"Turn your face away... From the garish light of day... Turn your thoughts away... From cold, unfeeling light... And listen to the music of the night." - Phantom Of The Opera
In The Pale Light
Was-Grounded sat down in the cold-fluffy-water outside the den and stared inside as warmth burned in his liver.
They were together. Not joined as one, but Shadowwing was sheltering Luna with a wing and had coiled partly around her. They were not mates yet from their smell, but it was only a matter of time for them, that he was sure of.
He cautiously padded closer to them and took in the liver-warming sight.
Brother, do not foul your own flight on this now. Hmm, even you must know what to do though... I would have no problem showing her my wanting!
He left the cave-den moments later to return to his own cave-den, share the warming news with Green-Wings, and to return to a long sleep. This range was very cold in the cold-season.
He reclaimed his place at her side and whispered to her what he had seen in Shadowwing's den. She softly hummed without opening her eyes.
Short sun-cycles and long sleep-cycles. Cold outside the den and warmth within. Short days and many dreams. Frigid drafts, whistling winds, and occasional hunting in the warmer moments.
Wake up, bound over to get more wood, relight the fire, and curl up next to her with a sheltering wing over her. Stare at her motionless, closed eyes as she slept in comfort at his side. Fall asleep to her warm purr.
Wake up, slide out from under his wing, dash outside the den to relieve herself, return to his side, and lose herself in his warmth and his comforting hum.
Good dreams and warm sleep-visions. Shared fish brought from storage and hums of thanks. A few quiet talks in their shared waking moments.
And the days finally began to warm.
It was very early in the new-life-season. There was still frozen-fluffy-water on the ground in places, and only the earliest of the trees were growing their buds. Almost all other kin would still be in their deep sleeps.
Her sleep-visions had been better and more peaceful over the past cold-season than any before. Simply being in Shadowwing's cave-den and sleeping near him and under his wing brought a warmth to her liver that she had not felt before. She had found herself waking up in the middle of the long nights or other times when he was asleep so that she could do nothing other than stare at him. All from under his wing where she had slept long and peacefully in shared warmth.
That was when, like a crash of sky-light on a mountain that disturbs a long and deep sleep, she remembered everything about the distant place.
A long-past flight from the cave-den, out through the large, glowing cave, and a long walk up through a dark and narrow cave. It was a long flight and walk that she had made only a few times before, always with her sire at her side to watch over her.
'Look at the sky-lights, little one...'
Out from the cave and through a stream of falling water on the side of a steep mountain. Out into the free and wide open sky lit by the burning sun and small sky-rock. The sky-rock, the moon, that she had always been unable to look away from in her awe. It was as white as her.
Out into the wide, unbounded sky so different from the world she knew. Feeling the open air and winds stroke her wings as she set out on her life-flight toward the distant horizon. Toward what would hopefully be a warm and much-good life. To find one she could wrap her tail and wings around and join life-flights with to bring about the future.
She cast one final look back at the place that hid the mouth to the hidden range deep under the ground. At the valley, mountain, and distant ocean that she was leaving behind. It was a vision that burned into her memory and which she was sure she would never forget. She intended to bring another back here with her under a future sun.
She awoke with a gasp and nervous twitch of her tail as she caught her breath. Even within the cave-den now she knew the path the flight would take her. She knew it perfectly as if she had flown it under a recent sun.
Are they still there? Sire? Dam? Ear-Biter? The other little ones. Or have they all flown the nest by now? I do not know how many seasons it has been since I was there.
There was no way to know how long she had been a thrall and kept in the trap or how long she had ranged in the free skies before being made a thrall. Most of it was gone from her memory.
I can go find them and see my nestmates, dam, and sire again if they are still there.
She hummed happily at the good thought.
Sire will be much warmed to know that I lived. He was very chilled when his little sky-light flew the nest even if he knew that it was good for me to go on my life-flight.
It would be a long flight from this range. Maybe a moon-cycle between flying there and flying back, if that needed to happen at all. She was ready and eager to go on the flight and almost bounded out to take to the skies when she realized the main problem.
That would be a flight alone. A long flight alone up into the cold ranges. It did not feel good and warming to go alone.
There was someone else she wanted to meet her own nest-kin and to see the world that she knew so closely in her liver. Someone who was at her side and sharing warmth even now. It was a wild, very different world from the one that he knew.
Her hopeful hum filled the den's silence even as she settled down and returned to get more rest from under his wing.
But maybe seeing that world, hunting those prey, seeing those light-rocks, and smelling those winds will help him see and know what he wants. Will turn his life-flight toward mine.
She snuggled directly against his warm side as he slept and was unable to shy away. Overcome with liver-fire, she wrapped her tail around his and purred with deep warmth.
"My first, Sky-Rock-Gazer, will you fly with me?" her dam asked.
"Yes, dam," she obediently answered.
They both flew from the cave-den and passed through part of the hidden world range. Her dam led her down into a clearing with a pond among the trees and tall plants. It was a good, warm place where she and her sire and dam played much outside the den. They landed smoothly in the long grass, and her dam turned to her with a very fond hum and nuzzle and also with a scent of sadness.
"You will fly soon. You are your full size," her dam whispered.
"Yes, I will."
Dam had that twisting mix of warmth and chill in her eyes at that.
"I will never forget you and sire as I fly in the above. And when I find my mate, I will bring him here to this very good and safe range where we will nest."
Dam's solemn hum warmed noticeably at that. Her dam stepped over to her side and lay down.
"Did I ever tell you about how I and your sire became mates?"
Her ears went up and her tail started swaying.
"No, you never told me that story!"
"I flew from my old nest-pack in a very far distant cave. None of them would have been good mates. They had too much fighting-wanting. I flew long in these ranges until I found this good range here that had everything a pair would need, much food and safety with no other kin to fight with."
Dam paused.
"And the winds of life must have wanted it to be so because I had not even claimed a den when a male light wing appeared before me. He had no mate."
"Sire?"
"Not then, but yes, him. His eyes were so wide when he saw me, almost as if he did not believe them. I had to hit his nose before he would say anything."
She laughed at her dam's life-story. She could remember how even now her great sire would stare long at dam while purring warmingly.
"He wanted to listen to my life-story, he learned about me, and he hunted for me, bringing me much fish and ground-prey. That was not like other male light wings from other nest-packs. They had much wanting but not much life-warming. But even he had much wanting..."
Dam's eyes were filled with warmth.
"We flew to a deep water to hunt for fish and to play. We did, and we lay down in the long grass where we sit now."
She blinked in surprise and looked around the grove. It had always been a warm place to her, but it seemed now that it was warm to sire and dam for another reason.
"I was ready, and he knew. He jumped at me and caught me with his teeth to my neck."
"What! He hurt you!"
It sounded very not like her gentle, warm, nuzzling sire.
"No, little one. He caught me and pinned me. He showed how hot his liver was for me. Strong, filled with some danger, and ready to be a good sire."
"And then you joined?" she mumbled in confusion.
"No," dam answered.
"No?"
"He wanted to much but he let me go. I let him know beyond doubt that I wanted him."
Closed eyes and a warm croon followed.
"We made your egg here in this grass. Our first egg as life-mates, as I knew we were."
"No sky-dance?"
"We did that also in a different, higher cave with more sky to fall from, but no, it is not the sky-dance that makes the mates be life-mates. That is only a showing to others and a very liver-warming flight."
That left her with a curious croon.
"How do I know if he is a mate or life-mate? What is different?" she asked.
"A mate will give you his seed. A life-mate will give you his seed and his life-flight. A life-mate will think about you first, even if he has much wanting. The life-flights are different for each pair, so I cannot tell you what you should want. The only way you can know is to learn about the other. Some pairs learn after they get a hatchling together, and others can learn before they become mates."
"I will remember all of that, dam. Is there anything else that you can tell me that I should know before I fly?"
Dam hummed in thought for several wingbeats.
"I told you about the strong-life-hatchling-flowers that glow with light. They are not needed, but they do help if you think you will get an egg soon. They only grow here though, not in the above."
"Yes, I remember."
"Your sire already told you about where the light wings above might be found."
"Yes, he did."
"Did he tell you about the dark wings?"
She tilted her head slightly at that.
"Dark wings, no, what are those?"
"They are kin like us, different in color and some body shapes, but they have the same life-fire in their livers. There were some of them in far ranges before, but... something bad happened to them."
"What?"
Dam hesitated.
"I will not say. You must only know that dark wings are few now. But they can be Alphas, if there are any of them now."
She hummed softly as she considered this.
"Can a light wing and a dark wing be good mates?"
Dam laughed at that remark.
"They could join, yes. Can they make life together? I do not know. Maybe you will learn if you find one."
They both laughed at that slight tease. Her dam left her alone in that grove to think over all that she had been told. There was much to remember. Knowing that this is where her own egg was made gave this grove more of a special place in her liver.
After much thinking about the skies above and the coming life-flight, she turned her flight back for what was still her home-nest-den but would not be much longer.
It was almost her time to fly on her own.
Waiting made her impatient. Her tail twitched slightly with that impatience.
Though, resting up against his side was not chilling in any way. It was only warming, especially whenever he coiled slightly around her in his sleep. Even more especially when she imagined another way he might wrap himself around her.
She remained fully awake as she listened to the sound of his slow breaths. Her thoughts kept turning to the long flight and all the marks to guide the flight. The long ocean, the mountains she remembered, and the island out in the waters.
Finally after much waiting, he stirred next to her and groaned as he awakened.
"Shadowwing..."
"Llluna, hhow are you?"
"Warm. Thank you for sharing your den's warmth with me."
He softly purred.
"I would do that for any of my kin."
As she was facing away from him, he did not see her faint wince of slight disappointment.
"I will fly to the Haven-nest now to get fish," he said.
He stood up and turned toward the den's mouth.
"Wait, I must talk to you before you go," she got to her feet and almost bounced in excitement.
"What is it?"
"I remembered where to find my home-range and den!"
His weary eyes went wide at her words.
"You remembered! That is good!"
She eagerly growled.
"Yes, I want to fly there and see my sire, dam, and nestmates, if any of them are still there."
He seemed frozen in awe until she continued.
"Will you fly this flight with me? I want you to see that range."
"I... I would want that, Luna. Where is it? What is it?"
She closed her eyes and hummed, clearly losing herself in her memories.
"It is very different from everything that you know. We will fly far toward the rising sun but up into the much colder ranges. There is a dark cave that we will walk down far into the ground."
He gasped when she added that last detail.
"A cave... down... wait, is the range deep under the ground?"
It was her turn to blink and stare in amazement.
"Yes, a hidden world. Have you been there?" she gasped.
"Yes! There were many kin flying in it. There were some trees and plants that are not growing up here. The rocks and plants burn with light."
"You have been there!" she joyfully bellowed and danced around him, leaping over his tail in her joy.
He chuckled at her exuberance until she settled down.
"I was not in it for one sun-cycle, but yes, I have seen a hidden world. How many sun-cycles will we be away from here?"
She hummed as she looked up at the top of the cave in thought.
"The flight is very long. With the flying only to there and back here we could be away more than a moon-cycle. And that is if we do not stay there long."
He seemed to groan at that.
"That is long to be away from my home-range here."
She looked down at the ground and went very still and quiet.
"You do not need to fly this flight with me... if you do not want it," she whispered.
What do you want?
He glanced back at her, having made some decision.
"I will fly this flight with you."
Her happy croon filled the den until he gave an amused hum.
"Someone should keep you safe," he added.
She laughed freely at that.
"And there is no one better than an Alpha to do that," she grinned.
He rolled his eyes and grunted with amusement.
"Alpha, my waste end. When will you... we fly?"
"We should eat much and fly. The flight to there is faster with the wind at our tails."
He hummed after stretching.
"I will tell Was-Grounded and Kin-liver now. We fly after we eat."
"You go tell them and eat your fish! I will go fly more and burn my life-fire! It is too much now!"
She grinned as she spun around in place and bounded out the cave into the sky.
Shadowwing sighed when he realized what he had volunteered for.
Well, you sure are excited. You should be. You are going home. I am going to meet her family. That sounds amazing. I wonder if they will want to come here with us.
He was disturbed by a chilling idea. What if she got there and wanted to stay in the place she knew? What if she wanted to leave Haven permanently and return to the safest place for dragons in the world?
She has never been very close to the humans here. Only to Valka. Even that is more respect than anything.
But that is her choice... if she wants it.
Was-Grounded was woken up from his morning nap by a nudge to the shoulder.
"I know. I will clean up after Rain-Eater. Where is his mess?"
He heard a deep chuckling and opened his heavy eyes. It was not his life-mate. She was still asleep with their little Rain-Eater.
"Brother? What?"
"I thought I should tell you that I will be flying from this range for many sun-cycles."
"I will have to be the only Alpha for many sun-cycles. Why?" he yawned.
"Luna remembered where her home-range is. I will fly there with her."
His tail froze, and he looked back at Shadowwing in surprise.
"Why are you flying there with her?"
"To keep her safe since she does not have fire. And I want to meet her sire, dam, and others from her nest, if they are there. I would tell them about how good this range is. Think about it brother, they might want to come here to live in this range. There could be another nest of Night Furies and Light Furies here soon!"
They both hummed at the thought, though Was-Grounded grinned when he was sure his brother was not looking.
"That would be very warming. How long will your flight have you away?" he asked.
"She said that it might be a moon-cycle of flying."
"Hmm, that is more time away than you have been gone before. Be safe out there. You will have to tell me about the range when you get back."
Shadowwing nodded, though there was an odd spark in his eyes.
"I will. I am sure that it is a place that can warm the liver much even if it is very strange and different from all other places here."
Was-Grounded remained sitting just outside the cave and thinking about this news long after Shadowwing left his den. He had seen the occasional glances that Shadowwing threw Luna's way. And he thought he saw something change in her as well whenever she was around Shadowwing. She played more and laughed more around his brother. She never seemed afraid of his brother or did anything to suggest that her liver was still grounded by what had happened in her past. They spent most of the cold-season sharing body-warmth in his cave-den, though nothing more had happened. He would have known if they had shared more.
And now his brother and Luna were going to fly together to a far distant range. A range that was apparently good for Light Furies to nest in. And they were doing so at the start of the new-life-season when she was ready to make an egg and the life-making fire most easily burned in their livers.
He grinned and chuckled to himself with a very warmed liver.
"To keep her safe... no, I think not. You are flying there to join life-flights with her even if you have your eyes closed. There will be another nest of Night Furies and Light Furies here as long as you both fly back here."
He heard his own words and felt a faint chill from them.
They will fly back here. She does not hold the two-legs close to her liver, and she might want to stay in the place she knows if it is still good to make their own nest in. But he wants to live here with this mixed-nest. Even if they want to nest somewhere else, he will fly here to let me know where. I am sure of that. We might even fly to join them wherever they go.
She bounced on her feet as she waited on the highest mountain peak.
Come on, you twisted pile of-
"How long does it take to tell them that you will be flying away for many suns? Sky-breath take him."
She lay down and closed her eyes, imagining the coming flight with a warmth in her liver. Down from this range of mountains and deep inland toward a set of sky-lights. Over the inland ocean and along the far distant shore of the ocean where the land was coldest. A range of mountains always capped with white. And the narrow cave hidden partway behind a waterfall.
She lifted her head at the sound of approaching wings. He dove and landed on the ledge next to her.
"That took you much time," she grumbled.
He almost looked hurt.
"They wanted me to have enough fish before I left. And Kin-liver wanted to talk much."
She laughed at that.
"She would. What did she say?"
He shuffled on his feet for a moment.
"Can you keep a secret, Luna?"
That got her tail swaying in curiosity.
"A secret? Talk now."
"Kin-liver has been in one of the hidden ranges before. She knows that there are kin that fly below. She was very surprised when I told her that we are flying under the ground."
She was quite amazed and very worried to hear that.
"She has been in that place before. Two-legs do know about it now..."
"No, she is the only two-leg who knows. She was shown it by another kin who knew that she had a liver with warmth for kin. That kin knew that he could trust Kin-liver to never tell. We have told no other two-legs about it."
She gave a wary but relieved hum.
That is not bad. As long as it stays hidden.
"You must lead this flight," he said.
"Me, a flight-leader for an Alpha? Ha!" she barked in amusement.
"Twisted, I know."
"Try to fly as fast as me," she teased.
She spun away and leapt for the sky with her flight set for the northeast. He followed her into the sky and flew beside her.
Several days of flying and gliding with the wind had brought them both to a place where the mainland seemed to end and only ocean lay before them.
They stood wing to wing on the shore as they stared out over the waters.
"You are certain about the flight?" he asked.
"Yes, I know those are the winds."
"Hmm, should we hunt here before flying that water?"
"Yes, we should."
They took to the sky and hunted up and down the coast. There were places where there was no sign of any prey at all. The mountains and landscape were very bare of vegetation. It was like nothing lived here in this more barren part of the north.
They saw the small herd of elk.
"Let me!" she growled.
She darted forward, keeping low to the ground, and struck. It was quite a vicious strike and she rolled head over tail with the elk in her jaws. They rolled to a stop, she slammed the elk into the ground, and she cleanly snapped its neck.
"Well hunted!" he growled.
He watched over her as she ate, tearing away large, bloody strips of meat and quickly making them vanish. He had not seen her actually catch a fresh kill before. It was very fierce and raw, quite at odds with how she always carried herself so gently around any of the Furies.
She eventually stepped away from the remains with a happy and contented growl. He attended to the rest, which was delicious even if he had to ignore a bit of remaining drool. Such annoyances had long since stopped mattering to him. Once everything worth eating was gone, he grabbed the bones and fur, tossed them away, and slowly walked back to her. With his belly filled again, it was far easier to think about the flight so far and what she said remained.
A whole week now. Never thought I would ever be this far north. There are almost no Nords up here at all. Still a bit cold too.
She was already resting in the shade of a pine tree. The catch had been her own and that entitled her to the first helpings of all that was caught. She had eaten much and had filled her belly so much that it looked rather silly and she was definitely going to need to sleep it off.
He walked up to her side and stared at her. At her white wings, rising and falling chest, and long tail curled around her side.
"Shadowwing?"
He blinked and saw her looking back at him. He had been staring.
"I," humph, "thought you looked silly with your big belly."
She glanced at his own belly as he stood there. And she grinned.
"You ate less than I did, and you still have more belly. Did you eat much fish before flying this flight, or do you always have more belly?"
He gave her a withering and amused glare.
"Twisted kin..." he grumbled.
"Yes, you are."
"Luna!"
"I do have a filled belly now. We are flying to a place with very little prey until the hidden world, and we must eat all we can now."
She vanished under her tailfins.
I guess that makes sense.
He also closed his eyes as he lay next to her. There were no sounds out here in the wild but the crashing sea and the whistling wind. And that of her regular breaths which quickly lulled him to sleep and dreams.
His flighty dreams were of a shadow that struck a pure moon from the sky, of a large cave that glowed with green and white light, and of white wings that vanished down the deep cave, never came forth again, and left him alone and broken when he turned for home.
Flying the ocean took almost a full day before land appeared on the distant horizon. And what a land it was. The mountains not far inland were tall and snowcapped. The valleys had deep fjords and lakes bounded by rock walls and stretches of pine forests. There were no signs of civilization anywhere.
He followed Luna down onto a rocky ledge at the beginning of one of these such lakes.
"How close now?" he asked.
She hummed with her eyes closed and wings extended to the wind.
"A pawful of suns now. I know because I am feeling warmer as we fly into colder winds."
"These ranges do warm the liver in a way."
She lifted her head and gave a roar to the winds. Her roar was just as loud as any that he could make, and he felt it echo with might in his own chest. She had a happy growl when she turned back to him.
"This is where kin should live. Free. Wild. Not trapped in two-leg nests and carrying around two-legs on their backs."
He grimaced at her strong words.
"You still think that about them?"
She gave a wary and considerate hum.
"Not as I did in past season-cycles. I do not hate them as I did. But you know that two-legs want to break the life-fires of all things they find. Either they kill it or they find a use for it and change it into a life-thrall, they make its life-fire dim. Tame."
"I think those words are some twisted. Yes, there are bad two-legs who want to make all things thralls, even other two-legs, but not all two-legs are that. I..."
He hung his head and continued on in a soft voice.
"I knew a two-leg once who held a kin very close to his liver, not as something that he would use to fly on or make a weak-fire life-thrall. But instead he did what he did because he wanted that kin to be warm and happy."
"Did you? What happened to that two-leg?"
"He... died," he winced.
"Why did he die?"
"Because... his nest did not listen to him. He and his liver-bond kin... both died."
She hummed again in thought.
"Two-legs alone can be warm to us, yes. Kin-liver is one of them. But two-legs together as a whole nest are different. They stop thinking with what they know and instead listen to others. They let rot grow in their nest-group-thinking. I told you this before."
He fought very hard to not whine at her accusatory words. And yet...
She is not totally wrong. People do... listen to the group a lot when they should know better. I was special in a way because I never fit into the group. If anyone else on Berk had found Toothless... But Haven is not like that. They all learned from my example... they changed.
"I am not tame. I will never be tame. And you, you will not catch me," she teased.
"I will not catch you? What!"
She leapt forward from the ledge and flung out her wings.
"You!" he hopped after her.
And they were both diving down into that rock-bound valley and flying close to the choppy water. He could see her speedy flight disturbing the water behind her as she dashed by several lengths before him.
A race, huh? Oh, this is on!
He picked up the pace, tucking in his limbs and narrowing himself as much as possible. The distance began to close as they neared the farthest shore. Just when it looked like he would fully catch up to her, she put on a last bit of speed and barely crossed over the shore before him.
They both banked up higher into the sky and began to glide to catch their breath.
"I would have caught you with more sky to fly!" he growled.
"But not in that race you did not!"
He bared his teeth with a faint snarl. She only laughed, and it was a beautiful sound to him even over the whistling wind.
They landed at her lead on the snowy side of a mountain by the coast. Three days had passed now since they had flown the ocean, and this country was certainly well and truly off of any maps that ever existed in the world. They were so far north that there was no remaining sign that it was even spring anymore and the stars in the sky even looked very unfamiliar. There was still a grey color in the air and much snow on the ground.
We have gone so far now. This makes even the ice nest to Berk seem like an afternoon glide. Sigh, I wonder what they are doing back in Haven.
"How far now?" he wondered.
She turned while in the snow to look out toward the sea.
"We will fly there with the next sun, but we should sleep first. It is another long flight over water."
She bounded over to the nearest rock wall, dug out a small patch from the snow, and curled up under her wings. He remained standing there and looking out to the chill sea for a moment before he glanced back over at her. She had almost vanished in the white snow where she lay.
Oh, why not? It is a bit cold up here anyway.
He hopped over to her side and snuggled up next to her, much to her surprise. He put a wing over her back.
"I said I would keep you safe, even from the danger of cold," he chuckled.
"It is cold up here, almost like it is not the new-life-season," she hummed back from within her cocoon.
"But it is a different world we will see. Seasons are different in there I think," he mused.
"True, they are. Seasons are more known by life-cycles instead of sky-light-cycles."
He lay his head down next to hers and relaxed in the peace of not having to do anything Alpha-related at all. This was an adventure with someone he cared about to see a new world and to hopefully find her family. Still, the weariness after many days of flying caught up to him and he quickly fell asleep to a familiar and warm purring at his side.
Their flight took them through the biting cold and out over the northern ocean. The flight lasted all morning before the rocky island finally appeared. They flew up and over the rocky cliff and saw an island void of almost all life except lichens, blowing grass, and a few pines. She led their flight on until they reached a massive rock wall leading up the side of a slope near the base of a mountain. A large cave, completely unreachable except by air, was clearly visible in that rock wall.
"That is it. I know it!" she shouted with obvious excitement as they glided.
"That leads down into the hidden world?"
"Yes," she answered.
He looked up at the bright sun and open sky.
"We might not see this for many suns. Let us go and not wait. I will go first."
He flew toward the destination, tucked in his wings at the last second, and dove inside the narrow passage. He hopped forward to make room for her, and she entered a moment later. The cave was far narrower than the other one he had once flown down on an island in the western waters. It also did not look safe to fly down this one because it was also far darker in addition to being narrower.
She visibly shook with excitement as she looked around the familiar cavern.
"How dark is it going down?"
"Very dark. We will not see with our eyes," she answered.
He glanced back at the entrance to the cave.
"Will you lead me? I do not know the way."
She hummed and took the lead. The first thing he noticed was that there was a faint rush of wind being dragged inside the cave, though how he could not imagine. The path pitched down quite substantially. Once the darkness became complete, her ethereal calls began bouncing down the cave as their path appeared in that odd way of seeing without sight. That odd sense of seeing with sound was all that could guide them now without burning precious gas.
I never did figure out how to do that myself. It is a good thing that she knows how to though.
And they continued on with no awareness of the passage of time. It was hard to tell when nothing was visibly changing around them. It could have been minutes or hours.
"How did you know where you were going when you flew from here?" he asked.
The darkness answered from just ahead.
"My sire brought me up here a couple times. He wanted me to see the open sky, the stars, and the moon."
"That was good of him. I am glad that he did."
She hummed happily at that as they continued walking. She eventually tossed an amused glance over her shoulder to where she could hear him following her.
There was no difference between them in the total darkness. They were both dark wings.
It also felt very twisting to be walking back down this path again after an unknown number of season-cycles. The feeling was almost like bugs were crawling all over her.
She saw it just up ahead. A faint glow of light on the side of the cave.
"Look at it! We are almost there, Shadowwing."
She glanced back and faintly saw his shining eyes glowing in the darkness. It felt warming to know that she knew whose eyes those were and that he was on this flight with her.
The very dim glow from the small plants on the walls of the cave grew steadily brighter until they were both visible with their respective colors. And they continued on down the pitched slope.
She saw one of the glowing buzzing bugs in the moss. They were fun to play with.
"Look!"
She swiped at it with a paw. Disturbed, it flew off and flared with a flash of light that illuminated the cave for a moment. She saw Shadowwing's wide and awed eyes and laughed at his amusement.
"Woah!" he gasped.
She laughed again and started to run and bound down the passage. He started after her as the light began to grow brighter up ahead. The cave became flatter and wider, and the air behind them rushed forward into an actual wind. They dashed out from the cave's mouth onto a rocky surface that extended ahead several of their lengths and dropped off a ledge into the world below.
They stared into the massive chamber, him with awe and her with fond recognition.
The large shining rocks glowed with faint light throughout as did the moss on the walls and the ground. Columns of rock joined the ground and the ceiling high above. The strange plants not found up on the surface thrived throughout and formed a massive, alien forest in places. The visible hills rolled with long grass, suggesting some type of soil, and the distant visible ponds and streams glistened with reflected light. There was no visible end to the twisting chamber, and the air smelled very foreign and wild. It was also different from the other chamber he had seen into years ago under an island much farther west.
She stood up on her hind legs, lifted her head, flung out her wings, and roared a cry of delight that echoed off the walls of the chamber. She jumped forward onto the thick moss, fell on her back, and joyfully rolled and thrashed. She flew to her feet and spun around on him.
"Look at it! This is my home-range where I hatched and fledged!"
He eventually found his words again as he stared at the nearest glowing crystals.
"It is very, very warming. Are there any other kin in here?"
She looked around and considered it. They had not seen any signs of there being any other kin yet. None had come flying at her announcing voice or lifted their own voices.
"There were not many other kin when I was a nestling here. My sire and dam wanted to nest alone in safety. There are other big cave-ranges that touch this one, and those had many more kin in them."
She jumped from the ledge and took to the sky. He watched the spinning white as she flew wildly and cried aloud with joy.
She is so happy here. She is so-
He blinked, shook his head, and followed her into the air. Unlike on his last brief journey into a very different part of the hidden world, this time he actually got to see it up close.
It now looked even more alien and stranger than anything he could have imagined. The crowns of some of the trees, if they even were trees, reminded him of large mushrooms that grew taller than homes. Bugs like big fireflies seemed to glow and flash all throughout the forest and bushes below. Odd plants and flowers with large blossoms seemed to shine from within. Patches of the glowing crystals and rocks almost looked like stars or pieces of the moon itself had fallen here, though that was obviously not possible.
And the size of the place was more unbelievable in person and down among the strange life that grew here. Just like the chamber under Mimir's island, this one looked so vast that all the land of Berk could possibly have been hidden here.
It is even more beautiful up close than I thought. Wow. Just wow.
They passed over rocky outcroppings, a narrow stream that came from the gods only knew where, clear pools of water lit from beneath, another large crystalline rock, and high up a massive ridge toward what looked like a thick grove of the mushroom-trees.
A bright flash of movement caught his attention up ahead as Luna suddenly dove and vanished beyond the almost-trees. He dashed over to that area and saw her pinning something like a small deer as the rest of the herd vanished in the thick forest of mushrooms and alien shrubs and trees.
So there are animals living down here. I had no idea. Though, Mimir did say that there are land-prey down here.
He landed next to her on the moss-covered ground and watched as she sank her teeth into and snapped the prey's neck. His own belly growled with hunger as he watched her tear into the almost-deer after peeling away the hide. The red blood spilled on her neck as she tore away fat strips of belly. She was clearly very hungry.
She stepped back and glanced at him. He darted forward and sank his teeth into the catch as well. He growled happily as he tasted the blood and filled his belly. It was different from any deer he had ever tasted before.
Tough but satisfying.
He stepped back and turned to her once he had finished all he wanted. There was a bit left over for her.
"That was a good catch," he remarked.
She hummed in satisfaction at the praise.
"I am a hunter," she growled.
"I did not know that there were four-leg prey to hunt here."
"There are many types of ground prey. There are no two-legs to compete with, so the ground prey can make many young for us to catch. And the large flights of kin are in other ranges," she answered.
She stepped forward and got to work on what was left of the catch. He lay down in the moss and rested as she continued to eat. The small bugs and other smaller creatures called constantly in the wild all around. The mushroom-things rose around them many lengths into the sky like a forest. There was apparently a thin layer of soil in some parts of the ridge. He spared a glance at the very strange but beautiful flowers and plants that glowed with different hues of purple, blue, green, and white.
This place is impossibly beautiful and peaceful.
She finished and bounded over to him.
"Now what? How far is it now?" he asked.
"Follow me," she answered.
She led the way and walked away from the tall mushrooms, though she paused to glance at some of the glowing flowers. He followed her over to the end of the mossy ledge they stood on. It was a fall of at least half the height of Mount Thor itself down to the lowermost level of the cavern where they could see a large, twisting lake. There was a large waterfall that fell down the entire length and filled this part of the chamber with a constant, crashing drone. The open air here away from the strange forest was filled with a very faint wind.
And he followed her gaze off into the far corners of the chamber. Parts of the chamber had no nearby glowing crystals and were therefore much darker and mysterious. Other areas were truly bathed in light and were very green with growing things. The mushroom-things seemed to inhabit the regions between, the places where the light was dim.
"We must fly deeper. It is not even a half-sun of flight, even if there are no sun-cycles down here," she explained.
A quiet silence followed and was filled only with their warm purring.
"I thought that there would be kin in here," he asked.
She stepped up close to his side and joined him in looking out over the massive view that was completely empty of any other wings.
"As I said before, my sire and dam flew to a range far from where most other kin flew. They wanted a place where they did not need to compete."
She yawned very widely and shook her head.
"I want to sleep. We did much flying, walking, and eating," she mumbled.
He grunted in agreement. She lay down across from him and happily collapsed with a heavy sigh in the moss. He spared a glance at her and stared at the offending red stain on her white neck.
You missed a spot.
He got up, walked over to her, and started licking the blood away from her neck.
"What?" she asked.
He blinked, realizing what he was doing.
"There was prey life-water on you," he mumbled as he stepped back.
"Hmm, there was? Is it gone now?"
She turned her neck to the side so he could look.
"Yes."
"Good. I try to stay clean, but sometimes I miss drops of life-water where I cannot see them. On you they cannot be seen, but they are on me."
She again yawned widely.
"Have warm sleep-visions, Shadowwing."
She curled up on her side and vanished under a wing. He remained awake a while longer merely staring at her. He finally turned away and glanced at the nearest glowing crystal on this ledge. A brief hop-flight was all it took, and he dashed over to it.
This is something I have never seen before. No one from above has ever seen this before, except for Valka I suppose.
He held out a paw and touched the glowing surface, gently tapping his claws against the crystal. It was as cool to the touch as any rock. There was no way for him to know how it was making light. He shook his head at the strangeness of the world and bounded back over toward where Luna rested. He went down on the mossy ground a length from her and closed his eyes.
But sleep did not come.
Something was bugging him, and it was definitely not bugs. He lifted his head again and stared blankly into the distance.
It seemed that he was forgetting himself recently and acting more without thinking about it.
I... what am I thinking? Lick away a bloodstain from her neck? Grr, it must be something about this place and about her...
He blinked and realized in that moment that he was staring at her white wings, lithe shape, and long tail, all of which seemed to sparkle as she slept.
.
She was beautiful.
.
All breath departed from him as he forgot how to breathe and the powerful truth shattered the life that he knew and all his blindness.
.
He very reluctantly tore his gaze away from her and stared off at the far cave wall as he recovered his breath. But the storm in his thoughts was too great. Everything felt very wrong at the moment. There was a space between him and her. A space that had to be crossed, and he had to be the one to do it if it was to happen.
A furtive glance at her followed. She was fast asleep and showed no signs of waking soon. And despite his own exhaustion and confusion, he knew that this was a moment that would always define his life. Doing this could not have the innocent excuse of only sharing warmth anymore. It would mean so much more to him and certainly to her, if she knew the truth. Not doing this would forever mark his own soul to himself as being weak and undeserving.
Did he deserve to be warm and happy? Did she? What did she want?
Oh gods...
It was now clear why she had asked him to fly here with her. It was not simply for protection. It was the spring.
He got to his feet and froze as he continued to stare at her.
Something was taking shape within and warring with a shadow of inadequacy, self-doubt, and weakness that he always carried. Years of thinking of himself as weak, useless, and not having a place in the world conflicted with parts of the life that he had enjoyed ever since being rehatched.
There was a flinch of hesitation and he came to that realization, so long in the making.
All he knew was that after he walked over, lay down at her side, draped a wing over her back, lay his tail across hers, and closed his eyes again, that feeling of wrongness was gone and left behind only a warm peace.
Being at her side in the pale light of the hidden world felt like where he was meant to be.
Luna, what have you done to me?
Author's Note - Check out chapter 4 of 'To Fly The Winds Of Life' for some unexpected backstory that is quite appropriate at this point.