Author's Note: Why yes, this is going out about 12 hours early. It was either that or 10 late, and we've already missed a week.
Sorry about that, by the way. I should have anticipated the end of my break being hectic, but somehow that anticipation didn't include crossing highways at 3 AM in the bitter cold, losing internet connection, and having my beta remind me of something important enough to merit another chapter in between this and the next. As it turns out, a little extra time was needed to keep up with all of that.
Lily had never encountered such a strange mentality as the one Root had shown her the day before, and she certainly wasn't going to leave it at that, with Root politely and even honorably ignoring or disregarding everything she said to him. She was going to understand him, whatever it took. Understanding might literally be the difference between him living or dying.
And he would die if he challenged; he was less prepared than Granite and planned to do only as much for less time. Root only had three, maybe closer to four moon-cycles to ready himself. Granite had been training with Bone for longer than that, though Lily wasn't sure when he had started. Before Crystal had confronted him on his intentions, at least.
This whole situation was too similar to Granite for her liking; it made her sad when she needed to focus. Root was not her half-brother, he was not hiding his intentions from her, and he was not planning to challenge on Pearl's behalf. There were plenty of differences; she barely knew him.
But he reminded her of Granite all the same, because he didn't think he would lose, and because he was challenging on someone else's behalf. He was trying to do the right thing, as he saw it. Of course, the way he saw it was naïve and dangerous to his health, but that didn't change much. She couldn't just call him immature and leave him to die, and all of the easy arguments had gotten no response.
So, she needed to learn more about him, to find his underlying motives, the way he worked. The first stop in that little journey was obvious, which was why she was here, wondering whether she had the right rock.
"Excuse me," she ventured, addressing a light wing on a neighboring boulder, "is this where Root and his parents sleep?"
"Yes, Whirl and Flare," the male answered politely. "They always go for a family flight in the mornings, so if you wait they will be back sooner or later. Who are you?"
Really? Well, she supposed she was not the most recognizable dragon in the pack, and the male wasn't really looking at her all that closely, but still. "Lily."
She didn't enjoy the abrupt silence from him, or the way he was suddenly staring very hard at whatever he had already been looking at, but she did take comfort from the fact that such reactions were dying off. People still reacted if she reminded them of her existence, but it was no longer overwhelmingly obvious. For better or for worse, her apparent lack of activity was serving to help everyone forget her plight and their discomfort as long as they were not reminded.
She wasn't sure whether that would make it easier or harder to do what needed to be done. On the one paw, less notoriety meant it would be easier to just ignore and dismiss her. On the other, her reputation still affected people once they were reminded, which might give her a potent tool to shock them into lowering their guard. It would be easy to use, if she could just figure out a way to go from remembered guilt to anything useful without just negating the guilt anyway.
"Hello?" a male called out, and a bulky light wing landed on the rock beside her. "Are you looking for my son?"
"What gave it away?" Lily asked curiously.
"You are Lily, and he mentioned you talking to him," the male, who Lily assumed was known as either Whirl or Flare, explained diffidently. "He and his Dam are out, and will not be back for a long while. You may want to return tomorrow."
"I might very well do that," Lily agreed, "but I also wanted to talk to you, so I can do that now."
"Me?" the male tilted his wings back to gesture to himself, as if to be sure she knew what she had said. "Not Whirl or Root?"
"Them too, but I have some questions for you. I am helping a friend." All truth, though investigating Root in order to learn how to manipulate him in order to convince him not to challenge so that Mist could have him as a mate was a pretty far remove. "What is Root like?"
"What is he like?" Flare, for that by deduction had to be his name, sat back on his tail and stared down at her. "Well, he is a private person, for one. I do not think I want to say anything to you. You are not exactly the best person to be seen talking to, anyway."
Lily sighed dramatically and decided to see if her reputation could be used as a blunt persuasive force. "As if I don't have enough problems in my life without you adding to them. Please, just talk to me. We can go somewhere less open if you care about being seen with me."
Flare dropped back onto all four paws. "Explain why I should violate my son's privacy for your sake, and we do not have to go anywhere as long as you make your questions quick."
"It's for his own good, to stop him from challenging," Lily corrected him. "I want to understand why he does what he does so that I can help Mist convince him not to throw his life away. That is why." Surely, as his Sire, he would agree with that goal.
Flare purred contently. "I see. If Whirl were not at this very moment dissuading him, I would praise your efforts."
"Let's assume she does not succeed for whatever reason," Lily offered. "I would still like to know what Root is like. Who does he listen to, what drives him, what does he want? Just those things, and I will go." She could come back for more information tomorrow; Whirl, by all accounts, was very much involved in her son's life and would probably be far more amenable to sharing more details.
"He listens to his parents, does what his Dam asks, and not much more until now," Flare said slowly. "A few days ago, I would have said he was content just to live a quiet, happy life. He has never shown much drive to do anything before now. This decision and outburst surprised us as much as anyone else."
That wasn't very helpful, aside from giving Lily the feeling that Root wasn't a very open person to begin with. That, or his Sire was not very observant, but Flare seemed far more aware and careful than most of the males she knew, so that didn't seem right.
"Thank you for speaking with me," Lily hummed politely. "I take it you do not want to see him challenge any more than the rest of us?"
"Of course not. Even if he did win, he would be stuck in charge of the pack, and someone else would take over soon enough. He would die either way. I just want him to live past this next season-cycle."
O-O-O-O-O
"Are you Whirl?" Lily asked, flying up behind the female she had seen lick Root goodbye like one might expect a Dam to do for a far younger fledgling before flying away in the general direction of the ocean.
"Yes, I am," Whirl called back without even looking. "You are Lily? My mate told me about you questioning him. Come with me while I fish."
Lily followed along as Whirl headed out over the water, mentally organizing her questions. In retrospect, she could have been more precise with her questions with Flare, and she was not going to make the same mistake twice. "You know what I plan to do with the answers you give?"
Whirl glanced back at her. "No. I know what you told my mate you want to do, but not how you will turn my knowledge into an argument that will succeed where I have failed. I also do not know why you are involved in this at all." She sounded conflicted.
"I owe Mist a favor, and she thinks I can help. I think I can too, if I get the right information."
"Mist is a nice female. A little too controlling, but nice."
Lily took note of the fact that Whirl, who by all accounts ran far more of her son's life than she probably should, had just called Mist controlling. It was impossible to say whether she was sensitive to another female usurping her influence, noticing Mist's attempts to direct the future of the fledglings Root associated with, or just plain projecting her own issues.
"Tell me," Whirl continued, leveling out over the blue waters below and staring down, "do you just want me to talk about him, or do you have actual questions?"
Lily snorted at the impatient tone. If anything, she should be the one feeling impatient. "My first question is whether you had any hints that he was planning this before now."
"No, none at all," Whirl growled. "He does not usually keep secrets from me. Some things he does not share with others, but I hear about everything. This is new, and I do not like it. I just want to help him."
"But he won't listen?"
Another, louder growl. "He always listens, but not this time. He just looks at me like I cannot possibly understand what he is thinking."
"Do you?"
"I do not need to, I just need to know that he is going to get himself killed." She looked down at the ocean passing below them and growled. "What makes you think you can do better than me? I raised him from an egg."
"I understand that," Lily agreed, not mentioning that it didn't seem to be helping much now. "I don't want to get in your way, I just want to help."
"Then stop talking like you are trying to shove me aside and take over as his Dam!" Whirl growled. "The only female I am willing to tolerate trying to take him from me is whichever one he chooses as a mate, and even then, I expect to reach an agreement with her. You are no such female and have no right to butt in."
Lily stared at the back of Whirl's head and briefly entertained the notion that the Dam was as crazy as the son. They both refused to let her help, as just one example of similarity.
"I am here as a favor to a friend, and out of the goodness of my heart," Lily eventually replied, careful as ever. "I don't want to take over for you," but she had anyway, but Whirl didn't need to know that, "I just want to prevent his death because that is a bad thing that seems to be coming if nobody can dissuade him."
"That is all?" Whirl asked hesitantly. "Truly?"
"Truly," Lily agreed, wondering if she had finally gotten through to the defensive female. She was focusing on Root for the moment, but she would come back around to Whirl soon enough, given helping Root would lend her a powerful in with his parents, and having it clear that she wasn't trying to step on Whirl's paws would be a great advantage there.
"He was always quiet as a fledgling," Whirl remarked seemingly out of the blue. "Always careful, always listening to stories and repeating them to me later, even if I was the one who had told them. He loved stories and never complained about anything."
Lily flew silently behind Whirl, recognizing this as its own sort of apology and not caring. She was more interested in the information she had come for.
"He is shy, too," Whirl said fondly. "It took moon-cycles to get him used to just the other fledglings that lived around us. I had to step in and make sure he did not just leave and go do his own thing whenever he wanted, else he would never have seen them. But he always listened to me and never resented it."
"Never?" Lily found that hard to believe; most fledglings pushed away from their parents at some point near adulthood. She certainly had, assuming one only thought of her cavern-Dams. Not so much Pyre, but the point remained as she was no sane light wing's definition of normal.
"The only complaint he has ever had is that sometimes the others mock him for it," Whirl said confidently. "And that is their issue, not his. He relies on me."
"It certainly seems he did before now," Lily suggested. "Maybe he is just choosing a very bad time to assert his independence?" Usually, one didn't try to gain control of one's life by seeking to have it ended, but Root didn't think he would die, and if he won he would undoubtedly be above his Dam taking charge, given he'd be the new alpha and thus obligated to obey nobody but himself.
"He does not need independence," Whirl complained sullenly. "Independence is for getting away from bad people. I want the best for him."
"But he might not see it that way," Lily suggested. "Maybe you would have more luck if you told him he was free to do what he wanted, but that you would rather he be alive to do it?" She didn't think Whirl's clinginess was the actual driving force behind Root's strangeness, but it was more than likely a factor.
"That would not work," Whirl grumbled, "but I might try it anyway. Do you have any other questions before you do the impossible and convince him where his own Dam has failed?"
"No, not really," she admitted. "I don't know what else to ask." She could see where Root's current attitude and outlook matched Whirl's description of him, and it no longer seemed sudden so much as just how he was, finally coming into play. He had spent his life thinking in stories, and just now realized he was living in one that needed a hero. Of course he would latch onto that.
"Well, if you can do it, you will have my gratitude," Whirl said, looking back at her with not entirely unfriendly eyes. "One of the few things he said recently that I do not disagree with is that you have had a bad lot in life. I do not know how I did not see that before now."
"A lot of people don't want to admit it," Lily agreed, trying not to push her luck too much. She had Root to thank for this particular opening; given they had started this encounter off on the wrong paw, she'd take the unwitting help.
Whirl nodded, before looking down, squinting at the water, and firing into it. She then dove, effectively ending the conversation.
Lily didn't stick around to watch her fish; she had some new information to ponder, though at the moment she couldn't see how any of it was helpful. None of it had given her new angles of attack so much as explained why all the ones she had already tried were doomed to failure.
But she still had time, and soon there would be another chance to get more information about Root. She had questioned his family, and she could ask Mist to get information from his friends, but there was one easy chance coming to observe him in the moment.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily glided above the valley, looking down in the darkness. The forest was still mostly lifeless out in the distance, all of the seasonal plants and trees still barren, but it felt balmy and warm out this night. The cold-season was well and truly over now, and everyone had moved out of the cavern. Everyone but her and those who lived there through all of the seasons.
Now, feeling the light breeze under her wings, she wished she could look forward to finding a rock in the valley, or going to Pyre's home to sleep on the ledge. It would be stuffy and warm in the cavern system, but the weather was perfect outside.
But that was not to be, not this season-cycle. Maybe not the next, or the one after, either. She would take as much time as was needed to ensure she succeeded. Someday, she would sleep out in the open and not need to think about Claw's wishes. Someday, they would all be free of him.
"There does not look to be any guard at all," Crystal hissed excitedly from above her. "I think Claw just decided that since we have not fled yet, we will not at all."
"Possibly." She wasn't so sure; it would be easy for him to tell the guard to camouflage himself and lie in wait. Now would be the perfect time to flee, if they were going apparent lack of oversight had only started two days ago; it could very well be a trap, Claw himself could be waiting for them if they tried to escape.
Nevertheless, they were going to leave the valley on this moonlit night. They had a good excuse to. It was the night of the celebration amongst the oldest fledglings, and that celebration was happening on the shore.
"Here they come," Crystal hummed, looking behind them. "Liona, Danda, over here!" she called out.
"Crystal!" Danda barked. "Were you waiting for us?"
"I was not sure exactly where this is happening, so yes," Crystal breezily replied. "I am not late, am I?"
"No, we are just going down there ourselves," Liona volunteered. "Follow us. And your friend too?"
Lily looked back at her, keeping her eyes wide and friendly. She ignored the telltale flinch of recognition. "I can come, right? We did not have one of these last season-cycle, and I would like to see."
"As long as you stay out of the way," Danda allowed briskly, not even seeming to hear how rude she sounded. "You might bring the mood down."
"I will," Lily promised, hiding her annoyance. The important thing was that she had just been invited; that was more than enough excuse, when half a dozen other people were all going. Nobody could claim she was trying to leave while flying among fledglings and going to a celebration.
Well, nobody stupid. A smarter light wing would suspect she planned to slip away and make her escape by paw when the celebration was in full swing and thus the perfect distraction. She would have had that plan if she meant to leave.
On the other side of things, nobody who thought it through would suspect Crystal of trying to escape the valley and leave. She had left her hatchling with Honey, and escape would mean leaving him behind to Claw's vengeance. Even if the threats he had leveraged against the rest of her family were not enough to hold her, that would be.
As they flew over the dark forest, Lily noticed a bright light on the shore, one that just as suddenly disappeared. "What is that?"
"I have no clue," Danda admitted. "Well, obviously it is fire, but whywould anyone need that there? Cedar and Ash were supposed to get the fish before sunset."
They began their descent, and Lily began identifying white shapes on the shore, picking them out by their glint when it reflected in the intermittent flash of fire being used for some unknown purpose by one of them. Cedar, Ash, Root, and Mist were already there, gathered around whatever was being flamed, and there were a few light wings Lily vaguely recognized as being from the next season-cycle, fledglings who would become adults in the next hot-season. One of them was even from the cavern, a daughter of Claw and thus one of Lily's many half-siblings.
Lily landed in the sand just shy of the tideline, veering off from Crystal and the others at the last moment so as to approach from another angle. She was here to observe, and under Danda's rudeness had resided a fair point; she would bring the jubilant, carefree mood down if too many people saw her and felt guilty. That wouldn't help her at all in this case.
As she moved closer, unnoticed but present, she began paying attention to what was going on.
Cedar was the one flaming, and he was doing something to a pile of sand surrounded by rocks, occasionally tossing a pawful on and burning it. The others were all watching closely.
"No, I am not saying what this is," he replied when someone asked what he thought he was doing. "It is a surprise for later. Nobody step on it."
"It looks funny," Ash commented.
"That is because it is so hot it melted," Cedar explained. "If you step on it, you might lose a paw."
"I can flame my own paw without it hurting," Ash retorted.
"Over and over again?" Danda asked brusquely. "I do not think so. Just stay away from whatever madness he is cooking up. We are here to celebrate, not gawk!"
Lily had to purr at the way Danda corrected Ash's imminent stupid mistake; she could do with a lot more tact, but it was a good start, and the reason she had chosen to suggest Mist work to pair them off. Along that same line of thought, hadn't Mist said that Cedar was planning a big thing for Liona tonight? Maybe his weird creation even now cooling between the rocks was a part of that.
And of course, the reason for her attendance was here too, standing by Cedar and talking amiably enough. Root didn't seem all that excited, but he also didn't seem disinterested. She suspected he saw himself as an observer here, just like she did.
Then the festivities began, and Lily lost track of time. First there was a game of fish-tossing, where Mist and Danda threw food from a large pile and everyone else tried to catch it, and then there were races that everyone participated in, even her, though she found herself struggling to even stay at the back of the pack.
Eating challenges came next, at least for those who were stupid enough to think eating after strenuous flying was a good idea, and Lily stood well back, anticipating the unintended regurgitation of food long before it happened. She wasn't entirely sure who had won that specific contest, but Ash had clearly lost, given he looked sick for a long while afterward.
Past that point, the planned activities seemed to be over, and fledglings mingled, talking and joking and occasionally taking to the air to show off or work off some excited energy. It was a small celebration compared to the massive, official ceremony coming in a few moon-cycles, but it was also one with a good, light feel to it. There were no pending deaths or disappointments here.
"It is good, is it not?" Liona asked, coming up to her. "We thought of it a while ago. I have heard the ceremony is too often sad to be much fun."
Lily didn't show any surprise at being addressed directly by someone she had yet to make overtures toward; she would take good luck if it showed itself like this. "It is. I wish my season-cycle had thought of such a thing."
"That is why we invited them," Liona revealed, nodding at the younger fledglings. "They are a little immature, but they are having fun, and they will remember for the end of the next cold season. With luck, they will invite the next group, and so on…"
"You've started a new tradition, I think," Lily said appreciatively. That was a good plan, though it could fail if the organizers of the next event shut the younger ones out. Or maybe being purposefully excluded would just make those younger ones more intent on having their own when it was their turn.
"That was the idea," Liona purred.
A loud roar from near the middle of the group caught their attention, and Liona turned to see what Lily was already looking at. Cedar had pulled together a mound of sand and clambered up to the top.
"Everyone!" he called out, roaring again. "I have an announcement! The thing I was making is done!"
"So?" one of the younger fledglings roared back at him.
"So, it is for my future mate!" Cedar crowed. "I have my eye on one female in particular, and I want her to know."
So, it was part of his grand gesture. Lily was glad she hadn't missed such an obvious deduction, and also to see the hopeful look on Liona's face; it would be sad to see her hopes crushed, but Lily had the advantage of having seen this coming.
"Over-" Cedar barked in surprise as he misplaced a paw on the way down his hill and tumbled forward, head over tail. He rolled to a stop at the bottom, his paws flailing in the air.
"Oh," Liona laughed, running over to get a good look without being blocked by the laughing crowd. Lily allowed a smile, reminded of a time she herself had been clumsy in her own body. A much happier time...
Cedar, to his credit, hopped up and shook himself off confidently enough. "We all do it," he said loudly. "I just have bad luck with when it happens to me. Anyway, the thing I was making."
"What is it?" Mist called out.
Instead of answering, Cedar began clearing out the rocks from around the thing he had burned and apparently melted, kicking them away with his paws. He then dug out a little hole in the sand beside what to Lily looked like just another chunk of sand, and stuck his muzzle down in the hole.
What he was doing became clear a second later as a huge chunk of sand began to move. He levered it out with his head, pushing hard to stand the strange, sandy rock upright. It was irregular and reminded Lily of nothing so much as a perfectly flat stone, complete with an oval underside.
Then he began brushing it off with his tail, and she felt her jaw drop. It was clear and like ice but not, with frozen flames of black swirling around inside, and little pebbles suspended inside. Not even ice looked like that, and this was not ice, he had made it with fire. It was almost as tall as she was when standing on all four paws, and as wide as her too. A murmur of awe and surprise rose from the amazed crowd standing around him.
"I do not think it serves any purpose," Cedar admitted. "But, it is pretty and sleek and fun to look at, just like the female I am thinking of. Liona, this is for you."
Liona stared at Cedar and what he had made, her eyes wide. "Really?" she asked in a hopeful voice.
"Really. I would like you to be my mate, and I wanted you to know before the ceremony. It is your choice which male you go for, but if you choose me you can be sure what my response will be."
"Cedar is going to get all three of them to pick from," someone near Lily said in a low rumble. "I wonder if I can do that next season-cycle?"
"You will just look like you are copying him," a female hissed back.
"I do not know what to say," Liona murmured, walking up to him and looking into the clear rock.
"You do not have to say anything," he replied generously. "It is for you regardless."
"It is very pretty," she said happily. "I do not know where I would keep it, or how to move it around, but it looks nice here."
That seemed to be everyone's cue to start talking again. Many of the younger fledglings crowded around Cedar and the rock, some of the males asking him how he did it.
Lily was more interested in the two pairs of older fledglings. Danda was saying something to Ash, and Mist to Root. She couldn't get any closer without obviously listening in, and she couldn't hear them from where she stood, but she thought she knew what was being said. Ash looked thunderstruck, and Mist-
Mist stamped a paw and turned away from Root, pointedly looking at Ash and then saying something angrily.
Root bowed his head, looked away, and then replied in a low voice.
Mist all but stomped over to Ash and Danda and engaged them in a conversation, totally abandoning Root.
Only an idiot would think that had gone well, but Lily was encouraged by the way Root listlessly cast around in the sand, clearly not happy about what had transpired. She sensed an opportunity.
So, she approached him. "What was that all about?"
He looked up and sighed. "She does not understand, still. I do not like making her mad, but it is for the best."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I do not particularly want her, and I am challenging, too," he explained, looking out at the crowd of fledglings around Cedar. "Best she set her sights on someone else now, while she thinks I am just rejecting her for the obvious reason. That way, her feelings will not be hurt."
"Wait, so even if you were not challenging-" Lily began.
"Even then, I would not really want her," he confirmed. "She is nice enough, but I am looking for something more. When I am alpha, the first thing I will do is rid us of the tradition of the alpha having multiple mates. I just want one special female, even if I have not yet met her. Mist is not her."
"Is this also from your obsession with stories?" Lily asked skeptically. Again, she could not exactly call his desires wrong, he was just going about acting on them in a bad way. "Finding the perfect mate?"
"No, not really," he answered. "I want someone strong and fierce but not controlling. My stories just tell me that such a person can exist, even if I have not met them yet."
She sensed the impact of his Dam on that want, if only in the last specification, and she couldn't say he was wrong to want that… But it was extremely inconvenient, as it deprived her of yet another possible angle of attack.
"And anyway, it is for the best," he continued. "She is going to compete with Danda for Ash, and he actually could use someone to tell him what not to do. And when I win, whichever of them he does not pick will be free to wait and find a male later. Everything will work out."
"Not Cedar?" She would have thought his revealing an unexpected creative side would sway Mist to choose him, if not Root.
"I think she would feel bad about trying to get between Cedar and Liona," Root explained. "I know I would. Liona is having the best night of her life right now, and Mist butting in to try and take Cedar would ruin it for her."
"Well, at least someone is happy," Lily rumbled, glancing back at the two light wings in question. Liona was now talking to Cedar a short distance from the rest of the group, near the tideline, and even as she watched they nuzzled tentatively.
"Everyone will be once I take over," Root vowed. "Also, are you aware you are being watched?"
"I suspected as much," Lily said blandly, not showing any surprise. She hadn't even bothered checking the treeline for suspicious shimmers, knowing that she wasn't going to try and escape, but Root noticing them caught her by surprise.
"I will fly you back to the valley, just in case," he volunteered.
"How nice." She felt like rejecting the offer out of annoyance, but it represented more time she could spend interacting with him, and thus more time to pry at his convictions, so she didn't let her annoyance show. "Let's go now."
"The celebration will probably go long into the night," he said. "You want to leave now?"
"Yes." There was nothing more for her to see or do here, and the reason she had come in the first place was offering to fly her back. She might as well go.
Once they were in the air, she set a slow pace, barely flapping enough to do more than glide, so as to stretch out their time. He flew with her, occasionally casting glances behind.
"I'd rather you not look back," she said. "They'll realize I know they are there. It looks more innocent if I seem to have no thoughts of escaping even when the coast is clear."
"Do you have thoughts of escaping?" he asked. "Pearl and Gold did. It might work for you."
"No. This is home, and I am not just going to flee to let everyone else suffer."
"I am going to fix it soon anyway," he purred confidently. "Only a few more moon-cycles."
"Are you? Really?" She let all of her doubt into her voice, hoping to overwhelm him. "Did you know that he can defeat two desperate, cornered adults at once?"
"Since when does he fight more than one on one?" Root asked, looking over at her.
"Since that terrible day," Lily snarled. She had come up with this on the fly, but it felt like a good blow to his blind self-confidence. "He cornered Crystal and I in a small cavern, and we attacked him together. We didn't land a claw on him."
"I did not know you fought at all."
"Because he beat us so easily it made absolutely no difference," Lily growled defeatedly. "What makes you more likely to win than us?"
"I will have training-"
"Granite had training. Bone had training. Something else."
"I am smart."
"Granite was smart. Bone wasn't, but Granite was. Next." She didn't know if she was actually getting through to him, but at least he wasn't able to shut this course of argument down as easily as the rest.
"I am fighting for someone besides myself," he offered.
"So was Granite," Lily countered. "He fought only because he found out someone else was suffering under Claw." It felt right to use Granite to dissuade Root. He wouldn't have wanted another like himself to die a needless death, so he would have approved.
"Who?"
"It does not matter now, does it?" Lily growled. "What else makes you more likely to win?"
"I am the hero."
"For all you know," she said viciously, "there is no hero. Maybe the way this ends is him being struck by lightning because he was stupid enough to fly in bad weather. Maybe one day the pack will wake up and decide they've had enough. Maybe someone will slit his throat as he sleeps. That is no reason to think you will live."
Root growled at her, his pupils angry slits. They passed over the mountains and just kept going, not descending. "Stop trying to talk me out of this!"
"Stop trying to fly to your pointless death!" she retorted with exactly the same tone. "There has been enough pointless death!" She swerved right up to him, their wings overlapping, to get as close to being in his face as one could in the air. "Only one other person in this valley needs to die, and you'll not be able to do it."
"Then who will?" he demanded. "It is not as if some powerful male from abroad will fly in one day and dismember Claw, and even if that did happen, he would probably be just as bad in new ways! No, it has to be me. I must be meant to do something, or else my life is worthless."
Lily halted her objection before it reached her mouth; that last part didn't fit with the rest. "Since when are you worthless?"
"Since I have not done anything worth saying," he growled. "I am more than willing to risk my life to fix all of this, and it does not hurt that when I do, I will be remembered as more than a Dam's son who did nothing with his life!" He snarled at her and dove, departing in an instant.
Lily continued to fly slowly above the valley, thinking about what she had tried, and why it had failed. The conclusion she came to was not a good one, but it was at least a familiar one.
Like Bone, Root would not be persuaded by words. He was so set on his path, for so many reasons. He wanted to be a hero, he thought there had to be one, he wanted to be remembered, he wanted to fix the pack's many problems, he wanted to save her from Claw, he wanted to win free of his Dam, he wanted the freedom to wait for the kind of female he desired to come around… If she had a few season-cycles she could change his mind, but no less would suffice. There were too many motivations that needed to be circumvented.
Here was where she had given up on Bone. Realizing that his mind could not be changed. But she wasn't giving up on Root. If he would not be swayed, then she had to attack the problem from some as of now unknown angle.
She didn't have season-cycles, but she did have moon-cycles, several of them. That was enough time to come up with an answer and put it into play. Root would not die, even if she had to thwart him and Claw to achieve it.
O-O-O-O-O
"Is there a reason you are watching hatchlings and fledglings play from behind a rock?" a friendly voice asked.
"Simple," Lily purred, turning and nodding at Dew, before gesturing with her tail at the rough play-fighting going on in the small clearing beyond. "I needed to watch something going right, and I needed to talk to you or Pina. This kills two fish with one blast."
"The thing going right is Silva, I presume?" Dew asked, coming up beside her and openly watching the fledglings. "I am proud of how I managed that."
"I am too, and curious. How did you get Diora to let her play with anyone?" Lily asked. There were no males in the clumsy, slow-moving conflict going on in front of them, but she didn't consider that quite as important as Silva socializing at all. Just seeing Silva included in the rough play without getting hurt was good enough for her; if Diora were here, she'd throw a fit at her daughter's loud crowing and lack of composure.
"I simply complimented her," Dew purred. "All I had to do was say I was impressed by her daughter's composure, offer to watch her, and then say it would be a relief to get away from my rowdy male son. She thinks Silva is alone with me in the cavern, sitting still and maybe blinking once in a while." The disdain was heavy in her voice.
"Okay, that explains how you have Silva," Lily agreed, "but the others? And how do you know Diora won't notice this?"
"The others are from Dams who know and trust me," Dew continued. "And I have Pina flying above the valley with my son." She looked up.
Lily followed her gaze and saw a large light wing form alongside a much smaller one that did not flap. "Gliding lessons? I did not have those at his age." Hers had only come halfway through her third season-cycle, while she was under the impression Dew's son had not quite made it to two yet.
"He cannot actually fly, but he can always get used to the air." Dew purred proudly. "Pina did not know that until I told her. Gliding is not something that relies on age. As soon as their wings are thick enough at the base and long enough, they can glide. It varies with every fledgling, like when they start talking. And they can act as lookouts. I know Diora and Ivy went to the ledges, so they will have plenty of time to warn us when they see either flying back."
"Clever," Lily said admiringly.
"I thought so," Dew purred. "But you did not answer my question. Why are you hiding? They would love an audience."
Lily peeked out at the mock-combat, purring to herself as the oldest of the four fledglings gently batted Silva's wings down, playing with surprising restraint for someone her age. Silva lunged at her paw, only to fall flat and roll over purring with laughter.
"Me?" she eventually responded. "Oh, I told Diora she would not see me near her daughter again. I try to keep my word, and I wasn't sure if she was here."
"I do not think that was exactly what she had in mind," Dew chuckled. "Is this what you wanted?"
"Exactly what I wanted," Lily confirmed. "Can you do it regularly?"
"Definitely. I am not going to bring any males into it, but only so that if Diora finds out she might not totally lose her trust in me. For Silva's sake."
"It's not the most important thing right now," Lily agreed. "There will be plenty of time to introduce her to the other half of her peer group once she's old enough to be discreet."
"Yes. You also said you needed to talk to me about something else?" Dew flicked her tail out at the commotion in front of her. "I cannot take my attention away from them too long."
"I'll make it quick. What, exactly, are the signs that someone is carrying an egg?" Lily asked.
Dew hummed thoughtfully. "Growing lethargy, occasional bursts of temper, eating more… It certainly is not obvious, but those are predictable for the last quarter-moon-cycle or so." She cast Lily a pitying glance. "Do you ask for yourself?"
"No," Lily sighed. "I suspect Crystal might already have another." She had seen the signs in the last few days, and even Crystal's more upbeat attitude could not hide them entirely. Honey hadn't said anything this time around, but she also hadn't been checking Crystal's scent, so that meant nothing.
"So soon?" Dew chuffed in surprise. "That is impressive, really. She will have many over the season-cycles if she can have two that quickly. I hope she likes hatchlings, because Claw certainly will not let up if she asks. Most of us only have one every few season-cycles, if at all."
"Maybe it's just a fluke," Lily offered, setting that idea in Dew's mind for later, when Crystal certainly would not be having any more eggs. It was terrible bad luck that she had one now, when the leaves were just beginning to bud on the bush that would have protected her. "Is there anything else that could cause the same changes in her without meaning an egg?" That was why she had come to Dew, though she knew it was a small, unlikely chance.
Dew shrugged her wing shoulders. "You had best hope it is an egg. The only other thing I can think of is illness, and that is a far worse turn of events."
"Depends on what kind of illness," Lily retorted absently, thinking of what Pyre had taught her on the subject. "Some can come and go in a matter of days."
"And some can kill," Dew reminded her. "Give her my congratulations, would you?"
"Sure," Lily agreed. "We might come see you some day soon." If Crystal couldn't talk to her Dam, Dew and Pina would be good substitutes.
"Be sure to give us warning," Dew hastily advised her. "I would rather not be surprised too badly."
"More warning than last time, for sure," Lily laughed, thinking back to when they'd first run to the pair for advice and subsequently lain an egg in their side-cavern.
Dew tilted her head to look down at Lily in amusement, before bounding out into the open to handle the fledglings and hatchling she had under her care. Lily watched her go, unable to fully shake the feeling she was missing something, but it was a small thing. Dew had just proven capable of handling herself, and what was more important, knew she could come to Lily if she really needed aid, as Lily owed her a favor or two anyway.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily stopped in the narrow entrance to the side-cavern, unsure she was seeing correctly. She did not remember hitting her head hard enough to cause hallucinations, but then again, she might not if such a blow had happened. What she was seeing was not obviously a hallucination, it could really be happening, but she certainly had not been expecting it.
"Lily!" Crystal called out, "over here!"
"Yes, I can see you," Lily agreed cautiously. "What, exactly, are you doing?"
"Celebrating!" Crystal exclaimed, leaping over her hatchling, who was screeching randomly and clearly having the time of his life, possibly because his Dam was jumping around randomly and acting like a crazy person, darting in to lick him and then jumping back, playing with what, to Lily, had a decidedly frantic appearance. Maybe Crystal had hit her head.
"And…" Lily trailed off. "This seems strange."
Crystal stopped in front of her, sighed, and let her ears droop. "I will not be a bad Dam."
"And he certainly is liking this, so I'd say you're doing admirably," Lily agreed, slipping into the cavern.
"I can be either depressed or happy and excited," Crystal continued, her ears still drooping, "and I will not be sad or resentful around him."
"Around him…" Lily nodded to the hatchling, who bobbed his head back in imitation, gurgling cutely. "Is there a reason you would be depressed right now?" She had her own, potentially depressing news to share, but she hadn't shared it yet, so this had to be-
"I am probably with egg again," Crystal said bluntly. "I noticed it today, after sleeping in for the third day in a row. I recognize that pattern."
"Oh, that." She had only rarely felt this pre-empted, but she took it in stride. "Yes, I was going to bring up the possibility tonight. I suspect as much. So you are doing," she waved her tail at her, "this? To celebrate?"
"I am reminding myself that it is not fair to be upset," Crystal said forcefully. "And I am doing that by playing with my son, who is now going to get to grow up with a sibling almost his age. If it had to happen, then I can at least be positive about it."
"But it is okay to be upset," Lily objected, not liking that her friend wasn't letting herself feel as she would. "It's terrible luck, and you did not want another one, not from him."
"Oh, I know, and I spent most of today moping," Crystal readily admitted. "But I have just felt so much better lately about everything that I cannot stand to go back to feeling terrible again."
"That is… good?" Lily was feeling terribly uncertain at the moment; she didn't know if she should accept that Crystal had apparently already worked through the news on her own, or if she should try and get Crystal to properly process and accept it. She couldn't tell whether this determined enthusiasm was the end-result of adjusting to the idea, or her very much not adjusting. Either way looked the same from the outside.
"It is good," Crystal said firmly, bounding over to her hatchling, who had started to crawl in their direction as they spoke, apparently feeling left out. "Right, son?" She licked him from tail to head.
"Good!" he barked in agreement.
Both Lily and Crystal froze at that.
Then Crystal laughed. "I guess that is his first word, then," she said. "Good."
"Good!" he barked again. "Dam!"
"And that is his second," Lily purred, deciding to wait and observe. If Crystal was not really as okay with this as she was trying to act, it would show through soon. A few days, maybe, or maybe when the egg came. All she could do was wait, and comfort her friend when it happened, if it did, or be happy that she wasn't too upset about the near miss. A few more days, and protection would be available.
"Yes, Dam," Crystal hummed, rubbing a paw along his back and wings. "I am your Dam."
"Sire?" he peeped, looking over at Lily.
Lily burst out laughing at the odd expression on Crystal's face. "I guess he's been saving them up," she chuckled. "That's three. No, little one, I'm not your Sire. Can you say 'half-sister?'"
The hatchling's face contorted as he eyed her and thought about that. "Sire."
"I guess not," she huffed. "How about 'cavern-Dam' or 'Lily?' Either would work."
"Lil'," the hatchling slurred, bopping his muzzle against her paw.
"Close enough," Crystal declared.
"You know," Lily suddenly realized, "he should really have a name by now, if he's learning ours."
"He should," she agreed, "but I cannot see a good one for him yet. It will come to me, I am sure of it. Give me a while longer."
"Take as long as you need, but do not be surprised if I give him a nickname in the meantime," she said, thinking that if Crystal didn't hurry up, the nickname would become her son's real name, if only because there would be another hatchling to talk about soon.