The morning crashed upon me like a huge tidal wave spiraling me into a semi state of consciences and I woke up gasping. My mind instantly began searching for its last memories of the previous day: I had spent the remainder of my night with Landon. The usual silent company that passed between us seemed to hold onto a whole different purpose other than to just spend time with someone who saw you as just a person. The reluctancy to leave was evident, not only for the night but for the following day. "I wont be gone long" i said trying to reassure him, my hand resting on his arm. "I'm not worried on how long you will be gone." He said. I tilted my head off him to elaborate. "I don't trust them." He finished "Do they trust us?" I asked attempting to prove a point. "And if you get hurt?" he asked rather suddenly making me blink a few times. I shook my head "I have Nox" "He is young-" "And so are you" I said with a delicate smile "I'll be fine, I promise" I said standing on my toes to kiss his cheek before turning and half skipping half waking off. When I did return to my room I found myself curled up on my bed with my arms wrapped around my knees with a small smile on my lips; staring into the blazing fire that lit up the adjacent wall from me, and I had drifted off after what seemed to be ages. The first thing I did after pulling myself from bed was find Nox, I was tugging a brush through my unruly red curls as I walked along the dewed path to one of the few clearings in this forest. Spotting him made me smile as it always did. He was among some of the marble ruins, the one Landon had yet to tell me the history behind. "Morning" I said, still retaining my smile. He merely nodded a hello. This response made me drop my smile. "What's on your mind" I said taking a few extra steps foreword, wishing I could see his thoughts like I could see and feel his emotions. "We should be leaving now." He said, though I knew that this was not the entirety of it. I nodded in agreement, not wanting a goodbye from Henry all that much. I felt a pang of guilt rise up inside me as Nox began to take off. I pulled myself up and closed my eyes, willing my self to just to go. The flight west was surprisingly short, or I must have been preoccupied for the majority if it. "Avina" I heard Nox say making me snap back into reality, not being entirely sure where my mind had gone. "You need to stay as still and silent as you can." He told me. I nodded, a bit confused until I actually looked up. We were in the middle of the western mountains, I had heard of them, but geographically speaking they held no value other than being a collection of extraordinarily big rocks that protruded out of the ground. In this part of the mountains they seemed to be covered with moss and vegetation, which was peculiar. A shadow flying above us took me off guard making me gasp and duck but I realized it was another dragon. Soon two others followed the route of the first and they seemed to be juveniles, much smaller that Speronox. Glancing around I saw that many more surrounded us, clinging to cliffs like a multitude of enormous bees, plunging their snouts into the many waterfalls that miraculously formed in these conditions. Some were perched atop peaks, in caves or gliding in the air. There were hundreds upon hundreds of them. I felt Nox begin a decent to one of the flat surfaces. "They knew we were coming." He said in a low hum to me sensing my obvious unease. Landing, I got off and stood close to Nox, but not so close as to be hiding. Turning to face the one dragon who seemed to be in charge. The others stood behind it and not to mention that they were the largest, it was a deep emerald green color that seemed almost a dark velvet blue in the sun. With a bow of its extraordinary head it spoke. "It isss a pleasure to meet you, human." It purred stretching her 's' in obvious exaggeration. To my surprise it was a female. After I spent a moment to gain my bearings I nodded my head back. Becoming all too aware of the low hisses and guttural noises from the other dragons "I was sent by-" I had begun to say but was interrupted. "I know why you are here" she said with a sharp hiss, swinging her head toward me, her massive claw taking a step closer, crumbling the rock beneath it. "What makes you think we would ever consssider an alliance with your kind again?" She asked in her smooth airy voice as she began to circle me slowly. "Forgiveness." I said, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat. She pulled her head back from mine in a gesture that could be read as offended or surprised. " My dear, under what circumssancess would we agree to that?" She asked bringing her head inches from mine and tilting it back and forth, looking me in the eye. "Weall have made mistakes" I began. A rather Nasty hiss from behind me made me correct my wording in a quick flurry. "My fellow humans were foolish, but those of whom rode with you, fought with you, understood you never broke that bond did they?" I asked, courage slowly building up inside of me. "None of you here ever had a bond" I said looking into the eyes of the dragons surrounding me. "Because If you did you would not hesitate to listen to my words" I took a step back to Nox. "Bonds are not a legend of history and they live on." The queen stood in thought and finally gave a heavy sigh. "If your words prove false human..." she said and I picked up the lack of a hiss in her tone. "We join at the next full moon." She added, "Now take your bond and fly" .