Beneath a cloudy sky that threatened rain, floating on cool winds that smelled of seawater, Dreamer descended into the Lightstriker nest and eyed the females rising up from the rocky crag to meet him and Wanderer. He hesitated, wings wavering and rocking him in the air, unsure of what to do.
He didn't want these females. Not any of them. It wasn't just what Whispering had said the previous light, he had always felt uneasy while considering any of them as prospective mates. Or just thinking about mates in general, for that matter. He knew he wanted one, one light, but it felt like a distant dream, something he would get to once he figured it out. Certainly not something for his imminent future.
Wanderer chuffed, extending a wingtip to lightly brush against his. "I will talk with them," he crooned, then dove to intercept.
That was a massive weight off Dreamer's back, and he sighed relief. He did feel a little bad that he had only taken Racing out to get to know her, but there was no point in getting anyone else's hopes up. The same went for Wanderer, as it turned out; it had been surprising, hearing him voice much the same concerns, just in different words.
If they weren't looking for females from the group, there was only one thing they could be doing here. He glanced over the upper ledges on the north side of the nest, quickly spotting a familiar lone female basking in the sun, and drifted over towards her.
Whispering lifted her head as he landed, and then he had to avert his eyes. Her wing rested on her body while she lay on her side, hindlegs stretched back to touch her outstretched tail; while she was not posing nearly as explicitly as the other females enjoyed doing, it was somehow even worse for looking so natural, framed by her curved, powerful hindlegs…
"You really are strange," she crooned, making no move to reposition herself. "Why you not can look at me?"
"I not know how explain that," he said with a huff, putting his back to her and looking to where Wanderer had landed with the other females.
"How to explain that," she corrected, and he grunted disinterestedly. "You enjoy looking, but not want to look. I not understand that. You can look, I not care."
"Searching was first female like me I ever saw," he said quietly, pawing at the ground, still mostly with his back to her. "I… never know what female look like before. But I not want anyone think I just want mating."
There was a shuffling of scale and stone, and he risked a glance back to find she had shifted to lie more modestly. "Sorry," she hummed, "I was too curious. I understand now it make you uncomfortable." She huffed, staring off to the side. "But I not understand why only there. I like looking at all of you. Even if your ears are too long, also your paws are very big."
Had she just called him attractive? Strangely enough, he hadn't had many such compliments since first meeting the group of females, and he still didn't know how to feel about it. "You look very nice also," he said, feeling almost as awkward giving the compliment as receiving one.
"All of me, or just here?" she teased with a kick of her hindleg, then huffed amusement when he growled warning.
At that point, Wanderer flapped up to land with them, and Whispering's eyes lit up with a mischievous glance at Dreamer-
"We were talking about what we could do this light," he hurriedly interrupted.
"Were we?" Whispering purred, leaning back a little and stretching a leg-
"We were talking about what we not will be doing this light," he corrected himself, glaring at her.
Wanderer looked between them for a few moments. "I not know what you saying," he rumbled, "but Rising wants us ensure Long-Paws are leaving. Whispering, you can come if want."
Confusion, Dreamer warbled, his ears going up. "Now? While light?"
"I say that," he rumbled. "She say she trusts us, that we will do what best, but they moving slowly. She not knows why. I think we need see."
Nothing was ever simple was it? Dreamer groaned, feeling his tail flick right off the edge of the rock in his agitation; he'd thought the matter settled already. "You maybe can help," he rumbled to Whispering. She could get closer more safely, and if needed she could provide more… motivation.
"I can lick my tail later," she said with a light smirk at Dreamer, then rolled upright and stretched.
"After we eat," Dreamer clarified, then sighed when she glanced up at him. "Seeing Long-Paws, I mean. Not licking your tail."
"I not want you to lick my tail anyway," she said primly as she trotted to the edge and leapt into the sky, her wingstrokes fluid and smooth. Wanderer laughed as he leapt up after her, and Dreamer grumbled to himself before following.
Still, he would happily suffer being the butt of a hundred jokes if it got her and Wanderer closer together; ideally he would have gone fishing for them all again to give the two more time alone together, or just gone and left them to it, but perhaps that would be too obvious. He held back as they flew around the mountain, smiling to himself as Wanderer took the lead and did little rolls and swift banking manoeuvres, showing off in small ways. Dreamer hadn't seen him like this with any of the other females.
Perhaps that was because with Whispering, they actually had to earn her approval. She wasn't being manipulative like Racing, she was just approaching them with a neutral perspective and letting that naturally evolve as they interacted. She already felt like a friend, and he found himself comfortable and relaxed in her presence – for the most part – but she wasn't pushing for more.
Of course, Dreamer was happy with being only her friend. The thought of going further was still… uncomfortable, was the best way he had to describe it. Whatever Wanderer had warned him of, he was in no rush to find a mate – that was the mistake those other females were making – and he still knew next to nothing about Nightstriker relationships, which he suspected was a large part of his discomfort. Some things just shouldn't be rushed into blind, and this was one of them, in his opinion.
Perhaps his body disagreed with him, watching her roll as she flew, her wings and fins gently caressing the air with both delicacy and strength while the rock of the mountain quickly tapered off to the distant forest below. But that just meant she was attractive, and he certainly wasn't about to wish an unattractive female on his friend.
Someone Wanderer could love, and Dreamer himself could be good friends with. He didn't have any worries Wanderer would love someone he wasn't friends with, though he did worry a little bit, however irrationally, that Wanderer might reject a female purely because Dreamer personally took issue with her.
The boundless sea stretched out before them, vast and mysterious and filled with food. Dreamer's stomach rumbled hungrily, distracting him from the various dramas of his life, and he folded his wings to swoop down a little to search for fish.
Whispering barked, and he looked up to see her diving for the water. He banked back around towards her while she slowed, mentally marking the spot that she carefully slipped into, her white tail vanishing into the water with the smallest of splashes. Wanderer was right behind her, and then Dreamer descended himself and carefully nosedived into the choppy water.
The world muted with the deep hum of the sea, as if the water itself was rumbling a greeting. He quickly spotted Whispering's stark white form weaving through the shifting curtains of light piercing the waves, swimming much as he and Wanderer did – with her wings tucked to her sides, she really was slim and small, emphasising her long tail and smooth tail-fins. His heart warmed as a dark shape weaved with her, much less visible in the gloom, before splitting off and around the big school of fish they were coming up on.
Right, food! Dreamer's stomach growled audibly, even underwater, and he kicked his tail hard to catch up. Together, they worked the school into a column, each of them circling it, pressing the prey in and up. The surface beyond them rippled and broke as the first fish reached it, and the swarm started spilling out with nowhere else to go.
At once, the three of them attacked, Dreamer's teeth clamping down on three fish unfortunate enough to have been forced towards him. The third he held onto, the other two struggling limply in the water with numerous holes leaking wisps of blood.
He grabbed those two in his paws and let himself drift back to the surface, the cool air washing over him as he broke the waves. Water flung from his mouth as he shook his head, and then he tossed it back and started gulping down his breakfast.
Wanderer was making short work of his own fish, while Whispering seemed to have only a single one to herself – paranoid after Racing's manipulation, and with Whispering herself admitting to being a bit manipulative, Dreamer almost expected her to ask one of them for some, or to go back for more. But after the tail of her single fish disappeared into her mouth, she just played with the water, swatting at waves as they approached her while he and Wanderer finished eating.
They took to the air, kicking out of the water and flapping hard to get moving, and then Dreamer drifted over to her. "You not much hungry? Only eat one fish…"
She chuffed. "I eat already this light. Also will eat some later. I can go hunt more if I want fly away from you." Her eyes met his, conveying her amusement, but he got the impression she was somewhat serious. He swatted at her anyway, angling to kick at her with his forepaws and subsequently dropping away.
He let himself fall for a few moments, looking up at the two flying together. What would it mean, when one of them found a mate? If Wanderer hit it off with Whispering, would Dreamer feel like a third wheel, awkward and unnecessary? Would they still share warmth, or would they want privacy at night? There was no sense worrying about the inevitable, rather he was just curious what the next stage of life would look like.
His wings flared and righted him before catching the air to swoop back up, coming up level behind Wanderer and Whispering, and then he flapped to catch up. They were already angled along the coast, towards the fleeing army. "We should fly high," he advised as he caught up with them, and their flight angled up a little.
It would never cease to amuse him that what was a days-long journey for humans, requiring provisions and a way to carry them, was only a short flight for a dragon. The land and shoreline shrinking into the distance below didn't look as if it was blurring past at unfathomable speeds, but he could feel the rush of the air slipping over his scales, sliding past his body at an incredible rate.
Likewise, though he could see the Long-Paws in the distance fairly clearly as they trekked along the coast, he knew his sight was far superior, and that to them he would be barely a speck against the sky if even that. But though he could see them, he couldn't make out enough to know if there was something more going on here.
"What you want do?" Whispering asked, staring intently down at them. "I not know what we are looking for."
"I not either," Dreamer admitted. "Will need get closer…" He eyed the terrain surrounding the army, how they were marching along the treeline, partially spreading into the forest. To their other side, a wide field separated them from the coast they had originally followed. "We will need land in forest and run to them. Whispering, you can ghost, get closer look."
"I will do both," she replied, then fired ahead of herself and disappeared in a trail of wispy smoke. He could still hear her, but up here in the plain blue sky he had no other indication she was there.
Wanderer chuffed and rolled into a dive, and Dreamer followed with the faint sound of wings on his tail as they hurtled to the ground. Pulling up just above the canopy, they skimmed the treetops to approach their target, then dropped through a thin patch of foliage and landed in a run.
It was not truly a hunt, but it felt like one, running through the trees towards some objective. He was getting better with these strange forests, but he still followed Wanderer's lead as they weaved through the trees and foliage. He honestly didn't know which path Whispering was taking, but at the speed they were going she could not remain totally silent, not to his ears. All he knew was that she kept pace.
The trees began to thin, prompting them to slow. From here they could run into Long-Paws at any time, and it was just a matter of noticing them first. Which was not difficult, with how they dragged their feet through the fallen leaves. Dreamer and Wanderer both clung to the shadows, of which there was an abundance in the scattered light this close to the treeline. Whispering was presumably around somewhere, he'd lost track of her entirely.
But now his attention was on the Long-Paws, and what they were doing. They were moving, but not at all quickly. The nearest was trudging along, boots scraping the ground and crunching leaves, arms dangling limply at his sides. So was the one behind him, and the one that appeared beyond them from between the trees. Then Dreamer and Wanderer were forced to back up by more crunching shuffling beside them, threatening discovery.
While they were already moving, Dreamer crept down the treeline, in the other direction to the army. They were all over the place, disorganised, morose. "They have no alpha," he said quietly to Wanderer, peering around a tree and over a thick shrub.
"They not look happy," Wanderer agreed, crouching behind the shrub and glancing around it. "We need scare them again?"
"Maybe…" If that was what they needed, just a reminder would do the trick, a single little glance through the trees to remotivate them. Whispering would be capable of doing that, she had been part of the original group to scare them and was conveniently present… somewhere. He cast around for her, searching for some sign of her presence-
And met the terrified gaze of a Long-Paw in the direction they had come, sitting with his back to a tree surrounded by gnarly roots and vines. They stared silently at each other for a heartbeat before Dreamer tapped Wanderer with his tail, who tensed up as he also spotted the human.
Nothing changed for several heartbeats. Dreamer continued to stare, trying to figure out what he could do to… something. Calm this man down so that he did not alert the others? That was the preferable outcome, but it did not solve their issue; none of them could know Night Furies were here, that would likely ruin the whole plan. But if he so much as moved, the man was liable to start screaming or something. And all the while, the Long-Paw just stared, making an odd groaning sound under his breath but too quiet to draw attention while his friends just continued to trudge past, oblivious.
The man's eyes suddenly widened further, and his mouth followed suit. Dreamer stared as red stained his shirt, and those terrified eyes glazed over and dulled. The air next to him then distorted, a pair of blue eyes appearing out of nowhere. "What we do with him?" Whispering asked, the position of her eyes conveying the physical words.
"...Nothing," Dreamer sighed, his tail dragging as he walked up to the man. "Not matter if they find him. But I rather we not killed him…"
Whispering huffed, her eyes bobbing as she tossed her head. "Why it matter? They would kill us."
"Maybe he have hatchlings at his nest," he growled. "They not have sire now."
"He not deserves his hatchlings if he not is there for them, not even carry their scents," she growled back.
Her words fell on Dreamer like a physical weight, the meaning of them, her expectation and understanding of what a sire was. "His hatchlings deserve that?" he asked quietly.
The floating eyes hesitated, narrowing for a few moments before dilating. "I not mean like that," she crooned, taking a step towards him and putting her head on his shoulder. "But that not your responsibility. It his."
"I know," he sighed. "You asked why I not like it. I not know what else we could do anyway." He pulled away to inspect the body, hoping for some clues and a distraction. By now, the rest of the army had moved past, their shuffling slowly getting fainter as they moved away, oblivious to having lost one more.
"This one smell worse than others," Whispering growled, her disembodied eyes floating back to the man. "Smells like squishy tree-things." She snorted violently, the motion rocking her body. "I not think he eaten anything else."
Their supplies. They wouldn't have stopped to pick up whatever provisions they had brought with them, they'd been sent running with only what they'd been carrying. No wonder they had drifted to the forest, with its supply of berries and maybe nuts and other things… even when the things they were fleeing could be lurking anywhere. "They maybe not will survive," he groaned; the whole point was that they returned to spread their warnings about the area. They could probably go on a few more days, but the nearest town wasn't exactly close. And while maybe a dozen people could live off what they found, much more than that would strip the land bare as they went and still not find enough, not without some source of meat…
"We can hunt for them?" Wanderer suggested, clearly on a similar line of thought. "I remember clever way for move heavy prey but not killing it," he added with a purr at Dreamer.
"How… That was much time ago," Dreamer hummed. But it should work. A decent sized deer or something should be enough, two would be plenty to see them marching confidently for almost a week. "Want to run?" he asked the invisible Lightstriker.
Leaves rustled and a twig snapped as Wanderer backed off, letting the two land-prey run ahead. He stood there, panting, head stooped and tongue hanging out, while surprised Long-Paw shouts became desperate shouts and then cheering.
It bothered him more than he wanted to admit that he had let another take his prey. He had known he wouldn't be eating it, but he, Dreamer, and Whispering had run far in chasing it from the lush valley the herd predominantly resided in. Very far.
"I never… run that far… before now," Whispering gasped, then flopped onto her side with a groan.
"We not should stay here," Dreamer panted, pawing at her, and she swatted lazily and blindly at him. "They will look for dead trees for… to burn." Of the three of them, he looked the least worn out, still lively.
She groaned at that, rolling to her paws. "I will move because you asked properly," she growled with emphasis. Wanderer shot Dreamer a confused look, but he just tossed his head in a way that said they could talk about it later. "I not will argue if you bring me fish again also," she added, though it was refreshingly absent of any hopeful lilt, any ulterior motive.
"I can do that," Dreamer agreed happily and immediately leapt off into the trees; the sound of him clawing and flapping his way through the canopy followed shortly after.
"How?" she grunted after him, then climbed to her paws. "I almost not can walk, but he can fly, catch fish?" Wanderer just hummed warmly as they set off into the trees, meandering along the faint traces of Dreamer's trail; it would allow him to find them again, however far they got while he was gone, and he would need to sneak around the Long-Paws so he might be gone a while. Whispering then hummed thoughtfully to herself, the tip of her tail flicking back and forth. "He left quickly. Like he want to leave… but not because he not like me…"
Wanderer huffed amusement. "He probably has some stupid Dreamer thinking. He has very good thinking, but sometimes… he think too much, or on wrong winds."
"What you mean?" she asked curiously as she navigated her way through a clump of gnarly foliage that they had jumped over mere moments ago.
Wanderer cast his mind back for an example. He didn't have trouble remembering any, rather there were far too many to choose from, but most came with a lot of tedious context. "He had a Long-Paw friend when we were fledglings, pawful of winters past," he said, settling on one. "This Long-Paw think Dreamer should behave like Long-Paw, think like Long-Paw." She gave him an incredulous sidelong glance, visibly impatient for him to continue. "He feel very bad about that. Not eat for many lights. He was so thin…"
"But he is Nightstriker!" she exclaimed. "Should this Long-Paw think like fish? Grrr, also Dreamer feel bad he not could do that?"
"He killed that bad thinking," he assured her with a purr, then was momentarily distracted by his wing hooking on a trailing vine through some low, haphazard branches he'd pushed through. "Grrr, stupid forest. That Long-Paw also realise he was being stupid. Was also young."
"What Long-Paws are like?" she asked curiously. "Dreamer is…"
"Dreamer is Dreamer," Wanderer laughed. Then he purred thoughtfully, trying to piece together everything he had learned about them into something intelligible. "They are dangerous. Very, very dangerous. Very weak… most of them, but they…" He growled as the words failed to come, to describe what they did. "When they claim territory, that territory change for them. Whole forests can move, with much time. What Breaker, Rising, do with their cave, Long-Paws can do in sky-ice-cycle… or in pawful of lights, if they really want. If they have angry hunters attacking them, they make those hunters not angry and want to help. Or they kill them all."
Whispering churred while she thought about all that. "So if I want nice cave like Rising has…"
"They could make one," he agreed. "Very simple for them."
"This Long-Paw," she said slowly, picking her way through some tangled foliage, "he want Dreamer to think like that?"
Wanderer snorted as he shoved through the same tangle. "Dreamer already think like that. I not think that Long-Paw know what he want. Just for Dreamer not be like Nightstriker, maybe."
She huffed, snapping something as she shoved her way free. "Long-Paws are complicated. I think I will understand less if you explain more."
"Probably," he laughed, then looked around. "I think this far enough. They are hungry, will want burn their food first."
"I not even want know," she groaned, dropping to the leafy ground and sprawling out, then sighed relief.
Wanderer considered her, let his gaze drift over her head with her stubby ears and frills, down the odd fin along her spine, across her flanks. Not once had she tried to tempt him into doing anything. She had shown plenty of interest, in both himself and Dreamer – her having run across a mountain with them spoke for itself – but just letting them know she was interested, available to court if they wanted. Letting them decide if they wanted her or not rather than trying to influence their decision.
He wanted to do something for this female. A gesture of some sort, to return the favour, communicate that her efforts were noticed and appreciated. The obvious idea was… uncomfortable, given his recent experiences.
But he didn't feel like letting that stop him, and settled down next to her with a paw over her back to lick up the back of her neck. She stretched out with a loud purr in response, her claws flexing and digging into the ground as he groomed over her shoulders and neck, where the majority of her aches would be for running so long. She was also still a bit salty, reminding him they hadn't cleaned since fishing, so he handled the places she would have the most difficulty reaching while he was there.
He was purring too, idly exploring her powerful shoulders and the strange fin that started just behind her neck and ran down her back. She felt tiny, the paw draped over her reached the ground on her other side with ease, but she was in no way as fragile or delicate as that made her seem. Unlike other types of wing-hunters, such as Storm-Fly or Bent-Tooth, Whispering was densely muscled beneath her smooth hide.
The other Lightstrikers must be the same, but with Whispering he was noticing. He felt like a hatchling who had just managed to fly for the first time, feeling the wind pick him up, realising everything he had been doing wrong before. The females he had been playing with were fun, when they weren't completely caught up in chasing his tail, but Whispering was the first he was even considering might be a potential mate.
He stepped off and gave himself a shake, feeling warm and lively. After taking a moment to look and listen around the forest, he then took up the postponed duty of cleaning himself off, given Dreamer was fishing for them. "I getting annoyed with all this salt," he growled. It hadn't been nearly as annoying before they had flown to this land, which he thought was mostly because he hadn't noticed with how numb his hide had been in the perpetual cold. He grumbled and craned around to delicately scratch behind his frills with his hindclaws, where his scales felt raw and agitated.
A weight leaned on his side, and then a soothing tongue seemed to sweep away the irritation around his head. "I am used to it," she hummed as she worked, the quiet sounds loud and clear for being right behind his ears. "Rolling in grass helps also. We can do that next light."
"Next light," he agreed, already decided on spending it with her. Hopefully they would not be preoccupied with feeding Long-Paws again.
She finished with a lick up between his ears, leaving him feeling cool and refreshed. He shook himself, gave her a grateful nuzzle, then resumed the task of cleaning the rest of himself. Maybe he should just eat twice as much when he woke, then he wouldn't need to eat in the evening. Wrrr, really he was making a fuss over nothing, it didn't take that long.
Somehow, not as long as Dreamer actually going to get fish. Wanderer had thoroughly finished his task and was just sitting around starting to wonder where Dreamer had got to when the other Nightstriker came trotting through the trees, proudly carrying a giant fish almost too big to fit his mouth around. It hit the ground with a thump, and then Dreamer flexed his neck. "All for you," he barked happily, gesturing to both of them. "I ate while fishing."
"These not are easy to find," Whispering crooned, impressed, and nosed at the tail. "You know this now, that why it take you so long," she growled at him, then bit the tail clean off to toss it back. Dreamer just shrugged, preoccupied with cleaning himself.
This was the second time Wanderer had seen such a fish, though this time he didn't intend to throw it off a cliff. He bit into it, tearing out a fat chunk of meat, and savoured the taste; it wasn't really any tastier than most other fish, but it was very meaty, less bone and scale, and easily large enough to feed the both of them.
"You should have some," Whispering rumbled around a mouthful of meat before snapping it down and licking her cheek.
"No, I hunted for you," Dreamer said dismissively, standing on his hindlegs to clean down his chest and front.
"I ate some with you earlier, not need all this," she argued, stepping back and stretching. "It good fish, have some!"
Wanderer eyed the rest of the carcass, almost half of it still remaining. Still more than enough for himself. He purred encouragement as he took another bite, and Dreamer hesitated, clearly tempted.
"Maybe some," Dreamer conceded after Wanderer gave him a stern look, then tentatively edged forward and took a bite. Between the three of them, there was just the right amount to be satisfied.
"Thank you," Whispering purred, giving Dreamer a grateful nuzzle; of course, his eyes went wide and uncertain, not knowing how to react. She then sniffed at him, and reared up to lean on his back and lick at his neck.
"What you doing?" Dreamer barked, trying to slip away. He succeeded in backing out of her grasp without difficulty, but she managed a good deal of grooming first.
"Making you not salty," she huffed.
Wanderer, who had been creeping around while Dreamer's attention was on her, pounced onto his back and wrestled him to the ground. "You fish for us," Wanderer growled, swatting at him. "Not be stupid." He then made sure to be thorough in grooming him, ignoring the yowling when he licked up Dreamer's ears. Whispering nosed her way in to help, and between them they made short work of the task, even giving the tops of his wings a quick once-over once he'd calmed down.
The top of him at least was all a glossy black when Wanderer and Whispering stepped back and stretched. Knowing him, he wouldn't appreciate his front being tended to like this, one of his many oddities; though Wanderer could appreciate the trust required to allow another near his throat and belly, at least.
For his part, Dreamer lay sprawled in the fallen leaves, purring deeply and very relaxed. "I think I will sleep here," he rumbled drowsily, a wing dragging inwards a paw-length before giving up and falling limp again.
"Long-Paws are close," Wanderer warned him. Dreamer groaned in reply, then dragged himself to his paws, hopped up into the nearest tree, then slung his tail over one of the higher branches to hang from it and cocoon himself in his wings.
Whispering walked up next to him to stare up into the trees, and at the dark shape among them. "He is good?" she asked, voice tinted with worry.
"Yes," Wanderer huffed, sitting on his haunches. "He probably is tired. Hrrr, night will come soon…" He motioned her to follow him and started walking off into the trees; even if Dreamer fell asleep, he wouldn't be found in the oncoming darkness. "Killing that Long-Paw was needed. I not say you not should have, but Dreamer not think like that. He always sad after wing-hunter or Long-Paw dies, will try thinking ways we not will need kill next time."
"Killing not is good," she agreed, "but sometimes is needed…"
Agreement, Wanderer chuffed. "He will kill if needed. He just not like it." The quiet relieved sigh, and the way her shoulders minutely relaxed, did not escape his notice; she was seriously considering leaving with them, to be worried about that, which had him excitedly flexing his wings. "We should tell Rising what we do here."
"She not should mind we took that prey," Whispering warbled confidently, then leapt at the nearest tree and nimbly scampered up it, her tail disappearing into the dark leaves.
He purred to himself as he climbed up after her, always appreciative of watching the Lightstrikers just move. Other wing-hunters were so slow and bulky, it had been so long since he'd seen anyone other than Dreamer move with such strength and grace, and in a female, mmrrrr… She was already well ahead by the time he made it through the trees, and he had to work his wings to catch up, chasing her tail with an eager growl.
Brightly coloured trees streaked by, the occasional large falling leaf brushing off Dreamer's hide as he took long, leaping bounds after his prey. The deer was large and fat but fast, initially leaping high into the air with the rest of its herd and then dropping into a sprint as it was singled out. A short distance to his side, Whispering stretched her long, lithe body in time with himself and Wanderer, who ran on her other side.
The prey bleated, likely recognising its doom but pushing on regardless, desperately fleeing the three hungry hunters pursuing it. Of course, they could injure or cripple it with their fire, but where was the fun in that? Much better to work their bodies, feel the hard ground beneath their paws, the tufts of grass brushing their ankles.
And this time they were hunting for the kill. Rising had suggested it, as thanks for dealing with the Long-Paws, to hunt from the main herd with whomever they wished to take. As much as Dreamer was trying to be his friend's wingman with Whispering, it was a gift to both of them, and he did want to eat fresh land-prey; particularly after chasing those two all the way to the Long-Paws the previous light.
He angled to avoid a tree in his path, and it rushed past with the rest of the landscape, its shade flickering over him for a brief instant. The sky-fire shone down on the bright green field beyond, interspersed with similar trees that grew wide rather than tall. A river gurgled in the distance to their side, hidden beyond the shallow slope of the ground, and a light breeze hummed as it blew up the valley behind them.
There was nowhere for the prey to run to, nowhere for it to hide. Just endless land, as far as could be seen. Dreamer was suddenly gripped with a sense of vertigo, the sky bearing down on him, the ground falling out from under his paws-
The prey veered off in front of him, and he forced himself back to the moment, to the hunt, driving his sharp claws into the ground and just focusing on those furry flanks as he angled to cut it off. It overcorrected, Wanderer almost getting directly in front of it, and then Dreamer's heart leapt as Whispering tackled it and drove it to the ground to sink her teeth into its neck.
Dark blood dripped from her mouth, stark against her white hide, as she stood over it, panting. She had never struck him as a shy or particularly reserved person, but seeing how vicious she could be… He found himself wishing the ground was as cold and wet as it would be right now up north, so that he could sit on it; a pointless action with how warm and dry it was. He found it helped to focus on her weird paws while she extricated her claws, wondering how well she was supported by such narrow points of contact with the ground.
Wanderer barked happily as he bounded over, then licked some of the blood from her face. What would he think if Dreamer was attracted to his mate? Flattered? Angry? It wasn't as if Dreamer would betray his friend like that, but an attractive female was an attractive female. He couldn't help feeling… warm and excited, in certain circumstances.
It also didn't help that, as he approached, Whispering licked Dreamer across the face, hitting him with a potent mix of her scent and that of a fresh kill. She hummed amusement as he startled back, trying to clear his nose – every time he huffed out the feminine scent, it smothered him anew on the next inhale, clinging to his face. He had to resort to snorting a puff of smoke into the grass, then gave himself a thorough shake.
The prospect of warm, fresh meat was thankfully enough to draw his attention, and he joined in pulling away the thick hide to reveal the juicy meal within. For a long time all that could be heard was the familiar and comforting sounds of tearing meat, to the quiet background of the wind blowing gently through the grass.
Land-prey was dense and heavy, but also very fulfilling. He and Wanderer had lived on fish since needing to steal from that farm, and Whispering probably even longer than that; evidently so, from the rough abandon with which she devoured the prey, purring all the while.
Female Lightstrikers certainly did not behave much like female Vikings. Long-Paws, in retrospect, were contradictory creatures, the females simultaneously wanting to appear delicate and beautiful, but at the same time strong and independent. Perhaps that stemmed from needing a partner that would protect the child… no, that was no different to dragons. From needing to protect them while they carried the child, during pregnancy, perhaps.
That was not an issue with dragons. Dreamer stepped back from what was left of the carcass, cleaning his paws and face while his thoughts wandered. From his perspective, laying an egg would be like… the female taking out her womb and carrying it around, potentially giving it to her husband to care for. The whole thing just felt weird, even for how long he had been a dragon already. Though from what he knew of childbirth, female dragons definitely had it easier; even disregarding the severity of the process, a human immediately had an infant to care for, while by that point a dragon would be rested and fresh.
"I thinking," Wanderer hummed.
"Careful," Dreamer warbled automatically, "you maybe will hurt yourself."
Wanderer and Whispering both stared at him for a few heartbeats. Then Whispering keeled over onto her side, gasping for breath as she laughed in her deep, dragon way. For Wanderer's part, his teeth audibly snapped into his open mouth, and Dreamer could only grin gummily back at him before he was tackled and received several bites down his foreleg and one shallow graze on his shoulder; it probably would have been harsher had they not been tired and full from hunting.
"I was saying," Wanderer growled, plonking his hindquarters on Dreamer's chest and using his wings and tail to balance while Dreamer tried to buck and throw him off, "I thinking." His tail slapped Dreamer's face as it compensated for another heave to try to dislodge him. "No thing here I want now. I want fly… I think Dreamer not want more here also."
Wanderer slapped his tail down again, but this time Dreamer bit it. His breath was then shoved out of him as Wanderer kicked off his chest with a yelp, but at least he was free to roll to his side to gasp.
"Wait," he coughed, "fly?" He thought about it, though there wasn't really much to think about. Wanderer was right, he didn't want anything from this pack. While he would like to hang around to ogle the females, if he was honest with himself, it was a frustrating enjoyment and came with too much stress to be worth it. "Yes, we can fly." He then shot a questioning glance in Whispering's direction, who was still lying on her side but now listening and watching intently.
"I," Wanderer said to Whispering with emphasis, "want you come with us." His eyes then went to Dreamer, a hint of uncertainty behind them.
What, was he looking for permission or something? Dreamer vehemently chuffed agreement, purring for emphasis; they would be wonderful for each other, and Dreamer got on with her very well too.
"I will fly with you!" Whispering squeaked excitedly, leaping up and pressing herself to Wanderer's side. Dreamer purred for them – then stifled a yelp as she did the same for him, walking across in front of him to rub her whole body against his chest. This… would take some getting used to. But dragons were affectionate creatures, particularly with friends.
And she was his friend. He liked that idea; it felt comfortable, reassuring. He just wished it didn't come with the heat in his hindquarters.
Something else Dreamer needed to get used to was how quickly Nightstrikers moved. For someone with seemingly infinite patience – that probably came with being essentially immortal – Wanderer sure was quick to follow up on ideas once he had them. Dreamer had a suspicion that the only reason they hadn't left already was because they were still full and a bit weary from the hunt, and all they had done since then was fly back to the Lightstriker pack.
So they were resting on a warmly lit ledge until the sky-fire set. Wrrr, he was waiting, Wanderer was sleeping, lying on his back with the occasional snore and twitching leg. They were Nightstrikers, so they would travel at night, and Whispering was apparently very accepting of this. The whole 'how Nightstrikers nest' topic had come up multiple times during their stay, always in wistful and hopeful tones, but Dreamer didn't understand what was stopping them from just going out and doing it themselves. Other than perhaps their shorter ranged fire, though their camouflage made up for that. In any case, Whispering was eager.
For now, she was absent, probably talking with her friends and family, saying her farewells. That didn't bother him, she would be around plenty in the near future. Dreamer wondered if the other females were envious or bitter that they had not been chosen; but just the way he phrased that in his own mind emphasised why that hadn't happened.
Shortly before dusk, a procession started at the bottom of the nest, and Dreamer nudged Wanderer awake. The group of Lightstrikers, at least a dozen strong, all made their way up to the ledge, though the only ones who set down were Whispering, Rising, Breaker, and two other Lightstrikers; they had to be Whispering's sire and dam, for how they were watching her proudly, and Dreamer and Wanderer with interest.
"You will be leaving us this night," Rising said to Dreamer and Wanderer, a touch of sadness to her voice. "Before you leave, I want say some things… I not know what happening, but wing-hunters are much less now."
"Many cold-seasons past, other wing-hunters flew here," Breaker added gravely. "We fought many small-wing-hunter packs from our territory. Now… none."
"I not want blame Long-Paws," Rising growled, "but… I maybe not need tell you to be careful. Even Nightstrikers are less, now… Whispering can fight, but you know Long-Paws. Keep her safe."
"She is our first hatched," Whispering's dam said warmly. "We would like you all to come here, sometimes, if she stays with you." Her mate purred approval, dipping his head a little.
"We will," Wanderer hummed; Dreamer was a little amazed that they were willing to just send probably their only daughter off into the wild with two males they barely knew, though she had already demonstrated she could take care of herself.
Sad, disappointed, Breaker sighed quietly, and Rising swatted at him. "We mate all you want without Nightstrikers here," she growled.
"But you so wild with them here," he purred huskily, nibbling at her neck.
"Later," she growled, though she leaned into him and writhed where she sat for a few moments before pushing him away with a wing. She then walked up to Dreamer and pressed her forehead to his, her purr vibrating down his neck.
There were no words, no empty platitudes, and no need for them. Everything was communicated by that simple yet deep gesture. She repeated it for Wanderer, then returned to her mate while Whispering did the same with her parents.
Impatience, Wanderer barked, spreading his wings, then leapt straight up and took to the air. Dreamer followed, glancing back at the nest to see Whispering pumping her wings to catch up. She rolled as she overtook them, eagerly flying inland, the direction they had agreed to go; they were currently well-fed, and it was clear there would be nowhere suitable to live on the coast.
She made a… sound, as she flew ahead, an odd repetitive barking noise that sounded a bit like laughter, particularly with how excited, gleeful it was. It was followed by a high pitched… almost whistling sound, like one of Tuffnut's terrible bird calls.
Dreamer shook his head, then raced Wanderer to catch up with her. She was happy, was what she was expressing, and he replied with his own eager roar as they once again flew for the horizon.
Author's Notes
Well, that was an interesting exercise in original character design. Historically I have always had trouble with it, when building characters to purpose they come out very two-dimensional, and when their personalities ultimately don't matter (such as with Vella, Runa, and Kari) there is little point in building them up. I found it much easier here, though I don't fully understand why. I think being in an original environment helped, as well as possibly having more freedom (and interest) for being dragons, though I'm certain the amount of feedback was a large factor ^_^ Honestly I spent more time here and had more fun writing it than I thought I would, but it's been really great practise given the next two stories are going to be pretty much entirely original cast.