Chapter Text
"Ignitus, we don't have a choice," Terrador said, shaking his head. "We need to consolidate our forces. The Apes are pushing through the mountains."
"I know, Terrador," Ignitus agreed. "But – there must be some other way. Some way we can defend the fertile land this side of the passes, without giving up our attempts to attack the Mountain of Malefor."
"Ignitus…" Terrador began, his tone considerate. "I know why you want to attack the Mountain. I've heard the rumours of a dragon held prisoner there, the same as you."
"If there is one that survives, then they are… they are the last," Ignitus said, looking around the dragon temple and shaking his head. "Terrador, we failed so thoroughly… how can I give up an attempt to rescue any of the dragons that still live?"
Terrador was silent for a long time, almost a minute.
"I understand your regret, Ignitus," he reminded the other dragon. "I know what you mean. But… we have an obligation. It's the right thing to do to make sure the Apes don't push down into the plains."
Ignitus sighed.
"You may be right, old friend," he said. "It is a shame that we do not only have the easy decisions. Or perhaps this is an easy decision, and it is only my own regrets that prevent me from seeing it."
Terrador kept his peace, not offering comment on that.
He knew how deeply Ignitus regretted his decisions, and the failure to protect the Temple.
"Sir! Sir!" a younger voice called, and both dragons tensed and looked up as Pyra came hurrying into the temple before skidding to a halt. "Sirs! Uh…"
"Please, be calm, if you can manage it," Ignitus said, not unkindly. "Is there a problem, Pyra?"
"There's…" Pyra began, then another dragon came scampering in.
She was, it was immediately obvious, even younger than Pyra. Pyra was a teenaged battle squire, a messenger and banner bearer with some military roles whose primary task was to watch and learn, and as a dragon he was more dangerous than his age would suggest for any other race… but this new dragon was not more than a third Pyra's size at the most.
The newcomer's gender was obvious, because she was very lithely built – even more so than most female dragons, with a long whip tail and a pair of filmy wings constructed in an almost insectile manner – like those of a dragonfly, in some respects, though still with a dragon's-wing shape.
"Found you!" she said, brightly, then sat on her haunches and looked up at the two much bigger dragons she'd just laid eyes on. "Oooh… you're very big. Um, are you old? And does that mean you're boring?"
"You're purple," Terrador breathed, his voice absolutely shocked.
"...yes?" the dragoness replied, looking down at her paw in case it had changed. "I'm also Aivu, and Five, and A Bit Hungry, and Interested In Cookies. Do you have any cookies?"
"Ignitus, how is this possible?" Terrador said. "It… there was an egg. Did you…?"
"I sent the egg away," Ignitus confirmed, shaking himself. "But I had resigned myself to the expectation that I would never know what happened to…"
He paused, and reconsidered.
"Pyra, do we have anything of use in the stores?" he asked.
"I'll go and have a look," the young fire dragon said, immediately rushing off.
Aivu watched him go, her head tilting slightly, then she turned back to Ignitus and Terrador.
"So… what's so special about being purple?" she asked. "Because you sounded like it was a super big surprise! And normally people are surprised about different things. Usually something that Teena does!"
The dragons exchanged glances.
"...who is Teena?" Ignitus said, after a few seconds.
"Oh, she's my Mom!" Aivu explained. "She's a hyena! She's great at telling jokes!"
Aivu lowered her voice ever-so-slightly to speak in a conspiratorial sort of way. "You have to be when you're a hyena, you know! Otherwise you're just laughing at what other people say and it's not fair."
She blinked. "Hey! I had a question, so can you answer it now?"
"Purple dragons are very rare, and very powerful," Ignitus answered.
"Oh!" Aivu said, sounding as if everything had just explained itself. "So that's how I can do a fire breath thing and also a sound breath thing, and how I can make it so I can hum music while I speak, like this!"
She demonstrated, producing a cheerful musical accompaniment to her own voice. "I've tried to work out how to breathe icing, but so far all I can do is flour. Maybe I've got something wrong about that?"
Ignitus and Terrador exchanged glances.
Again.
"...yes," Ignitus said, after a long moment. "Yes, that is how you can do things like that. Though I must warn you, there are some out there who would try to harm you. Maybe even destroy you. And you are too young to be drawn into a fight like that…"
"But what if I want to be?" Aivu asked, flaring her wings. "If people want to harm me then can't I harm them right back? If they're trying to pick on a little girl like me then I bet I can pick on them right back and it'd be way more fair – and I don't want them to hurt my Mom, either!"
She tilted her head. "...say, is there anything I can't do?"
Ignitus felt a great deal of worry about any possible answer he could give to that question.
"I don't know what a purple dragon is truly capable of," he said. "Though… I would be delighted to allow you and your mother to stay here as long as you might wish it, and perhaps to give you the chance to learn to understand how your powers work."
Aivu nodded. "Sure!" she said. "I'll have to ask Mom though. And see what she thinks."
She nodded, half to herself. "So you can't think of anything I can't do… this has so much, uhm, what's the word… potential! This has so much potential!"
"I wonder if the temple will still be standing next year," Terrador murmured.