Author's Note – I plan to change this story's posting schedule back to weekly updates after my real life duties are taken care of. I will also do the same for the other story posting alongside this one.
Progress
Once again, Shadowwing glanced over his shoulder just to make sure Hidden-Hope was there and that no other dragons were near her. True, he could hear her flight and would know if there were any other dragons close to them, but he was going to do everything possible to keep her safe regardless! Gods, he would do anything impossible too!
This was the first time she had ever flown so far from home. He and Luna had flown her beyond New Haven several times, always to go hunting with her or to explore the most familiar caverns. But they had never taken her this far, let alone to the above.
She drifted uncomfortably far from him, just so she could spin around a crystal. She did so with a joyful roar, probably to show off. But that meant she was out of his view for... a few seconds.
He winged closer to her as they continued down a familiar, dark passageway which led into the first chamber under the island.
"Daughter, stay close!"
"Yes, sire-father," she grumbled.
Good, and don't make me tell you again!
They wove between the spires and spikes, and over the giant mushrooms and streams. Thankfully, she remained close to him, especially when he heard several roars from wild dragons. Four Monstrous Nightmares bellowed up at him from a nearby ledge, probably because they recognized him. Being acknowledged by his... adoring fans usually gave him a warm glow inside, befitting an Alpha who had been through a lot in life, but he had no time for them now.
The cave widened into an entrance to a massive chamber filled with waters, forests, mushrooms, glowing crystals, and wild dragons. The chamber looked the same as it did the first time he was shown it by a mystical, phantom dragon. This was also the place where he knew several of the Haven dragons flew on their own. He rarely flew here, but he would occasionally check on some of them when he did.
"Wow, it is so big!" Hidden-Hope shouted.
"Yes, just wait until you see the above. Follow me!"
He led her through the chamber and up several ledges. Then they arrived at the large cave mouth which sloped higher and glowed faintly green from its moss. There was also a wind that blew up through the cave into the world above. Part of him always wondered how that was possible. Perhaps there were other similar entrances far away letting wind into the hidden world. Regardless, the how didn't matter.
"This way!" he roared.
She roared back to him and spun in a loop for fun. He could not help but grin and chuckle at his daughter's playful antics.
They were gradually floating higher through the cave, the faint glow of the moss illuminating the way while the wind helped push them higher.
His last flight up this cave with Moon-Dancer was a pleasant one, but this one felt different. He wasn't sure why, but it was probably because Moon-Dancer was basically an adult anyway, whereas Hidden-Hope was still very much a child.
After a long time gliding higher, there was a growing light up ahead. It must be sometime during the day, though it was not very bright, as was usual for the winter.
Hidden-Hope winged closer, her teal eyes wide in awe.
"What is that?" she gasped, staring ahead.
"You will see, my little one. Land with me!"
He pulled ahead of her, dashed out through the massive cave, and beheld the open sky of the world above as he dove to land outside the cave. As he knew it would be, the island was completely covered in snow. The sky was cloudy and not truly bright, both of which were usual for winters.
So many memories flared to life at once. Shivering while walking with his father to the Great Hall on Berk, snowball fights as a kid, a winter snuggled against hatchling Toothless's side, two winters passed among a friendly tribe and on Valka's sanctuary ice nest, and the winters at Haven.
Wait, where is she?
Hidden-Hope flew past him out into the open sky; she had apparently forgotten his instruction to land. That was unsurprising of her. But...
This was her first time ever seeing this world, so he could forgive her this time.
He followed after her, quickly catching up to her, "Daughter! Follow me!"
Speechless and looking like she could forget how to fly at any moment, she followed him higher up the central mountain. The air grew colder as they ascended in the chill wind.
Finally, he touched down in the snow on the highest mountain peak. She landed beside him and leaped to his side.
"So, what do you think?" he asked.
He had never seen her teal eyes wider than they were now. She stood on her hind legs and slowly spun around, staring at the sky.
"What... where... how... this is amazing!"
"Hold your tail now! Yes, this world is amazing," he chuckled.
She sat down on her haunches and pointed with a paw toward the sky, "Where is the rock wall? What are those white mists? What is the blue? Is that water? What is that flying light-rock? It is so very bright and big! What is the-"
"Slow down! One question at a time. There is no rock-wall. The white mists are clouds. The blue... might be water, but no sky-kin can fly high enough to touch it. The burning light is the sun."
She stared toward the horizon, "There is so much water! So much! So big!"
"Yes, and watching the waters is what the watcher does up here. Two-legs," he growled, "might make boats and come here with the boats. We must know if that happens so we can protect our ranges."
"Where is the two-leg nest?"
"There is not only one nest. There are many nests of two-legs far from here. I hope they never find us."
The wind gusted, ruffling her wings. Even he felt the cold in that moment. The hidden world was cool in many places, but it was not truly cold in any of the caves or chambers he had ever been in.
She snuggled against his side and gasped, "Why is the wind so cold?"
He purred and stretched a wing over her back. Doing that would help a little with the cold, but it was more the gesture that mattered. She was still small enough that he could easily do that.
"That is how this world is. There are seasons of cold-season winters, new-life and green springs, hot-season summers, and life-slowing autumns. This is the cold-season. Most plant life is sleeping."
She bent her nose to the snow and ate a mouthful of it, chomping on it like she would a mushroom.
"Is this the snow?"
It greatly amused him how interested she was by snow. She had never seen it before.
"Yes, that is snow."
"It is so cold!"
"True, snow is cold."
She quickly glanced at him, a question clearly biting her tongue.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I heard from Rain-Eater and Aurora that they would play games in the snow. Can we do that?"
Her eyes were so wide that she must be trying to influence him with her daughterly powers. Under the circumstances... and since they didn't really need to work up here anyway...
Some time playing wouldn't be bad at all. She's really eager for it.
"Yes, follow me."
He glided down the mountain, and she followed him to a flat plain where they both landed.
Hmm, she never got to have a snowball fight. Time to fix that!
He scooped up a mouthful of snow, spun to fling the snow at her, and paused when he saw her. She had fallen on her back in the snow, and she was furiously thrashing, unintentionally making a snow-dragon while shoving aside small mounds of snow.
Ah, if only she, Moon-Dancer, Night-Light, Flower-Eater, and all the cousins could be up here together.
"So cold but warm at the same time!" she shouted.
He waited for her to still her thrashing, and then he struck. The ball of snow struck her in the face with a puff and explosion of white. She barked in surprise and rolled to her paws, spinning to face him.
"What was that?" she shouted.
"A snowball. Now you try to hit me with one. I will make it easy for you and not move."
Undaunted by the challenge, she scooped up a mouthful of snow, crouched, and hurled her mouthful of snow. The shot flew wide and fell harmlessly beside him.
He stared at the errant shot and back to her.
Her ears went back.
He snorted, "Impressive."
"Not fair! That was my first try!"
"I said it was impressive."
They stared, neither looking away until she pointed over his head with a paw.
"What is that?" she shouted.
He knew without needing to look that there was nothing there. She was just trying to trick him so she could get an opportunity to strike. He spun around anyway and feigned confusion, all so she had the time she needed to pounce.
She was on his back, beating at his head with a paw, "Got you, sire-father!"
"No! Never!"
He bucked, trying to throw her off without really trying to throw her off.
She had no hope of winning an honest battle, but that wasn't the point. All that mattered was spending this time with his daughter. If that meant letting this battle last for a long time, he had no problem with that. They weren't up here to work or be watchers anyway.
They had played until they were breathless and completely lacking energy to do anything. Together, they started up the gentle slope in search of a place to rest out of the wind. He found such a shelter high up on the mountain slope but at the base of a small cliff.
He spun in a circle to clear a place to rest in the snow, and he curled up with a yawn. Then he saw her expectantly imploring him with her wide teal eyes.
"Fine, come here," he chuckled while lifting a wing.
She snuggled under his wing for warmth before staring heavenward at the night sky. Her wide eyes reflected the moonlight and starlight.
The haughty, proud, and rebellious daughter was, for the moment, gone. He wondered how long this would last. Hopefully for a while.
"You know what the white sky-rock is, yes?" he whispered.
"Is that the moon?"
"Yes, the moon. Your older brother has his name because I and your dam-mother... liked flying up above the clouds so we could see the moon. And, your dam-mother's name is a ground-kin way of saying 'like the moon'."
Her ears lifted while she purred, her head on her paws, "How is dam-mother like the moon?"
He thought back to that fateful conversation on a boat, back when Luna was still grounded and terrified of humans.
"As she told me, she wanted her name to be for one who flies high and free in the sky, has the same white color as her, and is very thoughtful with much feeling. Luna is all of that."
"What are those flying color-cloud-fires?"
"Those are auroras. They were flying when Aurora hatched."
"Wow. This world is... so amazing."
"Yes, it is."
She yawned, "I am a little tired."
"Then you should sleep. I can stay here."
She said nothing else, and soon thereafter fell asleep after covering her head with her tailfins. He settled for listening to her calm breathing long after she was asleep.
It had been a magical afternoon and evening of play and silliness. An escape from having responsibility was a good thing from time to time. It was made all the better since he could use this time to build some trust and understanding between himself and his daughter.
Why did it feel like there was a problem in their father-daughter relationship? It was as if he had two daughters: the playful, innocent, and awed one whom he saw today, and the defiant, frustrating, and rebellious one who occasionally caused problems in New Haven. Maybe that was how all daughters were.
Maybe there was no flaw, but he had nothing to compare this to. If he had a true sister when he was a boy, he could have looked to how his dad treated her. Was raising a daughter different from raising a son? He didn't specifically try to treat her differently from his sons. The most personal parts of life as a female were matters he simply could not help her with or relate to, so Luna handled those talks.
He sighed, savoring the moment of holding her close underwing. Give her another year, and he probably could not do this anymore.
She's growing up too. Too fast. My daughter.
It was scary. He would probably have screwed something up by now if not for Luna helping him. She had advised him to go on this little adventure with their daughter in the first place. Yes, absent Luna's help and willingness to confront him, he definitely would have somehow messed up being a father, especially with his daughter.
He glanced one more time to the horizon and the expanse of white upon the island. They would only stay up here for one more day before returning home. He wanted to be there when she saw her first sunrise.
Flies-With-Sun had enough of the teasing and pretending! Her liver-twisting life-mate did so many things to show wanting, but he never acted on them!
Her Dawn-Singer would fall asleep in a patch of strong-life-hatchling flowers, as if she would not notice, but then, when she would go rest next to him, he would not do anything!
He would wrap his tail around hers for resting or would stroke her as only a life-mate would, but that never led to anything more!
She would, after Moon-Pinner was already asleep or not there, roll onto her back in their cave-den, but he would not climb on her!
He kept whispering liver-warming things about how good it was that Hidden-Hope had Night-Light and Flower-Eater now as little brothers, and she would agree that having at least one nestmate was good for both young, but nothing happened!
Grr!
She was certain they were both playing a game of pretending that neither had wanting. That was fun to be teasing each other in liver-warming ways, but only if the teasing and pretending made more wanting and led to doing!
This was not in an egg-making time now anyway, but that did not matter. There was a talk she needed to have with him right now! And hopefully more than just talking afterwards!
She found him watching from a distance as the young learned by the shore.
"Are they busy?" she asked.
"They are learning much from Skald," Dawn-Singer purred.
"Good. Follow me!"
Dawn-Singer hummed and ducked under a tall bush as he followed her deeper into the forest. They passed through a field of wild mushrooms which burned with light. Then she started running, leaping and bounding to leave him behind.
"Where are we running?" he roared, pursuing her.
"I want to do something!" she shouted.
"What?"
"You will see!"
He was probably confused by that answer. Good. He deserved to be confused and not know what she was thinking. She was his life-mate; she had to be at least a little mysterious, even if she planned to very clearly let him know what she wanted!
She finally arrived at a very secluded and hidden place deep under the trees. Light-making flowers hung from vines above in the tree branches. This was also far enough from the nearest light-rocks that it was a little dark under the thick cover.
Satisfied, she spun on him and sat down to block the path. He scrambled breathless to a stop and sat down before her. Hopefully he was not too tired, but that was unlikely to be a problem.
"Now we talk!" she huffed.
"Talk? Why here and not with our kin?"
"Because I have my reasons. We must talk, life-mate to life-mate."
His ears went back as he gave a worried warble.
Satisfied with how this was going so far, she shoved his shoulder with a paw.
"What was that for?" he barked.
"That is for you being a rock-head."
Perfect, he was unsure what was happening. She licked his nose and flicked her tailfins.
"And that is for you being blind."
"What?" he gasped.
"I... want you to chase me!"
He blinked and grunted in confusion.
"Yes, I want you to chase my tail and catch me! You have been showing me wanting, but you have not done anything!"
His ears went up as he started chuckling, "Oh. I was trying to make you want to jump at me!"
"And I do, but you are the male. I want you to chase me first!" she explained.
"I... did not want to push you if you did not want to."
She blinked, "Why would you think that?"
"You jumped at me much when we were new mates," he slyly purred.
That was true. He was the only one she had ever taken, and they had been very liver-warming as new mates. She had done much to show him wanting back then.
"But that stopped," he added.
"What?" she asked, unsure what he meant.
"I mean that you stopped showing me small wanting-signs. We have not been trying to make another egg either."
Part of her wanted to snap at his nose, since he almost sounded like he was blaming her. But he would not do that. He would only say something if he truly believed it. Had she done anything wrong to put a chill or distance between him and her?
"Why do you think I have not been showing you wanting?" she grumbled.
"Because Moon-Pinner is always with us. We cannot... do much with her there."
Moon-Pinner, her dear hatchling and now fledgling, was very important in her life as a dam-mother, obviously. She, Luna, and Green-Wings had recently agreed to make more effort watching each other's young specifically for this reason: to allow more time with life-mates.
He grumbled and rolled a paw, "But that is also my fault. I could have asked my dam-mother or Luna to watch her for us."
Okay, that was fair of him. He and she had both made small mistakes by making being a dam-mother and sire-father take far more time than they allowed to being each other's life-mate.
She huffed, "Well, good to know."
He nuzzled her neck, "Yes, very good to know. Do you agree that Moon-Pinner should have a nestmate?"
"Yes, of course I do. We can only have one more," she purred.
"Unless we learn about new ranges that need... filling with our kin."
That was an amusing thought and very unlikely to be needed. Luna and Green-Wings, when they lived in the above, were able to live differently than how was needed in these ranges. Two young per new life-mate pair was the agreed rule, and she had no problem with that life-rule.
She hopped back from him and chuckled, "I am not in an egg-making time now."
He shrugged, "No? Well, you will know when you are. I am hungry!"
He spun around and ran off down the path they had run earlier, and vanished behind a very thick patch of trees.
What! How could he just...!
She roared and ran after him. He was going to suffer for that. Somehow, she would make him wish he had not just turned tail and run off! And for what? Food?
Males! Were their heads filled with nothing but food, flying, and egg-making? That pile of waste was going to-
A dark blur knocked into her from the side, sending her rolling through the light-making flowers. She hopped to her paws and spun to face her attacker. Of course, it was him.
"What was that for! You said you were hungry!"
He growled and crouched to pounce, "Did I say I was hungry for food?"
No, he had not said he wanted food, so what was he... actually, it was clear what he was doing. He had not truly turned tail on her offer! He was teasing!
Good!
Was-Grounded and Green-Wings, carrying Wind-Dancer on her back, soared deeper into the shared-range, over the fields of plants the ground-kin would eat, above their home-dens, and higher up to a bare level on which a lone Light Fury perched, staring down at the shared-nest.
He hummed in thought while coming down. She was not in her cave; rather, she was looking down at the ground-kin shared-nest out of definite curiosity.
They landed and trotted to Flies-Bravely.
"Was-Grounded, Green-Wings," Flies-Bravely purred.
"Warm flights, Flies-Bravely," Green-Wings answered.
Wind-Dancer hopped down from her dam-mother's back, and bounded toward Flies-Bravely, eventually pouncing at her tail. Flies-Bravely sat still, staring warily at Green-Wings with an unspoken question.
"You may play with her," Green-Wings huffed.
Satisfied with the permission, Flies-Bravely started playing with Wind-Dancer, mostly by swatting at her with her tail while the young fledgling growled at the tail.
He chuckled at how eager and friendly his hatchling was. But that had been true of Dawn-Singer also, since Dawn-Singer had pounced to chew on Shadowwing's tail almost as soon as they met. Night Fury hatchlings were very playful and trusting of their own kind or those very like them. That trusting was good, but he and Green-Wings were going to always be there to watch over any play-bonding. Flies-Bravely was not thought-rotted, but she was not yet a liver-trusted kin to him.
"Have you been down in the shared-nest?" he asked.
"Not yet."
"Why not?"
"Because I want to learn more about their pack-roles and nest-order first."
"There is not much to learn. They have Shadowwing as their true Alpha, another ground-kin named Thorvald as their second Alpha, and an old female named Kin-liver as their old one who knows much and whom all listen to. The others in the pack have many different roles in that shared-nest."
She looked out again, her ears lifting slightly, "There are other sky-kin here. The sky-kin go to the same ground-kin. Why?"
He sometimes wondered that himself. Why did the sky-kin who did not need to stay... stay? Most flew away to be with their own kinds, but some wanted to keep the ground-kin in their life-flights. Ones like Storm-Fly, Blue-Back, Hooked-Fang, Lugs-Meat, Jingles, Razor, and a pawful of others did not leave the range much.
Maybe they were like me and Hiccup before he was a Night Fury. They cannot truly talk to each other, but they can understand much anyway. They are friends and kin.
That was probably truth, but their kinship with their ground-kin must be different from what his was with Hiccup, long ago.
"Because their life-flights are warmer with each other. Sky-kin and ground-kin are both kin to the other. It might not have much lift to you if you have not held a ground-kin to your liver."
She hummed in agreement, "True, I do not understand it, but the bonding does not look cold. Do you two have liver-held ground-kin?"
"No, we do not. Our first three little ones do though."
She warbled, looking very wary of something, "And is it true that I do not need to claim a ground-kin so I can live here?"
"True, there is no rule about that. All we would want is that you help provide for the shared-range by doing some work. We all do that."
"Work like bringing back hunts and watching for other sky-kin?"
"Yes, that work."
She stomped a forepaw on the ground, "Good. I will do those. What about the ground-kin words? How do I learn them?"
He and Green-Wings rolled their eyes and snorted, "With much trying. Their talking sounds like hissing and growling, but we can learn to know their words. The life-bonded ground-kin and the one named Kin-liver are best to teach you. Dawn-Singer, Flies-With-Sun, and Shadowwing are the best sky-kin to teach you also."
Green-Wings purred, "Do you want to learn the words?"
"I should if I am going to live in this shared-range. To not be able to understand half the kin in this range would be very twisted of me," Flies-Bravely explained.
"You can learn to talk with their words, or some of their words. Not all ground-kin know that talking well. I did not learn much of that," he explained.
For her to learn talking like a ground-kin would be difficult, just like it was for Flies-With-Sun and Luna. They had learned enough for their needs, but there was a very big difference between the talking they could do and what the young had learned.
"Shadowwing was the first Night Fury who learned that talking, true?" Flies-Bravely asked.
"Yes, he did. That we can talk with ground-kin words was a very big surprise."
"How did he learn?"
Her questions were getting closer and closer to a truth which he was not going to talk about. Other than Shadowwing, only he, Green-Wings, Luna, Kin-liver, and Gobber knew the truth about Shadowwing.
He shrugged his wings, "He... thinks differently from how many sky-kin think. And he learned more of the ground-kin words when he was a fledgling than I did."
Green-Wings chuckled, understanding what he was not saying.
"Wind-Dancer, come here, my little one," she purred.
Wind-Dancer dropped the white tail from her mouth, and dashed over to Green-Wings.
"Up, little one. It is food time."
Wind-Dancer hopped onto Green-Wings's back and held tight with her tiny claws, "Fooood!"
"We were flying to Luna and her little ones down in the shared-nest. You should follow us," he offered Flies-Bravely.
"I will."
Luna wondered when her life-mate and her daughter would return. Shadowwing and Hidden-Hope had flown away to the above two waking-cycles ago, which probably meant they would be flying back here soon. She had no true fear that anything would go wrong or that they would meet any danger, but...
She could not help but think back to the wonderful first time her own sire-father had flown her to see the above, to see the sky-rock moon, distant clouds, and cold snow. That had sparked wanting in her liver, wanting to fly far and see more of that new world which was usually hidden from her.
Flower-Eater whined again and started chewing on her forepaw. He was reminding her that he was hungry.
"Night-Light! Follow!"
Night-Light leapt to his paws and left the sand where he was practicing his picture-words. She rarely had any problems getting him to obey her, which she was very thankful for.
"Where are we going?"
"To the food-den. Your brother is hungry."
"Me too!"
"Good. Follow me."
A short flight followed into the skies over the shared-nest. Night-Light spun around her while flying, trying to slap his little brother with his tail while Flower-Eater tried to snap at the tail.
They glided down over the home-dens and landed in the place saved for sky-kin to land. Having such a place helped prevent accidents like knocking down a ground-kin with a wing or tail, or landing on their home-dens since those were not meant to hold the weight of a sky-kin, or just landing on the ground-kin.
All of those had happened. It was truly an accident when it happened with non-Fury sky-kin. But with her kin... it was usually intended as teasing.
Flower-Eater hopped down from her back and started sniffing the ground, as if looking for a prey-scent to hunt. He was a hunter in his liver even as a flightless hatchling.
"Come, little ones."
They obediently followed after her, though hatchlings usually did that without needing to be told.
The ground-kin were doing what they usually did: talking with each other, sitting with their kin, walking to or from work in the fields, and play-fighting. The males especially liked the play-fighting, probably as a way of winning status or showing their maleness.
The nearest ground-kin bent their heads to her, and spoke her name in respect-signs, which was good of them to do. She purred her thanks and appreciation back to them.
As she and her little ones continued on the walking-path into the shared-nest, she saw far more of the ground-kin. Something had been bothering her about the ground-kin in general.
They had become noticeably unhappier and not as... active as they once were. Some of that was probably because they were all smaller than they were above. Not eating as much food always made someone smaller and weaker. Not having a life-bond sky-kin around probably added chill also.
What was a life-bond if both did not fly the winds of life together in some way? Being apart when necessary, such as herself and Shadowwing right now or any of the sky-kin searching for a mate or sitting with eggs or hatchlings, was not foul or wrong, but sky-kin that flew away to be with their own kind and never came back to bond with their ground-kin... those were false life-bonds.
"Why are we stopped?" Night-Light warbled.
"Sorry, little one. I was thinking."
She started walking again, still pondering that problem of what to do about the ground-kin. Worrying about the future like that was not something she truly needed to do, but it had been her idea to bring the ground-kin here, so she cared about their life-warmth.
She sighed, purring softly at nothing specific.
They must still learn how to live in this world.
Shadowwing had mentioned something about this in the past. Some of the ground-kin still wanted to go back into the above. They missed what was familiar and known to them, the same as how she had missed the hidden ranges while she was flying the above in search of a life-mate. She knew how twisting it was to change a life-way learned over many season-cycles; she had needed much help changing how she thought about the ground-kin. Thinking of them as 'flee on sight' was very difficult to unlearn.
And even now she still did not understand much about ground-kin. Perhaps most twisted about them was how they could be safe, with no enemies, and with enough food to live on... but they could still be unhappy and not content.
Sky-kin, if they had a mate, territory, and food, were more easily content and not... pushed to want more. Ground-kin were different, feeling a deep not-content in their livers.
Maybe that need for the different and for always doing something is what helped them do more... than sky-kin?
She grumbled, wondering about something which she had not yet pondered. She had felt much the same discontent while she was in the above. That had lift since she was not content; she was looking for something she did not have.
But even now, with more than enough food, sleep, and water, with a loving life-mate, with a safe range to live in, and with her own nest... there was still a wanting for more. Maybe that was why she wanted to be a speaker for the ground-kin to her own kind.
She had wants that were not for herself. Maybe that was the most important difference between strong-thinking life and small-thinking life.
Night-Light ran ahead with Flower-Eater following closely behind his tail. They had both seen the food-den, which always made them very eager. She settled down behind them and gave a soft howl to get the attention of the ground-kin inside.
Legs-Of-Fish appeared and smiled at them, "Oh, hello Luna, Night-Light, Flower-Eater. Hungry?"
"Yessss!" Night-Light hissed.
"Can do. Luna, one fish for you?"
She nodded, and Legs-Of-Fish left to get the food. Meanwhile, Night-Light sat patiently on his haunches while Flower-Eater kept sniffing at the ground. This was the place where all the sky-kin that stayed in the shared-range and came to the food-den for food would need to wait, so there were many sky-kin scents. Most sky-kin did their own hunting though.
Legs-Of-Fish was away for a long time before he finally returned. He looked unhappy about something.
"I have one fish for Flower-Eater. Can you and Night-Light have the soup instead?"
The food-den had three options: dried fish, dried meats, and a mix of hot water and the mushrooms which were good for sky-kin to eat. That mix the ground-kin called a soup. The soup filled the belly, but it did not taste as good as fish or meat.
Resigned to what must be, she nodded again and brought Night-Light and Flower-Eater with her around the food-den. Legs-Of-Fish brought out a very large bowl of hot soup, set the bowl on the ground, and pawed off the fish to Flower-Eater.
"Soup this time?" Night-Light snorted.
"If you do not want to eat, I will eat it all," she chuckled.
"No! I will eat!"
He buried his muzzle in the soup. Flower-Eater finished his fish and then started helping himself to the soup. She was content to wait and watch both her sons before she ate anything. It was more important that they eat enough.
She saw three ground-kin, a pair of mates and their daughter, approaching the food-den. They had no sky-kin with them, but she knew who these ground-kin were.
These were the Hoffers. The adults had once had another daughter, a liver-flamed life-bond Alpha-female named Astrid.
She wished she had met that ground-kin. If Astrid had once pulled ground-kin-Shadowwing's liver toward her, then Astrid must have been a special ground-kin. That much was certainly true since she had caused much of the change toward making the ground-kin in ground-kin-Shadowwing's pack more accepting of sky-kin. She had been good and warm-livered to the spine-tail Storm-Flier. But she had died in fighting for her pack of warm-livered ground-kin.
Shadowwing had told her that Stella, the Hoffers new daughter, reminded him some of a smaller Astrid in looks, though she was very different in that Stella did not yell, want to fight, or swing around weapons.
"Skald, have you seen Nips? He's missing," the male Hoffer asked.
The male Hoffer was holding Stella's little paw, and the small ground-kin looked very sad, her eyes shining with eye-water.
"Her pet Terror? Sorry, he hasn't been by here, and the Terror flock isn't here either," Legs-Of-Fish answered.
She understood the idea of pets. Having a lesser, small-thinking life to be responsible for, to play with, and to do some bonding with could help warm a life-flight. The little-nibbler sky-kin were also far more small-thinking than all other sky-kin. But that did not mean that ground-kin did not care for them.
"Dam-mother, why is Stella dropping eye-water?" Night-Light asked after licking his muzzle clean.
"She is sad that her little-nibbler-terror, Nips, is not with her."
"Where is Nips?"
"Not with her. They do not know where the little-nibbler-terror is."
Night-Light spun around and stared at them as the three ground-kin started walking away, "I will help her find Nips!"
He got their attention, sat down before them, and gently nudged Stella's shoulder with a white paw. Then he started talking. His ears were up and tail swaying. She could not hear what he was saying, but she could guess. He was going to help lead them to Nips by scenting the little-nibbler-terror.
That was fine. She could follow after them at a distance while watching.
As she expected, he, Stella, and the two Hoffer adults started walking together while Night-Light led, sniffing the air.
She picked up Flower-Eater and followed them while carrying him. Stella was not dropping eye-water anymore; instead, she was running slowly alongside Night-Light.
Seeing that got her wondering about them.
Moon-Dancer and Hidden-Hope had no special life-bond ground-kin. They were friendly enough to all ground-kin, but there were none whom they held especially close to the liver. Kin-liver did not truly count as a life-bond ground-kin.
Hmm, Night-Light and Stella?
Both were very young, and neither knew any pain from the other life-kind or from life generally. Both also had few others to give much time in play. Night-Light had Moon-Pinner and his nestmates, true, but he would probably benefit from talking with a ground-kin who was not a teacher or an adult.
Only time would tell if there would be any liver-bonding happening between them.
Night-Light led the three ground-kin through the shared-nest and to the edge of the forest, at which point the adults turned aside and brought Stella with them back into the shared-nest. They did not want to wander without preparation beforepaw.
She purred when she saw Night-Light gently pat Stella on the shoulder with a paw. He looked like he wanted to comfort her after her pet sky-kin went away. Nips would probably return in time, but that did not make the now any warmer.
The ground-kin walked away together, probably to return to their home-den. Night-Light watched them go while he stood beside her under a wing.
"Dam-mother, I want to play more with her."
"Do you?"
"Yes, she is chilled in her liver, and that is sad."
"That is a good idea, little one."
"She smiled at me!" Night-Light purred, his ears lifted high.
"Good."
Shadowwing should hear about this. He will want to know that Night-Light and Stella might become friends.
She noticed Was-Grounded, Green-Wings, and Flies-Bravely diving down toward the shared-nest, so she started for them.
"Come, little ones. We should find our kin."
Skald didn't particularly enjoy doing inventory. It had to be done to make sure the food supplies didn't go bad, but it was so tedious. Usually, anyway. Doing inventory in the food storehouse was becoming much easier, not that this was enjoyable. It was not.
The storehouse was becoming emptier. This one was, anyhow. There was no shortage of supplies used to prepare meals for the humans in the tribe. However, the supplies of jerky and smoked fish for the Furies and other familiar dragons were running far lower.
That left one main option, given that the fast-growing and edible mushrooms were never in short supply.
"Great, looks like more and more mushroom soup for them."
He waved down the first fellow tribesman he saw and had him take a message for Thorvald. While waiting for the great Loutster to appear, he stared into the distance out the window and daydreamed about the next campaign he was in the middle of planning.
He was the cryptmaster, after all.
"The next island should have a small castle on a slope. The castle is filled with draugr summoned through dark magic by... an undead dragon with the ethereal form buff! Ha, take that, party! It's made of non-matter, so you can't damage it no matter how high you roll on physical damage! You've only got one sorcerer for magic damage, so hopefully she leveled up fireball. But if you send the rogue down into the dungeon to find the sacrificial dark crystal with the null field aura, which removes ethereal form buffs..."
The next island would be very difficult but fair if the party asked the right questions. He wanted to be a fair cryptmaster.
He noticed that Thorvald was standing outside the window, his arms crossed while he stared in bemusement.
"Hey Lout."
"Sup Legs?"
"I needed to talk to you."
Thorvald groaned, "Alright, how bad is it?"
"Not 'summon the whole tribe and sacrifice the cow bad'."
"Oh good. Wouldn't want to cut down on the milk rations anyway."
"Definitely not. Old Bessy's too important for that."
Thorvald stroked his beard, "What about have a group vigil in the prayer tent? Make some smaller sacrifices to Odin, Thor, and Loki just in case?"
"Maybe not that bad either. It's more just a problem, more of an inconvenience really, for the dragons."
"Huh?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, out with it."
He vaguely gestured behind himself into the storehouse, "We're running very low on supplies for the dragons. We've got all the mushrooms we could need, but the dragons really should have fish and meat too."
"So why are we running low?"
He put his elbows on the counter, "Simple. About half of the Furies are away now. They helped a lot with bringing back supplies to prep for later. Those still here have little kids to look after, so they aren't out hunting all the time. Lots of the other dragons are away too."
"And we can't spare any more of the livestock?"
"Nope. Not unless you want some really unhappy Nords. Well, unhappier."
"Great. I'll talk with Shadowwing when he gets back. Maybe he can get the other dragons here to help out more. Later, Legs."
"You too, Lout. Where you headed?"
Thorvald shrugged, "Back to the Great Hall. I was in the middle of an arm-wrestling match with Sven."
"What happened to the match? You forfeit?"
Thorvald looked offended, holding a palm to his breast, "Forfeit? Me? A Jorgenson forfeit a contest of manly honor? Legs, I thought you knew me!"
"So you actually accepted this break in the contest because you were losing."
Thorvald flexed, just to show off what muscle he had, which was more than most in the tribe could boast of.
"Yup. I've gone a bit soft, and Sven is the reigning champion. It's not right for the Chief to be defeated by anyone!"
"Right, so are you going to challenge Shadowwing after you beat Sven? I would give a cycle's rations to watch that!"
"Real funny, Legs. Hey, want to hear a limerick?"
"Do you even know what that word means?"
"Fishlegs, Fishlegs, what a prick."
"Good one. Here's one which you'll probably get."
"Try me. I'm really smart."
"What do a dwarf and a midget have in common?"
"Uh, what?"
"Very little."
Thorvald crossed his arms on his chest, frowned in apparent thought, and rolled his eyes, "Whatever."
Thorvald spun in place and stalked off toward the Great Hall, which let Skald return to his duties.
He was very busy thinking about statistics for that undead dragon when the rush of wings got his attention.
He looked up in surprise and saw Was-Grounded, Green-Wings, and the new Light Fury, Flies-Bravely, descending. The two Night Furies landed and approached first, their newest daughter between them after hopping down from Green-Wings's back. Flies-Bravely followed behind them.
Was-Grounded and Green-Wings stopped just outside the window, and stared expectantly at him.
Unlike their older children, neither of the Fury parents knew much in the way of spoken Norse beyond names and a few choice words. Fortunately, spoken Norse was not needed from them here.
"Hello there, despite my previous name I've got no fish, but I can give you some soup."
They grumbled and rolled their eyes.
"Don't give me that. It's all we have right now. Need to say something to Shadowwing later."
Was-Grounded snorted and nodded in acceptance. He spoke to his mate and Flies-Bravely, beckoning them around the side of the building, and they followed him.
Alright, now where did I put the extra extra large bowl?
Shadowwing was very, very relieved when he arrived back at New Haven with Hidden-Hope. She had been very quiet on the long flight back to home.
Seeing the sunrise had left her stricken with awe, unable to even find words for the longest time. In that silence he had explained the relevance of the dawn, as the joining of night and day or of light and dark, to the name of her kind of dragon. Watching the sun rise above a far distant horizon and paint the sky with an orange glow while the chill wind ruffled their wings was special for him too, since he had not seen a sunrise in... years, not counting his brief time with Moon-Dancer up here.
Shortly after watching the sunrise, they had put their tails the world above.
He briefly searched and saw the very people he most wanted to see. Even better, everyone he needed was gathered together, probably for the usual hatchling-sitting. Even Flies-Bravely was nearby.
Nice, looks like there weren't any disasters while I was gone!
He roared to announce himself to them, and then glided down into the clearing outside the village. His daughter followed closely behind, and they touched down together.
Hidden-Hope wasted no time and ran over to Luna, "Dam-mother, the above is so amazing and big and bright and we played in the snow and wow I cannot believe how liver-warming the sun-sky-rock is and I saw the moon-sky-rock and the dawn!"
"Did you?" Luna laughed.
"No, I was just saying that... yes, I did! Hey, Moon-Pinner, Night-Light, let me tell you about the above!"
Hidden-Hope raced off toward Moon-Pinner and Night-Light, both of whom were in the middle of a writing lesson with Erevan and Helga.
So that's where all her energy went... oh well.
Luna stepped alongside him and nuzzled his neck, "So, my love. She feels liver-warmed."
"Yes, we had a good time together. Thank you for the idea to take her up there."
"Well, I know how good it is for a sire-father to do that for his little one," she whispered.
That you do.
"Anything I should know about?" he asked Was-Grounded.
Oddly, Was-Grounded grumbled and nodded, "Yes, our sky-kin food-den is very empty of fish and meat. Legs-Of-Fish could only give us the mushroom-soup."
That was slightly concerning. He had not know there were any food shortages.
Sounds like something I should investigate. Good thing we ate on the way here.
"Did he say what the problem is?"
"No, but I might have pinned it anyway. With four of my children away and Moon-Dancer also with them, we might not be catching enough new prey and fish."
Ugh, really... so we have to hunt even more while they're gone?
Flies-Bravely must have overheard the conversation because she interjected, "I can help with hunting, if you show me the best places to hunt."
He wasn't sure how well she knew how to hunt, that being a skill her prior pack had apparently deprived the females much experience with, but he wasn't going to turn down the offer, especially not when she was trying to make herself helpful to New Haven.
"Good. We can have Dawn-Singer and Flies-With-Sun help more while we keep Moon-Pinner here. Luna, Green-Wings, do you two want to join the hunting-flights?"
They both purred and growled in agreement.
"Yes, I want to hunt more. My life-mate can be with Wind-Dancer for me, if he knows what to do," Green-Wings declared.
Was-Grounded snorted, "After five other children already, I might know a little about being a sire-father."
Luna laughed and tapped Green-Wings's shoulder with wingtip, "And I will help you with the hunt."
Shadowwing looked to the Great Hall. As usual, there were a few Nords coming and going from that great communal space. He probably needed to report to Thorvald and Skald before too long, even if for no other reason than to get more details on the food situation.
"While we are all here, when should we fly to the new range of Light Furies?"
"Already wanting to leave so soon after coming back to me?" Luna teased.
"Depends on what you want to do to make me want to stay," he teased her back.
"Hmm, I have a pawful of ideas."
"Get a cave," Was-Grounded snorted.
Shadowwing ignored that and tried to get back on topic, "Real question for us: we should fly to that range eventually, but when? I feel liver-twisted being away from here on so many flights."
He knew it was asking a lot to be away from Luna, his children, and the tribe several times more or less in a row, but two of these occasions were on official inter-tribal duties. The other occasion was a duty as a father. So he was not shirking any of his responsibilities by going on these flights.
Luna purred, nuzzling his neck more, "There are no winds pushing you to that range. They have not sent a Far-Flier to us. Stay with us, help with hunting, and fly that flight to the other range later."
As usual, she was completely right. There was absolutely no rush to visit that other pack. He had enough duties right here to attend to anyway.
"True, good point."
Luna joined him in watching Night-Light busily practicing his writing while Dawn-Singer helped him and Moon-Pinner.
She purred in thought, "You will be very warmed by this: Night-Light was helping Stella earlier."
"Was he? How?" he asked in surprise.
"She lost her little-nibbler-terror, and he helped her look for her Nips."
"Did he find Nips?" he chuckled.
"No, the little-nibbler-terror flew away with his pack. Night-Light helped warm her liver after though. He said he wanted to play more with her."
He wondered about that and about what them spending time together might mean. It was not surprising that his son had jumped in to help someone else. Night-Light was still unsure of himself and doubting his own abilities, but he was also the most empathetic and sensitive of his children.
Moon-Dancer and Hidden-Hope were kind in their own ways, but he didn't remember them doing anything like what Night-Light did. Further, neither of his oldest children had human friends of their own. Would Night-Light be the first of his kids to make a human friend? Hopefully.
Especially given who that friend was. Stella was not Astrid, but she was her sister. If Night-Light became Stella's lifelong friend, she would always have someone who could help protect her in this world.
They have a long way to go before that happens, but I hope it does. It would be good for him to have a human friend.
Dawn-Singer glanced to his left and then his right, very amused while leading the flight through the familiar caverns.
He was the best to be the flight-leader for this because he had flown this flight many times before. His nestmates had always been the ones flying with him then. This flight was different. Behind him flew his dam-mother, life-mate, Luna, and Flies-Bravely.
He was the only male on this flight!
They were almost certain to not meet any male Light Furies, but if they did he would probably look like a very favored Alpha male.
It was an amusing thought.
Finally after much flying, he turned down the familiar passage which led into the water-range. Being back in this range was tail-twisting because of the danger the waters hid. But he knew about the dangers, and knowing about the threat made the threat much weaker.
He touched down on the shore, and the females landed behind him. Luna and Flies-With-Sun tossed onto the rocks the packs hanging from their necks.
The plan was to catch prey, eat some for themselves, and bring back most of the catches to the shared-range for future food needs.
"Are you all ready?" he asked.
"Yes," they purred.
"Good. I will be the watcher. Remember to stay in the shallow water. Leave the water if you see my power-light."
"You really like telling me what to do," Flies-With-Sun chuckled.
"Probably because you always tell him what to do," Luna laughed.
He just rolled his eyes, "And I do. You know I cannot say no to her."
"Yes, my sister knows what she wants," Luna agreed.
"And she knows how to get it!" Flies-With-Sun added.
His dam-mother huffed loudly, "Dawn-Singer, sometimes I wonder about your life-mate."
"I wonder about her a lot," he purred.
Flies-With-Sun rolled her eyes, but she also purred with liver-warmth, just as he hoped she would. The life-mate teasing and tending done, he faced Flies-Bravely. She was only one present whom he did not know as a hunter, so she would stay in the safest waters.
"You should stay in the shallower water. Hunt the many-leg-snappers."
"I will."
"Good. I will watch for us all. Remember to leave the water if you see my power-light. Anything else before we start hunting?" he asked.
Luna spun away and tapped Flies-With-Sun's shoulder with a wingtip, "Last one in the water is a pile of waste!"
That apparently began the hunting as everyone slipped out into the water, swam away from shore, and dove. He chose this place to hunt in because it was not very deep except for far out where the underwater ground fell down into darkness. That was where the Alpha-hunter of the water-range would be, if it was nearby. By staying mostly to the shallower waters, he and the females could be safe against that threat.
That he was being the watcher for his life-mate, her sister, and his dam-mother made this just as important as when he watched for his nestmates. He even felt warmth for Flies-Bravely, since she had thinking somewhat like his life-mate and since both females' life-flights had touched long ago.
He kept his attention on the deep waters and all his kin around him. There could be other threats not counting the Alpha-hunter. But he saw nothing moving out in the deep waters.
Both bags were filled with flamed many-legged-snappers and several mouthfuls of fish. The heavier of the packs was so heavy that Flies-With-Sun grumbled about how heavy it was to carry.
He considered whether to encourage her to carry it anyway, or to volunteer to carry it for her. He decided that letting her save her strength might be better... just in case she wanted to thank him later. After all, he was a strong Night Fury and could easily find a little more strength for her, even if he was tired.
So he picked up the heavier pack, and his dam-mother got the other one.
"Back to the shared-range?" Luna offered.
"Or we could hunt for ground-prey and bring some of them back," Flies-With-Sun proposed.
He grumbled and shook his head, "No, we should fly back to the shared-range together. We have prey here, and other sky-kin will smell the catches. We should also stay as a pack."
Flies-Bravely stretched her wings, "I agree with staying as a pack."
They all stayed close on the flight back, which was helpful. A pair of rumble-horns flew at him, probably because they smelled the fish. Luna, Flies-With-Sun, and Flies-Bravely warned the other sky-kin away with warning-fire. He would have done so also, but he was carrying the fish and could not easily fight.
His thoughts once again flew far away to his nestmates in an unknown part of the hidden world. They had been away for probably over a couple moon-cycles now. It was much harder to know the flying of time when there was no watcher counting the sun-cycles in the above.
He was sure they were safe. Something told him that he would know in his liver if they were in danger. Sire-father had explained that those who were kin and held in the liver could dream about dangers to the other. Whether that was something sky-kin only could do, or if ground-kin could also have those warning-dreams, he did not know.
The dream he had of a cave crashing down on Aurora was just twisted sleep-seeing. But dreams could be a way the life-fire thought about problems. Maybe the cave collapsing on Aurora meant something other than just a cave crashing. Maybe it meant she would learn something which would change her life.
Her being a flight-leader for so long must be tail-twisting. And she has her life-problem to see!
He had no doubt what her problem was. It was twisted how being away from someone for a long time could help make their actions have more lift. His sister had a very simple life-problem.
She wanted a mate.
That was it. She just wanted a male to be hers and be with her. So simple and normal, but she was so blind to the problem and was dramatic about so much of her life-flight. She had always fought with words, but there had been a distance between him and her ever since he took Flies-With-Sun as his life-mate. Aurora probably wanted a mate but was frustrated by there not being any good males for her.
He snorted, amused by the thought that she might use the adventure to try to find a male Light Fury. It was not every waking-cycle that a new Light Fury just appeared in the range and-
Actually, new Light Furies appearing in the shared-range and staying there had always been good so far. It very much was for him, since he got his life-mate that way.
And his brother would have a very big surprise when he came back. Whether any liver-bonding or mate-wanting would grow between Rain-Eater and Flies-Bravely, he did not know. It would be amusing to watch his little brother foul his own flight, as would probably happen. Rain-Eater did not think with the liver.
But he would gladly give his brother whatever help he could with that flight. Brothers had to offer each other a helping paw from time to time and share what they knew about females, little though that normally was.