A/N: You know what took a long time to get up? This chapter. Like, I don't even know.
Once upon a time, this was originally one with the next chapter. You would have had chapter 17 and it would have been an 8000 (or more) word chapter. Thing is, a) there was a pretty obvious break in the chapter and b) I like keeping a semi-consistent update schedule and the freaking second part of the big chapter is taking an insane amount of time for me to get anywhere close to right. And that is my story of why it took me a week to get this chapter out: Because I was working on the entirety of the big chapter and not just this part. I'm still not sure I completely like this chapter, but at this point I don't really care. Anyway, stay tuned! I will probably (that means maybe) get the next chapter up before next Sunday!
Clay was worried about a lot of things. Clay was worried that he wouldn't come out of the imminent battle with the Tears of the Rain alive. He kept picturing his siblings, some trying to stay strong, some not caring about their emotions and letting tears overtake them, as they crowded around his limp, cold, and dead body. Or Clay was worried that, when he would open his eyes the next day, only five, or four, or three, or an even smaller and even more unthinkable number of siblings would be next to him. Clay was worried that he'd march his troop into battle, and that no one would come out alive. And Clay was worried that he might be the only dragon left breathing at the end of the night, that he'd be the dragon crying alone, the one who would be forced to live in loneliness, his failure overbearing and crushing, for the rest of his pitiful life.
Which was worse, truly? Dying, and leaving the dragons he loved behind without the brother they'd followed for years, or living, and having to force himself to breathe when there was no one around, no Reed, no Sora, no Marsh or Crane or Pheasant or Umber, no dragon left to breathe for?
But then Clay's worries had been burned away, temporarily, at least, through the smallest miracle—the miracle of simple life. Because after the Mudwings left the war room to go through Jambu's quick training, after they left Beetle so that she could get ready to dreamvisit Mangrove (just another one of the deadliest dragons in Pyrrhia that Clay was going to slide right up to and make casual conversation with), after they made it to the entrance of the palace, and when Jambu had opened the doors to the castle, the sunbeam of life in the Rainwing–Nightwing village had absolutely blinded Clay. The structure of it, the community of it, the everything of it had overwhelmed Clay's entire mind, and it took the Mudwing time to adjust.
The physical structure of the village had taken most of Clay's attention, at least at first. The village was laid out how Clay had observed earlier: large palace in the middle, village spread out evenly from the center until it reached the wall. The village was a bit bigger than Clay had thought when he had looked at it from the infirmary—the hospital had been relatively elevated, so the town it overlooked had appeared smaller than it actually was. The village still wasn't anywhere close to being huge, and it still wouldn't hold against Blister's army, but it did, at least, look like a force that, if completely mobilized, could have a chance at staying on Pyrrhia, of fighting off the Tears of the Rain, of maybe doing something in this new, horrible war Clay was being thrust into.
Clay continued to take in the village as he looked up, seeing the fairly lush, yet also fairly translucent canopy that hung over the village. Wait… lush canopy? Something Clay had noticed during his original view of the village that he was starting to notice again made this fact seem impossible: The whole area that the village took up was relatively clear from trees or other vegetation, instead having homes shoved in almost every amount of free space. Where did this canopy come from? Clay looked around, searching for the huge trunks of trees that could make up this canopy, but he couldn't see anything within the village that would logically lead to the overhanging cover.
Jambu was leading Clay's troop towards some training grounds, although Clay didn't see anywhere close to clear enough to train at near his current location. The Commander of the Rainwing Armies walked slowly, as if, like Clay, he was taking in the life around him, and as if he was just now realizing what could be lost if Blister couldn't be defended against. Occasionally, Jambu would glance back at Clay's troop, making sure no one was getting left behind, sometimes asking about Clay's still uncovered venom wound and if it was causing any major irritation (which it really wasn't). At one point, he must have seen Clay's puzzled eyes looking up at the canopy. "Confused about the tree cover?" Jambu had asked, looking forward again but talking louder so Clay could hear.
"They're dragonbarks," the Rainwing explained, gesturing the slightest bit upwards. "If you had to use the tree bridge at Eventide, you'll know about them. Their branches manage to spread over the village even though their trunks are situated beyond the wall. And these trees are tough, so it's practically guaranteed that our tree cover isn't going anywhere."
One problem solved, Clay took some time to look around the village proper. Clay and his group passed a few small farms, all with generally unfamiliar animals contained within small, fenced areas, and a lot of homes. Some homes, generally ones made of stone, were relatively well-built, and some even looked stunning, but others looked like they had been thrown together hastily, in what had probably been a span of days. Now that Clay was closer to the ground, he was seeing smaller huts—half made of wood, half made of mud—that had hid themselves from view during his quick downwards glance from the infirmary. The half-mud and hastily built huts mixed in with the much more complex stone ones, although there were generally more less-well-built homes than well-built ones. At times, the half-mud huts would become the predominant abodes and the stone huts would disappear, making the walk through the Rainwing–Nightwing village almost like being in a hotter, shadier, and much more crowded version of home.
A very, very much more crowded version of home. The pathways through the village were small, and since dragons seemed to always be on them, everything was cramped. It wasn't like dragons weren't ever in their homes, though. Clay once saw a door open on a larger stone hut and saw what looked like multiple dragons—multiple families of dragons—inside. "They told us, when we first came here, that their village is really congested," Pheasant said, seeing Clay's stares. "Apparently, they keep dragons everywhere—the castle, the old huts built under the Nightwings' original queen, the new huts they built after the rebellion. I think I heard that some dragons even live at the wall."
"That's right," replied Jambu from ahead, taking the duty of explanation away from Pheasant. "The main problem with this village, actually, is that we lack the space we need to really grow. Glory won't ever take this fortress—not on her own, at least—but she knows her guerrilla warfare. If we move outside the wall, she'll find some way to kill us. We're fine for now, I suppose, but the eggs laid from all these reconstruction policies are going to start hatching one day, and that'll force us to spread out, no matter what the risk."
There was then more walking away from the castle and through the village. Jambu continued to lead, Clay continued to follow directly behind, then Sora and Pheasant did the same, then Reed and Crane, then Marsh and Umber—the pairs Clay's troop were in being specifically designed during the troop's days in the Sandwing War so that a better fighter would be with one of the troop's weaker ones if something went wrong. The village didn't get less dense as Clay kept walking, always away from the castle and towards the huge wall of stone surrounding the village.
"Are we going outside the wall?" Umber asked when the the group was about halfway to the massive stone structure, to which Jambu nodded.
"Not very far," the Rainwing continued. "Not even a quarter of a mile away. The Tears of the Rain won't dare come that close to the village—not anymore. That is, unless they have a suicidal desire to get shot down by the dragons that'll be covering us. Plus, we've already established that Glory is just waiting for Blister to come in and kill us, so she's not going to do anything idiotic like a frontal assault on our wall today."
Clay took this moment to actually, for once, look at the wall. The sparsity of foliage in the village had almost made Clay feel like the wall was pointless, and that dragons could just fly over it without issue and then drop into the village within. As it stood, however, the space directly above the wall had the same issue as the area over the river: branches everywhere, possibly the immovable dragonbark ones, giving only a small area of clearance. Dragons probably still could fly over the wall, just not very well, which meant that any dragons trying to fly in the space between the branches and the wall wouldn't have time to maneuver away from a crossbow bolt coming from the dragons at the wall. Basically, Clay realized, the entire village was situated in a large dome of empty space, a bubble of nothing in the middle of the luxuriant rainforest, that was protected by the expanse of dragonbarks. But wouldn't the branches above provide a route of attack for the tree-soaring Tears of the Rain? Or, a possibility Clay found very likely, did Deathbringer and Jambu have Rainwings situated in the branches both near the wall and overhead in the canopy to fend off these sorts of assaults? That made sense, even though, if it was true, it meant that Rainwings were above watching everything, which was only mildly creepy.
With the first half the journey towards the wall complete and most of the physical structure of the village examined, the life of the village was starting to seep into Clay. Scene after scene of the village pelted him. Every scene was just a scene of what was only life, the life of dragons who were ignorant of the threat to their homes and their lives that was lurking just a few hours away, as Deathbringer hadn't addressed the general populace about the Skywing and Sandwing threat yet: Rainwings basking in sun, their wings spread out, their faces smiling and happy as they rested, generally, on top of the homes in the village. A small group of Rainwings flying in the limited space overhead the village, one of them laughing as they all made it to the the tree cover above and disappeared into it. A Nightwing examining a group of unfamiliar, colorful plants and writing something about them on a scroll. A whole team of Rainwings working on making a garden on top of one of the huts, one that was filled with exotic flowers and which could only be described as cute. A somewhat older Nightwing being half-jokingly pressured, by a rather hyperactive young Rainwing, into spreading his wings out and basking in the sun that came through the leaves above, as if he was a Rainwing.
It wasn't like everything was joyful, or that the equality the village strove for had erased all conflicts. Clay saw a group of Rainwings give a nearby Nightwing angry glares, whispering furiously to each other the entire time, giving the black-scaled dragon the clear message of, "Leave us alone, and don't you dare come near us." He saw a small Rainwing get rather violently shoved over by a passing Nightwing, only because the tropical dragon had been slightly in the Nightwing's way. And Clay once heard a shout, and when the Mudwing turned his head, a Rainwing was howling words—words Clay hadn't even been aware Rainwings knew—at a Nightwing, who was backing away from the aggressive Rainwing, looking both furious and guilty at the same time.
And yet, for every act of hate, there was almost always an act of friendship but yards away. The Rainwing who had been pushed over getting helped up by both another Nightwing, who shot the dragon who had pushed the younger Rainwing over an angry glare as she did, as well as an older Rainwing. The Nightwing who had been hostilely excluded from the earlier group of Rainwings getting a supportive nudge from another nearby Nightwing, and both of them suddenly breaking out into laughter after something clearly hilarious was said. A group of Rainwings calming the yelling Rainwing down, although demanding what looked like an apology from the Nightwing across from her, which the Nightwing appeared to reluctantly give. The other Nightwing from earlier finally, with a somewhat irritated sigh and roll of his eyes, obliging to the Rainwing next to him, spreading his wings and letting the sun soak into his black scales, emitting a squeal of happiness from the Rainwing present. A Nightwing talking to a Rainwing, almost with childlike excitement, about an idea for a new scroll, and the Rainwing almost slamming into him with his enthusiasm and his support for the proposition. Three dragonets—two Rainwings and a Nightwing, all not very young, closer to adults rather than dragonets, really, but dragonets nonetheless—running through one of the scarce and small open areas, playing tag as best as the space allowed, the Nightwing running and hooting and laughing without a care for his stereotypical tribal dignity.
Jambu suddenly had to stop, because a Rainwing in front of the group lost hold of and then spilled an armful of coconuts in their path. Dragons came over to help the Rainwing pick his coconuts back up, which further blocked the group's path, so Jambu just stepped back and waited, signaling for Clay's troop to do the same. Clay's troop broke out of line and huddled together, waiting for the small blockade in front of them to clear. It seemed a bit strange that dragons didn't give who Clay was sure was one of the most important dragons in the rainforest clearance, but Jambu didn't really seem to care, and he wasn't really asking for clearance, directly or indirectly, anyways.
In fact, the Rainwings here seemed to be more noticing of Clay's troop than of their Commander of the Rainwing Armies. Clay had seen the Rainwings around giving him or one of his siblings interested looks, and a few he had passed had even stopped walking and craned his or her neck to get a better look. None of the Nightwings did it, and some, even most Rainwings seemed content to just let Clay and his troop pass without issue, but there were a decent amount of dragons who would look at Clay like he was a completely amazing and unbelievable phenomenon. Now that Clay's troop was paused, they were actually starting to draw a small crowd of curious-looking Rainwings. Clay had turned completely around to view a Rainwing, who was staring, awe-struck, at Pheasant (what exactly was so fascinating about his sister?), when Jambu stepped up. "Excuse me," he said, gently but with authority that hadn't been present in the walk before, "it is not polite to stare."
The Rainwing who had been looking at Pheasant jumped, turned his scales a purple-pink, and rushed off. There was then a general exodus of Rainwings as Jambu took on a new power and silently demanded clearance of their path. With no more lost coconuts in the road, it cleared quickly. As they started walking again, Jambu explained, as if apologizing, "Most Rainwings here have never seen a dragon that isn't a Nightwing or a Rainwing. Your presence wouldn't have caused anything like this before the Nightwings came, but after they invaded and Rainwings were taken out of the sun and started caring about things, knowledge became a bigger interest among our tribe—a bout of unintended good the Nightwings did us. Some Rainwings still don't care about learning, but the ones that do can be a bit excitable when it comes to new things. You're a new thing—we've never had a troop of Mudwings here before, as far as I know—so you're attracting attention. It's not a new phenomenon; Beetle had the same thing happen to her when she first came."
At this point, Clay was starting to get used to all this life around him, all the general equality and the overall contentedness. The blinding light had faded, and now Clay was able to simply walk closer and closer to the wall, no longer overwhelmed. Then the group reached the wall, and Jambu flew to the top of it, ordering the Mudwings to stay behind. There was some discussion on top of the barrier, and then Jambu and a few other Rainwings jumped down to the side of the wall that led to the wild parts of the rainforest. There was a small wait, and then the Nightwing soldiers above told Clay's troop to start flying over the wall, one by one, starting with the back and working their way up until reaching Clay, who would fly over last. Clay turned his eyes to his troop, gesturing for them to follow the orders. Umber flew up first, then Marsh, and as Reed pushed Crane to tell her to start lifting up, Clay saw the Rainwing steal the star-shaped fruit.
Fairly far away, a male Nightwing had placed the fruit on an outcropping built into his hut while he had turned to do something else. Before Clay's eyes, the fruit suddenly levitated upwards until it was floating on top of the hut. The Nightwing didn't notice that his fruit was gone until Reed had flown over Clay, but when he did notice its disappearance, the Nightwing craned his head in confusion, looking for it. Suddenly, about when Sora flew up, the Nightwing jerked his head upwards, where a Rainwing revealed herself, holding the Nightwing's fruit. The Nightwing said something to her, although he was too far away for Clay to hear what, and the Rainwing, likely taunting the Nightwing, shook the fruit in front of him and called back down.
The Nightwing called to the Rainwing a few more times, although his posture didn't look too irritated or annoyed. The Rainwing didn't budge. In response, the Nightwing suddenly leaped up, about the same time Pheasant did—although the Rainwing seemed to be ready, as if she had initiated the skirmish through her words. Clay flinched a bit as what was clearly going to morph into a fight started, not really wanting to see how Nightwings handled their troublemakers. But no peacekeepers or anything of the sort came, and, besides, the 'fight' lasted only a few seconds before the Nightwing, the clearly superior fighter, had dropped back down from his jump and then wrestled and pinned the Rainwing to the ground, giving her a smirk as he did. Still no guards came as, Clay becoming less apprehensive and more confused now, the Nightwing reached his claw out for the fruit, simultaneously having a short discussion with the Rainwing, whose posture implied that she was unworried despite the Nightwing boding over her.
Then the Rainwing, clearly only pretending to be grumpy, slapped the fruit into the Nightwing's claw. And then the Nightwing said something, smiled, almost playfully shook his head, and helped the Rainwing up. Then, everything suddenly making less sense by the second, the two twined their tails, the Rainwing mischievously leaned in towards the Nightwing, and the Nightwing efficiently split his fruit in half and, giving her a 'what am I supposed to do with you?' look, shared it with the Rainwing, as if everything preceding had only been a game. And then they made it back to where the Nightwing had been before, a couple more sentences were exchanged, and then the Nightwing shook his head again, and then the Rainwing smiled and pulled him closer, and then, suddenly and inconceivably, she kissed him. She kissed him. She kissed him! A Rainwing kissed a Nightwing! And then the Nightwing kissed back!
Clay, now petrified in complete shock, only realized that the guards at the wall had been calling him to fly over for quite a good portion of time when a Nightwing guard from above flew down and shook him. Clay jerked out of his gaze, then focused on the Nightwing soldier, trying not to (impolitely) stare at the two dragons, who appeared to be, astonishingly, an intertribal couple. The Nightwing followed where Clay's eyes had been and then burst out laughing when he saw what Clay had been staring at. "No, I'm sorry," he managed once the guffaws had faded. "I suppose it is surprising. But I would think that once you found out that the Nightwings—the Nightwings, the most bigoted tribe of all time, by all the moons—have not only unified with the Rainwings, but have also scrapped the idea of a queen, that you wouldn't find our acceptance of intertribal mating too surprising."
Clay continued to stare at the Nightwing soldier, who still had a smile left from his laughing fit and who was still looking out towards the intertribal couple. The Rainwing and Nightwing had separated from the kiss and were simply talking, as if everything they had done had been completely normal. "I suppose it is surprising," the Nightwing repeated, becoming a bit more contemplative. "It really doesn't happen very often. Most Rainwings are still exceedingly sore about what the Nightwings did to them. Most Nightwings, even if they'll accept Rainwings, won't ever think of mating with them. Then there's the fact that both tribes have completely different styles of mating, and the fact that the risk of having a hybrid—we don't know if the combination of Rainwing and Nightwing traits will be negative or negligible—is generally considered too big for our broken tribes. But some Nightwings were exceedingly kind or flat-out went against Fierceteeth during our reign of horror, winning the affections of some Rainwings, and some Rainwings showed enough smarts or kindness or just plain cheerfulness in the face of disaster to win the affections of some Nightwings. So, occasionally, two dragons will decide that they don't care about any of those worries. They won't care what other dragons around them say or do when they show each other affection. They'll simply refuse to leave each other, ever. We've decided not to resist against that, considering that we have so many other, much more important things to worry about."
"Yeah," Clay responded, distantly and without too much thought, most of his brain still focusing on what the Nightwing had said and what he had tried his best to grasp. There wasn't much time to think, anyways, because the Nightwing almost immediately gestured for Clay to fly over the wall after Clay said this. The Mudwing turned towards the stone and jumped up, flapped his wings, soared upwards past the wall and then downwards past the wall, and finally landed on the other side, with Jambu and Clay's siblings ready for their brief training session. Jambu nodded as Clay touched down, then started splitting Clay's troop up, preparing them for war.