Breath of Fresh Air

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". . . I'd hope Noah wouldn't try any daredevil tricks with a new rider on board," Opal joked, smirking. "But it does sound like Lily and Infernus have a bit more experience with multiple passengers. If they're okay with it, I'd love to ride with them."

He giggled when Tima looked upside down at him, and he reached up to pet the side of her face. "I know! Fun, huh?" He patted Nel's shoulder and beamed. "Thank you both for taking us. This is a very relaxing experience. Especially compared to the last dragon who carried me up in the air."

Eventually, the group arrived where Noah and Lily were relaxing in the grass. After agreeing to ask Nel to join his shift a few minutes ago, Noah was snoozing lightly with his hands behind his back - but he glanced over and waved when he saw Soot's paws in the corner of his eye. "Hey, guys! How was the trip over?" he asked with a smile.

Soot eventually caught sight of the scent of the dead hatchling. He sidestepped and rumbled worriedly, curling his tail and pinning his ear fins back.
 
Nel couldn't help but wonder when Opal had been on a dragon before, perhaps some sort of trip with the Dragon Rider's Association from Upper Floaten, but it didn't sound as if it was a pleasant experience so he hesitated to ask. Perhaps some other time.

"Of course," he said instead in response to Opal's thanks, chuckling at the way Tima lifted her head and gave a little warbling howl, not unlike an excited dog. "I'm glad she seems to be enjoying it too."

Lily was sitting up against Infernus' side near where Noah lay when the others showed up, just watching the clouds and resting in peace. She smiled and waved as Nel helped Opal down. "Took the slow but steady route?"

Nel gave them a nod as he unstrapped and got down, giving them a small smile. "I'm sure we were all grateful for a little rest." He said, glancing over his shoulder at Soot and turning back to see him when the dragon appeared distressed. "Whats wrong, Soot? Are you sore from flying?"

He looked back the way the dragon was looking, frowning at the way Infernus and Chaital were quite pointedly not looking that way, something about their posture not seeming quite right though they didn't appear in distress like Soot was. Both had subtly, but still noticeably to Nel, positioned themselves between their riders and whatever it was Soot was reacting to, though he didn't think Lily or Noah had noticed.

". . . Something bad, Soot?" He asked softly, turning back again to give the dragon a gentle pat. "It's all right. You stay here and rest. I'll go and take a look, okay? I'm sure it's nothing." A skunk, perhaps, or something else with a distasteful scent. It couldn't hurt to take a look.
 
Noah raised an eyebrow at Soot's anxious shuffling. ". . . Huh. You know, Chaital was acting funny a little while ago too, now that you mention it. Opal? Could you stay here with Lily in case we need backup?" he asked.

Opal, after sliding down carefully off of Soot and catching Tima in his arms, nodded and made his way over to the pair. "Sure thing."

"Great. Nel, wait up! Chaital and I are coming with you both," Noah called, hurrying over to join Nel and Soot in their search.

Soot's large, dark wings spread out slowly in alarm, casting a shadow over the place while he whined and backed up a few feet. Chaital gently nudged his neck, rumbling softly to comfort him.

And Noah managed to slip beneath his wings just in time to stumble across a very similar egg to the one they'd brought to the Hatchery. But this one was shattered. The hatchling inside lay sprawled out across the ground, unmoving, with both eyes open and glazed over.

Noah paled and held a hand over his mouth. "No . . ." he murmured softly. "N - no, I - we didn't . . ."
 
Lily got to her feet, confused about what was going on, but only shrugged when Opal got to her side. "I'm sure it's nothing too bad. Fern would've gone and chased it off if it was dangerous." Or ate it.

Nel was already walking, confident enough and also used to going about things alone, and only looked back when Noah called at them. "It's all right, I don't mind. . ." He reassured, and would have told Soot to stay back as well if he thought the dragon would have listened. There was no need to make him uncomfortable when he was clearly nervous.

The reason for the reaction became clear enough not fifteen feet into the brush and trees surrounding the lake. Nel saw the shell only a few steps ahead of Noah, and stood still with only a soft "oh" in response. It was never a good sight, something so young lying unexpectedly deceased on the ground, but Nel had grown up raising sheep and goats, even a cow or two, and occasionally finding they had gone and had birth far from where they should be was a sad but not unheard of problem. It didn't make it less awful each time, but he was, at least, more numb to it than he once had been as a child.

"No one walks around here. . ." He murmured softly, mostly to himself, and crouched down near the poor hatchling to rest his fingertips gently against its body. "It's cold. . . It's been here for hours. Even if you'd seen it before, it would have been too late." He shook his head a little as he stood, quietly releasing enough buckles on his flight harness to unbutton his shirt and take it off, laying it carefully over the hatchling so Noah wouldn't have to see it anymore. He would wash it later, and it was fine to walk around in his undershirt for a little while.

"Noah, it isn't your fault." He said with a frown, stepping back and reaching to turn the younger man gently around. "Why don't you and Soot go back to the others. I can look around on my own." Noah's heart bled for all creatures, and Nel didn't want him to feel so upset. Lily would help him feel better, and if there was anything else to find Nel would do it himself.
 
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Noah's eyes shimmered. Even knowing it wasn't his fault, it ached him to know such a thing had happened. And when Nel reached out to turn him around, he went in for a hug instead, closing his eyes and sighing softly. "Th - that's a good idea. Thanks, Nel. Just call if you need us, okay?" he asked.

Eventually he pulled back, gave Nel a shaky smile, and went off to report to the rest of the group with Chaital and Soot following him. He sat down by Lily, and the two dragons quietly flanked him - although Soot was still looking in Nel's direction, just to keep an eye on him.

"There was another hatchling," Noah murmured softly. He averted his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. "Um . . . they didn't make it. Nel's - Nel's taking care of them."

Opal's eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Oh," he managed to get out at last.

Noah nodded. "Mhm. It was weird, the shell was shattered. But it was shattered from the bottom out, like - like - "

". . . Like it had been dropped," Opal finished. His eyes went wide, and he staggered to his feet. "Wait. W - wait a minute. Nel, wait up!" he called out. He ran over to Nel with Tima on his shoulder, eyes partially on the ground and partially where he was going. "Nel, have you seen any dark green dragon scales nearby?"

There were one or two, but being the color they were, they blended in fairly well to the grass.
 
Nel was taken off guard by the hug, but gave Noah a squeeze to try and help him feel better. It was best to just get him away from the sight of the poor thing so he could stop thinking about it. Sometimes bad things just happened. At least, that was what he had thought before he turned around and continued looking. Not some thirty feet from where the first egg had dropped, he saw the remains of another in slightly different colors, and though he hadn't quite found the hatchling that had once been inside it by the time Opal came running he was starting I get confused. First the lake egg, then another, then another. Two, perhaps, could be coincidence, but what was three? He couldn't see more, but he was starting to think he needed to tell Malia to come and have a look regardless.

When Opal called his name, Nel turned away from searching to see him running closer and made a worried sort of face, a hand slightly out as if he would need to keep Opal from falling as he got closer. "Green scales?" He asked, confused. "There may be some around, I suppose. We have a green dragon or two around. Why? Are you all right?"


"Another one?" Lily exclaimed when Noah told them, optimistic at first but without even enough time to smile before catching on to the look on Noah's face, to the sad tone in his voice. "Oh, no. . ." The poor baby. It hadn't even had a chance.

She frowned as she got to her feet, raising a hand like she might try to stop Opal but seconds too late. "Whats gotten into him again?" She asked, though she really didn't expect Noah to have an answer, and just stepped over to hold his hand. "I'm sorry, I'm sure it wasn't pretty. At least we managed to save the other one." It was little solace, she was sure, but it was something.
 
Opal caught his breath, staggering to a stop near Nel. "Listen. Listen, Noah said the egg might have been dropped, right?" He moved past Nel carefully, pulling up his shirt from the ground to examine the first egg. He nodded sharply, moved to the second, and set his jaw. ". . . Yeah. These look like they were dropped, I dare say. Now if the scales match - "

His eye caught a glint in a nearby bush. And with trembling fingers, he pulled out a dark green scale. "Yes. This is from him." He clenched the scale tighter and thrust it up towards Nel for him to see. "Th - this is from the dragon that dropped me onto the tree."


"I'm - I'm not sure," Noah admitted, tilting his head and watching Opal bolt with a mildly concerned expression. "At least he's with Nel. I know they'll call us if they need something."

He sighed heavily and leaned against Lily's hand, closing his eyes and trying to blink back the tear that had already slipped out. "I know. I just . . . I wish we'd gotten here sooner. I feel terrible I couldn't help," he murmured.
 
Nel was frowning still, following the way Opal moved about and trying to figure out where he was going with it. If he had a theory about how the eggs had gotten to where they were, Nel thought perhaps he'd thought of it already, but something was clearly going through Opal's head.

". . . Scales match?" He started to ask, tentatively and confused still, only to abruptly go silent and begin to pale, his eyes fixed on the green scale in front of him. "Dr . . . Dropped . . ." Dropped. By a dragon. Onto a tree. . . Like the bodies they'd found.

Tima, on edge already from Opal's bouncing about, clung a bit tighter to his shoulder and fluffed up her scales with an upset, worried coo. Bad. It was a bad scale, from a bad dragon. She didn't want to be near it anymore.


"I suppose," Lily said with a frown, but leaned her weight into him as he leaned on her and tried not to worry too much despite how worried Opal was. "Sometimes there are just accidents, and there's nothing we can do about them." She reached a hand up to brush her fingertips over his cheek, encouraging him to look at her or to come closer and hold her if he needed to. "You can't save everyone, especially when whatever happened was nowhere near you at the time. I'm sure they went quickly, like falling asleep."

Being dropped from high enough to shatter a dragon shell would be hard enough the poor hatchling inside probably wouldn't have even felt it. It wasn't a great reassurance, but the fact that it probably hadn't been in pain was all she could offer then.
 
Opal nodded fervently and got back to his feet. "Y - yeah. Dropped," he repeated. He pulled in a breath to try to relax, rewatching up to pet Tima with a shaky hand. "Easy, Tima. It's all right. The dragon's not here now." He shuddered and ran his hand through his multicolored hair instead.

Then he slowly met Nel's eyes. "I - I think I remember what the dragon looked like, Nel. I couldn't see the rider. But I remember the dragon. I - I can maybe draw him when we get home . . ." he added thinly. His face was a bit pale, and he looked down at the scale again with a grimace.


Noah blinked when he felt Lily's gentle hand on his cheek, and he glanced over with watery eyes, just barely managing a smile for her. ". . . Like falling asleep . . . Well, I - I guess if they couldn't make it here, at least they didn't have to suffer," he murmured.

He took a deep breath, leaned against Lily, and slowly let it out, relaxing against her shoulder. "Thanks for listening, Lily. It really helps," he murmured.

Chaital rumbled in agreement, leaning down to lick Lily's hair as a thank you for comforting her rider.
 
Nel felt almost light headed, and for a moment he hardly breathed. As Opal comforted Tima, he reached out carefully to take the scale and look it over, stunned still. "I need to . . . We should . . ." It was awful all over again. He had to move. He had to do what he was supposed to.

Shaking his head, he reached to take Opal by the wrist and started pulling, guiding him back towards the others. "Do you think you can take a ride with Lily now? I need someone to go and get Malia, and no one else. Only her." It wasn't any of their dragons, he wanted to insist, but how could he know? He would never think of the people around him as killers, either. But he knew he could trust her, and she would know who else. They had to let her know.


Lily gave a soft, mournful hum, holding Noah close and letting him lean on her. "I'm so sorry, Noah. We'll just have to give the little one we do have all the love in the world."

When Chaitail licked her she jumped a little and chuckled at her own surprise, reaching blindly back to pat the dragon on the muzzle. "We'll be okay." She reached her hand out to Infernus when he stretched his neck their way, not one to be fully left out. "We're together now. Thats what matters." They would always take care of each other.
 
Opal hurried with Nel, stumbling once while he tried to keep up and take in his words at the same time. "Wh - ride with Lily? R - right now? But I - Nel, I've barely . . . I don't know if I can fly - !" he stammered frantically.

Sure, there was a rush to tell Malia the news. But Opal was nowhere near ready to try flying with another dragon after one had dropped him out of the sky.


"That's right," Noah murmured. He brushed away the last few of his tears, and his smile widened before he closed his eyes and rested his head against Lily's shoulder. She always knew what to say to make him feel better. Maybe one day he could do the same for her.

Chaital chirruped a confused greeting when Opal and Nel came hurrying back, and Noah glanced over and blinked. "Whoa, what's the hurry? You guys okay?" he asked.

Opal staggered to a stop, taking a shaky breath. "Uh - well, you see . . ." he started, lowering his eyes.
 
Nel shook his head, trying to figure out the problem even as they walked. "Then, you go with Noah and walk back to the house." He couldn't stay here he was. There was too much to do.

When they reached the others, he pulled Opal carefully forward and gave him a nudge Noah's way. "Noah, I need you to take Opal back to the mill. Walking, please, he isn't ready to fly. And Lily, I need you to go and bring Malia here. It's to do with the hatchlings, but I'll explain later. Please tell her I need her to hurry."

Lily was confused, but hearing the urgency and command in his tone only gave a sharp nod and stepped closer to Infernus. "Of course!" She said earnestly, stopping and stepping closer again to give Noah a quick kiss before clambering up onto Infernus' back. "We'll fly fast and be right back!"
 
When he was given the option to walk instead, Opal relaxed at once, letting out a deep sigh of relief. "Yes. Please. Thank you," he stammered.

Once he arrived where the group was, he followed Nel's gentle motions and made his way toward Noah, smiling hesitantly and waving a hand. "Hi. Um - if it's not too much trouble, I'd really rather stay grounded. It's just - "

Noah stood up and patted his shoulder. "No worries. Chaital and I only push our limits when it's just the two of us. We'll go nice and slow for you," he promised with a smile.

Then Lily suddenly kissed his cheek. He blushed and lifted a hand to the place her lips had been, smiling all the more. ". . . Oh! Ah - yeah. Yep. See you soon," he spluttered.

And once Nel, Lily, and their dragons had left, Noah turned to Opal with a grin. "Did you see that?! She kissed me!"

Opal chuckled, slowly relaxing again now that the immediate panic had passed. "I saw. Don't look now, but I think she likes you."

Noah carefully helped Opal and Tima up onto Chaital's back, making sure they were the ones buckled in since he only had one tow line. He rode confidently behind them while Chaital set off at a careful walk towards the Old Mill.

And by the time they got back, Opal felt a bit more comfortable riding on a dragon - especially with a safety harness on. He unbuckled himself with Noah instructing him, and the pair carefully dismounted, glancing around to see if the others were back yet.
 
Nel wished he could feel happy for Noah, but there were too many other things going on that made him want to vomit. Once Lily had taken off and Noah was helping Opal, he turned to go back to where the eggs and hatchlings were, wanting to take a second look at them before Malia arrived.

"You don't have to come close, Soot," he reassured, gesturing for the dragon to stay back as he stepped into the brush, but a bit nervously doing up his flight harness in case, for some reason, he needed to use it quickly. "I'm just going to look. Theres nothing here." But what had been there, days ago? As much as he knew they needed to know, and he didn't believe that Opal was lying to him, he was terrified of the answers.


Tima was riled for most of the walk back, upset by the proximity to not only the fallen hatchlings but the sight of the green scales as well. Where they'd plunged to earth wasn't far from where she had escaped in the confusion and chaos of the humans fighting. She only began to feel better when they were back on the ground, where her human could run away from the big dragons if he needed to. She already knew not all of them were nice.

Jasper, with Naga so attached to the egg and a substitute babysitter not quite found, was stuck at the nursery still.
 
Soot rumbled and shook his scales and wings out - both to get rid of excess nervous energy, and to insist that he'd be coming with anyway. Bad things or not, Nel needed him. He rumbled softly and nudged Nel's shoulder with his snout before following closely behind him anyway.


By the time the group returned, Opal was feeling a good deal better, if not a bit shaky. He let out a breath and ran a hand through his hair.

Chaital, sensing his stress and Tima's discomfort as well, craned her neck down and gently licked Opal's cheek.

Opal smiled and relaxed a bit more. "Aww. Thank you, Chaital. I appreciate it."

Noah patted Opal's shoulder and nodded. "C'mon. Let's head inside and get you a drink, and then we can work through some stuff, okay?" he asked softly.

"Certainly," Opal replied. And once the dragons had settled outside and Chaital began grooming Ol' Boulder, Opal and Noah went inside to settle down, and soon after Opal began making a sketch of the dragon who had dropped him.
 
When Lily returned with Malia, Nel had the horrible job of showing her the tragedy, and explaining what Opal had told him. He was sure she would be able to put together the pieces of the puzzle and hoped she came to a different conclusion than he did, but had the terrible, sinking feeling she wouldn't.

After she'd had the time to look, they gathered the poor lost hatchlings and broken shells to take back to the Dragonry where they would be preserved, he assumed for some sort of criminal investigation. Lily went off to the mill to gather the others so they could meet in the hatchery and figure out what to do next. One thing was clear, there were bad things happening around them.

"I need you all to keep this as quiet as you can." Malia instructed after the facts they had were explained. "The implications are . . . clear, and staggering, but trying to act on your own could endanger your lives. I need you all to leave this to to the authorities. The Grandmaster and I will take the scales you found and convene together about who they belong to, and speak with authorities from both cities to decide a course of action. Until then, I want you all to be careful, and stay safe."
 
The group soon gathered in the small Hatchery room, somber and tense. Noah guarded the door with Chaital at his back, glancing between the group and his loyal dragon who was settled just outside. Axle was nearby, back against the wall so he could see everybody at once. Soot was peering quietly through one of the windows with his eyes focused on Nel.

And Opal was steadying his breathing, clutching the drawing of the dragon he'd made in his hands. "Um - I - I . . ." he stammered.

Noah gently set a hand on Opal's shoulder and nodded. "Go on," he told him softly. "You can show her."

Opal took a breath and staggered forward, holding out his picture to Malia. There was no mistaking the sharp jawline, intense arching eye sockets, and twisting horns. The dragon in the picture was Rahul. His rider's name was Jormund, and the pair were known to be reclusive amidst the other riders. ". . . This is who dropped me," he murmured at last. "I - I think his rider might be involved with the illegal dragon breeding program my parents discovered."
 
Infernus stayed outside with Chaital, facing away from the hatchery to keep an eye on everything else around, while Lily stood anxiously at Noah's side. Nel sat on the brickwork near the nested egg with Naga at his side while Jasper was on his feet, arms crossed and looking both disgusted and furious. It was despicable, thinking of someone using a dragon to hurt people, to commit murder, even. Jasper was under the firm opinion that if you were going to be that disgusting of a person you should do it on your own and leave the dragons out of it.

Malia was gentle, reaching out to steady him with a hand on his shoulder even as she took the drawing from Opal's shaking hands. For a moment she only looked at it, brows drawn sternly down as she recognized the culprit from the detailed sketch. In that moment she had no idea where the dragon and rider currently were, but before anything could be done about it she was going to have to confer with the Grandmaster and authorities, making sure they were all on the same page.

"You've been very brave." She said after a pause, looking him in the eyes. "Nothing can make up for the tragedies you've experienced in these last few days, but I need you to hold on for just a little longer. Will you come with me and tell your story to the police? I promise you I'll be with you the whole time. But if we don't let them know everything you know, they won't be able to help."
 
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