Jia flapped her wings once, catching the wind beneath the rainbow colored membrane to maintain her altitude before straightening out again into a gliding position. She scanned the land below and before her as she made her way in the direction that Ruby had gone. The red dragon was no longer in sight, but perhaps she was only around the next hill. Ebony had said Ruby needed some time to think, but Jia didn't believe that necessarily meant the red needed to be alone. It might help to have a confidant. As the only other female dragon, Jia felt she was the only one who could talk to her right now. So she had gone looking for Ruby, against Ebony's muted protests, leaving Ember in the care of the black dragon.
The blue dragon had half expected to find something in flames, a grove or an abandoned settlement. Ruby's temper knew few boundaries. However, when Jia finally found her, the red dragon wasn't raving, snarling, or even burning anything. Ruby had lain beside to a small pond, curled up into a red furred ball; shaking. Jia landed a short distance away, not wanting to startle her.
"Ruby?" she called, announcing her presence.
The red dragon dabbed at her face quickly with a paw, trying to compose herself, but moist fur did not dry so easily and the area beneath her eyes was slick with tears.
"Aji... is that you?" she asked, voice shaking as she craned her neck to look at her visitor.
"Yur, I was worried about you," the blue said quietly, coming alongside her. "You don't have to try and hide your feelings from me. You know I'm always willing to listen."
Or did she? Aji didn't know. Listening felt familiar, but she could not recall having done this before.
"I'm fine." Yur said shortly, turning away to stare into the water. Aji had found the red behind the Crystal Palace, near the edge of the island. Yur had been curled up and sobbing, despite trying to pretend she hadn't.
"Yur, I'm your sister, in spirit if not in the human fashion. I care about you and I want to help." Aji's tail twitched anxiously back and forth as she watched her friend.
"What does it matter? What does anything matter?" Yur muttered bitterly.
"It matters to me," said the blue dragon, raising her head with a tilt of importance. "Yur, please." Her voice was gentle, a caress of wind upon the water. "Talk to me. Tell me what happened."
"You know what happened! You heard!" Ruby snapped, looking at Jia through eyes blurred with tears.
"I heard what Nall said, Ruby, but what he said is not the whole story." The blue dragon peered straight at her, through the tears, through the fog of her pain. "I want to hear how you feel about it."
"Oh, I'm just fine," Ruby murmured, staring at her forepaws. "Never felt better."
Jia closed the last of the distance between her and the red dragon, coming to rest a paw lightly on Ruby's shoulder. She blinked, surprised when the dragon turned and buried her face against Jia's chest, but she accepted the other's need to let the tears flow. Jia held her lightly, neck arched protectively above her and a paw patting Ruby's back in what she hoped was a comforting manner.
"Oh... Jia," said Ruby, "how could he?"
Jia petted Ruby, ready for the tremors as she spoke the answer heavy in her heart. "He thought it was you."
"But it wasn't me!" she said fiercely. "What he shared with her is something..."
"Was a mistake," said Jia. "But Ruby, the fact remains that he thought it was you. "She lifted the red dragon's head to look her in the eyes. "I've known Nall for centuries now and he loves you very much."
"But..." Ruby squirmed, pain and confusion in her voice.
"Do you love him, Ruby?"
Yur sniffled, lowering her gaze. She didn't answer immediately, so Aji pressed her again.
"Do you love him, Yur?"
Yur choked. "Yes."
Aji sighed and wrapped a comforting wing around her.
"You're not Ruby. You're like her, but that's different from being her. I'm sure in your heart you know as well as I do that Nall only has eyes for her," said Aji.
Yur spoke, her body wracked with sobs.
"I thought... I felt that... he should love me too. I am the red dragon, one of the protectors of Lunar. There is only one of me."
"You're remembering Ruby's memories, Yur. That's okay. It happens. But... I think you're looking in the wrong direction."
"What... what do you mean?" Yur lifted a tear filled gaze to look into Aji's blue eyes.
"Laln is worried about you," she replied, patting her on the shoulder.
"Laln? But... he..." Yur's eyes whirled with bewilderment.
"He is your white dragon, Yur. I know, Twyla made him feel like your brother. I think she was afraid the two of you would bicker like the originals if the two of you were allowed to love. But even Twyla isn't perfect. I think she made a mistake," Aji said. And, looking at Yur's expression, she thought, more than one.
"I... don't... I..." Yur stammered, confusion spreading from the top of her head to the tip of her tail.
"It might take a little work, Yur, but I know that he loves you, and I think you know that too."
Ruby sighed. "I want to believe that Nall loves me, but it hurts."
"I understand," said Jia, "but remember that Nall would never hurt you of his own free will. He loves you too much for that."
"Should I just... forget this?" Ruby asked helplessly.
"No," Jia replied, with a gentle shake of her head. "Don't forget it. But don't blame Nall or yourself, and don't think that this means he loves you any less."
Ruby rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"All right. Thank you, Jia," she said. "I feel a little better. I'll think about what we've talked about."
"You're welcome, Yur," said Aji. "I just worry about my family."
Aji held Yur, sighing quietly as the red dragon hiccuped the last of the tears away. She did worry about her family, perhaps more frequently than she should, and she had to try and save them.
In the skies above the Crystal Palace, Laln, the white dragon, flew. He had planned to return from his brief patrol when he spotted Yur and Aji out on the promontory behind the palace. With barely a thought as to why, he soared so high he appeared little more than a bird to the dragons below, if they could be bothered to see him at all. He circled, waiting until the two had separated.
Yur seemed in better spirits, which relieved him to no end. The red dragon nuzzled Aji farewell before turning around and heading back inside. Aji remained on the promintory a while longer. She watched Yur disappear within, then for several heartbeats did nothing at all. Finally, she swiveled about and leaped out over the sea. She skimmed into the frothy air just over the surface of the water, far too low for anyone or anything other than the blue dragon to fly.
She was difficult to see against the backdrop of the ocean, even as Laln dropped down to a lower altitude, but he watched her until she faded out of sight. Then he banked steeply for a landing and flew inside. He didn't tell anyone what he had seen, but long after the sun had set the blue dragon had yet to return. Twyla would know anyway, he reasoned. She was their leader.
"Ebony?"
He looked down as the small, misshapen form of Ember lumbered up to him. She dropped roughly to her haunches so she would no longer need the full support of her weaker forelegs. Then, finding even that too demanding, she lay down, crowding all four legs beneath her. Ember strained her neck and managed to gaze up at him with a forlorn sheen in her clouded eyes.
"What is it, little one?" Ebony asked kindly.
"Where Jia?" she asked.
Ebony patted her on the head. "Don't worry. She went off to talk to someone. She'll be back soon. Is something wrong?"
"Feel bad," said Ember.
"You can stay with me until Jia gets back, okay?" he said, smiling comfortingly. He patted the ground beside him. "Come here and rest. I'll watch over you."
"Okay, Ebony, I rest," said Ember. She gathered herself for just a few steps, then curled up against Ebony's black, furred side.
He rested a wing lightly over Ember's shrunken form and glanced over at Nall. The white dragon was still where Ebony had left him, facing away and ear tufts twitches every now and then. Ebony hoped he was sleeping instead of brooding. He could use the rest, and so could the little one. He looked down at Ember and sighed.
That the creature's energy was fading. He did not need to know the magic that created her in order to understand that. However, if the pile of bodies they had found in Neo-Vane was any indication, it was a miracle she had survived this long.
He was surprised at how deeply the thought of the small dragon dying affected him. By rights she shouldn't exist, true, but she wasn't at fault for how she had been born, or what she was. In fact, neither was Laln or the other clones. Nall was right. How could they fight them? Or worse? Being who they are, would either side be capable of it?
There wasn't enough power to go around for two dragons of each kind, but the clones were not evil. They were innocents, like Ember. They just followed the dictates with which Twyla had created them; they couldn't help it. Ebony wasn't certain he could kill another dragon if it came down to that. But of one thing he had no doubt. What Twyla had done was wrong.
Ebony sighed again and looked towards Nall once more. He had only to think of him to know the pain she had already caused. He had seen Laln attack Nall in a rage when the white had harmed Twyla. The clones were fiercely loyal to her. That wouldn't make things easy, and he couldn't seen a way around that other than a physical conflict with them. The real dragons... No, that wasn't correct, they were all real. The original dragons were getting weaker and the clones getting stronger. Something had to give, and soon.
He shook his head. Why did things have to be so complicated? Things had been so clear cut before. Ghaleon killed Quark and kidnapped Althena. Somebody took him out. Zophar wanted to destroy the world. Okay, he's a bad guy, somebody killed him. Twyla wanted to improve the world. She was just going about it the wrong way. Her dragons couldn't help but believe in her. Is that to be a death sentence?
As hard as it was to think about, in the end, he knew it wasn't his decision. Nall was the leader of the Dragon Tribe. It was his place to decide what to do, and the black dragon didn't envy him. Nall had only to pull himself together. Ebony only hoped they could spare him that much time. Before, he probably wouldn't have followed the white dragon, but Nall had turned out to be a good leader since this thing had started.
Nall had matured, and though difficult, part of being that leader meant learning to deal with disappointment, betrayal, and himself. When this was all over, Ebony would have to tell him that. Nall deserved to know. But right now he was so upset over Ruby. Ebony hoped that he would get over it soon. The Dragon Tribe needed him.