Tucked away in Pisces, there was a den -- or, rather, more of a lair. Wyvern's wings had carried her there instinctually, naturally. It only made sense that if she missed her mother, she would be landing at her last known place of residence. Aismona always came back soon enough, anyway, and the icy den always felt warm and cozy to Wyvern. But when she'd arrived at the lair, she'd found it stripped bare. Treasures had been removed with only nests left intact, and Aismona's scent was stale. The idea that another dragon or group thereof had persuaded Aismona to leave home was unfathomable to Wyvern, and so she was staring at the empty shell that had once been her home and coming to the conclusion that her mother had died.

That had been four days ago, and since then, Wyvern had only moved from her place curled up in Aismona's nest to go hunt. She still hadn't figured for how many cycles she'd been down. For all Wyvern knew, it could have been hundreds, although that felt unlikely. But in the same breath, she felt distinctly certain that it had been more than just a few for reasons she could not explain. It was just... a feeling. A really, really good one.

Wyvern was almost sure she would go into hibernation again. Her last words to Aismona had been words of anger, hadn't they been? Assuming that her mother was gone... Wyvern wasn't sure if she had any way to cope with that.

"Hey!"

Tiny claws scrabbled on the ground after a woosh of closing wings, before something was tugging on Wyvern's tail.

"That's my spot!!" Carja said indignantly.

She had come here exactly once, when Wyvern happened to be out hunting. She hadn't smelled anything nor had she stayed long enough to leave much of a scent, but she'd wanted to try to get to know her grandmother more by coming here.

The necklaces dangling from her neck, one a half geode on a string, the other a proper necklace should have caught the Wyvern's attention, because it was from Asimona. Specifically, her hoard. This little whelp knew where Wyvern's mother was.

"Stinky! Get up!" she crowed, baring her teeth and uttering her fiercest growl, which was not unlike a raccoon defending its pile of scraps. Not intimidating at all.

@Wyvern

Wyvern startled at the feeling of her tail-feathers being tugged on, and then turned to look at a little, screeching scrap of scales and leather. Bleary, pink eyes blinked a few times before she processed Carja's words. Processed... her. Wyvern took in several pieces of information -- Carja, a strange dragon, was clearly wearing some of Aismona's treasures. Second, that she was claiming this was her spot. And calling her stinky, but that wasn't really a priority.

Her eyes narrowed as her mind scrambled for explanations. One -- Carja was one of her sisters. She was blue and gray, a winged creature. It was certainly an option, but Wyvern was doubtful. Carja was visibly very young, and Wyvern had a feeling that Aismona had been gone longer than two cycles (the idea that the dragon had simply moved hadn't occurred to her, of course). Which left another option. Carja was clearly too young to have killed a great dragon, but theft was within any hatchling's wheelhouse.

Now, Wyvern was not an angry creature. She certainly wasn't a violent one. But Carja had something that belonged to her mother and Wyvern was still under the impression that Aismona was dead. "You stole those," she breathed, all her feathers sticking straight up. Manners were totally forgotten. "You have no right, you insolent worm!" she shrieked, unsure where the insult was coming from. Wyvern scrambled to her feet, looming over Carja threateningly. "I am Wyvern, heir to this lair, and I-- I--" A braver or meaner creature would have followed that up with a threat, but she realized the implications of that statement again and fell into a shuddering sob.

The pretty blue macaw dragon looked haggard. "You disgrace her memory," Wyvern croaked. "Those aren't yours. They-- they belonged to the dragon who lived here, before you stole them." She swallowed hard. "Her name... was Aismona, and she was my mother."


@carja

Carja let go as the other's voice raised, blinking up at her stupidly. What did 'insolent' mean? And worm as in wyrm? Her mind didn't even think of it as an insult as she grinned.

"Thank you! And I didn't steal these, they were a gift," she explained, before her eyes lit up and she gasped, "You know grandma?! Are you one of her children? Are you my auntie- or uncle?! She's gonna be so happy to see you- she told me about you! How you walk on your wings and you're covered in feathers and she misses you!"

Carja waddled forward to bump her head against Wyvern comfortingly, "She's not here anymore, unclie. She moved to be with Dread and us other dragons in Monoceros, and she moved her hoard there too. You have a brother named Svartis there, and lots of other dragons who I bet would love to meet you again."

She sat down, hind legs sprawled with her wing-claws on the ground, her front legs fiddling. She seemed rather oblivious to the other's sadness, though with her attempts to comfort, it seemed her constant joy just couldn't be brought down.

"I have a sister there," she said, "Her name's Lass, and she's pretty, like you, with white and blue scales and feathery things on her head like flower petals. She's only as long as my head, but she's great."

@Wyvern

Wyvern fell silent, taken by the emotional whiplash. She genuinely didn't believe a word Carja said until she mentioned that Aismona had moved to be with younger children, which... actually did make a lot of sense, especially if the other party involved wanted to keep the hatchlings close. Then she processed grandma and looked incredulously down at Carja, but... well, that did make some sense. "Auntie is fine," she said, her voice distant (not that she really took offense to the half-there hybrid of the two words that Carja had thought up). The creature needed a few more moments to process everything.

She breathed out heavily. "Monceros, huh? That's... far." She knew it was beyond Tunnel M. And if Aismona had produced more dragons... had she joined up with Dread of all creatures? The thought made her feathers prickle. Not that Dread was nasty or anything, just... fiery. And loud. Wyvern's wings folded back in, making her look quite a lot more like a bird than a dragon, and she clicked her beak softly.

"... My apologies," she said finally, feeling the need to introduce herself. "It seems that I jumped to some conclusions. I am Wyvern, firstborn of Aismona. What is your name?"


@carja

Carja nodded, "Mhm. It takes a while to fly around the caves, but I'm getting way better! I can use drafts to get around."

She shook her head and flip-flopped over to Wyvern, "You already said your name, silly. I'm Carja."

The she-dragon bared a grin full of teeth, so wide that it nearly split her face. She rolled onto her side and waved her front paws in the air, trying to bat at one of Wyvern's stray feathers, giggling up a storm.

"Do you know Svartis?" she asked, "He's my daddy, and I love him. He lets me sleep on his head. And my brother Blight is super cool, though he says I can't lick him or I could get sick, so I playfight and paw at him instead. He always wins! I don't know why, I'm clearly the better fighter."

@Wyvern

She shifted uncomfortably at the question. "I have been asleep for several cycles. The only dragon I know other than myself and my mother is Dread, although I suppose if you stretch your definitions some of the Vita brood could be called dragon-like. Is... has my mother really joined with Dread? I was under the impression that he was..." Instinct said 'an immature brute with a fiery temper who had no respect for ice or cold', but instead she said, "Well, I was not aware that they were anything more than allies." But as she'd just said, things changed, and she had been gone for a while. She presumed that Svartis and Blight were... her brothers, then...?

She'd never thought of herself as a creature who exactly... had brothers, but in consideration, it didn't feel like the most absurd thought. Wyvern would have been a liar if she'd said she hadn't considered what it would be like to have a larger family, although she'd severed herself rather abruptly from Aismona in her youth. She continued to think. "Actually, more importantly -- why are you here by your lonesome? You are very young to be traveling to and from Monceros on your own. When I was your age, Aismona wouldn't let me past the mouth of this den." That was only a little bit of an exaggeration.


@carja

Carja's mouth widened into a grin and she leaned in as if telling Wyvern a secret, "I tire Svartis out so that he falls asleep, then I leave to go explore! But I think he's okay with me going about anyway, I can defend myself pretty okay."

She stood on her hind legs and smacked at an imaginary enemy, making sound effects with her mouth to demonstrate just how good she was at defending herself.

"But... Svartis is Asimona and Dread's son, and Svartis is Blight, Lass, and mine's dad... and you're my auntie. We're a whole family now!" she crowed, before tugging on the dragon's paw insistently, "Hey! We need to go home- Asimona needs to know you're okay! I said that you would come back, and I was right!!"

@Wyvern

Wyvern frowned. doubtless, someone needed to be keeping a closer eye on the wyrmling. Perhaps that would be her job, she thought idly, a refreshing coolness curling up into her chest. She opened and closed her beak with a click, briefly revealing her teeth as she considered the news. Well, she'd never really interacted with Dread much, and it wasn't like she knew of many dragons in the caves. Expecting her mother to never take a mate when she was so fond of young was absurd.

If they were formally mates, anyway -- not that it really mattered to Wyvern; one way or another, Dread and Aismona produced young together and worked to raise them. She looked fondly down at Carja, who was still small enough to be carried. "That's a good idea. Here. I probably fly faster than you; do you want a ride?" She was certainly a little rusty, but strength would return to her quickly as her muscles got more use. "My talons aren't very sharp, so I could either carry you in my feet or let you try to balance on my back."


@carja

Carja gasped and wiggled her way into the air, flapping over to Wyvern to plant herself in the other's feathers, right between her shoulder-blades.

"I love rides!!" she squawked, mimicking Wyvern's voice and giggling.

She giggled and flopped down into Wyvern's soft feathers, having a blast rubbing up against their softness, "Let's go!! Grandma's gonna be so happy to see you!"

She clung to Wyvern, not so tightly that it hurt, but she wouldn't fall off. Content to stay where she was, she purred happily, tail flicking back and forth rather than wagging.

Exit Carja?

@Wyvern