The endless expanse of grass seems like a shapeless road paved for discoveries of infinite mysteries. Even beyond the horizon, you can expect nothing but more and more green, amongst which are dotted trees and hills. A gentle wind blows, as if telling the story of the world. Where has this wind been? It must know every secret on this earth after travelling for an eternity.
The others don't appear to appreciate the scenery nearly as much. Phendrene, in particular, is constantly stressed. The instant she got off at our noon rest, she lit a patch of grass on fire with her tail, which we had to stomp out quickly. Now she can't even let her tail drag on the ground and holds it in her hand.
Silex is the only one that is able to hunt here. Rue manages to catch this small rat thing but it doesn't have much meat. "They can just see you coming from miles away," Rue complains.
So Silex simply hunts by herself and gets at least five separate pieces of game to us. I don't know how she does it.
Rue is a bit downcast the rest of the day at not being able to hunt, not even fiddling slightly on my back (even though the others are doing worse than her at hunting). She tries extra hard in the evening but still only manages to catch one thing. By then Vie and Hale are also starting to get worried but Spire's still pretty nonchalant and doesn't bother. "If we'd be able to catch them just like that, they'd have already been caught by the predators more adapted to grasslands."
Rue yells at him for not trying and he sighs and goes off to help them, with me standing here wondering if I should try help too. Blood makes me a bit sick, which is fairly ironic since it's in my food all the time. But better sick than starved.
I turn my head to the side and look at the Charmeleon lying silently in the grass, her tail tensely cradled in her arms. Rue's letting her off, too, because the fire would surely spread extremely quickly with the wind. Come to think of it…
"Why hasn't the grassland been set aflame if there are so many fire Pokémon in the world?" I ask Silex when we're eating.
"They wouldn't want to destroy it, since they benefit from the environment as well. Plus, it's not very common for other species to naturally have fire on the exterior of their body like the Charizard family do."
"But it seems so easy to just… set on fire," I say.
"Not as much as you think. It's a fairly humid environment." She picks up a handful of grass and blows a light fire on them. They just scatter onto the ground, charred but definitely not on fire.
"I thought our fire was different, though?" I've never really breathed any, because the last time I tried my throat got really sore. But I know it's not like Phendrene's fire. When I felt Hale's, it made me feel numb rather than burnt.
"It is different. But let our guard down and we still run the risk of setting these plains aflame."
Phendrene comes and nudges me and I turn my attention back to her. She complains about her tail and I listen half-attentively as I look on into the evening sun disappearing into the horizon.
Now that there are no trees to separate us, we're in each other's sight all the time and Spire doesn't wander too far off. The moonlight is brighter than I thought it'd be, but that's because in the nights we always had Phendrene's fire as the focus beneath the trees. After gazing into the stars for a while I look back down and see Rue and Vie bickering about something trivial again. This time, Hale and Spire even join in. But after I take a small flight, they have quieted down.
It's difficult to fall asleep in this unfamiliar environment. I haven't had trouble sleeping for a while now. Phendrene doesn't snuggle as much as she did and grasps her tail tightly close to her chest as I flip my body to lying on my back and move her to my chest. I feel the grass tickle against my body and stare into the night sky, lamenting on all the stars I've been missing out from the canopy. Back when I was in the desert I would have seen them but after only after I evolved I realized how bad the Trapinch's eyesight were.
"Having trouble sleeping?" I hear Silex again.
"I'm just not used to having Phendrene's tail in the open. The light kind of distracts me."
"Give her here, then," she says and suddenly I feel the weight of Phendrene vanish.
I sit up immediately, opening my eyes to Silex cradling Phendrene. "But what about you?"
"You'll need less sleep when you're older. And you need to carry the heavier one that can't fly. You need to sleep." She gives a reassuring pat on my shoulder and gently pushes me back down.
"Okay… Thank you, Silex."
I shift to my side, facing away from Phendrene's light, and end up pondering how useful it would be to turn it off but then that turns into a serious of dreams about Phendrene almost dying from some strange biology of fire Pokémon which then turns into me imagining my father as a Charizard and teaching her how to control her fire powers.
I ponder about being a half-blood. Phendrene seems to be completely normal, so it's not really a big deal for myself. But I remember Mum telling me that it's extremely dangerous for others to know. Why again? It's because the consummation of an interspecies relationship is… impure? Something along those lines. I don't know why, but I feel like I would prefer my father being something other than a Flygon. Even though Silex said he is.
Vie pushes me in the side, startling me to sit up from my half-awake state, and then tells me there's a stream that Silex spotted. It's only then I realize I'm quite thirsty. "Thanks," I tell her, but she just gives a slight nod and glides away in the direction of the others.
It turns out as dragons we cover a lot of ground if we dedicate each day to travelling. By evening, the terrain has become more uneven, and Silex says by tomorrow we'll be able to find some Charizard. Vie, Hale, and Spire are all pretty tired from flying nonstop but Rue still has more energy than ever. She's also gotten a lot better at hunting in the plains and adamantly insists she get most of the food this evening to compensate for not being able to before. Even Hale manages to catch one thing, leaving Vie a bit flustered. Though Spire doesn't seem to care much about eating the free food without working, and Phendrene even less so.
We lie on a hillside this time, and Rue suggests a competition to see who can roll down the fastest before Hale tries and hurts his wings. It's looks fun, but I'm not going to have many opportunities to fly in the grasslands after we get to the Charizard's place.
So I take to the air again, watching the sunset and the orange tint it makes of this world before me. But really, I haven't seen much. There are mountains and rivers and lakes and oceans just sitting out there. And there will be other people to find, and maybe even the legendary ones…
As I circle around these hills, I notice a speck of brown in the sky. Maybe it's one of those Zapdos or something! I speed up my wings and speed toward it. As it gets closer, I notice that it's a bird – but with normal feathers, so probably not that electric one. And… it's flying away?
"Wait!" I continue to race forward. This is one of the few times I'm starting to get tired, simply because I never had an incentive to go fast before. Or maybe it's just mental. But still, my years of practice are paying off and in a moment I'm next to the bird.
It doesn't look legendary but it still looks graceful, a red and yellow crest flowing behind it with a cream underbelly shining in the sunset. But it' eyes don't complement this look. It stares at me like I'm some kind of monster.
"Hello?" I shout to it, but it turns it head away and simply speeds away. I'm so disappointed I just stop still and hover there, even though I could catch up if I want to.
Did I really look that aggressive? I am a dragon. Is that it? Is that the reason why it shows so much revulsion the moment it sees me?
The Turtwig flashes back into my mind. I was a Trapinch back then, and he was friendly. But if he met me now…
I fly back to our camp with much less vigour. Just like the world, which is getting darker by the second as the sun sets. When I land, I simply lie supine on the grass. Phendrene comes over quickly and hops onto my stomach. "Take me!"
"I'm not flying anymore," I tell her.
"Oh. Let's get some rest, then."
I've almost gotten over the bird by next morning. It'd be nicer if it didn't run away, but it's not like I can change that fact. Plus, I'd rather not starve to death, even if I have to kill to eat, like I've told myself a million times. As we begin our flight, I notice the hills become steeper. By midday, I can see huge mountains in the distance which are probably where the Salamence live.
"Scary, innit?" Rue says above the wind.
"Not really. I'd fly faster than them."
"What if they catch the others?" she asks again, trying to make me scared.
"We'll worry about that when it happens," I respond with finality, not wanting to shout over the wind.
We have an earlier rest because the other fliers are quite tired. The two who didn't need to fly are the noisy ones, Phendrene's excitement almost matching Rue's natural level of activity. It's partially fuelled by there being less foliage, allowing her to leave her tail down, but more because Silex says we may be able to spot stray Charizard flying soon. I'm also in a good mood, because there are a few short cliffs which I can jump off and break into a dive before I hit the bottom. It scared the others the first time I did it, but then they got used to it and left me alone down the cliff.
To my surprise, Spire follows me and lands at the bottom of the cliff. "I recognize this place. I passed here when I went from the mountains to the forest."
"It must have been a long journey. So what prompted you to leave, anyway?" I attempt to pry more out of him.
He resumes his reticent demeanour upon hearing my question. "I told you. My parents were killed."
"Were you forced to leave?"
"No, but would you be happy to live with your parents' murderers?"
Before I can give an answer, a shadow covers us. I look up and realize it's the others coming down. Silex lands first, Phendrene on her back, and says curtly, "Come with me. Nova, get Rue." Then she takes flight again with Vie and Hale immediately behind her. I'm confused by her sudden orders, but still obey them, flying upwards with haste and landing next to Rue.
"What's going on?" I ask her as she climbs onto me.
"Salamence. Look." She points over to the mountains and I can see tiny silhouettes of dragons flying.
I take in a deep breath as I feel my blood run cold. "No time, Nova!" Rue shouts. "Follow Silex, she knows a safe place!"
I adjust my posture a bit and leap of the cliff into a glide, following Silex's trail.
It must have been less than a minute before Silex dives down, presumably over a cliff, with the others following her. I dive so quickly I almost hit the ground, not aware that the drop wasn't very large at all. Rue almost gets sent off my back but she held onto my chest tightly enough.
"Careful!" she exclaims as she climbs off me. "I almost-"
"Shut up and come in already," Vie says from behind me. I turn around and find that they're already in some hole inside the cliff wall, quite cleverly camouflaged.
"Don't make too much noise," Silex says. "They're going to be overhead soon."
"Where is this?" Hale asks under his breath.
It's definitely not a natural cave, because there was just a door mechanism behind us. And as I focus on the features of the room more clearly, it's quite spacious with generally smooth walls filled with shelves of books and strange equipment, although the floor is rocky. There is an elevated area to the side designed for rest. There are dim fire lamps on the walls but the brightest source of light is still from a window next to the door, which Silex blocks out quickly by pulling a lever.
"It's where a Charizard I know lives. He isn't here at the moment," Silex explains. "Nova, can you look outside?"
I peek through the gap at the side of the window. "It seems perfectly normal outside. …Are those really Salamence?"
"Yes," Vie says quickly. "And at least ten."
"Are you sure we're safe here?" Spire asks, his voice showing a strange fear. "They probably saw us."
"They probably did, but this place isn't easy to find. The entrance is quite hidden," Silex reassures him.
"Who is the Charizard that lives here?" Phendrene asks, much to my surprise.
"Fahrenheit. He's a scientist that keeps a lot more human things than we are used to. You can see on the walls." Aside from the plenty of books, now that I look more carefully, there are techy devices that Zeta would know a lot about. I think the circular one is called a clock. "Most Charizard aren't so fond of humans as the Lyrl Flygon are. Novaria doesn't have any buildings at all, and instead is based heavily on natural caverns that formed underground. That's why he keeps his stuff here."
"How did you know him?" Phendrene asks. She never asks anything during Silex's lectures, but she is clearly more interested due to her affiliation.
"From a long time ago. I know many."
I shiver a bit as I'm covered in shadow briefly again, as the first Salamence flies overhead. It seems to look around a bit – for us, definitely – but then continues away from the cliff, towards the horizon, with the rest following. Do they really want to kill us? Maybe not. Maybe they just want to ask a few questions. That Salamence which killed Mum did…
I shuffle myself further into the corner, feeling uncomfortable at the thought of my mother's dying body. Phendrene doesn't come over like she does normally and is instead asking Silex all sorts of questions about the Charizard that's supposed to be here.
Instead, Vie is the one that comes over. "Are you okay?" she asks me, bending over.
"Yeah." I don't bother to move.
She eyes me carefully and turns away to ask Silex, "Is there any more space inside?"
"Behind that door are some rooms," Silex says and signals with a point of her arm.
"Come," Vie tells me. I sigh as I get pulled up and dragged half-voluntarily into a corridor and then into one of the inside rooms.
There are torches on the stone wall, and also what they call a bed – I've heard of others in Lyrl sleeping in one but I've never seen or needed one. This one seems quite simple, just a mat with straws, but it does look quite comfortable. Otherwise, the room is mostly empty.
"Relax." She motions for me to sit on the bed, and when I do, she sits closely beside me, her wings sliding against mine. We are silent for a moment before she tilts her head to look at me and asks, "Why are you so jumpy these days?"
"I'm not," I tell her back, still staring at the wall.
"Yes, you are. You-"
"Why did you even bring me in here?" I lie down on the soft mat. Vie was the one that initiated the whole chain of events that got Mum killed…
"I just wanted to talk to you."
"Well I don't." I turn and lie against the wall.
"Nova." Vie caresses my wings. I'm not used to her touch but it feels all right so I let her. "I just wish we could go back to when we were kids. When we would find each other when bored, and tell each other everything. Now you just fly all the time with your thoughts to yourself."
I frown and turn my head back to look at her. "What makes you think I'm hiding anything?"
"You just don't seem like you care much anymore." She sighs and goes back to looking away.
I sit back up and lean against the wall. "That doesn't make sense? How do you even tell?" I'm getting irritated, but she is being unreasonable. "And it's not true, either."
She shuffles a bit closer, staring at me. "Really? So you do still care about me?"
"Of course." I feel strange saying it out loud, but it is true.
Her head leans closer. "Then prove it."
I stare at her face in silence. You can see a trace of what she looked like as a Trapinch, but not much. As a Flygon now, everything seems more pronounced. I can hear the sound of her breathing. I can see the miniscule details of her light green nose. I can feel her skin brushing against my arm.
But she gets uncomfortably close and I try to shift back, only to realize the wall is behind me. So I panic and blurt out, "What do you even-"
A sound comes from the door and Vie jumps up and away from me. Both of us turn our heads to see only a little gap. It takes a while to decipher Phendrene's paw hanging on the inside of the door.
"Nova?"
Vie starts to speak. "Phendrene, we're in-"
"What happened?" I ask the Charmeleon as I stand up immediately and walk over to her.
"The Charizard is back."
"Let's see him, then." I take her hand and walk out. She looks behind me warily, but I continue, not wanting to look or think back at Vie and her strange behaviour.
"…advise against it. Flygon are not going to be welcomed there, let alone a Salamence," I hear an unfamiliar deep voice rumble as I step back into the main room. The torches on the side of the wall are lit
"What about me?" Rue says, her voice full of cheer, as if she weren't injured at all. "They don't mind new species, right?"
"I do not foresee a problem with that." My attention turns to the tall Charizard sitting on the inside of the room. His figure seems quite strong and I feel somewhat intimidated.
"Are you really thinking of getting her there by yourself?" Hale scoffs from aside. "You two are literally the only ones who can't fly."
"But we came this far!" Rue whines.
"Sometimes things don't go your way," he lectures, which Rue doesn't bother responding to.
I feel Phendrene clinging close to me. Shouldn't she be excited now that the Charizard is here? Or is her habit of being scared of strangers working up again?
"Why don't you let him teach you? Or you could ask him about the other Charizard," I say to her.
"The Flygon is right, Charmeleon." He walks over and leans himself forward to lower himself to the Charmeleon's level. "I can see from your tail that your fire is not tamed." He turns around and shows us his tail. To my surprise, the flame is quite small, even compared to Phendrene's. "Under most circumstances, you should be in control of your tail flame."
Phendrene doesn't react to him and still clings close to me. "Sorry, she's shy," I say in place of her.
"Ah, but you don't want a Charizard to teach you how to control your fire?" He says to Phendrene. "These Flygon have no affinity to our element. If you were planning to grow stronger, you must learn from one of your own species." He turns to me. "Pardon me, but why is she with Flygon in the first place?"
"We found her in the desert," I explain. I suddenly feel Phendrene grip tighter. Surely she isn't that intimidated by this Charizard? She seemed fine when she came to call me.
The Charizard's voice draws my attention. "I see. Were her parents…?"
"They died." I don't say anything specific, remember my mother's warning from long ago. Don't let anyone know she's a half-blood.
"My apologies. Hopefully I didn't trigger any unpleasant memories."
"We're kind of used to it by now, mister Fha… Fareh…"
"There is no need to be so formal! Fen's my short name. And you are?"
I find it ironic, because he's the formal one. But maybe that's just how Fen speaks naturally. "I'm Nova. She's Phen…"
I pause for a moment. Fen. Phendrene. Huh. Charizard's names are funnily similar. Maybe the next one will be Drene. Okay, that's just silly.
"Sorry, I was thinking that your names were similar. She's called Phendrene."
He pauses, and looks down once again at the Charmeleon clinging to my side. Phendrene refuses to meet his gaze and clings onto me ever so tightly.
The Charizard narrows his eyes. "Pardon me… but by any chance… was her mother a Flygon?"
What?
"Well, she was taken care by my mother for a while, and we-"
"No, I mean her birth mother."
Oh.
He knows her?
"Um. I'm not sure. I'd think that-"
"Fear not, Nova. I don't have the prejudice against half-bloods that many dragons share. Please answer me truthfully."
I glance around. No one else is paying attention to this conversation. Phendrene tries to shuffle closer, as if a silent plea for help, but what can I do. I'm a terrible liar. "…Yes. Her mother was."
"I see. What an interesting turn of events."
"So you knew her when she was a kid?"
"…Yes. Her parents stayed here when they were going to the desert. Do you remember me, Phendrene?"
I nudge her to get her attention. She turns her head away from both of us.
"Do you remember him?" I repeat the question to her.
She shakes her head, but given her behaviour the headshake seemed like one to avoid attention rather than a negative answer.
"I understand. After all, it was when she was very young. How unfortunate. Her parents were good people." He gives a sigh and returns his look back to me.
Phendrene doesn't know that, so I still feel her tense grip. To help her, I ask him something else. "So what is this place? You allow travellers to stay?"
"It is a shelter of sorts, since this place is quite close to Salamence and Garchomp territory. You are welcome to stay here, but have to hunt for yourself."
"That's still very kind of you," I admit truthfully.
Fen gives me a courteous smile. "Not at all, you must be familiar with Silex here, she's been-"
"Hey Nova. I'm not that bossy, right?" Rue yells from across the room.
"He doesn't count!" Hale retorts. "He says nice things about everyone."
"Excuse me," Fen cuts in with a much louder voice, "I am in a conversation with Nova here. I find that he is much more well-mannered than you two. You could learn from him."
"Oh come on!" Rue says. "I'm just-"
Spire rams his side into Rue and she almost falls over. "Hey, what gives!"
"Stop that. You've lived with animals all your life, you can't just act wild around civilized people," Spire says in an advisory tone quite unusual for him.
"It worked fine at Lyrl!"
"It doesn't work here," Fen repeats again in the disgruntled tone. "You respect others or you leave."
Rue seems to about to give one of her usual retorts, but instead turns her head and stays silent, almost like Phendrene.
"Sorry about that," Hale says.
"The Flygon's learning," Fen replies. He turns to face Rue. "Fraxure, I will not treat you special based on your species. Act more mature."
I hear Rue mutter "I'm older than them" under her mouth, but Fen doesn't take notice. "Anyways, nice to meet you, Nova. And please do tell me if Phendrene here changes her mind. About allowing me to teach her, I mean." He glances at her one more time – to which she tenses up, again – and walks back towards the door at the end of the room.
The room is mostly silent before Hale starts up some more banter with Rue. It's not my intention to drag Phendrene along when I enter the corridor again but she doesn't let go, and I don't bother scolding her for it. When I open the door, the light-skinned Flygon is lying on the bed with her back towards the door.
"Vie?"
She turns her head to look at us. "Nova, I- why is she here?"
"Who? Phendrene? She's just a bit intimidated by the Charizard." Although I expect her to grasp me tighter at Vie's pointedness, she doesn't. So her reaction is really just towards Fen.
"That's nice of you." Vie says it in a friendly tone but I can tell there's something off, especially since she turns her head back towards the wall right after.
"Phendrene, I need to talk to Vie in private. Can you go find Silex?" I pat her on the shoulder.
She gives a short nod and scrambles out of the door, surprisingly compliant compared to how she had just acted.
"Okay, Vie, she's not here anymore. It's only you and me. Just like old times." I walk over to her and sit down. "Happy?"
She doesn't say anything. "You're an idiot."
"Oh, did I upset you?" I don't usually use sarcasm, but Vie's acting ridiculous. "I wasn't aware of what I did wrong."
Vie gives a sideways glance, the kind that makes you feel demeaned. "That's why you're an idiot. You think you're trying to be good but you do everything wrong."
This attitude coming from her echoes the worst possible memory. "You think you're better? You think your blind hatred towards the Salamence is helping us – but if you didn't attack that Salamence, my Mum wouldn't even have to die!"
The instant it comes out of my mouth, I regret saying it. Vie sits up immediately, and the anger in her eyes lose direction. "So that's why you don't like me anymore. Because of that."
I find my breaths difficult. Since I said it already, I might as well explain it. "The Salamence even said that he only wanted to ask some questions. But you had to go and bite its leg, all because of your stupid and petty-"
"Stop it!" she says in a shaking voice as she leaps onto me and pushes me over onto the floor. The stone scratches my back uncomfortably and I want to get up, but she's stronger than me and holds me to the ground.
"Let me go," I say, keeping calm. "You're acting like Rue."
"Oh, but that's why you like her, isn't it?" she says but still lets be back up. "Because she acts like what you want her to."
"If there is anyone that wouldn't change themselves to appease another, it would be Rue," I explain, leaning back on the wall, not wanting to get too close. "And she doesn't tout about killing Salamence all day like a fanatic."
"Today," Vie answers. "I didn't do anything to get those Salamence's attention. But if we didn't have Silex, we might have all been dead by now."
"How do you know that? Do you think they'd just kill you? Do people even have the heart-"
"Yes. Nova. You, out of all people, should know what this world is like." She comes over and grasps my hand. "It's a cruel world, where only the strong survive. People like you, who can't abandon that pretence of morality to even eat, will die. You're weak, and you never needed to be strong. You have all of us around you protecting you and feeding you. But what if the Salamence killed us? How are you going to stay alive?"
She stops, her breath sounding heavy. Her stare into my eyes is full of worry.
"We will be fine," I reassure her. "We do have Silex here with us. She will keep us safe."
"But we shouldn't live like cowards. You love flying, Nova. Imagine the mountains, the sea, the valleys. You would be able to fly over the all of Evitern if it were not for these territorial dragons' mindless killing."
I pry her hand off of mine. "What can we do, though? We aren't strong enough to do anything about it. Sometimes you have to accept the world isn't fair. You should know, you lost your parents too."
"Believe, and we will find a way," she affirms. "The Charizard here. He must know a lot. We should talk to him."
"You can try, but don't get your hopes up."
With that, I open the door to the corridor and enter the main room. I came in here to comfort her, not listen to another of her rambles about the Salamence. And though I mistakenly revealed the blame of my mother's death, it is better for her to know in the long run, lest she make any more rash decisions that get people killed.
"Where's the Charizard?" Vie asks Silex as she enters, ignoring the noisy Rue who's messing around with Spire, trying to grab his tail or something.
"Inside his room." She points to the door he had entered.
Vie runs over and opens it immediately. Fen is sitting at the desk, slightly alarmed. "I'm Fen. Who are you? There's another Flygon?"
"Yes. Sorry, I was resting inside before," Vie says. "My name is Vie. …Nice to meet you. Nova's here with me."
"All right. Though, next time please remember to knock on the door. Is there anything I can help you with? If it's food, I'm afraid you have to get your own."
"No! I mean, we want to ask you something, but it's not about food," she says, bowing her head.
"Ah. Would you like to come in, then?" He steps aside and motions us to some chairs in the corner.
I glance around the room and there seems to be even more shelves, even with some equipment I have never seen. There's a light at a desk where he presumably works at. Vie almost sits straight down onto the floor but I drag her up and nudge her to the chair, designed for us to fit our tail through.
He moves a pile of paper aside and turns around to face us, his tail leaving a little trail as it spins. "So what is it you need to ask me?"
"I was wondering… if you knew anything about the Salamence?"
"That's a pretty general question. I take you want to fight them?"
"Yes!" Vie brightens up and leans forward. Do you have any idea-"
"I do not approve of violence," Fen returns with a stern tone. "Why is it that you wish ill upon others?"
Vie is startled by the unexpected response. "I just want to defeat them. They… killed my parents. And his. I want that to stop."
"Ah, but what will happen to the children of the Salamence you kill? They'd want to kill you Flygon. That would further the blood feud."
"But…" Vie is lost for words. I don't think she knows what blood feud means. "The Salamence came to us in the desert. Are we supposed to sit by idly?"
"How do you not know the motive of those Salamence weren't stimulated through past feuds?"
Vie doesn't seem to have an answer to this. I know what she is thinking – that it doesn't what the Salamence was here for. But Fen is the type that talks about morality and the big picture, so you can't argue against him.
"Surely the Charizard face the same predicament?" I ask in Vie's stead. Not that I'm enthused in the idea of fighting Salamence, but Vie does make some sense.
"The caverns which we live in are not very easily attacked," he says. "Very well. I can envisage this scenario for you Flygon. So what is your precise goal? What do you want to achieve?"
Vie's face lights up immediately. I don't think she was expecting Fen to be this cooperative after what he had just said. "I think we need first need to find out more. As in, why exactly did they attack us? After that, we could find the one that is responsible for these attacks." I notice her shaking a bit, with her fist clenched.
Maybe I should be more emotional about this, just like Vie. But it's not going to bring my mother back, whatever we do to the Salamence. Like Rue said, could I find a way to resurrect her? Then again, this is coming from a person who wants immortality.
"Good to see you're thinking logically. I've seen many young ones in the past fall victim to the hatred of revenge." Vie shifts a bit in her seat. She still does have that desire to simply kill Salamence, but Fen wouldn't approve. "I'm afraid I can't help you much with the knowledge. All I know is general knowledge. The Salamence live in a monarchy, with a relatively high degree of human technology taken to use compared to other dragon species, but not as high as the Flygon in Lyrl. Their society prides themselves in honour, and serving the monarchy is the highest degree of it."
"So you don't know why they would attack us?" Vie responds.
"I've heard that the Salamence was trying to find something when they attacked. Given this, it is likely their actions are not out of malice or intentions of territory expansion, but out of higher orders to locate something, or perhaps someone, missing. It is likely that the prejudice contributed to the killing, however."
"Territory expansion?" I cut in. "Is that a legitimate reason to fight?"
"Yes, I'm afraid. Their skirmishes with the Garchomp are of this purpose. Technically, we are in Salamence territory right now, but they are unsuited to living in this climate so none of them come here. The claim is only for the pride of their species."
Territory… Why would anyone want such a thing? It's so vain to think that you could own a piece of this earth. What nature provides with us, whether it be food, shelter, or scenery, shouldn't be claimed by anyone.
"So, any ideas what that missing thing might possibly be?" Vie cuts off my thoughts with a question.
"I'm afraid not." He shifts in his seat back to looking at his papers. "Is there anything else?"
Vie leans forward. "I'd appreciate anything you think might be helpful."
He puts his hand beneath his head in a thinking position. "Hmm… I would warn you that Salamence naturally have better physique than your species; they are only rivalled by Garchomp and Dragonite. It would be wise to avoid them in cases of confrontation."
"Is there anyone who would know more about them?" Vie asks another question. "People that we could find?"
"You have a Salamence with you, do you not? But I assume you asked them already."
"…Yeah," she says, a little humiliated, because she clearly hasn't. "Thank you, Mister Fahrenheit. Sorry for interrupting your work."
"Don't worry about it. I'm just writing a report of the Salamence you have spotted. You've actually helped me in this regard. And by the way, you can just call me Fen. I don't mind."
He sticks his hand out and Vie stares at it. "You're supposed to shake it," I tell her.
"Oh!" she says again before grabbing Fen's hand tentatively. "Sorry, I'm not…"
"It's fine. Many that pass by here are not familiar with these gestures."
Vie grabs me, somewhat embarrassed, and pulls me towards the door. "Thanks again, Fen. …"
"So?" I ask her as I pull the door shut behind me.
"How do you know what that hand shake thing means?" Vie asks pointedly.
"It's obvious! Why else would he stick his hand out?"
"Hey, are you gonna help hunt or have us take the risk of being abducted by the Salamence alone? How selfish," Rue's voice interrupts our conversation with that typical demeaning tone.
"Okay, fine," Vie grumbles and steps over to the door. I guess Fen would find it weird but I'm already way too used to the shorty ordering us around.
"And you?" Rue nudges the Salamence who is resting with his eyes closed in the corner.
"I'm bad at hunting. I can try if you really want me to."
"Gah, don't bother, with that shade of scales you'd just scare all the prey away. Come on then, guys." The three Flygon, one old, two young, follow her and leave. They forget to shut the door so I close it behind them.
"Why aren't you good at hunting?" I ask Spire who's still lazing in the corner.
"I didn't hunt for myself before. I just…" He pauses. "Anyway, why did Vie bring you inside?" he asks as he yawns.
"She was ranting about killing the Salamence. And talking about how I don't care enough. I found it quite stupid," I explain as I sit down next to him.
"How cute," he comments. "Sounds like something I would do."
I frown, perplexed at his assessment. "What?"
"You know I wouldn't mind killing a bunch of Salamence. Wouldn't bat an eyelid." He yawns again and the carelessness makes me unsettled. "What? It's true. Oh, you don't get the idiom? Well I guess you have those huge things over your eyes. You still blink, right?"
"Yeah. …Where's Phendrene?" I stand back up.
"Oh, she's somewhere inside. You could go find her, really, I'm pretty tired."
"Okay then."
I leave him alone and then go back into the corridor. I find Phendrene easily in the room where Vie and I were in. She seems to be staring at the wall when I open the door and immediately runs over.
"I don't like this place," she tells me with a frown. "I don't wanna go to the Charizard's place anymore."
"Why not?" I ask her, while sitting down with her next to me. "And why are you inside here by yourself?"
"I don't want to go to Novaria if you're not gonna be there. …" She sounds like she wanted to add something, but doesn't.
"We'll figure out what to do when the others come back, okay?" I say and pat her on the back. "But I think we should stay here for now. The others are tired from flying and we don't know if there will be more Salamence."
"Okay. Can you stay with me for now? I don't like being alone in new places."
I nod and take her hand.
We head back outside and explore the interior of this main room with her. There are a few shelves of things, but considerably less than Fen's private room and I'm not interested in examining them. The elevated area is arranged more neatly with mats on the ground, probably another place for guests to rest other than the interior rooms. Phendrene says she'd rather stay inside.
When the others are back, Vie seems extra excited when questioning Spire further about the Salamence. Spire tells us that they're really devoted to the royalty, and view serving under them as an honour, which is the same thing Fen told us. He doesn't say much else. "You could just kill the king, and since they're all obsessed with the royal bloodline it'd be pretty devastating as he doesn't have an heir. Doing that isn't an easy feat, but that's what I would do."
"Is there a way to change the mentality of the people? So they don't go on missions to kill us?" Vie asks.
"Well, you could always put up a fight and kill their comrades, that'd destroy their morale. Or you could sow doubt with propaganda, I think that's a tactic humans often used."
"Yeah, but do you know anything we can do right now?" Vie presses, not even bothering to eat.
"Go back to your Flygon place and join the Salamence resistance or something? It's not like you're gonna get anything done wandering around," Spire answers and throws a finished leg aside into the pile of bones.
"But they don't get anything done, either! The Flygon just wanna defend Lyrl. But one day-"
Rue taps her on the arm. "Look, bring your problem of revenge fantasies somewhere else. There are five other people eating here and you guys are talking about something no one else cares about."
"You don't even care about Flygon dying from Salamence, do you?"
"To be honest? It's not related to me. So why would I care?"
Vie's face darkens and I know she's about to spout something angrily. So I put down my food, already full, and slip outside for an evening flight. If it's just me, I can get away from the Salamence easily.
The sky is a beautiful shade of orange. And the hills, too, tainted with the sunlight, remind me how much there is to live for. Instead of quarrelling and wanting to claim this scenery for oneself… why can't we live happily?
My mind turns to Fen. I've only just met him, but I quite admire him, which is something I can say for few others. What's his job again? A Charizard outpost of sorts, that also helps travelling dragons? At least he knows what he's doing with his life, and he seems content with it. I don't know what I'm going to do with mine. But I'm sure that it's not going to be devoted to exterminating the Salamence. I feel like the first thing I need to do is something about my family… if I am ever to find my father again, or perhaps even my mother. Maybe I have a half sibling by now, if that Blight found himself a new mate after abandoning my mother and me. Ha ha ha. Not funny.
By the time I am back, most of them have already gone into the rooms to sleep. Hale and Rue are still up for some talk about hunting and battling, and from Hale's bruises I can see they've been trying hard. When I walk into the corridor, I briefly consider going into the first one which must be occupied by someone else – but then decide against it, and walk all the way to the end, past numerous doors. I enter and the room and find that it's mostly the same as the other one, but a bit more unclean with many things stuffed onto the shelves. I ignore it and snuggle by myself into the bed, wondering about if I could ever stand to be a father one day. Fen looks like he would be a good one.
…If only his name was Blight.