Chilled
Was-Grounded did not feel much warmer inside after having left the Night Fury pack behind.
He did not know what he had hoped he would find. A welcoming pack in which the sky-kin could have accepted the ground-kin and shared life-flights would obviously have been best. At the very least, the Night Furies not caring about the ground-kin or having no strong opinions about them would have been acceptable. But they were neither, which should not have been a surprise. Many of them had fled from the above, unlike most of the Light Furies, and therefore remembered how bad the above could be.
Hearing that some of the Night Furies, one pair of them anyway, wanted to hunt ground-kin was worse. Even the two-legs he had killed and eaten long ago had been out of great need and only after they tried to kill him. He had never killed for fun or the pleasure of killing anything except prey-animals which were meant for hunting.
Another hope had been that they might find unpaired Night Furies who would be willing to meet his children. In his true and accurate opinion, his children were special: with good and warm livers, having lived in two worlds, having known the ground-kin their whole lives, and even knowing ground-kin words. His children should have no problems with impressing a possible partner.
But the Night Furies of this pack were too cold and untrusting, from what he had seen. He doubted that any of his children would want to consider someone who would refuse to trust ground-kin.
They continued through the dark passage until they emerged in the wild range where the packless Light Furies lived. The islands of rock stuck out from the water, just like around some of the islands above. It was on these islands that the plants grew and which the Light Furies claimed as territory here.
He glanced to his left, wondering what the limits of each family-pack's territory were. He did not want to intrude on Red-Paw's territory, or any of the other groups which might be more prone to bite or fight.
It was difficult to know how long the flight was within that chamber. The waters rolled far below, the surface of the water filled with patches of glowing moss. Fish were visible deep in the water, illuminated by the light-rocks, but he, Shadowwing, and Flies-With-Sun were not hungry. Instead, they just wanted to get home as soon as possible.
There was just one problem. He could not remember where to find the path out of this range. It would be easy to find after some searching, probably, but...
"Brother, do you know where the path is?" he asked.
Shadowwing glanced at him and grumbled, "No, we did not fly this way last time."
Flies-With-Sun laughed and tapped both of their shoulders with the tips of her wings, "Are you saying we are lost?"
"No, just... flying a more scenic way home!" Shadowwing answered.
"Maybe we should ask for a flight-guider," she offered.
He and Shadowwing grumbled at the thought of needing to have the flight shown to them. Needing help to find the way felt wrong and twisted, but these were not their ranges anyway.
"Fine, we should ask someone," Shadowwing reluctantly agreed.
Together, they started searching the nearest towering islands for Light Furies.
They saw one down on the sandy shore near a patch of shallower water. The Light Fury was resting in the warm light of a light-rock.
He and Shadowwing roared aloud in greeting and welcome. The Light Fury below, a male, got to his paws and roared up at them in acknowledgment, so they dove and landed a respectful distance from him. This male did not look very afraid of them.
"Warm flights, dark wings and light wing," the Light Fury greeted them.
"Warm flights to you too. What is your name?" Shadowwing purred in greeting.
There was something about the Light Fury that was just barely wrong or different, but he couldn't put a paw on what it was. Maybe his color or shape was a little different.
"I am Dives-Deep. What are your names?"
"Was-Grounded." "Shadowwing." "Flies-With-Sun."
Dives-Deep purred in greeting, "I heard about you. News flies fast. You are not from these ranges."
"True, we flew from a far range. How did you hear about us?" Shadowwing asked.
"You spoke with Red-Paw and her kin. She had news of your being here sent to the other family-packs. She also explained to us what your far range is like, and... what creatures are living there with you: two-legs."
Was-Grounded grumbled, "Did she? And what do you think? Do you think two-legs are all monsters and rotted in their livers too?"
"No," Dives-Deep immediately answered.
They blinked in surprise.
"No?" "Really?" "What?"
Dives-Deep yawned, "I have never met them. How would I know what they are like? I know of stories about them, but the kin telling the stories might not speak only truth or see well."
Flies-With-Sun stepped forward and purred, "And you also heard that there are pairs of our kind and dark wings."
Oddly, Dives-Deep chuckled, "Not only have I heard of that, but I know it well. I and my kin-pack have some dark wing life-water from long ago. Some packs do not approve of mixing, but there is no bad in doing so."
Was-Grounded purred in approval and understanding, now with one slight mystery answered. While Dives-Deep was as white as any Light Fury, his appearance was just barely different. He was, to some degree, a Dawn Fury.
"Do you know of other packs that think like you do?" he asked.
Dives-Deep grumbled, "No, I do not know many packs beyond. I know only what others say they heard from Far-Fliers. There is another pair which knows more of the beyond, but I do not know much."
"Many of the light and dark wings do not want to trust our two-legs. The two-legs are as ground-kin to us," Shadowwing explained.
Dives-Deep shrugged, "The packs have reasons to fear, if the stories they tell are true. I do not know, so I will not speak twisted words about the ground-kin two-legs. Not until I meet them and learn what they are."
"You have good thinking," Shadowwing said, pleased by Dives-Deep's attitude.
"Do you want to fly to our range and meet the two-legs?" Was-Grounded offered.
"No. My kin are here, and I have a nestmate sister to help my sire and dam provide for."
He understood and appreciated that reason to not go adventuring. Family came first. Nothing was more important than getting back to Green-Wings and Wind-Dancer.
"Could you show us the way out of these ranges? We want to get back to our home-range to be with our kin."
Dives-Deep hummed in thought, "I would rather not leave my kin-pack's territory, but I can fly you to meet the other pair I mentioned. They could fly further than I will. They are not far from here and have no obligations to keep them here."
"You have our thanks," Was-Grounded purred.
"Follow me."
Dives-Deep took flight, and they followed him past sea-stacks, along a sandy shore, and alongside glowing crystals. Several welcoming roars sounded as they passed by a ledge overhanging the waters below. Dives-Deep darted over to what was certainly his family, spoke to them, and then returned to begin leading them.
Shadowwing was very relieved by this meeting. The recent encounters with the hostile or untrusting groups of dragons had not done much to cheer him up. Living in isolation and refusing to meet people of another group certainly didn't help promote peace at all. However, Dives-Deep and Light-Hunter's families were both examples that not everyone else in the hidden world was prejudiced and hateful.
After about three rasts of flight, they flew around a bend which led into another side chamber.
The new chamber was darker, but not as dark as the Night Furies' territory. The mushrooms within glowed deep green and blue, and the trees like willows had glowing leaves and branches cascading down like waterfalls. Several actual waterfalls flowed down the ledges and spilled into the ocean.
Dives-Deep touched down on a sheer ledge above the rocky shore. They landed beside him and looked around at the nearest trees, seeing no other signs of dragons anywhere.
"They roost here in this chamber, but they might be away now," Dives-Deep said.
"Who are they?" Was-Grounded asked.
"Their names are Faded-Hope and Wilted-Flower."
"Those are... chilled names," Was-Grounded observed.
"True. They flew to this range several life-making cycles ago. They are warm to all of us and even help watch hatchlings and fledglings for several kin-packs."
Flies-With-Sun purred, "Is it only the two of them in their kin-pack?"
"Yes, only them."
"Do they have any young?" she added.
"None I know of."
"Do you know why they have chilled names?" Shadowwing asked.
"Because of bad in their pasts. That is all I know. They do not talk about the past much."
Great, more possibly angry or bitter dragons. Shouldn't be a surprise.
"Will they mind if we wait here for them?"
Dives-Deep shrugged, "Probably not. They are not biting toward other kin in their territory. Their cave-den is over there behind the waterfall."
He pointed with a paw toward a small waterfall visible at the far end of the chamber.
"I see it. I will go see if they are there," Shadowwing said.
Dives-Deep turned to them, a curious look on his face, "I have some time before I must go back to my kin-pack. Will you tell me about your far range and the two-legs in it? Far-Fliers and others who say they have seen the place said they saw twisted things, but I doubt they spoke truth."
Shadowwing and Was-Grounded glanced at each other.
"You want to take this one?" Shadowwing chuckled.
"Are you sure you are not best? You know two-legs and all their twisted ways better than I ever could!" Was-Grounded winked.
Shadowwing got to his paws and started toward the forest and distant waterfall without looking back, "You can fly this flight on your own. Flies-With-Sun can help you if you need help, you useless Alpha."
He knew Was-Grounded had pounced at his tail, so he flicked it aside and ran faster.
Was-Grounded returned to Flies-With-Sun and Dives-Deep after chasing Shadowwing away. They were both laughing, but fouling his brother's flight, or at least teasing him a little, was entirely worth it.
He was also rather tired after all the flying the three of them had done. The flying combined with the cold and liver-chilling meetings with other sky-kin had also probably left him weary and with much sleep-wanting. Shadowwing could meet with this pair of warmer-livered Light Furies while he and Flies-With-Sun spoke to Dives-Deep.
"What do you want to know about the two-leg ground-kin?" he asked.
Dives-Deep's tail tapped on the ground beside him, "I heard that the two-legs make the kin in that range do work and carry them around. Is that truth?"
Flies-With-Sun purred, "There is some truth and some falseness. We sky-kin who live there want to work to help all in the range. Some of us also share our backs and wings with ground-kin, but there is no forcing."
Dives-Deep grunted, "Have either of you done that: carried a ground-kin?"
"Yes, there is a young female who is close to my liver. Her nestmate brother is the same for my life-mate, who is Was-Grounded's first little one," she answered.
"Not so little now," he chuckled.
"And what about you, Was-Grounded? Have you ever carried a ground-kin?" Dives-Deep asked.
It was an innocent question, but it still struck at his liver. There were only three ground-kin he had ever carried: Hiccup, Astrid, and Henryk. The third one was not by choice and was only out of duty. He had not even carried Kin-liver.
"I have, but my young are much closer to the ground-kin than I am. Shadowwing has carried ground-kin more than I have."
Dives-Deep looked even more interested, "Twisted. Why do the ground-kin want to fly with you?"
"They are very like us in their soul-fires, but they have no wings. We can... share our wings with them, and they can share their clever paws to make our life-flights better."
"Clever paws? Do the ground-kin talk? They must if they are like us. They have no wings, so what are they like?" Dives-Deep eagerly asked.
Flies-With-Sun started speaking, answering his questions. Dives-Deep was rightly surprised and confused by the thought of tailless, wingless, clawless, and hornless creatures with clever paws, only very tiny teeth, and very strong thinking.
In the meantime, he was content to lay there and rest, waiting for Shadowwing to return. It was possible that the Light Furies they were here to meet were not in their home-den. That would also mean more waiting for them to get back, which was a tail-nibbling annoyance but not a great problem.
Flies-With-Sun kept speaking, explaining to Dives-Deep the various types of work which the Furies helped the ground-kin with. She confidently faced him and spoke to the bigger male without looking away or shying away. Dives-Deep was not at all threatening or forceful toward her, but he was still proud of how she was confident around him.
Shadowwing glided over the forest while watching for any signs of nearby Light Furies, of which there were none. These two Light Furies might not be home right now. Hopefully they were though. The sooner he could find them and ask them to guide them, the sooner he, Was-Grounded, and Flies-With-Sun could get home, assuming this pair was willing to help.
He landed on the ledge to the side of the waterfall. There was indeed a large cave hidden behind the streaming waterfall. Further, the path on the ledge was rather worn, which was a sure sign that the cave was inhabited.
Alright, time to see if anyone is home.
He roared softly in greeting and waited for a reply. There was a faint whoosh and maybe a flash of light from within, but there was no answering voice. Hearing nothing else, he crept behind the waterfall and walked inside, beholding a snug cave with several stalagmites throughout and a very open interior. There were a pair of Light Fury scents on the musty air, but the dry interior of the cave was empty, not even shed scales littered on the ground. It looked like no one was home.
Hmm, strange. Either no one lives here, or they are very tidy.
But there had been a strange sound and flash of light. There had to be an explanation for that.
Wait, that's obvious.
He closed his eyes, and saw what he had suspected. There was a Light Fury invisible at the far end of the cave. That the Light Fury was hiding was almost certainly because it was afraid of him. It wasn't every cycle that a strange male Night Fury appeared on the front door, so to speak. This was also probably the female of the pair, since the male would likely have come out to face him if he were home.
So he sat down and purred, "Warm flights to you. Are you Wilted-Flower or Faded-Hope?"
The invisible Light Fury gasped in surprise, revealing that it was a female, as he suspected. She did not immediately move, so he didn't move either. He was in her home after all, and didn't want to frighten her or do anything at all threatening.
He waited until she got to her paws and started slinking toward him. A pair of deep blue eyes appeared in the air as she approached and eventually stopped, keeping a safe distance from him.
"Dark wing, I am Wilted-Flower. How do you know my name?"
Her voice was... he wasn't sure precisely what he heard in it, but she was perhaps tired or weary. Her eyes, which was all he could see of her, were heavy and downcast. Maybe he woke her up from a nap, or maybe there was something else bothering her. Regardless, it was not his issue or his business to be nosy.
"I and my kin met Dives-Deep. He brought us to meet you and your mate. We need your help."
At his reassuring words, she sighed in relief and let her invisibility fall away as she sat back on her haunches. She had a faint red shine to her wings, but she was unremarkable otherwise. She had no visible scars or injuries.
While she was clearly relieved by what he told her, she still looked troubled or wary of him. That was understandable of her, and he did not feel upset at all for her being reasonably cautious.
"What is your name, dark wing?" she asked.
"I am Shadowwing."
"Shadowwing, you already know my name. You said your kin are here."
"Yes, my nestmate brother is named Was-Grounded. We also have Flies-With-Sun, a female light wing who is kin to us, flying on our flight."
She blinked in surprise, "A light wing is kin to you?"
"Not only that. My life-mate is a light wing," he purred.
"But I thought your kind hated us light wings."
He hung his head, "We are not from the pack of dark wings. We do not think as they do."
"No? Where are you from?"
"I and my nestmate brother are Alphas in another range far from here. We want to fly back there, but we do not know these ranges or the way out from here."
She chuffed in amusement, "You are lost?"
"We are a little lost. Dives-Deep said you two might help us by guiding our flight. As warming as the long flight is, we would rather be in our home-range sooner."
She hummed, "Yes, we could do that. We know many of the ranges around these ones. Where is your pack's range?"
"Do you know where other dark wings lived before bad happened long ago?"
"No."
He grumbled, "Do you know the chamber with the biggest and brightest light-rock? It is the place where the last High-Alpha perched."
"Yes, I know that place and how to get there."
"Good. If you could lead us there, we can find the way on our own."
She paused before continuing, "If I may ask, you said that your life-mate is a light wing. Is she Flies-With-Sun, the light wing flying with you?"
"No, but my life-mate is Flies-With-Sun's nestmate sister, Luna. Flies-With-Sun's life-mate is Dawn-Singer, one of my brother's children."
"You are flying together. Why?"
"Flies-With-Sun knew the way to this range, but I and my nestmate brother did not know," he explained.
She stretched, rolling her shoulders, "So, you three only need to be shown the way to the paths which go to the flock-making chamber where the last High-Alpha lived? True?"
"Yes, we will know the way once we are beyond these ranges."
"We can fly you that way. Will you wait here while I go find my mate? It will not take long. I know where he is hunting... or sleeping."
"I will wait outside your cave," he answered.
He spun around and trotted outside past the waterfall and down onto the mossy ground. There, he sat down and watched as Wilted-Flower swiftly flew from her cave and went out over the forest.
There was nothing else for him to do except wait for her return with her mate, so he curled up to take a quick nap. While he knew almost nothing about her, there was a sadness in her eyes and voice. Her cave was very tidy and neat, which was not at all what a cave looked like if there were children living there. Maybe she had no children, or maybe they had all grown up and left the nest.
Another possibility was that she had been hurt in the past. He could not tell if her hesitance around him was just because he was a surprise or if it was because he was a male she did not know and trust beforehand. There was no way to know without outright asking her, which felt wrong since it was not his business.
Maybe I can find out from, what was his name, Faded-Hope? Gods, their names are really sad.
The beat of a pair of wings roused him later from his nap. Unsurprisingly, two Light Furies dove down and landed before him as he got to his paws. The newly arrived male had light blue eyes and was just barely smaller than Wilted-Flower, though he was visibly stronger. The pair sat before him.
"You are Shadowwing?" Faded-Hope said.
"Yes, I am. Did Wilted-Flower tell you why I and my kin are here?"
"She told me. We would like to help you."
"You both have my thanks," he purred.
Wilted-Flower grumbled, "Anything is better than doing nothing here."
"We also wanted to know this: are you dark wings from the far range which has been fouled by two-legs?" Faded-Hope asked.
Great, as if that doesn't show what he thinks about humans.
"With all respect to you, those words are twisted. Yes, our home-range has what you call two-legs in it. Their being in our range does not foul the range."
Faded-Hope sighed, "So you say. I find that very hard to believe. I would never want to see that place."
"Why not? Do you know two-legs? Have you met them?"
"Yes, I have."
Wait, what?
"How? Where?"
"In the above. I lived up there in a pack which flew to many ranges."
He blinked in surprise at this news that there had been a Light Fury pack in the above. None of the Nords knew anything about it, as far as he was aware. Prior to discovering Luna, Light Furies were not in the dragon manual or any of the training materials, which made sense given how illusive Light Furies could be when they wanted.
"There was a light wing pack above? I did not know about them. Where did they live?"
"That pack lived in many ranges, as I said. One season-cycle it would live in a valley, the next it would fly to an island beyond the cold waters, and the next it would fly into warmer ranges. They lived in different ranges to follow prey. The pack started seeing more and more two-legs with every season-cycle that flew by. The two-legs would catch more and more fish and take more of the ground prey-animals until there were none left to hunt."
Yeah, humans do that.
"That forced fighting in secret. We would go into their ranges to take prey while hidden from eyes."
He sighed, "That could not work for long."
"No, it did not. The two-legs learned that unseen things were hunting their prey. They started hiding their prey-animals and hunting for the pack, forcing us further away from their ranges. We learned that two-legs are filled with danger and that we must flee on sight."
Flee on sight. Fear. It was a normal, natural reaction to seeing very different people, especially if those people have been enemies in the past.
Faded-Hope paused and hung his head, "And two-legs must have killed her, but we will never know for sure."
So there was a loss in this pair's past. He didn't know any further details, and it definitely wasn't his place to ask or bring up bad memories.
"What happened with the pack? Are they here in the hidden ranges?" he asked.
Faded-Hope huffed, "I do not know what happened to them. I flew from that pack so I could find a life-mate. My being smaller was a problem for them, and the pack was too small with few females I was not kin to."
Wilted-Flower stepped alongside him and nuzzled Faded-Hope's neck while she spoke, "We found each other and became life-mates. Life was good in our far range for many life-making cycles. We lived there in peace with our young until... life happened. Bad happened."
He purred with sympathy, not knowing what had happened but sure that he could learn if he just asked. It was not his business to know, but this pair felt kind at heart. Something about them made him want to trust and understand. Maybe they just needed to open up and tell their story so they could feel more appreciated or get beyond the past. They were certainly already sharing far more than he had asked for.
"Do you want to tell me?"
"It is not liver-warming," Wilted-Flower said.
He shrugged, "I know that feeling well already from my life-flight."
"Do you? How?" she prodded.
"I lost my sire-father, a... female who was like a nestmate to me, and my belief in my life-flight. Another helped me find that belief again by speaking truth to me and listening when I was liver-chilled."
They purred in sympathy before she continued speaking, though with a slight halt in her words.
"Maybe you will understand. Our first little one flew from our range to go find a life-mate of her own, but she never came back. We had to flee our home-range because of stinging-tail kin-hunters. We also lost our second."
Oh gods, they lost two children.
"We... returned to that home-range, but there were stinging-tail kin-hunters near there, so we and our living little ones fled that place and flew far away to other ranges where we found light wings. They had some ceremonies we did not like, but they let us live there on our own."
Faded-Hope whined softly, "It was very hard to stay warm for our young then, after losing our first two. But our third and fourth, Dreams-Of-Sky and Ashen-Whisper, found good mates and are living with them in very far ranges."
Shadowwing started in surprise, "Wait, they live far from here? You do not see them anymore?"
"No, they flew the nest and joined a pack of light wings. We know more or less where they are, but the flight to get there is very dangerous. We also had one more, our fifth, Hops-In-Bushes. Flying here to these ranges was supposed to be best for him to stay safe."
The way Faded-Hope finished saying that made it clear that something bad had happened.
Gods, they didn't lose a third, did they?
"And what happened?" he whispered.
"He died in the great-much-fighting. Other kin flew into these skies and tried to take our territory, and we all had to fight. Now it is only us here. Us and the silence," Faded-Hope softly said.
The silence that followed was not calm or peaceful; rather, it was oppressive and empty. It was like the absence of being on the shared-ledge when no one else was there, only if there was no one else who would ever return to that ledge.
He had to break this silence.
"As a sire-father, I feel much sorrow for you both," he whispered.
"Feel or do not feel, it changes nothing for us," Wilted-Flower said.
The casual, calm way she said that was unspeakably horrible. Surely she was not serious that she and her mate felt nothing. Did they not find heartfelt sympathy moving at all?
Or was the truth that he did not truly sympathize with them? He had not felt what they did. Perhaps if he lost a child, then he might know what they had lived. He fortunately had not felt that kind of tragedy, so he could not truly understand or relate to it. But he did know grief from a pair of deaths which he could have prevented if he had been more prudent.
"Are those three lost ones why you help sit the young in this range? Dives-Deep told us that you do that for them and several kin-packs."
Wilted-Flower sighed and hummed, "Sitting with the young of other pairs is a way we can do some good for others and escape the silence here. Even though we failed our own young, we can help others."
He hesitated to ask about them, unsure if it was proper to bring up what was surely a painful topic. But his own experience was more than enough for him to know what was best. If he had reconciled with his father instead of remaining stuck and obsessed about Stoick's failings, how different might life have been? Bringing up the past was not comfortable; however, doing so and gaining the understanding it might bring was the only way to heal or grow. Was-Grounded's experience with Green-Wings was a further proof of that point.
"What were their names, your other two lost ones?"
They both whined and hung their heads.
"You had to ask about that? Why?" Wilted-Flower groaned.
"Because it helped me when I was very liver-chilled. After I lost others I held to my liver, I found that it helped to talk about them to others who might understand. Talking about the hurts made them hurt less, twistedly."
They glanced at each other, as if deciding whether or not to answer him. Finally, Wilted-Flower spoke, though very softly.
"Our second was Plays-With-Pebbles, but she liked another name. Even as a fledgling, she never stopped nibbling on our ears. Most grow out of doing that, but not her," she said, almost chuckling.
"She was an ear biter? I understand. My young did that when they were smaller."
Faded-Hope purred, "Yes, that is what we called her. Our first little one had a special name we gave her after she hatched. I wanted her to have a name that spoke about the above, not the hidden ranges. We named her Sky-Rock-Gazer."
Yep, that is definitely a name for the above. No reason for anyone living in the hidden world to be curious about the moon or... or want...
He blinked.
Why was that name familiar? He did not know anyone who went by that name.
An obvious truth was staring him in the face. Something other than Faded-Hope, though the Light Fury's light blue eyes were narrowed on him in visible confusion.
Light blue eyes which were very familiar to others he knew dearly.
Was there something familiar about their scents which was so subtle that he hadn't noticed was making him feel like they were known and ought to be trusted?
Their stories about losing their first two daughters, never seeing confirmation of deaths but reasonably presuming them gone under the circumstances.
Names indicating past tragedies while also possibly having echoes of the other names they had before loss befell them.
He stepped back from them and sharply inhaled, taking his first breath in long enough that he was breathless.
Was it possible? How could he be sure about something so important?
"Shadowwing? Is something twisting your tail?" Faded-Hope warily grumbled.
He looked up from his paws, "I... yes... are you... were your names once Hope-In-His-Liver and Paws-At-Bright-Flowers?"
They both froze, not even an ear twitching as they stared at him.
"How do you know those names?" Faded-Hope whispered.
Shadowwing stared at them in shock and momentary disbelief as the frightening, wonderful truth became clear. Too much was coincidental for it to be otherwise.
Faded-Hope and Wilted-Flower were Luna's and Flies-With-Sun's lost father and mother.
He could see it in the color of their eyes, smell it in the familiarity of their scents, and infer it from how their stories lined up perfectly.
He found them.
They believed that their first two daughters were dead. They had no idea of the truth.
Oh gods.
"I... you might not believe me," he gasped.
Faded-Hope growled and stepped toward him, "Talk! What are you hiding from us?"
"I know those names because I have been looking for you on my flights. I know your first two daughters, Ear-Biter and Sky-Rock-Gazer."
Oddly, they did not react at first. They should be shouting and roaring for joy at this good news, but instead they just stared at him.
"Why would you say that? How could you say that!" Faded-Hope barked.
Surprised, he stepped back, "Because it is true."
"No! They are gone and dead and lost!"
"No, they are not."
"Stop! Stop hurting us!"
Faded-Hope was shaking slightly, his tail twitching as he stared with unfocused eyes. He looked like he was staring into the distant past or not seeing the present. Even Wilted-Flower was frozen and tensed, as if she was ready to flee or fight.
What else should he have expected from telling grieved parents that their dead children were not actually dead? Shock, disbelief, and even anger were not surprising at all. Expecting from them a calm, reasoned response was just not plausible.
The trick was to get them to believe such that they could not doubt. Fortunately, he knew one detail which they could not deny meant that he was being truthful.
He slowly stepped closer to them while purring, ignoring their suspicion and unreasonable hostility.
"Your first little one needed help hatching. You helped her hatch."
That apparently did it for them. Their eyes widened as they drew very deep breaths.
Wilted-Flower crept toward him, "How do you know that?"
"She told me."
"It is true? She lives?" she whined.
"Not only does she live. She is..."
He paused, wondering how they would react to this news.
"She is my life-mate. We have four children together."
Their jaws fell open.
"And, Ear-Biter Plays-With-Pebbles lives with me and my kin. Ear-Biter and Sky-Rock-Gazer have different names now. They are..."
He paused, hearing the beats of a pair of approaching wings. They had definitely been drawn by hearing Faded-Hope's shocked, disbelieving outburst.
Perfect timing.
Was-Grounded and Flies-With-Sun swooped down over the forest, swiftly landed, and pounced beside him, visibly tensed and ready for conflict. They had no idea what had truly happened.
"What is this?" Was-Grounded sharply growled, flashing his teeth.
"Peace, brother. They were not threatening me."
Was-Grounded and Flies-With-Sun both relaxed slightly.
"Good. We finished talking with Dives-Deep, and he flew away to his kin. What is happening here?" Was-Grounded asked.
He was about to start explaining the situation when Flies-With-Sun gasped and stiffened while staring at Faded-Hope and Wilted-Flower. She slowly crept forward as Wilted-Flower similarly approached her. Daughter and mother stared at each other in shared disbelief, neither able to move or speak for a very long time.
Until...
"Dam-mother?" Flies-With-Sun whispered.
"Little one?" Wilted-Flower gasped.
They whined and jumped at each other, briefly dancing in a spin and laying their chins on each other's shoulder in Fury hugs. They were both whining, shaking, and, understandably, speechless. Faded-Hope joined in by resting his chin on Flies-With-Sun's unclaimed shoulder.
How many years had it been since they saw each other? Presumed they would never see each other again?
Reunited at last.
Was-Grounded gently bumped his shoulder and whispered, "You found them."
"Yes, it is them. After all these season-cycles, they were living here in this range."
Was-Grounded hummed and purred, "And Flies-With-Sun never flew here. She thought this range was too filled with danger."
"True."
What Flies-With-Sun and her parents were whispering, he did not know. But it was not his place to intrude right now. Later, sure, when they could speak more freely about what to do next, but right now was just for her and her parents to meet and catch up.
"Luna will be very warmed by this," Was-Grounded purred.
"She will. I... hope they want to fly with us to our shared-range."
"Would they not?"
"They might not want to be around ground-kin, but not as much as the most hating sky-kin we have met."
Was-Grounded huffed, "Even if they do not want to be around ground-kin, they can be in our part of the shared-range without even seeing ground-kin. And, if Luna can change and be warm to ground-kin, any sky-kin can. I am... warmed that we found her and Luna's sire-father and dam-mother."
He faced his brother, wondering about something which had not been a concern or problem until now. Toothless's parents were long since gone, killed by dragon-hunting humans when he was a mere fledgling, but Green-Wings had flown from her parents once she came of age. She had sensible reasons to do so, but no one knew what had happened to her parents.
"Does Green-Wings ever talk about her sire-father and dam-mother?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
He nodded toward Flies-With-Sun and her parents, "What if they are out there too? What if they live far away from us?"
Was-Grounded sighed, "We talked about that many season-cycles ago. She does not want to go searching for them. They were a good sire-father and dam-mother, but the flight to their ranges in the above would be very, very long. We would not find them if they flew into the hidden ranges. No, we are staying with our kin."
Fair enough. It's her choice, but with all her kids and immediate family here now, yeah, I understand wanting to stay.
He and his brother watched the reunion. Flies-With-Sun had stepped back from her parents and, tail swaying, was speaking to them. All their ears were lifted as they spoke and listened to each other.
"We should join them," Was-Grounded eventually suggested.
Shadowwing didn't want to intrude on the family reunion, but they were also his family through Luna and Flies-With-Sun. Not only were they his family, they were his-
Oh gods, they are my in-laws, not that dragons have the same laws, but still the same thing.
Luna had shared many stories about her father and mother, so he thought he had a rather good idea what they were like as people. Her father was more cooperative and sensitive to the needs of others than males usually were, mostly because he was picked on because of his size when he was young. Her mother was a very brave, assertive, and free-flying female who also liked doing more of her own hunting. They were both, in their own ways, the opposite of what seemed to be the norm for their sexes.
He had no problem with any of that, especially since his own family and parental situation was so secretly strange. But, now that he had the opportunity, he wanted to get to know them himself, rather than through someone else relating what they were like.
Together, they approached the three Light Furies who were so deep in conversation that they didn't seem to notice them.
"... and she has white paws and so many spots and she pins so many tails! We almost called her Tail-Hunter!" Flies-With-Sun chuckled.
Faded-Hope hummed and leaned in toward her, "And this Dawn-Singer, he is good to you? He never does anything twisted to you?"
She purred, "He likes twisting my tail, in several ways, but I do the same to him! Yes, he is very good to me."
Was-Grounded huffed, getting their attention. Flies-With-Sun bounded over to his side and briefly nuzzled his neck before turning back to her parents.
"Second sire-father, these are my sire-father, Hope-In-His-Liver, and my dam-mother, Paws-At-Bright-Flowers. Sire-father, dam-mother, this is Was-Grounded, my life-mate's sire-father."
Was-Grounded and Faded-Hope, or was it Hope-In-His-Liver, stared each other down until Was-Grounded purred at him.
"Hope-In-His-Liver, Paws-At-Bright-Flowers, you raised your little ones well. Flies-With-Sun has a very warm liver."
They both looked at her in surprise.
"That is your new name?" her mother asked after a pause.
"Yes, dam-mother. I flew with a different name after I lost you. That was my fault."
"No, we lost you. It was our fault," Paws-At-Bright-Flowers whined and nuzzled her head.
Flies-With-Sun and her parents said nothing else, apparently preferring to nuzzle and nudge each other to reassure themselves.
Shadowwing purred, "What happened back then?"
He suspected there was more they needed to say to each other.
Hope-In-His-Liver sighed and covered Flies-With-Sun's back with a wing, "We were fleeing our range because of stinging-tail hunters. Our little ones were ahead of us for safety, and there was a place where the cave split. One of the hunters got past us and..."
Her parents looked expectantly to Flies-With-Sun, clearly awaiting her explanation of what had happened.
She grumbled, "I flew down the wrong cave because I was scared. I hid in a small cave where the hunters could not get to me. They stayed outside the cave for over a waking-cycle until they flew away. Then I flew back to the cave-den, but no one was there. I knew the hunter-kin would come back, so I flew on my own, never joining another light wing pack until I found Shadowwing and Was-Grounded's range, and my Dawn-Singer."
Paws-At-Bright-Flowers furiously nuzzled her daughter's neck, "Little one, we wanted to find you, but we could not leave the other three. We had to fly to safety, somewhere."
"I... I understand. Flying them into danger just to maybe find me would have been twisted."
Shadowwing looked away, briefly disturbed by that whole exchange. It almost sounded like her parents had left her behind or not tried to search for her, but their going back for her could have endangered their other three remaining children.
That is so terrible a situation. How can I even judge them for what they did?
"I never flew here because I thought the light wings in this range were very dangerous," Flies-With-Sun grumbled.
Hope-In-His-Liver huffed, "Some are, but they are more dangerous to those they do not know. The kin-packs around ours know us and trust us."
"How are Dreams-Of-Sky, Ashen-Whisper, and Hops-In-Bushes? Where are they?" Flies-With-Sun eagerly asked, her ears lifted high.
Paws-At-Bright-Flowers and Hope-In-His-Liver winced and stared at their paws.
"Dreams and Ashen have mates in a far range and pack. They are well, for all we know," her father whispered.
"But you do not know for sure?"
"We cannot fly to that range now. The light wing pack they joined flew through a range which is very filled with hunters and other danger. We would die if we flew that flight outside of a full pack."
"What about Hops?"
They hummed sadly, and her father held her close underwing.
"He died in the great-much-fighting," Paws-At-Bright-Flowers whispered.
Flies-With-Sun gasped and recoiled, looking like she had been struck in the face.
"How did it happen?" she whined.
"We will not say. It was fast, so he did not hurt much," Hope-In-His-Liver whispered.
Flies-With-Sun hung her head and sniffled.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Was-Grounded grumbled.
Shadowwing blinked, realizing that he had been, totally involuntarily, leaning against his brother's shoulder, so he stopped doing that.
"Sorry," he whispered.
Was-Grounded whipped him with his tail, so he did that back at him.
"And we have been living in this range since then. We help sit with the young of other kin-packs that trust us, but life has been getting... colder in the liver here," Paws-At-Bright-Flowers said.
Flies-With-Sun recovered herself and nodded, "So do not be here anymore. Fly back with us to our range! Live with us!"
Shadowwing stepped forward and purred, "Yes! We would welcome you in our shared-range. You should fly the winds of life with her, Luna, and our young and kin!"
"Luna? Is that-" Paws-At-Bright-Flowers hesitated.
"Sky-Rock-Gazer. My life-mate."
Hope-In-His-Liver approached him, eyes narrowed. He stared right back at his father-in-law without looking away.
"So, you and she are a pair?" Hope-In-His-Liver growled.
"That is what life-mates usually are."
"How... did you and she meet? Were you in the above? She flew up to those ranges to find a mate. Did you meet up there?"
He winced, briefly remembering the first time he had found her: starving and trapped in a cage on one of Drago Bludvist's islands. Having to tell them that their first daughter had been so abused by humans and even by other dragons was not going to be pleasant. More than that, it was not really his place to tell that story. It was only proper to let Luna tell them herself.
"Yes, we met in the above. She needed help, as I did. We helped each other be liver-warmed again, and we became life-mates after learning much about the other and helping each other."
Flies-With-Sun chuckled, "Not only that. You and she became life-mates in the old range we lived in!"
"You were there?" Hope-In-His-Liver asked in surprise.
He nodded, "She asked me to fly with her to her home-range, so I did. We saw your old cave-den empty. There, I learned that I wanted her and loved her, so we became mates in that range."
Paws-At-Bright-Flowers purred at that and glanced at Hope-In-His-Liver before looking back to him. She suddenly looked far more wary and worried.
"What help did she need?" she asked.
"I should not say. She has a warm liver now, but the past was bad. You should hear from her, not from me."
"I agree, sire-father, dam-mother. She should tell you herself," Flies-With-Sun added.
She knew the full details about what had happened in the past to her sister.
"And you have four little ones with her, yes?" Paws-At-Bright-Flowers added, looking back to him.
He deeply purred to them, "Yes, we have four dark lights or dawn wings, as you might call them. Moon-Dancer, our first son, is dark like me; Hidden-Hope, our only daughter, is white like her; Night-Light and Flower-Eater, our other two sons, are both dark and light in color."
They both hung their heads while leaning against each other, visibly overcome with feeling.
So he slowly approached and nuzzled their muzzles, "You should fly back with us. They would all want to see you. Luna especially. She wanted us to look for you on our flights beyond our range."
Paws-At-Bright-Flowers and Hope-In-His-Liver glanced at each other, and looked over their shoulders to the waterfall which hid their cave.
"What about the two-legs?" Hope-In-His-Liver warily asked.
"What about them?" Shadowwing prodded.
Flies-With-Sun huffed and nudged her father's shoulder, "Sire-father, they are not bad or twisted to us. I name one of them as my kin, and I let her fly with me."
Hope-In-His-Liver grumbled and faced him, "I do not know. This feels twisted."
Paws-At-Bright-Flowers hummed, "If we fly to your range, must we... bond with the two-legs?"
"No. The two-legs only live in one part of our big, shared-range. You do not need to bond with them or see them much at all. We would only ask that you help provide as we do," Shadowwing explained.
"What would we do?" she asked.
"It would be enough for you to help with hunting prey, and watch the range to protect all who live there. And, if this is important at all to you, it was Luna's idea to bring the two-legs here to the hidden ranges."
That visibly surprised them.
"Was it? If she wanted to bring them, there must be a good reason," Paws-At-Bright-Flowers whispered.
She nudged Hope-In-His-Liver's shoulder, "We should fly there after we tell the other light wing kin-packs that we are leaving."
He sighed, "They will miss us, but I agree we should fly this flight to our kin."
Was-Grounded purred and stretched his wings wide, "Good. We are ready to fly, but you must lead us out of these ranges."
They wasted no time. Flies-With-Sun, Hope-In-His-Liver, and Paws-At-Bright-Flowers leaped into the sky and turned their flights for the entrance to the side-chamber the pair lived in. Shadowwing and Was-Grounded followed closely behind them, following their lead out into the wider chamber.
They eventually arrived at a large ridge with several visible Light Furies dozing on it. Hope-In-His-Liver and Paws-At-Bright-Flowers dashed down onto the ridge, briefly spoke with a pair of the Light Furies, and then returned to the sky after giving them the news.
"We told them! Follow us!" Hope-In-His-Liver shouted.
"We will!" Was-Grounded roared.
Hope-In-His-Liver, Paws-At-Bright-Flowers, and Flies-With-Sun took the lead, flying close together so they could speak while flying. At least they did so between impromptu flying stunts, most of which Flies-With-Sun started as a way of showing off.
Shadowwing noticed that his new father-in-law and mother-in-law glanced back at him and his brother several times. They would naturally be curious. After all, Was-Grounded was connected to Flies-With-Sun through Dawn-Singer, and he himself was intimately connected to Luna. Even if they did not have a designation for son-in-law, they were still curious about him.
They didn't need great enthusiasm for humans. It was enough that they were willing to put aside prior experiences and give the humans a chance. Their first priority, obviously, was both of their daughters and the children they didn't know.
Oh, Luna, we found your parents! Just wait!
Faded-Hope glided beside his not-lost little-one. Plays-With-Pebbles, now Flies-With-Sun, was a strong, confident, liver-flamed adult, now with a life-mate and a little one of her own!
The choice he and Paws-At-Bright-Flowers had to make had broken and always-chilled their livers. What were they supposed to do? Put three little ones in danger to try to find a lost one?
That was all in the past life-winds, and she had lived. But he still remembered and felt the cold inside.
The cold had always been colder and emptier because of his first little one also being gone. His Sky-Rock-Gazer. She had needed help hatching, and he had given her that help by helping break her egg for her. He had been told that she would change the world, though he had not believed that at the time. But he had kept his promise to the one who helped him find the hidden range and his future life-mate. That was why he named his first what he had, and it was also why he had taken her up the cave so she could see the above.
She had to have been in the above for four or five life-making cycles without coming back. Then, he, Paws, and their remaining little ones had to flee the range. There was no opportunity to safely return to that range, which also meant he would never see Sky-Rock-Gazer again if she did ever return.
The last he could remember seeing her was her pure white shape, wings stretched wide as she flew away from their range. He had stared in her direction long after she was gone. It had hurt to watch her fly the nest and range, but she was grown and had a powerful wanting in her liver.
In the life-making cycles that had passed, he had sleep-visions of her dead at the terrible paws of the two-legs. What danger in the above could be worse than the two-legs? He had told her that they were very dangerous and that she must flee on sight. That advice should have kept her safe and away from them. But she was always curious about everything: other kin, plants, stories, and maybe even two-legs.
He had believed and been so certain that his stories about the above and his showing her the night-sky-rock might have gotten her killed.
Paws believed her gone. Why would he and she not believe that? After losing their first, second, and then their fifth, and after their other two flew away to be with their mates, the warmth of life had faded almost entirely, replaced with a cold, chilled emptiness.
He and she had not even been together as mates in any liver-warming way since then, let alone tried for another egg. Why make another little one whom they would probably fail as its sire-father and dam-mother too?
The only remaining warmth came from sitting with young of other pairs. Doing that, helping warm their livers and keep them safe, helped a little. It did not spark his or her life-fires into flames that lived on their own, but at least they could feel some warmth for a time.
But now, their first two lost ones were not lost anymore! They were alive!
Plays-With-Pebbles, no, Flies-With-Sun, was there with them! Sky-Rock-Gazer, Luna, was living in a far range with Flies-With-Sun, and was warmly mated to Shadowwing, a dark wing! He was an Alpha too, which was very good for Luna since she got status and protection from that. Shadowwing and Luna apparently had four little ones together, and the way Shadowwing spoke about her was filled with liver-warmth and respect.
He had few doubts that Shadowwing was good to her as her life-mate. But there was something Shadowwing was hiding and would not speak about. That something had to do with Luna's past when she flew in the above.
For now, he just flew beside Flies-With-Sun and Wilted-Flower while leading the dark wing brother-Alphas. Time passed uncertainly as so many memories flew through his thoughts.
Hatchling Sky-Rock-Gazer was asleep between his paws, chewing on his tail, and stretching her wings for the first time. She was eating her first fish caught with only her own teeth. She was sleeping in the light of a bright light-rock in a special chamber he showed her. She was learning fast flight and her hiding-fire. She was flying away, leaving on her life-flight into the above. She was waiting in an unknown, distant range with her kin-pack of little ones.
He, Wilted-Flower, and Flies-With-Sun finally arrived at a pass which led out of the light wing ranges into the other hidden ranges beyond. This was one of the places where one range ended and another began.
Plays-With-Pebbles had taken a new name after she was lost and had to fly alone. She had then shed that new name like an old hide and scales once the time came to do that and take a new, better name with more warmth.
He and Paws had also taken new names after all the bad happened to them. The hope that had been in his liver had faded, and Paws' simple pleasure at seeing liver-warming light-making flowers had also wilted like a dying plant. Both of their life-fires had been fading and going cold. But the biggest reasons for that cold were false reasons!
Who was he? Who was she?
Faded-Hope was false and not true anymore. Wilted-Flower was also a wrong-name.
He winged closer to her and brushed her wingtip, so she glanced at him.
"Paws," he whispered.
"Hope," she whispered back after a brief pause.
That was all he needed to hear. She agreed with him on what their names would be from now on. The chilled names were wrong and had to be lost for life to start new. Their old names were much truer once again.
Author's Note – To briefly address a concern shared in private, we have met plenty of dragons who have a negative view of humans due to hostile encounters in the past. It could be tedious to repeatedly hear the same story too many times, but that won't be a problem going forward. We've met almost everyone who will be relevant in this story.