Author's Note – Welcome to the revamp of Children Of Dawn. The main difference you will notice if you were following the previous version are that this version will focus on everyone from New Haven: the Fury kids, Fury parents, and certain of the humans. The other major character introduced in the original prologue will get an entirely separate story which will follow this one. As this is a new story post, the reviews from the prior one don't carry over, but there hasn't been any new content added.
This will still be deliberate in establishing setup and backstory, but it will progress much faster than the prior version, and therefore will be more readable. I have cut a lot of early material which was not crucial to this plot or someone's character arc. Still, the cut scenes do help expand on someone's struggles, present a pleasant 'slice of life', or expand on how life goes on in the hidden world. All the cut scenes will be posted in my existing bonus material story – To Fly The Winds of Life.
I have put family trees on my profile page. That might help you if you ever are confused as to who is in what family as of the start of this story.
As usual, I thank VigoGrimborne for substantial behind the scenes work in beta reading and editing.
Ephemeral Hopes
Luna glided over the mushroom-trees and hidden waters in this familiar cave far from the New-Haven-range.
All along the lengthy flight down the many passageways and through dark and light chambers, she thought about the previous meetings with other Light Fury pack-groups. Many of the other sky-kin in the hidden world had not liked that she and the Night Furies had brought ground-kin into the hidden ranges.
The first such meeting with ranging Light Furies, or light wings as they called themselves, did not go well at all. Her fellow sky-kin saw the ground-kin two-legs in the New-Haven-range and immediately turned their tails on the range, vanishing into their hiding-fires without saying anything and never showing nose or tail again. They were not willing to give the ground-kin a chance to prove that they were not monsters.
She sighed and closed her eyes while gliding. She could not blame the other Light Furies for being afraid, not when she was once very like them.
It had been a very long journey for her to come to accept the two-legs as being good life worth naming as ground-kin. She had flown from the hidden world once she was fully grown, intending to find a life-mate and bring him back to live in safety in the hidden ranges that she knew. Her great sire had shared with her a life-lesson that had some truth in its claws: two-legs are filled with danger, flee on sight.
She had followed that life-lesson through the season-cycles of searching for and not finding a life-mate. But she eventually became curious and got trapped by a monster kin, a great-tusk-Alpha, and its two-leg flightmate, Drago Blood-Paw, or something like that.
The trappers took her to an island where she was held in traps for well over a season-cycle. Many bad things happened in that time, and she did not want to give those memories any lift by thinking much about them. It was far more liver-warming to think about what came after.
The two-leg ground-kin named Kin-liver had healed her broken wings by using small vines to weave the tears in the wings together again. That was how she herself had regained flight, freedom, and eventually fire.
Even more liver-warming was everything about her dear, warm, and much loved life-mate, Shadowwing. The kindness and care he showed her by bringing her food, fire, and small-bonding when her own fire was dead and she was too weak to hunt had possibly saved her life. He was also very patient with her not trusting the ground-kin while giving her time to heal and become stronger. She still wondered how anyone could be so good in their liver.
He did all that and more for her without asking anything in return. None of his kindness was out of mating-wanting or any desire to make himself stronger and claim status over her. No, he was an Alpha, and that meant that he lived his life-flight for others. He had won her liver just by being himself.
He was now back in the mixed-range, sitting with their fourth egg and with their third little one, a male Dawn Fury named Night-Light.
She had once wondered whether Night Furies and Light Furies had ever become mates before. She knew of no stories that they had. Her sire-father and dam-mother had not told her any such stories, but both of them had lived in packs of only Light Furies. Further, they had both flown from their packs because there were customs and pack-ceremonies they did not approve of. It was possible that her little ones were a truly new type of life.
Shadowwing was a very warm sire-father to them all. He was always patient with them when he was frustrated by anything, firm whenever they complained or caused problems, and willing to play with them whenever he had time, which was often enough. Most impressively though, he never forced their flights. While both Moon-Dancer and Hidden-Hope were friendly enough with all the ground-kin, neither of them had a friend who would be a special life-bond-friend. Shadowwing never pushed them to get to know the ground-kin faster than they would want to on their own. That was even though he told her in private that he hoped they did find life-bond friends among the ground-kin.
She understood why he was so patient. He had once been a two-leg.
That was thoroughly twisting to think about, but she had no doubt it was true. He had declared it to her, and Was-Grounded had also confirmed it. This twisted and secret truth explained how Shadowwing knew so much about ground-kin and why he held to his liver the idea of sky-kin and ground-kin flying the winds of life together.
But his life as a two-leg had not been a very warm one, apparently. His sire-father, the former Alpha of his pack, had tried to force two-leg Shadowwing's flight into one he did not want to fly: that of a fighter. That had hurt their kinship much in that past-life.
Shadowwing had promised that he was not going to make the same mistake with his children. While he would like to see the same bonding and life-togetherness that he had enjoyed once with Toothless, he was not going to force their flights.
She sometimes wondered how well he was able to be a good Alpha, sire-father, and life-mate, all at the same time. Between his Alpha duties for the mixed-range and his sire-father duties with his little ones, he did not get to give her as much of his life-flight as she would have liked. But that was a necessary part of his being an Alpha.
She and her flightmate flew out over a large waterfall, the almost-rain it made sparking in the light from several glowing light-rocks. There was a small pack of fire-scale sky-kin swimming in the water down below. She stared attentively down at them as they both passed over the water.
The other sky-kin in the hidden world were a source of danger. What had happened in the cycles since flying from the above was, looking back over her tail and through time, very easily seen coming, though no one wanted to talk about it now that it was all in the past. There had been many, many waking-cycles of guarding the new range in which the Furies, some of the bonded sky-kin, and the ground-kin all lived in. The fighting that happened in the beyond was also the reason why almost none of the ground-kin were allowed beyond that good, safe range.
She took a deep breath and turned her thoughts to the coming meeting. She was the speaker for the ground-kin in any meetings with the other Light Furies. Shadowwing and Was-Grounded agreed that she would be best to speak with other Light Furies about how ground-kin were not like two-legs. If only the other Light Furies would listen to her. So far, none of the other Light Furies had been interested in the possibility of meeting the ground-kin in peace.
At least I am not flying alone for this.
She glanced over at Was-Grounded. The Night Fury, nestmate brother of her life-mate, was a strong, proud High-Alpha who commanded respect and deference from all other sky-kin. He had old hurt marks from won battles, most vividly the sky-light hurt marks on his neck and one deep clawing on his lower back.
She would have been a little afraid of flying alone through some of these passageways. But she felt no fear or chill at all with Was-Grounded flying at her side. Not only was he a High-Alpha, but he was also like a nestmate brother to her. He had helped Shadowwing rescue her long ago from the rotted two-leg Grimmel-Alpha, and he had proven himself as kin to her many times aside from then, such as when he let her sleep in his cave-den after a different attack on her own cave-den.
For now, all she could think about was the coming meeting and how to help these Light Furies trust her and her kin.
Was-Grounded hummed to himself as he flew at Luna's side.
Several pawful of sky-kin raised their voices in acclaim at his passing, and he roared back at them.
His and his brother's rise to become High-Alphas in this part of the hidden world felt so recent even after two and half season-cycles had passed. He and Shadowwing had presented themselves to all the gathered sky-kin and implored them to give the two-leg ground-kin a chance at peaceful together-life. Many sky-kin had not been willing to do that. There had been one Light Fury far-flier who then flew away to warn its pack about the ground-kin being in the hidden world.
Flies-With-Sun, Luna's nestmate sister, had explained that there was one large pack of Light Furies in a very far range, and there were many smaller packs throughout the hidden world. Most of the Light Furies preferred flying among their own kind, though they were mostly peaceful with the other sky-kin they did share ranges with.
A lone Light Fury had flown into the New-Haven-range in the last waking-cycle. The male Light Fury saw the ground-kin within and had demanded to meet with the sky-kin-Alpha of the range. He and Shadowwing spoke with the male, who then told them that a small family-pack of Light Furies wanted to meet with them in the flock-making chamber, which was where he and Luna were flying.
They dropped down a level into a long pass that led into their final destination. These were very familiar passageways to him, since he regularly made this flight many times on his own or with his kin.
He and Shadowwing had worked out a splitting of Alpha-duties. He was more the Alpha over all sky-kin, and Shadowwing was the Alpha for the ground-kin. This was a good flight for them both, mostly because Shadowwing, for obvious reasons, knew far more about ground-kin ceremonies and thinking.
He rolled his eyes as he remembered Shadowwing sitting among groups of ground-kin while hearing their complaints and answering them aloud. Shadowwing had learned how to speak with words like a ground-kin.
All the Fury children had immediately demanded to be taught how to speak. Kin-liver, their young's life-bond ground-kin friends, and Shadowwing had volunteered to help teach them as much as they could. Some words and sounds could not be made by a sky-kin, but new sounds had been made to fly in the place of the other ones as the ground-kin young and his kin started making a new mixed-way of speaking.
The young learned this new flight with much eagerness, but it was too thought-twisting to him, and he had not learned to speak much of it at all, except for a few important names.
His and his brother's situation was a twisted one, in that it was unlikely that they could share such power and status as Alphas if they were not kin to each other from both lives. That deep trust and sharing of many parts of their life-flights which he and Shadowwing had was the reason why he felt no twisting fear about leaving Green-Wings and Shadowwing together. It was also why Shadowwing had asked for him to fly with Luna on this flight, and why he had agreed to do so.
He glanced at Luna as she flew at his side. She was pure white with no shine of other colors on her scales, wings, or hide. There were also some small claw-scratches on the sides of her belly. Those were the only marks of very bad times long ago.
She was beautiful, but she was not his. Green-Wings was his, and she was more beautiful than Luna.
They flew out into the very big chamber filled with the almost-deep-water plants, a far area of water, and many red-colored rocks. The largest light-making rock of them all rose from the ground, making a very bright ledge and perch like a sun that could be seen from all around the chamber.
He tucked his wings and dove, only throwing them wide again at the last wingbeat as he spun down over the bright ledge. He touched down and pranced to a stop, his tail sliding up next to his front paws.
A rush of wings passed over him as Luna dove and touched down on the rock several paces away from him. She pranced to a stop and turned to look up the slope at him. Surprisingly, she looked twisted and worried.
"Luna? What is twisting your tail?"
"Should I be up there? I am not an Alpha," she nervously shuffled on her paws.
He snorted and tapped the light-rock at his side with his tailfins.
"Why does that matter? You are kin to me, and you are the life-mate of an Alpha. Yes, this is your place. Come here."
She slowly padded her way up the slope, her claws clicking with every step. She sat down on her haunches next to him, and she looked out over the massive chamber.
"I remember the last time I was here," she sighed.
He dipped his head toward her and purred softly while his ears lifted, "I do remember. It feels like it was only last cycle."
Luna lay down fully on the light-rock and hid her head under her white tailfins, apparently to get some rest before the meeting. It was a decently long flight to get here, after all. He remained attentively watching the hidden skies, waiting for the arrival of the small Light Fury family-pack. His thoughts flew freely as he waited.
He and his four oldest children, Dawn-Singer, Aurora, Rain-Eater, and Mist-Wings, took turns watching the above on that flight for seven sun-cycles at a time. That helped the ground-kin count time and also kept the island and the hidden world safe. While it was unlikely that any bad two-legs would ever find that island, there was still a risk the island could be found.
Dawn-Singer was currently above, keeping watch on the island that had the very big cave leading down into the hidden world.
He returned to Luna's side, and rested beside her. She eventually awoke, got to her paws, and started pacing, her claws gently clicking on the rock underpaw.
He hummed, "You were not only twisted by thinking that this is not your place, were you?"
She briefly glanced over her shoulder at him before looking away again. Her ears fell.
"True," she warbled.
"Is this about his hurting?" he asked.
She winced at that and deeply sighed, "Sometimes I see him alone on the ledge or off relieving himself, and he holds a paw to his chest-hurt. He even hurts some when we are together as mates."
He remembered very well the terrible night in the above which led to this problem. The bad Alpha two-leg who made its life-flight to hunt Night Furies, Grimmel the Grisly, had attacked the Haven-range using his death-grabbers. They took Luna after burning her and Shadowwing's cave-den and almost killing Moon-Dancer.
He, Shadowwing, and Luna had fought against a true monster sky-kin in the fight against Grimmel's the Grisly's army-flock. None of them had ever seen anything like it before and hopefully never would again. Shadowwing killed it with sky-light, with lightning, but he was burned by the sky-light and almost killed when Grimmel shot him with an arrow-bolt in the chest.
He himself had to tear the arrow out of his brother's chest, though doing so hurt his brother much and made him lose a lot of life-water. Doing that for him was one of the worst and most liver-chilling things he had ever needed to do. The chest-hurt had apparently not truly healed.
"He is very strong. He told me that he would do all that again if he had to," he answered.
She softly whined, "I know, but I wish I could do more for him. The hurting has gotten worse since the fight with the fire-scale."
A lone and thought-rotted, or just very angry, fire-scale had flown into the shared-range when Shadowwing was being the below-watcher for the shared-range. His brother had fought off the fire-scale with fire and power-light, but it lunged and hit his chest very hard.
She sadly warbled, "I remember how the last meetings with my kind did not go well. They would not listen. I hope that this one will be different."
"It will be, or it will not be. Just tell them the truth, and you cannot change what they do then," he shrugged.
Luna grumbled softly and turned her attention back to the hidden skies and far passageways to wait for the other Light Furies to arrive. She was just starting to get restless when motion caught her attention. This chamber was mostly empty of kin, there being no hunting in it, and that lacking made any movement stand out.
Her gaze narrowed on the approaching shapes as her breath caught and her tail froze.
Flying from a far distant cavern were just over a couple pawful of Light Furies. She could make out what looked like three pairs of adults, a lone flier, and one pawful of fledglings.
She lifted her voice to them with an eager roar of greeting which they answered in kind. They all swooped down toward the rear of the light-rock-crystal and began to land. They were all various shades of white or grey with some shines of other colors on their hides. The young, apparently two or three seasons-cycles of age based on their sizes, immediately began playing with each other, pouncing and growling happily as they rolled down toward the ground, while their sires and dams stayed nearby or played with them.
A lone adult turned toward her and Was-Grounded. The Light Fury, a female, was the largest of the pack, and she had several large scars across her chest and side. There was a small and scabbed hole in her right wing. Further, this female was clearly one with a leadership role among the pack, possibly even the family-pack-Alpha.
Do not be so twisted. I know what to do!
She took a very deep breath, finding some inner-strength from her own thought-voice, and stepped forward toward the female Alpha. She sat down on her rear, stilled her tail, inclined her head and spread her wings slightly in two signs of respect toward the newcomers.
She purred, "Greetings, far-flying light wing."
"Are you an Alpha?" the female asked.
"No, I am not an Alpha. My mate and Was-Grounded are the Alphas in these closest ranges. What is your name?"
"I am Red-Paw," the female answered.
Luna blinked and tried very much to not think about how Red-Paw may have gotten that name. Red-Paw was clearly a strong female and was as large as any male Light Fury. Red-Paw clearly knew how to fight to protect her own as flight-leader.
"I am Luna. Like-the-great-night-sky-rock."
Red-Paw blinked in surprise and leaned toward her, "You know about the night-sky-rock? You have flown the above? That is a very dangerous place with Monsters."
"I did. I was searching for my life-mate. I found him and now we live here in the hidden ranges."
Red-Paw glanced at Was-Grounded, "And you, dark wing?"
"I am Was-Grounded. I am an Alpha in the range we live in."
Red-Paw looked between her and Was-Grounded and she purred, "I did not know dark wings and light wings could be good mates. Do you have young together?"
Luna and Was-Grounded glanced at each other and snorted in amusement.
"We are not mates. My mate is in a far range. He is sitting with our next egg," she explained.
Red-Paw glanced between them both in confusion, "Your mate let you fly alone with an Alpha male?"
Was-Grounded stepped closer and spoke, "Her mate, Shadowwing, is my nestmate. We trust each other, and our nest-kin live much of life together."
Red-Paw purred, "That explains what Cloudburst told me. You live very differently from what how most packs live. My pack is somewhat like yours. My three little ones, their mates, and their young fly with me. We all fly together for safety."
Luna purred in approval, "Were did your pack come from?"
Red-Paw sighed and thrashed her tail, "We lived in an above-range far away in the warmer ranges across many waters. Two-legs started living closer to our range and hunting us. We fled from the above when we heard the great calling. We have lived on our own since then as we hid from other kin in the great-much-fighting."
Just the mention of that terrible time, the great-much-fighting, made her shiver and remember certain flashes of those dark and twisted waking-cycles. Fires. Screams of fear. Watching and guarding the entrance against any unknown kin. Threats. Driving others away. Most of that badness had faded, and there were only echoes now living in the actions of the sky-kin throughout the hidden world.
"I understand. All in our home-range stayed in hiding in that time."
Luna took a breath and flew the question that she most wanted the answer to.
"In your flights down here in these ranges, did you ever find a pair of light wings named Hope-In-His-Liver and Paws-At-Bright-Flowers? They are my sire and dam, and I do not know where they are or if they live."
Red-Paw purred softly, "I do not remember meeting any by those names."
She sighed and bowed in acceptance. It was unlikely that they would have found her sire and dam, but there was no harm in asking.
Red-Paw looked back at her with her ears flattened to her neck, "I heard something that was very twisting. We have been flying far to find a place where we can live safely and in peace. One of my pack, Cloudburst, told me that he saw a range filled with light wings, dark wings, many other kin, and... things that should not be in the hidden ranges."
"What did you hear?"
"That the far range has two-leg Monsters in it."
She glanced at Was-Grounded and took some comfort from his soft purr. He stood nearby, letting her be the flight-leader for this meeting.
"Those words are false. There are no two-leg Monsters in my home-range."
Red-Paw sighed in obvious relief, "Good. I hoped that Cloudburst was only seeing things. Maybe he ate too many light-plants that made him see twisted-visions."
Luna softly hummed, "Your Cloudburst did not see twisted-visions. There are two-legs in the range, but they are not Monsters."
Red-Paw spun away, trotted down the slope of the light-rock, and returned to her pack. She and the three mated pairs began whispering and hissing to each other. Their tails kept twitching and their ears went back in alarm and worry.
Luna's own eagerness and hope in this meeting began to fade the longer the family-pack spoke on their own. She glanced again at Was-Grounded. He also looked very alert and worried as he padded to her side.
He softly hissed, "Have care. I do not think she has much warmth in her liver."
"I must try. Stay with me," she purred.
"I will."
The three pairs of mates retreated to the base of the light-rock. They settled down and watched over their playing young on the ground. Red-Paw slowly returned, a very calm look on her face, as she trotted up the slope.
"How did those Monsters get in here?" Red-Paw hissed.
"They are not Monsters. They are here because the kin in that range flew them here into hiding to live in peace with us."
Red-Paw barked, "They are two-legs. Kin-hunters, thrall-makers, and killers!"
"Not them! Not our ground-kin."
Red-Paw snarled and parted her jaws with a hiss, "Yours?"
Luna breathed very deeply to kill the frustration flaring inside her liver. Getting angry would not help this meeting.
"They are ground-kin to us and to all the sky-kin who live in the range with them."
Red-Paw's mouth hung open in disbelief and confusion, "That is the most rotted, thought-twisted thing I have ever heard!"
"It is different and new, yes, but it is good," Luna objected.
Red-Paw stepped away and walked over to the edge of the crystal. She sat down and curled her tail around her front paws. She stared down at the young ones in her flock who were playing, biting and snapping at each other down on the rocky ground.
Luna warily padded over to her and stood next to her.
"Do you know why I am alone? Why my life-mate is not flying with me now?" Red-Paw softly hissed.
"Two-legs?" Luna whimpered.
"Yes! They caught him in a trap when he was hunting four-leg prey. They killed him and cut off his hide while I hid our little ones. We did not hunt the two-legs. We did not burn their dens. We only hunted their prey-thralls because the two-legs caught all the prey and emptied the forests. We had no choice but to take those prey to eat."
"That should not happen."
Red-Paw spun around and glared at her, "Two-legs fill the ranges where they live. They make many young and change the ranges. They push out kin and empty the ranges of prey that we can hunt. They caused this! They cannot change what they are! Why do you not see that?"
Luna sighed, remembering well a time long ago when she had thought the same thing. She stepped closer to Red-Paw and bent her head toward her while also fanning out a wing.
"Do you see my hurt-marks on my head and my wings?" she asked.
"Yes," Red-Paw huffed.
"Two Monster two-legs gave me both of those hurt-marks. One cut my head and the other cut my wings so that I was grounded. Do you know what another two-leg did for me? She healed my wings so I could fly again. She put helping-healing-plants on my head-hurts."
Red-Paw grumbled and looked away from her, "Even if that is true, it only helped you so that it can use you or make you a life-thrall! Cloudburst told me about the kin that the two-legs use for work and thralled-flights."
"That is very word-twisted and not true! There is no thralling in that range. We kin work to help them."
"Is it? You dark wings, light wings, and all the other kin in that range must hunt and work for the two-legs. What do you get from them? Nothing. You are all life-thralls and do not even know it."
Luna again winced at that familiar thinking so like what her own had been. She was also getting very frustrated with Red-Paw. Not understanding was different from not wanting to understand.
"Why do you care if we are thralls?" she hissed at Red-Paw.
"Because the two-legs are dangerous. Will they only stay in that range where they are now? No, they will get out into other ranges, and thrall kin everywhere!"
"False. We will not let them."
Red-Paw snorted, "You have fouled the hidden ranges, and betrayed all kin."
Luna stepped back and turned away from Red-Paw at those words that bit so deep. Disagreeing with bringing two-legs into the hidden world because of old hurts that twisted thinking and judging was at least understandable. But to say that she had turned her tail on all sky-kin? That hurt far more.
A deep growling echoed from behind them both as Was-Grounded stepped closer with his wings slightly flared in threat and warning. His nose, jaws, wings, and the fins on his back were glowing a very faint blue as he faced Red-Paw.
"We have greeted you in peace, but your words to Luna are only claws of ice. Do not threaten her, or you will see what happens when anyone, sky-kin or two-leg, threatens those I hold to my liver!"
Red-Paw stepped back from both of them, clearly surprised by the display, though she showed no fear and even had a very faint white glow on her back.
"Why do you protect those things? Surely you know how bad they can be," Red-Paw hissed.
Luna stepped forward without hesitation, leaning forward to within a few paw-lengths of Red-Paw's nose.
"Yes, I know how bad two-legs can be! I was held in a trap as a mating-thrall, and two-legs forced wrong-kin on me to try to give them eggs! And I hated those two-legs! I helped kill some of them and their trappers, and I liked killing them! But I do not hate two-legs who have not wronged me or kin!"
"They are all two-legs. They cannot change what they are!" Red-Paw defiantly hissed.
Luna stepped back and turned her shoulder on Red-Paw, having finally realized the sad, twisted truth that Red-Paw could not understand what she was saying.
Red-Paw only wanted to think in groups of two-legs on one paw and all sky-kin on the other paw. For one group to gain meant that the other had to lose. Together life-flights could not be in such thinking. Thinking in terms of groups necessarily forces groups apart and makes them enemies.
"What will you do now?" she asked Red-Paw.
Red-Paw looked down on her pack on the ground, "We will fly to a far range where many light wings are flying to. The far packs think it is safest to live with our own kind. We agree."
"If you must. You are wrong about the two-leg ground-kin."
Red-Paw hissed and held her head proudly, "I have been flight-leader for my flock for four season-cycles. I have not yet led them false. If the Monsters stay in the range where they are now... that is bad, but them leaving into more ranges would be worse. I will protect my flock from them if I ever see them out in the hidden ranges. They will be prey and enemies."
Even in her own most angered and liver-flamed moments toward two-legs, she had never thought of them as prey for hunting and eating. No. They were more than beasts and other small life without great thinking. They had the same great life-fire-spark. Bad ones had to be killed for her own protection, but they were not prey-animals.
"You will not need to hurt them. I hope that you learn that," she said.
"They do not belong here. We should be apart for our own good. I hope you learn that."
Red-Paw leaned forward off the crystal, throwing her wings wide to glide down to the rest of her pack.
Luna watched as Red-Paw touched down and padded over to her kin. The three pairs of mates immediately strode over to her, and they started speaking together. Several glances were thrown her way up on the light-rock. Each of their glances was accusatory.
Her tail twitched behind her as she softly snarled. Why was Red-Paw so untrusting? She did not know how to lead! Her thinking was completely rotted! She...
She froze when she saw what was happening down below. The young Light Furies had bounded over to Red-Paw and were dancing around her in play with their tails eagerly swaying. Red-Paw stepped away from the discussion with the adult pairs, bent down, tackled a pair of the young to the ground, and started licking their bellies. The fledglings' happy, warm cries of laughter reached her ears from down below and melted the anger she felt as she watched the play. Red-Paw, despite being pack-Alpha, took the time to play with her children's young ones. It was clear that she cared for her own.
Red-Paw finished playing with them, shared a few more words with the pairs, and the family-pack took to the sky. They turned for a distant passageway that led into far ranges away from the New-Haven-range. The adults flamed the sky before them, and all, adults and fledglings, vanished into the fire-clouds, leaving the sky empty.
Luna stared after them, looking long into the apparently empty path as silence fell over her. The faint wind tickled her fins and wings as she perched on the ledge. Doubt and uncertainty was flaring in her liver. An old fear was wiggling, buried deep within.
She heard the click of claws on rock behind her.
"Luna?" Was-Grounded asked as he padded up next to her.
"I do not know," she wearily sighed.
He remained silent as he too stared out toward where the other Light Furies had flown.
She jumped from the ledge, throwing wide her wings and turning for the passageway they had both flown through. Was-Grounded followed behind her.
They both spun higher into the massive chamber filled with the strange rock-shapes growing from the ground, the glowing lights, and the great, strengthening, life-warming perch that overlooked all. None of the beautiful surroundings mattered at all.
Red-Paw's words were still biting her thoughts, fouling what should have been a safe and peaceful flight.
'They cannot change what they are!'
'We should be apart for our own good!'
Was-Grounded remained attentive throughout the flight. These were still ranges in which strange sky-kin occasionally flew, and he was not going to have to tell his brother that Luna was attacked while he was off staring at light-rocks or licking his own tailfins.
He was also attentively watching her flight because she seemed very slow and weak. It was almost as though the fouled meeting with her kin had taken much strength and life-fire from her.
She suddenly tucked her wings and dove toward the ground. She swooped lower and deftly touched down on the shore next to a flowing river and a forest of the tree-things that do not grow in the above. She pranced to a standstill next to a patch of brightly-glowing moss on some rocks in the sand. He landed behind her and slowly padded up next to her as she sat down on her rear.
"Do you need rest?" he asked.
She curled her tail around her front paws and hung her head, refusing even to look up at him. His fear was confirmed when she started keening softly, a small and almost weak cry of chill, sadness, and failure. Her hurting chilled his liver, so he stepped to her side and extended a wing over her back. He stood there with her, gently comforting her as she let out the hurt and chill from inside.
She leaned against his shoulder and gradually stopped trembling after many wingbeats had passed.
"Luna?" he gently hummed.
She sniffled, "I... do not understand... why... my kind is so... cold. Why... do they not... want to trust or... try to understand?"
He shrugged, "The ones who lived in the above probably know and remember the bad of two-legs hunting them. Those who lived in the hidden world do not know they can trust these very different life. Or they have already heard stories of how bad two-legs can be."
She looked up at him with hurt shining in her light blue eyes. She clearly looked to him for reassurance in that moment.
"Our ground-kin are not two-legs. They are different, new life in their livers," she whined.
"I know that. You know that. All sky-kin in or from the mixed-range know that."
She sighed, "But why do the Light Furies hate those who have not hurt them? They clutch fear and not-trusting in their livers. I do not know what to do with them. I... do not understand."
He purred softly, "Maybe we do not need to do anything. The Light Furies want to live on their own. We should let them. Forcing their flights into our range might only make them have anger against us and the ground-kin. Peace with them might need life-cycles to pass until none of their kin remember a time when there were no ground-kin living in this world."
She froze and very warily looked up to meet his eyes again. Everything about her look spoke of fear and worry.
"Did I do a... good thing by bringing the ground-kin here with us?" she whispered.
He looked away from her and stared out over the slowly-flowing waters. The occasional sky-kin cried out to announce itself somewhere in the thick forest or the distant skies.
"Why do you ask?"
She looked up toward the nearest glowing crystals. "Because if all the Light Fury packs turn their tails on us, how do we know that they are not thinking clearly? How can I know that my thinking is not rotted if they all fly against what I think is good? If they all think that I am wrong, how do I know that I am not wrong. I cannot ask Shadowwing this question. What would you have done?"
He sighed as well as his ears flattened to his head.
Those times, those sun-cycles, had been filled with so much fear and worry between himself and Shadowwing. They had not agreed on whether to fly for the hidden world until Shadowwing almost died. His brother, after almost losing Moon-Dancer, Luna, and almost dying himself, had let go of his vision-hopes for a better world of sky-kin and two-legs together.
But, Luna had intervened, speaking out for the two-legs of the Haven-range to be brought into hiding with their bond sky-kin in the hidden world as one flight.
"I would have flown the sky-kin into hiding alone. I would have said that it was better to be free and fly on our own to be stronger and safer. Hurt livers would heal with time."
He hung his head as well, refusing to say anything for many wingbeats, "But I had forgotten that kin and two-legs, sky-kin and ground-kin, are stronger together than we are apart. I had forgotten the life-lesson that I learned with Hiccup in a past-life. Yes, I would have broken the nest in two, but you did not. Why not?"
"I do not know. I was... twisted. I was warm to them. Why does it matter?" she grumbled.
"Because I want to know your reason. Why?" he insisted and hugged her a little closer with his wing.
She closed her eyes and softly crooned, "I did not want us to leave them because they looked as hurt as we would be. I knew when they let us go that we could trust them always. I looked at them, and I saw us. That probably sounds twisted of me."
He grinned toothlessly and chuckled, "It is less twisted than you think. I thought the same thing about Hiccup, and he told me that he let me live because he saw how similar we were. He looked at me and saw himself. Breaking the nests in two would only make kin and two-legs, forget each other and would let rotted thinking and not-trust grow between them. I know that... now. You made the good choice."
He pointed with a paw back the way they had flown, "We might not be able to change all the packs in the hidden world. We might not change any of them, but we can only live for our pack, for the ground-kin we protect and our children. I had to tell Shadowwing this many times in the Haven-range before you became mates."
She chuckled a little, finally showing some liver-warmth, "Are you saying that some of his twistedness is part of me?"
He snorted, "Yes! Shadowwing changes almost everything he brings into his life-flight. Have you and he done more of the together-feeling-knowing?"
"Not in many waking-cycles. We should probably should do more of that."
"Then we should fly to our home-range."
He stepped away from her and spread his other wing as he crouched in the sand, ready to take flight.
"Was-Grounded..."
"Luna?" he glanced back at her.
"Thank you, brother," she purred.
"Always, sister."
They jumped for the sky and turned their flight back up the long cavern which would lead over waters, through shimmering ranges, over forests, along waterfalls, and finally into a narrow passageway filled with dark lights, caves, and the cries of watchful Furies welcoming them home.
Dawn-Singer grumbled and rolled onto his back to let his belly eat up the sun's warm light which was much brighter and warmer than anything below. His wings were fully stretched out also to eat up as much light and warmth as they could. The only twisting thing about resting on his back was that he could see the clouds rolling overhead, spinning and swirling with the breath of the wind.
He so desperately wanted to go touch the clouds right now, but that would be twisted thinking to fly that flight. Taking to the sky during the day, as much as he wanted to do so, would let him be seen by any watching eyes, if there were any. There probably were not, but he had to be responsible.
He was up here on this mountain on this island in the middle of nowhere important for one reason only. All sky-kin and their ground-kin were in hiding.
His sire-father and dam-mother had long ago explained that most two-legs were not warm-livered to sky-kin. Even those of Haven had once lived their life-flights to fight sky-kin, but they had changed after being shown a better life. Others beyond the Haven-range had not changed.
Two-legs could be very twisting life, as he knew from the example of his life-bond ground-kin friend, Erevan Haffnar. He had known that ground-kin for over four season-cycles. Erevan had once had some rotted thinking in his liver, thinking that he, Dawn-Singer, was a thing to use for flying: a four-leg winged thrall-life.
That rotted thinking had been thrown out after a very wild flight that he took Erevan on. That flight had involved dropping Erevan from the sky, then catching him, and then a long talk with picture-words. Erevan had dropped much eye-water in that talk. But it had worked and changed his friend's thinking for the better! They became better and truer friends after that fight.
He still wondered how his sire-father knew that such a flight had lift and could help to throw out a two-leg's rotted thinking and help make the two-leg into a ground-kin.
There was an itch on his back.
So he thrashed on his back and purr-growled when the rocks scratched at the itch. The rocks did not work as well as ground-kin paws would at getting itches out, but rocks were all he had available.
The itch finally defeated, he glanced backwards off the mountain toward the mouth of the massive cave that looked upside down from his perspective.
That cave was completely hidden from view on the water, which meant that any strange two-legs would not see it. That cave led down into the hidden world where all sky-kin now lived.
His sire-father, Was-Grounded, and his second sire-father, Shadowwing, had spoken to him about how the hidden world had to remain hidden. No two-legs not from Haven and now living in the hidden world could ever be allowed to find it. It was unlikely that any two-legs would ever take their boat-water-walkers to this island and start looking around. But the massive cave that glowed from within with faint light would look suspicious if anyone found it.
There had to be watchers in the above to keep the hidden world safe, which was why he and his nestmates rotated this watching-duty.
He closed his eyes, yawned and sighed, letting everything go limp. The warmth was making him very sleepy. Being up here alone with nothing to do was boring.
His flight was very simple. Stay in the above on this island and watch for danger. He was to fly below and warn the Alphas if strange two-legs found this island. He was not to greet the two-legs on the boats or attempt any peacemaking. It was entirely possible that strange two-legs who appear on a boat and find this island would have to be... killed to protect the secret, although he truly hoped that would not need to happen. None had found this island yet, so that killing had not needed to happen.
Today was nearing the end of the cycles he was to be in the above, and he very much wanted to go back below.
There were many liver-warming things about flying the open sky outside the hidden world. For one, there was no rain in the hidden world. Standing in the rain could only be done in the below by standing in waterfalls. Another good thing about the above was that the air smelled different, somewhat cleaner. There was stronger wind here in the above to tickle his wings.
But the most frustrating thing about being below was the limited amount of flight that a sky-kin could do. The caves, while very big, were still bounded. The hidden sky was not as big as this sky. There was no horizon to fly to below and therefore satisfy a deep wanting to fly to a horizon just because he could.
Sky-kin were life meant to be in the sky!
His two favorite things to do when he was being the above-watcher were to sing loudly his joy at each new dawn and, once each new night came, to fly very high up beyond the clouds and then tuck his wings into a freefall. Neither of those could be done in the hidden world.
He rolled over and got to his paws, stretching and yawning widely. Jumping from rock ledge to rock ledge as the long grass tickled his belly, he ascended the mountain. Finally, he stood at the top of the grassy mountain, all the snow having melted off during the hot-season, and stood tall on his hind legs while flaring his wings wide in the wind. He slowly spun in a circle, looking toward the horizon in every direction.
As usual, there was nothing there to see.
He dropped down to the ground and curled up, vanishing under his tailfins and a wing.
One very twisted part of his duty always nibbled at his tail in such moments. He was probably the only sky-kin in this world now... the only Night Fury for sure.
The worst part of this duty was the being alone. The sleeping alone on a mountainside with no pair of warm purrs coming from under his wings was not warming. No tail was wrapped around his tail.
He could not restrain the purring of warmth at the thought of them, of those two most important people in his life.
His life-mate, Flies-With-Sun, and his fledgling, Moon-Pinner. Flies-With-Sun, Luna's nestmate sister, was the only other true Light Fury who had flown to the New-Haven-range and stayed. She had flown there out of curiosity after hearing strange things from other Light Furies who knew about the ground-kin who were living there.
He had taken on the flight-duty of showing her the range and the ground-kin. While she had been very wary of them and did not know what to think at first, she had learned to trust them and had even started treating Erevan's nestmate sister, Helga, as a friend of her own. Maybe even as a life-bond ground-kin.
From what his life-mate had shared with him in the past, she had been very frustrated with how the Light Fury males in the hidden world were not what she wanted in a mate. He was what she wanted.
Moon-Pinner, his dear-to-the-liver first-hatched daughter, was a special sky-kin since she was, very appropriately, a Dawn Fury. Her wings were mostly dark with some white spots, her paws and legs were white, and her belly and tail were dark. Her neck had many different white and dark spots. In shape, she was between Night Fury and Light Fury, the same as Shadowwing's and Luna's youngest ones.
She was still at the age when she played much. It was good that she had young Night-Light, Shadowwing's male third-hatched, as a younger playmate who looked very similar to her. She knew only a pawful of the written picture-words and was starting to learn much more of the spoken ground-kin words.
She also needed to start learning some responsibility, and he was not sure what to do to help her with that.
He thought long about it, eventually flying his thoughts back to his own life-flight. What was it that his sire-father and dam-mother had done to help him grow in that way?
They had made him bring back fish for Aurora and Rain-Eater and also help them learn their picture-words. Doing those things, even though he did not want to do them at the time, had forced him to think about and do good for another who was kin to him but not in a place of power over him.
He flicked up his tailfins, lifted his head, and stared off toward the horizon while purring deeply. An idea had hatched in his thinking. It was an idea that he had thought before.
"Moon-Pinner needs a nestmate!"
That was a very good idea. He liked it very much. How to make it happen though? It was not going to be as easy a flight as he would have liked.
Shadowwing and Was-Grounded had explained that all the Fury-kin living in the New-Haven-range could not have as many children as they would like. There was not enough food in their ranges in the hidden world for all to have very big nest-flocks. The agreement since flying into hiding seemed to be that any new pairs would limit themselves to two eggs or would need to fly away into other ranges, which no one wanted because it would break the family-packs apart.
He and Flies-With-Sun had been one much back when they first became life-mates. They had both dearly wanted a hatchling and had made sure that they would get one. They had not been trying for a new egg since then.
He lay back down and covered his head with his tailfins.
Grr, how am I going to do this? She is always with Moon-Pinner, Helga, or Luna. I need to get her alone somehow. Maybe I can catch her while Moon-Pinner is with Luna and we are swimming. She did say that she would make me truly have to catch her the next time! Or maybe I should leave hints first and get her to jump at me! That would be better, much better!
The plan started to fly together.
I should bring her strong-life-hatchling flowers one at a time and leave them for her to find in our cave. I can hold her tail more when we sleep. And I can tell her how good it is that Moon-Dancer has Hidden-Hope and Night-Light to play with!
He grinned and purred. Somehow, he knew that his plan would work... eventually.
Dawn-Singer stared off with the sun's flight toward the horizon as the sun was falling out of sight again, filling the sky with its orange glow. The temperature began to fall as the wind died away and the grasses slowly waved in the end of day air.
It was time for the ceremony.
He spread his wings wide and bowed his head to the fading sun while softly purring out of a mix of warmth and chill. He always felt that each time he did this ceremony.
He did not look up again until the sun was hidden under the far horizon and gone from the world.
With the little remaining light, he looked toward every horizon one more time, saw the usual nothing, and jumped for the sky. His solemn roar pierced the calm wind and echoed off the mountain as he turned for the cave and put his tail to the world above.