CAUTION: Spoils aspects of Innocent Hopes, Twisted Realities, as well as aspects of When Nothing Remains, and much of Usurpation of the Darkness through chapter 36.
Seriously, major spoilers here.
Assuming you wish to continue, read on…
Background: It's chapter 5 of Gold's mini-saga, and about time to address the dragon in the valley, so to speak…
Gold walked through the valley, alone with his thoughts. It was night, and Lily was not yet home.
He wasn't worried; she had said she would be with Pyre and might not be back before dusk, and he trusted her. Even if he did not, he trusted her sneakiness to ensure she picked a far less checkable excuse when she wanted to deceive him, and thus he could be sure that in this instance she was being truthful.
But he did trust her, alibi aside. It was hard not to. The only reason she'd hide something from him was if she was seeing another male, and he'd not caught so much as the slightest hint of her caring for any other. So far as he knew, the only male friends she had were Pyre and Granite, and those two were both her family. One was dead, on top of that.
He padded past a sleeping family atop a rock, skirting to the side to avoid a dangling tail, and kept walking, burning time with one eye on the sky. It was a nice night and he had nothing better to do. No need to chase females, no parents to avoid… Life was good, as odd as that would have seemed to the him of a moon-cycle past.
He was so content, he almost ignored the noises of argument, but his recently dormant habit of poking his nose where it didn't belong resurged as the argument abruptly stopped, voices dropping to a hoarse duo of whispers. Someone didn't want to be overheard.
The noises had come from his right, and as he casually turned to circle around in that general direction, he further pinpointed the location. With most of the families around him slumbering quietly, it wasn't hard to hear them.
A mated pair, alone upon a somewhat large rock-
No, not alone, he noticed. There was a camouflaged light wing perched in the empty space, just barely visible if he looked carefully. Now he was very intrigued.
As he snuck closer, approaching from behind the three of them, he began to make out words.
"We will not listen to this kind of talk, whoever you are," one of the visible light wings objected, her voice angry and scared. "We are loyal."
"To a monster," the camouflaged one said, speaking with a low growl that made their voice sound odd and unearthly. People didn't speak like that, not when they weren't angry. The inflection and tone didn't match, something Gold would never have noticed had Pyre and Lily not waxed eloquent about how to manipulate one's voice a few days ago.
In this case, the reason behind that oddness was obvious; whoever they were, they were trying to hide their identity. It was working, too. He couldn't even decide whether they were a he or she.
"We will tell Claw someone came to us and said these things," the male growled. "I must. Go away before I decide to attack and hold you down so he can catch you here and now."
"Maybe you should," the camouflaged dragon laughed bitterly. "How he dealt with me might shake you out of your content stupor. He is a tyrant and an abusive waste of space." And with that, they leaped into the air.
Gold growled to himself and leaped too, startling the two light wings as he threw away stealth in favor of pursuit. He had to know, and he had the perfect excuse for chasing them. Anyone would be expected to, at least by Claw.
But it wouldn't do to actually catch him or her, not with others watching, so he quickly flamed himself. Following them was hard enough when they were right in front of him; everybody else would quickly lose track of them.
Of course, doing so had another consequence. The blurry, indistinct form doubled back and then dove, trying to get away from him. The light wing now knew someone was following, and was trying to lose him.
He wouldn't be evaded so easily; at this point, it was a matter of pride as much as curiosity that kept him behind them, straining his wings and doubling back repeatedly, keeping the blur in his line of sight. So long as he did not look away, did not totally lose the blur, he could follow.
They flew in their awkward, desperate dance for a little while, gradually gaining height and leaving the valley behind. He followed from above whenever possible, always angling to drop onto them if they made a wrong move, keeping them from going up above him and disappearing in the clouds.
Dogged stubbornness and pride kept him chasing long after a lesser male would have gotten bored and given up, and cleverness kept him on their tail. Eventually, the not-so-elusive dragon slowed, flapping sluggishly in defeat.
"The shore looks nice," he said loudly, indicating where he wanted his all but captured prey to land. They both knew he could keep following until the camouflage wore off, and anyone with a bit of cunning in them would land, discuss terms, and try to talk him out of revealing who they were before he had any proof.
Had he run into this sort of thing in the past, he would be hoping desperately that the one he had caught was female and willing to cozy up to him in exchange for leniency. Now, he was intrigued in a far more intellectual way, lacking the motivation to think about that sort of thing when he didn't want to make the trade taking another female would result in.
The camouflaged light wing landed heavily, scattering sand on the dune as they hit. Gold almost lost them in the gritty cloud, and pounced the moment he caught a glimpse of blurry air-
A firm paw kicked his neck, and he went sprawling. He struck out with his tail and wrapped around something solid just as it lifted off the ground, and a feminine grunt accompanied another hard impact, implying he had just tripped whoever he was scuffling with.
Not one to pass up on an advantage, he wheeled around and kicked sand at the blur scrambling to her feet, blinding her and giving depth to what he could see, the individual grains rolling and catching between scales. He promptly pounced and drove the female's head to the ground, wrapping his tail around one of her back paws just in case, and found grip on her frills with his claws.
"Let me go!" she hissed in a deep voice, still trying to disguise herself.
He snorted, sniffed at the head under his paws, and had his answer, as surprising as it was. "So, Crystal," he said conversationally. "Nice night for a flight."
"Ugh," Crystal groaned, falling limp. "Fine, you got me."
"I certainly did," he said proudly.
"And we both know if I run, you will just blab about this, so we both know I am not going to try," Crystal continued, the loathing heavy in her voice, smothering his pride with her disdain. "So let me go."
"Why?" he snorted. He might not be interested in mating with other females, but Lily could not fault him for holding down a potentially dangerous-
Wait, no, she would hear of this given who he was currently pinning, and while he didn't fear her annoyance with him, he didn't want to have to explain himself either, not when her trust in him was so precious and probably hard to win back. He let go of Crystal's frills and stepped away, allowing her to stand and shake herself off.
"Of all the light wings in this pack," Crystal griped, pawing at the sand, "it had to be you. I was not doing anything wrong."
"You are just trying to make me think I have no bargaining power," he said accusingly. "I know very well what you were doing, I heard the tail-end of it." She had been talking about a monster and, if he had to guess, speaking ill of Claw. That, given what he had recently learned from Lily, might result in a very painful punishment, maybe even death if Claw found out.
Crystal's scales began to shimmer, and in moments she was visible, looking extremely put out. "Great," she snarled, looking down at her now visible paws, "because this was not humiliating enough. What do you want?"
"What do I want?" He wasn't sure, too busy asking himself another, more philosophical question. Where was this whole situation two moon-cycles ago? His younger self had dreamed of situations very much like this, and it seemed the height of cruel irony to only stumble into one after he had decided against such a thing, and with his mate's best friend, no less. If only he could have run into this first, and then become Lily's mate!
"Stop playing stupid, we both know what you are like," Crystal snarled. "And I know what I am avoiding. Just say it, swear to never reveal it was me, and get it over with."
"You are desperate to not be told on," he mused, thinking quickly. She was Lily's friend, and he had no intention of actually ratting her out, so at some point this whole encounter would make its way to Lily's ears, from Crystal's point of view.
Well, if he could not have what she expected him to want, then he could at least have fun with the situation. "Okay... " He flicked his ears and made a show of rearranging his paws. "Do what I say, and as far as anyone else knows, I lost the mystery male." He would even lie about the voice to divert suspicion.
"Just get on with it!" she snarled.
"Okay, first, hop on two paws," he commanded.
Crystal stared at him for a dozen heartbeats, motionless, her jaw slack and her eyes suspicious.
"Well?" he waved his paw, then realized he was still camouflaged. That was helpful, actually; she wouldn't see the stupid grin he could feel spreading across his face.
She quickly lifted her front paws all of a paw length off the sand, hopped forward once, and glared at him.
"Next," he said, not pressing her on her lack of compliance, "flap your wings and wiggle your ears at the same time."
"You are the most ridiculous, perverted light wing in this entire pack," she said scathingly.
"Do it," he purred smugly.
"Fine!" She wiggled her ears and tried to flap, only to find that she couldn't do them both at the same time. Her wings flapped, and her ears fell flat, and when she focused on wiggling them, her wings faltered.
Gold let her struggle with that for a few moments; it was surprisingly difficult, one of those weird little things one never noticed except by accident.
"Okay," he called out. "That is good."
"You are strange," Crystal griped. "Just get it over with!"
"Okay," Gold drawled, humming eagerly. "Roll onto your back."
"Make it quick and do not expect to ever get this again, unfaithful sneak," Crystal snarled, reluctantly rolling onto her back.
Gold eyed her speculatively, but only for a brief moment. She had nothing Lily did not possess, though she was more toned-
And he didn't care, far more interested in the joke he was playing on her. He could go to Lily for mating. "Now swipe your wings in the sand to make a backprint like a fledgling."
"You are a sick, depraved creep," Crystal growled, doing as told.
Gold was impressed. Not with the sand-print; he had made better himself, and she was thrashing too violently to leave any clear shapes behind. No, he was impressed by how afraid she was of Claw's punishment, to go this far without more than acerbic insults. Whatever she thought Claw would do to her was worse than this humiliation, and the unwanted mating she assumed was imminent.
He would like to think she was not that repulsed by him and thus not all that opposed to mating with him, but it was more likely Claw was just that bad. He felt a twinge of guilt for messing with her like this. "You can get up," he said. "That was all I wanted. Claw will hear that a male light wing lost me in the chase."
Crystal scrambled to her paws without hesitation, but her eyes were wide and wild, a clear indicator of the type of shock that left one mentally scrambling to make sense of the world. He was familiar with the feeling, having experienced a similar disorientation recently.
"Try not to get caught next time," he advised. "Or have someone around to watch your back."
"Why?" Crystal asked.
"Because I do not really want you," Gold said, "and because it was funny to watch you do what I said." It would have been funnier if she hadn't spit vile insults at him with every new request, but that was too much to ask for. He was lucky she hadn't decided he was easier silenced by force than compliance.
"Funny?" she growled, baring her teeth at him.
"Embarrassing, too," he confirmed, casually flicking his wings in preparation for the possibility of a hasty departure, just in case she tried to bite him. He didn't want to bleed for this little joke.
"I despise you," Crystal huffed. "You really are not going to tell?"
"I am Lily's mate," he reminded her. "We talk. I cannot say I disagree with what you are doing, you just have to be better at not getting caught."
"I guess she really did fix you," Crystal said bitterly. "I hope she is happy. She has not so much as given me advice on how to fight back against the male who killed my mate since you came into the picture."
"She has been busy learning how awesome I am," Gold said, falling back on familiar, empty boasting. He hadn't been expecting such a bitter complaint not directed at him so much as Lily. Lily was great, he was the one she hated.
"And while she is learning, I am suffering and lacking someone to watch my back," Crystal growled. "Tell her that, when you tell her of my humiliation." She reared back, flamed herself, and took off, displacing the sand with a heavy beat of her wings.
O-O-O-O-O
"So, how was your night?" Lily asked as he landed on their rock. She rolled to her side and lifted a wing, and he happily lay next to her, his side against her stomach.
"Interesting," he rumbled. If he were a little less tired, he'd be contemplating asking her to the ledges, or risking something clandestine right here in the middle of the valley, but the chase, while invigorating, had left him with sore wings and a desire to sleep that just barely outweighed his other desires. She would still be here in the morning, and far more likely to agree to having fun then anyway.
"How so?" she pressed, rubbing her chin against his nose.
"Well, I almost caught a rabble-rouser, so if Claw comes calling that is why," he said lazily.
"Claw?" Lily barked. "What? What do you mean, a rabble-rouser?"
"Keep it down!" Gold said, using his paw to pull her face under his chin and hold her mouth shut for a moment, much to her annoyance. "If anyone asks," he whispered, "I did not catch them, but I did. Crystal was stirring up trouble and speaking against Claw."
Lily yanked her head out from under him and gave him an evil stare. "You'll pay for that later," she promised.
"I look forward to it. The mystery troublemaker was camouflaged, but I kept them in my sights for a while. Sadly, they escaped. I did not manage to force them down to the shore and extort some amusing things from them in exchange for my silence."
"What amusing things would you have had he or she do?" Lily asked innocently. "You know, if you had caught them, which you didn't."
"Hop on two paws, flap their wings and shake their ears, make wing outlines in the sand," he recounted. "Stuff like that."
"You'd be letting them off lightly," Lily murmured seriously. "Would you ask them what in the world they were thinking?"
"I would, but they would just be mad about not having backup," Gold relayed solemnly. "They might think you kind of abandoned them for me, though why they would blame you of all people escapes me."
"You tend to tell stories about me," Lily sighed. She sounded amused, as befitting a stupid little hypothetical he was telling, but her eyes were sad. "Have I really?"
"I have no idea, given I was not around to hear what you and she were planning to get up to," Gold said, fumbling his way through phrasing it as a part of their cover story. That was getting more cumbersome the more they used it, but at least it was a good protection against possible eavesdroppers.
"I haven't done anything toward that goal since choosing you to get away from him," Lily sighed. "I feel awful. She must think I left her to fend for herself, that I don't care since he's not directly threatening me anymore."
"Going off the topic of hypotheticals," Gold warned.
"She would be right," Lily said sadly. "I let myself forget about it."
"Well, now you remember," Gold offered. "So you can fix it." He would rather she not risk anything, but that just wasn't an option, not when Crystal was out there agitating and bemoaning her lack of accomplices. Things were already in motion.
"I can try," Lily murmured. She shifted, pulling him closer, and closed her eyes.
Gold wished he had brought Crystal's escapades and message up some other time; he didn't like thinking about his mate going to sleep sad. Now that he had said it, all he could do was hold her close and hope she would wake with a more positive outlook on things.
O-O-O-O-O
"Wake up!"
Gold murmured something nonsensical and clung to Lily tighter, clutching her chest. He was an adult now, he did not have to listen when his Sire said to get up early, definitely not when he was holding his mate…
A rough paw kicked at his back, and he winced, clutching her tighter. His Sire never kicked him-
Gold flicked his eyes open, surprise replacing the haze of deep sleep, and he craned his neck to see the kicker.
Another paw knocked his muzzle back, and he tasted blood.
"Get up, now," Claw demanded irritably. Gold could barely see him, the rising sun was a halo behind his head.
But pain was an efficient way to cast aside the haze of sleep, and alarm an even better one. He let go of Lily, stood, and instinctively stuck a wing out over her. He knew Claw's tendency for violence – he had just felt his tendency for violence, at that – and more importantly, he knew Claw had no trouble striking innocent bystanders.
"Yes, alpha?" he asked respectfully, bowing his head while still keeping a wing out over his mate, who was stirring even now. Luckily for her, she had only Claw's impatient barking, not his paw to the ribs and nose. Blood dripped out of Gold's mouth, a little trickle making him even more uncomfortable.
"I was told you chased off a traitor last night," Claw growled, glaring at Gold. "Did they get away?"
"He gave me the slip over the forest, yes," Gold admitted, casually throwing out the wrong gender, as he had promised Crystal. "I kept on him as long as I could, but it was no use."
"What were they doing, and why were you around to chase them?" Claw asked suspiciously.
"I was taking a nighttime walk before coming home to sleep," Gold said. He could feel Lily tensing under his wing, and suspected she knew exactly what was going on, but didn't want to get involved unless she had to.
Gold was surprised by how protective it made him feel, knowing what Claw had done and knowing Lily, strong and confident Lily, would rather let him handle it if he could. He pushed that confidence into sounding sincere as he continued his explanation. "All I really heard were some vague threats from both sides, angry voices. Then a camouflaged light wing flew up right in front of me, and I figured I should probably find out who it was making people angry in the middle of the night."
"You chased them out of the valley, but lost them over the forest?" Claw snarled. His eyes flicked to Gold's outstretched wing, and he snarled again.
"Yes, I was lucky to even follow them that far," Gold confirmed.
"Next time," Claw growled, "try harder. Do you know anything else about them?"
"I thought they were a male, based on their gravelly voice and speed at flying upward," Gold offered. "No clue who it was, though."
"And Lily?" Claw asked. "What does she think?" He motioned for Gold to move his wing…
But Gold could see the dark interest in Claw's eyes, now that he knew what to look for. "She is still asleep," he lied, not moving his wing. "But she would not have anything to add, she was at home when it happened."
"There is no way she slept through this whole talk," Claw said scathingly.
"She is a heavy sleeper?" Gold offered.
Claw snorted and lashed out at the leading edge of his wing. Gold flinched, but held steady, taking the shallow gash across the leading edge.
"Idiot, move your stupid wing," Claw snarled, unrepepentant. "Now."
"Yes, alpha," Gold conceded, sure that Lily would not want him to bleed for her sake, not more than that. Another strike might tear his wing membrane; the first one would have if Claw had struck a paw lower.
He pulled his wing back in with reluctance, and looked at Lily apologetically… Only to find her sprawled out on the rock, just as she had been before, asleep to any who looked.
"Wake up!" Claw roared irritably.
Lily shifted in her sleep, cast a paw out to clutch Gold's hind leg, and fell still again, presumably unbothered by the roar. Gold might have believed the act if he hadn't felt her stiffening beneath his wing previously.
"She was very tired last night," Gold offered, seeking to placate Claw in any way he could, and maybe make clear his claim to his mate at the same time. "You know how it is, I came home a hero and we made a late trip to the ledges."
"I want her awake," Claw snarled.
"Maybe later?" Gold offered. "She once rolled over onto me while we slept, and I had to lie there until she woke up. She cannot be woken by noise or impact, I would know."
"That is… pitiful." Claw turned away, growled, and snarled at nothing. "Next time, catch the traitor."
"Yes, alpha," Gold said, scarcely believing that Claw was giving up. He was sure not to let any of that disbelief into his voice, though. He had no desire to incur Claw's wrath again.
Claw departed in a flurry of flapping and frustration Gold could almost smell, it was so potent. He shivered, glad to be done with that. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, and he wanted to get back to sleep…
So long as Lily was okay. "That was close," he hissed.
"Don't talk to me," Lily hissed back, not moving a muscle. "Lie down, act like I am asleep."
"We do not want to be told on," Gold murmured, understanding her reasoning. Their closest neighbors were distant and asleep, but he couldn't be sure anything they did would go unnoticed, and he had lied quite blatantly to the alpha.
He lay down, shifted his wing back and winced at the cut throbbing on its outside, and threaded his left paws under Lily, while draping his right over. His nose went to the crook of her neck, and all was well.
"Thank you," Lily murmured. He could feel her neck and chest vibrating as she spoke, and her words went into him as much as they went to his ears. "So much. Waking up to that…"
"Not fun," he agreed. "Still, it ended well. He bought it." Claw thought it was a male stirring up trouble, but Gold had not directly lied about it. He had only said he thought it was a male, and given two plausible reasons. Crystal had used a deep, gravelling voice specifically to hide her gender, and she did have an impressive strength when it came to rapidly ascending, the sort of strength males tended to have thanks to generally larger shoulders.
"I can't believe I stopped working against him for even a moment," Lily murmured.
"I am distracting," Gold asserted, licking her neck.
"Yes… you are." Lily purred quietly. "That gives me an idea."
O-O-O-O-O
"They are there," Gold said, motioning down with his head.
"Perfect," Lily hummed. "Good work. Game on."
Gold didn't know what having an accomplice felt like, but he knew he was about to get a good idea of what being one was like. They began their descent together.
"Remember, be obnoxious, make me look good," Lily hissed. "Then-"
"I know," Gold snorted. "We are going to switch sides with the next one?"
"If this does not work well," Lily said. Gold noticed that she hadn't confirmed they would be switching roles for sure, and could see the inevitable 'but it worked so we should keep doing it' argument coming for later.
He didn't know whether he would want to switch later, though, so he held that thought to himself and didn't call her out on it. If she was more comfortable taking the anti-Claw slant to their upcoming trickery, he was happy to let her have it. It fit her better than it would him, and this was all about appearances.
They separated as they descended, landing on either side of the pond. Gold took a long drink, washing out the taste of blood from his mouth, and licked his wing, covering the gash with a fresh coat of spit. He was waiting, though it wouldn't look like it. Lily, on the other side of the pond, was engaging a mated pair. The one he had pointed out for her.
Gold was not sure whether this was going to work the way Lily wanted it to, but the whole point of the plan was to do something without seeming to be doing anything at all, so if it failed no harm was done, and it might still rid Lily of her lingering guilt. Said guilt burdened her, and he didn't like seeing his mate burdened.
It had also killed any enthusiasm she had for a trip to the ledges, so he had several personal grudges against said guilt, and wanted it gone as quickly as possible. His mate should be happy and carefree, as she deserved to be.
Lily engaged the mated pair in conversation, and Gold saw his cue. He began walking around the pond, quickly closing in on them.
"Here he is now," Lily said, announcing his presence once he was close enough.
The male immediately turned to look at him. "Thank you for helping out," he said.
"Doing everything, you mean," Gold snorted. "You did not even try to catch him."
"We told Claw afterward," the male growled. "That is something."
"That's more than enough, if they were doing nothing but talking," Lily said, casting Gold a glare. "It is not as if that is against the pack's rules."
"When it is about the alpha it certainly is," Gold retorted. "They should have pounced, held the traitor down, and sent someone for Claw!" Saying as much carried a small risk that it would really happen if there was a next time, but it was a common-sense measure Crystal really should have a way to avoid anyway. If she didn't then that was her own fault.
"We are allowed to speak our minds," Lily said coldly.
"Not when it is the alpha. Only praise of him is ever acceptable." Gold looked to the male. "Back me up on this. We are not allowed to say anything about Claw unless it is positive."
"That's stupid," Lily shot back, completely overriding whatever the male's response would have been. Both male and female of the mated pair turned their heads to look at Lily. "Claw sometimes sleep late. Is me saying that against our pack's rules? It is not a positive thing."
"Yes," Gold said in his most pompous, self-righteous voice, the one he usually reserved for annoying his friends. They knew it was a joke, but these light wings wouldn't.
"I think it is reasonable to be able to say things other than praise," the female interjected.
"Well, it is not," Gold snorted. "Your mate swore to follow Claw, and that means being his paws and mouth and whatever else. Nothing he would not like is allowed."
"Wait, no, that is not right," the male objected. "I only swore to follow him and never fight him. What did you swear?"
"That, but clearly it means more than just those two things," Gold said vehemently, lashing his tail. "I mean, what does following and never fighting really mean? If someone can be a traitor for just speaking against Claw, then obviously nobody is allowed to say anything bad about him."
"That's not what any of the males swore," Lily growled.
"Well, it is what he is saying," Gold retorted, holding in an amused purr. He hadn't been entirely sure about this plan going in, but it was working perfectly. Everyone was against him now, and he represented Claw's side of things… badly, and extremely. Just as intended.
"It is not what I swore," the male grumbled. "I did not give away my right to speak."
"No, you did not, and I gave away nothing," the male's mate added, glaring at Gold. "You are doing a terrible job of proving the light wing you chased last night wrong."
"I do not have to, they are because Claw is perfect and everything he does is perfect," Gold enthused, wondering if he was going too far. He thought he was convincing enough to hide how insincere he was, but it was a crazy position to hold.
"Ugh, this again," Lily growled. "Nobody is perfect, Gold. Not you, not me, not Claw."
"Well, show me his flaws," Gold retorted. "If he had any, people would have pointed them out by now."
"But you just said we were not allowed to talk about them," the male interrupted, sounding triumphant.
"I did, and you are not," Gold snorted.
"But that makes no sense," the female growled.
"It does not have to make sense, Claw is alpha," Gold laughed. "Everything he does is right. If it was not, we would have gotten rid of him long ago. He does things none of us could do without being punished."
"That's stupid," Lily growled. "Gold, stop bothering them."
"Bothering? Who is bothering?" He was glad he had negotiated this end to their trickery; Lily had wanted to send him away and have him follow her orders.
"You are, and you just spoke ill of Claw," she retorted smugly. "So by your own rules you are breaking them."
"I am not," he objected petulantly, channeling season-cycles of lost arguments with his Dam into a single angry huff. "You are!" He then flung himself into the air with a growl, and promptly put as much distance between himself and them as he could before bursting into a rumbling laugh.
Lily caught up a few moments later, flying behind him. "That could have been more smooth," she said. "You were way too obnoxious and stupid there. It wasn't believable."
"Not for you, but they do not have high opinions of me," Gold retorted. "Did you see a single moment where they looked suspicious? I did not. They were too busy caught up in not liking me or what I said."
"We're going to Pyre to practice," Lily asserted. "We should have done that first. But… yes, you are right, they fell for it. Good work."
"I had the hard part," Gold remarked. "You did not say much."
"You had to be obnoxious and take everything to extremes, and you had to make it at least somewhat believable. I only had to act as a voice of reason, and contrast your… everything." Lily barked a short laugh. "But you can pull off 'obnoxious' far better than I can, so I do not think we should switch in the future."
"Let us hear what Pyre thinks," Gold bargained. He knew Pyre would side with Lily, but at least then he could pretend he was deferring to Pyre, not her. He had to get some small victories in now and then.
O-O-O-O-O
"So I pouted like an angry fledgling, gave no good retort, and fled the scene," Gold finished, miming flapping his wings to emphasize how he had left.
Pyre, who was sitting at the back of the cave, watched his wings for a moment before looking over at Lily. "How did you end it?"
"Nothing all that interesting, I just apologized for my mate, said he was extra enthusiastic after Claw chastised him for not catching the traitor, and wished them a good day," Lily reported smugly. "They were both very sympathetic with me, and I think they were troubled by some of the hints Gold slipped into his arguments."
"Yes, those were clever," Pyre said. "But you might want to stagger what you strike at in the future. One argument with each other pushes home Claw's hypocrisy, another how anything he says goes, another how unhappy Pearl is, and so forth. Diversify the audiences' worries, so that when they speak to each other they only find more problems, not reassurance."
"That will take a while, since we cannot do this too often," Lily huffed. "Moon-cycles, probably."
"You have the time," Pyre said gently. "Get Crystal some help, or have her stop risking herself, and keep looking after Pearl. It is better to do something well than to do it fast, as long as you have no deadline."
"Any other advice?" Gold asked. "Such as whether we should swap positions each time?"
"That would be bad, you need to be consistent," Pyre said. "But, you could swap now, and keep it the other way from now on."
"I am better at being the reasonable voice, I do not want to praise Claw, and Gold cannot afford to go against Claw, even if this isn't technically opposing him," Lily said urgently. "It seems like a very bad idea to switch our positions."
"Maybe, but who can be more annoying?" Pyre asked rhetorically. "Let's check that first. I will give you both positions to argue, and I want you to be as aggravating as you can without breaking from the topic."
"Okay, but I still think us arguing the other sides for real would be bad," Lily said.
"The topic," Pyre announced, ignoring her objection, "is… Let's say supplying fish to the valley. Gold, you are in favor of the males doing so, for everyone. Lily, you say that the females should. Remember, you are not trying to argue it well, you are trying to make your side as unlikable as possible while sticking to the topic. You will have a short while to think up your arguments."
Gold found himself intrigued by the question, and quickly set to work thinking of terrible arguments. The obvious divide was along gender lines, so if he wanted to make himself unlikable, he had to use that and insult both sides. Coming up with ways to tie the insults into the question at paw was the hard part.
"Time," Pyre purred after what felt like far too short an interval, at least to Gold. "Now, I want you both to say you don't believe whatever you are about to argue."
"That's implied," Lily snorted.
"Say it anyway," Pyre requested. "I suspect you both have very nasty, irritating arguments ready. Some reassurance will help keep things light."
"Well, I, for one, have a hard time believing anyone would really say my things, but I am trusting my superior acting abilities to make it believable," Gold volunteered, seeing Pyre's point. He could imagine a scenario in which Lily took what he was about to say as his true opinions, and it was not pretty.
"Oh, this is going to be terrible," Lily snorted. "I don't believe a single thing I'm about to say either."
"And…" Pyre slapped his tail against the ground. "Begin! Lily, you first."
"Obviously, the females should be the ones to supply the fish to the pack," Lily said haughtily. "We're smarter than males, so we will be able to find the fish faster."
"Smarter?" Gold snorted, adapting on the fly since she had claimed his first argument for herself. "Come on, we both know that is not true. The males are smarter. But it does not matter, the males do everything else for this pack, so we should provide fish too."
"Everything else?" Lily snorted. "What do you do, exactly? The females raise the children, the females…" She trailed off. "Well, we do more than you."
"You cannot even come up with two things," Gold crowed. "Maybe the females should fish for everyone, it would mean they were providing something useful for once."
"And who will watch the fledglings?" Lily asked, glaring at him. "We would all come back to find that they had been ignored or abused."
Gold was impressed despite himself; he had the urge to defend his side of the argument for real, even though he partially agreed with that assessment. The scathing way she had said it was perfect to make him mad, even knowing it was intentionally provocative. "Sure, because every single female in the pack has a fledgling to pass off," he snorted. "That is true for the males, we are all mated. There are plenty of you without other responsibilities."
"Well…" Lily paused, again at a loss for what to say next. "Ignoring all of that, I…"
An idea occurred to Gold, and he decided to pursue it. "Actually, I take it back," he purred. "There is one advantage to females going for the fish."
"What is that?" Lily asked warily.
"You have one more place to hold the fish, so you will be able to bring more back," Gold laughed, breaking character.
Lily scowled, shaking her head wildly. "You win," she snorted. "I cannot top that."
"Sure you could," Gold chuckled. "The retort is that males can slide the fish onto their-"
"Enough," Pyre said, though he was purring in amusement. "That wasn't very good, from either of you."
"The prompt wasn't good either," Lily retorted. "There were only two options, either attack the males, or promote the females, and one of those isn't even offensive."
"My fault," Pyre admitted. "Want another?"
Gold eyed Lily, wondering what she wanted. He would be happy to try again, with something easier to work with, but if she had taken it to heart, he'd rather stop.
"Give us a better one," Lily requested, grinning toothily. "I need to even the score."
O-O-O-O-O
It was night, cloudy and dark. Gold had his head pillowed on Lily's flank, and his tail against her nose. He could feel her breathing on his tailfins.
He could also feel a presence nearby, something blocking the breeze where it shouldn't. He doubted that had woken him, he was far too heavy a sleeper for such a thing to suffice, but something had, and now he noticed.
The presence withdrew, letting the breeze back as it moved, and then someone leaped up onto their rock, balancing on the small empty space they had left in cuddling together. The rock wasn't normally big enough for three light wings, but Gold was lying on top of Lily as much as he was beside her.
Gold could tell that it wasn't Claw; Claw wouldn't be this clandestine. He also didn't really feel like leaping up to deal with it. So, instead of calling out, he began to tickle Lily's nose with the tips of his fins. If he was lucky-
Lily snorted a wet sneeze, almost blew his tailfins off with a tiny blast of fire, and startled awake. The presence made to leave, but under the pretense of reacting to Lily's blast, Gold flicked his tail out to the side and tangled a paw, and Lily jerked upright when claws scrabbled over the rock and slipped off the edge.
"Crystal?" Lily hissed. "What are you doing?"
Gold rumbled sleepily, immensely pleased with himself. He wouldn't have to deal with this at all, and they didn't even know he was awake. He sensed a perfect opportunity for eavesdropping.
"Getting you!" Crystal hissed back. "I want to go somewhere and talk."
"Here is fine, if you are quiet," Lily replied. "Gold hasn't even woken up."
Gold rumbled again, rolling to the side and nuzzling at Lily's paw. He never moved this much when he was really asleep… most of the time. On occasion, he'd woken up and needed to go wash off in the ocean, but that was another story.
"Good," Crystal huffed. "I heard you and Gold got into a spat today, and that he defended Claw."
"All staged," Lily assured her. "We were trying something. Expect a lot more of those arguments. They are not real."
"At least you are doing something," Crystal huffed.
"Sorry about that," Lily sighed. "Come on up. Really."
"There is no room," Crystal said skeptically.
"My mate is a heavy sleeper, so I can just..." Lily shoved him onto his stomach, and he let himself be moved. He was rewarded for his compliance when she all but lay on him, head to head and tail to tail.
"There," Lily purred. "Now there is room."
Crystal didn't mention the intimate way of saving space, opting instead to leap up onto the rock in silence.
"I guess I have to thank you," Crystal said quietly once she was settled. "If you had not fixed Gold, I would have been caught for real, or been forced to trade something worse than humiliation for my safety."
"You should not be out agitating like that," Lily said. "At least get someone to help."
"I would have, if she was not so tied up in her mate," Crystal huffed.
"Again, sorry, but I needed to sort us out before I could focus on anything else… and I ended up really liking what I was finding, so I got distracted." Lily lifted a paw to pat his forehead condescendingly.
"Do not tell me that," Crystal said, her voice low and sad. "I wish I was in your place."
"We'll get you there eventually," Lily promised. "Just do not put yourself in danger like that. Claw will hurt you if he catches you."
"I know, I just do not care," Crystal replied. "But I get your point, I will be more careful."
"Good," Lily said.
"Gold already made that point," Crystal added. "Do me a favor and bite him next time he gives you an excuse. I was scared witless, and ready to do whatever it took to keep his mouth shut, and he used that to make me look stupid. It was not funny at all."
"I'll bite him next time the opportunity arises," Lily hummed. "But he let you off lightly."
"Yes, he did, but that does not make him any less of a creep," Crystal griped.
Gold flicked his ears, and pushed his wings around under Lily's stomach, pretending that her weight was bothering him in his sleep. He was done listening to Crystal whine, and Lily could not keep her here by their rock if she was forced to relinquish her seat.
Oddly, Lily didn't take his obvious hint, completely ignoring him. "Maybe I can make you feel better," she offered. "Want to hear something funny?"
"About him?" Crystal asked.
"Yes," Lily confirmed.
"Sure."
Gold held his ears down out of sheer force of will, refusing to betray his awareness by flicking them up in anticipation, as he usually would. He wondered what Lily was going to say.
"He's tiny," Lily said, with the air of one revealing a huge secret. "Absolutely miniscule."
Crystal said nothing for a few heartbeats. Then she groaned quietly. "I did not need to know that."
Gold felt like he would rather not have heard it either. Since when was he small? Lily certainly did not act like he was small.
"It's about the size of a worm," Lily revealed. "And it has these weird yellow spots all over it." She leaned down and clamped her jaws on his ear, toothless gums pressing down.
Gold knew he had been caught. He most certainly did not have yellow spots anywhere, and Lily knew it too. She was taunting him, having at some point realized that he was faking being asleep.
Worst of all, if he understood her correctly, the jaws on his ear were a threat. If he revealed himself, she really would bite him.
"Really?" Crystal said, now intrigued and, by the sound of it, more than a little disgusted. "Lily, that sounds like a disease of some kind."
"I asked his Dam, and she said it is inherited from his Sire," Lily lied. "Tiny, yellow spots, and absolutely no stamina. If he wasn't so good with his tongue, I would be disappointed." Her gums had left his head, but a warning paw had taken their place, and he was mentally debating whether being bitten was worth refuting all of Lily's lies. He might have taken the trade, if there was any easy way to prove her wrong without giving her a whole new reason to be mad at him.
"Too much information," Crystal groaned. "Still, that makes me feel better. Would it hurt if that rumor spread?"
Gold flicked his tail against Lily's side, out of Crystal's line of sight. If she let Crystal spread that around, he would get her back, threat of being bitten or not.
"Don't," Lily said, much to his relief, "there's only one person who knows about his oddities. Keep it secret."
"For you," Crystal promised. "But if I laugh in his face the next time we meet, you get to explain why."
"I'll come up with something," Lily snorted. "See you tomorrow?"
"We can catch up more then." Crystal leaped off the rock, and Gold assumed that she departed quickly. Lily made no move to get off of him.
"That's what you get for eavesdropping," she whispered in his ear. "And for what you did to Crystal. Mostly what you did to Crystal. Eavesdropping is acceptable."
"I do not have a tiny, yellow-spotted-" he began, only to be silenced by a paw to his nose.
"No, but Crystal needed a laugh and you needed to be taught a lesson," Lily snorted. "Also, now she will not hate you for what you did, because she will think she knows something embarrassing about you. It works for everyone so long as you do not disabuse her."
"I cannot anyway," Gold snorted. "But I am going to disabuse you the first chance I get." He wasn't that mad, hearing her other explanations, but his pride would take some rebuilding, and having her howling his name under him would be the way to do that.
"And I'll bite you," she promised in a sultry voice. "Wait a few moments, then we can sneak off to the ledges."
Gold had been about to suggest they go first thing in the morning, but he was more than happy to throw that away and go with her plan.