99Chapter Six
The next morning, Dyner agreed to help lead a small scout party to the mountains, to see if they could find a suitable place for fifty-odd Night Furies to settle down and start a new life. Lenny definitely wanted to see the place with his own eyes, First Guard Salkonyr insisted that he must accompany his young leader, and Dyner suggested that the fewer Night Furies go, the better their chances to stay undetected. They agreed that the three of them will go first, and should they find a suitable spot, the whole clan will slowly migrate there.
Lenny suspected that there might be another reason for Salkonyr's eagerness to quickly find a place to live. Faelynn, his mate, was only a couple days away from laying her egg, and carrying a fragile and precious burden from one place to the next was undesirable for the young life contained within.
More than understanding towards their situation, Lenny woke Dyner up early that morning and, as soon as the first beams light began to appear behind them, the trio was in the air, heading towards the towering heights ahead. He felt bad for leaving his mother behind again, she had been awfully protective and constantly concerned about him ever since Lohengrin departed to find Laranys. But there were things he couldn't trust anyone else with, and she understood that she couldn't protect him forever.
They climbed higher and higher, almost fading into the thick layer of clouds above the peaks, but they constantly kept a watchful eye on the landscape below. They flew silently for a long while, up until Lenny began to see something strangely vast and blue behind the mountains.
Realization made Lenny's jaw drop. He thought the sea he'd seen previously was huge. Now, before him stretched a blue expanse that seemed unimaginably huge, he couldn't see any land bordering it in any direction…
"Salko…" Lenny muttered.
"Yeah, I see it too…" He replied in a similar manner "I guess this is the 'ocean' Elder Ragnar mentioned."
"Incredible." Lenny mumbled. Apparently Dyner caught that, as he turned his head to grin at the two Furies behind him. He was probably used to the view of the ocean already, and he couldn't miss the opportunity to enjoy the dumbstruck expressions of his companions.
"We're getting near, guys!" He announced and with an obviously show-off, upside-down turn, he went into a steep dive.
As Lenny struggled to keep up with the older dragon's manoeuvres, he concluded that Dyner was as skilled and agile in the air, as he was ungraceful and clumsy on the ground. Using the momentum they've gained in the dive, the three dragons levelled out, then overtook the peaks with a gentle and effortless climb and entered into a crescent-shaped valley.
The valley was bordered by the ocean from the west, and was encircled by mountains of varying height from every other direction. The middle of it was a fairly large stretch of mostly flat land, dotted by patches of pinewood and currently frozen ponds. Then the land got gradually steeper, turning into rocky mountainsides with patches of bushes, mossy stone plateaus, and tiny brooks that fed a somewhat larger creek, which rolled down the mountainside towards the sea. Lenny could also spot the mouths of several caverns in the mountainside, indicating that there might be a whole network of caves around there. The three dragons began a gradual downwards spiral, until they gently touched down in the knee-high snow near the pine forest.
"So, what do you think?" Dyner asked them.
Lenny took another good look around, before slowly answering:
"It's… perfect. The sea's full of fish, there's plenty of shelter, and the creek up there looks drinkable, so we'd have pretty much anything we need… Salko?"
"I agree." the older dragon nodded "The mountains also offer great cover against anything coming from the mainland, and the peaks offer good lookout posts so nothing could surprise us again."
"True." Lenny agreed "I say we go and check out the mountainside, take a look at the caves before going back to the others, but so far…" – suddenly a disturbed expression appeared on Salkonyr's face, so Lenny stopped immediately. The Guard was eyeing the forest and the undergrowth a few steps away from them.
"What's wrong?" Dyner asked.
Salkonyr's eyes narrowed and head tilted to side a bit as he continued to examine the forest.
"I think I've seen-"
In that moment, the quiet peace of the snow-covered forest shattered into pieces, as a well-aimed fireball struck the ground between the three of them, its shockwave knocking everyone off balance. Lenny rolled in the snow to stand up again, but in a moment's notice, there was someone right in front of him. He dodged the first swipe of a paw, but he didn't see the powerful kick coming upwards.
He took a big hit on the chin and saw stars for a moment as his head snapped upwards. The power of the strike sent him tumbling backwards, and he fell on his back with wings sprawled uselessly in the snow. Struggling to see through the fiery pain and world-spinning dizziness, he at least managed to identify his attacker.
It was a female Night Fury.
She stepped forward and placed a forepaw on his chest.
"I would stay down if I were you." she snarled, applying some more pressure on him with her paw.
Lenny swallowed, and peeked to the side, trying to figure out what's going on with his companions. Dyner was in a very similar position, but he was crushed into the snow by a dragon twice as big as he was. Salkonyr roared as he threw one of his opponents back into the forest, but there were two other Night Furies clinging on to him, all roaring and clawing him viciously.
"Tell him to quit resisting or he'll get seriously hurt." The dragoness ordered, addressing Lenny. Lenny swallowed tensely again, and decided to comply.
"Salko, STAND DOWN!" he roared.
Salkonyr took a surprised look at him, and the moment of pause was just enough for three attacking Night Furies to jump him, squashing him into the snow as well.
Now that all three of them were subdued, Lenny's mind filled with panicky thoughts and rushed ideas about how to get out of this mess.
"The little bastard set us up!" Salkonyr groaned under the weight of three Night Furies.
"NO!" Dyner roared desperately "I have no idea who they-"
"All of you, shut up!" the dragoness yelled. "You are trespassers of the territory of Clan Maedros. The three of you will now be taken to our Leader for questioning. Until that happens, I don't want to hear a single whiff from any of you!"
"Wait! We-" Lenny abruptly stopped as he felt a claw pressing against his throat.
"I'll say this only once." the dragoness leaned very close to him, until Lenny could only see her threatening eyes "Do not test my patience."
Lenny took a sharp breath, but stayed completely quiet. The dragoness seemed to be content with this answer, and she backed away a bit, allowing him to stand up.
"Follow me and no more violence will be necessary." she stated "If you try to make a run for it, we'll hunt you down and take you to our Leader by force."
Lenny just nodded, signalling his understanding. As he took a look at his two companions, and saw that they were mostly unharmed, the tight feeling in his chest loosened a bit. But only a tiny bit, because he knew if the Leader of this Clan Maedros didn't show any understanding towards their situation, they were in mortal danger.
The group of Night Furies flew northwards in an uneasy silence. The bossy female led the way, Lenhardt followed second. Behind them were Salkonyr and Dyner, closely escorted by four other Night Furies, who looked eager to discipline any deviation from their flying course. Lenny grit his teeth as he hastily tried to put together a speech in his head, in order to try convincing the local clan leader of their harmless intentions. Night Fury clans lived quite a distance from each other, partially because there were so few of them, and to minimize the chances of conflict over territory and food.
As his sudden panic quieted down and had a chance to think things over, Lenny realized that there's probably a good chance that this clan won't harm his. But they have every right to deny them access to their territory, and that would possibly be even worse. If Clan Toemnir can't find refuge in these mountains, they have really nowhere else to go. They might have to face starvation and persecution. He cannot allow that to happen.
Everyone in his clan trusted him to lead them to safety. He will not betray that trust.
He took a sharp breath in his anxiousness, as they began to descend. The mountain range below them was immensely huge, stretching out from south to north for as far the eye can see. Now they were entering a wide canyon, bordered by tall and very steep rock walls. Lenny saw beautiful waterfalls going down into the canyon, carrying the water of quick mountain brooks flowing from hot springs. As they flew even lower, he noticed crevices in the rock, where he suspected the dragons were living. After a few minutes, they arrived at a particularly wide cave mouth, and landed on the flat, nature-formed rocky terrace in front of it.
The female quickly turned towards Salkonyr.
"You head inside, and wait for our Leader to arrive. Your companions can wait here."
The dragoness made the completely logical assumption that because Salkonyr was by far the biggest and oldest of the three trespassers, he might be the leader among the three. Salko looked defiantly in her eyes, and stated:
"I'm not the one to talk on behalf of all of us."
He took a meaningful look at Lenny beside him, who stepped forward. The dragoness also looked at Lenny, then back to Salkonyr with an outraged look on her face.
"I do NOT appreciate your humour!"
Lenhardt decided he'd had enough of this. He opened his wings slightly and straightened up, trying to appear as imperious as possible before he loudly announced:
"I am Lenhardt, son of Lohengrin, acting leader of Clan Toemnir! I led my clan through fear and desperation to find a safe place. You will stop treating us like filth between your claws, and show me the way to your leader, now!"
The enormous Night Fury who subdued Dyner roared out:
"You will not talk to her like that, you son of a-"
In a fraction of a second, Salkonyr appeared in front of him, pressing claws against his throat.
"You do NOT want to finish that sentence." whispered quietly, staring into his eyes menacingly.
"I don't like where this is going..." Dyner murmured with ears flattening against his head, he tried to make himself as small as possible. Lenny was sure a fight is going to break out in seconds, when…
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone winced and turned towards where the booming roar came from. They saw a huge and very strict-looking Night Fury staring down at them from a rocky path. He jumped off and landed elegantly with two huge beats of his enormous wings. It was enough to take one look at him, and Lenny instantly knew who made the calls here.
"My Leader, we've caught these trespassers in Faelhold Vale." one of the Night Furies said.
"We are not-" Lenny tried to speak, but the Leader interrupted him immediately.
"Silence. I will hear you out when it's due." he looked back to the dragon who spoke before, and he continued his report.
"They made little resistance…"
Salkonyr growled, but refrained from saying anything.
"… And obediently followed us here. This one…" he pointed at Lenny with his nose "…claims to be the advocate of their group."
The leader looked into Lenny's eyes, who resisted the urge to shudder under the weight of his glare. The face the leader made reminded Lenny of his father's, when he was about to unveil one of Lenny's goofy lies he made up to cover the mischief he did the other day. When he was younger, he'd seen that stare many times.
But this time he had nothing to hide, so he withstood the Leader's look. After a few moments, his strict expression loosened somewhat, and he spoke up in a slightly apologetic manner.
"Please excuse us for being overly suspicious, but with all the worrisome things that havehappened around our borders for almost a year, we cannot be cautious enough."
"We don't mind." Lenny replied. Dyner coughed a bit, earning a smack to the back from Salko immediately. "I would like to assure you that we mean no harm to you or your clan. I am Lenhardt, son of Lohengrin. My companions are Salkonyr, son of Varanyr, and Dyner, son of Teague. We are from Clan Toemnir."
"I am Aegnor, son of Aegras, Leader and sworn protector of Clan Maedros." the Leader introduced himself "And as long as you keep your honest intentions, you three are welcome to stay for a while." He looked at the young dragoness before continuing: "Please take our guests to a place when they can rest, and arrange something to eat for them while I talk with Lenhardt. Also, send for my Third Guard, I'm going to need him."
"Yes, Father." she nodded, and signalled Dyner and Salko to follow her. Lenny also gave her a surprised look. If she's the Leader's daughter, then her bossy behaviour is somewhat explained. However, she refused to return Lenny's glare as she walked away.
Aegnor sat down in front of Lenny, curling his tail around his legs, and Lenny did the same before looking up at him.
"I didn't expect to find anyone in these mountains" Lenny began "but now that we've met, I would like to ask for your help. My whole clan is in great need because our home has been destroyed, and we've been trying to find a place to live for months."
"I believe there is quite a story behind a whole clan's migration. I would like to hear it if you don't mind."
So Lenny began to explain what happened to Clan Toemnir during the last few weeks in detail. He told about how the unknown humans attacked them without warning or any specific reason, how they fled from their home valley, how his father decided to take the clan to the west. He talked about the journey they've had, explained why his father left the clan, leaving the leadership to him, and he also told Aegnor about the humans he saw, friendly and unfriendly alike.
The older dragon listened to his story with intense attention, but never interrupted Lenny. By the time the young dragon had finished the tale, he felt his mouth running dry. Aegnor broke eye contact with him, and stared forward, seemingly deep inside his own thoughts.
"Now this is a great deal of dire news." he finally began "Ancient laws and common courtesy both demands me to render whatever assistance I can, and I truly feel sorry for what happened to you. But you must understand that I cannot risk my own clan's safety, not even for yours. If I decide to split my territory with you by the ratio of the population of our clans, that will inevitably lead to backlashes, jealousy, and even fights. Night Fury clans are not meant to live right next to each other."
Lenny listened to this with icy dread rising in his stomach.
"However." Aegnor continued, "As I've said, I would like to help you. My proposition is this: we offer temporary shelter to those in your clan who are not fit for prolonged flights: Elders, younglings, egg-expecting mothers, injured, sick. So you, with the majority of your Guards and Hunters, can locate a new home for your clan without so much to worry about."
"But where else could we possibly find a home?" Lenny asked quietly.
Aegnor swallowed in uneasiness before answering:
"Further down south, over the narrow sea, there's a huge stretch of land. I would suggest start searching there."
Lenny stared down at his forepaws. While this offer was generous, his father and he had promised a safe haven in these mountains. How could he go back to the clan and tell them that there are more weeks of flying and searching ahead of them, possibly even months? How could he ask families to split up to continue the endless flying? His thoughts wandered upon Salko and Faelynn, who were expecting the arrival of their first egg in just a couple of days… He didn't want to see Salkonyr's face when he told him he has to miss the hatching of his first son or daughter… No. He cannot accept this.
However…
"Leader Aegnor, may I ask how big your territory is?"
"The borders are roughly two days of flight south and north from here, the eastern border is half a day away." He answered slowly.
"I see. I noticed that your clan is not particularly numerous, am I right?"
Now this was just a guess based on suspicion. Lenny honestly believed in Dyner's words when he said he didn't know this area was occupied. Which means the last time he was on this clan's territory, the border patrols missed him entirely. That could happen because they have too much ground to cover with too few dragons.
"There are thirty-four of us." Aegnor said with a darkening tone "But if you're thinking about-"
"I'm thinking about merging our clans together." Lenny said quickly.
That sentence sounded so absurd for his ears, Aegnor couldn't do anything other than blink for a few seconds.
"Wh… what?" he blurted when he managed to find his voice again.
"You yourself said that two clans aren't meant to live right next to each other." Lenny pressed, determined to make his sudden idea likable "Clan Toemnir has fifty-one dragons at the moment. You lack the numbers to fill your territory, while we lack territory at all. I don't see why we couldn't live together, from a certain point of view, my clan is just a group of Striders."
"Striders do not come in groups." Aegnor countered "And how do you imagine this union of clans? I have never heard of something like this before in my life."
"The dragons of Clan Toemnir all follow my lead…" Lenny said slowly "and I am willing to follow yours. But I think we will have a lot of time to figure out an exact chain of hierarchy and succession line… or whatever else you might be worried about. I'm just a temporary replacement of my father, but I am sure he would approve my decision. And when he comes back, he will keep himself to the deal we have, or make a new one with you. In the worst case scenario, we leave."
"Hmm. This is an interesting offer you have come up with… and you're making me face a huge dilemma." Aegnor sighed "I know my clan. They would welcome your kin if I asked them… Upon hearing your story, they would feel the need to help anywhere they could. But most of us just look at the present, instead of taking possible future difficulties into account…" Aegnor stopped again to think for a few moments "However… I see how much all of us can gain out of this… I view it as mutually beneficial." Aegnor began to smile and the respect in his tone seemed a bit less obligatory more genuine from now on. "Alright then. If you go back to your clan, tell them this idea and they're willing to join us here, I will have no reservations."
Lenhardt suddenly felt a ton of weight rolling off his shoulders, and he couldn't help but smile back.
"I don't have the words to say how grateful I am, and how grateful all of us will be."
Moments later, a rather broad and strong-looking Night Fury appeared on the rocky path as he approached them.
"Have you summoned me, my Leader?" he asked politely, taking a curious look at Lenny.
"Yes." Aegnor nodded "I would like you to escort our guest back to his own when he's ready to leave. Third Guard Altarem, this is Lenhardt, son of Lohengrin of Clan Toemnir."
The dragon froze mid-step, his eyes went wide and jaw dropped.
"Is your father Lohengrin, son of Siegfried?" he asked Lenny.
"Yes…" he said in complete surprise "You know him?"
"We grew up together. I was born in Toemnir valley as well, but decided to be a Strider when I reached adulthood… But… by Wotahn's fiery breath, what are you doing here?"
The flight back home was probably the most uncomfortable couple of hours Lenny has ever spent in the air. Altarem was eager for news, but when Lenny told the story of their exile for the second time this day, he went awfully silent. So the four dragons flew wordlessly towards the forest Clan Toemnir was hiding, and arrived just before sunset.
As soon as they touched down at the edge of the woods, Lyara and Faelynn both rushed out to meet them. Lenny felt even worse for a moment, when he saw his mother's tearful eyes and heard her shaky tone.
"You're half a day late!" she whispered half-relieved and half-angrily, as she nuzzled Lenny's forehead.
"Sorry, mom." Lenny whispered back, licking his mother's face. "We've met a few... unexpected friends. I have some huge news for everyone."
Lyara looked up to stare at the fourth dragon, who just tilted his head and smiled at the family scene.
"It's good to see you again, Lya." he spoke up, and Lyara's eyes went wide with realization.
"Al... Altarem? Is that really you?"
"In the scales." The huge dragon smiled at her. Upon hearing this, Faelynn unfurled herself from Salkonyr's hug.
"Al? It's so great to see you're doing well!"
"I can't complain, although you're doing even better than I, if my eyes are right."
Faelynn only answered with a blushing smirk, and looked back at her sizable belly.
"Altarem came back with us as a representative of his clan." Lenny explained "Let's gather the others, I have interesting news for all of them."
Lenny, Lyara, Salko, Faelynn, Dyner and Altarem all walked back into the forest, and within a short while, all of Clan Toemnir was sitting in front of Lenhardt. Needless to say, the attention of everyone made him quite uneasy, but nonetheless he managed to tell the clan about the territory they found in the western mountains, and about the clan which lives in it.
Now came the tough part, explaining why they should join with the other clan. Night Fury clans always took pride in their identity, the culture and traditions of their own clan. That's why all accepted adult clan members wore the symbol of their respective clans on their necks. Giving up the identity of their forefathers is definitely not easy, but Lenny was sure everyone will get over it sooner or later. The question of the leadership was even more problematic.
Lohengrin had the complete trust of the whole clan. Lenhardt not as much, but as time went, the dragons were getting accustomed to him, and some of his actions were beginning to earn some respect for him as well. But to put their fate in the paws of someone completely unknown?
This was the point when Lenny silently praised Aegnor for his foresight, sending Altarem with them proved to be an invaluable decision. He called Altarem up next to him, and he spent a good amount of time, telling the others his own experiences with Clan Maedros and its Leader. And because Altarem was born in Toemnir Valley as well, his opinion was not entirely foreign. He tirelessly answered any and all concerns brought up, and not only told them why Leader Aegnor earned his respect, he also told about his experiences with other prominent members of the clan, and about the land they will be calling home.
The discussion went on for well into the night, until they eventually agreed to go, and take their chances with the new clan. As Lenny followed the others to get some sleep before tomorrow's final flight, he couldn't help but notice Altarem getting hugged by two older Night Furies, and all three of them were quietly weeping.
"I guess someone's really happy to see Altarem again." Lenny whispered curiously to his mother. Lyara stopped for a moment to follow his son's glare, then swallowed and went on.
"Those are his parents." She explained quietly, with a hint of sadness in her voice "Altarem's older brother was a Guard as well, he fell during the attack on the valley. After losing both of their sons, I think they're just happy to have one back."
"So many things went wrong during the last couple months…" Lenny mumbled with a clenching throat.
"Indeed." Lyara said "But from now on, many things are going to change for the better, if even half of what Altarem said is true. And in the end, that's what counts. Finally we'll be able to rest, and regenerate."
The next day would find itself to be very significant in the history of both clans, as the Night Furies of Toemnir Valley slowly arrived in the Gorge of Maedros. As Lenny remembered, it felt unbelievably awkward at first; nobody from either side really knew what to say or how to behave... But slowly, very slowly things started to warm up. Members of both clans slowly began to mingle and chat, offering food and showing the newcomers around. Lenny knew that getting comfortable with living together was going to be a long process, but thankfully, there were already promising signs.
The next couple of days flew by quickly for Lenhardt, he and Aegnor had an immense amount of organizing and planning work to do. The two clans used to have completely different ways to hunt and patrol territory, so Lenny and Aegnor first gathered all higher ranking Guards and Hunters from both clans, flew around the vast homeland of Clan Maedros, inspecting hunting grounds, measuring borders to patrol, then settled down to work out a system which works the most efficiently with the number of dragons they have.
During these prolonged organising sessions, Lenny let Aegnor take the lead, as he knew very little about these matters, compared to the older dragon.
As days went by, Lenny became relieved as he noticed that the two clans were getting along rather well, seemingly nobody had problems with anyone. Nobody, except for Aegnor's daughter, Nienor. Her behaviour was something of a mystery for Lenhardt. He had a distinct feeling that she was purposefully avoiding him, and even at those rare occasions when they've met, he never got more than a scornful glare from her, and he had no idea why.
This was her twentieth winter, so she was older than him, although there wasn't much of a difference in size between them. As Lenny tried to observe her from a distance, he was astounded by the amount of work she's doing for both clans. She kept accompanying Guards on patrol duty, she had no problems with hunting together with Toemnir dragons, and Lenny even saw her bringing some extra food to Faelynn. She was polite and decent with everyone, and she was rapidly growing popular among the newcomer dragons – and Lenny now could completely understand why her clan respects her so much. Figuring that being on the bad side of a dragoness like her would be bad, he thought it would be a good idea to approach her and try to clear up any possible misunderstandings that may be there between them. When he asked Dyner and Wyren, both of them said it's a terrible idea, but he decided to give it a try anyway.
"Uhm... hi!"
This was a rare moment; he managed to catch her alone, right after she finished eating from a pile of fish. She looked at him.
"Hi." she greeted back with the sound of absolute disinterest. Lenny swallowed nervously as he felt his stomach tighten.
"Err..."
"What do you want?"
"I... wanted to-...I'd like to ask if you... have a problem with me." Lenny stuttered, tail nervously lashing left and right.
Nienor stepped in front of him, and stared into his eyes. Their noses were like half a step away from each other. Lenny's first thought was how beautiful those dark pine-green eyes are... and his second thought was with that angry glare, he's in for some trouble.
"Now that you ask, I do have a slight problem with you." she began in a mocking tone "you're a spoiled, good-for-nothing brat, who's got elevated to a Leader's position by his father's fame."
Lenny's jaw dropped.
"What?!"
"You heard right. I've been watching your behaviour since you first arrived. You're the most lazy, pathetic, sad excuse for a Leader I've ever seen. So you'd better stop being a liability and start pulling your own weight in the life of our Clan, then I'll consider acknowledging your existence."
She stuck her nose up and walked past Lenny, who was completely speechless. After a few moments, he managed to cry out the only thing he could in his defence:
"But I'm trying my best!"
She looked back at him, but now her look was burning with despise.
"You're more pathetic than I thought."
With that, she opened her wings and leapt into the air, leaving Lenny behind, who felt utterly and completely destroyed inside. He let out a sigh, and sat down, when he heard someone talking to him from behind.
"Well, that didn't work." Dyner said in a chatting tone as he and Wyren appeared behind a hill, and waked up beside Lenny.
"Don't worry, pal, she doesn't really know you, you'll prove her wrong." Wyren added "It's not like her opinion's so special anyway. I mean, okay, she's a great huntress, a great fighter, selfless, gets along with everyone, smokin' hot-"
"Ren, shut up." Lenny sighed tiredly. "She at least has a point. I already felt I'm at a disadvantage compared to even her, let alone Aegnor... But I think I figured out what I'm gonna do."
"You did?" Dyner asked.
"Yep. If things were normal, Dad would teach me anything I need. But he's not around, so I'm gonna find someone else whom I can learn from." Lenny explained. "I'm not exactly the most majestic Leader of all times, I never thought I was. But now I think I should really begin to work towards becoming something more."
"Good idea." Wyren nodded, but began to grin "Too bad you had to get burned to figure it out."
"More like tossed into a raging inferno." Lenny grinned back and shook his head. "But yeah."
From the day of his catastrophic effort to talk to Nienor, Lenny spent every free hour he had with either Salkonyr, who gave him fighting lessons, his mother, who kept polishing his hunting skills, or with Elder Ragnar, who had extensive knowledge about such hardly understandable matters like oratorical skills, multiple-perspective thinking, practice of empathy and other things Lenny didn't even know existed. He spent so much time learning the only thing he used his cave for was sleeping, always returning well after sunset, and heading out just before dawn.
He took the hunting sessions well; the lessons of Elder Ragnar however were mind-blowingly tiresome. The toughest was Salkonyr's combat training, especially because Lenny specifically asked him not to hold himself back. Their sparring matches constantly ended up with him getting mowed into the snow, rocks, mud, or whatever surface was available. But to Salko's credit, he took a great deal of time describing and showing him different stances and manoeuvres, as well as teaching him where, how and with how much force he should hit an opponent.
They were walking together back to their caves in the chilly winter evening, talking about the events of a particularly exhausting afternoon.
"We began just a few days ago, but you're picking things up fast." Salkonyr commented.
"You think so?" Lenny asked tiredly.
"Of course." the older dragon nodded "You're maintaining your balance noticeably better."
"You still knock me down in like five seconds."
"That's because I began this whole thing just a bit before your father hatched." Salkonyr chuckled. With his eighty-two years, he was far from being considered 'old', but he was the most experienced Guard remaining, after their clan left Toemnir valley.
As they arrived at the mouth of Salkonyr's cave, he asked:
"I think your mother's also visiting, why don't you come in?"
"Uhm... yeah, sure why not." Lenny followed Salko inside his rather spacious cave. The Gorge was full of caves like this, and most of them were uninhabited previously. This made the settling in of the Toemnir dragons easier, as everyone could choose a cave of their liking. Just after a few steps inside, Lenny could already feel the comfortable warmth coming from the bonfire in the traditional, hexagonally-carved fireplace. Inside the circle of light created by the fire, Faelynn and Lyara were lying opposite of each other, chatting quietly. Their ears perked up as they heard the two males stepping in, and they both turned to greet them.
After the first greetings and bumping heads with his mother, Lenny noticed that Faelynn was cradling something round and big between her forelegs.
"Is that the...?" he asked, pointing at it with his nose.
"Yes, it's our daughter." Faelynn smiled. "You haven't seen an egg before? Come, take a look."
Lenny stepped closer to take a proper look at the egg. It was granite-grey, about three times longer and twice wider than his paw. A distinctive black pattern spiralled down from the top of it. Its outlook made it appear more like beautiful mineral, than a regular egg, Lenny was quite mesmerized by it.
"May I...?" he asked, raising his forepaw a bit.
"Sure, just be careful."
He very, very carefully placed a paw on the egg, applying zero pressure. The egg felt surprisingly warm under his touch.
"How do you know it's a girl?" Lenny asked.
"See the pattern on the egg?" Lyara pointed it with her nose "When it's spiralling like that, it's going to be a girl. Your egg had horizontal, almost lightning-shaped marks on its shell."
Suddenly, the egg twitched under his paw, and Lenny let out a surprised yelp as he jumped back, almost landing in the fire backside-first. Salko and Faelynn both jumped onto fours, and crouched down at the egg, which began to shake and tremor violently. Lenny wanted to step closer to get a better view, but his mother shook her head.
"This is their moment Lenny, and the hatchling must see her parents first. We watch from a distance."
The egg continued shaking and cracking, and Lenny could hear the faint squeaks of a tiny little voice inside. After a few minutes, the egg suddenly burst into pieces, and a tiny black form rolled of it. She was covered with the gooey remains of the egg's interior, and pieces of eggshell, but Lenny couldn't miss the excitement on the little thing's face, as she looked around and flapped her tiny wings. Finally, the little one's eyes found her mother's, and after a moment of silence, she let out a happy mew.
Tears of joy rolled down on Faelynn's cheeks as she gently curved her forelegs around her hatchling, and began to clear her with long, caring licks. Salkonyr lay down beside them and joined in the bathing, and the little hatchling purred happily in the crossfire of her parents' attention. Then she sneezed with a squeaky "ACHOO!" when her mother licked over her nose.
"How would you like to name her?" Salkonyr asked in a tone so full of emotion Lenny hadn't heard before.
According to the old belief, naming someone before hatching brings bad luck.
"How about... Dallaryn?"
"I love it."
Lyara smiled, and signaled Lenny that it's time for them to leave. As they stepped outside the cave, she spoke up:
"I doubt they would notice us anytime soon, so I figured we'd better leave."
"Were we this small when we hatched?" Lenny asked.
"Of course." Lyara smiled "I'll remember that night forever. Your father was so nervous, he almost had a heart attack."
"Really?" Lenny laughed, trying to imagine someone as calm and collected as his father in a panic "Why?"
"It's very rare to have two eggs. Your father was afraid that one of you might not turn out healthy. But both you and Nyssie hatched normally and right after the other. I don't think I've ever seen your father so relieved and happy before." Lyara told him nostalgically.
"And now..." Lenny began, deep in his thoughts "Dallaryn's the first one of us to hatch outside Toemnir valley."
"Indeed." Lyara agreed "And if her birth is a sign... then I think it's the best sign we could possible get about the future."
A/N: So guys, I hope you liked this latest installment of Lenny's misadventures, because you aren't going to see him for a while. The point of view is switching back to Lohengrin again, YAY! Or not...? Tell me what you think in that magic box below! :)
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