Spyro lay gasping on the surface of the water lilies as Singe stroked his head. Ember had gone to get Cynder and the others and had been absent for almost twenty minutes.
"Where am I?" Spyro groaned and looked up at Singe with glazed, groggy eyes.
"Shhhh." Singe hushed him gently. "You're safe and among friends. That's all you need to know for now.
"Spyro!" Cynder's voice came from far outside the pavilion.
"Cynder?" Spyro tried to rise but was still too weak to move much. The sound of beating wings reached his ears and then was replaced by the sound of running footsteps. Cynder burst through the curtain to his room and skid to a halt. When she saw her mate's valiant amethyst eyes, a smile of pure joy spread across her face.
"Spyro!" She sobbed and practically threw herself onto him. She had to control herself as she stepped delicately onto the lilies and flopped down beside him smothering his face with kisses. "Thank the ancestors you're awake! I was so scared you'd never make it through!"
"Cynder," Spyro wheezed and licked the end of her snout. "I'm... I'm sorry."
His dragoness pulled away with tears of delight streaming down her cheeks. She shook her head and her smile seemed to widen. "It's okay. You don't have to apologize. I... I..." She could not restrain herself anymore and pressed her lips against his into a deep and passionate kiss. She had missed him so much; his eyes, his voice, his warmth when he was around her. Despite all that had happened she couldn't bring herself to feel sad any more.
It was then that Max entered the pavilion and ducked under the curtain. When he saw Cynder he seemed almost frozen and his mouth fell open. Singe glanced at him and noticed the look on his face and fluttered her wings to get his attention. Max snapped out of his trance and locked eyes with the healer. Singe shook her head and Max felt his heart sink. He breathed a deep, sad sigh and forced a smile onto his muzzle.
At that moment the other guardians arrived and nearly shoved Max out of the way. Smiles spread across their mouths when they saw Cynder and Spyro finally reunited.
"Spyro! You're awake!" Sparx flung himself into his brother's cheek and squeezed him as hard as he could.
"Sparx," Spyro gasped weakly as he turned his head. He had tears of joy in his eyes as well. "I'm sorry. I hope I didn't worry you too much."
"Nah!" Sparx waved. "Only had me worried to the point where I worried away a few years of my life. Nothing major."
The guardians all laughed but stopped when Tremor started to cough harshly.
"It's good to have you back buddy," Flame spoke up as he and the other guardians walked up beside the lilies. "We missed you."
"I'm sorry everyone." Spyro shook his head. "I didn't mean for this to happen."
"It's not your fault Spyro," Stella replied in her usual gentle, soothing tone. "We don't blame you. Liun was playing with your mind. You didn't know any better."
"Liun..." Spyro's voice drifted off before his eyes suddenly widened. "Warfang!" He gasped.
"What?" The guardians all stared at one another in confusion.
"Warfang! It's under attack!" Spyro explained and tried to rise but Cynder and Singe held him down.
"No, Spyro!" Cynder scolded. "You're in no shape to fight."
"But Terrador and the others! The moles! The manweersmalls! They'll be killed!" The purple dragon continued to struggle against the paws that held him down.
"You'll be killed for sure if you go!" Cynder cried. "Please Spyro! Don't! Please." She started to cry again and buried her head in his chest.
"But Cynder... I..." Spyro stammered, not sure what to do; help his friends or listen to his dragoness's reasoning.
"She's right you know." Spyro looked over to see Exile step up behind the guardians who made a path for him. Spyro's eyes widened and his muscles tensed. "If you were to try and leave in your condition you would die for sure." He looked at the other dragons who only nodded reassuringly. Exile knelt down and placed a hand on Spyro's forehead which seemed to relax him. The purple dragon sighed and fell back asleep. Cynder wiped her eyes and looked up at her mentor who smiled and pat her on the head comfortingly. "You don't need to worry. All will be well when he wakes up again. But for now, just see to it that he rests."
"I will." Cynder nodded with a faint smile. Exile bowed and ducked back under the curtain. The other dragons followed him outside when Stella suddenly yelped in pain. Everyone turned to see she had stepped on another rose, this time quite seriously. Max, who had followed them, nearly smacked himself in the face.
"Are you kidding me?" He thought to himself. "He couldn't be more original than the first idea?" He looked at Stella and tried to put on an innocent face. "That's a rather sweet yet painful way to get your attention."
"Yeah." Stella smirked as she licked her paw. "This one dragon keeps leaving them for me every time I turn my back. He's given me nearly a dozen today alone."
"I see," Max nodded and pretended to be contemplating about the situation. "And what do you think of the whole idea of leaving you a bouquet scattered about for you to find?"
Stella paused a moment to think and fiddle with the rose between her talons. "I think it's very sweet. But now he's gotten me so curious as to who he is, it's almost killing me."
Max pressed his lips together and tapped his cheek with a claw. He gave the area a quick visual scan before leaning in close to Stella. "If I were you I'd wait until he leaves you another gift then surprise him yourself," He whispered mischievously, knowing full well he was setting his friend up. However, he knew it was for his own good to get him and Stella to finally meet face to face.
Stella saw through Max's plan and a devilish smile spread across her mouth. "I like that idea." She nodded approvingly. "I'll do that. What is your name, by the way?"
"Max," the black dragon smiled genuinely and gave a polite bow.
"Well, thank you Max. I appreciate the advice. I'm Stella, by the way." She gave a slight bow herself. "If you don't mind. I'd like to test out your idea."
A sly grin spread across the black dragon's mouth. "Go for it." He chuckled. Stella gave a soft chuckle and took off back towards the guardian's pavilion. Max turned to face the remaining guardians who all eyed him with great interest.
"So, Max," Tremor was the first to speak. "How did you grow to look like that if you don't mind me asking?"
Max was taken aback slightly by the question. No one had ever been that forward with him before, but apparently Tremor was the curious type of dragon. "Well..." Max started and scratched his cheek with a long claw.
Stella slowed her run to a graceful walk. She gripped her new rose between her jaws, being cautious not to bite down on it too hard. As she neared the pavilion she began to trop in an almost flirtatious manner. Just as she expected, the rose was waiting for her in front of the pavilion. She smiled and narrowed her eyes at the gift.
"And that makes twelve," She thought to herself. Her tail twitched excitedly at what she was about to do.
Close by, the red dragon peered around the corner of a nearby pavilion. When he saw Stella coming he felt his heart leap for joy. He crouched down low in the shadows waiting for her to find the rose he left. When the pink guardian had come shortly before, the guardians had all left in a hurry, giving him the perfect opportunity. Now the dragoness who had captured his heart was returning to receive another gift from him.
He watched Stella gracefully walk up to the pavilion and stop to look down at the rose. The dragoness looked around, pretending to be curious about who may have left such a present for her. The red dragon smiled and pressed himself against the wall a little more. He was about to slink away when Stella stepped over the rose and stopped. The young male looked at her curiously.
"Does she not want it?" He thought nervously to himself. Stella looked down at the rose with a smile on her face which only continued to confuse her admirer.
Then Stella began to pace around the rose in great circles. The red dragon cocked his head sideways, clearly confused by this behavior. He had never seen any of the females before behave this way. "Maybe it's a custom where she's from." He whispered to himself. He continued to watch Stella circle the rose. The lightning dragoness kept her eyes fixed on the flower. She began to sway her elegant hips from side to side causing her tail to sway gracefully behind her. The red dragon found himself awestruck at the way she nimbly stepped around her own invisible path.
When Stella stopped, she bent her head down before arching her back into a deep stretch. The rays of sun glistened off her scales giving her an almost celestial glow. The red dragon swallowed hard as he felt his heart rate spike and his blood begin to boil as he took in the sight of her alluring shoulder muscles and seductive back. His tail spade began to rattle against the ground excitedly as Stella rolled her shoulders back and wiggled her hips letting the light reflect off her golden, yellow scales.
But the light didn't die down, it only intensified. The brilliance of Stella's electrical energy blinded the red dragon and he was forced to turn away and shield his eyes. It took him a moment to focus as the glare slowly died away. He rubbed his eyes and blinked several times at the ground. His vision started to clear and he noticed a golden yellow figure standing in front of him. Slowly his eyes rose up to see Stella grinning at him excitedly.
"Oh." He gulped.
"Gotcha!" Stella exclaimed and tackled the red dragon to the ground. The male's eyes grew wide and he grit his teeth when the guardian pinned him down. He closed his eyes and waited for a strike or a harsh statement to slap him across the face. Much to his surprise, he heard giggling. He cracked an eye open and stared up at Stella who wore a grin spread across her muzzle and eyes that glimmered excitedly. "So you're the dragon who has been stalking me these past couple days." She laughed.
The red dragon's cheeks burned and the temperature of the air seemed to respond accordingly.
"H-how did you know?" He stammered, unsure of what the dragoness would do to him.
"Simple." Stella smiled. She raised one paw and lightly dragged her talons along the red dragon's golden yellow belly scales until her paw was over his heart. "You see every creature has an electric pulse. And I can sense that pulse in the air. When you started getting excited, the pulse grew stronger so it pretty much led me right to you."
"Oh." The dragon gulped again. "I guess I kind of did myself in."
Stella giggled again. "Nah. I figured if you were around my little display would get your attention. You're just male." Both dragons laughed and found themselves staring down at each other when their belly scales bumped against each other. "So," Stella continued, "Why are you leaving me so many gifts lying about?" Her tone of voice made the red dragon's heart beat faster and a smile tugged at her cheeks as she noticed.
"Um..." He swallowed hard. "I was just trying to get you to notice me." He chuckled nervously.
"I figured that much." Stella smirked. "But I think that was established after the first couple roses."
"Oh," The dragon muttered unsure of how he should be feeling.
Stella laughed again, putting the red dragon's mind at ease. "You don't need to worry about it too much. I think a dozen roses to get my attention is very sweet of you."
"Really?" The dragon sat up slightly almost bringing his nose to Stella's. The lightning dragoness nodded. "So you really liked them?"
"I've kept each one haven't I?" The red dragon shrank back sheepishly and gave a silly grin. "Though I have to say, even though it's sweet, I'm not a big fan of the stalker approach."
"Oh, sorry." The red dragon averted his eyes.
"It's alright." Stella gave him a playful bump with her snout. "You didn't know. So it's not a big deal. It was still sweet bringing me flowers like you did."
"Well... I, um..." The dragon was beginning to blush again.
"So what's your name?" Stella asked as he stepped off of him. He slowly got to his feet, giving Stella her first good look at him. She could immediately tell that he was younger than she but that hadn't stopped him from initiating a friendship. His scales were deep crimson and the reflection of light off his golden yellow belly scales gave him an almost fiery air. His claws were longer than most males and matched his jet-black horns that surrounded his head. A row of five yellow spines raked back from his forehead and stopped at the base of his spine. The last thing Stella noticed were the sunspots along his snout, known as dragon freckles. These little sunspots gave him an almost innocent appeal making him look younger than he really was.
"I'm Infernus," He chirped excitedly at having been asked about who he was.
Stella blinked a couple times and shook her head. "Is everything alright?" The red dragon asked, tilting his head towards her.
"Y-yeah," Stella replied. "It just took me by surprise. I know of dragon elder back home with the same name."
"I see." Infernus nodded. "I can see how that would be a bit odd." He gave a youthful laugh and Stella couldn't help but smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Infernus. I'm Stella."
"I'm glad to finally be able to talk to you, Stella." Infernus's smile spread from one side of his face to the other. He was easily the happiest dragon in the world right now.
