Broken Wings

Beginnings

Coming to after being unconscious is very different from waking up from normal sleep. Aside from the expected confusion and disorientation, there's also nothing restful about being out cold. I was utterly exhausted, and this made it even harder to piece together where I was and what had just happened. None of the impressions or sensations assaulting my beleaguered mind fit with the few memories I could grasp. All I knew for sure was that everything hurt.

Shooting spikes of electric pain assaulted my entire body as a head-splitting ache pulsed and throbbed within my skull. It was cold, and there were meaningless noises coming from all around adding fuel to the fiery agony behind my eyes. I wanted to cradle my head in my hands, but my arms wouldn't move like I wanted. Neither would my legs. I tried several times to move in any coordinated way, but nothing worked.

"What the fuck?" I moaned. Or I tried to, anyway.

My tongue and mouth weren't moving right either. I was clear enough by then to understand how bad that was, and the flash of fear this realization brought flared into a beacon of radiant certainty to pierce the fog pervading and dulling my mind. As my thoughts quickened and the rest of my memories came flooding back, I tried moving again and recognized this time that the continuing pain had nothing to do with my disobedient limbs. I was restrained! My legs were tied together at the ankles, my wrists were secured behind my back, and a foul cloth gag was stuffed into my mouth! I forced my eyes open, dread filling me as I realized I must have been left behind in the Sylvan camp! But if that was so, what I saw around me still didn't make any sense.

The open sky was plainly visible from where I laid, unobstructed by the leaves or needles of any trees. A layer of clouds blanketed night, illuminated from behind by the bright, full moon. Cold flecks of snow kissed my exposed face as a flurry drifted down from above, invisible in the darkness except where the flakes were silhouetted against the diffuse moonlight above. And stretching up into that cold, snowy sky was a tall, scaffold tower of metal beams festooned with antennae and dishes and topped with a bright red beacon flashing on, then off, then on again.

I had made it to the radio tower with Faolin, Steel, and the others after all. So why in the nine rings of hell was I tied up?! There were a few sets of voices engaged in hushed conversation, but a second's worth of eavesdropping revealed that these were neither sylvan or any of their slaves that might have followed us here through the anchor. These were the lucky humans who Faolin had managed to send through before Os'tarell had arrived. They were all in some level of shock, but the overwhelming tone was relief. We... No. They weren't under attack.

Like a sinkhole opening up to swallow a building, fact after fact, observation after observation undermined and destroyed any possibility, any hope, that the Sylvan had somehow captured me again. These people, my people, had done this. I started making noise. If I'd been able to form proper words, I wasn't sure if I'd have been cursing or not. Beyond the dread welling up within me, I was more bewildered and confused than anything. Faolin and I had helped them! We'd risked our lives to rescue them! Why would they do this? They turned on us?! WHY? God! Please, please, please don't tell me they killed Faolin!

"Captain Walker," someone nearby called, noticing I was awake. I winced as his speech grated against my nerves like metal talons scouring glass. "He's up."

"Oh shit," Steel muttered under his breath. "I'm coming," he called back, louder. "Adrian, just... hold on. I'll explain everything." Expl- WHAT?!! He knows about this?! My hands and feet went numb and tingly, and not from the cold. I felt a physical ache in my chest as my heart raced, and I had to focus to avoid hyperventilating or puking. Steel, my friend, a man I looked up to, knew I was tied up. Did that mean..? Was he on board with this? I rolled onto my side to try and sit up, but someone grabbed my shoulders as soon as I moved.

"Hey, take it easy buddy," the man holding me down said. I twisted my neck to glare up at him, then I heaved my bound legs up together! I ignored the fiery needles that blazed in my muscles at the exertion, and folded myself at the waist to kick him off! I didn't do it fast enough, and he just swatted my legs to the left, knocking me onto that side. He had to let go of me to do that though, and I managed to shuffle out from under him and get up on my knees. I tugged at my wrist bindings, testing them, but they were tight and strong. I wasn't breaking or slipping out of them any time soon. The man who'd been harassing me was on his feet now, holding his hands out in front of him. "I was just going to help you up," he muttered, dejected. I snarled at him through the gag, not needing any words to express myself just then.

"Lt. Johnson. Stand down," Steel ordered from close behind. I whipped around to look over my shoulder, then had to focus on just staying upright as the momentum threatened to topple me. It was hard to balance with just my knees, but I avoided falling over. Steel crouched down in front of me as I fought to maintain some dignity, and he waved the other man away. His face was calm and controlled, a portrait of military bearing. "Lieutenant-" But his voice cracked and he had to cut himself off when he met my eyes. He must have seen a glimpse of the maelstrom of confusion and pain raging within me, and whatever the hell he was up to, I could only guess he still somehow thought he was my friend.

"Adrian," he began again, weariness and pity sopping from his words as he abandoned the stoic soldier facade he'd apparently planned on, "You're sick." I just stared back at him, my heart hammering as I waited to hear what he could possibly think justified this. "This is the only way I could think up to help you. You aren't you, not right now. That dragon... You think it's your friend or something, but that's just a lie it used its magic to make you believe. You are a possession to it. A slave. Maybe a pet at best. And I am not going to let it keep you."

"Buu-fiik!" I swore into the cloth in my mouth, defiance and rage exploding forth as my first coherent reaction. Steel- No! Not Steel! The Steel I know would never stab me in the back like this! Captain Walker pursed his lips and drew a distressed breath through his nose as I tugged on my restraints.

"I know you won't believe me. Not when that thing has its hooks so deep inside you," he continued, watching me keenly for any sign I was getting loose. I wasn't. They'd done a good job with their knot-work. "But I still want you to know what's happening and why, even if it makes you hate me. I, well I should say we are taking you back with us. That was a reckless operation, but you managed to pull off something incredible, getting me and so many others out of that camp. Everyone here knows the risk you took coming back for us. We owe you, and now it's our turn to help you."

I shook my head back and forth hard enough to lose my balance and fall over onto my side. I couldn't believe this was happening! I'd literally had nightmares about this, and now it was happening! I panted and groaned into the gag as I strained against my bindings; the inability to move or help myself in any way making me panic. God damn it! Anea, I'm sorry! I was so damned close! I'd spoken to her from right here not two hours ago! This couldn't be how it ended!

Walker rested a hand on my shoulder as I thrashed around. I tried to slam into him, to hurt him however I could, but he only had to stand up to get out of the way. "Adrian, if you don't calm down, you might make yourself pass out. It probably isn't easy to breathe around, but that gag is staying in until we've made some progress tomorrow. Faolin confirmed you managed to talk to the dragon from here. We're not giving you that opportunity." I froze, my heart somehow thundering even faster as the words registered. I felt lightheaded. It can't be that easy, can it? "That's better. Can I help you back up?" I snapped my gaze to the left to glare up at the captain, standing apprehensively a few steps away.

I looked him straight in the eye and said, articulating as clearly as I could manage, "Aheeyah," Anea. Her name was muffled and unrecognizable in my own ears, but I said it. As I did, I nodded, and Captain Walker interpreted my garbled speech as some form of assent. As he helped me back up onto my knees, I strained my ears for any kind of a reply.

The captain was right. I had been able to talk to Anea from this very spot before Faolin and I had used the Anchor! What he didn't know was that this gag in my mouth was no barrier at all. Not for Anea. I'd been able to hear Faolin with perfect clarity when he'd had a gag in. Hope fluttered in my chest as the seconds ticked by, filled only with the idle, curious mutterings of the people who were still awake. The important question was if Anea was in fact close enough to hear me again.

"Alright," The captain began once I was balanced on my knees again, and I winced as just enough of his muffled English made it through the earplugs to be painful. "There's just two more things I need to tell you, then I'd suggest you try to get some sleep. We probably have a long hike tomorrow. First, there's some radio equipment in the generator shed that seems to connect to one of the antennas. It's not hooked up now, but we're working on it. If we can contact someone, preferably a military unit, we might be able to get some advice on the best way out of these mountains. If we can convince them we have important intel to deliver, we might even rate an evac mission. Whatever the case, I promise I'm going to keep you apprised of any information they give us about the national situation. After all, we've both got family out there."

That was a cheap shot, and the captain freaking knew it! My parents and my brother had been doing fine without me for years. Anea and her kids needed me a lot more than them. Probably. The thought of them enduring what the people of Pineda had been through sent a thrill of queasy fear through me, and I suddenly wasn't so sure anymore. I kept my reaction off my face, hiding it from Walker. After a second or two, he sighed and shook his head a little. He checked around to make sure nobody else was too close, then he shuffled a little closer to me and continued in a whisper.

"The second thing I need you to know is that I do know what I'm talking about regarding what that dragon did to you." I snorted with contempt and rolled my eyes, hoping he could see it in the dark. "Alright, I don't know everything, but I do know some very important basics. Adrian, if I didn't know things about real dragons, do you think I would have recognized a real dragon scale when I saw it?" I glared at him suspiciously, but stayed silent. I had been wondering about that, actually. "It wasn't the first one I've seen. Now back then, I didn't believe any of the relics I saw or any of the stories I heard were real. I always thought it was some kind of dumb game, and in hind-sight, that might be why my dad stopped taking me. The point is, you of all people were the next one to show me a scale like that. That and your story about the dragon and everything it did to you reminded me of that club and their stories. That's when I started piecing it all together. You probably are the only human alive today who's actually seen a dragon, Adrian, but not everyone has forgotten about them. I'd tell you what I know about what that thing did to you, but there's no point right now. You either won't believe me, or it will only scare the hell out of you. For now, just know that our ancestors were experts in dealing with all this madness, and a lot of their wisdom still lives today. We're going to fix you. I promise." And with that, he stood up to leave.

I stared at his back for a few seconds before shaking off the shock of his revelation. I believed him. At least, I believed the part about why he recognized Anea's scale for what it was. I'd suspected he knew something, but this was... Well it went further than anything I'd imagined. I didn't see why he'd lie about something like this; Captain Walker was never the type who made things up in the first place. But there was one more thing he needed to tell me.

"Aaaayy!" I mumbled, and he paused.

"Adrain, you should try to get some rest. I told you; we're not taking that gag out of your mouth yet-" I took a deep breath, then enunciated as clearly as I could:

"Ay. Oh. Ihh." The three vowel sounds in Faolin's name. The captain cocked his head and I repeated myself, trying to think of anything I could do to make my demand more clear. Skinnies... I sucked in my gut and made the sounds again, then I made a show of squinting and looking around in the dark.

"Oh," the captain said as he got it. "Faolin? You want to know where he is?" I nodded. Thinking quickly, I also stated Anea's name again, since he'd taken that as a yes before.

Despite the gnawing worry about what unknown dangers my family could be facing without me, there was nothing I could do for them. They were thousands of miles away. I wouldn't be able to help them even if I went with Captain Walker willingly. But right here, right now, I could help Anea and her hatchlings. I was the only one who could, and I'd sworn to her that was what I was going to do. If I could just let her know I was back. If she was patrolling when she heard me earlier... If she's back at the clearing now, and that's too far away...

"The elf is... Well, he's alive." The captain looked extremely uncomfortable again. "I really wish there had been another way, but he's just as big a risk as you are. We couldn't risk him using the dragon's name here. The team I sent through... They were waiting for the two of you to arrive. They had the ropes and rags we'd scavenged ready. And as soon as we popped through here, they jumped you and Faolin while I smashed that globe thing. There were three for each of you. I'm really glad you had passed out, since that meant they could be a lot more gentle with you than they had to be with the- With Faolin." The captain pursed his lips. "We owe him too, and there's no way he'll agree to work with us now, no matter what you promised him to get him to cooperate. I think the best we can do is let him go just before we rendezvous with more people. The brass would love to have him as a source of intel... But I think I've had my fill of stabbing people in the back." He met my eyes one last time. "I'm sorry, Adrian. I hope..."

He trailed off as I just glared back at him, furious all over again at hearing what they'd put Faolin through. After everything he's already lost and sacrificed... My exhausted fire lung was actually twitching. I'd never use it on my former friend, but I did want to burn something! After a few more seconds, he dropped his gaze with a sigh, and turned to walk away in the dark.

I pulled against the bonds around my wrists and ankles again, but there was absolutely no give. I couldn't reach the knots, nor could I work my arms past my rear to try slipping my legs through them. I heard Steel telling the guy who'd originally been watching me to resume his post, and I flopped back onto the ground, facing away from them and the tower to look north into the night enshrouding Anea's valley.

"Anea!" I shouted through the gag, "I'm almost there, but I need your help! I screwed up! I'm trapped here! If you can't hear me, if you don't come get me..." I trailed off, my throat clamping up and my eyes burning with despair. "I'm sorry..."

The captain's assigned guard rushed up and looked me over, alarmed by my muffled yelling. I only met his eyes long enough to give him a glare packed with as much vitriol as I could muster, then I looked away from him until he stepped back. He eventually did, and then I could only stare out into the black and try to hold myself together. But each beat of my pounding heart made that harder and harder. I'd been through so much these past few days, and even more in these past few hours. And after all of that, all the impossible shit I'd managed to pull out of my ass, for my friend to be the one to drag me away... Just like I thought he might. I knew he'd try this! I just didn't believe it...

Hope faded into black despair as the silence dragged on, minute by agonizing minute. Once the first tear leaked out, I was powerless to stop the flood, but I clamped down on the gag and stifled any audible sobs. I wouldn't let them see how badly they'd hurt me. Exhausted as I was, it wasn't long before I began to drift toward sleep despite my wretched misery. I fought to keep my weeping silent and private until I slipped off, barely noticing when my ears began to ring slightly. Once I did, I thought this was just another manifestation of the strain I was under. Then I gasped with sudden exuberant hope!

That fickle, treacherous feeling drove every trace of fatigue from my mind even as I tried to squash it. The last thing I wanted was to have my hopes crushed again. But as the ringing continued and even began to grow stronger, I was powerless to keep my anticipation from rising right along with it. Even if I was only setting myself up to be devastated again, that sound... I started holding my breath as I struggled to pick up any meaning. It sounded just like what I'd heard right before we spoke when Faolin and I first landed here! It had to be her! Come on! Any second now...

"-going on?! Adrian?! Talk to me!" YES!!!! A fresh rush of tears spilled from my eyes; these ones driven by unspeakable relief.

"Anea!" I shouted back, not fighting her golden order in the slightest and startling my guard. "Oh thank god you heard me! How far are you? The eggs? Are they-"

"Not hatched yet, but they are very close! You said you'd be able to make it back on your own. What's happening?! Who are the others I'm starting to hear?!" There was a snarl in her question. She had already guessed the most important thing. Whoever these people were, they weren't friends of ours. I gulped as it dawned on me that I was the only thing standing between all these people who'd just stabbed me in the back and one extremely pissed off dragon. A spiteful part of me relished that thought and all the vengeful possibilities it offered, but I shut it out. I was better than that, and Anea wasn't a monster. I'd make sure they all saw it.

"Humans the Sylvan had imprisoned. I-"

"Have they hurt you?!" she demanded.

"N-" I cut the lie off. What Steel had done went beyond any injury Os'tarell or any other sylvan was capable of inflicting on me. "Yes, but not physically." My guard rolled me over to look me in the eye suspiciously. He knew something was up, but that didn't matter anymore. I ignored him and focused on saving his life. "Anea, I can guess what this looks like to you, but I need you to promise me you won't hurt anyone here. They're all just scared and ignorant. They don't have a clue what they're doing." I didn't exactly hear her wrathful growl, but the intent behind it came through clear enough. "Anea, please! There are kids and families here, and they've just lost everything! They don't have any weapons that can hurt you, and I don't want you hurting any of them for being idiots! Just take me and let's leave them here."

"They'll know this is my territory," she pointed out darkly. I swallowed and thought carefully before answering.

"They don't know you're about to have hatchlings. And I just told you, there are kids here too! Don't tell me you're seriously thinking about-"

"No, of course not. I was just thinking out loud. Fine. I won't hurt anyone as long as they don't touch you again. If they try threatening you to control me..." she trailed off into another furious growl, and I swallowed again.

It was entirely possible, but I didn't think Walker was so self-deluded that he'd rather see me dead than with Anea. I hoped. It also occurred to me that Anea had plenty of reason to be angry with me as well. Just a few hours ago, I had deliberately left her to take a monumental risk while she was begging me to stay. Oh well. I was back now, and I'd have to deal with the consequences of that decision too. Just then, I noticed my guard had run off, and after a moment's concentration, I heard him frantically describing my suspicious behavior to Captain Walker.

"Anea, can you do me a favor? Roar."

"Excuse me?"

"You aren't going to be able to sneak down and grab me. Roar. Let them know you're coming. I might be able to get them to untie me-"

"THEY HAVE YOU BOUND?!!!" I winced as her fury erupted. "I swear on my ancestor's stars, Adrian, whatever story you're about to tell me had better be damned good! Why in the black of oblivion shouldn't I..." She trailed off, and several long, uncomfortable seconds later, her enraged roar echoed down from the night sky. Everyone in the camp went silent. "Because they're ignorant humans, and you didn't tell them why you had to come back to me. Fine. I'm not far now. I can't smell you in this cold, but I can see the red light on top of that human tower. That's where you are, right?"

"Right," I muttered through the gag as several sets of footsteps pounded toward me. "Alright, whatever you're about to overhear, remember you promised not to hurt anyone."

"What is that supposed to-"

"Adrian!!" Walker hissed, grabbing my collar and pulling me up off the ground. "What did you do?! Was that-" I nodded vigorously, then glared down toward my gag. The captain gritted his teeth, then let go of my collar and waved toward one of his friends. I was roughly rolled over, someone untied the knot keeping the gag in place, then I was grabbed and hauled up onto my feet. My arms were held tightly by a man on either side of me, though by the glances they kept throwing upward, their clenching grips were more from fear than anger. The captain stepped in front of me, his mouth open to say something irrelevant, but I beat him to the punch.

"Yes, that was Anea. She knows I'm here, she can hear every word we're saying, and she's probably about two or three minutes away. That sound you just heard? That's how she feels about me being tied up."

"Goddamnit, Adrian!" he swore, startling me. "You think I wanted to do that? I'm trying to save you! How in blazes did she know you were back?!" I shook my head.

"Doesn't matter. She's here. You can't stop her. None of you can. The only thing you can do is give her what she's coming for. She promised she's not going to hurt anyone. She's only here for me. And Faolin," I added quickly.

"Faolin?" Anea gasped. "That sniveling sylvan?! I am not! You think I'm about to take him back to my nest with us?!" I ignored Anea's sputtering, but I could only sigh with dismay at all the explaining I had in front of me. This was going to be yet another long night. Walker was still staring at me, a storm of conflicting emotions racing across his face as he thought furiously.

"Captain," I reasoned quietly. "Come on. It's over. You know that." He met my eyes again, and I could see he was the one grappling with despair now.

"You came back from the dead," he muttered, his voice catching again. "I'm trying to save you." I took a deep breath.

"I believe that's what you thought you were doing. But you're wrong about her. She's not a monster."

"How can you be so sure?" he demanded. "Look at all she did to you! She screwed up your brain and made it hurt for you to hear your own language! She's made you a target for the Sylvan with that fire breath business, and now she's about to make you leave everyone and everything you've ever known behind! You've known her for maybe a month, and you're about to throw your life away for her! If she's not controlling you, why else do you think you're okay with all of that?!"

"Because I know her," I replied simply. "I trust her, and whatever you think, I chose to stay out here with her." I could have gone into my various reasons for that trust, but the reasons didn't really matter. What mattered was that I trusted Anea, but Steel and I no longer trusted each other. "You need to untie me. This will go better for everyone if I can walk up to her myself when she lands." The seconds ticked by as Captain Walker glared at me, clearly struggling to think up some way he could still 'save' me.

"Are they untying you yet?" Anea demanded.

"Not yet," I answered, and Anea responded with another ferocious roar. Walker flinched when the sound reached us, distinctly louder this time, then his shoulders sagged with resignation.

"Cut him loose, dammit," he muttered, swearing out loud for the second time I remembered. "Liam, go get Faolin untied and bring him over here." I released a quiet sigh of relief as Walker's men followed his orders. "Bring those backpacks we found too!" he shouted at the man's back. He looked back at me, shaking his head nonstop. "Saw you'd scavenged provisions for the winter. We could have used those, but I'm not going to make you start from scratch if you're staying out here for good." I nodded cautiously at him as the ropes biting into my wrists finally came loose. A second later, the one working on the bindings around my ankles finished too, and I backed off a few steps from the group while massaging my abused wrists. We eyed each other warily, the tension imposing an awkward silence.

"Adrian?" Anea asked into the quiet. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I whispered.

"Please keep talking. I don't..." Her voice quavered as she trailed off. "Whenever you go quiet, I start thinking you've disappeared again."

"Ok," I continued in the same hushed volume, uncomfortable with the thought of Walker and his cohort overhearing me. "Can you see well enough to land?"

"I'll manage," she assured me. "Now, can you please explain why I should lift a claw to help that sneaky little sylvan after all he put you through the last time we saw him?"

"Any chance you could just trust me on this?" I muttered. When Anea didn't respond for a few seconds, I sighed and continued. "I owe him, alright? He-"

"You owe him?!" she gasped. "Did he scramble your mind again?! Adrian, it's his fault any other sylvan knew about you at all! If he'd just kept his stupid mouth shut, none of this would have even happened!"

I couldn't answer. My jaw dropped open and my head spun as Anea's words conjured a new and unwelcome possibility to smack me right in the face. Captain Walker might have had it right after all. Or at least half-right. I turned back to him, biting my lip with sudden uncertainty. Before I could think of what I might possibly say though, Faolin jogged around the small group to take shelter behind me. He had a wild look in his eyes and he was panting heavily, but he didn't say a word. The man the captain had sent to release him arrived a moment later with the back-packs Faolin and I had loaded up in Pineda.

"Adrian? Are you still Ok?" Anea asked, suddenly nervous again. "You need to keep talking."

"Ye-uh... yeah," I said shakily. I was kind of operating on auto-pilot while thinking furiously. Regardless, it was evident that even if what had just occurred to me was true, things were happening too fast for me to stop and fully reconsider my actions. I was probably past the point of no return anyway. "Faolin's here too. Listen, it's a long story, but he helped me tonight and lost any place he had with his people in the process. They'll be hunting him now, and the only place he's got any chance of being safe is your territory."

Faolin took in a few breaths behind me, and I sensed he was about to start pleading his own case. I turned to him and shook my head. Hearing him might just agitate Anea. If I couldn't convince her, no one would.

"Alright," Anea finally relented just before I could continue pleading. The fire was gone from her tone. Now she sounded as miserable and exhausted as I felt. "I trust you too, Adrian. I want you to explain everything that happened later, but I trust you know what you're asking. I'm about to land. Just make sure you're ready to go as soon as I touch down. We can't waste a heartbeat." I gave a deep sigh and held out a weak thumbs up to Faolin.

"Thank you," I breathed. At least that's one thing I can be sure I've done right. "We'll be ready." And I looked back at Captain Walker. He was holding the back-packs now, and he stepped forward when he saw my mind was back on the ground. I walked out to meet him while Faolin huddled behind me.

"Adrian," he began as I reached out for the packs. Whatever he was going to say was drowned out by a sudden blast of wind from above, followed by a surprised snarl from Anea.

"What is this?!" she demanded, pummeling all of us with another, more powerful wave of snow-dusted wind as she flapped hard to abort her landing. Dozens of people screamed as she overflew the main gathering of people and momentarily blotted out the fuzzy moon.

"Anea, what the hell?!" I snapped. "Are you trying to start a panic?"

"One of those humans near you has a bow!" she returned hotly, loosely orbiting the radio tower as she climbed back up to a few hundred feet. "He was pointing it at me!" I found the suicidal jackass in less than a second. He had the bow Faolin had lifted from Pineda drawn and ready as he frantically scanned the sky, trying to pick Anea back out of the darkness.

"Captain!" I shouted, causing Walker to jump. He and every other person in the area were just as fixated on the dark sky as the bowman. I grabbed the backpacks from him and tossed them behind me, then forcibly turned Kyle around and pointed to the bowman. "Control your man! If you really know anything about dragons, then you know all he'll manage with that thing is pissing Anea off!" Once the captain was moving, I also looked up into the black. "Anea. You've got to come back. Grab us off the ground if you have to, but if you shrugged off bullets, there's no way that idiot is bringing you down with an arrow or two." Walker was chewing the guy out by then, but the bowman's white knuckles were clenched hard around the grip. He wasn't surrendering his weapon to anyone.

"Raaahh!" Anea snarled. "Fine! I have to land though. Snatching you off the ground could break you!" She paused, gathering herself. "I'm coming back."

Just then, I heard a solid, meaty thud and looked down to see the bowman stumbling to the ground in a dazed heap as Kyle shook his right hand. He reached down to snatch up the dropped bow before the other man could recover and held it stiffly against his left side as he turned back toward me. But his grim eyes were locked on something above me. I turned around and had to shield my eyes as another gale of snowy wind kicked up. More terrified screams rang out from dozens of throats, the ground trembled with a terrific impact, and when I opened my eyes, they stung with the force of my relief. Finally, after everything these past few days, Anea was here!

Her sides heaved with exertion, her wings hung half open, and her scales glimmered under the faint moonlight as they rippled. I ran to her as fast as I could manage in the snow, and she lowered her head to my level as she darted forward to meet me. I stopped short to avoid crashing into her, but that was in vain because Anea only slowed down after planting her snout against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her muzzle to stay upright and chuckled hoarsely as we skidded back toward Kyle, Faolin, and the rest. I stared into Anea's wide golden eyes just a foot or two ahead of me, and it should have been a perfect, exultant moment as she stared back into mine. But the joy vanished from her face as she drew in my scent and learned all it could tell her of what I'd been through.

Blood, fire, pain, terror, bitter sorrow, and aching loss. Her brow fell, her pupils dilated into twin black disks of bottomless sympathy, and her jaw parted against me as she drew in a gasp. "Oh stars," she murmured, "What did they do to you?" Before I could begin to answer, the eyes flared with brilliant arcane light, and a brief flash of that unparalleled awareness rushed through me.

Anea gasped again and flinched backward, causing me to stumble since I'd been leaning into her snout. She winced as I fell to my knees and immediately brought her muzzle back to my side. I leaned on her again as I rose, trying to say all the things I needed to through my actions since I couldn't speak past the throbbing lump in my chest. I trusted her, I forgave her, I was happy to see her, I was back. Her eyes looked even sadder though; if she were capable of crying, tears would have certainly been spilling down her cheeks. But there was something else there too. The taught lips. The flaring nostrils... Fear. Something had just scared her badly, and I felt sure it had to be what she'd just sensed in me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, managing to force some words past my clenching throat. Anea blinked and took a steadying breath, clearing the concern and anxiety from her face. When she opened her eyes, they were slitted again, and they were fixed on targets over my shoulder.

"Soon," she promised. "We have to leave first." I nodded, then turned back to wave Faolin forward. He looked equal parts awestruck and terrified, and he was crouched at his waist like he'd frozen halfway through bowing to Anea.

"Honestly," she muttered with exasperation, and she took a great step toward the sylvan. A frightened squeak escaped his lips as the enormous dragon loomed over him and reached for him with open talons. Anea froze at the sound, and I noticed a shudder run down her wings. "Adrian?" she asked softly, all annoyance gone, and her voice thick with something else entirely. "Can you tell him it's ok? I'm going to be very careful not to hurt him." What the..? But now wasn't the time for questions.

"Faolin, relax," I said instead. "She's not going to hurt you. She promises she'll be very careful carrying you." Faolin's mouth opened soundlessly a few times, then he managed one jerky nod. Anea began moving again after that, first threading a single talon through the straps of the two backpacks we were taking, then very gently gripping Faolin's torso with the same forepaw. She held him like I'd once told her to hold me, back against her chest, stomach supported by her forearm. And unless I was misremembering, she was being far more slow and careful with him than she'd been when she first carried me.

"Adrian," she said, turning to me. "We need to go." I shook myself back to alertness and stepped up to Anea's left foreleg. But I hesitated before clambering up onto her back. I turned back to look at Captain Walker one last time. This was it. The final point of no return, and my lingering doubts flooded into the forefront of my mind to torment me yet again.

Am I really going to desert? Am I abandoning my family? Does Anea really care about me, or am I just useful to her? A surrogate waiting to be replaced? And would I still be doing this if Faolin had never Linked with me?

This last question ate at me the most, because it had only occurred to me in the last few minutes. Faolin revered dragons. Learning Anea had eggs and was counting on me to help raise her hatchlings had been enough to convince him his people were wrong to hold me all on its own. And we had both left echoes of our memories, values, and maybe even our personalities in each other after our disastrous Link. How could I be sure it had really been me who agreed to leave everything I'd ever known, and not some lingering vestige of the sylvan Anea was holding in her talons?

A large, warm weight pressed against my side then, breaking me from my looping thoughts. "Adrian?" Anea whispered uncertainly. "You aren't thinking about... You are coming back with me, aren't you?"

I stared at her for half a second in disbelief. She's... She's asking me? The question broke through my spiraling thoughts and committed me to the decision. None of these whispering doubts were enough to make me change my mind and tell Anea to leave me there. Regardless of whether she would, I knew simply asking would break both of our hearts. I just wish I could still trust mine.

"Of course I'm coming," I forced the words out, choking back my emotions, telling myself to keep it together for a few more moments. "Captain Walker," I called out as I began to climb up Anea's foreleg. "You should know something. That staff I brought back, the one with the large crystal set into its top? It belonged to the leader of the Sylvan back there: their Speaker Os'tarell. I could be wrong, but he seemed to get weaker when Faolin snatched the staff away from him. I think it was amplifying his powers somehow. I'm hoping it can give you all some insight into how all this magic stuff works." By then I had settled into place just in front of Anea's wings, finding to my bemusement that she was still wearing the loops of braided rope I had put together to give me a much more secure grip. I guess she left them on this whole time.

"Ok," Walker replied hesitantly as I hunched down and threaded my arms and legs through the ropes to secure myself in place. "That's um... That's good to know, and we'll make the most of it." As soon as I had a good grip on the ropes, Anea crouched. "Listen Hex, before you go-"

But whatever he was going to say was lost when Anea leapt skyward, triggering another round of screams and shouts as her wings hammered the air and propelled the three of us up, up, and into the black night sky. I listened intently, but Kyle didn't resume his last words even after we were far enough away that the air around him would have settled down. He remained silent as almost everyone else in their band of escapees shouted their heads off, arguing and worrying about what the hell had just happened.

"I'm sorry," Anea said when she realized Kyle wouldn't resume talking to me. "We needed to go. We had already spent too much time there. I thought he could just finish what he was saying while we left."

"Humans usually have to be much closer together to hear each other," I muttered back, a sudden surge of numbness washing through me even as the icy wind lashed at my face. Is it... really over? Anea winced beneath me at my words.

"Oh... um," she stammered, apparently at a loss. "I guess... Wait! You were talking to him! And the other humans! You can still understand them! Oh, thank the stars-"

"Anea," I growled through gritted teeth as a brief spike of anger pierced the veil of numbness threatening to engulf me. "It's not that simple." I extracted one of the itchy earplugs as I spoke and carefully pocketed it in the surging wind before starting on the other one. "I can still understand English, but not if I hear it with my ears." Anea remained silent, but I caught her stealing glances back at me as she continued on through the darkness. "Faolin actually figured it out. He explained it to me, and he taught me how to cope. Before then, I could only understand what someone wanted to say to me if they wrote it down instead of speaking out loud. Steel wasn't lying. Listening to English in my human way and your way at the same time just doesn't work, and it makes me feel like my head is about to split open." I fumed as I huddled against the freezing wind, paradoxically hating the fact that so much else had happened since Anea and I had learned about this mistake of hers that all I really felt was a simmering resentment. I couldn't even summon the energy to stay properly angry at her right then.

"I'm-"

"I know you're sorry!" I snapped. "That doesn't-" But I cut myself off as I realized what I was doing. I'd wanted nothing more than to get back to Anea all this time, and now that we were back together, I was yelling at her? A rush of guilt swept through me, and I felt my eyes watering again as all the other emotions I'd been fighting to control inched closer to the surface. "Dammit. No, Anea. I'm sorry. It was a mistake. I know that. I knew it from the second Tohnaal told us. I just- Uhhhh! Fuck..." I trailed off, not having a clue how to begin talking about the last few days.

"That human..." Anea began tentatively, after we'd flown in silence for a minute or two, neither knowing what to say. "Walker, you called him?" I nodded, and was mildly surprised when Anea seemed to understand the gesture even though she didn't seem to look back. "The two of you were friends. Much longer than we've known each other." These were statements, not questions.

"How do you know so much? I don't think I ever told you much about my old squad."

"Dragons can sense what others around us are feeling, or did you already forget that?" She didn't wait for an answer. "I could feel the bond you both shared, and what all the things happening tonight were doing to it. I know he hurt you worse than we hurt him, but he was in real pain. He..." She seemed to struggle with her words. "He believes I'm just using you. That I stole your life from you, and that I don't care what that does to you." I caught her casting another quick glance back at me. "And I can't be sure he's wrong," she finished in something like a whisper. That shook me, and I gazed up toward her outstretched head as my brow furrowed in confusion.

"Anea, what are you talking about?"

"Well, I'm doing it right now, am I not?!" She lamented. "Every wing-beat, I'm carrying you further and further from the life you had before we met. I know your people are in trouble and that you could help them, but stars help me, I need you too! If I had caught you earlier, before you managed to vanish with Faolin, there is not a chance on this earth I would have agreed to let you go! I would have stopped you from diving back into danger. And you would never have rescued all those people, all those families, from whatever the Sylvan were doing to them. You never would have saved your friend-" Something halfway between a sob and a shriek of rage escaped me, interrupting Anea.

"He was my friend!" I spat, fury and anguish almost choking me. "Not anymore! Not after tonight! Not after everything I went through, everything I risked to get him out of there!" I closed my eyes and shook my head as my eyes burned again. "Hell, I kind of wish you had been able to stop me."

"No, you don't," Anea rebuked, her voice suddenly calm and firm. "Adrian, don't lie to me, and especially don't lie to yourself. You wish your friend hadn't turned on you. You don't wish you hadn't saved him." She was right, of course. She knew exactly what I was feeling, and unlike me, she had no reservations about putting voice to emotion. God, what is wrong with me? Why can't I hate him? Why don't I hate Anea?! Am I just so pathetic that I can never learn to protect myself from people who hurt me?!

"Listen," Anea continued, her voice beginning to tremble again as she approached her point. "I still don't know much about what you went through, and everything you saw and felt and learned since the Sylvan stole you. I do know you were a warrior again tonight, and now I understand what that means better than I ever imagined I would. And I know you still came back to me. But after what I heard that Walker say to you about me making you abandon your old life, after feeling what his betrayal has done to you... after I broke your trust already. I can't deceive you again! That Walker wasn't right, but he wasn't all wrong either.

"Adrian, if you asked me to turn around and take you back, I couldn't do it! Not now, not when they're hatching! Very soon, they'll need you too, and even though I know that I should respect your right to choose your own path through life, I'll always look out for them first. Whatever that means. No matter what it takes. You promised you'd help us, and I am going to hold you to your word! I want you to want to be with us, Adrian. I want you to become a part of our family. I hope you'll love these hatchlings as much as I do, and that I'll never have to speak to you about this again. But I also need you to understand that there is no turning back for either of us. And there's also-"

"Stop," I interrupted wearily, "Anea, just stop. You're right, OK? I knew there was no going back, right from the moment I first agreed to help protect and raise your kids weeks ago. I do have regrets and doubts about this, and I don't think that's ever going to go away. I knew you wouldn't let me change my mind. You love your kids; what kind of mother would you be if you wouldn't do anything for them? I've been through too much tonight to try and understand why I'm feeling anything I'm feeling, but I am sure of two things. First, that bringing Faolin with us and giving him a safe place to live in your territory is the least he deserves. Yes!" I barked over Anea's dismissive snort. "Everything I did tonight was only possible because of him, and rescuing those people you saw wasn't even the most important thing we did. He betrayed his own people to do the right thing, and he personally saved me from being captured again. It makes me sick that my own people attacked him after all of that! So yes, at the very least we owe him safety from the other sylvan."

"Fine," Anea said after a long pause. We'd been flying for some time now, and I began searching the dark below for any sign of the incubation fire in Anea's clearing. "I don't think I'm going to like any of it, but the more you hint, the more sure I am I need to hear everything you went through. Whatever you think we owe him though, he is not staying anywhere close to the nest! I refuse to trust him after what he did to you, and I don't care for how his fawning could influence the hatchlings. Uh... What is the other thing you are sure of?"

I heaved a sigh as my chest filled with a warmth that I wanted more than anything to believe in, to accept as mine. I know it's real, but how can I know it's coming from me, and not Faolin? "I'm sure that right now, tonight, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. I'm sorry I let them take me away, and I'm sorry it took so long for me to get back. I'm sorry for what I had to put you through earlier, but seeing how it turned out, I'm glad that radio tower happened to be close enough that you could hear us. I'm happy we're together again." I felt her scales rippling, and I shifted a bit to avoid getting pinched.

"I couldn't hear just anyone that far. Only you," she replied softly. "And only when you said my name. Stars! If you had been any further away... When I heard you earlier this evening, and then you disappeared, I don't even know how to describe how I felt! I even wished you'd picked some place just a little further away, so I'd never have known what you'd done." I felt her shudder with obvious horror, even on wing. "Well, needless to say, I'm beyond glad and thankful that wasn't the case. Thank you for finding your way back. It means everything."

We trailed off for the moment. I still had so much to tell Anea, and I sensed there was more she wanted to say to me, but now wasn't the time. Ahead, I finally spotted the dim flickering orange of firelight peeking out from the dark void of endless needles and leaves below. We were almost back to Anea's clearing, and I knew we were both focused on the terrible possibility that something had happened to those eggs after Anea left them unguarded one last time to retrieve me. As it happened, we were just this side of too late.

Anea was descending toward her landing when she suddenly screeched, "NO!!!" I looked around frantically, but the firelight had already dazzled my human eyes, rendering the rest of the clearing beyond its reach pitch black. It didn't matter; Anea could see just fine.

I clenched on my ropes as she swooped alarmingly low, flying far too fast to land safely, and roared out a torrent of flame at something halfway between her fire and the stream. I heard a high, spine-chilling scream over Anea's continued roar, and the wretched stench of the burning little fiend left no doubt as to what was intruding. A cockatrice! Or maybe more than one, I realized as Anea loosed another blast of hell-fire.

Her head reared back and her wings flapped hard to avoid crashing into the trees on the far side of the clearing. I gulped and redoubled by grip as Anea ended her steep climb with a stomach-churning wing-over, performing a 180 flat-spin just as her momentum stalled out to quickly reverse her course. I'd never imagined she was capable of that kind of maneuver! But instead of diving for another screaming low pass, Anea instead aimed straight for her fire, flaring out her wings and flapping mightily to slow for a quick landing.

Anea's hindlegs slammed into the ground, and I felt her entire body tense as it absorbed the tremendous force of her landing. As she dropped down to put her weight onto all four legs, I heard Faolin cry out with pain and alarm. Anea must have dropped him, but I was left with no time to consider that as she leapt forward with a murderous snarl, rattling me where I perched over her shoulders. I held on and crouched low to her back as she whirled and spun this way and that to spit more jets of flame at enemies I couldn't see in the darkness. The fire-light flared dramatically, only to quickly dim!

I looked over my shoulder to see that in her fury, Anea had accidentally swiped her own fire, scattering burning wood across the snow-dusted clearing along with a round shadow that could only be one of the eggs! I watched in horror as it tumbled down the gradual frosty slope toward the black slash of the icy stream, and then I was falling to the ground, tumbling, and sprinting after it. I'd unwound my limbs from my crude riding harness and leapt off Anea's back without conscious awareness. The only thing that mattered was reaching that egg!

I was much further away from the egg than it was from the stream, and even as I raced harder and faster than ever before in my life, I could just make out the egg slowly gathering speed as well. When it was scarcely a yard from the bank, I leapt over it to plunge knee deep in the frigid water, then spun and crouched to snatch the egg up just before it touched the surface. "Shit!" I spat as the blazing hot shell burned my ring finger where Os'tarell had sliced off the tip of the work glove. I stepped out of the glacial stream, thinking to set the egg down onto the dry bank before the heat seared through my gloves, but then something happened that drove all semblance of thought far from my mind. The egg bucked on its own in my hands, and I heard a faint, high pitched squeak from the inside of the shell!

I stared dumbfounded at the intermittently shaking and squeaking football-sized egg I was holding. When at last my mind clicked into motion again, the increasingly painful heat penetrating my gloves wasn't the first thing I considered. No, as I gently placed the egg onto a patch of bare earth a few steps away from the stream and braced it with a boot, what circled through my head over and over and over again was the size of the egg, and correspondingly, that of the baby dragon it contained.

I patted the palms of my gloves on the chilled ground, cooling them off so I could pick the egg back up and carry it back to the fire. It was so large, I needed both hands to carry it safely. Ever since I first saw Anea's eggs, they had seemed massive to me. Much larger than ostrich eggs, they dwarfed every egg I'd personally seen or handled in my life. But now, feeling and hearing the living dragon struggling inside it, fighting to be born, I realized I'd been looking at the eggs all wrong. I should have been comparing them to their mother, Anea, never the eggs of other creatures. Compared to a fully grown dragon, these eggs were infinitesimal! I'd be shocked if the hatchlings were any bigger than house cats when they arrived! How could such tiny things be destined to grow into beings as large and magnificent as Anea?!

The reek of rotting meat fouling the night air suddenly became overpowering, and this was my only warning of danger. The cockatrice shrieked KILL! KILL! KILL! as it burst from the darkness to leap straight onto the egg! The little monster was heavier than it looked and at the speed of its assault, it impacted with considerable force. A heart-stopping crack exploded out into the still night air like a gunshot, and I staggered as my foot was nearly shoved out from under me. But I kept my balance!

Even as I wretched on a combination of revulsion and sheer panic, I leaned down and swung with all my might at the writhing mass of shadow scrabbling and tearing at the damaged egg. A heavy jolt ran up my right side as my fist impacted! The rancid little beast had a much heavier build than the chicken it vaguely resembled. It was still a small creature though, and my blow would have been plenty to send it tumbling off to the right. Instead, it lashed out at my arm with its beak and claws, tearing at the fabric to try and latch on! Reacting without thinking, I continued my swing and was just able to shake the beast off and fling it over my right shoulder and into the stream.

It hit the icy water with a heavy splash and a shriek of pain or rage. I crouched down to steady the egg while I turned to watch for it crawling back out to attack again. But my fire-dazzled eyes had no hope of picking anything out of the inky water. Before I could decide what to do next, the ground shuddered, and then what seemed like a pair of meteors impacted the earth just to my left and right! Dirt and snow sprayed into my face, and even as my eyes reflexively snapped shut, Anea screamed out another gale of flame visible through my eyelids. I cringed as the heat seared against my exposed skin, then the light, sound, and heat all vanished in an instant.

"Adrian. Move." Anea said, her voice shaking with her own panic. I realized that I had somehow ended up crouched protectively over the egg, and that my eyes were in serious pain with all the debris Anea had flung into them.

"Are there any left?" I asked before obeying her, unable to open my eyes and check myself. "If there are, I can-"

"All burned or fled. Now let me see my egg!" She demanded. I carefully shuffled down-slope toward the stream, ensuring the egg had no chance to start rolling down the bank again, then I felt Anea's massive talons brush against my arm as she scooped it up. She said nothing else as she turned to hop-step back to her fire on three legs, but I could hear her terrified breaths whooshing in and out of her nostrils. She'd heard the crack too. Before I could deal with that, I had to get what felt like a thousand tiny shards of glass out of my eyes!

I followed the slope and the sounds of babbling water to the stream until I dipped my fingers in the icy water. With no better options available, I yanked my gloves off, scooped up a double handful of pain, and began splashing it into my face. The frigid water burned against my skin and took my breath away, but I didn't have another option. It took me several attempts to even manage to keep my eyes open long enough for the water to reach them, and then many, many more before I felt any improvement. As I continued to kneel by the stream, I was startled when I heard movement close-by on my left.

"I'm um..." Faolin muttered, dismissing my adrenaline surge as quickly as he'd caused it. "I'm going to go. Anea just gave me a look I don't need anyone to interpret. I just... Thank you," he ground out, "for getting her to take me too." There was a world of resentment and anger buried in those words. Faolin would never forget how Walker and the others had repaid him for the risks he'd taken and the sacrifices he'd made for them tonight.

"I'm sorry," I said lamely, helplessly. "I never thought..."

But I trailed off as I heard quiet footsteps running off and fading into a night that was once again as quiet and still as only a night smothered by falling snow can be. It would have been peaceful if I wasn't so terrified that last cockatrice had managed to kill Anea's hatchling right when I thought I'd saved it. Anea still hadn't said a word after taking the egg. Once I felt that I'd rinsed most if not all of the grit out of my eyes, I realized I was out of delaying tactics. Taking a deep breath as I braced for the worst, I stood and trudged back up the slope to where Anea was crouched in front of her diminished fire.

"Anea?" I began when I was within reach of her right flank. But the moment I spoke, I had to duck out of the way as her near-side wing partly unfurled, narrowly passing over where my head had been. She gently lowered the wing to drape it across my back, her wing thumb resting on my right shoulder.

"Sit with me," she pleaded shakily, tugging toward her side. "Please." I nodded, heart in my throat. I let her draw me toward her shoulder, and I saw that she was holding both of her eggs in her paw. She held her muzzle a foot away from the eggs, staring fixated as she blew steaming clouds of her oven-hot breath over them. The flickering light of the nearby fire was just enough for me to make out the jagged black hairline of a crack etched into one of the pearlescent shells. The sight hit me like a punch in the face, and I sagged against Anea as a wave of dizzying, stomach churning fear swept over me.

"My god," I whispered, barely able to speak through my horror. "That fucking thing actually... Anea I'm so sorr-"

"She's alive," Anea interrupted, but without the slightest trace of relief. "I think she's hurt, but I don't know how bad."

"She?" I asked, getting caught on that detail for the half-second it took my mind to process the rest of what Anea had said. "She's hurt?! Well, ugh," I grunted, shifting to get back to my feet. "How do we help? What should I do?" Anea's wing thumb hadn't left its spot on my shoulder, and it suddenly grew much, much heavier, keeping me from standing up.

"Be still," she commanded, her order firm and unapologetic. Gold flecks tinged my vision, and I went limp, leaning back onto Anea's shoulder. I was exhausted from all I'd been through today, and I just didn't have any fight left in me. Or at least, nothing I was willing to use against Anea. "We sit. We watch. We wait for her to finish hatching." Anea's eyes hadn't left the eggs until just then, when she finally glanced at me. "Do not even think of trying to 'help' her hatch. That could kill her, especially if she's already injured."

"But," I gasped, wrestling with my exhausted mind for an idea, "There's got to be something we can do! Or at least... Wait! You've helped me heal with your magic before! Wouldn't that work on her?!

Anea closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. She still wasn't quite able to suppress a short, bone rattling growl when she answered. "Adrian, I need you to stop trying to fix everything. Please. I haven't forgotten that you left us earlier to dive nose-first into danger, trying to fix what you saw the Sylvan doing. Part of me wants to be furious with you for doing that, and trying to explain why your idea is foolish will only make that part harder to ignore. Trust me, I'm doing all that can be done. If you want to help, then just sit here with me, rest if you can, and be ready for her to hatch... Or for her to... not..." Her voice quavered with a deep, weary sorrow as it trailed off, leaving only the faint crackling of the fire, the regular rushes of her bellows-breath onto the eggs, and occasional muffled squeaks and chirps from the infant dragons struggling to break out of them.

I recognized Anea's tone. It was the same hopeless resignation I'd heard from her the day of the earthquake, when I'd first learned about her eggs and immediately crawled back down into her cave to rescue them. Or at least, the two that could be rescued. I wanted to apologize again for sending her into that black place. I also really, really wanted to talk about the mind-twisting conundrum of how and why I'd changed since meeting her. But Anea was completely and understandably overwhelmed at that moment. Tonight, I was here for her, and if she needed to focus without interruption from me, I would leave her to her own thoughts. All the same, being stuck alone with my thoughts was the last thing I wanted, and sure enough, it took only seconds of tense not-quite-silence before I began to spiral through question after question about everything I was doing. Again.

It was a puzzle that was impossible for me to answer definitively. I knew I wasn't some mindless puppet, even considering the compulsion I had to follow Anea's orders. I recognized when she exerted that leverage on me. It was anything but subtle, and I was almost always able to overcome it if I really wanted. What happened with Faolin was much scarier to me precisely because of its subtlety. I remembered things that had never happened to me like my own memories, and it was undeniable that my emotions and instincts had been influenced by those memories. Tohnaal. So, while I was certain Anea hadn't made my choice for me, and I did not feel that she had been coercing or bribing me, how could I be sure some echo of Faolin's adoration for dragons hadn't influenced me, subtly changing the way I thought and altering that critical decision to stay out here with her and protect her hatchlings?

Three specific events played themselves on repeat in my mind as I sat with Anea, occasionally stroking the scales of the shoulder I was leaning against. First, how I'd risked my life to save the very eggs Anea was holding now, even defying her to do so. Second, our subsequent discussion which led to my decision to forsake my old life. And finally, Faolin's reaction to learning that Anea had eggs. I recognized the shock of the revelation I'd sprung on him, and my reaction was no less drastic than his had been. We had both immediately decided to do everything we could to make sure those eggs were safe. But how could I know whether we'd both arrived at the same conclusion independently, or if it had been his values driving both choices. As Kyle had pointed out several times, my body and mind had been radically warped by things Anea and Faolin had done to me. How could I be sure the captain was wrong? That I wasn't just sick? That, at least at my core, I was still me?

Another excellent question.

... Wait, what?! Now that wasn't me! I looked around the dark, silent clearing, noticing with alarm that everything had gone utterly still. From the flames of Anea's incubation fire frozen mid-dance, to the shadowy motes of falling snow suddenly caught in the very air, and even the blaring absence of Anea's constant, determined blowing to keep her eggs warm in the final moments of their hatching... In all the world around me, the only things that seemed to move were my eyes, casting about in growing alarm.

Then something else did move. I think. Part of the fire had turned darker, pitch black actually. A fissure into an abyssal void seemed to split the air over Anea's fire, and as I watched for an eternity or a fraction of a second, it grew and resolved into a vague suggestion of a human's silhouette. Anea's grim ancestor. My reaper. It was here, and it was larger and closer than ever. My heart clenched in absolute terror, but this time it wasn't for myself. I wasn't the one on death's door! Anea's daughter was!

No. Not my task. Her journey yet stretches on.

The echo reached me before I could try to stand and fight a spirit off with my bare hands. Oddly, my fear didn't send the usual surge of adrenaline through me. Was that just because I was exhausted, or some power of this being? It didn't matter. I just wanted it gone.

Soon. After this, I should never disturb you again.

I stared at the shadow. It seemed able to perceive my thoughts, and I had seen it in my dreams, not just when I was awake. At first, it had been trying to... I guess help me pass on, but then it had met me in Anea's half-collapsed cave to offer me advice instead. Why is it following me?

Am not any longer. The path forks eternally, even beyond life. To be is to learn, to grow, and to change.

I glared at it. Advice again? And what are you trying to tell me this time?

Only to remind. And reassure. You plucked the threads of fate once more tonight, and the world thrums with what you set in motion. Do not presume to walk unaltered in your own turn. But trust. Your. Heart. It remains yours. It has always been yours. And even as you reshape this world and are remade again and again, it will ever be yours. Trust it. Let it guide you through the uncertain paths. Fate does not forget those who learn to wield it. You will have further need of the guidance that comes only from within, likely sooner than is fair. You may, and you must trust your heart to show you the right path... lest the coming chaos... consume you and... all who would follow...

The inky void of the spirit faded back down toward the fire as it struggled through its parting words. I puzzled at its silent sermon, unable to understand what it told me. Trust my heart? It had said the same thing the last time we spoke, right before I'd first decided to stay out here. Clearly, it thought I was doing the right thing, but how could I do what it said? I didn't trust my own heart right then. I couldn't trust it specifically because of how strongly Faolin's memories affected my emotions. Really, the most comforting thing it could do for me was to finish disappearing. But just before it fully collapsed in on itself and vanished, I noticed the last tendrils of black seemed to stretch lower than the fire... Was it touching one of the eggs?!

"Adrian?! Wake up!" I gasped and opened my eyes. The fire was crackling again, the snow fell once more, and the former silence engulfing the forest was barely a memory. I might have wondered if I'd been dreaming, but any curiosity about that was shunted aside by the new sounds filling the night. Squeaks and chirps pierced the cold air, ringing out much clearer now! When I focused on the eggs, I saw the cracked one now had a much more extensive pattern of jagged black lines spider-webbing across it! As I watched, the egg gave off a particularly determined chirp, which was punctuated by a sharp snap as a few thin new fractures appeared across the shell!

"She's okay?" My breathing was a little unsteady as my heart thundered against my ribs. I leaned forward, supporting myself on hands and knees as I edged close to try and get a better look.

"I think she is," Anea confirmed softly, also sounding a bit shaky but palpably relieved. She continued to rest her wing-thumb lightly on my shoulder as I crawled up next to her paw. "At least, I'm pretty sure she's okay enough to finish hatching now. After that, we can check if that foul little beast injured her seriously, or if it just frightened and dazed her. Remember," she added, tugging on my shoulder just a little as I got within reach of the rocking egg, "No touching, no trying to help until she's free of the shell." I nodded, wondering just how Anea defined 'free of the shell." Anything that would require me to burn my hands on the shell is probably out of bounds, for starters. I would be checking with Anea before doing anything regardless. She was the expert on dragon hatchlings, not me.

We sat there together through that timeless night. Anea never ceased her regular, determined breaths to keep the eggs warm. My own breath caught in my chest with each and every squeak, crack, and shudder from that first egg. Anea's wing was warm across my shoulder and down my back; the ground was ice under my knees and hands as I crouched there. The moonlight was evanescent and Anea's incubation fire was dwindling down to barely flickering embers, yet I had no difficulty making out the details that mattered. Those being the rocking of the two ovoid globes of pearlescent white in the palm of Anea's upturned paw, and the web of black fractures slowly spreading across the surface of the one lurching with more and more vigor. We might have sat there for minutes or hours; even if I'd had a watch that worked, it wouldn't have crossed my mind to check it.

Finally, yet still long before I was ready, the egg gave another violent shudder like the many before but this time, a chip of the shell dislodged and fell away! Another rocking heave, and two or three more chips flaked off! The egg held still for a few heartbeats, then with one last determined squeak, the fractured shell bulged outward with a combination of firecracker pops and the softer sloughing of a tough membrane stretching and tearing. The membrane split like a balloon bursting, and a floppy, slimy, gangly thing spilled most of the way out of the egg to sprawl across Anea's paw with a wheezy oomph!

Anea reacted immediately. Her eyes glowing softly, she first gripped the remaining eggshell in her lips and eased it off the rump of the exhausted hatchling and onto the ground. Then, she set to work bathing the tiny thing with the very tip of her tongue, quickly but gently cleaning off the slime and bits of membrane and shell that had stuck to the baby from the egg. As she worked, she coaxed the splayed legs, wings, and tail into more comfortable positions, tucking them up against the side of the hatchling's body and helping her into the relaxed, curled up position I'd seen Anea resting in so many times.

Her head was bigger in proportion to the rest of her body than Anea's; clearly dragons were more similar to higher mammals than reptiles in that respect as well. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her horns were just rounded bumps at the back of her skull and cheekbones. There was no sign at all of the spikes that should run down her spine. I could tell her scales were some lighter shade than Anea's, but in the dim moonlight that was all I could be sure of.

The hatchling hadn't squeaked since breaking free of her shell, but now she was making an occasional contented murr as Anea tended to her and ensured she was safe and comfortable. It looked like she was ready for a well-deserved first nap, but that wouldn't happen just yet. Anea suddenly fixed me with a glare, shaking me out of my entranced stupor.

"Take her. Keep her warm so I can keep the other one warm until they hatch too." I blinked, blindsided by the request. Sure, Anea had told me to be ready to help, but I still found it shocking that she was letting me touch her minutes-old hatchling. She really does trust me. Tears stung my eyes, and my throat ached as a sob lodged itself there, but I managed to nod and reach forward to gather the tiny dragonet into my arms.

She whined and even hissed like an irate cat as I disturbed her rest, but she was too tired and clumsy to do more than protest. I checked where the other egg was to be sure I wouldn't burn myself, only then noticing Anea had shifted it to her other paw while I was focused on the hatching. I also realized that this hatchling wasn't speaking at all. I only heard animal-like sounds from her.

"She-" I croaked, then swallowed to get my voice working again. "She isn't talking? Is that, um... normal?" Anea huffed a few chuckles.

"Of course!" She assured, leaning her head in close to watch. "Make sure to be extra-gentle with her wings. Don't put pressure on the edges, just her upper wing-arms if anything." I prodded the spot Anea indicated, and the little hatchling tucked her wings even tighter to her body with another hiss. This gave me room to slide my hands under her belly without touching the sensitive edges Anea warned about. Her body was a little smaller than that of a housecat, but her neck was much longer and her tail much thicker. It was a challenge to gather her up in a way that I thought might be comfortable, especially when she kept shifting to try and slip away from my grip. "She's brand new, you know. These two won't be talking for a while yet, not until they learn to think a bit more abstractly. Do human hatchlings start making those funny sounds you use for talking straight out of the shell?"

I opened my mouth, closed it, and repeated the action twice more as I tried and failed to decide if Anea was joking or as ignorant on that subject as she sounded. I decided to stay silent, focus on now, and not risk having to educate Anea on human reproduction tonight. Tonight? How about never? Right. Like I'm that lucky...

Soon enough, I managed to get the little dragonet's weight on my arms and lift her up to rest against my chest. She whimpered miserably as I took her away from the warmth of Anea's paw. I knew the outside of my coat was probably as cold as the frigid night air, and as soon as I was leaning on Anea's shoulder again, I shifted my grip around the unhappy little dragon until I was able to draw down the zipper at the front. The hatchling didn't need any coaxing from me. As soon as she felt the warm air leaking out against her side, she reared her head back with more energy than she'd shown since hatching and buried her nose under the left side of the coat. Despite her sudden change of heart and enthusiasm, she still needed my help to gather her floppy, clumsy limbs against the long shirt I wore under the coat. Then I wrapped both flaps of the unzipped coat over her. I held the coat in place with my hands rather than risk catching any part of her delicate wings in the zipper.

She continued to shift and shuffle around for a while, cuddling close to the warmth of my body. Despite her overall clumsiness, I felt significant strength in the movements of her neck, back, and tail. I guessed she'd needed that strength to push against the inside of her shell hard enough to break out of it. Now, she used it to burrow her way under my coat until she found a position she was comfortable in. Instead of curling up, she'd stretched mostly straight to lie along my chest and stomach, spreading herself out to soak in as much of my warmth as she could. Her legs and wings ended up sprawled all over though, so I reached under my coat with one hand to help her adjust. She didn't mind me helping to tuck her little paws tight against her torso, but she snarled when I tried to help her do the same with her wings.

"What's wrong?" Anea asked, instantly reacting to the first sound of distress from the concealed hatchling. I froze, wary of doing anything that might harm the hatchling or anger Anea.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "I was just trying to help her get settled." I glanced over to see Anea eyeing me intently as she kept up her blowing on the second egg. An idea hit me. "Wait! Maybe I accidentally... Just how bad did that cockatrice hurt her? That glow right after she hatched was you checking, wasn't it?" Anea closed her eyes as a shudder ran down her spine.

"Yes. I was checking on that." She heaved another bellowing breath. "She's fine Adrian. A little bruised, and she was probably very surprised and frightened when that wretch cracked her egg. Just make sure and listen to her. If she complains, stop whatever you're doing and check with me." As we'd been speaking, the hatchling hadn't quite settled down.

She continued shuffling her wings, struggling to get them comfortable. When she finally did relax with an obviously contented sigh and I realized what she'd been doing, my heart swelled and my stomach fluttered as wracking waves of adoration and unabashed love swept through me! The little hatchling had spread her wings out beneath the coat and wrapped them around to my sides in what felt like an embrace! The rational part of my mind whispered that the little dragon was probably just maximizing the warmth she could absorb from me, but that didn't matter one bit. Even if all I was to her right then was something warm and soft enough to huddle against, I'd never felt so needed, so appreciated, and so completely trusted ever before in my life! I was besotted. I felt it. I knew it. And dammit, in that moment I also understood exactly what that spirit had been trying to tell me.

There was a crucial difference in how Faolin and I thought about Anea right from the beginning, and it couldn't have been any starker. He adored Anea because of what she was: a dragon. I'd certainly been awed by her from the first moment I'd seen her, but I'd also never felt any kind of reverence for dragons in general. And even now, as I cradled a brand-new dragon hatchling, I still didn't. I hadn't agreed to help Anea just because a dragon like her deserved my help. I'd done it because I cared about her, and I couldn't stand the thought of shattering her by telling her my life goals were more important than the actual lives of her little ones. And I'd done it for them too, but again, that wasn't because they were little dragons. It was because they were innocent kids, babies, or they would be as soon as they hatched. And innocent little kids deserve to have someone to look after them so they can grow up and live a good life. I'd known those immovable certainties in my heart, just like the spirit said. In that moment, I also knew there wouldn't be a thing in the world I wouldn't do for the little beauty I was shielding from the cruel winter chill. It didn't matter if or why Faolin happened to agree. It was right.

"Adrian..." Anea startled me out of my trance, her voice quavering as she murmured my name.

"Anea?" I half-sobbed, only then realizing I was crying. Between the hatchling absolutely capturing my heart, and the spirit's timely advice helping me to understand and accept it, I was overwhelmed and unashamed of that fact. Anea was gazing at me with wide, round, and happy, if very tired eyes. Her scales were rippling against my back, and I also noticed the second egg was rocking and squeaking with much more vigor. It would be hatching any minute! "What is it?" I asked, not seeing any obvious issue.

"You love her!" Anea rumbled, her voice thick with profound joy. "You just met her, and I can feel how much you love her already! Adrian..." She trailed off as she took another deep bracing breath. "I have been imagining this moment for so long. I always looked forward to having hatchlings someday. But ever since I actually laid my eggs, I've been terrified, not excited. Even after you agreed to help me," she confessed, "I've still been worried. Winter is a poor time for hunting. This clearing is much too exposed for rearing nestlings. I-'' her voice caught. "I already lost one of my eggs in the earthshake." She swallowed and continued more steadily and quietly. "And I had doubts about you.

"You promised to help us, and I believed you... But how could I be sure you meant it? When it meant saying goodbye to your own family and your kind? When you are still so young, if you were a dragon, you'd still be expected back at the nest each night before sundown. When these two's own father," she spat the word, "left without a word of goodbye and hasn't cared to check on me again in more than eight moons?!"

She trailed off, allowing the peace of the near-silent winter night and the ever more insistent chirping of the second egg to cool her eternal fury at the drake who abandoned her. The little dragon huddling against my chest shifted a little, hugged her wings a little tighter to my sides, then returned to what I hoped was a restful first sleep. I really wanted to stroke her scales around the brow where I knew Anea enjoyed scratches, but that might wake her up. I settled for continuing to hold my unzipped winter coat closed, ensuring I could keep providing the warmth she needed.

"I'm sorry," Anea finally spoke again. "I don't want to be angry. Tonight is a special night. A happy one. I only brought all of that up because I want you to know that of all the things I'm still worried about, I'm not worried about you and your commitment to these two anymore." Her scales rustled against the waterproof back of my coat as they rippled again. "You just met that little one, and you love her as much as I do."

"I do," I nodded. "I really do. I never imagined anything half as precious as this little gem could even exist. I am so, so happy I get to be here for her, right from the start." Anea's head perked up and she stared at me for a moment, before another squeak and a sharp crack brought her attention back to keeping the second egg warm. "What?"

"I like it," she mused. "Little gem. I think... YES!" she exclaimed. "Especially with those scales! It's perfect!"

"Perfect? Wha-" I sputtered, lost. I was also concerned her exuberance would wake the little dragon. "Anea what are you talking-"

"Her name!" she gushed. "You just gave me the perfect start for her name! Gemazail! Little Gem to her friends." Anea wriggled in place with delight. "I love it!"

"Gem," I tried the name out. I was no judge of dragon names, seeing as I only knew one. I guess two now. The little dragon- No, Gem shifted again and made a sound that was probably a soft growl... but it could also have been a purr. I chose to believe it was a purr. "Gem," I repeated more confidently. "You're right. I think it's perfect. I think she even likes it too."

"She likes-" Anea cast a narrow-eyed glance at me. "Didn't you hear me telling you she can't talk yet? She can't understand a word we're saying either, and she'll barely be able to pick up our emotions." The eye rolled in its socket, then returned to staring at the second egg, rocking and squeaking with more and more energy.

"Then maybe she was just happy that we were happy," I tried instead, dropping my failed joke. Anea didn't say anything, but her scales rippling against my back told me she liked that idea.

Yet another crack split the otherwise silent night, but something had to be different this time because Anea stiffened and exclaimed, "Oh!!" I craned my neck to look, but I couldn't see much of the egg from where I was leaning against Anea's leg, and I wasn't about to move.

"What is it?"

"Gem's brother," Anea announced, breathless with excitement. "He's almost out!" Dammit! The only thing I wanted more than a closer look at the egg was to not wake Gem up again.

"Um... Any thoughts on what his name will be?" I asked, feeling the need to fill the endless silence between each new set of squeaks and cracks.

"I-" A sudden, rapid series of cracks accompanied by that gross sloughing sound interrupted Anea, and I was horrified to see a shadow black as pitch spill out of the egg to spread across her paw! Too late I remembered the dream or vision, where I'd seen that last thin tendril of the spirit's abyss trailing down from the fire to touch one of the eggs-

"Ask me again in a few minutes!" Anea gleefully interrupted my panic. I blinked at her in shock as she leaned her head down and began nuzzling and licking at the black mass in her paw. Then part of it raised up and squeaked out a shrill cry that had become unmistakable to me through the night, and my last flight of panic evaporated. It wasn't the reaper.

"He's got black scales?" I asked, intrigued. "I was expecting him to have a brighter color. Like you and Gem."

Anea shrugged, her focus on cleaning the slime off those abyssal scales. "Drakes tend to have darker shades. Deep blues, reds, sometimes purple even. But black is pretty common. Their father was obsidian..." Anea paused her tongue bath for just a moment. "No, I don't want that to be the first thing I think of. My father's father was an even deeper, purer black than Serraal, so I think we should name this little one after him. Nonah. Silaranonah." With that, Anea went back to her cleaning, and I suddenly found my eyelids growing unbearably heavy.

I wanted to stay awake until I was sure Anea didn't need any more help from me, but I was exhausted too. With the stress of the last three days, with how little I'd slept, I couldn't hold off sleep any longer. Especially not while Gem slumbering on top of me and the little grunts from Nonah enjoying his first bath filled me with such soothing feelings of relief and contentment. The hatching was behind us, and it felt like the worst was finally over.

Bullshit. I groggily recognized my error in judgment. Nothing's over. Except maybe a chapter. This is a beginning. The very beginning for Gem and Nonah's stories. And a new beginning... For Anea's and mine... And without even realizing, I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.