"Hey, Rádgatá. Maara and Haku told me I would find you out here." Vasara stepped through the bushes bordering Mika's clearing, pausing for a moment to take in the sight of the tall woman surrounded by dragons.

Aeri was busy making adjustments to the green Flashfang's wing sling. Shade and Mika were lounging in the sun, eating fish, and the small flock of Horrible Horrors had joined them, after Aeri had taken pity on them again and given them fish of their own.

"Why would they tell you that?" she asked, still focusing on the joint in the splint.

"Because they were awfully curious as to why you have a wild dragon— correction, another wild dragon out here."

Aeri glanced over at the dragons, who were rumbling and chattering amongst themselves, before looking back at Vasara. "Have you ever met Mika?"

"No, I haven't." Vasara looked skeptical, which was understandable to Aeri. Mika was a young Grimler, but she had grown in recent months. Now the red dragon was larger than Shade. And while Aeri wasn't intimidated by dragons, it made sense that Vasara, like everyone else on Heimme, would be particularly nervous around Grimlers.

But now that she was thinking about it, Aeri wondered at how Vasara, Maara, and Haku were so calm about her interactions with this Flashfang. After all, it was a Flashfang that was responsible for their sister's death, and their father's incapacitation. She hesitated to ask, but she was very curious about it. The three siblings had more reason than most to hate dragons, yet they had basically embraced Aeri and Shade, and were coming to accept other dragons like Mika and now this Flashfang.

Vasara approached her slowly, looking thoughtful. "You said you had a plan."

"I'm still working it out. In the mean time, this beautiful girl needs a name." Aeri stepped back, patting the Flashfang's side. "Do you mind grabbing her a couple of fish? She's been extraordinarily good, and deserves a treat."

Surprised, Vasara nodded and did as she asked.

"Who is this human?" the Flashfang asked Shade, who was in the middle of swallowing a fish.

"Yeah," Mika chimed in. "She mentioned Maara." Maara was basically Mika's human now. The unspoken tragedy, though, was that they would never be able to fly together, because of the state of Mika's wing.

"Well, Vasara is actually Maara's and Haku's sister," Shade explained, and Mika nodded.

"I don't have any idea who those people are," the Flashfang reminded him. "And what's this about a name?"

"Well, you already more or less bonded with Aeri, so now she's going to give you a name, because humans always have to have names for things." Shade ate another fish, smiling toothlessly at Vasara when she approached. The Horrors shuffled out of the way, two of them wrestling, and the blonde woman reached into one of the baskets and pulled out three fish, wrinkling her nose slightly.

"It better not be something stupid," the Flashfang sniffed, and he laughed.

Aeri smiled at Vasara as she dutifully carried the fish over, coming to stand a few feet in front of the curious green dragon.

"What do I do now?" the smith asked.

"Toss her one," Aeri suggested.

"Uh, okay…" Vasara lifted a fish up, gesturing to the Flashfang. "This is for you."

The Flashfang opened her mouth wide, so Vasara tossed one into the air, and the green dragon caught it.

Vasara grinned. "She is a beautiful girl, isn't she?"

"That she is," Aeri agreed. "Why don't you give her a name?"

"Me?"

"Why not?"

"Okay… hmm…" she frowned, tossing the Flashfang another fish. "What about… no… hmm…"

Finally, she looked up. "How about Fern?"

"Don't ask me," Aeri said.

"Alright… how do you like Fern?" Vasara asked the green dragon, who looked thoughtful, before nodding.

"Fern it is!" She tossed Fern the last fish. After she finished it, Fern stepped closer to her, sniffing her. Aeri and the other dragons watched, wondering what the blonde woman would do. Slowly, Vasara lifted a hand, without Aeri prompting her, and held it in front of Fern's face.

After a moment of deliberation, Fern pressed her nose into Vasara's palm, purring.

"Oh my… Rádgatá!"

"I see," Aeri replied, her smile wide as she moved closer.

"What does this mean?" Vasara asked, now stroking the Flashfang's cheek with one hand.

"It means," Aeri said, "that you're going to be doing a whole lot more flying in the future."

Vasara grinned. "That means her wing is going to get better?"

"Without a doubt."

"But won't she just fly back to wherever she came from?"

"If all goes according to plan, no. She won't have to."

"What does that mean?" Both Fern and Vasara asked at the same time.

"You'll see," Aeri said mysteriously, and Shade nodded.

Almost a month later, a few days after Aeri removed the splint from Fern's wing, it was time to put her plan into action.

Haku, upon learning of what she intended to do, confronted her. "You can't go by yourself," he argued, and she relented, allowing him to join her. Both Maara and Vasara had wanted to go as well, but Maara was still healing, and Aeri didn't think Fern was strong enough to carry anyone for a long distance, so both of Haku's sisters stayed behind, watching forlornly as Aeri and their brother took off, leaving Heimme behind.

Silently they flew, Fern acting as their guide through the mist. Aeri was hyper aware of where Haku held onto her waist, his grip tightening ever so slightly the farther they progressed.

Haku wanted to say something, but was too nervous to think of anything useful to bring up. His entire body was tense, as his mind raced with more and more fear-inducing thoughts. This was just a scouting mission, but it felt like they were flying towards their deaths.

You insisted that you join them, the voice in his head reminded him, and he steeled himself. He would not have let her do this alone.

Beneath them Dreki rumbled, clearly hearing something they could not.

"It's okay, bud," he heard Rádgatá whisper as she placed her hand on the side of her dragon's head.

Finally an enormous mountain appeared in the fog, and Haku swallowed nervously. Aeri steeled herself. They were just scouting. In and out. She took a deep breath as they approached the seemingly solid rock, flying straight towards it. She felt Haku nervously tighten his grip even more on her waist as they flew straight towards the mountain, and heard him whisper, "Umm..." right before the Flashfang vanished into an unnoticeable crevice.

Shade followed Fern into the depths of the mountain, suppressing the urge to turn around and get the Hel out of there as fast as he could. He could smell the Queen, hear her deep, shuddering breaths, sense her massive presence. His ears were flat against his neck, and he chanted over and over in his mind, "You belong to the Alpha. She cannot stand against the Alpha. You belong to the Alpha..." That didn't help the unease tightening his stomach, but it kept him mostly calm and focused. He had to focus, to keep Aeri and Haku safe as they went in, and out. A glow permeated the atmosphere around them, and the air became hot and stale.

He felt Aeri's legs tighten ever so slightly as she held on to him, offering him her strength even as she relied on him for his own.

And then they were in a cavern, filled with strange mist, glowing from within. She was here, he could feel it in his bones. He followed Fern up to a high ledge, where they ducked behind a column. Aeri and Haku were whispering to each other on his back, so he took the opportunity to talk to the Flashfang.

"Is she asleep?"

"I'm not sure," Fern replied nervously.

"Where are all the dragons?" he asked, glancing around.

"She must have sent them out to hunt. A while ago, I'd say, since we haven't seen anyone else. We don't have much time, we should go before-" She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence when deep vibrations shook the mountain, and distant shrieks began to filter into the space.

"We have to go." Fern crouched, preparing to take off, when a loud rumbling filled the cavern.

"What... was that?" Aeri whispered.

Fern looked terrified, and there was no question in Shade's mind as to what was happening.

"Shade, we gotta go. Now!" Even as the Flashfang spread her wings a dark form began to take shape in the glowing mist, and Shade found that he was frozen in place, unable to look away as the Queen's massive head emerged from the depths of the pit.

"Whooo isssss theeeere?" An unearthly hiss assaulted Shade's ears, and he could see the Queen's eyes flickering around the many nooks and crevices that made up the walls of the nest. "Sssssomeone brought back a pressssent and isssssn't sharing any with meeee." The last word became a snarl and her eyes focused directly on where Shade was crouched in the shadows.

There's no way she can see me there's no way she can see me there's no way she can--

"I don't recognizzzze your sssssmell," her voice was deceptively soft, and her forked tongue flicked out between her lips.

"Shade, you gotta get us out of here," Aeri was whispering in his ear, but he found he couldn't move a muscle. Fern was pressed against the back of the column, completely hidden from sight.

"Why are you hhhhhiding from me? Why don't you come out and... share your prize."

Her enormous face began to move closer, but before she could really catch a glimpse of him, a cacophony of shrieks began echoing in the cavern, and the first of the dragons returned with their kills. They seemed alarmed to find their Queen awake, and quickly cast the food into the pit and flew as fast as they could to the safety of the wall.

Shade unfroze, looking over to see a terrified Fern staring at him. "Time to go."

They leapt out into the incoming stream of dragons, circling the enormous cavern and spiraling upwards. The Queen somehow seemed to sense this, and her enraged growl reverberated in the atmosphere as she climbed further out, sniffing and snarling. Now that he was higher up he had a better view of her frightening features. Countless razor sharp fangs stuck out at various angles all the way around her mouth; her nostrils were flared at the end of a long, narrow snout as she sought his scent, or perhaps... Aeri's scent.

With that thought he beat his wings harder, following Fern's frantic flight to a hole in the ceiling through which they could see a faint glimmer of light.

"There you are!" The Queen's roar was deafening and in his peripheral vision he saw her shoulders appear as she raised her long neck out of the pit, jaws open wide to swallow him whole. Almost there... Fern vanished into the hole and the stench of rotten meat surrounded him as the Queen's open maw rose up to claim him. Desperately Shade shot a plasma blast at her unsuspecting face, the small resulting explosion forcing her head back, giving him just enough time to escape.

Her furious, all-consuming roar filled the tunnel they flew through, her rage echoing loudly around them. The light became brighter until finally they emerged from the dark of the nest, and Aeri found that she was frozen in place, so tightly was she gripping the saddle. Haku was clinging to her with his own paralyzing fear, and neither of them could speak a word.

When they had cleared the mist and left the nest far behind, Aeri let out a shuddering breath and slouched forward. She felt Haku's arms tighten around her, and she was grateful for the support. They were going to have to kill THAT? Beneath them, Shade was thinking the exact same thing. How had their fathers had the courage to face such a terrifyingly large foe at the age of fifteen? How had they managed to do it without losing hope and fleeing for their lives? He frowned, coming up to fly alongside Fern, whose eyes were wide.

"I hope you have a plan," she finally said, glancing in his direction.

Shade resisted the urge to drop like a stone into the ocean and never come back up. "We'll think of something," he replied, the cheerful sunlight failing to mask the gloom which threatened to swallow his heart. "We have to."

Happy Friday, friends! I think you know what's coming next chapter… So stay tuned, review(!) and enjoy.

PS... Berk is on the horizon!