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Alaine felt more alert and alive today than he had since they had arrived, his body was no longer aching from the constant cold and his bones didn't make him want to sleep curled around a fire. He still wasn't comfortable, but he was able to push open the stable doors and step out onto the streets with a reasonable degree of alertness. The sun was growing warmer, flooding the streets and melting the snow so that grass was showing, it even felt warm on his back as he looked around and snorted a bit at the few ice drakes that were working in the streets that looked at him. They didn't stop to talk, their eyes barely rested on him before they were off and moving, dismissing him as something that deserved no recognition. He didn't let it bother him, or at the very least he tried not to let it bother him as he walked through the mud.

Most of his group had taken to bartering and trading throughout the day and trying to earn the goodwill of the dwarves. He had heard good news from those that had come to speak with him, he even bore a grudging respect for the elf who had managed a tidy trade in precious jewels. He would have to keep an eye on her, he didn't trust what she might do with that magic, but still, she had made headway in paving good relations with the dwarves. Balios was even doing well, though the otter-kin outstripped them all in terms of building trade routes, but that was simply because they had already well established themselves among the various ports. It came in handy, he had hopes that they would be able to open up a delegation here if things continued to progress the way they wer.

The dwarves were a surprisingly genial folk for all that he had heard ill of them and their ways. They were rough, true, but they were not the sorts of surly beings he had been led to believe. He had been forced to look at them objectively, not as how they treated him, but how they treated his people as a whole. To them, he was little more than a creature that was not fully functional, in this world, he would be left to die, he supposed, but he was allowed to remain and even given some amount of respect because of his position. For his part, he made sure that he took no visible notice of how they treated him, he simply passed them by with an aloof smile or tip of his head, not acknowledging those that spoke quietly among themselves with pointed looks.

Instead, he made his way towards the outskirts of the village where he had deduced that the drakes gathered when they were not working in the town. They were such odd creatures, but they were the closest kin he had to his own, and if he could catch one of the winged ones to talk with them there might be hope that they would give him some direction. The next contingent to arrive here was being delayed, the dwarves had all but predicted the storms that were going to be moving in. It gave him time, but he was eager to see another dragon, speak to one, hear the tongue he barely remembered and perhaps...

_None of my family lives, I saw my mother and father killed. _He stopped that hope before it go any further, he knew better, the world was not fair, the world was not kind, better not to wish for the impossible.

~ ~ * ~ ~

"You are as insane as an ice drake in a fire!" Ketterick snapped as he hunched beside Alosha, his growling grumble little more than amusing to her as she rested in the shadow of the aging male dragon. "Xaal will ground you for this, you'll be a year before you touch the skies again."

"Not if I'm right." She responded brightly and settled herself, folding her wings very carefully along the line of her back as she watched the young dragon walking through the city streets. "Besides, if you thought I was really wrong you wouldn't have agreed to come."

Her companion growled under his breath, but didn't deny it as they rested beneath the edge of a cave system far enough away to give them cover, but close enough her keen eyes could view the goings on of the city with ease. The red dragon that had stepped out invited pity and horror both from the moment he had started to stretch. Xaal had painted him as a threat, one that would possibly destroy the Covenant and rip Pineheart asunder, but the truth was heart wrenching. He was scarred, but that was common for those survivors that lived within the Valley, it was the sight of his wings that made her cringe. They were twisted and useless, bound up in leather straps to hold them against his body, she could still see the way the great wing arms didn't line up properly. She couldn't imagine these were fresh injuries, they looked old, all of his scars looked old and well healed, but he showed muscles on the wings that a flightless dragon shouldn't have had.

Ketterick was less amused by the sight, his lip was curled up in disdain, but he didn't leave. He wouldn't leave her this close to a city alone, even if he thought her ideals were this side of mad. The old drake was her sire's sire, the relation meant little in a healthy world, she had been told, but as she had lost her parents when she was young he had raised her up from a youngling. His vibrant green on gold coloration was marred by a black patch along his side where he had been seared with fire, the scales twisted and grew wrong, but she had always thought it lent him a fearsome look, warrior-like. He was the reason she had grown up so wild, he had all but raised her like he would a drake, the formative years spent mock-fighting and battling with him, encouraged to thoughts that she later learned were unbecoming of a female.

"Poor thing, he doesn't look ill though or hurt, all the scars are old." She sat up and twitched her tail, watching as the stranger began his way to the ice drake outpost. "If he were a slave he would show signs, if they wanted to fool us they wouldn't have brought a flightless drake to our shores, would they?"

"No, even as a lure he is a poor one." Terick scratched his chest with a paw, dislodging a few scales. "He isn't that old either, or that young, he is probably one that was enslaved which means it is just as likely that his mind has been turned."

"If his mind had been turned he would be dull and slow." She responded pointedly and watched him walk with interest. "But he is said to be intelligent, even the one in charge, though he hasn't come out until now."

"His bones ache. Badly healed bones hurt in the cold, sometimes just a dull ache, but other times like needles and fire." Her grandsire grunted and gave her a look. "Just like mine do since you dragged me out into this infernal cold."

Alosha snorted delicately, but made pains to lean closer against him to offer him some of her warmth, her eyes following the drake as he moved with an easy grace. He was well muscled, she supposed, though the muscles were in the wrong places for one their kind. She wondered what he had seen in the Archipelago, she had been so young when they fled that she recalled little of it, only tantalizing hints of what it had been like. She had spent her life in this place where it was cold and wintery save in their haven, what would it be like to lounge on a warm beach? Or to sun in places so hot that her scales would smoke if she leapt into the water? Curiosity burned in her as she twitched her tail and leaned forward.

"We should take him to Pineheart, he belongs there." She chirped and tilted her head up towards her grandsire with a sly smile. "He could do little harm there, he can't fly so he can't escape, he'd effectively be our prisoner."

"And do you think he'd thank you for that? If he is one corrupted he will only stay and learn, and always try to flee us." Terick let out a hot puff of air. "Alosha, I know you are curious, but I think you are thinking of this as if he were one of your playmates or friends. It is better that we stay away, perhaps in a few weeks we might greet them, but it is not-"

"And why should I wait?" She glared up at him and gave her wings a slight flex. "He hurts in the city, it is cold and he obviously is not enjoying it. He is looking for us. Let us take him then, let us find out about our home, Terick, let us see if we can return. What harm is there in that? Surely you agree that he cannot escape us, if he is a spy than Xaal will put him from his misery, if he is not, we have so much to gain."

"You are young and rash." He murmured fondly down at her, his head lowering so that she could see his partially clouded right eye struggling to focus on her. "And how will you capture him? He is armored and heavier than you are, you can hardly drag him by his tail."

"I won't capture him myself." She sniffed delicately and grinned up at her grandsire. "I have brought a drake for that duty, one who is very clever at capturing young dragons who do not wish to be caught."

Her grandsire sighed heavily, stirring with a rasp of his scales and turning his eyes back towards the city where the stranger was stopping to talk to one of the bipeds. Perhaps he might disagree with her, but she knew in her heart of hearts that he would help her if he could. He would not watch another young dragon wither away or stay enslaved if he could help it. He was the only dragon in their sanctuary that felt as she did, that they were all still one people, some might be lost, but they shouldn't be abandoned to their fates if others could help them. And she would help save this broken drake, perhaps he would prove spirited and another ally.

_He will be so relieved to be around his own people, even if he thinks he owes the elves something, he will remember who he is and soon tell us of our home. _ She thought smugly and curled her tail around her paws.

~ ~ * ~ ~

"Would you be so kind as to help me understand how you have designed these things?" Alaine asked politely, gesturing with one paw towards the intriguing faux-caves that had been made of heavy rock and mud and pine.

The drakes wanted nothing to do with him, they didn't speak with him, didn't do more than slant a look at him before returning to their work when he had arrived in their encampment. It was frustrating, but he had come here to try and repair their relations. He had often found that showing an interest in something helped others open up, even if it were something small and simple, some answers to trivial questions would at least ease their reservations about him away. That was the theory, but in practice he was left sitting in front of one of their homes and looking at a dark silver-grey ice drake who seemed to stare right through him before yawning and curling up, twisting himself around and about to conserve his body warmth as he had seen many a drake do.

"There is no harm in answering a simple question." He persisted and tilted his head to one side, trying not to let his annoyance show. "I am interested in your buildings."

"Then ask the dwarves." One of the ice drakes rumbled and closed his eyes without a sign of wishing to discuss it further.

It had been the way things had happened most of his afternoon, he would ask an innocuous question and it would be dismissed by the creatures as if he had asked something forbidden. He had no idea how he should go about getting them to open up, but he absolutely refused to give up. He shifted his wings, pulling at the leather straps while he continued to try and chat as if he were holding a perfectly friendly conversation with the silent beings. He talked about the area, the snow and how it might affect flooding the inland rivers, if they preferred the coast over the inner lands due to fishing. What did they like to eat? Were they all young or were there older ones that came down in other seasons? It didn't matter what he asked them the answers, when they came, were clipped and dismissive.

"H'It's h'easier to get h'one of the hatchlings to keep still than to get h'one h'of them to h'answer." Oake piped up as Alaine tried to simply talk about himself in the desperate hope that curiosity might rouse the creatures.

He gave up talking to the lump of sleeping drake and turned towards the familiar creature that was smiling up at him. Oake always lifted his mood, especially when he was having an off day and simply wanted to have something uncomplicated to distract him. The drake didn't even budge at the words spoken about him, he seemed to be asleep, though the dragon had suspicions he was merely feigning sleep in the hopes that the questions would stop. What harm could there be in answering all but the simplest questions?

"So I can see." Alaine responded with a bit of a tail flick, turning his head towards the young satyr that had come up the path. "Did you enjoy your afternoon at trade?"

"H'I did, but h'I had little to trade." The young buck leaped up with a light touch of his hooves on the ground before hitting Alaine's side.

The weight was barely enough to make him shift his footing, no matter the extra height and heft of what had once been his little fawn. He held still as the hooves scrabbled against his hard scaled shoulder and the furred haunches settled themselves along the sweep of his neck right beneath the hard edges of his spines. He had long since allowed Oake to file certain parts of his spikes down to allow him to settle there without worry of being impaled. It felt good to have that warmth there, the hands gripping either side of his neck as he turned his head far enough back to peer with one bright golden eye upon the lithe little beast holding him. If anyone on two legs had ever tried to scramble on him he would have shuddered, even Rowan, whom he loved, would have gotten a twitch and uneasy feeling, but it always felt pleasurable to have Oake securely tucked against him.

"I suppose if you wish to have items to trade you might consider offering your work." Alaine murmured and began to walk with an easy gait. "Balios and Rouro have both needed an extra hand and both of them would pay you for your time."

"H'I suppose." Oake tucked his hooves in neatly right near the curve of the drake's wings. "They're working h'on the dwarves sending h'a delegation back with h'us. They want them to have representation for future trade talks, boring stuff."

"To you, perhaps, but important none the less. The downfall of our lands was greatly due to the fact everyone was so scattered and no one had an alliance." Alaine picked up his pace, jostling his rider playfully as he curled his tail a little. "Likely, if we can find the dragons, we will have them to join us as well."

"What h'if they want their h'island back?" Oake leaned forward a little. "Yisa said that they might want h'us h'all h'off so they retake their territory."

That was a thought that Alaine had thought over, it was inevitable that he would have to consider it when he had set out on this mission. He held his home and island without any trouble, he had proven his worth and he would fight if he had to, but no one had challenged him. The peace that they had obtained had been won with blood, there were still those that growled and rumbled, discontent could still be found, but the majority found that together they were able to keep their home free. They had been shown without a shadow of a doubt that they could be brought to heel with magic if it came to that, the elves were still warring, they were still seeking a place to warp and destroy in their wars. They had to remain free, they had to remain alert, and that meant seeking allies as well as bringing the dragons back to their rightful homeland.

Alaine felt a nervous roil in his stomach as he began to take the path away from the city. He had not met a dragon that was a true dragon in the sense of being raised as one. The closest thing he had ever come to had been Thronnos.. The thought made his stomach churn and bile rise up towards the base of his throat. There was no pleasure or triumph to what had happened, it had been bitter, the betrayal and battle had never left him feeling anything but shame. Shame for the dragon who he had defeated, shame for his people, shame that the world had destroyed and twisted what should have been a great leader among his kind. If the rumors were true, the dragons that had left with the elves were failing and fading, his spies had said as much, that they were acting more like beasts than true dragons. He hadn't wanted to hear more than that, they had chosen their fates.

Would have you have abandoned Oake? _ A nagging thought touched him before he snorted it away. _No, would not have abandoned him, but no war is great enough that you would forsake your species in favor of him.

"Rrrr... I do not think it will come to that." Alaine dismissed and took a sharp turn that led him down near the small valley that was just south of the main city. "After all, we fought for that land, it is as much ours as it is theirs and they should learn how to settle with us peacefully."

"H'And h'if they don't?" Oake persisted, his small hands tightening enough that Alaine could feel it under his scales. "Will we let them?"

"Do not worry about might becomes, little buck, it is hardly worth the words it takes to question them." He crooned softly, soothingly, before he dropped down into the mud of the valley and set his eyes on the distant encampment that he had heard held most of the fully flying drakes. That was his next hope, that one of them would speak to him.

He was padding along, bouncing Oake just enough to make the satyr cling and struggle to hold his seat, when the mud in front of him moved and shifted beneath the great evergreens, the shadows fluttering along a dappled back. The moment it moved he snarled, his wings trying to flare open as he spread his hind legs and jerked his head up to block Oake as something padded out from where it had been coiled around the tree base and leapt down only a dozen feet in front of him. A set of deep brown eyes regarded him as the form gave a shake and he hardly dared breathe as he watched a set of wings flick out a splatter of mud to reveal a sleek mossy green body beneath the muck, the dappling of it peeping through the darker pattern of the mud the dragon had been rolling through to affect the camouflaged pattern that ran over her entire body.

"Allia ch'ea!" She trilled out, the words almost sung from her throat as she advanced with a confident stride, leaving Alaine gaping at her, frozen in place.

She had been over a dozen feet away from him, he had no idea how long, and he hadn't sensed her in the least bit. He hadn't picked up her scent, he still couldn't pick up her scent as she strode out with a swing of her long lean tail. She had blended perfectly into the shadows the muddy patches caused by the melting snow, even the trunk had helped hide her. Her features were triangular with large eyes and short curving horns right along the top of her head, narrowed off and polished looking as she gave a draconic smile and repeated the words once more, stepping forward without a hint of shyness about her. He didn't know what to do, he felt as if he had been hammered with a rock, struggling to think under the weight of it while she smiled wider and took another cheerful step forward.

"I..." Alaine opened his muzzle to speak, but his tongue felt thick as Oake shifted on his back, straining to look around. "Pardon me?"

"H'A Dragon!" The little buck bleated and stood up along the curve of his shoulders. "Hello!"

"Terick! Ratel yt natua!" The female called out brightly and dropped onto her haunches, staring over his shoulder at Oake. "You speak Trade?"

"Y-yes, I speak trade." Alaine stammered and took a careful step backwards, the absolutely relaxed manner in which she greeted him took him off guard.

_Why were they hiding if they don't seem to care I've found one?! _He thought to himself, feeling Oake trying to slide down his shoulder. With a low rumble he used a paw to shove the buck back into position on his shoulders.

"That isn't an elf, why don't you have an elf with you?" The stranger asked her voice accented in a strange way, familiar, but strange all at once. Close by a massive log moved and shifted to the left of him. "Are there more elves? Are they coming here?"

"No, he's a satyr and I don't have an elf, thank you very much!" He responded and turned his head to see the 'log' push legs out from under it and stand up. "And I doubt elves will come here, just my own people are here on a delegation. I beg pardon, who are you?!"

_This isn't how it's supposed to happen! _He turned his head to give a hiss towards Oake when the fawn tried to speak, watching a slightly hurt expression flicker over the satyr's face.

The 'log' was another dragon, this one larger and heavier than the female standing in front of him. He was heavily scaled, but the scaling was marred and darkened in patches along his side and over one part of his head. Two of his horns were broken and cracked looking as he swung his head towards them with yellowed teeth bared suspiciously as he turned towards them. He had legs thicker around than Alaine's neck, his chest held low to the ground as he partially crouched with his wings spreading in preparation to leaping into the air. He was green-gold, at least he seemed to be from the parts that weren't covered in thick bark, the color much more vibrant and bolder than the mossy green on the females soft smooth skinned body.

"I am Alosha, that is Ketterick, why are you here without elves? Are you a slave? Is that why you carry that thing on your back? Is that why you are bound up?" Alosha moved around him, her eyes fixating on his wings so that he wanted to try and hide them. It was more important to keep Oake in place on his neck as he turned around. "Why did they break your wings?"

"Do you h'always h'ask such rude questions?" Oake snapped out and the young buck's ears flattened to his head while Alaine was still trying to find his ground. "He has h'always been like this, not his fault and he's not h'a slave! He's my friend."

"I am Alaine, my companion's name is Oake. I am from the Honshan Archipelago and represent the gathered peoples there." He spoke slowly, lifting his head up while keeping a wary eye on the drake. Dragons, his people, these were true dragons. "I have come in search of you, hoping that there were survivors here."

~ ~ * ~ ~

Alosha had never felt such energy before as she did the moment she had come out of hiding to stand face to face with the young drake. She had been elated at the chance to speak with him, though Terick had been outraged she would even consider speaking to him. The drake had wanted to snatch down and take the red like some sort of prey animal, but she had quickly convinced him otherwise. She was sure the large drake could do just that, but she wanted to speak with him first. Despite her callous dismissal that Xaal would put a spy out of his misery, it seemed a pity to capture him just to have put to death the moment they landed in their valley. No, she wanted to know more about him, and the moment she'd seen the strange little goat thing clamber onto his back she had wanted to ask him what it was and why he was here.

Up close he was much more interesting than he had been at a distance. He was scarred, to be sure, but the markings were strangely regular along his muzzle and sides. There was evidence that he had claws marks on him as well, bold lines along the line of his ribs and trailing down towards his stomach. He was handsome in his own way, though she had to look hard to actually see past the scars, his head was well formed with large intelligent eyes and his horns were thick and polished. He showed every evidence of having a good diet, his scales were thick and polished where they weren't growing strangely from his scarring, he was tall and even well proportioned. He didn't look like a slave, he looked more like a creature that had come through a hard life, one that left its mark on every inch of his body.

_He looks like every drake that fought for our home. _ She thought as she moved to glance along his legs, seeing how oddly muscled they were compared to her own.

"Oh, well, we saw you land, but figured you for a spy. But you seem a very poor sort of spy." She answered airily and sniffed closer to his shoulder only to watch him bristle and let out a very soft growl, one of his wings trying to shift up to block her from the biped. "They are not rude, they are questions that I wish answers too."

"Oake is my friend, I have known him since he was young and I would thank you not to sniff at him like that." Alaine shifted away and then dropped his haunches to sit down, he was shaking slightly, but then.. so was she. "I have come a very long way to see other dragons, you are well hidden if that was your intention, Alosha. I come bearing an invitation for those who wish to return home."

"A trap." Terick growled in draconic tongue, his eyes narrowing while the strange drake jerked his head to look at the elder. "An invitation to have our wings ripped off and haul them off to war like pretty horses."

"Our home? Our home was overrun and taken, it is riddled with holes and caverns that ripe to the heart of it, there is nothing left except for a shell." She murmured softly, ignoring the barbed comment from her grandsire. "Why do you really come here?"

"For you, for all of you. Our home is scarred, yes, but no more than myself or your guardian there." He gestured with a paw. "It is still whole and healing. I have lived there for several years now, I have raised hatchlings there to fledging, many others have settled. The elves and their war are gone, all that remain are those who have no taste for violence and war."

"H'I grew h'up there. There are lots h'of h'old mines, but they are nothing compared to the beaches h'or the places that h'are growing now. There's h'even a forest." The satyr, Oake, spoke up and she struggled to understand him. He looked quite like a goat with some dwarvish features, certainly not something she expected to see one of her kind carrying around.

Alosha had been told all of her life that her home had been destroyed, her earliest memories were those of the evacuation when the elves had turned on them. There had been fire and explosions, nets and screams, great shadow creatures that flew and took down those that had fled. She had been lucky that Terick had been able to take her and her sibling, the drake had suffered for slowing down, but he had managed to be one of the ones to escape. Later on her brother had passed away, he had been injured too grievously to survive, but she had flourished and she had been told what had happened. The elves wanted the jewels that rested beneath the island, they had been willing to kill and destroy to get them. No, they hadn't been willing to kill and destroy, they hadn't even thought about it. The dragons had been nothing more to them than animals standing in their way.

"That seems... unlikely." She stopped her movements and stepped back., watching the red drake narrow his eyes. She altered her expression, did he really believe what he was saying? That their home was free? "I do not doubt that you believe it, but all know that the elves will not give up so easily. They are hungry, they devour like a snake devouring his own tail, they will not cease until they have destroyed all they have set out to destroy. Mindless and all consuming, perhaps they let you live there now, but I have seen an elf among you, how many more live there? They wait until it is time to begin again and the fires will roar up and swallow us down again."

"Mindless wretches, do you see? He does not believe the truth." Terick interjected causing the dragon to look over, his muscles going tense as if he were bracing himself for something.

~ ~ * ~ ~

"They are not mindless, they do not devour just to devour." Alaine answered, spitting the words out so they did not remain in his mouth. It felt foul to defend the elves, and he felt Oake moving against his back, the legs tightening. "They came to our lands to war, that is all. They know the damage their battles lend to their own lands, so they chose ours in which to fight so that they would not pollute their own."

"And that sounds sane?" Alosha gave her head a sharp shake back and forth. The drake that watched her was coming closer, it made him uneasy and nervous. "You do not prove that you speak the truth, only that they are more cunning than you are aware."

What did he look like to them? He had never been around a fully grown drake before. He was an adult, but he was a young one, the green-gold male had obviously seen more years than he could imagine. He towered over both of them by a good seven feet at the shoulder, his body large enough that he was able to stand securely on the ground as his paws sank through the mud and grasses to solidly frozen earth. He was self-conscious on a level that he couldn't shake. The other dragons looked at him in much the same way they looked at Thronnos, as if he were wiser and more worldly than they were. They accepted him as one of their own and even as their leader, here he felt every year of his young age and then some.

"Sane for the elves is not the sanity of other living creatures." Alaine answered and gave his head a bit of a rough shake. "They used our kind for mounts, war mounts, they warped minds so that many drakes carried them to war willingly, many of those that remain behind are those that once warred, but have tired of it. We removed their aerial army, we were able to rally together many species' and people to take back our homes. Not just our land, but other islands, all of them. We drove them out."

"And they still live among you?" Terick's voice was a rasping snarl as he spat the words out in trade tongue, moving close enough that Alaine could scent the reek of male dragon. "You did not kill them all? Yet you believe you won."

"They stay because they have no taste for war, the dragons they rode wished to stay and they remained behind with them." Alaine stammered and backed up, he felt Oake moving between his wings, he lifted his head to hide the satyr. "They have no wish to continue, they have proven themselves peaceful, as have the otter-kin, the satyrs and dryads, the humans, they have all come together to return our lands to where they should be."

"They want peace, they're tired h'of useless wars h'as well!" Oake piped up, his voice higher pitched when compared to the rumble of dragons. Alaine silently wished he would be silent, the buck was so small compared to the drake that snarled down at him, or even the female who shook her head back and forth pityingly.

"They want to slit your throats as you sleep, fool." Terick turned his head towards Alosha and said something in draconic tongue, something Alaine didn't understand save it had to do with him.

"You don't have to be afraid anymore, not of pain or the fact that you cannot fly to escape them." The young female crooned softly and gave her head a little bob. "We're going to take you home, you'll be with your own kind. Perhaps you think they want peace, but we know the truth, Terick was there when the elves wished peace the first time. You were too young, so was I, but he remembers."

"It's nothing like that!" Alaine snapped out and lashed his tail, his lips curling backwards in a snarl. "The world is changing, we are changing it. We only wish that to return dragons to their homes if they wish it, nothing more. If you do not believe me than you may stay here."

"Nothing like that?! " Terick reared up and his great wings unfurled, beating a few cold airs against him. "Unnatural drake, you stand there with a biped on your back and think the world has changed? The world only marches in a circle, history repeating, whatever the reason they had in bringing you they will not use you to slit our throats."

"We do not want your throats!" Alaine bugled out and scrabbled away as the large male suddenly leapt up into the air, he was large, so large that the pines were bowing and dipping downwards under the hammering of the winds.

"Don't worry, we aren't going to hurt you." Alosha sang out as the lighter dragoness leapt up into the sky, leaving Alaine turning tail and starting to run. "You'll see, when you're back with your rightful people you'll be well in no time."

Alaine didn't waste his breath in speaking, he lunged away in a rush, lowering his head as Oake cried out and clung to the line of his neck. He didn't have a hope of escaping, not when twin wings were slamming down towards him and great paws extended out towards his back. No matter how often he swam and walked, he would never be as swift as a dragon on the wing. He ducked his head, hating himself as he did so, he threw his head down and bucked his shoulders forward as he felt claws scraping against his haunches. Oake bleated out loudly, the sound carrying as the little buck was thrown into the mud from his back and suddenly claws clamped down around his shoulder and haunches, another set swept under his stomach as Terick hit him hard enough to drive him into the muck and mire.

He was nothing more than an awkward sort of deer as the beast began to lunge up into the air, and for the first time in his life, Alaine was lifted away from the ground as talons gripped him. He felt the wings and wind hammering around, watching as Oake scrabbled up and screamed his name in a wild shriek as the little form grew smaller by the moment. The drake was bellowing heavy breaths as the satyr became smaller and smaller, the trees swept away to either side and Alaine could only tuck himself down into a ball as he viewed the world from the sweep of the sky and winds, the lands below becoming little more than a pattern of snow and mud, green grass and blue ocean. He looked out on the lands as a dragon should, high in the air and spiraling the currents as Terick caught an unseen thermal and began to carry him from his ship, his friends, his people... his Oake. All he could feel was terrified elation as he watched the world sweep beneath him, he was flying.. he was aloft... almost.