Arsenio

Not to be exalted
You told them it was a bad idea to leave the hatchlings outside. You said, don't leave the hatchlings outside unattended. And then your idiot clanmate waved a wing and went, oh, they're not unattended, and this barely counts as outside! They'll be fine.

And here you are, swooping furiously after a rogue Mirror. From what you can gather, it was injured and left behind by its clan, and this hatchling-nabbing is part of some desperate plot to get enough treasure to fix whatever's wounded and find another clan. No matter how much you can understand the Mirror's unwillingness to be alone, you're not letting it sell off your clan's only hatchlings. It's going much too fast for a dragon who's not even flying, but you're making use of the wings that Lightweaver gave your breed and the speed from Windsinger's shade in your eyes. You're getting those hatchlings back if it kills you.

Thankfully, it doesn't kill you. Not so thankfully, you're soon forced to land - the Mirror has ducked into the cover of a thick forest, and you can't see it under all the leaves. You tuck your wings to each side and balance your pearl on your back, and then you head off as fast as you can, so you don't lose the trail.

Branches whip at your face, and you nearly trip over roots every five minutes, but you are a dragon with a cause. You just wish you'd spent less time in the air recently - you can barely remember how to coordinate your limbs to jump over a fallen log. Rough bark scrapes against your delicate wing membrane, and leaves catch on your horns, but you keep the Mirror within sight - all the way up until it whips around a corner and you're brought face to face with an immense cliff wall.

It nearly reaches the top during the time it takes you to try and figure out what to do. You can't fly up, because there's no room to spread your wings here, and you can't do stationary takeoffs. If you take the time to get out of the forest and continue your chase on wing, the culprit could have gotten away in that time. And you're even worse at tree-climbing compared to rock-climbing, so taking off from the top of a nearby tree is also not an option.

There's no choice. You're going to have to scale this thing three-legged.

Because of your pearl, of course. It's unthinkable to just leave it alone on the forest floor - any number of large birds or rodents or other dragons after shiny items could take it, and then you'd have a much bigger problem on your hands than kidnapped hatchlings. You shift a shoulder to roll it into your right front claw, take a running leap, and land clinging to the wall with your other three limbs. You carefully transfer the pearl to a set of hind claws, reach up with your front claws, and hop up your remaining hind leg. Transfer the pearl to a front claw to give it to the other back leg, push up with your now-freed leg, and repeat the entire process again.

It takes a very long time.

When you finally manage to poke your head up past the last foot of rock, you come face-to-face with an angry, hissing Mirror. This close, you can see details: she has badly-treated scars all across her face, and her eyes glimmer a furious green. She was born the same flight as you, and you're not sure how this makes you feel. It's always easy to push away other dragons' failings: your clanmates aren't distinguished Pearlcatchers, others of your breed don't belong to such an honorable clan, and so on and so forth. But something like pity twinges in your heart, and you find yourself wishing you don't have to fight this dragon. She looks like she's been through far enough already.

She makes to shove you off, but you haul yourself up before she can make a move, and you stand in front of her: wings flared out for impact, posture straight and pearl proud and safe in your hind claw. She keeps hissing, and you maintain your gaze as steady as you can. You gather information about the situation from your peripheral vision: the hatchlings look terrified but unharmed, all huddled together off to the side; the Mirror has a lame wing; there's no way off this cliff except flying or the route you climbed up on.

"Leave the hatchlings, and you can go." You level your gaze, as solemn as you can make it, and she snarls one last time before turning and fleeing back down the cliffside.

Now this leaves you with a dilemma. You can't fly with hatchlings on your back, but you also can't climb down with more than one thing to hold at a time. You're perfectly willing to go up and back down with the hatchlings, one by one, but - your pearl. If anything, it's even more likely to be snatched by an opportunistic flying creature if you leave it up here, and you don't trust tiny baby claws to have a good enough grip. You're not sure if pearls can shatter if dropped from this height, but you're not willing to try and find out.

As soon as the Mirror's out of sight, though, the babies all scramble to press up against you, clamouring for your attention. "She was so scary!" "Did you see her teeth?" "I'm gonna have nightmares!" "You were so brave, standing up here like that!"

And one wise Guardian girl: "You're not going to leave us up here to go get help, are you? I saw an eagle a little while ago." They all huddle down in on themselves, and your tail droops.

"Of course not, children," you murmur at them. You really hate having a soft spot for kids, sometimes. "All right, come on now! Cheer up." You prod them in the sides with your snout, and they giggle and wiggle away. "Who wants to be first on the Arsenio Express?" They all bounce up and down, chirping "me!" and tugging playfully at your wings, and you decide it's worth it.

"Look after this for me until I come get you, okay?" you tell the little Guardian, and she nods solemnly. Out of any of them here, it's her you'd trust. "Good."

She keeps her promise - your pearl is untouched - and you keep yours: all the hatchlings make it back to the rest of the clan safely.

Written by cinderrain