tightly against one-another in an intimate embrace that neither one of them wanted to end. She had never felt more safe and contented in her entire life than right now, and it therefore came as quite a shock when rather suddenly Spyro started to pull away a few minutes later, her entire body noticeably getting colder at once; nearly almost to the point of making her shiver uncomfortably.
He was still smiling fondly though, and Spyro quite clearly meant no harm by his actions. It actually looked as if he wanted to say something, but feeling rather indignant at this point for being denied her usual full allocation of morning cuddles, Cynder wasn't exactly willing to give him the chance to utter a single word. Her more usual morning grumpiness returned in full force before she could stop it, and an unpleasant scowl tugged at her lips.
"Hey, did I say you could stop?" She snapped pre-emptively to cut him off, "Get back here and finish what you started, or else!"
Spyro paused to consider this reaction for a few seconds in surprise, before eventually just laughing merrily and rather obligingly giving her one last brief kiss. Somehow he then managed to free himself from her clutches, despite her attempts to keep him held tightly in her paws. Seeing this, Cynder simply scowled and hugged herself in a futile attempt to replace the warmth he had taken from her so cruelly.
"Come on, it's time to get up! Rise and shine!" Spyro grinned, slipping down to the carpeted floor below with a dull thud. "I've got something to show you that I've been working on for a while now, and I'm pretty sure you'll like it, Cynder!"
When she didn't respond to his pleading other than with a harsh and disapproving stare however, Spyro decided to change tactics by tilting his head and widening his eyes innocently. Normally she would have given him anything he wanted from looking so adorable, but right at this very second, she wasn't having any of it.
"Please, Cynder?" He tried to continue, "I've been working on this all night, and I really want you to see it. I promise, it won't take long..."
"But its so early!" She mumbled tiredly, rolling to her belly and pouting with a pitiful expression on her face, "You know I didn't get much sleep last night, and I'm really not in the mood to be traipsing around anywhere right now."
As if to reinforce this point, a great big yawn suddenly decided to escape her mouth at that very second, making her eyes water slightly with its unexpected intensity. Seeing this, the purple dragon's smile quickly softened in sympathy and he trotted a little closer to envelop her in a light hug with his wing. It was a most welcome gesture, one that was a poor substitute for the intimacy she truly desired, but it made her eventually sigh in reluctant acceptance nonetheless.
"Hey, it'll only take a minute..." Spyro explained softly, squeezing her with his wing, "And you can sleep as much as you want when we're done, I promise!"
Cynder considered this offer for a few moments before simply shrugging, rolling her eyes in mock exasperation. "Okay, fine!" She scowled, "But this had better be worth it, or I'm seriously going to poison your food all week for waking me up this early for nothing..."
Her mate laughed at this rather not-so-serious threat, and promptly started tugging her forwards with his wing, leaving her with little choice other than to follow his lead towards the set of curtains separating the bedroom from the rest of the house.
"Come on, it's this way!" He smiled.
As she padded beside him at a leisurely pace from this point forwards, Cynder noted, with no small amount of amusement, that Spyro was doing a very poor job of hiding his excitement about whatever it was he had planned. With every step they took his enthusiasm seemed to double, and she found herself smiling tiredly as his wagging tail repeatedly crashed against her flanks over and over. He didn't even seem to realise he was doing it, focused as he was on leading her towards whatever their destination was.
"Spyro, calm down! I'm not going anywhere, okay?" Cynder snorted, playfully hitting his shoulder with a paw when it became a little too much to bear. He simply turned to look at her with a knowing grin in reply and unexpectedly came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the dining room, leaving her pausing in confusion mid-step.
"We're here!" He stated, simply.
"Oh..." She faltered, "Well, what is it you wanted to show me?"
Although the weak sunlight pouring in through the windows at this point left the occasional patch of shadow being cast around the dining room, everything looked neat and tidy, in its proper place, with no clutter strewn about the place anywhere. This she thought was rather odd, because Spyro was usually quite the messy type whenever he had done anything like this in the past. Apparently this time however, he had taken extreme care to hide away any evidence that might explain what he had been doing; she was well and truly stumped.
Oh ancestors, I hate surprises...
Resigning herself to the simple fact that she would have to wait for an explanation, Cynder settled on her haunches and looked to him with a bemused sort of smile on her face. For once she hadn't the slightest inkling as to what he had planned: he had rather annoyingly pulled this one off quite well. Spyro seemed to realise this too, and his smile twisted deviously into a sly smirk all of a sudden.
"Are you going to tell me or what?" She scowled, "Otherwise, I'm going back to bed."
Chuckling to himself, the purple dragon simply extended a paw to gesture towards the nearby kitchen worktop at this point. Lowering her gaze intently to follow this prompt, Cynder immediately spotted some kind of cloth wrapped bundle laid out on the surface that she hadn't noticed before.
When she leaned forward a little closer out of curiosity, she discovered, quite strangely, that there were no bulges or any defining features to show what was underneath the cloth, which she considered to be even more curious. Whatever it was, it had to be something pretty small. Nothing came to mind though to explain what sort of small object Spyro would have thought so important to her though, so she just ended up looking back to him patiently for further clarification.
"I've never done anything like this before," Spyro smiled rather bashfully then, lowering his head a little, "some of the pieces were missing and I had to improvise a little, so it's not perfect. I really am sorry in advance if it's not quite what you were hoping for, but I tried my best..."
All the more intrigued now, Cynder tapped her claws a few times on the carpet and flicked her tail back and forth, eyes widening with anticipation. She wanted so badly to just rip away the cloth before Spyro dragged this on for too long, but from the way in which he was currently holding himself so eagerly she thought better of it, sensing it was the right thing to do to let him handle this as he saw fit.
"Well then," Spyro said quietly at last, letting out a slow exhale, "Here goes..."
He reached out with a paw and removed the cloth with a flick of a claw at last, unwrapping the bundle for her to see. She allowed her gaze to fall back to the object then, and what she saw there literally took her breath away.
"Oh ancestors!" Cynder gasped loudly, holding a paw to her mouth in disbelief.
Laid out on the counter was the jade and opal necklace that had been destroyed during the break in just under a week ago, only now it was quite inexplicably intact and whole again once more. Whatever it was that Spyro had done to fix it, his methods had left only the occasional blemish on the surface, with scarcely a mark to show that it had been damaged at all in the first place. Just seeing it restored like this filled Cynder's heart with such emotion that it made her stagger on the spot, her eyes rapidly filling with tears of joy.
"So, what do you think?" Spyro mused softly, leaning a little closer to nuzzle her cheek. He took a moment to look at the necklace and then back to her, smiling somewhat hesitantly. "I mean, I know it's not as good as it was before, but do you like it...?"
"Gosh... I...I don't know what to say!" Cynder eventually replied with a choked sob, holding a paw to her mouth again, "Oh ancestors Spyro, this means so much to me! Thank you so much! It's... it's perfect!"
Her mate just smiled sympathetically and grasped one of her paws, squeezing ever so softly in support as he let her have this moment. Without needing further permission, Cynder quickly snatched forwards and grabbed the necklace, bringing it closely against her chest with another barely restrained sob, the glistening gemstones matching the shade of her dark scales perfectly in the rising sunlight. This was the most precious thing that he could have possibly done for her, and he knew it.
"Spyro...I..." She stammered, unable to find the words to convey her gratitude properly, "Ancestors above, Spyro...I..."
Her lower lip quivered dangerously all of a sudden, and she found it increasingly difficult to hold back the storm of powerful emotion swirling in her heart. At the slightest provocation it threatened to come breaking out, but honestly she didn't really care anymore. Spyro was there for her in no time at all, and he soon wrapped a wing around her body and gently pulled her to his chest.
"It's okay Cynder," He cooed softly, "You can let it all out, I understand..."
Needing little more prompting than this, she abandoned all hope of hiding her emotions any longer and was left spluttering pathetically against his body for the longest time, feeling quite unable to do anything else but cry away all the pain and distress that she had been silently suffering with since that terrible night, bottled up inside of her as it had been up until this moment.
"I love you so much, Spyro, I...I just don't know what I'd do without you..." She sighed at last several minutes later, sniffing loudly. "I'm glad you're back..."
He simply kissed her forehead again and just purred happily. "Hey, I'm glad to be back..."
All it took to ruin this tender moment however was the dreaded sound of someone knocking at the front door scarcely a few seconds later. They both jumped in surprise and turned around to face the window in order to see who it was, but there was really only one reason that anyone could possibly be calling this early, and they both knew it.
"Cynder, I...-" Spyro tried to say, looking rather evasive all of a sudden as he seemed to recognise the armour-clad council messenger waiting outside, their golden set of armour reflecting beads of bright light all over the hallway. He regarded her with a look of great concern as if he wanted to protest, but she cut him off before he could say another word.
"-Look Spyro, we're not arguing about this again!" Cynder snapped sternly, pausing to rub her eyes with a paw, sniffing loudly. "You know how important these council meeting are, and you aren't going to miss one just because you feel sorry for me. Honestly don't worry, I'll be fine!"
Following her prompting somewhat reluctantly as she nudged his rump with her snout, Spyro made a rather exaggerated groan of effort as he got to his feet, clearly amused by the way in which she sighed exasperatedly at this poor attempt at humour. He never did play the victim very well, and it did feel rather taxing to say the least.
"Ancestors above, you'd think you hadn't slept all night or something," Cynder commented dryly, barely holding back a yawn of her own. When hesitated to move however, she frowned in all seriousness and pouted slightly.
"Look, there's an awful lot of stuff you need to find out from the council today," She sighed, "And you really need to get going if you don't want to be late, so get on with it!"
"Hey, what's the hurry? They can wait..." He pondered playfully, chuckling to himself as he leaned in to nuzzle against her cheek. Spyro had that look of an innocent child about him right now, and she rather abruptly pulled away from him in mild aggravation, shooting him a sharp glare in reply that asked, 'seriously?'
"Oh..." He then said, his bearing immediately taking on an air of silent contemplation as he considered what she had said for a brief moment. "Yeah, you're right. I guess the council still does sort of owe us an explanation or two, huh...?"
"All I ask Spyro, is that you try." She smiled, pleased to see that he understood.
Before the purple dragon could walk more than a few short steps in the direction of the entry hall though however, she suddenly noticed something rather alarming about his appearance in the sunlight for the first time, her mouth falling wide open in shock and dismay at what she saw.
"Hey, wait!" Cynder quickly snapped, making him freeze on the spot and turn to face her with a quizzical expression on his face. "You're aren't seriously thinking of going to the council chambers looking like that, are you?"
"I um... I think so?" The purple dragon replied hesitantly, looking down at himself in confusion and gulping a little nervously in the process, apparently seeing nothing amiss. "Why not? What's wrong?"
"Just look at you! You're a mess!" Cynder face-pawed, groaning, "You forgot again, didn't you?"
Suppressing the urge to sigh once more, she tilted her head to look at him critically and padded around him in a circle, her scowl of disapproval only widening further at what she saw. Most of his scales were caked in a thin layer of dirt and grime from whatever work he had been doing the previous day, and it looked absolutely horrendous. Parts of him even looked more brown than purple in certain areas, and his normally vivid golden horns and frills were also dull and lustreless, clearly not having being polished either.
She had told him at dinner last night to tidy himself up for this exact reason, but it was clear to her now that he hadn't done so. Ugh, males!
"Come here, now!" Cynder demanded, "You're getting a tounge-bath, mister!"
Before she could get too close though he suddenly ran forwards, letting out a quick yelp of alarm in the process. She had expected this however, and with a single powerful leap, promptly landed her entire weight on the small of his back which trapped him to the ground underneath her. His legs gave way at once and he collapsed to the carpet in a heap, wheezing as all of the air was knocked out of his lungs.
"That's better, now stay still!" She grinned evilly, quickly starting her work without showing any mercy at all, ignoring his indignant protests. As she knew all of his foibles intimately by now, Cynder also chose to quite deliberately linger in certain spots where he was ticklish the most, causing the big purple buffoon to start laughing hysterically under her touch. He wriggled and squirmed, but to no avail.
"Stop, Cynder! Please, stop!" He chortled quite pathetically with tears rolling down his cheeks, "I'm sorry, okay? I forgot! It was an accident!...It's...Ahah...AHAHA!"
What an idiot! She smiled, But at least he's my idiot...
Spyro settled to his haunches and groaned, holding a paw to his forehead in exasperation. The flickering torchlight illuminating his surroundings, the underground chambers of the council buildings, only seemed to remind him of the fact that he hadn't seen daylight for several hours at least; and it was making him feel distinctly uneasy. It was around midday at this point, and he had achieved nothing worthy of note so far aside from observing some pointless debates about trivial matters perhaps best suited to someone else. To put things simply, he was getting sick of it.
Ancestors, when will it end? He frowned.
Letting out a long sigh, Spyro turned his head to spare a quick glance at Ferenth who was seated close by, just near the entrance to the main meeting chamber. They were both currently enjoying a brief recess from the current council session, and the young shadow dragon appeared to be taking the opportunity to take a quick nap; his head resting at an uncomfortable angle against a nearby stone pillar. His gentle snoring filled the air, and Spyro couldn't help but chuckle in amazement at this sight.
After the council had summoned both of them here to recount their experiences regarding the evacuation of Avion, Spyro simply couldn't imagine feeling relaxed enough to sleep so easily. Even now he still suffered occasional flashbacks to what had happened on that terrible night, about the horrible things that he had been forced to do in order to protect the villagers from destruction. The council had called his actions heroic, but it certainly didn't feel that way to him. Although most of the villagers were now safely in Warfang as refugees, a great many dragons and gryphons had still died that day, and he couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible in a way for failing to prevent things from escalating as they did.
The council chose not to tell you about all of this in the first place, you didn't have a choice! Spyro internally reminded himself, All those things you did were to save lives, don't forget that!
The sudden sound of paw steps approaching however quickly caught his attention and he looked up, suddenly snapping away from such thoughts. He was quite surprised to see that it was the four elemental guardians walking towards him from further down the corridor. When they were close enough to see more clearly a moment or two later, Spyro realised that they were all wearing serious expressions on their faces, and immediately he got to his feet, narrowing his eyes in concern. Normally all four of them didn't attend council meetings unless it was something relevant to the safety and wellbeing of the entire dragon race, and this thought alarmed him greatly.
Oh no, what now? Spyro despaired.
Leading their small party, the elderly fire guardian Infernos met Spyro's eye and tried to smile reassuringly, but he could easily tell from all of his years experience being a diplomat for the council that something was concerning him deeply. He didn't know Infernos very well at all on a personal level, but he knew at least that the former Warfang general hadn't been subjected to the years of training normally required for such an exalted position. As a result Terrador and the others were far better at hiding their emotions under blank masks of stoicism than he, but Spyro had seen enough to know better already. Something was clearly up, and if it was something bad enough to worry the guardians he wanted to know what it was.
"What's going on?" Spyro decided to ask, singling out Cyril as the subject of his attention, as the ice guardian was closest. The light blue scaled drake hesitated and looked to his companions, who shared a brief but worried glare with him for a few moments before simply filing past and walking into the chambers beyond with great haste. This all but confirmed Spyro's suspicions, and he narrowed his eyes curiously.
"I'll handle this one then, shall I?" Cyril mused icily, letting out a short and indignant huff as he turned to face the two of them. Spyro just frowned at this and tapped his tail a few times on the ground, waiting impatiently for an explanation. His tolerance for secrecy was at an all time low at this point, and he simply wasn't wiling to accept anything less than the full truth especially after being forced to listen to the council droning on all morning. The sound of voices had seemingly woken Ferenth as well, who was now looking up at the elder dragon also.
Staring between the two younger drakes somewhat guardedly then, the ice guardian's brow furrowed slightly, his voice taking on a rather urgent tone.
"Spyro, Private Ferenth," he muttered in greeting, "I'm afraid that I must ask both of you to sit out this next meeting and find something else to occupy yourselves for a few hours. There is somewhat delicate situation developing at the moment and unfortunately your presence would likely make things more difficult for all of us. So therefore, with all due haste...-"
All of a sudden, before Cyril could finish, there was the sound of a great commotion just beyond the double set of doors leading into the main chamber, making all of them jump in surprise. At once Spyro snapped his head up curiously, quickly spotting the source in an instant. Nearby, he could hear Ferenth gasping in surprise.
"Oh my..." Cyril stated, simply.
Just entering from the opposite side of the main chamber at this moment there was a gryphon who was being escorted inside by several armoured dragon soldiers, who even now were wincing with the sudden shouts of verbal abuse being directed at them from the other council members sat high above on the various rings of concentric seating. Spyro quickly recognised this gryphon as the ambassador to Warfang from his overly-proud bearing and the opulent ceremonial robes hanging from his body, but he didn't seem too concerned at all by this rather unwelcome reception. Quite strangely, he even seemed to be enjoying it, with a smug sort of smile on his beak.
Spyro quickly shook off his surprise when he realised in alarm that there was only one reason that such a gryphon would be here, and all at once he tore his eyes away in a fury to face Cyril accusingly, his expression narrowing with clear distaste.
"The gryphons are here to talk to the council in person after all this time spent negotiating, and you still don't want us present? You want us to just walk away when we can help you explain to them what really happened that day? Why, Cyril? I don't understand!"
Cyril let out a long sigh and shook his head. He had an air about his bearing that made Spyro feel as if he were about to be told off for something like a disobedient child who knew no better, a sensation that he wasn't unfortunately all that unused to when it came to dealing with the ice guardian.
"You must understand Spyro, that this is a very fragile situation that could deteriorate at a moment's notice!" He replied coldly, "You need to let us deal with this as we see best, because, despite your exemplary work so far, you still have a lot to learn in these matters when it comes to digression! Trust me when I say that right now, your presence would make these already tense negotiations all the more difficult. So please, if you would kindly vacate the area with all haste, we can get on with the business at paw..."
Spyro gripped the carpeted floor tighter in his claws and felt all of the frustration of the last few months quickly coming to the surface, making a fierce growl of annoyance rumble in his throat, so loud that it actually seemed to surprise both Ferenth and Cyril with its force. He remembered Cynder's face on the night of the break-in all too clearly, and he decided right at that second that it was about time he forced the issue.
"No!" The purple dragon snapped sharply, holding his head higher, "I've had enough of these dammed secrets, Cyril! I've been doing everything you've asked of me for years now, and have I ever once given you reason to distrust me? I just don't understand! I want to help stop this from getting worse, and now you're telling me that I have sit back and do nothing? We were witnesses to what happened there in Avion, we can tell them about the wolf tribe, and what they did to their soldiers and their general! Why would that that be a bad thing?"
The question hung in the air for an awkward moment, but Spyro found himself still not finished, more words quickly coming to mind in his sudden frustration. "Is it because you don't trust me to do the right thing, is that it? That you think I'm too young to handle it?"
"No, Spyro, it's not that..." The ice guardian quickly sighed, "I have the greatest confidence in you my boy, but if you would just listen to me for but a moment, I...-"
"-No, no more excuses!" Spyro continued, slamming a paw on the ground to interrupt him, "If you don't trust me Cyril, then I want nothing more to do with any of this! You knew that when you sent me on this assignment that I would probably have to use my powers to help save the villagers of Avion, and you were right! You turned me into a weapon Cyril, and I told you before, I hate that! I did what I had to do, but if you had told me what I was getting into in the first place, there might not have been any fighting at all! I could have talked to the gryphons, maybe forced them to see reason..."
He heard Ferenth draw a sharp intake of breath, but Cyril was doing a remarkably impressive job of pretending to be an statue as he waited for Spyro to finish.
"Look, the point is I just cant do this anymore without knowing why!" The purple dragon concluded, dropping his head slightly before taking on a more serious and determined expression. "This is the last straw! Either you tell me what the heck is really going on right now, or I'm going in there to sort out this mess you started once and for all, and you can't stop me!"
The nearby shadow dragon's eyes widened with utter dismay at the display of insolence in which Spyro had just spoken to his elder, but Cyril simply snorted loudly and didn't bother to hide his displeasure, an icy spray left twinkling in the air from his nostrils as he exhaled forcefully. As if to assert his superiority, he stood taller and flicked his tail back and forth with clear aggravation, matching Spyro's stature quite easily despite his age.
"If you want what is best for our species, young dragon, then you will do exactly as you are told, and nothing else!" The elder dragon snapped back, using that term rather degradingly, "There are events at work here that threaten our very existence, and you would do well to heed my warning when I tell you that unless we treat this matter with the utmost delicately, it will not just be a single remote village under threat, it will be our entire species! You believe that think you know better than your elders, do you? Well it is clear to me now that you are not as mature as I first thought!"
Seeing that this retort had shocked the purple dragon into a momentary stunned silence, Cyril continued, albeit a little quieter. "Now I understand that this is perhaps all rather frustrating and confusing to you at the moment, but be rest assured this matter is well under control, and that we will call upon you when you are needed, if you are needed! We have every confidence in your abilities, Spyro, but right now isn't the time to be brandying around such information carelessly! We do this not for entertainment or to trouble your conscience, but for necessity!
"So once again, I implore you," He frowned with clear finality, coughing to clear his throat. "Please, find some other way to spend the rest of your day, preferably away from the council chambers! After all, we don't need any mistakes here, especially when the stakes are so high, do we, gentlemen?"
Ferenth looked between the both of them and eventually staggered to his feet, seemingly making up his mind at once. His posture was awkward, but it soon became clear that he intended to leave.
"Come on sir, let's go," The young shadow dragon said to Spyro, somewhat reluctantly, "I...I don't wanna cause any trouble..."
Seemingly pleased by this response, Cyril nodded with his head and extended a wing in the direction of the exit with clear dismissal, something which made Spyro feel even more frustrated than before. He didn't want to just give up so easily, not when he had been so close to getting answers. But, even he was able to realise a lose cause when he saw one. A part of him rationalised that perhaps Cyril was right and there was a good reason for secrecy, but he didn't want to listen to it, furious as he was at this point.
"We'll talk more about this later. We're not finished here..." Spyro scowled bitterly, taking one last glance towards the elder ice dragon before following Ferenth's lead towards the exit. Behind them only seconds later the double set of doors leading into the main chamber closed with a muted thud as Cyril disappeared inside then, audibly locking into place with the familiar sound of an elemental seal being engaged. It was obvious at this point that they weren't getting back inside any time soon.
Letting out a long sigh, Spyro shook his head and glanced to Ferenth, who was wearing a concerned frown on his expression as they walked. Nothing really needed to be said, and the two of them remained silent all the way until they reached the surface again some minutes later. The bright midday sunlight made Spyro wince as it shone directly into his eyes, but a hesitant smile found its way working onto his expression regardless. At least now he knew a little more about what was going on, even though it wasn't much to go on.
"What are you going to do now then, sir?" Ferenth suddenly asked, tilting his head curiously, "I don't think they're gonna let you back in there any time soon, that's for sure..."
The purple dragon simply shrugged his shoulders and looked around absent mindedly at the hustle and bustle of everyday life around them, large crowds of dragons and moles wandering around two and fro, without a single care in the world. It all felt so normal and surreal seeing such a sight, that it was hard for him to rationalise in his mind what had just happened. A part of him wanted to forget it, but regardless, Cyril's words still repeated in his head over and over again;
'It will not just be a single remote village under threat, it will be our entire species!'
The thought that whatever was happening out there could have such dire consequences for dragon-kind made him feel slightly sick with worry, and more than just a little foolish for snapping at the ice guardian like he had. His anger had gotten the best of him, something that rarely ever happened, and it was only now that he seemed to realise that perhaps they had a good reason for all of this secrecy in the first place if things really were this bad. It didn't mean that he had to like it of course, but this explanation did make sense.
"I've been a fool Ferenth." Spyro sighed at last, "What Cyril said... I... I just don't know what to make of it. What does he mean our entire species is under threat? Does he mean the wolf tribe is larger than we thought, more powerful somehow, maybe? I really doubt it, but even it it were, how could they threaten us in such a way? I don't get it... "
The young dragon soldier hummed in thought for a moment, tapping his claws on the cobblestone underpaw. "You're right, sir- something doesn't add up. If you think about it, even if the whole gryphon kingdom were to side with the wolf tribe, I still doubt that we'd have much of a problem. The losses on both sides would be terrible if a war did break out, but like we have done in the past, we'd eventually come out on top, and they would know that...
"No, if I were to guess, sir," Ferenth frowned, "I'd say that the wolf tribe has more allies that we don't know about, or maybe some kind of secret weapon that the council doesn't want becoming public knowledge. Nothing we've seen so far from them suggests that they'd be anything more than just a minor nuisance if push came to shove right now. Don't you think?"
Spyro just smiled in the shadow dragon's direction, nodding in agreement to all of these points. Ferenth's insight and unusually clear perception was something that he envied tremendously, as he was seldom wrong about these sort of things. He knew that much from experience at least.
"Either way," Spyro replied, "It's clear that we need to know more anyway. Whatever this wolf tribe is planning, it can't be anything good. I don't know what their leader meant when he said back at the encampment about us dragons betraying his people a hundred years ago. Maybe if we knew that, it could be a good start to understanding his motivations..."
The two of them fell into a brooding silence for quite some time, pondering these troubling developments thoughtfully. Eventually, it was Spyro that spoke, an sudden idea forming in his mind.
"You know, I bet Cynder would be able to figure it out," He stated with some conviction, "I'm going to find her and see what she thinks about all of this, Ferenth."
The young shadow dragon simply nodded, "I guess it's worth a try, sir! I'll go back to the barracks and ask a few discreet questions of my own, someone is bound to know something. If you need me I'll probably be there all day. Anyway, it's been good seeing you again! Take care, sir!"
Spyro dipped his head and said goodbye as well, then promptly leapt into the skies with his wings spread wide in the direction of the temple, where he knew Cynder was likely to be at this sort of time. It wasn't really that far away, but he enjoyed the feel of freedom that flying brought after being cooped up inside for so long. He let out a long sigh of relief as the wind whipped against his scales comfortingly, and it was only a few short minutes later that he landed in the courtyard just outside the main entrance, bustling with frantic activity as it always was.
Weaving his way through the usual daily commotion quite skilfully, Spyro found his way inside the main atrium where things were thankfully a lot quieter. It was only then though that he realised he hadn't the slightest clue where to go from this point forwards.
"Oh ancestors..." He groaned, face-pawing in exasperation.
When Cynder had told him that she had taken a voluntary role in the temple whilst she overcame whatever illness had befallen her, he hadn't ever considered asking where or what such a role actually was. After all, he would normally be occupied in the council chambers at this sort of time, he just hadn't thought of something like this occurring at all.
Spyro settled on his haunches and looked around curiously. Off to the western side of the atrium he knew there were numerous training areas and classrooms for younger dragons to learn and practice their elements, but he didn't think this was a likely place to find his mate at all. Neither, it seemed, did it seem likely that she would have gone further underground to where the hatchery and guardian quarters were, or the living quarters on the upper levels. The rest of the temple was just the various shelters for the population as well as a few other places like the public baths. Spyro was left therefore well and truly stumped, and with all the dragons walking around the place looking so busy and chatting with each other, it didn't feel like a good idea to just go around rudely interrupting what was clearly important work with his questions.
If I were Cynder, where would I be? He mused, tapping his claws on the marble flooring absent mindedly.
"You look lost, little one. Is there anything I can do to help?" A familiar sounding female voice suddenly asked from behind him then, her voice tinted with a clear hint of amusement.
The unexpected interruption of his thoughts made made Spyro jump in surprise, but the affectionate use of the term 'little one' was something only one dragoness had ever said to him before, and he quickly recognised who it was after spinning his head around to look. Her bright sapphire eyes twinkled with mischief as she stared at him, and she giggled out loud at his rather startled reaction.
"Ariya!" He gasped, taking a moment to gather himself, "Ancestors above, you scared me! I... I didn't know you were back in Warfang..."
"Indeed, it's been quite a while hasn't it? Ten years I think, by my reckoning?" The bright blue scaled dragoness grinned, waving her tail back and forth. "My, just look at you now, all grown up! I do say, you look rather dashing, dear..."
Spyro felt his cheeks flush and he avoided her gaze for a moment, snorting in embarrassment. She simply chuckled and reached forwards to brush her muzzle against his in a friendly greeting. It was a gesture that he wasn't expecting at all, and he just froze to the spot in uncertainty. The way in which they had last parted wasn't exactly on such friendly terms, and he wasn't quite sure how to react.
"It's good to see you again, Spyro." Ariya said more softly now, "Oh ancestors, I missed you a great deal, little one. I only wish that I had dared to return sooner, but I...-"
Apparently noticing the sympathetic but rather hesitant smile tugging at his lips now, Ariya let out a long sigh. He had long since wondered if it was something he had said or done to cause her to leave in the first place, so he tried to look apologetic.
"I... I suppose that I had my own personal reasons, shall we say, for not returning," She explained somewhat reluctantly, "But do not worry about me. What happened back then wasn't your fault. I just suppose that, well... I needed some time away, some time to think..."
"Now! Do tell me..." Ariya stated, leaning a little closer and skilfully changing the subject in the process, "Is it Cynder that you are looking for by any chance? You do look to be in a great hurry if you don't mind my saying. Is everything all right, dear?"
Spyro simply nodded, his expression still filled with concern and worry for the older dragoness. He resolved to ask her the truth about what happened those years ago sometime later, because this explanation still didn't satisfy his curiosity. Nevertheless, he was in somewhat of a hurry and strove to accept what she had said for now at least.
"Yeah, I need to talk to her about something important," He replied, "Something is going on and I really need her help. Do you know where she is, have you seen her?"
Ariya just smiled. "Indeed! Would you like me to take you to her?"
Spyro blinked, surprised. "Oh, you have? Sure, I'd appreciate that a lot! Right now I don't even know where to start, this place is huge!"
Ariya motioned with her head for him to follow with a smile then, but she suddenly faltered and performed a double take a second later, her gaze narrowing as she looked at him more closely. She must have seen something he didn't, because he hadn't a clue why she was regarding him with a look that was something close to distaste.
"Although dear, I think you would do well to take a quick bath before we continue!" She frowned, "Goodness, how did Cynder let you out of the house looking like that? No, this won't do, not where I'll be taking you! Come on, let's get you cleaned up first!"
Before Spyro could utter a single word in reply she suddenly motioned with a paw for him to follow, which he did almost without thinking. An amused smirk was on his face now, and he even laughed out loud with the absurdity of it.
"What's so bad about a little dirt?" He mused playfully, "Gosh, you're just like Cynder! A bit of dirt never hurt anyone..."
Ariya regarded him with a wry smile. "Well, it's nice to see that you haven't changed too much!" She giggled, "But, since we will be going to the hatchery, and eggs are very sensitive to things like fungus and bacteria- the kind of things that 'just dirt' can bring in, I'm afraid I must insist..."
Spyro walked for a few steps more before hesitating, suddenly realising what she had just said. He stopped on the spot and shot her a bewildered stare, something which she just smirked in response to.
"Hatchery? Why would we be going there?" He asked, "I don't understand, Cynder surely wouldn't want to...-"
"-Ah, but that's where she is, nonetheless!" The sapphire scaled dragoness retorted, cutting him off by rolling her eyes in amusement. "Hasn't she told you about her work here?"
"No, she hasn't!" He said, feeling utterly baffled. After asking Cynder some days previously about her work in the temple, and only receiving a rather vague and inconclusive response, he found this new information most curious indeed. Of all things he had expected, hearing that his mate was working in a hatchery was not one of them.
Ariya simply chuckled at his now thoroughly baffled expression and started walking again, leaving him to trot quickly to catch up a few seconds later. She led him into the temple bathing rooms after a few minutes of walking, simply stating that she would not answer any more of his questions no matter how hard he pried until his scales were pristine and shined in the light. He tried to plead his case, but was eventually forced to admit defeat and begrudgingly go inside when she point blank refused to say anything further.
"I'll be back in a few minutes, then..." He sighed at last, disappearing around the corner.
Spyro silently wandered into the drake only pool as the corridor branched, and rather hurriedly slipped into the water once inside, keen to be in and out as fast as possible to get some answers. To his surprise however, the whole place was totally empty, despite the fact that it had been quite obviously designed to accommodate hundreds of dragons. The chamber itself was massive, at least two hundred strides long and walled in golden sandstone, with several huge stained glass windows on the far side, filling the whole place with the glorious rays of midday sunlight.
It really was quite a beautiful place, but it was so quiet and still that Spyro felt distinctly bad for some reason about breaking the crystal clear surface of the water. The ripples radiating across the surface bounded back and forth so clearly that he found himself staring with vague amusement for a while at the patterns his movements caused. He even experimented a little by moving his paws around and smiling to himself, not entirely unlike a child, at the resulting splashes and ripples he made. After all, swimming was somewhat of a new hobby of his after Cynder had goaded him into trying it some years ago. Having avoided places like this for most of his life until this point as a result, the experience of having a whole pool to himself like this was quite a novel one, one that he was keen to enjoy while it lasted.
"Heh. That's cool..." Spyro grinned, splashing again. He watched the ripples radiating all over the pool before the surface fell calm again a few moments later. An idea came to mind then, and he just started drawing on his ice powers when suddenly there was a loud female voice, echoing loudly throughout the chamber.
"Have you forgotten how to bathe, little one? I shan't be waiting here all day!"
"Oh, right..." Spyro mumbled rather mutedly, letting out a long sigh. He tried to clean himself then, although he had a feeling that no matter how hard he tried, it probably wouldn't be good enough to meet Aryia's standards. The caked in grime and dirt was really difficult to remove, especially in the gaps between his scales. It took a concentrated effort just to remove each segment with a claw, one by one, though thankfully he quickly came up with a rather inventive solution to this problem by using his fire element. By summoning flames around his body, he managed to heat the water to such a degree that his task was thankfully made several magnitudes easier.
A few minutes later, when he was satisfied that he was as clean as he could possibly be, he hurriedly dried himself and walked back out into the temple atrium, where Ariya was sat on her haunches waiting patiently. Almost at once she looked at him with a slight frown, judging his appearance critically. Thankfully, though, it seemed to be enough.
"It will do for now, I suppose," She chuckled in amusement, "Come on then dear, let's go..."
He followed her lead eagerly, curious to see what awaited him in the hatchery. He had never been in there before, for the simple reason he hadn't needed to be. Busy as he had been with dealing with the council and other matters over the years, he had somehow neglected to explore this far inside, which he soon realised was a mistake. As they walked through the various corridors and chambers, his mouth was almost permanently open in amazement and wonder at everything he saw. In places, this entire underground segment distinctly had the feel of the old swamp temple, with its smoothly curved earth walls and slightly musty smell. It really was quite nostalgic in a strange way.
By the time they reached what Ariya told him was the underground main atrium, a warm feeling of belonging had begun to fill his chest, a giddy sort of smile on his face as he took in these new surroundings with glee. They passed by a huge and towering dragon statue with glowing yellow eyes, just like the one he remembered seeing all of those years ago in the training room in the swamp temple, and he couldn't help but chuckle out loud. This whole place felt so surreal that he didn't know quite what to make of it. Seemingly finding this amusing, Ariya raised an eyebrow curiously, as if to an ask for an explanation.
"Sorry," He smiled, "It's just that this whole place feels so familiar to me, even though I've never been here before. I don't know what I was expecting, but this takes me right back. It's almost as if...-"
"-As if you've gone back in time, perhaps?" The sapphire scaled dragoness mused, chuckling to herself. "Cynder said the same thing, actually! It's funny how alike you two really are. I'd imagine this feels quite strange for you in a way, doesn't it?"
Spyro's smile widened and he laughed as well, though he wasn't really sure how to respond to that, so they fell silent once again and just padded along amicably side by side. She led him deeper and deeper underground, through several locked doors that only opened to a blast of her ice element, and then into another smaller chamber which had doors leading in all different directions. He came to the rather uneasy realisation at this point that if he had been asked to find this place by himself, he would have been totally lost.
At last though they came to a door at the end of another long corridor, through which the muffled sound of laughter could be heard. Ariya peeked through the little window at the top of the door to see what was going on inside, and her smile warmed considerably all of a sudden.
"You should look I think, before you go inside," She said softly, stepping backwards to allow him to approach the door. "You might be surprised at what you see..."
The purple dragon raised an eyebrow sceptically, wondering if this was a trick of some kind. Her smile seemed genuine though so he eventually relented and decided to follow her suggestion. He struggled to stand on his hind legs to reach the window, but once he saw what was in there he realised that Ariya was right; he was surprised!
Spyro's mouth fell wide open in disbelief, and nearby, he heard Ariya giggling to herself. He looked to her, and then back to the room, not really believing what he was seeing at first. The longer he stared though, the more real it became.
"I... I had no idea this is what she's been doing all this time," He whispered in disbelief.
Beyond the glass was a small room, padded with what looked like some kind of soft material on all sides, the kind of thing that clearly was designed to prevent injury. In the far corner of this room he saw Cynder, and she was at the moment leaning forwards and talking in a soft voice to a dozen or so young hatchlings of various elements clustered around obediently in front of her in a semi-circle. They were hanging on her every word it seemed, and although Spyro couldn't quite make out the words, they were clearly meant to reassure and comfort about something. He just couldn't help but push his muzzle tightly against the glass to see closer at once, something which made Ariya giggle.
Ignoring the older dragoness' snickering, Spyro continued to watch in utter fascination as Cynder quite unwittingly began to show him a side of her personality that he had never seen before. After her speech, the tiny dragons were left to scamper around now playing various games with each other under Cynder's watchful eye. Whenever something happened to upset the peace over the next few minutes, like one of the hatchlings tripping over or arguing over a toy, the black scaled dragoness was right there to sort it out such such tenderness and care that it made Spyro's heart swell with a strange sort of pride to see it. He was truly speechless, his mouth open in utter amazement.
"She's good, isn't she?" Ariya mused, stepping closer to his side, "I'd say you picked your mate well little one, this all seems to come quite naturally to her. The hatchlings utterly adore it when it's Cynder's turn to watch over them and I can see why, can't you?"
"Yeah..." he agreed without thinking, still in somewhat of a daze. He just couldn't tear his eyes away. She looked like, dare he say it, a mother. A great big smile was on her face as she trotted quite happily back and forth, making sure that nothing was amiss. However when a trio of ice drakes walked up to her and said something then, she did something even more wonderful and laughed, the clear sound of her voice reverberating around the entire area. Spyro's smile grew wider, even though he didn't know what she was so pleased about. The hatchlings certainly did though, because she then rolled onto her back and grabbed the nearest drake in her forepaws, holding him up into the air.
"Oh, I think you'll like this part. She figured this game out by herself..." Ariya noted, humming happily to herself. He short her a glance of curiosity but didn't have to wait long for an explanation as all of a sudden he heard the familiar whooshing sound of Cynder's wind element whistling through the narrow gaps in the door.
Snapping his eyes back, he saw that Cynder was aiming a gentle gust of wind energy towards the little hatchling. Very very carefully, she then released the young ice drake and he squealed out in joy as the column of wind supported him in mid-air, as if he were flying. His tiny wings fluttered in the breeze and at all at once the other children dropped what they were doing and ran over, clearly desperate for their own turn.
I wonder why she was so reluctant to tell me about all of this? He pondered thoughtfully, She's amazing!
All of a sudden Spyro felt felt the sapphire scaled dragoness poke his shoulder with a paw then, and he snatched his gaze away for just a moment to look at her.
"Say, have you you ever considered it before?" She asked with a wry smile, "If not, I think you ought to have a little chat with her soon, else Cynder might start getting ideas..."
Feeling his cheeks flush, Spyro laughed a little nervously. Truthfully this subject wasn't one that he felt entirely comfortable with. The whole hatchling discussion was awkward enough to talk to Cynder about in private, let alone with someone that he hadn't spoken to in nigh on ten years. The truth of the matter was that sadly, with their busy lifestyles, neither of them would have the time to take on such a critically important venture. It just wouldn't be fair on anyone right now.
Better to feign ignorance, Spyro quickly thought, I don't think she'd understand, would she?
"I'm not quite sure what you mean..." Spyro eventually responded, attempting to show that he was rather unwilling to discuss this topic in his body posture, "What is it that you're trying to say, exactly?"
Ariya just raised an eyebrow, somehow knowing at once that he understood perfectly what she meant. He avoided her gaze and sighed in defeat, knowing the game was up.
"You becoming parents, dear!" She giggled, rolling her eyes exasperatedly, as if this was the simplest thing in the entire world. "Surely you must have talked about it at some point before now? You have been mates for quite some time, and it is the year of the dragon after all..."
And there it was! Spyro despaired, Oh ancestors, what do I say? I don't want to be rude, but it isn't really her business, is it?
"Well..." He began hesitantly, sparing a brief moment to look back through the window at what Cynder was doing, which at the moment seemed to be taking turns in levitating each child one by one. The current little fire dragoness' laughter echoed loudly throughout the chamber, and he found a slight smile tugging at his lips regardless.
"Yes, we've talked about it a few times." Spyro admitted reluctantly, blushing furiously, "But I came here because I need Cynder's help, not for... that!"
"Of course!" Ariya smiled warmly, though her bright blue eyes still twinkled with barely restrained delight, "I was only curious, dear. Go on inside then, and don't worry, I'll take care of the young ones..."
Spyro smiled weakly in thanks, then nosed open the door at last and trotted inside rather carefully. Cynder of course noticed him at once, and he saw her visibly jump in surprise, grabbing the current occupant of her wind stream in her paws and gently lower the disappointed looking hatchling to the ground. Those two emerald eyes widened with such obvious fear at seeing him here that it made him falter in mid-step, feeling rather alarmed at seeing this kind of reaction.
"Hey..." He said, trying to smile reassuringly in his mate's direction, "Do you have a minute to talk? It's about the council, and I could really use your help..."
An embarrassed blush quickly formed on her cheeks, and Cynder suddenly looked to the older dragoness with what looked like disdain. "You brought him here, didn't you?" She asked with clear incredulity, her expression filling with dread, "I told you not to, ancestors above! Oh gosh Spyro, this is awkward..."
Spyro eventually just chuckled to silence her and closed the remaining distance in a few short strides, leaning forwards to nuzzle against her cheek as per their normal greeting. She stiffened at first from such contact, but eventually relaxed slightly and learned into him. She seemed to be avoiding looking at him in the eye though, clearly quite embarrassed with herself.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He cooed comfortingly, lowering his head to her level. "You were great back there, Cynder! Just how long have you been doing this?"
She laughed rather reluctantly in response and shoved him away with a light push. In no time at all Ariya had gathered all of the hatchlings around her, leaving Cynder free to talk without being distracted. Spyro couldn't help but notice how she still seemed to be occasionally glancing up every now and again, as if she were still worried about them all. This thought amused him greatly and he chuckled to himself quite without meaning to, eliciting a sharp growl of disapproval from his mate.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it." He grinned, shaking his head, though it was obvious from the sharp stare she returned in his direction that she didn't believe him. "Anyway, Ariya said she'd take care of things for a few minutes while we talked, so you needn't worry about them for now. Come on, we can step outside for a minute where it's quieter, okay?"
Cynder seemed to want to say a million things right now, a confused sort of scowl on her expression as he got up to leave. She stayed resolutely still, not moving a muscle despite his prompting. He turned back to face her then and tried to smile reassuringly after realising that he was leaving her behind.
"You're... you're not gonna say anything else, then?" She pondered, looking rather lost. When he simply raised an eyebrow in confusion, she elaborated with a humourless laugh, looking away rather bashfully, "I... I guess for some reason that thought you'd think less of me for doing this, or something... that was kinda stupid, huh?"
"Why would I think any less of you?" Spyro replied, tiling his head in genuine curiously, "If anything, I...-"
He paused to make sure that Ariya wasn't paying attention, then leaned closer to whisper in her ear, "-besides, I think this sort of thing suits you, Cynder..."
If she was feeling bashful before, his words now seemingly put her on a whole other level of embarrassment. Her entire face went bright red all at once and she stammered, looking away with a silly sort of smile on her lips as she pawed at his shoulder. "Oh shut up, I'm trying to be serious, you dork!"
He pretended to look hurt and laughed, "And so am I! Really, you were great!"
Cynder's smile warmed considerably at this praise nonetheless, and she soon got to her feet after talking with Ariya to say she would be back soon. She then followed Spyro as he went out through the exit and into the deserted corridor beyond, closing the door behind them in the process. He settled on his haunches and she did likewise after finding a suitable spot. Some of the rocks out here were slightly unsteady, but once she was settled, Spyro tried to put on a more serious expression.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" She asked, "Something about the council, you said?"
And so, with a sigh, Spyro relayed everything that Cyril had said to them, as well as Ferenth's thoughts and conclusions on the matter. When he was finished she simply hummed in thought, tapping her claws on the ground in very much a similar manner as the younger shadow drake had done. They were, after all, quite alike in many different ways that he hadn't appreciated before. He wondered for a brief moment if it was something to do with their shadow elements, but the sound of Cynder taking a deep breath snapped him out of it.
"I think this friend of yours is right, Spyro." She eventually stated, "But really, I can't believe you snapped at Cyril like that! What the heck were you thinking? Falling out with the guardians isn't going to do us any favours, you know!"
Spyro cringed slightly and nodded his head dumbly. "I know, I shouldn't have, but I was just so angry and tired from all of these secrets all the time, I just wanted answers! I couldn't help but keep thinking about what happened that night when I came back, and how close I came to loosing you and Sparx, and not being able to protect either of you! I didn't want that to risk having that happen ever again and I... I guess I kinda flipped out..."
Cynder's eyes narrowed in sympathetic understanding at this explanation and she placed a paw on top of his, "Anyway, what's done is done, it doesn't matter." She sighed, "What we do need though, is to find out more information, even if they aren't going to tell us willingly. You can't be expected to keep putting your life on the line for something you don't know anything about, even if they do say our race might be at risk. It's just not fair."
"That's what I said to Cyril, but he wouldn't listen!" He frowned in despair, "But how can we find out anything now? I don't think they'll exactly volunteer information, especially after that little... incident..."
After brooding in thought for a few seconds, suddenly Cynder's eyes lit up with an idea.
"Hey, do you think Sparx might be able to help us?" She asked, "He did sort of get into the bad habit of sneaking into the council chambers while you were away, and as hard as it is for me to admit, the little gnat actually did get quite good at it..."
Spyro found himself smirking at this information, knowing that it was probably true- it certainly sounded like something his brother would do. The only issue was that Sparx had disappeared since before he had even woken up, and he hadn't the slightest idea where he could be right now.
"I guess it couldn't hurt to try at least." The purple dragon shrugged, "Do you know where he might be? I haven't seen him all day."
Cynder rolled her eyes and simply grinned, obviously knowing something that he didn't, "Oh I'm sure he's out trimming a bush or planting some flowers about now, something like that..."
"Huh? What does that mean?" Spyro asked, feeling utterly lost. She took one look at him and giggled to herself, seemingly remembering something.
"Ah! Well I guess that's one thing I forgot to tell you since you got back. Turns out that your brother has a job as a gardener now..."
The twin celestial moons were just now starting to peek above the horizon far away in the distance, signalling the end of another day. Spyro wouldn't have normally minded, except for the fact that Sparx had said he would have been home several hours ago. He resumed grinding his teeth together anxiously as he looked up from where he was sitting at the dining room table at home to track the position of the moons more critically. By his best estimate, it had been four or five hours since they had last spoken. Long enough to make him start to worry, at least.
Letting out a long and exasperated sigh, he tapped his claws on the dining room table impatiently, trying to ignore the rumbling of his empty stomach as best he could. The scents of whatever Cynder was currently making for their evening meal in the nearby kitchen was admittedly quite appetising, but even this couldn't totally unravel the knot of tension that had been steadily growing in his belly since the events of that evening. Truthfully, he doubted anything could at this point.
"He should be back by now, surely!" Spyro said out loud, scowling to himself. "I might have to go and look for him soon, I think..."
The sound of Cynder's approaching paw steps suddenly snapped him out of his momentary pondering however, and he looked up in her direction with a smile. She returned it in kind but then she suddenly stopped, her expression dropping at once. Her eyes glanced at the tray she was carrying in her mouth and then back to Spyro, and without warning she promptly allowed the whole thing to drop to the table with a loud crash that made him jump in surprise.
"Ancestors above, can't I do anything right?!" She despaired, quickly stomping back into the kitchen again, flicking her tail so forcefully that the metallic tail blade actually tore a chunk of stone from the table in the process, where it landed with a dull thud onto the carpet below. He flinched, so shocked that at first he didn't even realise what had happened until a few seconds later when he heard more things being smashed and broken from the direction of the kitchen.
"How hard can it be to remember have to make two servings now, not one?!" Cynder growled from in the kitchen, "It's been a week and you still forget! Stupid, stupid! Ugh!"
Spyro rather belatedly jump to his feet in alarm, a frown of great worry on his expression as he padded towards the sound of all the commotion his mate was causing. He didn't understand at first what had caused her to be so frustrated, but he then stole a quick glance to the tray and only saw one plate of food.
Sighing in understanding, Spyro stepped into the kitchen and mentally braced himself for what was to come. She certainly didn't sound like she was in a good mood at all and probably wouldn't be very appreciative of any help, that much he knew from experience.
"Hey!" He then said, just loudly enough to catch her attention. "What's going on? What's wrong, Cynder?"
The black scaled dragoness simply turned a look of fury to him and bared her teeth in reply, growling defensively. He stepped backwards to give her some space and watched her actions feeling rather subdued all of a sudden as she began to drag several things from the cupboards with great haste onto the worktop. She was clearly trying to make more food, but if it was going to get her into this kind of state, he didn't want to annoy her any more.
"Hey it's okay, I can take care of it," He then offered, stepping forwards to nuzzle against her shoulder affectionately, "Why don't you go sit down and take a quick rest? It's no big deal, don't worry about it! You've just had a long day is all, right?"
She seemed to consider this for a moment, but then just simply growled again and flared her wing to push him away from her personal space. "No! It's my stupid fault and I have to fix it, go away!" Cynder snapped.
Normally Spyro would have taken this as his cue to leave, but seeing her getting so stressed out about something so trivial as this was something that concerned him deeply. He felt oddly protective all of a sudden and he pushed closer to be by her side once more, something which she clearly didn't like at all by the stare of utter contempt she shot at him in reply.
"Cynder, it's no problem, really!" He tried to insist, grabbing a lump of meat in his paws before she could do so herself, something that made her growl, "Go ahead and start without me, I'll just be a minute- I don't mind if it's cold..."
Far quicker than he could react though, Cynder then snatched the meat back from his paws and growled threateningly once more. "I don't need you fussing me Spyro, I can do things by myself! Just leave me alone!"
The pure venom in her words made him falter on the spot, not certain at first if he had even heard her correctly. In all of their years together, she had never spoken to him in this way before and he was more than just a little shocked to hear it. His concern grew tenfold as a result, but the worried expression on his face seemed to be just annoying her even more because she just snarled once more, baring her teeth.
"Cynder, what's gotten into you? You're not like this!" He asked quietly, stepping closer to her side once more to envelop her in his wing, "Talk to me, I'm worried about you..."
His mate stared harshly at him for the longest time, but eventually her eyes softened slightly and the black scaled dragoness just let out a long sigh. She threw the meat in her paws back to the worktop and settled to her haunches, allowing him to tug her a little closer to his shoulder. Without warning she started to sob and splutter, and she grabbed one of his paws tightly.
"I'm so useless, I can't do anything right!" She whined, now in obvious distress, "Why is everything so hard all the time? I don't even deserve your pity, Spyro, I'm stronger than this! So why am I...so h...hopeless now? I...I just feel like I'm always letting you down all the time! I don't deserve to be your mate, not after all t...this..."
Spyro was utterly perplexed by this sudden change in her emotional state, but right then his only thought was of trying to comfort her in any way he could. He tugged her even closer and cooed softly, resting his head on top of hers. "Hey, don't say things like that, you know that's not true! I love you Cynder, you're everything to me- you're the best mate I could ever ask for! Sometimes some of us just have bad days, okay? I understand, I really do! Hush now, it's okay..."
Cynder smiled weakly for only a brief moment at this statement before quite unexpectedly falling into a totally inconsolable state all at once, just crying her eyes out until they were red raw and puffy. He really didn't know what was wrong with her at all, but he tried everything from kissing her forehead, to rubbing his paws down her back, anything at all in order to calm her down.
"Shhh!" He hummed, "It's alright, I'm here..."
It must have taken her at least a good few minutes to stop crying, but her nose was still running and she sniffed quite frequently, just cuddling up tightly against his chest until she had seemingly worn herself out, everything falling abruptly quiet at once aside from her ragged breathing.
Her whole body was trembling still, but feeling the moment was right, Spyro reached out with a paw gently and raised her chin to make her look him in the eye. "Better?" He asked, smiling warmly. For good measure he also planted a quick kiss on her lips, too. She managed a brave chuckle in reply and tried to release herself from his embrace, something which he did rather reluctantly.
"I'm sorry, Spyro. I don't know what got into me..." Cynder sniffed, rubbing her nose with a paw. She looked just as confused as he did, which made him feel even more concerned.
Fixing her with a worried stare now, Spyro lowered his head slightly and found a million questions coming to mind all at once. This wasn't the first time, now that he thought about it, that he had seen her acting so strangely. Ever since he had gotten back from assignment, he had this feeling that something was different about her, though he couldn't quite put a paw on what it was. There were some obvious things that he couldn't explain, like her newly found interest in dragonfly cuisine, or how one moment she seemed to be happy but the next breaking down in tears at times, just like this. He had also accidentally discovered a very potent medicine in her satchel as well, something that clearly she didn't want to tell him about. Ancestors, he could even swear that her scent was even a little different, at times. He simply hadn't the faintest clue how to explain any of it.
Spyro had up until this point refrained from asking about any of these observations though, thinking that he was perhaps imagining things, or that maybe she just needed some time to get used to having him around again. Now though, after witnessing such an outburst, he felt like this wasn't something he was prepared to ignore any longer. At the end of the day she was his mate, and if there was something wrong, he wanted to know about it.
"Cynder, I..." He hesitated, suddenly uncertain of how to put his suspicions into words diplomatically however, considering her fragile emotional state. She looked incredibly embarrassed and ashamed right now, and she didn't even seem willing to look at him in the eye anymore. At the slightest prodding she looked ready to break back out into tears again, and at once he abandoned this line of thought for something else.
"Hey, you said you wanted to have a nice hot bath earlier, didn't you? Why don't I go run one for you right now and we can forget about supper for a while?" He suggested, leaning closer to nuzzle her cheek. "I bet it'd do you good, give you some time to unwind..."
The black scaled dragoness sniffed loudly and rubbed her nose with a paw, and after a brief period of hesitation simply nodded.
"Yeah, I... I think I'd like that..."
The warmth of the bathroom hit her like a wall and Cynder faltered a little in surprise as a wave of steam unexpectedly washed over her entire body. It was so thick that she could barely see anything at all. Normally she would have made a quip about the temperature being too warm or too cold, but she felt so drained right now that she simply couldn't be bothered. By her side, Spyro tugged her with his wing and led her inside with a chuckle.
"Hot enough for you?" He mused, nuzzling at her cheek, seemingly knowing what she was thinking. Cynder could only smile faintly in response. Again she saw the potential for another joke, but she didn't particularly feel like expending the effort to even open her mouth. All she wanted more than anything was to just flop down in the bath in the corner and forget about everything for a while. Thankfully Spyro seemed to realise this, and quite obligingly fell silent. This non-verbal communication was something that had taken her years to train him to understand, but he had taken to it quite well, thankfully.
I'm so lucky to have him, aren't I? She thought, smiling to herself, I can't believe I snapped at him like that though, what's gotten into me?
As unfortunately their bathroom wasn't very large, it took little time for them to reach the far wall, the tiled flooring clacking underpaw as their claws tapped repeatedly on the surface. It was a wonder that she even managed to stay upright considering how wobbly she felt right now, but the shallow depression in the floor that served as their bath was only a step away, and she promptly slipped into it gratefully needing little further prompting, letting out a long sigh of contentment as the water came up to her neck quite snugly.
"Take as long as you need, Cynder..." Spyro said softly then, hesitating by the side of the water, "If you need me I'll just be outside, okay?"
Cynder simply nodded, still not trusting herself to speak for fear of coming out in another blubbering mess again. He kissed her forehead and just smiled, nuzzling her cheek again before turning to leave.
"I love you, Cynder."
"I... I love you, too..." She smiled weakly.
Once she heard her mate leaving and closing the door behind him, she promptly closed her eyes and tried to relax as much as possible, though she found this task almost impossible. Her thoughts were concentrated almost entirely about her recent behaviour, and how little she actually understood it. She tried and tried to rationalise it, but found that the simple reason she couldn't explain it was because there was no explanation. It had just happened without warning, and the most worrying thing of all was that it hadn't been the first time. Spyro hadn't seen most of it because he had been away in council these last few days, but she had been crying an awful lot recently for no little reason. This was odd, because she wasn't exactly the type of dragoness to cry when she had a bad day, or moan that things weren't fair, because she knew it wasn't fair. Life was hard, and she had learned this lesson a very long time ago in Gaul's dungeons as a child. Why was this any different?
I'm better than this! Cynder mentally asserted, Why can't I control my own emotions anymore? What the heck is wrong with me?
The truth of the matter was that Cynder just didn't understand any of this, of why all these strange things were still happening to her, even after the doctor had cleared her of any illnesses. The medicine she had been given didn't seem to be working anymore, and the symptoms were still getting worse by the day. She could live with it for now, but the strange stares she often received from Spyro and Sparx for behaving so strangely of late was something that she despised. No, something needed to be done.
I'm going to ask for a different doctor to take a look at me tomorrow, because this one is utterly useless. Maybe there's some other medicine I can try, or something...
As usual however, Cynder soon discovered that by simply doing things her mind was less likely to linger on such thoughts. Deciding that her scales could probably do with a good clean since she was here, Cynder grabbed a scrubber and began to lather her entire body, taking extra attention to make certain that her forelegs were decently covered. An incident in the hatchery earlier involving a rather clumsy earth dragoness volunteer had meant that she had several different shades of paint splattered all over her chest and forelegs, something that she was quite keen to remove.
For the rest of her body however, Cynder continued in almost a half daze, not really lingering on any particular spot. The warmth of the water seemed to be helping tremendously though, because it didn't take long at all for the bath to begin to darken with all of the accumulated dirt and grime that had been lingering unseen on her body for all of this time. She noted with some satisfaction that most of the scales on her upper body were gleaming now, and so she then moved onto her underbelly rather more carefully a few minutes later.
Knowing full well that she was quite ticklish in certain spots here, Cynder swapped out the brush for a sponge and steadily began to work her way down until each crimson scale glistened just as beautifully as her vanity wished them to. It was all going quite well she thought, until quite unexpectedly whilst cleaning her lower abdomen, Cynder found herself gasping in surprise as the sponge passed over an unusually sensitive spot. The sensation was quite unlike anything she had ever experienced before, and at once she drew herself out of the water a little to look more closely in the light, brow narrowing in confusion.
"What the heck...?" She grumbled, raising an eyebrow. As far as she could tell there was nothing there. No injuries, no marks, nothing. Just the same old bright red scales as there always had been.
Dropping the sponge, Cynder reached out with a paw to touch this area more carefully, frowning in concern as that same unpleasant sensation returned once more when she applied a gentle pressure to that patch of scales. Flattening her paw now, she discovered quite alarmingly all of a sudden that this part of her stomach was distended ever so slightly, and under her scales, she could feel what she could only describe as several bumps just underneath the surface.
She was utterly puzzled by this discovery, and it took her several long minutes of careful poking and prodding to determine the exact shape of each bump. Each one she found was roughly the same size, and generally it seemed, were equally ovular. At first she was worried it might be some kind of infection or internal injury, but then all of a sudden, another perhaps more equally worrying explanation came to mind; one that explained all of her recent problems all too well...
"Oh ancestors!"
AN: Huh. Wonder what this means :P
Oh my lawds, nearly 2 months since an update?! I'm so sorry!
I could write loads of reasons why it took so long, but the general gist is that I ended up writing so many different starts for this chapter (in total nearly 15k words of garbage) that I eventually had to just give up and try skipping forwards in time, going in this direction instead. Hopefully it wasn't too jarring, but no matter how I ended up writing a direct continuation from the last chapter I just couldn't do it with my normal enthusiasm and it really sucked.
I'm not going to lie though, I honestly hate everything about this chapter and I'm sorry if it's not up to normal standard, but it was getting to the point where editing it was actually making it worse than better, so here we are! Uploaded with fingers crossed it wasn't too bad D:
Perhaps we shall revisit the "evacuation" of Avion later in more detail. I have actually already wrote most of it but just not in a format that would really fit. Sounds like some stuff happened out there that Spyro isn't proud of. I wonder what that is? Hmm!
Truthfully I've kind of been burned out with toiling with this chapter for so long that I might take a week's break or so and come back at this story again when my drive to write is back. Just not feeling it right now if I'm honest.
When I'm ready to go again though, what would you guys prefer? Another chapter of "Expecting" or "By the ancestors"? I'm personally undecided as to which one would be more fun to write another chapter for. Interesting things are about to happen in both!
Thoughts, feedback and criticisms are all welcomed as always though! I'd really appreciate any pointers/tips to improve in a review or PM!
Thanks for reading, I shall see you next time! (hopefully?) :P
Update 2nd March: Oh gawd this chapter is terrible! So much cringe and awfulness! Just sat down to start on chapter 10 and had to re-read this one to do it and oh dear, what a mistake that was! I'll really have to re-write this at some point, I'm not happy with it one bit.
