It had all happened so fast. One heartbeat they had been chasing a strange thing, something that had been stalking them, and the next…

Wanderer gazed ahead at the wing-hunter flying languidly ahead of them, allowing them to catch up. She was not a Nightstriker, that much was clear to him. But so close, her features slightly different but all in the right places, her scent a bit strange and yet warm and alluring. He caught whiffs of her as he and Dreamer pulled into formation behind her, and she… bayed happily as she beat her wings, accelerating into a more comfortable travel speed.

Not a Nightstriker, but so, so close. Close enough, as far as his nose was concerned, and carrying a certain spark of availability. He already knew she could fly, and very well at that, but he was nonetheless mesmerised by the way her wings beat the air, how her curved tailfins caressed the wind passing over her sleek body.

Searching… What an interesting name. He wondered if she had chosen it herself or if her parents had named her, and in either case, was she searching for something in particular or did she just like looking for things? It amused him that they had been found by someone with that name.

A rock formation rose in the distance, a tall crooked thing with a jagged, pointed peak. They seemed to be headed directly for it, so he assumed that was their destination. The flight progressed in silence, but he was so transfixed by the female in front of them that he could not have said much about what they had passed in the meantime, and he only knew how long it had been by the steady sinking of the sky-fire.

He spared the occasional glance across at Dreamer, but his dumbfounded vacancy didn't seem to be going anywhere. He hadn't said a single word since she'd revealed herself, just stared in shocked silence. It had been a shock, to be fair.

Searching suddenly roared, and Wanderer realised they were coming up on the rock formation, a sort of tiny mountain that cast a long shadow over the sea but that was not taller than a short dive. One side, the steeper side facing land, bent inwards, as if someone had clawed out the middle. "That your nest?" he asked her.

"Yes," she said with a chuff, still not looking back at them. Maybe she was shy; he didn't really know what he was doing himself, and Dreamer was… being Dreamer.

An answering roar sounded from below as they came up above the mountain, finding that the depression extended down to a stepped descent out to the ground. It all made a comfortably sheltered area, tall rock walls rising on three sides.

And within it were pawfuls of these strange not-Nightstrikers, arranged in a broad spectrum of life. Many were chasing, wrestling, fighting, playing in many ways with each other, while others lay on irregular outcrops of rock. Many stood or sat along the far rim where the sky-fire still shone, and a tight group of maybe twenty of them lounged in the middle of the nest. Nearly all of them were looking up.

"You need meet our alpha first," Searching called back, then tucked her wings and rolled into a graceful dive.

Wanderer followed from a short distance, Dreamer almost overtaking him, and navigated down to the plateau that extended out from the back of the depression in the mountain. Two more not-Nightstrikers were there, a male and another female. He and Dreamer landed a respectful distance in front of them, while Searching pranced off to the side and turned to face them, sitting down and wrapping her tail around her paws with slow, deliberate motions.

"Nightstrikers," the new female greeted them, stepping forward. She looked older, wiser, her gaze calmly taking him in before moving onto Dreamer. "I am Rising, alpha of this nest."

"Wanderer," he introduced himself, dipping his head and lightly flaring his wings in respect.

"Dreamer," Dreamer introduced himself with a confidence that had Wanderer glance at him in surprise.

Rising purred, dipping her head in return. "This is my mate, Breaker," she warbled warmly, gesturing to the male beside her. Dreamer quietly warbled confusion as Breaker dipped his head, his calm gaze assessing them in a different way, as potential threats. He was larger than his mate, his features more angular and masculine, though he didn't have the spines on his back or up the middle of his face that male Nightstrikers had.

"We not know you here," Wanderer explained at Rising's questioning, prompting gaze. "We flew from our nest, search for place for us. Searching found us." He purred, but shot her a sharp look for her little trick. "We not see another like us for very much time…"

Her eyes narrowed on him. "I want you to tell me later," she said levelly, then walked up to him, closing the distance, and leaned in to scent him. He scented her in return, noting her warm femininity was somewhat dulled; she had already told them she had a mate, and Breaker's scent was heavy on her.

She walked around him, her wing brushing over his hindquarters as she stepped over his tail, then walked around Dreamer to exchange scents with him too. "We know about Nightstrikers," she purred, approaching her mate and rubbing against him, "we know how you nest. You maybe find mates here. Only do not court anyone mated, also find somewhere private for mating." With that, she leaped into the air and flew in a long glide around the inside of the mountain, then suddenly disappeared into what must be a cave further up.

"She was friendly," Wanderer warbled politely.

"Rising likes Nightstrikers," Breaker rumbled. "She thinks you are attractive."

"Not worry," Dreamer warbled, "we not try chase her."

A long heartbeat of dreadful silence passed between them while Wanderer, Breaker, and Searching stared at him. "You think you could?" Breaker asked in a low growl, his deep blue eyes narrow and aggressive, and Dreamer backed up a step.

"He not mean insult," Wanderer blurted out, latching onto the first explanation that came to mind, "his last nest do that. Males there very stupid." The whole nest, really, but males in particular.

Another heartbeat passed while Breaker stared tensely at Dreamer, who looked ready to flee, but then he relaxed back onto his haunches with a rumble of understanding, sympathy. "That nest sounds strange. I will remember."

"Sorry," Dreamer offered sincerely, "I really not mean offend. I… never know another like us. Only Wanderer." Searching whined sympathy, sadness, and walked up to nuzzle him; naturally, he went rigid, glancing at her with wide eyes. "Rrr… Males there… feel need to protect… their females," he said stiffly, stumbling over his words.

Breaker laughed. "I not mean to say that," he said, amused, then purred loudly. "She will want much mating with me now, also she…"

He trailed off, staring over Dreamer's head. Then he flung himself into the air and raced after his mate.

Wanderer barked amusement, relief colliding with his nervous energy and leaving him feeling a little shaky. He wasn't used to the alpha of the nest being more intelligent than him, and something about Rising carried a weight of experience and wisdom.

He flinched at something slipping under his wing, but it was just Searching, purring at him with wide, alluring eyes. "Others want meet you," she crooned, "then you can sleep with me…" That sounded nice. He purred back at her-

Someone yowled piteously behind him, and he turned – then startled back at the pawfuls of females staring at him and Dreamer, anxiously milling around the plateau, peeking up over its edge. Searching leapt in front of him and hissed at them, her tail lashing behind her. "I found them, I introduce them," she growled, then dropped her wings back to her sides and looked back to him with a pleasant warble. "Come meet my pack!"

Dreamer stared at the rock ceiling above with wide, sleepless eyes. The sky-fire was not far from rising, he was sure, but he was wide awake.

Ask any man what their wildest dream was, and the answer would likely revolve around falling into a pit of naked women. There would likely be some sort of conquest beforehand, but that would be how it ended.

He looked around. It was pretty close, as far as 'wildest dreams come true' went – completely surrounded by females, most shamelessly lying on their backs with absolutely nothing to cover them, all seemingly sleeping soundly. He was up against Wanderer, while Searching was curled up around their flanks, her tail tucked up against Dreamer's side. He went back to staring at the ceiling.

The evening had been a truly wild ride, one he'd passed in a mostly speechless haze, and before he'd known it he and Wanderer had been dragged into a wide cave within the mountain to sleep. He had become accustomed to being nocturnal again, but he wasn't even feeling the fatigue of last light's poor sleep or for how late the night was. Half-remembered names and scents rolled around his head, lost in the torrent of introductions. He remembered Searching… Brightening… a few to do with flying… Hopefully they didn't expect him to remember.

He was not accustomed to being popular. He was even less accustomed to having twenty-one females vying for his attention. Every time one touched him – something they all did as much as they could get away with – his thoughts were smothered with a feeling that was warm and pleasant but not particularly helpful for trying to keep track of everything and hold a conversation that was constantly being derailed by another female ducking under his wing or nuzzling him or that one time someone had licked his tail…

The thought of the gleeful, eager faces following his reaction to that made him shudder. Thankfully, they'd been snarled off by Searching… even if her motives were not exactly altruistic.

His tail twitched, which was somehow tangled with her behind him. She seemed to have some sort of privilege among her pack, for being the one to bring him and Wanderer back with her. Maybe he'd ask Rising about it.

He had a lot of questions. Searching had been… invisible, all except for her eyes and maybe her mouth. How did that work? And, given that ability… was this pack responsible for destroying the Long-Paw nest? Four guards, Wanderer had said, each with their skulls crushed, swords sheathed and untouched. Everyone else killed in their sleep. That certainly seemed like something an invisible dragon could and might do.

Rising had also said he and Wanderer could find mates here, and implied that others had done so in the past. He didn't really have any specific questions around that, but it made his head spin to suddenly be surrounded by… eligible females. He'd spent most of the night trying to process that sudden revelation.

But he did have a burning question off the back of that. He and Wanderer were best friends, and long ago, he'd asked what the word for that was. Except, what he had assumed to mean 'best' in that sense actually meant 'mate', given the way Rising had used it, and while there were words that had multiple meanings in Norse – ironically, 'mate' being one of them – that was not the case in the dragon language.

"Wanderer," he murmured under his breath, figuring the other Nightstriker was having similar luck in sleeping There was a questioning huff in reply. "What… friend-mate mean?"

"You ask now?" Wanderer murmured. "It mean we nest together. We together always."

That much he knew, but wasn't the question he was asking. "It not mean… more than that?"

Wanderer shifted his head so that he could look at him through a lidded eye. "It mean what you want," he murmured. "I not mind."

Whatever he wanted. So… what they had been doing so far, which was perfectly fine by him. Perhaps it was normal for… males to be… closer? That would explain the term, but didn't mean he had to do anything.

He had to admit, he was envious of Wanderer's nonchalance around mating. It was such a thorny subject even in his own head, struggling to find any calm between paralysing nervousness and getting carried away with explicit glee. It didn't help that he was literally surrounded by females, all happily flaunting themselves. He was almost surprised Wanderer hadn't jumped on one yet, but then again while dragons were much more relaxed than humans, he wasn't that familiar with their etiquette, at least for his own kind. Maybe they only actually mated just before the cold-season took hold, like other dragons.

Giving up on sleep, he carefully extracted himself from Searching's grip with some difficulty, then carefully stepped around the sprawled tails and walked out into the night. The cave was low but over a dozen body-lengths wide, a wide slot in the base of the mountain. From outside, he stared down the stepped descent, the sides of the mountain extending around either side like arms. The peak of the mountain reached out above him, casting a faint shadow over it all.

Lightstrikers were day creatures, though those females had stayed up very late to be with him and Wanderer. They had fawned over his wings, practically drooled over his muscles, inspected him for scars… supposedly… and showered him in so many compliments he didn't know how to handle them. He barely knew what to do with any one compliment, let alone so many of them all at once.

He dreaded the next light dawning, and going through all that again, but at the same time he looked forward to it in a sort of masochistic way; as much as it terrified him, it was a very pleasant terror…

Wanderer padded out beside him and yawned widely. "We should fish," he rumbled, then licked his wrist to clean his face.

"They will probably want bring us some," Dreamer mused, thinking how eager they were to please; not that he was going to take advantage of that, of course.

"Yes," Wanderer huffed, spreading his wings, "that what worrying me."

Dreamer thought about it as he followed him into the air, then had to laugh even as he agreed. Over twenty competing females all bringing them fish. They'd be stuffed to bursting trying to eat that much, even between them, but if he turned any down then he got the feeling it would cause some serious tension.

Now familiar with the sky-sparks again, he could tell it wasn't long before dawn by the time they were making their way back with full bellies. Dreamer had a thought, quickly looked around, then fired ahead of himself, purring and sighing happily as the scorching hot air washed over him, instantly drying him off. Wanderer did the same a moment later, as they were a long way from land and there wasn't anything in sight. Even the ruins of the Long-Paw nest were too far to see from here.

Returning to the mountain nest, they set down on one of the rough ledges, high up on the west side where the sky-fire would warm before long, and began the routine task of cleaning themselves off.

As the sky began to warm, the sky-fire not yet visible on the horizon, the delicate flap of wings alerted him to a Lightstriker landing on the ledge with them. Dreamer looked up to find Rising, then quickly licked the excess saliva off his mouth and courteously dipped his head.

Rising purred at them, settling down on her haunches. "You have met our females," she said wryly.

"They are… very eager," Wanderer hummed, finishing up his own grooming and then sitting down.

Rising huffed amusement. "Some not met Nightstrikers before. But that how they are. You are new, and they want to know you, but they not know how to do that. Growl at them if you want. Some need that."

Wanderer chuffed agreeably, though Dreamer wasn't even sure he could growl at them; he could barely even speak most of the time. With Rising, it was different. Maybe it was because she was mated already, or perhaps because she was alpha, but Dreamer felt a lot more comfortable talking with her. He also wanted to know about that Long-Paw nest.

Before he could open his mouth, another Lightstriker flew up from the cave to land on the ledge with them. "Risiiiing," she all but whined. "I will tell them what they need know…"

Rising crooned confidence, though she shot Dreamer a look of scepticism, which made him snigger. She then walked forwards – he flinched, otherwise freezing in place, as she licked up his shoulder. "You missed some," she purred, then turned and hopped off the edge to fly up to and into her cave, which seemed set further up into the mountain.

"Rising always like that?" Dreamer asked dryly, turning back to the Lightstriker with them-

He stared at her, and she froze as she stared back, her tongue mere claw-lengths from his perfectly clean flank. "Mostly," she said nonchalantly, rubbing against his side as she walked past him and pretending that she hadn't just tried to leap on an excuse to lick him. "I think she only alpha because she like greeting Nightstrikers."

While Dreamer couldn't remember her name, he did recognise her scent… or rather, a lack of recognition. "You not were with us much last night," he observed, scenting her as she passed.

"No," she purred deeply, sidestepping to press her neck against his snout; he pulled back and gave his head a shake, feeling suddenly dazed and overwhelmed. "I slept, so I could be awake now," she crooned sultrily, sauntering over to rub herself against Wanderer. "Just us, while others sleep…"

Dreamer pawed at his head, willing for it to start working again. Though he had to give her credit, that was actually pretty smart. Given how hectic the evening had been, he hadn't really managed to get a clear impression of any one female. Except maybe Searching… who was, right now, racing up towards them from the caves.

He purred politely at her as she landed. She stood there panting for a few heartbeats to catch her breath, then inhaled and collected herself. "Good sleep?" she purred, sauntering up to nuzzle Dreamer, likely as Wanderer was otherwise engaged with the other female.

"Not sleep," both Dreamer and Wanderer said at the same time, then snorted amusement at each other. "We sleep during light normally," Wanderer continued, calmly lying on his chest and happily receiving nuzzles and little licks; how he could stay relaxed and coherent for that was an enigma.

"That sound nice," Searching hummed, watching Wanderer and then eyeing Dreamer.

She was off her game this morning, clearly lacking sleep, as she gave Dreamer plenty of time to find an itch on just the right place on his tail that he had to curl around and stop her from making a similar move; there was wanting to be more comfortable with that, and then there was drowning in the deep end.

It gave him time to think of something that he might be able to stay engaged with. "Tell us about your nest," he requested, remaining in an awkward, half-splayed position with limbs jutting out everywhere she might think to cozy up to, pretending to be half-interested in something on his tail.

"All males here want Shining," Searching huffed, sitting on her haunches. "Think that her shiny hide look good…" She snorted disdainfully. "That not mean anything. But only Striker courts her. He is biggest, strongest male… but you both much bigger, stronger…"

Dreamer had been about to relax and sit up again, but he was glad he hadn't yet when she eyed him hungrily before stretching out on the ground, baring her neck. "But," she huffed, "Shining hates him. She makes him think she likes him because she thinks it funny."

"I not want talk about Shining," the other female growled petulantly, nuzzling Wanderer. "I want talk about you…"

"How many males not have mates in this pack?" Dreamer asked curiously, ignoring her.

"Eighteen," Searching replied, indicating four pawfuls and two; it brought attention to how disproportionately tiny her paws were. "Most have been unmated for many cold-seasons… Many females also. Maybe you will help us…?" She invitingly rolled onto her side, tempting him to sidle up against her…

"I was alone for much time," Wanderer hummed sympathetically. "Not nice."

"It not so bad," crooned the female with him, whose name Dreamer was yet to place. "We keep each other company… keep each other warm in cooling-season…"

"Not cold-season?" Dreamer asked, confused.

The three of them stared at him, and he got the impression he'd said something wrong again.

Searching rolled upright and glanced at Wanderer and his companion, then back to Dreamer. "You are adorable," she purred, swiftly walking up to him – he realised he'd sat back upright at some point – and nuzzled into his chest.

Dreamer slowly reared back, speechless, then tipped over backwards as she nudged him. He was quick in rolling off his back, but she was quicker in getting between his paws, and that was how he suddenly found himself in a full-body cuddle with a female, his paws wrapped around her and his front pressing against her side.

She wriggled, purring deeply, and looked at him with wide, innocent eyes that then gradually slid closed. "You so warm," she murred, tucking her wing in under his own and snuggling up to him, sounding as if she was about to drift off into all the sleep she'd missed.

Dreamer could only stare at her. Wanderer was smirking, he wasn't going to be any help, and the other female was now interested in other things…

Rising's words came to mind, but whatever mechanisms his throat used to make sounds were completely unresponsive, completely unable to growl or do anything. She was lying on his legs – he was trying not to think too hard about where exactly his hindpaw might be – but his body wasn't responding anyway, completely paralysed however hard he tried to budge it.

And all the while, her warm, needy scent drifted up to him, gradually fogging over his thoughts. It didn't help that he was weary, for all that he wasn't feeling tired, and with that came all the thoughts that he normally had when settling to sleep…

Strangely enough, the thought of actually mating with her calmed him almost instantly, and he exhaled, feeling his body relax. That wasn't something he wanted to do with her, even if she was attractive and smelled very nice, and for whatever reason that made the situation infinitely more tolerable.

He felt that he could growl her away now… but he didn't really want to, because for the first time he wasn't totally freaking out about this. Not that he was actually going to sleep, he was far too aware… but he did lose track of time a bit once the sky-fire rose and started warming his scales.

Her body was so warm, and her purring was relaxing. Her scent was beautiful, like a warm field of flowers, and however long he lay there, he never tired of it, though it didn't quite entice him to do anything more than just hold her…

"We should sleep," he heard Wanderer hum after some indeterminable time, and a paw nudged his shoulder.

Searching whined and swatted at him, but that only allowed Dreamer to escape her clutches. She then rolled onto her back, drowsily pawing the air at him and making no attempt to hide any of herself, though his new peace did not extend to openly looking at her like that.

He yawned widely, then blinked at the harsh light. "Want find somewhere quiet," he mumbled, then blinked at all the females on the ledge with them. "Somewhere dark," he added, hoping Wanderer would get the hint.

Wanderer glanced around with an understanding rumble. "We fly first." With that, he hopped off the ledge and soared out over the nest, and Dreamer followed.

As expected, but somewhat disappointingly, most of their entourage followed, their trim wings with their smooth edges spreading and soaring. Wanderer glanced back at them, shook his head with a huff, then leaned into his wingbeats, large, powerful thrusts pulling him up into the sky with Dreamer hot on his tail.

Their pursuit steadily fell behind, lacking the raw strength to keep up, and Dreamer figured out what they were doing with a purr; these Lightstrikers were almost as fast and nimble, but nowhere near as strong.

Dreamer levelled off as Wanderer did, quickly flipping over and flapping to reverse their direction, sending them hurtling back to the ground. The Lightstrikers darted out of their way, and Dreamer angled his sub-wings to keep track of them taking after him. They were slow, of course, having turned around later and with much less height behind them.

The top of the mountain passed by, and Dreamer threw out his wings, keeping some height to go further with less effort as he yanked himself out of his dive and screeched out over the forest. He lost sight of their pursuers in mere moments, their vague shapes disappearing into the distance behind him.

That had been easy. All they needed now was somewhere unassuming to duck into the forest, and a nice tree to hang from.

The forest had been much easier to sleep in, away from any… distractions.

Although, Wanderer's usual slow, comfortable wakeup was interrupted by a nagging thought. He let his head slip from his wrapped wings to look around the forest, confirming there were no pale females staring up at him. None that he could see, anyway, but he couldn't smell any either so he was confident.

He yawned widely and let himself hang there, staring at the upside-down trees, enjoying his lethargy. The previous evening and night had been exciting, in more ways than one, and he was feeling the drain of that now; less so, after sleeping.

It was only when Dreamer began to rouse some time later that he slipped down and stretched, groaning bliss under his breath. He thought about the nest of Lightstrikers as he drowsily cleaned his face, how avidly the unmated females competed for him and Dreamer. Not that he didn't enjoy it, but it wasn't particularly productive. His attention was heavily divided, making it difficult to get more than fleeting impressions at a time, and there were so many of them… He wished he could think a bit more like Dreamer, this felt like one of the things he liked to figure out a solution to.

He'd gone through a fairly thorough grooming by the time Dreamer dropped down, who then apparently decided to help, and he arched his back with a contented sigh as the fiddly area between his shoulders was scoured clean.

That done, Dreamer leaped onto the branch they'd slept under and peered up at the sky. "Should go back," he hummed, "we slept for most of light."

"Yes," Wanderer chuffed. "First should clean you."

Dreamer shrugged with a smug grin down at him. "You need more help for look good."

A heartbeat passed while Wanderer grappled with just how fiery that joke made him feel. "I think you could look better," he growled eagerly, tensing and carefully placing his paws. "Maybe some nice scars!" He lunged, and Dreamer immediately leaped at the trunk of the tree and disappeared into the canopy. Wanderer clawed his way up after him, shoving his way through the little branches to leap into the air.

Dreamer somehow already had a solid lead, and was even pulling ahead. Wanderer snarled and put more force into his downbeats, but at best all he could do was keep up while they picked up speed; he had more strength, but Dreamer had less weight to move.

Once past that initial sprint for speed, he was soon closing the distance, resolving to groom him whether he wanted to look good or not – something that wasn't entirely certain, he was acting erratically – but they were not that far from the nest. The gap between them was shrinking, but not fast enough, and then Dreamer was swooping down into the nest where he triumphantly bounded to a halt on one of the large flat areas in the middle, Lightstrikers already beginning to converge.

If he thought that was going to save him, he was mistaken. Wanderer hit the ground behind him two heartbeats later and tackled him, sending them sliding and rolling across the rock. They were fairly evenly matched, but Wanderer had the better angle and Dreamer hadn't even been watching, so it was all over fairly quickly. He stood on the back of Dreamer's neck, claws digging in just behind his frills, with another heavy paw on the base of his tail to prevent him from getting his hindpaws under himself. "I said,'' he purred, "we need clean you first."

And he did, in front of their audience of females. He wasn't sure why Dreamer was so reluctant to engage in such things in front of others, but it was funny to watch him struggle even for how difficult it made the task.

He did as much as he could – which wasn't that much – before he had to shift his weight to reach more, at which point Dreamer threw him off and swatted at him. "I can do that," he growled, then started cleaning his face.

"I can help," one of the Lightstrikers chirped hopefully, trotting forward-

Dreamer growled lightly at her, then calmly resumed cleaning himself while she slinked back. He seemed to have found his teeth, which was good to see… though Wanderer knew him well enough to spot his tense chest and shoulders, and his stiff breaths. It was progress.

"You not have eaten," one of the more mature females observed, sauntering in front of them. "You would like us bring you fish? We fish soon anyway."

"I come fish with you," Dreamer offered, and many of them perked excitedly at that. "But I will fish for Wanderer."

"Fair," the female agreed, and Wanderer recognised her as Shining. She was slightly taller than the other females and indeed had a particular gleam to her hide, though she was no more muscled for her size and was therefore somewhat lanky.

Dreamer leaped into the air, closely followed by the Lightstrikers-

Who all fired ahead of themselves and vanished in the large fireballs they all created. Dreamer pulled up and looked around wildly, Wanderer similarly looking around for them, but there was only the barest flashes of movement to betray their presence. Though he could certainly hear them, laughing as they were. Then Dreamer held his fire and ruined their teasing, and they all flew off around the mountain.

Wanderer wondered how that worked. When he and Dreamer flew through their fire, they didn't disappear.

He blinked and looked around, realising Dreamer had just managed to fly off with all the females to himself. Sneaky little… He would get to watch them all swim and hunt fish too, which wouldn't be getting to know them, but…

Wrrr, none of them could be seen anyway. Wanderer chuckled, settling down on the rock to wait; it was still just barely in the warm light, and very pleasant to lie on so soon after waking.

"Nightstriker," said a masculine voice, and he lifted his head to see another Lightstriker approaching him. Like Breaker, this male's face was squarer than the females, his shoulders a little broader, chest a bit rounder. But while he was maybe about Dreamer's height, he was nowhere near as muscled. "You are here to find mates."

"We maybe do that," Wanderer agreed, watching the male approach but not getting up. This didn't feel like something to give up his warm spot for. Especially as there were many others hanging back to watch. Did they all fly around in one big group too? This pack was very strange.

The male chuffed, apparently accepting that he and Dreamer might take females with them. "Be quick," he then demanded rudely. "We also want mates, but they only be with you while you here."

"That because we better males," Wanderer shot back, baring his teeth in the funny joke grin; this male would not understand, and narrowed his eyes, looking as confused as he did outraged, but it was amusing. "You had much time already. But you still not have mates."

"You know it not that easy," the male growled, baring his own teeth.

"But you think we can be quicker," Wanderer laughed. "Maybe you know we much better males." He was very glad to have bantered with Dreamer like this so many times, it came naturally now to fight with biting words… even if Dreamer was better at it. And unlike when fighting with claws and teeth, he was finding it even more fun to completely outmatch his opponent.

"You have strength, Nightstriker," he hissed, "but I fight much. More than you, hatchling."

Wanderer narrowed his eyes warningly at that insult, but the male didn't back down. He did look mature, pawfuls of cold-seasons older, but he was making an assumption that Wanderer was only as old as he looked. Admittedly, he might be older even taking that into account, but a harsh life bred fighting ability far quicker than lounging around this safe little nest. "You are Striker," Wanderer guessed, rising to his paws.

Striker grunted affirmative. "Apologise, or I make you whine, hatchling."

This, at least, was familiar territory. The threats were delivered a lot more eloquently, but Striker lacked the raw muscle, flaming hide, and massive teeth of a Fire-Scale and so was having to make do. And he was apparently the strongest male, at least of those without mates. Wanderer knew exactly what to do here – he yawned widely, not even with his teeth out.

Striker leapt for him. Wanderer reared to take his tackle head-on, and they grappled each other. But that was a situation that heavily favoured Wanderer, so he threw Striker aside to give him a fighting chance-

A wing clipped his jaw and white spots flickered over his sight for a moment, but he correctly predicted the next charge and bulled the Lightstriker right off his paws. That bought him a moment to shake his head to clear it.

"You can fight," Striker acknowledged, getting back to his paws. "But you are slow." He lunged again, darting around Wanderer in a move that was hilariously familiar. Wanderer spun the other way, savouring the male's startled expression for an instant before grabbing for him.

Striker leapt, shoving down on Wanderer's head as he jumped over him. He didn't resist the weight, letting his head drop to deprive Striker of the lift it would have given him, then shoved back and twisted around to grab him out of the air. His teeth closed around a hindleg and his claws found purchase on his flanks, and the male yelped as he suddenly halted, his wings failing him with no air flowing over them.

He hit the ground hard, Wanderer still holding onto his leg, though he let go before his face got clawed up. Striker got up before he did, leaping sideways to try to pin him, but Wanderer just turned and hip-checked him.

Striker yelped again, staggering sideways and falling over. This time he was slow in getting up, moving gingerly, having taken that last hit to his hindleg.

"You fight well," Wanderer hummed, walking up to stand over him. "But my friend-mate is also very fast. Maybe not as fast as you, but he stronger." Wanderer then noticed the marks on his leg where he'd bitten him, a small trickle of blood oozing from one of the divets. Lightstrikers didn't seem to have any scales at all, their hides instead a more uniform hardness, but clearly much weaker.

He quietly rumbled apology, not having meant to draw blood, though he maintained his dominant appearance; to actually apologise would be very offensive. Regardless, Striker entirely ignored him, climbing to his paws and limping away to lick his wounds.

Wanderer huffed and looked around at the other males, then growled challenge. Unsurprisingly, nobody wanted to take him on. "You not have teeth?" Wanderer asked probingly. It wasn't that he wanted to humiliate more of them – quite the opposite, he wanted them to show their claws and lessen Striker's humiliation. He deserved some, for being so rude and arrogant, but not being the only male to be soundly beaten.

To his relief, another growled and strode forth. It was not a fight they could win, but there was respect in trying anyway, and it would make them stronger. This new male circled around him, and he turned to keep facing him, stepping carefully…

He intentionally misstepped, just slightly crossing his paws, and his opponent leapt at him. He was of course expecting it and instantly corrected his stance, and the male faltered – Wanderer took advantage of it, leaping forwards and grabbing for his hindquarters, but like Striker, he was fast and managed to slip away.

They prowled around each other, tailtips lightly brushing the ground behind them. At that point, Dreamer and a horde of unseen wings landed nearby, opposite the group of males, watching curiously-

Wanderer lunged again, taking advantage of the distraction and putting the other male on the defensive, forcing him to back away and chasing him around the flat area. He was outmatched and knew it, soon just throwing himself into an attack and getting pinned for it.

"Stay focused," Wanderer huffed at the male as he stepped off, who then walked dejectedly to his pack. But speaking of distractions, he was reminded Dreamer had returned, though he seemed more interested in a nearby female appearing out of thin air…

Challenge, came another snarl. Wanderer turned, then looked up to see the third challenger dropping out of the air and firing at the ground.

The male disappeared into the fireball, and did not reappear. But a scrape of claws and a sudden swirl of smoke had Wanderer instinctively brace himself, and a wide mouth full of teeth opened out of nowhere to grab his neck and almost bring him to the ground.

Almost, and he was staggered for a moment, which his attacker used to grapple him and keep him off-balance, digging claws into his shoulders.

Wanderer grunted, forced into awkward sideways hops to remain upright, then threw his wings out for balance. It gave him that instant he needed to brace himself, plant a paw firmly on the ground and shove back at the male. From there it was a painful but simple process of twisting out of the grip-

His attacker vanished again, and Wanderer just barely got his fire lit in time to catch him coming up from behind, spinning to meet the charge. It was disorienting, seeing something with his sound-sight that his eyes saw through, but his raw strength overcame the resulting disadvantage in angle, and his claws found purchase to shove the male to the ground. He suffered several kicks and a bite for it, but found his throat and put his teeth to it.

That was three victories. It was wearing him down, but he deliberately played up his fatigue, taking long, weary breaths and slumping as he stepped off the male and growled challenge again.

Two males almost ended up fighting each other in their race to take him on, which allowed a third to seize the perceived advantage and advance in long, powerful strides-

A body-length away, Wanderer reared up and threw out his wings, snarling with his teeth bared to their fullest and his claws held to grab. The male skidded to a halt, staring up at him wide wide, fearful eyes, then drooped and slinked away. The others did not make fun of him, having taken a step back themselves.

Wanderer dropped back down, resuming his heavy breathing and suddenly no longer certain of the next fight, abruptly aware of stinging scratches and teeth marks across his hide. Of course, that just made the next challenger all the more confident.

"Four fights," Wanderer panted, pawing at the ground and dropping to his haunches. "I not can fight all you."

The new challenger growled, his gaze shifting slightly. "Then I will fight him," he said, gesturing behind Wanderer and squaring his shoulders.

Wanderer turned to see Dreamer, who was looking at the male in surprise. "Wait," he barked, then pawed at a pair of fish on the ground that Wanderer leaped over to and eagerly devoured. They were joined by a pile of deliciously slimy fish from Dreamer's own meal, similarly consumed in moments.

He sat back with a purr, looking up to see Dreamer and the male prowling towards each other…

Dreamer's stiff, tense wings and tail were alarming, something this male didn't know to recognise. They leaped at each other – Wanderer, the females around him, and the males across from them all startled as Dreamer darted to the side and tackled the male, instantly getting teeth around his neck and rolling over him into a flawless pin.

He'd forgotten how vicious Dreamer could be when nervous. He let the male up quickly enough, but he'd pawed the edge between earning respect and fear.

Then Wanderer remembered why they were fighting these males in the first place, and didn't feel quite so sympathetic.

Dreamer padded back to him, head held high but eyes downcast. "I think I do bad again," he mumbled.

"Not worry," Wanderer purred, craning his head to lick at the last lot of scratches he'd taken. "They were being stupid."

"I not surprised," one of the females huffed, then stepped into the gap between the two groups. "Leave them alone!" she barked at the males. "Rising said leave them to us!"

"You not were here," Striker barked back, climbing to his paws and limping forwards a few steps.

She huffed, turning tail on him. "Tell Rising if they annoy you," she hummed to Wanderer. "Or just bite them again."

"I not think they want do that again," Wanderer purred, curiously watching a female cross the gap to the males and taking a moment to recognise her as Shining; there were too many females to keep track of here.

She trotted right up to Striker and inspected his leg, even licked it a few times for him. The smirk that flashed across her face as she did so had Wanderer take an instant dislike to her.

He had to admit, the whole pack blew the wrong way across his flight. He wasn't quite sure what it was about it, but he didn't like the way they lived. Nightstrikers' nests were much smaller, simpler, and he vastly preferred that to this.

At least the females weren't offering to lick his hurts; it seemed Dreamer's warning from earlier had stuck with them. They watched him hopefully, but he shot them a stern look as he tended to them himself. Not that they were particularly deep, just having skimmed over the scales and scored the skin in between.

"Where Rising?" Dreamer asked. "I want know some things."

"She was watching," one female hummed, glancing up to a ledge. "She not there now. Maybe she went to her cave."

"She definitely in her cave," someone muttered, "until her mate go up there, then he do that for her." The surrounding Lightstrikers tried and failed to stifle laughs.

"I talk with her next light," Dreamer warbled nervously, shifting his paws.

"We should play!" a female barked, and was met with a chorus of agreeing hums and purrs. Wrrr, maybe they'd be flying or something. Wanderer stretched, spreading his wings and gripping the rock to pull his back taut, and the purring around him grew noticeably louder.

Dreamer lowered himself to the ground and rolled onto his side. "You all decide what we do," he hummed, closing his eyes and spreading his wing over his paws.

Glancing at the females with a dubious rumble, Wanderer approached him and lightly nuzzled his head. "You good?"

"This nest very loud," Dreamer mumbled quietly. "Just need moment… Need calm…"

Wanderer settled down with him and gently licked his shoulders and neck while the females bickered over what they were going to do. It was a sentiment he could agree with.

Author's Notes

Well, I've not made any progress on my buffer, though I've not lost any either. Actually I've been really consistent in taking one week to write each chapter, down to the day.

However, I am unfortunately going to need to drop to fortnightly updates for the time being. I'm very suddenly grappling with a massive opportunity that is going to be very stressful and time-consuming in the short term, but very rewarding. I'm not convinced I'll be able to maintain writing a chapter per week, but regardless, that's a stress I don't need right now. But I should be able to establish a buffer in the meantime, and resume weekly updates before too long.