CAUTION: Spoils aspects of Innocent Hopes, Twisted Realities, as well as aspects of When Nothing Remains through chapter 31.

Seriously, major spoilers here.

Assuming you wish to continue, read on…

Background: This is one of the smaller, shorter pieces I knew I wanted to write. It's going here because it didn't really fit the pacing of When Nothing Remains, but deserves to be shown. It's set in the first of the three or so months it took Pearl, Ember, and Storm to return to Pearl's pack near the end of When Nothing Remains, the time interval that story totally skipped over.

Pearl figured she should be getting used to these moments.

These moments, specifically. Storm had presumably wandered off somewhere but was probably watching from the trees or the night sky. She would want to know what was going to happen, at least at first.

Ember was sitting on the shore, looking out at the sea. This time, at the very least, he was not nervous. The answer was pretty much a foregone conclusion, for both of them, but this was important all the same, and she was glad he was calm.

As for her? She should be good at this; they had gone through the motions three times before. Once when she finally revealed how she felt, once when he gave her an answer later, and then once more when he caught up and confessed that he had given the wrong answer.

She shouldn't be nervous. But they didn't have a good track record with handling these things. The first time had not needed an answer, but the second time had broken her heart, and the third was more of a 'we need time' than an actual resolution. And the saying was that the third time was the charm. What about the fourth?

She was worrying over nothing. This was a well-rehearsed moment, in the end. One she did not expect to end badly.

So she steeled herself and approached Ember, sitting down beside him. The night was cloudy, and the moon could not be seen at the moment, so there was not much light. Not that either of them needed much light; they had good eyes for darkness.

"Has Storm gone?" Ember asked quietly, looking over at her. "She does not even know where we intend to spend tonight."

"She plans on finding her own resting place and rejoining us in the morning," Pearl explained. That was not normal, and Pearl was sure Storm was spying on them right now, but that was the official plan.

"As she would," Ember rumbled. "Pearl… how do you judge a single moon-cycle?"

"From one stage of the moon, all the way around… or just thirty days if that is not convenient," Pearl replied. "I've been keeping track."

"Same." Ember looked out over the sea. "I want to do this right; we're not going through this a fifth time."
"Agreed." She felt the same.

"Pearl," he said quietly, "when I came out here after you, I came more for a hope, a chance, than something we actually had. I didn't know it at the time; blame my son for rushing me off, and me for not getting advice in the first place."

That didn't sound so promising, but Pearl knew Ember far better now, so she knew he would not be starting with this if the message was bad.

"When I came out after you, I didn't really know you," Ember continued. "Now I do. It probably would have been wrong of you to accept me straight out that day. And for all I know, it is still too soon now."

Not doing this a fifth time. It was a good thing she had no doubts. "If we wait until we know each other completely, we will be old dragons barely able to fly under the weight of the seasons we've lived through."

"I know." He turned to her, leaning forward and inhaling her scent. "I don't know everything about you, but I know who you are, and I love you. Will you be my mate? For real, not some trial or 'wait and see' period? We have done that, and it was totally necessary, but I do not want to do it any more."

"That's over," Pearl agreed. "The moon cycle has passed as of tonight." Actually, as of tomorrow night, but this was close enough. More than close enough. "I would have been happy had you said yes the first time the question was posed. I know I will be far more content now, since we actually know each other a little bit more."

"We do." He nuzzled her gently. "It probably would have worked either way, but doing it like this was much smarter."

"Smarter, safer, less frustrating…" she purred. "And there was always the chance it would not have worked out." A small chance, in her mind, but still.

"Yes." He shook his head. "I didn't even know your past when Beryl talked me into saying yes the first time. What was I thinking? For all I knew, you were some insane mass-murderer with split personalities."

Pearl chuckled at that, catching the reference. "I'll be honest, that has always confused me. Why would someone with all the time in the world lead her hopes for a relationship with 'I'm an immortal who lives off of the stolen lives of others', of all things? She could have spent season-cycles romancing some hapless male before revealing that."

"Reeled him in before revealing the catch," Ember agreed. "That would have been much better. But who knows? Maybe she tried that."

Pearl nodded. "Maybe. Are you saying I've reeled you in?" She didn't even know what reeling was in this context, but she got the idea.

"Definitely, but I'm the one with all of the catches," he murmured.

"Such as having had a mate in the past." She had known that pretty much from the start. "Tell me how you see that now?" It was a request, not a demand, because while she wanted to know, she wasn't entirely sure she would like the answer.

"I try not to think too much about it?" Ember warbled. "Part of me had a mate in the past. I still miss her, and always will, but I miss other people too. My preferred way of thinking about it is that I am not the same person Flint met, or even the same one she raised two sons with."

"Literally," Pearl agreed.

"Exactly. My No-scaled-not-prey side never got a chance to have a mate, but the same thing would have applied. When my two sides merged, I became a different person. You are the one and only mate I want now." Ember shook his head. "Please tell me that makes sense."

"It does." She was just glad he was able to come to terms with it. She also didn't plan on asking him any probing hypotheticals such as 'if Flint appeared in front of us right now, who would you choose?' That would help nobody, because neither of them could even guess at the answer to something like that.

"And I am fine with what you are," Pearl purred, changing the subject somewhat. "So we are good."

"We are." Ember sat down across from her. "I know I learned a lot about you this past moon-cycle. What your past was like, how you think, all sorts of things. What did you learn about me?"

"What did I learn about you?" A series of short memories flew through her mind, little moments she considered important. "Let's see…"

O-O-O-O-O

Three days into their moon-cycle of trying things out, Pearl subtly maneuvered Ember just far enough away from Storm in their formation that she would not overhear. She could tell Ember knew what she was doing; he allowed himself to be nudged out of formation by her slightly encroaching on his flying space.

Once they were far enough away, he spoke. "What is it that Storm cannot hear?" he asked in a low hiss, keeping his voice down.

"I just wanted to-" Pearl began, before noticing Storm looking over at them. She didn't want Storm to overhear simply because this was a personal matter, one that could be embarrassing if handled where Storm could here. "I wanted to know if you'd be willing to slip away tonight."

Ember blinked at her. "For… things Storm would make fun of us for discussing?" he asked, clearly confused. "What… oh."

So he had it. "So?" She wanted to at least try that, and today was a good day.

"Well… it's kind of odd," he whispered. "I was raised to think that should only happen if we were actually mated, so to speak."

"Really?" She raised her voice on accident.

"What?" Storm barked, veering over to them. "Flying over an empty coastline is boring, do not cut me out of interesting conversations."

"This does not really concern you," Pearl huffed.

"We are talking of how No-scaled-not-prey pair up in their culture," Ember said far more casually. "It's not all that interesting, but Pearl asked."

"And it is better than flying in silence, so clue me in," Storm said firmly. "Even if I do not care, it should make for a few minutes of entertainment."

"Okay," Ember agreed, shooting Pearl a subtle look of shared annoyance. He would rather just get to the point, very much like she would. "No-scaled-not-prey have ceremonies and rules for these things."

"Like?" Storm prompted. "I am sure there are some stupid ones."

"Oh, there are," he readily agreed. "And some that are just how they do things, like not doing the actual act of mating until being officially mates. Doing it before then is a huge thing that could get people killed."

"Killed?" Pearl asked, interested in spite of herself. This wasn't what she had wanted to talk about, but it was interesting nonetheless. They had plenty of time to get to why Ember was hesitant to do something simple and natural between mates or those trying the idea out.

"Yes. There's a whole system of honor and such. If the female's family finds out she and the male have been doing things before it's official, they'll fight the male and possibly kill him."

"Well that is stupid," Storm complained. "The female likes the male so much she does that, and the end result is killing the same male off?"

"I didn't say it's a good system," Ember agreed. "But it does kind of cut down on chaos and bad decisions made in the heat of the moment. It's far from the worst tradition they have."

"You sound like you are thinking of one in particular," Pearl noted.

"I suppose I am." Ember bobbed up and down on an errant gust of wind, presumably getting his flight path back in order, before responding. "There is this one custom I avoided in becoming all of… this."

"Get to it," Storm said rudely.

"The son of the No-scaled-not-prey alpha, when taking a mate, would have to actually mate with her in front of witnesses," Ember finished, sounding embarrassed. "Don't ask me why, I have absolutely no idea."

Pearl was surprised by that… but she was far more surprised by Storm's reaction to the same information. Storm visibly flinched mid-air, dropping a short distance as she forgot to flap. "That is disgusting!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, it is." Ember glanced over at Pearl, and then down at Storm. "It really is."

Pearl knew what he was wondering; she was wondering the same. Since when did Storm, blunt and direct Storm, care that much about privacy in matters such as these? She seemed physically repulsed by the very idea.

Then Pearl caught a very sly grin as it spread across Ember's face.

"Truly disgusting," Ember called out. "On the night the two are declared mates, the Sire gathers a dozen random males to come and watch."

Storm snarled up at him, and dove further down. "I get the idea! Can you talk about something else?"

"How in the world would anyone be able to do anything while being watched like that?" Pearl asked loudly, getting what Ember was doing. Maybe they could have their private talk after all.

"Don't ask me, I would never be able to. And sometimes the males watching start giving advice," Ember called out.

That did it. Storm dove so far she almost plunged into the ocean below, and stayed at that height, skimming the waves far out of earshot.

"Everyone has their little exception," Ember remarked seemingly out of the blue. "One random thing they simply cannot stand hearing or even thinking about."

"So… Storm's thing is privacy?" Pearl asked.

"No, not that. I think she might be squeamish about the idea of mating in general." Ember shrugged his wings. "I kind of am too, but not that badly. Not when talking about what I don't have to do, anyway. I got out of that."
"That was all true?" She hadn't been entirely sure.

Ember grimaced. "All true. And since I was the alpha's son, that was lurking in my future somewhere."

"I never knew that you were an alpha's son." It had simply never come up. "And it's really funny Storm is squeamish about that sort of thing, given she's been looking for a mate for so long."

"Nobody said it was a rational dislike." Ember glanced down at Storm, who was still far below. "Anyway, back to my original point. I'm kind of thinking we don't do any of that right now. I'm not totally comfortable with it."

"We are kind of mates," Pearl said slowly.

"This is like being betrothed, a sort of in-between state. We are not mates yet, even if it is expected we will be in the near future." Ember shrugged his wings. "Dragons do not care, but I am not entirely dragon, and part of me does care."

"Then we will not do any of that," Pearl replied firmly, giving up the idea. She was not so curious that she couldn't wait. It was more just that she assumed he would expect it to happen and was not opposed to it. "Tell me more about No-scaled-not-prey," she requested.

"Why? Because it drives Storm away?"

"Because it's a part of you." They were supposed to be getting to know each other. She had just discovered a huge lack of knowledge in her own side of that. And it was interesting, besides.

O-O-O-O-O

Eight days in, they had run into a storm, and were forced to find shelter down in a valley just off the coast, lacking anywhere better.

Pearl couldn't sleep. The rain was both soothing and not, simply because while the sound was nice, the wet drops on her back was anything but. They were all sheltering under a dirt overhang jutting out at the bottom of a steep hillside, but it was not large enough to cover even one of them completely. It was still the best they could find.

Storm began to snore, having somehow found sleep. Pearl lightly shoved her, hoping that she would stop.

Ember moved out from under the ledge and stood in the valley, looking around at the grass and trees in the distance.

"What are you doing?" Pearl softly called out.

"Getting wet." Ember walked further out into the valley. "And wondering if this valley will start flooding. It might be dangerous for us all to fall asleep right now."

The grass was wet, but Pearl didn't think this place would flood. "Is that likely?"

"Hard to tell." Ember pawed at the ground, digging a small hole. "No way to know until the water starts pooling everywhere."

"Well, I'm not going to be able to sleep now," Pearl declared, moving out from under the ledge to join him in the valley proper. "Should we wake Storm, if it is possible this place will flood?"

"No need; we will know for sure long before she is in any danger." He tilted his face up to catch the rain in his open mouth. "I kind of like the rain."

"Why?" She didn't. It was rain, weather, cold and annoying. At least it was not snow, which stuck around after.

"I just do." He purred at her. "You do not?"

"It is rain; what is there to like?" She didn't see anything special about it.

"It sounds nice, it is refreshing… sure, it is annoying, but only if you have anything better to do that it is stopping," he explained. "You don't like feeling it hit you?"

How did he know? "No."

He lifted a wing. "Under here, then. I can fix that."

Pearl walked over to him and ducked under his outstretched wing. "This is not making me like the rain any better."

"No but it is getting you in the right mindset to appreciate the good parts," he countered. "Just listen. Did you ever spend a day listening, or watching, or thinking?"

"Yes, but most of those days were involuntary." Her moon-cycles tied up in a cage came to mind. The rain had been torture then, as the tarp cast over her cage was not good enough to keep it off of her when the wind blew.

"I did sometimes, as a dark wing," he said quietly. "Not as a No-scaled-not-prey. I didn't care either way, like you. But my dark wing side has an appreciation for things like this. Just listen. It is calming, if you let it drive away all other thoughts."

They stood there in silence for a long while, him sheltering her, having asked her to listen and do nothing else. She wanted to humor him at first, so she did.

It was pleasantly constant, like the world was purring. After a while, she could hear the changes in intensity, the storm fading away, ever so slowly. She could hear the wind rising and falling, driving the water against different surfaces.

It was soothing. Not like what he said; she could still think of other things. But she found she did not dislike listening to the rain.

And then, just as she was beginning to enjoy sitting next to Ember more than listening to the rain, or maybe the combination of the two, it tapered away, slowly drying out in a matter of minutes.

"I hear what you mean," she murmured. "I don't like it as much as you seem to, but it is nice."

"It is not often I get to just sit and listen to it." He still had his wing out over her. "I suppose I also like it because it is rare I am at peace."

"Are you now?"

"Yes." He looked over at her. "Mostly. But I spent much of my past searching fruitlessly for something, travelling alone. Back then, it was far more useful."

"Now?"

"Now, I could take it or leave it. I had almost forgotten I enjoyed it." He paused for a moment. "I enjoy it more when there is someone else to share it with."

"You could have woken Storm," Pearl purred teasingly.

"Can you see her appreciating anything calming?" he asked rhetorically. "No, not Storm. I prefer your company, anyway. She is my sister, but she is… well, Storm."

"It would take a very special dragon to appreciate her for herself," Pearl agreed, phrasing it nicely. "I don't think she's going to find what she is looking for with my pack."

"Who knows? I did, and I wasn't even looking." He didn't look down at her, and from the way he said it she suspected he didn't know he had spoken aloud. That made it all the more genuine, to her.

O-O-O-O-O

Twenty days into the trip, Pearl almost blasted Ember out of the sky.

"Don't do that!" she shrieked, firing at the water far below instead of his face. He was supposed to be back at the copse they had chosen to be their resting point for the day, not out here above the ocean. She was going out to find a good fishing spot, something they took turns doing alone, partially because only one person was needed, and partially to give everyone some time to themselves once in a while.

"Sorry!" Ember ducked down, flying to the right until he was a safe distance away from her. "Did I scare you?"

"Yes." She felt the not-so-subtle heat of embarrassment, but ignored it in her agitation. "Don't do that again." All he had done was bark loudly right behind her, but she had thought herself totally alone.

"Do you really not like it?" he asked curiously. "I will not do it if so, but I have not yet met anyone who minded so much."

She could take it back. He might like her better if she wasn't bothered-

No, that was stupid. They were supposed to be getting to know each other, not putting up fronts and pretending to have different opinions on anything. "I really can't stand being snuck up on."

"Okay. Is this because of… your past?" he crooned sympathetically.

Pearl shook her head. "No, it's not that at all." One of the worst parts of her past was that none of it was ever a surprise, it was all planned and predetermined. Being snuck up on just bothered her. It wasn't fun, even after the fact. "I just don't like it."

"The scare, or not knowing I am there?" he persisted.

"Why do you need to know anything more?" Pearl asked in turn. She wasn't so mad now, as the fear and shock was wearing off, but he was dragging this out.

"I want to know what you would like, and what you would not. Would you mind a quiet, calm announcement of my presence?"

"I don't know what you mean by that." Did he mean he would growl or something?

"Like… Well, imagine this. You are alone on the ground somewhere. I approach unseen and unheard and get close before purring quietly to let you know I am there. Or maybe I lick you, or something like that."

Pearl looked over at Ember and had to laugh at the earnest but slightly embarrassed look on his face. As for what he was suggesting… "I am fine with that. It is the scare I don't like." What he was talking about sounded pleasant. It also sounded like something mates would do with each other, and the time was coming when that definition would probably apply to them.

Even in him overstepping, she saw nothing bad. He understood and backed off once she made her displeasure known. She had already known he was considerate, but it was good to have fresh proof.

O-O-O-O-O

"What did I learn?" she repeated, trying to recover her train of thought. There were dozens of memories like that, quiet moments, happy moments, even sober, tense moments in which harder topics were discussed. A few arguments, disagreements, resolutions, nice gestures. They had learned much about each other, and she suspected moments she did not even consider important were worth more than anything to him, and vice versa. "A lot."

"That is not very specific," he purred. "But somehow it sums everything up nicely."

"We do not know everything, but we know far more than before," Pearl added, actually intending to sum it up this time.

"Far more. And what's love without some willingness to leap into the unknown?" Ember nuzzled her, and she nuzzled him right back. "I'll take that leap."

"So will I." She knew that some might say even a moon-cycle of this, and several moon-cycles of casual travelling together before that would not be enough. But life was too short to wait forever, and she knew her own heart. Ember knew his now, too. This was good.

Author's Note: I could have made this longer, but to be honest this is one of those 'it works better if I show you the door and tell you to imagine what goes on behind it' things, simply because I'm still very much learning how to write romance. The better I get, the less the minutia and complications will be left up to the imagination. And believe me, I'm working on it. Romance and high emotion are my weak points as an author, so I'm throwing them at myself again and again in different stories, to force myself to improve. This was a small attempt at one such practice. Other larger and more elaborate such things are coming in this universe and in others, so I will get better, if only by force of will.