Pillar of Earth, Lake of Fire (Open to Twilight Imperium)

"Easy. Lower him gently." Vilkas, nephew of the King, ordered.

"Don't worry, Vilkas," Hapax, one of the King's Royal Guards assured.

"We've got him." Hamnet, his twin brother, concluded. The three EarthWings had just returned to the capital with a wounded Baldirak, King of the Twilight Imperium. They were lowering him to the floor of his cave.

Vilkas, like his uncle, was also a demigod. He had inherited his semi-god mother's power to transform into a beast. He had taken that form to help carry his uncle the rest of the way home, to give Hapax and Hamnet's wings a break. Now, he returned to his normal dragon self. Half FireWing by heritage, Vilkas considered using his flames to warm Baldirak's frozen wings and back. "Hmm, no," he thought after a moment, "Burner will have a fit if I try to do his job. Besides, my flames might not get hot enough..." Vilkas had, however, cauterized the King's horrendously shredded underbelly. That much did need to be done without waiting around for a Healer--and well before they had returned home. Vilkas looked at the Royal Guards. "Okay, I'll find the Queen, one of you go get Burner."

The twins nodded. Hapax declared, "I will find Burner!" and bounded out of the cave before taking flight.

Hamnet, more calmly said, "And I shall sit with His Highness."

"Thank you. I'll be back as--"

"--Vilkas?" the Twilight King inquired lowly as he awoke. He had slipped out of consciousness on the way home.

The spikey scaled nephew turned to look at his King and uncle. "Uncle Dirak! You're awake! I was just going to find Aunt Kenina."

A low mix of growling and hisses left Baldirak's throat as his regained consciousness brought attention to his wounds. "Did you hear her, Vilkas?"

"Astral? Yes, Uncle. Everyone did. And some of us heard your call. The statue is magnificent, I'm sure everyone will love it, once they have a chance to see it. But... I really should go find Aunt Kenina now, Uncle. Hapax is getting Burner for you."

Kenina. Baldirak appeared not to hear his nephew the first time he uttered her name--distracted as he was by the fresh waves of pain. But now, it was all he heard, and again he found himself met by a vision of his beloved mate. "...Kenina..." The great EarthWing tried in vain to stand. If he could just get up, he could walk to his Queen, wherever she was. He could tell her how he loved her, and how at long last they could create a family of their own, now that the monsters were gone. Alas, Baldirak could only manage to bring his neck aloft and only enough to rest his snout on the edge of the raised pool that collected rainwater near the back of the cave. His pale blue eyes closed. "Go, Vilkas. Bring my Queen to me."

Vilkas left with haste, without another word. It didn't take him long to find his aunt, because she was already in the skies, flying over the city. "Aunt Kenina!" he called, skipping the formalities, "I've just brought Uncle Dirak home! He must have been fighting a higher-class monster just before Astral got rid of them, he's wounded. Hapax is bringing a Healer to your cave now."

Meanwhile, Hapax was just arriving outside the dwelling of the Healer, Burner. "Hey, Burner! Are you home?! The King requires you! He was wounded in a battle against one of those monsters!"

Burner looked around, grabbing some herbs from the morning's scavenging to dry them. Always good to make sure ingredients were on hand if you asked the cranky healer, but it would son be proven more true than he thought as Hapax came bursting in. He wondered what was going on for a moment before hearing that this was a request from the king.

"The King!? You seem strong enough. Grab that bag there!" For his part Burner collected materials and medicines that he figured he'd need before running out and starting his flight towards the castle. He only barely checked if Hapax was even keeping up as he flew out, hoping they wouldn't be too late to help some things.

Kenina faltered as her whole body burned and ached nearly slipping out of the air on multiple occasions. The goddess may have healed her infertility but she was still of weak body. Especially after her near death encounter she did not have any energy, but she also couldn't wait. Her breath came out in loud quick huffs. She almost ran right into Vilkas. ""I've just brought Uncle Dirak home! He must have been fighting a higher-class monster just before Astral got rid of them, he's wounded. Hapax is bringing a Healer to your cave now." Vilkas told her.

"No!" Kenina roared. "You are not allowed to die before you see our children hatch!" Taking a couple even deeper breaths Kenina found the energy to push on faster. She still wavered and seemed to slip but she pressed forward all the harder. She literally fell into the cave rolling and slamming against one of the walls. It took her a moment to regather her wits and she vaguely noticed a pile of moonstones sitting in the receiving room. After she had sworn off Astral she'd tossed all her moonstones into a river of which she had a very large collection. She'd ordered a couple Trackers to find them and bring them back so she could re-attach them to the cave. They'd done a very good job all things considered but this was still only a fraction of her old full collection.

Kenina righted herself and sprinted towards Baldirak nearly tripping over herself. When she reached him she was furious! The fire along her spine flared as she stood over the Earthwing. Her heart felt like it lurched into her stomach. She had spells to heal him but couldn't use them. She was still completely drained of magical energy. "That better not get infected. I command you as Queen of the Twilight Imperium, the Firewings, and as your mate you are not allowed to die!" Her fury and intensity began to wane away. "I have a clutch of eggs I'm going to be laying soon and you have to seem them hatch you have to be there for them." The beginnings of tears began welling but then evaporating off her face and her voice for probably the first time ever in her life cracked, shuddered, and shuddered as she continued to speak. "I can't raise them alone. I need your help. I'm not very good at the nurturing and loving stuff they deserve. Only you complete me only you can help me can help them with the stuff I can't." It seemed like the weight of everything was crashing down on her the death of so many dragons, her failure as a queen and mate. "The nightmare is supposed to be ended." Kenina said spreading a wing over Baldirak and resting her head on him. "It's not going to end if you die on me."

Vilkas was alarmed to see the state of the FireWing Queen. Perhaps more so than his uncle, Kenina was the image of strength and battle prowess. To see her so vulnerable, struggling to stay aloft... The younger dragon caught his aunt. "Careful, Aunt Kenina... Wait, don't just--!" The Queen wrested herself from his claws and shot off for her and the King's cave. Wait, had Vilkas heard that right? Was he going to be an older cousin?!

Hapax huffed as he collected the bag Burner had indicated. "Of course I'm strong enough! I'm a Royal Guard, after all! And an EarthWing at that!" He flew after the FireWing Healer with haste.

The whip-like end of Baldirak's tail brushed against his underbelly. He had dipped it into the pool of rainwater, at the bottom of which sat mud. He brushed the mud against the charred peaks and valleys that had once been smooth scale. If only he'd had the energy to raise himself, to walk to his mudroom. Baldirak and Kenina's cave was a blend of their shared and separate needs. The entrance of the cave lead into the receiving room, where the King and Queen saw visitors. The room could house Baldirak at his fully grown size of 150ft six times over standing side-by-side with wings outstretched--or a similar number of SkyWings. It branched off into two other rooms; on the left was the Moonstone and Time room; on the right was the mud and river room. The Moonstone and Time room housed all of Kenina and Baldirak's Moonstones--the majority of them, anyway. And in the center of the room, was Baldirak's stone circle (think Stonehenge) that he interacted with when he wanted to use his time-seeing ability. The mud and river room housed a pit of mud in the middle. It had high walls and a bridge to ensure the mud never left the pit and contaminated the river, which ran throughout the rest of the room. The mud pit was for Baldirak to lay in to heal his wounds. The river provided fresh drinking water and could be used to fill the drinking pools that sat in each of the rooms, though there was a hole in the ceiling for rainwater. Every room also had a number of Moonstones in the walls, or they would, when Kenina finally finished putting them back. And finally, Kenina and Baldirak's private quarters completed the circle of rooms. The room's walls were thicker than the rest, to ensure the room stayed warm enough for Kenina's liking. Baldirak had spent a great deal of time crafting a nest of soft mosses mixed with clays and other materials that wouldn't burn, but that would stay soft enough for his Queen and not dirty her scales. And he'd selected only the brightest and rarest Moonstones to display.

Baldirak's pale blue eyes opened to the sound of his Queen's wingbeats. The earth shook with the weight of her fall and his injuries groaned in protest. Baldirak was already trying to get to his paws when Kenina reached him. The warmth of her was as soothing as always. But he could see she was exhausted and had perhaps hurt herself in that fall. The Healer he had once been, the mate he was now, urged him to get up to look her over. But... His eyes moved over her slowly, eventually coming to rest in the light of hers. "I give you my word, as King of the EarthWings and the Twilight Imperium, and as your mate, I will not die but by your will and yours alone." The EarthWing had opened his maw to say more, only to be silenced by the shock of his mate's next words. A clutch of eggs? Is that what she said? It shouldn't be so surprising--Astral herself had told them she would fix Kenina's infertility as a gift to them. But... to be told a thing and then to see it realized... Baldirak listened to the rest of Kenina's words, not noticing his own tears slipping down his snout. He did, however, feel her wing on his still freezing-back and wings, felt her head on his. She was so warm...

Baldirak's maw opened slightly. His left eye flickered between orange and pale blue. A deep growl rumbled in his throat and the water in the pool rippled uneasily. Baldirak's foreclaws scratched at the earth until they held even weakly, and he began trying to force himself to roll over onto his stomach. "Die on you? I am a Dragon of my word, Kenina." He kept going until he was upright, ignoring the fact he'd undone Vilkas' cauterizing in a few places. He then began trying to sit up, a harder task than he initially thought. He wasn't aware that his forelegs were injured as well--his right even more now. With a frustrated and perhaps slightly angry snarl, Baldirak dug his claws into the earth and sat up in one fell swoop. His already taxed body shook tremendously... but he managed to stay upright. Panting a bit, he wrapped his tail around Kenina, pulling her against him. He licked and nuzzled her snout, keeping his snout touched to hers as he looked into her eye. "I will be here for you, my Queen. I will be here for our Hatchlings..." A soft rumbling that wasn't quite a growl sounded in his throat. "Our Hatchlings... Kenina, if I complete you, then you complete me. You've given me what I never thought I could have, what I didn't know I was missing or even wanted. Just with yourself. And now we are to have Hatchlings... I've never been happier, save realizing that I loved you. And that is another thing. 'Not very good at nurturing and loving stuff'? You are nurturing now, aren't you? Growing those eggs. And you love me, don't you?" he nuzzled her again, "I know you'll love them, too. But, of course, I will help you how ever I can. Whatever you need. As long as you make the same promise to me. You're not allowed to die, either." Baldirak closed his eyes as he pulled her closer still, wishing he could wrap his wings around her. "I love you, Kenina. The nightmare is finally over."

Hamnet, who had rushed over to help the Queen up after she crash-landed, now slipped from the receiving room to await his brother and Burner outside. Vilkas was just landing when he did; one look at the Royal Guard told him he didn't need to go inside just now, so the two of them sat on either side of the entrance.

Burner hadn't even bothered to see if Hapax had followed until he landed, noticing Vilkas and Hamnet outside the royal home. He finally did look back, hoping to see the Earthwing coming before starting to walk in.

"I'll be sure he's ok." Burner's lack of people skills was about as well know as his healing, so it definitely didn't sound that comforting, to say the least. But he meant it. He'd make sure Baldirak was ok. He looked in, seeing the Kenina there too. He wasn't sure what they talked about, but he was there to do a job.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your highness, but I was called to help the king. Seems like he's been in quite a fight."

Outside of the royal home was a strikingly beautiful dragoness of bright hues that looked like fire. Her head was ducked low, long tail lashing as she paced to and fro. A growl was rumbling deep in her throat, fur raised and feathers bristling. Among the giants of the world, Lilith stood out, and it wasn't only for her small size. Even next to the burning FireWings, she was a flame of her very own in her dangerous temper and flickering colors. As much as she wanted to fight off the injuries of her brother, she knew there was nothing that fang and claw could do to heal others. For once, Lilith wished she had trained as a healer. . .

The home was crowded enough as is. She decided to wait until she was given the okay to enter.