By: GeoDuck

Mother Dorae took a deep breath as she walked down the small back road leading to the park. She hurried her pace, he would notice the money she left soon. Before long she found the small secluded park. She gasped in shock when she saw Adrino rubbing his wing membrane there was a large bruise. She quickly ran over to the small boy and took him by the hand.

She knelt down in the grass with him, “What happened! Why are you hurt?! My God kids what happened!” She did not take her eyes off Adrino, even as he made failed attempts to swat her away. Tone quickly hid the bag away before kneeling down next to Mother Dorae.

He shook her arm to get her attention, “Mom.” She didn’t respond at first, still keeping her worried eyes squarely on the boy in front of her. “Mom!” He shouted, “It’s okay, He just fell down and got bruised. If it was anything serious we would have gotten you.”

Her eyes were ripped from the wincing boy as she looked into Tone’s eyes, they were filled with an infectious calmness. She took a breath before opening her mouth, “Y-you’re right. But I still want to know how he managed to get a bruise the size of his head!” She waited for an answer. Tone waved a hand to Adrino, still held in place by Ms. Dorae’s tight grip.

“You can tell her. Own up to it.” He plainly stated as he walked back to the bench, taking a seat.

Adrino stuttered, “Wait you uh, oh fine! I fell…” His ears fell backwards with childish embarrassment. She spotted his ears and knew what he was feeling, he had made a bit of a fool out of himself and was trying to hide it from her.

In a motherly tone she encouraged him to tell the truth, “Come on Adrino, you’re a terrible liar, Tell me the truth. I’m not gonna laugh. I just wanna know if it’s something I need to worry about.”

His head sank and the volume of his voice dropped accordingly. “I-I did fall. Off the statue…” He whispered. She put a finger under his chin and brought his eyes to meet her’s.

“Adrino- Honey, It’s okay…” She put a hand on his cheek, “I’m not gonna laugh at you. Can you still fly?” He nodded his head. She patted him on the shoulder, “Okay, let’s get home and have some dinner.” She stood up, and walked over to Alua. she grabbed onto her extended arm and lifted her up.

She latched onto her back. Mother Dorae placed her hands against her back, just above her tail, to give her a place to stop as she slid down her back. Once she got into position, Ms. Dorae let out a grunt as she adjusted to the weight placed upon her. “Come on kids, this side street should be long enough to get up to speed, plus it’s a bit windy. Let’s head home.” She walked into the middle of the walkway, double and triple checking the skies and the runway for anyone. The last thing you want is to get into an accident while taking off or landing, that was a one way ticket to being bed ridded.

“It’s all clear! Hop to it! Happy, Tone, Adrino, get up there.”

“This is gonna suck…” Adrino said in a sour grumble.

“The longer you complain about it, the longer ‘till we get home and the longer ‘till we get food. So quit whining and fly fast for once!” Happy teased, excited that he could make fun of him for a change.

Tone chastised him, “Stop annoying him Happy! Mom already told you to stop fighting!”

The three boys continued to bicker amongst themselves as they ran down the path. First, Happy spread his wings, always eager to show his speed in the air. He took off after several hard beats of his wings. He was followed closely by Tone, he too floated up with each wing beat, eventually clearing the rooftops. Adrino, however, was having some difficulty with his wings. He managed to get up to speed, but when he tried to flap his wings, he held back. In his efforts not to discomfort himself he faltered in his wing beats.

“Woahah!” He let out in shock. He regained control moments before falling to the ground, his limp foot claws scraped the stone. As he straightened out he began gaining altitude, slowly making his way above the rooftops with each labored beat.

Mother Dorae gasped, wide eyed, as she watched him falter before he got it under control. After watching that she was sure he would have to rest before flying anymore. She tapped Alua on the shoulder, a cue to let her know to hold on tightly. She felt the girl’s arms tighten around her abdomen and her legs wrapped around her waist. She began running full speed down the street. She leaned forward and spread out her wings.

With Ms. Dorae’s flight experience, that was more than enough space to get airborne. Soon enough she joined her boys circling above in the sky. Once she caught up with them they all turned south, heading away from the inner city. Heading for home. She checked on Alua before putting on any kind of speed.

“Honey, are you okay? Holding on tight?” She called out.

“Yes ma’am! I’m holding on tight! Please fly a little higher!” Her meek attitude and voice had been replaced by elation and excitement. It always seemed like she turned into a different person when she was in the sky.

Before long the edge of the sun’s light would rise above the city, and the palace would be the only place left with light. It was a beautiful sight, watching the last of the day’s light slowly rise up the cliff face. It was pockmarked by huge caves. Inside each one was a winding mess of interconnected tunnels that built up the homes of most dragons in the region. Atop it all was beset the palace. Its white polished stone shone in the evening sunlight.

The kids often liked playing games while they flew. Sometimes they would challenge each other to a race, although Happy won most of them. Or they would compete, trying to imitate some of the tricks they had seen during races. Adrino liked doing that, but he wouldn’t be pulling any fancy maneuvers today. Just then she had an idea.

Ms. Dorae flew up among the boys and shouted out, “Hey! Wanna play a game while we head home?” Together the children nodded their heads in agreement. “Okay, the first person who can guess what I’m looking at wins!” They all were confused for a moment.

Alua spoke up from her back, “Can you give us a hint?”

“Hmm… It’s green!” She shouted so all the kids could hear her. They all began looking around for anything with a hint of green. Happy, of course, called out first.

“The grass!”

“Nope! Guess again.” She said, watching his face as he grumbled and turned back to the search for green things. Adrino saw an opportunity and took it.

“The forest?” He said with uncertainty in his voice.

“You’ve got it!” She cheered. She could hear Alua whining from behind her. “Now you find something and we’ll take turns guessing what it is!”

Adrino perked up that he had won something, “Oh! O-Okay! Uhhhh I see something… White!” In seconds Happy spat out another guess.

“The palace!” He looked quite proud at his answer, but unfortunately his pride wouldn’t last long.

“No! Guess again!” as he was denied he crossed his arms with a bit of an attitude.

“I don’t like this game Ms. Dorae! Can we do a race please!” His request was immediately shot down though. With one quick glare at him, he understood that he could either play this, or not play at all. Alua took advantage of the momentary quiet and spoke up.

“It’s the clouds!” she said with confidence.

“Wrong!” Adrino shouted. She moaned as she went back to searching for white things.

“Is it Happy?” Tone said in a bored monotone voice as he flew to the front of the group.

“You’ve got it! Now, you go! I like this game.” Adrino smiled, his mind fully taken off his bruised wing membrane. It certainly was still hurting, but this game was far more important.

“Oh! Really? It was Happy? That was a shot in the dark but okay… I see something, Brown!” Tone said with his eyes closed, not wanting to give anyone a way to find out what he was looking at.

Alua yelled, “OOH! OOH! Is it the houses?”

“No. Take another guess!” He said to the eager young girl.

Happy threw his arms out and let them hang, “What does it matter? I’m never gonna get it right!”

Mother Dorae flew close to him. She didn’t yell, but spoke loud enough to be heard over the wind, “Come on, make a guess, I’m sure you’ll get it right this time!”

He rolled his eyes, “Fine! Tone! Is it the dirt?”

“Yes! Alright you go!” Happy was surprised.

“Wait you’re serious? You’re not just saying I got it to make me feel better?”

“Of course not. You got it. Now take your turn, we’re almost home!”

“Alright! Uhh… I see something red!” Happy said with the most cocky expression a child could have. He was sure no one would ever-

“Is it that red dragon?” Alua questioned.

“Wuh-bu… yes…” He said defeatedly. “How’d you guess it so fast?”

“Happy, how many other things out here are red?”

He mumbled to himself as he tucked his arms back in. “Don’t have to make me feel stupid.”

Alua shouted hastily, “Finally! I get to go! I spy-” She was cut off by Mother Dorae abruptly beginning her descent, “Awww, but I wanted to play!” she cried out as they began landing.

Mother Dorae assured her, “Don’t worry darling, you can come back outside and play it again if it means that much to you.” She touched down in the grass and slowed herself down over some distance. After slowing down to a walking speed Alua hopped off her back and planted her feet into the ground.

The boys followed shortly after. Tone used practiced expertise to land like a professional. Adrino stopped flapping his wings a bit early, reasonably eager to stop using his wings. Happy meanwhile, took a steeper angle and planted his feet hard, he lurched forward, throwing out his hands bracing himself. After a surprisingly long time on his feet he fell down onto a patch of tall grass..

She gasped and quickly ran over to him shouting, “Happy!”

A single open hand poked out as he shouted back to her, “I’m alright! Don’t worry.”. She reached out to him, plucking him from the blades of grass that were nearly as tall as him.

“Happy! That could have gotten you hurt badly! You can’t be that reckless! What would happen if you hurt yourself and nobody was around?” She scolded him with clear concern in her voice.

He tried wiping off the green essence smeared over himself before pushing her away gently. “But I didn’t get hurt. And you are all right there. Nothin’ would have happened.”

Sighing loudly she placed a hand on his head, “The only thing that is important, is that you’re okay. But please, take your time landing, there’s no rush.” Walking back to the orphanage with the minorly scraped up kid, she stood in front of the door and squatted down. Facing back to the kids she singled out Adrino and Happy.

“Adrino, I want you to lay down and make sure your wings are okay. Happy, I want you to Keep your voice down and under no circumstances are you allowed to fight! Do you understand me?” she stressed before opening the door. As she entered they were greeted by Laere and Fengi playing with the toys on the pelt.

As they poured in Fengi stared up at her and smiled. That smile soon faded as her eyes fell upon the group of children around her. Laere gave them all a quick wave, “Hey everybody, wanna come play with Fengi?” He pulled a doll out from the toy box and held it out for them.

Ms. Dorae nudged Alua, “Come on honey, I think you two will get along well. Why don’t you introduce yourself?” The little girl gazed up at her with an almost pouty look.

“Why me?” she said with a whisper as she turned towards the miniscule child on the ground. She sighed and marched forward. As she came close Fengi put her toy down and scurried behind Laere. Her clawed fingers caught on the pelt and elicited a small yelp as she struggled to hide. Alua stopped her approach, at a complete loss of what she should do.

Laere spoke with a calmness in his voice, as if he had anticipated this. “Oh? Hey, Don’t be scared,” He slowly turned his head around and picked her up so he could sit her in his lap. “See? It’s just my friend Alua. She’s nice, Although she is a little shy. Like you!” Mother Dorae watched the scared little girl intently, looking for anything that might help her understand Fengi better.

He motioned for her to sit down, but was interrupted by Mother Dorae, “Don’t be hasty, she’ll open up eventually, we can’t force that. If she doesn’t want to play with the big kids, she doesn’t have to.” He shook his head and pulled his arm back in. She was hiding herself in his lap, being sure to keep an eye on the rest of the kids.

He handed the doll to Fengi, “You hear that? You don’t have to play with them if you don’t want to. Okay?” Slowly he lifted her out of his lap and set her down on the pelt as he stood up. He looked at the group and noticed Adrino rubbing his wings and Happy was dirty. “Hey, uh. What happened in the city?”

She looked down at Adrino, “Well, he fell off a statue at Nik’s house,” She motioned over to Happy, “and SOMEbody landed too quickly and fell face first into a big patch of grass.” Happy, wanting to go and play, hurried over to the toy chest. As he shoved past Alua, Fengi scooted away from him. He searched through the chest and withdrew the two wooden swords.

He walked over to Adrino and handed him the sword. He took it, but before either of them could get a word out she interjected, “Adrino is not allowed to play with the swords right now Happy. Ask someone else to play with you, and you’re gonna have to sword fight outside. I don’t want you scaring little Fengi here.”

Adrino handed the sword back to him, and walked into the bedroom to lay down. Happy tilted his head and stuck the blade towards Tone. “Wanna play?” he asked with a nod of the sword. Tone snatched the sword and flipped it around.

“Sure, why not? Let’s go outside though, like Mama said.” Happy perked up and tightened his grip on his own sword before following him out the door.

“Alright! It’s been forever since we sword fought last! I was getting tired of beating Adrino all the time!” The door slammed behind them. Mother Dorae sighed and walked over to the play area. Fengi was still hiding from Alua, who had backed away from the little girl now. Her heart grew heavy watching the skittish young girl hide from her new family.

“How I wish you could live normal lives, with your families.” She ripped her gaze from the play area and headed into the kitchen. She found Laere putting away dishes, snapping her fingers, she caught his attention. “What’re you putting the dishes away for? I’ve still gotta make dinner.”

Laere chuckled to himself, “Right, sorry. It’s just, it slipped my mind. With barely getting any sleep I guess I’ve been forgetting stuff. I thought you were gone for the day. So I just went into cleaning mode.” He pulled a bowl off the shelf, “And with Fengi around, I suppose I got a little distracted.”

She put a hand on his shoulder, “It’s fine, but you should really head out, I get that working nights aren’t that exciting, but you still need to show up.” She took the bowl from his hands and ushered him out of the kitchen, “Now go rest, I’ll wake you up when night falls, then you can eat and go on your way.”

“Alright Auntie, I’m going, I’m going.” He said as he walked over to the rocking chair. He sat down and noticed the girls from across the room. Alua was slowly reaching for the doll on the ground. She got ever so close to it when Fengi began whining. She was startled and nearly fell over after snatching up the tattered doll and darting into the girls bedroom. She ran so fast it looked like she had used her wings to fly.

He chuckled to himself as he closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep. It seemed like only a few seconds had passed when he was woken up by Mother Dorae shaking him awake, “Huh?” he mumbled as he got up.

“Come on Laere. This is the second time I’ve woken you up,” She walked over to the table, picking up Fengi who was the only child still left at the table. “Your bowl is on the table, you need to hurry up and eat and get going.” She wiped the young girl’s mouth clean and took her into the bedroom to lay her down.

He groggily walked over to the table, a single bowl of oatmeal was left. Pulling over a chair he sat down, ready to dig into it. While he scooped it into his mouth he took in the state of the house. It was a mess, toys left out, and there was a track of dirt from outside. The spoon sank from his hand as he got up and walked into the girls bedroom.

He turned the corner and saw Mother Dorae laying Fengi down on the bed. “Hey, the place is a mess. I can stay and clean up a bit if you want-” he was promptly cut off by her shushing him loudly.

“Finish eating and go to work, I will handle the cleaning. Don’t worry. Love you dear.” She whispered to him from across the room. She rolled over to face away from him, Leaving him standing in the doorway.

Speechless, mouth agape, he gestured with his hands. “Wuh! But!” He groaned. “Alright, I’ll get going,” He said while walking back into the main room. Quickly popping into the kitchen he rummaged through the closet and took an old Dorae family lantern and a small bag. Walking past his half full bowl of oatmeal, he hastily devoured the last bit of food before heading out the door.

After placing the bowl on the table he silently left the house and locked the door behind him. Out from his bag he took out some flint and steel and clashed them together. They created a little spark show, sending a brilliant light show in the darkness. He opened the lantern and in a flash of light the lantern caught fire. He closed the lantern door and tucked away the flint and steel back in his bag as he quickly jaunted out into the open and took off towards the city.

————————————————————————————————————————–

After making sure she was asleep, Mother Dorae carefully rolled Fengi off her arm and quickly freed it. She was tired now too, clumsily making her way out to the main room, she looked around at the messy room. “Eh… I can clean it in the morning…” she said while making her way to the rocking chair. “Just gotta get some sleep…” She mumbled to herself as she dozed off.

————————————————————————————————————————–

The early morning sky was pitch black as Laere stepped out from the inn he worked at. He was glad that the inn had its own lanterns, not all places in the outer city were quite so blessed. As he took to igniting his own lantern he noticed a couple dragonettes coming in for a landing. Out of the darkness one called out, “Hey! Look who it is! I knew you’d show up!”

As they touched down and he could see their faces he sighed, it was two of his coworkers. “Morning, Ebere. Why, exactly, are you glad to see me? We rarely have conversations and they’ve never left me wanting more.”

The short slender man shoulder checked him on his way in the building. “Aw come one, what’s the matter? I can’t be excited to see my best buddy Laere, anyways, we were betting on whether or not you’d actually have shown up last night. I took a shot in the dark and now, I’m a copper richer. Ha!” The other two dragonettes in the group followed shortly after.

Grumbling to himself as he walked away, “gods above, it’s like you are testing my patience.” With a groan and a shake of his head he cleared his mind. Holding up the lantern he waited patiently, bobbing up and down on the balls of his feet. While he waited he scanned over the sparsely populated street, many people seemed to be in a rush; especially the courier boy hopping on one foot trying to catch a loose envelope.

Of course there was the occasional beggar asking for any spare copper and the group of children either waking up really early, or staying up waaaay past their bedtime. As the sun began peaking over the horizon, a voice called out to him from a ways down the street. “Laere!”

His ears locked onto the sound and his head shortly followed. He turned his head just in time to see Caira, an old friend of his from Barteleon. He cheered, sticking his hand up in the air waving to her. He started heading to meet her, she picked up her pace from a jaunt to a quick jog.

As they got closer he noticed she had many bruises and marks on her face and arms, he wondered who or what caused them. He felt angry but that anger was overshadowed by his joy at meeting an old friend for the first time since moving here. Before they were close enough to exchange greetings he watched her face contort into shock before she completely locked up in the middle of her stride.

She sank like a stone, firmly landing in a patch of dirt on the side of the road. She shrieked as she fell and he quickly ran to help her up. He put his arm under her’s and hefted her out of the dirt, “Are you okay! Did you trip or something!?” He said with genuine worry in his voice.

She burst out in nervous laughter when he tried to clean her face off, “Oh boy, this isn’t how I hoped it would turn out!” Her ears began to droop and she dropped her excited voice, “Hey dork, long time no see.”

He pulled his hand back from her face, deeming it clean of dirt and nodded, “Too long indeed.”

Realizing she was still being held up. She stood up and squared her stance. Her face utterly beamed with happiness, “I am SOOO happy that you got my letter! You would not believe how bad the mail sorting system has gotten back home. People lose mail every day. Last summer they found a package from a decade ago!”

He cocked his head, “Back home? This is my home now!” He leaned in close to her and whispered, “And between you and me, the mail delivery here isn’t much better off.” They shared a laugh as he put an arm over her shoulder. “Oh, it’s been a tad bit lonely down here, what with not having any of my friends to talk to around here.”

Cocking her head at that she cut him off, “Oh it can’t be that bad, you must have made some new friends around here. I mean, your Aunt has lived here her whole life; she must have introduced you to someone over the last five years”

He began walking with her as they continued talking, “Well, uh, not anyone my age. Not really. I guess my closest friend around here would be the green dragon next door.”

“Really? I don’t buy it! You must be swimming in girls by now.” she said teasingly.

“Oh come on, we both know I could barely talk to you, what makes you think I’ve gotten any better with the ladies?” He cocked an eye at her, “But I think that’s enough about me for now,” he put his hand on her shoulder and looked her dead in the eyes, “Are you gonna tell me who did all this to you?”

She stared back at him dumbstruck, “Wha- I don’t know what you mean Laere.”

He gently raised a finger to her face, being careful to not actually irritate any of the bruises on her face. “That.” he said while gesturing to a large deep blue splotch on the side of her snout.

It finally clicked and she understood what he meant, and when she did she started snickering. “Oh! These are symptoms of my sickness.”

He titled his head, “Sickness? Are you ill? You didn’t say anything about that in your letter!”

She took his hands by the wrists and brought them down, away from her head. “No, Laere, I’m not sick like that. Well, its difficult to say actually. It started happening a while ago. But when I was young and I got really excited my fingers would lock up.”

He shook his head in understanding and lost the more serious tone, “Yep, I remember that stuff. Whenever you used to get really hyperactive, sometimes you wouldn’t be able to even move your hands.”

“Weeeeeell its not just my hands anymore, it uh, l you saw what happened.” she said with embarrassment.

He looked down at her, bruises pockmarked her calves and torso “Its got your legs now too? That’s horrible, how many times does that happen?” he spoke with concern.

“A day?” She scoffed, “Too many. It started taking less and less, but now. Ugh, a particularly cold breeze when I’m not expecting it could give me ‘the locks.’ that’s what me and mum started calling it, the locks.”

“That must really suck, have you seen a healer about it?”

She picked up her head again, to meet his eyes. “That’s exactly why I’m here, I’ve been seen by a couple of healers, at least the ones that wanted to see me out of curiosity, we couldn’t afford any back then.”

“Hmm… do you think it might have anything to do with your magic? No, that wouldn’t explain why it happened to you as a kid. I’ve certainly never heard of something like this, excluding you of course.”

“Well duh, excluding me. Anyways, one day, a particularly wealthy healer came to see me, she couldn’t find out any more than any of the last healers. So, she decides to tell us that she has a twin sister who is also a healer! As it turns out, she is even more experienced! She told us that if anyone short of a healer of the royal court could fix me, it was her. She even arranged travel back and forth from Bartelion and a place to stay with her sister!”

“Wow! That’s great! So they’re going to figure out what’s wrong with you and heal you up, all for free?!” He said while pulling his head back in elated shock.

“Noooot exactly…”

His eyes narrowed, shoulders sank, and he cocked his head. “What are they making you do?” he said, disdain coating every word.

“Nothing bad, just that i must work for her until she has enough information to determine if I have a specific disease, or until she gathers enough information to claim discovery of a new one, and summarily experiment with cures, or methods to ease my ailment. But after that I’ll be back on my way to Barteleon. Oh, and that she gets to name it if it’s new!”

“That… could be worse. But I totally agree with the last part, about the name. Anything’s better than the locks” He ended with a poorly concealed snicker.

“What’s wrong with the locks?” she said while frowning. “Do you know how long it took me and my mom to come up with that?”

He smiled endearingly at her, “It’s fine, maybe a little on the nose, but that’s okay. Now come on, the sun’s starting to rise, I’d like to show you around before it sets!” he said with excitement as he took her hand and began walking again, “The first place we’re going is the orphanage!”

“Woah!” she exclaimed, as she was pulled forward by Laere, tripping for a moment before hopping on one foot and regaining her balance. “Calm down, you don’t want to have to pick me out of the dirt again do you?”

He turned back to her momentarily before slowing back down, “Oh! Uh, no. Sorry, I should have thought of that.” he said as he let go of her hand. “Well, actually that brings up a good point, can you still fly?” he asked nervously.

“It’s alright, and unfortunately not, at least not in a place like this. I mean there’s so many people here. It’s overwhelming! There’s got to be, like, two or three times as many dragons here than back in Barteleon!” she exclaimed while gesturing to the busy city around them.

She brought her arms back down, “I’m pretty sure I’d have a better chance to survive if i was a royal guard training dummy.” she said with a hearty chuckle as she took his hand. “But that’s alright, walking gives us more time to catch up.”

The two of them had walked through the slowly brightening streets, in the early hours of the morning. By the time they made it to the end of city limits. The sun had truly and undeniably risen. The two of them just kept walking along the dirt road towards Ms. Dorae’s orphanage. “Sorry you had to go through all the rough parts of town, they’re not usually that bad, but I guess a lot of people were looking for somebody.”

“Don’t worry about it, the same type of stuff happens in Barteleon. But yeah, they seem pretty dedicated to finding her. Such a weird name too. What kind of a name is Cider?”

“I don’t know but we’re out of the bad part of town now,” He waved his arm, showing off the orphanage in all its splendor. “Welcome to my home.” He said before walking the final steps toward the door.

As the door swung open he nearly froze in embarrassment, the entire room was still a complete mess. His ears drooped as he awkwardly stepped inside. Ms. Dorae could be heard from the boys bedroom, “Laere is that you? I’m sorry about the mess, I was very tired last night and fell asleep. Don’t worry, I’ll clean it all up, I’m almost finished with the bedrooms now anyways.”

There was a splash of a mop being dunked into a bucket and she emerged from the bedroom with her eyes closed as she let out a yawn, “Oh, so what took you so long to get back home?” She too began feeling embarrassed as she just noticed the guest he had brought home. She visibly shrunk, “Oh, damn. I’m sorry about the mess, but children are quite messy.”

There was a silence that was only broken by Caira snickering. “Well, Laere. How about you take your friend for a short walk and I’ll double time the cleaning, eh?” Dorea said sheepishly.

“No it’s alright,” Caira plainly stated, “We can help, come on Laere.” She gingerly pushed him inside with a smile. She walked up to Mother Dorae, making sure to avoid the dirt path near the play area, “Where do you keep the rags?” She cheerily inquired.

Ms. Dorae was shocked for a moment before looking back to her nephew, only to see him reciprocating her embarrassment.