Author's Note –This is set in Children Of Dawn chapter 8 – Breaking Points

Dawn-Singer touched down in the shared-nest and gave a loud roar. As he expected, his doing that brought ground-kin running toward him from all direction. That roar was one that was agreed upon meant to immediately have a nest-gathering.

The second-Alpha, named Thorvald, and Kin-liver were the two ground-kin he most needed to see.

"Dawn-Singer, what is it?" Kin-liver quickly asked.

"Defennsse! Nightmmarress annd Rummblehorrnss!"

Screams and shouting of commands followed that. The ground-kin sires and dams grabbed their young and ran to their dens. Everyone knew the order of what to do for the defending of the shared-range.

Kin-liver wasted no time and ran off toward the shared-cave that the young of both kinds would be safe in.

He saw his life-mate bring Moon-Pinner and have her bound into the cave. Having his little one out of danger was good. His own dam-mother, Luna, and Night-Light arrived together and brought the hatchlings, both of whom Kin-liver would be entrusted with.

Satisfied that the young would be safe, he took to the sky and started circling over the shared-nest. The other bonded sky-kin, though there were only a pawful of them here now, would be staying here in the shared-nest itself to help protect it if any dangerous sky-kin flew this far, which was unlikely.

His nestmate brothers and sisters, all except for Mist-Wings since she was watching in the above, were approaching from the thick forest where they had probably been playing. They were not alone since Shadowwing, Moon-Dancer, and Hidden-Hope were flying with them.

Hidden-Hope did not look happy. She probably did not like having to stay in the cave with the young ones. But she did not have fire yet, so her staying behind was understandable. At least Rock-Climber, while not fully grown yet, had his flame and could therefore show off his flame in threat-display!

He watched as Hidden-Hope was guided down by her sire-father so that she entered the cave. Several bigger ground-kin and the bone-grabber named Jingles were being guards outside the cave.

Sire-father and Shadowwing, their backs glowing with blue power-light, flew to the other sky-kin and gave thought-words to them. The sky-kin must have heard the thought-words since they went on guard.

Sire-father and Shadowwing roared aloud together. He joined his kin, his nestmates, and Moon-Dancer, and flew at his life-mate's side as they all became one flight. They had done this several times before to keep away dangerous flocks of sky-kin. The first few flocks had respected his sire-father and Shadowwing as Alphas and had turned away. Hopefully that would happen this time.

Hidden-Hope fumed, growling softly as she stared out the mouth of the cave. There were so many ground-kin in here now, and she so wanted to be out there to help fight! She could fight and bite and... not flame yet, but she could do something!

Waste! So unfair! Why am I so little? Rock-Climber has his fire, probably because he is male! Why could I not be male and big and fighting and...

"Hidden-Hope, are you alright?" Kin-liver asked.

"Yessss!"

"Do you want to come here and talk to me?"

"Nnoo! I wannt to be out therre!" she pointed with a paw at the cave mouth.

Not in here with the smelly hatchlings!

Kin-liver was resting against the cave wall while a small fire burned before her. She had a paw on Wind-Dancer's back while Flower-Eater rested on her legs. Moon-Pinner and Night-Light were resting against each other in warmth by the fire.

"I want to talk to you," Kin-liver whispered to her.

She groaned, trotted over to Kin-liver, and sat down on her rear beside her. She only did that because Kin-liver was a good ground-kin and because the fire was warm. At least something could be good about being here...

"Whaaat?" she brayed.

"Do you know why your parents want you here?"

She sure did! They did not trust her or want her to have fun! A flock of new sky-kin would be fun to fight!

"Yessss," she huffed and lay her head on her paws.

Kin-liver grumbled, "Maybe not. There is much danger out there, dear one. The ground-kin are hiding for safety also, and many of them are older than you."

That was true, but it still felt so bad, like she was being thought of as a hatchling still! So unfair! One of these cycles she would join a fight and show that she was strong... and not a hatchling!

"Your father and mother want you here for you to be safer and to keep your little brothers company," Kin-liver added.

That was twisted. Night-Light had Moon-Pinner to be with him, and Flower-Eater was only a no-words hatchling. Both of her little brothers were sleeping. No, the true reason was probably that sire-father and dam-mother just wanted her to not have fun or have a chance to show how brave she was. Kin-liver did not understand that.

"I wannt to fly with my kinn!" she hissed.

"And you will, just not now. Another waking-cycle."

There will always be... another waking-cycle.

She collapsed in the warmth of the fire and closed her eyes. The ground-kin were whispering, talking, and playing around her, but she did not care about that. All she cared about was the glowing warmth in her liver at a certain thought.

I will do something to prove that I am brave! I will... run away from the home-range or... something.

Dawn-Singer grumbled once he got back to his ledge and cave with Moon-Pinner and his life-mate.

Stupid of me! What was I thinking...

Flies-With-Sun was very quick in the sky and had not come close to being hit or flamed. It helped that she was invisible for the entire flight. He had been watching her invisible flight, that unseen light that glowed in her shape and her sound-shape, because he was worried about her safety.

That he was watching her was why he had not seen the fire-scale that flamed his belly. A few distracted wingbeats of time were all it took for him to make a mistake.

"Sire-father, did you win?" Moon-Pinner barked, nuzzling his shoulder.

"Yes, little one. I did."

She spun on her dam-mother, "What about you, dam-mother? Did you flame them much?"

Flies-With-Sun grumbled, facing him, "I did. What did you do in the cave?"

"Sleeping with Night-Light by a fire! Then we played with Hidden-Hope. She was not happy!"

"No? Why not?" he chuckled.

"She wanted to be in the fighting!" Moon-Pinner purred.

"What about you, little one? Did you want to be in the fighting?" he wondered.

"No. Playing with Night-Light and Hidden-Hope was more fun!"

He purred, glad that she did not want to do anything so reckless, "We should sleep as a family-pack. My nestmate sister is watching the range."

Moon-Pinner curled up in her usual place. Flies-With-Sun stepped alongside him and rubbed his shoulder.

"Does the flaming hurt?" she whispered.

"Only a little. It is not very bad."

She growled and forcefully nudged him, "Let me see the hurt."

He obeyed her command, lay down on his side with a hiss, and let her lick his flamed belly. It was not a bad hurt at all, but it did sting like he had gotten a thorn in a paw. Her licking helped the sting fade.

"Better?" she warbled once she finished.

He purred in thanks, got to his paws, and lay down beside Moon-Pinner, partly hiding her under a wing. Flies-With-Sun lay down on his other side.

Surprisingly and very liver-warmingly, she wrapped her tail around his while crooning to him. He purred even more thanks to her and rested his chin on her neck. While she was not doing anything to truly spark wanting in his liver, this was one of the first times she had shown small-wanting or tender liver-warmth in many waking-cycles.

Getting flamed was not so bad after all!

Luna hopped to her paws, jumped down to the water, and barked to Flower-Eater. All hatchlings understood that command to come, and he did immediately. Her nestmate sister picked up Wind-Dancer and carried the squirming hatchling back to Green-Wings. Both hatchlings were then swept up in coiled tails where they could rest and sleep or just be safe.

"I want us to talk now and agree to help each other with our mates. They all have work and many duties. We should be able to leave our little ones with each other and have time to be with our mates, however we want. We can all help each other with this. What do you think?"

Flies-With-Sun purred and chuckled, "I like it. Dawn-Singer is at our cave much, but he does have work. He is trying to show me wanting."

Green-Wings snorted, "Is he?"

"Yes, if he would just jump at me, I would take him."

"It will be your second egg with him if you do make one," she pointed out.

Her sister hummed after nodding, "We know, and I do not need another egg anytime soon. Moon-Pinner should have at least one nestmate eventually. There will be many life-making cycles later we can use for eggs if we can then."

Green-Wings snorted, "What about Dawn-Singer? Does he not want many little ones, many children?"

Her sister ruffled her wings in a shrug and licked them cleaner in a place, "He wants more than one. But he and I understand that we sky-kin must not be too many if we want to live in this range."

She saw Green-Wings wince and look elsewhere. Green-Wings snorted and stepped away from her hatchling. Her hatchling had made a waste mess in the sand, which was good since the waste could easily be covered. It was much better that this happen here instead of at the shared-ledge.

Flower-Eater will probably do the same soon. What would Shadowwing say... occupational danger, or something, of being a dam-mother? Yes, that is it.

Sure, enough, Flower-Eater did what was necessary, which she covered over with sand. Both hatchlings were sleepy again after their play in the water and with each other, and they curled up together. Green-Wings covered both of them so she and her sister could go to the two fledglings, both of whom were drawing picture-words in the sand with their claws.

"Very good, both of you!" Kin-liver said.

"I doo... gooood," Night-Light barked.

"You did well, Night-Light," Kin-liver corrected him.

Kin-liver saw them and bowed, "Luna, Flies-With-Sun."

Night-Light dashed to her, his tongue hanging out as he ran, "Dam-mother! I am learning!"

"Good, little one. What about Moon-Pinner? Is she learning well?"

"Yes, she is! More than him!" Moon-Pinner huffed.

Flies-With-Sun grumbled when she saw Night-Light's ears fall, "That was not liver-warming, little one."

"But it is true! He said the picture-words are twisted to him."

Luna lay down before Night-Light and gently nuzzled his forehead, "Is that true, son? Are the picture-words twisted to you?"

He faintly whined and stared at his paws, "A little. I know the shapes, but they fly twisted in my thinking. Am I bad?"

"No! You are not bad at learning. All of us learn differently. You know more than I do," she whispered.

He hummed with a little more warmth after hearing that, but she was still chilled for him. Moon-Dancer and Hidden-Hope had not had any big problems learning picture-words or spoken ground-kin words. Shadowwing probably needed to hear about this.

Dawn-Singer watched over the ground-kin and his nestmates since he was the default flight-leader as the first-hatched. Flies-With-Sun and Helga were off writing in the sand. Hidden-Hope, Moon-Dancer, Rock-Climber, and Moon-Pinner took turns playing wrestling games. Aurora and Rain-Eater were content to speak on their own with Alvor and Safiya.

Everyone was eager to have time together after the excitement of the repelled attack.

Erevan nudged his shoulder, "Do you ever think about flying beyond just to explore?"

He shrugged and stretched his wings, "Ssome, but nnot much nnow. Nnot with you, my life-mate, and Moonn-Pinnnnerr."

Erevan nodded in understanding, "Yeah, same here. Knowing how many dangerous dragons are out there, I just don't want to go out there when all my family, both of them, are here."

Erevan ran over to the playing, probably to challenge Moon-Pinner to a wrestling contest. That was good, and he was content to watch over everything.

He heard approaching wings and saw his sister returning from her time watching the above. Mist-Wings touched down in the clearing and bounded up to him.

"How was the watching?" he purred.

"Take a guess what I saw!" she barked.

"Nothing important?" he grinned.

She rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh, "How did you guess? Yes, it was boring, but I did much thinking and eating the sun-warmth. Who is watcher next?"

"Rock-Climber will go next."

She nodded and grumbled, "Everyone in the shared-nest feels... a little twisted. Did I miss anything here in the shared-range while I was watching? It feels like I missed something."