Chapter 9.

"Ouch!" Lohengrin hissed.

Elder Tamaana took a step back, and shot an annoyed glare at him.

"With all due respect, my Leader" she said, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice "a bit less whining like a hatchling would serve you just fine."

"But it stings!" Lohengrin protested.

He was lying on the floor of his own cave, he had regained consciousness only an hour ago. Since then, he made Elder Tamaana's efforts to properly tend to his wounds considerably harder.

In retaliation, the Elder expressed her opinion in quite a criticising tone, using attributives like wayward, reckless, rash, careless, and foolhardy.

"You are the mightiest warrior this clan has seen in near two centuries. Do not try to tell me that my cleaning salve hurts so much that it is unbearable!"

"Everyone has their weakness." Lohengrin sighed in resignation, and turned on his back, so the old healer could take a look at the gash on his neck. His left wing was already covered with the salve, around the area where the Skrill leader bit into it. The bite had caused the bone to crack, but fortunately it wasn't broken.

As she took a look at the ugly scar, Tamaana hissed and shook her head before looking at Lohengrin's eyes.

"By the Spirits!" She cried out "Do you know how lucky you are?!"

"I have a vague idea..."

She leaned closer to examine the wound before dipping her paw into the bowl full of her brown cleaning salve.

"Should that claw have gone any deeper, you would not be here talking to me." She assessed, and went on to carefully coat the area with the ointment. "It is going to leave a scar."

"I know." Lohengrin growled, tightening his jaw to suppress the urge to cry out again, as the healing salve stung the wound. To draw his attention away from the wound, he began to focus on the bowl, more exactly on Elder Zorhen's explanation about how to make one.

"...it is not much of an effort, really. You find a suitably sized and more or less rounded boulder, heat it up till it glows, then use the back of your paw covered in fireproof scales to shape it, applying pressure from the right direction..."

A few minutes later, Tamaana took a deep breath and stepped back, allowing Lohengrin to sit up.

"I think we are pretty much done... wait, what is with your lip?" she asked, narrowing her eyes, looking at the scarred side of Lohengrin's jaw.

"I... may have taken a kick to the face, too." he admitted hesitantly.

The reply made the old elder clearly dissatisfied.

"And of course you felt no need whatsoever to mention this." She said, giving Lohengrin a sharp look.

"Look, just get on with it, okay? I had my share of berating for today." He growled tiredly.

"Open wide."

She leaned close to examine the mark left by the kick, and the inside of Lohengrin's mouth.

"Pull your fangs out."

A set of white teeth appeared from the gums. Elder Tamaana hummed, and raised a forepaw.

"Does it hurt if I do this?" She asked and poked a spot inside.

The throaty growl gave the obvious answer.

Finishing the examination, the Elder took a step back, and motioned Lohengrin to close his jaw.

"Two teeth are missing from the upper right side. Luckily, there are no remains, they went out whole. Broken fragments could cause infections and swelling, but since there aren't any, it will heal relatively quickly. Still, I would advise to chew on the other side for a few days. For this day, I am forbidding any visitor of yours to enter. You need to rest, especially your wing. The wound on your neck can open up again if you move your head too much. Stay inside for today and sleep."

"Fine." Lohengrin said. "What do you mean you won't allow any visitors, two or three dragons certainly wouldn't overstress me-"

"Let me be the judge of that." Tamaana cut in "And besides, we are not talking about two or three Furies, practically half of the clan are waiting outside. The rest aren't there because they are on duty."

"Wait... what!?"

"Everyone would like to see the hero who put his own life on the line to protect everyone else's." Tamaana smiled.

Lohengrin mustered up a constrained smile, but it wasn't very convincing. He was sure that once the Skrill threat has been dealt with, he will be calm and relieved. But, despite hearing legends about mighty warriors, who often faced impossible odds and still succeeded, and everyone viewed them as prime examples of bravery and devotion; he had to conclude that all stories gloss over the actual price of being a hero. This hasn't felt anything like victory. He killed a fellow dragon, because he had to. It brought him no joy or satisfaction.

And he has to stand ready to do it again, should the circumstances demand it. Whether he likes it or not.

The next day, after he managed to convince Tamaana that he did feel better than the day before, visitors began to appear inside of Lohengrin's cave. Sometimes alone, sometimes in groups of three or four, lots of Night Furies came by to congratulate or wish him a swift recovery.

Naveron visited him too, and reported that he himself was out on the perimeter and saw the Skrills migrating, moving south in huge groups.

"I have to say, my Leader" he began, shifting uncomfortably as he tried to swallow his pride "you were right from the beginning, and-"

"Naveron." Lohengrin interrupted calmly "You don't have to apologize for doing your duty. I should be the one thanking you for your help." a faint smile appeared on his face "I'm not willing to hold a grudge against you for doubting me. Things have worked out well, let's be happy about that."

In the late afternoon, when Lohengrin finally had some time alone, he saw a young hatchling trotting inside his cave with a fish lolling out from her mouth. She stopped and looked around, wide eyes obviously searching for him.

He took a step forward into the sunlight.

"Where did you leave your parents, little one?" he asked softly, a friendly smile appearing on his face.

Seeing a huge, scarred dragon appearing right beside her, the hatchling dropped the fish in her fright

"Umm...-"

"Selaryn!" A booming male voice came from the direction of the cave's entrance. "I told you not to storm in!"

The male dragon rushed inside, his mate following him closely, taking a worried look at her hatchling. They both stopped at Lohengrin, and made an apologetic bow.

"Please excuse us-"

"It's fine." Lohengrin said quickly, a lenient smile colouring his expression.

The little girl ran towards her mother, and hid behind her legs, peeking out at Lohengrin from that safe place.

"Ahem..." the male cleared his throat, smiling embarrassedly "I don't think you know me-"

"You're Raylandt, son of Browliir, Night Guard from the Third Wing, along with your mate, Selara, daughter of Carasyl." Lohengrin said, much to the pleasant surprise of the two dragons in front of him. Seeing their reaction, he felt the need to add: "I may not know everyone personally in my clan, but I am familiar with everyone by sight at least. And please, no formalities when we're not in public."

"Woah, alright." Raylandt smiled "Thank you."

"Ray!" Selara whispered, and nudged her mate in the side.

"Oh, yes! Err... This little visit was actually our daughter's idea" Raylandt began to explain "When we told her what you had done, and that you were hurt, she asked us why don't we bring a fish for you to get better? I gave her one and we came here, but..." he glared at his daughter at this point "...she got a little impatient and couldn't wait for her parents to catch up."

Upon hearing this, Lohengrin lowered his head so his eyes can be in level with the hatchling's.

"This is so very kind of you." He said softly to her.

"Come on out, my dear." Selara took a step back to fully reveal the little dragon.

"Why don't we start this over, huh?" Lohengrin winked at her "Hello there, my name is Lohen. Nice to meet you."

The hatchling took a nervous look back to her mother, who smiled and nodded encouragingly.

"H-hi Lohen. I'm Selaryn." She finally said after looking back at Lohengrin. Getting a bit braver in the role-play, she added: "How are you?"

"I'm much better now, thanks!" Lohengrin laughed "So you brought this fish for me?" He asked, turning back to pick up the fish with his mouth and dropping in front of the little girl.

"Y-yeah. Mommy always says I have to eat a lot to stay healthy and grow big..."

"She is right. Well, I still have to stay healthy and you have to grow big, so I'd like to share this fish with you."

"Really?" Selaryn asked in surprise.

"Sure! You eat half of it, and I promise I'll eat the rest. Deal?"

"Deal!" She exclaimed, licking her lips at the sight of the fish.

"Alright." Lohengrin chuckled. "Your parents and I will leave you to eat while we have a few words with each other at the entrance of the cave, okay? "

"Okay!" Selaryn answered, before sinking her tiny teeth into the fish.

The three adults walked out and settled in front of the cave's mouth.

"Thank you for coming by; your daughter is really cute." Lohengrin said to them in a warm tone.

Selara spoke up with an acknowledging smile on her face.

"We can't offer much more than our gratitude... But you've earned it, along with our respect. To be honest, a lot of us had expected you to order an assault on the Skrill's hideout for revenge, but you proved why you are our Leader, and not someone else. I had the honour of knowing and fighting alongside your father. He was a good and honourable Leader. I fully believe that he would approve the way you get things done, and he would be very proud of you now.

Lohengrin opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't really find the right words to express his feelings, so he closed it. He felt moved by the fact that so many dragons were concerned about him. Seeing everyone's and especially this family's reaction to his deeds made him more certain that he did the right thing after all.

A surprisingly demanding but still very young voice bailed him out of his wordless state.

"Lohen! You still have to eat your fish!"

Seeing Lohengrin's surprised glare, Raylandt turned to his mate.

"She learned that from you!" He exclaimed.

The three dragons all burst out laughing, as they rose up to go back inside again.

During the next days, Lohengrin slowly but surely sunk himself back to his day-to-day routine of Leader matters. As an unforseen side-effect of his duel with the Skrill leader, his popularity among the clan rose quite a lot. Before the events, most dragons respected him because of his heritage, which he felt undeserved. Now, he had earned his own fame, as dragons tend to greatly value shows of leadership, personal bravery and unselfishness.

The most visible changes were among the females. Almost all single dragonesses began to show a much greater interest in him than before, which tickled his pride in one way, and caused some discomfort to him in an other.

However, one particular female was absent from his crowd of admirers.

The last time Lohengrin saw Lyara was the day of his duel, ever since then she wasn't looking for his company. This triggered an alarm in the back of Lohengrin's mind, an annoying and excruciating feeling of something being wrong.

Before the ominous duel he could always feel Lyara's support, and rely on it, whatever the problem was. Now that she wasn't here, her absence was like a never ending toothache: constantly there and tormenting, impossible to reach and examine properly. He had no idea what the problem was, but when he saw the panic on her face during the duel, it burned into his mind, and touched him deeper than anything else before. He missed her very much, even if he had other friends whom he could talk with, like Garenald or Faelynn.

During a night when he couldn't fall asleep right away, he laid down at his cave's entrance, staring the stars, thinking deeply, trying to understand how he felt towards her. This particular mixture of vivid emotions was so foreign to him. He knew death quite closely; he was able to handle that. But this seemed to be the polar opposite, and for the first time in years, he had no idea what to do. He always tried to have plans and backup plans for every scenario that may or may not happen regardless of the situation. But this was something he couldn't foresee, couldn't prepare for.

As his restlessness grew and grew, he sprung on his feet and leapt into the air.

He must to talk with her. Now.

Lyara looked at her trainees, all younglings between ten and twenty winters. They stood in a half circle around her, eagerly awaiting for tonight's hunting lesson to begin.

"Now," she began "that we are all here, let's-"

The loud sound of flapping wings interrupted her, as she looked behind, she saw a huge Night Fury with beaming blue eyes landing. He quickly paced over her.

"I need to talk to you." Lohengrin said in a low voice.

"Can't you see that I'm a bit preoccupied?" Lyara hissed back, flashing an angry look at him.

Without hesitation, Lohengrin turned towards the younglings, who were all eyeing them curiously.

"Tonight's hunting lesson will be with Macharon. He's waiting for you in the clearing west of the riverbank."

Seeing that this was a dismissal, the young hunter aspirants took off and headed towards the place Lohengrin mentioned.

"I've arranged everything with Mach, and-"

"This was supposed to be my first day with them, and I've been preparing this for days!" Lyara snapped at him "You better have a darn good reason to-"

"I have." Lohengrin interrupted her calmly. "I want to know why are you avoiding me."

"To avoid roaring your head off." She growled, refusing to look him in the eyes.

Lohengrin hoped to distract her a bit with a straightforward question. It was obviously ineffective, much to his surprise.

"Are you... mad at me?" he asked.

Lyara took a sharp breath before growling again.

"Use your wit, Fancy Flight."

Lohengrin just blinked for a few seconds, then he gulped.

"I suppose so, but I have no idea-"

"OF COURSE you don't!" she roared "The Mighty Leader is above the concerns of mortal beings, he doesn't have to give a damn!"

"Lyara, what-"

"Do you have the slightest clue how I felt when you presented your genius idea of fighting the Skrill leader alone?!" she stepped up, roaring right into his face "Do you have any idea how scared I was when I saw what you're up against?! Of course not, the Mighty Leader doesn't need to explain his actions to anyone! You claimed to think about all the consequences! How do you think I'd have felt if you didn't succeed?! I almost watched you die in front of me, I almost LOST YOU, then you come up and ask: Are you mad at me? Well, I AM pretty darn mad at you, you fish-brained, idiotic, reckless..."

Lohengrin stood still like a mountain in the windstorm, waiting patiently for Lyara to run out of breath. Eventually she did, after shouting about two dozen more names.

"Look, you're right."

The short reply caught Lyara off-guard.

"Wait, are you admitting that you're wrong?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Why is that so surprising?" Lohengrin asked back.

"Well, because it never happened before?"

"Times have changed. I will never claim to be perfect, and you are right. I should've told you the whole thing before going to the fight but I was afraid..."

"Afraid of what?"

"That you'd try to talk me out of it too. I would be lying if I said that I had no doubts or fears during it, but I don't have the luxury of showing uncertainty anymore. Everyone's counting on me to solve problems they cannot, but regardless of my training, I'm still a dragon like anyone else. I had two choices: an all-out war or a duel. I don't regret my choice and I would do it again, but I do regret neglecting your opinion about it, and making you feel the way you did. Will you accept my apology?"

Lyara sighed deeply as she calmed herself down.

"Let's just... forget this whole thing." she shook her head, then a faint smile appeared on her face. "I might have overreacted a bit."

Lohengrin couldn't resist the urge to smile, too.

"Maybe, but you still have a valid point."

She blinked a few times, then tilted her head to peek at Lohengrin's scar.

"Quite a scar you've got there..."

"Yeah, it's going to leave a mark. But I don't mind, at least it will remind me what I did, and why."

"And how do you feel about it?"

Now it was Lohengrin's turn to be surprised.

"Everything's written on my face, isn't it?" he asked with a sad smile.

"That, and two minutes ago, you said you aren't as sure of yourself as you show." she grinned "So, out with it."

Lohengrin gulped as he felt a lump forming in his throat.

"Can we... go for a walk in the meantime?"

"Sure thing."

They began to walk towards the riverbank, while Lohengrin tried to collect his thoughts.

"Well..." he began "I know that I did the right thing. A few days ago, when I had a bunch of visitors, two Night Guards came in with their daughter. Seeing them as a happy family made me even more sure, the price of a possible war would've been far too high. But..."

"But?"

"I... I hadn't originally intended to kill him. I wanted him to yield, and submit to my will. And I shouldn't be so messed up by killing him; he was responsible for my parents' death. But... what if he had a family too? What if I just made a mortal enemy for myself? What if his son will want revenge on me, and then mine on him, what if I started an endless cycle of revenge after revenge and-"

"And what if there is no right choice sometimes? What if you did what you could, and that's all?" Lyara cut in. "I don't envy your position, this was a really tough call. But you can't deal with every 'what if' that would appear. Out of two bad choices, you chose the least bad one, and that's it. You have to learn how to let things go, and stop overcomplicating everything. You were ready to make the greatest sacrifice one possibly can for the sake of others. There's nothing else you can do, and you have to accept it. Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the least obvious."

Lohengrin stopped as he looked at her. Lyara wasn't exactly the first person he would've expected such wisdom from. As her words sunk in, he began to see the truth in them. It was so painfully obvious, he couldn't understand how it could've eluded him.

"You're so... right." he muttered, gratitude filling his voice.

"Here we go again!" Lyara laughed "This is your main problem, you don't know how to chill out. You need to stop overcomplicating everything and enjoy life a little bit more."

"Alright then, teach me." Lohengrin challenged her. He had to smile too, as he noticed her magical eradiation is taking an effect on him again. Now that he'd thought about it, there wasn't a single dragon, who could make him feel so much better in such a short time, as her.

A nose pressed against his. He swallowed as he felt the alluring whiff of her scent caressing his nostrils.

"You're it." She whispered.

"W-what?"

"You're it!" She screamed, and bounced away from him, laughing. Then she stopped, lowered herself in a playful stalking position, tail swinging side to side.

"Are we playing tag?" Lohengrin asked in disbelief "For the Spirits, Lyara we aren't hatchlings anymore!"

"Come on Grandpa, stop being so serious! This is exactly what I talked about!"

"Lyara."

"Oh, I know, you're just afraid you can't catch me!"

"Not again..."

"Poor Lohen's afraid of being humiliated!

"Okay THAT'S IT! Run for your life!"

With a playful growl, he pounced after Lyara, who dodged him and bounced away. Being smaller, she was more nimble than Lohengrin could ever be, giving a hard time catching her. Zigzagging between trees, jumping and rolling while just barely missing each other, the chase went on with lots of laughter. It further cleared his head, and that beautiful slender tail escaping his grip made him finally realise something important. Instantly, he gave the chase everything he had, a toothy grin appearing on his face. Reaching a clearing, Lohengrin tried to tackle Lyara, and the only way she could avoid that, is to leap into the air.

"Now, you made a mistake!" Lohengrin growled playfully. He gave her a few moments of vantage, and then rocketed up after her.

Lyara swiftly climbed higher and higher, before turning her head back to see where her pursuer is. To her surprise, Lohengrin was nowhere to be seen. She began to hover, turning left and right.

"Where the heck-"

In that moment, something huge and black crashed into her, legs gripping her mercilessly around her neck and waist.

"Gotcha!" Lohengrin exclaimed, and he folded his wings as they began to fall towards the ground. Lyara just laughed in his embrace, but then as she looked forward, she saw the trees growing bigger rapidly.

"Lohen..."

"What?"

"Shouldn't you pull up?" she asked, hints of fear in her voice.

"I don't know, why?" he asked back in a chatting tone.

The ground was getting closer and closer. As Lyara looked at him, he pretended to be asleep, making loud snoring sounds.

"LOHENGRIN!"

She was sure for a moment that they are going to crash into the woods. But, Lohengrin just laughed, and in the very last second, he stretched his wings wide and did a powerful spin, missing the greenery by just a few inches. With a few flaps, he slowed down, turned around and landed gently on his back, skidding for a few moments on the soft grass before stopping.

They just lay there shaking in their laughter.

"That was pretty awesome." Lyara said after a while, resting her head on Lohengrin's chest.

"Your face was priceless." Lohengrin commented, earning a pat to the nose.

She grabbed his neck, pulling herself up a bit.

"Can I ask you to stop scaring me out of my scales every time?" she asked half-jokingly.

"Anything for you." Lohengrin answered softly.

"Is that so?" She leaned closer, her paws resting beside his neck, her nose touching his.

"I don't want to be at a cross with you ever again. You're a lot more to me than a best friend. Without you, I don't feel whole. You've been there for me since we were hatchlings, and I've grown reliant on you. I need you far more than anyone or anything else in this world."

She purred happily, and licked his face.

"You're such a word-juggler, you know that? What have I told you about keeping things simple?" she purred into his ear.

He grinned, grabbed her again and rolled around, so Lyara was under him and he was above, putting his weight to his knees on the ground. He stared deeply into her emerald eyes. Then said the word in the language he knew to be the most describing.

"Seretlec."

Lyara curled her paws around his neck, and pulled him even closer.

"You do know, that no sane dragoness would ever say no to you, right?" she asked.

"You do know that no dragoness has any chance against you, right?" Lohengrin asked back.

A happy purr vibrated from Lyara's throat, and she licked Lohengrin's neck before giving him the answer. "I love you too."

Her gaze was so inviting, Lohengrin gave in to the desire to succumb into her hug. The world around them gradually ceased to exist; there were only the two of them.

And the stars, high above.

Bright sunlight beamed through his eyelids, sending the cloud of dreams away. Lohengrin opened his eyes, to be greeted by a beautifully sunny morning, and Lyara's cute, sleepy expression as she lay on top of him, head resting on his chest. His paws were cradling her as he lay on his back, and even his wings were around her, forming the closest hug possible.

Lohengrin slowly unfolded his wings, and stretched them wide on the ground. He had the urge to smile. Never before he had felt so peaceful, so satisfied. The whole world itself seemed to be a nicer place after yesterday's events.

His daydream was interrupted by Lyara's stirring, as she slowly opened her eyes, and let out a sleepy yawn.

"Good morning." Lohengrin smiled at her.

She mumbled something in response, and curled her legs around his neck, pulling herself up a bit, her forehead touching his chin.

"Mornin'." She managed a while later.

Lohengrin began to wash her ears with long, loving licks, earning a loud purr. Lyara's paws flexed, and she began to lick Lohengrin's neck, carefully going upwards. When she reached a sensitive spot at the left side of his chin, Lohengrin chuckled, and rolled them over again.

"You know, maybe we should go back." Lyara said "We've been out here for a while; the others might be looking for us."

"I don't give a damn." Lohengrin answered simply, continuing to lick her face. "I'm learning how to... enjoy life now. The duties can wait."

"You're... a fast learner!" Lyara chuckled, as the cleaning began to turn into a fight of who can lick the other one more.

"That I am, my love... That I am."

It was late afternoon, when Lohengrin and Lyara arrived back to Toemnir valley. They flew right towards Wordren's cave. On their way in, they heard traces of a hassle.

"She's not a hatchling anymore, Wordren." Melyan explained "You can't keep an eye on her forever."

"But she's still my daughter! Am I asking too much for wanting be at least notified if she decides to disappear for days?"

"Hi..." Lyara stepped in, taking a concerned look at her father.

"Lya!" Wordren rushed to her "Where were you... what's going on here?" he asked after spotting Lohengrin behind Lyara.

"I think I have an idea..." Melyan said, walking towards them and sitting down next to Wordren "Although I'd prefer to hear the story from them."

"What?" Wordy asked in his confusion.

Lyara glanced back at Lohengrin, who confidently stepped forward to face Wordy.

"Wordren, your daughter has agreed to be my mate, and bind her life to mine. I would like to ask for your and your mate's blessing for us."

Wordren dropped his jaws wide, as he stood wordlessly. Lohengrin took a deep breath, as he tried not to show how nervous he is.

When the time came for Night Furies to choose a mate, the final decision was always made by the dragoness. Females had every right to accept or deny anyone's advances. Even after the two agreed upon a relationship, the male dragon still had to seek out the female's parents to ask for their permission. If the parents disliked the suitor, there were two solutions: the suitor could either accept the decision and try again later after he'd proved himself, or to fight for his right. The fight lasts only till the first blood, then the loser has to accept the winner's opinion. If a suitor loses a fight however, he is forbidden from the dragoness forever.

This was an age-old tradition of Clan Toemnir, but it only rarely resulted in an actual fight. Usually the parents were happy with their daughter's choice.

Lohengrin knew all this, but he also knew how protective Wordren can be when it's about his daughter, so readied himself for any possible outcome.

Seeing her mate's complete shock, Melyan spoke up first.

"I'm so happy for you two." she smiled "I hope you'll gift us with many grandchildren!"

Lyara smiled sheepishly in her blush. Lohengrin gave a faint smile too, but his eyes remained fixed on Wordren.

"Wordy?"

The older dragon finally closed his jaws.

"I..."

Seeing not two, but three questioning glares, he burst out.

"Stop pressuring me, I need to think!"

"Dad!" Lyara protested. Lohengrin placed a paw on hers to gain her attention.

"I'll talk to him, don't worry." he whispered to her. "Should we go out and talk this over?" He asked Wordren.

"Fine." Wordren sighed, and followed the younger dragon outside, leaving the two dragonesses behind. At the mouth of his cave, Lohengrin faced him. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat and took a deep breath.

"Look, Wordy..." he began, trying to find the right words "I... I know that I'm asking a lot, but... she and I were always close to eachother. It took me a lot of time, but I finally realized... She means the whole world to me, Wordy. She already gave me so much, and I want to see her happy forever. Will you give us your blessing?"

Wordren clawed the rock in his discomfort.

"This... this is just so sudden." he finally blurted out "She's my only daughter, and now she wants to go away to live with someone else... I wouldn't mind if you'd wait a few more winters-"

"Wordy. There isn't a force in this world that could cease Lyara's love for you. Not in even a hundred winters. But I love her, and she loves me. And I promise, I will take good care of her. It's all I want."

Wordren buried his face into his paws. Lohengrin stood silently in front of him, the nervous flicking of the tip of his tail showing his tension. After a few long moments, which seemed more like an hour, the older dragon finally spoke up:

"Every father wants the best for his daughter." he mumbled through his paws, then put them on the ground. "But she isn't going to find anyone who's better than you, so... Fine. You have my blessings."

"Love you daddy!" Lyara rushed out from the cave, jumping at her father, throwing her forelegs around his neck.

"Alright, alright." he laughed, nuzzling his daughter "But you two visit us regularly for at least a dinner, understood?"

"Yes sir." Lohengrin chuckled, as he let out a huff of sound relief.

The fact that Lohengrin and Lyara were mates, caused quite a gossip in the clan, but Lohengrin absolutely didn't mind. They were at least talking about something that made him really happy, so he was fine with it. His daily routine of constantly being everywhere, accompanying hunters, guards, and meddling into everything wasn't exactly kind for personal relationships, and he was afraid at first how would his mate would react to it. But Lyara seemed to take it well, as she had her own business to attend to with hunting and teaching younglings. They thoroughly enjoyed each other's company, and treasured every moment they could spend together.

Many weeks later, Lohengrin woke up early one day. To his surprise, Lyara was awake too. She had arrived home late at night after hunting, it was uncommon for her to wake up before sunrise.

He stretched his wing to cover his mate, who purred and licked his face.

"Something wrong?" Lohengrin asked, letting out a big great yawn.

"I don't know. I feel funny." she muttered. "Maybe something I ate, I dunno. I think I'll visit Elder Tamaana today."

"You know, I can examine you the same way she can..."

"You've been examining me all the time!" Lyara laughed "No, you have to go anyway, I'll just visit the good old Elder to find out what's up."

"Fine, have it your way." Lohengrin said. "I'll try to make things quick today, and get back in the afternoon."

"Sounds good." she replied, and nuzzled her mate a goodbye as he got up. "I'll be here, I'm off duty today."

She just lay on their flat boulder for a while, then leisurely got up, drank a bit, ate the remaining scraps from yesterday's catch, and headed off to Elder Tamaana's den.

Her den was located in the central caverns, so it was only a short flight and a bit of a walk. During her trip, Lyara was a bit concerned that she may not find the elder in the cave. But Tamaana was there, sorting her immense array of bowls, full of all kinds of herbs.

"Good morning my dear, what brings you here?" she asked kindly, as she noticed Lyara standing at the entrance of her den.

"Good morning Elder Tamaana." Lyara politely began, and hesitantly explained her feelings to the old dragoness. She listened closely, and then began to examine her thoroughly, asking her to open her mouth, measuring her temperature by pressing foreheads together, and such. After she finished, the Elder took a suspicious glare at her, and asked:

"How frequently do you sleep together with Lohengrin?"

"You mean...?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Lyara mumbled, and blushed vividly at the sensitive question. "Umm... let's see... err... how should I say it... as often as we manage-

"Because, you are pregnant."

"... to sneak off- WHAT?! B-but... it usually takes years! And much more trial than we did!"

"There are exceptions my dear, and you are one of them." Elder Tamaana smiled sympathetically. "This is not something one can predict, which can be both a blessing and a curse. It happens when it has to happen. You are already in your second month."

"We've been together since two months..." Lyara murmured, thoughts wandering away.

"Well, the first time is always magical." the Elder chuckled.

Lohengrin fumed in his irritation, as he walked inside of his cave. The sun was preparing to settle behind the mountains enveloping Toemnir valley, red rays stretching the shadows long. Lyara watched her mate from the comfort of their bed boulder.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"I don't even want to talk about it." Lohengrin huffed. "I had a lengthy talk with Elder Ragnar. You can imagine what that means: He complains for like an hour, and then I talk for two minutes. Rinse and repeat. Spirits, I thought he'd never stop." he settled down beside Lyara and nuzzled her. "Have you been at Elder Tamaana's?"

"Yeah... she told me I'm not sick..."

"That's always good to hear." Lohengrin smiled

She faced him, and stared into his eyes.

"We... are going to be parents."

The simple sentence blew up in Lohengrin's mind, scattering everything else all over. He opened his mouth, then closed, blinked and shook his head.

"R-really?" he asked foolishly. Then a blissful grin beamed on his face "This... this is wonderful! I can't... by the Spirits, we are going to have a hatchling!" He reached out with his forelegs and pulled Lyara closer, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Lohen..." Lyara mumbled, burying her face into Lohengrin's neck "What are we going to do?"

"We are going to be happy, that's what!" he laughed heartily.

"But... aren't we a bit too young for this? I mean, I don't know anything about being a mother, and-"

"Shhh, listen to me." Lohengrin whispered softly, and stared into her eyes. "This is something new and wonderful. Don't worry about being unfamiliar with it, you're not alone in this you know."

His comforting tone brought a soft smile to Lyara's face.

"I'm sure your parents would love to help us out, should we have questions about anything. I'm not worried at all."

"You're right. This is just so... new."

"Yeah, it is. How far you are?"

"In the second month."

Lohengrin hugged her even closer.

"I'm so happy, I don't have the words..." he mumbled, his voice sounding suddenly shaky.

Lyara pulled back to see his face.

"Are you in tears?" She asked, blinking rapidly at the sight.

"No! Of course not!" he sniffed, and quickly wiped his face with a swipe of his paw "My eyes just... err... y'know, the dust, and-"

"Save it." Lyara purred, nuzzling Lohengrin's face lovingly, rubbing her nose to his.

"I am happy, too."

End of Part One

A/N: And with this moment, the part of this story called "Beginnings" stands closed. Many things happened, many questions were answered, many more were raised. How will Lohengrin's growing family look like? How will he end up in WW3? What will happen to... pretty much everybody? Stay tuned for Part Two: Scattered by Storm!

And as always: ask, comment, review.

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