@ladylilitu @Babysaxon
Sorry for the long update. I still have a lot to catch up on, but I didn't want to make it too long. I will update it every day (hopefully shorter than this) until I am officially caught up, and then I will do the regular material updates
Sick
Since her first hunt was successful, NightGlow now regularly joined the other two on their hunts. They worked out a system where she would walk in between Cobalt and Rasp so that her runes were more hidden. Cobalt didn't seem to like it very much, but it helped the hunting so she allowed it. Somehow though, they still whispered above NightGlow's head like she wasn't there, but she just stopped trying to listen in. She heard enough to know that it wasn't about her, which put her at ease.
One morning she woke up to the sound of Cobalt coughing. Concerned, she walked over to her nest to see what was going on. Cobalt was very pale, and looked too weak to stand. Rasp was by her side, just sitting while she laid there. When he saw NightGlow he got up and motioned her away from Cobalt.
"She must've caught something from one of the monsters," Rasp told her quietly. "I am fairly certain that she will be fine within a day or two, but for now she just needs to rest. It is just going to be us hunting today, so we just have to be extra careful." NightGlow couldn't help but to feel happy. She was hunting with just Rasp today! The tundra looked at her funny, and she realized she was smiling. She quickly stopped, hoping he didn't think anything of it. She scolded herself for always being so obvious about it. She turned away and scolded herself,
We are just friends, and we will always just be friends. She shook her head and walked to the edge of camp to wait for Rasp.
They walked through the forest without saying much. Occasionally they came upon a field, which usually had one or two weak monsters in it. NightGlow and Rasp were much more skilled than they were the first time they had to fight them, so it was no big deal when it came to the field monsters. In one field though, there were many monsters. Before NightGlow could get behind Rasp to hide her runes, most of them already saw them. It seemed that all of the monsters came at them at once. Even though these monsters were weaker than the dragons, there were just so many of them that it was almost impossible to fight them off. NightGlow and Rasp were barely able to fend them off. One had scratched NightGlow's shoulder fairly deep, which made it difficult to fight back. The monsters just kept coming. NightGlow was just about to give up when she saw a dark shadow fly over them.
The shadow disappeared, and soon the there were less and less monsters. Suddenly there was a yellow pelt on her left side--the injured side--fighting the monsters off. Sickle easily fought off the hoards until there were no more left, leaving him, NightGlow, and Rasp sitting in a circle in the middle of the field.
"Well it sure is nice to see you again," Rasp chuckled. "Where did you come from?"
"I have been keeping an eye on this field for a few days now. I don't know why, but for some reason monsters gather here in the bunches. It is a nice source of food though. Every so often one or two of them wander away from the field, so I can easily pick those off," Sickle explained. "Where is the ridgeback? Do you get to hunt only when she isn't around?" He smirked, looking at NightGlow.
"She decided not to come with us today, and just guard the camp," Rasp answered for her, his eyes squinting. "Why do you care?" Rasp asked icily. Sickle took a step back.
"Hey, sorry, I wasn't trying to start anything. Just curious," he said as he lowered his wings. "So, um, where are you headed?" Sickle said, obviously trying to change the subject. Rasp's fur eventually laid back down.
"We are just out hunting. I think we have plenty of food now," he said, looking around at the monsters they killed. "We will just take as much of this as we can and then head back to camp. You should leave too." Rasp motioned NightGlow to follow him and helped him carry some prey. She looked back at Sickle, who was also collecting his share of the monsters. She wanted to thank him for saving her life, but she was afraid Rasp would be angry at her for talking to him again. She decided she will just deal with him later, and walked over to the yellow skydancer.
"H-Hi," she stuttered. "I, um, just wanted to, uh, thank you for saving me today." she said shyly. "I probably wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you, so, um, thanks."
Sickle looked up at her and flashed her a breath-taking smile. "Anytime, Night." She smiled at him and started to turn away.
"Wait!" He called after her. "Do you want help taking this back to your camp? I mean, there is a lot here, and I sure can't make use of it all before it rots. I can give you guys a hand and take some back for you, that way you can have enough for the ridgeback too." By this time, Rasp had come over to see what was taking NightGlow so long.
"That would actually be very helpful, thank you," Rasp said reluctantly. He put the prey he was carrying back onto his back and Sickle did the same. NightGlow was better at carrying the prey, but she still couldn't carry as much as they could. She put some on her back and carried some in her mouth to make up for her size. As she did this she saw Sickle looking down at her, very amused. She just rolled her eyes at him and kept walking.
NightGlow had to take small breaks since her shoulder still hurt. She had to carry everything on her right side, so it was harder for her to walk. To her dismay, Rasp usually kept walking when she stopped, but fortunately Sickle stopped with her each time, insisting to help her carry some.
"No," she always said back. "I can do it. I just need to readjust. We are almost there anyways." Sickle smirked and rolled his eyes every time. He ended up just walking behind her so he didn't have to keep looking back. After a few breaks, Rasp was out of sight, and it was just them alone. After one of the breaks, NightGlow was just about to start walking again when she heard buzzing above her head. She looked up to see a Bumble flying straight towards her. Panicking, she dropped everything and went straight to the ground. She had no more energy to fight, and her shoulder sure wouldn't let her do much. To her surprise, it flew straight over her head, right to Sickle. He smiled and rubbed its head playfully.
Sickle laughed after looking at the confused look on NightGlow's face.
"This is Paisley, my familiar," he explained. "I found her on that day we first met, and we have been together ever since." The yellow familiar flew over to the spiral and made circles around her before flying back to Sickle. "That is what she did to me the first time. She likes you." He winked at her playfully before helping her back up. NightGlow rearranged all of the prey back onto her back and carried the rest in her mouth like before, and headed back to the camp with Sickle and his familiar.
They soon made it back to the camp, but NightGlow stopped before going inside.
"Okay, so just beware of Cobalt," she warned. "Rasp has probably already told her, but she still isn't going to like that you showed up again, especially with me." Sickle scoffed and walked straight into camp ahead of NightGlow. Anxious to see what happens, she followed quickly.
Cobalt and Rasp walk over together, looking surprisingly relaxed. NightGlow was glad to see her up on her feet already. She looked much stronger than she did in the morning.
"Thank you for saving Rasp," Cobalt said to Sickle, not taking her eyes off of Rasp.
What about me? NightGlow thought to herself. "I don't know what I would do if he didn't come back. You are obviously a great fighter, and since you defended them so well, would you like to join us? We aren't much of a group, but we would love to have you with us." NightGlow's jaw dropped. She is actually wanting him to join them? Just the other day Cobalt wanted Sickle to leave the forest.
NightGlow looked back and forth between the ridgeback and Rasp again, her heart sinking. They were standing so close that their paws touched. NightGlow knew that they were close, but she never realized just
how close. She was taken from her thoughts as Sickle spoke again.
"I would love to join you, thank you. It's been tough living by myself these past few days actually," Sickle chuckled. He turned and winked at NightGlow before following the other two dragons towards Cobalt's nest. She guessed that they were discussing what they were going to do now that he is here. NightGlow walked slowly over to her own nest across the camp, limping slightly because of her hurt shoulder. She plopped down in her nest and gazed across at the older dragons discussing whatever they were talking about. Once again she felt as if she was alone. Sickle seemed to be the only one who acknowledged her existence when they got back, since Rasp and Cobalt could only think about each other. Right before drifting off to sleep, Paisley buzzed over to NightGlow and laid down next to her. Maybe she wasn't alone after all.
* * *
NightGlow woke up just before the sun did. Paisley was surprisingly still laying beside her. She smiled at that and looked around. She seemed to be the only one awake. Taking advantage of the fresh morning air and time without dealing with the other dragons, she decided to take a walk outside of the camp to try and loosen up her stiff shoulder. Right as she got outside though, Paisley zoomed past her. Confused and worried that she would get lost, NightGlow ran after her, her shoulder still aching. Soon she saw the yellow familiar fly in circles around a certain spot, so she ran up to see what Paisley was doing. NightGlow went through some bushes and came out into a clearing.
Paisley was circling around Sickle's lifeless body.
