"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on when in your heart you begin to understand? There is no going back." - Frodo – LOTR - Return of the King (film)
Scars
The dragons swarmed over the island...
He stirred in the darkness.
A haze descended over his thoughts…
He groaned in fear.
A piercing eye gazed through his soul and claimed it...
He trembled.
Rocks were stacked to mark those with no body...
He whimpered.
Flames billowed from the pyres and the ship in the harbor…
He bolted awake as the nightmare passed. The only sounds were the regular crash of the waves on the ship's hull. The moon shone brightly overhead, and his frantic heartbeat gradually slowed as he caught his breath.
Gods, I need a moment...
He crept outside and hopped up to the deck. One of the men was still at the helm to guide the ship through the night. After a moment of hesitation, he jumped from the deck and took to the sky to hopefully leave the pain and grief behind for a time. Flying had always given him peace before. Gliding along in the cloud cover and flying slow circles around the boat did indeed help calm him down, but it was not the same anymore. It did not help vanquish the apparent chill in the air or within.
With a heavy sigh, he eventually banked around and flew back to the ship, landing smoothly on the deck. The boards creaked underfoot, and the ship rocked slightly at his landing.
It was just enough to disturb the yet unnamed female and wake her from her sleep. She bellowed and scrambled to her feet while looking around frantically.
"It is me!" he said.
Her wide eyes found his in the darkness.
"Don't be afraid. What is wrong?" he asked while stepping toward her.
"No! Stop!" she whimpered.
So he did.
She gradually settled back down and lay down on her belly. Without saying anything or looking at him, she curled back up under her wing and appeared to fall asleep.
What is wrong with her? Surely she knew I wasn't going to hurt her.
An instant of reflection was all he needed to see his obvious mistake.
Maybe not. Especially considering how she has been hurt in the past. I... should not bother her.
Even though he was not very tired at the moment, he walked back into the hold and lay down. He waited in silence, simply listening to the soft waves and feeling the boat's pitch and roll. It was a long time before he managed to get to sleep, and it was a fitful sleep when it finally came.
She was sure that the sleep had been the best she had ever had. Even allowing for the dangerous two-legs being nearby, she had been able to sleep above ground, breathing clean air, and not laying in her own mess.
There were no bad sleep-visions. There were none of the big two-leg traps, hurting things, or anything else to foul her sleep-thoughts.
She was awoken by something large landing nearby and shaking the entire water-walker. She had bolted up in fear and seen his eyes reflecting the light.
"It is me!"
She had not remembered who the 'me' was. All she knew was that a large male with unknown intentions was nearing her in the darkness.
"No! Stop!"
And he did.
Shadowwing.
That was his name.
He would not try to hurt her. Those were his first words, his first promise to her. He had already proven that those words were spoken with liver-truth.
She hid her head at her actions and at the twisting always-there life-fouling fear. The wooden ground creaked as he walked back into the mouth of the open cave-trap where he was sleeping. He did not come back out.
I should tell him I am sorry…
But she was still weak after everything that happened in the last sun-cycle.
After he wakes up...
The roar of the ocean and the breaking of the waves was a very welcome change from the silence and gloom she had known underground and which had become almost expected. And the lights from the sky above, large and small, twinkled between the clouds. The largest of them, the moon, commanded her gaze while she lay awake. It seemed familiar somehow. Almost like it touched some deep memories buried within.
The rocking of the waves and the gentle pitch and sway of the water-walker gradually lulled her to sleep.
He woke up in the morning to a very groggy and sleep-deprived Skald gently nudging him on the shoulder.
"Hey... we are getting closer."
Skald yawned.
"And you might want to tell her to eat. We put some fish in a barrel for her, but I don't think she likes us much."
He got up and shook himself awake before following Skald outside. The female had not moved from where she had returned to sleep. But she was awake and was looking at the sky with clear longing.
"How are you?" he softly asked.
"Shadowwing, I am hungry."
"Come get some fish."
She cautiously crept over to him and reached into the open barrel of fish. It greatly pained him to see the stubs that were her claws.
He remained quiet as she eagerly ate. Only when she finished did he ask.
"What happened to your claws?"
"I tried to get out of the trap-cave, but my claws broke on the rock and the trap. And the two-legs also cut my claws after I clawed them in fighting."
"That place was very bad. You are safe now with us."
She warily looked around the deck.
"Do we have water?"
He went over to the other barrels and found the right one, which was also already opened for them. He took a drink first as he had almost had nothing yesterday.
"Here is the water."
He stepped aside so that she could drink as well, which she eagerly did. He waited patiently as she drank, and he could not help but notice the faint scars running down her side.
What whips or chains had Drago's men used? Or was it men who left those?
She finished drinking and hummed her gratitude. He dipped his head in acknowledgment and gave her a smile. She immediately slunk back several steps from him, suddenly very nervous.
"Why do you do that teeth-showing? I do not want to fight you."
He blinked in confusion and groaned softly in understanding.
"It is not a fight-sign or anger-sign. It is a two-leg way of showing happiness and warmth."
"You use two-leg signs? Why? That is much strange and twisted."
she groaned.
"I... want to say that I am sorry."
"For what?"
"In the night. I was afraid," she moaned.
"No, do not be sad. Why were you afraid?"
"I did not know it was you. I thought you were… going to… hurt me."
He shook his head and purred softly.
"No. I will never hurt you. I promise on my life-flight."
She considered his strange motions again.
"Is the head shaking another two-leg sign?"
"It is. It means no."
She did not say anything for a while.
"I do not know how to trust now," she finally whispered.
"I understand. Very bad things have happened to you and those leave deep hurt-marks in the liver. I know about that."
She turned away from him and looked forward toward the horizon.
"Will you tell me about the new and good nest? The one we are flying to now," she asked.
He remembered the fires, the screaming, the bodies, and the blood. How horribly those all contrasted with the colors and liveliness of the nest, the nests of eggs and carefree young, and the glorious frozen spires.
"The island was a very good place where there was a warm nest. A nest in ice and with a great and good white great-tusk-Alpha. But there was a fight."
She sat down and listened to him, seemingly very interested in the account.
"What fight?"
"A fight with a bad two-leg-Alpha, his thrall kin, and two-leg fighters in one flight flying against the free nest, good great-tusk-Alpha, and kin-bond two-legs."
"But how could the bad two-leg-Alpha fight a nest and have thrall-kin?" she wondered.
"He had a bad great-tusk-Alpha. An Alpha that could go in kin's heads and…" he took a breath, "make them think and do bad things. The bad Alpha had a flock of thrall kin fighting for him."
She winced and looked away with a very pained look in her eyes. It looked like she wanted to say something but could not bring herself to speak.
"It made kin fight kin?" she eventually settled on asking.
"Yes, it was very bad. Both Alphas were bad."
"And what happened in the fight?"
He whimpered softly and did everything he could to keep his composure, settling for kneading his claws against the ship's deck.
"The good Alpha died and many others also, kin and two-legs. The bad Alpha great-tusk was... defeated and ran into the deep water."
She still seemed troubled by all this news.
"Why are we going there if it is a place of much death?"
"Because that is where the living are, and it is the safest place now. All the good two-legs are there."
He got up, walked to the ship's bow, and stood up as tall as he could while balancing himself with his tail. She slowly came forward as well.
"There," he nodded, "you can see it now."
Far off on the horizon was visible a white speck which sparkled in the morning light.
She stepped back from the bow and once again looked very hesitant.
"And the good she-two-leg can make my wings better?"
"Yes, she can. I have seen her help other kin with broken wings before. It will take much time, many moon-cycles maybe before you can fly, but we will keep you safe and give you fish while you get better."
She said nothing for a while until a question seemed to burst from her.
"Why are you helping me?"
He did not even need to say anything to show his confusion. His tilted head and confused warble were sufficient.
"Why are you doing all this for me?"
"Because we should. It is good to help others."
She clearly found that explanation hard to accept.
"You mean you do not want… something from me?"
"No, what do you mean?"
"Nothing…" she groaned.
I do not believe it...
She found it very hard to believe. Kin normally did something good for another kin in order to get something. Something like the privilege to fish or hunt in the other's territory or to win a mate. But he was saying that he did not want anything at all from her. It made no sense. It was not normal at all.
The brief lull ended when he remembered an unresolved matter.
"Your name! You said you do not remember."
She grumbled and twitched her tail.
"I do not know it. I lost it."
"You should have a new name. A name you want to have."
She blinked and wondered at the idea.
"I do not know a good name."
He softly purred back to her.
"Think about it. It should be something that is important to you, something good and liver-warming to you. Something that tells your life-flight, if you want that."
"I will think about it. My life-flight has not been good and warm. What about your name, how did you get your name?"
"I gave myself that name many season-cycles ago. I wanted a name that was good for my type of kin. Our color is normally dark and unknown to two-legs. We live in the shadows. It felt like a good name."
"Not for me though. I am not like you..." she added with a sigh.
"No, you are different and... a special kin."
The rest of the journey was very uneventful, at least until they finally came near the island. Several of the wild dragons investigated the vessel and let it pass, apparently satisfied that it was not a threat.
She looked around the island-nest in amazement. Spires of melting ice were everywhere and it looked like there were many caverns out of which many kin were flying. Many different kin of kinds she had never seen before were flying around or lying about. And she could see many two-legs living on the island. Several kin were among the two-legs and did not appear at all afraid.
I do not like it...
The peace, wildness, and goodness of the place was rotted through by the ruins of two-leg things both in the water and on the land, thin trails of smoke from burning things, and the still bodies of kin on the ground. There was an enormous white mass bobbing in the water. The shape of the dead thing looked horrible familiar, even if this was not the one she remembered. The memory of that terrible sun-cycle was very clear.
The same large split-wing that she remembered seeing before flew up and hovered nearby with a two-leg on its back. Specifically, the good she-two-leg. The odd pair glanced down at the water-walker for a moment and flew back towards land.
"Does that kin have a name?"
"He is jumps-through-clouds," he answered.
"And... the two-leg?"
"She is Kin-liver."
Shadowwing waited until the boat came to rest as close to shore as they could get.
"Follow me."
He hopped over the boat's railing and beat his wings once to glide the short distance to shore. She could not do that, and instead had to jump into the water itself and splash onto shore.
Being back on the island made the devastation all the more real again to him. Spires of ice had collapsed all along the island, wreckage of boats and discarded armor lay strew along the shore, and they could both see what remained of the bodies of both fallen dragons and humans. The tides and waves had washed away most of the blood closest to the water, but the bodies had started to have the looks and foul smells of death.
"Where are we going?" she nervously asked.
"Follow me."
She followed behind him up the path which had been swept clean of debris. She noticed the destination. A two-leg and kin nest with fur-caves. The incredible thing was how there were several different types of kin, all surrounded by two-legs, and there was no fear from any of the kin. There was something else that seemed common about many of the kin.
"Shadowwing, do all the kin here have a two-leg?"
"Many do."
A terrible thought stalked her and froze her mid-step. Was that another reason why they had wanted her to come here? To carry around a two-leg for the rest of her life? Forced bonding as a life-thrall!
A very twisted trap. One a kin cannot see or feel. Never!
"Will they try to make... me have one?" she hissed.
"No."
She warily growled and slowly resumed walking.
"Where is yours?" she asked.
"I do not have one."
"Why not?"
He paused before answering.
"I do... not want one like many other kin do. Kin-liver is close to my liver, but she is not my bond two-leg. Was-Grounded and his mate are the same; they do not have or want a two-leg of their own to bond with. Most of the other kin do though."
They continued on past fur-caves and two-legs. She saw many of the two-legs raise their paws and point at her as she passed. It was not warming having so much attention directed at her, even if these two-legs are supposed to be kind or warm to kin. Several of the kin started to approach, but amazingly they all backed away when Shadowwing growled or even just glared at them. He seemed to have some power over them.
Why do they all bow their heads and wings to him?
They stopped in front of a fur-cave which smelled heavily of the split-wing kin named jumps-through-clouds and the Kin-liver two-leg. It was good that this fur-cave was on the far outside of this twisting, dangerous nest. She waited as Shadowwing poked his head inside the cave. His head was embraced by the Kin-liver, and the two-leg gave him some unknown words. He turned back to her.
"She will be here in wingbeats. She is getting some two-leg things she will need."
"Is she going to help my wings right now?"
"She will start making them better. It will take much time as I said."
A moment passed and the Kin-liver walked out of the cave with a small thing at her side and something small in her paw. She saw the gleam from the shiny thing in Kin-liver's paws and nervously shied away with a whine.
"Do not be afraid. She will not hurt you. She wants you to be strong again and to fly. Trust her."
She remembered that Kin-liver had offered her a paw in a sign of trust. A trust offering that she had not been able to accept.
"What do I have to do?"
"Let her know that you trust her. Touch her paw."
Shadowwing reached up and grabbed one of Kin-liver's paws with his own and drew it toward her.
There it was again. A two-leg paw in front of her nose in the same place where she had previously bitten off such paws in the past. Paws always carried hurting things.
But this two-leg... was different? This two-leg was supposedly going to help her wings be whole and stoke her life-fire. Let it touch her wings if it helped her wings be whole again, that could be acceptable.
And she remembered two-leg paws reaching for the ropes around her neck to lead her away to bad places. Paws offering fish and pulling the fish away to torture her life-fire and make her break. She had never broken for them.
Only because you must touch me this time... Never again.
She shied away from letting it touch her nose, but she did let it approach her neck. That much was necessary to do what had to be done. The two-leg began making noises at her and very slowly stroking her neck. There was no way to know what it was saying, but it sounded like an attempt to be warming and comforting. The touching did not feel warming or comforting though. It was a necessary thing to endure, to suffer, so that something else could be.
The paw vanished from her neck.
"Let her see your wings," he rumbled.
She slowly held them out as far as they would go without looking at them.
"What should I do?" she hissed.
"Lay down, stay still, and do not move if you feel a small bite. She will not try to hurt you."
"I understand," she said as she curled up on her belly.
"It might also help if you not look at her," he added.
So naturally she looked and again saw the very small thin-tooth in the Kin-liver's paw. It was chilling knowing that a two-leg was going to do something to her wings using that thin-tooth thing. But she had no choice but to trust that this would help her. It could not make anything worse, after all.
A little grounded was the same as very grounded.
Valka sighed and stepped back.
"There is a problem."
He grumbled and gave her a concerned hum.
"Her wings have a lot of scar tissue around the cuts. I can do one of two things for her. One, I can tie these together as they are, but the wings will never heal well past the scabs. Two, I remove the outer layer of scar tissue and I stitch the wings together. That second option is the best one to let the wings heal fully, but it will also hurt a lot more now. I... know since I have done this before. Will you ask her what she wants me to do?"
He relayed the terrible choice.
"If she does the hurting-fixing I might fly again, but the not-hurting-fixing might not let me fly?" she hissed.
"Yes," he nodded.
She did not hesitate.
"The not-hurting-fixing does not make the wings better. Tell Kin-liver to do the must-hurt one."
She watched as he used a claw to make the very strange scratches on the ground.
"Is that how you talk to the two-legs?" she asked.
"Yes, and I understand their talking," he answered.
"How? It sounds like empty noise."
"I learned it all long ago."
"Wait, I have an idea!" Valka suddenly exclaimed.
He turned on her with intrigue.
"Dragonsbane. Go find some of it for her. There has to be some of it still here. It will put her to sleep so that I can work on the wings without it hurting her much."
His eyes went wide as he understood the clear usefulness of the potency of Dragonsbane in this case. Only a small serving of it on a piece of meat he had once eaten in a festival completely left him unconscious. He eagerly turned to the female.
"I will find long-tooth-grass to make you sleep. That way you will not feel the hurts when she helps your wings."
"I must be asleep for it?" she nervously asked.
"It might hurt. This will make you not feel the hurt. Does that sound good to you?"
"If I must..."
"Stay with Kin-liver."
He turned tail and flew off toward the small forest on the island where he last remembered seeing a grove of Dragonsbane.
Valka slowly stepped over to the female now that it was only the two of them. She again lifted her hands to gently hold the female's chin, but she paused when the female barely shied away from her and did not meet her gaze for long.
"You poor thing, I can only imagine what you went through. For any dragon to endure that is terrible, but especially one of you... I will do what I can for your wings."
The dragon blinked at her and gave a wary grumble before looking away again.
"Right, you do not understand me. We will look out for you. He will, I will... Well, let me see those wings again."
The female did not hum in faint pleasure as she softly stroked her wings, unlike almost all other dragons she had ever groomed in this way. But the dragon did not further shy away or give any clear sign of renewed distress.
It gave her a chance to think again about the strangeness of this new dragon.
You must be a relative of Night Furies. You look a bit different from Green-Wings even aside from color.
She was still slowly inspecting the wings, planning the surgery, and gently rolling her fingers over the thin wing membrane when Shadowwing returned with a slice of the potent grass in paw.
"Here, eat a little of this long-tooth-grass, and we will help your wings while you sleep," he conveyed.
Amazingly, she munched on the grass without hesitation and immediately became sleepy. She started blinking rapidly and went down on her belly outside the tent.
"Stay... no..." she weakly mumbled.
She was asleep in moments.
"All right, that was the easy part. I'm glad that we didn't have to scratch under her chin, she would not have liked that. Actually, I don't even know if that works for a Light Fury," Valka groaned.
His soft and confused warble asked the question for him.
"Skald and I decided to call her a Light Fury. Neither of us had ever heard of or seen one of her kind before, so making a name seemed right."
He hummed softly at the title and nodded in satisfaction.
She called herself a light wing
Close enough
"Really? What a coincidence. Yeah, and Fury will make it clear that there is still a family resemblance, I suppose."
His solemn croon turned the moment mellow as he recalled something else that was fair to tell her.
She forgot her name
Valka stared at the words.
"I remember things like that from long ago. Someone gets hit hard enough on the head in a raid or a duel and they forget who they are. Sometimes it all comes back with enough time."
She looked back at the wings held out before them both.
"It is time."
She pulled out a finely sharpened knife and got to work on the scar tissue. He winced and looked away as she did what had to be done. It was tricky and slightly bloody work, but the dragon never once moved from her deep slumber.
He helped Valka by gently holding each of the wings out in turn so that she could do her work, first the careful removing of the worst scarring and the longer task of sewing the reopened cuts together. It was slow going, sliding the fine needle and string through the wing membrane and holding the mass together with cross-stitches. She remained standing or on her knees the entire time, threading string through the eye of the needle and through the wing. Over and over and over again until finally the tear was gone.
It had to have taken over an hour when Valka finally stepped back and stood up. She still frowned in displeasure as she inspected her own work.
"Ok, that is all I can do for that wing."
He stepped over to look at her work and stared in amazement at first, thinking that they had somehow been made perfect again. But he noticed the jagged edges and the small thread that wove in and out of the wing skin. And there was understandably a bit of blood.
"It might help a lot if they could be licked. Healing properties, you know..." Valka slowly added.
He inhaled and froze, knowing that it was definitely true but something else felt invasive about it. She had no ability to tell him that she did not mind him touching her. Especially considering all that she had been through. But for her own good, he knew what had to be done and was able to set aside his reservations.
He carefully stepped closer and licked all along the length of the open wing where the cuts had been sewn back together. He could taste the tang of her blood and was thoroughly sickened by it. Finally, it was finished, and he turned aside to spit out all the foul taste that he could.
The entire process was repeated for the other wing until Valka stepped back with the procedure complete while he licked the sewn cuts.
"Done. She is still out and might be for a while. I will go find out what the plan is now. Will you stay here for when she wakes up?"
Yes, he nodded, and she left to speak with the Chief.
He lay down to rest across from the female while waiting for Valka to return with news. The Light Fury remained peacefully asleep with her head on her arms. It was such a wonderful change from how nervous and afraid she seemed while awake.
What is your story?. What is your name? Where are you from? How did they catch you?
He blinked.
Actually, there are probably some things better left alone.
Valka returned some time later with news.
"Everyone else is eager to leave for Haven and will be ready to leave in the morning."
But what about her?
We cannot leave her here
She nodded.
"I told them all about her and that she cannot fly. They said that they could make room on the boat to carry her and a few more supplies from here to Haven. They didn't want to give up a perfectly good boat, after all. But I do not know the way. They will need a guide."
I think I need to go with her on the boat
And I could also guide it there
She thought for a moment on their predicament.
"Could Was-Grounded and Green-Wings lead us instead?"
That is a good idea. And I really should see them again as soon as I can.
I will get them
You stay with her?
She nodded.
He stepped aside and flew up around the ice nest without going inside. Parts of it were already melted enough that they were collapsing. It would be too dangerous to go back inside now.
Sure enough, he spotted his brother, Green-Wings, and Dawn-Singer resting down the coast well away from where any of the fighting had happened. He was attacked by an eager fledgling as soon as he landed.
"Shadowwing, play now!"
Dawn-Singer leapt through the air and tackled his head with a happy roar. He play-growled back at the eager little Fury.
"I am a Monster, and Monsters eat little fledglings!"
He jumped and lunged at Dawn-Singer with a wide open and very toothless maw. Dawn-Singer dodged the slow strike and flapped squealing back to his mother's side.
"Dam! Get bad Monster!"
She bent down toward her little one.
"What if I am a Monster also?" she huffed.
"You are my dam. You are not a Monster. Maybe a licking Monster..." he hummed back at her with his very round eyes.
All three adults chuckled before Shadowwing remembered his reason for finding them. It was also very heartwarming to see them again, and he bounded up and butted heads with his brother.
"The two-legs and kin will make their flight to the new range, but they need flight-leaders. I will go on another water-walker with the Light Fury. Can you and Green-Wings lead the flight?"
Was-Grounded and Green-Wings looked at each other in momentary surprise.
"Light Fury? Is that her kin-type-name the two-legs use?" Green-Wings asked.
"Yes."
"It is a good name. We can lead the flight. When are they flying?" Was-Grounded asked.
"They fly when the sun hatches."
"We will be there. How is the new Light Fury now?" Green-Wings asked.
"She is sleeping. We gave her long-tooth-grass so that she would sleep while Kin-liver made her wings be good again. There was some life-water that had to be spilled."
"I want to greet this female later," she rumbled.
Shadowwing nodded and flew back to Valka's hut. She left upon his arrival to begin packing and help with other preparations. He returned to the female's side and rested long there before she finally started to stir. This time though he understood that he should try to avoid startling her.
"Are you awake?" he kindly rumbled from a distance.
She opened her eyes and grumbled as she blinked away her sleep. She seemed to remember where she was and what had happened and immediately looked at her now folded wings. She gave an audible gasp when she saw them.
"Slowly... they will need much time, many moon-cycles, to get strong. This will help the wings heal well," he explained.
She stared closely at the very small vines woven through the wings and apparently holding the old cuts together.
"What must I do?" she whispered, almost in disbelief.
"Wait. Let the wing-skin grow together, and you probably must work your wings much to make them strong again."
He paused before continuing.
"Most of the two-legs and kin are leaving this dying island to fly to a new place. A range where I, Was-Grounded, and Green-Wings nested before we came here."
"What about you?" she nervously asked.
"They are my nest, my flock, and I will go with them. You should come with us. They will let you on another water-walker."
"Another one?" she groaned.
"You cannot stay here. This island and nest is dying and rotted with death. You cannot hunt, and you need help until you can fly again."
She slowly and cautiously folded her wings away.
"Are you sure that I will fly again?" she whispered.
"Yes, you heard that my egg-mate... was grounded in the past, and he became sky-hatched again because of a two-leg who helped him and because he has a strong liver. I will come with you on the water-walker if it makes you feel safer."
She gave a very soft and wary hum.
"It would. I do not know these two-legs except for the Kin-liver. You said that they are your nest, what do you mean by that?"
"I lived as a hatchling among them."
Her eyes went wide in amazement and narrowed in evident disbelief.
"No, that cannot be."
"Yes, it is. Their old nest was warm to kin and both lived as one nest."
She looked down at the ground.
"You trust the two-legs much?"
"Some more than others. I trust Kin-liver very, very much. I trust her with my back and wings, but she is not a kin-bond two-leg to me. Others of them are good and warm, but I do not trust as much as her. You do not need to fear any of them here. They are here because they fought for kin and... lost their nest-island."
"What? How did they lose it?"
"It burned," he whined.
"How?"
"I… do not want to talk about it. That hurts much because it was also my nest-island once."
She stared over at the words he had written.
"And the ground-shapes that you were making?" she wondered.
"Those are… picture-words. That is how I talk to them. They do not hear my words from my mouth."
She looked down in complete confusion and pawed at the shapes.
"They look only like claw-scratchings to me."
"They do to all when they first start to learn. An adult could laugh at a nestling who tries to fly but all had to start learning when they knew nothing."
"Are you saying that I am a nestling?"
"At two-leg picture-writing, yes. Was-Grounded knows a little but not as much as I do. And talking about him and his mate Green-Wings..."
He looked up into the air, and she looked as well. Her eyes went wide in amazement when she saw the small flight. Two dark wing adults and one fledgling threw out their wings, landed next to them both, and approached.
It had been an unknowable numbers of sun, moon, and season-cycles of not seeing another kin like her in any way and now there were four others here with to her. It was almost too much to believe and made her liver feel warm with both comfort and wariness.
The other female, well-named Green-Wings, walked up to her and began to examine her, sniffing and softly nudging her. It was not threatening the way the dark wing was greeting her, but she watched the other dark wing's progress regardless. While it inspected her, she did the same to it. It only smelled of one two-leg, the Kin-liver. More importantly though she could smell the other male, Was-Grounded, on her. Was-Grounded and Green-Wings were indeed mates, and Green-Wings was very heavy with an egg.
"Your wings?" Green-Wings exclaimed when she saw the old tears.
"Two-legs grounded me and cut my wings," she hissed.
"But Kin-liver helped you. I have seen that good two-leg make better many wings from thralled and grounded kin when this nest was living," Green-Wings hummed.
Dawn-Singer stepped away from his father. He sniffed at her, blinked quickly, and made up his mind.
"Light-wing not-dam!"
He hopped with a quick flap up onto the female's back and perched there. She froze and cowered to the ground in evident alarm.
"What?" Shadowwing asked.
"I... have their little one... they will hurt me."
"No, we will not. You are not a Monster-kin," Was-Grounded reassured her after warily glancing at Shadowwing.
"No? What... what is his name?" she nervously asked.
"I am Dawn-Singer!" the fledgling happily trilled.
"Why that name?"
"He liked to sing at the new suns when he was a hatchling," Was-Grounded answered.
She warily looked around at the fledgling, apparently without a care in the skies, as he perched on her back.
"Will you take your fledgling back?"
"I have a name!" Dawn-Singer hissed indignantly.
"Little one, fly here," Was-Grounded beckoned.
Dawn-Singer reluctantly flapped over to his sire-father's head and perched there.
"I am not little!" he grumbled.
She gave a soft chuckle as Was-Grounded crossed his eyes to look at the tail draped over his face.
"Night is flying to us. We are going to sleep before making the long flight," Green-Wings remarked.
Shadowwing turned to her.
"Do you need anything now?"
"More fish would be good," she answered.
"I will take you to the fish."
She saw where he was looking, deeper into the makeshift village, and did not like it. There was a lot of activity with two-legs walking about and carrying things in preparation for the upcoming flight.
"Are the fish... with the other two-legs?"
"Yes."
"I am not much hungry," she mumbled.
"They will not-"
He sighed.
"I will bring you the fish instead."
"I would like that more."
She turned away from them and slowly walked up the beach while keeping her distance from any other two-legs and kin.
Was-Grounded walked up to his brother's side as they both watched the white female depart from them and nervously walk the shore alone.
"She is very cold in her liver," he observed.
"Will she ever be warm again?" Shadowwing whispered.
"We can help her and lick her hurts, but she will need her own life-fire and wings to hold her up on the winds of life."
Was-Grounded turned and gave his brother another soft head bump and nose nuzzle.
"And you?"
"Life is one sun-cycle at a time now," Shadowwing mumbled back.
"You said that you will go on the water-walker to keep her safe and to guide the two-legs to the new range."
"Yes, I will."
Was-Grounded hummed, clearly considering something.
"That will be a water-flight of many suns from here. You will need to help the two-legs get fish for food. Do you know how to get fish with your fire?"
Shadowwing blinked in surprise at having something so obvious pointed out to him.
"No, I have never used fire to hunt fish. I do not know how I flamed the Monster great-tusk. I... did without thinking."
Was-Grounded chuckled at him and huffed in amusement.
"You stopped fouling your attack-flight by not thinking much. Getting fish is less dangerous. First, you let your fire-air into your mouth. Let it mix with mouth-water and roll the mix into a ball with your tongue. The small burning fire-sun will hit the water very fast and dive deep. The fire-sun... makes a wave of water-wind that kills the fish. The fish float up on the water and you grab them."
Shadowwing's ears stayed very high as he hummed in thought.
"How do you know all that?"
"My sire talked to me much when I was a hatchling and only thinking about stretching my wings. And that is how I would put the flight into words for you."
"I will try."
"Learn by doing on the flight," Was-Grounded happily hummed.
Shadowwing forced back a faint grin and took to the sky, flying out over the sea. There were no fish in the water right now that he could see, but practice was all he truly needed at the moment.
Ok, how hard can this be? Should be simple from how he described it.
He followed directions as closely as he could, gathered the gas in his maw, tried to roll the mixture into a sphere, and shot at the water. The first try only collided with the water like an impact on rock and did nothing. The second try was almost the complete opposite and dove so deeply that he saw no visible effect on the surface. The third try was the happy medium between the two, a small ball of fire that dove into the water, apparently collapsed on itself under the surface, and caused a small eruption of water and a visible shockwave.
Got it. That is not so hard. Ok, so fish.
There were no visible fish anywhere in the waters from what he could see.
Maybe the King had to dive deep to find the fish. Or maybe they are only much further away from land. Oh well, I know what to do now.
He turned his flight back to land and flew toward the people still packing supplies. He landed, briefly explained his request, and was handed three large, fresh fish which he carried in his mouth. There were also many dragons around, and they were all attentively looking at him in some way. The ones closest to him even bowed their heads or made warm croons as he passed.
Swarmed by adoring fans... lovely. Gods, that feels strange. As long as they do not start bringing me tributes of fish from their bellies and expecting me to eat.
He took to the air again and searched the shore for the hungry dragon, eventually spotting her much further down the shore. She was completely alone and was looking up at the sky. He made sure that his flight was in her line of sight so as to not spook her as he glided toward her.
No words were necessary when he landed and slowly walked up to her with the three large fish dangling from his mouth. She almost seemed to inhale them in her hunger, quite belying her previous words.
"Those were good fish, not like the bad, almost-rotted ones I have eaten for many sun-cycles."
"The two-legs have many fish that they want to share with their kin," he answered.
She softly rumbled and looked away from him, preferring to stare out at the sunset.
"I will go back to my nest-kin. Do you want to join us for warmth?" he offered.
She shivered and said nothing to him for a while.
"No Shadowwing, I will find my own place to sleep."
What is the matter? However you want it though, I guess.
"Do not go far, you know where to find us if you need us."
He threw out his wings and flew back to the other Furies. Only his brother was still awake, clearly waiting for his return, with Green-Wings and Dawn-Singer at his side under a wing.
The other wing was immediately lifted for him, and he did not hesitate as he fell in under it.
"Is she coming here also to sleep?" Was-Grounded whispered.
"No, I gave her fish, but she wants to be alone."
A moment of relative silence followed as the only sounds were the occasional distant calls of dragons, the breaths of the sleepers nearby, the far lapping waves, and a chill evening wind.
Everything crashed down on Shadowwing anew all at once, perhaps brought on by the lack of having anything to distract his thoughts or the weariness of a long day, and he hung his head on the sands with a weak sob. As always, there were no tears.
A chin rested on his neck along with a peaceful and comforting hum. It was a song with no words and yet was comforting and soothing all the same.
His heart slowed, his eyes grew heavy, and a calm haze started to descend over his thoughts as he fell asleep.
Slowly and warily she walked along the beach until she found a big rock with a partly hidden cove she could back into for safety. There were fewer blind spots with the rock protecting her from behind.
She stared down the beach toward where the other dark wings were surely piled together in group peace and warmth.
It dragged claws of ice across her liver to see such warmth. To see Was-Grounded and Green-Wings be so warm to the other. To see good life-mates who make the other's liver glow with shared warmth and whose eyes burn with life and care for their mate and for their young.
So different from the bad-wrong, no-life-making, not-be-one, false-joining that the Monster-two-legs had tried to force on her. It was not hard to think about the why behind what they tried to have done to her.
To have her make eggs for more thrall-kin.
She bared her teeth at the total wrong-badness. Kin should be hatched to a good, warm sire and dam out in the wild and away from the Monsters that would put them in traps, make them carry things, and break their life-fires. A kin that lived from being a hatchling looking to two-legs and needing them was less of a kin. It was a life-thrall without even knowing it.
I will never be a thrall again.
She clenched at the sand underneath her as she paced in a small circle. To sleep properly in a warmed place where the heat could sooth her belly would be good.
She parted her jaws while bending toward the sand and... nothing happened. There was not even a drip of not-burning fire-air.
I have not been eating enough to make fire. I hope that is why I cannot flame.
It certainly felt like a reason that had lift, but there was also another, far more bad reason. What if this was deeper than only not eating enough? What if her inner-fire was truly dead?
…The winds of life will be very warm to you, I know this, my sky-light...
She blinked in confusion at the remembered thought-voice.
What?
No answer or explanation came before she closed her eyes and vanished under her wings, quickly falling asleep shortly thereafter. Her last thought before falling asleep was that this would be the first time in her memory that she would sleep not on cold rock and not on a two-leg water-walker.
And that was very good.
Dawn came as Shadowwing awoke to a nudge on his shoulder.
"Brother, wake up," Was-Grounded whispered.
"Mmmmm, what is it?"
"Open your eyes and see."
Shadowwing did so and stared in amazement, quickly shaking himself awake. Dozens of dragons were being attended to by their riders and being fitted with supplies. Crates were being roped to bellies or hung from cables. Scores more dragons with riders and without were already gliding on the morning winds.
Now that is amazing.
He flew a short flight down the coast and noticed Valka and the rescued female waiting for him across from a boat. Where she had gone to during the night he did not know. The ship already had several volunteers manning the deck and ferrying salvaged supplies onboard.
"There you are, sleepy head!" Valka shouted.
Really mom? You had to say that?
"Everyone is ready to leave. This is quite something."
He found a patch of sand.
How long will the trip take on boat?
"I would say just over a week from what you've told me about how long the flight is."
She stepped over to him and embraced his head.
"I will see you around, son. Stay strong," she whispered.
He returned a purr and a brief hug.
You too
Dragonheart
She walked back to Cloudjumper, mounted him, and took to the sky. The other Furies down the beach also jumped aloft. Was-Grounded flew over in front of the flight, hovered for a moment, and roared aloud in command. All the other dragons and riders as well rose from the sands and joined the flight over the next minutes. All the remaining dragons that had lived at the ice nest and those that had been liberated from Drago's army joined them in the skies, many leaving their metal armor that they had been imprisoned within behind on the sands. It was a spinning, glorious mass of wings and voices. Several hundred dragons had to have taken to the skies.
The Furies and Cloudjumper took the head of the flight and led it out over the sea toward the northeast. The rainbow cloud of dragons left the island behind and grew ever more distant as the sounds of the flight faded.
"That was... I never in all my most twisted sleep-visions thought I would see something like that," the female gasped.
"It does put a warmth in the liver."
"Warmth? I do not know about that," she grumbled.
A few moments passed as they listened to the sounds around them. To the empty silence of no roars, calls, trills, and buzzing of wings.
"We should get on the water-walker now, they are waiting for us," he eventually groaned.
They walked out the pier and one at a time hopped up onto the ship's deck. The ship had an assortment of supplies down in the hold now, mostly random things salvaged from other shipwrecks and the aftermath of the battle. And there were a few more people onboard this time, including-
"Well, long time no see," Skald chuckled.
Indeed, you would be one to volunteer again, Legs... Any opportunity to be around Furies, I guess.
Having nothing to write on, he settled for laying a paw on Skald's shoulder and nodding to him with a happy hum.
"Awe shucks, anything to help you and our amazing, beautiful new friend here. Terrible what was happening to her."
They both turned to her. She had taken up the same place that had before, up at the vessel's bow so that she could keep a wary eye on everyone and everything happening around her.
"It's going to be a while on this ship, maybe a week. You might want to tell her to get comfortable. And since she cannot fly you might want to... tell her how to... you know... take care of... business... over the side of the ship..."
Skald for a moment looked like the awkward youth he remembered from many years ago.
Yeah, agreed. That is important to make clear now before it is an issue.
He nodded back to Skald.
"Alright men! Let go! Make sail!" Skald shouted.
The crew got to work and had the ship sailing into the northeast, following in the direction that a flock of dragons had flown just minutes ago.
Shadowwing slowly walked up to the ship's bow where she was already curled up and warily watching the proceedings.
"How are you?" he asked.
"This feels very twisted to be on a water-walker and be around two-legs again. I wish that I did not need to be on this thing."
"The two-leg flight-leader wanted me to tell you... to..." he fumbled his words.
"What?"
He looked up at the skies and groaned softly.
"Relieve yourself off the water-walker so there is no mess here."
She blinked and huffed.
"I can do that."
"Let me know if you need anything," he mumbled.
"I will," she hummed before vanishing under a white wing.
He walked down the ship and stood up on the ship's stern to gaze upon the ice nest one last time. It was falling apart in places now with great spires of ice having already collapsed. The massive and beautiful nest where he had lived for two years and that had been good and wholesome was now empty.
There were no colors spinning on the winds over the island. There were no shapes floating freely on the skies without a care in the world. The only color now visible on the island was the green from the few remaining trees and the shine from all the fallen dragon bodies where they still lay.
The island of life had turned to death.
I never want to come back here again.
He hung his head and trembled as he remembered all of it again. Meeting the King for the first time, finding a strange woman in the nest, learning who she really was, many missions to thwart the trappers, bringing his brother and family back there, the arrival of the other tribes, meeting Astrid again, confronting his father, his own prideful stupidity from his thinking that he was a special savior, and all the loss and senseless destruction that followed.
It was all still too near and painful.
How do I move on from something this terrible? This deep?
He glanced back across the ship at the dozing female hidden under her white wings.
At least I have someone else to think about in the meanwhile.