Where it all Began
We may not had to've worn the saddles again, just yet, but that didn't mean we were done flying. It was just that we were going at a much slower paces, with many stops in between.
Dragons had great directional awareness... or so Kalon said. Apparently, like their stupendous arial acrobatics, it was not something that came naturally to me. Even the the most stunning of gemstones have their flaws, after all.
What that meant was that I was not wholly aware of where it was we needed to go.
Kalon told me not to worry about it overly much, as we needed to make frequent stops to examine the terrain anyways, looking for any clues as to whether or not the bandits who had killed my mother had made a trail, or camp, in and out of the forest anyplace.
I didn't bother pointing out that, if only I could remember where my mother's nest was, it would've been much easier to back track from the traces left there.
I am quite sure Kalon knew this and was just trying not to 'set me off'.
Over the next two days of combing the forest, it became wildly evident that the two other dragons and the three humans were doing everything in their power not to do just that.
They were careful in how they approached me, how they formed their sentences around me, and even when they attempted to talk to me.
In all honesty, their constant walking on eggshells was a hundred times more irritating than had they've just spoken to me directly!
One would swear I was a bomb with no timer, just a very touchy triggering mechanism...
Narrowing my eyes at the two young men filling a pot for drinking water, I let out a huff of irritated air. I was curled under a large tree where we had settled for the mid-day meal, watching as the others worked. And I was annoyed.
Annoyed at myself for not making this whole trip easier, just because I couldn't have been bothered to memorize a couple landmarks on my way out of the nest.
But mostly I was annoyed at the males who kept steeling nervous glances my way. The human and the dragon ones!
I was pretty sure this was gender discrimination!
Or would it be gender bias? Either way it was extremely irritating.
I found myself often staring at them, wanting to give them a good bite, just so they would smarten up.
.. Unfortunately, it was probably that very reaction that they were so eager to avoid with this little side quest, sending me out into the wilderness and all.
I wasn't dumb. I knew that, as much as they wanted to help me at the palace, they probably could have sent others to find my mother's nest. Skilled trackers, elder dragons and dragoons, knights who are well practiced in exploring the more wild parts of the nation.
.. but no, they sent me and a couple old drakes as baby sitters.
I let out a small growl, and snaked my head around in the opposite direction so I wouldn't have to look at them anymore.
"Do not be too upset, Allura." rumbled a low, calming voice at my side.
Despite my current prickly nature, and the fact that he was probably the most likely to get bit- seeing as how Kalon was definitely big enough to take me down, and attacking the humans would be preying on the weak- Grysbok had settled his brown body rather close to mine after we landed.
For the most park he'd acted like he was going for a nap.
.. but I knew that, with Kalon and Trent scouting the area for any monsters that might attack us, he was sticking close so that he could quickly intervene if I decided to act on the urge, and went for the humans.
"I am not upset." I stated, which was very clearly false.
"What you are feeling is all very normal-"
"And what do you know about what is or is not normal for a female dragon?
" I growled, glaring up over my own pink and scaly shoulder.
That hair-like mane Leon had suggested I was growing was now quite long, and felt a little like a cross between hair and fur.
At least that's what Leon says. Dragons- what with the thick scaly hides and all- do not have quite the same sensitive touch as humans did.
My mother didn't have a horse like, wispy mane of hair... did that mean I got it from my mysterious father's side of the family? Mind you, he was only slightly more mysterious than my mother, given I barely knew anything more about her than I did him.
There was the creaking of trees as the wind pressure of powerful wingbeats bent them back and forth.
Kalon- absurdly silent for a being so large- had returned.
Landing in the forest was exceedingly awkward for us all, often involving looking for clearings, angling our bodies, and even taking down an unfortunate tree or two.
At least I was fairly small, and so was Grysbok in comparison to several other drake examples, but Kalon was nearly double my size.
Yet he always seemed to land with absolute dignity.
Even now, it was almost like the trees simply parted for the large black dragon, allowing him and the man seated on his scaly back free access to the ground.
Was it age and experience that made it seem that way?
Maybe, when I wasn't annoyed with everyone, I'd try asking him to show me how he does it.
He was supposed to be my instructor after all.
After another short rest, we took to the skies for one last pass of the nearby forest. After that we would have to make camp for the night.
As amazing and tenacious as we dragons were, night vision was not one of our natural gifts, so we would need to wait for the morning light to continue our search.
"There's a lake." Leon pointed out, sitting comfortably between my shoulder blades. He was pointing slightly to the left, so I angled my wings and started my way there. I may not have night vision, but my eyes themselves were better than a humans, so I made out the body of water quite well.
After I had mentioned the fact that I had been living near a lake and stream to the others, they had clung to that description and made a point to take a look at every one we cam across. Most were more like ponds than lakes, but any hint was better than nothing.
"Hmm...." I said, contemplating the body of water I was now circling. "The shape looks right... but it seems too small."
"Well, you were much smaller at the time, right?
So, perhaps your memory of the lake is skewed to thinking the lake was much larger than it really was.
" said Leon, keeping his up-beat attitude, even after bearing the brunt of my irritable attitude of the last few days.
Even if I knew I was being cantankerous, it was had to intentionally suppress those frustrated emotions and aggression.
Fighting monsters seemed to help a little; but since entering the forest we actually hadn't encountered many.
I recalled- at least until near the time I had left- there being quite a lot of monsters.
When I'd brought it up, Benson laughed and stammered out: "I'd m-make myself scarce t-too if there were three g-great d-dragons circling from sunrise to s-sunset. "
I had to admit that he had a point. It was good for our safety, and the safety of Benson and Leon, who were still in training... but it was not great for allowing me to vent out my irritation. I found myself wondering just how much of a fight one of those massive bears would put up now?
I was hovering over the lake, beating my wings to keep Leon and I aloft (Much harder to do for a huge flying lizard than your average flying creature) as I contemplated the lake. The shape really did remind me of the one I had been using to practice flight over all those months ago...
The screech of an animal had Leon and I suddenly on high alert. It wasn't the sound itself- which was actually not all that impressive- but the nearness of it. We were in the air, several feet above the tree tops, yet it sounded very close. Were we under attack from some kind of flying monster?
"Is- is that a bird?" stammered an incredulous Leon, his hand pointing to a location several feet away, just out of the reach of my wing's buffer zone.
Following the prince's pointing, I eventually caught sight of a small, white bird. It squawked again, fluttering back and forth as if trying to intimidate me.
"Maybe it's driven mad with fear?" mused Leon, unable to comprehend how a creature the size of my toenail would be trying to intimidate us right now.
"No way..." I breathed, watching the white, feathery menace whiz back and forth.
I tilted my wings, angling my body to land on the nearby shore.
"What is it?" Leon asked as my claws gripped into lush grass and squishy mud. Yuck... looked like Leon would have his work cut out for him tonight, getting all that off.
The shore was a little small, and my pink tail trailed into the water, but at least I managed the landing with out falling into the lake nor taking out any trees. I folded my wings against my body.
"What is it?" Leon asked again, as he and I watched the small bird.
It made one last angry scream before landing on a high branch of a tree, hanging just a little out of my easy reach. She hopped along the branch a little, her yellow feet a stark contrast the the dark bark. She leaned over a little and looked down upon me with large, dark eyes.
"It looks like a typical bird..." Leon observed, meaning he didn't think it was a kind of monster.
"Momma?" I asked, tilting my own head in a bird like manner.
The pigeon-like creature puffed out its white breast feathers, hopped a couple more times, and chirped down at me.
"Momma?" Said Leon, looking at me and then the tiny bird like I had, just maybe, lost my own mind.
I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction.