Chapter 5

The rest of the day passed slowly for the two dragons. They were getting used to the peace, but now there was nothing to do. Cynder sat at her balcony, staring at the clouds when Spyro entered her room.

"Something wrong Cynder?" He said with a soft voice as he walked up to the dragoness and sat down beside her.

"Not really. It's just that it is so peaceful here. It gives me time to think. And frankly, I like it." She said as she averted her gaze from the skies and gazed at Spyro. She always felt so calm when she stared in his valiant, purple eyes.

"Good to hear. I've never felt so peaceful before, myself." He said as he gazed at her too. Something with her eyes seemed to steal his gaze all the time.

She noticed and smiled. She always loved when their gazes met. Just then they heard something tap on her door. "Come in." Cynder said with a chirp.

The dragons smiled when Hunter came into Cynder's room.

"Hey Hunter! How are you doing?" Spyro said with a smile. They had spoken to the cheetah when they came to the city, but except from that, they hadn't seen their cheetah friend in a long time.

"I am doing fine. Actually, I'm doing better than ever, if I may say so myself. The end of that gods forsaken war has done us all well. Except for the rest of Malefor's forces, of course. But since they are leaderless, they won't put up much of a fight anymore." Hunter said with a happy and relieved smile. Seeing his friends so happy and at peace did him better than any workout or any meal he had ever tried.

"That is absolutely great to hear!" Cynder said with a chirp. The happiness of the three friends were like an unending cycle, as Hunter was happy when they were happy, and they were happy as long as he was happy. "Heard anything of the scouts yet? Other than the obvius, of course."

"Well, there are, according to them, four fortresses that has dragons. But I guess you already know this. What you'd like to know is how many dragons there are, am I right?" Hunter said as he looked at Cynder.

"Yes, Hunter." She said as she smiled. Hunter was really good at reading the dragons. It was almost like their minds were readable.

"Well, the scouts has homed in on a number of 356 dragons. With the youngsters, at the age of zero to eighteen, there were about 370 of them."

Cynder gasped at the news. "So...So many dragons survived the war!? That is absolutely amazing news! Seems like we'll be making some new friends, Spyro!" She said with pure ecstasy in her voice. She was astounded by the number of dragons that had survived the long and hard battles against Malefor and the dark forces. Thus, she really loved making new friends.

Spyro was gaping. He couldn't fathom how so many dragons had survived the war that had ravaged their species all the time since he was born and long before that too. "I...I... I don't know what to say... I was expecting about a hundred, but threehundred and seventy dragons were much more than I expected. By the way, now that I think about it, when will they be coming? I was thinking that maybe if we had enough time, I could meet up with my parents yet again. They probably miss me."

Hunter just said what he knew, without coating it in any side information. "Most of them are coming in about one and a half week, but some of them are coming earlier. The earliest one can be expected to be here in a week.

Cynder sighed. She knew that it wouldn't be enough time. "Seems like we have to wait some more then." She tried to pipe up, to seem happy about the news, but she didn't quite succeed.

Spyro was happy about them coming so early, but not having enough time to meet up with his parents was neutralizing the feeling. "I guess you're right, Cynder. We'll have to wait. but look at it from the bright side, though. We have Hunter here with us now." He said with a soft voice, trying to make her happier. "Thus, no more wars!" He said with a smile.

Cynder felt better after the words he sent her. "Your right Spyro. Now that we finally have peace, we should be happy with that. Demanding more will only give us less of it and ruin our day."

Hunter smiled at the dragons. He saw how their relationship had grown, and it felt great for him to see the dragons comforting each other. "You are truly astonishing creatures. Not do you just draw power from crystals and harness the power of the elements, but you also care so much for the others. I would wish that my people would do the same."

Cynder and Spyro blushed, but they quickly perked up and smiled at him. "Thanks for the words Hunter, but what I and Cynder have is something special." Spyro said with a smile as he turned to Cynder. He gazed lovingly into her eyes. She did the same towards him too.

Hunter only smiled and said "You sure do. But when you think of what you've been through, I'd be amazed if you didn't!" He said with a great smile. The young dragons only smiled and hugged the friendly cheetah with great force. Hunter only smiled back and said "You two deserve what you have, and much more. After all you did towards us, we didn't really repay the favor at all. I am atleast extremely happy that you two made it through all this."

With this, Cynder made a bold move. She went up on her hind legs, put her paws on Hunters shoulders and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You were the one that saved us. We won't forget that."

Spyro and Hunter were shocked by the move, but mostly they both smiled. Hunter blushed and said with a slightly thick voice "You didn't have to Cynder."

She only smiled and said "I may not have had to, but I wanted to. You have been such a nice friend towards us, so why shouldn't I repay the favor?"

"Yeah! Hunter you have been a great friend to both of us, and we won't forget that." Spyro said with a huge smile on his face. Remembering all he had done for them made Spyro feel as light as a feather and as happy as the stupid sheep on the rolling hills of Avalar. "I am happy to have you around." He said.

"Well that is good to hear! I feel the same way towards you, if you didn't notice. But now I've got to go. By the way, the reason I came to you was to say that Terrador has something to talk to you about. Sorry for forgetting that." he said as he ran out of Cynders room. They didn't notice, but he blushed as red as a rose when he ran out of there.

Spyro and Cynder smiled as they went out of the room to go to the temple. Thats when they heard a faint voice in the air. "He is waiting for you in the library!" They heard Hunter call.

"That figures." Spyro said as he turned for the library, which was in the middle of the city. The dragons took off towards the huge tower that was the library, and went inside.

"Finally you two came!" Terrador said with a huff. "What took you so long?" He asked, a bit annoyed.

"Hunter forgot to tell us before the end of our conversation." Spyro said. Terrador huffed slightly at this, but he let it go for now.

"What I want to talk about is something that is a bit embarrasing, but we thought you'd have to know. So, without further rambling, lets get going." Terrador stated. "This is a question that both of you can answer. Does anyone of you know what mating is?" He asked. The young dragons looked at each other for a second, and after that turned back towards Terrador.

"Not really." They said in unison. Terrador only sighed at this. "This is gonna be harder than I thought." he thought to himself.

"First of all, the reason we are telling you this, is so that you'll know what is going on, if you decide to do it. As a young couple which grew up without parents, you'll have to know this. Second of all is that this might cause trouble between you two if you didn't know this would happen." He sighed. He felt it was weird to talk about this, but he knew he had to.

Terrador turned to Cynder. "Cynder, I have a question for you. Have you ever felt that you wanted to do something... more with Spyro than you could at the moment?" He asked. This wasn't easy for him.

"Let me think for a while." She said as she stared at the floor. She finally met Terradors eyes as she said "Several times, Actually."

"Okay. That means you were in your period. You are reaching an age where hormones control almost anything. Which leads onto the second reason that we talk about this. When the other dragons of your age appear here, they might feel like this towards you."

Spyro and Cynder shared a gaze before huffing simultaneously. "I would never let that happen. Whatever it is, of course." They said in unison. Terrador smiled a bit at this.

"So anyways, I am gonna explain this for you Cynder. Although I haven't been through this myself, which makes sence because I am not a female, I have read upon the subject. This is what it is about. Each year, there is something called a mating season. This is when dragons are most... Sexually active. You might not notice, but this also changes the way you act towards others. Spyro probably noticed this too." He eyed Spyro, which nodded.

"You see, when this period hits, you will act more... Seductional. You will want to be together with him at all times, for an instance. More than you normally would, atleast. And if you come into a way to tender situation, this might lead onto something more. This is where the male comes in." He said. Terrador felt he weren't the one to tell this, but the dragons seemed to understand what he ment.

Terrador then turned on towards Spyro. "Spyro, when Cynder had acted like this, have you felt, like, excited?" He asked. This felt even more awkward than talking to Cynder about it. Spyro nodded. "Then you might've felt something rise inside you." Spyro nodded again. "How does he know this?" He thought to himself. Just then Terrador started talking again.

"Well, that is something that starts this whole thing. When this happens, your hormone level will rise conciderably. When you do this pose," He rose upon his hind legs and held his paws infront of him, like there were a dragoness before him. "It means that you are going to initiate it." Spyro nodded. He and Cynder had almost done this the night when they were watching the stars together. "And this, young dragons, is how eggs are made." The young dragons nodded, a bit embarrased about how straight forward he had been. "However, it doesn't end yet. After this has been done, an egg would have been generated inside the dragoness. This is where the 'trouble' starts. When the dragoness is about six weeks into pregnancy, she would start to act a bit... Agressive. Now this is when the most of the dragon couples starts breaking up, sadly. Mostly, that happens because they didn't mean for the dragon to be born." Spyro looked over to Cynder, who was blushing uncontrollably.

"I know that this is awkward, but you have to know. I wouldn't want you two to break up because of something as stupid as that. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it, but it's really smart to know this." The dragons nodded understandingly. For some reason, Cynder felt her heart flutter when she heard that.

"Anyways, this is where the positive things happend. After that agressive period, your bonds would be even stronger. And that, is a good thing." He said. The dragons understood most of it now, and they realized he was right. It was a good idea to know.

"However, young dragons, you won't reach sexual maturity until you are at least twenty years old. This means that under this age, you'd be safe to do it as much as you'd want. Mating is a great way to show how you feel towards each other." He winked at the younger dragons. Spyro actually felt a little excited. Cynder felt the same.

"Also, this is a personal note, but believe me, when you are done, you'd be left with one of the best feelings I've ever felt. And that says a bit." Terrador said as he looked towards the young dragons. "Now, do you understand why we wanted to teach you this?" The young dragons nodded. "Then you are dismissed. Just promise me one thing. Don't do it too much, okay?" He winked at them.

"I promise." The young dragons said in unison.