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your heart has always been your downfall
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The first day of Amarinth's life was a blur. He scarcely had time to register his mother's face before being whisked to a strange building, full of bugs, small animals, racks of clothing, strange beasts and all sorts of hatchlings. It was crowded, and smelly, and he sat there lonely for a few hours before a dragon arrived, looked at him, and pointed with a smile on his face.
He soon found himself in a strange new land, drastically different from the one which he had only fleeting memories of. He'd barely picked a place to nest before the eldest dragon sent him off to the woods with a young guardian named Obsidian, who thought it would be funny to abandon him in the middle of the Tangled Woods. Amarinth wandered around, trying to locate him again, when he met her.
A skydancer, stumbling through the woods, eyes clouded over in a feverish haze. He ran over to check on her, only for her to fall at his feet, eyes falling shut. Panicked, he pulled her onto his shoulders and took off, trying to find Obsidian again. He should've known he was going the wrong way when the ground turned to pestilent flesh, but the panic that set through him kept him going. He ran through, until the flesh gave way to barren trees, and finally, a cliff.
Exhausted, he slid the Skydancer off his back. She seemed to be coming back to, and she moaned and she twisted and turned. She didn't look okay. He didn't know what to do. A large, brown Guardian dragon lighted down a few feet behind him, and defensively, he stepped over the Skydancer. The Guardian observed her, concern glittering in his eyes. He seemed concerned. Amarinth stepped off and sat beside her, nudging her, looking back up at the Guardian, hoping he would understand what he meant. He opened his mouth to call out, but found no voice. The Guardian stepped closer, looking down at the Skydancer.
"Are you okay, little one?"
She stirred, her eyes focusing on him.
"Could you tell me your name?"
Amarinth took off, too embarrassed, and not wanting the Skydancer to see him. He wandered until Onyx found him at the border of the Shadow Flight territory. He carried him home, scolding him for being so rash. But Amarinth's mind was solely on the skydancer, lying in the sand, her piercing purple eyes.
The Tundra gave him his name. He nodded when she gave it to him. Onyx scowled when he heard it, believing she named him Amarinth purely to spite him. Amarinth paid the exchange no mind. He thought it was a nice name. They asked, and he did not reply. They learned he did not like to speak. He did not like to speak. He found he had nothing to say. And, truth be told, he didn't really like talking. It was too intimidating. He remained silent.
Days passed by, and one night, while hunting, he stumbled across the Skydancer again. Shocked, he rooted to the ground. Neither said anything, only stared. Blushing, he took off. The next night he found her again, and they talked. They met the next, and the night after. He began to become ansty during the day, impatiently waiting to speak to her again. Her name was Nephthys, and she was as brilliant as the skies that surrounded her new flight. He started to grow quite fond of her. They found adulthood together and began to court. He was on cloud nine. After they found adulthood, he talked her into coming into his clan for a while, just long enough to have hatchlings. She finally agreed, and that night they flew back deeper into Shadow flight's territory, tails intertwined. He got her in with a small lie. Onyx didn't object, he could see they were in love, and she was clearly a Shadow dragon, so he let them in. The next five days were the best of his life, sleeping, waking next to Nephthys, spending time with her. They laughed, and played, and finally, their eggs hatched, and they greeted each one of their children with joy in their eyes. Nephthys said she had to go. Amarinth begged her to stay, but she declined. Her clan needed her. She took two of the hatchlings back with her. He watched them leave sadly. He turned to his two children, a skydancer who looked just like her mother, and a pale blue pearlcatcher, cradling his pearl. He would take care of them.
she was as brilliant as the skies that surrounded her new flight.
Onyx, furious that Amarinth had lied to him, stormed into the nest and grabbed the pearlcatcher. Amarinth yelled and screamed and begged for his child to be spared. It was the first time a lot of dragons in the clan had heard his voice. But he yelled - yelled like he'd never been mute a day in his life. It wall all for naught. Onyx took the child somewhere, Amarinth didn't know where. He went back to his nest and cradled his remaining young, Taethys. He buried his head into her feathers. "Where is he?" she asked. She was terrified, and it broke his heart. She'd been through so much already. He kissed her cheek and held her close. "I'll keep you safe."
He thanked the stars every night they curled up safe in his nest, and he almost cried on her birthday. He gave her a pearl necklace. "You are my sun," he told her. When Onyx tasked her with clan historian, his heart swelled with pride. Every time he returned from battle, she would come running. "It's for the clan history!" she would argue. But he knew she just wanted to hear another grand tale. To ease his recounts, they both learned sign language, which serves as a much easier way for him to communicate. Most of the other dragons can't understand it, but most of the other dragons don't talk to him. He doesn't mind. He has everything he could ever ask for. Or, almost everything.
