**11th of July, 9487**
“Are you yet prepared? You need to keep everything in mind, if you get tired you can get hurt or even…” The black dragoness fixed her blue eyes on the darkening sky, light hitting in her icy silvery eyes and stepped closer, studying sunclaws face in worry.
“I’ve done it all before, I can do it again. I’ll be okay nebula” Sunclaw mentioned, a draft brushed through the tower window, it was twilight, a dusky blue left shadows through were the lanterns didn’t light. Windows covered the ancient building, yet still where there couldn’t be panes of glass, shadows streaked back and darkened their features.
“But! It will be easier and safer, if you dont want to bring extra cloaks or the tent cover at least bring some spices or ale to at least make it more enjoyable!” Nebula dried herbs as a hobby, so they never worried about buying spices from cerrini markets.
“If anything, Akashi will have kept all of that in mind. He always brings extra and wouldn’t mind sharing” Sunclaw reassured, strapping things to his wingpack laying on the ground.
“I swear, you do this every last time, akashi can’t always just bring enough for you two! If anything at least spare him the extra weight preparing for your lack of thinking things through.” Nebula laughed, constellations were strewn across her body in the most beautiful way possible. Nebula was kind of an amalgam of draconic races, a beautiful hybrid between the perfect mash of three regions.
“He’ll be fine, and if he doesn’t share, i’ll be fine. also! The sword you made for tavier, he’ll be fighting with it for the first time this battle!” Sunclaw said with a smile, nebula tried to hide the fact she was beaming.
“Remember to ask him if it needs any modifications, with a dragon more of mind than brute force like him I wouldn't think it fit to fight with such a large sword. That thing was larger than your sword, and I couldn’t swing it cleanly in testing once. I had to ask aaronay to help test it. Plus with the obscure material he chose its prone to be a bit brittle and might chip or dull rather fast. Honestly at first I didn’t think the sword was even for him” Nebula mumbled in thought, expecting sunclaw to not even listen to it. But he heard and remembered every last word.
“I agree, he’s fought with only longswords in the past. His speed and cunning is why he is my second in command, never would he be considered a durable or headstrong kind of warrior, he’d always left that to me. He tells them where to stand, I tell them how to stand” Sunclaw ranted in return, his gold tipped feather crest brushed in the wind.
“I would almost say he’d be most likely gifting it to a warrior that be fitting to fight with it but no one in this country would give up one of your blades” Sunclaw added, looking up at the see-through glass roof, sparkling millions of little harsh edged shapes as the dying sunlight reflected into the complex patterns on the glass, casting diamond reflections shifting in millions of ripples. She was mesmerized by the patterns on the white stone, they reflected those same shining diamonds into her eyes that made them look more like diamonds, the icy silvery blue of a snow leopards, contrasting her dark scales that as her name suggested, had nebulas woven through her scales, with opalline like rusty orange and fire and that same ice blue as in her eyes. Every single time he looked at her he thought she was the most beautiful dragon he had ever seen, everything about her was the same as when they met many years back. When she was running away from the daraklus-taharia camp destruction. The only two dragons he could ever think of comparing to her in beauty were their daughter and son.
He always had a worry that one of them would fall out of love, but it never happened. They were nowhere near perfect, a million times they had hurt, both of them because of each other. But after every fight they both knew truly, they couldn’t go without each other, he loved her more than anything, souls intertwined by the angels.
“Truly, anyone could do what I do, I wouldn’t be near the smith I am without the materials the queen has gotten for me. And there would be a million that made swords better than I, Taharians could craft blades beyond my imagining! I only use there tactics to keep their name alive, I guess I have some sentimentality to the fact half of my blood is taharian” Nebula didn’t much like bringing up her heritage to taharia the dead race, but when she did the stories she would tell, for living in such a desolate frozen wasteland like the taharian provinces, they were life itself. She sometimes even would sing hymns in their native language. And sunclaw knew her humbleness was fake, no one could craft like she could, no one could replicate the shine in her eyes as she hammered the swords, her unclean study full of mineral and blade type knowledge, she would study weapons made by dragons across all of history, from every corner of every region. The things she made had never been heard of by a dragon alive, and she would still stay humble. Sunclaw grasped her shaky paw, she smiled.
“You are irreplaceable, enzaria knows this” he paused, his voice was quieted now and low.
“And I know it” Every smile from sunclaw was with all his soul, nebula smiled back, a much duller smaller smile but one of love nonetheless.
“If anything you’re the irreplaceable one, we’ve known this. Look at how far you’ve come. The high general of the shiaiya! Every soldier vows to your command. Look how we’ve come, as individual dragons, and how far we’ve come together!” Nebula closed her eyes, to feel his presence standing in front of her, not just see him.
“Oh my gosh i'm a blacksmith for the best of a seventh of the world,” she gasped, seemingly to not accept that fact.
“And you command a country! Did you ever stop to think about the fact you command an entire country!?” nebula put out her paws in disbelief, stumbling backwards by accident and half-falling before catching herself awkwardly.
“You should try stepping on enzaria’s ceremonial porch thingy with like a crowd cheering, that ones the most surreal” Sunclaw whispered, she beamed with excitement.
“I remember you talking about that! Sorry again I couldn’t come, I got bombarded by a crowd and had to stand in the very back, I wish I could have at least seen you” She dipped her head, her voice meek and quiet.
“There really was a crowd that day” he smiled, reliving that day. She saw how he gleamed, a phoenix in the light. How could she ever.. Match up to him. Nebula sat down, dropping her shoulders and craning her neck upwards.
“You still look conflicted, what is it?” Nebula asked.
“Im left to wonder, Will aaronay be back from the mines by the time I leave? If he isn’t… can you remind him that i love him. Thats all” Sunclaw said, with a complex expression. Firelight from the lanterns and the inferno of an oven in nebulas study lit up the room with colors. It was slowly getting darker, one last night to enjoy with them before he left. Or… with nebula at least, aaronay was in the mines and eclipse… He shook his head, she promised she’d be safe. Poor dragoness, he spent a lot of time feeling bad for her. It was expected for a shaman to be a bit quiet… but her isolation, stranding herself in the middle of the woods without much reason. It must be miserably lonely. It wasn’t like she was unpleasant either, she was a smart girl. Bright and quick witted, but at times she just wouldnt think, wouldn’t speak. Her eyes would just go blank, and she would just placidly sit, daydreaming, drifting in her mind. But now he would go off to war, without even getting to say goodbye.
“And eclipse..? Any message for her?” Nebula asked, placing her feathered crest flat against her head and yawning, white teeth glistening in dying light.
“Yeah, tell her as well that I love her, and that everythings going to be okay soon” He says, letting out a sigh, his joyful demeanor had faded now. He stared at nebula saddened, he shook, trying to remain strong.. Not even strong, just not shattered. But as he stared into her ice blue doe eyes his eyes welled up with tears, he wanted to run away to somewhere just they could be, just for a second. He tried to speak, but he choked on words.
“Why am I afraid?” He spoke without thought, and watched her eyes widen in shock and sympathy.
“I’m the shiaya general, i’m supposed to be the one shining my sword against sunlight, putting my soul into everything. Aren’t I supposed to be brave? Why aren’t I perfect? I just want to be enough for you, I want to be enough to guide our young, I wanna be enough to be beside my queen” He rambled, then let out a raspy apology.
“your fear is logic, you are the bravest dragon I have ever met. But this is war! This is weaponry and bloodshed and carnage! If you didnt fear each battle you wouldnt have a heart. But even though your scared you fight” nebula cried, he watched the fur on her neck bristle with emotion, her voice held the passion of her shiaiya side, the rawness of a taharian, and her haunting star speckled figure held the ghastly beauty of a daraklus. Her breathing was visible in the cold, swirling then dissipating into the darkness. Her eyes glowed faintly, the air smelled of rain and mulch and the moonlight glowed an opal blue.
“That alone is enough, for the queen, for every beating adrenaline rushed shiaiya heart. And more than enough for me” nebula whispered breathlessly. He tried to hold himself together, it felt like cracks were forming. He thought she could never be more beautiful to him. But looking in her eyes, the same eyes he looked into when they met at 22, now left him with even less words that would tie together just right.
“I dont deserve you nebula- I- I dont even know if I can give a reply that can say what I mean” he stuttered, his low voice laughed in an attempt to be quiet.
“No! If anything, it's me, I dont deserve you sunclaw” nebula stepped back a bit, humbly placing her paws in front of her.
The sky ran so dark now, a dragon could disappear in it in seconds. Rusty orange ribboned the horizon but that was all the light there was at all. Well, all the light that didnt spill from the silvery moon down through the complex Crystalline roof, and casted on both their scales making them sparkle like the stars that began to surface in the navy night.
“I feel like neither of us will have to fear if we have hope in the Angels glory” nebulas voice matched the opal moonlight, sad and quiet but so beautiful, you could never forget it if you tried.
“I promised myself I'd never lose hope, for us, for you and our little family” sunclaws horns glowed gold under the angled diamonds of light reflected through the roof. There was a freshness in the air, a wild forest feel through the silhouettes of pines that had breathed and croaked for centuries. His pupils thinned with adrenaline, he felt shiaiyan wildness tugging at his heart.
He stared at his paws, calloused from constantly being on the handle of his blade. He felt so powerful, like he could conquer the world, snap his jaws around any horrors lurking in the darkness.
“I know I still have an hour, but I think I wanna leave right now, while we still have hope, because right now I forget how much I'm going to miss you all. And I want to share this determined feeling with my soldiers. If i sound scared, or hopeless they'll fear too, they dont deserve that” Sunclaw smiled through the night, he was radiant like a lantern, no matter how tearful she was she gave a smile, a small pathetic hiccup smile but he smiled back anyways.
“Is it greedy.. that, it doesnt sound so horrible if you go now, because it's easier when I can forget what I have to miss, right now I cant be sad because your smiling and… when your smiling I know everything's going to turn out okay. I- dont really know what I'm saying, you probably should leave for your trip, my rambling does you no good” she smiled anyways, and closed her eyes.
“No! No it made sense, do you wanna hear the real reason I'm going so early?” he gave nebula a sly smirk.
She laughed lightly, looking up to blink tears from her eyes.
“Why is that?” She asked, extending her nose to almost touch his.
“I'm going to do it! ‘Not very fitting of a general’ tavier had said about my first attempt, then I think he had called me an imbecile” sunclaw mocked his lanky assistant.
“Do it!! If anything make it from his stash” nebula laughed childishly. For a month or so now, sunclaw had planned to steal one of the ceremonial bows from the armory to give to his daughter, because.. admittedly that was one thing nebula couldnt do. The bows she made were heavy or brittle, and beautiful they were even the best of them only shot as fast or clean as the basic hackberry wood. So he decided to get one of the amazing ones, warriors and low generals liked to hoard them. So what's the problem is the highest general in the kingdom snatches one measly bow.
“Dont tell her about the surprise okay?” Sunclaw asked, his teeth were sharp and ivory in color, the smile would have been menacing if not for his goofy expression.
“Stay safe, okay? No being heroic and sacrificing yourself” nebula said in a said whisper, her voice cracking a little too much, sunclaw sting as her words felt a little too real.
“I promise, and I love you nebula” sunclaw stared into her eyes for the final time before he left.
“I love you sunclaw, and in the battle, if it comes down to it and its your life or their's, give em hell.” She said it loudly, desperately like she had something to prove, he saw her nebula patterned chest ride and fall quicker than it should've, he was even aware how her paws clenched the floor.
He didnt need to speak, he didnt want to frankly, that was enough, enough of everything.
His wings spread wide, whiter than the moon, down to a pale yellow, down to tangerine orange, and at the very tips of his flight feathers was dark dusty red.
His silhouette couldn't be seen for long through the tree shadowed night. She stared into the ebony dark where he had just stood. And she fell for no reason at all, nebula clutched her chest, fear swelled within her, chattering in her veins, the sheer emotion, emotions so tangled she couldn't begin to discern them. Tears fell from her exhausted eyes, not sorrowful tears. All the lanterns seemed to have been snuffed out by the moist thick night, all but one. That last lartern crackled and flickered, casting complex orange on ever wall, on her paws, into her lonely eyes which needed to close.
What nebula would give to be nothing for just a second. She was still collapsed on the ground, trying to recatch every breath she had lost. The lantern flickered off her scales even, she saw them on her arms, her tail, she was protected by that fire.
Nebula wasnt crazy
She just wasnt.
But she swore she would go insane if she lost the light, the fire was the voice that chanted the lurkers away. It was her taharian spirit growing wild when she was alone, whenever she wasnt under the ring of dim light that lantern made dread filled her, the kind that felt like your running out of time, the kind that felt like leaving your safety, and you only have so long before it, whatever it was could get you. She sighed, knowing she was only growing mad remembering old legends.
Her head had begun to split from a mix of dehydration and lack of sleep. She groaned lightly in pain and made her way to their makeshift kitchen. Nebula extended a graceful paw to grab the kettle and ladled the water from the bucket she had filled that morning from the glacial well she had made. She stared at the stone flat atop the fire, metal bars holding it up. It was so silent she sat patiently.
When it whistled she poured over dried tea leaves and herbs, and a single chamomile flower they somehow still had since what, april?
The smell of home, her taharian childhood cabin filled her nostrils.
She took a sip, rubbing one of her temples still not rid of her headache.
Aaronay was supposed to be back by now
She stared patiently at the doorway, loneliness swelling in her chest.
Maybe those two truly did make their ways to the eastern hinterlands.
It was something of a joke to themselves, that they could all just run away to the place where the map stopped, no cities nor settlements. Eclipse was pretty skilled at going off the grid. But well, the kingdom of the shiaiya wouldnt operate well without.. A queen or king, no advisor, no head general, no preserver of taharian knowledge, no instructor of the north royal mine, no… eclipse. What did eclipse do?
Nebula snapped back to reality, She laughed lightly to herself, one day, after sunclaw would choose not to fight, after enzaria had a heir worthy of following her footsteps, and that heir would find a good dragon to rule with. After sunclaw could drop his blade and live, not survive and fight but live without constant fear of tomorrow, after she could bandage her scarred hands and rest, instead of letting fire and hot metal make more and more overlapping scars.
She blinked away the thought, like it would be so damn easy to walk through the spot her ancestors, her family her friends her childhood…
Bloodshed
Then the massacre left no one.
She shook it off, she wasnt taharian anymore, she was shiaiya and daraklus.
Why did she think such thoughts alone?
She gulped down the rest of the tea, ignoring the burn in her throat.
The steam from it had made her eyes sting with exhaustion, and she closed them with a sad sigh.
Warm nights like this were her favorite, hazy and dark and the perfect time for fireflies to hum around, casting the ancient moss and undergrowth covered trees in emerald greens.
But not one firefly was in the sky, and the moon was a dull crescent, mostly blocked out by the heaving trees.
With another saddened sigh she stood, pressing her shoulders back and stretching.
She tripped on a few loose parchment notes on the ground of her study, fire blazed in the clay oven, looked like a portal to hell inside. But it was light nonetheless.
Nebulas narrow pointed eyes swished between the half crafted blade, and her cluttered overflowing desk that was somehow a direct reflection of her mind. She forced her shaky paw to clench around a hammer and she grabbed a dull steel blade she was working on. The first pound of the hammer against the blade was so loud it caused her to jump back. But then it became easier, something to pour her energy into.
Her arms were sore from the incessant process each day, she felt so weighed down by the craft she loved so much.. she did love it.. most of the time. Nebula took a second to wish she wasnt so tired all the time, maybe she could be a better mother, a better wife, a better friend and a better representative of the book she was writing to track her findings in the world of smithing.
Under her desk layed a wooden crate, full of giant uncut gems, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, onyxs, opals, sapphires and a million others lay rough in the dusty box. They were given to her by her son to imbed into weapons. she yawned and picked up a malachite, and closed one eye to hold it against the half made longsword.
She shrugged, it was already entirely experimental, she had decided on a silver steel alloy to give it angelic communion possibilities.
It was supposed to represent a tragedy, a gift for the ambassador of the daraklus region. The malachite would work just fine, she carved it in a way to have the blade reflect the green bubbles and shine like those same mossy pines outside.
She tried to bring it over but it escaped her loose shaky grasp. She leaned down to grab it again, but it slipped through her talons. She sat down and let her shoulders droop.
Nebula was… so tired.
Physically and mentally, her muscles were strained and her mind was fuzzy.
She worked for their family, sleep was a luxury, emotion was a luxury.
All she did was make weapons in her study, or… worse than that. Feel so much guilt when she knew she crafted something that caused so much death.
But.. sunclaw was one of those who caused all that death.
Another thing she loved about him was the fact nothing lay heavy or burdensome on him, he accepted his past and life, his deeds and desperation for the protection of those he loved. What he had done for those he loved.
But every time his warm paw grabbed hers, it was like he was holding something so fragile it could drift away at any moment.
Every little thing sparked a glimpse of fire in his eyes.
And even when his face was somber and serious, he held such determination that she sometimes would hold her head high just like he did, almost like a kit trying to mimic a parent. Nebula let out a hollow, devoid sigh. Not every thought that crossed her mind could be about him, she knew that. So she returned her focus to her work, snapping her mind back in place whenever she would space off. She placed a paw against the ground and used the other to grab to grab the carved rippling gem. It felt cold in her grasp, this time it didn't slip through her talons, yet it felt so odd to hold. Her palms were fuzzy and disconnected, her vision couldn't quite seem to focus without unraveling again. Nebula stared down, with fear, but not externally. Was she really going mad?
She turned over the stone, to find it cracked and muddied with its own dust from the fracture. She growled.
“damn it!” her quiet voice cracked as she yelled, with a flash of rage and impulse she threw the stone against the ground, with a sad thunk it shattered into two. Nebula stared at it for a moment, the only word to describe it was pathetic. Nebula, now feeling even more crazy found herself having so much sympathy for an inanimate stone.
“I-Im sorry” she picked up the two pieces, trying to fit them back together. She was now apologizing into the void of the lonesome tower floor. Tears dripped from her eyes, and hit the parchment strewn about. The firelight reflected through the drops with many dim fiery patterns.
“it's okay, I have glue, I have- I-uh I can fix you” she said to the stone, the dragoness strained to grab the glue from another cluttered shelf, she grabbed it, but her balance was lost as a paper slid out under her. With some avail she didn't fall but kicked a dish of ink onto some important illustrations for her book. She fell to her knees and scrambled to push the ink back.
“no no no no no n-n-n-n-n-no no!” She hissed, smearing ink across her paws creating a bigger, worse mess.
Nebula sighed despondently, angrily shoving the stained illustrations and began to glue the little malachite. She ended up keeping the little deformed thing to herself and using a shard of lapis instead.
She sunk down, huffing, for no reason.
There was then a loud creak of a door opening, nebula shuffled out from her study and stared Into the doorway. Eclipse smiled lightly, her cloak, face crest and wings had a dusting of snow on them, as well as a splattering of blood.
“it's just me, it's okay” nebula didn't realize she'd been staring at eclipse like a doe to a wolf.
“Aaronay already left for the mines, so it's just me today, sorry. But the hunt was plentiful” she bowed lightly.
“left already? But.. it's so early.” Nebula said, Eclipse dipped her head, her eyes placid, reading as emotionless, but Nebula knew that was just her daughter.
“Yes, he left last night on a one week exhibition with his crew, so I was forced to take on his portion of the gathering” eclipse said, gesturing outside where everything probably was.
“did you skin and gut them? Or bring them whole?” Nebula asked.
“I had to skin and gut them, because a few miles from camp I saw a hex carving of a greyskin.” eclipse bowed her slender head and clamped her Jaws around the massive red flank of an elk and brought it inside.
“Really? Greyskins don't come into the shiaiya, period. They stay in the taharian wastelands, are you sure that's what you saw? Not some rogue angel groveling cultists that have migrated up north to here?” Nebula inquired, but with a short thinking pause she lightly shook her head.
“No, those were greyskin runes, I'd recognize them anywhere” if nebulas voice was as quiet and sad as everyone seemed to tell her, eclipses voice was no more than a brush of wind.
Everything that nebula saw as a flaw in herself mirrored and wa sinhanced in her daughter. But yet, she adored eclipse, eclipse in her eyes would never be anything less than perfect.
“I'll take your word as truth, but why..? What reason would they have to hunt in our forests?” She dove into many possibilities, lost in the silence.
“The foxglove massacre back in june” Eclipse said out of nowhere, causing nebula to almost stutter.
“They come after a large saturation of death and tragedies, what's better than a massacre of a whole city distract in the east” eclipse mumbled, jumbling over her words so fast nebula was racing to untie them.
“you have your uncles wit” she laughed, processing it in pleasant surprise.
Eclipses theory was more plausible than naught truthfully, it made sense.
“shall I bring in the catches of this hunt?” Eclipse asked, humbly dipping her head.
“Yes, I want to see how well you two did at the end of summer like this” nebula replied, Eclipse processed with a nod and dragged in a bundle more than half her size with her teeth. A primitive sheet of scraped deerskin with the corners brought in held it al together.
“I brought more than needed to dry or salt, thought I only killed one from each herd, as to respect the rules of our woods. I was also able to catch a few fish, and gather a few plants and summer fruits” she explained. Everything was much better bundled than before, each cut was bundled in wax parchment and tied with vines. The fish were neatly aligned on a sharpened stick and there were quite a few herb and flower bundles.
Without another word she began to sort each item.
“I am going to process them before they spoil, it would be a shame if maggots or flies make it so we'd have to bury food that should have been edible.” Eclipse says through a mouthful of packs.
“Im taking a break from my work for the night, let me help you” nebula explained, smiling to her daughter. The air had grown so silent she could feel the vibrations in her throat as she spoke.
“yes” was all she said, hurrying away to the cellar to retrieve some materials. Eclipse was so focused she didn't even bother looking at nebula. After a long pause that was more than likely only awkward for one of them, nebula spoke up.
“How was being alone with your brother?” Her voice echoed into the moist stone walls of the outdoor underground bunker used for storage.
Eclipses sharp features and glossy dark scales seemed to let the firelight bounce from them, her green eyes were reflecting the lanterns every flicker and lick of flame.
She seemed to hold the lantern so delicate like it would dissappear.
“Horrible, admittedly. His temper had worsened the longer we were alone and not to be unkind but he was more of a burden on my work than a hunting partner. Aaronay has a lot on his plate, I know that, I should know that. But there's a stone in the pit my stomach that I feel bad for not pushing down anymore but I think I hate his company” eclipses pained scowl dissipated away in a moment.
“You can love someone without liking them for a moment” nebula smiled warmly.
“Yes, that sounds about right”
“ by the way, Has father left yet? How was talking to father?” eclipse craned her neck up to stare into nebulas eyes.
“Pleasant, though I spent the whole damn night worrying.” Nebula sighed, rubbing her temples, eclipse being generally observant noticed the gesture.
“you have a headache? Did you drink some of the tea blend i threw together?” eclipse asked.
“it worked well, dulling the pain quite drastically, thank you eclipse.” she smiled, eclipse nodded and returned to work. Between the two of them they carried up a ceramic pot of salt and one of sugar.
Then by eclipses request, nebula grabbed a bucket of water from the well.
“In which river did you find the fish?” Nebula asked, they were plump, shiny and looked fresh, wherever it was, it was a place to return to.
“The Whiteroar” she replied simply, eclipse had grown more efficient than her mother in it. Her paws worked like a masters as she trimmed fat with a simple knife, salted it and returned it to the same paper.
they worked until dawn, their home was decorated in drying herbs and racks of seed fruit.
The door unlocked and opened abruptly, sharp enough to break The olden wooden thing off its hinges.
“Sorry.. long day, not intending to startle you two” a thinly muscular figure walked through the door.
His scales were dark navy blue, comparable to the sapphires in nebulas study. But on them waves and ripples of aquamarine and electric blue crossed them, like looking up to the surface when underwater.
The dragon Smiled, he looked exhausted, his smile was forced as to have them not worry.
His dark circles in already deepset eyes couldn't be more noticeable.
“Did something happen” nebula took a step forward in sympathy, trying to put a paw To his spiny cheek.
“I'm fine” he snapped, ripping himself backward. But as quickly as it came it was gone, and his expression softened.
“So that means something most certainly did happen” eclipse mentioned, then waited for his shoulders to sink as he realized he wouldn't stop being nagged until he spoke.
“Mother… am- am I.. cruel?” His eyes filled with tears, he choked on his own words.
“no, angels! child what happened?” Nebula Choked her own words, dawn light tried to illuminate through the windows but Nebula couldnt seem to look away from aaronay as he fell apart in the doorway.
“Me and my crew, these are my friends you know. And you remember bracken? He asked if I approved him having a couple sips from his canteen full of mead to warm his stomach, it's cold, water in the caves has a bitter chill, I didn't want to make them suffer, I said it should've been no problem. I knew it was a gamble, and it sure as hell was a horrid idea becuase he drank the whole thing and got crushed by rocks. Barely anything was retrieved from the body” he seemed angry, mad at himself, his pupils were turned to glossy tearful slits. His chest puffed up and down, and his cheeks were brought up to his bottom eyelid trying to hold back tears.
“Bracken? But he was so responsible? Why in the Angels would he do that knowing The risk? How could he have done that to fern, he must've known how dangerous it was” nebula sputtered out.
“I didnt know, if ferns anything like her family she'll be just fine, I mean as long as I don't get near her and get her killed like I did her brother” aaronay sighed, his voice was hostile with that low growling hiss to it.
“Dont say that” eclipse now piped up, twitching her tail With sympathy.
“I need to be alone right Now” he rubbed his temples as if nebulas headache had spread and his teeth were bared as I'd someone had struck him. His voice was so harsh eclipse had flinched, earning a worried glance from her mother.
Eclipse opened her mouth as if to say something, and it looked like aaronay was desperately awaiting her to, to protest him immediately leaving.
“Some roots I collected on the hunt, I think a few of them might be water hemlock, could you check? I can't tell them apart from yarrow or unflowered dandelion” eclipse had asked nebula, aaronay, bow with his pride struck walked away, nebula stared at him with worry, eclipse didn't, she just got straight back to work, just as fast as before, completely unbothered.
There was an air that held thick, all three had heavy hearts. Nebula stated at eclipse, who looked nearly emotionless, but her brow was furrowed in, and her jaw clenched.
“Do you thi-” nebula Started.
“Hes fine” eclipse interrupted abruptly.
“Should we bring a gift to fern to apologize? Its only right,” Nebula Swished her long tail instinctually, only aware enough to avoid smacking it into a vase or something Else fragile. Eclipse smiled faintly
“Yes, that sounds fair” eclipse agreed, quickly bounding off to grab some things she had just put away.
“would you prefer to make it or shall I?” nebula called down.
“if it's not a problem I want to make something for her myself,” eclipses small voice echoed back. The sky was pink and golden on the edges as it pushed away the inky night and rose a new morning. When eclipse resurfaced from the cellar with a few bundles in her mouth the fresh dewy light of dawn cast across her indigo and black scales. Her toothy mouth was slightly agape, causing puffs of visible breath in the cold to swirl around. her eyes looked awestruck as she stared upon the pine Dotted horizon, everything sparkled with dew, causing all of the trees, blooms and vines to reflect against the pastel sky.
Nebula felt a twinge of warmth in her heart as she watched her own daughter, her own kin who she raised up, stare back at the world, her own world.
“Could You grab me a crate to arrange the things?” Eclipse asked muffledly through the items. With a brisk nod nebula complied and brought it back to Her, dropping it at her feet.
“I'm going to boil some tea for this stupid persistent headache, feel free to use a few tools from my study if you need. Just if you need a gem don't use the malachite on the shelf” nebula said, walking off.
“Thank you” eclipse called after her, laying on the grass arranging a few items.
It took only about an hour to return finished with the basket, eclipse trotted to show it.
“I tried to make a bouquet, but the only roses I found were dogroses, so I added a pine bough and a branch of elderberries to the wildflowers too. And I.. also made A bracelet but it's not very professional, I just used the beads I could find. And the last of it are Common gifts like a few tins of tea and a pouch of sugared fruits” eclipse said, anxiously rearranging it so it would look perfect. Eclipse gritted her teeth, placing the basket at a million different angles before nebula worriedly put a hand on her shoulder.
“it looks perfect, if I know fern she's gonna love it” nebula snatched it from her paws before she could ‘fix’ it any more.
“really? You sure the tins shouldn't be stacked?” eclipse reached for it but Nebula hit her lightly with her tail.
“it's perfect eclipse, now do you wanna drop it off or not? We can't stay out here forever, it's cold!” she burst out, shaking moisture from her feathered wings.
Nebula reached out and ruffled her daughters feathered crest until it looked adequately messed up.
Nebula Scowled back in pain.
Why wasn't this dread going away?