002:
Years Later
Bamboo swayed gently in the wind as Amity quietly walked through the dense grass forest. Her talons barely made a sound; each step deliberate and soft. There were many creatures out here that could easily stand up to a dragon in a fight, and Amity wasn’t much of a fighter in the first place. Stealth was definitely the better option. Besides, she didn’t want to accidentally scare away any wildlife; that was one of the reasons she loved coming out here on her own.
Dragonflies lazily zipped through the bamboo, crickets chirped as they hid in the grass, and the wind sang a soft song as it danced through the forest. Amity loved everything about this place, from the towering bamboo, to the smallest insect.
There was a rustling sound not too far away, and Amity instinctively froze, not moving a muscle as she stared in the direction the noise had come from. Something ran out of the bushes at her suddenly, barking.
The hainu pounced on Amity, and promptly began licking her face happily. Amity laughed quietly, gently pushing the slobbering dog off of her.
“Hello again,” she greeted, petting the hainu. Amity had known this particular hainu for a while now, and the two had become fast friends. The hainu sat down, tail wagging, and looked at Amity expectantly. The Nocturne chuckled lightly.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Amity decided, smiling slightly. She took a deep breath as she cleared her mind and watched the Hainu sitting in front of her. Her tail involuntarily twitched, wanting to wag like the hainu’s tail. She mentally put herself in the hainu’s place, imagining what it might be like to be the creature instead of herself.
Amity felt her thoughts slip away as she and the hainu both went into a strange daze for a few moments, before blinking at each other in unison. They grinned, joy bubbling through them. The pair began moving through the bamboo forest together; two bodies sharing the collective consciousness of both Amity and the hainu.
Amity could hear and smell so many more things; the crickets seemed louder, and they picked up the scent of something that was recognized as a toad of some sort. Talons and paws walked side by side in harmony, both experiencing the same thing. They travelled through the bamboo, moving together as one. They let out a cheerful bark, two voices as one. They experienced the world together, two minds as one.
Time passed; it was nearly impossible for either of them to keep track of how much time, exactly, but time indeed passed. Eventually, the sun began to dip lower and lower to the hidden horizon, and it was time for the two of them to go their separate ways yet again. Gently severing the link between their two minds, Amity said goodbye to the hainu, watching as it yipped happily before running off.
Blinking a few times and looking around to get her bearings, Amity slowly became accustomed to being just herself again. Taking her journal out from the bag at her side, Amity opened up to a blank page and began writing down everything she could remember from the experience she had just had.
It had been awhile since Amity had accidentally discovered her strange ability, and at first, she hadn’t been able to remember anything other than a few feelings and flashes of strange memories. Everything had felt like a dream, and like most dreams, the memories tended to hover just outside her mind, not quite forgotten, but unable to be remembered.
When she was younger, Amity had asked around, trying to figure out the best way to remember dreams. The most common answer had been keeping a dream journal. After that, Amity did her best to write down anything she remembered, and slowly but surely, she got better at remembering the experiences.
Amity read over what she had written, checking for any mistakes or things she had missed. Satisfied with the journal entry, she closed the book and slipped it back inside her bag, turning around to head back home.
As she walked, Amity’s mind wandered. Not for the first time, she wondered if there was anyone else out there like her. Deciding if there was, they would probably keep their ability a secret, just like her, Amity directed her thoughts to something else. Like the energetic and upbeat Mirror that was no doubt awaiting her return, like always.
True to her predictions, Tiercel was sitting at the edge of the bamboo forest, waiting for Amity. The Mirror leapt to his talons when he spotted the Nocturne, and bounded over to her cheerfully.
“Amity! Wow, you were out there longer than usual. It’s almost sunset! Where were you?” Tiercel chirped, wrapping a wing around Amity in a half-hug.
“I was just exploring,” Amity replied dismissively. “What about you? What have you been up to?”
“Waiting for you,” Tiercel said with a shrug. “That’s basically all I do when you’re gone, you know.” Amity shook her head at him and sighed, but she was smiling.
“Your world doesn’t revolve around me, Tiercel,” she chided.
“Uh, jokes on you, it kinda does,” Tiercel replied haughtily, then nuzzled her playfully. “But whatever! You’ve been gone all day, let’s go do something together,” he began excitedly, his four eyes sparkling mischievously. “I have an amazing idea for what we can do. You’re gonna love it!”
“Oh no,” Amity said with a sigh, mentally preparing herself. “I’m not sure I want to know,” she mused, smiling slightly despite her words.
“Oh you
definitely want to know,” Tiercel insisted, bouncing slightly in excitement. “There’s a new creature that was brought to the Familiar Sanctuary! Amaruq doesn’t really want anyone showing up and stressing out the new creature while it adjusts to its new home, so no one’s allowed there right now,” Tiercel explained, grinning slyly at Amity.
“Tiercel, no-”
“Tiercel, yes!” Tiercel interrupted. “We’re going to sneak in and see what the new creature is! You love animals; don’t you want to see what it is? Don’t say no, we both know that’s a lie!” Tiercel nudged Amity excitedly, grinning at her. “It’ll be fun, trust me!”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Amity began slowly, but hesitated as Tiercel sat down, cocked his head and stared at her pleadingly, reminding her of a lost puppy. She sighed quietly.
“We’re going to be in so much trouble if we’re caught,” she noted. Tiercel leapt back to his feet, grinning triumphantly.
“So, let’s just not get caught! Simple,” Tiercel decided, crouching to let Amity climb onto his back. Being a Nocturne, Amity wasn’t very fast on the ground. Tiercel on the other hand was a Mirror, which were quite well-known for being fast runners. Tiercel was much faster and stronger than Amity, which wasn’t all that surprising considering the rigorous training he put himself through.
After making sure Amity was settled on his back, Tiercel flashed the Nocturne a cheerful grin before slowly breaking into a run. He snuck around the edge of the clan, going around behind the massive Greenhouse, where most of the plants were grown and cultivated, and making his way towards the Familiar Sanctuary, which housed an array of different creatures.
“Going up?” Tiercel whispered playfully, his way of telling Amity to hold on tight because he was about to do some flying. Despite most Mirrors preferring to travel on the ground, Tiercel was just as comfortable in the air as he was on the ground. Perhaps being a Windborn dragon had a small part to play in that, but for the most part, Tiercel just really loved breaking stereotypes, and usually went out of his way to disprove them. Mirrors don’t talk much? Tiercel is almost constantly talking. Mirrors don’t fly? Well would you look at that, Tiercel just flew through a tornado just to prove everyone wrong.
Amity loved that about her best friend; no matter what anyone said, it wouldn’t hinder Tiercel in the slightest. He never gave up, and never stopped striving to be even more than he already was.
After feeling Amity tighten her grip on him, Tiercel leapt into the air, flying over the tall walls of the Familiar Sanctuary. This particular section of the Sanctuary was an outdoor enclosure that was open to the sky; a perfect back door for the mischievous Mirror and his reluctant best friend.
There weren’t many creatures out at the moment; it was sunset, which was the transitioning time for all the nocturnal and diurnal creatures to slowly switch places. Slipping inside the building, Tiercel snuck through the corridor, head swiveling to look around for where the new creature might be, as well as keeping an eye out for the dragon who ran the Familiar Sanctuary and took care of all its inhabitants, Amaruq.
“It’s gotta be around here somewhere,” Tiercel murmured, pausing to look into one of the enclosures.
“I’m pretty sure they have a place where they keep new and more wild creatures, so that they can slowly integrate them into the Sanctuary,” Amity said. “I have no idea where it might be, though,” she added as Tiercel opened his mouth to ask a question. She knew he had been about to ask a question because of the way his head tilted slightly; he always did that.
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to explore until we find it,” Tiercel decided with a shrug, grinning as he quietly raced down the hall, searching. Amity frowned slightly, beginning to feel nervous as Tiercel disappeared around another corner. She hated how maze-like this place was, and it always made her feel uneasy, which is why she usually avoided it despite wanting to see the creatures that lived here. She wasn’t exactly sure what the Familiar Sanctuary had been before, but she knew it wasn’t originally built for the purposes it was used for now.
“...Tiercel?” Amity called out quietly as she made it to the other corner and peeked around it, searching for the energetic Mirror. Her nervousness grew as she didn’t see or hear him. Wandering alone in the bamboo forest, Amity could handle, but wandering alone in this place?
Amity’s tail coiled, and her wings pressed tighter to her body as she carefully continued down the hall. She nearly yelped when Tiercel poked his head out from one of the doorways.
“I think I found it!” Tiercel exclaimed in a whisper before Amity could say anything. The Mirror disappeared back into the room, and Amity followed hesitantly.
The room was mostly empty, with one wall made almost entirely of glass, displaying an outdoor enclosure with tall savanna grass filling nearly the entire thing. There was a door on one side of the glass wall, and Tiercel was already fiddling around with it in an attempt to get it open.
“Tiercel, I don’t think going in there is a good idea,” Amity said quietly as she stepped closer to the glass, trying to see if she could find whatever was in there, if there even
was anything in there.
“Too late,” Tiercel mused cheerfully as he pulled open the door, flashing Amity a grin.
“We don’t know what’s in there; what if it’s dangerous?” Amity tried, but Tiercel had already entered the enclosure. Amity stood there for a few moments, silently panicking, before quickly following him, knowing leaving him alone was probably a bad idea.
Entering the enclosure, Amity found that the grass was so tall she couldn’t see Tiercel anywhere, but her instincts stopped her from calling out to him. If whatever creature here was a predator, she didn’t want to alert it to her position. Not like it wouldn’t have already noticed a couple of dragonets wandering into its enclosure, but still.
Some of the nearby grass rustled, and Amity stiffened. But it was only Tiercel, who grinned when he spotted the frightened Nocturne. He wordlessly gestured for Amity to follow him, then turned around and began heading back the way he came. Tiercel hesitated, tail flicking towards Amity. Understanding what he wanted, Amity gently grabbed the end of Tiercel’s tail in her maw, letting him guide her through the grass without risk of him going too fast and losing her. They had used this trick many times before, and it was especially useful for when navigating by heat vision instead of light was more efficient, since Mirrors had a set of heat-seeing eyes.
Amity had always wondered what it was like to be able to see things in temperature instead of light, and she knew she
could find out, if she used her ability, but the problem with that was no one knew about her ability, other than herself, and she had to keep it that way. Even though she trusted Tiercel, more than any other dragon, she still couldn’t bring herself to reveal her ability to him.
Amity’s thoughts were cut short by Tiercel stopping. Amity sidled up to the Mirror, following his gaze into a small clearing where the grass was much shorter. There was a small pond, and a few large rocks, dappled grey and black, that probably absorbed a lot of heat during the day from the sun.
The rocks seemed to move suddenly, the grey and black shifting, until Amity realized what she was seeing was a creature that had been lying on the rocks get up. It was a feline of some sort, and while Amity would have loved to stare at it and take in the details, she was a little busy being scared for her life as the big cat’s eyes locked onto her and Tiercel, its tail twitching.
The large cat darted over swiftly, so fast neither dragon had a chance to even think before it was upon them. The creature pounced on Amity, easily knocking her to the ground, then lashed out at Tiercel with a paw as the Mirror tried to come to Amity’s rescue. Despite how scared Amity was, she noticed the cat had attacked, yes, but its claws were sheathed. The fear left her as Amity realized this creature didn’t intend to hurt them; it was only playing.
Wriggling out of the cat’s grip Amity rolled away and got to her talons. The creature dropped to the ground, crouched and ready to pounce. Amity instinctively mimicked the pose, tail twitching slightly just like the cat’s.
Tiercel stayed quiet as he watched the two of them with hesitant fascination. The cat darted around suddenly, batting at Amity, but not hitting her. Amity parroted the movements, and soon the two were darting around each other playfully, with the large cat practically running circles around the Nocturne.
It wasn’t long before Amity ran out of stamina. The cat, on the other hand, was just as energetic as when they had started, and continued to dart around, spines rustling.
“Uh... we may want to get out of here soon,” Tiercel said as he glanced up at the darkening sky. “Amaruq should be back soon, and we probably don’t want to run into her,” he explained.
Amity nodded, then hesitantly reached out a talon to the cat. It stopped darting around to come up to her and allowed the Nocturne to pet it a few times in farewell. Amity watched for a moment as the creature returned to the rocks it had been lying on earlier and sat down, watching its two visitors leave.
Amity grabbed onto Tiercel’s tail again as they made their way through the grass as quickly as they could, and out of the enclosure, making sure to close the door on their way out. Tiercel poked his head out into the hall, looking both ways before nodding at Amity. The two of them crept out as quietly as possible, retracing their steps.
“Almost there,” Tiercel whispered as he poked his head around another corner. He withdrew quickly, eyes wide. “Amaruq is over there,” he breathed. “We’ll have to go back the way we came and look for an alternate exit, or risk being found,” he said, keeping his voice as quiet as possible.
Despite the tense situation and risk of getting into a lot of trouble if they were found, Tiercel was grinning, clearly enjoying the suspense and challenge. Amity silently wondered why, exactly, she had ever agreed to this.
Without another word, the two of them quietly turned around to go back the way they had come. Amity glanced back in alarm as she heard barking behind them, and spotted a semi-familiar brown dog.
The Sussex Spaniel yapped loudly, giving away Amity and Tiercel’s presence. Amity knew the dog belonged to Amaruq, who was no doubt now on her way to apprehend them. Before she knew it, Tiercel had ducked under Amity, effectively tossing her onto his back, and began running. Amity quickly held on, and glanced back as they turned around a corner just in time to see what appeared to be, at first glance, an impossibly massive brown wolf. But Amity recognized it as Amaruq, the Guardian that ran the Familiar Sanctuary and cared for all the creatures within it.
Less than a moment later, and Amaruq was out of view once more as Tiercel darted through the halls searching for an escape. The Mirror was much faster than the small dog whose barking slowly got quieter the further they travelled, but Amity had no doubt Amaruq would catch up to them if they didn’t get out of here soon.
Yet again, Amity wondered why she let Tiercel drag her into stressful situations like this one. Her heart was pounding, and she knew they would be in so much trouble if they were caught, which, at this point, they might have already been. If Amaruq had recognized the two of them in the brief moment they were in her line of sight, then Razatharia, the clan leader and Amity’s adoptive mother, would surely hear of it.
Tiercel slowed his pace as he came to another corner, and peeked around it before continuing. As far as Amity could tell, they had more or less travelled in a giant loop around the Sanctuary, but they were headed towards the actual entrance of the Sanctuary, instead of through one of the enclosures.
Amaruq was nowhere in sight as Tiercel and Amity slipped through the main entrance, and ran off into the night. Tiercel laughed as the Sanctuary disappeared from their line of sight, and slowed down to let Amity hop off his back.
“That was way too close,” Amity said with a sigh as they began walking together.
“Aw, come on! Admit it, you had fun,” Teircel accused playfully, lightly flicking Amity with his tail. His step had a bounce to it, and he was grinning enthusiastically. Amity couldn’t help but smile softly back. Even if it had been terrifying, she couldn’t deny that doing things with Tiercel
did make her happy.
“...Yeah, I guess so,” Amity answered finally. “It was pretty cool seeing that cat… I think it might have been a Quillrunner of some sort? It was a little too dark to tell though, and I’m no expert,” she said with a shrug.
“I’ll take your word for it; you might not think you’re an expert, but I sure do,” Tiercel mused cheerfully.
The pair paused as they made it to the palace. It was a pretty imposing structure, and Amity knew Raza didn’t love living in it, but being the leader, it kinda didn't make sense for her
not to live there. And by extension, Amity lived there too.
Actually, a talonfull of dragons lived in the palace, Tiercel included. However, they happened to live on opposite sides of the palace, which, in Amity’s opinion, was way too big. It also meant that now was when they would be parting ways, until tomorrow, when Tiercel inevitably dragged Amity into even more shenanigans.
Amity started to say goodbye, but Tiercel raised a talon to stop her.
“I didn’t get to spend as much time with you, since you were out so late today, so… how about I walk you to your room?” Tiercel offered with a smile.
“You live on the other side of the palace; it’s quite a detour for you to go all the way to my room,” Amity pointed out. Tiercel shrugged.
“I don’t care. I’m also pretty fast, so it shouldn’t take me too long to get across the palace,” Teircel mused, then wrapped a wing around Amity and began walking with her before she could protest anymore.
Their walk was filled with idle chatter and occasional laughter, but it was cut short as they made it to Amity’s room, only to find a Skydancer there waiting for them. The clan leader glanced between the two dragonets, her antennae twitching.
“There you are,” Razatharia began, focusing on Amity. “I was just about to go looking for you. I wanted to talk to you about some... stuff,” she said, glancing at Tiercel. The Mirror got the hint; this was a private matter between mother and daughter.
“Well, see you tomorrow, Amity!” Tiercel said cheerfully, waving a wing in goodbye as he disappeared around the corner. Amity didn’t even have time to return the gesture before he was gone.
“...What did you want to talk about?” Amity asked as she turned her attention back to Raza.
“Why don’t we take this inside?” Raza suggested instead of answering, nodding at Amity’s room. Amity nodded slowly, and the two slipped inside the bedroom quietly. It wasn’t
uncommon for Raza to take time to talk to Amity, but the Nocturne couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous, as she had no idea what this was about.
“I wanted to discuss that friend of yours with you,” Razatharia began slowly. “I think he’s a bad influence on you.”
@
Dragonfruiteen @
AlpineFresh @
Millapede85 @
Watercolour @
dancingcrane
