Author's Note – Apologies for the long delay, but I needed to take an extended break from writing and fanfiction in general. I don't anticipate any more delays going forward.
Darker And Deeper
Shadowwing, Was-Grounded, and Flies-With-Sun pulled up and hovered in place while two Night Furies, a male and a female, raced toward them from high above the nearby ledge. Shadowwing stared in awe at the sight of more of his and his brother's kind, a sight which they had long thought impossible.
Oh my gods! We found them!
Was-Grounded and Flies-With-Sun wordlessly agreed to land, which they all did on a massive purple mushroom that could support all their combined weight.
The other Night Furies touched down before them and stared at them in obvious surprise. Both of the Night Furies were slightly smaller than them, but they were clearly adults. The male was as dark as they were, while the female had a slight red tint to her wings. They both had teal eyes.
No one moved a paw in the tense silence which followed. The two strange Night Furies sat calmly but attentively, evidently curious as to their being there. Their gazes drifted from Shadowwing and Was-Grounded to Flies-With-Sun, for some odd reason.
Finally, Was-Grounded stepped forward and nosed closer to them.
"You are real," Was-Grounded whispered.
"Yes, we are real. Why are you surprised?" the male Night Fury huffed.
"We have not seen other Night F... dark wings that are not our kin," Shadowwing explained.
"What? You are clearly not from our range. Where are you from?" the female asked.
Shadowwing stepped forward and sat down beside Was-Grounded, "Far from here. We have a range where we dark wings are Alphas."
"Truly? You are Alphas? Interesting. Are you here to challenge this pack?" the male calmly asked.
"Challenge? No. Why would we do that?" Shadowwing asked, surprised.
The male ruffled his wings in a shrug, "We are watchers for the range and pack, so we must ask whenever we see strange kin. Big males appearing here could mean fighting."
"No, we are not here to fight anyone. We only want to meet you in peace," Was-Grounded reassuringly purred.
"And even if we were here to challenge your Alpha, why would we tell you that?" Shadowwing chuckled.
The male snorted, "Because true challengers are not afraid of saying why they flew here. They announce their intention because they have no fear," the male answered.
"The Alpha light wing was not afraid until he learned who he must fight," the female chuckled.
Shadowwing smirked, amused that the vile male had been somehow beaten or shamed.
Wait, did that Alpha fly here? That clearly didn't work for him. Good!
"My name is Shadowwing. These are Was-Grounded and Flies-With-Sun," he said with a nod toward each of them.
Was-Grounded and Flies-With-Sun purred and bent their heads as they were introduced.
"I am Fallen-Sky," the male said.
"And I am Water-Dance," the female said.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. Are you mates?" Was-Grounded asked.
"No, we are nestmates. You are not the first who have made that mistake though," Water-Dance chuckled.
Fallen-Sky snorted, "We do our pack-work together because we are close in the liver, but that can make visitors to the pack think incorrectly about us."
Was-Grounded chuckled and shoved Shadowwing's shoulder with a paw, "I and Shadowwing are nestmates."
"You are nestmates and two Alphas together?" Water-Dance asked.
"We are. We share power and Alpha-status."
"That is twisted and strange, but in a good way," Water-Dance hummed.
"You think so?"
Water-Dance chuckled and tapped Fallen-Sky's shoulder with her wing, "Not many nestmates fly the winds of life together when they are grown, but we have few places we can go. Most of us stay here in our territory."
"And about that, why did you not know about us before?" Fallen-Sky asked in visible confusion.
"We lived in the above. There are no other dark wings up there anymore. We saw no other dark wings in the time since we flew from the above," Shadowwing explained.
That explanation was apparently enough, since Fallen-Sky and Water-Dance hissed.
"You are lucky that you survived the above. We did not live there, but others did. That world above is bad and rotted," Fallen-Sky growled.
Shadowwing also growled, remembering well and having felt the cruelty everyone in the above was capable of. That world, since it was filled with monsters like Drago Bludvist, Grimmel the Grisly, and the Grimbornes, was basically the enemy of dragons everywhere and probably… certainly always would be. People didn't change, ever.
"We know that very well. But what about you and your pack? Do you not fly from your range at all?" he asked.
"Rarely. There is nothing out there we want to fly to. The other kin are not safe. No other packs matter to us anymore," Water-Dance stiffly said.
A brief silence followed as Shadowwing considered that explanation. It appeared that this Night Fury pack was very solitary, not wanting to meet anyone beyond its territory.
"Do you want to meet our Alphas? They would want to meet you," Fallen-Sky offered.
Shadowwing and Was-Grounded glanced to each other in surprise and approval, liking how this meeting was going so far. They were also surprised about one detail in what Fallen-Sky said.
"Wait, you have Alphas?" Shadowwing asked.
"Yes, we have an Alpha pair," Water-Dance explained.
"We would be warmed to meet them," Was-Grounded purred.
"Good to hear. We will lead you dark wings to meet them and the rest of the pack. But not the light wing. She must stay here," Water-Dance said.
"What? Why?" Shadowwing grumbled.
Fallen-Sky and Water-Dance stared at Flies-With-Sun without growling or looking away from her, but their tails slowly twitched at their sides. It was obvious that they were somehow upset with her even though she had not done anything to them.
Her usual confidence was entirely gone, her ears fallen and tail stilled. That was unacceptable.
He and Was-Grounded retreated to stand beside her while purring with encouragement. They were also wary about the possibility of any conflict, so they casually unsheathed their claws.
"I ask again, why must she stay here?" Shadowwing repeated.
"We do not trust her," Fallen-Sky said.
"Why not?" Was-Grounded growled.
"She is a light wing. They turned tail on us!" Fallen-Sky hissed.
"They cannot be trusted! Not after what they did!" Water-Dance added.
Shadowwing growled, "She is our kin and flies with us. Light wings can be trusted. One of them is my life-mate."
Was-Grounded huffed, "And Flies-With-Sun is the life-mate of one of my sons. She is one of us!"
"Maybe she is to you, but she is not allowed in our range. She would not be safe," Fallen-Sky said.
"Are you threatening her?" Was-Grounded snarled, stepping toward them.
His back started glowing faintly in his anger. Fallen-Sky and Water-Dance stepped away in surprise, their wings spread to be ready to fly.
"Brother, stay calm," Shadowwing whispered.
Was-Grounded took several deep breaths to calm himself, eventually letting his power-light fade away.
Everyone calmed down.
"We are not threatening her. We are warning you and her. Some of our pack would want to hurt her if she goes deeper," Water-Dance said.
"Why? What has she done?" Was-Grounded growled yet again.
"Done? Nothing. It is what she is."
Flies-With-Sun whined, hanging her head, "What? We are like-life, both kin. What is wrong with being a light wing?"
Was-Grounded stretched a wing out over her back.
"You pretend to not know? You betrayed us and left us to die!" Fallen-Sky growled.
"When? You do not know my life-flight! I have never turned my tail on those who needed me!" she objected after recovering herself.
"Your kind did."
"I am not my kind!"
"Yes, you are. We are all part of groups. Your group betrayed ours. That makes you an Other and a betrayer."
Shadowwing rolled his eyes and huffed in annoyance. These Night Furies apparently had very similar attitudes to the dismissiveness and group-based thinking so common in the above. That way of thinking was also stupid and simplistic. Identity was far more complicated than just one broad group-affiliation.
Maybe that was the purpose of such identity thought: to drive people apart into groups that oppose each other.
"How about you go get your Alphas and bring them to us? We will wait here so there are no... problems, but we are not splitting up," he proposed.
"Fine. I will bring the Alpha pair. Stay here," Fallen-Sky said.
Fallen-Sky spun away and took flight while Water-Dance walked a short distance away and sat down, calmly watching them.
Was-Grounded snorted and nudged Flies-With-Sun's shoulder, "Do not be twisted by what he said. He has very twisted thinking."
Shadowwing huffed, "I do not understand him either."
She hummed, "I do not truly care what he thinks, but I want to know why he does not like my kind."
"So do we," Shadowwing growled.
She purred softly, "Thank you for... being here and for this."
Was-Grounded chuckled, "This is twisted. I helped warm your sister's liver after someone said very cold things to her."
Shadowwing's eyeridges lifted, "Did you? How did you warm my life-mate's liver?"
Was-Grounded snorted and rolled his wing out over her back, "Like this!"
Flies-With-Sun laughed, "She told me about that. She said you wanted to fight Red-Paw after what she said."
"If only I could have fought her, but she had her kin and their children nearby. In better news, did you hear what Fallen-Sky said about the Night Furies having an Alpha pair?" Was-Grounded asked.
Shadowwing hummed, "I did. That is much better than what the Light Fury Alpha is for his pack."
"I agree. Any idea why they are different?" Was-Grounded added.
Shadowwing continued, "None. Honestly, having an Alpha pair or pairs is what we already have. Sure, Luna and Green-Wings do not fly around calling themselves Alphas or doing Alpha duties, but we would listen to them on anything important for the shared-range."
"True, we would. Maybe this pair can help explain why they are so twisted."
They waited for the other Night Furies to return. In the meantime, they observed all they could see of the chamber from atop the massive mushroom. These mushrooms were far larger than any in their home chamber. There was also a stretch of forest with glowing plants and flowers, and a large waterfall in the distance. There wasn't much else they could see from there, mostly because this part of the chamber was darker.
Was-Grounded sighed and looked down at his paws, "I... did not think my kind could be so cold to others. Luna said the same about Light Furies not trusting two-legs. I think I understand what she must have felt then."
Was-Grounded faced Flies-With-Sun, "Sorry about my kind being so-"
She shoved his shoulder with a paw, "Second sire-father, you should not apologize for what they think. They have twisted thinking. We cannot help that."
"I just wanted to apologize for my kind being twisted."
She huffed, "You are not your kind."
It was not long before they saw several sets of wings approaching over the field of mushrooms. Five Night Furies appeared in the dark skies ahead.
The largest male and female approached in front of the others. They both had several scars visible on their sides and on their wings. The other pair, similarly having many scars, hung back. The lone male off on the side kept his distance and landed on the other nearby mushroom.
But the largest pair was certainly the important pair to deal with. The way their green-yellow eyes were narrowed, and how they carried themselves with confidence made it certain that they were in positions of authority.
"Are you the Alphas?" Shadowwing asked.
"We are. I am Defiance," the male answered.
"And I am Branch-Biter. This is Shadow-Spark-Pack," the slightly purple female answered.
They each introduced themselves. Unsurprisingly, Defiance and Branch-Biter briefly glanced at Flies-With-Sun. They seemed no different from the brother and sister before, not trusting Light Furies for some strange reason.
"So, light wing, are you a shared-mate for these Alphas?" Branch-Biter snorted.
Flies-With-Sun barked in shock and shook her head, "No! Was-Grounded is my mate's sire-father, and Shadowwing is kin to me through my nestmate-sister."
"And she is like a daughter to me, so you will talk to her with respect," Was-Grounded grumbled, glaring at the other Alphas.
Defiance sat down on his rear while clawing at the mushroom, though he did not otherwise move. His tail twitched at his side.
"You are not the Alphas of this range, so you will talk to us with respect," Branch-Biter growled back at him.
Shadowwing snorted, "We are not here to fight you. We only want to learn about you and to tell you where we are from."
"Are you? What do you want to learn?" Defiance asked.
He thought for a moment to find a pleasant way to begin conversation with them, since they were already suspicious and subtly hostile.
"How many dark wings are there in your pack? How large is your pack?"
Defiance smirked, "Why do you want to know? Planning to attack us?"
"No, we are just surprised that our kind of kin still lives. We thought we and our kin were alone in all the ranges," Shadowwing answered.
"Is that so? Well, we are ten and four pairs of mates, their ten young, and seven with no mates. The precise number can change if anyone wants to leave or fly for other ranges," Defiance explained.
Was-Grounded purred, visibly pleased to hear how large the pack was, "What about the range itself? How many can you be with how large your territory is?"
"We cannot be many more than we are. For now, each pair can have three eggs total and support themselves. That number must go down in future pairs. How many are you in your pack?" Branch-Biter explained and asked.
"Eleven adults and six young, not counting other kin-kinds. We are also keeping our number to two eggs per pair only from now on. Are you only dark wings in the pack, or or do you allow any other kin in your territory?" Shadowwing hesitantly asked.
Defiance and Branch-Biter briefly glanced at Flies-With-Sun before looking away from her.
"We now keep our ranges pure of any other kin. Only dark wings and dark-lights from the past are allowed here," Branch-Biter hissed.
Was-Grounded softly growled, not saying anything aloud.
Shadowwing took a breath to calm himself and prevent an outburst, "We met a light wing Alpha who said that the trust and together-life between dark wings and the light wings broke. Why did that happen?"
Was-Grounded hissed, "Please explained better than 'the light wings turned tail on us' or empty words like those ones."
Defiance looked very confused, his ears back while he faintly grumbled, "You truly do not know what happened? Fine. Do you know the above?"
"We do. We flew from there," Was-Grounded answered.
Defiance got to his paws and started pacing as he spoke, "There were many dark wings once in all the ranges above. We were the best hunters and strongest-thinking of all kin. That made us best to fight the thought-thralling monster-kin and the two-legs, but we had other Hunters hunting us."
All five of the other Night Furies stiffened at that. Shadowwing thought he knew why, though he also shivered at flashes of memory of a deadly battle years ago.
"Were they twisted-kin almost like us but with spikes on their heads?" he asked.
"Yes, have you fought them?" Defiance asked.
"We, my nestmate brother, I, and my life-mate, fought one of those monsters. We killed it together."
Was-Grounded growled and turned to the side to show off his lower back, "That fight is where I got this hurt-mark.
Branch-Biter and Defiance huffed and growled with obvious approval.
"You must be very good fighters since you survived. The fights usually ended with two or three of us dead to each of those Hunter-monsters," Defiance explained.
Branch-Biter continued, "Two-legs were filling the above ranges, so we started fleeing for the hidden ranges. We lived in the hidden ranges in bigger and bigger packs until we found a good range to claim as our own. The Highest-Alpha, He-Who-Remembers, gave us that range to be ours forever."
"Is that this range?" Shadowwing asked, gesturing all around with a paw.
Branch-Biter answered, "No, the range is far. It is near the chamber under the island above, the dark and dangerous seas, and the bright range where the Highest-Alpha claimed his light-rock."
Was-Grounded exhaled, "Well, we know that range very well. It is ours now. We… had a death-resting ceremony for the bones we found there. What happened?"
Defiance growled, "There is a pack of light wings that we would fly to for bonding, searching for mates, learning, and food-trading. Some of us even lived among them and had mixed-kin dark-lights with them. That pack now has very twisted customs."
Shadowwing grunted, "Is it a pack where the Alpha has many mates and the packmates are nameless?"
"Yes," Defiance huffed.
"Then we know that twisted pack and its Alpha."
Branch-Biter growled, "If you truly know that pack, then you should know it blocks one of the only flight-paths to places darker and deeper. Those other places hide kin-hunters and false-kin which never saw the light of the sky-rock above. We live in this range because it also has a path into that darker world."
"What do you know of that… darker and deeper place?" Was-Grounded asked.
Defiance shivered, "We have explored down there to learn what we could. Just being in those ranges where there are no light-rocks is very chilling and dangerous. We saw spiders big enough to trap kin in their webs, kin made of mist that looked like they could move from place to place without flying, and many Cleansers."
Shadowwing started in surprise at that unfamiliar and ominous name, "What are those Cleansers?"
Defiance answered, "They are dark scaled kin smaller than us, with longer claws, spikes on their heads, more teeth, and no eyes. They are like the Hunter-monsters but not the same. Our oldest stories say that Cleansers once captured many of us and took us down into the darkness, probably to eat us."
"Where did the Hunter-monsters come from? Did they also come from those deeper and darker ranges?" Shadowwing asked.
"They did."
"How does this involve the light wing pack and why you hate them?" Was-Grounded asked in confusion.
Branch-Biter spun on him, "You do not know? As we said, the light wings also watched a path to the deeper and darker! But we were attacked in what was our other range! They let the Hunter-monsters through to kill us! They are why we were attacked without any warning!"
Silence followed her shout and serious accusation.
"How do you know they let the attack happen?" Shadowwing cautiously asked.
Defiance deeply exhaled, "We know it was them because we had watchers watching the cave-path leading from the above and the path into the darker and deeper in this range. No Hunter-monsters flew into the hidden ranges from the above or from this range. The only other path we knew of that leads to the deeper and darker is the one behind the light wings. It happened so fast. There were two pawsful of the Hunter-monsters in what is now your range. We killed some of them, but we saw hatchlings killed, fledglings torn apart, and pairs broken."
Defiance briefly paused, looking away before he continued, "More would have died, but the Highest-Alpha flew to us and helped with the fighting. He filled the hidden-skies with sky-light, and he helped us kill all the Hunter-monsters still there. We have never seen any others since that waking-cycle of great death. It was only after the fighting was done that the light wings flew to us. Only then when it was too late."
Branch-Biter hissed, "They said they did not know what was happening and that they wanted to help us, but we saw through their lies. They let us be attacked so they could take that range for themselves after we were gone!"
Shadowwing grumbled, seeing the problem in what she thought, "They did not take the range. If they wanted to claim the range for themselves by letting you be hunted and killed, why did they not take it after you flew away?"
"The Highest-Alpha forbid it. He commanded the range to never be touched," Defiance said.
He still didn't believe it. That the Light Furies would knowingly let the Night Furies be attacked and exterminated, just to then claim their territory afterward, made no sense. Even if the Light Furies had customs he very much disagreed with, they didn't seem malicious enough to try something that cruel.
"I... see why you might think the light wings in that pack were false. What happened after the fighting?" he asked.
Defiance snorted, "We could not stay in that range where so many of us were lost. Not with all the bones and twisted memories there. Everyone who lived returned to these good ranges where we are safer."
"Why are you safer here?" Was-Grounded asked.
"Because we can still watch one of the only paths to the darker and deeper. The Highest-Alpha commanded the light wings to do better at watching their path to the darker and deeper. We flew to the light wing pack, brought all our kin here, and turned tails on the light wings because of what they let happen!" Defiance explained.
A long and tense silence followed until Flies-With-Sun cautiously spoke.
"When you say you brought all your kin here, what do you mean?"
Branch-Biter grumbled, "The dark wings and dark-lights that were with the pack. All with mixed-colors came with us after they learned the truth of what happened. It was after that pack lost all of us that it started its no-names life-way and the-pack-is-all thinking."
Shadowwing started in surprise, seeing how much now made sense. The Light Fury Alpha and his followers, or whoever started that custom, wanted to make sure everyone thought only about the pack because the Night Furies and Dawn Furies leaving and breaking off relations made the pack weaker. The remaining Light Furies needed to rally around something, so absolute devotion to the tribe was made important above all else.
"Do you know how many above-season-cycles ago this attack and pack-breaking happened?" he asked.
Defiance huffed, "That is hard to guess. Maybe four tens of season-cycles, more or less ten."
Shadowwing spun on Was-Grounded as he realized something, "The Alpha light wing was false. He lied to us that the pack has always had those rotted ceremonies."
Was-Grounded nodded, "True, he must have. Their ceremonies about egg-making might be older, but the not having names is much newer than we thought."
Branch-Biter snorted, getting their attention, "The not having mate-pairs was also a new ceremony they made when they stopped having names. We learned that from the few light wings that left the pack and refused to live with those ceremonies."
Flies-With-Sun warily spoke up again, "Wait, you said you took the dark wings and dark-lights from the rotted light wing pack. You did not bring the light wing sires or dams with you, did you?"
Shadowwing froze, surprised he had overlooked that fact given the circumstances of his own life. If she was correct, the Night Furies had forcibly broken families apart out of refusal to accept the Light Furies in the mixed families.
No, surely they didn't.
Branch-Biter casually answered, "They were not allowed to live with us. There were two pairs of a dark wing and light wing that stayed together and did not join us, but most of us did what we had to do. We do not know or care what happened to those other pairs. Light wings are less than us."
"You broke families apart just because the sire or dam was a different kin!" Flies-With-Sun gasped.
"No, that was a choice made by the last Alpha pair. I and my mate became Alphas long after that choice was made," Branch-Biter answered.
"But you could have tried to be warm to the light wings again. You could have tried to bring your packs together!" Flies-With-Sun protested.
"And forget their betraying us? No. Why do you care?" Branch-Biter sneered.
Flies-With-Sun bared her teeth and growled freely, "I care because my life-mate is a dark wing, and he and I have a dark-light, as you call them. I hold both of them to my liver!"
Shadowwing also growled, "My life-mate is also a light wing. I have four children with her, and I would do anything for her. She would for me."
Defiance snorted and shrugged, "You live as you wish in your ranges, even if that means being with betrayers. You will not be welcome among us with those life-choices you have made."
Shadowwing grumbled, "Maybe we should talk about something else we might be able to agree on. Us making pack-peace, however that will look, could help both of our packs."
Defiance appeared surprised, "Perhaps. We do not lack anything or need your help."
Branch-Biter whispered something to Defiance and faced them again, "You asked how many we were in our ranges. How many are you again?"
"Three light wings, nine dark wings, and five dark-lights. And there are the other sky-kin and ground-kin in the range. I do not know how many, since the number is always changing," Shadowwing explained.
He intentionally left the specifics of how many dragons there were vague.
"Sky-kin? Ground-kin? What are those?" Defiance asked in confusion.
Shadowwing took a deep breath to steady himself. There was no way this conversation was going to go well, though it had to happen.
"When we lived in the above, we... found two-legs with warm livers. They fought for us and shared life-flights with us."
"Did you? And?" Branch-Biter hissed.
"Those two-legs are what we call ground-kin, as we are sky-kin. We brought our ground-kin with us into the hidden ranges. They stay with us in our territory. What do you think about that?"
Defiance and Branch-Biter stared without blinking or looking away, and their eyes narrowed slightly.
"You brought two-legs into these safe ranges. What were you thinking?" Branch-Biter whispered.
Shadowwing looked away from her, remembering that terrible time when he had not been thinking. He had agreed to lead the dragons away into hiding, forsaking even the human side of their family. Making decisions when emotionally disturbed was not a mark of a good leader, as was clear to him now.
"We were thinking that it is best to not break a pack apart. Our pack is both sky-kin and ground-kin, but I do not believe you understand that."
Defiance trotted to the other three Night Furies while Branch-Biter spoke, "True, we do not. We know only bad from them. But I do not expect you to understand what we endured."
Was-Grounded stepped toward her, "Two-legs once trapped me, made me fight for my life, tried to mate me to wrong-kin, and broke one of my wings! Two-legs killed my sire-father, dam-mother, and younger nestmate! Do not say I have not felt pain from two-legs! I do understand!"
Flies-With-Sun gasped, her jaw falling open. She glanced at Was-Grounded in open shock. They had never told her about what he had endured long ago.
"Later," Shadowwing whispered to her.
She nodded once, saying nothing.
"Have you lost any of your own children to two-legs?" Branch-Biter hissed.
"No."
"Then you have no right to speak! How could you understand when you never lived it? Some of us have."
Defiance returned and, looking very displeased, stood beside Branch-Biter. The other pair similarly stood beside their Alphas.
Was-Grounded continued speaking after calming himself, "Two-legs have hurt me, yes, but I have also felt a two-leg paw on my nose, I carried a two-leg to touch the sky from on my back, and I met a two-leg who lived and lives her life-flight for kin. I wish you could meet the ground-kin as I and my kin do."
"Maybe we will meet them soon," the yet-unnamed male said.
His mate purred, "Yes, that would be good. It has been long since we saw two-legs."
"Who are you?" Shadowwing asked.
He was suspicious about their true motives. It felt too good to be true that they would not be prejudiced against humans.
"I am Cinder," the male said.
"I am Shriek," the female added.
"Shadowwing, Was-Grounded, Flies-With-Sun," Shadowwing introduced them.
Shriek and Cinder glanced at them, staring a little longer at Flies-With-Sun.
"You say there are two-legs in those far ranges. Good. I and my mate should eventually fly to meet them," Cinder purred.
"We should. We have not forgotten," Shriek mumbled.
"No, we have not. How could we?" Cinder said.
Flies-With-Sun warily hummed, "What have you not forgotten?"
Cinder yawned widely, rolling his jaws and flicking his teeth, "We lived in the above and flew down here maybe three tens of season-cycles ago. It was too dangerous up there, and there was nothing left for us up there."
"We lost our hunting when we came here," Cinder said.
"Hunting? What do you-"
Shadowwing froze, suddenly aghast at what Cinder had implied, "You were hunting two-legs?"
Shriek purred, "We were. So many good hunts, sneaking through the trees, waiting for the moment to pounce, pin the two-legs, smell their fear, and feed."
Was-Grounded and Flies-With-Sun growled and snarled freely while Shadowwing stared, unsure what he should say.
Cinder hummed, "I preferred hunting the big ones, while Shriek hunted the smaller, younger ones."
"How could you? Why?" Flies-With-Sun growled, aghast.
"Do you know what happens when two-legs kill a dark wing? Have you seen them cut out our life-organ, claw off our head and hang it on their den, and tear away our hide so they can cover themselves with it?" Cinder hissed.
"We were prey to them, so we made them our prey. It was fair. They saw no difference between adults and our young, so we did the same for them," Shriek added.
"So you wanted to hunt and kill two-legs just for revenge? Why?"
Shriek slunk closer, her head tilted slightly as she stared, "Tell me, light wing, are you a dam?"
"I am. Why do you ask?"
"Because when you find your one season-cycle fledgling with a trap-stick through her chest... when you hear the shriek of your hatchling as I did... when you and your mate are left with nothing... revenge is all you have left. Nothing else gives warmth."
"But you hurt even the young! Even the ones who never wronged us!" Flies-With-Sun protested.
Shriek purred, "Especially them. Just as my young were defenseless, so I hunted the two-leg young. Fair and deserved."
"You are a monster. Both of you are!" Flies-With-Sun barked.
"I agree!" Was-Grounded huffed.
Cinder sat at Shriek's shoulder and cruelly purred, "So what? What are you going to do?"
Shadowwing growled, "A better question is what are you going to do? The ground-kin two-legs of our pack are our kin. If you hunt them, any of them, we will see that as an attack on our pack. We will fight to protect them."
Was-Grounded nodded and stared at Branch-Biter and Defiance, "And any pack which would protect kin that attack us will be our enemy. You do not want us to be your enemy. We have defeated a great-tusk, and we lead many tens of tens of kin who bow to us as their Alphas!"
His back started glowing blue as he spoke.
Shadowwing knew he was doing that for effect and that he had no real desire to fight. But he had to think like an Alpha, just as Was-Grounded was right now. Cinder and Shriek openly said they wanted to hunt humans. That made them a threat to New Haven and everyone living peacefully there. But Cinder and Shriek were part of the Night Fury pack which Branch-Biter and Defiance were responsible for. Hopefully Branch-Biter and Defiance could be appealed to as reasonable leaders who at least wanted to avoid open hostilities.
Shadowwing softly growled, letting his power-light burn faintly brighter, "What will you Alphas do? Will you let any of your pack start a pack-war with us?"
Defiance was silent, staring back at him while Branch-Biter warily spoke, "You would have dark wings fight against dark wings, all because you want to defend two-legs? Are you serious?"
"Yes, we are."
Was-Grounded nodded, "If we learn that Shriek and Cinder did anything to hurt our pack, we will strike back at you."
Defiance faced Shriek and Cinder, "Leave us. We must speak to these Alphas on our own."
Shriek and Cinder reluctantly grunted and flew off together.
"They are one of the most hurt pairs," Branch-Biter huffed, watching them fly.
"And I might feel a chill for them if they were not so cold and threatening to us!" Was-Grounded growled.
"Do they have any young ones now?" Flies-With-Sun softly asked.
"No. They never had any eggs in all the time they have been in the pack. They said that replacing their lost little ones would be wrong and meaningless," Branch-Biter said.
Was-Grounded grumbled, "Maybe so, but they want to attack us. You know what will happen if they do."
Defiance growled, "We will make sure they do not fly to your range. We do not want to threaten your pack and make pack-fighting. Can you keep the two-legs away from us forever?"
Shadowwing answered, "If you want to be alone always, we can make your range a no-flying place. None of us dark wings, dark-lights, or light wings will ever fly to you except for a meeting like this. Is that what you want?"
Defiance and Branch-Biter glanced at each other and purred in agreement.
"Yes, it is. Fighting would be bad for both of our packs. We will not trust two-legs or allow them near us, and we will attack any of them that are in our ranges," Defiance said.
Was-Grounded snorted, "Fine. We will stay apart always. I suppose there is no reason to talk about allowing any of your pack to fly to ours to meet our young."
"Why would they? To find mates in your pack?" Branch-Biter asked, visibly amused.
Was-Grounded shrugged, "We have four who are grown or almost grown and have no mates. But all of our young are warm to the two-leg ground-kin."
Defiance laughed, "Yes, that will be a problem. We have taught all of our young about the two-legs in the above. They know to fear them."
"That is a very rotted way to think! Making them fear does not help anyone! You must at least see each other if there is to be peace!" Shadowwing growled.
"That is your opinion. You live how you want, and we will live as we want. Never seeing each other is also peace," Defiance said.
"You know it is not that simple. Teaching your young to fear and not trust two-legs will make them fight or hate each other when they do meet," Shadowwing objected.
Defiance smirked, "But you said our packs will stay apart. Was that not true? Can you not promise that?"
"Our packs will stay apart if that is what you want, but we and our two-legs will fly freely in the hidden ranges if we must. None of us know what will happen many life-cycles in the future."
The Alphas whispered to each other until they decided on something.
"Do what you must, but we will have our watchers outside our ranges to protect ourselves. If they must fight to protect themselves from two-legs, we cannot say they should not do that," Defiance said.
"That will not be a problem. By the way, why did you even bring Shriek and Cinder with you to meet us?" Shadowwing asked.
Defiance answered, "They are among our best fighters, so they help protect us in any meetings with new kin."
"What about that male over there?" Shadowwing nodded at the remaining Fury.
The lone male sat apart from them on the edge of the other mushroom. He had not said anything or approached them throughout the entire meeting.
"Meadow-Wind was one of the last to leave the above. His life-story is very liver-chilling because of two-legs," Branch-Biter said.
Was-Grounded rolled his eyes and snorted, "Why am I not surprised? Let me guess: bad two-legs hurt him, so that means all two-legs are rotted?"
"Maybe you should listen to his life-story before you judge him," Branch-Biter proposed.
Was-Grounded turned aside and shook his head, "No, there is nothing he can say that will have lift or matter to me. He will only speak rotted and cold words."
Shadowwing entirely agreed that it was unlikely this Meadow-Wind could say anything meaningful. His was surely another story about how humans had threatened him or driven him from the world above. It was getting tiresome and frustrating to hear variations on the same story told over and over again and used to justify distrust of the good humans of New Haven.
But at the same time, it felt like his duty to listen to others' stories. At the very least, listening to him might help this Meadow-Wind move on, remote though that possibility was. It was also possible that he might learn something that could be useful.
"I will talk to him."
Without waiting, he flew over to the other mushroom. The lone male sitting there watched him as he landed and approached to sit down beside him.
"Meadow-Wind?"
Meadow-Wind stared at him with narrowed but tired green eyes. That color, or variations on it, seemed to be common from what he had seen of the Night Fury pack and Night Furies in general.
"I am him. What is your name?" Meadow-Wind rumbled.
"Shadowwing. Did you hear about where I and my kin flew from?"
"No. I was told only that you came from the above. Where did you live in the above?"
"Several ranges. We were on islands far out in the waters first, and then we lived by the shore."
Meadow-Wind moaned and closed his eyes, "So did I and my mate. We lived in a cave by a very big water above. We were far from any two-legs. It was a good range."
"What happened?"
He knew without needing to ask, but he wanted to hear the truth from Meadow-Wind and to comfort him however he could.
"Two-legs started living and hunting closer and closer to the cave-den. I thought we could leave them alone, so I and my mate did. We did not hunt them or flame them. I flew back from a sun-cycle of hunting... and I found my mate, my Dew-Glow, dead in our cave-den. My little ones were gone. My son, First-Flame, and daughter, Second-Song. Gone."
He winced, imagining how terrible that must have been to lose his mate and children. Luna's actually being taken by Grimmel, and Moon-Dancer almost being killed in Grimmel's attack made what had happened to Meadow-Wind hit close to his heart, though he couldn't know the pain of actually suffering such a loss.
"I lost everything because of two-legs, so I fled and hunted the two-legs who attacked. If I could have nothing else, at least I would have revenge and die as my Dew-Glow did," Meadow-Wind calmly said.
"Did you kill them?" he whispered.
"Some of them. I could not kill them all because I found that they took Second-Song alive. She was only a hatchling. I broke the trap she was in, grabbed her, and fled with her. My son was gone, but at least I saved her and brought her back here into the hidden ranges."
"Good. As a sire-father myself, I know what that must have been like," he offered.
"Do you? Did two-leg monsters kill any of your kin?"
His thoughts immediately went out to the attack on Berk by the Berserkers, to Drago Bludvist's armada, to the Grimbornes, and to Grimmel. Many Berkians, other allied Chiefs, and friendly dragons had died in the various battles, all because of humans who refused to change and listen to the voice of peace.
But of all the losses, Astrid's and Stoick's deaths cut the deepest into his heart.
"Yes, I have lost some whom I held to my liver. But none of my own life-water kin have died because of two-legs. A very rotted two-leg captured my life-mate and almost killed my first son, Moon-Dancer."
Meadow-Wind looked away from him, "You say that you understand as a sire-father, but you have not lost your mate and a son. You cannot understand unless you live what I lived. Saying that you feel what I feel is false and empty."
Terrible though it was to admit, Meadow-Wind was right about that. Losing Astrid and Stoick had not hurt nearly as much as losing Was-Grounded, Luna, or any of his children probably would have.
"I can imagine how bad it would be, and I have lost others who were like my life-water kin. How is Second-Song now?"
"She is well and warm in the pack as a Young-Watcher. She was very, very hurt as a hatchling, probably when she saw her dam-mother killed. She did not learn to talk until long after she should have. There is a male who she probably wants as a mate, and she is turning his liver toward her with time."
Shadowwing purred, "Good for her. I know how bad it is to grow up without a dam-mother. My first son is getting closer to the age when he will want a mate too. I am not sure how that will happen for him. He might need to find a light wing who could want him, if any others can."
Meadow-Wind growled softly and flicked his ears, "That not-trusting between us and the light wings is wrong and twisted. I do not hate the light wings, and the young in the pack do not truly hate them either, not all of them anyway."
"About that, you should not hate all two-legs. Only hate the ones who deserve it, like the ones that attacked you and killed your family. We can live in peace with the good, warm-livered ones."
Meadow-Wind faced him with a curious look in his eyes, "I once thought as you did. That is why I wanted to leave the two-legs alone, and why I and Dew-Glow never hunted them or their prey-animals. You say I should only hate the ones who deserve it? So I do. Two-legs I never threatened are the ones that attacked, so I must see all two-legs I never threatened as threats to me. They would attack me just as the ones before did."
"You are wrong. They are not all in one pack or group. There are many different packs of two-legs. Our pack of warm-livered two-legs lives in peace with us in our far range even now."
Meadow-Wind barked in shock, "What! You... you brought them into the hidden ranges?"
Shadowwing refused to look away from him, trying to show his calm confidence, "Yes, we did. We trust them and call them our kin. They fought for us and some of them even died for us. You are wrong to judge them without knowing them."
"I know all I need to know about them."
"No, you do not. You do not know them as I do. You hating all two-legs is like how the other dark wings hate the light wings. How do you not see that?"
Meadow-Wind looked away from him and got to his paws, "That is different!"
"No, it is not. You clutch anger and hate in your claws. Doing that does not help you."
Meadow-Wind snarled at him, "Yes, it does! That is what saved my daughter! If I had not flown after the two-legs to kill them, if I had forgiven them and forgotten what they did, I would not have found her! You cannot understand. I hope you feel what I did. I hope you lose one of your own. You deserve it!"
Meadow-Wind spun away and leaped from the mushroom, leaving him behind without another word.
Only then did it strike him what Meadow-Wind had wished for. That grieved and bitter Fury father wished that he also lose his mate or a child. Meadow-Wind willingly wished grief and misery on someone else just out of bitterness.
There was no way to reason with such a person. People who hate without reason could not be reasoned with. If only that was a lesson he had learned earlier in life, much misery could have been avoided.
With Meadow-Wind gone, he dejectedly flew back to everyone else. He landed and stepped alongside his brother.
Was-Grounded snorted, "Was his thinking as rotted as it looked like?"
"How did you know?" he groaned.
"Because he turned tail on you and flew away."
"Yes, he... lost his mate and a son because of two-legs long ago. Now he wants to hate all two-legs, which is twisted of him," he said while glaring at Defiance and Branch-Biter.
They just dismissively rolled their eyes.
Was-Grounded stepped back and stretched his wings, "I do not know about you two, but I do not want to see any more of this range or pack. Brother, Flies-With-Sun, ready to fly home?"
"Yes, we should go home," Shadowwing agreed.
"I agree," Flies-With-Sun added.
Shadowwing faced the other Alphas, "I doubt that any in your pack can think well or fairly of two-legs, but any of your pack who can be fair and will give two-legs a chance would be welcome to fly to our range. They must keep the peace, of course."
Defiance hummed in thought, "There probably are none who will want to fly to your range, but we will talk to the pairs. We will make Cinder and Shriek promise on their wings to not hurt our pack by starting fighting with yours. You will not see them in your territory."
"Good."
Defiance and Branch-Biter turned around and flew away without looking at them. He, Was-Grounded, and Flies-With-Sun flew the other direction, back toward the passageway that led home.
He glanced back over their tails several times at the chamber they were not going to explore further. Somewhere beyond the field of massive mushrooms, among the dark crystals, and underneath the distant mist, the pack of Night Furies was hidden in the shadows. It was a shame they were not going to explore the area and meet everyone living here. But that was for Flies-With-Sun's own good. They were not going to leave her alone here where she might be in danger.
Finally at the ledge where Light-Hunter had left them, they landed on the edge of the sheer drop down into the chamber. The long and narrow chamber sloping upward beckoned above, but all their attention went to the unknown depths of the pack's territory.
Shadowwing sighed and lay down, his head on his paws, "Well, all of that happened."
Was-Grounded also fell on his belly. Only now that the other Night Furies were not present did he let his weariness and disappointment show.
"And now we know that the other Night Furies hate ground-kin, and many of them hate Light Furies too. I hoped my kind would be better than that."
Flies-With-Sun purred and nudged his shoulder, "Can we rightly blame them? They were hunted by bad two-legs above and by the shadow-hunter false-kin below. Them wanting to push others away and keep to their own kind only is not good, but I understand why they live that way. They feel safer among only their own kind."
Shadowwing saw her point, "True. They want to blame someone. I do not believe what the Alphas said about the Light Furies letting them be attacked. The Light Furies, even though they have very twisted customs, would not betray them like that. Something else had to have happened."
Was-Grounded nodded, "I agree. Maybe there was a mistake. Maybe the Hunter-kin fought past the Light Fury pack or found another way into these ranges. We cannot know what happened."
Shadowwing softly purred, "The other male I spoke to said that the younger Night Furies do not hate Light Furies as much as the older ones do. Probably because they have been told what they should think, but they do not truly want to hate others."
Flies-With-Sun hummed, clearly liking that possibility.
Shadowwing took a deep breath and got to his paws, "Best would be for the Night Furies to heal and forget the bad past, but... that might need to wait. Time heals all hurts."
Was-Grounded grumbled and glanced at him, "Are you sure about that? You saying that is a little twisted."
"Why?"
"Because time alone does nothing. If time was enough on its own, your chest would have gotten better with just time."
Shadowwing paused and thought about that. It was correct that more than time alone was necessary. Time and treatment, some kind of action, were needed together. Just like the bolt in his chest would have continued to pain him, so it was implausible that the Night Furies' distrust of humans would change on its own.
"Good point. But we said we would keep the packs apart to keep the peace."
Was-Grounded grunted, "Nothing will stop us from coming back here many cycles in the future. Maybe Kin-liver or the other life-bond ground-kin can come here under pack-peace to change their thinking. That is a flight for later though."
Flies-With-Sun yawned and stretched her wings while purring as cheerfully as she could, "At least we found where other Night Furies are living. Something good came from this flight."
Was-Grounded chuffed, "True, I am glad we found others of my kind, even if they have twisted thoughts."
She growled and lashed her tail in frustration, "It is not only your kind that can have twisted thoughts! The Night Furies have mate-pairs, which is better than how the Light Furies in that rotted pack live."
"The Alphas said that some of the Night Fury and Light Fury pairs left both packs so they could stay together. You never saw any of those pairs, did you?" Was-Grounded asked her.
She yawned and stretched her wings out again, "I did not, but I did not know about this pack at all. I must have missed the ones that went beyond here in my flights. Seeing a mixed-pair and their Dawn Fury children would have been very good. We should fly home. I miss Moon-Pinner and Dawn-Singer very much."
Shadowwing and Was-Grounded wasted no time, stretching their wings wide and following her up into the sky and into the cavern Light-Hunter had led them down. None of them looked back at the Night Furies' chamber.
Shadowwing let the repetition of flight take over so his thoughts could wander. The journey home would take probably two waking-cycles based on the flight to the wild Light Furies' territory.
Well, this adventure could have gone better, but it could have gone worse too.
While the lack of openness to the mere thought of peace with humans was very discouraging, they had learned where the Night Furies were, found out that the dangerous and wild packless Light Furies were not nearly as terrible as they had thought, and had arranged at least the peace of voluntary separation with the Night Furies. That peace was not ideal, but it was a start. It would have been much better if the leaders of the Night Fury pack had been willing to entertain more than peace through distance. Being able to meet everyone in the Night Fury pack would have allowed for far more progress.
In hindsight, it was not so surprising that there were other Night Furies living in the hidden world. Grimmel, for all of his boasting about being the executioner and hunter of Night Furies, had never been in the hidden world. Further, the monster dragons couldn't have killed all the Night Furies in both world.
He closed his eyes, turned his thoughts to home, and imagined Luna's light-blue eyes. His unspoken promise felt very important to attend to. His flying these flights for the good of the tribe while she stayed with the children felt not like what she deserved. She never complained about any part of being a mother, but his being away from her was probably as unpleasant for her as it was for him. Being responsible for a rebellious daughter and two young sons could be very wearying.
Flying in a dark cave with spikes on the ground and the ceiling, and with only his brother and sister-in-law at his side, the normalcy of every-cycle life involving balancing his duties to Luna, his children, the rest of his family, and the tribe, felt very appealing. At least there he didn't need to deal with terribly aggrieved and vengeful people.