Innocence
All other activity in the New-Strength-Pack had stopped as the Light Furies wanted to learn about them and the ground-kin. The pairs, for there were no young yet, and unpaired members of the pack visited them and were apparently eager to hear whatever they had to say and to meet the ground-kin.
Moon-Dancer was not pleased by some of what he saw in this pack.
There was nothing very obviously rotted or twisted about most of the Light Furies, and they did not do anything bad to the ground-kin. No, the Light Furies were very interested to meet Alvor, Safiya, and Kin-liver. He was helping talk for both the ground-kin and the Light Furies, the same as Mist-Wings and Rock-Climber were doing. Rain-Eater was talking with the Plant-Growers and Hunters, probably interested by food-planning and other practical topics. Aurora was watching all of this to make sure nothing bad happened.
But he saw something else that sparked anger in his liver. Some of the male Light Furies stared at Mist-Wings and Aurora when neither of them were watching or aware that they were being watched. Nothing was bad or twisted about seeing a beautiful, liver-warming female and appreciating that beauty.
What was bad was that it appeared that those males were not looking at Mist-Wings's or Aurora's faces or wings.
Grr! Stop that!
He wanted to growl at those males and threaten them if they did not stop, even though that was not really his place. Should he tell his kin that the males were staring at them? Even if he did, what would happen then? Sparking any fighting between the Light Furies and his kin would be bad. But it still felt like something he should tell his kin about at least, so he trotted to Aurora and nudged her shoulder.
"Aurora."
"Moon-Dancer?"
"I... saw something you should know about," he whispered, looking around to make sure they were alone.
She huffed and leaned closer, "Oh, a secret? What is it?"
"The Light Fury males... some of them are-"
"Fast to show wanting?" she interrupted.
She knew!
"Yes, how did you know?"
She chuffed and rolled her eyes, "The Alpha showed me wanting. Twisted, is it not? He does not know me at all!"
The Alpha showed her wanting? How dare he! That Alpha already had three mates, which was itself a bad and twisted life-way! Why would the Alpha want another whom he did not even know? Aurora was not his! Aurora was...
He blinked and shuffled in place, staring at his paws. Aurora was not his own either. Where had those thoughts come from?
Grr, what is so twisted with me?
"Yes, very twisted of him. See those males over there," he nodded.
She glanced where he indicated, "Yes."
"I saw those males looking at you and Mist-Wings."
"Good, let them! We are beautiful," she purred.
"Yes, but they were looking at you and her... well…" he paused, looking away from her.
"What?" she asked.
"Back... there..." he stammered and gestured with a paw.
It took a few wingbeats before she understood, and she sat back on her haunches and growled, her tail tapping on the ground.
She sighed, "Why am I not surprised? They would think about that! Thank you for telling me."
"You are welcome. How long will we stay here?"
"Maybe for a pawful of waking-cycles. Why do you ask?"
He huffed, "I miss our home-range and my nestmates. Yes, even Hidden-Hope, Night-Light, and Flower-Eater. I wonder if he has words yet. The ground-kin want to go home too," he added.
She stared at her paws, "We have been away long, and it might be time to go home if there is no reason to stay here. Let me think about it. I must talk with the Alpha soon anyway. We need to learn what this pack is to us."
With that, they returned to everyone else. Alvor, Safiya, and Kin-liver were standing with Rock-Climber, Mist-Wings, and two of the Light Fury pairs, all four of whom appeared eager to learn more about the ground-kin.
He was pleased that the interested males had gone away. Them staying away from Aurora and Mist-Wings was much better!
Valka was still in awe of all she saw in this tribe, for a tribe this was. The Light Furies, as she had already known but not seen herself before, had a proper tribe with defined rules, roles, and expectations. This was different from what she had seen in the Bewilderbeast's ice-sanctuary. That place had no specific roles all the dragons were expected to follow, other than obey the Alpha. Further, while the various dragons in the sanctuary had grumbled and hissed at each other, none of them behaved as though they were having actual conversations.
These Light Furies definitely did. They faced each other and looked at each other while grumbling, growling, grunting, warbling, and hissing, no differently from how the Night Furies did when they spoke to each other in their language. It was totally incomprehensible to human ears, but there was intent and meaning behind their actions.
It helped a lot that Moon-Dancer, Rain-Eater, and Mist-Wings were eager to translate for all involved.
"First-Hunter, what do you usually catch around here?" Alvor asked after raising his hand.
Rain-Eater translated for him, speaking to the Light Fury who called himself First-Hunter.
That way of naming or addressing each other by role within the tribe was, in her opinion, an odd custom, but it was not the strangest naming custom she was aware of. She really had no right to think any other group's naming conventions were strange, given the ancient traditions on Berk back in the day.
"Therre iss waterr we fly to forr fissh. He alsso ssaid therre arre prrey like goatss annd ssheep," Rain-Eater related after First-Hunter spoke for a while.
"Do you have mushrooms you eat?" Safiya asked.
"Yess. They grrow farr frrom herre."
"And do any of you have kids? Young Light Furies?" she added.
First-Hunter and First-Plant-Grower's ears briefly fell after they heard the translated question.
"Nnot yet. Therre arre nno younng inn the pack. Therre arre rruless that did nnot let them make anny eggss unntil nnow, but they arre trryinng to grrow the pack," Rain-Eater related.
Alvor, Safiya, and Rock-Climber rolled their eyes, clearly since they were not so interested in hearing more about that topic.
The other pair of Light Furies, named Second-Fighter and Third-Fisher, looked pleased by something, given their purring and frequent glances at each other.
"Second-Fighter, Third-Fisher, do you want to say something?" she asked after getting their attention.
Second-Fighter spoke for himself and his mate, and Rain-Eater translated while Aurora trotted closer.
"They arre with egg. I thinnk Firrsst-Hunnterr annd Firrsst-Plannt-Tennderr arre sstill trryinng forr that."
Ah, that explains it.
First-Hunter spoke for a while, nothing of what he was saying being translated. Then, with no warning, each of the four Light Furies stepped closer and licked her, Alvor, and Safiya on a cheek.
"Hey, not that." "What was that for?" Alvor and Safiya chuckled.
The Light Furies laughed in their own ways and flew off, leaving them alone.
Mist-Wings purred deeply, "He ssaid they arre verry happy they met you humannss."
Alvor groaned while wiping the drool from his cheek, "Ugh, we kind of knew that already. Useless dragons."
"Somebody doesn't like dragon kisses. Don't get enough of those from your girlfriend?" Safiya teased.
"Whatever!"
Now that they were alone, Valka leaned against Mist-Wings's side while Alvor and Safiya rested against Aurora and Rain-Eater, unsurprisingly. Moon-Dancer and Rock-Climber stood attentively nearby.
"So, did they tell you anything else?" she asked.
Aurora grumbled, "I will talk to the Alpha ssoonn. He wannted ssome time to thinnk about mixinng kinndss, humannss annd drragonnss, inn hiss pack'ss terrrritorry. Did they ssay annythinng about theirr familiess?"
Rain-Eater nodded, "They have nno childrrenn yet, but the pairrss arre trryinng morre forr that."
"Why are none of them parents yet?" Valka asked.
"Ssomethinng about thiss pack beinng nnew: a ssplit frrom annotherr pack that did nnot have good rruless or trraditionnss."
"They left to live as they want and make their own tribe. Good for them."
Aurora grumbled and glanced at everyone, "What doess everryonne wannt to do afterr thiss pack?"
No one spoke up at first, so Valka began, "Well, there is one other pack somewhere nearby, right?"
Aurora nodded, "Yess, Ice-Waterr-Pack, it wass called. But it hass a bad Alpha who forrced thesse Light Furriess to flee herre. We prrobably sshould nnot fly therre."
That was very prudent advice she could agree with. There was no reason to willingly involve themselves with a known violent and dangerous pack, especially since that was the pack this one flew from and had prior disagreements with.
She got up and started pacing, "I agree. We should try to establish relations with this pack, and see if they can let anyone live here, even though this is far from New Haven. Let me throw another idea out there. We've been away from home for probably a month. I've filled in all I can on the parchment I have. It might be time to go home soon. Does anyone else want to head home? Alvor, Safiya?"
Alvor shrugged, "I'm okay with going home if you all want."
"Yeah, our parents are probably missing us," Safiya agreed.
She faced the draconic members of the adventure, "What about you all?"
"Ssame, I missss ourr parrenntss. We could learrnn morre about thiss pack firrsst. They arre frrienndly ennough," Mist-Wings hummed.
Moon-Dancer grumbled, "We cann sstay a little, but I wannt to go home ssoonn."
Rain-Eater nodded in agreement with his sister.
Aurora nodded, "The pack offerrrred uss rresst annd ssome food. It iss ssaferr herre thann beyonnd theirr terrrritorry. I ssay we rresst with them annd thenn sstarrt forr home."
Valka stood up and stretched, "Sounds like a plan. We'll stay here for a while and then start the journey home."
Rock-Climber laughed, "Hope ssomeonne knnowss how to get home, orr we will be losst!"
"Yess, you would like that!" Aurora huffed.
"Ssurre, it would be funn!"
"Brrotherrss..."
"So, if we are staying for a while, how about we find out where everything is? Clear water, a spot to rest, and everything else we need," Valka suggested, partly to get everyone back on topic.
Aurora nodded, "Good idea. I will assk the Alpha if ssomeonne cann do that forr us."
Rock-Climber rolled his eyes, "What about possssible matess? Donn't you wannt them?"
"What?" "Huh?" "Brro..."
"What? Ssee annyonne you like, ssissterr, brrotherr?" Rock-Climber chuckled, facing Aurora and Rain-Eater.
"Nno! Why do you carre?" Aurora hissed.
"I do nnot carre about femaless, nnot like that!" Rain-Eater protested.
"Why? I thought ourr ssissterr wannted a male to climb onn herr," Rock-Climber huffed.
Aurora growled at him and switched over to Fury-speak. They spoke to each other, growling and hissing, until Rock-Climber gasped in shock at whatever was said. Even Rain-Eater, Mist-Wings, and Moon-Dancer looked surprised and awkward, suddenly staring elsewhere.
Moon-Dancer nudged Mist-Wings's shoulder, "Ssiss, we sshould go explorre ssomewherre elsse!"
"Good idea!" she eagerly agreed.
They ran off together and dashed into the thick underbrush, all while Aurora and Rock-Climber resumed grumbling and growling.
Valka rolled her eyes, amused at how they teased each other. No one had openly said that part of their motivation for coming on this adventure was to find a mate. However, finding one was looking rather unlikely. This pack had no available females, from what she knew about the pack, and none of the males had shown any interest yet from what she knew. It would also be very quick to consider starting a relationship, especially since this pack was so far away from New Haven.
But, Flies-With-Sun was quick to take Dawn-Singer, so maybe that isn't so strange in this world.
Aurora stepped away from everyone and stretched her wings, "Finne! Whateverr! Pile of wasste!"
She flew off on her own over the trees while Rock-Climber huffed, curled up, and hid under a wing. Silence followed.
"Uh, what just happened?" Alvor asked.
Confused, Valka went to Rain-Eater. Being the most sensible and level-headed of the Furies, not to mention the only remaining one probably in a mood to talk, he could easily explain whatever was happening.
"What was that about?"
Rain-Eater closely inspected his paws, "Sshe told him wherre to sshove hiss tail."
Alvor and Safiya snickered.
"Why? I know he was teasing her, but why is she so sensitive about that?" Valka asked.
Rain-Eater shrugged, "Sshe iss a ssissterr. I do nnot knnow."
"Hey! What about me or Mist-Wings?" Safiya frowned.
"You arre both differrennt frrom herr. What sshould we do nnow?"
"Probably wait for everyone to come back after they've cooled off, or we could look for anyone else from the pack who wants to meet us," Valka proposed.
"Good idea." "Might as well." "Ssurre."
They roused Rock-Climber, and everyone left the clearing together on foot and paw.
She wasn't sure what to make of all that happened. Rock-Climber teased his sister, and she took a lot of offense which probably wasn't warranted. Maybe being on an adventure, stuck with her siblings and unable to get away from them, was finally frustrating her.
Moon-Dancer and Mist-Wings arrived at a tree which had glowing white flowers and heavy, red fruits. A small stream flowed nearby and was the only sound they could hear. There was also a light-rock by the tree, which made it a good place to rest.
They stopped there and dropped to the ground in the long grass.
"Finally, some quiet!" she sighed.
"No nestmates fighting with words," he agreed.
"Grr... nestmates can be so annoying. Mostly Aurora, but you know. Oh, what we say stays between us, yes?"
"Yes, it does, and I have Hidden-Hope for a younger sister, so I know what you mean."
At the thought of her, he paused, feeling a faint cold in his liver. How many waking-cycles had it been since he truly thought about his sister or even his younger brothers? Many. Playing games of tail chasing, wrestling, and hide-and-hunt with them was very fun. Being away from being a big brother twistedly made being a big brother feel more appealing.
"Even if she is tail-twisting, I miss her," he added.
Mist-Wings hummed, "Brothers can be twisted too, but Aurora does have a life-problem. What do you think about her?"
Uh, funny question, sis.
"She, I do not know what is twisting her tail. Has she told you anything?"
"Nothing. Do you think Rock was right that she might want a mate?"
"Maybe. She told me that the Alpha Light Fury showed her his wanting," he growled.
She grumbled, "I do not understand his having more than one life-mate. It feels wrong."
"Me neither. One mate is enough."
"Did she want him?" she chuckled.
"No. Maybe he does that for status since he is the Alpha. But our sire-fathers do not want more than our dam-mothers, so maybe there is a different reason."
She snorted and nudged his shoulder with a paw, "What about you, bro? Did you want to find a Light Fury here?"
He snorted and rolled his eyes after shoving her with a paw, "Very funny. No, I did not and do not want one of them. You?"
"No, but if there are good, warm-livered males, then maybe yes. But I am not looking. We are both almost at that age."
He considered telling her what he saw before, the males who were looking at her, but decided not to since there was no need to say anything.
"You might not find those here," he grumbled.
"Really? Why not? They seem nice to us and the ground-kin."
He growled, "Seeming nice and being good are different. I do not like these males."
"Why not? You do not hate anyone."
"Not hate. I just do not trust others who do not deserve that trust."
She huffed, "Do not be twisted. Others are not bad. Want to go back to our kin?"
That was an option, but they could do something else.
"We could, or we could explore and look for new plants."
As he expected, that suggestion got her tail swaying and ears lifted as she got to her paws. She never missed an opportunity to find new plants.
"Yes! Maybe we can find the Plant-Growers. They would know best!" she cried.
He hopped to his paws and followed her into the forest, "Good idea! Right behind you."
Stupid nestmate! How could he joke about that! He can shove his nose into a waste-pile!
She landed on the flat of a light-rock growing out of the field of mushrooms. From there she could see much of the range. The clearing in the middle of the range, the place where the Light Fury pack had its dens underground, distant waters, and the occasional Light Fury flying somewhere were all visible.
The range was wild and good, but it was lacking something. There were no ground-kin dens or great-hall-dens, obviously.
She lay down, letting her belly eat up the warmth. This would be a good place to sleep if she was tired, but there was too much to think about.
Why was his teasing so liver-twisting and mean? He was annoying, for sure, but maybe his biting, annoying words still had a spark of truth. It was possible, anyway, however unlikely.
Grr, stupid thinking!
Far in the distance, she saw the ground-kin, Rain-Eater, and her annoying brother going somewhere on paw. Where was not important, but she watched so she could find them later. She was, after all, responsible for them.
Responsibility was annoying even though it was part of being a leader. If being responsible for this flight was so liver-twisting, then how could she be responsible for a hatchling? There would be no getting away from a little one of her own. Having one would be like losing her free life! But her dam-mother did that six times and was very liver-warmed by it.
Dawn-Singer, another annoying nestmate brother, was like that with Moon-Pinner as her sire-father. He lost much of his freedom when he had her.
Why was this topic so important?
There were unpaired males in this pack. Even if none of them wanted to join the New-Haven-range, they might want to be with her just for fun. It was possible, since she was a very beautiful Night Fury! She was reasonably sure she would not get an egg from it now, so that reason not to do it had no lift.
She groaned, firmly sat down, and covered her head with her tailfins while trying to not think about those confusing feelings and wants.
Dawn-Singer and Flies-With-Sun looked at each other with so much liver-warmth, and gave each other small-wanting signs, such as a nip on the ear, stroke of tails, unknown whispered words, or staring at each other. Her own sire-father and dam-mother were the same, though Shadowwing and Luna were even more so. Being wanted was very liver-warming.
But she had never been with a male before. Doing so for the first time would probably be warming and pleasant. There had to be a reason or reasons why many people wanted to do that.
Go down to the pack, find the unpaired males, and ask if any of them wanted to be with her just so she knew what it was like? They probably would, given what Moon-Dancer had told her earlier. That would be a way to feel wanted. It was good if she wanted it, right?
Another part of her liver whispered that any such male who would do that with her would not be caring about her; rather, she would be just a thing to climb on and join with for fun and use.
Using.
Is that what life-mates were to each other? In some ways yes, since they needed to use each other to make an egg together. But her sire-father and dam-mother, and Shadowwing and Luna also, did not only use each other. No, it was more that they gave each other their life-flights, which included warmth from being one, raising young, protecting each other, and making each other warmer in all flights of life. It was more giving, not taking and using.
No, going to those males for mating was not good. Being with any male who did not first hold her to his liver would be twisted and bad.
"Grr, just my luck. I finally find available males, and they are not good for me! What a surprise! Why expect anything different?"
Moving on from that annoying problem, there was not much left to do other than learn anything else there was to learn about New-Strength-Pack, eat and rest, and then begin the journey home.
Home.
She hung her head, feeling a deep chill in the liver. It had been so long since she had seen sire-father, dam-mother, Wind-Dancer, Shadowwing, Luna, and everyone else. They must be worrying about her and-
She noticed an approaching Light Fury flying toward her, so she got to her paws. The Light Fury dove, landed on the light-rock, and folded away his wings. It was the pack-Alpha.
"Aurora, good to see you again," he purred.
"Same to you, Alpha."
He sat down beside her and joined her in looking out over the range.
"Are you and your kin well?" he asked.
"They are. No complaints so far."
"Good to hear. There have been many questions about you and your ground-kin."
"Not a surprise."
A brief silence followed before he continued, "Mine is a good range, is it not?"
She shrugged, "It is much better than most others we have been in. You said that you flew from an ice-range, right?"
Oddly, he grumbled for a moment at something before he answered, "From Ice-Water-Pack, yes."
"How do they live in such a cold range?"
He huffed, "They hunt a lot of fish. Not all of their range is cold. There is one warmer place where they sit their eggs and grow mushrooms and other food-plants. Do you and your kin want to fly there?"
"No. You warned us that they are dangerous. Thank you for that."
He purred in approval, "Good. I might have said that they have twisted ceremonies. One of them is that they do not allow like-kind kin to join as mates. They want to keep the light wing kin-kind pure and clean of anything else. They would not approve of a light wing and a dark wing being together."
She was not sure what to think about that at first. For one, that rule against like-kinds mixing was twisted and rotted. There was no bad in Light Furies and Night Furies being life-mates.
She started, realizing one more possible implication of what he said, "Wait, are there other dark wings near here?"
"None that I know about. There are some sky-light-eaters in a range we know about, but none like you or my kind."
The light-eaters were probably the Skrill they had met earlier.
She nodded, "I understand. Do you have time to talk about the future?"
"Yes, that is why I flew to you," he answered.
"I, my kin, and the ground-kin want to fly to our home-range soon. We have been gone long."
He grumbled, "I understand. You have your pack to return to. Do you have anyone special to go back to?"
"What?"
"Do you have a mate there?"
Why was he asking about that? There was one possible reason, given that he had shown her wanting before.
"No, I do not. To speak truth, I did wonder if I might find a male Light Fury here."
"What if you did?"
He lay his tail over hers as he asked that. Her life-organ skipped a beat at that touch which was more than before. Confusingly, there was also another warmth she had never known before. Opportunity to enjoy something for the first time.
"I would want to know that he is warm to the ground-kin," she said.
"I do not hate them," he whispered.
"But he must also come back with me to my home-range. You would not do that, would you?"
He huffed, "No, I am an Alpha for my pack. My place is here. You do not want to stay here and join my pack, do you?"
"Why would I do that? My kin are in my range."
"Because I would make you my First-Mate."
What? Great sky-breath!
"You... would do that?"
"I do not care that you are not a light wing. We are very like each other. Few light wings in these ranges would accept you, and you are very special."
Well, that willingness of him was admirable, despite everything else. He was also right that she was special.
He continued, "Your sire is an Alpha in your pack, yes?"
"He is."
"You being one of mine would be a promise of pack-peace. I might even let ground-kin live in this range as part of the pack. You want that."
That was indeed part of why they had flown: to find more places the ground-kin could live with sky-kin in peace. But his condition was very twisted.
She faced him and saw his narrowed eyes, "No word-tricking. You want me. Why?"
He purred and stroked her tail with his, which was so good, warming, and confusing in a way never felt before.
"Because you are not like the light wing females. So many of them are smaller in their life-fires. They only think about eggs and sitting hatchlings: things that are not important. My First-Mate is not like that, but she is not a dark wing. You are bigger and stronger than female light wings. You are also a good flight-leader, and you think well."
What he said about her was not false. The attention and praise, just like when he showed her his wanting before, was warming and good. She had never heard such words spoken about her before.
"True, but I must leave with my kin," she objected.
"I could make you want to stay with me. How about we go down into the trees? I can show you what you have never felt before."
"I..."
"My mates are very pleased with me, and I have never had a dark wing before. You know you want it," he breathed in her ear while stroking her tail.
Behind his strong, male scent and open signs of interest, behind his trying to stoke wanting in her liver and other places, was the truth.
Mates. He had several of them. He wanted to claim her as just one more; maybe a special one, but still one of a pawful. Her liver was not important to him. She would not be important to him.
The heat, eagerness, and interest was completely gone.
"No."
"What?" he blinked.
She stepped aside, pulling her tail away from his, and faced him, "No means no. I will not be one of your mates. I want a life-mate, not being one of a pawful."
He stared at her, and she stared back without blinking.
"No? You do not want power in my pack?" he grumbled.
Power. He saw mating as a way of claiming power and rising in pack-orders, or something like that. That was even more proof that his way of thinking could not fly with hers.
"No."
"I see. Fine. That is not a problem. You have never been with a strong male or any male at all, am I wrong?"
"True, I have not."
He purred and stepped closer to her, "We can still have fun before you leave. There is no reason to play hard to mount. Stop resisting what you want."
That chill and danger in what he had been saying was now clear. Pressure. Pushing.
He was telling her what she supposedly wanted; all to make her think she wanted it. Maybe a weaker-thinking or not liver-flamed female would not see the truth, would not oppose him, and would even think she wanted whatever he did to her.
But any male who tried to pressure her or any female into being with him was dangerous.
She flashed her claws, bared her teeth, flared her wings, and growled in open threat-display. He stopped and even retreated several steps. His narrowed eyes went wide and even glowed with faint blue light, as did the light-rock he and she were sitting on.
That could only be because of her power-light. It had been long since that power-light showed itself.
"What?" he gasped.
"Yes, I have power-light!"
"No! Females cannot do that!"
"Are you thought-twisted and blind?" she laughed.
He said nothing to that, instead looking away from her while breathing heavily. All his wanting-signs were gone, which was very good. He remained motionless for long enough that the power burning within her liver began to fade as the danger also did. As long as he did nothing else threatening toward her, she would not need to kill him.
Though, killing the Alpha of a Light Fury pack might not be best for pack-peace.
"So, Alpha, do you need help pulling your head out of your waste-end, or are you not as thought-twisted as you are acting?" she asked, trying to be as respectful as possible.
He growled but did not move, "I understand. No joining for fun. Your loss. How twisted that you made that mistake. Remember that offer of pack-peace and your ground-kin living here? I do not think it will happen anymore."
That was unsurprising of him to take back the offer now that she said no to him, so she chuckled.
"Truthfully, my kin and the ground-kin would not want to live under an Alpha like you. Our home-range is very far from here. We will not meet again, so that is not a problem," she explained.
"Good. You and your kin were leaving here soon."
"We are. Must we leave now?"
He huffed, "Leave or stay a few waking-cycles, I do not care."
She doubted that was true, but saying so would not help at all, "You have my thanks."
With that, she jumped from the light-rock and flew away toward her kin. If he was watching her backside as she flew away, which he probably was, so what? Let him look at what he would never have or touch!
Even the other lone males in the pack had not done anything more than looking at her and Mist-Wings. But there was no way to know for sure if they were so able to control their wanting as the Alpha had. While he was very pushing, he had eventually accepted that her no means no! However, she had stayed in public while meeting him. There was no guarantee he would have restrained himself in private.
Claws, teeth, and power-light would be useful if those other males needed any convincing.
Moon-Dancer grumbled, having lost Mist-Wings yet again.
Grr, where did you go?
He and she had found a grove of strange plants that did not grow in the New-Haven-range. Some of the plants had berries of different colors and leaves that moved when touched. Others smelled like fish, waste, or other very strong scents, though the plants were making the smells.
Mist-Wings was so excited by it all that she could barely control her eagerness. That was fine back in the New-Haven-range whenever a new plant was found, but here...
He rounded a patch of thick bushes and then saw her sitting before a glowing, yellow flower as big as a small sky-kin.
"Mist! Wait for me!"
"Run faster, Moon!"
She did not seem to appreciate the situation. This was not their home-range.
"Slow down," he huffed.
"Stop being so slow yourself. There are so many new plants! Just look at them all!" she brushed the flower with a paw.
He sat down beside her and grumbled. The plant did have a very strong scent different from others he knew.
"I know, but this is not our range. We should stay together."
"Why? We can see more if we split up."
"Because there could be danger."
She huffed, "This is the Light Fury pack's range. Nothing dangerous can get in here."
He growled, looking around at the underbrush and seeing nothing there. What if Light Furies were following them while faded? What if there was nothing there, as it appeared? Maybe he was just too suspicious.
"Maybe not, but we should go back to our kin. They might want to leave soon."
She groaned, laying her head on her paws, "Why are you so worried? Nothing bad has happened on this flight."
"Because we stay alert and watch for each other. None of us should run off alone. Especially not a female."
"What? Moon, are you saying I am weak?" she indignantly huffed, glaring at him.
"Compared to males, yes, you are weaker."
She growled, "Maybe you can stop thinking I need your protecting!"
She looked away from him, instead staring at the yellow flower. He could not remember her ever being so angry with him. She never got angry with anyone.
"You do not know what I know," he whispered.
"Which is what?" she barked, her tail twitching and ears back.
He growled, "I saw some of the males staring at you and Aurora! They were looking at your backsides!"
She looked confused by that and did not answer for several wingbeats, "What? Why... would they do that?"
He almost face-pawed, but instead just rolled his eyes, "Think about it. They were thinking about climbing on you and mating you."
"But... why? I do not want that."
"So? Why do you think they care what you want?"
She looked very shocked, all her frustration gone. Now sure that she would not snap at him, he lay a wing over her back. His words might have bitten some, but they were still true and what she needed to hear. She wanted to think only good about others, and that might make her trust when trust was not earned.
"Sis, you need to learn that not everyone is good. Running away on your own is thought-twisted. I am not trying to control you. I just want to keep you safe from a danger you are being blind to."
"But... how are you sure they would do that?"
"Why else would the males stare at you back there? Give me one good reason. Aurora saw this too."
She winced and looked away, remaining silent for many wingbeats, "I, well… no, there is none."
Still, she looked very liver-chilled and confused in the silence that followed. There was something he could tell her which might help her understand why this was so important to him.
He gently nudged her shoulder, "Keep this a secret between us, but I heard from ground-kin in the New-Haven-range that my dam-mother was hurt like that before she knew my sire-father."
"What?" she gasped.
"I heard that she was force-mated by strange sky-kin."
"Moon, that is terrible. I did not know."
He sighed, "I have not told anyone that I know about it. What happened to her is part of why I care about this and keeping you safe."
She hung her head and started whining, letting out some type of hurt from her liver. He waited until that hurt was let out and she stopped whining.
"Sis, are you warm?" he whispered, covering her with a wing.
"Yes, I just do not want to think about that bad."
"Me neither. Thinking about it and knowing about the danger probably helps keep you safer. If you know that the danger is, you can do something about it, like not run away on your own."
She sighed and nodded, "You... are right. I am tired of this flight. This adventure away from the home-range is old now. I know why we flew this flight, but I just want us to go home."
He stepped away and stretched his wings, "Me too. Want to fly to our kin?"
She took a deep breath, stretched her wings, and jumped for the sky. He prepared to jump after her when he paused and glanced at the thick brush on the other side of their small clearing. Was there something in there or not? The entire range had a faint Light Fury scent, since they were the only sky-kin kind that lived here.
Did some of the bushes move, as if disturbed by something hiding behind them? The only way to know was to go search, but doing that might not be a good idea.
So he jumped and followed after her. Together, they flew back toward the clearing with the cave-den the Light Fury pack lived in. Once there, it took some searching before they found their kin a short distance away.
The ground-kin, Rain-Eater, and Rock-Climber had walked to a clearing with a small stream among the trees. Many mushrooms in different colors grew up around the stream. Rock-Climber had curled up by the water and was probably napping.
There was also a Light Fury pair talking to the ground-kin while Rain-Eater did the talking for both sides.
He landed and started for them while Kin-liver ran to him.
"Therre you arre!" he hummed.
"Yep, found us. Where'd you two go?" Kin-liver asked.
Mist-Wings bounded over to her and sat down, "We founnd nnew planntss. Yellow flowerrss, vinness, annd sstronng herrbss."
"Did you? Good. Shame we can't bring any of those back with us. They wouldn't survive the transport."
"Trrue. Iss ourr ssissterr back yet?" she added after glancing at him.
As soon as she asked about her, he recalled that Aurora had flown away on her own. Should he go search for her? Was she in danger?
Maybe not.
Aurora was different from Mist-Wings. Aurora was a flight-leader, more liver-flamed, and far faster to snap at others if she felt threatened. Searching for her was probably not needed. But he still wanted to know that she was safe.
"Yes, she got back a few minutes ago."
Kin-liver nodded and gestured to the ground-kin and Light Furies by the water, "Want to join us? Second-Fighter and Third-Fisher are telling us about the pack's contests."
"Conntesstss to make the pack-orrderr?" he asked.
She nodded, "Yeah, they're not so different from what we humans had in our tribes."
"Rreally?"
"There were tests of worth to the tribe, and everyone had their work to do and be accountable for. Fishing, tending the livestock, forging, trading missions, and fighting. Still, we didn't have the same reasons for the contests. Come on."
He and Mist-Wings followed her over to their kin. He noticed Aurora sitting on her own to the side. Aurora saw him and Mist-Wings, and hopped to her paws.
"Sister, we must talk on our own," Aurora whispered.
"Okay."
They went off to talk in private. Having nothing better to do, he joined Rain-Eater and the ground-kin. Kin-liver rubbed circles on his neck while they listened as the two Light Furies explained their pack's ceremonies around making pack-orders in the various roles. From what they said, those pack-orders were less important in this pack because the pack-order was used to decide what pairs could make eggs. On the other paw, all the pairs in this pack were trying to grow the pack without any limitations on making eggs. The pack-order would be more important in the future when the pack was bigger.
Hmm, is that what the New-Haven-range must be in the future too?
That was a strange thought. Requiring pairs to not make eggs was understandable if the pack was too big, but it was also a breaking of trust with the pair who might then want to leave the pack entirely.
Wait! New-Strength-Pack has a pack-name. We should too!
What to name his own pack? It was not something he could do on his own, but he could think about names. Fury-Pack? No. New-Haven-Pack? That was a better option.
Maybe sire-father will have ideas about this.
Mist-Wings still felt so very twisted inside. Her other-nestmate-brother was good in his thinking, so he probably was not wrong about those males that wanted her.
But that was so sad of them. Why would they want to climb on her without her wanting them as a life-mate? Doing that was so bad and wrong and twisted!
His words had bit her liver and struck at something important. Trusting others was good. To not trust others would be to fly her life-flight alone and colder.
He was probably right that trusting others needed to be after a test of them. Maybe coming from a good family-nest made her want to think warmly of others. He also came from a good family-nest, but he knew that terrible secret that his dam-mother had been force-mated and hurt. That was so wrong and terrible!
Aurora sat down in the long grass and faced her, "We need a sisters-only talk."
"Okay, what for?"
Aurora grumbled and clawed at the grass underpaw, "I just met the Alpha Light Fury. He offered to name me one of his mates. I said no, so he said he wanted to mate me anyway."
"What!"
"I told him to shove his nose up his waste-end!"
She purred in approval, liking her sister's liver-fire, "Good for you. Oh, that is what Moon-Dancer meant."
"What?" Aurora asked, surprised.
"He told me that he saw males looking at us in bad ways."
"Yes, he told me that too. Why else would a male stare at us there?" Aurora snorted.
"Would they try to hurt us?"
Aurora grumbled, warily looking around at the trees and bushes, "Maybe. We probably should not go anywhere alone. Grr, I wish we knew fighting as well as our sire-father does!"
Fighting was a necessary skill. She and all of her grown kin knew enough to help defend the shared-range, but she had not given much thought to learning more of that. Fighting from a distance with flame was certainly very different from fighting with teeth and claws.
"Maybe we can learn by having him teach us," she offered.
Aurora purr-growled, clearly liking that idea, "Yes, we should! Good idea! That reminds me, we might want to leave on the return-flight soon. Why should we stay here any more? It would waste time to stay here."
"You are the flight-leader."
Aurora got to her paws and started walking in a circle while grumbling to herself. Finally, she stopped.
"There is nothing for us here. This pack is so far from our home-range that we do not care about living here. The other pack in these ranges is also a bad, rotted one. Yes, we should go home."
"Okay."
She followed Aurora back to their kin by the water. They passed the Light Fury pair, still talking with Alvor, Safiya, and Rain-Eater. That pair, Second-Fighter and Third-Fisher, did not seem very bad or twisted. Second-Fighter, as far as she knew, did not look at her or Aurora. No, the only males who did that were the ones without mates.
Maybe that was the problem: they very much wanted mates as a way to satisfy wants or needs. That at least was understandable. Being unpaired and having no way to get a mate was probably very bad for them. There were no unpaired females they could try to rightly convince to be with them, probably because-
Wait, the Alpha has more than one mate. There might not be as big a problem if he did not do that.
Aurora tapped Kin-liver on the shoulder, "Drragonnhearrt, we nneed to talk."
"What is it?" Kin-liver asked.
"We sshould leave herre annd go home. Nnow."
Kin-liver looked very surprised and grabbed her staff, "Right now?"
"Yess. Therre iss nno rreassonn to sstay."
Kin-liver nodded for them to follow her a few pounces away, so they did. She probably did not want the other ground-kin to overhear.
"Why?" Kin-liver whispered.
"Therre might be danngerr forr uss herre. The Alpha Light Furry ssaid he wannted to... make me onne of hiss matess, annd he thrreatenned me," Aurora whispered.
"Annd Moonn-Danncerr ssaid he ssaw maless watchinng me annd Aurrorra," Mist-Wings added.
Kin-liver curled her lips, showing her small teeth and growling softly. She also held onto her stick-staff.
"I understand. There's nothing else we need to do here, right?"
"Nno, we do nnot. The otherr pack, Ice-Waterr-Pack, iss alsso a danngerrouss onne, sso we sshould nnot fly to them," Aurora explained.
"Got it. I'll tell Alvor and Safiya to get ready. You want to take him, Aurora?"
"Ssurre."
"Annd you cann fly with me," Mist-Wings purred.
Kin-liver rested a paw on her head, which she liked a lot, "Thanks, Mist-Wings."
Kin-liver frowned and faced Aurora again, "You should probably let the Alpha know we are leaving. As a courtesy."
Aurora growled in annoyance, "Musst I? Wait, I cann have Sseconnd-Fighterr take a messssage forr me sso I do nnot nneed to meet him."
"Yeah, that would work. Let's do this."
The plan decided, they went back to their kin to tell them. She went with Kin-liver while Aurora went to speak with Second-Fighter and Third-Fisher.
"Alvor, Safiya, we're going back to New Haven. Are your bags packed?"
"Yes, Elder." "We're ready."
"Good. You'll be flying with your friends again, and I'll be with Mist-Wings."
Hearing this, Moon-Dancer dashed over to wake up Rock-Climber, and then returned to them.
"Why are we going now?" Rock-Climber asked.
"Because it is time to go home."
Mist-Wings nudged his side and whispered to him, "And because of possible danger."
Second-Fighter and Third-Fisher bent their heads toward Aurora in respect after she spoke to them, and then they flew off. She returned, smugly purring to herself.
"Sister, what did you ask them to say to him?" she asked.
Aurora purred, "I told them to tell the Alpha that we thank him for letting us see his pack and range, but we must leave to return to our pack. There was more I wanted to say, but I would only say that to him. They are good sky-kin and do not need to hear that their Alpha should shove his tail up his own waste-end."
Her nestmate sister had some control of her bitingness. That was very impressive!
"My kinn!" Aurora shouted for all to hear.
Everyone gathered around her, sitting on their haunches or crossing their arms while looking to her.
"We arre flyinng home! Nno rreassonn to wait!"
"You mean our little vacation wasn't forever?" Alvor laughed.
Aurora held herself still as Alvor worked on the saddle and ropes. The saddles and other carrying-equipment had only been off for one waking-cycle, and everyone was used to wearing them, so putting them back happened very fast. But the faster he could get them on, the better and the sooner they could leave and return to the home-range!
Two pairs of the Light Furies watched, curious, as the ground-kin put the saddles and carrying-equipment on her and her kin.
Having had some time to think on her own since she had spoken to Second-Fighter and Third-Fisher, her anger at the pack had faded a lot. It was not right to be angry at the whole group of Light Furies. Better was to focus that anger just at the bad sky-kin in that group, so at the Alpha and whichever males had been interested in her. No, they were not even truly interested in her as a person; they were just interested in doing one thing to her! Let them mount each other for all she cared!
Alvor tightened the last strap around her belly and stepped back, "Done, you ready?"
She shook the saddle to check that it was tight enough, glanced at everyone else, and saw that they were ready. Kin-liver stood with Mist-Wings, and Safiya was with Rain-Eater. Moon-Dancer and Rock-Climber were stretching their wings, the bags of supplies already on their backs.
"Yess, we sshould-"
Another pair of Light Furies dropped into the clearing. These were the Alpha and his red-winged First-Mate.
Waste, you just had to come here.
"Wait herre forr me," she grumbled.
She went to go meet them. It was her duty as the flight-leader, after all. His First-Mate sat beside him and stared at her. Why did she want to be his? What did she get from it, other than status in the pack? Why was she happy having a name that only gave her importance as his, as something he owned or claimed?
"Aurora, what is this I hear? You and your kin are leaving us so soon?" Alpha asked.
"You heard well. We are leaving to fly back to our pack. You will probably never see us again, so no worries."
He purred, "You know your flights. If only you could have let me show you how warming my pack is."
"My loss," she purred.
His mate stepped closer and looked up at her, since his mate was the slightly smaller sky-kin.
"You turned him down. Why? It was a good offer," First-Mate whispered for only them to hear.
You knew about the offer?
She lowered her voice to a whisper, "Because I do not need to claim power through mating. And you, Alpha, should be careful."
His eyes narrowed, though he made no other move, "Is that so? Are you threatening me?"
"I do not need to threaten you. I only want to get my kin home to our pack. But if you try to keep trapping females and tricking them into being with you, one of them will destroy you. I never wanted to be your new First-Mate."
"They would never do that. They get status through me. I am the Alpha," he growled.
She laughed, as if warmed in the liver, and whispered, "An Alpha who needs to say that he is Alpha is not a true Alpha."
With that, she stepped back from them and bent her head in a respect-sign. That his eyes were filled with anger was very liver-warming, since he could do nothing about it!
"You have our thanks for welcoming us in your pack's range. We do not need any help finding the flight out of your pack's territory," she said.
She spun away from him, calmly trotted to Alvor, and let him climb on. With everyone ready to fly, she and her kin took to the sky and turned their flights for the far distant path which led out New-Strength-Pack's range. She never looked back.
Long stretches of forest, fields of mushrooms and flowers, light-rocks, and streams passed under their wings. The path on which Second-Watcher had led them from the sand-range was very clear in her memory. Further, Kin-liver had been making very detailed maps of their flights so far. Getting back to the New-Haven-range was not a problem, though it would take many waking-cycles.
She and her kin flew swiftly, though she kept watching with life-fire sight to be sure no Light Furies were following them. They were not.
Moon-Dancer returned from relieving himself after the flight stopped for a short break in the mixed water- and forest-range. The visit to the Light Fury pack had been a much shorter one than they had thought would happen, but he was not upset about that. Getting home safely was all that was important now.
He was stretching his limbs and wings when Aurora trotted up to him. Alvor was away for the moment.
"Moon-Dancer," she purred.
"What is it?"
"I wanted to thank you for talking to Mist-Wings about other males. She needed to hear that from you."
"Well, I just saw something I thought was important, and she needed to know about it."
She grumbled, "No, it is more than that. She trusts you and listens to you like a nestmate. I do not know if she would have listened to me."
"Why not? She is your nestmate more than mine."
"True, but I... I feel more... grr... nevermind that."
"Did you say something?"
"I said... oh, very funny!" she barked in amusement.
He liked hearing her laughing at his simple joke. She did not laugh enough.
She sighed as she sat down beside him.
"It will be a long flight back," he offered.
"Yes, it will, and I hope I do not snap too much at my nestmates. They can be very liver-twisting."
"I know. I will probably pounce on Hidden-Hope and Night-Light as soon as I see them."
She snorted, "You have not been around them for moon-cycles without stopping."
He chuckled and shoved her shoulder, "You volunteered to be flight-leader."
"My mistake! Anyway, thank you again for protecting her."
She went to Alvor as he and the other ground-kin returned from their break. Everyone else gradually returned from their breaks, and they all took flight again. Aurora and Mist-Wings flew in front, Rain-Eater and Rock-Climber flew in the middle, and he brought up the tail of the flight.
His dam-mother had flown to flights of Light Furies before and had tried to talk to them about ground-kin, but the other Light Furies did not want to listen to her. Now, he understood more of her frustration, even though in his case New-Strength-Pack had not been untrusting of Alvor, Safiya, and Kin-liver. Packs were complicated, and not everyone in a pack was warm to everyone else.
Still, he was very glad they had left behind New-Strength-Pack's territory. Just the threat of other sky-kin that might want to hurt Mist-Wings or Aurora was enough of a reason to not stay there. There would surely be other Light Fury packs in which the males were not as... showing of their wanting. If a male Light Fury openly approached Mist-Wings, told her he wanted to learn about her, and wanted to learn if she and he could be life-mates, that would be good.
What if that had happened for Aurora? It did not this time, but what about next time? She could manage on her own for sure. Hopefully.
He growled at the thought and glanced over his tail toward the paths they had flown from. He even looked with life-fire sight, just to be sure. There was still no sign of any Light Furies following them.
He did not want any male Light Fury, even a good and respectful one, close to Aurora. Was that bad and twisted of him? He just wanted her to be safe too!
Stupid thinking.
He relaxed and flew his thoughts to his nestmates, sire-father, dam-mother, other kin, and all others he knew in the New-Haven-range. He and everyone on the flight were on their way and could not wait to get home. Hopefully nothing bad would happen between now and then.