The wind was lazy now that the first blizzard of true winter was passing to the lower slopes. The dragons took to the sky again, looking for younglings who had gotten lost in the snow. It was a common enough occurence that the young adult dragons made a habit of hunting the lost ones after a blizzard. It would take several years longer before a teenage dragon could become use to navigating the blizzards.
Ivory was normally among the search party but she and Ember were currently occupied by another role. Nested on their respective backs were their riders, Kyera on Ember and Clovis on Ivory. The choice for Kyera to ride Ember had been quite the discussion, mainly because the deep charcoal dragon was just warmer over all. Thus she was herded onto his back without a chance to disagree.
They flew in tandem across the sky, her body in tune with everything Ember had to offer her. The warmth of Ember's scales radiated through her and her aura enveloped his wings against the icy air. His mind melded with hers as she saw the world through his eyes.
Reaching their destination, Ember carefully landed which was in huge contrast to his normally lazy drop he favored. Unlike those around them he could sense the pain in his Queen and was careful to respect her needs. The Dragon's nest was alive with chatter as the baby dragons and Nest mothers gathered and fawned over a nest near the cave fire, the heat source where new eggs were normally nested.
Kyera knew instantly that's where she was headed. Ember nudged a few young dragons out of the way before the younglings moved on their own accords. At the center of the group was Raina, and a tall willow slim woman with eyes of starlight and hair of the darkest shadows pale scales that shimmered blue and pink embedded around her eyes and down her slender neck. She was the Dragon Mother, goddess of all Dragon's born from the egg or womb.
The Dragon Mother was holding baby Gale, bouncing him gently to keep him relaxed as they waited for Kyera. "Dear Storm Queen, this little one is absolutely charming!" The Goddess purred as she kissed the baby's forehead. Gale seemed lost.
Who was this creature? It was soft like Mommy. It had a gentle voice like Mommy and comfy pillows to be held to, but it wasn't Mommy. He was torn between the warmth this creature provided and the annoyance that this was not his Mommy. Half of him very seriously wanted his sister back, at least she smelled a bit like Mommy.
Then those arms and familiar scent engulfed him in perfect warmth. He wanted desperately to say "Mommy," but only happy gurgling could be heard from his little mouth. These lips didn't understand how to make the words yet.
Kyera's lips pressed to her son's forehead. "Thank you, Mother Goddess for watching over my son. I am forever grateful." Kyera's eyes sparkled with true gratitude as her son was unharmed. It had been a rough few hours since then child entered the world.
"Of course child. I also gave him my blessing as we discussed. No creature of fate will touch this pioneer child." The Goddess reassured her and Kyera bowed, but the Dragon Mother looked uncomfortable. "You don't bow to me. You just had a baby for crying out loud and a face off with evil parading as a Goddess. You need to feed your baby and get some rest. May I suggest a nest by the fire?"
Kyera chuckled softly but it was a tired sound today had definitely become a busier day than she hoped. Clovis hugged his wife and son.
"I think it is a good idea, love. Raina and I can go for a flight and you can feed Gale and take a nap. Like you said, there is nowhere safer than here for either of you." Clovis persuaded running a hand through his wife's hair. Raina nodded enthusiastically, it was not very often she got the chance to ride with her father. Tempest was already starting to warm up, flying with the storm twins was one of her favorite perks to being Raina's dragon.