𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 || 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐈𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞

|| 2 ||

Rena:

I was collecting herbs when I heard the roars.

I was trying to find some more dittany, the herb only growing in the topmost, northern part of the Vale.

Our home, me and Lila, for what seems forever. I don't remember much of what life was like for me before I came here. Lila remembers more than me, and in turn tells me stories huddled around our fire.

We live in a little shack near some of the dens, in close range to the Elders. Lila regularly goes out on supply runs for us, and somehow over the years our little shack became a cottage, stick walls becoming timber frames and stone, a couple of windows and furnished with furniture from all over the continent.

I heard Sel's wingbeats from behind, the bond drawing closer and smiled up at the sapphire Morningstar dragon, her eyes as sharp as her teeth and claws - and the glare she gives me as she menacingly stares at the basket like it's about to attack her.

But I don't run. I stare her down, and we're like that, until she huffs and we break.

"Better?" I feel her soft hum of her voice in the back of my mind.

"Better?!? You look as though you want to eat me, Sel."

"Good, so it did work!"

"Are you copying Sgaeyl?" I ask with a laugh. In all the time I've been bonded to Sel, she has always been teased by the other dragons in her den for being too kindhearted. But that's just because the dragon in charge of her den is a fucking asshole. To me, she is beautiful and I'm glad for her, and her sense of righteousness.

I tell her they're just jealous because they don't have a Morningstar tail, but she just laughs me off.

She huffs, a small stream of smoke erupting from her nostrils. After a beat, she asked, "do I really look like her?"

But before I can reply to her, another voice breaks down my shield and screams,

"Rena! Come quick! It's Andarna." Lila screamed, and I dropped my basket, letting it fall to the side before I ran over to Sel, quickly mounting as she takes off, flying as fast as the wind.

~~~~~~

We land, in the middle of Vale where all the hatchlings are. But I take one look at her and know something's wrong.

I carefully brush my fingers along her snout, watching for any kind of reaction but there is none.

"She's asleep." Lila spoke as she circled Andarna's golden form, checking for any sign of an injury. "I think she burned herself out."

"With her stopping time?" Tairn has told us both that Andarna had stopped time, giving the riders enough time to fight back. To somehow minimise the damage wyverns bought.

"Yes. Tairn's going to move her to one of the empty caverns, and maybe she'll enter the dreamless sleep, but I don't know. I think after a few days she'll be fine, but Rena, it might be worth checking her wings. Something might be broken."

"Alright." I nod, and I cast my eyes to the shadows of the Elders as I feel my mind suddenly aloud with their voices.

They sound like a war drum, their voices echoing and far too fucking loud. I throw my hands over my ears in a feeble attempt to shut them out, but it's no use.

It never is, anyway.

"Rena. Rena. Focus." Calming words from Lila, "Fo-cus. Breathe in, breathe out. Ground yourself."

I breathe in, and breathe out but I can't ground myself, my feet won't mentally reach the floor of the-

"Easy. Follow me," Sel's voice guides me back to her, and I follow the voice, through her bond in my head where it leads to hers. She brings me to my grounding place, my feet now firmly touching the forest glade, and as I inhale, the scent of pine fills my senses.

"Thanks, Sel," I whisper, and I can feel her snout gently caressing my face.

"Anything for you, Archer," she whispers softly, and her mate Oceanith moves next to me, affectionately nudging her with his wing.

"You're getting better, Rena," he states, and I can feel him prodding the bond that links him and Sel, and in turn, links me and Lila.

I open my eyes, letting them adjust to the brightness. 3 of the biggest dragons in service crowding round you is very claustrophobic.

"Feeling better?" Lila asks me worriedly, her green eyes searching mine carefully. The Elder's voices have now been reduced to to just a hum in the back of my mind, like a song I just can't turn off.

"Yeah. Anyway, shouldn't you be meeting with Tairn and Sgaeyl?"

She coughs, a hacking sound that echoes for a full minute, bending over in an attempt to smother it. "Lila," I say carefully, "Are you sure-"

"Yes. I will not be treated like glass forever, Rena," She says sternly, but I can see her frame wavering slightly.

"I can only do so much, Lila, without the training-"

"Yes, which is why you must graduate. You can do so many good things in this war, Rena. Don't let me hold you back."

I glance up at her then, taking in her coloured cheeks and tanned skin, that looked all to deathly just over a year ago. She seems better, but, "Lila, you could never hold me back." I say smiling, "You push me too hard."

She barks a laugh at that, and she smiles, too. A rarity, because when she went to Basgaigth, she would always come back smiling. Every day.

But now she doesn't.

"Now, you're right I'd better go. I'll see you later, and please practise the manoeuvres. And you're right, you do have a better aim than me," With a wink, she walked off the cliff.

And no, she didn't plummet.

Well, only for a little bit.

A few heartbeats later, she flew past me, tightly clutching to Zalea's saddle as she leans back as she flies horizontally, Lila's  head ripped back as she smirks at me.

"Show off!" I yell at her jokingly, but when Zalea evens out, she waves as I turn around to watch her fly over the mountain.

"Oceanith," I begin, "when I go, and yes, I know you're one of the most powerful dragons and blah blah blah and you don't listen to petty mortals but please, make sure Lila goes  to Aretia. She'll be so lonely without me, as I was her, so please-"

"Yes, I know. We leave the day after you depart,"

"So she's agreed?" I ask with a sigh of relief.

"No, but she's going. She wants to help but believes us dragons need her more. And yes, we do, but she might go downhill if she isn't surrounded by her own kind."

"And what if Juliette?" I ask, thinking of the six year old currently sleeping in one of the dens.

"She'll come too. She's a rebel's kid, she'll fit right in."

And the unspoken rule that she adored Lila.

"Thank you, Oceanith."

"And I'm a bit offended you didn't think I hadn't already thought of this. Me and Zalea and Ringaili know Delilah better than she knows herself."

"Thank you, Oceanith."

I only hope it all turns out well.