A deep thrumming noise vibrated through the sand under Lily's paws, persistent and constantly changing, drawing her attention every time it switched, never settling into a discernable pattern long enough to be adjusted to. She wasn't even the one it was aimed at, and it still distracted her. She could only imagine how it would feel to be on the receiving end, with the mental interference it entailed.
The guardian had not sent any mental warnings of No-scaled-not-prey ships approaching, but the thrumming and what it meant was all the warning anyone really needed. Lily hadn't spoken to her - the voice came across as feminine, though more so in retrospect than it had at the time, as confusing as that was - since their first conversation, but at the moment she didn't need the guardian to do anything other than what she already did whenever No-scaled-not-prey came near.
Her fledglings were the ones enacting the first part of her plan to lure Grimmel's entire pack in. The guardian would have a part to play later on, but for this first phase it was all up to Lily's people to take advantage of the already in-play mental effects.
Though Lily stood on the shore and could clearly see the No-scaled-not-prey ship in the distance, one of the smaller, wooden ones, she had no way of seeing the dozen camouflaged light wings flying out to it. She could only guess where they might be, and wait for the explosions to start.
Until then, she had nothing to do but stand and stare. She contemplated digging deeper into the sand and maybe flaming her paws for warmth, but decided against it. Her people were going into battle, however one-sided, and she would not cater to her own comfort while she watched. If she could fly, she would be right there with them. Maybe not fighting, but definitely circling above. Cara and the backup group would be doing that, waiting in case they were needed, and she could have joined them.
"Is that a ship out there?" Spark ran up beside her, entirely unaware of how badly he had startled her, and squinted at the horizon. "The thrumming means there has to be a ship somewhere, but is that the only one?"
"That's it," Lily confirmed. "What brings you out here?" Most of her pack preferred to stay hidden when the entire island was vibrating like it was now. Knowing they were safe in theory was one thing, but testing and relying on that safety by showing oneself on the shores for no real reason was apparently quite another. For once, Lily found she agreed with her pack's group instinct on something.
"I was going to get a lot of seaweed," Spark explained. "Thaw wants it for something he and some other fledglings are making, and I can carry the most in one trip." He made no move to go down to the tideline and actually get the seaweed, though. "Is it just going to turn around like all the others?"
"Yes and no," Lily hummed. "It'll turn around like the others, but I've decided that we should leave a few marks for it to bring back."
A distant explosion rocked the ship, barely audible over the ever-present humming, and she nodded knowingly. "We want to draw Grimmel and all of his people in. The first step is to make sure he suspects that we are the reason all of his ships keep getting confused. Scorch marks and injuries will do that." Also possibly deaths, but she was leaving that up to those on the ship, since she still wasn't sure what level of resistance would be left under the guardian's mental interference. A slaughter would be counterproductive, but so would limiting her people by ordering them to not kill any of the No-scaled-not-prey no matter what.
"Burning things does leave a mark," Spark agreed. "But what if they do not care? Or leave to get reinforcements, then come back?"
"He'll care," Lily huffed. If Grimmel was still in charge he would be all the more fanatic about hunting Beryl down, and possibly her too since she had hurt him. If he was dead, from what she knew of the No-scaled-not-prey pack in question, the next alpha would be bound by custom to hunt her anyway.
But she didn't have such an easy answer for Spark's other concern. "As for Grimmel retreating and coming back with more support..." she rumbled, thinking it through. "They would leave to do so. We would be allowed to go down into the underground, and it wouldn't be our problem anymore. Then they would come back, and I think the guardian would have them obliterated. She said she would do that if anyone came around seeking her island specifically. So it would not end up being a problem."
"Oh, that is good," Spark hummed.
"But it does mean we have to be exceedingly careful not to do too much damage before Grimmel sends everything," Lily continued. "Thank you for mentioning that, Spark. I hadn't considered it." Mostly because of the aforementioned fanaticism and the enemy's overwhelming firepower, but still. It was possible if she misstepped, and a misstep was more likely if she didn't know it would be a problem.
"You are welcome," Spark said. Another explosion rocked the ship, strong enough that Lily suspected several of her fledglings had fired at the same target and at the same time. That would certainly leave a mark.
"Spark!" An older light wing fledgling bolted out from the forest, startling Lily yet again. "You said you were getting the seaweed!"
"I am!" Spark barked back, running to the tideline. "Help me get enough that I do not have to come back for more!" He and the fledgling began digging in the surf, working their way down the shore and away from Lily, collecting seaweed for...
Lily realized that she had never asked why Thaw and the fledglings he was playing with wanted seaweed, but she didn't care enough to catch up to them and ask. Not when she could see smoldering fires dotting the side of the ship, bright and visible even at a distance-
And two Deathgrippers flying into the air, their wings flapping sluggishly. A small blast struck one on the back out of nowhere, likely coming from Cara's reserve light wings, but the Deathgripper didn't respond. Neither appeared to care about the chaos they were leaving behind, flying straight for the center of the island. A blob of shimmering air trailed them all the way.
Lily craned her neck to stare up at the Deathgrippers as they passed directly overhead. She knew that they had to be entirely under the guardian's influence, but it was still chilling to see them so easily approaching where her pack lived…
The pack needed somewhere safe to live. She was liking the idea of going below ground more and more. Searching the empty wilderness for a defensible position would be dangerous, and doing the same below ground would presumably be less so. Even the valley would be less safe; No-scaled-not-prey had found it once, meaning other groups could do the same of their own accord.
A blur thumped down in front of her. "The guardian says those two will cause no trouble," Cara reported in a bitingly annoyed tone of voice. "I wanted to send some of mine to follow them anyway, but the guardian said no."
"Just now?" Lily asked.
"Right after I fired on them," Cara confirmed with a growl. "I do not like not knowing where they will go. We still do not know where the first one ended up."
"Unless they come back to cause trouble for us, it's not a problem," Lily assured her. "And I don't see that happening." The guardian had issues with affecting No-scaled-not-prey, not dragons, and seemed almost arbitrarily powerful when it came to the latter. Whatever she was doing with the Deathgrippers - and Lily did mean to ask next time she went down to the boiling pool - it would be controlled. And if the guardian wanted to hurt her pack, she didn't need a few Deathgrippers to do it.
"I guess," Cara huffed, obviously not convinced in the slightest. "Other than that, the attack group did as you ordered."
"I'll wait for Mist's report on that one," Lily replied. She had sent Mist out to lead the attack partially because she wanted Mist to feel trusted, just in case her failure in leading her group on the journey was still getting her down. Having Cara give her report for her wouldn't help with that at all.
"It should not have been Mist," Cara all but growled. "I want to lead the next assault, not sit back and wait for things to maybe go wrong. I did not even get to fight!"
"I held you back for a reason," Lily growled, fixing the blurry silhouette of Cara with a stern stare. She was sure Cara wouldn't have openly argued like this before Holly seized power, and that validated her decision to reign in their responsibilities… But Cara didn't need to know the real reason she had been pulled away from leading, she would only pretend to correct herself and then tell Holly.
"Which was?" Cara demanded. "You said Mist was the better fit for this, and I could not agree less."
"She was, though," Lily shot back. "Her role was not one of just fighting, she was directing everything, assessing how impaired the No-scaled-not-prey are, where best to mark the ship, how much to do without ruining it beyond repair. You were flying above, keeping an eye on the situation, and in doing so giving all of your attention to the possible danger. I needed someone who would not only fight to lead that first group, and Mist fit that better than you did. Both of you got the roles you were most suited for." All of which was true; she wouldn't have put them where they were only on the basis of who she trusted more. That was just one of the reasons.
"But-" Cara began.
Lily lost her patience and shot a tiny blast into the snow between them, startling the other female into silence. "No. You heard the reasoning, and you know it's good. You want fighting, you'll almost certainly get it, but if you can't keep yourself in check, I don't want you leading anything. Is that clear?"
"It is, it is," Cara barked, both physically and verbally backing up. "I understand. I do not like it, but I understand. Sorry, alpha." She sounded genuinely surprised by Lily's anger.
"I'm glad you understand it," Lily huffed, regretting the blast. A sharp bark would have done the same with less violent undertones… but then again, it had gotten Cara's attention in a way that a simple bark might not have. "Go find someone to wrestle with if you so crave a fight."
"I will see if Aven wants to… or maybe someone who can actually challenge me." Cara leaped into the air, scattering snow as she left.
Lily did her best to watch the departing blur, but she lost track of the other light wing the moment she passed in front of the sun.
"I may have overdone that," she huffed to herself. Short patience with baseless whining or not, suspicion of Holly and her sisters or not, she needed to keep her temper under control. She was probably out of practice with that, too, which would explain her inability to do as much this time. This persistent thrumming in her head wasn't helping either.
Feeling far less confident in herself than she would have liked, Lily looked back to the ship… Which was turning around, receding over the horizon ever so slowly. It would take with it many signs of light wings, and by extension a confirmation and challenge to Grimmel. Hopefully, one he could not ignore.
The moment the No-scaled-not-prey were out of the guardian's range was marked by a cessation in the endless thrumming that Lily had never quite managed to tune out. The absence was downright calming, letting her listen to the waves and nothing else.
The end of the guardian's efforts also meant the No-scaled-not-prey would return to their normal mental state, so it was no surprise that Lily soon caught sight of Mist's group flying back. Part of what made this safe enough to attempt was that the No-scaled-not-prey were rendered stupid and possibly defenseless when they got close to the island, and nobody wanted to tangle with them after that wore off.
"The attack was a complete success," Mist began before even touching down, coming in to glide around Lily in a tight circle. She skidded through the snow upon actually landing, and her camouflage faded away in ripples, going entirely when she rolled onto her back for a moment before springing up.
"Smart," Lily praised.
"Rolling in the snow to get cold and drive the camouflage away?" Mist asked. "Thanks, but Holly came up with it."
"Still," Lily managed, though mention of yet another sign of Holly's influence had soured her mood somewhat. "Very clever. When you say complete success…" she tilted her head questioningly.
"The No-scaled-not-prey were barely able to walk in a straight line," Mist reported. "Swinging their false claws was almost impossible, and some even hurt themselves trying. The only injury any of mine took was from stepping on a claw one had dropped."
"That's very good," Lily hummed. She had hoped the guardian's influence would result in something like that, though she had planned for something more akin to mild confusion or tunnel vision like she had felt in talking to the guardian. Having confirmation that the effect was this debilitating made her a lot more confident in the rest of her plan being doable without losses.
"Since they were so helpless, we did not kill any on purpose," Mist continued. "One or two might have died from being knocked out of the way, it was impossible to tell, and I think one fell off the ship right at the start. Two Deathgrippers were below, you probably saw them, the guardian handled that."
"And the damage?" Lily asked.
"Blast holes through every piece of wood that looked like it would get in the way in a real fight," Mist purred. "A big one to every fiddly contraption like Beryl described for me. All of the swinging wooden parts that block entrances and exits were smashed or blasted. We started a few small fires, none too big, like you said."
"Perfect," Lily purred, "absolutely perfect." She couldn't have asked for a better start to all of this. Grimmel and his Deathgrippers and his ships might have held all the advantages back at the valley, but here she had the absolutely unfair tricks on her side. If she played it right, he would never know how unfair until it was too late, and afterward he still wouldn't know…
Either because he couldn't remember, or because he was dead. She still wasn't sure about that. The plan worked either way, so she had a little more time to think it over before she was forced to choose one way or the other. She was leaning toward killing them all, because then the valley would be safe again, but on the other paw they had found the valley, and others could too… She hadn't finished deliberating yet, and she wasn't going to make a choice now.
"Go celebrate," she told Mist. "Enjoy the victory. It's been a while since our pack had one like this." They might as well enjoy it; she had too many things left to do to spend any time basking in the glow of a successful ploy.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily watched a tiny hatchling roll around in a pool of mud, regret and fondness mixing in her chest until she wasn't sure what she was supposed to be feeling. "What's her name?"
"We have not decided on one yet," Clay said quietly. "So much has been going on…"
"And her glint has not come in yet," his mate added. "I am a firm believer in waiting until we get a hint before giving any name." She nipped at her infant daughter's tail and pulled her away from the center of the mud puddle, keeping her in the shallowest part.
Lily was reminded of Gold, whose name was about as blunt a reference to his glint as was possible. She wondered how he would have responded to Spark, who was actually gold all over. "What do you think her glint will be?" she asked, choosing not to remind either of Gold's parents of their dead son.
"Red," Clay said confidently. "If I am going to blindly guess about something so unpredictable, I will make it my favorite color."
"All colors are good," his mate hummed, eyeing her daughter speculatively. "I think there might be some brown there."
"Or maybe that is just mud," Clay chuffed. "Alpha, if you would like to stay and play with her you can, but she is probably going to be taking a nap soon, and she cannot do that while muddy…"
"I'd rather come some other time, when she's fully awake," Lily said. "And I'm sorry I didn't find the time to come meet her sooner." She had somehow failed to ever even see Clay and his mate's egg, even though they'd had it before even leaving the valley. It could have been taken as a testament to how busy she was, but she saw it as a failure on her part. She should have made time. Somehow.
"You are the busiest light wing in the pack, by far," Clay's mate assured her. "We understand."
Clay nodded in agreement, then leaned down to pick his daughter up by her scruff. She dangled limply, mud dripping off her from everywhere. He grinned toothlessly, then departed.
"I was hoping," his mate said, watching them go, "that we could name her at our new home. Wherever that will be."
"That might not be possible," Lily sighed, hearing the question for what it really was, a not-so-subtle inquiry as to her plans for the future. "But we'll be here for a little while longer. Maybe name her after something here that matches her glint?" She had no idea how long it would take to end Grimmel, or where they'd be going afterward, so that seemed like a much more sensible idea to her.
"If she has a purple or red glint, we would have to call her Crystal, because those are the only purple or red things around here," was the somewhat amused response from Clay's mate. "And that name is taken by the light wing behind you."
"Is it?" Lily asked, waving her tail around to feel for someone behind her. "Well, I'm sure she wouldn't mind. We can call her 'Old Crystal'."
"Only if we call you Old Lily," Crystal snorted from somewhere close behind her.
"That would make me Ancient, and I am not sure how I feel about that," Clay's mate laughed. "See you soon, alpha."
Lily turned to Crystal as Clay's mate took to the sky. Her friend looked… good, great compared to how she had been when leaving the valley. Her stance was open and alert, and her face untroubled. Lily wasn't stupid enough to assume that meant she was over losing her Sire, that wasn't something one got over, but she was coping. Healing.
"How do you feel about a hatchling stealing your name?" Lily asked lightly.
"As if," Crystal snorted. "She will end up Red, or Yellow, or Grey, or whatever color, like Gold. She was just asking about when we are going to find a new home without saying it outright."
"She was," Lily conceded with a laugh. "How have you been?"
"I should be asking you," Crystal retorted. "You are the one who had to walk all that way and then pick up leading the pack again the moment you set paw on this island, with only Beryl for company. How was it?"
"Tiring," Lily said honestly. "Walking all day isn't fun." Mating at night was very fun, but also tiring.
"Walk some more?" Crystal requested. "It's the only way to get any privacy around here." She nodded toward the trio of light wings lurking within hearing distance. It didn't seem like they were listening, but Lily entirely understood the sentiment. It just wasn't the same, talking where people could hear, and therefore having to watch one's words.
"I'm not tired of walking now," Lily clarified. "But I don't want to talk about me. My trip was absolutely boring, nothing happened outside of escaping Grimmel at the start. How did yours go?"
"Pearl has a knack for keeping people from fighting over little things," Crystal said as they walked. "And when she cannot, Lightning knocks heads together until everyone is mad at her and not each other. It sounds hectic, and it is, but it works."
"And you?" Lily pressed.
"I was not in a good place when we left," Crystal admitted, glancing over at her. "You knew that, of course. Lightning helped take my mind off of it, and Pearl helped me cope when I was thinking about it."
"It's not easy," Lily sighed, thinking of Pyre.
"No, it really is not, but I am dealing with it better than Dam," Crystal sighed. "I guess time will help her, if I cannot."
"Don't stop trying," Lily advised.
"Oh, I will not, it just does not seem to be doing any good." Crystal shook her head. "I do not want to talk about that. Have you seen Root recently?"
"Yes, and he's heard me, in both senses of the word," Lily replied. "He seems happy. Or as happy as he can be, given the circumstances."
"I would almost say too happy," Crystal said in a low voice. "I am sure he misses his parents, do not get me wrong, but Whirl was… is… overbearing. It might be doing him some good, just being away from her. I just think he would like it if he knew she was okay."
"Possibly," Lily said noncommittally. "Keep an eye on that for me, would you? When Whirl gets here," if she returned at all, if she wasn't captured or dead, "I want to know how that affects him." It wasn't her place… but it was something she would want to keep track of anyway, and she just didn't have the time. Crystal probably did.
"It will mean more time around Storm, but I will live," Crystal sighed dramatically. "Anything else you need me to do?"
"One more thing, yes," Lily said, thinking of something. "I'm going to go talk to the guardian today."
"Want me to come along?" Crystal asked. "I have not talked to her. If the guardian is female, I heard Holly saying so, but somebody else said they could not tell, and it is just a voice."
"She is definitely female, it's just hard to tell when you're actually talking to her," Lily confirmed. "It's weird, like everything else about her. But I didn't want you coming along. Actually, I don't want you anywhere near. Instead, I want you to remember something."
"Yes?" Crystal asked.
"Ask me about what we're going to do once we have all the No-scaled-not-prey in our mercy," Lily instructed. "Ask how the guardian and I came to a decision. Right now, I think I am leaning toward have them all killed, and I'm going to go down there and tell her, and I can't be sure she won't do something to my mind if she doesn't like that." She had only changed her mind on what to do with the No-scaled-not-prey a short while ago, and the longer she waited, the more time the guardian had to decide what to do about her, if she would do anything.
"Oh… Would she do that?" Crystal asked.
"I don't know, but the fact remains that she probably could, so I'm asking you to be my precaution," Lily explained. "If I seem off, or confused, or vague, or just not thinking straight, go to Beryl and Ember immediately." She was flying blind on what would or would not work against the guardian, but having Ember alerted seemed like a good precaution. She didn't entirely trust him to know how she thought, so Crystal would serve as the go-between to ensure there was reason to get him involved. Beryl would serve as a second opinion.
"I can do that," Crystal hummed. "Maybe explain to me your reasoning, so I know better what you are thinking?"
"I can do that," Lily purred. It would certainly be more pleasant than the next time she was going to have to explain her reasoning. She hadn't properly thought it through when the guardian first brought it up - either because the guardian had messed with her, or because she just hadn't thought about it, she didn't know which - and her decision had changed. She was expecting an argument, at the very least.
O-O-O-O-O
"I need to talk to you," Lily called out over the boiling pool. Said pool was glowing yellow, illuminated from below by what she thought might be more crystals, either yellow on their own, or some other color that became yellow once the light passed through the water and whatever else was there that made it stink so bad.
Silence met her declaration, and she held back a nervous shiver. She was alone this time, partially to project confidence and partially because she wanted this conversation to have no eavesdroppers, well-intentioned or not.
'Is this about your memories?' the guardian asked.
"It wasn't," Lily replied, "but tell me more about my memories anyway." She didn't know exactly what the guardian meant, or even what the guardian knew, and she wasn't going to let that little mistake slip by without exploiting it.
'You have had a troubled past, and endeavor to hide from certain memories,' the guardian noted. 'You also know I am capable of removing memories. It seemed likely you would think to put the two together.'
"I thought about it, but no," Lily said bluntly, shaking her head. She had thought of that possibility once or twice, but it was just a terrible idea. She didn't want her head messed with in any way, and as painful as they were, she had to have those memories, some were of Pyre and others were of things that had happened, like it or not. To lose even the knowledge of them might harm her in ways she couldn't predict.
She shuddered, imagining what suddenly losing her worst memories of, say, Claw might do. It could cloud her judgment if someone else began to act like Claw. It could make her feel guilty for ordering his death, because she might not have the visceral knowledge of how much he deserved it. It could make her sympathise with Diora more than Crystal, knowing that Crystal hated Claw, but lacking the first-paw experience to understand why.
"No," she repeated vehemently. "They hurt, I don't like them, but that doesn't mean I want them taken from me." There was too big a chance it would alter something deeply her, and that she would never know the difference.
'I will not argue that,' the guardian conceded. 'Now, what did you come to speak about?'
"What's happening to the Deathgrippers?" Lily asked, electing to begin with what she hoped would be the easier topic of conversation.
'That,' the mental voice sighed, 'is complicated. How much do you know of their condition?'
"Ember said they can't talk and are basically animals," Lily said. "Or something along those lines." She didn't remember his exact words on the subject - which could be why the guardian didn't already know what she knew - but that was what she had taken away from his explanation, what she remembered now.
'Stunted in mental growth and conditioned to obey would be a more accurate description,' the guardian said. 'I have taken them and brought them down into the underground realm, under my control. I am attempting to correct and fix what I can in their minds, but it is a slow, uncertain process, and unlikely to completely heal them even if all goes right.'
"So you do have limits with our kind," Lily murmured. "Not just No-scaled-not-prey."
'At worst, they will die as they lived, unaware that there is anything wrong,' the guardian said, ignoring Lily's comment. 'Or I will resolve some of their mental damage, and they will be as fledglings forever. Or nothing at all, empty minds free of violent urges but also devoid of anyone to obey. Whatever happens, it will not be worse than they are now, and they will remain either under my control, or self-sufficient enough to go into the wilderness.'
"In which case my pack could run into them," Lily said. "Don't think I didn't notice that."
'None can predict what might happen, but you will at least be better prepared for knowing what is possible.'
"Well… good luck." She wasn't used to thinking of the Deathgrippers as victims, though she knew on some level that they were. If the guardian could somehow fix them, then that would be good. In any case, she had gotten a satisfactory answer.
'It will rely somewhat on luck, I fear,' the guardian agreed. 'And the other thing?'
"I've got a plan to bring the No-scaled-not-prey here all at once," Lily said. "You know my people have begun taunting them and attacking." She also heavily suspected that the guardian had looked into at least a few minds; if it were her, she would definitely use that ability to keep up to date on things without anyone noticing.
'Your plan seems straightforward, and elegant in the details,' the guardian said warmly. 'A lure of weakness and that which they want, always escalating just enough to seem weak, but not weak to anything less than a full assault. Am I correct?'
"That's the idea," Lily said, ignoring what could either be a hint that the guardian didn't know, or that the guardian was trying to insinuate that she didn't know. There was no point in playing a game against someone who could be cheating at any time. She was just going to account for both possibilities whenever it mattered.
And she had a more important purpose in mind for this conversation anyway. "But when they get here and are helpless," she said, "I've decided that we're going to wipe them out. Every last one of them, save for the Deathgrippers if you want to try and help them."
'You have reasons?' the guardian asked.
"Yes, I thought it through," Lily huffed, resisting the urge to pace around the edge of the boiling pool. Her eyes were watering and having trouble focusing on anything again, and walking around while mentally distracted in more ways than one was just asking for an accident. She had no desire to find out what boiling water would do to her body.
'I would like you to explain them,' the guardian prompted. 'I do not agree with this course of action.'
"It's the best choice for my people," Lily said firmly. "There is nothing mind-wiping them accomplishes that killing them does not do just as well, and there are things killing them does that mind-wiping does not, unless you have been holding back about what you can really do."
'Reasons,' the guardian said.
"I'm getting to that," Lily retorted. "First, let's look at how it affects secrecy. Your mind-wiped No-scaled-not-prey are going to go back to the valley, probably. Then they'll start looking for us again. They could come right back down the shore and run into this island again, and you'll be back where you started, but without my pack since we'll be long gone. Killing them ends their threat without any chance of it coming back."
'They are one limb of a larger pack,' the guardian reminded her in a far too patronizing tone. 'Cut off the paw, and the rest of the body will notice. This has already happened on a smaller scale with this very pack.'
"But mind-wipe the paw and send them back, and they're liable to force you to kill them anyway, or they'll bring the rest of the body with them in the search," Lily huffed. "Like I said, killing them now does not introduce any new threats, it simply cuts out a few steps and gives a better chance of it ending here and now." She hadn't anticipated the guardian's response, but thankfully it fell to her logic without any special effort to make it fit.
"So from your perspective, killing is either just as good, or better," Lily concluded, taking the lack of immediate retort as the guardian conceding the point. "Now, let's look at it from the perspective of my pack, which is easier. Killing them renders our old home viable again. Mind-wiping them ensures our old home is never safe."
'The paw brings the attention of the body,' the guardian reminded her. 'Your valley will always be a risky venture. One might say that letting it remain obviously unsafe would make leaving it behind a simpler decision.'
Lily had considered that too; all in all, she felt better about the safety of her pack if they found a place in the underground realm. She wanted to go back to the valley, but that was an emotional want, not a practical one. From a purely tactical perspective, however, opening up more options was better. There was a chance they would go down into this underground realm, not like it, and find themselves coming back up, still homeless. If Grimmel's forces were dead and gone, they could possibly reclaim the valley once more as the best of their remaining options.
"I'd rather have the valley as a potentially safe backup plan," Lily said, summarizing her thoughts on the matter. "Making it less risky for the future is worth the tradeoff of abandoning it outright being a slightly harder decision. That's no tradeoff at all, really."
Again, the guardian was silent. Lily got the distinct impression that she was winning this debate, which wasn't really a surprise. She had thought about it beforepaw, for one thing, worked over all the arguments in her mind.
"And that brings us to the third viewpoint," she said. "That of the dark wings, and more broadly, of all other dragons living under the sky. This group of No-scaled-not-prey kills nests, and the leader wants dark wings dead with a passion. Mind-wiping them does not stop them from going elsewhere and slaughtering. It also does not stop them from hunting my friends in the dark wing family, should they return to their home above ground. Killing them permanently removes or at least weakens their ability to leave ruin in their wake." This was the point she had not at first considered, and it was a big one.
"Well?" She waited for a few heartbeats, but there was no response. "What about that?"
'It could be seen as a valid reason,' the guardian conceded, her every word reluctant. 'But that is not within my control.'
"Well, I like the dark wings I know, so it is my concern," Lily huffed. "Especially since all the risk associated with killing them is also associated with mind-wiping them. There's no additional risk between the two, just an afternoon of bloody work." She was reminded of asking for volunteers to kill Claw; she would do the same on a larger scale for this. Some of her people might be bothered by slaughtering mentally incapacitated enemies, and she wouldn't force anyone to do it-
'It makes sense from your point of view to choose to kill, but it does not align with my morals,' the guardian said.
"Well, you said we could do the dirty work ourselves," Lily reminded her. "So you do what's morally right to you and mind-wipe them, and try to look away while we finish the job." That was the smart way to do it anyway, just in case one or two somehow avoided being killed.
'I had hoped you would come to the realization that killing them all while helpless was wrong,' the guardian sighed.
"Sorry, that doesn't even make sense," Lily snorted. "Killing is killing, and they came here with the intent to slaughter us. How fair or unfair the fight is doesn't make a bit of difference. Especially since one of their many advantages is little claws that can put us to sleep. This is exactly what they want to do to us, just reversed and done more efficiently."
'The enemy stooping to low levels does not make it right to do the same,' the guardian said.
"I don't agree with that," Lily growled. "But even if I did, I wouldn't let it stop me. Even if I thought this was morally wrong, I would still do it. It's the smart choice."
'There, we share a common mentality,' the guardian sighed. 'A capacity for hypocrisy when it suits us. You will not slaughter them.'
There had been no special force behind the guardian's last words, Lily didn't think she was being controlled, but what those words meant could not be denied or misinterpreted. "You will force us to let them live," she growled.
'In the end, it is my choice, because I am the only one with the power to enforce a decision if need be,' the guardian said coldly. 'If your people begin to slaughter the No-scaled-not-prey, I will stop them. Do not make me take action.'
"You've already taken action by saying you'll do that," Lily growled. "So the whole thing about letting me choose was a farce?" She wanted to snarl and roar, but she held herself to nothing more than an angry growl. She was far too used to dealing with a being who held all the power, and those long-dormant instincts told her to back down and not provoke anything more.
'It is not a farce to allow a fledgling to think over a problem, hoping they come to the correct answer,' the guardian sighed. 'Or the outcome one would prefer. I never meant to let you kill them, one way or another. It is not my way.'
"I hope they do come back, once we've helped you mind-wipe them," Lily growled, intentionally implying she was still going to go along with the plan. As much as she hated being overruled, hated how it made her feel like she was back under Claw, this outcome wasn't bad for her pack. Just sub-optimal. "It would serve you right to be forced to kill them all anyway."
'It would not be the first time a decision made as best as possible at the time turned out to be cruel folly in retrospect,' the guardian admitted in a low tone. 'But this time I will stick to my morals. There will be no slaughter. The way your people have been operating up to now is sufficient. Continue with your plan, and you will be allowed into the underground realm when all is said and done.'
"I'll do it," Lily said. "Count yourself lucky I'm used to working under tyrants who have far too much power." She didn't like it, but she could do it. Thankfully, this time she wouldn't have to overthrow the tyrant in question, just finish the task and leave their domain.
There was no response to her parting jab, so she shook herself, blinked, and generally knocked her mind back into the real world, then began the long, solitary climb out of the pit. As angry as she was, there was nothing she could do about it.
O-O-O-O-O
That night, clouds moved across the sky and unceremoniously dumped freezing water all over the island. It was not quite cold enough for the rain to be snow, though Lily wouldn't be surprised if that changed as the night went on.
The unending torrent of rain lashed at the trees in front of her, and she let her eyes drift half-shut, hoping the noise would soothe her to sleep. It was night, and she was supposed to be getting good, necessary rest. Not lying awkwardly on top of Pina and Dew, squished into one of the smaller sleeping caves in the only way that kept her back from being mercilessly crushed. She longed for her cave, for space to move and shift in her sleep, to curl her tail without worrying about thumping someone hard enough to wake them.
Worry about waking or otherwise inconveniencing the others wasn't the only thing keeping her awake; Pina and Dew had all but demanded she share their cave, and she had managed to get some sleep - light, less restful than she was used to, but enough - in the nights prior to this one. Nor was it the rain; she didn't like the noise, it would make someone sneaking around almost impossible to hear coming, but she could hear the staccato rhythm, and suspected she would hear it changing if someone came up to the mouth of their shallow cave, raindrops plinking off of scales instead of splashing down into wet grass and mud…
No, none of that was keeping her from sleep. She didn't know what was, much to her frustration. Only that she was no closer to sleep, for all that she had lain still for what felt like half the night already. If it wasn't raining, she would have long since gotten up and gone for a walk.
If she wasn't trying to keep her relationship with Beryl a secret, she definitely would have gone to him by now. She never had any trouble sleeping with him, afterward. Maybe some of the tension gripping her muscles would go away, too. And he would definitely enjoy it…
She couldn't go to him. It was cold and wet, and his family would almost certainly notice if she tried to retrieve him from their little snow cave. They didn't even have anywhere to go if she could extricate him without drawing attention, not so much as an overhang to take shelter under.
All she could do was think… about him, since she wasn't getting any sleep anyway, but nothing too interesting. The warm draft coming up from deeper in the cave would amplify any scents she put out, and the two females under her would almost certainly notice. Fantasizing, or even just reminiscing, was downright inappropriate at the moment.
Still, she found her thoughts drifting to his chest, the muscles that rippled whenever he flexed-
'Lily.'
The urge to shriek, bolt upright, and subsequently maul an obnoxious, mind-intruding dragon rose within her, the flames of her indignation flamed by her surprise and sudden worry about her thoughts being plucked right from her mind. None of those reactions would get her anything but a headache - the ceiling of the cave was scarcely a paw's width above her head - and startled light wings, so she drove all of that energy into slipping out into the rain, restraining herself from doing anything that would wake Pina or Dew.
"What?" she snapped in a low tone.
'Four ships just entered my range,' the guardian said, her voice no less strong or clear for coming to Lily away from the boiling pool. 'Each has one light wing aboard, restrained. They meant to stop nearby for the night, and I have kept my influence back, to give no hint as to what is coming.'
"Prisoners," Lily growled, shaking off her pointless anger and replacing it with determination. "When my forces go in, you'll hit them all with the same confusion as before?"
'Of course,' the guardian said calmly.
"Then get ready," Lily said, preparing to roar and summon her people. "We're not waiting until morning."
O-O-O-O-O
The night remained miserable as Lily woke light wings, called in late-night patrols, and arranged the attack. The rain seemed determined to make her suffer every step of the way, and when everyone had finally set off to attack the ships, it was only a sense of duty, of responsibility, that kept her from returning to the warm, dry caves to escape the relentless torrent.
Said sense of duty only drove her to the edge of the trees, though. She huddled next to one, feeling miserable for more reasons than one. If she was lucky, all she would see was a few explosions, all from her own people, but she would watch for those. Alone.
'I have begun,' the guardian said in her mind with no warning whatsoever.
"That's good," Lily said tonelessly, wondering why the guardian was being so talkative. She suspected that she was being more closely dealt with, after having the law laid out to her so bluntly. Watched, her thoughts monitored, probably, though the guardian would deny that.
'I could show you what is happening,' the guardian offered. 'Allow you to watch through the eyes of one of your people.'
"Not interested," Lily said firmly, only letting herself consider the benefits for a moment before squashing them with the negatives. Not only would she be letting the guardian mess with her mind, she would be letting it happen to one of her fledglings, too. Neither was acceptable. "I don't want you in my mind or the minds of mine any more than absolutely necessary."
'It would help you plan,' the guardian wheedled. Lily got the distinct impression that she was being tempted. Possibly because the guardian knew she wasn't happy about being dictated to. 'Passing memories to you would be simple, barely an intrusion at all. You would simply see and hear from the perspective of another, delayed by a few heartbeats.'
"Even if I was okay with that on my end, I'm not doing it to any of my people," Lily huffed. She couldn't deny that she was tempted now; it wasn't like the guardian hadn't already messed with her mind, and it wasn't like she could resist mental intrusions later if she was stubborn now. As far as she knew, there was no tricky condition to the guardian's power, just unfair, unfettered control.
'One of the Deathgrippers currently guarding one of the prisoners?' the guardian offered. 'To see the attack from the perspective of your enemy would help you adjust the details, not rely on second-mind accounts told in retrospect…'
"Only memories passed to me, no messing with my head in any other way?" She knew she was giving in to temptation, but conceding and taking the peace offering, or consolation prize, or whatever the guardian meant it as, couldn't really hurt her, not in any way she wasn't already vulnerable to just by being on this island.
'It is not a simple matter, but fully within my abilities,' the guardian assured her. 'Would you like to see?'
Lily squinted out at the torrential downpour. She couldn't even see the ships from where she stood, though the flashes of shots would be visible… and mostly worthless compared to what she was being offered. "Okay, let me see," she conceded with a huff.
She had been expecting some sort of change in her vision, like her eyes were suddenly elsewhere. What she got instead was altogether different, and so subtle she didn't even notice it for a few heartbeats. It was only when she tried to think back that it hit her.
She remembered standing by a tree, in the rain, talking to the guardian. But at the same time, she remembered standing under the rain in a different place, the claws she didn't have digging into wooden planks, dull aches on her neck but nowhere else, a No-scaled-not-prey in front of her, small fires blazing…
It was like thinking back to something she had done, experienced, lived through and now remembered. She was still standing in the forest, still aware, just like she would be had the guardian never done anything for her, but she was remembering something that was happening now, or as close to now as to make no difference.
The memory didn't end there, but she couldn't remember what happened next, not at any speed faster than life actually moved, which made sense; her memory wasn't hers, it wasn't over, there was no end to recall yet.
Focusing on the present moment, the feelings and details, worked much better, and she found her 'memory' moving forward of its own accord. The ship rocked, rain puddled on her angular, large body, and the flames carried by No-scaled-not-prey and stuck in various places flickered fitfully.
The No-scaled-not-prey moved slowly, some stumbling to a halt and some acting as if they were walking in their sleep. In her memory, she shifted her head, moving far too fluidly, surveying all that could be seen. She wasn't concerned, wasn't… anything. She couldn't remember any emotion, any thought, though she didn't know if that was because the Deathgripper wasn't thinking, the thoughts not transferring over, the guardian not giving her that part, or even the guardian not letting the Deathgripper think while it was under control. A thousand distinct possibilities came to mind, and she was almost overwhelmed by the sheer power of what could be done with an ability like this.
A scrap of white scale peeking out from an array of wood and stone near the front of the ship pulled her out of her distinctly envious thoughts. There was a light wing stuck standing up near the very front of the ship, wings held down and tail trapped on the deck, wood and stone intermingled to hold things down and up and in place.
The urge came to Lily to call out, to reassure the light wing she could barely make out under all of the restraints, but it wasn't possible, and she knew so instinctively. This was a memory; she was not in control of anything, and it had already happened. She was not directing another body around like an extension of her own, she was just remembering what had already happened.
Thankfully, her trapped fledgling, whoever they were, wouldn't be trapped for much longer. There was a thump on the wood near her, one that would have had half the No-scaled-not-prey suspicious if they were fully aware, and then lots of fire. Flames and invisible claws rent the structure holding the prisoner in place, pulling it apart quickly but methodically.
Several of the No-scaled-not-prey were trying to stagger over to the obvious disturbance, but Lily felt no worry. She doubted she would have worried even if she was physically present and watching with her own eyes, but the sensation of remembering added its own distance. Things were far away and already over with, she had no ability to affect the outcome-
She remembered moving, remembered the Deathgripper shifting away from flames growing on the deck, coils of dried-out vines catching fire as more and more light wings dropped to the deck. Her - no, the Deathgripper's, for all that it felt there was no difference - wings spread, and her viewpoint was in the air, flying hard, circling around to get an aerial view of all the ships, not just the one they had started with.
It was the second time in more than five season-cycles that Lily had experienced being in the air, and she closed her real eyes to focus entirely on this stolen memory. It lacked the grounding displeasure of relying on another to fly for her, but it also lacked the immediacy, the experience. It was just a very, very clear memory of something she hadn't done under her own power for far too long.
Even a perfectly clear memory was captivating, given her lack of enjoyable alternatives. She had to force herself to focus on what she remembered seeing, not what she felt or heard or even tasted.
The battle below, if such a one-sided affair could even be called a battle, was going without a single flaw. The ships were being damaged to make their presence known, another Deathgripper was flying away, docile and thus definitely under control, and the prisoners were being helped into the sky.
If that were all that was meant to happen, Lily might have asked the guardian to stop giving her the memories, but there was one more thing to witness, the most risky part of the next stage of her plan, and it wouldn't happen until the very end of the encounter, so she said nothing.
Fires on the ships grew and in some cases were smothered. No-scaled-not-prey tottered around, a few falling right over the sides in their debilitating disorientation. False claw throwers and other, more complicated contraptions were destroyed wherever they were found. Camouflage wore off, and white bodies reflected firelight.
A single dark wing flew over, his golden hue muted by the rainy night and lack of light to illuminate him. Spark landed on one of the ships, wandered around a bit, creeping menacingly in front of the No-scaled-not-prey, and then went to the next.
The plan, Lily reflected, was one of intimidation and deception. Grimmel had to be drawn in and wary at the same time, with the former just barely overpowering the latter. He also had to be given enough clues to come to his own conclusions about what was happening. The wrong conclusions.
The No-scaled-not-prey began acting with more purpose, their individual movements still sloppy and slow, but all aimed toward a common goal. Her fledglings all abandoned the ships, their work done, and the ships began turning around under whatever complicated way ships usually maneuvered. Lily didn't know how it worked, though these ships at least had the tall protrusions Beryl had likened to wings, giving her some glimmer of comprehension. Those without their false wings were complete mysteries to her.
The ships turned, headed back the way they had come, and she remembered flying up, high above it all. Her fledglings all assembled into a close formation, badgered into line by Cara and a few others, and Spark tentatively flew into place in front of them.
Spark had been the best choice for what would be coming next; Grimmel had never seen him, he was a dark wing, and his coloration was unique enough that it would make the intended leaps of logic easier for Grimmel and the No-scaled-not-prey to make. There was no real correlation between what one looked like and what one could do…
Faint yells rose from the ships, and the No-scaled-not-prey burst into a flurry of frantic motion, running around, smothering flames, and, Lily assumed, generally freaking out. They had left the guardian's range.
Spark fired a shot that exploded in the air, drawing attention to himself, and roared powerfully, immensely so for one who was normally so timid. The light wings behind him remained silent, flanking him in the air but not adding their voices to the noise. They weren't meant to be intimidating on their own, they were meant to imply something to all who were watching and grasping for answers.
There was no way to know right away whether the right conclusions were being leapt to in the minds of those No-scaled-not-prey, but Lily felt good about the chances. Grimmel was obsessed with dark wings in particular, and when word of confusion, scattered memories of a golden dark wing, and then a recounting of this moment all made their way to him?
Lily knew what she would have thought, were she in his place and blind to her opponent's intelligence. The appearance of a new dark wing, one that appeared to be in charge of the pack, one that was golden and appeared at the same time as all of the other mental problems and redirections Grimmel had to be aware of… It all pointed to Spark being the cause, the source, the one who needed to be killed.
And of course, that was totally wrong in every respect.
The memory ended, though it took Lily a few long moments to notice that she had stalled on that last moment, going over it repeatedly without being able to remember what came next.
She opened her eyes and shuddered, suddenly struck by just how powerless she was compared to the guardian. The ability to take memories and give them to other people on its own would have been ridiculously useful in her paws - or mind, as it were - and it was just one aspect of what the guardian could do. One small, probably only rarely used aspect.
'I will remove that memory now,' the guardian said. 'It is not good to have two different memories covering the same time. It likely would not do anything to you, it is just one contradiction, but you may wish to do this again next time.'
"I probably would want to," Lily agreed carefully. The guardian had been sly, warning her and promising her more in the same statement, and she wasn't going to leap into doing this more often. Neither would she immediately say no; it was far too useful to dismiss outright. In any case, she didn't see a reason to keep this particular memory. Nothing particularly useful or important had come up, and especially nothing her fledglings could not tell her about later.
Just like that, with no further warning, it was gone. Lily remembered thinking about what she had seen, or heard, or felt, she knew what she had thought, but the memory itself was gone, leaving her alone in the rain by a tree. For all she knew, she had momentarily gone insane and hallucinated the entire thing.
Though the six light wings gliding in to land on the sand, two easily and four awkwardly, was pretty good proof that she hadn't hallucinated all of it. Not to mention being on the island of a mind-manipulating guardian; Lily wasn't inclined to trust any explanation of oddness that didn't take that into account, and it didn't seem likely that she would start hallucinating now, of all times.
There was no headache pounding away behind her forehead, but she felt like there really should have been. Just not thinking about it all seemed like the smart move, and she had people to greet.
She stepped out into the driving rain, which had only let up a little since she had left the cave, and approached the light wings, straining to make out who was who. The two who had flown easily hadn't been prisoners, so she didn't bother trying to identify them. The one currently digging her paws into the sand for something was a lone female, and the two huddling together were a mated pair Lily knew vaguely-
The last of the four was demanding something. "Root, where is Root? He is here?"
"He's here," Lily called out. "Safely asleep, I'd imagine." Or out with Storm somewhere; that seemed like the sort of thing Storm would do, going out in her namesake in search of privacy. She hoped she wouldn't have to find them and interrupt something-
"Take me to him!" Whirl all but screeched, loping awkwardly toward her. There were welts across her face and marks on her paws that were so dark Lily could see them from a distance, but she ran anyway.
"Right away," Lily agreed, stepping aside just in case Whirl didn't feel like stopping. "Follow me." She really hoped Root was sound asleep in the ice cave, not off somewhere in the night. "Everyone follow me!" she called out, hoping to get a rundown of what her newly rescued fledglings knew while they walked.
O-O-O-O-O
"It is far, far too late for this," Storm grumbled. "And he is too old for it, too."
Lily eyed the retreating figures of Root and Whirl, the former all but supporting the latter, and very insistently guiding her away from the snow cave. "Too old to console his Dam?" she asked.
"Too old for her to cling to like he's a fledgling," Storm clarified.
"Ignore her," Thunder grumbled, shaking his wings out and splattering rain everywhere. "She is grumpy this early in the morning."
"And later in the morning," Lightning agreed. "And in the day. And at night."
"Is this morning?" Beryl asked, yawning as he spoke. "I guess there is no point going back to sleep."
"If you're not sleeping, I could use some perspective," Lily quickly suggested. "Some of the things Whirl and the others said make no sense to me."
"Let's find somewhere that's not soaking wet, and not keeping sleepy dark wings up," Beryl rumbled, walking away from everything, out toward the empty forest. "Both are bad for our health."
"Lead on," Lily murmured, following behind him. Louder, she said, "We recovered four of my pack, one from each ship. They were kept at the very front of each ship, and they all said they were being watched."
"Watched more than the normal 'keeping an eye on dangerous prisoners?'" Beryl rumbled, slowing to let her catch up. She traded the sight of rain running down his muscular form for the much more innocent-looking attraction of walking close beside him. Not too close, but closer than normal; the rain offered the perfect excuse. His wing over her back was a welcome relief, and a polite one nobody would think twice about.
"Definitely more than normal," Lily confirmed. She hadn't witnessed it for herself, the No-scaled-not-prey weren't doing it when she got a first-paw look, but all four light wings had been insistent that it was unusual. She was inclined to believe them, too. "And it was already weird that they were up at the front of the ship instead of trapped somewhere deep inside and out of sight, so I'm inclined to agree that something more was going on."
"I've got an idea of what it might be, then," Beryl huffed. "One to each ship? Restrained at the front, facing forward? Being watched while the ships search for something they can't find?"
"Yes. Is this supposed to remind me of something?" Lily asked.
"No, but it definitely reminds me," Beryl said solemnly. "I guess some ideas are pretty obvious to the right sorts of people. They were using Whirl and the others to try and find the island, on the assumption that whatever was stopping them wouldn't apply to light wings."
"Which was totally wrong," Lily hummed thoughtfully. "Why would they think that would work? For all they knew, Whirl had never even been to the island. They don't even know there is an island."
"It would have worked with a different kind of defense," Beryl said carefully. "It's worked before."
"But not here." She was tempted to follow up on that, since it seemed Beryl was referencing something specific, but it seemed like it bothered him. She knew how it felt to have bad memories and not want to relive them. With someone she didn't trust she would pry anyway, but this was Beryl, he would tell her if she needed to know.
"Not here, not when the guardian stops everything the moment they get close," Beryl confirmed. "Are all of the ships going to have captives, or was it just these four?"
"Whirl and the others have no idea what happened to anyone else who was captured," Lily said with a grimace. That was possibly the worst thing she had learned from them in the short walk to the rest of the pack's resting places. "Flare, the others in his group, the stragglers from Mist's group… they don't know." One of the four had been from Mist's group, so they did know both unaccounted-for groups had run afoul of Grimmel, but that was about it. Whirl didn't even remember being caught, just waking up in a cell.
"So either there were no more captives, they've been killed, or they're being held separately," Beryl said sadly. "I hope they're alive… but Grimmel doesn't seem like the type to keep prisoners longer than he has use for them."
"Depends on what the use is," Lily argued, recalling her own captivity. "Hopefully something that'll last until they take the bait and all sail into the trap." And hopefully something that wasn't 'breed servants like the Deathgrippers', because that could cause all sorts of problems before they managed to rescue anyone.
"Look, the rain is stopping," Beryl rumbled. "This might actually end up being a nice day."
Lily eyed the many, many puddles littering the forest. "Nice but wet," she said. "Maybe slippery if it gets any colder." The temperature was just at that edge between freezing and not freezing, and she was a little curious to see what it would do with all the standing water the storm had left behind. Cold seasons in the valley tended to be far too cold to have anything but snow.
"Anything else you wanted my opinion on?" Beryl asked.
"Not at the moment," Lily said. She hadn't really gotten much from Whirl and the others, and the attack itself had gone perfectly. "I guess I am going to go get a little more sleep before the sun rises…"
"I had something else in mind," Beryl rumbled, looking around. "I think this is the place… yes, there's the three trees."
Lily watched, bemused, as Beryl walked up to three thick trees. "What is this?" She knew what she hoped it was, but she wasn't about to say it in case she was wrong.
"Clever beyond belief," Beryl said proudly, jamming his paw into the dirt. He lifted up, and a big chunk of ground inexplicably came with his paw.
Lily stared at the thing Beryl had lifted. It was made of sticks and copious amounts of what looked like dried seaweed all tangled together, with dirt and grass and what was basically the forest floor on top of it, the sticks and seaweed forming a platform for the rest to sit on top of. Underneath was a pit… filled with water.
Beryl followed her gaze and growled. "It's not supposed to be like that," he huffed, pushing the top of the hidden hole up until it rested against the trees. "I can get it out."
"I'm more interested in how you did the top," Lily said kindly, ignoring that he was currently pawing out far too little water to make any difference. It wasn't totally full, and if she had to guess she would say there was only enough water in the bottom to go to her chest, but that only made it harder for him to get any meaningful quantity out.
"Ember has been showing Thaw how to make things with stuff you can find lying around," Beryl rumbled absently. "We can't do as much as No-scaled-not-prey can, but there are some tricks. I got a game of hiding and hunting going with Thaw and Spark and some of Thaw's friends, then got Thaw thinking about hiding places. He suggested making one."
"I'm impressed," Lily purred. They were as alone as they were ever going to get, the rain having dropped to a light shower but still effectively ensuring nobody else would want to go anywhere away from their warm shelters. It wasn't enough for her to feel safe jumping him in the open, but enough for her to talk freely. "And worried that even if you did get the water out, Thaw and his friends would be playing in this tomorrow."
"Not at this rate, anyway," Beryl huffed, stepping back. "They wouldn't want to jump in what's basically a mud pit… There are better mud pits elsewhere."
Then he purred smugly, his ears shooting up to obliterate the dejected look he had been casting at the pit. "But a mud pit isn't so bad."
Lily watched as Beryl leaned down and began flaming the standing water. Wisps of steam rose the other way, obscuring his head, and she heard a bubbling noise after a few moments. She knew what he was planning now… and she liked it. A lot.
"There," he panted, pulling back. "Four shots… One warm mud pit. Good enough." He leaped in and squirmed around, and when Lily approached the edge of the disguised hole, she saw him on his back. The warm water, and presumably mud under the surface, came up to his chest. "Feel like relaxing?" he asked roguishly, eyeing her with undisguised interest. "We've got time, the sun won't be up for a while yet."
Lily's way of responding to his invitation was to hop into the pit, dropping down on his chest, her back paws sinking into the mud to either side of him. He sank a little too, the silty water on top of the mud rising up over his chest.
But he only sank a little. Confident he wasn't going to disappear under the water, she closed her eyes with a sigh to appreciate the warmth reaching up to her flanks, the firm hindquarters she was already gently kneading with her claws, his relaxing purr filling the small space… His tail squirmed like a snake in the mud and wound around hers, slinging warm, heavy wetness all over her, and she found she didn't mind that at all. But she needed to do something first, so she slipped out of his grasp. "One moment," she purred, lifting her tail to feel around above.
The stick and seaweed bottom of their cover had a distinct feel, and she managed to pull it down without so much as looking up. She had spent far too long pretending she did not desire him to look away now, too long unable to stare at him and drink in his features, to gaze into his eyes in the dim light, his strange square pupils wide as he gazed back into hers… Why were his pupils square? She traced their outline with her gaze, wondering at them, marveling at their uniqueness, at his uniqueness. Her impossibly perfect male…
Lily barely noticed the now closed cover was protecting her back from the light drizzle as she slowly lowered her tail from it. She only cared that they were now as private as they could be. Also soaked and muddy, but warm enough that it was pleasant, a new sensation, giving his scales new textures for her paws and tail to thoroughly explore, and she delighted in how she could feel the contours of his muscles by slowly rubbing her paws over his slick flanks.
Beneath her was warmer still, feeding her own warmth rising in her hindquarters. This was not how she usually built up that heat - they weren't in a position to do any of that - but tonight it was already almost unbearable, now that it had been promised, and she touched her nose to his and growled needily as she pressed herself against him. He growled a vehement agreement, and his hips shifted under her…
There wasn't much room in their little hidden pit, but it was more than enough for their purposes. Beryl moved slowly, and Lily matched his speed, savoring what they had been forced to avoid for the last few days, letting her thoughts and cares all fall away in favor of the moment… The perfect, uncomplicated moment.
