Fia's racing heartbeat had finally settled while stargazing with Viliant. Still fraught with tension, she puffed out a slow, gentle exhale. Thanks for cheering me up.
The virescent eyes of her best friend gave a slow blink. Determination filled his gaze, and Viliant offered a supportive nudge. We'll make it back to Carlinoa in time.
And we'll find a healer there for you too, Fia said.
One who's actually willing to heal my wings, he added with a snort. Briefly, he bowed his head before tipping it back to the starry sky with an exasperated sigh.
The dragonets kept their cheeks hovering close together with their eyes trained upward, focused on their dreams. The muscles around their ear canals twitched when a weary voice called to them.
"Fia? Viliant?" Diwa crept toward their rocky outpost. "Are you ready to come back now?"
First, Fia directed her gaze to Viliant. Though she had butted horns with Diwa earlier, the black dragonet had a real bone to pick with her. He lay motionless, too still to have not heard her call. Viliant purposefully ignored her. When he finally turned, his tail curled into a sudden smile, more unsettling than his anger. It only makes sense for us all to sleep at the same camp. Safety in numbers. Viliant hefted himself up and stalked toward Diwa. When he walked past her, he glared at her from his low crouch.
Fia scampered after them. Once she had caught up, she corrected her posture and walked somberly beside Viliant. Diwa trudged behind them. None looked more dignified than Sage Rokirith who rested his chin over the egg. "The dragonets return," he observed.
Before she settled down to sleep that night, Fia approached the great, gray dragon on the mountainside. "Sage Rokirith, you were so heroic back there!" she gushed, trying not to let her voice expose the ulterior motive that she had laced in this compliment.
"You don't have to call me 'Sage' anymore," he said, waving about a cordial claw. "I find that title quite… insufferable."
One of Viliant's wings lifted in interest, and the dragonet tilted his head along with it. That smug look expressed more than if he had said, I told you so, over their telepathic link.
"Are you going to save more dragon eggs?" Fia asked.
"I'm hardly in the condition to do so," Rokirith rejected in a kindly tone. His tail could not lift in a smile.
"Then," Fia said, pausing so that she could think through her words before blurting them out. "How soon can we wake the fire mountain? I'll do anything to stop the army!"
The green eyes of Diwa and Viliant flitted to watch this exchange. A tension flexed through their ear canals as they listened. Neither wanted Fia to stay with Rokirith in the first place, but especially not now.
The dragon's short tail flicked as if he would have smiled, but the sudden movement made him wince instead. Rokirith straightened his neck above the dragonette. "No," he responded promptly. "It's no longer an option for us to cause an eruption. You will go back to Carlinoa."
Several blinks cascaded over the dragonette's eyes. Fia had not expected him to rescind his original offer. "What? You said that we can stop the humans here…."
"Our time together is coming to an end. Even if we had more time, I'm not willing to teach you any longer," Rokirith clarified, enunciating each word since Fia had chosen not to understand. "It's not that I don't want to, but I can't," he admitted with his gaze cast away from the dragonette.
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Her frustration bubbled inside, bringing her to demand in a shrill voice, "Why not?"
Rokirith answered her question by posing another. "How can I teach you to harness rage when I've lost so much of my own?" His chin tilted downward so that he might observe the dragon egg, his eyes filled with such tenderness that Fia missed her own father.
The dragonette's tail curled around her ankles. A grumble crept into her throat, and she retreated to Viliant's side. Only to him, she shared bitterly, Just wanted to see if he could still be useful to us. Her talons tapped anxiously in a circle before lying down and forcing herself to sleep.
***
Her nightmares hardly spared her a wink. Fia tossed and turned in an effort to get comfortable, but her tumultuous mind would not settle.
Some erratic snuffles came from Rokirith's lurching body. I'm jealous, Fia thought of his snores. The dragon slept soundly after his victory, or so she thought at first. The occasional, muffled grunt revealed the persistent discomfort of his half-healed tail.
It must've hurt really bad, Fia considered, ruminating on her own shoulder destroyed by the Dragon Slayer. The indomitable element of gravity left brutal wounds in his wake. Though Fia's injury had healed well, the dragons had yet to ingratiate themselves with a healer talented enough to grow back a whole tail.
"Sleep," Diwa whispered the one word to soothe Rokirith. Her meek spell ebbed away as her eyes reclosed.
His body stilled. His breath evened out. However, his moment of calm did not last forever. Long after Diwa had fallen asleep, Rokirith writhed in his sleep. Even after he had quieted, Fia's wide eyes stared at the glistening moon.
Only Viliant seemed unaffected by the ordeal. His chin rested motionless against his claws, but when Fia looked away, a crack of green appeared between his eyelids.
***
The dragons did not intend to wake up at any specific time after yesterday's crisis. They needed rest, especially Rokirith after his injuries and Diwa from her efforts to heal him. Fia and Viliant stirred first, huddling close together as they debated whether to disturb the slumbering adults.
We should get going soon— Fia stressed— now! Some reddened lines broke across her eyes from her sleepless night.
I'll do it, Viliant offered and walked closer to the adults.
Fia held her breath. Though she tiptoed after him, she lagged behind and watched from a few paces off.
The dragonet approached Diwa first, the less threatening one from the adult pair. As he loomed over her, Viliant swished his tail irately through the mountain's ash. "Wake up." A growl picked up in his throat. "Diwa." Viliant lifted one clawed paw. The knuckles of his toes cracked quietly as he splayed his talons.
"Viliant," Fia hissed, concerned why he must point them toward Diwa. Though she knew that Viliant would never hurt the dragoness, he might do so accidentally if she jolted awake.
The black dragonet traced his claws over the smooth, light green flap of Diwa's wing. When his clawtips reached the end, he slipped them under and used the backside of his claws to lift her wing. Viliant ducked his head underneath and bit Diwa's tail.
"Ah!" she yelped awake. Out of self-defense, Diwa punched her tail outward. The flaps on the tip thwacked Viliant in the face who scampered out of the way before her hind claws could kick. "Viliant?" she seethed as greater awareness came over her mind. "What did you do that for?"
Rokirith instantly woke to Diwa's holler. His protective foreleg wrapped around the egg as he raced over to her.
The dragoness deftly took the egg and slunk around the larger dragon's side. Hiding behind Rokirith, Diwa glared at Viliant.
We need to go, he told them. You can sleep all you want after Fia and I are on the boat back to Carlinoa.
A big yawn split Rokirith's jaws. "I'm eager to be rid of you too." His gaze shifted to Fia, clarifying, "Although, I admit, I'll miss you, Fia." As he stepped closer to collect the dragonets to fly with them, Diwa followed him closely.
"You need more rest—" she tried to implore him. Her close following distance caused the residual of his tail to brush against Diwa's shins.
The dragon howled out of the sudden contact. Even though Diwa had tapered a smooth end for his severed tail, the sensitive nerves had yet to adjust.
"Careful!" Diwa cast a feeble spell to soothe him, but her magic fizzled out as she gagged.
"I could say the same to you," Rokirith replied, more tenderness in his voice than his words might otherwise suggest. The dragon glanced back at Viliant through the corners of his eyes. His heavy blinks made his exhaustion evident, but Rokirith understood that they must fly.