Author's Note – Recall that near the end of BON, Shadowwing learned that he and the other Furies could speak aloud in words that humans would understand, for the most part. You will always be able to tell from context, word choice, and intentional misspelling of words when the Furies are speaking to a human versus another dragon.
Nestmates
Far from the New-Haven-range, Rain-Eater swooped down around the rock-spires and dove with a roar past glowing light-rocks into a new passageway. It had been too long since he and his nestmates hunted together as a pack. Doing this helped them stay strong hunters who trusted each other. This was also a good break from the many waking-cycles of work in the shared-nest with the ground-kin.
He rolled his eyes and huffed, appreciating that this was also a break from his special project. Shadowwing had asked him to learn how to keep the balance between available food and how many ground-kin and sky-kin can live in the shared, New-Haven-range.
No other sky-kin, except for Shadowwing, had enough clever-thinking to fly the flight of numbers and much into the future thinking like he could. However, Shadowwing had many other flights to fly, and those other flights of being an Alpha and making decisions, being a warm sire-father to his children, and being a warm life-mate to Luna, took much time from his life-flight.
Planning food needs for the entire range of sky-kin and ground-kin was not fun. It was like trying to keep a flock of little-nibbler-terrors flying straight, which was very thought-twisting. He felt like he was nowhere close to finishing the project.
He glanced over his tail to his three nestmates flying with him.
Mist-Wings, his over three and half season-cycle sister, was the closest behind his tail. She carried on her back the bags for holding mushrooms and other plants for the ground-kin to eat or use. She was also not truly grown to her full size yet, though she was grown enough to have her wing-colors and wing-shine. Her dark wings flashed with spots of blue and a shimmer-shine that no other in his family-pack had. She was a very gentle and kind sky-kin to all. However, despite being so warm to all the ground-kin, she did not have any one ground-kin whom she tried to especially bond with.
Rock-Climber, his over two and half season-cycle brother, flew above and behind her. He was a very thin sky-kin, and his scales and hide were a darker brown than any other in the family-pack. While perhaps a little small for his age, he was very nimble and, having less weight to carry around, could indeed climb better than anyone else. He also tended to wander and explore a lot more than was expected. While entirely kind to ground-kin and having learned his written and some spoken words, he had no desire for a bond ground-kin or to give much time to them.
His older sister, Aurora, brought up the tail of the flight. She was over five and half season-cycles, long since fully grown to being an adult, though she fumed and growled that he had barely outgrown her. Her hide and wings had long ago turned a mix of green and blue, slightly different from Mist-Wings, to match her eyes. She and Alvor Olefsenson had been life-bonded as friends since shortly after all sky-kin fled the above. Something about the trust almost breaking and the two flights, ground-kin and sky-kin, almost flying their own ways had reminded them of what was important.
Sometimes, he wondered what Alvor was thinking to life-bond with a sky-kin who had very cutting words and teased much, for Aurora did that much. She was very quick to bite with words and had always been like that. But that was their flight to fly.
His own life-bond ground-kin, Safiya Olefsendottir, was Alvor's younger sister. She greatly loved flying, as many younger ground-kin do, and had learned how to use her false-wings to fall-fly with him. Her being smaller, having only thirteen season-cycles in age, one season-cycle younger than her brother, surely helped her with the flying and especially with the flying tricks he and she did for liver-warmth. He also liked her for how she had quick thinking, much like he himself did.
"Are we there yet?" Aurora shouted.
He rolled his eyes and looked around at the dark depths deep under their bellies. The spires and rock-columns, some glowing and others dark, rose up around them as he led the flight into the massive open space. The path led into several different directions, one of which was filled with many trees and a thick underbrush. That was their destination.
"No, almost there!" he answered.
"Can you fly any faster?" she barked.
"Talk to the tail!" he shouted back
A fireball flew past him and exploded close enough to warm his scales and foul his flight, so he spun and recovered himself.
Mist-Wings cried, "Sister, do not flame our brother!"
He could almost see Aurora roll her eyes and mouth twisted words without even needing to look over his tail at her. He had seen it enough times from her before.
He turned his attention back to the flight. They were over the thickest part of the forest filled with the glowing plants and flowers. The air was heavy with the cloud-mist that fed the trees, mushrooms, and plants. The small birds flitted between the trees and vines in search of bug-prey. A constant roar filled the chamber from the distant, crashing waterfalls.
He even saw some of the deep-mouth-plants that caught and ate birds and small sky-kin in their mouths filled with water. Those such hunter-plants, twisted though it was to think about, had been removed from the New-Haven-range. Some of the larger hunter-plants could possibly catch and trap little-nibbler-terrors.
There were many ways in which these ranges were more dangerous, mysterious, and wilder than those in the above. The plants could be dangerous, the deepest waters had unknown things swimming in the dark, and the other sky-kin were very filled with fighting-wanting, usually for territory.
For all that he and his nestmates twisted each other's tails or growled at each other in disagreements, all trusted each to protect blind-spots and do good for the pack, just as they were all doing now in hunting.
All four of them silently touched down outside the thick forest. They stood at each other's shoulders and stared ahead, silently listening while their tails swayed in anticipation.
There was no remaining teasing or tail-twisting. They were now hunting as a family-pack.
Rain-Eater, as the flight-leader for this hunt, purred, "Rock-Climber, you take the right wing. Mist-Wings, you take the left wing and find mushrooms. Aurora and I will take the middle and drive the prey."
They all purred their agreement and silently stalked away.
Aurora clawed at the dirt underpaw.
"Ready, sister?"
"I was hatched ready!"
They split up, and she walked down the path to enter the forest deeper down. He hopped down a small ridge and stalked toward the deeper forest which he then entered. He held his tail off the grass and avoided hopping on twigs or fallen mushroom-trees to make less sound as he passed.
He stalked alone along the prey-path until he saw the many-leaf-ferns the four-leg-prey liked to eat. These four-leg-prey, the main prey they were hunting, were similar to the four-leg-deer in the above, but these prey had horns and longer necks. They made for good eating and grew quickly.
There were fresh droppings of waste on the ground.
A rustling in the bushes ahead caught his attention, so he crept closer, one paw at a time. There had not yet been a loud sound of the hunt being found. He and his nestmates would know the moment the prey found out about them.
His gaze was narrowed on the bushes. What was hiding inside the thick green? A roar and cries of prey-fear echoed from ahead and to his right.
The hunt had truly begun.
He started running through the brush while roaring loudly to announce himself. The prey, a herd of the four-legs, was fleeing ahead of his brother and Aurora. The prey was faster on the ground as long as they were among the trees and could weave through the brush.
But he and his nestmates knew this range, having hunted here before, and were driving the prey toward an open place. The thick trees, vines, large flowers, and mushrooms grew fewer the further they ran from the waters.
A pair of dark blurs dashed along the ground out of his side-sight while the prey ran ahead into a clearing. He, Rock-Climber, and Aurora dashed out into the clearing and threw out their wings into jumps and pounces, quickly ending the hunts.
They tackled three of the prey while the rest of the herd made its escape. That was fine. Three was all they meant to catch anyway.
"Good catches?" Aurora barked while holding down her prey with a paw.
All three of the prey were females, and one of them was heavy with a young one. All three would be good additions to the New-Haven-range herd, especially the heavy one.
But it was annoying that they were braying aloud in fear and dropping their waste.
"Yes, these are good catches," he answered.
"Can we eat them or something," Aurora groaned and flashed her teeth.
Mist-Wings ran up from her side of the clearing, "No, sister, we should not eat them. They go to the ground-kin prey-flock."
"Yes, the ground-kin keep the prey, and have the prey make more of themselves. Then we and all in the range eat. You know that or do you need me to explain it again?" Rock-Climber added, chuckling.
Aurora growled at him, so Rain-Eater intervened as flight-leader for this hunt before their flight was fouled by fighting.
"Did you get enough of the mushrooms?" he asked Mist-Wings.
She twisted and patted the bulging side of her pack with a forepaw. She had a skill at sniffing out the mushrooms.
"Yes, a big catch," she purred.
"It is easy to catch plants... they cannot run from you," Aurora muttered.
Rock-Climber awkwardly stepped away, still clutching his thrashing prey against his chest with a paw, "We should go! These prey will bring more hunters here!"
"Yes, we fly," he purred in agreement.
They were aloft again in moments with three struggling prey-animals clutched to their chests, and with Mist-Wings carrying her bag of mushrooms.
He suspected that they were all frustrated at how much they had to work and provide for the mixed-range. Not that the ground-kin were not trying to help. They had done much in the over two and half season-cycles in their new range. Their work involved planting the best crops and plants which could grow in the good dirt. They knew how to grow as much as possible, plants and prey, in the space they had.
Every new prey-animal helped make the New-Haven-range more likely to live. Even the ones he and his nestmates were carrying back now.
Aurora's liver warmed as they flew down the final long passageway. It had been a long flight back from the distant hunting-range to the shared-range.
Not that she did not enjoy a good, successful hunt with her nestmates. She did. Mostly.
Flying back with a living prey animal which she should not eat was liver-twisting. It was hard to not bite it just to make it be quiet, but she resisted for the good of others. Barely.
These hunts that they went on would last for up to a full waking-cycle during which she was away from her sire-father, dam-mother, and her life-bond ground-kin, Alvor. Seeing them all again would be good.
But it would also be good to not see head or tail of or smell her nestmates for a few waking-cycles! She could be on her own in the shared-range and not always be stuck with them.
They passed over the last large drop, framed by waterfalls around the large cave's mouth. The roaring and crashing water scattered the light from the nearest light-rocks, making the many-colored lines of light in the mist. They flew on through the mist and deeper into the cave and into the dark part of the familiar chamber.
Spires and columns of rock, burning crystals with all colors of light, deep flowing waters and mists rolling on the dark ground, they passed all of this until they saw what to them was the most liver-warming place in all the ranges of the world: the shared-ledge where their family-pack and Shadowwing's and Luna's family-pack lived.
A roar of greeting and welcome came from their sire-father as he watched the pass they were flying through. They each roared back to him in greeting before continuing in their flight.
It was still a long flight to the true deep of the shared-range.
She glanced aside to where her older brother made his cave-den with his life-mate and daughter. That place was theirs, and she did not want to bother them.
Finally, they left behind their tails the darkest part of the range that was shrouded in an eternal twilight.
Twisting and turning through the sky, wings dancing around each other without touching, in the faint wind that flowed through the hidden passes, they flew over an expanse of ridges of rock and mosses, a forest of large mushrooms growing from the thin dirt, other plants and food-trees, and flowers that burned with light.
She snorted when they passed deep ponds at the base of a ridge with waterfalls. She remembered many times playing in the waters or bathing in the waterfalls. That had also been a good place to drop Alvor into the water when he was being tail-twisted. And when he was trying to learn to use his wings also, but those times were his fault.
They spun around the final turn of the flight into the open sky of the bright, shared-chamber in all its warmth! This was the New-Haven-range where the ground-kin made their new nest-city.
Home-dens were built up on high ledges while rope-bridges connected the ledges. Fields of many different plants for growing and eating dotted the land where the mushroom-trees had been cut down to make dens. There were also fields where the plant-eating four-leg prey were kept in pens.
It always amused her how well the life-bonded sky-kin had learned to control themselves. So much so that some of them, mostly Stormfly, Meatlug, and Hookedfang, were the sky-kin guardians for the prey-animals against other sky-kin.
There had been a lot of the ground-kin joking about four-leg-wolves, or in this case the sky-kin, protecting the prey-flock against sky-kin. It was very twisting.
At least, that was true for the sky-kin that stayed in this range and which she could see resting on the ground, warming themselves in the light-warmth from the nearest light-rocks. There were not as many sky-kin here now as there had been once.
The center of the ground-kin nest was down on the ground and was their destination. In addition to up on the ridges, many more home-dens and other dens had been built close together to do many different things. One thing these dens were not for was sky-kin perch on the dens, which was why there was still a need to help rebuild dens every now and then.
It still confused her, the various reasons why the ground-kin wanted to have home-dens of their own. There was no rain or bad wind to protect against. However, having a roof and walls around them when sleeping did probably help with the bugs. It would also help them feel a little safer against attack. They also preferred having privacy for other reasons. She had never seen ground-kin mates together as one, and she had no desire to do so.
Other dens held the meats that were being dried to be eaten later. Drying the meat kept it from rotting, though the meat did not taste as good as when it was fresh. Behind all the dens and other buildings was what would be the largest building-den of all when it was finished against the wall of the chamber.
The Great Hall, as the ground-kin called it, would be a place of safety and bonding for all in the range. Built up against the back of the rock and in front of another deep cave, it would be built of thick rock and strong enough to resist any kin-fire or claws while also letting known sky-kin perch on it for rest. The inside chamber where the many bonding and food-eating ceremonies would be held would be large enough for all the ground-kin, the entire pack of Furies, and the smaller known sky-kin to stay inside.
The making of the Great Hall took much time and work, but it was work that all could do to fill the rest of the time that would be used not doing anything. This making was something all the ground-kin in the range could put their backs and wings, so to speak, into doing.
Her nestmates broke apart to fly to their respective places: Mist-Wings to fly to the fields where she would leave the packs of mushrooms and other plants, and both Rain-Eater and Rock-Climber following her own flight down to the prey-field.
She bugled to announce their approach as they flew in over the short buildings and touched down in the grass together.
The ground-kin second-Alpha, Thorvald, and the former sky-kin trapper, Eret, were the first to approach.
Thorvald acted as the ground-kin Alpha in the shared-nest, despite Shadowwing truly being the Alpha. Shadowwing let Thorvald have the power and decision-making because it was easier for a ground-kin to deal with ground-kin problems. Normally. Thorvald also did more work with cutting apart the prey four-legs for eating and to use their hides for false-skins the ground-kin needed.
Eret did more work in the fields with the plants and with the piles of waste. There was always work that needed doing in the existing fields or in the new ones being made throughout the range. The plants also used waste as food, which then made more food for the ground-kin.
"Good to have you all back. Three of them, eh?" Eret smiled.
She nodded and purred, pleased with their successful hunt, "Fourr. Onne iss with cub."
"Even better! Don't know what we'd do without you Furies helping so much," Thorvald said.
Rain-Eater stepped forward and released his catch which Eret then grabbed and slung around his shoulders, taking the four-leg over to the pens. He released it into the pens and let it run wild over to the herd of its kind, and Eret returned to grab another one.
"We arre happy to help," Rain-Eater purred.
Thorvald grabbed the third and final four-leg, "Since you are happy to help, do you mind finding Ysmir? I think he wandered off with Faen to go pick berries by Nose Ridge."
"Yess, we will finnd him annd brrinng him home," Rain-Eater nodded.
Thorvald bowed to them, he was a very respectful ground-kin, and left with the last four-leg to take it to the field.
With their work done, the three nestmates glanced at each other.
"We should go look for the younglings," Aurora proposed.
"I will go find Mist-Wings," Rock-Climber offered.
"Oh, is my little brother twisted that he does not have a life-bond ground-kin?" Aurora teased.
"I will bite off your nose!" Rock-Climber barked back.
They were quickly nose to nose with each other and grumbling, tails twitching softly.
"You would try. If only you had teeth to bite with... you twisted, tiny nestmate!" she snorted.
Rain-Eater butted in between them, forcing them apart with his head. They sat down on their rears and glared at each other over him.
"We should not fight like that," he grumbled, seeing that Eret and a pawful of other ground-kin were staring at them.
Rock-Climber barked, "No, we should not, but our sister has life-problems."
"Problems! I will give you problems!" Aurora hissed.
Rain-Eater stretched his wings, pushing his fighting nestmates further apart, and growled in annoyance at both of them. Privately, he thought Aurora was being more frustrated than she should be. Though, she had been getting more easily annoyed for well over a seasons-cycle now, so it was not new for her to be like this. He wished he knew what was biting at her tail.
"Sister, we should fly for Ysmir. Rock-Climber can go find more mushrooms or do other work."
Aurora grumbled at that, but she leaped into the sky and started flying.
Rock-Climber grumbled, "Someone wake up on the wrong side of the ledge?"
Rain-Eater flicked his ears and chuffed, "Maybe she did. You were a little biting."
"But she deserved it."
"Yes, she really did."
He observed the nearest ground-kin walking away, having lost interest in the brief fight.
Rock-Climber huffed and stepped away, stretching his wings, "Warm flights, brother. I will go find our other sister, the good one, and meet you in the shared-nest."
"Warm-Flights!"
Rock-Climber flew away to search for Mist-Wings, and he followed after Aurora, flying away from the ground-kin nest toward the thick forest.
He finally caught up with Aurora as she circled over the forest of twisted trees and thick bushes. Several of the micro-wings and birds flew forth among the trees. One of the rock-shapes which grew up from the forest looked like a ground-kin nose, which is why they named it as they did. Hopefully the young ground-kin would not be too difficult to find.
Having found Ysmir Jorgenson and Faen Ingermandottir and brought them back to their sire-fathers and dam-mothers, Rain-Eater and Aurora set out to find their nestmates. They passed several ground-kin carrying baskets of different things, mostly food and various supplies.
Two pairs of wings flew in over their heads close enough for them to snap at the passing tails. But they knew just from the sound of the wings which sky-kin these were.
Mist-Wings and Rock-Climber landed in the path before them and scrambled to a stop. Mist-Wings was free of the bags that she had been carrying.
"Finally, took you long enough," Aurora huffed.
Mist-Wings purred, "The work is done."
"Yes, what should we do now?" Rock-Climber wondered.
"Is our brother back in the range yet?" Aurora asked.
"We should fly to the Haffnars and ask them!" Rain-Eater answered.
They all took flight together and flew low over the ground-kin home-dens, along the ledge and the steep slope, and over the fields. On a normal waking-cycle they would want to fly sky-games such as tail-nipping, small fireball-shooting, and flying in spins for liver-warmth.
But they were tired after the cycle of hunting and much flying.
Finally, they found the home-den that they were looking for. It lay on a lower ledge of the range, down closer to the flowing water the ground-kin used to wash in. Fortunately, they saw the ground-kin they were looking for.
Erevan Haffnarson was outside the home-den, working at chopping mushroom-tree wood with an ax. He was one of the most known and held close-to-the-liver of all the ground-kin, second only to Kin-liver. That he was so closely life-bonded meant that he was a fair prey-target for play and teasing.
They silently dove toward the home-den and gently touched down on the other side from where he was working. They spread out and stalked closer to the much-loved ground-kin, mischief and play flaring in their livers. Tails swayed in the air as they crept along the ground, dashing from rock to rock closer and closer to him without being seen.
His ax buried itself in a log of the thick mushroom-tree wood. He stepped back from it, putting his paws on his side and breathing heavily with the exertion.
Aurora pounced. Erevan immediately ducked, apparently aware that he was being hunted, and jumped to the ground in a roll as she spun to face him. He scrambled to his paws to face his opponent and froze when he saw the four Furies in front and on each side of him. He was trapped.
"Not fair!"
They burst out in throaty laughter without even trying to restrain their tails.
"Hunnted!" Aurora chortled while stalking closer to him.
"Uh, a good scale-scratch and wing-rub," Erevan pleaded, holding out his paws.
"Nnot good ennough."
A soft growl followed, and Erevan sighed while throwing up his paws.
"And I will make some fish the way you like it."
"Donne!" Aurora eagerly barked and sat back on her hindquarters, ending the hunt.
"You are completely ridiculous, you know that?"
"You knnow it!"
"Ugh, useless reptile."
Rain-Eater rolled his eyes at his sister's silliness. Though, he probably wouldn't want a belly-licking either, which was the usual punishment whenever a life-bonded ground-kin was being rock-headed.
He stepped forward with a soft purr, "Errevann, iss ourr brrotherr home yet?"
Erevan glanced up above them all toward the high ledge they had glided off.
"No, he hasn't flown here. I was wondering when he would get back from guard duty."
"Sshould be anny cycle."
"Actually, Helga and I have not seen him, Flies-With-Sun, or Moon-Pinner for a while, a few cycles. Flies-With-Sun was teaching Moon-Pinner hunting or something. How did your hunting go?"
"We caught thrree prrey forr the herrd," Aurora explained.
Rain-Eater yawned, "Annd we arre ssleepy nnow."
Something was bothering him. He was not sure what it was though. It was probably not important.
"When you see him would you please tell him to stop by and visit? Flies-With-Sun and Moon-Pinner too. We want to see them soon," Erevan added.
Aurora hummed and ruffled her wings, "We will."
"Hold on, you can't leave yet!" Erevan exclaimed while stepping back slightly with a very serious look on his face.
"Why nnot?" Rain-Eater asked, slightly confused.
The smallest hint of a smile began to appear on the ground-kin's face, and that greatly worried Rain-Eater. Something was happening. Some plan was at paw.
"Because the hunters can become the hunted!" Erevan shouted.
They only had a wingbeat of warning before it happened. The rush of wind and wings dropped down from above where none of them had been looking. It was only the faintness of the incoming wings that assured them there was no threat. Plus, this had happened before and had become something of a game.
Alvor and Safiya Olefsen had dived from the ledge and glided at them with their false-wings spread wide. Alvor tucked his wings at the last second and dropped onto Aurora's back while Safiya did the same with Rain-Eater. Arms and legs went around necks as the ground-kin struck in attack.
"Ha!" "Take that!"
Aurora and Rain-Eater collapsed to the ground and tossed their heads wildly, but the ground-kin clinging to their necks refused to let go.
"Got you!" "Feeling it yet?"
He and his sister froze and smirked as they glanced at each other and saw the opponent their nestmate was struggling with. They purred in agreement, got to their paws, and strode toward each other.
"Uh, what are you doing?" "I don't like this!"
They opened their toothless maws and grabbed onto the other ground-kin's nearest foot-shoe, carefully pulling at the other ground-kin in a display of cooperation until the ground-kin were hanging sideways while holding onto the necks.
"Not fair!" "Cheating!"
Alvor and Safiya were pulled off the Furies' necks and then dangled upside down by a foot clenched in a maw.
"Put us down now!" "Let me go!"
Rain-Eater and Aurora glanced at each other in silent agreement.
They dropped both ground-kin. As expected though, their life-bond ground-kin threw out their limbs and rolled out of the fall. Plus, it was a very small fall.
Alvor and Safiya rolled to their paws and crouched while facing the two Furies they had attacked. The ground-kin were roughly the same size and had the same golden hair. Their faces were similar enough, despite being male and female, that they were clearly nestmates. They were also, as was common for ground-kin, very skinny. But behind that appearance they were not weak at all.
Wild life, much running, frequent work, and learning to fly had left them stronger than they appeared at first glance.
"You good, bro?" Safiya asked.
"Yep, you, sis?" Alvor asked.
"Yep. Whadya say we try this again?"
"Agreed. Strategy?"
"Go for the chin," Safiya held out a paw.
Aurora and Rain-Eater huffed indignantly.
"If onnly humannss had weaknnesssesss," Aurora teased.
"Yess, ssissterr. Wait, they do," Rain-Eater hissed and narrowed his eyes.
"It'ss the belly annd the feet you wannt! A tickled humann iss a downned humann," Aurora laughed.
"No!" "Not that!"
Rain-Eater and Aurora crouched to pounce, tails swaying behind them. Both sides of the battle paused and refused to move a paw or ear.
Alvor lifted a paw and finger, "I have an idea! We call truce and resume the battle later."
"Yes," Safiya exclaimed, "we missed you both, and you too Rock-Climber, Mist-Wings!"
Mist-Wings chuckled, "I am herre too!"
Rock-Climber huffed, "Annd me!"
"Are they always like this?" Erevan whispered as he went to stand with Rock-Climber and Mist-Wings.
Rock-Climber snorted and rolled his eyes while giving an affirmative grunt.
"Yess, they arre," Mist-Wings answered.
"Thought so."
Aurora hissed, "How cann we trrusst the trruce?"
"Aurora! I'm your friend!" Alvor barked in dismay.
"Sso? Rremmemmberr whenn you brrought the blue fissh?"
"Yeah, that was a good one!" Alvor chuckled.
Aurora sat back on her rear, crossed her paws on her chest, and huffed, "Forr you!"
Safiya stepped forward and held a paw to her chest, "We swear on our wings to honor the truce."
The smirks and not-trusting grins vanished. All knew that such a promise carried much weight.
"Yes, I swear it on my wings," Alvor solemnly added.
Safiya closed her eyes and held out an open paw. Alvor did the same.
They stood there defenseless and blind to any attack.
So Rain-Eater stepped forward and put his nose to Safiya's paw with a soft hum. Aurora snorted once and did the same for Alvor. They remained like that for several wingbeats before anyone moved.
All four of them opened their eyes seemingly at once and snorted softly, stepping back from the gesture while rolling their heads and shaking their paws.
"Yeah, so..." "Good to see you..." "That happenned..." "Missssed you too..."
Both of the Furies' ears lifted as they remembered how they had been hunted.
"You werre flyinng," Rain-Eater observed.
Alvor and Safiya flicked out their false-wings. The wings were a thin, black hide that stretched from their arms to the start of their legs. Their dark hide-armor on their back also contained several backfins which could be drawn in and out like teeth to help keep falling-flight stable. They did not work perfectly like true backfins and tailfins would, but they were good enough for ground-kin gliding-flight.
"Yep, we're been practicing a lot of flying," Safiya smirked.
"Actually, I've been doing the flying. My sister has just been falling with style," Alvor added.
She punched him in the arm.
"Was that necessary?" he groaned.
"Totally!"
Erevan laughed heartily.
"Oh, hey Erevan! Didn't see you there!" Safiya laughed.
"Well, I'm not as big as a Fury, so yeah."
Rain-Eater rested his chin on her head. Aurora similarly stepped up to Alvor's side.
"We jusst finnisshed hunntinng annd wannt rresst," Aurora sighed.
"Yess, it wass a lonng flight," Rain-Eater agreed.
Safiya reached up and gently scratched his chin, "That's ok, my friend. We're just happy to see you all again."
"Definitely, go rest if you need to," Alvor agreed.
Aurora and Rain-Eater stepped back, nodded, and stretched their wings.
"Nnext cycle thenn?" Aurora asked.
"Sure, you know where to find us!" Alvor agreed.
"We'll be here, probably," Safiya added.
Rain-Eater turned back to Erevan and nodded at him, "We will tell ourr brrotherr whenn he fliess to uss."
"Sounds good!" Erevan agreed.
All four Furies jumped into the sky with happy and weary roars as they left behind that lower level of the range. They turned for the distant, darker area of the range where more of the rocks burned with darker lights and the ground was covered in mist and rushing waters.
None of them said anything on the flight back, since they were weary after the long hunting, carrying of the prey, the searching for missing ground-kin, much walking, and brief play with their bond ground-kin.
They flew past a large ledge off which a small waterfall flowed and scattered into many small lights. Past a light-rock which burned with the pure white light that always warmed their scales, hides, and livers.
A pair of familiar roars sounded from up above. They all looked up and felt their livers flare with warmth at the two pairs of approaching wings. One of the approaching sky-kin was pure dark and the other was almost pure white with a faint shine of red, but they were not a Night Fury and a Light Fury. They were Dawn Furies.
Hidden-Hope bounded along, running, leaping, and weaving between the mushrooms, bushes, and trees while keeping close to the ground. Her being thin helped much on these chases, but she did not like being little at all! She so wanted to be bigger and stronger like her older brother! Why was she still little? It was annoying!
She spared a glance over her tail and hissed softly with amusement that she was leaving him behind. Good! Stupid brother trying to make her work more!
More running and weaving followed as she dashed between the trees and crashed through the bushes. She kept leaping and bounding as fast as she could, darting through the brush, hopping over patches of mushrooms, and disturbing the occasional very small sky-kin, bird, or small not-worth-hunting prey. Her run carried her out from the thicker cover and into the thinner forest.
But the crashing sound grew louder behind her tail. He was not being stopped by the trees and bushes as much! That was so bad!
She burst from the trees and ran onto a patch of glowing moss on the smooth rock underpaw. That made it a little harder to run as fast, so she threw out her wings.
There was no game-rule that the play-hunt had to be on the ground only.
She jumped off the ledge, dove swiftly down the steep slope, and landed on the next level. She spun in place, looking for a place to hide and then seeing one. Then she hid by standing upright and pressing her back and tail behind a large and bright-white light-rock. That was sure to hide her because of her white color. The little red shine just appearing on her wings was hidden now.
She held her breath, silently listening for any sound of pursuit. There was nothing she could hear.
Ha! I lost him! No more working! Yes!
She crouched down and, keeping her head low to the ground and ears flattened, slowly peeked out from behind the light-rock and looked around. The sky was empty.
But there was a tail-pricking feeling that she was still being hunted. One of her ears flicked with anticipation at a feeling of something unseen.
Moon-Dancer snarled at himself for letting her out of his sights. She would do something like this, so irresponsible of a fledgling! And a sister! A frustrating combination.
His eyes narrowed on his two and half season-cycle nestmate sister as she dove off a ledge ahead of him. As if that could help her escape! She was gone from sight when he bounded up to the ledge and looked down off the drop. A small waterfall, glowing mushrooms, a few pawful of very small, orange sky-kin, and a few light-rocks were all he could see down below.
However, he could guess at where she might have flown into hiding. He had already caught her trying to use this same type of place for hiding many times before.
Sister, you need to get better at hiding.
He jumped from the ledge and flamed directly ahead of himself. His shot exploded into a circle-fire. He tucked his wings and flew with a spin into the circle-fire as the warmth flowed into his scales and hide. Nothing was visible of him anymore except for his eyes. This being faded meant that he could continue the hunt very easily.
His sister did not have her fire yet, and she could not hide unless another gave her hiding-fire to spin through. Very few made that mistake anymore after what she had done the first pawful of times.
She had used her being faded to do tricks and cause small problems in the shared-range. It was not fun for others who had to clean up the messes, collect the prey-animal flock, or just be responsible for her. In her defense, she had apologized after sire-father growled at her for making problems, and she had not done those same things again since then. But it was very difficult to keep her working and being responsible. She did not want to grow up!
Down in a silent glide he spun around the largest light-rock. He held in the growl when he saw a small white shape backed up against the base of the light-rock.
He silently landed, not even beating his wings, far enough away from her that she could not hear him, and then he crouched down low with his eyes closed. His fade was a good one, just as hidden as his dam-mother could hide from most eyes, but he could still almost be seen as a shimmering wrongness in the air if one were looking straight at him.
He stalked closer and closer to his sister, only flicking open his eyes for a single wingbeat to plan his strike. She was not looking toward him. She had her head very low to the ground, her ears flattened and wings tucked as she looked up in the sky around the light-rock.
His paws found a small crevice from which he could grab hold and leap at her.
Her ears twitched.
He pounced, falling fully on her back. She reared back with a bellow and bucked him off with surprising strength and speed. But he had already planned his next strike, and he kicked off the light-rock, jumped, and fell on her, pinning her on her back.
"Not fair!" she barked and slapped his tail with hers.
He laughed deeply and rolled off her, letting his fade fall away so that he could be fully seen. That fast control of his fade and ability to appear when he wanted was a little different between him and his dam-mother, though no one knew why.
He stuck his tongue out at his sister, though now that he thought about it, his tongue would probably have been visible even with the rest of him having faded from sight except for his eyes.
That is a twisted thought-picture!
She stuck her tongue out at him, so he sat back on his haunches and crossed his paws on his chest.
"Very fair, I am bigger and stronger than you are."
She huffed and beat at the ground with a white forepaw, "I wish I were a male! Then I could fight more and bite more!"
He laughed, amused by her frustration, "What? Being female is not a problem. You grow big too."
"But I want to be big now!"
He snorted at that and turned from her, looking back up to the deep forests and misty ledges he and she had been searching in until this diversion.
"We should go back. We have work to do."
"No! We should play more!" she hissed and lowered herself to the ground, hindquarters and tail wiggling.
He groaned and grumbled. While more play would be liver-warming, they did have other duties to do. Everyone in the shared-range had to do work to provide for all.
"We have to work!" he said.
"Boring!" she brayed.
"Do you want the ground-kin to be hungry or hurt much?"
"The adults do that work. We should just play!"
He felt like collapsing on his belly and covering his eyes with his paws.
His sire-father had given him a special task. There was a red plant, Crimson Glowroot is what Kin-liver called it, that had many life-helping and health-helping effects. This plant only grew in the more remote and hard-to-fly-to places in the range. He and his... so close to the liver sister... had been working together, searching for more Crimson Glowroot because sire-father asked that they work together.
"How about this: we finish the work and we play after?" he proposed.
She grumbled and started licking a paw. Something about that got under his scales, so he decided to put a paw down and force her flight.
"I will do the work even if you do not. I will not play with you this waking-cycle unless you help me. And... I will tell sire-father and dam-mother that you would not help."
She bared her teeth and hissed, "Whatever. Where should we start looking?"
He blinked and snorted, "Not here."
She sat back on her haunches and crossed her paws on her white chest, mimicking his posture. Her doing so was probably meant to be a twisting-tease. She liked doing that.
"Brother, you are so smart! Stop looking where we are not finding what we are looking for and instead look somewhere else. Why did I not think of that?"
He indignantly pointed a paw at her, "We are only not finding because you brought us here!"
"So this is my fault?" she barked.
"Yes."
"You are a big, hot, pile of waste!"
He just rolled his eyes and huffed, "You need new biting-words. Those ones have no teeth."
Her smug purr faded quickly as she wrinkled her nose at him. He wasted no more time, turned his tail on her, and jumped for the sky, swiftly ascending up past the light-rocks. Her familiar roar echoed from behind him, and he smirked at another successful taunt of his nestmate. His duty as an older brother had been done and well-flown!
He turned his flight toward the high ledge they had been searching on before she had decided to take a... break from working to play instead.
Moon-Dancer pitched up and ascended along a waterfall to another high ledge. He and his sister landed beside a bright white light-rock. He pranced up to the edge of the liver-warming light-rock and waited as Hidden-Hope did the same. As one, they collapsed on their bellies and let everything go limp. It had been a long waking-cycle of work and play.
Together, they looked down toward the world below while feeling the gentle wind that always blew through the cave. The water falling down from the nearby stream sparkled in many different colors from the light of the nearest light-rocks. The distant mushroom-trees and glowing plants gave off a hue and sparkle most noticeable in the darkest corners of the cavern.
"Another waking-cycle like the last one. Boring!" she groaned.
"That is not always a bad thing."
"Tell me about the above again!"
Her wide teal eyes fixed on him with pleading. She wanted to hear much about the above, and she eagerly awaited the cycle when she could be the above-watcher for the hidden world.
His memories of the above were twisted though. He had been too small to remember much until after he learned his words and flight in the new-life season after his hatching.
What he could remember most clearly was fear, preparation by the entire range for fighting, and then the fighting that had happened.
Fires flaring up from home-dens.
The attack on his own home-den by the hunter-kin, the memory of which still fouled his sleep-visions now.
But there were few words that could clearly tell her everything about that world. The bigness of the open sky. Clouds and sky-light in storms. The great sky-rock-moon for which he was named. The tiny sky-rock-stars. The horizon there to fly to and try to touch.
There were no words that could do more for her than seeing that world for herself would.
He turned to face her, "You remember me telling you about the far, big chamber filled with water?"
"Yes."
"Imagine that you see that in all directions: before your nose, behind your tail, and at the sides of your wings. Imagine that the above-rock is so high up that you can never fly to touch it. And there is only one great light-rock that hangs from the above and flies like a sky-kin. Its light is so bright and warm that it is more warming than any light-rocks in this world."
"Is it a sky-kin?" she eagerly wondered.
"No. No sky-kin can burn with light like that sky-rock-sun."
She seemed disappointed in that. Her eyes brightened along with a very warm purr and lifted ears.
"Look! Our kin!" she pointed with a paw.
His liver burning warmer, he followed her gaze. There were four Night Furies flying from the New-Haven-range toward the home-ledge.
Neither of them needed any encouragement, and they jumped to their paws and threw wide their wings. Down off the ledge, they dove for their packmates and announced themselves with echoed roars of greeting.
The four Night Furies immediately answered with roars of their own as the flights joined. They were all dancing in the sky together, playing games of spinning, nose-to-tail, and head-wing taps. But even that was not enough as they dove for the nearest ledge.
All six of them landed together on the mossy ledge and considered each other, eyes narrowed and tails swaying.
Hidden-Hope dashed over in front of Aurora and Rain-Eater while Moon-Dancer bounded over to stand by Mist-Wings.
"How was your hunting?" Hidden-Hope eagerly asked.
Aurora yawned, "Good. We brought back catches for the prey-flock."
Rain-Eater sat back on his rear while stretching his wings, "Did we miss anything here?"
"No. This is the range where nothing ever happens," Hidden-Hope groaned.
"That is why I fly far from here when I can," Rock-Climber toothily smiled.
"You should not fly from the range! It is not safe! Stupid brother," Aurora objected.
"Nothing can catch me. I actually..." Rock-Climber paused.
Moon-Dancer stopped giving them any attention, and instead lunged at Mist-Wings. He stood up on his hind legs and playfully batted at her while she did the same. After their fierce pawing, he jumped at her to pin her. But she was as big as he was and could not be easily pinned. Instead, she rolled him off and grabbed his tailfins in her jaws. All he could do was trap her the same way.
The play-fight ended in a tie. But he felt like he was being watched, so he dropped her tail and she did the same. They both spun to face their kin, most of whom were staring at them.
"Twisted..." "Tail-hunters..." "Silly brother!"
"Do not listen to them, Moon!" Mist-Wings chortled.
He huffed in agreement, "Yes, Mist! They are the twisted ones."
Rock-Climber laughed, "Who is chewing on tails? Not us."
He and Mist-Wings rolled their eyes and padded back over to everyone else. Shoulder bumps of greeting were given throughout.
Hidden-Hope bounded up to Aurora again and sat down, her white tail swaying eagerly as she looked up at her, "Aurora! Do you have a fish that I could have? Please..."
"Maybe. Why?" Aurora asked.
Hidden-Hope blinked slowly, her teal eyes very wide, "Because I want another fish so I can grow bigger, faster!"
Aurora purred deeply and bent down to whisper loudly, "So that you can better fight your brothers?"
"I will! Yes!" Hidden-Hope bounced on her paws.
Rain-Eater, Moon-Dancer, and Rock-Climber rolled their eyes. Aurora snorted at them and brought up a whole fish which Hidden-Hope quickly snatched it up. His sister purred while rubbing Aurora's neck.
"My nestmate sister, like a dam-mother," Rock-Climber laughed.
Aurora spun around and snapped at his nose, a strike which he barely dodged by leaping backwards with a yelp.
"Sister, do not bite our brother!" Mist-Wings cried.
Aurora huffed and crossed her paws, "I did not bite him. I tried to bite him. Not the same thing."
Rain-Eater yawned and ruffled his wings, "If we are done biting our nestmates, we should fly to the home-ledge. I want sleep."
"Yes, me too!" Hidden-Hope agreed.
"It is twisted, but I agree with my sister on this," Moon-Dancer hummed.
Hidden-Hope barked and smugly purred, "You should! The sister is always right!"
Moon-Dancer, Rain-Eater, and Rock-Climber snorted in unison.
"Brothers would think that!" Aurora huffed.
"We did not say anything!" Rain-Eater grumbled.
"But you were thinking it!" Aurora grinned.
"Can we just get along and not fight? I am tired too," Mist-Wings purred.
They all took flight, wordlessly agreeing to return to their home-ledge for rest.
Moon-Dancer drifted to the tail of the flight. The only important thing he needed to do now in this waking-cycle was tell sire-father about the ground-kin mate-making ceremony.
His gaze fell as he stared down into the darkness and the mist. That task brought up something which made him feel liver-twisted.
He was very stuck Between.
Between being a fledgling and an adult with all the natural wants that being grown brought with it. For all the learning he had done about ground-kin life-ways, flight and using his fire, controlling his fade, and the flights of picture-words and speaking in sky-kin and ground-kin, he knew nothing about life-mate-taking ceremonies... especially such ceremonies for sky-kin. There had been no reason for him to think about such things... until there was.
He would not be Between forever.
On one paw, he was not an adult and not ready to truly fly such a flight. Was it bad that his thoughts were starting to fly to that wanting? Mist-Wings he could play freely with, laughing and pinning her in play-fights, without feeling anything liver-twisting. She was a sister from a different sire-father and dam-mother, no different to him in the liver than Hidden-Hope.
On the other paw, he did not know what to do about his wants and the unclear feeling that his life-flight was... lacking something good. Maybe he could talk with sire-father and ask him what he did to learn about dam-mother. Talking about that felt a little liver-twisting, very liver-twisting, but sire-father would know more than he did about that part of life.
He shook his head of all such thoughts as he followed after his packmates in silent, calm flight.
Onward they flew into the part of the range covered in eternal twilight and a faint chill throughout. Up their flight ascended into the narrower part of the passageway, over ledges and mists, and between spires and columns, until they arrived at the destination: the shared-ledge.
A chorus of roars echoed as they all lifted their voices to greet their sires and dams. Dark and white heads lifted from the ground and bugled joyful greetings.
He and Hidden-Hope bounded over to their sire-father and dam-mother, both of whom greeted them with warm purrs and head-nuzzles.
"How was your waking-cycle, son, daughter?" sire-father hummed.
Moon-Dancer eagerly bobbed his head and purred, "Good! We," he flicked his tail against his sister's side, "worked much and found many plants for the ground-kin. Just as you wanted us to."
"Good! I am proud of you," sire-father purred.
"And we played much!" Hidden-Hope happily barked.
"Why am I not surprised?" sire-father chuckled.
Dam-mother's wing lifted as Night-Light slithered out from within. Night-Light's little ears lifted as he saw him and his sister.
"Hi brother, sister," Night-Light chirped.
"Little brother, did you have fun?" he asked.
"Yes! I hunted four-leg hoppers! And... sleepy..." Night-Light yawned and went back to doing what was important: sleeping.
"Nice to see you too!" Hidden-Hope laughed, sticking her tongue out at him.
"He played much with Moon-Pinner this cycle. Do you need sleep?" dam-mother purred.
"No!" Hidden-Hope yawned widely with a snap of her teeth.
Dam-mother chuckled, "Yes, you do. Come here, dear daughter."
Hidden-Hope grumbled softly but relented when she saw the warm, familiar, and inviting space under dam-mother's other wing. She hopped over there, snuggled in, and yawned again.
Moon-Dancer remained in his place on the edge of the ledge, his tail hanging out over the edge. His gaze occasionally flitted over to the further corner of the ledge where Aurora, Rain-Eater, Mist-Wings, and Rock-Climber were greeting Was-Grounded and Green-Wings.
It had been another waking-cycle like so many before. Work for the shared-range, help provide for the ground-kin, and play with his kin. All of this was good, but...
He heard approaching paws and saw sire-father walking to him.
Sire-father rested his chin on his shoulder, "Son, is something twisting your tail?"
"No, not truly. Thorvald wanted me to remind you of the mate-making ceremony the ground-kin will have next waking-cycle," he answered.
Sire-father sighed and sat back on his rear, "And I will need to be there for the ceremony as their Alpha. Great! That will be the first new pair of ground-kin mates since they all flew down here with us."
Moon-Dancer huffed and shuffled on his paws. Sire-father must have noticed.
"Son, there is something else twisting your tail. I know it. Do I need to guess?"
"Well..."
Sire-father barked, "Let me guess! Did your sister help with finding the plants?"
"Yes, she did. She also wandered away a lot, but she did help in the end."
"Good. I am proud of her. Is that all?"
Moon-Dancer blinked, deep in thought. Could he truly talk about this now? Would his sire-father understand? Tease him?
He warily looked over his shoulder at his sire-father's wide, deep green eyes. Maybe he could ask about it in a... distant way so that sire-father did not truly know!
"I heard there is a talk that ground-kin sire-fathers give their sons before their sons take mates of their own."
Sire-father huffed, "Yes, it is a talk about why the son wants to take a mate and what he should... do... with her."
"Why? To make young, that is why."
Sire-father rolled his eyes, "Yes, that is the first and biggest reason, but there are more reasons."
"Can you tell me?"
Sire-father nodded and stared at his paws, "First, remember that ground-kin have some twisted thinking and good thinking. Two ground-kin might want to... give each other their life-flights. They will fly the winds of life together as mates. That usually means... making young together, yes, but the... joining as mates still warms their livers even if they do not try to make young from doing it."
"What?" he chuffed, confused.
Sire-father rolled his eyes and looked very inside-twisted, "Sometimes they only join when they are not able to make young. They still... show each other that they love each other, want to be one life together, and want to warm each other's livers... and bellies."
He groaned and covered his eyes with his paws. He did not want to think about that at all!
Sire-father chuckled and nudged his shoulder with a paw, "Why do you ask, son?"
He got up and hesitated before answering. He was not sure how to ask about what he wanted to know without hinting at what was truly nipping at his tail.
"How... how did you... know you wanted dam-mother?" he whispered.
Sire-father's ears went back alongside a wary grumble and toothless half-grin that made him look very, very inside-twisted.
"I," Moon-Dancer hastily added, "want to know for when I am grown and start... thinking about wanting to take a mate."
Shadowwing stumbled over this tail, so to speak, not being sure what to say anymore. Here he was, simply talking to his beloved first-hatched son about what happened this cycle, and getting an update on what was going on in New Haven.
Then he stumbled into giving his son... The Talk.
His son had grown very well in his between three and a half and four years; no one knew exactly how old anyone was anymore since the very idea of days did not apply in the hidden world. Time was measured only in cycles of being awake and resting when body and mind said rest was needed. Everyone had some guesses at what month it must be, based on observed changes in the weather on the island in the above and the number of weeks of watching the island, but those were imprecise measures only.
It was also hard to tell precisely when his son would be fully mature, partly because Night Furies grew up quickly. The other reason was because his son being half Night Fury made it uncertain that he would show the same physical changes of being mature, mostly the larger head frills, broader chest, and more musky scent.
His own brother had flown to find Green-Wings years ago, and he had become her mate and made Dawn-Singer's egg when he was four and a half years old, so Moon-Dancer was getting to the age at which this part of life was a real concern for him.
On the other hand, all of their fully-grown kids behaved far more mature and level-headed than many of the human adults. It was one of the many mysteries of life, and he liked to occasionally think that he, his brother, and their mates had simply done a very good job of raising their children so far.
He gulped as he remembered how awkward The Talk had been when his own father had given it to him when he was twelve. Stoick had been completely clueless about what to say, and he had started by explaining what farm animals do, climbing on each other when the season was right. Everyone knew that of course since almost everyone on Berk had farming and animal-husbandry duties in addition to anti-dragon duties back then.
Completely embarrassed already, his younger self had rhetorically asked his father how anything the animals did mattered for him to know. His father had not answered that, fumbled his words while pulling at his beard, and had settled on, 'Don't break any of our customs, son. Everything else... you'll figure out on the job.'
It was not much to go on in his own case talking to his son.
Oh gods. Uh... right, okay. Here goes nothing!
"Well, son, I had many sun-cycles that I lived around her: talking to her, helping her, and learning who she is and what is important to her. But I was fouling my flight much with her because I had... twisted thinking that did not let me... fly on from bad in my past. She helped me think more about the now and the future skies in my life-flight. I learned that what is important to her is also important to me and that she had no rotted thinking. She asked me to fly with her in a new-life season into a far hidden range where she was hatched. So I flew with her to that range in the hidden world, and we played much on the flight, but I was being blind to what was with me."
He hummed softly with closed eyes as he fondly remembered that flight and adventure that had led to them being one.
"She went to sleep on a high ledge and in light from a light-rock. I saw her sleeping there and I knew how... beautiful she was and why she wanted me to fly with her. We played more the next waking-cycle and then we talked about life and what we wanted. Then I pinned her and we became one for the first time."
Moon-Dancer groaned and looked away.
"I still like to think we made your egg when-"
"No!" Moon-Dancer covered his flattened ears with his paws.
"-I caught her in a sky dance in the moonlight," he fondly purred.
Moon-Dancer grumbled and covered his head with his tailfins, "You had to tell me that, sire-father!"
"Yes, I did. You should know where your name comes from. Is there a... reason why you wanted to talk about... this and are thinking about it?"
Moon-Dancer lifted his tailfins, got to his paws, and faced him, only to eventually look away and give a sigh, "I was thinking about the future because of the ground-kin mate-making ceremony next cycle."
Ah, that makes sense.
He stepped over to his son's side, put a wing out over his back, and purred to him, "I understand. You have more growing before you must truly think about... flying that flight. If you remember nothing else from this talk, remember that the choice of who to... be with and give your life-flight to is not a small choice. It is one of the, if not the most, important choices in your life-flight. You should not be with a female only because it... feels warming in the doing. There must be more reasons for it if you want you and her to fly together always and for you both to be truly liver-warmed."
Moon-Dancer sighed, "What are those more reasons?"
"You want to raise young with her. You want her liver and your own liver to be warmed, both are needed. You want her life to be more."
He lifted a paw and pointed toward the deeper range where New Haven lay, "Some male ground-kin think that... joining much makes them more male or better, but they have never raised any children and the way they see themselves is... controlled by how much they join. They think that they need to prove themselves and show off how... male they are. They do not understand that living like that is thralling to themselves."
He paused, winced, and grumbled, "Oh, there is one more rule. Whatever you... want to do... if she says no, that means no... not 'maybe yes' or a 'teasing yes'."
"I understand."
"Good. Is there anything else you want to talk about?"
Moon-Dancer warbled and looked away, "I..."
"Yes?"
"I will remember all that," Moon-Dancer whispered.
Shadowwing stepped back, folded away his wing, and nodded sharply toward Luna, glad that The Talk was finished, "Yes, good... good talk, good talk. I will... be over there if you want to... talk more... good talk! Will you be joining us for sleep?"
"Soon. I want to think here for a while."
"Got it. Good talk!"
Moon-Dancer nodded and lay back down on the ledge, looking out over the shining spires in the distance. Shadowwing spun away and grimaced as he padded over to Luna's side.
Gods, that went well, not! Could have just spoken normally to my son about that topic. It's just part of life. Grr!
He arrived at Luna's side, lay down beside her, and rested his chin on her neck while purring peace to her as she slept. Little Night-Light lay snug between them while Hidden-Hope dozed on her other side and the egg was safely at her chest.
That's better... time to do nothing!
He glanced one more time to his eldest son, still sitting on the ledge and staring into the distance. He wondered if there was any other reason why his son had asked about that topic. It was most likely the combination of the upcoming wedding and the reality that his son was growing up: no longer a child but not truly mature yet either.
Hopefully he doesn't make any mistakes... no big ones anyway.
Was-Grounded hopped to his paws and trotted to greet his four returning children. Aurora, Rain-Eater, Mist-Wings, and Rock-Climber all bounded up to him and greeted him and their dam-mother with nuzzles and licks.
"How was the hunting?" he asked.
"Good. We caught three four-leg prey-animals, one with a young inside it," Rain-Eater answered.
"I found good fishing," Aurora preened.
"There were many mushrooms for the ground-kin," Mist-Wings added.
"I was there too!" Rock-Climber barked.
Was-Grounded huffed with amusement, "And what about the flying beyond the range? How was that flight?"
The four nestmates warbled softly and glanced at each other before answering. Aurora shrugged her shoulders and huffed in agitation.
"It is fun to fly as a pack in more of the hidden ranges. But the other sky-kin are very wild and dangerous," she said.
Rain-Eater gently bumped her shoulder, "True. We did not need to fight any others, but we saw the danger far away."
Aurora hummed softly, "Sire-father, can we ever take our ground-kin to the ranges beyond this one? I know there is danger, but there is much they would want to see and which we can show them."
He softly grumbled, deep in thought. Taking ground-kin to the ranges beyond was not impossible, Kin-liver went out there all the time with her life-bond sky-kin, but doing something like that for anyone else would need a very good reason.
"Maybe. Kin-liver flies the ranges beyond with Jumps-Through-Clouds. But she has been flying with him for... many season-cycles. The ground-kin, your life-bond ground-kin, might not know how to stay as safe as she does. Why do you ask?"
Rain-Eater shuffled on his paws, "Being in this big range only is twisting to them. Our life-bond friends want to fly more in this world with us."
"As they should, but there is much danger out there. That shared flight would need much planning before it could happen. Maybe you and Shadowwing can talk about it."
Rain-Eater and Aurora nodded once in agreement. Mist-Wings and Rock-Climber yawned widely, showing that they were tired. Theirs had been a long waking-cycle of hunting and flying back to the shared-range.
"We should rest. I will stay awake as the watcher," he offered.
His four present children agreed with soft purrs, and they started toward their preferred places. As usual, Aurora rested apart from her nestmates, her head on her paws as she stared into the distance. Rain-Eater and Rock-Climber leaned against each other while gently pushing and shoving each other, as nestmate brothers liked doing. Mist-Wings calmly lay down by her dam-mother.
He spared a glance at his brother further down the shared-ledge. Shadowwing and Moon-Dancer were perched on the edge of the ledge, probably sharing some sire-father to son words or bonding-time. It always warmed his liver to see his brother being a sire-father.
He sighed and stared at his paws.
Few of his first-hatchling-life memories were very clear, but he distinctly remembered that his own great sire-father had wondered about the two-legs. That wondering and the questions his sire-father had asked, such as whether or not two-legs are monsters or have life-fires, had grown in his liver and might have helped him not kill Hiccup.
His children never even needed to ask such questions or be helped much, beyond learning their words, to know the two-legs as the ground-kin they are. His children lived in a better, more liver-warming world than the one he had grown up knowing. What more could a sire-father want for his children?
Author's Note – Cut scenes are in To Fly The Winds Of Life chapter 9.