Aranga

"AAAAAGH!"

Aranga winced, watching Bingo slice into another Janustrap. She'd missed another attack, and again, the Mirror had lost it, turning into an angry red and blue blur. Worriedly, she looked at Flamedance, who still didn't seem bothered by how quickly Bingo's mood would shift at times.

With a bite from Flamedance, the Janustrap was felled, and the Aberration turned to tap Bingo's wing. "Hey," both heads said as one. "That's good for today. Let's go back."

"Oh. We're done?" After seeing Flamedance nod, Bingo flopped onto his side, all his anger gone as soon as it came. "Good. I'm tired..."

Probably because you go back and forth between angry and NOT angry so much, the Wildclaw thought to herself, digging through her satchel to find her map. The team had gone a ways deeper this time, and she'd been updating between fights. "Come on, come on... here."

She passed the map to Flamedance, who nodded appreciatively, then sat down, tipping one head in Bingo's direction. "Let's take a minute. He's still exhausted."

"Oh, um. Sure." Not wanting to sit, Aranga began pacing after a moment, keeping her eyes to the ground. Last time they were here, she'd tripped on many of the roots scattered around. Avoiding them this time around would be great.

A minute passed. Then two minutes. Looking back, Aranga saw Bingo nudging his hedgehog onto his head. Coming back over, she waited for the other two to get ready and, once they were, they got into their usual line: Flamedance at the front, herself in the middle, and Bingo at the end. They'd made it a point to shield her while she got to their experience level.

She watched as the left head- Dance, she was pretty sure- turned to look at her. "We'll head back tomorrow. You're ready for Thadogen's extra Discipline."

Aranga perked up at that. Both Flamedance and Bingo had mentioned that, but said it would be a bit before she could equip it. Getting back to the lair felt like it'd take a lifetime now.



"Just focus," Thadogen instructed calmly. "Imagine a cool breeze refreshing you after spending time in a stuffy area."

Aranga hummed, closing her eyes again. With each attempt, it got easier to tune into the forces that granted her breath in combat. She wouldn't always get double the amount; that much had been made clear already. But she had a heightened chance now, and that was better than before.

She felt one of the Guardian's wings brush against her own and opened her eyes to find the other dragon offering a smile. "Very well done. It won't be so bad when you miss attacks now. Icewarden knows how agitated Bingo can get over those."

"Has he always been like that?" she blurted out, and instantly felt shame rise within her. The two were MATES; why had she gone and said that? "I-- I'm sorry! I didn't- it's not bad, I just-"

To her surprise, instead of looking offended, the other dragon started snickering. "No, no. I know. When he does that, it makes you feel like you've done something wrong."

She sighed. "... Yeah. I try hard, but when me or Flamedance misses and he goes berserk, I feel like a failure."

Thadogen sat down in front of her, laying her head on the ground. "You know, he does that because he cares. It's usually against enemies that could pose a serious threat to one or more of you, right?"

Aranga paused. It... was almost always against those enemies, actually, especially those that were aligned to Light or Water. "Yeah?"

"He wants to keep his friends from getting hurt. An important attack missing when the enemy poses a threat can often mean it might get the chance to severely injure one of you. It's not an 'I hate you for missing that attack, teammate', it's an 'I'm going to crush you before you hurt my friends, enemy'." The Guardian exhaled through her nose, watching the condensation. "Does that help?"

"I... think so." She took out a paper from her satchel, as well as a little kettle full of crushed berries. Dipping a claw in, she started writing, eventually ending up with BINGO = ALLY. "Thank you."

"Of course." She swatted Aranga with a wing, making her laugh. "Now go get some rest. Those two will want to see what you can do tomorrow."