The young dragon had never realized all the chores that Alex had been doing for him while he’d been in control. After only a few days, the carcasses of the animals he’d hunt would turn rancid, stinking up the whole cave system. And after feeling the softness of the blankets and pillows of the human settlements, he was looking forward to laying out the pelts of all the animals they’d hunted across the cave floor and feeling the soft furs instead of the cold stone.
However, they’d only started treating the hides shortly before their “falling-out”, and since then, the young dragon had had a hard time accessing the skills and memories of his co-pilot. The hides were too fresh, and weren’t fully treated. If he didn’t do something about that soon, not only would his dreams of a warm and cozy sleep be dashed, but the furs would rot and cause another horrid stench to fill the cavern. It had taken days for the smell of death to leave before, and he didn’t want it to happen ever again.
While he pondered how to solve his predicament, he noticed the room growing less and less dim.
The young dragon didn’t know what to think when he turned towards the rapidly brightening blue glow. In the moment it took for him to turn around, he’d thought it strange it was the same color of light that he’d used to enhance his sight when the low light levels made things too blurry and gray for even his keen eyes. But what he saw when he finished his motion was much stranger than that.
To say the creature in front of him was large would be an understatement. It dwarfed him, in a manner he hadn’t quite experienced since he’d last seen his mother. Not quite to the same degree, with the other dragon being somewhat smaller than his mother, and he himself having grown a good amount since then. But still, it was enough to make his hairs stand on end.
Only a moment later, his anxiety turned to shock. This dragon’s face was marked by long-healed wounds that left scars across his face and neck. Some faded almost entirely, while others seemed fresh, the regrown scales lighter in color than the ones surrounding them. It’s eyes were sunken, with furrowed brow lines creasing across its forehead.
But despite it all that had changed, he could never forget that face. How could he? While in reality it had been nearly two decades, for the young dragon it had felt like just a few months since he’d last seen his brother.
“O-obsidian? Is that you?”
The larger dragon’s eyes widened as he froze in place. The blue glow dimmed slowly, with its power source no longer having the focus to feed it. His mouth twitched, until he finally regained the composure to answer.
“You… This can’t be… Brother?”
Obsidian approached his sibling, and once close enough, leaned his neck down, holding his head only inches off the ground and away from the smaller dragon. This had been the first time in nearly two decades his face had shown an expression of anything other than sadness, struggle, or indifference.
“When… When did you return?”
No longer worried about stealth, his voice echoed across the walls of the cave, magnifying the volume of the silence left after his question.
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“A couple of moons ago…”
They each stared at each other in silence, both afraid that any moment, they may wake up and learn this had been a cruel dream.
Obsidian was the one who broke their stalemate, curling around his brother.
“I’m so sorry brother. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were out there. I-I never rescued you, I should have been there!
Each phrase came out between choked breaths.
“What did they do to you? You’re much too small! Did they starve you?”
Obsidian wrapped himself around his brother, fearing that if he let go his brother would disappear again.
“It’s been so long, so, so long. But I’m here, you’re safe now! I’ll hunt you more than enough food, you’ll catch up in no time! And if those humans come back, I’ll stop them. Nothing will ever come between us again, I swear!”
The young dragon found he could do little but tear up and nestle close to his brother. They sat together in silence for minutes, before the young dragon found the will to speak once more.
“When I came back, a-and you weren’t here-I thought you were…”
Even still, he lacked the strength to speak about his mother.
“No, no, I’m here. But what of you? What has happened in all this time?How did you return? After so long, I’d thought I would never see you again!”
The young dragon opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated. It had been over a week since he’d last switched off control over his body to the human. He wasn’t going to complain, but if Alex was truly gone, wouldn’t it be better to ignore all of that? Not only had he connected with another dragon, but with his own brother! There was no need to think of those humans or that orc ever again! He could just pretend it never happened, and live the life he was meant to have with what remained of his family!
“If you’d rather not open up those wounds again, I won’t force you. Even if you never tell me, I’ll still be happy. Words cannot describe to you how it feels to see you, to hear you speak for the first time!”
Obsidian looked around the room and remembered the other oddity about their situation.
“But you must tell me this, what is all of this?” He questioned, motioning towards the drying racks and pelts. “Was there a human in here before you arrived? Did you scare them off? Will they return?”
“No, no human. I made those.”
It was half true. Technically, his body made the jerky and pelts, and technically there was no human physically present.
Obsidian cocked his head.
“What? Why would you mark this place with human acts? How did you learn to do this?”
“Well, here, try this. It’s dried meat with some herbs. I think you will understand.”
The young dragon held what was, to him, a large portion of jerky. However, to Obsidian it was little more than a sample. He needed only one chew before swallowing, but even just that small taste was enough for him to understand.
“Wow, I did not expect that. And this is what you’re making on those racks?”
“Yes it is. And not only that, the meat it’s made from is weeks old. This way, we won’t have to hunt every day!.”
Obsidian seemed conflicted.
“Well, alright. I understand why, and if you don’t want to tell me how you learned it, I won’t force you.”
For days, the two cohabitated. Obsidian made good on his promise, providing well more than enough food for the young dragon to eat, and the young dragon would eat as much as he could, turning the rest to jerky. He’d even needed to build more drying racks to match input, though they were cruder than the ones Alex had built. For the first time since they’d been separated, the two dragons lived as a family. And they were happy, no matter how short lived it was fated to be.