"Wait. Damn you." Growled the girl as she slid the dress off and threw it at Kyera. The shadows caught the dress and guided it gently to Kyera's hand. The woman stood naked for but a moment before turning to her tiger form, a dull grey with black stripes that honestly looked muddled. Kyera glared at her darkly, feeling no pity for this shamed beast.
"If I ever see you wearing shifter fur again, I will burn this forest down. Make no mistake, it is only the forest that saved you this time murderous creature." Kyera warned as she held the dress close to her. The familiar scents mixed with hers was making Kyera's stomach flip. Even as Ember leaped into the air, she wanted to tear them to shreds, but she knew what the cost would be. She couldn't afford that. Not yet.
"Why didn't you let me burn them?" Ember asked honestly disappointed and a bit saddened. Kyera sighed deeply, closing her eyes as the wind passed around her. She had to search inside herself for the answer. Every fiber of her being had fought against setting the forest ablaze, and she knew it was on account of the wild ones. How to put her feelings into words was an entirely different matter.
"Because If I set fire to those woods, I am no better than the Dark Ones are. The wild ones would lose their lives, and they are innocent. Father knows that I wanted to. Every inch of my body wanted to watch them burn." Kyera whispered softly. "I will not sacrifice innocents for revenge and make no mistake, it would have been revenge. I can not let my sadness result in the murder if innocents. One day, I will get justice, but not today." He quieted, feeling the pain and hurt that poured from inside his Lady.
Ahead, as if a gift from nature itself, Ember noticed a slightly grey cloud meandering across the sky. He got an idea. The light rain cloud he normally would have avoided, Ember guided himself into the edge of. In the rain, no one could notice the tears. As for him? He was a silent companion of warmth and strength, which she desperately needed..
**********************
The flight to Shadow Veil was not a long one, and the gentle rain cloud followed behind the Storm Twin as he and the Fire born beauty took their charges to safety. Akira hung in the claw of Seri, who seemed less than inclined to change her hold or place the passenger on her back. She had caught the woman at Ember's request, but even she could tell Ember disliked this human.
Kyera however, sat nested properly on Ember's back. Her body ached from her sobs and her eyes were red and puffy. The sleep she was managing to catch was helping her look human again. The swelling going down and the crippling, stabbing pain of outrage and pain having reduced itself to the dull throb of grief. She had spent her pent up emotions, all that she had controlled in the sky of her Godfather.
"Kyera, it's time to land." Ember woke her as gently as he could. His charge stirred fairly easily. She wasn't in a deep sleep, after all.
"Land in the back; the training grounds. I'm sure that's where the carriages landed." Kyera ordered and sure enough, as they coasted over the familiar towers, the carriages came into view. They were empty, and their dragon carriers were resting nearby. Most of them looked well rested, as if they had been there a while. "We are eventually going to have to discuss why you disrespected me and ignored my orders. There a plan." Kyera told him a bit cripticly.
"I have no disrespect for you, I simply saw a flaw in the plan that you did not." Ember replied as they came to land on the waiting grass.
"Oh? And what was that?" Kyera asked curiously and he looked at her over his shoulder with a draconic grin.
"It was a bad plan." Ember replied before settling his wing outstretched so Kyera could dismount and walk to where her mother had been unceremoniously deposited on the short, training grass.