"A widely held, but rarely articulated, belief in our society is that the ideal self is bold, alpha, gregarious. Introversion is viewed somewhere between disappointment and pathology."
— Susan Cain
Chapter 12 Part 2:
If there was one thing the dragoness wished right now, it would be that she could just disappear right now into an abyss of nothing. All of these looks casted in her direction made her want to shrink as each glance came. The yellow dragoness let out a soft sigh and glanced to her side. The light dragon beside her, Glint, seemed to be undisturbed by the glances thrown their way. The dragoness herself questioned why they garnered so much attention right now. However, she concluded it was most likely due to her partner beside her. Or maybe they actually recognized her. "Can we… go somewhere less populated with dragons… please?" Aurea asked Glint, who threw a quick glance her way and nodded.
"Sure, I thought all this attention would bother you," He replied as he led the dragoness off somewhere he thought was less filled with other dragons. Along the way, he examined all the other couples they passed. With the various different activities they were each engaged with, he only wondered how so much of this feeling could exist in a tightly packed area… the feeling of love, he assumed.
To him, the inexplicable force should have just exploded and everything would have turned dour, or maybe it would spread. As the dragon led the dragoness to a more remote part of the festival's wide zone of existence, he realized that he never asked Aurea something. "So Aurea… what is your problem with publicity or really, being social? You seem to shy away from it, not only that, you spend a lot of time alone, or really, with very few people. Like me."
"Oh, we haven't discussed this at some point before?" She replied with a raised eye ridge, letting a small space of silence fill in before answering. "I don't like it. Simply put. Sometimes it feels as if I am being judged on the spot… Everyone is watching my every action during that moment of time and is judging me. It is unfair, I believe, you don't really know anyone until you spend time with them. It should be that simple, Glint.
"But it isn't unfortunately. People are so quick to lay judgement on one's character, so quick to look at someone or even something negatively without even knowing the object or person they happen to be looking at. It is unfair, and natural, I know, because, I have made the mistake myself before."
The dragoness gave the dragon a small smile as she continued. "I mean, when we first met. I could have just written you off as some odd, childish, ignorant dragon, Glint. But I didn't and you turned out to be so much more than that," with that said, Aurea took long breath and waited for the dragon to respond, but she was already thinking about her next words as well.
"Wow. Uh, that's a pretty deep answer, Aurea," the white dragon said, eyes wide in amazement.
"I'm actually not quite done yet, Glint," the scholarly dragoness replied, giggling slightly. They stopped at a sectioned off place, a mini park-like area. The mighty trees' leaves swayed ever so subtly as the two laid down on the grass, which too, joined the leaves in their serene waving motion. The rather luminous moon seemed to shine its brilliant light onto the two, covering them both in a glossy-like lighting due to their scales.
"You aren't?"
"Yes… Now, moving past that judging section… which is only a small part of the answer to your question. I think you can figure out by now from my actions that I seem to detest socializing to a degree. I suppose 'detest' isn't the correct word, but I think some people don't understand that some individuals prefer to be alone for the most part. I choose to… well, not hide, but limit my appearance in public because of this. I like to spend my time alone a lot. I guess I am shy, I mean, I don't like going to social gatherings because I get uncomfortable with speaking to someone I'm not familiar with and I actually do fear other people's judgements at times.
"Let's take a party, for example—I only went to less than ten of those—I fail to find much enjoyment from these events as well since they don't feel that rewarding to me as opposed to other dragons. They are awfully exhausting as well. And I guess I'm not too interested in meeting others either. I'm just… not trying to be social I guess."
The dragoness took a deep breath. "I'll just… stop here. I have so much more to say, but at this point, anymore would be highly unnecessary." If there was one thing Aurea was glad about, it would be how Glint was willing to listen to her like this, whether it'd be a… rant like this or her just bursting out into an enthusiastic explanation of whatever the subject happened to be in the time they spent in the library together. It seemed that the light dragon himself was still processing all that she said, or maybe he was considering his next words.
"You know… when I asked you that question ten minutes ago, I honestly did not expect a long answer."
The yellow dragoness fidgeted sheepishly. "Sorry. Normally, when someone would ask me a question like that, and I give them the most concise I answer I could give. They prod me for more details and then it turns into… well, you just experienced it…"
"It's certainly reminds me of when you get into those extremely long, but excited explanations when I'd ask you a question during our session in the library." Glint watched as the dragoness shrunk a bit out of slight embarrassment.
"I… Well… am I supposed to be sorry about answering minute questions with long-winded answers when it comes to education?"
"No. But I just thought that it was worth mentioning," Glint responded with a slight shrug.
Aurea fell into a lapse of silence for a moment once more before softly saying. "Anyway… do you… want to play a game? A brainteaser? I am curious to see if you can solve this."
"Sure. Why not?"
"Okay…" The dragoness paused, slightly smirking as she said her next few words. "I'm going to give you a sequence of three numbers, there's a rule these numbers follow. You will give me a sequence of numbers that you think follows the rule in return. I will tell you if they don't follow the rule or if they do. See if you can figure the rule out." With the white dragon's nod to continue, Aurea threw out her numbers. "Three, nine, twenty seven.'
Glint pondered on the numbers for a moment, flicking his tail at the empty air while doing so before replying with his own set, "four, sixteen, sixty four."
"That follows the rule." The yellow dragoness replied, stifling a giggle as a look of puzzlement dominated her partner's features.
"Really? Throw me another set of numbers then."
"Five, twenty five, one hundred and twenty five." Aurea watched Glint as he once again, pondered on the numbers.
"Two, four, eight."
"That follows the rule."
"Okay, is the rule just squaring everything basically?"
The scholarly dragoness shook her head and smirked. "I'll give you another set… One, two, three."
"Okay… then… that's just a bit boggling. Uh…" The light dragon realized he didn't give the dragoness a number set that didn't follow the rule. Maybe that would help him solve it. With a slightly cocky grin he said his numbers. "Nine, eight, seven."
"That does not follow the rule." Aurea gave the dragon a small smile, "I think you're catching on."
"Alright then… Does this follow the rule? Three, nine, three."
"No, it does not follow the rule."
"Zero, one, two."
"It follows the rule."
"Negative one, zero, one."
"It follows the rule."
"Negative one, negative two, negative three."
"That does not follow the rule." Came back Aurea's reply. Glint was stumped… His head was aching now and he gave the dragoness a look that asked for help. She giggled and complied. "Do you give up? I mean, you were catching on earlier until you went off the road and confused yourself by going down into negative numbers."
"Yeah… Just tell me the rule before my head just explodes."
"The rule is very simple, Glint. It is in ascending order. That is the rule."
"What? Damn it. I… Ugh, I feel stupid now," he responded with a sigh along with a quick shake of his head.
"Please don't," the dragoness murmured. "That's not the point of the game… I actually wanted you to learn something. It's what I always try to do with an exercise like this."
"What am I supposed to learn from this? 'The answer isn't always the most obvious thing,' or something like that?"
"I'm afraid this might turn somewhat lengthy but…" Aurea took a moment to compose her words. "What you were supposed to learn is that we, dragons, and other being capable of reasoning, naturally want to hear an answer that confirms something we believe. We ask questions that we expect the answer to be a 'yes'. That is not the main point however.
"I wanted you seek an answer to which the answer is 'no', it is much more informational than getting a 'yes' every time as you experienced from the exercise here. The focal point here is that if you believe something is true, you should try your hardest to disprove it. And thus, you will get at the truth. Therefore, you will not end up not fooling yourself."
There was long lapse of silence, the white dragon was in thought, and the dragoness watched him, awaiting his words. "I… think I understand what you mean. It just took a little to wrap around my head, that's all."
Aurea smiled and nodded, her eyes twinkling with passion. "Good. If you end a day with at least one thing learned instead of nothing, then you have accomplished something."
"I feel that I always learn more than one thing when I spend time with you Aurea," Glint said, grinning at her.
The yellow dragoness flushed slightly and almost averted her eyes. "Thank you, but I think you can always learn more than one thing without me."
A small pause passed.
"Well, anyway, I think we should get back into the festival. If you're okay with that?"
Aurea let out an anxious sigh, clearly not ready to go back just yet, but she gave the dragon a slight nod before standing. Glint stood up as well, and took lead, heading out back into the crowd of dragons with the yellow dragoness closely sticking by. In fact, the dragoness was practically touching scales with Glint. To her, he was her shield from any one would approach, as he would be quick to take to conversing while the dragoness stayed behind, almost hiding. However, the chances of someone approaching would be incredibly low. The dragoness wasn't sure about her own physical features, as almost everything was subject to opinion, but maybe some dragon would approach her when she was alone, especially if they were experienced with the many different types of dragonesses.
Either way, she wasn't too concerned. As they walked through the streets that now seemed to be thinning out, probably due to how late it is getting or maybe it was a new curiosity that caught everyone's attention that she wasn't aware of? "Glint," she started. "What haven't we done?"
"You mean in the festival? Well, there's that large area where it's basically a party, but I've been deliberately avoiding that since I understand your discomfort with public gatherings." He replied, gazing at her.
"Can we… go there?" Aurea asked hesitantly, it is true she wasn't fond of public gatherings, but honestly, she was curious to see if that's where all of the other dragons were.
The light dragon looked surprised, especially since she just spoke of her dislike for parties earlier. Or any public event for that matter. "Uh… alright. Are you sure?"
"I…" The scholarly dragoness faltered for a moment before taking a breath and nodding confidently. "Definitely."
Glint considered defying her wishes for a moment, he was concerned she may just be doing this to prove something. Actually, that was unlikely, Aurea was the most logical dragoness he knew. Although, anyone is prone to a moment of illogical decision making at some point. Ultimately, he decided he would abide to her wish. "Alright, fine. If you're so sure." He answered with skepticism in his tone. The yellow dragoness gave the dragon a small, warm smile. She either didn't notice his skepticism or just didn't care.
"I appreciate that you're willing to do this."
"Mm-hmm. Well, this is for you. And I hope I don't regret abiding to your unusual request." They walked towards to the area where this 'party' was. Glint was leading, as expected, considering the dragoness wasn't too confident to lead herself. "So… I recall you seemed surprised Fynir here, or maybe it's actually the fire dragoness he was with. Do you mind explaining?"
Aurea figured the dragon would ask sooner or later about that moment when they caught sight of Fynir but, the dragon didn't see them. "I was surprised to see the dragoness he was with, she didn't notice me but… you remember I briefly mentioned my friends after… I… destroyed my own home?" Glint nodded, prompting her to continue. "Well, that dragoness is Sear. One of my friends from days before adolescence. She was the leader of our little group and well, she was kind of like a sister to me. I was just surprised to see her at the festival, I mean; I knew she was coming since Phenyla told me. But the thought of her being here at the festival never crossed my mind."
"So why didn't you talk to her then?"
"I didn't want to interfere with their time together. I can always talk at a later point, she'll understand. Assuming she's still the same as I remember."
"Well, I guess it'll be one on one then. If you need me because…" He trailed off.
"Thanks Glint." Aurea said with a nod.
"Heh. You know that I can't really deny you my aid when you need it. But… I guess I don't understand something, you don't really have a lot of friends, do you? I mean, I noticed other dragons with a large amount of friends…"
"That's simple. More friends means more factors and variables to worry about. Also, you're definitely aware I'm not very social."
"'Factors and variables' huh? I didn't realize you thought about things like this mathematically, or in numbers."
"I don't always, but having too many friends makes it hard to keep track of them. Considering you should remember their names, hatchdays, and other miscellaneous information. Besides, if I looked at everything with just numbers, I'd likely end up like Wifirn. You do remember Wifrin, yes?"
"I think so. He's the dragon who went mad from basing his life in numbers. If, say, the number of books on his bookshelf isn't the number it always is or missing, he… well, loses it and tries to solve it."
"I'm glad you remember."
"And I'm glad you're not insane," Glint replied cheekily. Which elicited a roll of eyes from the dragoness, although, a slight smile made its way through her features.
When they reached the area that they agreed to go to. Aurea was starting to second-guess her decision and Glint himself was just in awe of how lively and vibrant the dragons here were. Everyone seemed to be engaged in conversation, eating, or doing some sort of activity. Like dancing. The white dragon glanced at the dragoness beside him and saw her moment of hesitation. "Want to leave?"
"No… No. I'm fine. I.. uh... Let's just go somewhere… Umm… to the least populated zone in here?"
"I hope you realize I can't see past this crowd." Even with that said, the dragon eyes widened for a moment as he spotted a very familiar purple dragon and obsidian dragoness briefly before losing them in the sea of dragons. "Don't worry, I saw Spyro and Cynder too." Aurea did seem to relax a bit at the mention of the two, as she was familiar with them.
"Still… can you find a more empty spot? Please?"
"Since you've asked so nicely, I will. Don't get lost in the crowd; I can't imagine what would happen, honestly."
"I doubt that will happen. But… just hurry, I'm more worried about other things than getting lost in the crowd."
"Alright, I'm going," he said before walking into the sea of dragons, making the dragoness lose sight of him almost instantly.
Aurea just looked at the ground, fidgeting as she tried to tune out the noise around her. The dragoness was lost in thought for what felt like a long time before she heard someone speak a bit unsurely. "Aurea?" The dragoness looked up at the direction of the person who called her name. The voice was vaguely familiar, as if it were someone else she knew long ago. "Oh wow, it is you."
The yellow dragoness' eyes were focused on the green dragon that was approaching her. "Dormis?" she said tentatively.
"Yeah, it's me your favorite dragon." He replied his all too familiar grin that made her roll her eyes. "I haven't seen you in years, last I heard you were in Warfang, and it turns out that you've been here forever."
"I did not expect to see my 'favorite dragon' after so many years. So, how are you?" Aurea responded with the tone that she normally took with him.
The earth dragon's eyes flashed charmingly. "Oh good. Handsome as always. Surely you know that."
Aurea took a long breath, narrowing her eyes at him for a moment. "I… will admit that despite that your presence normally brings some irritation to me, you have grown into something."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Charming as always I see."
"Aww, don't be such a buzzkill. I mean, we haven't seen each other in so many years and you're still not warming up to me." Dormis said in a low tone.
The yellow dragoness' eyes softened for a moment. "Sorry… I haven't been fair to you just now I suppose."
"Ah, that's okay. I did miss your snarky replies to me."
"Snarky? I don't think they're snarky… that much."
"Well, anyway. How have you been? I mean, after all that with your… you know."
"I'm fine. Well, I wasn't completely fine a few days ago. But someone helped with that. Immensely." She replied, not noticing the way her tone changed as she spoke about Glint indirectly.
"Oh… Who is this 'someone'?"
"My… partner."
"I see," Dormis said, his expression was hard to read for the dragoness. "Well. I'm glad you found someone." There was a mix of emotions in his voice, but the most dominate was… relief.
"You seemed so relieved…" Aurea noted, she wasn't expecting him to be mostly unbothered by this, considering he was the dragon who was seeking her affection with the utmost determination back then.
"I am. I mean, after what happened to your parents… I was worried you would… uh…" He paused, trying to think of a way to put his apparent delicate matter into equally delicate words. After a moment, he shrugged, having given up on the best way to phrase that. "That you would take your own life… I mean, you heard those stories all the time right?"
"…Yes. I have. I mean… I did briefly consider that action…" Aurea admitted shakily, averting her eyes to the ground. She realized she never told Glint she ever had a thought in that past, but that was the past. Would it really matter now? Even so, why did she tell Dormis that?
"Aurea, you wouldn't!" he exclaimed in dismay.
"I did… It's in the past though, I'm still here. Isn't that what matters?" She replied in slightly quivering voice as she thought about that. Why did she ever think such a thought back then? It's incredibly stupid. Illogical. And if she acted on it… she wouldn't be here now. It made her heart sink.
The earth dragon let out a long sigh, "I guess."
A moment of silence passed.
Dormis just then noticed something, the necklace on Aurea. He stared at it for a few moments before speaking, "That necklace is certainly new."
The statement seemed to surprise the dragoness, she almost forgot that no one else besides Glint knew about the object, and the purpose of it. "It's a gift from my mother…" She replied, lightly touching it with a single paw.
"How come I've never seen you with that on?"
"That's because… my mother said that I should only wear it when I find that dragon I'll 'love forever'."
Dormis nodded, absorbing what she told him before grinning. "Is that your partner? Can I meet him? Who is he? How do you even know he's the 'one'?"
"I'm fairly confident he's the one. I haven't met any dragon that I felt so strongly about. As for meeting him, he went to find me a more secluded area. And as for who he is. I think it's better if he introduces himself." The two watched the crowds for a moment, expecting Glint to pop out suddenly, but he didn't. "Dormis?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask why you're not so bothered about me being with someone? It always occurred to me that you would."
"Two reasons: one, I did expect you to be the object of someone's affection by now. Two, I have my own dragoness now too." He said with a huge grin.
"Hmm…" Aurea seemed to be slightly surprised if not even more, "I can't seem to parse this surprising information. A dragoness falling for your dastardly charms? Absolutely scandalous." The yellow dragoness remarked scathingly, although Dormis was used to this and knew she was just teasing in her own mean way, which only served to widen his grin.
"It's probably as scandalous as you getting together with some other dragon. Is he even bookish like you? If so I bet the two if you nerd out on the most craziest of things," came his own retort.
"We do not," the scholarly dragoness paused in a brief moment of thought. "Well, I do," She admitted a bit shyly. "But he certainly doesn't."
"Aha! So he isn't like you then! How shocking! How is that even possible that—"
"So that's where you've gone off to! Hanging out with some other dragoness," a displeased voice called out, making Dormis cringe slightly. But he turned around with remarkable speed and gave—it seemed to be an ice dragoness—a great smile.
"Hey Neve," he replied happily. The ice dragoness, Neve, or rather Nevella frowned slightly but embraced the dragon for a brief moment. Aurea sat on her haunches and crossed her forearms around her chest, raising an eye while a half-amused smile slowly started to make its way through her features.
"'Hey Neve'? Is that all you have to say? Who is this you're talking to?"
"She's an old friend. Nothing more," Dormis replied, giving her an innocent look.
"It's taking Glint an awful lot of time…" Aurea muttered as she watched the exchange of words between the two before speaking up. "I think you forgot the part where I was the dragoness you were hopelessly trying to get the attention of back then." She called out to the two with a slight smirk as Dormis let out a sheepish chuckle. Neve glanced at Aurea, making her subconsciously shrink a little.
"Oh, so you must Aurea." The ice dragoness examined the suddenly uneasy dragoness for a moment. "You know, Dormis talked about you a lot when I first came to Grantis. He seemed so into you back then."
"So he spoke of me huh? What exactly did he say about me?"
"This would be horribly flattering for you but all sorts of things. Like you were the 'most gorgeous dragoness' he ever laid eyes upon. That sort of silly stuff."
"Typical Dormis," Aurea said with a slight sigh, before shooting him a sideways glare.
"Well… You're breathtaking too, Neve," Dormis managed to say, throwing himself back into the conversation. The ice dragoness glanced at him and back at Aurea, before giving the earth dragon a mischievous smile.
"Tell me Dormis, who looks prettier? Me or Aurea?" She asked with a brief flash in her eyes.
The yellow dragoness scowled slightly, "You can't be serious," she said as Dormis realized the implications of her question. He let out sigh and constantly glanced between the two. Neve just smiled innocently.
"I know right? This has been so interesting considering I've only been here for a moment or two," a voice beside Aurea said, almost making her jump, but she recognized it as Glint and looked over to see nothing.
"Um… I must be losing it." She muttered for a brief moment before she felt the familiar touch of his paw on her shoulder.
"Oh right, I never shown you I could do this. Duh."
"Glint?!" She said in a hushed, but very surprised voice. "How long have you been eavesdropping? In fact, why can't I see you?"
"One moment Aurea." Came his reply before his presence that she felt suddenly left. In her bewildered state, Aurea just shook her head refocused back on the scene at hand. It appeared Dormis was still deciding. She sighed and decided she would see what about this ice dragoness caught Dormis' eye. The yellow dragoness studied Neve's fit, but slightly slender frame. Her steel blue scales seemed to reflect a cold demeanor given off by her cerulean eyes. But that sort of inference was destroyed by her actions earlier. Her eight horns—which seemed almost regal, almost—spiraled into elegant but somewhat elongated forms.
"At least Dormis has good standards," Aurea muttered, she couldn't pass judgement on her personality yet. It would be unfair since she really didn't know the ice dragoness.
"Uh… would it be okay if I said both of look equally good?" the earth dragon said, letting out a weak chuckle.
"Oh for the Ancestors' sake…" Aurea again, muttered, letting out a silent cry of frustration. "I hope you know I don't care what you say Dormis." She called out somewhat irritably.
"No, that's alright Dormis, you don't have to choose between the two of us. I was just messing with you that's all," Neve said to the dragon giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Honestly Aurea…" The yellow dragoness heard Glint's hushed voice start, "I think you're the most prettiest."
She glanced to her side with a slight blush and there was Glint, standing beside her, he apparently managed to sneak by her side again, but without being invisible, it seemed. "Oh… thank you Glint," she murmured, placing her head on his shoulder as the other couple seemed to busy interacting with each other to notice the appearance of the light dragon.
"Hmm. It's interesting how you act with him. You don't seem so… shy?"
"That's because… I've known him longer, I guess."
Glint seemed to consider her words, "Well, I think the Aurea I know isn't almost the Aurea I was watching earlier. You seemed so open. Is that really you? I've broken your shell, which I thought was you, but that seemed to be a defensive façade and now I'm really getting to know you Aurea."
The dragoness mulled over his words and sighed, "I am me now. How I act with Dormis is just how I deal with dragons that drive me insane. I always remembered questioning how I stood his presence back then. I promise you. I am me, no more shells, no more façades, just Aurea, myself."
"I know. Who knew a very shy dragoness I met so long ago would turn out to be something great?" The white dragon said with a small laugh, but not loud enough to alert the other couple to his presence. "I think it's about time I step into the picture, don't you think Aurie?"
"'Aurie'?" The yellow dragoness repeated, surprise laced into her tone as she shot a sideways glance at the dragon. That sounded incredibly familiar.
"What? It sounded cute." He quickly said with a shrug before calling out to Dormis and Neve. "Hello there!" The couple turned their heads towards the white dragon.
"Are you Aurea's partner?" Dormis asked as Neve glanced at Aurea then back at Glint, who nodded.
"Yeah, that's me. I'm Glint."
"You're not a wind dragon, are you?" Neve asked, her eyes narrowed as she studied the dragon.
"What makes you think that?" He responded innocently. Dormis glanced at Aurea, mouthing the question to her as well. She stared at the earth dragon for a moment before moving next to Glint.
"He's a light dragon," she said simply.
Glint shot her a mock crestfallen look. "Aw, why did you ruin the fun?"
"A light dragon? I thought most of you guys kept to yourselves? Besides, weren't most of you light dragons wiped out?" The ice dragoness said.
"I actually don't know much about what light dragon's did or do… But as for us getting mostly wiped out. That pretty much is the case isn't it? There's…" The dragon paused for a moment, he realized that he never told Aurea about his brother yet. "Only me, I'm the only light dragon I know of so far," Glint finished, lying. He also didn't want people to know his brother was the dark dragon hunting him and Spyro. The only other person Glint recalled telling this to was Cynder. He realized he'd have to consult with Aurea, Spyro, Fynir, and possibly Lykos with this information.
"Wow, seems like the Malefor did some serious work, and a pretty good job at it as well. Not that I'm praising him like that." Dormis commented.
Aurea shot the earth dragon a glare, "Dormis!"
"Uh, sorry Glint, I was just making a point you know…" He looked at Aurea and at Neve before finally landing his gaze on the white dragon, who shrugged. The other two's looks told him an entirely different feeling on his comment despite the light dragon's indifference to it. "Right… I'll just stop saying things now." Dormis said as he threw up his paws.
Neve started to ask a question herself after lightly whacking Dormis with her tail, making him muttering an apology. "So Aurea—"The ice dragoness was interrupted as some music suddenly blared. "Ah, maybe later then, looks like the finale for this event just started," she said with a defeated look before nudging Dormis.
"Well, sorry you two, maybe we'll talk later?"
"That's alright," Glint replied, Aurea just nodded as the couple turned and left. Disappearing into the crowd.
"I can't believe Dormis said something so insensitive like that," the yellow dragoness said, frowning while giving a slight huff.
"I'm not bothered by it. I get what he was trying to say anyway," Glint responded with a shrug. The matter wasn't at the top of his head, he was actually thinking about disclosing the information about his brother with Aurea. Although, the loud music and the ruckus the crowd was making certainly wasn't helping. He noticed the dragoness was about to respond, but he quickly started his next words. "Listen… I have something to tell you."
Those words seemed to have caught her attention, now Aurea was looking at him, her curiosity piqued. "What is it?"
"You know that dark dragon who attacked us not so long ago?" Glint asked, eliciting a nod from Aurea. "Well… he's my brother… and I did just lie to you a moment ago."
At first, he expected Aurea to remark about that instantly, but she didn't. The yellow dragoness instead had an unreadable expression, her eyes resting firmly on the white dragon himself. After a moment, she said something, "While you did just lie to not only me, but Dormis and his partner. I don't think getting angry at you would be the proper response to revelation like this, now would it?"
"So you're not upset or anything?"
"I'm not angry at you, but I am upset that you lied. What's wrong with just flat-out mentioning there's two light dragons that are alive right now? You didn't even have to—ugh… never mind. Just… what are you going to do about that? He's your brother, do you have to kill him if you're left with no choice? Are you even willing to do such an action?" Aurea watched the dragon as he seemed to think about it. She was worried, that Glint was going to go and do something stupid.
"I'm going to try to save him. My parents told me it's possible, and I'm willing to take a risk to do so."
"But you have no idea how to save him do you?" Glint's expression dropped as she said this, if it was possible for his scales to become more pallid than they already were, then, Aurea couldn't tell. "I know you've been frequenting the dojo lately, so you're preparing for the alternative…"
"I'll figure something out," he muttered to her.
"That's not a satisfactory answer, Glint," Aurea responded with a dismayed look. "Look, we can talk about this later… but don't go and do something stupid will you? I don't want to lose you Glint. I… don't… want lose anyone else…" She averted her gaze and took a breath. Aurea let out a surprised gasp as Glint suddenly embraced her.
"I understand." For a moment, the two did nothing. That was, until Glint broke away from the dragoness and looked around. "Shall we do something?"
The dragoness shook her head, much to his surprise. "Actually… I would prefer if we retire for the night." She said.
"Wait, why? I mean, we got here just recently."
Aurea sighed. "I guess it has something to do with what you told me… I just don't feel like doing anything else. I'm sorry."
"Alright… if that's what you want." Glint replied in a defeated tone. He led the dragoness out of the area before finding the exit of the festival. The two didn't exchange any words as they traversed the paved road that led to the temple. As they reached the entrance of the temple, the light dragon looked at the dragoness beside him. "Did you at least have a good time?'
Aurea grasped the necklace she wore tightly. "Yeah, but I think that's because of you, honestly."
"That's good to know," was the light dragon's reply before they went inside the temple itself. It wasn't until they stopped at the door to Aurea's room they spoke again.
"Thank you for the night out, I very much enjoyed it. I guess I'll see you tomorrow Glint." The yellow dragoness said to the dragon, opening her door and stepping inside. She didn't close it yet however.
"I enjoyed the time out with you too Aurea," he replied with a smile.
The dragoness nodded and was about to close the door, but hesitated for a moment. She stepped outside, leaving the door open, much to the curiosity of the light dragon. The dragoness gazed at the dragon intently, in her eyes, Glint could see a raging debate she had going on in her thoughts, but what it was about was a mystery to him. Then after a few more moments, she shyly leaned forward and kissed the dragon briefly before pulling away quickly. The blush on her cheeks were the brightest he had ever seen before and before he could get any sort of response out she murmured a quick 'good night' as she retreated back inside her room and closed the door.
Glint just stood there, dazed, the thumping of his heart overwhelmed his hearing. If there was one thing he was certain about earlier. Is that he would be the one to initiate the kiss, not Aurea, so it came as the biggest surprise to him for her to do it first and it was earlier than he'd thought it would happen. Another thing just registered in his head, the burning feeling on his cheeks as well. "Ah, Ancestors, looks like you actually made me blush Aurie," he said with chuckle before heading towards his room. Upon reaching his destination, he opened the door and stepped inside, closing it as he thought about what just happened moments ago.
He felt something…
A presence.
There was a loud hiss as something suddenly grabbed the dragon's throat and violently pushed him onto the wall, resulting in a loud thump. The dragon struggled but realized it was pointless as he felt a sharp object by his neck, lightly pressing on it… a tail blade. He gave a sideways gaze to his assailant and was surprised to see that shadowy dragon from the attack before, the very same one who was hunting him. The thing had him in its grips, why wasn't it killing him right now? It just stared at him, its gaze unwavering as it seemed to be analyzing him.
"Pathetic…" It said simply before increasing the pressure of its tail blade on his neck. Glint almost squirmed as it spoke again. "Are you wondering why you're not dead yet?" It said, letting out a huff. Glint nodded, making it grin deviously. "While I could just end your miserable life right here dragon, as it will complete part of my objective… that would be unwise. They would find your lifeless little body and what it will it do? It will make everyone here more cautious. It was hard enough to get back in here being undetected, and now it's impossible to assault the temple in a surprise attack like before due to the increased security hidden around here. I just so happened to find a solution, dragon. Would you like to hear it?"
"Considering I have a blade next to my throat, I don't really have a choice now do I?" The light dragon said, letting out a strained chuckle.
"Hmph. Very well. Meet me near where the light has flashed and dissipated in the dismal hole, near a colossus of nature where the mouth gapes open just when the circle of life starts to rise above all else. There… we shall have a fight to the death." It gave the light dragon a wicked grin, monitoring his reaction to his words.
The dragon considered its words or really, its poetic directions of where to fight. "Oh… there. And why would I agree to this, besides the fact you can just kill me right here?"
"Why? Because it gives you the chance to fight me fairly. No minions, no tricks, just the two of us. Is that not what you want? No more attacks, no more worrying about me hurting those you care about perhaps. A chance to end this, to finish what should have ended long ago? Is that not what you want?"
"I guess I have to agree. Since I really don't have any other option to end this quicker."
"Ah, good. I was hoping I didn't have to risk… endangering someone close to you." It said with a smirk before suddenly letting the dragon go. The light dragon fell on the floor and looked up at the shade. "I will see you tomorrow dragon. It would be wise to start with the farewells." It said as it stepped back into the shadows, disappearing into the darkness.
Glint stood up and stared at the window, it was open. So maybe that's how it got in. But that wasn't what bothered the dragon, it was the what he said moments ago. If he had said no, it obviously wouldn't kill him, but it made it clear it'd force him to accept… by harming Aurea. He was just glad that he managed to spare the dragoness from any harm, but in his few moments of relief. His heart sank. He had to leave discreetly, considering how he couldn't go out of the city since he prohibited and saying goodbye would make it obvious that something was up. The dragon glanced at his desk, he walked over to it, pulling out a two pieces of paper and a pencil.
There was going to be two recipients, Aurea and one for everyone else. Glint let out a sigh; this was going to be a long night. The dragon began to write furiously, he needed to get this done and rest early so he was ready for tomorrow.
"I had great time with you Fynir!" The red dragoness said to her partner beside her as they stood on the temple grounds. It was late, the festival was nearing an end for the night. Only the moon's illumination lighted the grassy ground they stood on, the crickets' chirping overtook the normal city noise as it already died down. A gentle breeze made the nearby tree sway slightly, the noise of grass being blown following it.
"I did as well. Thanks for making a dumb dragon feel good about himself." Fynir responded with a laugh.
"Good! I guess I'll see you tomorrow huh?"
"Yep, I look forward to that. And maybe the day after that too?"
Sear's features suddenly dropped, she gave the dragon a dismal look. "Actually… I can't. I'm going back home next evening. I'm sorry Fynir, I really am. You're a great guy, but… I… you know I don't live here."
As she said that, the dragon lowered his head. Hiding his hurt expression. "Oh, okay… that's fine. You'll come back right?" He responded in a low tone.
She nodded furiously, "I will. It won't be that bad Fynir. We can write to each other. If you'd like."
The fire dragon sighed and looked at the dragoness. "Sure… but why can't you live here…?" He paused, realizing the implications of his question. "Never mind that…"
"I would like too… but I have obligations to fulfill back at my town Fynir." She let those words sink in before continuing. "Besides… I'm not leaving now. I'm leaving late next evening. We still have some time together."
Fynir stared at the dragoness, "Right… Just let me admire you for a moment before we part ways this night will you?" He asked in a teasing tone, giving the dragoness a somewhat forced smile.
Sear giggled and nodded. "Fine. But savor it. I guarantee you'll miss me when I go." She replied, nudging the dragon.
"Ah… what I have done to deserve a dragoness like you… I'm so… lost."
The fire dragoness grinned as he said this, "Aw… You're absolutely smitten with me. How cute."
Fynir took his eyes off the dragoness, "Cute huh? I guess I am." He responded, puffing out his chest a bit, while giving the dragoness the most dashing smile he could.
"Alright. Alright. You can stop now. I really have to go now."
"See you tomorrow then Sear." He said. Instead of turning around to make her way back to wherever she was staying for the night, the dragoness grinned and embraced the red dragon before giving him a quick peck on the cheek. She then made her way back, giggling along the way.
Fynir stood there with a dazed expression, watching her leave. He lifted a paw and touched the spot where the dragoness pecked him. "I'm going to miss her when she goes. That's for sure." He said to himself. The dragon was about to make his way back to his room before he saw Spyro and Cynder returning from the festival as well. They were flying back, he waved at them, they seemed to spot him and swerved to his direction before landing a few meters away from the dragon.
"Hey Fynir. How was your night?" Spyro asked.
"Wonderful. Just wonderful." He responded.
The purple and black pair looked at each other, picking up on something in the dragon's tone. "So… who is this dragoness that you were with?" Cynder inquired, she examined the dragon closely.
"Uh… her name is Sear. Just some dragoness." He replied, this time the oddity in his tone disappeared.
"Oh really?" The black dragoness pressed with a grin, raising an eye. "She doesn't sound like 'some dragoness' when Spyro just asked about you night."
"Hey… Just let me off this one okay? Anyway, how was your night guys?" The red dragon said quickly, albeit a bit nervously.
The pair met eyes again and they both shrugged. "I'd say it's good." Spyro responded, the dragoness beside him nodded in agreement.
"That's good."
"Indeed it was. But… we'll leave you here lover boy." Cynder said with a smirk, making the dragon cringe. The two laughed and walked off back into the temple.
"Hey! I never said… Ah, what the heck." Fynir just sat on his haunches and crossed his forearms with huff. He grumbled it a bit and stared at the night sky. After a few minutes of thought he decided it was best to retire, judging from the moon's position in the sky. It was already a bit past midnight. The dragon was about to turn until he heard an unfamiliar voice call out, along with the clinking of armor.
"Greetings dragon. Have you seen my brother recently?"
The fire dragon turned his head and saw a wolf, not Lykos however, as his fur was a darker silver, it almost looked black. Two guards accompanied the wolf; they had unreadable expressions and simply stared ahead. "Your brother? Lykos? Last time I saw him he was in the temple."
The wolf nodded and looked at the temple before back at the dragon. "Thank you. I must get going. Perhaps we will talk again." The wolf then started to head towards the temple, the guards following closely.
"Wait. Who are you?" That made the wolf stop and turn his head, his light blue eyes reflected against the moonlight.
"I am Auberon, brother to Lykos, the heir of the tribe." He said before turning his head and continuing on his way. Fynir wasn't sure why Lykos' brother was here, but surely it didn't concern him now. So he just accepted the answer and made his way back to his room. The dragon stopped, however, by Glint's room. He stared at the door. Something made him press his head against the door. He heard the faint sound of writing. The fire dragon pulled away and continued on his way, when he entered his own room, he thought about what he heard.
"Odd. Glint doesn't write late at night like this… Is something up? Or maybe… he's writing a love poem perhaps." The dragon mentally shrugged, although that didn't stop the grin on his face from forming. He prepared to sleep, but he made the final decision to check the dragon's room later tomorrow. If it was a poem or something, maybe he could see if the light dragon could be teased about it.
That didn't stop the sense he felt though, something about the light dragon writing late in the night was troubling. Something might be wrong.
Very wrong.
AN: And, the (very likely) final chapter comes later. And sorry this took longer than the word 'soon' implies, my beta was busy. But anyway, I just need to make sure I'm satisfied with the next chapter before I send it over to my beta. So this might take a while, but no longer than... a month, I hope.
Thanks to Unit Omicron for betaing this chapter!