After Pyra told her story to Alakein and Mieka they welcomed her and invited her to stay as long as she wanted. She had to hunt by herself and gather her own food, but that didn't really bother her, especially when Ashia helped occasionally. Ashia and Pyra quickly became friends as they were both the youngest in the canyon that lived alone. They spent their days play fighting, flying, and just talking as they watched the land evolve into spring.
When spring did come the land began to fill with new life, the birds that flew away were returning and the elk population grew with new fawns that stayed close to their moms. Pyra and Ashia were about the size of elk now, and Mieka told them to expect one more major growth spurt.
Pyra noticed unrest though. The adults seemed to grow defensive and kept an eye on the mountains.
"I wonder what's going on," Pyra finally said one day.
"I dunno, maybe the Academy is doing something?" Ashia said.
Pyra tensed up and looked towards the mountains, "maybe we could find out."
Ashia looked at Pyra and nodded, taking flight towards the jetstream.
The jetstream was an easy and direct route right above the clouds that could carry a dragon to the other side of the mountain easily. When they reached the other side of the mountain they left it and looked over to the mountain where the Academy was.
All they could was stare.
The mountain was surronded by a wall that reached high above the trees, too smooth to climb up. Dragons patrolled around both the wall and the mountain itself, ready to kill anything they saw. Pyra and Ashia flew back to the canyon, ready to tell Alakein and Mieka what they saw.
"The Academy is preparing for something," Alakein growled when they got home.
"What should we do?" Ashia asked.
"Leave us," Alakein said firmly.
♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢
The canyon went on lockdown. Pyra and Ashia watched as dragons prepared for what laid ahead, hardly leaving except to hunt. The dragons began to attack anything that came to close to the canyon and soon the canyon became as isolated as the Academy.
Pyra woke one day to some dragons roaring at something. Probably another raccoon, Pyra thought and poked her head out to see.
Two dragons were chasing down another dragon.
"GIVE YOURSELF UP INTRUDER," one of them yelled.
They were chasing down a small black dragon who was like an arrow in the air. Most dragons wings' are proportional to their bodies, but the Black's were much bigger then his body.
"What's going on? I heard screaming," Ashia said, climbing up to Pyra's cave.
Pyra gestured up to the Black who easily dodged the pursuing dragons. Even though his wings were too big for his body he moved with grace and speed through the air, he was a gifted flyer. The Black flew up to the clouds almost vertically and as the two dragons tried to match his maneuver, they fell to the earth having gone too vertical. The Black flew back to them and cirlced around to make sure they were okay.
"He's a small dragon," Ashia said curiously.
The Black sniffed the two dragons before they jumped him again, pinning him down.
"Now tell us, who are you?" The Bronze growled.
The Black simply looked at them.
"Not talking huh?" The Silver growled and bit the Black's leg.
The Black only winced.
"Weird, he didn't even make a sound," Ashia mumbled. Pyra gasped and climbed out of her cave to get a better look.
No, it can't be, Pyra thought and launched herself into the two dragons. The two dragons got out of the way and watched as Pyra looked the Black up and down.
"Ram?" Pyra said carefully.