Running is Always Uphill {DragonSong!}

[Celegwen]

@DragonSong


Ash stood in the north watchtower with one of his guards. "Report," he said.

"All clear, Commander," the guard said, putting his right fist against the left side of his chest. It was the respect that Ash required from those who served under him. He didn't need to be bowed to or fussed over, but he required his authority to be recognized.

"As you were." The man climbed onto the ledge, letting out a long whistle. He stood, hands behind his back, looking at the view. If nothing else, the scenery was stunning. Glistening due on the vibrant green grass; skies bluer than the seas; dragons and wyverns watching their riders train together on the fields, while others soared overhead.

Ash heard a heavy beating sound, then stepped off of the edge. The air was crisp, expected from an early spring. His feet landed in the stirrups, then his right hand grabbed onto the crossbar of the saddle and his left grabbed onto the reigns. Galidor flipped and reassumed his rapid flight, making the landing smoother.

These flights were important to Ash: they helped to show the others that he was one of them. He received a few salutes from the Blue Battalion fliers in their royal blue tunics. Galidor let out a stream of fire, and Ash huffed. "Damn reptile," he mumbled. "We're flying that way!"

"Damn human," Galidor replied. "I'm flying that way! You're riding."

[DragonSong]

"Se'zeh!"

"I see them!"

The young dragoness dove as both mount and rider caught sight of soaring shapes up ahead- flying in much too orderly a fashion to be wild dragons, which was all they'd expected to find this close to the Thunderblacks.

Kyoko pressed herself low to her bond-mate's neck as Se'zeh banked into a steep curve, attempting to weave her way through the canopy of the hardy trees that crept up the mountainsides. Please please please don't let them have seen us, she prayed silently.

Suddenly, Se'zeh gave a sharp cry of pain. She'd attempted a tight maneuver and clipped her wing against a massive pine tree. Hard. Kyoko nearly echoed her cry as she felt the pain vibrate through the bond between their minds. The dragoness's wing folded to her side automatically and they careened sideways.

Desperately, Kyoko threw herself forward at the same time Se'zeh twisted and curled herself in around her rider, protecting her as they hit the earth and skidded to a stop, digging a furrow into the ground behind them.

"Se'zeh? Se'zeh!" Coughing dust, Kyoko struggled free of the protective cocoon the dragon had made around her and clambered to her head. Se'zeh was breath a little raggedly, eyes tight shut and jaws parted as she panted, wing held painfully to her side. She wasn't responding. "Se'zeh!"

[Celegwen]

Hearing a sudden cry, Ash and Galidor both looked in that direction. "Len!" He called over his shoulder. A woman in a white tunic on a green dragon sped forward, following the Lead Commander's direction.

Both teams bee-lined towards the place where they had heard the scream. "Commander..." Len said cautiously, hovering above the treeline and seeing the deep furrow in the ground. They flew forward, seeing a deep blue dragon lying on the ground.

"Shit," Ash said. He snapped his fingers, and both drakes landed a safe distance from the girl and the dragon. "We won't hurt you," the man said, swinging off of Galidor's saddle. "My name is Ash, this is Len." Ellen slid off of her dragon, approaching girl and the injured dragon. The woman's pink hair made her Serenian heritage pretty apparent, as she drew closer to the duo. "She can help, but you have to step away."

He extended his hand to the girl with a single nod, seemingly as a silent request for her trust.

[DragonSong]

Dragonriders.

Fucking dragonriders.

Kyoko hissed at them- actually hissed, like a wildcat- and threw herself protectively over Se'zeh's neck. "Back off!" she snarled, eyes wide and panicked. Her hair was a tangled mess around her face, some falling in her eyes, a patchwork of cuts and bruises decorating every inch of exposed skin, teeth bared. She looked like some sort of wild animal.

She felt like a wild animal. Hunted, desperate, hurting. "You just stay away from us!" Her chest was heaving with pants now as she desperately searched for something, anything that could help her and Se.

"Koko..."

"Se'zeh!" The whisper in the back of her mind sent a jolt down her back and she scrambled to cradle the dragon's head on her lap, still hunched over her protectively as she stared the strangers down. "Shh, shh, it's okay," she whispered, voice shaking. How do we run, how do we get out, we have to run- "It's gonna be okay..."

To her eternal frustration tears stung in her eyes as she glared at Ash and Len, the drakes behind them. "You can't take her away," she barked, throat tight. "You can't, you can't!"

[Celegwen]

Ash put his hand back at his side. "Len," he snapped, seeing the woman hadn't backed off.

Len looked at the man with wide eyes. Why would she stop? The dragon was injured, and her job was healing injuries!

"We don't want to take Se'zeh away," Ash said calmly. His voice was surprisingly calm. "Come on. You have my word that you'll both be safe, but you have to let Len do her job."

The woman took a step forward, drawing closer to the girl and the dragon. "Please," she said. Her voice was enchantingly soothing, necessary for a healer specializing in dragons. "She'll be okay, but I have to do it quickly."

"What can you do for her?" Ash asked. He could see that the girl was clearly in distress, but he couldn't spend time convincing her of their intentions. "Len can make sure she's well again. If you don't step away, Se'zeh will never fly for the rest of her life." Once again, he stretched out his hand. "Please, just stand near me. I won't touch you, if you don't want. Just come over here and tell me your name."

[DragonSong]

A choked wail caught in Kyoko's throat as she looked down at her bond-mate, vision fuzzy with tears. Another muffled sound of distress and she leaned down to press a kiss to Se'zeh's brow, then pulled away.

She loved her too much to risk her losing her wings, even if it meant trusting these people. Well, not trusting. Accepting help.

Pressing one hand to her mouth, she backed away from the downed dragon, giving the healer room. Se'zeh keened softly, still straddling the line between consciousness and sleep, and tried desperately to curve toward her rider. A pained screech was her reward as she twisted her wing and Kyoko echoed the sound, lurching toward her unconsciously.

"You have to stay still, mi'aha," she called, wishing she could stay by her side. "It'll be okay, I promise. I won't let anything happen to you, I won't..."

Angry tears racing down her cheeks, she whirled on Ash. "You better help her," she growled through the tears. "If you don't I'll...I'll..." Rage and panic stole her voice and she clenched her eyes shut, pressing both hands to her mouth to muffle a sob clawing its way up her throat.

[Celegwen]

A helpless feeling surged in Ash's heart. He knew what his bond with his wyverns felt like and couldn't imagine what this girl was going through.

Len hurried over to the blue dragon, crouching next to her. The woman placed her hand on the side of the dragon's face and on her spine. Injured dragons had a tendency to lash out due to pain, instinct, fear, or some combination, and the healers couldn't expect them to listen to reason like a human would. So, the first thing Len did was temporarily sedate Se'zeh. Then, she kept one hand on the dragon's head and put the other on her injured wing. She closed her eyes and rocked, whispering, "irisv jacioniv," over and over again.

"She'll be fine," Ash said. "You have my word." He didn't move to hug her, as he normally would've. She was in pain and terrified, so he thought it best to give her some space. Instead, he clicked his tongue twice, and Len's green dragon approached. She was a slender drake, but was much longer than Se'zeh.

The dragoness purred softly, lying down near Ash and the girl. While Len healed drakes, her dragon, Iwola, offered comfort the riders.

"What's your name?" Ash asked the girl, sitting near Iwola. At that point, Galidor walked over, sitting next to his rider.

[DragonSong]

She flinched away from the green dragoness at first, but after a few moments of wary observation she allowed herself to settle near her, a little ways away from the human.

Her eyes were nearly constantly fixed on Len and Se'zeh, her teeth worrying at her lower lip. When Ash asked her name though she glanced toward him, her gaze haunted and wary. "Kyoko," she murmured after a moment, wiping absently at her eyes.

Her eyes snapped to the other drake and she hunched in on herself protectively, an instinctive movement she hardly even noticed.

"You aren't...you aren't like other dragonriders," she muttered after another long moment. "They would have followed military protocol, when they found us."

[Celegwen]

"We aren't dragonriders," Ash said. "Well, we aren't part of the official Adelan Dragonriders."

He folded his hands in his lap, hoping that his relaxed demeanor would help Kyoko relax herself. Ash could tell that there was more to this girl than she was letting on, but he kept his mouth shut. If she wanted to tell, she would. If not, he wouldn't force her to speak on something she was sensitive about.

"I formed this Squadron to be separate from them. We're still militaristic, but we don't abide by their rules and procedures. Why? What would the official Dragonriders have done upon finding you?" Of course he knew the procedures, as he grew up heavily involved in that military branch. He just wanted to see what she knew of it.

[DragonSong]

Slowly, Kyoko turned her eyes to Ash, that hunted wariness still in her own. Still militaristic, he said. Did that mean he would turn her in if they learned who she was, what she'd done?

"They would have...taken Se away from me," she admitted quietly after a long moment. "Non-sanctioned personnel aren't allowed to- to bond with Adelan military drakes."

Not all the truth, but enough of it that she may be able to feel these people out a bit.

In her sleep Se'zeh shifted slightly, a small, pained whimper escaping her as the healing magic worked through her body. Kyoko bit her lip and rocked toward the dragon unconsciously.

[Celegwen]

Ash scoffed, waving his hand at her. "Oh, no worries there," he said. "We're all 'non-sanctioned personnel' here, and a good amount of these dragons were from the military. Some were probably in the same boat as you are."

Galidor rolled his eyes, lying down finally. He had no need to keep watch, he decided to just relax.

"My father was a military dragonrider, and I aspired to be one until I saw how the military worked. No one should have to join the military if they bond with a military dragon." He gave her a short shrug. "Len actually has a similar story. Iwola was a military dragon with a bonded rider. She happened to save Len when she was a kid, which started their bond. They're wanted for the same reason."

[DragonSong]

Well. Probably not exactly the same reason.

But they didn't need to know that. It was enough for now to know that with the way they operated it wasn't likely they'd turn her or Se'zeh over to the official corps.

"What will you do with us then?" Kyoko asked softly, looking back to her friend. "When she's healed. What happens to us?"

[Celegwen]

That was a fair question. And even better since it had an easy answer.

"Completely up to you," Ash said simply. "You have two options, as I see. First, you can be on your way. It'll take about a full day for Se'zeh to be back to her full self, as a wing injury is no laughing matter, but she'll be fine in twenty-four hours. Or you can stay here a bit longer. Learn about us and join us. You won't just get protection, but the bonds we share make us family."

[DragonSong]

Kyoko gave him yet another wary, sidelong look. "We'll...see," she murmured after a moment.

If she was being completely honest, Se wasn't the only one who needed a day of rest. They were both exhausted, physically and mentally. They'd been running for so long, it was like- like that was all there was.

"When do you think we can move her?" she asked after a few more beats of silence. "I- I don't want her out here at night."

[Celegwen]

"Oh, no," Ash said, chuckling breathily. He gestured to the pink haired woman, who was then shifting her position. "Len!"

"Commander?" Len said, looking at Ash.

"Report."

The woman clapped her hands together. "Wing's fixed, Commander," she said. "Just waking her up. She's gonna be pretty out of it, but she'll be able to make it to one of the caverns."

Ash nodded, and Len placed her hands on Se'zeh's head and spine again. She woke the dragoness up, but it would take a minute or two for the effect to kick in. "Told you she'd be fine," Ash said with a smirk.

[DragonSong]

Kyoko barely acknowledged Ash, scrambling to her feet and racing to kneel by Se'zeh's head as the dragoness blinked her eyes open groggily. "Se? Can you hear me, mi'aha?"

With a quiet groan Se'zeh tried to raise her head, then flopped back against the earth. "Tell the trees to stop spinning."

With a breathless laugh Kyoko hugged her around the muzzle, planting a kiss on her scaly cheek. "I'll do my best," she chuckled.

Tiredly, she lifted her head to look from Ash to Len. "Thank- thank you..."

[Celegwen]

"My pleasure, miss," Len said, standing. She looked to Iwola, who stood upon seeing her rider do so. "Commander, permission to take my leave?"

Ash nodded once. "Granted."

Len put her fist to her chest briefly and mounted Iwola's saddle, taking off in a swift movement. Ash got to his feet, his hands behind his back in a militaristic manner. "The caverns are a short walk from here," he said. "She'll easily be able to make it."

[DragonSong]

Se'zeh finally managed to lift her head and looked around blurily. "Koko? Where- what happened?"

"It's...a little complicated." Kyoko stroked her neck, watching her carefully in case she needed to help her. "Those riders we saw actually helped you."

Guilt curled in her chest, tight and hot. Se'zeh never would have gotten hurt if they hadn't been so desperately trying to avoid what they thought were militant dragonriders. This was all her fault.

"I'm sorry, sister," she whispered, resting her brow against the dragon's and clenching her eyes shut. Se'zeh crooned softly and nuzzled her shoulder, then turned her head toward the remaining rider and dragon.

"Who're they?"

"That's Ash." She nodded to him. "And...I didn't ask your name," she realized as she looked to the other dragon.

[Celegwen]

"I didn't offer my name," the silver wyvern hissed telepathically.

Ash stifled a laugh and shot him a glare. "This is Galidor. He's cranky after not sleeping well last night." The wyvern blew smoke out of his nostrils at the comment. "Shut it!" He shook his head. "The other wyvern I'm bonded to is much more cooperative. Her name is Sicarrius."

"She's a suck up," Galidor grumbled.

"You're just jealous," Ash said to the drake. "Hush, ya baby. I'm having a conversation." Galidor rolled his eyes and moved his head as though he were mocking Ash. "I can't do anything without him messing with me," the man said with a chuckle.

[DragonSong]

Kyoko nodded slowly, watching the exchange. "Well. That's Galidor then," she shrugged at Se, who gave a little huff and tried to get to her feet. Kyoko's eyes widened. "Hang on a second-!"

"I'm not an invalid," the dragoness hissed irritably, and her rider scowled.

"Uh, yes. You kind of are. Will you just give it a minute?" she demanded, exasperated, as Se'zeh wobbled slightly and just managed to get all four feet braced under her body. Quite without thinking about it, she shot a look at Ash that plainly said, Dragons. Stubborn gits.