Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 26: Mateship

-Yep, those of you who looked at the title and got excited are right. The time has finally come, but it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. BUT that is only one of the big surprises. The second one is bigger, though it will be brief to hold the suspense. Hehe...

Otherwise, the next chapter or so will stay a bit stagnant with the plot, but they'll work on character development before more important stuff happens. Enjoy!

-NFD

~~~

The wait was nerve-wracking. Nana Moon had eventually returned to help me bring Splinter and Myrkr back to the cave, only to leave me alone with them again with a simple 'good luck.' Myrkr laid sprawled on his side, back facing away from me and toward Splinter, who was in a similar position nearby. Neither of them have stirred.

Splinter wasn't really the cause of my tightly strung nerves; she already saw me as something 'different,' what with my potent Lunar-Magic and healing training—I wanted to continue that at some point. Myrkr, however, hadn't treated me differently after knowing those two things. What would he think knowing that I was the granddaughter of a god, though? Would he be afraid of me? Would he be angry that I never told him I was related to our deity? I had promised not to keep secrets...

A small voice warned me not to overreact as I had last time, but this was somehow different. Last time, it was just a normal series of events that led to me freaking out and assuming the worst. This time, the truth was out; I was related, by blood, to a god. It probably wasn't much of my blood that came from Nana Moon, but that didn't change that I was related to her at all.

I eyed the brown fledgling with a mixture of worry, doubt, love, and everything in between. His brown scales, similar to the earth my family's old den was made of, gave me a sense of familiarity and calm. The way his sleek flank rose and fell with each breath constantly reminded me of his warm breath on my face. His head, smaller than the average male and consistent with the rest of his un-male-like qualities, had the face that had practically burned itself into my memory. His wings that made me feel safe, his tail that loved to wind around mine, holding me close...

I whined under my breath, my heart aching at losing all of that and the hundreds of other things left to be discovered about that male. I was curious, I wanted to experience everything Myrkr had to offer, and I knew he still had things left to be discovered. Some of those things were scary, but, given time, I thought I could handle it. Now, though, it was possible that that wouldn't happen, or it would be delayed even further.

One thing was for certain, I had to stop keeping secrets. No matter how embarrassing or shameful, I had to come clean. I didn't have many secrets left, but I shouldn't keep anything from him if I wanted our mateship to be built on trust. I couldn't lose him.

Now if only he'd wake up.

"I know that look," Splinter remarked, watching me from where she laid. She'd woken up a few minutes ago, keeping silent until now. "You're going to commit, aren't you?"

My eyes didn't stray from Myrkr's sleeping face. "Maybe," I replied noncommittally.

"That isn't a 'maybe' face," she said quietly. "It's obvious that you've picked him."

"I've already picked him."

She shook her head slowly. "No, you fell in love with him. This is the decision that changes your life forever. You're going to fully commit."