Reunion

Kitharris had always loved dragons from the first time he had seen one of the magnificent beasts winging over his trailer park. He had saved up his allowance for a full three months to be able to afford tickets to a draconic aerial acrobatics tournament. Rather than sit in the bleachers, he sat in a beach chair he had brought with him, reclining so that he didn't have to arch his neck to watch his favorite creatures practice their airborne feats. The goal of each of the behemoths was to snatch the feathers strapped to the tailtip and wingtips of the opposing reptile. For creatures of length from fifty to 120 feet, it was an incredibly fast paced tournament, barrel rolls, sharp turns, and rolls at the ends of long dives being common sights.

After saving for another four months, he purchased himself a four foot, high quality model of the winner of that tournament, a sleek female silver nicknamed Streak by her human fans, an apt alias for such a dexterous being. Being able to fly as fast as any other species of dragon while only being 65 feet long, fully grown, was quite an asset, especially since she was also debatably the most skilled dragon ever known at high speed turning. Of course, luck also played a part, as well as being fast and small, which allowed her to duck and weave into any gap shown and snag a feather or two.

Following that, Kith spent the next two months saving while he built the model, then painted it with incredible detail, using the photograph on a post card he had found on the ground to get the exact pattern of her markings on the plastic replica. He used the money he had saved from his paltry stipend and every bit of bravery he had in his timid body to carefully box up the model and ship it to Streak. With it he included the post card, on the back of which he declared himself her greatest fan. He never really expected a response, and he even spent one night, after a particularly bad day at school, calling himself a fool for wasting so much of his money on something that would net him nothing in return.

About two weeks later, several minutes after letting himself into his empty trailer after school, he was fixing himself a peanut butter sandwich and waiting for his mother to come home from the toothpaste factory in the next half dozen hours. He wasn't looking forward to it, considering how she was treating him lately. His thoughts were on how she never let up on him when she started in, usually beginning on something as completely innocent as the remote being left on the coffee table instead of on top of the television, when he jumped as he heard a knock at the door. It had been right as he was sitting down in a ratty, moth eaten chair, and the sudden disorienting jump had him clinging to the chair arm to keep from falling. Unfortunately the sandwich he had just made was in the hand that went to the chair, and thusly he halfway mashed it into the cushioning, the other half dropping onto the less than clean floor. 'She'll really stick it to me tonight,' he thought dreadfully, 'probably enough to get physical again,' absently touching the bruise on his left arm, expecting it to get a few mates tonight.

Sighing resignedly, the pre-teen picked up the half sandwich on the floor, now slightly lint covered, placed it into the trash basket, and crossed to the door. He opened it, thinking it a friend, ready to complain about what they had done to his sandwich, and consequently, his life. He was totally unprepared to see a quite beautiful woman standing before him. She was wearing a flattering light gray silk dress, semi-formal in design. It set off her prematurely silvered hair admirably, as well as her deep azure eyes. Kith started to choke on the half bite of sandwich in his mouth.

"Don't worry," she reassured as she opened the screen door of the trailer, "I'm laughing with you not at you. It's fine if I come in, right?" Kith just nodded slowly. "Thank you." She entered, letting the screen door slam shut behind her on it's spring hinges, sitting down in one of the chairs while holding her dress as to keep it flat under her. The dragoness did not seem to notice the entire rundown nature of Kith's home or the seat she had placed herself in. She gestured to the couch across the room, which faced her chair. "Come, sit, let us talk." The young man did as was suggested, slightly too overwhelmed to notice that the dragoness' arm was perhaps inches from resting in peanut butter and bread.

"A... a ride?" He snapped out of it quickly and blurted, "There's nothing I'd like more!" He smiled widely, then thought about how absurd he must seem, getting up quickly and turning off the television, to hide his embarrassment. Streak realized why he got up, but not wanting to make Kith feel any more uncomfortable than he already did she didn't mention it, instead rising.

"Well, let us get along then, mustn't keep the skies waiting." She walked to the door, stepping through, while Kith stumbled at getting his right shoe on his left foot. The dragon waited at the door for her human fan, holding the entrance ajar while he stepped out into the quite cool late fall air, amazingly with the correct shoes on the correct feet. He stretched slightly, then jumped a bit as the screen door slammed shut behind him.

"Well, are you ready, Kith?" Streak asked quietly. When he nodded the dragon took a few steps away. "Stay still, I wouldn't want to buffet you over." She kept walking away until she was more than 40 feet away, in a field situated in the center of a loop in the trailer park, then stood still and closed her eyes. She shimmered a few times, then slowly grew, her face growing a snout, her arms seeming to contort as a new musculature emerged from the humanoid one she held a moment before. A tail sprouted from the lower regions of her back, wings following suit more than a dozen feet above that, her hands growing claws and becoming more situated to use as both walking and grasping tools. And, as the odd swirling of colors on her body disappeared, it could be seen that her flesh had turned to scales, the dress having disappeared.

"Yes. Climb up onto my snout, between my eyes, and onto the back of my neck." He nodded and did as he was instructed, climbing past the dragon's now closed eyes, letting his hands linger slightly longer on his climbing surface, admiring the shine and texture of the scales on a dragoness in her prime. When he reached the back of her neck, he blinked slightly.

Kith didn't say anything, remembering that dragons could actually change into inanimate objects, as well as living beings, even forming non-living clothing out of themselves for modesty when in humanoid forms. He sat in the saddle and, finding it had straps, proceeded to put them upon himself. As he finished up, Streak slowly stood. "Ready for take off?" Kith nodded, then closed his eyes and shook his head at himself, knowing that not even a dragon could see something on the back of their neck.

"Well, here we go," was all Kith heard before Streak surged upwards in a huge leap, her wings starting to propel her upwards, unfurling and flapping in huge arcs as soon as they had room. Continuing to peer below him, Streak's rider saw many an upturned face, quite surprised to see a dragon taking off in the middle of their homely little trailer park. As soon as the people were no longer anything but the size of ants Kith raised his line of sight and gave a little happy sigh at the beautiful view of miles upon miles of fields, forests, and streams. The closest city, Abearn, twinkled on the horizon.

His mount was no longer gaining altitude, gliding quite steadily. Streak started to give a warning about an updraft, but realized that her little rider had already tilted his body as if to prepare for it, and smiled widely, finally letting herself believe she might be right for the first time since she got the package. Gaining altitude, the two finally hit the slightly darkened, pre-storm cloud cover, and after several moments of dampness, they emerged above it. Streak returned to her gliding, slowly letting herself lose altitude until she could drag her paws and tail through the coolness, leaving a temporary trail in her wake. Continuing her descent, Kith began to feel his feet enter the clouds, the rest of his legs following suit. He closed his eyes and just felt it, a soft smile on his face as the clouds reached it, caressing him gently with a wraith-like touch.

A low murmur came to Streak's ear, something that would have been lost in the wind if not for her very precise sense of hearing. That was when she lowered her descent more, aiming for a nearby mountainous area that she was very familiar with. Kith opened his eyes upon realizing that they were earthbound, and gave a little sigh, thinking, 'I suppose it had to end.' Despite that, he wasn't sure if the little tears at the corners of his eyes were from the wind, or a sadness that the single most enjoyable experience of his short life was coming to an end.

The human gave a double take as he looked to where Streak was descending to, wondering why it wasn't his home, and then they were there. His mount's huge wings cupped outwards to catch air as her claws caught purchase on the somewhat uneven surface of a cliff-face outside a gaping hole in the side of a particularly tall mountain. As her large muzzle lowered to the stone Streak felt the saddle being undone, and as soon as Kith was off of her nose she stood on her hind legs and took a long stretch, her former rider following suit without noticing it.

Before any questions could be formed, one of the female dragon's forepaws was put in front of him, a small ball of light hovering over it. For its size, the impromptu lantern gave off a quite strong luminescence in the late afternoon light. "Let's take a look inside, shall we?" Kith nodded, and the paw rolled the ball into the cave, almost as if bowling, where it stopped in the center of a large, open area at the end of a tunnel that started at the opening. Giving a little bow of her head, Streak invited, "After you."

The young human slowly nodded, then turned and entered, walking along the slightly upward angled tunnel, sliding his hand along the smooth stone surface without realizing it and thinking along the lines of how good a locale this place would be for habitation. He voiced a few of the comments to Streak, who followed behind him closely. "The walls are smooth, with no outcroppings, the tunnel would disallow water to enter during the wet spring season, the cliff at the entrance was both adequately large as well as quite sturdy. This would be a great place to make a weyr, wouldn't you agree?" Streak didn't respond and Kith didn't really notice as he kept walking, his mind oddly free of sensation.

As he reached the center of the cave Kith didn't even note how large the cave was. He didn't see how smooth the walls were, how the walls were shaped into a comfortable, oval shape, or how odd it was that one part of the wall was concave, a large boulder at the ground before it. He walked directly to the wall to his right where several runes were carved into the wall, running his fingers along the deep grooves. He read them aloud, "N'f'sedk and T'r'ethl, forever." He turned around to ask Streak about it, but noticed that she was shaking slightly, sitting on her haunches and crying silently. He went to her and placed his hand on the flat on top of her forepaw. "Don't cry, Ethl, don't cry..." In a flash he found himself clutched to Streak's chest, who was sobbing loudly, in a combination of emotions.

"Oh, I knew it, I knew it," was all that she said for minutes as she cried herself out, an oddly unaffected Kith leaning against her chest and stroking a scale there, not even realizing he was taking a drastic jump from his normally timid nature. He heard the odd rumbling of thunder as the storm that he had so intimately experienced outside was beginning to take shape.

"And can you read Dragon?" After a quick shake of his head she reminded him, "Well, you could a few minutes ago." Just as Kith began to realize what she was mentioning, T'r'ethl continued, "You can write in it too. You used it, in part, on the post card you sent me." She reached one paw into a small extra-dimensional pocket she opened, and removed the post card between careful clawtips, handing it over to the human she was carefully holding aloft in her other paw. "See?"

"Be well, my little Silver," Kith read, the instant he saw the small runes. He realized he must have written them on the post card and not even thought about it, as he had been half-asleep when he had. Streak turned around and walked to the boulder, moving around it and setting Kith down upon the ground. He walked to the boulder and lay a hand along the uneven hunk of rock, then looked down at the crimson stain along its underside, seeming to trail outward from it. He crouched down and touched his fingers to the discoloration and felt it flake slightly, shivering at the odd feeling that rippled along his body at the contact.

"That's what he wrote, you see. He wrote that on his last letter to me, before the accident. He had started on the carving out of the short tunnel that would reach to the cave system beyond that wall, so that we would have room for our little ones. He didn't want to hire a team of engineers, he wanted to do it the old fashioned way, feel the stone give beneath his claws, know the satisfaction of literally carving out his own home. He always made a habit of having the oddest of agents coming to me with little love letters, and this time was no different. I was sipping at a stream when a squirrel landed on my head, dropped a letter between my eyes, and bounded off. I nearly choked on water, laughing at the thought of a squirrel hopping onto a dragon's head, and read the letter. It was another of his lovely poems, the kind that melted my heart, and the last two lines read, 'Be well, my little Silver, I miss thy sweet company.' It's been twelve years you see, twelve long years, and, I thought, I don't know what I thought. But I couldn't just let it go..." She was shaking again lightly, her eyes closed, her voice quaking as she tried to keep from breaking into tears again. "Sometimes the children, they ask, they ask for their father, want to know about him and want to be just like him. And, it just... rends at me from the inside... I wouldn't let myself believe... I just couldn't... but you, you even muttered something when we were flying. You said, 'I missed this so...' and... and..." Her voice caught, and before she could cough and vent herself more upon the little one she hoped she was right about, she felt the reassuring feeling of large arms around her, a pair of leathery wings following suit, holding her against a body half again as large as hers.

She opened her eyes and looked up, into the face of her beloved N'f'sedk, and exploded into another bout of tears, these of utter joy. She buried her face against his chest and clung tightly to her love, a gentle paw stroking the back of her neck. Sedk's deep, vibrant voice spoke softly, "Of all the infinite dimensions to be reborn in... to be allowed to reunite with you..." He was actually crying himself, but silently, knowing now what those ten years of longing and feelings of futilely were about. 'Any soul would weep to be given its mate, then be forced apart from it within months,' he thought to himself.