Noctisardor Bypass And you were never lonely

The darkest of night that he had seen in so long. Moonless and starless. It fit the mood absolutely perfectly. Etienne walked up the nearest incline. Sides heaving, eyes burning.

Everything was falling apart and it was all his fault. If he had just kept his mouth shut. If he hadn't fought with Anselm. If he hadn't told Druid his secret. If Heda hadn't begged him to raise her children. He stared upwards. The thrumming of the ocean so far away.

By all the gods what had he done. Why did the universe feel fit to throw it all upon his rather unimpressive shoulders. What god had he angered in a past life.

He wanted his Granme Roz so implicitly, so painfully that it wrung both a dry heave and a sob from his throat. And he wanted his mom.

He took a breath and stared out over the woods.

Two months old. Two months, and he paws already itched to see all that was out there, beyond the den and the patches of land mom and auntie Heda let them play in under careful watch. Goldfinch has snuck out once, and Averie both envied and admired her for it.

Bravery was a word Averie wanted etched into every fibre of her frame. And what better way than to explore at night?

She'd been warned against the creatures of night terrors. Owls, cougars, bears, and the lot. Terrifying eyes with terrifying talons and claws - and she soaked every warning in.

One day, she would line her den with them. Capture every one, so no one had to worry ever, ever again.

And why not start now?

The forest had stretched long and dark for a very long time, but here, the trees thinned so she could see the inky open sky. Her little legs ached from the steep climb and her lungs burned and she was more than half frustrated she hadn't seen any night creatures yet. Finding the nearest cleft, she slumped against it to catch her breath. 

A shadow passed overhead, the flutter of leathery wings.

A dragon!

She leapt to her feet and started skyward again. It circled back around, but though she leapt for it, it grazed just out of reach.

Coward!

Fight me, ratface! her shrill voice split the night, and whatever peace her unseen company sought upon the mount.

The children grew by the day. Etienne didn't want to csrecfor them. Had gotten Heda to agree to his terms. Thank the heabens. But all of it still sat unwell in his stomache. He felt off kilter.


A shrill cry, young and immature. Etienne moved from his spot. Golden eyes gleaming in the night. He found one of the little ones.

A soft smile. soti kouri dèyè lonbraj

He blinked. What needs to come out and fight you?

Words from a voice she knew, in a language she still didn't understand. Her teeth clicked the air again and she landed, ungraceful, on the cool earth. 

Huh? she whipped around to Eti as his latter words filled the foreign space. The dragons! she declared.

As if summoned, leathery wings battered the air again, high above both their heads. Averie gasped and with a low growl, said, there, there! her tail a threatening lance behind her.

Etienne didn't quite realize at least not always when he spoke in his grandmes tongue. It just came first, always unbidden.

He winced as she hit the ground. Nervous she had twisted a paw. But she seemed fine. dragons?

Then he saw them, oh she meant the bats. But rather than tell her she was wrong.

Be careful dey can bite and make you sick. But you want to catc' one? Or just c'ase dem away?