"In Wildness is the preservation of the world." - Henry David Thoreau - Walking
Wild At Heart
Finally, that is all taken care of.
Shadowwing gave a heavy sigh and sat down on the comfortable perch to finally enjoy a relaxing moment of-
"Hey! Shadowwing!"
Great, now what?
He hung his head and looked down at another villager shouting up to him.
"Shadowwing, there is a fight by the Agmundsons!" the woman shouted up at him.
He growled in frustration.
I swear. Nothing happens in this village without me hearing about it!
He hopped from the perch. His flight was quick as he spun and twisted through the busy, filled, and very loud sky.
He arrived and saw the source of the commotion. A bonded female Nadder was sitting patiently inside its stable while several wild male Nadders hissed and displayed at each other outside the stable.
Really? You can see that she is not interested!
Apparently not, as one of the males decided that it would be best to start flaming stuff to show off how dominant it was.
That involved setting fire to the nearest house.
Here we go again.
His own shot flew straight up and exploded in a bright flash visible throughout the village. He started counting after touching down and roaring to break up the gathering.
"No fire!"
All the male Nadders grumbled, but they turned away and flew off to somewhere else.
Absolutely unacceptable, they were wild ones though, so there is that. The ones from Berk or the other tribes are not so problematic. And twenty five seconds... not bad.
The fire response team appeared in the air, swooped down, and emptied several buckets of water on the burning house. There were always buckets available and ready for use within about a twenty second flight from any point in the village.
Standard fire safety protocol to the rescue. They have been very good after the last incident.
He flew up, landed on the nearest unoccupied perch, and gave a heavy sigh.
Finally, a moment of rest. Terrible Terrors are singing from the rooftops and-
There was an explosion from the other side of the village. He stared, mouth agape, for several seconds before he leapt into action.
What in Thor's name is going on?
She was hunting again. It was a frustrating and liver-chilling thing in the past, but she now carried more hope in her liver and strength in her wings and sharp claws as well.
The four-leg prey brayed wildly and almost flew toward the trees in its haste to escape. That was how her last hunts had failed. But she was not grounded and clawless now.
She beat her wings and hurled herself through the air. Her claws sank into the prey's hide, and she tackled it to the ground. Her teeth pierced and snapped its neck. The prey went still in her teeth.
A wingbeat passed, and she stepped back from the dead prey and caught her breath. The life-water dripped from her teeth and claws before she licked the good taste away. And the growl of triumph burst forth unbidden at the victorious, successful hunt. At her first kill in her new-life memory.
"I am a hunter! You hear me, prey!" she roared to the sky and surrounding forest.
She blinked and caught her breath.
"I am not weak prey," she whispered to herself.
There was nothing left but empty bones and the carefully carved off fur-hide when she was finished with her catch. She turned for her cave-den with a filled belly and a glowing liver. The flight was slow and relaxing, but she was unconcerned now.
She remembered her first successful hunt long ago under her dam's watchful blue eyes. A smaller four-leg with sharp hooves had kicked her in the chest as she pinned it, but she still killed it even after losing a few scales. The lost scales grew back in time, but the warmth of catching and eating without any direct help from her sire or dam had reminded her of how much she was growing. That she could hunt and kill even with her color that spoke so loudly to most prey. Being very fast on the wing helped much with the hunt.
She glanced up at the sky above and wondered at where that good world was. Such details were always shadowed in her memory.
Where are you?
That knowledge of where she was from always remained beyond her grasp.
Shadowwing was waiting for her with his two-leg fish-carrying thing when she arrived in the sky over her den. He bellowed aloud in amazement as she approached, and he jumped for the sky as well and flew towards her.
It was a fast flight straight at her, and for one instant her warmed liver felt a chill. This was the new-life-season, and there was no way to know what fire was burning in his liver. Would he hurl himself at her to claim her? Force her from the sky and onto the ground? Try to make her-
She growled softly at herself.
No, he promised.
He angled himself to spin in at her side and started gliding alongside her.
"Luna! You are flying!" he joyfully shouted.
She roared aloud to answer his shout and started spiraling softly on the warm air. Her full belly and sleep-wanting meant that she did not want to play at all. But there was some liver-warmth to be in the sky with him gliding nearby.
The warm moment gradually passed, and she dove for her den. He landed behind her and eagerly bounded up to her.
"You can fly now!"
"Yes, I touched the clouds again. My false-flying in the cave-den made the wings strong again. And Kin-liver... and all that you did," she warmly hummed.
He gave her a very warm and satisfied hum, and appeared curious about something.
"Luna, what happened?"
"What?" she happily rumbled.
"You have a filled belly, and there is life-water on you."
She paused at that and blinked in alarm.
"Where?" she hissed.
"On your neck. Right here," he tapped his own neck in a place with his tail.
"Grr, I cannot lick that. I will clean it later."
"What was your hunt? You did not eat a two-leg, I hope," he chuckled.
"No, but I wonder if they would taste good. Probably not, not much meat on them. At least not on most of them. Maybe I will chase a bigger one."
He quickly gained a slightly worried look as she toothily grinned at him. At least, she thought that is what his odd, half teeth showing and swept ears probably meant.
"Luna... I..." he warily grumbled.
It is warming to twist his liver.
Her tail's eager swaying likely betrayed her.
"Relax, I do not see the two-legs as food. I caught a no-horn four-leg. A big one. I only left bones and fur."
He hummed at that and was clearly pleased.
"You caught your own prey again. How did you catch it?"
She held out her wings and growled.
"You caught it with your flying!" he warmly growled.
"Yes! My wings are strong now, and I can use them in my hunts!"
He did not bother stilling his swaying tail or hiding his hum on her behalf.
"That is very good!"
He grumbled while tugging at his fish-carrying thing.
"You do not need these fish anymore."
"No, there is no place to put them in my belly. I need much sleep after that good hunt. You can eat those fish."
He gave her another happy hum.
"I will. I said that your wings would hold you in the sky again."
"Yes, you did. What is happening in your two-leg nest?"
He rolled his shoulders and glanced down the ridge.
"Not much. They are living and making. Making tree-dens for themselves and their bond-kin. They are growing plants for eating. They are flying for liver-warmth with their bond-kin."
She shivered at the thought.
"I will never understand how that can be liver-warming," she mumbled.
"The no two-leg bond-kin are making problems," he added.
"Making problems?" she wondered.
"Fighting with each other for mates and perches. Trying to show others how strong and big they are. Claiming territory using waste and taking food. Making fires of other's dens."
She tilted her head in thought.
"That sounds like they are only being wild, free kin."
He seemed to grumble softly at her words, and he hummed softly with what to him was clearly an important question on his mind.
"Do you want to go down to the two-leg nest and see it all now?"
"No," she firmly answered.
"No, why not?" he groaned.
She answered with a faint snarl.
"They are two-legs. They are not and will not be as kin to me."
He shrank slightly at that and stared at the ground.
"Why..."
He paused and went silent as he shuffled on his paws.
"What, Shadowwing?"
"Why will you not let any of them close to your liver? They are not all bad."
She narrowed her eyes at him and gave a faint growl.
"Why are you trying to change me and tell me how to live?" she growled.
"No, I want you happier and warmer. Holding fear in your liver does not help warm you."
She got up and crept closer to him until she could feel his breath. Her eyes never left his.
"How about this, Shadowwing? You have two-legs catch you, hold you as a thrall, starve you, and cut your wings to ground you. Have the two-legs bring thrall-kin-males to climb on you and pin you and try to force-mate you..."
She softly snarled.
"... and after you have lived what I have lived and flown my life-winds you can tell me what I should think and do and feel!"
He whined softly and stepped back from her with his eyes downcast. Nothing more was said for a very long time.
"Forgive me, Luna," he weakly whispered.
"You cannot know how my life hurt. How could you understand?" she hissed.
He looked away from her and stared out over the trees.
"I... I understand being chilled and hurt deep to the liver. To have claws of ice tear at you. Not how you were hurt, but in a very bad way of my own," he eventually groaned.
Her anger dimmed and was replaced with more confusion.
"How? You are an Alpha of that twisting range and of many, many kin. You were not grounded. You have fire. You have all your nest-kin with you. How are you hurt? What have you lost?"
He stepped further away and fanned his wings without looking over at her.
"Almost everything."
He flew off without looking back. She watched his quick departure while complete confusion nibbled at her tail.
You lost almost everything? What? I know that you saw much grounding and death at the island with the ice nest, but why do you care about the dead two-legs? What are they to you? What is so twisted about you?
Her tail slowly swayed behind her as she watched him fly off.
There is something about him. I have to know now. Maybe Was-Grounded and Green-Wings know and can tell me.
But she felt very heavy and sleepy after the flying and successful hunt.
After I sleep off this hunt.
Even so and after she lay down in her den, there was something twisting in her thinking. There was one two-leg, the Kin-liver, who indeed had done a very good thing for her. It seemed good to do something good for the Kin-liver and to give Kin-liver thanks the one way she knew how.
Aurora's youthful, hatchling life-fire was starting to become tiring to Was-Grounded. She would spend much time bounding around the cave-den, trying to run up walls, or nipping at his tail and ears. It was tiring but very liver-warming. She greately enjoyed play-fighting with Dawn-Singer. That contributed to Dawn-Singer wanting to be out of the cave-den and learning the picture-talking with Shadowwing. Fortunately for himself, Aurora had burned off much of her hatchling life-fire for this sun and was sleeping snug between his arms and against his chest. This was one of Green-Wings's special suns of not having any little one duties at all.
Shadowwing and Dawn-Singer returned from another part sun of learning the picture-words.
"How is the learning?"
"Head twisting..." Dawn-Singer mumbled.
His little one lifted one of his forepaws and wiggled one claw.
"And tiring."
Shadowwing laughed deeply in amusement.
"He is flying higher at this flight than he says. He has a good head and learns fast, very not like his sire."
Was-Grounded groaned and rolled his eyes while Dawn-Singer blinked in amazement.
"You tried to learn the picture-talking, sire?"
"Yes, but the learning did not stay much in my head."
"Why not?" he hummed.
"I never had a true reason to want to talk with two-legs. Why do you?"
"Kin-liver is part of the nest. And the other two-legs make my liver warm when I see them. Sire, why do the other kin have two-legs on their backs?"
The brothers shared a quiet look.
"Some of them are doing work where they need their two-legs to help them. Others fly to warm their livers together," Was-Grounded eventually answered.
"Why? Do two-legs want to fly much?" Dawn-Singer asked with his eyes very wide in eagerness.
"I will let you pin this question, Shadowwing," Was-Grounded chuckled.
Shadowwing lay down next to Dawn-Singer and put a wing over his young nephew.
"They do. They always look up to the sky and wish that they had wings so that they could fly with the birds and the kin."
Dawn-Singer gave a sad hum before he answered.
"Not having wings is bad. Being grounded is bad. Two-legs must be very strong in their livers to always be grounded and live with warmth."
"They would learn to fly, but they do not have wings. We can help them with that and share our wings with them," Shadowwing softly hummed.
Dawn-Singer's eyes brightened and his tail twitched with a clear question.
"Sire, did you ever have a two-leg fly with you?"
Was-Grounded closed his eyes and gave a very happy hum.
"Yes, I did. He was the warmest of all the two-legs to any kin."
"Where is he? I want to lick him!"
The brothers again solemnly looked at each other.
"He is not here now, little one," Was-Grounded whispered.
Dawn-Singer's happy grin and purr faded very quickly.
"He went away? Why would your two-leg go away?"
Shadowwing bent down and nuzzled his nephew's cheek.
"No, he did not go away. He did not... try to leave your sire's life-flight. That would be much bad."
"Where is he? Two-legs and kin are like nestmates, yes?"
"Mine was," Was-Grounded whispered.
"So where is he?" Dawn-Singer implored.
"He died, my little one."
"Your two-leg died?" Dawn-Singer blinked in disbelief.
"In a way, yes," Was-Grounded shrugged his shoulders.
Dawn-Singer gave his saddest hum yet.
"And you did not want another?"
"No, I do not need or want another. No two-leg could ever take the place he had... has in my liver."
"That is much sad, sire. What about you, Shadowwing? Did you ever have a bond two-leg?" Dawn-Singer slowly looked up at him.
"No, I never had a bond two-leg and I will not. It is different for me. I might share my back and wings with one for a time and for a flight, but none of them will ever be a bond two-leg to me."
"Do you not hold them close to your liver?"
"I do, Dawn-Singer. We Night Furies are not like the other kin. We need more from two-legs than only fish, scale scratching, or places to sleep. We are not kin with smaller heads inside and good but... smaller thoughts."
Shadowwing continued the explanation while looking up at his brother.
"Only a two-leg who could look at one of us and see themselves could deserve to have a life-bond with us. One who could see a like-life-flame burning in both."
Dawn-Singer hummed to himself.
"Maybe I will get a two-leg to be like a nestmate, a true bond two-leg."
Was-Grounded spoke up at that.
"Maybe in many future cycles, my little one. Letting a two-leg into your liver is not an easy choice or one you should do without much thinking and trust. Much learning and sharing of life must happen first. Even two-legs can break that trust-"
Shadowwing began to speak, but a look from Was-Grounded silenced him.
"It is not safe to let any close to your liver, but with the same wing-beat holding no other close to your liver can let rot grow in your liver. You have season-cycles before you must think about such things, my little one," Was-Grounded finished.
"Little one..." Dawn-Singer huffed and rolled his eyes.
"I do not know about little one either. I think you are bigger than your sire was with as many seasons as you have," Shadowwing teased, much to Dawn-Singer's delight.
Was-Grounded only huffed and was about to speak when Green-Wings landed outside the cave and dashed inside. She spied the four of them closely curled up together and noticed that Shadowwing was immediately available. She deposited a couple fish in the middle of the den and dashed over to the small group.
"Shadowwing, will you stay here and watch our little ones?"
"Yes, why?"
"The sun is warm, and I am warm with fire in my liver. I am going on a long flight with my mate, if he wants to fly with me," she hummed.
She nipped Was-Grounded's ears, stroked his neck with her tail, and dashed away from him with an eager growl.
Shadowwing laughed heartily, knowing easily where this was going.
I guess it is that time of the year for them.
"Go on, brother, you have... flying to do."
Was-Grounded paused only long enough to carefully set Aurora down on the ground without waking her. He hit Shadowwing on the head with his tail as he bounded out the den and took to the sky in his chase after Green-Wings.
"Where are sire and dam going?" Dawn-Singer asked.
Uh, I am definitely not having this talk with him.
"They are going flying."
"But I can fly," Dawn-Singer exclaimed as he shot to his feet.
"Not now you cannot."
"No? Why not!"
Shadowwing carefully got up without disturbing the sleeping Aurora. He crouched down and wiggled his hindquarters in play.
"Because I am a hungry Monster."
He leapt at Dawn-Singer and easily overturned his squealing nephew. The battle was joined as they dashed around the den until he finally pinned his nephew after letting him burn off a lot of energy. And he was furiously licking Dawn-Singer's belly until the fledgling burst out in laughter and tried to kick himself to safety.
"Mmmonns...terrrr... hhhelllpp...!"
"No, this Monster got you!"
He blinked and lifted his head at a surprising pinch on his tail. He spun around and saw little Aurora awake and furiously nibbling at his tail.
"Aurora!"
She hummed and grinned up at him without letting go. He felt another, harder pinch on his ear as Dawn-Singer had quickly recovered himself and pounced.
Ouch! That one hurts!
He only groaned as his head was dragged down to the ground to avoid ear injury. Dawn-Singer stood on his head and gave a soft roar of triumph.
"Yes, I have grounded the big-"
The paw found Dawn-Singer's chin. The young Fury collapsed on the ground before him in sleepy exhaustion moments later. Shadowwing curled his tail around his side and drew Aurora up next to his shoulder.
"Got you, Aurora."
She trilled happily without letting go. The same trick as worked on her brother worked on her, and he had a pair of dozing young Furies at his chest a moment later. He marveled at how fast they had grown. Dawn-Singer was now the size of a small pony and Aurora that of a big dog. He completely lost himself in the sounds of their slow, tired breaths as he covered them both with a wing. They both smelled of dear family, which they absolutely were.
I could get used to this.
She flew outside Was-Grounded's and Green-Wings's den and landed. She fully intended to call out to announce herself, as was appropriate whenever near another's den, when she heard the sounds of play within. Only a couple voices cried out from within though.
She slowly crept closer and beheld the great battle raging within. The Dawn-Singer fledgling and Aurora hatchling were both attacking Shadowwing in play. For his part he was being very cautious and gentle with them both.
Where are Was-Grounded and Green-Wings?
The battle ended with both the little ones being struck down and collapsing at his front. He covered them both with a wing, just as a sire would for his own young.
She blinked and looked away as she made the understanding.
He does think of them as his own because they are his egg-mate's little ones. He wants the nest to be bigger than only them, their sire, and dam. That is... strange and warming.
She turned to leave.
"Luna?" he softly called out to her.
Sky-breath, he saw me.
She turned around and looked back at him.
"May I come in their den?"
"Yes, please do."
She slowly entered and looked around the strange den. Something about it felt faintly pain-giving but liver-twistingly warm. This was a den that saw life, goodness, play, and liver-warmth. She stopped several paces from him and looked down at the little ones partly hidden under his wing. He moved the wing aside so that she could easily see them both. She had not yet seen the little female.
"And that little one is Aurora?" she hummed.
"Yes, her name means the sky-breath that is all colors of the sky," he whispered back.
"Does she have any scale or wing color?"
"Not yet. I do not know when she will, but she might be too small for any color now. She has eyes with some blue like you but also green."
She hummed softly at hearing that detail. He gave a deep sigh and lay down his head on the ground.
"I should not have tried to guide your flight. Your life-winds are yours to fly. I flew much of my life-flight trying to change how two-legs think about kin and that flight has become part of my life-winds."
"What? You want to change two-legs? Why?"
"I know how bad and good, how cold and warm they can be. Most of them do not know what kin truly are. They think we are only Monsters."
"They would know. I think they only take what is in their own livers and put that rot on kin," she growled.
"What?" he asked.
"The stories you told me in the cold-season. Two-legs think we hunt their female young, take their shiny rocks and fill our caves with it, and they think that our fire breath is something only a Monster would have."
"Yes."
"But I know that two-legs do those things. They take young from other nests or... force-mate other females, they fill their furs with shiny rocks, and they burn or turn their false-claws on their own."
His words of protest died when he realized that all that she said was absolutely true. He remembered the raiders that attacked Halvden's people, the merchant who abducted Toothless to sell, and another case in his own life when someone turned on another family member. And it was certainly true that dragon fire or power in all its forms was terrifying to many and had provoked stories of devils, demons, and various other Loki-spawn.
I guess I never thought about it that way before. You might be right.
"Why did you come up here to this cave-den?" he asked.
"I wanted to ask Was-Grounded and Green-Wings something," she looked away from him.
"What? I can ask them for you when they get back."
"No, I will ask them myself. Where are they?"
Uh, they are rather occupied at the moment. You probably don't want to know why.
"They wanted to go out flying for a while, hunting I think, and I said that I would stay here and play with their little ones. Does it warm your liver to see them?" he whispered as he again moved his wing out of the way.
She looked down at them as they peacefully slept. Dawn-Singer's eyes twitched beneath his eyelids.
"Yes, it does."
She slowly turned away toward the entrance to the cave.
"Luna?"
"Shadowwing?" she glanced back at him.
"You can fly well now. You should let Kin-liver take the small not-vines out of your wings."
She quickly glanced at the visible things in her wings. She could barely feel them at all now, but they definitely did not belong there anymore. They were not needed.
"Yes, they should come out soon. Will you bring Kin-liver to my cave-den later?"
He dipped his head to her.
"I will after they get back."
She turned back for the outside, walked out of the cave, and threw out her wings. He could not look away as he saw those white wings flash against the green and blue background as she left.
He still reflected long on what she had suggested after she had left. Specifically, he thought about her words such that when humans were horrified and fearful of dragons they could actually be projecting the worst of their own failings or temptations. It almost felt like a way of putting the blame for their own shortcomings elsewhere.
'Us' against 'them' thinking. They need to learn that there is no 'them' and that we are all in this life together. And some people can change. Not all of them though, I see that now. Do I ever. Some do not want to change and become something new.
He stayed there until both Was-Grounded and Green-Wings returned from their long flight. And, just as expected, they bounded over to their two little ones, curled up next to each other, and started nuzzling and licking each other.
He had a rather embarrassing idea as he stood nearby them both.
I don't actually know how often they... do that... or if they only do that in the sky. Yeah, I might want to start spending more time in my own cave around now just in case. Plus, I am doing more teaching there, and it might be good to actually live in my own cave. It is only a couple minutes away after all.
He glanced back at them as they were busily gnawing on the other's ears.
Maybe I could just ask them. I know that they don't feel any shame about it.
"Brother, Green-Wings?"
They briefly looked up at him.
"Are you two going to... be together... as mates here in your cave-den?" he stammered.
"Yes, we are mates. What twisted thinking is this?" she chuckled.
Was-Grounded gave a happy rumble and flashed his teeth.
"Or do you mean to ask are we going to mate in this den while you are here to see us?" he laughed.
"Yes, that-" Shadowwing mumbled.
"Like this?" Green-Wings chuckled again as she launched herself at her mate, tackled him, and they rolled together on the cave's floor.
Shadowwing turned tail on them and departed from the cave, though he thought he could hear teasing laughter.
It is time to take the stitches out
Luna is ready
"Are you sure? If we take them out too soon-" Valka worriedly asked.
She already flew
Maybe not the best idea
But yes she is ready
"Alright, where is she?"
Her cave
"I will get my tools."
He led her and Cloudjumper on the flight to Luna's cave, all the while thinking about how momentous this day would be. Getting the stitches taken out was like getting a cast taken off. A moment of finality and break with the past.
They smoothly landed outside the cave. Valka dismounted and gave Cloudjumper a pat on the snout before he left them. It was just the two of them calmly walking into Luna's cave.
Luna was waiting for them.
"I am ready. What must I do?" she asked.
"Hold out your wings so that Kin-liver can touch the small not-vines."
"What will she do?"
"She will break the not-vines and pull them out with care."
"Will it hurt?"
Good question.
Will it hurt her?
"Maybe only a little bit of a sting. Nothing that I imagine she could not lick herself," Valka answered.
He relayed as much to Luna who sighed in apparent relief. She held out a wing and turned away to not look.
It was slow work as Valka slowly snipped each stitch and carefully pulled each thread out from the fine wing membrane. There were a few times in which Luna hissed in pain or a little blood was drawn. Valka stepped back, and he asked Luna to lick the old hurt, which she did. The procedure was repeated for the other wing.
It was finished and Valka was left with a pile of old, bloody string. There were clearly visible marks in the wings where the old tears had been, and those marks would never go away entirely.
Luna turned away from licking the last of the sting and life-water away and stared at Kin-liver.
It again struck her how different this one two-leg was. Kin-liver moved almost like a kin, could growl like a kin, and lived for kin from all the stories that Shadowwing had told her. Stories about how Kin-liver had saved many kin from the jaws of two-leg traps and even from grounding wounds.
Exactly like her own had been.
"We will leave now, Luna," Shadowwing told her as he and Kin-liver started to depart.
The twisting in her own liver. The doubt. The fear. The anger.
Unknown numbers of seasons as a thrall. Grounded. Starved. Hopeless but defiant.
And now...
"Wait."
He stopped, and Kin-liver stopped a moment later.
She got up from where she sat and grabbed a slightly bloody and ripped hide that had been hidden in a corner of the cave. She slowly carried it over to them in her mouth and dropped it at Kin-liver's feet.
"What is this for?" Shadowwing softly asked.
She looked away from them both.
"This was my first hunt here. I know that two-legs are not warm on their own and need prey hides, so I... cut it with care for Kin-liver. I have some warmth for her in my liver because of what she did for my wings."
He hummed softly at her words.
"I will tell her. But there is something else you could do to show her your warmth now."
"What? Not bonding and... carrying." she softly hissed.
"No, only a paw touching."
Shadowwing gently grabbed one of Kin-liver's paws and drew it toward her.
And she stared at the paw. This same clever paw that she had seen stroke Shadowwing many times and had done the impossible and helped to heal her own ripped wings.
Closer she nosed toward the paw as she warily glanced up at Kin-liver.
And she blinked in surprise at what she saw. Kin-liver and Shadowwing had turned away and had their eyes closed, both unaware of the extent of her advance. They were waiting and letting her make the choice to act.
Closer until she could smell the paw. The tiny, thin, and completely useless claws on the paw's fingers almost reminded her of how her own had been before, clipped off and worthless for fighting, cutting, or defending.
A nose to paw touching was too much, too lessening, but something else might be more acceptable. Something else seemed to be more respectful to both.
She slowly held out a paw of her own and held it up almost against Kin-liver's paw until only a claw's tip separated them.
'You will do things that no light wing has done before.'
The fear in her liver screamed 'No!' and 'Danger!' and 'Flee on sight!'
'My little one...'
She very gently pushed against the paw with her own.
Both Kin-liver and Shadowwing stared at her in surprise. There was no sound but their own breaths for several life-organ beats.
Luna pulled back from the paw and blinked, slowly catching her breath while gently shaking her head. Touching the paw had not felt good or bad and did not spark any great warmth in her liver, but it was a different experience, a way of showing that there was some trust between her and the Kin-liver. That was something, even if it was only truly a meaningful ceremony to this Kin-liver two-leg.
"Shadowwing."
"Luna?" he whispered.
"Tell her for me."
She spun around and bounded back to the rear of her den where she curled up and vanished under a wing.
Shadowwing and Valka slowly turned away from her and left her cave after he grabbed the messy hide in his teeth. Once they got outside, they glanced at each other but found no words. He merely looked out over the wilderness of Haven, out to the sea a few minutes flight away, and far down the range to where the actual village was being built.
Valka stayed slightly behind him while still staring at her palm, as if unsure that it had actually happened. She took a single step toward him and paused, suddenly overcome with a suspicion. She cast a subtle glance back into the cave to where she could just barely still see Luna's white shape against the dark background. She looked ahead to Shadowwing as he calmly stood there while staring out over the wild and holding the piece of hide. He looked quite at peace in this moment.
She openly thought about it. The possibility of what might eventually be. A nagging question that had been lingering in the back of her mind for many months but she had not given voice to in her thoughts until now.
Only a very brief grin was all she allowed herself before that was thoroughly hidden. And when she stepped forward to get his attention with a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's go home."