The wind rushed over Dreamer's face, and he flexed his frills to better enjoy the sensation of it blowing between them. As always, it made little sound in passing over his ears, the shape of them silencing whatever caused wind to make sound.
He focused on that, to distract him from the sea receding into the distance behind him, now little more than a smudged line that could just as easily be his imagination. Even still, he was acutely aware of the land around him, what was likely to hold danger and what was likely to be safe. The sea was a knowable entity, at least on the surface, and always a vector of escape. A simple glance was all he needed to assess its danger. Here, with forests and rocky mountains and secluded valleys and fields of tall grass and who knew what else, anywhere could be hiding danger.
Not that he was expecting danger, Long-Paws were rarely subtle and could not fly. And Nightstrikers were apparently the only type of dragon he was likely to run into, which could be dangerous, but were more likely to only approach with caution at most if the Lightstrikers were any indication.
"You good?" Wanderer crooned, drifting over and lightly brushing against his outstretched wing.
"Yes," Dreamer replied, determined not to let this stupid fear get the best of him. He would adjust, in time; it was already nowhere near as bad as it had been originally, during their few excursions inland before finding the Lightstriker nest.
Whispering watched him with interest and a little concern. "What is wrong?" she asked, drifting over to fly on his other side.
Having someone fly on either side of him did not help his anxiety, interestingly enough, but he quashed that discomfort with the rest of it. "I always lived near sea," he rumbled with a glance over his shoulder. "Not feel comfortable when I not near it… It not is problem."
She hummed, glancing back herself. "I not think about that. Always can find fish, but land-prey can be harder to hunt."
"That is some of it…" In truth, he hadn't been thinking of finding food, though he certainly was now.
"We will eat when we can," Wanderer chipped in, sounding confident and unconcerned. "If no prey, can always take from Long-Paws."
Dreamer wanted to argue… but when the alternative was starving, he already knew what he'd do in that eventuality. He didn't like it, but he couldn't really argue.
"Those mountains mark edge of our… of Lightstrikers' territory," Whispering added, gesturing to another mountain range in the distance; these Lightstrikers claimed a lot of territory, crossing many hours of flying. "Long-Paw nests past there… we only come this far to push them back."
"You good?" Dreamer asked her, picking up on some anxiety in her voice.
"We normally camouflage when flying this far," she said uncomfortably.
"Do what makes you comfortable," Dreamer rumbled. "We not mind."
A bright flash of light immediately followed, billowing into thick smoke that then blew past them. "Better," Whispering sighed, now hidden from sight.
With that said, it did stifle the conversation somewhat. About half the dragon language was visual, conveyed by body movements rather than sound, which was difficult when one participant couldn't be seen. But that couldn't be helped.
However, the night was cool and clear, and just flying in it was a pleasure in its own right. Particularly now, while the only sights in any direction were just pure, unadulterated nature. The cool wind over his body, the familiar motions of flapping and guiding himself with his wings and tail, the comfortable whisper of wings beside him… on both sides, now. That was strange, he was only used to flying with one other Nightstriker, but it felt good to just listen to that sound.
The mountains that Whispering had pointed out passed below without incident, around the time that the first Long-Paw nests became visible in the night. They were spread out, little more than a collection of huts and farms at first, but as they continued flying inland the distinct walls of the occasional city could be seen.
There was no need to avoid what could not reach them, and they flew on, uninhibited by whatever was below. Dreamer did begin to worry that they would not find anywhere safe to set down, but as the night wore on the settlements became less frequent, and the only cities were on the occasional thick river that wound across the land.
"We fly to that mountain," Wanderer announced not long before dawn.
Dreamer checked the sky-sparks, gauging whether they could make it before daybreak. "We will need hurry," he rumbled, glancing in Whispering's direction. Determined, she barked, though he could hear the fatigue in her voice.
There did not seem to be any better place to set down, in any case. Dreamer set his nose to the wind and subtly shifted his wings and fins, angling himself for more speed at the cost of needing to flap more to maintain height. It was not the brutal pace they had set flying south in the first place, but nor was it the casual pace they'd taken the rest of the night.
Finally, as the warm light of dawn began to dim the sky-sparks, the land below rose up to meet them and they backwinged into hard landings on a smooth rock surface. It was not sheltered, nor was the wind particularly warm at this altitude, but the skies were clear and the sky-fire would help warm them soon enough.
An odd impact beside him had Dreamer glance over just as Whispering began fading back into view, lying on her side and heaving for breath. "You should say something," he chastised her, and Wanderer gave a low bark of worry as he leapt to sniff her over.
"I… We… not should… be seen," she panted, then whimpered as Wanderer began licking at her shoulders.
Dreamer's tail twitched behind him; true, it was important they weren't spotted near the Lightstriker nest, but not here. "That not matter much now," he rumbled, though he knew how difficult it was to shake habits hammered in over a lifetime; or it could be instinctual, which was even harder. The bigger issue was that they couldn't see her, so couldn't know how well she was holding up, though of course she would have less endurance for only ever flying around her safe little nest.
There was little point lecturing her over it now, in any case, and Wanderer seemed to have her comfort covered. They made quite the sight, his night-black scales contrasting her stark white hide as he draped a paw over her shoulder and his wing over her hindquarters. With the way she reflected light and he absorbed it, they were almost like the sky-ice in the night.
"You sleep," Dreamer purred warmly. "I will ensure we are safe." Gratitude, she purred, curling up, and Wanderer curled up around her.
Dreamer trotted away from the pair, tail swaying happily behind him, then hopped across pawholds along the mountain until they were out of sight. He would check around the perimeter and watch the sky-fire light the land, to give them some more time together. He didn't feel much like a third wheel yet, but he did feel in the way a bit. The least he could do was give them some space, to be alone. Embracing each other. Bodies pressed together…
He shivered from nose to tail and focused on scenting the ground. His time would come, one night.
Dreamer woke slowly, curled around a warm embrace. The smells were a little wrong, but it was easy to fantasise… So warm, so close, the scent of a female heavy on his friend… He tightened his paws, pulling the bundle of purring warmth closer to himself, revelling in the medley provided to his senses.
He was lucid enough to feel a pleasant and familiar warmth building, and recognise where it would lead. Reluctantly, he cracked an eye to dispel the illusion-
Pure white filled his vision, and his eyes snapped open to find himself curled up around Whispering, paws thoroughly tangled and a wing draped over her. She was purring into his chest, tail curled around his hindleg and tucked under his wing, while his own tail curled around her back…
He lay there for several long moments, completely paralysed, while thoughts raced through his mind too quickly to follow. Finally, he slowly, delicately, began releasing his grasp on her, edging his tail away, working his paws free, and encouraging her tail out from between his wing and his side. Her tail-fin lightly brushed down where his wing-membrane met his body with a blissfully ticklish sensation, at one point she shivered when he moved his wing too quickly… and then he was finally free enough to roll away.
Whispering immediately shivered again with a whimper, huddling into herself, then groggily blinked her eyes open to stare at him.
His only response to that was to blurt out the question bouncing around his mind. "Where Wanderer?"
"I think he looking for food," she rumbled sleepily, then whined again and pawed at the ground. "Is cold, I not normally sleep at light…"
Dreamer hesitated, admitting to himself that it was a fairly chilly light compared to those before it, then walked over and settled back down beside her. He initially planted himself chest-down and spread a wing over her, but she quickly nosed her way under his foreleg and curled up in the resulting embrace.
This… was okay… right? Just sharing warmth with a friend. A friend who happened to be female, and whom his best friend was courting; he was beginning to understand why Nightstrikers flew the nest well before reaching sexual maturity. She wedged her paws under his hindleg too, wriggling closer for every bit of warmth she could reach.
Awake as he was, he wasn't about to have any mortifying accidents, at least. That actually hadn't happened in some time, thankfully, and hopefully wouldn't again; it was bad enough with just Wanderer around.
Night was beginning to near when Wanderer returned, the heavy flaps of his wings bringing Whispering from her light slumber. She did not hurry from the embrace she had worked herself into, nor did Wanderer so much as blink at how they were arranged when he landed with a large boar clutched in his claws.
The moment the prey hit the ground, however, Whispering scrambled to her paws and lunged for it, moving stiffly but pushing through it in her haste to feed. She got down two big, gulping mouthfuls before hesitating, glancing at the both of them, and then backing off a bit to make room for them around the meal with an apologetic churr.
"Not worry," Wanderer hummed, settling down next to the carcass, "we can hunt more if needed. Not night yet."
"I not could fly if I ate all this," Whispering huffed, then viciously attacked one of the legs of the prey, tearing it off.
She had lived in that pack her whole life, undoubtedly. Breaker had mentioned another pack, so some of them must travel at times, but Whispering was clearly unused to this. "I remember when we fly here, to this land," Dreamer said conversationally.
Whispering snorted. "I hope you remember that, was only last season."
"I mean I remembering it now," he growled, swatting at her. "We flew far, fast. When we landed here, we wanted hunt but not could find food. Also Long-Paws had fouled river. We were tired, annoyed, not eat that night. Woke up very hungry…"
"Long-Paws," she growled. "I want nest far from them."
Wanderer chuffed agreement, but Dreamer just shrugged, having little opinion on the matter. Wrrr, he had quite a lot of opinions, from wanting to learn more about their ways in this region to being wary of their greed and hostility to wanting to figure out this whole thing between them and Nightstrikers, but they all sort of cancelled each other out. His only ambition right now was to sort his life out, reach a sense of stability and just enjoy himself for a while, and that didn't need to include Long-Paws.
The boar made a satisfying meal for the three of them, though it was still too early to fly, the sky-fire still sinking to the horizon. After giving herself a quick clean, Whispering looked at Dreamer and Wanderer for a few moments, stretched, then curled up again, clearly intending to rest a little longer.
"I look for water," Dreamer chuffed, not particularly thirsty but wanting to wander and stretch his wings a bit. Giving the pair some time together was not strictly his intention, but it was a good bonus.
"That is much water," Dreamer breathed, staring down at the glittering surface of a lake the size of an island, stretching off into the distance. It was so immense he'd originally thought they'd crossed the whole land and come to the sea again, but no, he could see the shoreline looping around in the distance. It utterly dwarfed the river that snaked off to the north somewhere, and that had to be half a mile wide at least.
Interestingly, there did not seem to be any Long-Paw nests past the mouth of the river. Several along the river that they could see, from their vantage point near the clouds, but none around the lake as one might expect. A solitary boat drifted just past the centre, long and wide much like Viggo's largest hunting ships had been, but flat and lacking the adornment of Viking vessels.
"Would like fish," Whispering called out, some words likely getting lost to her camouflage but getting the general meaning across.
"We can fly to far side before landing," Wanderer warbled, giving a few flaps of his wings.
Dreamer just stared in wonder as the land below gave way to the huge body of water. A plethora of unfamiliar plant life grew around the banks and a distance into the lake, and where his eyes pierced the reflection of the sky above he could see solitary fish meandering beneath its surface. Towards the centre the water grew darker and deeper, gradually at first and then quickly dropping off further than he could make out.
The shorelines were clear of Long-Paw nests, a variety of environments brushing up against the water. Swathes of forest touched against it in areas, while the plains in between either descended into it directly or led into rock beaches first.
But there weren't no nests around it, as it turned out. As they flew – what was looking to be over an hour to cross the whole thing – a smooth structure became visible on the far shore, the walls of a big city. He and Wanderer communicated with glances alone, then angled their flight to distance their destination from it.
A time later, as they were just starting to descend, Dreamer realised that he was so awestruck about this because it gave him a sense of scale. This was easily the largest body of water he had ever seen other than the sea itself. And it was far in, with rough land in every direction. Just how big was this land?
Dreamer's claws grabbed the loose, smooth stones they had landed on, then he immediately spun and bounded to the water to put his nose to it. The scents were strange, carrying salt and hints of the sea, but more earthy and muddy. Like a cross between the sea and a lake.
He barked happily and threw himself in, splashing mightily until it rose to his chest and he had to fight it to leap forwards. That slowed him down considerably, allowing his pursuer to leap at his tail, grabbing it and dragging on his hindquarters. He yelped as claws hooked his flank, and then he was tugged backwards and under.
Wanderer pinned him under the water, standing on him and pressing his back and side into the mud. Faint memories flashed through his mind, from a different life, but with his incredible capacity for breath he felt no need to panic. Instead, he approached it like any other pin, kicking and flailing at his attacker, bucking and arching his back to throw him off.
The water fought him, sapping strength from his movements, but the mud made him slippery. Something he only discovered when Wanderer's paw slipped off to land on his wing, and a torrent of bubbles broke the surface as he yelped again. But it did allow him to grab Wanderer around the neck and wrestle him aside, dragging him down as well to try to pin him in response.
But Wanderer slipped away, half swimming and half dragging himself along the lakebed. Laughter met Dreamer's ears as he broke the surface, and then he stood to find his back and wing utterly caked in mud.
He hefted his wing to sniff at it, then grimaced. "This smell weird," he rumbled, standing on his hindlegs to scrape it off with a paw; his hindpaws and tail sank into the mud as he did so, which was probably going to bite him in a few moments.
Wanderer churred wary and made his way back over, moving in short splashing leaps, then put his nose to Dreamer's paw-
Dreamer shoved the wad of mud into his face, then lunged at the startled Nightstriker and grabbed onto whatever he could. His hindpaws were stuck, so all he managed to do was drag them both underwater again, laughing until he had to hold his breath again.
A narrow pressure appeared on the top of Dreamer's head, and he faintly tasted dirt as he was pressed into the mud. He flailed, feeling Wanderer do the same, completely blinded by the gritty clouds kicked up by their antics.
Slipping free wasn't difficult, though finding his paws in the loose, slippery mud took a few moments. His plans of retribution kept taking awkward tangents while he rose, but were then all but forgotten at seeing the patchy white and black figure that he emerged to. "I thought I try being Nightstriker this night," Whispering chuffed, dark mud caking the majority of her hide.
Dreamer wheezed, already a little winded for having held his breath so much in the last few minutes, while Wanderer laughed and splashed his way back towards her. She barked alarm, leaping away from him and at a tangent to Dreamer.
Something resurfaced in Dreamer's mind, a way of swimming he had become good at long ago, and he lowered himself until the water engulfed his back. Pulling his way along the mud was not particularly fast, but snaking his tail back and forth propelled him forwards at a speed they couldn't reach by swimming normally in these shallow waters.
Regret, alarm, Whispering yelped as Dreamer surged up to her, and then his paw was around her shoulders and holding her in place. "You missed some places," he chuffed happily, driving his other paw into the mud and heaving up huge clumps of it onto her while she shrieked and thrashed even while she laughed.
The mud didn't take long to dissolve under the water, so with his holding her down he was actually losing progress as she kicked and splashed. "I sorry," he laughed as he ran out of mud he could reach, "I not could make you Nighstriker for this night."
His heart practically stopped as she stilled to smile at him with sultry, lidded eyes, distracting him for the moment it took her tail to wrap around his flank and her paws to grab his shoulders and hindleg. She pulled their bodies together, her hide smooth and slippery against his in the water but so warm and soft… She was moving around him, working herself on top, but she just slipped around any attempt to push her away, bringing them closer still.
And then she shoved him under and leapt away, her laughs muted by the water over his ears. He lay there for several moments, his back sticking to the mud, limbs stiff. For a moment there… it had almost been like…
He writhed and growled under the water, bubbles streaming to the surface, then flung himself upright and bounded towards shore. The mud gave way to the loose rocks in the shallows, which made it very easy to work off anything still sticking to him. That done, he walked out of the lake, panting lightly with water streaming down his legs and off his wings, nose, and tail. It might be clean water, relatively speaking, but it was still salty. He huffed and set about licking his forelegs, then noticed Wanderer and Whispering rolling in the rocky shallows.
"I not remember having that much fun," Whispering laughed breathlessly as she wearily waded out of the water, then collapsed on her side with a groan. "Many new things for me, flying with you."
"We not fly with female before," Wanderer chirped happily as he walked out of the water, then vigorously shook his whole body and pelted the both of them with droplets of water.
Whispering was still wet and just raised a wing against it, but Dreamer was not. He growled and snapped at him, then huffed and started cleaning his shoulder off again.
He and Wanderer cleaned off the bulk of themselves, then helped each other finish up. He was beginning to loathe the taste of salt-
A deafening explosion slapped into his ears, followed by a second one right as he was reflexively raising a wing against the rain of debris. He and Wanderer had shots screeching in their mouths before the sound stopped echoing, though the sight it gave was murky, and they were already moving, Dreamer blunting his claws against the rocks to move quickly and surely in his blindness.
The ringing in his ears quickly died off, replaced by a strange, high-pitched growl. The last of the rain of rock shards hit the ground, and Dreamer threw his wing back to behold Whispering prowling around a long crater in the shore, which was filling with water, her wings flared aggressively. Tense, query, Wanderer barked, still holding his own shot.
"Bad thing," Whispering hissed at the crater. "Eel maybe, not know, we not see many."
"Long thing, no legs, no fins, like head on end of tail?" Dreamer asked, letting his fire die off. Affirmative, she barked, and Dreamer and Wanderer glanced at each other as they relaxed.
They weren't under attack. It was going to take Dreamer some time to convince his thumping heart and adrenaline-fuelled muscles of that, but there was no real danger. "That was much fire for fighting eel," he rumbled, more than a little unease in his voice.
"It surprised me," Whispering huffed, flicking her wings. "Not even hear it, I smelled it first. But it dead now." She sounded proud.
"Wrrr, we not should stay here if eels are here," Wanderer said, voice also a little shaky with unease, "but Long-Paws maybe saw that."
"Long-Paws," Whispering scoffed disbelievingly, but then trailed off, her eyes widening. "I forgot they were on water," she groaned, then abruptly turned to watch the edge of the lake suspiciously. "So we need…" She glanced out to the ship, then at Dreamer. "What we need do?"
"Nothing," Dreamer huffed, spreading his wings. "Only leave." They'd have to find another forest to sleep in. She looked back to the ship, shying away from it as if it might bite her while she took a few steps up the shore, then followed him and Wanderer into the air.
The sky-fire was beginning to light the sky, so they flew low over the fields, but there were no convenient mountains to fly to, not if they wanted to land before mid-morning. There were faint signs of Long-Paws too, disused roads carved in the tell-tale dual stripe of wagon wheels and an occasional house surrounded by farms.
Whispering looked antsy – it took Dreamer a moment to realise he could see her at all, and how unusual that was for when they flew – but they made the flight to the next forest, away from the lake, minutes before the sky-fire breached the horizon. Dreamer and Wanderer quickly established a perimeter, splitting up as they ventured into the trees and scenting the ground and low plants for anything they might be likely to encounter; a few prey-things, some old hints of wolves, but nothing more. Whispering followed Dreamer, though she said nothing.
Confirming Wanderer had found as much when they met up, they ventured back a little into their safe area and found a comfortable hollow in the side of a small mound covered in dry leaf litter. Wanderer wordlessly settled down and set his head on his tail, looking weary but restless. Dreamer could relate.
"You should rest," Whispering murmured to both of them, sounding a little guilty. She nuzzled Dreamer as she walked past him, then settled down next to Wanderer and lightly licked his neck.
Dreamer huffed. "I will go for walk," he rumbled, setting off into the trees without waiting for a reply. He needed to clear his head before he even had a chance of sleeping.
A gentle rain during the light had cleared the air, washing away the dusty scents and replacing them with a fresh wetness heavy with pollen and the smell of greenery.
Dreamer was so focused on this, trying to keep himself awake and alert, that he almost didn't notice Wanderer subtly changing direction; clearly, distracting himself from his fatigue wasn't working very well. Only a week into their flight and this was becoming a daily occurrence.
He gave his head a shake and yawned widely, willing himself to alertness and then immediately feeling himself slip back. Were they to land right now, he knew he would be able to sleep. But when they landed later, with the dawn, it would be a different story. It was aggravating beyond words; or it would be, were he awake enough to get annoyed.
Though it was not to the point of exhaustion, not yet, just that the novelty of this massive land was starting to wear off and the monotony was lulling. So when a new scent drifted on the wind, a strong and familiar odour, it was still able to instantly seize his attention.
He glanced over at Wanderer, meeting his wide and excited gaze. Other Nightstrikers.
Dreamer inhaled in short sniffs, learning something new with each moment. The scents were comforting, perfect, triggering an instinctive longing that the Lightstrikers had not. There was more than one Nightstriker, and he easily picked out both male and female scents, though he had no more accurate count than that. The scents were fresh, recent, and permeated the territory – for this was certainly their territory, he knew that instinctively – even hundreds of paces above the ground.
A lot of instincts were rousing, pawing and clutching at him, and when Wanderer roared at the top of his lungs Dreamer joined in without a moment of hesitation, closely followed by Whispering. Simply passing through or no, it was only polite to announce their presence.
They listened tensely… but the silence stretched on, absent of any reply.
Wanderer warbled sadly, and Dreamer's hopes fell. They had to have been heard, it was the middle of the night and he knew from experience how far a dragon could hear another dragon's call.
Even still… other Nightstrikers. They existed, happy and healthy as far as he could tell. He felt like laughing in the face of the whispers that said they were dying out, suggestions they were going extinct; that thought terrified and saddened him to a degree he didn't want to admit.
"We should drink," Wanderer said suddenly, then dove for a pond at the edge of a forest. Dreamer shared a look with the floating pair of eyes next to him before following.
The land was just like anywhere else they had been, forests thick with low trees and lots of bushes, plains green with tall grass and leafy shrubs. But this land was owned by someone. Dreamer touched down lightly, wary of disturbing anything, while Whispering seemed to have disappeared entirely. Wanderer took a drink from the pond, then just stood there, staring across it.
The scents were heavy here. At least four, but beyond that it was difficult to tell with no point of reference; he didn't recognise any of them, of course. They came here often… recently, even. The flattened grass suggested playing. Lives were lived here.
Forlorn, came a quiet whine from Dreamer's mouth. Were they watching, wondering about him as he wondered about them?
But any hope that they would suddenly show themselves was slowly crushed by the ongoing silence.
Dreamer took a quick drink from the cool pond, then warbled to Wanderer and took back to the air, back to their search… Their search for their own territory. For somewhere to belong. Perhaps for answers.
Whispering's presence reappeared beside Dreamer as he took the lead through the Nightstrikers' territory; it was unclear if she had even landed. But they had to move on. Unless he wanted to force the issue – though he almost did want to, for all it would make the encounter potentially hostile – he knew there was nothing to be found here.
Light dawned over the land for the eleventh time since leaving the Lightstriker pack. Dreamer watched from their perch on a wide, open rock high up a mountain which may very well see snow on its peak in the cold-season, for how chilly the wind was already.
The coming cold-season… Wanderer was certain they would mature next year, not this one, but it didn't feel that way. His body was definitely telling him he was old enough to mate, more and more with a female around.
But that was not the reason he did not want to lie down and go to sleep, as Wanderer and Whispering were preparing to do. As illogical as it was, he felt afraid. That wasn't to say he was afraid, it just felt like it. A gripping dread that she would come to him while he slept, nestle up close to him and purr into his chest, as she had a few times already.
Perhaps not fear; it just felt like it. Worry was perhaps a better word, worry that she would do that again and worry for what he might do next time. Mortify himself, most likely, given how tired he was to be this honest and blunt with himself. Probably not take advantage of her, no, certainly not that. He didn't think so, anyway. But he did not want the opportunity to find out.
He sighed resignation. She was only cold, accustomed to sleeping in a sheltered cave with dozens of hot bodies nearby. This weather was nothing to him and Wanderer, the inside of the ice nest had been far colder, but she had not known anything different to her warm cave.
Thoughts of her warm cave had Dreamer's thoughts take an abrupt tangent, and he vigorously shook his head with a groan at himself. He didn't want to rush them, but he wished she'd just hook up with Wanderer already, make it official; however that worked. Perhaps if she didn't smell so available this wouldn't be so stressful.
He yawned widely, and did his best to stop fighting the lethargy slowly overtaking him. Perhaps some warm rock… It wasn't chilly enough that he needed to share warmth – and he dreaded that happening too – but some warmth would be comfortable. He turned in a circle to flame the rocks beneath him-
Whispering was watching, her eyes wide and fascinated. Dreamer glanced down at the glowing rock, at the heat radiating off it, then stepped back and gestured to it. Whispering stood, her gaze fixated on the heated ground… then tentatively walked onto it and slowly lowered herself down.
Dreamer hid a chuckle as she purred deeply, abandoning her prim posture to spread out across the warmth, splaying her legs and rolling her head to press more of her neck against it. She reminded him of when he had discovered his fire.
She rolled onto her side a little to paw the air in his direction, inviting him to share the warmth with her, but he declined with a low grunt. "Not much tired," he rumbled, forcing back another yawn, then walked back to the edge of the rock to sit on his haunches and stare out at the horizon again.
There were sounds behind him, talking, but whispered half-words that were impossible to decipher without seeing the other half. He had a sinking feeling it was about him though. Particularly when slow clicks of claws approached him.
"You good?" Wanderer asked him, eyes wide with concern.
"Yes," Dreamer replied honestly.
"You not look good," his friend said bluntly, gently nosing his jaw. "This about Whispering…?"
"No," he said, again being honest. "It not her. She is good friend, I like her." Despite being more than a little skittish, though she would probably grow out of that. "I think I… just need time. This is strange for me, I not comfortable. But I will be." All true, though he didn't mention he really would feel awful if Wanderer rejected a mate for his sake, particularly over a misunderstanding.
Confidence, Wanderer chuffed, though there was still a hint of concern in there. "Sleep," he then said seriously, giving Dreamer a nuzzle before turning back to Whispering.
"Keep her warm this light," Dreamer half-joked, then huffed at the amused acknowledgement. Wanderer had better keep her warm, because she'd go looking for it otherwise, and she probably wouldn't ask to have the ground warmed again.
Wait… If he and Wanderer weren't fully matured until next cooling-season… but Whispering was mature already…
Wrrr, perhaps that was best not thought about. It would be Wanderer's problem, in any case. Though, something told Dreamer he wouldn't be complaining much.
Dreamer woke from a light, fitful sleep long before dusk. The grassy plateau they had been sleeping on was starting to cool with the afternoon, but it was by no means cold, and yet he had a feeling he knew what the warm presence along his back was.
He didn't even need to crane back to look. Rather, he just opened his eyes and stared at the sparkling white wing draped over his side and legs. Why…? Wanderer was a mere body-length away, sleeping on his back, his tongue hanging out and a leg kicking the air. She should be snuggled up to him. Instead, she insisted on doing this.
Dreamer sighed and just remained limp. He was already friends with her, and he showed that regularly with nuzzles, small gestures, even occasionally helping her groom. She knew this, that wasn't her objective here. And yet, he could not reconcile the way she acted – creeping over and curling up with him while he slept, among other things – with just being friends. Wanderer did not do this, and the one time Dreamer had tried sleeping all together she had favoured him over Wanderer at some point.
There was quite a simple explanation. She was more attracted to him than Wanderer.
The thought didn't surprise him as much as it might have. Wanderer was a very practical and sensible dragon, but it was very possible she was more interested in dreams and logical thinking. Wanderer was a larger and more impressive Nightstriker, but other than that they basically shared the same body. She might not want Wanderer as a mate.
That saddened him. This was Wanderer's second attempt at a Nightstriker life, and he had been the one to bring Dreamer back from death itself. He deserved to find a mate. But life was not that simple.
And if she wanted Dreamer instead? He wasn't worried about how Wanderer would take that… But, he realised as he lay there listening to the wind rustle the grass and some birds chirp in the distance, he didn't know if he wanted that. He had never really given it much thought.
He didn't want to give it much thought. That would tempt him more than she was doing herself, and he was tired and sleep-deprived so it was likely he was seeing things that weren't there. He could hunt instead, yes, that would be a good activity while he waited for dark because he certainly wasn't getting any more sleep.
Getting to his paws without rousing Whispering was an impossibility, but quickly flaming the ground next to her had her drowsily rolling onto the new warm patch with contented purrs, freeing him to do as he wished. He then quietly took to the air and found a thermal to soar on; they did not normally fly during the light, but he was far from any Long-Paw nests and the narrow paths that connected them.
Prey had been scarce near the coast, but further inland seemed to have more wild herds and animals. That included many things he had not seen before, strange creatures that thrived in these warm, tame lands. After lazily flying around for a short while, a flock of one such creature caught his attention, strange wing-prey with long necks that were congregating in the shallows of a small lake. He assumed they were prey, anyway. Their beaks were flat and their eyes faced sideways, indicative of prey, so he dove and sped along close to the ground towards them.
They seemed to all notice him at once, a storm of feathery wings flapping to arduously lift them into the air while they made strange guttural sounds; too little, too late. He grabbed one right out of the air as it took off, biting down and feeling bones crack and flesh part. It tasted and smelled like prey too, quite good prey, fat and slow. He dropped his kill by the lake to bank around after the fleeing flock, swiftly grabbing another in his claws and a third with his teeth.
After swinging back to snatch up the first one in his hindclaws, he made his way back to where they had been sleeping. He'd flown further than he'd realised, the light of the sky-fire deepening as it approached the horizon while he followed his miraculous innate sense of direction back to that plateau, keeping low to the ground.
The flight was a little awkward, gripping the prey for so long while blood slicked some of his claws, but it brought some small sense of achievement when he came up on the plateau and dropped two of the wing-prey between Wanderer and Whispering. They were lying on their chests, mostly facing each other as if they had been talking, though when Dreamer landed to complete the small circle they favoured silence to fill their bellies in preparation for more flying.
Dreamer hadn't eaten wing-prey in much time, and even then only occasionally, but he hadn't forgotten how. The only real obstacle was the feathery skin, as Whispering was busy discovering. She had roughly, inexpertly, clawed it open and pulled feathers out all over the place, which stuck to her face as she tore into the meat. She growled agitation after only a few bites, and then sneezed, sending feathers fluttering around her.
"This needs some practise," Dreamer offered, though she just snorted and kept picking at the prey. Perhaps it would have been more reassuring if he'd not had a feather sticking to the side of his snout. He shook it loose before resuming his own meal.
Prey devoured, they sat in silence, waiting for night to fall. Whispering just stared off into the distance, though Dreamer was doing much the same himself so didn't think much of it. Wanderer had his head on his paws, looking around aimlessly.
Abruptly, as the sky-fire touched the horizon, Wanderer stood and promptingly nudged Dreamer with his snout on the way past. Dreamer warbled curiously and rose to follow him to the edge of the plateau.
"You are stressed," Wanderer said bluntly, once they were out of earshot.
Dreamer glanced back, but Whispering was busy playing with the feathers. "Yes," he admitted, pawing at a feather that had blown over at some point and got caught in the grass.
"No danger here," Wanderer said gently, "but that not why you stressed, I think…" He huffed, staring out to the horizon, the deep light of the sky-fire shining brightly on his scales and casting shadows across him. "What you think about Whispering?"
An irrational anxiety welled in Dreamer, and he immediately squashed it. "She is fun," he hummed. "Very good thinking, she makes me laugh. Not much strong when we leave, but much flying make her stronger already. Very good friend."
"Friend," Wanderer echoed thoughtfully. "Maybe… you want her as mate…?"
Dreamer froze, sightlessly staring out over the endless land and the shadows stretching across it. There it was. Everything that had been tearing him up inside for the last three weeks, given verbal form. A conflicting mess of a question he didn't know how to answer. Had they both been in on it? When Wanderer had left to hunt, was that to leave him alone with her as he himself did for them? What had that talk a week ago really been about?
He knew he was getting caught up in the details, not thinking about his actual answer… but…
"She is female," Dreamer murmured, just that simple thought making his head spin a little. "But…" Grrr, why was this so difficult to put to words? "I not think about her like that…"
Wanderer tilted his head with an enquiring sound, so he forced himself to press on, to keep talking. "She curl up with me while I sleep, but I not want mate her, I… I just want fly away, leave." He laughed bitterly, the pieces finally fitting together in his mind. "I so stressed, not sleeping, because I worrying she might want me for mate. Like I was with all those Lightstrikers. They are female, yes, and that…" He couldn't express himself other than with a growl of desire, "but that not good reason for choose someone to be mate. Not good reason for me." Or for Wanderer, given how he himself hadn't gone for any of the other females either.
Dreamer sighed and pawed at the ground. "She camouflage while she fly with us, not can talk with her… She fired big shot at eel. Twice! We fought alphas. We fought king dragon. We are Nightstrikers!" Wanderer blinked, his ears going up in surprise, and Dreamer snarled quietly to the side; that had been a bit of a slip, he didn't find her many strange differences that off-putting, though that was a part of it. "She not could do that," he continued quietly. "I like her much as friend… but she not has our fire… our strength… our…"
"Wildness," Wanderer supplied, and Dreamer huffed agreement. "She not is Nightstriker." He sighed. "I know. I feel that also."
Dreamer looked up at his friend, at his sad expression. "You not want her as mate?"
The other Nightstriker just shrugged with a small tip of his head, then turned and walked away, leaving Dreamer to feel miserable with himself. Wanderer likely had not been swayed by the thoughtless rant, he generally knew what he wanted… but even still, it didn't feel good to have let all that off his chest.
Pawsteps through the grass, lighter and shorter than Wanderer's, almost made him flinch. The gentle feminine croon, tinged with sadness, didn't make him feel any better. "I sorry," he said quietly as she sat down next to him.
She tenderly put her snout under his bowed head to lift it. "Not say stupid things," she hummed, staring at him with those wide blue eyes. "Never be sorry you not give someone your life. That is yours only. I not want you to do that." Her gaze fell a little, and then she looked out towards the setting sky-fire. "I will find someone, one light. You also will find someone you can call your mate. Not should be sad."
He almost wanted to argue that he could call her his mate, if he really tried… but that was exactly the point she was making. He would need to try, to put effort into it, and that was not what either of them wanted. He wasn't responsible for her life, only his own. "What you will do now?" he asked quietly.
"Fly to my pack," she replied. "Maybe I will take some time. Was fun flying with you Nightstrikers, but maybe I will fly for fun myself for some lights."
Again, he wanted to extend an offer to join him and Wanderer, but that was just his altruistic nature. If he stopped to think it through, he knew it was better this way. "Stay safe," he purred, nuzzling her cheek.
"You also," she purred back, leaning into him. She then walked back to Wanderer, pressed her head to his, and leapt into the air, beating her wings hard and firing ahead of herself to disappear in a swirl of fire and smoke.
"I think she is hurting," Dreamer said sadly, walking over to Wanderer as they stared after her.
Agreement, Wanderer hummed. "But we teach her much. She teach us much also. Sometimes things hurt… but that not always make them bad."
Dreamer churred amusement at him; since when had he started talking like an elder? "We should fly," he chuffed, spreading his wings. The night was not yet entirely begun, but there were no Long-Paws for miles and he needed to get moving, to do something, feel the wind under his wings.
"We fly," Wanderer agreed, and they turned and leaped into the sky to continue their search, once again just the two of them.
Author's Notes
I always intended to subvert this trope, though admittedly I... got a bit carried away at the nest xP
For one, I do take some issue with the Light Fury's design, in many ways. Not that I dislike it, just that I can imagine it not being quite right from the perspective of a Night Fury. Perhaps an older (and rather more desperate) male could look past those differences, but Dreamer is not even close to that point. Secondly, I'm also not so keen on just throwing a character at the first interesting female. Nightstriker relationships need to be much more than that, and while Whispering is the best of what's currently available, that doesn't automatically meet the bar. I wanted to demonstrate that. They don't need someone as grizzled as themselves, but they do need someone who can keep up.
But fear not, I'm skipping quite a lot of time in the next couple of chapters... We're getting there!