Chapter 50. "Hatchlings"

At the evening, Farady left the cave where dragons were sleeping for next two or three days and saw that around the bonfire, there were laying several dragons. Zheek was between Vixen and Tremor, next to whose was Candice. At other Vixen's side Cynder placed herself. If not the major difference in age of those two black dragoness, Farady would never recognize who was who just watching their backs in weak light of fire and moon. The free dragoness slipped between the earth guardian and her brother and sat there. She realized that Zheek was about to tell them something.

"So, what's the gathering about?" She asked.

"I wanted to tell everyone the story about our parents, Oscuro and Flush." The fire breather explained. He turned around to see Ivory, standing in the entrance to the cave. "Hey, come Ivory, I believe you'd like to hear this story as well." He encouraged her. The white dragoness nodded slightly and sat next to Candice.

"How about we call the others too? If you don't mind, of course." Tremor suggested.

"There's no problem." Farady assured. "So, where are Dante and Tris?" She wondered.

"Sleeping already." Sable, who appeared behind them from nowhere, explained. All dragons turned around to see Stella and Viola with him.

"Will you join us, bro?" Vixen suggested.

"Well, we said that we would attack in two weeks, but it doesn't mean we'll plan it on the last day, don't you think?" Stella noticed. "Tremor, Candice, will you help us?" She asked.

"Come, sit here and we'll help you a little, listen a little, you know, mix pleasure with duty." Cynder suggested. She gave Stella this cute, begging sight, so similar to Vixen's one. That little black dragoness must have taught her that, as the guardian realized. And the worst thing was that it worked not so bad. Stella sighed.

"Fine." Three dragons joined the circle and Viola took her notes, including simplified plans of Celeste Tribu. They started talking silently. "If we talk too loudly, admonish us." Stella suggested. Farady nodded slightly.

"So, when did you meet Flush?" Vixen asked curiously, as she poked Zheek's shoulder.

"It was... eleven years ago. I was just seven and Farady was eight and I was seven. Blissful childhood, wasn't it?" The fire breather noticed.

"Blissful? I think you've picked the wrong story." Farady noticed, watching her brother carefully. Zheek just smiled bitterly.

"I know I have." He agreed. After all, he couldn't disagree.

Eleven years earlier

"Hey, wait for me!" Zheek called out his older sister who had already left him behind for quite a distance. Young lightning dragoness burst out with joyous laugh.

"And why should I, moron?" Farady turned around and asked.

"Dad told you not to call me like that!" The fire breather shouted angrily. "I'll tell parents!"

"Oh, and they'll believe you, moron!" The lightning dragoness grinned insolently. Zheek watched her angrily and started accelerating. In a minute, he lined up with her.

"If I'll be first, they'll believe me!" He argued.

"You won't be first." Farady noticed. Zheek felt challenged and he sped up. Or at least he meant to, because in that moment, the ending of his wing hit some tree. He only scratched it, but it was enough for the hatchling to lose balance and fall down. He rolled for several meters across the ground and Farady giggled silently. Then, she watched her brother with worries. She heard silent cry. The lightning dragoness sighed deeply and turned back. She flew back to her brother and landed behind him, crying silently.

"Where did you hit it?" She asked. Zheek, still crying, straightened his wing pointing the hurting place. Farady watched it carefully and kissed it gently, as her mother would always do. She never understood why it worked, but it did. "No worries, it's not broken." She assured.

"Isn't it?" The fire breather asked.

"No, moron." She confirmed.

"I told you not to call me like that!" Zheek shouted at her. His sister only shrugged.

"Whatever. So, let's..." And then, both hatchlings heard silent wolf snarl. Both of them rapidly fell silent and laid deeply in high grass. Their parents would be proud of them, seeing how quickly they did it. They were hatchlings, but those forests weren't safe ones and they had to remember it. Farady closed her eyes, as she heard enclosing steps. She said in her mind some very ugly word that she didn't really understand, but her father would always say it when a deer would escape him. Yeah, it fitted her feelings perfectly. She repeated it, still in the mind. She felt a little better. But only a little. In this same moment, Zheek was wondering how it was possible that his heart was this loud. He knew that Farady would call him moron again, if he told it her, but he felt as if his heart was hammering so strongly that this wolf could hear him. He really wanted to stand up and start flying away or climb on some tree. But wolf could run faster than he'd fly. Why didn't he climb on it a tree in that case? Right, firstly, he still wasn't really good flyer yet. Secondly, wolves could jump pretty high, start shaking a tree at which he would hide. Those were pretty thin so it wouldn't be very hard for an adult wolf to throw them down. And now, it was too late for any of these options. Maybe he'd pass by them? Maybe he didn't hear them?

"There you are." Both youngsters felt creeps across their bodies, as they heard male, harsh voice. They both saw some old, grey wolf, all over covered in blood of fresh wounds. He grinned in a sinister way, so terrifying that it would haunt Farady probably for the rest of her life. Really short one, as she realized. Both youngsters released the elements from their jaws and jumped away. Wolf snarled, as both of those stroke his torso, hurting him not seriously, but painfully. He jumped high in the air after escaping dragons. Farady felt her tail being grasped and she didn't even realize when she was slammed against the ground with breathtaking speed.

"Farady!" Zheek shouted, terrified and he did the most stupid thing he only could. He dove to wolf, charging the fire.

"Flee, you mo..." The lightning dragoness tried to warn him and the wolf swung his paw, about to slash little fire breather wide open with his talons. And then, he flew, spinning. Zheek fell at somebody. To his surprise, not a wolf, but wall of red scales smelling with unpleasant stench of blood. He fell on the ground next to Farady and both youngsters watched a dead wolf and then, their savior. It was some red dragon, not old one, but only about twenty years old. He was all over covered in blood, his limbs were shaking, trying to keep his body still. There could be heard angry snarls around them. The fire breather grinned ominously with such a confidence, as if he was leading whole dragon army against single wolf squad.

"I am not dead, canines. Not yet." He assured. Some wolf attacked. The dragon slashed and canine fell on the ground behind youngsters already dead. The other one attacked, but he squeaked painfully and fell on the ground, as stream of intensive fire covered him. Then, the third wolf jumped to his side and knocked him over and his jaws closed on dragon's neck. Well, they almost close, because dragon managed to catch those with his paws in the very last moment and they fell on the ground, forcing. The fire breather hissed angrily, his exhausted body already losing this fight. But then both hatchlings jumped to wolf and slashed his back. The canine focused on new attackers forgetting about the real danger for a second, which was just enough for the fire breather to release himself and kick the wolf away, sending at him a fireball, which killed him instantly. The red dragon fell on the ground.

"Hey, are you alright?" Zheek asked their savior with worries. The fire breather smiled ironically.

"That's rather obvious I'm not, don't you think?" He noticed. He stood up slowly. He looked miserably, as if he'd collapse any second. His neck was all covered in his blood. Just a second longer of that wolf's grasp and he'd be dead. "Did they hurt you?" He asked.

"No." Farady refused. "We need to take you to our parents. And your name is…"

"Flush. I'm detective." The fire breather introduced himself. The youngsters started leading the way for the detective. "I'll need a medic urgently." He noticed, just in the case youngsters didn't realize it, which was doubtful.

"Our mum is herbalist. She'll help you." The lightning dragoness assured.

"That's good." Flush smiled weakly. His scales were already disturbingly pale. "So, what are your names?" He watched them curiously.

"I'm Farady." The lightning dragoness introduced herself.

"I am Keezheekoni." The fire breather said quickly as always, lisping a little. Flush watched him carefully.

"Kee... what?" He asked. Farady giggled.

"Call him moron, it fits him pretty well." She suggested.

"Hey, I'm not a moron!" Zheek refused.

"Don't call him like that." Flush admonished young dragoness. "He's your brother and he wanted to help you." He noticed.

"And die achieving nothing. Have you forgotten what parents told us?" Farady turned at her brother. "The forest is not a place for heroes, Keezheekoni." She said this name slowly.

"Call me Zheek." Young fire breather suggested his savior. Flush smiled cheerfully.

"Yeah, that's much easier." He noticed. "Farady, did you say that forest is not a place for heroes?" He asked with disbelief.

"It's not." The lightning dragoness confirmed. "If my brother is caught by them, he's supposed to buy me the most of time and I should escape. If we don't follow this rule, both of us will die and if we do, one still has a chance." She explained, watching her brother carefully.

"That's idiotic." Flush disagreed. "If you haven't helped me that wolf would kill both me and you."

"But..." Farady tried to argue.

"That's what your two did and that's the only reason why we're alive." The detective interrupted her. He sighed deeply. "I know that sometimes, you need to sacrifice someone, but don't make such a choice too lightly." He admonished her. "After all, his your brother."

"The only one." Zheek added.

"So what? He's just ball and chain to me." The lightning dragoness belittled it.

"So I'll let you die next time." Her brother promised in his childish anger.

"Yeah, me too." Farady agreed.

"Hey, how can you tell each other such things?!" Flush shouted at them angrily. Then, he sighed deeply. "I had a brother once." He said.

"Once?" Farady jerked her head curiously. "What happened to him?"

"He was murdered. Brutally murdered. Beaten to death. A month ago." Flush explained.

"Wolf?" Zheek wondered.

"Ape?" Farady guessed.

"A dragon. An ice dragon. Kryo, his name." Both youngsters watched him in disbelief. "It was a heart matter, my brother protected his girlfriend, Alice, from her ex. The ex used ice, aimed at her, but Azrael protected her. He took a blow at the leg, but before he managed to do anything more, there came another, in this same leg. The dragoness screamed, Azrael told her to run. He fell on the ground, Kryo attacked him. Alice tried to shoot him, but her lightning missed. Kryo shot an ice spike again. This time at her. He meant to kill her, but Azrael brought him to the ground. He missed, it ricocheted from the wall and hit her head, but only knocking her out. When she woke up, Azrael was already dead." In Flush's eye appeared a tear. "He played a hero and he saved someone who he loved. So never say that playing hero is idiotic. Never say that you'd let your brother or sister die." He hissed angrily. "You're the family. You can do to each other anything, be mean or malicious, but you must be ready to protect your family with your own life. Understood?" Both youngsters hung their heads shamefully and muttered the agreement. Three dragons walked in awkward silence for some time, until they came to familiar cave.

"Mom! Dad! Come quickly!" Farady called. Soon, there appeared two dragons: The male was red, slim, handsome in very strict, harsh way, his sight looked very confident. The yellow female was much gentler, she looked very subtle, and had beautifully shiny scales except the brown ones on the belly. Farady definitely took an appearance after her mother. Which intrigued Flush was that neither of them had such a specific horns as Zheek.

"Kids, what happened?" The father asked.

"He needs help!" Farady said, pointing at Flush.

"Oh, that's obvious." Her mother noticed. She wanted to ask the detective to lay down, but he fell on the ground and lost consciousness.

Flush woke up at the evening. He was laying on the grass, sunlight had warmed his belly pleasantly. Next to him, there could be heard bonfire burning. He felt that the most of his body and neck was covered in some medical leaves. Before him, there was sitting the lightning dragoness, siblings' mother. She, like her mate, was about thirty years old. Only ten years older than Flush and already mother of two hatchlings, in fact.

"You woke up." The lightning dragoness smiled slightly. Flush glared deeply into her beautiful, gold eyes. Yeah, Farady would become beautiful dragoness one day, just like her mother.

"Noticed." He was not sure what to say.

"What's your name?" The dragoness asked.

"I'm Flush, a detective." He introduced himself. "May I ask about yours?"

"San, a herbalist." She answered in this same way as Flush.

"And I am Yonkaton." Siblings' father stood next to his mate. "You saved our children." Flush smiled slightly.

"Looks like." He admitted reluctantly. "I guess I'll stay here for a while, won't I?" The detective guessed.

"I hope you're not hurrying anywhere, because you're not in a state to leave just like that." San said, watching the city dragon carefully.

"No, no. I have time." Flush assured. "In fact, I'd love to spend here, far from civilization, a week or two." He smiled slightly. His brother's death still hurt him. He needed to reach peace of mind.

"You can sit, if it will be more comfortable." San suggested, The detective nodded and stood up. And then, from nowhere, there appeared kids. They leaned against the detective and Flush just hissed painfully, since they not really cared about his wounds.

"Hey, be careful about him! Come to me, kids." The father ordered. Both youngsters hung their heads sadly and laid in their parents' legs. The dragons started talking and soon, both youngsters fell asleep, or at least them pretended so.

"Are you sure that you don't want anything to eat?" San asked, watched the detective skeptically.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Flush assured. "Could you just give me that apple?" He asked, pointing at the branch of an apple tree growing right above her head. She nodded, took it and threw to the detective. He bit it, enjoying sweat taste.

"Don't you want any meat?" Yonkaton wondered, surprised as well. Flush chuckled.

"I love fruits. I guess it's my weirdness amongst the dragon kind, isn't it?" The detective asked. Both mates nodded, agreeing.

"So, what brings you here?" San asked curiously.

"I think I'm escaping." Flush explained. "Kids have already mentioned you about my brother, haven't they?" He guessed.

"That's a sad story." The fire breather said. His mate nodded slightly agreeing. "So, you left your city forever or you need to only clear your mind?"

"I still don't know. I guess Ivory's already bunch of worries about me, not without a reason, after all, but still, I don't know if I'm returning soon." Flush shrugged.

"Ivory? Your mate?" San guessed.

"What? No, no." The detective refused quickly and flushed. "She's... a friend. Close one. Good friend. She keeps overreacting whenever I leave Teria." It sounded like Flush was not really sure about it for himself. "Isn't it dangerous to live here? It's wyvern territory, after all." He changed a subject.

"No, it's not. Wyverns don't care about us and neither do we about them. And wolves practically never appear here." San explained.

"How is it to raise children far from the cities, only on your own?" Flush wondered. The couple smiled slightly and the fire breather nuzzled the dragoness.

"It's not as easy as in the city, I guess, but we love them." San said.

"This life is different than yours, maybe harder, but we like it." Yonkaton explained.

"I see. In some aspects, it's much easier than in cities, don't you think?" He noticed.

"Yes, it is." The fire breather agreed.

"But don't you feel lonely a little?" Flush wondered.

"No, we know where other free dragons live and we sometimes visit them. We're good friends with some families around." San said. "This far at north there are only we, the others live at south, so it takes time to get there, but still, we do so sometimes." And so, the dragons were sharing experience about way of living in cities and beyond those. No one even noticed, when the night passed.

Two weeks passed. By this time Flush had been almost completely healed, there was no more need for any of San's herbs or medical leaves. It was about the midday when she stated that her treatment to him was done.

"So, are you going home, Mr. Flush?" Farady asked sadly.

"No, I'll stay with you for some time more." The detective decided. In those two weeks, he lived like a free dragon, he learnt how to survive in the forest, what fruits were poisonous, how to hunt and where to find water in case of long journeys. He had to admit that living in forests wasn't so bad and the dragons dwelling there had right to be called free, not feral. "I will go for hunting." The fire breather decided. "Can I take kids?" He asked the parents.

"Yes, teach them a little." Yonkaton agreed without doubts.

"Yay!" Both youngsters grinned, and shouted cheerfully, leaving no doubts, if they wanted to go with him. Three dragons quickly disappeared in the forest. San sighed deeply, watching her youngsters.

"Something's wrong?" Her mate asked.

"No. I think it's not, at least."

Flush and the kids returned at the evening, all three of them were laughing and the detective was carrying small deer hunted by kids, as it could be guessed, looking at the bloody, irregular lines at its side made by someone who still was learning. Flush greeted the parents and put the prey on the ground. He laid on the ground, tired. After all, it wasn't easy to make sure that two kids would hunt a deer. Farady and Zheek ran o their parents and started telling with excited voices how funny it was. San and Yonkaton were listening to their kids, absorbed with their story, when Flush heard something. He raised his head and looked around. The other fire breather realized that something was wrong.

"Your friends, Flush?" The free dragon asked hopefully.

"If those were, they wouldn't be sneaking to us in such a way that wind wouldn't bring their scent to us." The detective shook his head. All three adults stood up, Zheek and Farady hid behind their parents.

"So you've noticed us." They heard disappointed, hissing a little voice. Flush easily recognized this accent. He already had bad experience with it.

"Show yourselves, wyverns." He ordered. From the forest, there started appearing wyverns. There were many of them, at least several dozen. In their lead, there was standing their boss, wearing on his back big sword. So he was a prince.

"Who are you? What do you want?" San asked. She wasn't scared, but concerned. Or at least, she sounded so.

"My name is Oscuro, hijo del Ver..."

"Spare me that long title, Oscuro." Yonkaton interrupted him in half of word. "What do you want?"

"Those are wyvern lands. Dragons aren't welcome here." The prince said.

"We've lived here, in this cave, for nine years already and no wyvern ever had anything against it." San noticed. "Why should you now?"

"The times are changing dragons. Two years ago, Verdad, Señor de la..."

"Skip it." Yonkaton suggested. Oscuro watched him hatefully. "What did he say?"

"He ordered all dragons living on those lands to leave it within two years under penalty of death. The other dragons did it, but not you." Oscuro finished.

"Firstly, we would consider it, if we only heard about it." San noticed.

"Secondly, you cannot banish the ones who aren't wyverns. You have no right to do it." Her mate continued.

"I do, those lands belong to my father and we're free to do whatever we want. And as we said, the dragons who remain on this lands are supposed to be killed." Oscuro explained.

"We won't persuade him. And we can neither fight. They suppressed us." Flush whispered to the couple. "We'd better just get out of here peacefully while we can."

"They won't let us go. He rather sounds like he seeks our blood." San noticed skeptically. They cared about their home, but found no point in dying for some cave.

"So let's ask nicely." The detective suggested. Both mates bobbed their heads.

"Fine, we will leave right now." Yonkaton agreed. "Just let us take our stuff and you will never see us again." He pleased.

"No." The wyvern refused firmly. "You are not going anywhere. The order is to kill you." Oscuro said. He didn't like it, but it was an order. A matter of honor. Or maybe… maybe he was just wanted to take his revenge for being belittled? The free fire breather cursed silently.

"So you'll kill an innocent family just like that, because you were ordered?" He asked with disbelief.

"Please show some kindness, after all ignorance isn't crime punished with death sentence, is it?" Flush noticed.

"I'm afraid an order remains order." Oscuro disagreed. He raised his paw and wyverns attacked. Or at least meant to, because in that moment, there appeared streams of fire and lightning, killing lots of wyverns, buying dragons several seconds. Oscuro fell on the ground, saved by a soldier who pushed him away and protected with his own body. Wyverns stood still, scared, unsure, if should they attack. Both fire breathers hissed angrily at them.

"San, take kids and get out of here!" Yonkaton ordered his mate. He watched Flush.

"I'll stay with you." The detective declared. The fire breather nodded. San kissed her mate.

"I love you." She whispered to her mate. "Thank you." Those last words were meant for Flush. The lightning dragoness took her kids and escaped.

"Get them!" Oscuro shouted. Some wyverns attacked two fire breathers , but others followed San with her children on her back. The lightning dragoness was quickly surrounded by those. She definitely was in big trouble.

"Help San. I'll stay here." Yonkaton told Flush. The younger fire breather nodded slightly. He really wanted to argue, but there was no time at all.

"It's been honor to know you, Yonkaton." He said. Both of them realized that the free dragon wouldn't make it alive. Flush flew to San, when he heard her painful scream and characteristic noise of the lightning. She was really fast, but wyverns managed to keep up with her. Flush heard noises of the battle. He saw San, with long wound on her back, with great hardness protecting herself from several wyverns simultaneously attacking her. Flush breathed a stream of fire, killing some wyvern, another one fell hit with the lightning. In this moment, the detective attacked another wyvern's back, killing him and forced other soldiers to pull back a little. In that moment, San landed, Flush appeared next to her.

"Kids, on my back!" He ordered and both Zheek and Farady jumped at him quickly. "Are you alright, San?" The detective asked her with worries.

"I'll be alive." She groaned painfully. "Let's go." Both of them jumped back into the air, there appeared wyverns. Flush released powerful stream of fire, killing two of them and buying themselves several seconds more.

"Where's dad?" Farady asked silently.

"He's not coming." The lightning dragoness explained sadly. Four dragons flew through the forest. After an hour of tries, the wyverns gave up on following them and pulled back.

"And so, we escaped the wyverns." Farady continued the story. Everyone was listening to her, even Sable, Viola and Stella, who for last hour didn't pay attention to their plans at all. "In less than an hour after wyverns gave up on following us, but our mother started feeling very bad. It appeared that her wound was much more serious than we expected. Flush was trying to make the flight any easier to her, but we had no bandages or anything and he was too small to carry her."

"After a day, we reached some dragon village. We stopped there." Zheek sighed deeply. "Well, it's not like we had any choice in this matter anyway. Flush was exhausted and our mom in terrible state. In the village, there were two medics. They were fighting for mom's life for two weeks. She was strong and she didn't want to give up, but there appeared some nasty complications after the wound, including poisoning, and she died. We were crushed, we had no idea where to go." Zheek wiped out a tear. It was hard for him to tell about it. The story, previously detailed, now was mostly filled with emotions.

"Flush took us to Teria. There, we buried our mom and made a grave for dad too, even though it remained empty. Flush had some problems with the city elders about it, but he dealt with them. We stayed in his house. We had nowhere else to go, after all. Flush taught us writing and reading, we even attended to academy. For whole this time, he was looking for a home for us. He knew that we would need really loving family." Farady explained.

"So, has he found someone for you?" Ivory asked. "I remember you living in Flush's house, but you didn't stay there for long, did you?" The white dragoness recalled.

"There came free dragons, a young couple with a son in my age, Vermont. We knew them already and they promised that they would take care of us. And so, we left Teria with them." The lightning dragoness said. "We spent with them next five years, sometimes visiting Flush. And then, he was killed by wyverns. That was the moment when something broke in us. We had enough of wyverns killing our friends and family. We left our foster parents, found our old home in wyvern lands and this ornamented armor in there. We promised ourselves that we would take revenge. And so, we live here since then." Zheek finished the story.

"Do you have any news from your foster parents?" Vixen asked.

"After our leaving, they were crushed. Under some circumstances, they came to Teria and decided to remain there." The lightning dragoness said the rumors she had heard. "So, I guess it's the end of the story." She noticed and yawned deeply.

"We'd better go sleeping by now." Vixen suggested. She raised her head to watch the moons. "It's already after the midnight." She noticed. "Sable, have you written anything?" She asked curiously.

"Not really, we kept listening." The lightning dragon said. "We'll start tomorrow." He promised, unsure if her, or himself. Then, he stood up and others did so as well. They all headed to the cave, bided each other goodnight, waking Tris up accidentally, and all quickly fell asleep. Well, almost all.

Cynder sighed deeply, as she was laying on the grass, watching the moons from between the trees, growing not so densely in there. Then, she heard some steps, echoing silently in the cave. She barely heard those in this windless night, which meant the person was sneaking, just like she had. The dragon left the cave and Cynder saw red scales and those characteristic horns. She smiled slightly, as Zheek headed to her.

"Hi." He greeted her, a little surprised.

"Hi." Cynder smiled warmly. "Lay down, don't stand like that." She suggested. The fire breather placed himself on the ground next to her obediently. "You can't sleep, as I guess?" She asked.

"No, I just love stargazing. How about you?" The fire breather wondered.

"I can't sleep." Cynder admitted and laughed silently with ironic hint in her voice.

"What bothers you?" Zheek watched her curiously.

"You won't understand." The black dragoness not really wanted to tell him.

"But still, maybe I can help." The fire breather didn't give up. Or he just missed an allusion, which was quite possible as well. "You know that the most interesting conversations always happen in the night?" He said. "At least to me."

"In the night? Why is that so?" Cynder jerked her head, surprised. Zheek just shrugged.

"As if I knew. Maybe it's easier to confess something when it's dark around. You know, sureness that no one's watching." Zheek guessed. "So, what is it?" Cynder sighed deeply.

"I've been to here before. Many years earlier. When I still was under Malefor's influence. Wyverns wanted to come with an offensive against the apes, but I was sent to stop them. And I did it." The black dragoness closed her eyes and she could see whole this pain and death she had brought years earlier. "I shed so much blood just because. I could let them go when they decided to withdraw. But I didn't. I kept attacking them until it... bored me."

"It's been many years before." Zheek noticed.

"But time not really changes anything." Cynder explained. "Those lands bring all my memories back. I know that it wasn't really my choice, but still, I did it all."

"So the past is haunting you?" The fire breather summed up.

"Yeah." The black dragoness focused her sight on moons.

"I am simple person, so my point of view on such a matters is really simple." Zheek started.

"Doesn't it sound like an introduction to something long and complicated?" Cynder watched him skeptically. The fire breather shrugged.

"Possibly." He agreed. "Anyway, I used to want to kill Oscuro. But when I faced him, I didn't stand chance, I couldn't do it, but only failed myself and Farady. But now, I don't think about this. It happened, it was beyond me. I have my sister and that's who I should focus on. And you..." Zheek watched the black dragoness carefully. "You used to be Terror of Skies, you've shed blood and killed many beings. It happened, but it all was beyond your control. Now you have mate and child, you should focus on them instead of recalling the past, which you can't change." Then, the fire breather smiled warmly. "My parents kept telling us that we should behave like Cynder: we did something wrong, we should own up, show repentance, but be able to walk through the life straightened up, carrying the burden of your past, but not bowing beneath it." He sighed nostalgically. Like almost every orphan, Zheek missed his parents.

"That's what they would say?" Cynder asked with disbelief. The fire breather bobbed his head once. "Like Cynder. To carry the burden of your past, but not bow beneath it." She whispered to herself. She giggled silently. "So, If I'm Cynder, I should behave like Cynder, shouldn't I?" She noticed.

"I guess so." Zheek agreed, nodding. "Feeling any better?"

"Quite." The black dragoness confirmed. "It's been a while since my last not-Cynder-like behavior." She said, smiling. "I didn't miss it, to be honest."

"No surprise." Zheek agreed. Two dragons were watching stars in silence for some time. It was beautiful, cloudless night, so the view was breathtaking.

"I've been wondering, if you and Vixen are a couple for long already." Cynder started.

"W...what?" Zheek watched her dumbstruck, not sure what to reply.

"Aren't you?" The black dragoness asked, surprised.

"No, we aren't." The fire breather refused. "Why do you ask?" The black dragoness gave him skeptical sight.

"Think, Zheek." She suggested. "Aren't you pretty close to each other?" She noticed. Zheek thought about it for several seconds. In fact, he and Vixen were spending together practically all the time.

"That's what you mean." Zheek realized. Cynder nodded slowly. "We're not a couple. I really like her." He explained. He didn't really want to explain it to anyone, even Cynder.

"There's nothing more or you still didn't confess each other that there's something more?" The black dragoness asked, smiling slightly.

"You mean love?" The fire breather asked. Cynder laughed silently.

"No, the current changes of weather in stratosphere above Dante's Freezer." She joked. "Yes, Zheek, love." She watched dumbstruck fire breather with amusement. He could sometimes be so funny, even if he didn't intend to do so.

"You ask..." The fire breather, completely confused with that sentence about stratosphere, interrupted in half of word not to say something stupid. "You want to know what I feel to her, right?"

"Yes, that's what I want to know." Cynder confirmed. She couldn't help smiling.

"I love her to death." Zheek explained. He had no doubts about it. "But she... she not really notices it. Do you think that she loves me?" The fire breather asked doubtfully.

"That's exactly what I think." The black dragoness agreed. "Just look how she behaves towards you."

"You..." The fire breather watched Cynder carefully for several seconds. "You're right. I hope." He admitted. "She loves me. And I love her." Then, he grinned. "I'll tell it her." He decided. "Even tomorrow. I'll find an opportunity when we'll be all alone and then..." He giggled silently. "I can't wait to tell it her." Cynder smiled slightly. She perfectly understood how he felt. Then, she stood up.

"So, maybe we go back and have a sleep? Tomorrow it's going to be your great day." She suggested. The fire breather nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I'd better be ready. I need to be rested." Zheek agreed. He quickly stood up. "Thanks. I didn't want to tell her because... I guess I was scared until now. Her complete unconsciousness of my feelings was so abashing. I had no idea how she would react and so I kept waiting. But if she feels this same, as you say, that's completely different matter." He explained.

"Don't blame her for it. In matters of love she plays expert, but average hatchlings have more experience than her." Cynder smiled slightly. "I'm glad that I could help."

"This same here." Zheek agreed. "So, let's go." And so, two dragons headed to the cave to have some sleep. Zheek's heart was leaping in joy when he only thought about what awaited him the next day.