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A New Family Part 6

Dramatis Personae

Family of 5 (Colonists)

• Ataksak (Mother) 41

• Negafook (Father) 42

• Nanook (elder son) 22

• Pinga (daughter) 22

• Silla (younger daughter) 8

Other Cast

• Diana (Daughter of Nathan and Alessandra) 102

• Apollo (Son of Nathan and Alessandra) 102

• Sekhmet (Daughter of Sylvia and Gregory) 102

• Mazu (Daughter of Carol and Riku) 102

• Surya (Son of Noctis) 102

I woke to something poking my snout. Absently I brushed at it with a fore paw. The poking resumed. Wake up, it's first light. Mazu spoke into my mind.

_ I'll open the jar later,_ I returned sleepily. I felt laughter before my twitching paw was grabbed and I found myself being dragged from beneath the comforting pile of my family.

I scrunched my snout "Okay okay okay! I'm awake. Just give me a minute to visit the midden and I'll be ready to go." After visiting the latrine pit and getting some water I was ready. We then took off towards the rising sun. I tried not to work myself up by instead reveling in the feeling of the wind caressing my scales and dancing across the leathery skin of my wings. Ten minutes later I saw our destination, a series of hot springs. Mazu pointed with a claw at an opening in the ground at the base of a hill a few hundred meters from the bubbling pools.

All around the entrance I could see a great many different containers of all shapes and sizes arranged in neat rows. As we got close I also saw that every one of them had been carefully labelled. Next to the entrance of the cave I saw someone had thoughtfully made a polymer encased sign that cheerfully announced "Sekhmet's and Surya's Happy Nest of Wonders." If I didn't feel bad about being the reason a happy go lucky dragoness had to let slip her violent protective instincts before, I sure did now.

"Here is where I leave you. I will see you again soon." She said with what I hope was justified optimism. She turned tail and flew off to my left while I moved to crash land (still can't stick those landings) amongst the containers. I poked around for a bit to see what she was doing. Most of the containers were labelled with various minerals and stones. However the rest were specimen containers holding a great variety of local wildlife.

"Now I can add rudeness to your list of transgressions." Hissed from the cave. Trying to slow my racing heart I turned with deliberate slowness for the dark mouth of her home. I saw nothing but a pair of crimson eyes gleaming about six meters off the ground.

"Having dirt smeared all over your belly is a good look for you, little mole. Not quite as spineless as I supposed coming here to engage me. Speak your mind!" She said, sharp as a razor. Before following with a harsh and raspy drawn out whisper "Before I end you..."

"Ataksak and I were going to melt down some jewelry she has in order to give as a token of our repentance to Mazu. I was wondering if you kn..."

"TELL ME WHY YOU'RE REALLY HERE!" She roared with terrific violence as she rocketed out of her cave. She shoved her head under my chest. As I felt the smooth horn of her spines slide across my scales she heaved her neck up sending me into a sickening spin that only ended when I struck the ground. Before I could even gasp in surprise she had one great paw clenched to my chest pinning me onto my back as her talons sank into my scales and blood welled out. With this purchase she picked me up and slammed me three times into the ground. I felt something in my chest give way.

I continued as calmly as I could "knew what she would like? We could ask Gregory for a mold and then you could mel..." I stopped again as she flung me into a tree and then pinned me once again driving the coarse needles of its bark between my scales. "melt it down for us so she can receive something of her own choosing and design to symbolize..." She let go of me and backed away a pace and then spun rapidly, the enormous length of her tail came whistling past me before the trailing tip slammed into my head and neck. On the ground again she pinned me once more. "our apologies in how we acted towards her. But also our thanks for making us feel welcomed."

She brought her head down and peered at me with one furious eye. "Mole, I have more problems with you than what you have done to my life friend. Chaos dogs your feet wherever you go. Rocs attack us and you bring distraction to those who must focus on a solution. Why are you here?"

"I can help. I'm a..."

"Help? HELP! You think you can help me? What do you know space mole? Do you think I don't know about the Collective and the technology available out there? What was it like living in a sterile ball in the void? Can you hunt? Can you strip a kill? Do you know how to find buried water? Do you know which way is fucking NORTH? Who are you? To help me?"

"linguist. It has been the work of long experience that enables me to see..."

Snarling, she turned to a nearby container and popped the lid with a claw, it was some kind of powder. She licked some of the unknown substance out of the crate and turned to me with a radiant glow in her gullet. She then spit two incandescent lumps of burning metal right next to my stomach. I held as still as the grave.

"new and emerging signs of intelligent signaling in encountered alien species. With me along at the border of our farthest den I can watch for intelligence. I think between you and myself we can communicate with them if they have any developed society. We may have committed some type of unknown trespass against them. We don't know, there are so many things that could have gone wrong. I want to help you find out what that was."

Only when I'd stop did I realize that the attacks had ceased as she listened while deep in thought.

With her eyes still unfocused she whispered; "You would do that?"

"Without hesitation. Did you know my mate is expecting seven eggs? I would fight for their future. For everyone's future. I can't attack in the way that you can. But I can provide a fresh set of eyes, and a lifetime of knowledge and experience in my field."

Her body still looming over me she closed her eyes and remained motionless for a few minutes breathing deeply. As she visibly calmed herself, her raised and threatening hand fell to the ground with a thump and then her body wilted into a state of abject misery crouched on the ground. Tail, wings, head, and frills all drooped limply into a state that made me embarrassed to witness on such a proud and strong individual.

Without looking at me, she rolled over and bared her throat in what I increasingly was able to recognize as not a mere submissive display. Instead one of the profound trust and unshakeable belief that they extend towards each other. Stunned, I realized by extension she was now accepting me as one who could be trusted and relied upon not to take advantage of such a vulnerable position. Instead she had faith that I would do all that I must to protect her at her weakest. The tremendous honor and responsibility I realized she imparted upon me drove the breath from me with a whoosh as thoroughly as her test.

Oh my stars, they have changed so much, how different might have human kind been in the past if we could have cultivated such pure devotion in such communities? There is so much I must learn! I must note these changes!

With her eyes held closed she began to speak; "Mole, no... Negafook, please listen to me now as one of Prithvi to another. I cannot and will not apologize for my test of you. You are new, and I had to be sure of your character. It is not in my own character to be so relentlessly violent, in fact every time I must be so, only my mate can help me in returning to what I love to be."

With a start I finally noticed the final straw that made me curl my head away from the sight of her. She was crying, I could not look upon her at her most vulnerable without doing something. It made me curse all the contrary fickle madness in the universe for bringing one that cares so much, so low. It was too much, the yearning to comfort her was too much. I crept towards her and laid my head near hers and crooned lowly to her in encouragement.

She continued: "I have so much love for my mate, my nest mates, my sire and dam, my den, my wing and scale kin. I will do anything to protect them, even at great harm to myself. Please I beg of you, I do not want you to see me and think only of pain and aggression. Not when I am so many more delightful things; the joy of seeing my mate, the wonder of discovery, the contentment of twining closely and securely with my kin. I hope in time that you see me as these things, not as the purveyor of harm."

"You have more than proven yourself to me. You are not a coward you did not run, in fact you sought me out against the advice of others and despite my earlier ominous words. You are resourceful in seeking help when needed and in deciding upon a plan going forward. You have the fortitude to see that plan through even while facing the teeth of the opposition."

"Welcome, Negafook, to our and now your family. Welcome to Prithvi."

Her eyes opened as she rolled back and then pushed herself up before nudging me on to my own claws with her snout.

"Let's get you fixed up. I think I broke two of your ribs. And my tail scalped some of your feathers off. I apologize. I was aiming lower on your neck, I have to work on my aim." She said. "I also am glad that the molten iron didn't touch you. I was trying to scare you into running."

"How can you even do that?"

The haunted and teary eyed look began to dispel a bit. "I was hoping you'd ask. You see my family and I have a series of unique adaptations to breathe fire. Our mouths and throats are heavily embedded with carbon. That's why they're black. And our teeth are all imbued with ceramic. I figured it out before Noctis could ruin it for me. I like exploring things. Oh, I forgot about my mate. And Mazu, I'll call them on the way into my nest. I have some salves that will help numb your flank. Don't worry, I'll wrap your chest real good."

The increasingly charming and highly intelligent dragoness had me lean against her as she supported me into the cave. Along the way she pointed her head straight up and gave a loud raspy whistle. By the time we entered her home I could already hear returning wing beats. She led me over to one of the ubiquitous mattresses and slowly eased me down.

She glanced about the chamber and everywhere her gaze fell a light cluster illuminated. The gentle glows revealed a great profusion of various things. From a half dismantled worker unit to a series of potted plants underneath lamps, everywhere I looked it was apparent I was talking with a truly gifted individual. Towards the back I could see three tunnels leading deeper into the hill, to what I didn't know. She walked over to a row of large cabinets and craned her neck to grab a roll of elastic bandaging with her mouth. She called another worker unit over and dropped the roll into its manipulators. She then wrapped her paw around a stone jar on a shelf and hopped over and put it next to me. She used what looked like a large mossy sponge to dip into the salve and then smeared it on the discolored bruise on my side. She finished by having the worker wrap the bandage about me.

Surya bound into the cave and began pushing his nose about Sekhmet's head, he smelled greatly concerned. Once satisfied with his nudging he sat next to her and said "You were really scary this time Sekh! I was worried!"

She sagged further against the ground; "I know, I don't like being like that. Hurting or scaring other dragons. But I had to! I don't want any more dragons to die! So much is not going well right now. I had to be sure he would help, even if he was scared." She finished in an almost desperate wail.

"Well if it makes you feel any better I'm sure I looked pretty funny when I was terrified."

The red dragoness gave a half-hearted snicker. "You kinda did. Your eyes were so big, and your feathers were standing straight up and glowing bright red."

Mazu entered the cave then and bounced her upper body up and down eagerly in front of Sekhmet. All according to plan! Way to go!"

Sekhmet grimaced "Just about. Although he did break. That wasn't supposed to happen."

"Yeah, sorry I foiled your plan by breaking."

Mazu continued "We need to get you back, your family must be worried by now. It's not like you." She nudged the crestfallen Sekhmet. "Gave them anything to worry about."

"I tried to test him as painlessly as possible." She said, looking so downtrodden about it that whatever resentment I had towards her vanished.

"My spines are still radiating my residual heat. Mazu, will you please help him back to his lair? I...I... need some time."

Mazu looked concerned but whispered "Of course, I will come back in a little while to look in on you." She nudged her shoulder companionably one last time and turned away.

On the way out she shared a look with Surya who bobbed his head solemnly and said "Z?ng shì". He then turned and laid beside his despondent mate, as we left I could hear him humming a lullaby softly to her. The sudden shift in Surya's personality to one of mature responsibility surprised me. None of my prior interactions with him had indicated this kind seriousness.

Once outside I yet again moved to climb upon Mazu. She stopped me however, and then motioned with her head to the far end of Sekhmet's sample crates.

"You did well. But speaking as Sekhmet's dearest friend I ask this of you. Please don't ever remind her of her actions this morning. You don't know the depths this violence pains her. At times I don't think she's even willing to show neither me nor Surya the yawning chasms these actions tear into her soul."

A tear grew in her left eye and began to fall before she wiped it away on her flank.

"Please, Negafook. Give me your vow."

With earnest sincerity I was quick to give my word to help in any way I could. "You have lived with her for just over a century and must know her better than anyone other than Surya. Of course I will do nothing to harm Sekhmet. I will never bring up the matter of her test again."

She gave an indescribably relieved sigh and then gave me a quick, innocent, muzzle nuzzle to show her gratitude. "Your character has been proven twice over this morning, Negafook. I am proud to call you a friend, and family."

She crouched down on her left side to allow me to scramble up on to her back.

A short flight found us returning to my den. I was surprised when I did not see Ata. "Where is she?" I asked a much grown Pinga. She shrugged her wings and said;

"Disappeared into a hole she dug. Said she couldn't sit still with you off throwing your neck under a moving train. Good to see you're still in one piece. Can't say that I'm surprised that you have a bandage on."

I scanned about to take stock of where my family was and how they were doing now that they were awake. Silla was busily feasting on some prey with Apollo and Diana, she was only a little bit smaller than her future mate now. Her wings looked to be big enough to at least glide with. Mazu was circled around Nan and grooming his head feathers which were a happily content bluish green with her snout. His wings were half grown and his snout looked thicker and longer. He was now about fourteen meters long. My oldest daughter had grown to be longer than me yet again with her own half formed wings. She had feathers on her tail as well now and the beginnings of a line of horns running down the back of her head to her nape.

I turned for the bowl of our nest to find my absent and (apparently) fretting mate. Looking over the rim of the nest I saw a large new hole about the size of what I assume my wife was now. Even now I could see the tip of her tail twitching to and fro in the opening. Every minute or so a large gout of earth flew from the opening as she continued her deep dig. Stopping just short of entering I could hear muttered grumbling along with sound of paws scraping at hardened earth. However the only thing I could see was the slope of her tail and her large, scaly, delectable, legs and rump (Wait... Can she hear me?).

Furthermore, is this thing stable with so many heavy creatures around? I didn't know, but I asked Gregory and sent pictures of it to him.

Just make sure she's gone at least eight meters down. I'll come by later and see about using some resin to reinforce it.

Eight meters? I thought in despair. How long will that take? Well, never mind I suppose. Since my wife was at a minimum 14 meters long, it would have a ?of 0.60824rad and an r value of 14. The slope seems about right and she had a solid 2/3rds of herself down the tunnel. Pretty good progress. I'd only been gone an hour.

_ _ Before I could enter to see what she was about. Another blast of earth struck my nose clogging the flared inquisitive nostrils. After I dislodged the dirt with a violent sneeze I peeked one eye down the rapidly lengthening tunnel. She was indeed grumbling under her breath while the feathers on her tail showed a dull violet with shimmers of blue within. (Hhmm that's new, irritated but proud? I think so.)

"I leave for a half hour and you try to dig down to the bedrock."

She squealed in surprise before running to me and began sniffing over my whole length checking for injury. After nosing at the scalped scales and feathers and licking the wound she sniffed at my bandaged side. Happy that nothing smelled infected she sat down and sighed.

"Well, what do you think?" She asked.

I twisted my head about for a moment and then sat to scratch my side. "About what?" Her tail cuffed the side of my head and she rolled her eyes again. "Oh, about you trying to dig out the mines of Moria? What for? Don't you think this will collapse? Can we go outside?"

"This will become our den. I don't think it will collapse, it smells... too... strong? Yes, too strong to collapse. But I want to set about using some of my Engineering skills. To make this a home worth having for thousands of turns. Just imagine! The memories in here will become so thick that they might live on their own! I should combine my engineering skills with Gregory and Sylvia. Just think what a builder, a technician, and a mechtech can team up to do!"

"The one you should be asking is Sekhmet. The female is an absolute genius. You should meet her. Between her and her parents this place would be something else. What about the large bowl we made up top?"

"I'm going to ask Silla and Nanook if they would dig their own nests sharing the common bowl. I'd like to just keep laying in one pile, it feels the most natural to me for some reason. But I'd imagine they will have need of privacy."

"Don't be so sure, I'm fairly well convinced that our new colony has no problem with rutting in plain sight."

Not saying anything more my wife was soon just a meandering tail drawing its track back out to the world above.

I returned to finding her casting a suspicious eye on each of our offspring. That didn't stop Mazu however from bending her great head down to lick the side of my son's snout. His emotional response glowed from his feathers as he returned the action and crooned into her ear frill before drawing his snout down the length of her jaw. He followed this up by licking one of her long tendrils being held by his paw. This sent a shiver cascading down her length making her hindquarters and tail dance energetically. With a joyful bugle she began looping herself around him, nudging him with great exuberance. Huh, I thought, must be an erogenous zone.

Hey Carol, I sent out. What are the physiological nature of her tendrils?

She returned an answer after a moment: Those are really more like whiskers than anything, zart und schön. ( tender and beautiful ) They are packed full of nerves from one end to the other. She uses them to sense water currents, salinity, temperature, well... a great many things really. Sie kann Leben fühlen. ( She can feel life. ) She's even used them to feel minute differences in the surface of objects. They are incredibly sensitive. Why do you ask by the way?

_ Oh,_ I tried to say as casually as I could while watching the large sea dragoness liquefy the ground she laid on with her ultrasonic raptures. No reason. When will she reach sexual maturity?

A warm feeling of maternal endearment entered my mind. Mein Kind ( My child ). Ah, she certainly is taken with your son, her feelings are so strong I can feel them here. Ihr Herz singt mit Freude. ( Her heart sings with joy. ) We've noticed an increasing tendency for the younglings to take these early starts on to lifelong journeys. Als Partner im Leben. ( As a partner in life. ) Mentally she is prepared to open herself to Nanook, but physically is another story. As best as we can tell, the females of our new species do not enter season until they are some hundred turns old. Sie sind bereit für Eier. ( They are ready for eggs. ) Afterwards, seasons come once every few centuries or so. Females of my type are just too large to breed more frequently, the oceans would not support it. So her plumbing is there, it's just that there is no egg awaiting fertilization, uh... I think. Sie werden glückliche Geliebte sein. Obwohl ich glaube, sie ist jetzt ein wenig über hundert Jahre alt. Du wirst sehen, wie sich deine Wahrnehmung verändert. ( They will be happy lovers. Although I think she is now a little over a hundred years old. You will see how your perception changes. )

Well. That was definitely food for thought. I continued to watch as Mazu adjusted her coils and grasped my eldest child with all four paws possessively. Her head was raised and she continued to preen my son's feathers. She was obviously laying claim to him and announcing that fact with every expressive movement of her titanic body. Amazement set in as I could interpret more and more of these nonverbal signals. I will have a fairly good dissertation worked out by the time I reach my full growth at this rate! I must record all of this. I don't want to sink into the haze of familiarity and forget how incredible all these behavioral shifts and alterations are!

"Mother" a voice nearby broke my reverie. It was Pinga, my feathers bristled in attention. She continued speaking to her mother, "Barring any more emergencies, I will be returning to talk more with Caleb and Noctis."

"Honey, don't get your hopes up in being able to reach Caleb. He only sees one path and it is at an end. Please do not set attachments upon him."

"I just feel bad. Even if he agrees to let me... couple with him... It doesn't feel right. I hate to think that that will be the last experience he has. A mate that isn't his. Siring children that he'll never know. And then the end. I suppose it is his decision. I can't imagine the pain he's in. I want to help ease him on his way, which is why I want to go there now."

My wife extended and laid her wing upon Pinga for comfort, "As you wish, my child. I hope you can help that poor soul in his final days." Pinga gave a weak smile and then left, trotting along the path to the med bay, waving goodbye with her tail.

I watched her disappear into the forest and then abruptly realized that I was hungry. No surprise really, I hadn't eaten yet in the few hours I'd been awake. I nudged my wife.

"You hungry?"

Instead of answering she just licked her jaws, which I took as an affirmative. Running up the side of the nest I sprang to the air and began my latest adventure, my first hunt. After asking the twins where the hunting grounds may be, I began a lazy spiraling orbit above the vast field swinging my head side to side in search. I did not have to search long.

Two of the grazing prey animals were just below me. After instinctively slipping sideways to prevent my shadow from falling upon them I folded my wings and dove to strike. My full weight fell upon the first animal and while I was not yet large enough for that to be a killing move I did pin it to the ground. Before the second could react beyond bellowing in mortal terror I craned my head over and bit down behind its neck and ripped its nerve column apart and it collapsed.

The shrieking death warble of the one pinned beneath doubled in volume after witnessing its partner's demise until I severed its nerve column with a quick bite. Absently thinking while I stripped my kill savagely I quickly compiled a list in my head of everything I had just done in the previous three minutes that were new and unfamiliar in behavior and ability. Aerial maneuvering and hunting, who would have thought? But who has time to think when one eats I realized? Did eating the manufactured food in Space ever taste this good? I closed my eyes in culinary ecstasy as I ripped off a limb and threw my head back to speed passage down my gullet. The feeling of warmth as blood gushed, the smell and taste of muscle and fat still twitching with residual energy, the elated thrill as I watched the light leave the creature's...

I froze in mid bite with entrails still dangling from the side of my mouth. What was I? No better than an animal myself? How could I...

"Stop." Was what I heard as Nathan landed next to me.

"I can see from a kilometer away that you're already well on your way to working yourself up into a panic. Let me guess, this was your first hunt and first kill. Let me also guess at what's running through your mind: I'm an animal. How could I do this? How could I enjoy this? I gave no more thought to killing than I did breathing! Oh stars, I just took pleasure in watching a creature die! Does any of this ring a bell? Let me help you. First, swallow what's left in your maw. Second, close your eyes and breathe deeply."

I flicked my head back and swallowed the rest of my intestinal noodle and then began to meditate as he was apparently directing me to.

"Are you calm?"

I nodded my head.

"Good, because I am about to damage your calm by telling you something that you must know." He took a deep breath then continued. "These creatures are intelligent enough to understand life, death, and self."

I leapt a full body length away from the killing ground waving my head negation. "No no no no no! What have I done? What have I done! The one I killed last knew what I'd done? Noooo." I wailed.

"You have done what is natural. You have eaten meat before. The only difference now is that you are responsible for your kill. These creatures are bound by no fence, no barrier. They display their intelligence by remaining here were we protect them from other predators. Heal their wounds, treat their diseases, and take from them only what we need. Treat them with respect by giving them swift and clean deaths, and waste nothing that they gave their lives for. Look at our bodies Negafook, we are predators now."

Slowly my racing heart and breathing calmed as I finally folded my wings neatly again. However I had one last concern. "But I enjoyed it!"

"Yes, yes you did. Have you ever enjoyed an apple? Have you ever enjoyed lasagna? Yes it is hard to compare a living breathing animal to either of those things. But different species need different foods. The problem is not that you enjoyed it. The problem for now is that what you were could not. That ingrained disgust is an adaptation to keep you from eating things that might have sickened or even killed you. In time you will shed those inhibitions just as you have your old body."

After another moment of undecided shuffling I sidled back up to my prior position and hesitantly resumed my meal. Nodding his approval Nathan turned to go and with several bounds launched himself aloft and towards the teaching arena. I jerked unexpectedly as once again, Nathan brushed several trees. With a deafening crack a burst of static electricity had arced into a large nearby lightning rod. What is with that dragon, I thought with amusement as I heard him yelp in surprise.

When I bent my head down to finish the rest of the carcass I once again began to feel the strange sensation of growth. Between the feeling of my body sliding along the grass while stretching and broadening further. And the fact that I had to make an increasingly larger movement of my head to reach my receding meal. I felt a burning sensation erupt down the length of my spine as my feathers grew in but also something else. It felt like there uncountable multitudes of burning filaments worming their way through my hindquarters and tail. All of these sinuous curiosities seemed to form in some kind of major junction just above the base of my tail and my hips. Huh, I thought, that's funny.

I clicked my tongue once then shrugged my wings and rose to take off. Once aloft I circled back to snatch the other octopod for Ata. I will admit it took me a moment of searching about before I felt the right way back. Soon enough though I was back and with much ceremony I presented my first kill to my mate. By that I mean I strutted into the clearing with the kill in my jaws and my wings and neck extended proudly aloft.

My family rolled their eyes at my puffing myself up (literally as all my feathers stood excitedly as well) although Ata did thank me for the kill. That was all I needed to hear anyway.

Settling next to her as she ate I looked around. Between the time I had departed and now everyone but Ata and I had disappeared with alarming and remarkably silent haste. I made another serpentine shrug.

We're alone again.

Ata looked up at me while she continued eating. So we are, was her reply.

I grinned inwardly with a new plan. I noticed when I grew earlier a curious new addition to our physiology.

Oh?

"Let me see if I can find it on you as well" I said aloud. Bringing my head around to her rump where I had felt my own new nerve cluster. "Tell me if you can feel this."

Breathing hotly on her unsuspecting back I licked the region once and then nipped lightly at the spot a few times. Her response was everything I could hope for. With a squeal entirely unsuited to a creature her size she convulsed in place dropping the mouthful of meat she had and bent her head low panting loudly.

"What... What was that?" She curled back to look at me with narrowed eyes. "And why have you stopped?"

Baring all my teeth in a grin I sprang to tackle her as we rolled across the nest without a care in the world. The whole time filling the whole area with the sound of our song. After some time later (who can keep track while having such fun?) we tumbled to a halt so she could finish her meal. While finishing the rest of her cooling repast, I saw one of her eyes roll to look at me.

It brings joy to my heart to see you bounce back from this morning. I don't know if you've realized it or not but despite your best efforts till now you had smelled and held yourself in ways that broadcasted depression.

_ _ "I...I have? Could you show me please, your memories of how I looked? These are the types of things that I must take note of. Also I suppose it is time for me to share my experiences with you as well. They may be helpful."

Tossing back the last leg of her meal she continued. There is no need dear. As soon as "_you had left for your meeting with Sekhmet she contacted me. In order to" _let me know she would share with me through her eyes her "encounter with you."

I already knew where this was going. "How did feeling her emotions during and after the challenge make you feel?"

For an answer she placed her head against mine and whispered "like this".

It is hard to describe what happened next. A series of feelings, feeling of two creatures being mingled and then projected. The determination and calculation coming from Sekhmet along with her anguish and misery. Those raw emotions being capped off by my own reaction to the vertigo of watching an encounter I had already experienced through the eyes of the dragon I remember looking upon from the other side of the clearing. The way that at first I had shrunk to the ground and started to hide behind my wings, before straightening the terrified curve of my neck and beginning my proposal.

Encompassing all of that, suffusing every corner and imbuing every memory, was the glowing warmth and light of my mate. My beautiful mate. I did not deserve this love. How could I after what I had caused Sekhmet.

Gasping, I fell on to my tail and could do nothing but try to remember how to breathe.

Ata said aloud; "That dragoness is a true wonder. It broke my heart to feelhow badly she did about her actions. The role of fighter is not one that suits her, she should be teaching younglings how to soar, how to be curious, how to scamper and play. But her selflessness drives her to assume a role so that others would not have to. We have heard time and again that Mazu is the most caring dragoness here. I think it may be Sekhmet."

My only response was a series of whimpers as I laid down and hid my head from the world with my own paws.

Do not be sad Negafook, my kin. This is a burden that I have chosen to suffer. But I do not suffer alone, I have my mate and my kin. Do not hold on to your sadness, be free of it, share with your mate, share with us as your kin. Did not Nathan help you earlier? We keep no secrets from each other. Nor will we ever show our tails to those in need. Please, let us help you.

_ _ I felt warmth blossom within my head at the same time I felt it along my side. My paws were pushed one after the other off my head and then I felt the underside of Ata's jaw brushing my feathers and I heard the echo of two voices within my mind. Sssleeeeep

I....felt... so...warm...