FSE

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if you're under 18, get out. that's all I'm gonna say.

the plot doth thicken...

PART 2

Oooohhhhh yeah...a good fly always helps...well, back to this. I remember a bit more of the past so now I can narrate more effectively.

I flew into town, already feeling depressed as I scanned over the dull gray color of everything. The brown sky and gray stone buildings were a very dull combination, and the quietness of the town was only more haunting. As I'd expected, off in the back of a building nearby I heard the sounds of two dragons pleasuring each other, and off in an alley there was a scuffle taking place, and I just rolled my eyes...it was everywhere here. Unfortunately, this was also the center of a lot of transactions, mostly in the underground basements, and actions normally considered "dirty" or "dishonorable" were mere daily activities. I landed atop a low-lying building and hunkered low---my white and silver scales were wanted by quite a few here, so I had to watch my back at all times. Nowadays, dragons like me knew how to navigate the streets in three dimensions, so instead of flying above the buildings or roof-hopping or street-browsing, I quickly sank my claws into the stone and crawled along the walls, deftly jumping across the roads between buildings. My camouflage skill came in quite handy---all I needed to do was hold still and blend in under an overhang or something. Nice thing about dragon buildings, their doors aren't limited to ground-level, and the platforms for the higher-level doorways gave me perfect cover in case someone was strolling down the street. The walls were covered in claw-marks, and several times I slipped when the rock just gave out and stuck to my claws, but I got where I was going: the abandoned factory. Several gangs had set up their base here, and as I neared the building I smirked as I heard the usual arguments and fighting taking place.

"Gale!" someone hissed next to me, and I started and looked to the side (or as I was oriented on the wall, up) and saw Glairn. She was a pretty little thing, about half my age and size, but if you wanted a tomboy, Glairn was more than what you'd be asking for. note: I hate bringing this up, but she'd strangle me if I didn't...she's a hermaphrodite and proud of it. Right now, she looked distressed.

"Something wrong?"

"Daran...he went off this morning all upset and no one can find him!"

"Oh crap..." Glairn didn't know what I was scared of, but I had promised Daran that I wouldn't tell anyone about...his problem. I knew where he was. "How long has he been gone?"

"He left just after sunrise!"

"Oh no..." I flew off quickly, scared now. There was a seaside cliff about a mile from town, and under it was a small ledge that Daran went to if he was upset. That mile flashed by under me and I swooped down to the ledge to find Daran sitting there, his whole body drooping as he stared at the sharp rocks below.

"Daran? If you jump I'm catching you."

"Go away..."

"No. Daran, I'm not letting you kill yourself. What's the problem this time?"

The wind dragon clenched his eyes shut. "I can't tell you..."

"Daran, you're my friend and I'm concerned about you. What's the damn problem?"

"You."

"How am I the problem?"

Daran scooted closer to the edge and I stood up, ready to fly after him if he tried anything. "You beat up my cousin and now he's in bad shape, then you disappear without apologizing...and then I find out what you really are..."

I was confused. "What I am?"

Daran glared at me. "Yes! What you are! I can't be friends with something like you!"

"Daran, what're you talking about? Who told you something about me?"

Daran stared at the rocks again. "Gormath..."

I snorted. "Daran, you know Gormath has a vendetta against me."

"I also know he doesn't lie, or makes a point of getting facts right...he's obssessive compulsive, he has to get things right."

"What did he tell you about me?"

Daran looked away. "If you don't know already, then it'll only hurt you..."

"Just tell me already!!" I shouted, getting fed up with his stubborness. "Daran, if I've done something I'll fix it! If it's something about me I'll try to change it!"

"You can't change what you are..." he said, still looking away. Without warning he fell over the edge. I yelled and jumped after him, but he was using his wind powers to fall faster than I could. My mind raced frantically and in desperation I shot a beam of ice at the rocks below. The churning water froze solid, and as more sloshed onto it it thickened the ice. I cringed as Daran slammed into the ice and I shot down to him, hoping beyond hope he hadn't lethally injured himself. The ice was spiderwebbed underneath him, and blood was seeping between the cracks. I quickly rolled him over, out of breath, hoping he was okay. He was still breathing, but a quick glimpse from my X-ray sight revealed broken ribs and a torn lung...he was a goner.

"Daran..."

He coughed up blood and looked at me. "Gale...I'm so sorry...please...forgive me...don't let rage take you..."

"Why, Daran? What did Gormath say?"

"I can't...tell..." He coughed again and took off the armband around his foreleg, dropping it. "Please...tell Flora I'm sorry..."

"Daran..."

I couldn't hold back my tears and neither could he, but in a matter of minutes he coughed violently and ceased to breathe. My first and best friend...gone...

The next day, I woke up in the forest and just lay there, staring at the armband suspended from the tree branch. Daran's gang had buried him and held a memorial ceremony...and I'd just hung out in the back, depressed. He'd been like a brother to me for years until we were about 8 (dragon-years)...and now he was gone. Most of my other friends had abandoned me for more worldly things...money, wild karse-chases (or in human, goose-chases), fame, sex...if I encountered them they'd greet me, but that was about it...but now I had no clue what to do. And I didn't really care...but then as the sun's rays hit the armband and shone on my eyes, I remembered Daran's final words.

"Why did he want me to tell Flora?" I asked myself, slowly picking up the armband. I stared at it, memories of Daran playing, and sighed and took off into the air to head to Flora's cave. I saw more demons prowling through the meadow, but they weren't threatening anything so I didn't bother them. Flora looked up and yawned as I came into her cave.

"Gale...is something wrong?" she asked, seeing my face. I slowly walked to her bed and handed her the armband. Her face went from curious to downright pained and shocked as she slowly took it from me.

"Daran says he's sorry..."

She sniffled and a sharp pain shot through my chest as I saw tears falling down her face. "Daran...why?"

"He said it was me but wouldn't tell me why..."

"Now everyone in my family but me has committed suicide...why?!"

"What was he to you?" I asked quietly out of curiosity.

"He was...he was my brother..." Her paw tightened around the armband. "This armband is a family heirloom for the males...now there's no one left..." She hid her face in her wing and cried. I stood by her bedside and when she realized I was right next to her she leaned on me, and we quietly grieved Daran.

Hours later, Flora had settled down and I'd gotten her another deer, and as she ate she told me about her family.

"My father was a water dragon and my mother was a wind dragon...Daran took after mom and I took after dad." She leaned down and tore off a bite.

"I thought it odd that he and you were related...but he never told me he had a sister."

She swallowed and sighed. "We didn't want anyone to know...I knew who you were before you met me because Daran befriended you."

"Yeah...I was wondering about that..."

She sighed and looked at the armband she'd put around her foreleg. "My father gave this to Daran...now I'm the only one in the family who hasn't killed themselves..."

"Is it some genetic predisposition?"

"That's what they told us...but science can't explain curses."

"Curses?"

"Apparently my great-great-grandfather on my father's side was cursed...it was said that everyone descended from him would eventually take their own lives at some point...and I watched my mother simply fall from the air and...snap her neck..."

She sniffled again and I sat next to her, putting my wing over her. "I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be...only be sorry if you're to blame..." She snorted her tears back but to my surprise she used her wing to pull mine closer against herself.

"Well don't you go thinking about suicide...you're too pretty for the world to lose."

She smiled but still looked at the ground. "That's the thing...I've never thought about death. Everyone else in my family has had issues with it...Daran talked about killing himself ever since he was 3."

"That why you stayed away from home so much?"

"Pretty much...everyone was so depressing all the time..." The was some silence for a bit and I heard her giggle. "Did you call me 'pretty'?"

"Guess I did."

She started laughing, and it was so infectious I started laughing too. We sat there laughing for a good ten minutes at least before Flora took another bite of deer. My stomach growled loudly and she laughed again. "Go get yourself something! I'll be fine on my own, you go get something to eat!"

"No, I'm fine, really."

She shoved me away with a grin. "I said go! Pretty dragon say go!"

We both laughed and I finally left her to go get myself a breakfast. Unfortunately, the deer I'd gotten for her was the only one I could smell in the grove, so I had to resort to smaller fare. I got really lucky---an injured karse (similar to a goose but slightly bigger and more colorful) was dying so I put it out of its misery. Nothing else showed up, and I wasn't really one to kill mice hardly the size of my finger, so I headed back to Flora. For some reason that even now I still don't understand, we caught sight of each other and kept laughing to ourselves. I sat by her again as she finished off as much as she could of her meal, and she looked up at me oddly.

"What?"

"Why are you still here?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, I'm...just curious."

"Well, simply put, I have nothing better to do..." She sighed and looked down. "If you want me to go I will..."

She leaned against me and I could feel that she was still upset. "No...stay...I've never had someone to talk to like you..."

I spent the night at her cave, at her invitation after I told her I didn't really have a specific place. But, even amid the happy chatting and the jokes and the history-tellings, I felt like something was wrong. Ever since yesterday, when Daran had said I was the problem, I kept having a strange, sort of "haunting" feeling. And when Flora fell asleep, and I followed not long after, those feelings turned into more than a mere guess.

I was falling through a blood-red tunnel with no destination, seeing thousands of painful visions flying by me...and a heat. A very powerful, evil heat that penetrated me and only grew as I fell, and suddenly I wanted to tear something apart. No reason at all...I felt vicious. I looked at my claws...my paws had turned gray with black edges, and my claws were a reddish metallic gold...like they'd absorbed blood. My teeth felt longer and sharper, and I felt bigger and stronger. And the scariest part of it all...I liked it.

A voice suddenly echoed through my head in a million foul tongues... "You can have this power...submit to yourself, and everything you desire will be yours for the reaping..." I smiled...it was such an invitation...but as I turned to look at my unattainable destination...Flora. Upset, grieving, heartbroken...and she was looking straight at me as if asking "Why?"... Suddenly, these changes in me felt absolutely horrible, like someone had sneezed acid all over me (ever had someone sneeze on you?), and I woke up with a start, gasping for breath, never wanting to see that again. Flora was fast asleep on her bed, curled up, with her wings over her... good flamebreath, she was adorable. But that face...Tears fell from my eyes as I looked at her, wondering how anything so beautiful could be so deeply hurt like that. She groaned and stretched, and I shouted in surprise as she violently sneezed and woke up with a start. She looked around groggily and shivered as the wind from outside swept in.

"Oh my gosh...it's so cold tonight..." she whined, curling up again.

I slowly stretched and went over to her bedside. "You okay?"

"My leg is throbbing and I'm freezing...I think not..."

"Anything I can do?"

She paused. "I don't know..."

There was some silence, and with a sigh I lay back down on the floor while she thought. Apparently that helped her decide; not too long after, she slipped down off her bed and curled up against me for warmth, and I put my wing over her. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell she was smiling. As she fell asleep I could hear a faint purr coming from her...

Morning came very warm and muggy, and I woke up when I felt Flora stir against me. I was on my side, and her whole length was pressed against mine, her back against me as she woke up still under my wing. Oh shit... I thought to myself, trying to restrain the bulge pressing between my hind legs. Flora didn't notice, though; the first thing she did was roll her hind legs away from me, the rest of her body following suit until she was standing on three legs. She kept her injured leg slightly elevated as she yawned and stretched. My head was still on the floor and I hadn't really moved, so I pretended to be asleep, watching her through my ever-so-slightly-opened eyelids. She flapped her wings briefly, waking up her tired muscles, and looked down at me.

"Gale, get up, I know you're faking."

"Dammit," I chuckled, and slowly stood up, stretching my whole body in a rolling wave as if I were ducking under something. Flora watched in fascination.

"That was cool..."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Your stretching...do that again." Lowering my head, I sent a wave down my body, hunkering down and lifting up in a fluid motion. Flora's brilliant lavendar eyes studied every inch of my glittering scales as I moved. "That just looks so cool..."

I shivered and yawned. "You'd be better fit for it, you've got the body for it," I said, glancing her over, and she gave me an odd smile.

"You hitting on me?"

"Maaaybe," I said jokingly, looking back and forth quickly with my eyes, and she laughed.

"You're a riot..." She hobbled after me out of the cave, and I looked over my shoulder at her.

"I'm gonna go see if I can get someone to look at your leg, I know someone in the medicinal field."

"Can't I come along?" she said somewhat pathetically. "I wanna get out of here."

"Already? You've only been here two days!"

"Yeah, but I haven't gone anywhere new in a month at least..." She opened her eyes wide and tilted her head, her forepaws pressed together as she sat there with her leg off to the side. It hit me...she knew I liked her and she was trying to manipulate me...and hot damn, it was working like a charm. I couldn't resist that pathetic pose if my life depended on it.

"Alright, fine...but don't complain to me if something happens."

With that we both took off into the sky, and I hung back behind Flora in case something did happen. And happen it did...as I started to tell her where to turn next as we flew over a lake, her wing gave out because she couldn't use her hind leg properly in flight, and down she fell.

"FLORA!!" I shouted, and dove after her. She penetrated the water so damn smoothly all she really left was a slight splash, and I saw her dark blue form distort rapidly as she went down further. "Oh shit..." I flew over the surface of the water in a panic...was she hurt? Would she drown? Taking a huge breath I plunged into the water, using the S-motion of a snake to propel myself through the water. Flora caught sight of me, but to my surprise she laughed, a bubble of air coming from her mouth, and she shot upwards like a bullet. My lungs ached as I followed, and I broke the surface with a loud gasp, taking huge heaves of air. My head had the pins-and-needles effect briefly from the oxygen deprivation, but Flora swam gracefully over to me as I treaded water the best I could.

"You stupid idiot, I'm a water dragon!" she said tauntingly, and splashed me with a laugh. I sneezed as water went up my nose.

"Don't do that! You scared me!"

"'You scawed me!'" she mimicked in baby-fashion, and I glared at her. "What, you were really scared for me?"

"Oh no, of course not, why would I be afraid of someone DROWNING after FALLING OUT OF THE AIR with an injured leg and a bad wing?"

She giggled. "Wow...you really do like me..." Well, that shut me up right then and there, eliciting more laughter from her. I stared at the water, and she floated around me. "Aww...I'm sorry..." She stopped right in front of me and I glanced up with my eyes. "It's just...I find it funny...no one's showed so much concern about me before."

"It's shown...and yes, I am concerned for you. Why wouldn't I be? You're hurt, you just lost your brother and the last of your family...Gormath's after you...demons are after you..."

She paused with her mouth open to speak, and her laughter fell away as she realized I was serious. "Guess I can't refute those points..."

I grunted with the effort of keeping my weight above the water. "Can we get going now? I can't swim well."

"Yeah, lemme get rid of this cramp in my wing first." She swam over to the lakeshore, and I followed her rather slowly, finally taking a huge breath and submerging to swim underwater, faster than paddling above the surface. Flora waited for me, and as I pulled myself up onto the shore she leapt out and shook herself off. Whatever angels had crafted her obviously wanted to torture me...she was downright gorgeous, shining with the water dripping off every inch of her, the mist from her shaking hanging like a cloud around her. Even in the depressing brownish light from the sun through the haze, damn she was a goddess. She looked back at me and laughed, and my mouth snapped shut as I realized I was gaping at her. "What? Am I really that pretty?"

"Yes..." I said, but then quickly snapped into reality and shook my head. "I mean...umm...ah shit, I can't take that back now..."

"Oh don't hide it; we both know you like me." As if enhancing her point she fluttered her eyelids at me, and laughed as I visibly blushed. note: Dragon-blushing isn't all that noticeable under our scales unless it's like a beet-red effect...basically, if you can see a dragon blushing, it means they're REALLY embarrassed.

I decided to not hold it back. "Alright, fine. Yes, I do like you. You're the most gorgeous dragoness I have ever seen, you're an awesome fighter...what's not to like?"

She stared at me, a bit surprised at my sudden openness. "So...you really do like me..."

I growled. "Well DUH!! I just came right out and said it!"

Her eyes slowly fell from me to the ground. "I...I don't know how to react to this..."

"Well, now it's only fair for me to ask-"

"What?" she asked, cutting me off. "Ask what?" The rapidity of her question made me smirk...she knew the question.

"Do you like me?"

She stared at the ground, but I could see her eyes sideglancing at me. "I...I don't really know..."

We sat there in silence until I finally had enough waiting. "C'mon, you can think while we head to find my medical acquaintance." She nodded, not looking at me, and followed me into the air.

It took us a while, but I knew what I was looking for and found it after an hour or so of flight. My friend used red rocks in his own special pattern to symbolize where he was, and I spotted the large red star on the ground outside some ruinous buildings. Flora went to land, but I looped behind her and grabbed her, setting her on the ground so she didn't strain her leg trying to land. She smiled at me in thanks but quickly looked away, following my footsteps into the ruined complex.

"YO!! MARZAK!! ALEM-IT OPA!!"

"What?" Flora asked, confused, but before I could answer we heard an excited yell and out of a nearby building came an orange-red dragon. He was a "hybrid", a rare occurance where instead of inheriting one parent's elemental disposition, the elements of both parents are combined. He was fire and wind, shown by his spiraling scale-patterns and the sweeping, feathery fins on his wings and head and by the vivid flame-like colors. And boy, if you wanted medicine, he could think of ten cures for the common cold right off the top of his head. His shocking-blue eyes studied us excitedly, and Flora shied against me as I stood next to her, afraid of his intense gaze.

"Froststar! Ye gods, I haven't seen you in ages!"

"You know I'm monotheistic," I said, shaking my head, and cleared my throat. "Marzak, this is Flora. She needs attention on her leg...bruised bone."

Marzak nodded quickly. "Yes, yes! It's been so long since I last treated one!" He ran over to a small stone table and beckoned us over. "Flora, I need you to hop up here and I'll take a look at it."

She looked at me quickly for assurance and I nodded to her, and she jumped up and lay on her good side. Marzak took her injured leg and closed his eyes like I'd done, and his inquisitive smile went flatline as he focused.

"Hmmmm...yes...good muscle shape, but some muscular damage from impact...bloodpooling isn't an issue, no risk of infection...bone isn't too badly injured, a glancing blow..." He opened his eyes and grinned at Flora. "Luckily for you you're in such good shape or you might've had some chipping or cracking, and that's never fun." Without another word he ran off to a nearby hut and we could hear glass containers being moved around. We both looked at each other, and then jumped and snapped back to the hut as glass shattered. "Ah shit...that's the fifth empty this month." He came back out with two bottles of chemicals and a tiny vial. He quickly dropped some of both chemicals into the vial and swirled it around, and it turned from blood-red to a deep purple.

"What is that?" Flora asked, unsure.

"Bonecure, my own special ingestion-treatment for bruised or cracked bones." He gave it to Flora, and after eyeing it suspiciously she downed the contents. Her face contorted and she gagged.

"Holy---oh geez that's NASTY!!!"

Marzak and I both laughed, and he shrugged. "Well, most of my medicines appeal to the body but not to the mouth...I still have yet to find some decent flavoring to get rid of the medicinal taste." Her face was clenched and her tongue was hanging out. "If it's that bad, hang on, I've got something for that as well." He ran back into the hut again, and again we heard glass break. "DAMN it!" He came back out carrying two leaves and another small vial, filled with a light-green transparent liquid. "Here, chew these and mix it inside your mouth with this."

Flora did as he said, and her hesitant expression turned to pleasant wonder as she chewed. "Wow...this is good!"

"It's safe to swallow, it's also a breath-freshener." She swallowed and stepped off the table, yelling quickly as pain shot through her leg. I laughed.

"Marzak's good, but his medicine isn't that fast-acting."

"Sadly..." Marzak shook his head and turned to me. "So that's it? She's the reason you came?"

"Yeah, I figured it'd be better to get some kind of cure instead of just letting her heal on her own."

He leaned closer and lowered his voice. "You got lucky, dude...I got something you two might enjoy." I looked at him oddly and he gave me an odd smile while wagging his eyebrows, and I groaned and punched him.

"We're just friends," I said, and he laughed. For now, I finished hopefully to myself.

"Alright, sure." Flora limped up next to me. "Well, you two have a good day, you caught me in the midd--OH SHIT!!" He bolted off to the house we'd first seen him come out of, and Flora and I started when we heard a muffled explosion. Smoke rose from the basement and we heard Marzak coughing. "Halek damn it all!" he groaned, and Flora looked at me uncertainly and I just rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"He's had worse. C'mon, let's go."

"Where?"

She got me there. "Uhhhh...wherever you want?"

After spending the rest of the day splashing each other and having a good time at the lake again, Flora and I lay next to each other in the open, watching the haze slowly fade as the sun set. It wasn't there all day; it often faded sometime after sunset, revealing the night sky. Flora sighed happily and I turned my head to look at her.

"What's the sigh for?"

She shrugged with a grin, still staring at the sky. "I've never had so much fun with someone else..." Her eyes scanned the stars slowly appearing amid the sunset coloring of the heavens, and her smile faded.

"Something wrong?"

"That pattern there..." She pointed up. "There, around the Piscead...it reminds me of Daran..."

A tear fell from her eye, and all I could do was watch and feel sorry for her. We were lying on our backs, so I couldn't quite put my wing over her...it didn't matter, though; she rolled over on her side and hugged me, trying not to cry.

"You okay?" I asked, concerned, holding her.

"No...I want Daran back..."

She put her head on my neck and I felt her tears on my scales. My eyes watered in sympathy and I hugged her tight as she held onto me. She sniffled and rubbed against me, and I could feel gratitude from her as I quietly petted her, trying to comfort her. She slowly and fitfully fell asleep on me.

Two more days went by, but I didn't notice it much as I got Flora's meals for her while she healed. Marzak's medicine was a miracle in itself---after those two days Flora was almost completely rid of any pain. And I found a side of her I'd never seen before. I heard someone say that dragons are like cats...we purr, we fight like cats, we see in the dark, for the most part we're independant...Flora was a kitten. I swear, every moment we shared when she was well enough was either a game of tag or some kind of physical game. Something about me had opened her up from being a cold hunter...now she was a playful kitten that didn't take naps. Damn, those days were tiring...but the most fun I'd ever had, I can't deny that.

As night fell on our game of chase, Flora finally came to a stop, her sides hurting from laughing so much, and I came right up and tackled her. She knew what was coming next and tried to escape, but I was too fast for her and she burst out in shrieking laughter as I tickled her. She gasped for breath and we stopped, lying there and trying to stop laughing as our heads fogged over from oxygen deprivation and exhaustion. The skies opened up as the sun's final rays poked over the horizon, and the deep-rainbow sky slowly sparkled with stars and three full moons. I turned to Flora and she looked at me with a questioning smile.

"Hey, you too tired to fly? I just remembered something."

"How far?"

I forced myself to sit up and pointed at the nearby mountain. "Up there is the perfect viewing spot. Have you ever heard of Narcnos?"

"The planet?"

I nodded and she forced herself up beside me. The way the land was laid out, there was a huge mountain ridge blocking the northern sky, and I wanted to get a good vantage point. We shook out our wings and flew as fast as we could to the mountain, and Flora followed me as we shot through the air, covering the distance at an amazing speed. The climb up took a while, but we finally arrived at my destination, tired but excited. The cave nearby led to the northern face of the mountain, and through it we could hear a gigantic waterfall.

"Here, close your eyes and follow me," I said, and she giggled and closed her eyes, following my footsteps. As we progressed into the tunnel, though, the music of the falls drowned out my naturally quiet padding, and Flora paused.

"Gale? Where are you?"

I brushed the tip of my tail against her face, and she got the idea and lightly bit me, holding on as I used my tail as a kind of "leash" (degrading term though it is). I led her out onto the ridge, and had her sit by me.

note: I'm gonna let the machine describe this, it'll most likely get Flora's viewpoint which would be good for this part.

"Okay, open your eyes," he whispered, having to be right next to her ear for her to hear him. Flora opened her eyes and slowly gasped.

"Oh..." Gale watched the admiration spread across her face. The whole side of the mountain was a cliff, which wrapped around almost like a J. At the trough of the curve (if looked at from above) was the multi-tiered waterfall, and they were sitting on the longer side of the J. The other side chopped off pretty vertically, giving a perfect view of the northern night sky and the mountain ridge below. What took Flora's breath away was the sky itself: the three moons off to the side amid a colored sky, and coming above the horizon was a large red curve of the nearby planet Narcnos. It was catching the sun's rays, and glowed a beautiful red swirling with oranges and yellows. A few of its moons were also visible as small crescents. The moons they saw were "full" because the light reflecting from Narcnos was in turn reflecting from them. Flora just gaped at the sheer beauty of it all, and Gale smiled.

"Quite the view, huh?"

"Gale...it's...it's too much for words..."

He put his wing around her and she leaned against him, her head resting against his neck. "Thought you'd like to see this rare night show."

"I never thought nature could be so beautiful," she whispered. The waterfall nearby glowed with the reflected light of the moons. The two dragons stayed there, hardly moving, just enjoying the view and each other, until Flora yawned and nuzzled against Gale.

"You tired?

"Very...Gale, thank you so much for all this..."

"You wanna go back to your cave or stay here?"

"Here is so much better..."

I lay down on my side and she lay down on me, and she purred happily as I stretched my wing over her. Her thin frame fit perfectly under my wing. As Narcnos slowly rose and its light gradually dimmed to an ambient red, somehow I found myself looking at Flora as she looked at me, both of us staring at each other through half-lidded eyes. She pressed her nose against mine and smiled as I nuzzled softly against her. Our eyes locked together and suddenly we were both lost...and the next thing I knew my head was tilted sideways a bit, hers the opposite way, and our mouths were joined perfectly. I realized what this was and almost jumped away in surprise, but I just couldn't pull myself away from her, and she murred as I kissed her even deeper. Finally she broke away with a yawn and we stared at each other with sleepy happiness.

"You just rest, Flora...I'm not leaving you."

She smiled and lay down on me, snuggling against me. As I drifted off to sleep, I faintly heard her speak to me as she fell asleep.

"Gale...I love you..."

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