Rift

May 20, 2021 5:22 pm

Aerihykloarara lets her wings stretch out to their fullest extent as she coasts on a steady breeze. It’s best to conserve energy on long journeys like this one. She snakes her head back around to look at her two favorite people: Rastix and Tilrifturrin. "Any goodberries left back there? Flying you two around is tiring work, you know!"

Africhik Inactive forever!

May 21, 2021 4:14 pm

Re: Rift

Rift bristles at her question, as he does at most of her questions. If he'd been born with wings he could have flown himself around. For some reason he blamed his mother for that, rather than his tiny father.
"Do you need a rest, Mother?" he asked in a falsly sweet voice. He popped another berry in his mouth relishing the tart flavor. Absently he dropped another over the deagon's side and watched it fall until it disappeared from view. "I know our combined bulk is soooo heavy."

He refrained from asking if they were there yet. He didn't want to sound like a child.

Aerihykloarara

Araklusta

May 21, 2021 5:34 pm

Re: Rift

Aerihykloarara's snort creates a ring of frigid air that blows into her son's face. "When do gnomes grow out of their adolescent phase, Ras? You know, when they realize they don't know everything." She giggles, inadvertently jarring the two riders, then swings her head forward and dives.

The world lurches as ground becomes sky. A few mighty flaps of her wings send the family speeding straight down, and then Aerihykloarara makes her sinuous form perfectly streamlined. Wind whips through horns and hair, and a nearby V of geese honks in alarm. Dragon eyes easily pick out the falling berry, and Aerihykloarara snatches it out of the air with her jaws.

Her wings snap open, and suddenly the ground is where it should be once more. Not far below (perhaps too close!), a mountain stream burbles happily downhill. Aerihykloarara hums along with it for a moment, then dips down to help herself to a drink as they pass.

She glances back casually to see how her family enjoyed the experience.

Africhik Inactive forever!

May 22, 2021 2:48 pm

Re: Rift

Rift laughs, enjoying the fluttering feeling in his stomach, and enjoying his father's muttered curses. The wind in his ears blocks out the actual words, but he can still imagine.

"Ug's loincloth, Aeri!" (His father's favorite curse.) "A little warning next time!"

Sometimes Rift and his mother played a game where they tried to see how many words they could make the old gnome say. On this trip she is winning. Of course, right now she has an unfair advantage.

"Of course I don't know everything, Mother. For instance, I don't know when we'll finally arrive and get to stretch our legs." There. That definitely was more grown up than just asking "are we there yet."

He does like flying, but he is excited to get to their destination. Absently, he fingers the (ironically) stolen thieves tools hidden in his pocket and stares at the passing landscape. There's an adventure waiting for him out there, he just knows it.

Aerihykloarara

Araklusta

May 22, 2021 5:23 pm

Re: Rift

The silver dragon grins, showing off her impressive array of teeth. "Well, if you'd been paying attention to the landscape, you'd know we're almost there! " She soars over a snow-covered rise and suddenly the mountains fall away, revealing a vast tundra and three great lakes.

"It's hard to see from here, but Easthaven is just at the southern edge of that lake there, Lac Dinneshere." She cocks her head proudly. "That's where I fought Icasaracht claw to claw!"

Africhik Inactive forever!

May 22, 2021 9:00 pm

Re: Rift

Peering ahead, Rift could barely see what his mother was talking about. She tended to forget that her eyesight was better than his. He didn't have to look at his father to see Ras shrink into himself slightly. His father had never really recovered from that battle. He didn't say anything about it, but Rift had seen that subtle shifting every time Mother told the stories. The armies, the bloodshed, the heroes. Something was broken in his father and that whole ordeal had been the culprit.

He changed the subject.

"Good, because I'm famished." But really, when wasn't he? Mother used to say it was because he was a growing boy. Not that he'd done much growing lately. Or probably would ever again.

Aerihykloarara

Araklusta

May 22, 2021 11:47 pm

Re: Rift

"One day you and I will share a mammoth, and maybe then you'll be satisfied!" Aerihykloarara sighs at the thought. "But first you need to go and play with your little friends. Make sure you set a good example for them!"

The dragon flaps her wings, propelling the group ever closer to Easthaven and the people who await them there.

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