Based on the books by James Gurney and on the Mini series and TV-series Copyright Halmark Entertainment and Bridge Entertainment Group BV.
Every human has their very own Saurian Life Partner. Except for Frank Scott. But when he finally finds one, nobody, including he himself, is very pleased about it.
Dinotopia: the second season
By Owl-Who-Ate-Too-Many-Mice
Part one
Snapper: Act 1, Scene 2
The hot air above the canyons shimmered in the midday sun. The updraft and howls of the wind were strong, carried the sands that shaped the sharp ridges far out, perhaps even as far as the ocean. David really should not be out right now, braving the baking cliffs and the glittering dust that bled from the red mountains.
But he could not help but be outside.
The cries of the majestic Pterosaurs thrilled his heart, even if he could not see them clearly through the shimmer of the hot air. The red rocks filled his vision, sharply crested against the azure sky where not a cloud was to be seen. It could thunder in the Rainy Basin right now- but here the air was dry and clear and bright.
Here, between the rocks, the flying Saurians and his adopted family of the Skybax core, here was his home, now.
Home.
Four letters, one simple word.
So many meanings.
That one place where you knock at the door in the middle of the night, and they -can't- turn you away.
The green green grass of home, and a home cooked meal. Home on the range. Yellow ribbons round the ol' ol' tree.
Do you still love me?
David knew there were not enough platitudes to describe the true feeling of 'home', except perhaps for that one that said 'home is where the heart is'. Whatever it was the heart wanted out of life.
Two months ago, he followed his father and brother into the darkened streets of Waterfall City because they needed to go where their hearts still were. Out there, at the other side of the world. In the midst of overcrowded, polluted cities were people had no time for each other, did not look each other in the eye when they met in the streets and 'breath deep' would bring on a bout of bronchitis.
Where his father could be 'the main man' again, the big cahoona. The man with the money, the status and the lovely lady half his age at his side, who would become the next ex-misses Scott. It really was a miracle David had only –one- half-brother.
One half-brother who wanted to go back to his own life of empty headed parties and empty headed friends who thought they were something because at least one of their parents had made it, one way or the other. Meaning lay in whomever you knew- and David realised how cynical he had become about all that.
He had tried to live that life, if only a little. Because it was expected of him. But he had been a shy bookworm, not very popular with guys and even less with girls. Gawky, terrified and lost.
Deep down yearning for something –real-. A feeling he could touch, a warmth he could see when he looked in the eyes of another. David really did not care whom those eyes would belong to.
They would not be his mother's eyes. He loved her. She was elegant, beautiful, independent and stubborn. When she found out his father Frank had been sleeping around during their marriage, just after she had gotten pregnant by him, she had left him. David had been told his mother had been the only woman who ever had. His mothers brother had also told him she was probably the only woman who had ever decked Francis Karl Scott. Broken his nose even.
The divorce had been ugly, he had been told.
Deep down, David's mother had never forgiven her only son the child's existence, for he had been guilty of making her undesirable to her husband during her pregnancy. How shallow can a couple get?
David loved her. Like any little boy would. Like any growing boy would, in need of affection. But his nanny had meant more to the shy child in that department. And so the distant father had become a hero, who seldom came round. But –if- he did, he came like Santa. A Santa who unfortunately came with baseball gear and not the longed for telescope. A Santa who would not talk with him, but told him all about another little boy, living at the other side of the country. A perfect blond little boy who could ride a horse before he could talk, who won cups and prises and climbed trees and had been so brave when he fell out of one and broke his arm.
David had hated that other little boy.
So what if he could not ride horseback and became nauseous in a tree climbing higher than the lowest branch! He won the science fair! He became chess champion! And his history paper had even been published- he had only been fourteen at the time.
Frank had brought the boys together for the first time when they were eight years old. A summer holiday at dad's ranch. Karl had been open and friendly at first. But he had quickly lost interest in the other boy, when he noticed his darkling brother would play with him, but not play rough. Karl did not play chess, did not like to be inside behind books all day and was quickly bored with his nerdy know-it-al sibling.
Father had been disappointed. It had been the same old, same old ever since.
Until the day they landed here, and David had found Freefall. Had stared in the eyes of Freefall. Had found not a brother of his blood, but a brother of his soul in a creature that had no words but talked to his mind. A creature that never looked at him with pithy, but always with affection.
And through the flight of Freefall, through the heroics made possible by the crash of his father's little plane, David soured.
When Rosemary, Matriarch of Earth Farm and spiritual leader of the Dinotopians in general had told him he was 'of the air', David had refused to believe her, at first. What, him? Sent away to Canyon City to be part of the elite troupe of the Skybax Core, the pilots and heroes of Dinotopia? Forget it- impossible! But then he had seen the possibility of outshining his brother, of, at least posthumously doing something his father might have approved of, since Frank had been thought to be deceased at the time. And he went for it. Heart and body and mind. Until he communed and connected with Freefall. Then his very soul came into play.
Outshining his brother, making his father proud, those had been good reasons to be a 'flyboy', at first. As good as any. But all that did not matter anymore. The night he had followed his father and brother into the dark city, the night he would say goodbye to them and most likely never see them again, he for the first time in his life, truly loved those two people simply for who they were. Could feel their affection for him, how sorry they were he stayed behind. The old bonds broke that night. David fried himself of his old self and for the rest of his life would only make choices –for- himself, uncurbed by the past.
His attitude had not changed with the change in the evening's planned events, and the tremendous disappointment his father and brother were forced to suffer and seemed to suffer under ever since.
A few hundred years ago a John Gould had been washed up at Sapphire Bay. The man had claimed to be a wizard and had, among other things, proved his claim by showing the Dinotopians a magical portal to the outside world. Terrified of the damned man and the damned portal, the Dinotopians had driven him to flee using his own invention. But the portal had remained.
David had learned of the portal only under the direst of circumstances. Karl was dying and needed a cure for the tropical disease he suffered from. Rosemary had at the very last moment told him about the magical gateway and in doing so had helped David save his brother's life. But now the secret was out and soon after the senate had seen itself forced to allow Frank and Karl to leave the island paradise.
But the portal had been stolen.
Thwarted, disillusioned and embittered, Frank and Karl had to stay and accept that until the portal was found again, they were going no-where.
David dared not accuse anyone of stealing the portal. But it could only be a handful of people. Either the Senators of Dinotopia, for at least one or more among them had been dead against the Scotts leaving in fear of revealing the secret of the existence of the island, or Torres LeSage, the leader of the Outsiders who had overheard Rosemary telling David about the portal and had jumped in on his journey to the outside world.
Torres had denied taking the portal, claiming she could not use it anyway. She was right about that one, the pure lungs of the Dinotopians could not handle the polluted air of the Outside World and any islander who went out for a prolonged stay would pay for this with their lives. Waldo and Rosemary could not openly accuse their colleagues in the Senate and had to manoeuvre with extreme delicacy to try and find out who had 'done it'. And so far, they had been unsuccessful.
But David's bet was still on Torres. She had wrapped his father, and consequently his brother, around her little finger with her dangerous charm and they believed her. They also believed her death threat to Karl made in her despair to come with David to the Outside World, should not be taken too seriously- But David had seen her eyes when she made it and indeed, -meant- it!
David closed his eyes against the sun- some-one was calling his name. Krista, it had to be her. She was a very brave young woman whom he was growing very fond of, part of his team and one of the very best Skybax Riders around. Strange though- While he was gradually growing closer to this girl, his brother had fallen out with the one both young men had fallen instantly in love with the moment they had seen her. Marian SeVille, the Mayors daughter, had been more than a friend to them when they arrived. She had been guide into this new world, confident to them both and almost lover of Karl. But apparently she was now royally fed up with his I-love-you-but-I'll-gladly-leave-you-behind attitude. David still loved her- but his feelings had changed towards her. She had always chosen Karl over him, even when she acknowledged that he was the more sensitive soul of the two, the more Dinotopian. But perhaps that had been the trouble with Marian all along- she had never wanted another Dinotopian boy. She had wanted a promise of –something- else. And Karl had –almost- given her that. Now, in David's heart, Marian was more like a sister. And he believed Marian thought of him like a brother as well. They were good friends- but if Karl would do some growing up already, David had not lost hope he and Marian would become true family through his brother's bond with her. The two were so furious with each other, that it gave him high hopes for their future reconciliation.
But Marian had some other big troubles at the moment. Matters that troubled David greatly too. Marian's mother Rosemary had fallen ill, these past two months. Her own herbal medicines held no cure and the disappeared portal was of no use as long as it was gone. The queenly Matriarch had become delicate and grew paler day by day- Waldo was growing quietly desperate.
Five years the mayor of Waterfall City and the matriarch of Earth Farm had not spoken to each other. Too lost in their respective duties to bridge the gap that had grown between them while Waldo had turned to politics and meetings, ritual and tradition and Rosemary's sole attention had been to growing things and young life.
It had taken the near destruction of their world to make them see how foolish they had behaved towards each other and how much each of them needed the others support and council. Samantha, Marian's younger sister, sometimes complained that her parents behaved like newlyweds and that this was becoming 'gross'.
And now, not six month after those two had found each other again, they might be faced with the most permanent separation of all.
"David!" Krista's voice called out to him. He turned with a smile and went to her.
"What is it Krista?"
"Messenger bird from Karl has arrived."
David could not hide his surprise and followed the girl inside, where the poor bird from Waterfall City was probably being watered and fed after his long flight. Karl usually only called when it was serious-
The homes of the Riders were no more than simple rooms carved out of the cliff wall. David had his own place now, but it was almost as sparsely furnitured as when he was still a cadet.
The colourful Dimorpedon, a parrot like predecessor of some birds David could mention, shook his large rounded yellow beak and his blue tail feathers, apparently somewhat chagrined with the long distance he had been forced to travel. When David entered the room, it turned hastily, spraying water droplets all over his desk.
"David Scott, messengerbird 267 for David Scott! Are you David Scott?"
David exchanged a look with Krista and both smiled. David pointed at the mess on his desk.
"Thanks for taking care of him."
Krista chuckled. "Pleasure." She left, leaving David to his message in private. And for a quiet moment, took her turn in staring out over the deep Canyons.
Quiet until a booming "What!" in David's voice was heard, the messengerbid fled from the small opening that serviced as window like a bat out of hell, indignantly screeching, and David himself rushed towards the perch where he could call his friend Freefall from, cap in hand and hastily buttoning his tunic.
Quickly and worriedly Krista followed in his wake, almost stumbling from haste.
"David, wait up! What's wrong!"
"It's my dad!"
He climbed the steps of the perch and hooked his right arm, held up to the sky as if inviting a falcon to land. A light spot on the heavens and came tumbling down, unheeding of the ground. David jumped back, grabbed a spare saddle from the rack, not bothering with looking for his own in his haste, and impatiently waited for Freefall to land and turn so he could throw the saddle on his back and fly.
"What happened!" Krista pleaded. "What has he done now! Has he been hurt?"
The question sobered David somewhat and he turned.
"Not yet-" he almost hissed. "He has found himself a saurian life-partner!"
Krista's face cleared and she smiled broadly.
"But that is wonderful news! You're going for the bonding ceremony?"
"I'm probably going to save his butt!"
Krista was completely baffled.
"But aren't you in the least happy for him? I would thought that his bonding-"
Freefall landed, David jumped at the Flybax and threw the saddle over his head, turned and gave his human friend one parting shot before flying off.
"To a T-Rex!"
Leaving her and other surprised pilots who had come running to ask where the fire was, staring up at the dot he swiftly was becoming.