Chapter 1.
52 years earlier, somewhere in the Ural Mountains
The sun was slowly setting behind the sky-scraping mountains. A few clouds dotted the late-spring sky, the warm sunrays reflected brilliantly on the flying Night Fury's black scales. He slowly soared above the wide valley, which was home to dozens of his kind. He wanted to make sure that everything was in good order, taking a watchful look at the forests below him, closely scanning the Y-shaped river to the east, and the high mountains that embraced the valley, for any unusual movement.
Once he finished his last inspection, he slowly began to descend, aiming for his own cave high up the side of the tallest mountain. He slowed himself with a few flap of his wings, elegantly touching down at the opening.
Entering the cave, he was greeted by the sweet sight of his snoozing mate, an egg cradled between her forepaws. He stopped for a moment to smile, then proceeded silently towards the dragoness. Despite his efforts to be as quiet as possible, her eyes snapped open.
"Siegfried." She greeted him drowsily, giving a great big yawn. "You're home early."
"Sorry Val, I tried not to wake you up…"
"Never mind that." Valerien smiled. "How was your day?"
Siegfried settled down next to his mate, and nuzzled her gently; she could not help but let out a purr of content.
"Thankfully it was shorter than usual." he finally whispered sweetly into her ear, with closed eyes. "Just the ordinary matters; checking on the hunting parties, sorting out guard duty, marking territory, arguing with the elders, nothing special."
"No run-ins with the Skrills today?"Valerien asked worriedly.
Siegfried noticed her concern, and put his paw on hers, while looking into her pine-green eyes.
"Look, dear" he began, with a show of confidence in his voice "I told you, I've got them under control. None of the watchers reported any, since we kicked out the trespassers last month."
"I know." She sighed. "I'm just worried that you'll rush out one day and…"
"I won't do anything stupid." Siegfried stated. "I'm trying my best to find a peaceful solution to this, I promise."
"What do they want with us in the first place?"
"Food." he answered simply. "They don't have their own territory, so they try to feed in somebody else's."
"How disgraceful." she murmured, "All they'd have to do is ask…"
"If they would ask, they'd have to accept my limitations on where and what to hunt" Siegfried explained "It's easier for them if they just try to steal."
They both lay in silence for a few moments.
"How was your day?" Siegfried asked, displaying quite obviously that he was not interested in delving into the matter of Skrills for any longer.
"Oh, I think the little guy stirred inside a few times." Valerien smiled, and looked down at the granite-grey egg between her paws. Night Fury eggs usually hatched in seven to ten days after being laid. Their grey shells are littered with black marks, and the pattern of the marks serves as an indication to the future hatchling's gender. By the looks of it, they can expect a male, an heir to Siegfried's title of protector and leader of his clan.
"I can't wait, until he hatches." said Siegfried, glancing proudly at the egg. "Finally, a son…"
"Well, I'm excited, too." Valerien purred. "But our little one is certainly taking his time…"
The moon shone brightly down to the vale of Toemnir. Most Night Furies, who didn't have a task for the night, were sound asleep. In Siegfried's cave, the silence was barely disturbed by the snuffing of the two dragons.
Until all of a sudden, a loud cracking noise shattered the silence. Valerien woke up instantly, looking around confused, unsure of what happened. She wanted to check on her precious egg, but, much to her dismay it was no longer between her paws. Rather, it was a few meters away from her, constantly shaking, and providing the source of the cracking sounds.
"Sieg!" Valerien tried. "Sieg, wake up!"
"Mmmh..." Siegfried groaned sleepily.
"Siegfried, get up!"
The loud yell made Siegfried involuntarily jump up and fall to his side, rolling over on the cave floor.
"Wha- What's wrong?" he managed, shaking his head to get the sleepiness out from his eyes.
"The egg... Look."
Siegfried's confused expression slowly turned into one of realization, as his searching eyes found the egg.
"Spirits of the Ancestors…" he groaned in a husky voice, eyes widening.
They leaned in close to the egg, not wanting to miss anything. The hatchling inside sounded quite uncomfortable, as he made loud efforts to break the eggshell. After a few minutes of straining, which seemed like an hour to the eagerly awaiting parents, the shell finally shattered, and a tiny black form looped out to the cave floor quite ungracefully for a future clan leader.
None of it mattered though, as the newfound parents set their eyes on their son for the first time, they both swelled in happiness.
"Welcome to the world, little one." Valerien said softly, and nuzzled the tiny hatchling, who instantly begun to purr at the touch.
Siegfried stood wordlessly at the sight, head tilting to the side a bit, a smile of relief and happiness beaming on his face. Valerien curled her paws around the small body of her son, and began to gently clean him from the remains of the egg's interior. The hatchling purred happily, and then hesitantly opened his eyes for the first time.
The sight took both parents by surprise. Night Fury eyes varied in colour, but only from soft yellows to bright lime. They were always a base of green. However their son, who lay before them, had eyes as blue and bright as the summer sky.
"Siegfried?"Valerien asked with a slight hint of concern in her tone.
"I... don't know." he answered, and leaned close to his son, sniffing and examining him closely. The hatchling raised a paw, trying to touch his father's face. The dragon gave a curious look to his son, as he touched him, sniffed him and let out a happy mew.
Siegfried had to smile instantly at the sight, as he stood up and looked to his mate.
"I'm sure he's completely fine." He said confidently. "We'll present him to the elders tomorrow, and they will say exactly the same, they'll just dance on our nerves for an unnecessary long time before it, like they usually do." He stayed silent for a moment, thinking. "Maybe it means something..."
"Like what?"
"I'm not sure. I don't think it's anything bad. I mean, look at him, he's as healthy as a hatchling can possibly be."
"I agree." Valerien chuckled, and held down her son with a paw, because he was constantly trying to bite her toothlessly, demanding something to eat.
"I'll go fetch something... No doubt you'll be hungry once you've fed him too." Siegfried smiled.
"Mmm, sounds great." Valerien nuzzled her mate a goodbye, and glanced at her son, who became more restless in his demand for food.
It's time to regurgitate some fish from yesterday...
All three of them were in the central cave at the base of the mountain, which served community purposes in the life of Clan Toemnir. This particular cave was big enough to house every member of the clan, and it usually did so, during public announcements for example. The Elders spent most of their time here, providing counsel to anyone who seeks it.
Siegfried was shifting from one leg to another, signs of irritation and impatience radiating from him, towards the old dragon, who thoroughly sniffed and examined his son from every possible angle.
Valerien was as calm as ever, standing still with her chin held high.
Their son was swinging back and forth, as her mother held him by the nape of his neck. His tail instinctively curled up between his tiny hind legs, paws dangled at his side lifelessly, but his current stance couldn't stop him letting out an irritated yowl at the discomfort the aged dragon caused him. A crowd of Furies slowly began to gather around them, looking curious about the newcomer.
After a few long minutes, the elder stepped back and bowed his head to his leader.
"Siegfried Valdr, your son is strong and healthy." he announced.
"Took you long enough." Siegfried murmured to himself, then said out loud:"Thank you for your time, Ragnar Vehn."
"How shall you name the newborn?" Ragnar asked.
Siegfried exchanged a look with his mate, and then answered:
"We would like to call him Lohengrin."
"Ah." the elder tasted the word "Dancer of Storms in the Old Tongue. A name of valor and prowess. He will live up to it, I am sure." he said, with a polite smile on his face.
After the formalities were done, the crowd instantly gathered around them, to express their gratitude and wish good fortune to the hatchling. Lohengrin wasn't nearly as grateful for the kind words as his parents; he cowered behind his mother's legs the moment he was put down to the cave floor.
Siegfried looked at the passing elder, excused himself from the crowd and darted out to reach him.
"May I have another moment of your time, Elder?"he asked.
Ragnar turned towards him, and sat down.
"But of course, my leader."
"His eyes." Siegfried started, referring to his son. "Have you seen anything like it before?"
The elder stayed silent for a few seconds.
"I am the oldest member of our clan. I have soared the skies for almost five centuries and I have seen a lot of this world, including many inexplicable things. But never a blue eyed Night Fury." Seeing the expression of Siegfried's face, he quickly went on: "You may ask the other elders, but they will all share my opinion: You have nothing to be afraid of. Your son shows no signs of unwanted traits. His eyes might be unusual, but a feature like that carries no harm. For what little we know for sure, they might even turn into green as the time passes. If not, maybe it is a sign."
"A sign of what?"Siegfried asked impatiently. He found the elder's way of speech and urge to overly explain everything slightly annoying.
"A sign of being chosen by the higher beings. Maybe it indicates he will have a long, glorious life, bringing peace and prosperity to all of his kin."
"How do you know..."
"It is not a matter of knowledge. It is a matter of belief. The ways of fate are unforeseeable. For the present, be content with knowing your son is safe and well."
With these words, elder Ragnar left the worried father alone with his thoughts.
Siegfried leisurely walked along the grassy bottom of the valley, carrying his son on his back. Lohengrin looked slightly overwhelmed, darting his head with wide eyes to a new direction in every few seconds, his young mind instinctively registering and cataloguing every new sound and sight. After spending the last month entirely in his home cave, the outside world seemed so huge and interesting.
"Where do we sleep, Daddy?" he asked.
Siegfried turned to face the tallest mountain nearby.
"See that cave high up there?" He asked back, smiling at his son's astonishment.
"Uh-huh..."
"That's where we spend the night."
"Wow, it just seems like it's so far away..." the hatchling said in amazement.
"Just wait until you get bigger, it'll only take a few flaps of your wings." Siegfried chuckled.
He turned his head away, as another dragon came towards him, speaking up in a friendly manner.
"Hey, Sieg old buddy, I'd like to... oh." he paused, blinked a few times, and then started again, with a touch of embarrassment in his voice. „I mean... May I have a moment of your time, my leader?"
Siegfried shook his head in laughter.
"Wordy, I've told you hundreds of times so far, you of all dragons don't have to go all formal on me, especially when there's just the two of us!"
The newcomer joined to the laughter and sat down in front of them.
"I'll never get used to you calling the shots here."
"Yeah. It's only been... how many years now...? Fifteen so far?" Siegfried asked jokingly.
"Heh, some things just never change. For me, you'll always be the guy who..."
"Let's not go there." Siegfried firmly interrupted "I don't want the kid to get any ideas."
Wordy looked behind his friend's head, and found a very surprised hatchling clinging on his father's neck, staring back at him.
"Oh my, lookie who we've got here!" he lowered his head, so his eyes were level with the hatchling's, placed his right paw to the left side of his chest, and introduced himself in a friendly tone. „First Guard Wordren, son of Arengiir is at your service.
Lohengrin blinked in surprise, and glanced at his father, who nodded in encouragement. Then, he looked back at the smiling dragon, took a deep breath, and let out all he could muster at the moment.
"H-hi."
"You aren't really into acquaintances today, are you?" Wordren chuckled.
"It's his first day out of the cave; go easy on him" Siegfried commented, and then began to grin "We should introduce him to your daughter!"
"Now THAT's entirely out of the question!" Wordren cried out with imitated indignation.
"Why?"
"Because he's YOUR son, that's why!"
Both dragons laughed heartily at the outburst.
Lohengrin quickly became bored of the smiling weirdo's chat with his father. He tried to listen, but it just went on and on and on, until he decided he'd had enough. He jumped down from his father's back. As he took a look around he spotted a rather large butterfly, resting on a flat stone a few of steps away from him. He excitedly began to go after it, but he only managed to get a couple of steps before he felt a jerk from his tail, stopping him in instant. Looking back, he saw his father putting a paw to his tail, loosely enough not to hurt, but firmly enough to keep him in place. Lohengrin let out an irritated sigh, and tried to pull his tail out. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he looked up at his father who was still talking to his friend.
"Daddy?" Lohengrin asked.
Siegfried stopped his conversation, and gave an expecting look to his son.
"Can I go and play?"
"Yes you can..." Siegfried began, moving his paw a bit. Lohengrin tried to escape instantly, only to be yanked back on his haunches once again.
"As long as you ask about it at first." Siegfried continued strictly "Do not disappear before at least telling someone where you are going."
Lohengrin was still waiting to be let loose, and then he figured out that his father wants to hear an approval from him.
"Okay, Daddy."
"Good." Siegfried replied, finally lifting his paw. "And stay within earshot, okay?"
"M'kay!" Lohengrin exclaimed, then started to bounce towards his prey, leaving the two adults back to their business.
The butterfly took off, and began to fly towards the other side of the glade. The young Night Fury tried everything, jumping, flailing his wings around and swinging front paws, but just couldn't catch it. The game went on for a short while, until the butterfly disappeared behind a larger rock. Lohengrin stopped in front of it, thinking. The rock was tall enough so he couldn't see what was directly behind it. Going around would scare the prey off. So the course is obvious – jump over it!
He immediately crouched himself into something that replicated a stalking position. Sticking his claws out and flexing his tiny muscles, he pounced over the boulder, letting out a bellicose roar – or so he thought, it was actually more like a kitten's squeak in mid-air.
And with that happy squeak, he managed to crash himself into another hatchling, who was sitting behind the rock and in front of a shallow puddle, admiring her reflection with the butterfly resting on her left ear. She squealed in surprise as she tumbled into the puddle, spraying water and mud everywhere.
The butterfly flew away without caring of course.
Once Lohengrin managed to get himself together from the crash, he noticed a very angry looking hatchling around his age staring at him, dripping with brown muck.
"Umm... Sorry?" he tried.
"What the heck are you doing?!" she screamed furiously "Are you blind or something?!"
"Hey, I can't see through rocks!" Lohengrin tried to defend himself "I was hunting, and you were in my way!"
This only made the girl even more upset. She puffed herself up until Lohengrin thought she was going to burst.
"Hunting? It's a butterfly! Why don't you go and-"
Lohengrin knew something bad was about to happen, so he decided to end the argument right now. He jumped on her, sending her back to the puddle, then turned around and started to climb up on the boulder, away from danger.
The girl spoke up again, as soon as she managed to spit out the muddy water from her mouth.
"If I get hold of you..."
"You've got to catch me, first!" Lohengrin chimed from the top of the rock.
With an irritated groan, she jumped out from the puddle, ran around the boulder causing Lohengrin to turn to the other direction, and started to claw her way up on the rock. Lohengrin tried to flinch back, not wanting to get caught, but his hind legs slipped, making him fall from his place, landing ungracefully with a loud thud and rolling into the same muddy pool which made the young girl so mad.
Once Lohengrin could unfetter himself from the slimy mess he managed to fall into, he found the girl laughing loudly at him from the top of the rock – exactly where he had been a few moments ago.
"Very funny."
"You should see yourself!" the girl exclaimed "You look like a frog!"
"It's not like you look any better!" came the riposte, making her cease the laughter immediately.
"Oh, really?" she asked threateningly, crouching down and getting herself ready for an appropriate retaliation.
Lohengrin, being unaware of the danger, replied cheerfully:
"Yeah, you're so brown, you look more like a pile of-"
The girl pounced on him, and both hatchlings began to wrestle in the mud, laughing and thoroughly covering each other with the slime in the process.
It wasn't long before they had to stop, both of them gasping from exhaustion.
"That was fun!" the girl panted, smiling gleefully.
"Yeah, it was!" Lohengrin agreed in a similar manner "I'm Lohengrin."
"And I'm-"
"Lyara! Where are you?" A distant voice called.
Suddenly, the young girl looked frightened.
"Uh-oh. If Daddy sees me like this, I'm toast!
"Lohengrin!" Came from another searching voice, in which Lohengrin recognized his father's.
"I'm he-"
"Quiet!" Lyara hissed, shutting Lohengrin's jaw with both of her forepaws.
Lohengrin tried to say something, but he only managed to get out a few muffled sounds.
"They'll be mad if they see us this muddy!" Lyara whispered.
Two huge but familiar figures appeared behind them, casting shadow to the two hatchlings.
"There you are!" Wordren smiled at first, then as he noticed what's going on, his smile began to fade away, and melting into expression of annoyance instead. Right next to him, Siegfried couldn't help but let out a burst of laughter, sitting down and covering his face with both paws.
"By the holy fires of Wotahn!" Wordren cried out "I just want to hear one thing. Who started this?"
The hatchlings exchanged a glare, and then Lohengrin spoke up guiltily.
"Umm... me, sir."
This made Siegfried to laugh even louder, earning an upset glare from his friend.
"This is exactly what I talked to you about! He's just as bad as you were!"
"It's all right Wordy, just some mud. Although, by the way it smells, there might be some p-"
"I don't care, if I take her home like this, Melyan will flay me alive!"
After Siegfried finally ran out of laughter, he stood up and turned to the hatchlings.
"Alright kids, how about we make a trip to the riverbank?"
The two youngsters cheered loudly.
"So you can have a proper bath." Siegfried continued, successfully turning the two youngster's cheers into disappointed groans.
"But Daddy!" Lohengrin whined, expressing that he was not fond of his father's idea.
"Objection denied." Siegfried said, and began to gently nudge the two tiny dragons towards the direction of the river. "You two better move out now."
"Race you!" Lyara exclaimed, rushing forward.
"Hey! That's not fair, wait up!" Lohengrin cried after her, and began to run too, as fast as his tiny legs could carry him.
As he stared after the two small black spots chasing each other around, Wordren let out a huff.
"They've only met each other like half an hour ago, and they are best friends already." he said, shaking his head in astonishment.
"Did you expect anything else?" Siegfried grinned "They are our kids after all..."
"Come on, Lohengrin."
Siegfried tried to encourage his son towards the water, unfortunately without much success. Despite Lohengrin being eager to explore the world around him, entering an entirely new medium seemed a bit too much for him. Siegfried chuckled as he tried to imagine what his son would do before his first flight.
"Look how I do it." he said, and casually walked into the water which was so shallow, it could barely reach half of his leg's height.
"But it looks so wet!" Lohengrin whined, as he glanced over to Lyara and Wordy, who were wildly playing around, jumping and splashing each other.
"You're going to like it. C'mere." Siegfried smiled, and grabbed him by the nape of his neck, carefully lifting him up and placing him into the water right in front of him.
The hatchling seemed a bit frightened at first, kicking his tiny legs about aimlessly, until the water reached his chest, but his father's caring licks took away his uneasiness.
"C'mon, let's play tag!" Siegfried smiled at him.
The short offer cheered up Lohengrin instantly.
"Okay! You're it!" he exclaimed, and started to wade towards Lyara and Wordren.
"If you bounce, it's a lot easier!" Siegfried laughed.
Pretty soon, Lohengrin was jumping around in the water, squealing happily as his father chased him. Lyara and Wordy quickly joined them, resulting in lots of splashing and laughing.
"Follow me and swim a bit!" Siegfried said and dived into the deeper reaches of the river. As soon as Lohengrin followed him, his instincts kicked in, telling him to use his tail and fins in an undulating motion to gain speed underwater.
Holding his breath, he darted to and fro, and much to his excitement, there seemed to be a whole different world down there. He quickly spotted his father, hovering and waving his paws at him in an inviting way, so he dashed forward and hooked his tiny claws onto his father's chest. This made both of them to laugh, letting out a stream of pearly bubbles, before Siegfried took him to the surface.
"This is so great!" Lohengrin exclaimed happily. "Can we dive again?"
"Sure." his father grinned "Let's explore the riverbed!"
They took a deep breath and submerged again, this time Lohengrin leading the way and dashing towards the bottom while Siegfried swam just a few paces behind him.
The underwater view mesmerised Lohengrin. He especially loved to see how the sun-rays broke at the surface, and softened into broader columns of light. As he swam downwards in an effort to follow the light, he suddenly spotted something glittery at the bottom. With a forceful flap of his tiny wings, he quickly reached it, clamped his forepaws around the object, and kicked himself to the surface.
His head broke the water, and his father's quickly followed. Once they blinked the water out of their eyes, Siegfried curiously spoke up.
"What did you find, son?"
Lohengrin paced to the shallows, stood on his hind legs, and raised his muddy paws to his father to show the unusual thing he had found.
It was a smooth pebble of a lovely colour blue, dotted with glittering specks as golden as sunlight.
"A lazulite!"Siegfried exclaimed in surprise, and smiled at his son warmly "A nice catch for sure, Lohen. These things are just as rare as they are beautiful."
"What is it, what is it?" Lyara hurried to them, and stared at the gem with wide open eyes. "Oooooh... what will you do with it?"
"Umm... I dunno." Lohengrin mumbled, marvelling the little stone.
"You can take it home and keep it." Wordren commented.
"Or, give it to someone as a gift." Siegfried added on too.
Happiness beamed from the hatchling's features, as he found out what should he do.
"I'm gonna give it to Mommy!" he exclaimed.
"That's very nice of you." Siegfried chuckled.
"Yeah, I bet he's going to grow up to be quite the charmer." Wordren grinned "He'll fly around with a flock of ladies behind him in no time."
"Now that I'd like to see." Siegfried laughed. "Alright Lohen, lets get home and surprise Mommy, shall we?"
"Sure!"
Lohengrin wanted to run all the way home as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, with the gem in his mouth. However, after tripping over a root and almost swallowing it, Siegfried offered him to fly home on his back. Lohengrin quickly leapt on his father's back and they flew to their home cave.
He squirmed impatiently between Siegfried's wings, eager to see his mother's face once he showed her his little gift.
As soon as Siegfried touched down at the entrance of their home, Lohengrin jumped off and tried to rush into the cave, only to be yanked back to his haunches as his father stepped on his tail again.
"Hold on a second, young lad." Siegfried smiled at the annoyed expression of his son after he'd put down the gem. He lowered himself, levelling his eyes with his son's. "Mommy was out hunting all night. She must be very tired, so she's probably asleep now. Don't rush in like you usually do, let's go inside together quietly, and see if she wakes up. If she doesn't, we'll wait till she does, alright?"
"Alright." Lohengrin nodded in all seriousness.
They both walked in, to find Valerien lying on the flat boulder they used for a bed. She had curled into a ball, her tailfins covered her face. Lohengrin quietly walked over to his mother's head, and put down the gem in front of her.
Valerien stirred, lifted her fins, and slowly opened her eyes, to be greeted by her son's happy face only a few inches from hers.
"Hi Mommy!" Lohengrin rubbed his nose against her face.
"Lohengrin..." she purred groggily, returning the nuzzle.
"Mommy, look, I brought you a present!" the hatchling gabbled excitedly, and picked up the lazulite from the ground to show it to her.
Valerien's expression turned from weary to joyful in a second. A beautiful smile lit up her features, and she leaned closer to examine it.
"We were swimming in the river together with Daddy, when I found it!" Lohengrin gabbled excitedly "It's for you, Mommy, I want to give it to you."
"Oh my..." She whispered, as she carefully curled her paw around the gem. "This is beautiful."
Lohengrin's ears perked up even more upon hearing his mother's praise.
"You like it?"
"I love it. And I love you too, so very much!"
Lohengrin chuckled blissfully, as Valerien curled her other paw around his small frame, lifted him up and hugged him to her chest.
"I am going to put it away in a safe place, and keep it forever. And it'll always remind me of you." she whispered in his ear.
Siegfried settled down next to his mate with a broad smile on his face, throwing a wing around her back as she cradled their happily purring hatchling between her paws.
"Love you, Mommy." Lohengrin purred.
"I love you too, my little one..." Valerien sighed"...I love you too."
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