Family Ties
Aurora breathed a deep sigh of relief when she saw the familiar cave-mouth surrounded by waterfalls. This was the path which led to the New-Haven-Range. She and all her kin she was responsible for were home and alive. She had succeeded as the flight-leader.
And she never wanted to be a flight-leader again! The stress, responsibility, worry, and planning was too much, especially when it was her own nestmates she had to worry about.
It had been a very long flight to return here from the distant ice-ranges and the sand-range with the hidden hunters. Fortunately, there was very little that was truly dangerous after those ranges. They met wandering sky-kin, the calmer of which met the ground-kin in peace. The worst they had flown into was a small pack of angry fire-scales, all of which had been convinced to leave them alone after a quick flaming. None of the ground-kin were flown into much danger.
"Home at last!" Alvor said, patting her neck.
"Yess! Finnally!"
Rain-Eater and Mist-Wings roared with joy, disturbing their ground-kin. She considered spinning in place just to shake Alvor, but decided against it. She was too tired for that. Bothering him could come later. After sleep, anyway.
There was nothing better than getting to the home-ledge or a nice pool of water or a warm light-rock and then taking a long nap with no responsibility at all. Being away from her nestmates would be a relief after... probably moon-cycles not being apart from them.
They continued on through the long, dark part of the range, past the shared-ledge, and toward the open and brighter part of the range where the ground-kin lived.
A very familiar and liver-warming roar went up from the forest below. Her brother Dawn-Singer rose from the forest and flew for her. It had been so long since she heard his familiar, welcome, and maybe annoying voice.
"Sisters! Brothers!" he roared.
Rain-Eater, Mist-Wings, and Rock-Climber raced forward, spinning around him in greeting and brushing wingtips.
Hmm, what was he-
Flies-With-Sun flew up out of the forest only windbeats after he did.
Oh, that is what they were doing! I should have known. Twisted brother always wanting to-
Moon-Pinner also flew up out of the forest, chasing after her parents.
So they were not being one. They would not do that with her there to see them.
She calmly flew in beside him, "Good to see you again, brother! How is the shared-range?"
He smirked, "Take a guess!"
"More Light Furies have flown here and are living in peace with us?" she huffed.
"Yes! How did you know?"
Her jaw fell open as she stared at him in total surprise. Her guess had only been a twisted-speaking. Unless he was twisting her tail-
"Wait, truly?"
"Yes! There is more! Luna's sire-father and dam-mother are here with us!"
She glanced at Moon-Dancer as he almost stumbled in flight, probably out of surprise. This was very good news for him. More of his life-water kin were living here!
Meeting the parents of such a strong and warm-livered Light Fury would be very nice.
"And one more female Light Fury named Flies-Bravely also joined us from beyond!" Dawn-Singer added.
She purred in approval. The pack had gained even more sky-kin! But a new female did not change anything for her own life-flight. It would have been a very ironic life-twisting if she had turned down the male Light Furies on her own flight only to find out that a good and available male had flown to the New-Haven-Range while she was away. If such a male existed, anyway, which was doubtful. How could a male possibly deserve her?
"Good! Where is everyone?" she asked.
"Follow me!" he roared, taking the lead of the flight.
Even though there was no great need for a flight-leader now, letting him take over was relaxing. It felt good to just follow someone else for a change instead of being at the head of the flight.
Was-Grounded roared with joy and relief that they were all back and safe. All his grown children landed on a flat ledge as he dove in and touched down with them. First, he waited as the three ground-kin climbed off and jumped to the ground.
He trotted before Aurora and purred profusely with pride and liver-warmth. His oldest-hatched daughter was a successful flight-leader who led her kin on a very long flight into unknown ranges. There had to be many stories she, Kin-liver, and the others could tell of what they saw out there.
"Daughter, how was the flight?" he asked, nuzzling her forehead.
"Long and tiring and very frustrating! I do not want to be a flight-leader for a long time! A very long time! No, never again like that!" she snorted.
"Try being one all the time!" he chuckled.
She sighed and fell flat on the ground, "How about not! How do you do it?"
He shrugged, "By being me."
She rolled her eyes, "A lot of help that is for me. Oh, where are dam-mother and Wind-Dancer?"
"They were learning flying-moves! Your sister can fly well now!" he purred, tail swaying.
"Good for her. I want to see that and fly with her," she agreed.
He glanced around and then looked back to her, curious about a very important matter, "I do not see any male Light Furies near here."
She snorted as she got to her paws, "And for good reason! Do not worry, none of us were hurt, but the males we met were very open about their wanting! No liver-warmth needed!"
That was yet another reason to be proud of her. She thought enough of herself that she could push away unwanted interest. That she had not found a male was not even a problem or disappointment, since she had plenty of time in her life-flight to find one if she wanted one.
"Have you heard about Luna's parents?" he asked.
"Yes, we know they live here. Dawn-Singer told us."
His first-hatched son was eagerly whispering with his brothers, probably talking about the flights they had been on.
He nuzzled her forehead again, "Good to have you back safely, dear one."
"Sire-father," she groaned, reluctantly purring.
Amused, he bounded to his other daughter, Mist-Wings, and nuzzled her nose in greeting.
"How are you, dear Mist-Wings."
She purred and yawned, "Well. I just want to sleep a lot."
He laughed, "You can do that here. You all can! We can make a warm pile!"
"Good," she yawned again.
Satisfied, he trotted to Rain-Eater and Rock-Climber, greeting both of them with a headbutt. Rain-Eater looked much as he had before, but Rock-Climber looked like he had grown several paw-lengths in the moon-cycles since they flew.
"Sons, how are you?"
"Well, sire-father!" "Much happened on the flight!"
"Truly? How many times did you almost die?" he chuckled.
His sons glanced at each other as their ears went back.
Rain-Eater nervously chuckled, "We... did need to hide from spinning-teeth rock-diggers."
"Yes! And we fled a white screaming-death! That was very fun!" Rock-Climber shouted.
His ears flew back as he thought about his children fleeing one of those very big sky-kin. He had not known there was more than one of those.
You saw one of those? Good thing for that sky-kin that it is not near here. I would have killed it for threatening them.
He smirked, "Well, I am glad you did not die or get hunted."
"So are we!" Rain-Eater laughed.
He paused and smirked, "Rain, I have a surprise for you later."
"A surprise? Sounds fun!"
You have no idea.
He nodded and trotted to Moon-Dancer, who was keeping himself aside from the bonding. He freely nuzzled his nephew in greeting.
"Good to have you back, Moon-Dancer!"
"Good to be back, uncle."
"Did you like the ranges far beyond?"
Moon-Dancer grumbled and pawed at the rock ground, "Not much. The other sky-kin were very... not like us."
"What do you mean? Did they try to hurt the ground-kin?"
"The Light Furies did not, but they were not what I thought they would be. I am glad that we are all back here and safe."
Maybe Shadowwing will get more answers from him.
"So am I," he purred.
He paused before leaving Moon-Dancer, wondering about an important question. After learning that Flies-Bravely's former pack found out about her being here, he and Shadowwing made a plan to help protect her. Her former, twisted pack would have even less claim to her if she were to pretend to be in a pair. After getting her approval to have her be in a trick-pairing, he and Shadowwing had agreed that Rain-Eater was probably the best option to pretend to be her false-mate.
On the other paw, it was fair to get Moon-Dancer's thoughts on whether he might want to be in a pretend-pairing. After all, Moon-Dancer was almost fully grown as well.
He confirmed that his children were far enough away to not hear, and leaned close to whisper.
"Nephew, I have a question for you, but this is a secret. What do you think about finding a mate?"
Moon-Dancer blinked, apparently confused, "I do not understand."
"Is finding one important to you? Do you want that much and think much about it?"
Moon-Dancer started to say something, paused, and shrugged, "Not really. When the time is good for that, then yes. Why do you ask?"
Perfect. No problems.
He shrugged, "I was curious, since you are growing up. Also, there is-"
He heard the beat of approaching wings and a joyful roar. Shadowwing dove overhead, touched down, and wasted no time before pouncing on Moon-Dancer.
"Sire-father!" "Son!"
They spun around each other and rested chins on shoulders while purring in greeting. Shadowwing hopped back from Moon-Dancer with a happy bark, "Look at how you grew! You are almost as big as me!"
Moon-Dancer stared at his paws, "Never as big as you, sire-father."
"I would not be so sure about that. One of these waking-cycles, you might just get bigger than me," Shadowwing purred.
Was-Grounded snorted and nudged Shadowwing's shoulder, "Moon-Dancer, that is not saying much. I know how small your sire-father is."
Moon-Dancer laughed while Shadowwing just rolled his eyes. Shadowwing then trotted to Kin-liver and hugged her while whispering words he could not hear. He waited for them to finish greeting each other. They would have much to speak about later.
Shadowwing briefly spoke to Alvor and Safiya as their Alpha before returning to his side.
Everyone looked weary but also very relieved to be back.
"What is the plan now?" he asked Shadowwing.
Shadowwing answered, "We should get the younger ground-kin back to their families, introduce everyone who has not met yet, and tell stories about the flights!"
Aurora purred as she watched Alvor and Safiya hugging and bonding with their parents. They clearly missed each other after many, many waking-cycles being apart. But as liver-warming as it would be to stay here and take part in telling stories, she and her brother had somewhere else to be.
"We arre goinng," she said.
"Thanks, see you later," Alvor wearily said.
"Yeah, same," Safiya added, being hugged by her dam-mother.
"Nno prroblem," Rain-Eater purred.
She and Rain-Eater turned tail on their ground-kin and flew off after the rest of their family. She was very curious to properly meet everyone new to the range.
They continued toward the darker part of the chamber until they came upon a wide and flat ledge of rock in one of the larger lakes. A waterfall crashed a short flight away, filling the valley with a calm and constant roaring.
She immediately noticed the much larger patch of white, which was several light wings packed close together. That had to be Luna, Flies-With-Sun, their sire-father and dam-mother, and the new Light Fury living here.
What was her name? Bravely-Flying or something like that. Flies-Bravely. Why that name?
She landed beside all her kin as the reunions happened. Moon-Dancer, being warm-livered and considerate as always, was whispering with Hidden-Hope and Night-Light, both of whom were looking up at him in awe. Moon-Pinner was perched on Dawn-Singer's back.
Her dam-mother beckoned her over, and she gladly went to her. It had probably been moon-cycles since she saw her dam-mother. She briefly nuzzled her dam-mother and fell in beside her.
"Sister!" Wind-Dancer chirped, pawing at her forelegs.
"Little sister, how are you?" she purred, nuzzling her sister's nose.
"Flame me! Flame me! Flame me!"
Amused, she flamed over Wind-Dancer's back to warm her. Wind-Dancer curled up in warmth at her chest, which was slightly liver-twisting. She had helped to warm Rock-Climber when he was very little, but doing that had not caused any twisting thoughts. Her sister was not like her own hatchling or fledgling, but this still felt like she was sitting with... her own little one. Almost. Older nestmates had to help tend to the youngest nestmates, and Wind-Dancer knew enough to not foul herself while being tended to.
She turned her attention to the new sky-kin.
Luna and Flies-With-Sun were sitting between two Light Furies who had to be their sire-father and dam-mother. Kin-liver was not far away.
She also noticed the new female Light Fury sitting slightly to the side. Flies-Bravely kept subtly glancing toward her brothers for some unknown reason. Actually, the reason was very obvious.
Maybe she has no mate and wants to find one.
Shadowwing barked, getting everyone's attention as he flared his wings.
"Dear family, we are all here, flying the winds of life together! We, your parents, are very liver-warmed that you are all safe in the home-range again. You must have many stories to tell us all, but first there are a pawful of sky-kin you should meet. First, we found Luna's and Flies-With-Sun's sire-father and dam-mother! They are Hope-In-His-Liver and Paws-At-Bright-Flowers! Come meet them!"
She, Rain-Eater, Mist-Wings, and Rock-Climber came forth first, speaking words of welcome and liver-warmth to them in addition to nuzzling their necks in greeting. Kin-liver stepped forward next and bowed deeply. Hope-In-His-Liver and Paws-At-Bright-Flowers barked in surprise when they heard Kin-liver's name, probably because they knew what Kin-liver had done for Luna: healing her wings long ago.
They licked Kin-liver's face, getting a lot of mouth-water on her. Kin-liver did not look disappointed at all.
Last came Moon-Dancer. Hope-In-His-Liver and Paws-At-Bright-Flowers jumped at him before he could do anything. They nuzzled and licked him while purring very deeply, certainly glad to meet him since he was their direct life-water kin.
Seeing Moon-Dancer so liver-warmed was good and liver-warming in its own way. He never annoyed her or got under her scales, so to speak.
Shadowwing chuckled, "You all will have much time to get to know them. They are living in this range with us from now on. There is one more new sky-kin you have not met. Her name is Flies-Bravely! She will tell you a little about herself."
Flies-Bravely stepped forward and looked at her and her nestmates.
"There is not much to know about me. I have no life-water kin anymore. Your sire-fathers, Was-Grounded and Shadowwing, found me... outside of any Light Fury pack, since I had left my first pack. They offered to let me join your pack, so I am here. The two-leg ground-kin are not very important to me, but I do not hate them or think poorly of them. They are new life to me, and I am still learning about them. I will work to help your pack, and I want to get to know you all much better."
Shadowwing purred, "And you will. I, Was-Grounded, Green-Wings, and Luna want to speak to Aurora and Kin-liver. We will hear what happened on your flights. You should all know some of what happened here while you were gone. We flew to a Light Fury pack. That pack has... very twisted ceremonies, so none of us will be going back there unless we must."
"How are they twisted?" she asked, very curious.
Shadowwing and sire-father glanced at each other before Shadowwing spoke, "We will tell you all in time. It is enough to know that the pack treats females very badly and has an Alpha who is… controlling. You should all stay away from that pack on all your flights. We have pack-peace with them, but they are still dangerous."
Sire-father spoke up, "They might try to use us to get Dawn Furies of their own by tricking us into making eggs. We do not know why."
She growled and lashed her tail, already furious at this pack she had never met. Any pack that let packmates be used like that was a twisted and rotted pack.
Sire-father took a deep breath, "We also met a pack of Night Furies."
Her jaw fell open. She had always assumed that her kin were the only Night Furies left.
"What!" "More of us!" "Where?" "We should fly to them!"
Twistedly, sire-father grumbled and shook his head, appearing tired or pained, "No, we should not. Those Night Furies want to be left alone. They very much do not like ground-kin. Some of the Night Furies said they would hunt ground-kin as prey if they ever saw them."
Just the thought of any Night Fury making a ground-kin into prey was sickening and twisted. Kin, all fellow life with life-fires and strong-thinking, were not prey.
Sire-father continued, "There is more bad. The Night Furies do not like Light Furies. There is... cold wind between the sky-kin kinds."
"That is stupid! Why are those Night Furies so stupid?" she asked, completely confused and angry.
Nothing about Luna, Flies-With-Sun, Flies-Bravely, Hope-In-His-Liver, or Paws-At-Bright-Flowers suggested that Light Furies were cold to Night Furies. If anything, they were very warm, even wanting to claim mates from the other kind!
Shadowwing shrugged, "We are not sure. The Night Furies blame the Light Furies for bad they probably did not do. Also, the Night Furies did some bad things themselves, but they might have had reasons for what they did. We do not know all the details and should not assume what we do not know. What is important for you all to know is that, just like with the Light Fury pack, you would not be safe if you flew there. Some of the Night Furies might fly to us, and we will greet them in peace if they do. However, none of us are to fly there unless we all go as a pack for safety, agreed?"
While knowing that there were Night Furies out there but they could not fly to them was bad, there was good reason to not go to them, from what she had heard. Further, if these Night Furies had twisted and rotted thinking toward both Light Furies and ground-kin, then scorch those Night Furies! They were nothing to her or her nestmates!
Everyone agreed with her not to go to the hidden Night Fury pack.
Sire-father huffed, pleased, "Good. Aurora, Rain-Eater, can you wait with us? The rest of you are free to go play, rest, or do whatever you want. There are no work-duties for at least a waking-cycle."
"Sure," Rain-Eater answered.
Dawn-Singer, Flies-With-Sun, Moon-Pinner, Mist-Wings, Rock-Climber, Moon-Dancer, Hidden-Hope, Night-Light, Wind-Dancer, and Flower-Eater trotted away with Luna's parents going with them. The young were clearly eager to bond even more with them and each other.
Meanwhile, she and Rain-Eater sat before everyone else who was there to listen.
Shadowwing faced her and chuckled, "So, your first time as a flight-leader. Did you like it?"
She groaned and rolled her eyes, "Some of it. Other parts were very liver-chilling. Truly, being around nestmates too much is frustrating."
"I know what you mean. I have your sire-father in my life-flight," Shadowwing smirked.
Everyone laughed while her sire-father rolled his eyes, "I could say the same about you, dear brother!"
"Anyway, will you tell us how the flight went? Did you meet many Light Fury packs? Did you find any good ranges where ground-kin could live?" Shadowwing asked.
She sighed and shook her head, "No, the only ranges with no sky-kin are not good for any life. We checked the ranges with many sky-kin, but they all look like they are as filled as they can be. We met one Light Fury pack before we turned back for here, but that pack was... not very good."
"How was it not good?" Shadowwing softly growled.
"It... that was twisted-speak by me. The pack itself is not very bad, but the Alpha-male was bad. He wanted me to be one of his pawful of mates. I said no, and he said that he would not allow ground-kin to live in his pack, probably because I said no."
"Good for you!" sire-father growled.
"I agree!" dam-mother added.
"Nothing else important happened. We saw new sky-kin, and we flew in a sand-range. That is the range which had spinning-teeth rock-diggers and a big, white Alpha of that sky-kin kind."
Sire-father huffed, "I did not know there were more than one of those."
"Same. We also saw an egg-hatching range. It had warm bubble-water, old nests, and eggshells. Nothing else jumps out at me as important to speak of right now. Kin-liver and I can help make the picture-shapes on the map."
Shadowwing purred, "That would help. I will also talk to her later to hear her thoughts on the flight. Thank you, Aurora. We are very proud of you."
"I am proud of me too!"
He chuckled and faced Rain-Eater, "You should stay with your sire-father and dam-mother. They have something they want to talk to you about."
"Okay," Rain-Eater shrugged.
She grumbled, sure that she would find out eventually if it was important. Following Shadowwing and Kin-liver to share a few more details was most important because it would let her get much needed rest as soon as possible.
Rain-Eater watched as his sister followed Shadowwing and Kin-liver toward the shared-nest. Their departure left him very curious what his parents wanted to talk to him about. The sooner this talk was finished, the sooner he could go have a nap and get back to the deep caves and sky-kin campaign!
"Son, we have very good news for you," sire-father purred.
"Good! What is it?"
"We found you a mate!" dam-mother purred.
You found me a-
His wings fell to the ground, and his jaw hung open.
What?
Who could they possibly be-
He glanced to his left and saw the new female Light Fury, Flies-Bravely, shuffling on her paws and looking away from him.
"What?" he barked.
"Yes, we want you to consider Flies-Bravely, for several reasons. She is living with us in peace, she has good thinking, and this would help her," sire-father said.
How could sire-father think this way? Dam-mother too! They had arranged a pairing for him! He did not even want a mate or need one! Just the thought of... doing that with a female was... no!
"What?" he barked again, stepping back a pace.
Sire-father sighed and stepped toward him, "Son, listen to her, and think with your head. We are not asking you or her to do anything you do not want. You will understand. Listen."
"I... okay."
He took a deep breath and slowly turned in place to face Flies-Bravely. He was not at all interested by how female Light Furies looked. She had deep blue eyes and no apparent color-shine, and she was certainly grown. She looked nice enough, but nothing about her sparked fire or wanting.
"So? What is going on?" he grumbled, staring at his paws.
She took a deep breath, "I know this is very twisted for you, but it is not very twisted for me. I lived in a pack where females... had to do things for groups of males: things we did not want to do."
He blinked and looked up at her, his twistedness momentarily gone as he considered what she said. It sounded like she came from a bad past or a bad pack, possibly even the bad one sire-father and Shadowwing had mentioned.
"Things like?" he asked, already suspecting what it must be.
She grumbled and flicked an ear without looking away from him, "Mating, for one. Other duties are not so bad and do make some bonding and care grow, but we are expected to meet males' needs and wants."
He growled, and she continued.
"I did not want that, so I fled that pack. That pack has many bad ceremonies. They do not allow mate-pairs at all."
"What? That is rotted!"
"That is their way. They would want to find me and bring me back to the pack, but they would not do that if they know I have what they would call rotted thinking. Me having a life-mate in your pack would show my old pack that they have no claim to me. They might still try to claim me, but their own pack-rules would exclude me if I had a mate in a different pack and refused to leave him."
She paused and glanced at his parents before looking to him again, "What I ask is that we name each other mates, and you would call me yours if anyone from my old pack comes here for me. We would not do anything else. No den-sharing, nothing. We would be mates in name only, to keep me safer. You do not need to do this if you do not want it."
Practically, it had lift. Pretending that they were a pair would apparently help protect her from her old pack with the twisted ceremonies. There was no bad in doing that and tricking her rotted pack.
This might actually be fun, pretending to be what he was not. After all, pretending was part of what was very fun about the deep caves and sky-kin campaigns!
He looked back at her, "So, we pretend to be a pair, but we do not do anything else, true?"
"True, not unless... unless we want more, like a true pair," she chuckled, closely inspecting her paws.
That was very reassuring.
"I can accept that, my dear mate!" he laughed, relieved now that he understood what was truly happening.
Sire-father snorted and stepped away with dam-mother, "Good. We will let you talk to her and get to know her."
Sire-father and dam-mother flew off together, leaving him alone with Flies-Bravely, whom he faced again. She glanced away when he found her deep blue eyes.
"This is a little twisted," he grumbled.
"I know. Still, thank you for helping me," she said.
"It is nothing, no problem. Do you truly think your pack will threaten you here?"
She grumbled, staring toward the cave-entrance, "Maybe. They know I am here. They have brought back others who tried to leave the pack before. The Alpha and his kin tell all their packmates that the beyond is only dangerous. That is why they must bring back anyone who flees or gets lost."
"To pretend to protect the pack?" he growled.
"Yes, that. They might send Far-Fliers here to bring me back."
"We will not let them. I will not let them."
She chuckled and faced him, "No? Are you a great fighter?"
He snorted and shrugged, "Fighter? Unless you include games of deep caves and sky-kin, not truly."
"What are those games?"
"They are thinking-games I do with some of my nestmates and ground-kin."
She started, paused, and hummed in thought, "Can I learn those thinking-games?"
Learning how to play a campaign was not easy. She was, as far as he knew, warm to ground-kin, so maybe she wanted to bond with them through playing the games with them.
Or maybe she wanted to bond with him. That was confusing and maybe a little nice too. Maybe she could be a friend of his. Having a friend who was not a nestmate or a ground-kin would probably be liver-warming. It was also practical since he and she were going to be pretending to be mates for her protection. Learning more about her would help, even if for no other reason than that she would be living here in the New-Haven-Range.
He purred, "Sure, I could help you learn. First, I want to ask about… your past. You said you came from a bad pack which my sire-father has been to before. Could you tell me more about it and why it was bad?"
She stared at her paws for a while before answering and explaining the various twisted customs that pack followed. She also clarified again that the bad pack was the same one which Shadowwing had warned them all against flying to.
"Why does no one do anything about that pack?" he growled, angered by all she told him.
Her tail tapped at her side as she considered her words, "Who could? We... they are taught from when they are hatchlings that the pack is all, and there is nothing but the pack. Everyone obeys the Alpha and doubts everyone else. The Alpha and his mates speak for the pack, so they say. No one knows who to trust, and everyone is afraid of speaking up or causing problems. No one can start a change in the pack."
"How did you leave? Why did you want to?"
She shrugged, "I had heard stories from my dam about the beyond. Those stories were different from what the pack said about the beyond. A... voice in my liver kept saying that the pack-ways were not good and not what should be. I tried to leave once, and I was brought back and punished."
He gasped and stepped closer to her, deeply worried, "What did they do to you?"
She looked away, "They had me stand before the entire pack. Packmates had to tell me, in front of the pack, that I was wrong, twisted, and thought-rotted for wanting to leave. I had to tell them that I saw the wrongness of my thinking, even though that was false."
Shame and the pressure of groups were what the other pack used to control and influence. Desire to conform and not be noticed was probably as good as actual fear at making people be submissive.
"So everyone thinks like everyone else. No one speaks up or asks questions. Everyone wants to be accepted, so they stay quiet and do not disturb the peace," he explained.
"Yes. That is what happens there," she said.
He clawed at the rock underpaw, "It was brave of you to leave and come here."
Twistedly, she laughed, "That is why I named myself as I did. I want to be brave, but I am not sure if I truly am."
"You are very brave if you could leave a pack like that."
"Maybe I am. What about your name? What is rain?" she asked.
He was confused for a moment. How could anyone not know about rain? Then he remembered that she had never been in the above and thus would not know about rain.
"Rain is like the mist from waterfalls, only the water falls from the sky which has no end we can fly to. You must have flown in the above to know what that is. Where my name comes from is almost a sad story."
"Do you want to tell me? I would like to hear it."
"Sure. My sire-father and dam-mother were new mates before they had Dawn-Singer's egg. They had to leave the range they were living in, but the flight was not easy. They had to drink water from rain, and they almost died. My sire-father promised the sky he would eventually name a hatchling for that."
"I do not know this sky you speak of."
Great skies, to not know about that!
She could not be blamed for not knowing though. How much else did she not know about, through no fault of her own? How much did he truly know about her? Very little right now.
He idly shook a paw, staring anywhere other than at her, "If we are going to pretend to be mates, it might help if we learn a little about each other."
She stepped alongside him and purred softly, "I would like that. I heard that you are a very inside-thinking sky-kin."
"Who were you talking to?" he grumbled.
"Mostly your sire-father, dam-mother, and your second sire-father. Now you have your nestmates here too. I can learn more from them!"
"I must warn you about my older sister Aurora. She can be... snappy and biting with words."
Her eyeridges lifted, "Is she?"
"She has life-problems. I do not know why. My other sister, Mist-Wings, is nothing like her."
"What about your younger brother? I know Dawn-Singer already."
"Rock-Climber is very free in his liver. He likes going off on his own and being active."
She hummed, "And you have one of the ground-kin as a life-friend, yes."
"I do. Safiya is her name."
"Her name?" she chuckled and nudged his shoulder.
"What? Safiya is a female. You do not think I would... No!" he barked in shock, glaring at her.
Flies-Bravely laughed again, beating the ground with a paw, "Just fouling your flight, my pretend-mate! I want to meet this friend of yours."
Oh, you want to fight with words! Fine. We can do that.
"Be careful. I have had Aurora as my nestmate sister."
"Are you saying you can foul flights and tease too?"
"This will be fun."
Shadowwing chuckled, deeply amused as he, Valka, and Was-Grounded watched Rain-Eater and Flies-Bravely talking on their own near a pool at the base of a waterfall. So far they appeared, as far as he could tell, entirely amicable and at ease with each other. None of that was surprising, given that Rain-Eater was not at all pushy or overbearing.
It was also a relief that Rain-Eater was understanding and willing to go along with this crazy plan.
Not only would this likely keep her safe in the event her prior pack ever showed up, but there was also the possibility that she and Rain-Eater could fall for each other truly.
"This is twisted, in a good way," he said.
"How?" Was-Grounded asked.
"Two-leg parents usually made pairs for their children by talking with other families. Pairs were made to make peace between different packs and families. The children did not have a choice who they were to be with. This is like that making a pair for children but different."
"Because we did not force him and her into a pair?"
"Yes. Encouraging them is different. I think they would be good for each other."
"I agree."
He nudged Valka's shoulder, "Sso, what do you thinnk about them?"
She shrugged, "You know her better than I do. I'm sure Rain-Eater will be respectful, whatever else happens."
"Trrue. Onnly time will tell if they like each otherr. Therre iss ssomethinng elsse we wannted to talk to you about, but we sshould finnd Dawnn-Ssinngerr annd Fliess-With-Sunn."
He carried her up onto the next ledge where most of the family had gathered. Luna was resting between her parents, eagerly talking with her. Moon-Dancer was talking with Hidden-Hope and Night-Light while Mist-Wings and Rock-Climber were dozing near a small crystal. Dawn-Singer, Flies-With-Sun, and Green-Wings were supervising Moon-Pinner and the young fledglings.
He landed and trotted to his nephew, "Dawn-Singer, will you and Flies-With-Sun come here?"
They did, and both Dawn-Singer and Flies-With-Sun nuzzled Valka in greeting again after not seeing her for three months. Hidden-Hope and Night-Light similarly bounded over to her once they saw she was available. They greeted her and lay down beside her, since she was busy scratching their necks.
"Rrememberr the missssionn I told you about?" he asked Dawn-Singer.
"I do. The flight to the trradinng posst," Dawn-Singer answered.
Valka faced him, visibly confused, "What's this?"
"We nneed ssuppliess we cann't make onn ourr ownn. We nneed to trrade forr them. Sskald alrready hass the plannss made. You, Dawnn-Ssinngerr, annd Fliess-With-Ssunn cann fly to a trradinng posst. You will take drragonn teeth, sscaless, annd bonness to trrade annd get what we nneed."
She put her hands behind her back and started pacing, "Use dragon parts in trade? You know I don't like this, but if we're only using what we already have or just find lying around..."
He nodded, "Yess, nno harrm to annyonne. Dawnn-Ssinngerr annd Fliess-With-Ssunn alrready agrreed to do thiss. We wannt you to go with them, forr obviouss rreassonnss. A humann might be nneeded."
"What? A dragon showing up at a village and asking to barter using dragon parts wouldn't be too strange?" she laughed.
Tails slapped the ground as everyone else laughed with her.
"So, when would this mission happen?" she asked after the laughter died down.
"The ssoonnerr the betterr, but you jusst got back. Maybe wait sseverral cycless?"
She nodded, "Sounds like a plan, but I want to get to know everyone new here, take care of Elder duties, and get some rest before heading out."
"Good idea. Be ssurre to keep thiss a ssecrret. We donn't wannt everryonne inn the trribe thinnkinng they cann go up therre. Thiss iss a sspecial ssituationn."
"Is it? What if we have to keep doing this in the future, which we probably will?"
He wasn't sure how to answer that. He had already accepted that New Haven was not entirely self-sustaining. Rain-Eater's sustainability project was proof enough of that. The need to go to the above for any reason whatsoever was another setback to... what he hoped they could be: completely self-sufficient.
"We cann do thiss regularrly whenn we musst. It sshouldnn't be too difficult forr onne of uss annd a humann to fly therre inn ssecrret to trrade."
She nodded and warily glanced at everyone, "By the way, have any of you... seen Cloudjumper?"
He heavily sighed and briefly looked down at his paws. No one had seen the known Stormcutter recently. He wasn't afraid for the great dragon's safety, but his continued absence was, if not worrying, at least noticeable. He had been gone for periods of a few months before.
"Nnot ssinnce you left. That doessnn't meann annythinng though."
"Yeah, he's been away from us for a long time before. We... we should go fill in the maps."
Right, yea, good idea. Now where did Aurora get off to?
He briefly looked around and spotted Aurora lounging on the edge of the ledge overlooking the pool below. She might have already fallen asleep, much like Mist-Wings and Rock-Climber.
"Aurora, are you awake?" he asked after dashing to her.
She yawned widely and faced him, appearing very exhausted, "I wish I were not. What is it?"
"Sorry to keep you awake, but will you follow me and Kin-liver to make the map? We can do that soon so you can go rest."
Aurora did not know what to think anymore. Was life itself planning to chill her life-flight and tease her? It was unbelievable, but it happened anyway! There was no other explanation than that life itself was a joke or was twisted or was planning against her!
Rain-Eater had a mate now, sort of! Flies-Bravely flew into the New-Haven-Range, just as Flies-With-Sun did season-cycles ago! Her first two brothers had available females fly straight to them!
She stared down at Rain-Eater and Flies-Bravely as they lay beside the pool below. They were not climbing on each other or doing any great bonding, instead only talking.
Just my luck!
She sighed and closed her eyes. Dam-mother had explained what was truly happening: naming her brother and Flies-Bravely a pair was only to keep the Light Fury safer, somehow, against the bad pack she flew from. It was a trick-pairing, so she probably should not be upset by it.
But this was just not fair at all! Both Dawn-Singer and Rain-Eater did not need to go anywhere to find someone special to hold to their livers. Sure, they were not doing anything very closely life-sharing as mates do. Knowing her brother as she did, he and Flies-Bravely probably would not do anything for a long time. But there was still the possibility that they would in the future.
Why was life not fair to her? What did she do to deserve this? Was it her fate to watch others be happy and liver-warmed while she was forever alone?
The sound of wings got her attention, so she looked and saw her brother and Flies-Bravely flying away toward the shared-nest. If she had to guess, they were probably going to meet ground-kin, most likely Safiya.
She heard paws approaching, but she did not bother getting up and facing whoever it was.
"Aurora, are you awake?" Shadowwing asked.
"I wish I were not. What is it?"
He chuckled, "Sorry to keep you awake and waiting, but will you follow me and Kin-liver to make the map? We can do that soon so you can go get your rest."
Helping them make the map of the hidden ranges would probably help as a distraction from everything else. She could remember the various ranges very well, in addition to everything Kin-liver had written and shaped on her smaller map. Together, they could easily help Shadowwing fill in almost everything from the journey.
Afterwards she could take a very long nap!
She hopped to her paws, "Good idea. I am ready. Oh, there is something else I should tell you about."
"What is it?"
She paused, uncertain how to best explain a specific sky-kin they had met.
"We met a very special sky-kin that is like a monster but also not one..."
Moon-Dancer watched as sire-father, Kin-liver, and Aurora flew off toward the shared-nest. They would be busy for a while, and he very much wanted to be with his sire-father to tell him stories about the flight. All in good time. Until then, there was always-
His sister grumbled at his side, so he shoved her shoulder.
"Good to see you too, sister."
"Twisted brother. How did you not get hunted out there?"
"I am that amazing, fast, and strong!"
"Wow," Night-Light gasped, looking up at him.
His sister yawned widely, covering her mouth with a paw.
I missed you so much...
"How is your flame? Have you been practicing your fade?" he asked her.
"Yes, and I can fade well now!"
"Really? Show me, or you cannot actually do it."
She hopped to her paws, took flight, and flamed before herself. She leaped into the flame, and sure enough, she faded and was nothing except a shimmering in the air as she landed before him, making herself visible again.
Great, now she can be very annoying.
"Nice. Look at you, my hatchling sister is growing up!" he teased.
She hissed at him, her eyes narrowing. But he knew she was not angry. Not truly. Nestmates had to tease and nudge each other out of liver-warmth.
"Yes, she is! You have no idea," she huffed.
He chuckled, "Did anything fun happen while we were gone?"
She hummed in thought and grumbled, "Sire-father and Was-Grounded flew to another Light Fury pack. They also found a Night Fury pack. Nothing else happened, but you knew that. This is the range where nothing ever happens!"
"I believe that. What about you, brother?" he asked Night-Light.
His little brother glanced at his paws before purring at him, "I learned more ground-kin words! Our brother has started playing with me more too!"
He chuckled, amused that Night-Light was taking to playing with Flower-Eater. But that was not very surprising, since Night-Light was a calm fledgling and was very excited to be a big brother.
"Is he talking much?" he asked.
"Yes. Some. A little," Night-Light shrugged.
"Are you helping him learn?"
"Yeah, when he is not trying to eat my tail."
He laughed and gently shoved his brother's shoulder, "Just like you did for me!"
Night-Light looked either amused or inside-twisted by that little teasing.
He glanced over his tail at Hope-In-His-Liver and Paws-At-Bright-Flowers. Both of dam-mother's parents were only several pounces away. His younger nestmates already knew them far better than he did, so he definitely needed to get to know them too. They were entirely warm to him so far, his... second-parents? Was-Grounded and Green-Wings were already like those, since they had been in his life-flight since he was just a hatchling.
What is the ground-kin name for this? Great-parents? Yes, probably that. They are my great-parents!
Something about that name did not feel correct to him, since normal parents were great anyway, but he did not know what else dam-mother's parents would be called.
"Want to go do something together? We could go swimming, or play hide and hunt, or do something else," he proposed.
Hidden-Hope hopped to her paws and whipped him with her tail, "Finally! The boring brother had a good idea."
"And we should have dam-mother's parents play with us too! That would make the play better!"
"I like them. They are fun," Night-Light purred.
"I still need to get to know them, but they feel very warm."
He sighed and tapped both his brother and sister on their shoulders with a wingtip.
"Huh?" "What?" they barked.
He considered telling them how warmed his liver was that he was back with them. But they were his nestmates, so they would probably twist his tail if he said that.
He shrugged, "Nothing, we should play!"
"Yay!" Night-Light shouted, bounding to his paws.