Family Unit (solo,finished)

Malaki landed in the mountains of Shadows Refuge and entered through a small cave opening carrying a large clay jar as delicately as if it was egg. In truth it was just as delicate and would shatter should he drop it. It was a short walk but soon he came back out into the cool night air in a small valley. This was his quiet place to escape the world, it was also the very place were he was growing all of the healing plants he could.

The Night Wing moved from plant to plant carefully pouring water from the clay jar. "How are my babies doing today?" Malaki asked softly as he worked. Putting down the empty clay jar he examined one of the plants. "Not looking to happy today, don't worry, I will clean you up and get you feeling good and perky again". With that he started to clean the plant of dead leaves and branches. Growing things was still new to him but Malaki took to it well enough. He had found cleaning up the plants regularly kept them healthy, and he liked to think, happy.

"Careful now," a feminine voice said out of nowhere. "If others see you talking to plants they very well might think you mad." Malaki turned and saw his mother land among the foliage causing fireflies nearby to take flight. She was a lithe creature and looked the same as most pure blood members of the tribe. "The hunters came early." Malaki asked at seeing the deer in her talons. "No, I caught it myself". This statement caught him off guard.

"But, your a weaver." She gave a small laugh and moved towards her son. "I was not always a weaver of tapestry's and threads. I use to be a huntress, among other things." If she was going to elaborate on what she never did. Malaki and his mother embraced and nuzzled there snouts in a rare moment of intimacy between mother and child. "Lets Eat".

It was one of the best meals he had in some time and it was all going well until his mother started talking. "So I hear you met the king. It is a shame I was not there to see him myself. I hear he is very handsome, and dashing". Suddenly Malaki felt very unnerved. "Uh, mom, I don't really feel comfortable about hearing you talk like that. Its like if I started talking about a female having all the curves in all the right places"

His mother shrugged. "Nothing wrong with that, if anything I would be pleased if you did. You hardly ever talk about anything outside of your work, or plants." Malaki could not deny that fact. "Well if I meet a female I fancy I will be sure to blurt out all my thoughts on her."

"Speaking of...…" His mother said lowly with a smile. "What?" Malaki asked with a dumbfounded look on his face. "With the current state of things in the world we all should start thinking about our duty not only to the species, but the tribe. As the head of our family unit I will be looking to arrange a mating between you and another from a different family."

"Ha, good one mom. You almost had me fooled there", Malaki said as he took another bite from the deer. The way his mom turned her head and gave him a look let him know that she was not jesting. "You cant be serious. Yeah, I know its your right as the head of the family but, I'm not ready to do anything like that. Not with a stranger, what about love?"

"Love is a luxury we cant afford in these times. Our people are dying Malaki. You need to grow up and do your part." Malaki did not say anything else and just seemed to stare off into space in silent thought. "Do you understand?" She asked. After a moment Malaki replied. "I understand and will comply. The logic and reason behind it is undeniable. It would be selfish of me not to do it." Just because it made sense did not mean Malaki had to like it. In fact, the idea terrified him.

But in the other claw the chances of his mother finding a suitable partner for him would be slim to none. So if there was ever going to be a arranged marriage in the future it was a long way from now.

Malaki's mother sensed the awkward silence that fell afterwards and decided to change the subject. "So tell me, what do you think of the king of the alliance"? Malaki was all to happy to have the subject change. "I have not really had a chance to sit down for any lengthy time to speak to him. I think the king means well in wanting all the tribes to join up. But I don't really think it is going to work out how he sees it. I don't know, maybe it will all work out in the end. But honestly, I think all we are doing is just buying time and delaying our extinction. The world is ending and we will disappear into the halls of history."

It was a depressing topic, but very much possible. "We must have hope my son." His mother said soothingly and put a wing around him to bring comfort. "Find hope and grab it, hold that light close to your chest. Fear and despair is something that will poison your mind and your heart." With that she paused in thought before asking. "Have you..... seen it?"

It was Malaki's turn to be quiet. "I don't know what I see. But no, I stopped seeing things after I found a recipe on a scroll in the citadel. I drink something every day that makes the visions go away, for a time at least." His mother bobbed her head in a nod. "Hmmmm, probably for the best. The alliance already has a prophet from what I understand. One prophet is good. Two, is a crowd. You always were my special little wing. Leave such worries of visions to others".

Malaki hated it when his mom called him that. But she was right, he should not worry about the world or visions. There were others that could deal with sleepless nights about that. Others who actually had the power to do something about it. Him? Malaki was a nobody and strangely enough thinking of himself as a nobody gave comfort. Not caring was strangely relieving.

"Your right mom". Malaki replied with a smile. "I think I will just worry about my plants, that I at least have control over. Oh, and please stop calling me little wing. I'm not little anymore." His mother laughed and gave a quick wet lick up the side of his face. "That is were you are wrong. No matter how old you get, you will always be my little wing".

"Don't stay up to late with the plants, dawn will be coming in a few hours and you know what it does to your eyes. I will meet you back at the citadel." With that his mother left into the night. Malaki was feeling pretty good with all kinds of warm feelings. For the moment all seemed right with the world. But it was not to last.

The days passed as they normally did with this night wing family unit. Malaki tended to the plants and read over all the scrolls related to his profession as a healer. His mother hunted and brought back food for her offspring. There was comfort in the routine. But that routine broke one day as his mother did not arrive as she normally did, and when she did, Malaki's peace of mind was robbed from him.

His mother collapsed onto the ground mere feet away from her son. Her body was battered and bleeding and it was impossible for him to tell just how much damage was done at first glance as there was so much blood. "MOM!" He cried and ran over to her. Years of training took over and he reacted in muscle memory. "Ok, first thing, casualty assessment" Malaki gasped out loud in self though as he surveyed the damage and felt over her body for response to applied pressure.

"Multiple lacerations...… blunt force trauma...… head injury...… compound and simple fractures. Control bleeding first." Time faded away for Malaki as he reacted by applying field and pressure dressings as needed that were soaked in a salve to help stop the bleeding. Next he turned to binding the broken bones that he could and finally treatment of shock.

When his patient/mother was finally stable almost two hours had passed. She was breathing steadily in a heavy sleep induced by a bowl of fluid Malaki had prepared. His body was covered in his mothers blood. Some of it still wet and other parts dried. He was mentally and physically exhausted and collapsed a few feet away on the ground. He examined a curved talon he had removed from his mothers body and bite down on his teeth so hard it hurt.

"Monsters....."

The anger washed away just as quickly as it came though as he looked over to his mother. The damage was to great for him to heal alone. He had done all he could but there was internal hemorrhaging. A rib had been broken and punctured a lung. He could hear the bubbling of the blood in the lung with each breath she made as he worked on her.

Normally in times like this all a healer could do was make a patient comfortable for end and perform last rights according to there religion if they had any. Leave it all to prayers and gods. But Malaki's last master before the outbreak of the monsters was a Obeah dragon in the swamps. Malaki had no faith in the gods or to prayers. He had no friends or ally's that he could call upon. He was alone, and he made up his mind right then and there. That he would travel alone back to the night wing territory and visit the hidden healing spring his former master had shown him once. A spring that could heal the body of all injuries if drank.

He had seen it before with his own eyes and that was what his mother needed if she was to survive. Malaki wasted no time as he dropped the bags off his body harness until only one remained on his chest. He took out a vial with the black fluid he normally took to suppress his visions of the future. He examined the bottle but with a sigh, like the bags, he dropped it as well. If he was to survive the horrors of the swamps and reach the hidden spring with supernatural healing powers he needed to be able to see the future, to see and avoid the monster hordes.

Already he could see glimpses of the future. Visions of himself chest deep among the bodies of the dead. Some preserved, others rotting. He would endure horrors few living beings have encountered. Death was all he could see, but strangely, it was the dead that would save him. He did not understand it all at the moment. But as he took flight to the sky he had the feeling he would understand soon enough.

"Holy mother of god....." Malaki gasped as he landed in the swamp/bog. Before him laid the remains of hundreds, maybe even thousands of dragons. Some were skeletons, others were perfectly preserved as if they had died just yesterday. No doubt a effect of the bog parts of the swamp that were known to preserve bodies. A few tattered banners fluttered in the breeze. It had been two years since the monsters invaded but this battlefield still seemed fresh.

The smell of death was heavy in the air. Malaki was not in a good place, but, he was close to the healing spring. His visions foretold his death if he stayed in the air any longer so he landed in the misty terrain. It concealed even the rays of moonlight so he would blend in well. More visions assaulted his eyes and Malaki became acutely aware of just how bad a situation he was in.

He was in the midst of a monster horde, smack dab in the middle of them. More then what would describe as a army. Every fiber of his being wanted to flee this place while he could. But the thought of his dying mother drove the Night Wing on. He walked slowly through the swampy bog until he was chest deep in the black muck. At times it was water, at other times each time he removed a limp a sucking sound could be heard from the dark muck.

Malaki was chest deep in death. Moving among the bones and preserved bodies of the dead. There was a loud pitched screech and his visions warned him of the danger. A large group of monsters in the horde were approaching. With no other option available Malaki laid down among the preserved bodies of the dead in the muck and pulled a body over his own.

Everything grew quite and he could hear nothing but his own heartbeat. As the large group of monsters approached Malaki held his breath and blended. He was coated in the bog muck and laid among the dead in the mass grave of this battlefield. He was but a ghost to them. Just another dead dragon that smelled of death like everything else.

So he waited until the monsters of all sizes passed by, he had stopped counting after a hundred. Reluctantly he stirred and pushed the dead body off his own and resumed the slow journey to the hidden healing spring. Stopping only when large monster groups approached to lay among the dead of his tribe, there faces and eyes devoid of life staring back at him.

Malaki was not sure how much time had passed, but at last he reached his destination. A large gnarled tree devoid of life sat on top of a large mound of dirt. Its roots visible above the ground as if the very earth itself refused it. At the base of the roots stood a opening partially hidden by the roots.

The Night Wing approached cautiously and sniffed at the air of the entrance. He could smell nothing but earth and fresh clean water, the water that he was looking for.  But yet, there was a trace of something else he could not identify. Keeping his wings folded close to this body Malaki entered. It took a few minutes of walking in the passage but he exited into a cavern.

Glow worms hung from the ceiling casting a gentle light. Four smooth white marble pillars of stone with vines carved into them stood proud around a deep pool of water with a cherry blossom tree in full bloom on a island in the middle. The magical healing water having seemed to sustained it despite the lack of sunlight. The tree very well might have been hundreds if not thousands of years old. The columns were a beautiful work of architecture. But it also served the purpose of supporting the ceiling. Whoever the architect was, that knowledge was lost to the sands of time.

Malaki followed the sound of trickling water until he found its source. Water was trickling out of the wall and draining into the pool. He collected as much water as he could and secured the vital cargo in the bag on his chest. Turning around he was surprised to see a beautiful white dragoness laying on the island at the base of the cherry blossom tree.

She was a lithe creature with glowing blue eyes. Malaki found the very sight and presence of her to be..... intoxicating. Wanting to get a better look he pulled the goggles off his eyes and asked. "What are you doing here?" He asked.  She rolled onto her side and played with the water with a clawed hand. "Bathing, something you should do as well as your covered in muck and stink of death. Come swim with me." She said with a voice as sweet as honey.

With that the white dragoness slid off the island into the pool of water causing very little ripples on its surface and it soon returned to being as still as glass. Malaki was curious and fascinated with her. Against his better judgement he moved towards the edge of the pool of water, his mission and dying mother seeming to magically disappear from his thoughts.

Looking into the water from the edge the dragoness came out from under the water and grabbed Malaki by the straps of his chest harness and pulled him into the pool with a splash of water. Malaki surfaced and gasped not only out of surprise, but shock of the icy cold water. His hindlegs were touching the bottom of the pool but the water was right up to his neck.

He could feel the currents of the water moving all around him so the dragoness was still swimming under the surface out of view. At one point she actually swam between his legs and brushed the inside of them with her body with feather like strokes. At last the playful female surfaced. "Come play with me". She said again with her sweet seductive voice. "Look into my eyes...…."

Malaki looked into the females eyes he grew light headed, as if he was laying in nest made of the softest material and he sank into it. He woke up later with a gasp laying on his back in the shallows with the same strange female resting her head on his chest. He felt completely drained of energy and weak. His head was foggy and only fragments of memory came to mind about the lost time. Enough information to make him blush.

It was hard, but he managed to remember why he had come to this place. He had to save his mother. "I have to go". He said weakly and shifted his body forcing the female to lift her head off his chest. "Can I come with you?" She asked with a voice and face as innocent as a child's. Malaki could not say no even if he wanted to. Her presence was intoxicating and he was completely...….enthralled by her. "Yes.". Was all he could say. "I will take care of you".

Something did not feel right but that that thought vanished just as suddenly as it came. This female was not what she seemed but he would take her back to his home.

*done*