Post by inkblot on Oct 4, 2010 2:15:51 GMT 10
Title: Song and Shadow
Rating: PG
Length: 1454 words
Category: Tortall
Summary: Gold-streak has been busy in the Dragonlands, helping his fellow darkings find their place in life. But he's been longing for the only dragon who's not in the divine realm- Skysong.
Peculiar Pairing: Gold-streak/Kitten
The fall equinox approached quickly, the days falling away like rain to the citizens of the divine realms. It certainly seemed so to Gold-streak, the darking king.
He was waited anxiously. It was the fall equinox, the day that the gates would open between the divine and the mortal realms. Beside him stood Wieryn and the Green Lady, and gather around the gods were the dragons Diamondflame and Wingstar, who lay like cats stretched before a hearth.
The darking was hardly larger than a human fist, but these giant creatures did not daunt him. Diamondflame had welcomed the darkings into his clan, and had given them land within the dragon’s realm. There Gold-streak, Inkblot, and the other darkings had lived together since the Immortals war.
The darkings had been grieving the loss of Leaf and Jelly when they moved in to the dragon’s lands. Gold-streak, who had known them better than most, felt wretched for weeks after he felt their deaths through the shadow road. He was happier now, with the darkings’ future clearer than ever.
All darkings could communicate with each other over long distances, using shadows as a focus. Gold-streak had termed the connection the shadow road, because when a darking focused on a shadow, they flowed and joined wittravelingelling to a center point down a straight path. A darking could then connect with any others on the road.
Gold-streak, Leaf, and Jelly had all mastered the use of the shadow road travelingelling, and so all three could maintain their connection and remain in their bodies at the same time. Gold-streak had been halfway on the road when Ozorne had murdered his kinfolk and companions. He had felt their death as surely as if he were the one struck.
But he put aside his grief when the gods gathered, remembering Jonathan, the mortal king. The others need me, he thought. So he spoke with Daine and Diamondflame, and called the remaining darkings to him. Together they went with the dragons, and began their new life.
The other darkings looked up to Gold-streak. He had, after all, given them freedom from Ozorne. They elected him king. Gold-streak cooperated with the dragons to name all the remaining darkings. The dragons helped the new beings, teaching them how to speak fluently in dragon and mortal languages. Diamondflame had even started teaching Gold-streak to use his mind voice. Gold-streak worked hard at it, and learned quickly. And now, finally, his work was paying off. He was waiting, with the dragons and gods, to enter the mortal realms. Waiting to see Daine and Numair. Waiting to see Skysong.
---
They had only met twice before, during the confusion of war. Gold-streak had not spent much time with her the first time- she was with King Jonathan, whose darking, had needed quite a bit of convincing. He and the badger god had made themselves known to the king first, at the badger god’s insistence.
-It’s only right- he told the darking, –he is commanding the mortal army. It would be dangerous to leave him with a spy still loyal to Ozorne. -
Gold-streak agreed and the pair made their (abrupt, thanks to the badger’s magic) way through the castle stronghold of Legann. The badger spoke with Jonathan, introducing himself and Gold-streak and explaining their mission in hardly a breath. The king in turn introduced his entourage, Skysong included.
She was strange, and new, and beautiful; she was the first dragon Gold-streak met, and so he had no standards to compare her to. And yet she stood out to him, her intelligence inspiring him to think more, to be more like her. She had a brilliance about her that the tiny darking envied. It was the first time he envied.
He forgot her and his feelings of awe soon after though, once Inkblot agreed to turn his loyalties to Tortall. Gold-streak and the badger god left Legann in search of Queen Thayet.
---
They met again before the battle at Legann. All the darkings turned, the badger god returned to assist the mortals fight. He left Gold-streak to wander the castle two days before the final battle.
Gold-streak explored the towers and passages, unnoticed by the soldiers. No one noticed him as he slipped between the shadows of twilight cast by the angled battlements. He wandered past the king’s dinner table, around which gathered many mortal men he didn’t know. As the dusk was fading into night, Gold-streak settled into the shadow of a balcony wall for the night.
It was there that Skysong found him in the hours before dawn. He awoke when she nudged him with her muzzle. She sniffed and prodded him, then gave a startled screech when he reached to her.
He struggled for a moment to form a head, then a mouth; then he said, “You are Skysong... yes?”
She hummed a cheerful reply that stirred something in Gold-streak and made the shadows of the granite walls disappear for a moment. He reached a tendril forward, hesitantly. Skysong nodded, and he flew across her blue scales and nestled on the back of her neck.
She sat, and together they silently watched the sunrise. Gold-streak shrank against her blue scales as the light spread over the balcony’s railing and pooled around them. Uncomfortable with the growing light, he asked, “Inside please?”
Skysong obliged and backed into the shade of an overhang.
“Thank you, dragon Skysong,” Gold-streak squeaked.
Again she hummed, this time the vibrating notes rolled through Gold-streak like a sonorous voice, resolving into words.
-You are welcome, darking. Call me Kit. -
It was a voice of song, unlike any Gold-streak had heard in his short life. His body reverberated with every lift and fall, the words pouring through his non-body as though he were water. If he had naturally possessed a mouth, it would have swung open in shock.
As it was, he merely said, “You… You speak?” in a squeak even higher and smaller than normal.
Skysong- no, Kit- hummed a tinkling laugh. –Yes,¬- she said, -though you are the only one who understands me besides Tkaa.-
“Oh.” Gold-streak was conscious now of how tiny and graceless his voice was in comparison to her song speech.
-What is your name? - Gold-streak froze; his head swiveled to face hers. –Didn’t Daine give you a name?-
Comprehension dawned on the darking. “I am Gold-streak,” he said.
Kitten stretched to look back at him, and bared her teeth in a dragon grin.
-A pleasure to meet you, Gold-streak.-
She laughed again- no, not laughing, Gold-streak realized, she was giggling. She was young still, though she did not sound her age.
Joy flooded his body and he lightened several shades. She wasn’t laughing because she looked down on him, he realized, but because she was young and happy.
He also realized in that moment that Kitten was desperate for a little joy, a good laugh. Wartime has been hard on her, Gold-streak thought. And for the rest of the days before the fighting broke out he stayed with her and made her laugh as much as he could.
---
Gold-streak saw Kit only once more after the battle- during the gathering of gods. They had no time for goodbyes. She looked at him only once, as she climbed onto Diamondflame and flew away. It was enough to break the darking’s heart.
Now, finally, he could see Kit. She would never leave Daine to visit him here, so Gold-streak had to wait for the great holidays to visit her. His tiny heart fluttered inside his inky body as the shadows around him began to shift and swirl, changing. He drew himself up, forcing a head and arms upwards and outwards, and fighting to form the legs he had practiced. A tiny shadow man, he stood before the fluctuating world, waiting.
The light settled; shadows decided a shape. Slowly, the darking felt space still and remain so. There were the trees, the hills, and the town far in the distance. Before the group stood a small crowd of people. One rushed forward and hugged the gods fiercely- this was Daine. As she greeted her parents, Gold-streak slipped unnoticed to Kit’s side. She looked at him with giant sapphire eyes. He reached up to her and rubbed his head against her side.
-You’ve grown, little one.-
Gold-streak nodded, then smiled up at her. “So have you,” he said.
Diamondflame and Wingstar were deep in conversation with the humans. No one noticed as they left, darking riding on the shoulder of a dog-sized dragon. No one would notice, not for a while.
Rating: PG
Length: 1454 words
Category: Tortall
Summary: Gold-streak has been busy in the Dragonlands, helping his fellow darkings find their place in life. But he's been longing for the only dragon who's not in the divine realm- Skysong.
Peculiar Pairing: Gold-streak/Kitten
The fall equinox approached quickly, the days falling away like rain to the citizens of the divine realms. It certainly seemed so to Gold-streak, the darking king.
He was waited anxiously. It was the fall equinox, the day that the gates would open between the divine and the mortal realms. Beside him stood Wieryn and the Green Lady, and gather around the gods were the dragons Diamondflame and Wingstar, who lay like cats stretched before a hearth.
The darking was hardly larger than a human fist, but these giant creatures did not daunt him. Diamondflame had welcomed the darkings into his clan, and had given them land within the dragon’s realm. There Gold-streak, Inkblot, and the other darkings had lived together since the Immortals war.
The darkings had been grieving the loss of Leaf and Jelly when they moved in to the dragon’s lands. Gold-streak, who had known them better than most, felt wretched for weeks after he felt their deaths through the shadow road. He was happier now, with the darkings’ future clearer than ever.
All darkings could communicate with each other over long distances, using shadows as a focus. Gold-streak had termed the connection the shadow road, because when a darking focused on a shadow, they flowed and joined wittravelingelling to a center point down a straight path. A darking could then connect with any others on the road.
Gold-streak, Leaf, and Jelly had all mastered the use of the shadow road travelingelling, and so all three could maintain their connection and remain in their bodies at the same time. Gold-streak had been halfway on the road when Ozorne had murdered his kinfolk and companions. He had felt their death as surely as if he were the one struck.
But he put aside his grief when the gods gathered, remembering Jonathan, the mortal king. The others need me, he thought. So he spoke with Daine and Diamondflame, and called the remaining darkings to him. Together they went with the dragons, and began their new life.
The other darkings looked up to Gold-streak. He had, after all, given them freedom from Ozorne. They elected him king. Gold-streak cooperated with the dragons to name all the remaining darkings. The dragons helped the new beings, teaching them how to speak fluently in dragon and mortal languages. Diamondflame had even started teaching Gold-streak to use his mind voice. Gold-streak worked hard at it, and learned quickly. And now, finally, his work was paying off. He was waiting, with the dragons and gods, to enter the mortal realms. Waiting to see Daine and Numair. Waiting to see Skysong.
---
They had only met twice before, during the confusion of war. Gold-streak had not spent much time with her the first time- she was with King Jonathan, whose darking, had needed quite a bit of convincing. He and the badger god had made themselves known to the king first, at the badger god’s insistence.
-It’s only right- he told the darking, –he is commanding the mortal army. It would be dangerous to leave him with a spy still loyal to Ozorne. -
Gold-streak agreed and the pair made their (abrupt, thanks to the badger’s magic) way through the castle stronghold of Legann. The badger spoke with Jonathan, introducing himself and Gold-streak and explaining their mission in hardly a breath. The king in turn introduced his entourage, Skysong included.
She was strange, and new, and beautiful; she was the first dragon Gold-streak met, and so he had no standards to compare her to. And yet she stood out to him, her intelligence inspiring him to think more, to be more like her. She had a brilliance about her that the tiny darking envied. It was the first time he envied.
He forgot her and his feelings of awe soon after though, once Inkblot agreed to turn his loyalties to Tortall. Gold-streak and the badger god left Legann in search of Queen Thayet.
---
They met again before the battle at Legann. All the darkings turned, the badger god returned to assist the mortals fight. He left Gold-streak to wander the castle two days before the final battle.
Gold-streak explored the towers and passages, unnoticed by the soldiers. No one noticed him as he slipped between the shadows of twilight cast by the angled battlements. He wandered past the king’s dinner table, around which gathered many mortal men he didn’t know. As the dusk was fading into night, Gold-streak settled into the shadow of a balcony wall for the night.
It was there that Skysong found him in the hours before dawn. He awoke when she nudged him with her muzzle. She sniffed and prodded him, then gave a startled screech when he reached to her.
He struggled for a moment to form a head, then a mouth; then he said, “You are Skysong... yes?”
She hummed a cheerful reply that stirred something in Gold-streak and made the shadows of the granite walls disappear for a moment. He reached a tendril forward, hesitantly. Skysong nodded, and he flew across her blue scales and nestled on the back of her neck.
She sat, and together they silently watched the sunrise. Gold-streak shrank against her blue scales as the light spread over the balcony’s railing and pooled around them. Uncomfortable with the growing light, he asked, “Inside please?”
Skysong obliged and backed into the shade of an overhang.
“Thank you, dragon Skysong,” Gold-streak squeaked.
Again she hummed, this time the vibrating notes rolled through Gold-streak like a sonorous voice, resolving into words.
-You are welcome, darking. Call me Kit. -
It was a voice of song, unlike any Gold-streak had heard in his short life. His body reverberated with every lift and fall, the words pouring through his non-body as though he were water. If he had naturally possessed a mouth, it would have swung open in shock.
As it was, he merely said, “You… You speak?” in a squeak even higher and smaller than normal.
Skysong- no, Kit- hummed a tinkling laugh. –Yes,¬- she said, -though you are the only one who understands me besides Tkaa.-
“Oh.” Gold-streak was conscious now of how tiny and graceless his voice was in comparison to her song speech.
-What is your name? - Gold-streak froze; his head swiveled to face hers. –Didn’t Daine give you a name?-
Comprehension dawned on the darking. “I am Gold-streak,” he said.
Kitten stretched to look back at him, and bared her teeth in a dragon grin.
-A pleasure to meet you, Gold-streak.-
She laughed again- no, not laughing, Gold-streak realized, she was giggling. She was young still, though she did not sound her age.
Joy flooded his body and he lightened several shades. She wasn’t laughing because she looked down on him, he realized, but because she was young and happy.
He also realized in that moment that Kitten was desperate for a little joy, a good laugh. Wartime has been hard on her, Gold-streak thought. And for the rest of the days before the fighting broke out he stayed with her and made her laugh as much as he could.
---
Gold-streak saw Kit only once more after the battle- during the gathering of gods. They had no time for goodbyes. She looked at him only once, as she climbed onto Diamondflame and flew away. It was enough to break the darking’s heart.
Now, finally, he could see Kit. She would never leave Daine to visit him here, so Gold-streak had to wait for the great holidays to visit her. His tiny heart fluttered inside his inky body as the shadows around him began to shift and swirl, changing. He drew himself up, forcing a head and arms upwards and outwards, and fighting to form the legs he had practiced. A tiny shadow man, he stood before the fluctuating world, waiting.
The light settled; shadows decided a shape. Slowly, the darking felt space still and remain so. There were the trees, the hills, and the town far in the distance. Before the group stood a small crowd of people. One rushed forward and hugged the gods fiercely- this was Daine. As she greeted her parents, Gold-streak slipped unnoticed to Kit’s side. She looked at him with giant sapphire eyes. He reached up to her and rubbed his head against her side.
-You’ve grown, little one.-
Gold-streak nodded, then smiled up at her. “So have you,” he said.
Diamondflame and Wingstar were deep in conversation with the humans. No one noticed as they left, darking riding on the shoulder of a dog-sized dragon. No one would notice, not for a while.