Two Families
Green-Wings carefully shuffled in place on the rocky ledge. Her tail slowly swayed as she regarded the fellow Night Fury several bounds away from her on the ledge. There was something she needed to do with him, even though part of her liver struggled with doing it. Sitting with the egg was a good and necessary part of being a dam-mother.
But even a dam-mother needed time away from sitting the egg. Best would be for her life-mate to sit with his own egg while she could not, but Was-Grounded was away. Her grown young were also away on a hunting-flight, which left only Shadowwing available to sit with the egg. That was fine.
"We should do it now," she declared.
Shadowwing lifted his head from his paws, and he looked over at her with some surprise in his eyes. His ears also lifted as he gazed at her.
He warbled, "Are you sure?"
She snorted in amusement, "Yes, I trust you with this. What kind of twisted question is that?"
He nodded at her in one of his ground-kin signs of acceptance, "Should we do it over here or where you are?"
"I will come to you. Moving my egg is safer," she answered after a moment of thought.
She got to her paws, stretched, picked up her egg, and slowly pranced to him. She stepped before him and purred softly with a slow nod as he shuffled in place. Then she bent down and carefully placed her egg right next to his egg between his paws.
He flicked his tailfins over both eggs to shelter them and keep them a little warmer. Satisfied, she licked him on the face, purred deeply, and stepped back, feeling no fear at all for her egg and unhatched little one.
"My thanks," she said.
He purred, "Any time. You know well how warming it is to sit with eggs."
"If you lose my egg, I will eat your liver," she reminded him, chuckling.
He only rolled his eyes and flicked an ear toward the dark cavern. She spun around, dashed for the ledge, and leaped for the dark, almost-twilight sky. This would be her first true break from sitting the egg in over a pawful of sleep-cycles, and she intended to make the most of it by swimming in the deep waters, catching fish, rolling in the long and scratching grass, flying for fun and liver-warmth, and sleeping while being able to roll as she wished.
Even better, all the other little ones, many of them not being truly little anymore, were busy and occupied elsewhere, so she had no dam-mother duties! There was nothing wrong or twisted about them, but a break was also a relief! This would be a very good waking-cycle.
She spun in a loop, brushing the tips of her green wings against the light-rocks as she passed into the depths of the mixed-range but not entirely to the shared-nest. Over the very large mushrooms that grew bigger than kin, and along the flowing waters that had fish and other prey, her flight eventually brought her to the place she wanted to rest at: a particularly bright light-rock that glowed a little green.
She landed next to the green light-rock and curled up in the thick moss. This particular rock was close to her liver because of the green color.
Time to start the cycle of doing nothing!
It was hard to not fly her thoughts to the future. There were still several waking-cycles before the egg would hatch. This would be her sixth egg and little one with her life-mate.
Her very first hatchling, sired in the above by a Night Fury whose liver and thinking were rotted, had not lived through the cold-season. The hunting in her old range in the above was not good because there was very little prey to catch. The sire, a rotted not-true-kin, had not stayed with her as a mate should. It did not even stay to provide for its own young.
She had not been able to catch enough food for her hatchling. That was the simple, painful truth of what happened. The sire should have stayed with her, but given that he... it had not stayed it had then become her duty to provide. She had failed at that.
There was no true life-chill in her liver from that loss. She was sure of that. Not after finding a truly warm-livered life-mate and having had five little ones of her own, not including the unhatched one, with him.
But the future was uncertain. There was going to be change from now on, all because of something completely out of her control but not foreign to her life-flight. She had lived through the badness of hunger before.
Even now, her strongest-thinking third-hatched, Rain-Eater, was helping Shadowwing on a very important flight. This flight involved learning how much prey, ground-prey four-legs and fish, can regularly be caught and killed for food without making smaller the prey flocks. He had to learn how much food can be taken from the plants that grow in the hidden world. Finally, all that food will be put on one paw and how much is needed for all the sky-kin and the ground-kin, both now and to be in the future, in the mixed-range would be put on the other paw, so to speak.
The flight involved a lot of numbers and ideas she did not understand. Let Rain-Eater fly that flight with his clever-thinking. Even now, some problems for the shared-range were already clear, even if the cloud was still in future-skies.
She rolled onto her back, stared up at the cave's dark top, and whined with liver-chill at the reminder of what this food limitation implied. It meant that the mated pairs would have to stop having eggs. That was why these last two eggs she and Luna had laid were probably going to be the last ones for many life-making cycles.
It would not be the same. Joining as mates out of her life-making season was still a twisting thought. To be wrapped up in Was-Grounded's wings and have his tail around hers as he held her would be good and liver-warming, yes, but knowing that no egg would come from the joining would probably leave it feeling like an empty act. A pretending... a false-empty lie.
She was a dam-mother. That was all she knew what to do and was good at. She was patient with little ones, taught them their words, showed them how to properly relieve themselves, helped them learn the life-rules, played with them, taught them how to hunt, and helped them learn to use their wings.
What was she if she could not be a dam-mother? Was-Grounded had specifically looked for her so long ago because he wanted a mate and nest-flock of his own. Now, with more of their young grown and living more of their life-flights on their own in this range, the shared-ledge was quieter, though these two coming hatchlings would help with that silence. Also, Was-Grounded was a High-Alpha for this range of kin and the nearest ones which looked to him and Shadowwing. That flight took much time from him.
The whispering fear was usually hidden under the surface of her thoughts, but the danger felt much closer now.
She snarled at herself and rose to her paws. She started pacing in the glowing moss, kicking idly at it with her paws. Maybe the ground-kin could eat plants, but sky-kin certainly could not. Plants were not prey. Most of them at least were not prey. There were a few types of the mushrooms which could be eaten, but there was no true hunting of plants, which took much of the fun out of the hunt.
She sighed and took to the hidden sky and found the nearest waters, which she then dove into. She swam until she saw a large prey-fish, and she dove for it, quickly losing aware-thinking in the act of hunting. Swimming and hunting were good ways to pass the time.
Shadowwing watched her flight as Green-Wings stretched her wings, weaving and darting between the glowing spires until she vanished entirely from sight.
It amazed him how much she would trust him by leaving the egg with him, though this was also out of practical need. If the last six years, more or less, of knowing her had taught him anything, it was that mother Night Furies were very protective of their children.
Though, her experience of life was very different from what almost any other female Night Fury must have lived. To have another male who was not her own mate or blood-kin be truly a part of her life and family almost every day... every waking-cycle... was definitely not normal. But that had started from the first day that he had known her, from the same day when he found his lost brother after two years of searching.
She was like a sister to him, and he was like a brother to her. At least, that is how he thought they saw each other. She had no blood-brothers from before, and he had no sister back in his human life to compare her to.
Their children were growing up very close together, but not exactly as one family. He and Luna, and Was-Grounded and Green-Wings claimed different parts of this big ledge that they shared. Their families could make their heartwarming sleeping-piles within call of each other but still out of sight whenever there was need. The two sets of children were not being raised as siblings, but rather as very fond friends who saw each other almost every waking-cycle.
Some amount of distance, physical and emotional, was a good thing to keep between the sets of children for one simple reason.
It was the hope of both pairs that their children might eventually look to each other for possible mates if that ever became necessary. It was always possible that unattached Light Furies might appear, as had Flies-With-Sun for Dawn-Singer, but it was far less likely that those Light Furies would be suitable matches. All the Night Fury and Dawn Fury children thought well of the humans, and several of the Furies even had human friends with whom they shared their wings.
Any potential mate who could not trust humans would not be able to win the interest of his or his brother's sons or daughters.
A sound caught his attention, and he immediately glanced over his shoulder into the sky, attentively watching as a Nadder flew out of the passageway for other ranges.
That was one of the other convenient aspects of this location, being the only path into the cave where the tribe was in hiding. He and all the other Furies could guard this pass and more or less prevent openly violent or dangerous dragons from getting inside.
He was an Alpha, after all.
Silence followed the other dragon's departure. Many cycles had passed in which he yearned for silence because it meant that there was no fighting happening. Silence could also mean absence, that something was gone that should have been there. The rest of the ledge was empty.
All his attention then went back to the two eggs between his forearms. He covered the eggs with his tailfins and resumed purring his presence to them after gently flaming them for warmth.
It never got old to hold precious life like this. But it was also bittersweet to be doing so this time.
These were the last eggs that either he or his brother would have the chance to hold for a long time. That had been agreed upon, very reluctantly, by both pairs because of the simple limitations of available food. Even Dawn-Singer and Flies-With-Sun had agreed to limit themselves to two children, one of which they already had.
His and Luna's most recent egg was itself not intended. He and she had somewhat misunderstood precisely when she would be out of her fertile time. Then, what had to be several months later, she had sheepishly told him that she had another egg. There was of course no question of what they were going to do with it. It was a happy accident for which Was-Grounded, being the caring brother he was, still hadn't stopped teasing him.
He removed his tailfins again and bent down to put an ear to his brother's egg. He held his breath, listening carefully for anything he could hear. It was very, very faint and slow, but the sound was clear enough in the silence.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"You are a strong little one. But you are my brother's and Green-Wings's little one, so you would be strong. What will you be, male or female? How could we know right now? You will hatch into a very different world from what I knew and from what most of your brothers and sisters knew before."
He gently nosed the egg.
"Yes, you, like Rock-Climber, Hidden-Hope, and Night-Light, will only have known the hidden world. You will not know the sun, the moon, rain, snow, mountains, the horizon, and the stars. But, if you never know them, maybe you will not miss them because you did not know that you were missing anything. Well, I take that back, you will probably know something of them once you are grown and can be the watcher for us all in the above, as your oldest brother is doing now."
He shuffled in place, finding a more comfortable position.
"However, what you will have is far more than what you will not have. You will know the ground-kin always. You will learn their words, written and spoken, and how to make those words yourself, mostly. Some of the sounds are too hard to make. Stupid mouths."
He gazed at his and Luna's egg. This one was mostly a solid grey with swirls of darker and lighter grey. It was still far too early to see any visible signs of life or hear a heartbeat, though he and Luna knew for certain that there was a life inside.
He gave both eggs an affectionate lick.
"How does it go? Every time my Luna sings it I find it hard to listen to the words. I hear her singing and I just want to go catch her, hold her, pin her, and... oh, you are too young to hear anything of that. So for now..."
"Rest now, little ones, make not a sound. You will fly above the ground. Small you are now. You will grow and see how great you will be. Moon of mine, dance and play all your chills away. Rise and hunt, laugh and sing, then sleep under my wing. Strong and free, you will fly high with the clouds in the sky."
He replaced his tailfins and settled back into his nap with a yawn. Naps were good because they meant no Chiefing duties at all. Even if most of those duties were usually delegated to another, Snotlout-Thorvald, who lived in the village full-time.
No sooner had he laid back down than he shifted slightly in a way he did not intend. A sharp prick of pain erupted in his chest.
He did not twitch or move a muscle, instead only gritting his teeth and snarling softly until the flare faded. He closed his eyes again and lay down more carefully.
Ugh, stupid chest.
A joyful roar of greeting woke him from his nap, seemingly an instant later. He knew from the particular call and how similar it was to another exactly who it was.
A grey and white Light Fury with the faintest yellow shine on her wings appeared in the sky between the nearest large support columns. Flies-With-Sun dropped from the sky, beat her wings once, and gracefully touched down on the ledge, turning her deep blue and silver eyes on him.
Two smaller pairs of wings dropped in at her side. Her fledgling, Moon-Pinner, padded over to her side while yawning widely and pawing at her mother's wings. The other fledgling dashed straight for him, hopped over to his side, and snuggled up against him.
How warm could a father's heart glow for a son? There was something about Night-Light that felt very familiar to him. Moon-Dancer was a rather confident yet reserved son, and Hidden-Hope was an outgoing, silly, and stubborn daughter. Night-Light was shy and unsure of himself. Some of that was because he was still young at only about one and a half years old. He had learned his words and was very sensitive to others, but he was still very young in so many ways. More than his age, he looked different from his brother and sister and from any pure Night Fury or Light Fury.
He was just like Moon-Pinner, a black and white mottled Dawn Fury, having large patches of white on his muzzle and wings. His hatching had been very confusing for all watching, not being sure if the hatchling was going to come out dark or light or both.
But for him, what was precious about Night-Light was that he saw so much of himself in his son, as he had once been shy and insecure.
"How was the playing?" he asked Flies-With-Sun.
"Good. The children are tired. Where is Green-Wings?" she glanced around the ledge.
"She is flying free right now and getting away from sitting while she can. I am sitting both eggs," he nodded between his forearms and under his tailfins.
"I understand," she purred.
He glanced between her and Moon-Pinner, "What did you all do this cycle?"
"We flew down to the much-mushrooms grove, and I showed them which ones they do not eat unless they want to empty their bellies."
"Bad plants! They do not taste good! Bad!" Moon-Pinner barked from under her mother's wing.
He chuffed, "They do a thing to your body. That thing might be good if you need to empty your belly fast. But yes, usually it is bad to lose the food from your belly. What else did you do?"
"We hunted the long-leg-hoppers by the waters!" Moon-Pinner added with glee.
"Did you? Did you catch any?"
Moon-Pinner proudly stuck out her speckled neck and growled.
"I put three of them in my belly! He did not!" she pointed a tiny white paw at Night-Light.
Shadowwing chuckled at her young enthusiasm at hunting frogs.
Oh well, a great hunter has to start somewhere.
But, he noticed that his son had apparently not been so successful at that frog hunting.
"There were no problems, were there, Flies-With-Sun?"
She shook her head in an acquired expression as she answered, "None with your Night-Light. My fledgling, however, did not look where she was pouncing. She jumped into a pile of old waste."
"Dam-mother!" Moon-Pinner screeched.
She tried to wiggle to freedom, but she was pinned by a wing on one side, a paw on her tail, and a rough tongue giving her some much-needed grooming. Which was not to say that she did not try to fight her way to freedom, though she failed.
Shadowwing shook his head and chuffed in his amusement at the fledgling's discomfort. Then he looked down on Night-Light hidden under his wing. His son was still awake with his light blue and green eyes wide open. He bent down and nudged his son's nose.
"How was the playing, son?"
"Fun. Moon-Pinner pinned me more than I pinned her," Night-Light softly answered.
"She is much bigger than you."
"I did not catch any hoppers either."
"Why not?"
His son shrugged his shoulders and ruffled his little wings, "I was not fast enough. I did not want to eat them. Where is dam-mother?"
"She is flying to another range to talk with a pack of Light Furies."
"Why?"
"To see if they might want to range with us."
"Why?"
"So that they can learn about the ground-kin."
Night-Light seemed satisfied by that, and yawned widely before closing his eyes and snuggling up against his side under a dark wing.
Finally and after much licking, Flies-With-Sun finished giving her daughter the grooming bath, and released her. The fledgling haughtily pranced over to the ledge, firmly sat down on her rear, and fumed there in protest of the treatment.
Meanwhile, Flies-With-Sun turned away from her and stared out the long passageway that led into the rest of the hidden world. Her tail started tapping as she stared and purred.
"You feel very warmed by something," he hummed.
"I am. If my counting is good, Dawn-Singer's time in the above is done very soon. Some waking-cycles I think that I should go up there to see the above with him."
She had not, as far as he knew, gone up to see the above yet. Dawn-Singer had asked her if she wanted to join him up there, but she had declined those offers so far.
"Why do you not?"
"Because I remember the stories of bad in the above. And also because I have Moon-Pinner here to be with. I want him back here now," she sighed.
He understood that longing perfectly. The occasions when he had to be separated from Luna to help the tribe in his role as Chief and the times when he took over Alpha-dragon responsibilities in his brother's place were not enjoyable, and they always carried with them a cold of separation. However, those temporary moments were a necessary part of responsibility. Further, all involved knew that, while their flights may be apart for a time, those flights always come back together.
"He should be back here soon. Moon-Pinner misses her sire-father also. Is that right, Moon-Pinner?" Shadowwing asked.
"Yes, I do!" the fledgling barked at them.
Shadowwing nodded and purred to Flies-With-Sun, "See, I knew it. What will you and Moon-Pinner do now?"
She purred deeply while looking around the familiar ledge, "I was thinking we would sleep here. The others are away right now, and it is always best to be in a pack."
He could not disagree at all. The company was also very welcome as a ward against the silence.
"Good plan."
"Little one, come here. It is time to sleep!" Flies-With-Sun called to Moon-Pinner.
The young fledgling did not initially move.
"It is warm under my wing," Flies-With-Sun sang.
Small ears flicked, and Moon-Pinner's tail tapped on the ground in defiance. She did not face them yet.
"I will carry you by your scruff!" Flies-With-Sun barked.
Moon-Pinner immediately spun around and trotted over to her mother's inviting side. She vanished under a white and yellow wing while resting her head on her paws. Despite her earlier behavior, she was apparently exhausted after the playing, and she did not complain much. It was also clear that she did not like being carried by her scruff, probably because she was getting too big for that treatment and did not like being treated as a hatchling when she was a fledgling.
All of which made it a very effective threat.
Shadowwing and Flies-With-Sun waited until both of their children were asleep, which did not take long at all. Then he glanced at her as another question came into mind. Not only was she eager to see Dawn-Singer again, but Erevan would certainly be missing his friend. There was another human who was involved with Dawn-Singer's family.
Has she decided yet? It is about time, after how long they've known each other.
"Have you decided about Helga?" he whispered.
"What about her?"
"You know that Dawn-Singer and Erevan fly together some. You and Helga have been sharing picture-words."
She calmly hummed, "True, we have. I still think as I did the last time you asked. Yes, I will give words with her and do some bonding. But I do not want a ground-kin on my back."
"Is there a reason why not?" he respectfully asked.
Flies-With-Sun grumbled softly, clearly in thought as to how to answer, "Dawn-Singer told me how he found out that Erevan had rotted thinking in his liver once. I do not think Helga is like that, but she might be. I want her to think well of me not as a thing she uses to fly."
He nodded, "Those reasons have lift, but if flying was all that she wanted, she probably would have tried to get another sky-kin to bond with."
"Think about it this way: ground-kin ride on sky-kin. Ground-kin are not part of the flying or true equals in that. To take a ground-kin into the sky would make me a thing that the ground-kin is using to fly," she explained.
He thought about her words. She was not entirely wrong, but her framing of the issue was, in his judgment, a little inaccurate.
"I do not know if I would say it that way. Moon-Pinner is using you as a thing to give her warmth and protection right now, but that is not bad. True, ground-kin can have twisted thinking that can make them look down on sky-kin as being less than them. Part of our life-flight is to see that rotted thinking and tell the ground-kin to throw that rotted thinking out."
"Maybe in time," she hummed back and then lay her head on her paws.
He knew not to push her any more than that. It was her own back and wings, after all, and only she could offer to share them with a human, no matter how worthy that human was on his or her own. Flight could only be a gift willingly given.
And it was not as though he flew around giving rides to the humans in the tribe. He did not. Valka was the only exception.
He remained awake, attentively watching the entrance to the massive cavern. All was quiet again, and that was very calming.
The silence was finally broken when another familiar beat of wings sounded in the air.
Shadowwing did not need to look to know who had returned.
Green-Wings dove down and alighted on the ledge. She pranced over to him after glancing at Flies-With-Sun.
"All quiet here?" Green-Wings whispered.
"Yes, both little ones are sleeping," he whispered.
He removed his tailfins and nosed her egg away from his. She took back her egg in her mouth and walked over to her preferred resting place where she curled up around her egg.
While she and her family had their own part of the ledge that they normally rested on together, sitting with eggs was different. She and Luna stayed much closer together on the ledge for that purpose since being closer and always being within sight of each other offered more protection.
He glanced again from the ledge and into the deeper part of the range. None of the village was visible from here, but he could occasionally, though not as often as he would like, see a dragon and its human friend flying for fun or for work, usually hunting and gathering. None of them ever left the range together, since it was not safe in the wider hidden world.
Where are Moon-Dancer and Hidden-Hope? I told them I would play with them, but then there was the domestic dispute in the village... and we had that Light Fury show up and bring a message from its pack.
He sighed wearily and yawned with a flick of his teeth.
Hopefully this meeting goes well for Luna. She was not happy about the last few. Still, I don't know if the Light Furies will ever try to be peaceful to us. They have stubbornness issues.
He snorted at himself and turned his attention back to his egg which he nosed at. This egg had been laid well after Green-Wings's egg, this one not having been planned.
"How many sleep-cycles until you join us? It is hard to count cycles now, but you have some time still. I think you will be a female, which would give us two of each. Whichever you will be, I will be here for you, my little one."
A pair of very welcome roars woke Shadowwing from his nap. Again. But this time he was so eager that he lifted his head and roared up at them, waking Night-Light in the process.
His brother and Luna appeared around the distant corner of the corridor. They flew between the massive spires and dark glowing crystals and then gently touched down on the ledge.
Flies-With-Sun hopped to her paws with Moon-Pinner following her tail.
"Sister! Sire of my mate!" Flies-With-Sun purred.
Was-Grounded gave them both a single lick before bounding for Green-Wings. Flies-With-Sun and Luna greeted each other by nibbling on each other's ears as was their sisterly tradition.
"Dam-mother!" Night-Light shouted as he flew to his paws and dashed for Luna.
Luna pounced at him and tackled him, furiously licking the fledgling's belly until he was completely defeated in wild laughter. Then she nosed her head under him, gently lifting him from the ground. She carried their son over to his side and lay down with him, gently dropping Night-Light at her chest between her paws. Their son was still small enough that she could do that with him.
He and she wove their tails together and purred peace to each other.
"Luna, my sky-light, how was the flight?"
She took a deep breath and sighed, "The flying was good. The talking was not."
"The pack did not hear you?"
"No, they did not listen or want to hear that ground-kin are good life."
He clenched her tail and nuzzled her cheek, hiding his own disappointment for her sake.
"What did they do?"
"They flew away to another range that must have many packs of Light Furies."
He forced a purr, "Well, it could be worse. They could want to flame our range."
"Their Alpha said she lost her mate because of two-legs. She said that all two-legs are the same and that we should not have brought the ground-kin with us."
"Bad! Bad Alpha!" Night-Light barked.
Luna rested her chin on Night-Light's head, changing the conversation so as to give him attention.
"How was your playing, little one?" she hummed.
"Dam-mother! I am not a little one!"
"You are to me, my little one," Luna teased.
Was-Grounded laughed as well as he loped over to them after nuzzling and licking Green-Wings.
"My little ones complained much about my twisting their tails for them being little. It is a life-rule that sire-fathers and dam-mothers must tease their little ones, like Night-Light."
Night-Light hissed at him and snapped his little teeth.
"Did you play much with Flies-With-Sun and Moon-Pinner?" Was-Grounded bent down and hummed at him.
Night-Light perked up and bounded on his paws, "Yes! It was fun! She pinned me much!"
Shadowwing and Was-Grounded chuckled deeply, though they were sure that those two children would in all likelihood only see each other as playmates. Moon-Dancer and Mist-Wings were very similar in that way, having played like siblings all along.
He noticed that Luna was staring closely at the egg between his paws.
"Do you want to sit our egg?" he asked her.
"Yes, and I want us to do more together-feeling-seeing soon," she purred.
"Then we will," he agreed.
He got up and stepped away so she could retake her place of privilege. She wrapped the egg in her tail and curled up around it. Night-Light joined her under a white wing, and their son was soon asleep again after all the play.
Shadowwing and Was-Grounded stepped away from their dozing family. They both settled down on the edge of their large ledge in peace.
"Anything special about the flight?" he asked.
"Nothing. The Alpha of the pack, a female named Red-Paw, had been hurt by two-legs, and she would not listen to us. But there was no fighting other than with words."
"Good. Well, that is better than bad anyway."
"True. How are you feeling?" Was-Grounded asked.
"What?"
"With your hurt-marks and your being the Alpha for the ground-kin."
Shadowwing stiffened and flicked his tail, "They are fine."
Was-Grounded snorted and grumbled.
"They are fine," Shadowwing repeated.
"Brother, you never could be false with me."
Shadowwing sighed, "They still hurt. Eating the hurt-helping flowers helps, but the hurting always comes back when I stop eating them, or when I do much work."
Was-Grounded glanced at the sleeping Luna and lowered his voice, "I know. Luna told me that she sees you trying to hide your hurting."
"Does she?" he whined, surprised and upset that he had not hidden his pain well enough.
"Yes. She also said that you hurt when you are one with her as mates."
Shadowwing blinked and glared at him, "What? You were talking to her about... that!"
"No, she told me. I did not ask. She is liver-chilled for you."
He sighed and hung his head, "She would be. The fight made it worse, but I just need to be more careful."
"Fine. What about your being Alpha for the range?" Was-Grounded prodded.
"The ground-kin are not warmed."
"No? Why not?"
"They wish there was more food. Many of them are much less in the belly."
Was-Grounded grinned and whispered, "More like you as a two-leg?"
Shadowwing snorted, "Yes, that. They have become more like me from then. Guess all they needed was more of that. Also, they cannot do many of their good pack-ceremonies and life-ways they had in the above. They want to explore, to fly to the horizon and see new ranges. To control the waters and go where none have gone before."
"But they can do some of that here in the hidden world. There are many caves and ranges to fly to."
"If only the ranges were not filled with fighting-wanting sky-kin. We are free to fly, but not the ground-kin. They feel trapped."
"Trapped?"
"Yes, some of them say that the hidden world is a trap."
Was-Grounded grumbled, "Yes, it is a trap in a way of thinking of it. It separates us from all who are not us. But it is a trap that we can fly from if we want."
"Only in this place. The other cave-mouths were all closed. Other kin around the world are not free to leave if they wanted to. I still do not know how the last High-Alpha did that," Shadowwing countered.
They had searched for other possible entrances to the hidden world in the past. Only one of them was found, and that one had the roof of the cave collapsed and the rocks melted. There was no exiting that way anymore.
"What happens if our cave-mouth breaks? We would be trapped here always," Shadowwing added.
Was-Grounded lay a wing over his back, "We, our nest-packs, our sky-kin, and our ground-kin would be one flight always. We would be trapped together. That is not very bad."
Shadowwing nodded, though he still hung his head with a soft warble, "I just wish that sky-kin did not need to fly from the above, to fly from the open skies where we should be."
Was-Grounded snorted, "Should we change our life-kind name to underground-kin?"
Shadowwing chuckled, "No, sky-kin is better. Even if the ranges above, all of them, hate us. There is probably too much bad for them to forgive. The above does not deserve us!"
"It is not ready for together-living," Was-Grounded agreed.
"Maybe never," Shadowwing wearily added.
Was-Grounded grumbled, not saying anything for a while, "Did you ever think the fighting between sky-kin and two-legs on Berk would end?"
"Yes. When my sire-father would find the nest and take it by killing the sky-kin," Shadowwing growled.
"But you found another way with me. Maybe there will be another way for the above."
Shadowwing rolled his eyes and stomped on the ground with a paw, "If there is... I do not see it. I know two-legs better than any sky-kin can."
"Maybe you do, but we should not twist our tails because the above-world is filled with rotted thinking. We are not Alphas for that world. We must fight and ground only the problems in our world, this one," Was-Grounded objected.
Shadowwing closed his eyes, silently considering that settled down, "True. Thinking about those problems in the above changes nothing for us. The other problem the ground-kin have is that they do not like needing sky-kin to do much to help them. Things like hunting much, protecting them, and helping them make their dens."
"They want more of their life-flights done with their own power?" Was-Grounded asked.
Shadowwing nodded, "Yes. They wish they could live more on their own and not need us as much. Life here is still a change for them. Changing into a new life-way is hard. They have always had rock-head problems."
"You would know."
"Yes, I would."
"You still have them," Was-Grounded whispered.
"Thank you for saying that. Very liver-warming."
"I try. That is part of the life-flight of a brother!" Was-Grounded smirked.
"Says a sky-kin who licks his tailfins!"
"You try not having one for a while!"
Was-Grounded winced and looked away as his ears went back, "Sorry, I did not mean that."
Shadowwing silently turned toward him and crouched, his tail swaying in anticipation.
It's go time!
He jumped at his brother and landed on his back, pulling him over onto his side with a bellow of alarm. Snarling. Yelping. Nipping. Rolling.
His surprise attack was surprisingly effective as he ended up victorious with his toothless jaws around his brother's neck as Was-Grounded thrashed for an escape. Though to be fair, his brother did have his paws to his belly, which would have been a very, very bad clawing and opened belly in a real fight.
As he knew all too painfully well from having given his brother exactly such a clawing once before, even though he had not known about it at the time.
As fun as such roughhousing was, it was not the same as the old fights they had enjoyed. They had to be more careful, which took a lot of the fun out of it, because of his hurts and old injuries. He didn't like to admit it, but his chest wound had been hurting more than it did in the past. But he could ignore it as long as he was careful.
He released him and stepped back, panting heavily with exhaustion.
"I deserved that," Was-Grounded grumbled.
"Yes, you did. Useless sky-kin."
Was-Grounded snorted and hopped next to him, lay down again, and glanced down the long cavern, "My children did not fly back yet, true?"
"True. They must still be hunting and flying in other ranges."
Was-Grounded's ears went back as he gave a faint hum of worry, "They have been away for a full waking-cycle. I worry about them. What if they find a monster kin, a death-grabber, a sky-light-eater, or any other kin that would want to hunt them?"
"They are Night Furies. They will be fine."
Was-Grounded still stared down the range, "True, they should be safe as long as they stay in a pack. Most of them have their power-light now, but I still fear for them. This hidden world is good and safe from many dangers, but kin make dangers of their own."
They both groaned at the memory of those most terrible times shortly after the establishment of New Haven.
Everything had gone well at first with remaking a new village for all to live in. The ground had enough dirt in many places to let plants be grown for the humans to eat. Add to that there were many other types of native fruit plants, berries, nuts, and mushrooms, even if many of the plants were completely strange and did not grow in the above. There was enough food for all.
The other dragons started returning to freer life, as was their right, flying off into other ranges to be more among their kinds. Understandably, it started with the dragons that had no human they had bonded to. But then they started coming back with scratches and wounds, if they came back at all. Concerned about their own, he and his brother had both flown with their oldest children, mostly Dawn-Singer and Aurora, from the Haven-range to investigate what was happening and find out why those injuries were happening.
Fighting and violence was prevalent throughout the hidden world.
Brief discussions with Light Furies they had met had explained much of what happened in the past. There was only so much food and territory in the hidden world. Bringing hundreds of new dragons from the above had upset the balance of numbers and pecking-orders that the dragons already living there had lived in. But that upsetting the balance truly happened several years ago when far more dragons fled into hiding at the same time.
Some of the violence even got bad enough that dragons started hunting other dragons for food. That was also part of the reason why strange dragons from beyond the Haven-range were generally not welcome, and was also why there was always at least one of the Furies awake and watching as a guard. No one knew how bad the hunting and fighting had gotten in the far chambers where more dragons had flown to, and no one truly wanted to know.
"True, they bring danger with them, but that is how kin live in the wild. The strong get food and take mates, and the weak... do not," Shadowwing groaned.
"I understand why they would do that. Even the hunting other kin, though I would not do that. It feels rotted, like it should not be," Was-Grounded snarled.
Shadowwing smirked, "Are you saying that the natural way is not best?"
Was-Grounded snorted and gently nudged his shoulder with a paw, "We turned our tails on that way when we let each other live in that past-life."
"When we changed the world for the first time."
Was-Grounded rolled his eyes, amused, "Those words are not true. Your dam-mother and Jumps-Through-Clouds were before us. They life-bonded in their own way."
"But ours was different from them. We had more choice in that bonding."
He wasn't sure precisely how different Valka and Cloudjumper were from himself and Toothless, at least in the past. Valka and Cloudjumper could apparently understand each other's intent and feelings, though they could not speak verbally with each other the same way he and Was-Grounded could. Back when he was Hiccup and Was-Grounded was Toothless, they had been much the same: not having speech, but still understanding emotions and intentions.
He also wondered when she would return. Valka had taken it on herself to fly in more of the hidden world with Cloudjumper for a couple reasons. One, she had lived for over twenty years among wild dragons, and therefore knew how to keep safe around them while mapping more of the world. Two, she tried to spend as much time around Cloudjumper as she could when he was back in the Haven-range or the nearby caverns.
Cloudjumper had started flying further on his own in search of his own kind, Stormcutters being a rare type of dragon.
Valka fully understood and encouraged him to go fly because it would be good for him to possibly find a mate. She also always wanted the dragons to be free to come and go as they wish.
"True, we did. Where are your Moon-Dancer and Hidden-Hope?" Was-Grounded asked.
Shadowwing glanced back toward the deeps of the cavern. His first son and daughter had flown off to help search the many rasts of the range for a particularly useful herb that grew in some of the more remote locations. The plan also glowed bright red for some reason, which helped in finding it.
"They are searching the range for helping-plants the ground-kin can grow. They should fly back here soon."
Was-Grounded nodded, "That leaves only my first-hatched, and he should also be back soon. Who is next after Dawn-Singer to watch the above?"
"Aurora, I think. You should be very liver-warmed by Dawn-Singer. He is very responsible," Shadowwing purred.
"Yes, he is, and I am. Green-Wings did very well with him."
"And you too!"
"Well, I did not need to speak well about my own flight. He could be a High-Alpha."
"Do you think he would ever want that?"
He had no idea what succession was like among dragons, other than through brute fighting, obviously.
Was-Grounded shrugged his wings, "Probably not. I have already talked to him about it. He only wants to be a warm life-mate to Flies-With-Sun, be a good sire-father to Moon-Pinner, and have a close life-bond with Erevan."
"A simple life. There is nothing twisted about wanting that," Shadowwing sighed.
"No, there is not," Was-Grounded agreed.
They remained there a while longer, silently gazing out over the passageway, both to enjoy the peace of doing so and to keep watch. Eventually, they returned to their mates' sides, sheltering them both under a wing.
Shadowwing remained awake, listening to the purring around him while keeping watch. That purring, more than anything else, always helped the real pains and the phantom pains fade away.
Dawn-Singer's roar echoed out in the chamber, waking all on the ledge from their naps.
Flies-With-Sun flew to her paws and roared aloud her reply to his call. Moon-Pinner also added a cry that did not carry as far, but which he found adorable. Dawn-Singer threw wide his wings and touched down on the ledge. Two females threw themselves at him the instant his wings were folded away.
"Sire-father!" Moon-Pinner leaped at him and hopped up on his back.
Flies-With-Sun pranced to a stop before him and nuzzled his nose. Then she licked his face. Several times.
"Grr! Why did you do that?" he barked and wiped his nose with a paw.
"To see you do that!" she barked.
"Luna! Your nestmate-sister is twisted!" he barked.
"She is your life-mate! Be thankful she is not biting your ears!" Luna laughed.
His sire-father chuckled, got up, and walked over to him, gently nudging him on the shoulder, "Welcome back, son. Did anything happen up there?"
"No, sire-father. Nothing. There were no sky-kin or two-legs."
Sire-father huffed, "Good. It will be Aurora's flight next when she gets back.
He yawned, "I want to rest with my mate and fledgling. Can you watch the range for me?"
Sire-father nodded, "I will keep watch."
Pleased, he leaped for the sky, knowing that his life-mate and daughter would follow. Sure enough, they both followed closely behind him across chamber passageway, between the glowing light-rocks that burned with dark light, and between the supporting spires.
They alighted on their own nest-ledge. It was not a very large ledge, but it did not need to be. It had a deep recess like a cave that made for a very safe place to lay and shelter an egg, as they had done for Moon-Pinner. There was also a large rock in the recess that blocked much of the view from outside.
That was also helpful, at least in his opinion, to prevent any prying eyes. While Flies-With-Sun did not care about whether anyone else was around to see them when they were one, he did. It was maybe twisted of him, but he blamed being around the ground-kin for most of his life. Some of their life-ways had rubbed off on him.
Most importantly, this ledge was his own. Well, his and Flies-With-Sun's, but that was saying the same thing.
"Sire-father! I am happy you are back!" Moon-Pinner eagerly barked while rubbing against his neck.
"I am too, my first, my Moon-Pinner. What about you, my life-mate?" he asked Flies-With-Sun.
She licked her shoulder, apparently pretending to be very unimpressed with him.
He purred, "I know that you love me."
She rolled her eyes, possibly a sign that the ground-kin were rubbing off on her too, and strode over to his side on one wing. Moon-Pinner did the same on his other side. He covered both of them with his dark wings.
Flies-With-Sun hummed, "Will you tell us another story of the above?"
"A story! Yes! Tell me!" Moon-Pinner shouted.
"I will. I will. Hold your tails."
Moon-Pinner looked confused and curled her tail around to her front. She pinned her tail with her paws, which made him snort in amusement.
"Not that. It is a ground-kin saying that means wait. Hmm, a story of the above."
He thought for a few wingbeats, and then the perfect story flew into his thinking. He glanced between both of his females and saw from their wide eyes and lifted ears that they were both eager.
"You both remember the stories of the Haven-range in the above, true?"
"True." "Yes, it sounded very big!"
"Have you ever seen frozen-fluffy-water?" he asked.
A pair of confused warbles followed.
"It is like white ground-moss but it is water. It falls from the sky when the air is very cold. The frozen-fluffy-water makes piles and covers the ground. The frozen-fluffy-water is very fun to play in. There was much of it in the cold-season in which I had lived four-season cycles. Do you know what I did?"
"No." "What did you do, sire-father?"
"I picked up frozen-fluffy-water in my mouth and made a ball from it. Then I started throwing the balls of frozen-fluffy-water at other Fury-kin. It was very fun!"
He chuckled, "I tried to hit Shadowwing, but I missed and hit Luna in the face. Then she attacked me and chased me through the cold while trying to bite my tail. I still remember her shout, 'You dare attack the great Light Fury!'"
They both laughed at him or at his story, he did not really care which since their livers were filled with laughter either way.
Flies-With-Sun sighed wearily and lay her head on the ground. She looked very curious or thoughtful.
"My life-mate, is something twisting you?" he asked.
"I hear more and more about what that world above is like, but I have never seen it. I have never seen sky-lights, the sky-rock, the Sun in my now-name, or frozen-fluffy-water. I feel, deep in my liver, that I should see that world in the above, at least one time," she answered.
"Maybe you will, but it is a filled-with-danger world. Maybe you should come with me the next time I am the watcher. That might be good," he proposed.
She craned her neck around him and nuzzled Moon-Pinner.
"Sleep now, little one. You did much playing, and every time we try to rest someone else flies in and fouls the nap."
Moon-Pinner yawned widely and flashed her small teeth, "I will! I feel like I could sleep two sleep-cycles!"
"Then you should."
His dear fledgling was sound asleep under his wing shortly thereafter. Satisfied that she was truly asleep, he rested his neck on Flies-With-Sun's neck and purred peace to her.
"My life-mate, could you tell me something?" he asked.
"Something," she answered.
He snorted at her wit, "You remember how slow the ground-kin are to take mates? How their wooing ceremonies can last for many, many cycles before they join as mates?"
"Yes, I do not understand it."
"Me neither. What about me? You took me as your life-mate after... how many was it, two waking-cycles knowing me."
"You want to know why I took you so fast?"
He clenched her tail, "Yes, not that I wanted anything else, but why? You have flown around this question some in the past," he chuckled.
She slithered out from under his chin and stared at him, "You remember how I told you that other Light Fury males had much wanting but not much life-warming?"
"Yes."
"There is a mating ground, a big cave where many sky-kin of all kinds can fly to if they want to find a mate, either for a life-making season only or for longer. I flew there much to find a mate."
He held in the growl, knowing that there was no need to let it out. She had not taken another before him. So she told him, and he believed her.
"Many of the males there were willing to join with me and give me an egg, but staying with me only was... twisted to them. They do not seem to think how your sire-father and dam-mother or Luna and Shadowwing think. Or how you think and live. It is also true that for many sky-kin here taking a mate happens fast. Find, impress, join. But I had been alone in my life-flight for a very long time, ever since I lost... my kin-pack, my family. I wanted to not sleep alone, I wanted another to hold me warmly, and I wanted an egg with a mate who would be with me and be good to me."
She purred at him and continued speaking, "I heard about a light wing and several dark wings in a far range filled with kin and two-legs. I had to know what this story meant, so I flew here and found your two nest-pack families, one with a grown male dark wing who had no life-mate, but he had a warm liver and good thinking. I saw you with your nestmates and your sire and dam. You came from a good nest and had nestmates to play with, fight with, and learn from. It reminded me of what my home-nest was like. I knew that your thinking and liver would not be rotted. So I took you quickly."
"I am very warmed that you did," he hummed.
He licked her cheek, lay his head down next to hers, and listened to her peaceful breaths long after she fell asleep.
There was no lift to be found in fixing too much on the past, but he was certain now that he had maybe been a little too eager in taking her as his mate. Everything had turned out well between him and her, mostly because she had no rotted thinking, thought well of herself, and had a life-fire that flew well with his own.
But she could have been otherwise, and he would not have known that about her until after he and she had started joining and living together, possibly even after they had made Moon-Pinner.
Sire-father only took dam-mother after a full cold-season and new-life-season of knowing her. We should teach Moon-Pinner to truly get to know any male she might want... before she is with him like that.
That was a good life-lesson with much lift. But she was so young that it was not a problem they needed to think about for several season-cycles.
He glanced out their cave-den. With his sire-father now watching the range, he could rest without any chills or worry.
He had not seen Erevan since well before he went to the above. Helga would also want to see Flies-With-Sun again. While not pushing her to do so, he was curious whether she and Helga would become life-bonded friends.
With a smirk, he glanced at his life-mate under his wing, and he flew his thoughts to the one large problem still flying in his life. This problem was a very serious one which would take a lot of thinking and planning to fix.
How to get her thinking about a new egg and a nestmate for Moon-Pinner without letting her suspect what I am planning?
He held her closer underwing. Weak and weary after a very long waking-cycle of much flying, he finally accepted defeat and fell asleep to the purring of the two most important people in his life.