Ronan twitched in his sleep, murmuring in an unintelligible whisper. I pushed my head deeper into the material of my nest. My claws contracted around the thick fabric blanket Mum had made me. Like another pair of wings, I folded it over my face and knew silence once more, but not for much longer.

An indescribable sound ripped through the tunnels. I reeled, the feeling hit me like a riptide, like a pair of empty lungs and molasses gills as the surface gets farther and farther away. The cry broke like a tree being ripped in half, a horrible, wailing, sound that I felt in the deepest part of myself. I'd never heard a dragon scream in pain before.

"What was that?" May shivered, now that we were wide awake.

Mum's wings quivered. "Stay here."

She shot from the den without a sound. I pressed into Seth's chest, the only source of comfort was them, I could smell and feel my siblings nearby.

"Where's Pop?" I forced out.

His source of warmth was gone. The scent on his bedding was slightly old.

"He's always gone in the morning." Seth soothed, stretching a wing over me. 

Another scream echoed through the tunnels and I winced. It came from an adult dragoness. The cry was so wretched and detached from being I couldn't recognize the voice. It was like a heart left its body and grew a mouth.

The wails were replaced by quieter, heaving sobs. Crying. I'd heard crying before. I cried when I was hatched, but why was this so different?

Ronan whimpered from underneath Seth's wing. "She's too sad. No one should ever be this sad. How can her body take it?"

"Her?"

"Master Strife."

"How do you know it's her?" May whispered.

"I don't know," Ronan croaked, "Don't ask me."

"Stay in your dens!" Mum's voice trumpeted above the sobs. "Watch over your chicks, don't leave your dens!"

What happened? Why was my body shaking? Why did I feel so cold inside?

"Longtayle," Seth swallowed dryly, "how does that story end?"

My head was so clouded, her question slipped in and floated around my skull before something caught onto it. "What story?"

"With the bat, who lived in the moon."

My tongue was so heavy, I keeled and curled my claws into my forehead. Anything to hide from the tightness enveloping me.

Seth pride my paws away from me. "Longtayle, hey, listen to my voice."

His voice was warm and smelled of lavender. It danced around me, protecting my body, like an eggshell.

"How does the story end?"

Smoke dripped out of my mouth. "She couldn't come home. She never did, but the moon taught her how to fly, and when she opened her eyes again, her body glistened and glowed with the light of stars. She started to sing, and down where the air touched the earth her people heard her, flying with the moon. Her song brought forth the insects and her family celebrated; their daughter would feed their whole colony. That's why the bats sing as they hunt." 

There were no more whimpers, no more wails. Mum rushed back into the den, exhaling loudly as she spotted us. The scent she brought with her was different, new, and it sent the scales on my spine in all directions. It was like mushrooms, the poisonous ones threaded in damp cracks. I flinched away from her.

She didn't speak, only cooed low and deep as she wrapped herself around us. The vibrations coming from her throat shook away some of the clammy stiffness in my legs.

"I need you to do something very brave," she whispered, her voice was hoarse and sounded like a claw dragging across the top of a sea-scale.

"We're going to visit Tallin's den, you're going to stay with him and his parents for a bit."

"Don't leave us," Ronan let out a choked whine.

Mum drew him closer, "Never my love. Remember when I told you about me and Pop's special jobs? About caring for dragons? I need to do a bit of that now. You'll be fine, Hemlock and Kindle will find us if you need."

Then something happened to Ronan. I knew what a tear was, I'd had them before, but only when I was about to sneeze, yawn, or when I laughed too hard. Ronan was doing none of those things. I could smell the salt in nauseating waves as tears flowed down his face and hit the floor sizzling. His breathing picked up in pace and Mum brought him into her arms, he was almost too big, too old to be caressed as he used to be. Almost.

May cooed as she pressed her face into Ronan's shoulder, I think Seth mirrored it.

"It'll be okay," May spoke for what felt like the first time in forever. "This is new, right? It's scary...but we're also the first. It's our challenge, Ronan, and I want you to lead the way."

Ronan breathing got quiet, he shuffled from his place in Mum's arms. "Okay."

He stood up, Mum began walking and he was there right beside her.

My nostrils flared as we slipped quietly through the tunnels. The fungus scent seemed to cling to the walls, growing, and choking. Along with something else, a smell and a sound at once. A burning, crackling, citrus scent laced with smoke and rage. I shuddered.

Hemlock and Kindle smelled of the forest when the moon was high in the sky.

"Don't worry, your Majesty, they're in good hands." Hemlock dipped their head.

Mum responded quickly, and nonverbally before rushing back into the tunnels. Hemlock hung by the entrance to their den as Seth instinctively found where Tallin and his pather were hanging out.

"Moon!" Tallin chirped as he stood up to greet us.

"And Stars," Seth replied, sighing like he'd been holding in that breath.

"Does anyone know what's going on?" Tallin asked.

"No, only that both Mum and Pop need to get involved." Seth explained.

Ronan's spine prickled, and he stepped away to go curl up in the corner. Waves of sharp feelings emanated off of him, he wished to be alone.

This was their den, I could smell the nest cave in a tunnel that lead up, and the metallic note from another tunnel. There was a firepit in the middle of this room, filled with small dying flame and crackling embers. That's when I noticed the other dragon, Kindle I presume, as he made his way over to us. Kindle was smaller than Hemlock. I heard two wyvern feet, same as Hemlock and Tallin, but he was a little more lithe, a little more buzz entered my circle of awareness.

"Good to meet the four of you, Tallin told us a lot. I wish the circumstances were different but..." he trailed off.

From the entrance, Hemlock shifted uncomfortably.

"Wait here a moment." Kindle turned, "I think I know what might lighten out spirits."

He went down the tunnel that smelled of metal and came back with rolled up... tapestry? Along with a bag of what sounded like rock but smelled like summer heat. Tallin inhaled sharply, I heard him curl his tail into a tight ball out of excitement.

"Let's not think about what's going on outside, grab a blanket and some sweets, let's do something fun."

They weren't tapestries, they had no designs, but they were thick and made out of an animal's fur. I took one, hesitantly, taking in the scent of their family and the previous owner of the fur. Then it was warm, and the fire danced in front of us, and it was safe.

I noticed Seth stretch his wing ever so slightly over Tallin as we huddled together. May handed me a "sweet", it was a rock that tasted like honey and melted slowly on my tongue.

"Will you tell us a story, poppy?" Tallin asked.

"Why not?" Kindle settled down.

"Longtayle didn't finish his." Ronan cut in.

He had joined us on the edge of the fire, not taking a sweet or a blanket.

"There was nothing left to tell." I explained, "That was the end."

Ronan's answer was devoid of emotion, "Can you tell us how the she gets back to her family?"

Kindle's spines prickled and it was a few moments before he said anything, the silence painted only with the look he sent to Hemlock and the panic that spiked off of him. "Who...?"

"The bat, she was flying with the moon, but she was stuck there."

Kindle swallowed dryly, "uh, I don't know that one. I can tell you one of my own? I've never been to the moon, so it won't be quite as exciting, but I think you'll like it."

Ronan didn't answer, he took one of the sweets from the bag and sucked on it. Kindle folded his claws together; he was also worried about Ronan.

"Gideon, Margo, Hemlock and I, we didn't come from the same eggs as you did." He started. "I can only describe it as being enveloped in warmth, and when I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by light. There was, Skylark, in all her glory. It was like a piece of the sky was walking on the ground next to us, and right next to her was King Gideon, your pather. The source of all the light was him."

Unbeknownst to us, outside the cave the sun had descended from the sky.

While Kindle spun a verbal tapestry of his memories for us to forget our fear in, Gideon returned to the mountain. Wreathed in holy flame, his glow burned through the tunnels until he came to the rocky ulcer where even the mountain sung out in blood-soaked pain. Gideon's legs shook with rage, something he'd never felt so fiercely until this moment. There, laying peacefully on a scraped together bed of moss, was a small, cold, body. The fire the seemed to pulse from his body died and he crouched down next to Master Strife.

Together they wept.

After any hours has passed, the five of us fledglings were curled and tangled amongst each other, fast asleep. Mum shook us gently awake, and explained it was time to go to our own dens. Four sleepy brains followed her back, the tunnels were quieter than usual. Mum was quieter than usual. Pop was waiting when we returned, immediately I noticed how heavy his heart felt.

"What happened Mum?" Seth asked, while we prepared our own nests.

Mum swallowed dryly, I think she and Pop shared a long stare.

"My loves, there is something you must know about our world." Her tail swept around her and entwined with Pop's; she opened her mouth but nothing came out after that.

"We are temporary creatures," he continued for her, "one day... all of us will be stars in the sky, or grass in the forests. It's a normal part of the world. It happens when we hunt, the prey becomes the energy that keeps us alive, they are as much a part of us as we are them."

May shuffled in her nest. "When does that happen?"

"When you are older. When Skylark calls your soul to leave."

My tongue was dry again, "what's its name?"

"Death, dying, leaving, passing forward." He replied, and unlike all the other times I'd collected a name, this one didn't feel good.

Ronan's claws curled until the weaving of his nest. "Who left us?"

Mum tensed.

"Come on," Ronan's breath was shaky, "you wouldn't be telling us this unless it happened. I... I can feel the empty space...the absence... please just tell me."

Pop stared at him, for a few moments, before crawling closer to his son, to hold him near. "You already know?"

"I want to be wrong," Ronan muttered under his breath. I could smell salt; I could hear his voice choke up. "Please tell me I'm wrong."

Mum joined Pop, completing the circle around the four of us. I didn't know what he was talking about, I don't think my other siblings did either but Mum and Pop seemed to understand. I didn't want to know; I didn't want to feel the burning Ronan felt.

"It's Kiri," Mum said quietly. "She's passed forward."

Ronan let out a chocked sob, like he'd been holding it in all day, then buried his face in Mum's chest and cried. My heart dropped into the middle of my stomach and I no longer felt tired. Just weightless, and confused. The presence of my family made it better, and kept me tethered. I didn't cry, I was too cold, I just laid with them until I finally fell asleep.

Kiri had gone to the moon, and she wasn't coming back.