#Moonlight Moura Part 5 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thecandywrites · 1 year

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Monster March 2024 Day 25 Harpy /Moura Part 6

Now it's time for some back stabby stabby.

As always, thanks to the wonderful @borealwrites for thier Monster March 2024 Prompt List

Moonlight Moura

Part 6

Axera woke you up right at sunrise so you could go and get the sunrise sunshine, which was supposed to be some of the best sunshine as you got up and flew up to the roof of the dragon barn and spread your wings to get the sunshine.

“There you are!” Your cousin Tristan said as he flew in from the horizon and practically tackled you to the roof as he hugged you tight as you welcomed him into your arms and cried in relief, as he peppered your face in kisses because his last flight was your first and incidentally, the one where he met his new wife who just had a baby as you were visiting him and his family for your last solstice flight.

“Come on, we gotta go!” Tristan encouraged you as he tried to pull you into the air.

“I can’t leave.” You stopped him as you pulled back.

“Shit, what did they do to your collar? is this why you can't leave? Are you sick? Did these people do this to you?!” He asked in horror to see it changed.

“They didn’t do anything to it! Lightning did.” You revealed.

“You got struck by lightning?” He asked in surprise and shock.

“Yeah, I did. And now I’m glowing like the damn moon. Everything metal I touch, turns into electrum or white gold instead of yellow gold. I was as bright as the sun at first and would have blinded people for miles if I wasn’t magnetized to an island with an electromagnetic core surrounded by fog as thick as pumpkin soup!” You explained.

“Now thankfully there are moura dragons here and they are taking care of me. But it’s the people here who are helping me drain excess power from me so hopefully I don’t glow like the moon and don’t electrocute everything and everyone I touch. Once I get better, I’ll come back. But I can’t do that yet. I would fry every electrical grid anywhere and everywhere else. The moura dragons here helped me find some really good people who are helping me, feeding me and sheltering me and hiding me in plain sight from any other who would mean me harm. But right now, I have to rely on the dragons to translate everything I say. I know our taunston relatives made translation books for all the peoples who converged onto this supersphere. Please, I need a translation book if not from marinai to the language of the Neveahans, then from tauni to the language spoken here. For you know I can speak and read and write tauni. I want to be able to talk to my hosts and not have the dragons tell or show more than I want them to or more than they should." You begged.

"There is something dangerous here. And with as protective as the moura dragons are, and with as protective as my host family is. Means that me being here is dangerous and that there is something bigger than them that is a threat to me. And I need to know what that threat is, because otherwise the Neveahan dragons would not have told every moura who would listen to stay clear of this place. Please. I can’t leave this place because I’ll be stuck to the outer islands again like a magnet stuck to another one. Because it was only a dragon’s flying strength that I was able to be pulled from the outer ring like an anchor from the watery depths. Please. Tristan, go to the closest Taunston fortress, ask them for help. I’m the granddaughter of a taunston, surely they would help me. And if not for family, then for a price. Surely electrum is valuable to them right?” You urged him before you put the electrum that you had made into a small stick and gathered into a small ball from the bath and made one larger palm sized piece of it and gave it to him.

“Now please fly away from here and only approach me when I’m alone. One moura is one thing, I don’t want two to turn into more than that because with moura math is the same as chicken math, that’ll pull at least a dozen more here and they'll think we're the ones invading. Please. For Isolade’s sake and for little Trillinia, I can’t chance you being stuck here with me, please fly away.” You pleaded with him.

“For Isolade and Trillinia, but I’m coming back with that book for you, and an explanation of what’s happened to you and how to fix you that doesn’t involve you being in the belly of the greatest beast of all on this supershere.” Tristan agreed as he took it.

“What do you mean by that?” You asked as you grabbed his arms to keep him from leaving as you couldn’t help but narrow your eyes at the words he chose to use.

“I can’t say much more than that, I feel the dragons around hearing our conversation. It would not surprise me if they are already alerting everyone here about my presence.” He said.

“Then fly. Fly now.” You urged him as he flew away before anyone else could see him. You looked down into the skylight and saw that Jenya and Daer were- at least by appearances, fast asleep. So you could do little but watch Tristan fly north wishing you could fly back with him. But you didn’t trust the outer ring of islands to not pull you harder than you could fly and you couldn’t trust that you wouldn’t bring serious harm to anyone or anything if you were able to go home in this state. Dragon magic exceeded a mouras. And if Thyla was adamant that Nahlo, and his family and his talents with electricity could help, you had little choice but to trust her and take her word for it since Isla had apparently done all she could do. So you could only sit down and cry, feeling like you were watching the last of your kind leave you for you didn’t know how long, or if Tristan would ever be able to come back. With what you asked from him or not. You watched him turn into a speck of nothingness in the beautiful sunrise that was not healing you or fortifying you the way you had grown used to it doing.

But you didn’t get too much time to think about it before Nahlo, in a panic, came out of the house, calling for you with Thyla hot on his heels. Ah, that’s what Tristan was referring to. He could feel Thyla’s mind with his own and of course she would alert Nahlo. You could not find fault with her for it though. You leaving wasn’t in your own best interest, nor anyone else’s for that matter.

“I’m here Nahlo, I’m here. What’s wrong?” You asked as you flitted down to the ground.

“Oh thank God, you’re still here.” Nahlo said as he hugged you tight when you did.

“Of course I’m still here. Where else would I go?” You asked as you hugged him back.

“Home?” Nahlo offered.

“It’s not safe for me to go home yet, remember? Right now those outer islands are like sharks circling a drowning land walker. I’m here until you say I’m no longer a danger to anyone else or anything else, or until you ask me to leave, or perhaps, when I’ve outstayed my welcome at least.” You reassured him with a reassuring smile.

“You will never outstay your welcome. And I would never ask you to leave. But I will let you know the moment it is safe for you to go home.” Nahlo nodded in agreement and understanding before he finally and rather reluctantly let go.

“Are you ok?” You asked him as you reached up to cup his face with your hand as you noticed it was hot and flushed.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Are you ok?” He asked as he either consciously or subconsciously put his own hand over yours as he looked deeply into your eyes, searching for how you were really doing.

“Yeah, I’ll be ok. I have the dragons and I have you and your wonderful family. What else do I need?” You asked.

“Your health?” Nahlo supplied.

“Well, that’s why I’m here. Because like your dragon says, that if she can trust anyone to help, it’s you. And I was raised to always trust the dragons. So if Thyla trusts you, I trust you too.” You smiled.

“Wait here, I must collect morning dew for the kids.” You offered before you swiped your thumb across his cheek before you used your wings to pull you up into the trees as you flitted to the various fruit trees around the farm and created morning dew from all of them, making little edible coru clouds from each one before you returned to him, carrying a pack of them that were as big as yourself.

“How many did you get?” He asked.

“As many as I could. I figured the whole family would want one of each kind I could get.” You said.

“Here, you try and tell me what they will think.” You offered him an assortment that you had made just for him which made him happy to take from you before he ate the first.

“Orange tree.” He noted when he took a bite of the first.

“Very good.” You grinned.

“How do you manage to get the taste and the scent to be in all one sensation?” He asked.

“It’s all just particles in the air, that most can’t really see with their eyes, but that their other senses can pick up on. I just pick up enough of it for you to both taste and smell it at the same time and that it is the same intensity that most find appetizing and appealing.” You shrugged before you walked with him back into the house with the others as you put a bundle on each place setting at the table while the other members of Nahlo’s family got up while Axera got out of your room and left the house to eat his own breakfast from the barn with Thyla, who was still angry with him about something as you watched as Thyla was quick to snip and snap at him.

“Did I pick the one dragon on Neveah that Thyla can’t stand?” You asked Nahlo as he noticed you watch them walk from the house into the barn.

“No. There are many more she hates much worse than him.” Nahlo grinned as you could tell that Jenya was up and doing the translating for you while the sub adults came to the barn to eat with her and Daer.

“Why does Thyla hate Axera?” You asked.

“You’d have to ask her because I don’t know.” Nahlo shook his head.

“Jenya?” You called out to her.

‘Thyla was just trying to be obedient to my mother, that’s all. Isla wanted to keep you close.’ Jenya answered.

‘Because not all Neveahans are good Neveahans who mean me- no harm?’ You questioned mentally.

‘Yes.’ Jenya admitted.

‘Which ones should I look out for?’ You asked.

‘Anyone in a uniform.’ Jenya warned.

‘Ok. Anything else?’ You asked.

‘No.’ Jenya answered.

‘Understood. Will you please tell Thyla that my visitor this morning was just a concerned family member, and should be the only one I should have, hopefully until I can leave under my own power?’ You asked her as you showed her the exchange you had with Tristan that morning.

‘Of course, I’ll let her know.’ Jenya reassured you.

“Thank you.” You thanked her as you did your best to help prepare breakfast for the family as you were surprised when most of the family came in, each carrying a dish they had made for breakfast and soon the table was filled with dishes as it had been the day before for dinner as it seemed everyone pitched in which you really liked and appreciated as the whole family was delighted with the edible coru clouds on their plates as Manidore was the last one up but the first to devour the coru clouds.

“Best dish for breakfast.” Manidore praised with a charming smile and a wink.

“Not exactly filling though.” You offered as you happily got to eat to your heart’s content out of the vast array of dishes that were made and passed around the table, this time, not worrying about turning anything into electrum because the same serving spoons were used both for dinner and for breakfast and were already electrum.

“But leaving us all hungry for more.” Manidore praised.

“Then eat some real solid food to satisfy your hunger. The sun is burning off all the dew so it would be hard to make more right now.” You urged him as you pushed the dish that was between you closer to him since it was not hard to discern his true intentions, which you could not be any more disinterested in.

“When you’re done eating Aurava, we should get going to the plant to drain more excess from you.” Nahlo insisted as he sat beside you.

“Of course, I promise not to shred my clothes today.” You tried to offer with a meaningful grin.

“I wouldn’t mind.” Manidore muttered under his breath as you could practically feel Nahlo’s hard glare at his younger brother as you flushed with Manidore’s implications.

“Then you won’t mind mending them will you?” Nahlo insisted.

“Nope, although I’d want to get more measurements.” Manidore offered before your moura cloak became a harness of tape measures over the clothes you were currently wearing before you pulled it off of you and handed it to him.

“You better write down the numbers before that becomes what it really is.” You instructed him as Manidore raced to try to write them all down as you grinned, rather smugly as you mentally let the lone feather slowly revert back to its natural state the moment he had written down the measurement before he was left with only a feather but before he could marvel at the feather itself, you called it back to yourself.

“Excuse me, I need to get ready.” You excused yourself from the table once you finished all the food on your plate and walked back to your room to get changed into the Neveahan clothes.

“What is wrong with you? Why didn’t you just ask her to strip right here at the table.” Nahlo sneered rather hatefully as he grabbed his plate as well as your own from the table as Safahti took the paper from her son’s hand.

“And that will be the only piece of her you will touch. You shame us by being so forward with her. She is sick. Have some decency.” Sefahti insisted before she smacked him upside the head.

“Get dressed and ready for work.” Undilla urged his sons.

“Yes Papa.” They answered before the family slowly began to clean up after breakfast as you were already outside somehow and with Thyla.

“Ready?” You asked Nahlo when you saw him leave his house and with his gear.

“Yes.” He answered before you got into Axera’s saddle while Nahlo got into Thyla’s while Manidore got onto something else.

“What is that?” You asked Nahlo from Axera’s back.

“A car. For when people do not wish to fly.” Nahlo answered.

“Why does he not fly?” You asked him you were happy to take to the air with Axera and himself as you saw dragons from all over take to the skies.

“He is waiting to get married first.” Nahlo answered as you frowned in confusion.

“Why?” You asked.

“Some dragons find their riders before their riders have to ever find them. And some wait to find a dragon to ride, until the dragons return from their rite flight and choose to pair up with another on Neveah, and usually most young adults will also wait to choose a marriage mate after that process too.” Nahlo explained.

“So he is waiting for his future bride to pick her dragon and that dragon to pick a mate before he choses one and when he does, he not only gets a wife, he also gets a pair of dragons.” You concluded.

“Something like that.” Nahlo nodded.

“But not you?” You asked.

“No. Thyla’s always been my dragon since the egg, isn’t that right girl?” Nahlo asked as he patted her neck.

“So what will you do if she choses a moura dragon after her rite flight, go wherever she will settle down?” You asked curiously.

“We’ll see.” Nahlo answered with a hopeful smile.

‘Or more like he’ll have to decide between who owns any dragon who wants to be my mate.’ Thyla informed you.

“I see Thyla, so Axera is definitely out of the running. Good thing I chose Axera to ride for the time being huh?” You grinned.

“No she didn’t mean it like that.” Nahlo was quick to correct.

“No, Thyla was quite clear, there is no misunderstanding her.” You grinned as you waived him off before you landed at the site where others were already waiting in line with many vehicles filled with batteries.

‘Here are the children of the people that take care of my parents.’ Axera introduced you to a small group of people.

“Sali.” You greeted them from behind your scarf and hood so you hoped that you didn’t glow too much to scare them off.

“Sali Miss Moonchild. We understand from Grand Dragon Isla that you are a friend of hers, that you are here because you are sick and are needing healing?” Axera’s usual rider Haluma asked from her glittering and sparkling dragon armored clothes only meant to show off her lithe body. She had less body fat than you did. And barely any breasts, but what she did have seemed to be padded and puffed up to accentuate them.

“Yes.” You nodded.

“Then why aren’t you in a hospital?” Alidore, Haluma’s brother asked.

“Because I’m not Neveahan. And I don’t know if the doctors who are used to treating Neveahan patients will be able to help someone with different biology. But thankfully Nahlo understands what afflicts me and is helping heal me. Because even I don’t fully understand it.” You admitted lowly.

“Oh, right, of course. That and you may not have any official documentation or identification. Other than what Grand Dragon Isla can vouch for. It’s probably best if you get the help you need as quietly and as discreetly as possible, so you can hopefully go home soon.” Haluma offered as there was something in her voice that you caught and a sense about her that didn’t quite sit right with you.

“Yes, for now, thank you so much for allowing Axera to fly me around. Although if you’re needing him back for anything. He should go home if he’s missed or needed.” You offered as you tried to offer the bridal to Axera back to Haluma before Alidore was quick to offer you the bridle to his own dragon instead.

“Only if you will take mine in his place. Surely you should not be left without a mode of transportation and we can’t expect Thyla to fly both of you all around.” Alidore offered as he exchanged the bridals as he was dipping his head to catch and keep your gaze as you gave him a small, polite smile.

“But I don’t know if your dragon speaks my language that well. Since Axera’s been my main means of communication as my translator, but obviously, there are others who have followed me that speak my language very well and can be my means of translation and transportation. And they all assure me that they are happy and willing to take Axera’s place and give him a break if he wants or needs it. And I do not wish to inconvenience you or leave you a way of not having the means of transportation around your truly marvelous country.” You tried to graciously excuse as two more dragons eagerly put their heads over your shoulders and were eager to try to both claim you as their riders which you couldn’t help but laugh at their playful overeagerness.

“It’s not an inconvenience at all. It’s been a privilege and an honor to have you ride one of our dragons. Might we invite you over for either lunch or dinner? Supper? Evening meal? Whatever you may call it?” Alidore asked hopefully.

“I will defer to Nahlo’s opinion. For I know we will have a lot of work to continue to work out how to cure me of my ailment and affliction.” You excused.

“Of course, Nahlo, you and your family are more than welcome to come as well, really, the whole family.” Haluma was quick to offer.

“Axera told Miss Moonchild that his father is a friend of hers. And I know he will wish to see her the most. So, dinner would be nice. Thank you.” Nahlo caved with a polite smile.

“Oh of course! Of course, yes he hasn’t stopped talking our mother’s ears off about it.” Alidore insisted.

“Just, make sure that none of the utensils are metal. Her ailment means she is very reactive to metal. So ceramic or wood would be best.” Nahlo suggested.

“Of course, we will make sure that nothing metal is even on the table.” Haluma offered with a charming smile and doe eyes as you realized, that’s what she was upset about. She wanted Nahlo. And she did not want you to be any kind of obstacle in that endeavor, which you thought was interesting. Perhaps it was that reason that Thyla didn’t like Axera, because what Thyla really didn’t like was Axera’s true rider and Nahlo didn't share Haluna's attraction.

‘Bingo.’ Thyla told you telepathically.

“Axera, please don’t go telling all my secrets to people who are strangers to me. If I want them to know anything, I want to tell them myself.” You asked Axera.

‘Wouldn’t dream of it my friend.’ Axera reassured you.

“He’s been a very good dragon. Please, feed and treat him extra well.” You requested sweetly of Haluma and Alidore and their other brothers and sisters as you shook their hands.

“Of course, of course.” Alidore assured you.

“We should get in and see what we can cure today.” Nahlo urged you to come inside.

“Axera, I will let you hunt whatever you want if you will tell me everything.” Alidore said once you and Nahlo had set foot inside with the other dragons following in around you.

“And what I want to know is- is she really an angel from heaven?” Haluma asked Axera.

‘No. Far from. She is flesh and blood and quite a bit more. Enough to make gaining her as a friend worth your while.’ Axera grinned back.

“Good, now let’s go to the market and find you a proper breakfast.” Haluma beamed before she hopped onto her saddle and flew over to the market to get Axera some good ol fashioned bribery to get him to tell them anything and everything they wanted to know about Nahlo’s new guest.

Thankfully the other people Nahlo and Manidore worked with were actually very kind and very helpful and were relieved that you had stayed and would continue to work with them to drain your excess power from you as they all had brought in extra battery chargers with them, all of them leading to a plug for an outlet that you would hold before they connected every kind of battery they could. And then, like waves of the sea. It was just you holding the plug for only a few moments before the other batteries almost instantly regained their full charge and had to be changed out for others. And changing out the batteries took longer than charging them did.

Thankfully, today, Nahlo and the others had a steady supply of food, delivered from every restaurant that would deliver food there. All so that you could just simply eat with one hand and charge with the other while you made sure they took breaks to eat and drink and refresh themselves too.

But after 8 hours of this, the line was empty, but you still glowed, like a full moon through a layer of clouds at night as you could only blow out another breath of relief yet subtle disappointment that while it had continued to help, it still wasn’t enough as others made calls all around both the large nation and the surrounding smaller ones to see who had need of electricity to store but Nahlo insisted that the magnetism of the outer rings was still too great of a threat, and that they find solutions here on the mainland that didn’t involve too much supervision by anyone who would ask any questions that would endanger you being here illegally.

“Illegally?” You repeated to Thyla.

‘By Neveahan governmental standards, you are an illegal alien in every sense. You came here without legal permission by any other country that Neveah recognizes. You have no identification paperwork or cards. According to the official Neveahan government, you aren’t even here. Isla is keeping your presence a secret from them. And right now, Nahlo is afraid that when you go to Axera’s family’s farm your safety will be threatened because Axera is likely not to keep your confidence. In fact it wouldn't surprise if he's sold you out in exchange for a chance to hunt and kill his own lunch.’ Thyla explained.

“So he is afraid they will find out I'm here illegally?” You asked worriedly.

‘Yes. Nahlo and Manidore are afraid that if Nahlo doesn’t take Haluma’s flirtatious advances and that if you do not accept Alidore’s that either of them would turn you over just to spite Nahlo and his family. You saw Axera, he’s very handsome. Axera and all the other dragons at that farm are jewel dragons, their scales are meant for jewelry and more luxurious coats of armor. Which you've already seen because Haluma refuses to wear nothing but the stuff, even as uncomfortable as it to her sometimes.' Thyla explained.

“Ah, entitled and used to always getting what they want.” You surmised.

‘Yes.' She confirmed.

"Why does Haluma like Nahlo though? Is it the tattoos?" You asked her softly.

'Yeah. Tattoos are forbidden in Haluma's family but to Haluma, Nahlo is some kind of irresistable bad boy. And yes, that tattoos only add to that image. Otherwise she has almost every other guy on the island drooling over her and her rich family. But not Nahlo. He sees it all for what it really is and while they may be rich in house, estate and money, they are piss poor in ethics, honesty, and decency.' Thyla revealed.

"Ah, so she is poor in all the ways I'm rich and I'm poor in all the ways she's rich. So she is threatened by me." You surmised.

"Exactly. But Haluma has always wanted what she can't have. And because Nahlo has gently and politely refused her advances in the past, instead of going elsewhere, she's become obsessed. Like stalker obsessed. Which is why Nahlo works one of the more humble jobs that is quite dirty and hard work. Things that Haluma and her family wouldn't be caught dead doing. They rely on thier machines to make their jewelry and pluck the scales before they're even ready to be fully shed, all to make deadlines, to the harm of thier own dragons until they bleed from the plucking." Thyla shuddered.

"Like a bird having it's pretty feathers plucked." You surmised.

"Exactly. And if they come to know that you make electrum. They would be the first to have turn every speck of metal on that estate into more electrum. And try to marry you as soon as possible to keep you there like your foremothers.’ Thyla warned.

“Then why did Nahlo agree?” You asked.

‘For Axera’s father’s sake. But if you show his father the pain you’ve endured being in this state- maybe he will dissuade them.’ Thyla offered.

“I see.” You nodded in understanding before Nahlo approached wiping the sweat of his brow after getting the last of the batteries back up to the people waiting outside.

“We should get home and get cleaned up for dinner.” Nahlo came over as Manidore had already left to go home to do just that.

“If you felt uncomfortable about going to Axera's farm, you could have declined.” You offered.

“I didn’t want to deny you seeing old friends.” Nahlo tried to excuse.

“Not if it will cost you- your peace of mind and the peace of your heart.” You countered.

“Then perhaps, in the future, lunch visits will be best, short and sweet and an excuse to leave to go back to work when things even venture into being uncomfortable and more dragon orientated.” Nahlo offered.

“Yes, that would probably be best. I trust you to keep me safe and sound Nahlo. And I trust Thyla to do the same and I trust Grandma Isla. Thyla told me I’m illegally here. And it would be best if I stayed off of sonar.” You supplied.

“Radar.” Nahlo corrected with a grin.

“Radar, yes.” You agreed as you mirrored his smile.

“So do you think going to Axera’s family’s farm will expose me and threaten my safety?” You asked as you lowered your voice and took a step closer to him.

“It should be ok, as long as Axera’s father sees and feels your painful truth. That you are here by accident and it is only by Isla’s protection that you are here on the mainland.” Nahlo answered as you nodded in understanding.

“Then lead the way. I will follow wherever you will go.” You offered as you took his arm and hugged it as he was happy to have you there as he was happy to put his hand over yours and lead you out of there with Thyla and Sephat and the others, who had taken Axera’s place with you, who Thyla liked much better than Axera. For one thing, Sephat wasn’t nearly as boastful and egotistical because he was more drab and more meek and mild. And 2- because he was drab and to other Neveahans, ugly, he was seen as undesireable and practically unrideable by Neveahan standards. But he was getting the hang of taking you as a rider and learning to translate your meanings instead of pure word for word translation. And for all of these things, you really liked and appreciated about him too. There was a quietness and a gentleness about him that you found soothing too.

You flew Sephat beside Thyla back home where everyone was hurriedly trying to get ready.

“Thank you all so much for helping me visit the other moura dragons around Neveah. I really appreciate it.” You thanked them as you were quick to try to help them.

“I’m just happy that you aren’t going alone and that all of us can come with you to keep an eye on things and keep you safe.” Sefahti smiled gratefully.

“You are glowing much dimmer today. I take it, today was much more successful as far as curing you is concerned?” Cadi offered.

“Yes.” You smiled happily.

“Good.” She and Sefahti both smiled happily before they finished and tried to help you get ready by doing your hair at least, while your moura cloak provided a beautiful dress, which they claimed was perfect, simple and elegent and sophisticated for the dinner party as they simply let you borrow a cloak to wear over your clothes to conceal your state until you could get into the house.

“Ok, we will drive, you fly. Keep the dragon as close as you can.” They offered.

“I will.” You reassured them before you got back onto Sephat to fly with Nahlo who actually looked quite dashing and regal in his more dressy clothes.

“You lead, I follow.” You urged him.

“Ok.” He smiled as he took to the air and flew with you to Axera’s family’s farm which wasn’t actually too far away. Thankfully.

But the moment you landed, and got off of Sephat, it was clear that Axera’s family’s caretakers had pulled out all the stops so to speak. Their houses were practically all mansions, all connected by elaborate walkways and hallways until it looked more like one huge palace complex. Their barn was also palatial. And you were taken on one side by Alidore and his mother on the other as they were quick to usher you inside and down to a meal that only equaled that of Dorierra's. There were more pieces of cutlery than you could ever think was needed for a meal. And servants, lots and lost of servants. And dinner was actually a 30 course meal. Each plate only having a few mouthfuls worth of food on it. But beautifully and artfully plated delicacies. Thankfully Alidore's mother was right there beside you to walk you through what to eat what course with and what to do when and made several comments about how you ate all the food off of every plate put in front of you. You were quick to point out that you were actually sick and the more food you ate, the sooner you would recover. Which was the only reason she allowed it. The men of the family of course were "allowed" to finish all the food off of their plates, the ladies, barely ate half of what was there.

All while Nahlo was sat down all the way on the other end of the table with Haluma practically glued herself to his side and in a dragon scale dress that left very little to the imagination. You could tell that Undilla and Sefhati weren't exactly thrilled to simply sit and listen to her talk on and on and on about herself and only herself and never really engaging them in coversation and interrupted them every time they tried to cut in. Which, mouras could be chatty too. But they at least had the decency to not interrupt other people. You could sense Nahlo only tolerated her presence as he too didn’t appreciate or like her own forwardness.

But seemed all of Alidore’s brothers were seated around you with Alidore's grandfather sitting at the head of the very long table. You barely could keep up with their questions about you and your family and where you were from as you could see Thyla wasn’t happy about Axera’s attentions either as she tried her best to keep up with helping you and your hosts communicate serving as your translator since Sephat was still learning but making an excellent effort nonetheless.

And while you enjoyed the food, it was the company that was overwhelming you with their "charms", flattery, fishing for compliments in turn, and attentions as you noticed that all of them were eating with pure gold silverware while you were grateful for your wooden handled utensils.

You tried so hard not to touch anything metallic. Everywhere you looked was gold, platinum, crystal, marble, ostentatious and over the top. The family was eager to talk about how great and prosperous their business was as their farm didn’t even bother with herds, simply bought what their dragons wanted to eat from the market every day so that they could dedicate more of their lands to buildings and lavish gardens. Even the children were expected to be little adults. No loud voices, no outbursts, no misbehavior, and wholly unnatural.

Which was a sharp contrast to Nahlo and his family’s farm that was much more of a homestead style and geared towards self sufficiency which you liked and appreciated much more whereas his own family was similar to your own, where kids were passed around and everyone loved everyone and between giving each other a hard time and teasing, it was always in good fun and never malicious.

But not here. There were undercutting remarks and inside jokes that weren’t funny and didn’t make sense and you could tell Alidore’s grandfather was the patriarch of the family. As even he was trying to be ‘a warm father type’ but his true nature could be clearly sensed. He practically ruled his family with an iron fist. His grandchildren were practically all kissing his ass while his other children, while showing reverence, there was so much resentment there too.

But once you finished dinner and tried all the desserts, you simply asked to see Axera’s father, wanting to hurry up and meet him and sing to his clutch of eggs and get going and leave before they asked you the same intrusive questions masked by pretty words and flattery, asked at least six different ways, wanting to get either different answers or get to the core truths about yourself that you weren’t comfortable sharing with them.

You could only glance at Nahlo out of the corner of your eye and he looked just as uncomfortable as you felt but he was obviously trying to be polite and dip and dodge all of Haluma’s advances as you were trying to do the same from her brothers. Especially since every single one in Alidore’s family stared more at your moura collar than even your breasts or eyes. Which to you betrayed what they were really after.

Electrum.

Figured.

The family reluctantly let you into the barn where Axera’s father Aeleo was as he practically was wagging his tail in excitement to see you as were happy to go up to him and hug his face for several long moments.

‘Hello my friend.’ You greeted happily as you hugged his face tight and fought not to cry again.

‘Hello my friend. It’s so wonderful to have you here, finally. Axera has told and shown me all that you showed him already. I’m so sorry you’ve had to endure that great pain and then to be here is both thrilling yet dangerous for you.’ He said.

‘Because I’m an illegal alien?’ You guessed.

‘Among other things.’ He agreed before he picked you up so you could sit on his snout high up in the air as you straddled his snout to talk to him, wordlessly, wanting to keep this conversation secret between just the two of you as Alidore and his family simply sat and watched on curiously.

‘So what are the other things? No one will say. And it’s the fear of the unknown that scares me the most.’ You asked.

‘Well immediately? It’s this family that likes to tell themselves they’re my owners. You should be weary of them the most. I have forbidden Axera from telling them about the electrum. Whether he has obeyed me, I’m not sure. With all the airs they are putting on. I doubt it. I’m sorry I raised a dishonorable dragon that can not even keep your confidence when you are already injured and scared and vulnerable.’ He offered.

‘So what will your caretaker family want from me?’ You asked.

‘Every scrap of electrum you could ever turn. Both for their jewelry and to sell to everyone else. They would want your benar as jewels to sell the the royalty here. They would want to keep you in the same comfortable cage they practically keep me in.’ He admitted.

‘And if I don’t give them that?’ You asked.

‘It would not surprise me if they will turn you over to the authorities for a reward, which if they did that, I can leave this clutch with Halina, I will fly you back home myself before they could do that.’ He offered you.

‘But I don’t want anyone here to think I only came to get the moura dragons and take them by force. And I do not want to make trouble for you, or your mate or any other child you have. Children are the future. You know that as well as I do.’ You urged him.

‘Yes, that is true.’ He had to admit.

‘Then can I trade blessings with you? A moura lullaby to help your clutch connect with you and your mate the way they connect us with our families?’ You offered.

‘I would love that. But what can I bless you with in return? Please, tell me how I can help.’ He requested.

‘Help me put a guard around my mind so that no dragon will be able to see or tell anything I don’t want them to see so they can’t tell anyone else.’ You requested.

‘Of course. All that and more.’ He readily offered before he gently let you down back onto the barn floor before blowing a special cloud of smoke around you as you felt more safe and secure in your own skin and in your own abilities to get out of here if need be.

“Thank you my friend.” You thanked him as you kissed his snout sweetly as he nuzzled you gently before he hugged you with his wing which got you to giggle as you finally let your wings out to fully hug him back before you pulled them back in and turned to his eggs and reached under the very pretty and extravagant nest quilt to touch them and sang the same lullaby, this time, making sure the tendrils stayed under the quilt and didn’t lift it but still wrapped around both Halina and Aeleo and their eggs to help them feel closer as a family.

You let Halina see what you were showing the rest of her family. Halina was brought to tears to see that while you came from a very humble family, you were rich in every way that her own caretaker’s family was poor. Which was in their interpersonal relationships which always seemed to be transactional and not really that genuine, which was why she loved Aeleo. Who loved her, not for her pretty scales. Or her rich caretakers. But just for her and would be happy with her here or anywhere else in the world as she readily agreed that if her caretakers turned on you, she was moving to the colonies with this entire clutch once they hatched. Because she too understood what it was like to be seen as property and not a person in her own right, even though she previously was afraid to leave because she doubted she would get the same support anywhere else than where she was. But now, she understood it. There was more to life than big fancy barns and all the food you could ever want to eat. There was family, there was a sense of belonging and there was not a sense of obligation but a sense of actually wanting to help one another because you really, genuinely loved them. No ulterior motives. No veiled threats or punishments. No timelines and deadlines. No ‘do this or else’. Just pure acceptance as perfectly imperfect as you were and moving at your own pace with very little being planned but taking life as you wanted it. With as many days ‘off’ as you wanted.

The song ended and you withdrew your moura mark tendrils, happy that the dragonets were happily sleeping in their nest before Halina pulled you close into her chest and hugged you as tight as she dared.

‘Thank you so much for that precious and priceless gift. I too will help you get home if it’s the last thing I do. Even if I have to call your home mine too.’ She offered.

‘You and your family would always be welecome.’ You offered her, appreciating the new gift of having truly private conversations with her and only her.

‘I know it. That’s why we would come, as soon as they could learn to fly.’ She offered.

‘Then don’t say anything, I doubt they’d be happy to let you go. You are investment to them. And I doubt your caretakers are used to seeing anything they’ve invested in- not make a return.’ You offered as you pet her pretty scales.

‘We are here by choice. Not by force. And they haven’t learned the one thing all dragon owners should know.’ She insisted.

‘Which is what?’ You asked.

‘Never build with non fire resistant materials.’ She beamed.

‘Well whatever you decide to do. Please don’t give them a reason to come after you and your family or me and mine.’ You pleaded.

‘No, I’d take lead them to Dorierra. Let those smug bastards spend the next millenia in ‘negotiations’.’ She chuckled as you snickered a laugh.

“What so funny?” Nahlo asked.

“Private joke between mouras and dragons, it would take longer to explain why it’s funny than it’s worth.” You waived off.

“It was a pleasure to meet all of you. But I’m afraid I’m getting very, very tired and I wish to sleep in the bed that Nahlo’s family has prepared for me in their home.” You insisted to your hosts for the evening and got out of there before they could put up too much of a protest as Nahlo and his family were so happy and grateful you gave them a reason to leave as you even agreed to ride in a vehicle to keep from “falling off” Sephat on the flight home.

“Ok, if all of them are going to be like that. I don’t want to do any more.” You admitted once you were in the safe confines of the car with Undilla and Sefahti which got them to giggle.

“Us either.” Sefahti admitted before they drove home and you had Sephat take to the skies with Thyla so he would get back to the house so he wouldn’t have to run alongside the vehicle or fly over it as it traversed the many streets between the two.

Once back at the house though. It was a delight to "dress down" and play a game before it was really bed time, something with cards and chips, like it was gambling but not actually gambling. But it was really fun.

“Thank you for giving me the worst cards of the deck. Truly I’m honored to have them.” You offered to Nahlo as he dealt the first hand after doing a "practice" game where everyone showed their cards and what to look for and what to avoid before you seemed to try to catch on before you played "for real" this time. But your comment prompted him to try to switch hands with himself before he would even see them.

“I’m kidding. No, keep your cards, there is nothing wrong with trying to play the hand you’re dealt. No matter how awful it is.” You reassured him.

“Well no one would be more of an expert on that than you.” He returned, although his tone was gentle in it’s teasing nature.

“Thanks.” You laughed.

“That’s the nicest sympathy without pity I’ve gotten for my unlucky streak that’s been hounding me for the last two years straight. Thanks. I really appreciate it.” You grinned as you organized the cards in your and by the symbols on the cards, thanks to Thyla helping you get them organized by what they were and how to do so.

“What do you mean - unlucky streak? You’re here, you’re alive, you’re as safe and sound as you could be.” Undilla tried to comfort you.

“True.” You had to nod in agreement.

“But for curiosity’s sake, how do you see yourself as unlucky?” He asked.

“Oh gee, where do I start?” You began with a laugh.

“Wherever you want to.” He started.

“Well to start off with. My first solstice flight was spent doing every flying trick and aerial acrobatic stunt I knew of. To the point I tired myself out so bad during my first flight, I lost weight just trying to get back to the host colony and I had to sleep in the sun for three days just to recuperate and then once I woke up, I had to practically eat my own body weight in food. And I barely had time to get back home and get ready for the equinox flight. Which took a little longer than an hour for me because I was anxious to get through so I was the first to try to fly through, before everything was fully into alignment and I nearly collided with the core which is molten magma and I got very close to losing my life over it." You began which earned several grimaces and winces.

"Yeah, and any reasonable person would think that after that brush with death it would have taught me to be a little wiser with my actions. But did it? No, instead it filled me with overconfidence. And for the summer solstice flight I spent the first half doing the same gods damn things I did in the first, which was to fly like a chicken with my head cut off, just doing every stunt I knew of and had learned and I learned quite a few from the new ones who came onto that flight with me, and they were just as immature as I was. I spent the entire time in Doreirra, not resting but expending even more energy in a fighting championship." You continued.

"Did you win anything?" Undilla asked hopefully.

"I did. I won my entire class and then I won the division championship. I got a trophy for it, and a special gift and everything." You answered.

"So how is that a bad thing?" Undilla posed.

"Because winning that championship- cost me everything. It cost me every chance I had at finding a mate. It cost me friends. It cost me the respect and bonds of friendship from my peers. To the point that the only ones who would even just fly with me were related to me by blood. And they in turn, lost prospects of their own for choosing to stay friends and family with me than embrace any new family they might have had if they hadn’t. So when I got back, once again, it was another three days of sleeping and eating and resting because I lost even more weight on that flight than I did the first which only made me look even younger and more immature than I already was.” You explained with an irritated scowl.

“And then on the fall equinox flight, I was the one who actually helped the newbies not collide with the core. By flying just above it in my mega phoenix form, my wings being the only barrier many of the other younger mouras had between themselves and being burned up in the core. So I spent most of that flight just guarding the others on the flight. And you would have thought others would have appreciated it. But instead I was looked at like I was an old maid and I was treated as if I was my mother’s age and once again- every chance I had of finding a mate was obliterated because I wasn’t the “young and fun” type, but the “old mother hen” type.” You continued.

“And then of course the last and most disastrous of all, the final winter solstice flight, I spent all alone. On the edge of a V. Still never approached, never befriended. Nothing. So I’m either too stupid and immature for the wise, too old and matronly for the young, too strong for any other male who just happens to be weaker in physical strength than myself, too skinny to be healthy, too busy showing off to be discreet. Too panicky to be calm. Too everything wrong to ever be right about anything or right for anyone else.” You waved off with a heavy sigh.

“And then I have my non moura family telling me that I just must be a late bloomer and should probably wait until I’m at least 30 before trying this again. But the problem is, is by then, most of my peers will have been parents and have 10 year olds of their own by then and I’m not exactly too keen on picking through any newly divorced. Nor any old bachelor who has yet to fly his own mother’s coop to go and strike out on his own and have some sense, any sense of independence or self sufficiency or self reliance or whose own sense of masculinity is too threatened by my own sense of self.” You explained as you simply followed what Nahlo was doing as far as betting went.

Then you exchanged a card that Thyla told you to before you seemed to get another and she insisted that you needed to keep what you had and not take any more cards or give any away because with just that one card, everything came together but not to let on that you got a good hand.

“Well that means that your mate must be extra special.” Undilla soothed.

“And that is what every single person in my family has told me every single day since the fall equinox. Every. Single. One. But they add a huge helping of pity and patronizing with it. But thanks. That many people saying so means it should be true.” You smiled before Undilla simply set down his hand to show his cards before, like dominoes, everyone did, calling out what they had before you turned to Thyla to make sure you would say this correctly.

“Something about a flush? Flush or blush?” You mentioned as you put the cards down and everyone all groaned, cheered and crooned. Nahlo doing the majority of the cheering though as he gave you a high five.

“It’s a flush. You got a flush.” Nahlo specified as he helped shoved the chips into your area as you began to pick them up and stack them up.

“Flush. Like a toilet?” You asked.

“Yeah, same word, different meaning though.” Nahlo countered.

“Well it looks like it means the same, it flushed everyone chips into my area.” You noted with a barely contained shit eating grin which got everyone to burst out laughing.

“And flush like blush, because now all of you are doing that too. So flush.” You pointed out which only got them to laugh even harder.

“Yeah, I think she’s figured how to fit in just fine around here.” Undilla beamed proudly as he reached out and pat your back.

“Aww, thank you Papa.” You thanked him sweetly before he cupped your cheek then pinched your nose which got you to laugh.

“Now you get to flush.” Undilla said as you blushed prettily before you passed gas.

“No, I’m good.” You as they all practically fell out of their chairs while Undilla started laughing so hard he farted too which his farts smelled downright awful before everyone started to evacuate the area.

“You guys are nasty.” Manidore waived off as he tried not to gag again and just walked off.

“This was fun. Thank you for showing me the game.” You offered as everyone was in the process of leaving the table and ending the game to go to bed.

But now, as much as you wanted sleep, your body was still quite hungry for sunshine before some moon beams came in through the window and your wings automatically moved to try to catch them.

“Really? Moonbeams?” You muttered to your wings before you grabbed the pillow and the blanket and slipped out of the window to fly up the roof to the dragon barn where you could lay on your stomach and fully stretch out your wings to capture every moonbeam as that hunger finally seemed to get filled. But honestly, you were too tired to care as to why your body now craved moonlight. You were just happy to finally get that hunger sated as you laid out over the actual skylight which was made out of a particular substance that was clear like glass, but wasn’t, actually glass.

‘They call it plastic or plexi glass, clear like glass, but much more durable and less prone to break.’ Jenya supplied seepily under you.

“Thank you. Goodnight Jenya.” You thanked her as you were happy to wrap the blanket around you, leaving only your head and wings open as your wings naturally laid over the whole skylight so that as the moon traveled over the night sky, it would catch it all night long and feed you while you slept before Sephat and then all the others flew to the roof to take up a side all around you so that you wouldn't fall off of the barn in your sleep. As you felt much better, being surrounded by dragons, with your wings over them like large solar pannels. And with all of them so close, it was the skinship your body craved and the warmth your soul needed to finally get some good and truly restive sleep.

#Monster March 2024 #Monster March 2024 Day 25 Harpy /Moura #Moonlight Moura Part 5 #Moonlight Moura #Moura

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thecandywrites · 1 year

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Monster March 2024 Day 25 Harpy /Moura- Part 5

Now we get to involve family and make things even more beautifully complicated. And yes I wrote this listening to "Life Me Up" by Rhianna. While crying.

As always huge thanks to @borealwrites for their Monster March 2024 Prompt List!

Part 5

At Nahlo’s home, there were several houses surrounding one huge, main barn.

And inside the barn, is where two large dragons were laying around their nest of eggs.

‘Hello Aurava, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.’ Thyla’s mother Jenya greeted you as you came over and you didn’t think twice about your borrowed Neveahan clothes, your wings sprouted through them and practically shredded them off of you since unsprouted wings were long golden lines down a moura’s backside from collar to foot. But your wings did so- so you could immediately fly up to sit on her snout and hug her face, with a trail of electrum glitter falling after you as you did so.

Nahlo just stared in shock that your wings were sharp enough and powerful enough to cut through dragon silk and dragon wool. Usually the only things that could cut such fabrics were dragon teeth, but your wings shredded all those layers like they were tissue paper as he was impressed yet surprised to see how quickly you move once unencumbered and your moura cloak once again changed into something similar to what you had been wearing only a moment before, but this time, looking downright iridescent and shimmery in addition to it’s ethereal glow.

“Hi Dragon Mama Jenya.” You said as you laid down over her large face and hugged her face as best you could as you felt even more at peace and ease now that you were with a friend, even if this was your first time meeting her in person as you felt all the love practically pour out of her heart and fill you and wrap you up in it like it was a blanket as you felt the same way about her.

‘So you got struck by lightning. That would explain why you glow like it. That must have hurt like hell.’ She offered.

"Not as much as falling to my almost death and trying to use my wings to ball up and armor up around me and smashing into the outer islands rocky outcrops and breaking both of my wings to the point I couldn’t lift them off the ground and had to drag them behind me. And I had so much electricity coursing through me I burned everything I touched. Even water, it all boiled and steamed away before I could even drink it." You explained.

‘Oh my stars’ She said as her eyes were huge in horrified shock as you showed her with your memories what had happened and how it had hurt.

“But now every piece of metal I touch turns to electrum. I can’t touch anything that is even slightly metallic without thick leather gloves to insulate me from everything else. But Grandma Isla put some kind of spell on me so I don’t shine as bright as the sun itself and don’t electrocute everything I touch and can at least eat and drink normally as long as the dishes are wood or ceramic or something nonmetal. I was on my last flight too. It was less than an hour’s flight back to the host colony too. Also do you know why Nevahan Dragons warned us to never set foot here?” You asked as you tilted your head.

‘I have no idea. Daer?’ She turned to her mate.

‘I have no idea either.’ He readily answered.

“Do you think it has something to do with a moura’s large appetite? That we’d eat everyone here out of house and home?” You asked.

‘For all the gold Jenya says you’d all pay for it? I doubt anyone here would complain.’ Daer answered.

‘I think if anything it would have to do with the fact that mouras will interbreed. And most Neveahans are trying to find a way to make a clock that will count down the moment they can go back to the homeworld and they don’t want anything to ever cause them to have a conflict of interest in going back to their homeworld. Whereas I know for a fact almost every moura here wouldn’t do so if they had the chance because what they’ve gained and built here is too precious to leave behind.’ Jenya supplied.

‘Yeah that makes the most sense.’ Daer had to nod in agreement as you sat to the side of Jenya’s snout to look out over at Daer to talk to them, feeling perfectly happy and ease to sit on their snouts that were so high up in the air because they were so big. You looked like a little doll sitting up there on the perch, your legs swinging out as you talked to them.

“Well mouras have done so much and so well, I mean that’s why there’s now officially over a thousand colonies. In just about every mountain range except for one continent- we’ve called it Nuvaric, it’s where the orcs like to keep to themselves at now. They’ll stay on the mountain ranges closest to the sea on that one but not on the mountain range in the middle. I think mostly because there are taunston fortresses up and down the coast even there and mouras will nest their colonies next to any and all taunston settlements and fortresses because we share a very similar language and culture.” You explained.

‘I’m not familiar with it.’ Jenya answered.

“Oh let me show you. Can I have an old scale to use to draw it out for you in the hardened backed dirt of the barn flooor that they keep here in the barn?” You asked

‘Pick a scale, any scale’ Jenya laughed before Daer happily took a mouthful of his old ones that were just on the edge of being molted off and gently handed it to you before you got to a space where they could both see you as you began to use the scale and your wings to hover over the floor as you drew as your wings fluttered over the ground like a hummingbird so you could reach down and draw while the rest of your body acted like it was laying on the floor while you used both hands to draw what you had seen on your flights, starting with your familiar north pole and a line to show where one ocean ended and other began so you could draw out the shapes of the continents and the mountain ranges and how the rivers flowed out from the mountains to the various lakes and seas and oceans before you made notes of where all the major water dragons nested in the seas that the merfolk had told you about when you got to meet up with them and talk to them from time to time.

All while you told them all about the world outside of Neveah. Where certain cities were. What peoples lived where. Where mouras had found good sites for colonies had been founded and were either built, being built or had been abandoned because they had already fallen to invaders and who had done so before you drew the rough shape of Neveah and it’s many islands even when they were hidden by fog before you drew the southern pole’s outline too.

'Wow. You’ve seen a lot already. How old are you?' Jenya asked.

“20. This winter solstice was my 20th winter solstice.” You answered as you finished and stood outside of your drawing and sat down in Jenya’s chest between her and her eggs as you gently touched them, feeling their heartbeats. You could sense they were happy to be with their clutchmates and their parents and safe and sound in the nest.

‘I’d be honored if you sang them one of your lullabies. I can’t think of any better way for them to learn it than from you.’ Jenya invited as you turned and sat facing the eggs as you closed your eyes.

You recalled being in the dragon caves in your home colony as the tune soon spilled from your throat through your nose as your voice soon filled the whole barn. You reached under the quilt that laid over them and touched your hands to one then put your other hand over the other. You could feel the precious dragonette inside as they soon moved until they rested against your hands.

A tear glistened as it fell from your eyes as all you could think of was singing this song with your younger siblings, as your mother would lead this song as she nursed her newest baby on one breast and the one she was trying to wean from the other from her trusty old rocking chair as Jenya and Thyla and the other dragons could look in your memory and see what you could with your mind’s eye before Thyla let Nahlo see what she could see.

“Lift me up. Hold me down. Keep me close, safe and sound…” You began to sing, your voice reaching that ethereal sweet spot as your voice soon practically reverberated through the barn and echoed as if you were in a temple. You were happy that the acoustics here in the barn were so lovely. Your moura marks came back and bloomed around you as they caught the moon’s glow from the skylight in the barn as they continued to glow and flow and pulse around you. You closed your eyes to really enjoy the moment, you didn’t notice how each spendril soon weaved around both Jenya and Daer and danced under the quilt around each dragon before the tendrils soon began to lift the actual quilt the more you sang and really threw yourself into singing your favorite lullabye your mother and your siblings sang, even when you had cousins of all kinds coming over to visit for a meal.

‘Do all of the mouras do this?’ Daer whispered to his mate as he was so blown away to see this and was silently crying from the overwhelming feelings that were conveyed through your voice and through the moura marks encircling him and his clutch and even Thyla and the others that ventured close to watch in sheer awe and amazement as not a single person could keep from crying since everyone in Nahlo's family had come out into the barn to see this.

‘Yup. Now you see why I tried to get you into a colony. They may not have the telepathy that Neveahns naturally do, but they have their own kind of special gifts and magic. You should see them during the day. That’s when they become little rays of sunshine. They all sing this good and even better. They all dance better than any sprite and flitter around with their little wings of feathers. They love music of all kinds. And they heal all afflictions. Plus all the gold you could ever want. So what they lack in technological advancement, they make up for in many other ways. And now you see why every moura is connected to every dragon both in the waters, the land and skies and why every dragon who knows a moura, is willing to do all they can to help them, to protect them and befriend them and how even if dragon and moura are strangers, they’re still friends and family found in a way.’ She whispered back as she just watched as every single one of her dragonets practically danced and swirled in their eggs and the warmth of both the moura marks spiraling around them. Surprisingly they completely understood the meaning of the song and actually felt it and had they been any closer to hatching, she was sure that they would be hatching just to get into your arms to be held by you.

Jenya began to cry because she had forgotten how beautiful this lullaby was and how it sounded the same way a warm blanket being wrapped around you felt as she remembered hearing this song while she was in her own egg back in the colony and many times throughout her own childhood. She remembered how it felt to be in the egg, both closed off from the outside world yet completely surrounded and connected to it and those in it and how bonded she felt to every moura, not just in the colony but all over the world. There was not a warmer people, a more hospitable people, a more loving, caring and nurturing people to be found in the whole world. And were that way towards each other because of the Great Hunt and what happened after the split of the species. Heavenly moura were still stuck up snobs. But mountain moura were the best of the best when it came to good, truly good people- in Jenya’s opinion.

Not even here in Neveah where everything centered around her and her kind here. But here, they were still viewed as revered but pets nonetheless. Whereas in colonies she and her kind were viewed as equals or even superiors and were respected, revered, adored and beloved, wholly and completely as divine beings unto themselves.

And while the dragons had caves as opposed to barns. They could still keep their wild natures about them or be as docile and ‘domesticated’ as they wished to be. Which is why dragons would do everything in their power to protect its colony of friends and why many Neveahan dragons found refuge in colonies instead of coming home. Because while they weren’t fed to quite the extent Neveahans fed them. They were provided for and never went hungry as there always seemed to be just enough food to feed everyone, dragon and moura alike which is why most dragons didn’t get to be much bigger than herself, no matter how old they were. But they didn’t get as massive as the elder dragons could get here. To the point they could barely fly and had to resort to living in the oceans instead of flying in the skies and transition into the great water dragons of old back on the moura homeworld.

As the song came to a close, the quilt gently settled over the clutch of eggs as the dragonettes inside were happy to settle down to sleep for the night, off to dream about a wonderful warm beings huddled in a room, all together and all holding each other as they all swayed to the heavenly music they made with their voices and other musical instruments. With a supreme sense of belonging, and family that was shared so much farther than by blood as the moura marks retreated and returned to just around you.

Nahlo fought not to fall to his knees as it felt like his heart broke just seeing how warm and loving your own humble home was because it was bursting at the seams and overflowed with such a strong sense of love, acceptance and belonging. No wonder you wanted to go back home. Anyone who would ever keep a moura from their own kind was no better than a monstrous beast.

That and your mother tongue was the most beautiful language he had ever heard before in his life. Each syllable and word was a work of art. It made his own language sound crude even in his own ears. And your voice was the most beautiful, heavenly ethereal voice he had ever heard in his life. No technological enhancement needed. Just pure, raw musical talent. Holy shit, that was epic and amazing and Jenya had been right, it was a way of communicated that absolutely transcended language and even their own gifts for telepathy with the dragons but not really with each other.

And when the song ended and the quilt magically and oh so gently laid once again over the clutch of eggs, his family couldn’t help but break out into applause. But only for you to look up and see them and spook for your wings to cover you as you dove for Jenya’s chest as she unfurled a wing to help hide you as Nahlo’s shoulders sagged as he ran his hands down his face in frustration over his family scaring you and spooking you and overwhelming you.

‘It’s ok, it’s ok. You’re ok, you’re ok. They were just really touched and impressed by the song and want to show their appreciation for the gift you gave in sharing it with us. You don’t need to hide. It’s ok. They got to see a little bit of what you showed me. They know what you and your kind are supposed to look like and be like and they accept you and welcome you and want to help you get back to your old self or as close to it as you can be. They’re really nice, I promise. I would never have let them into this barn if I ever thought for a heartbeat that any of them meant you any harm. It’s ok. You don’t need to hide. I know you’re self conscious about your appearance, which you feel is very strange and what you fear is too strange for them. But they have seen many different kinds of people. You are not giving them the wrong impression about other mouras. If anything you couldn’t have much of a better one. They now are eager to make friends with every moura possible and show extra kindness to all the moura dragons who call this place home. They have more food for you if you’re hungry and you get a whole guest house to yourself if you want it or even just a room if you don’t want to be that isolated from other people. Even as different than you are to them. If mouras and dragons can be friends. Mouras and Naveahans can too. And the gap between the two is way smaller than you think it is. It’s ok. They’ll take really good care of you, they’ll even hug you like long lost family if you’d let them.’ Jenya soothed.

Even Thyla was outside of her mother’s wing with the other dragons in an instant as they were all repeating Jenya’s sentiments as you used your arms and wings to hug around Jenya before she slowly lowered her wing before you were surrounded by the other subadults all of them doing their best to comfort you and assure you and reassure you before Nahlo slowly approached with his mom first because he figured that would be the first and most appropriate person for you to meet first.

‘This is Thylo’s mother - repeat after me- Sef-ah-ti. Or Madre- that’s their word for ‘mom’ here so it’s ‘Sali Madre Sefahti.’ Thyla coached you through the greeting.

“Sali Madre Sefahti.” You tried to greet her as best you could.

“Sali Aurava Moonchild…” She greeted you as she enveloped you into her arms and it was such a relief to feel the warmth of a mother’s hug as you hugged her back just as tightly, your wings wrapping around her too as she pat your back between where your wings sprouted from your back before you did the same with Thylo’s dad Undilla then Thylo’s sisters were next while Thylo hung back with the rest of his brothers as Thylo was muttering something to them under his breath through his pleasant smile of gritted teeth but Axera’s snickering along with the other dragons doing the same got your attention.

‘What’s so funny?’ You mentally asked Axera.

‘Thylo is threatening his brothers with bodily harm if they so much as look at you wrong and are any less than perfect gentlemen in your presence because of the song you sang, all his brothers were willing to offer for you to find all the “comfort” and “safety” in their own arms that you’d ever want because they think you’re the...’ Axera muttered to you before Thyla stomped on Axera’s foot and bumped him with her rear end as she cut her eyes at him dangerously before he could finish that sentence in your mind as the other dragons outright laughed at the way Thyla was yelling at Axera and telling him to go fly home for the night.

‘Ahem, they think you’re lovely and charming and understand why you’d be shy. Hell, most of them would shit themselves if they tried to survive even a fraction of what you’ve gone through.’ Jenya interrupted.

“Ah, I see.” You nodded as you blushed before you officially got to meet Manidore and all of Thylo’s other brothers as Thylo urged them to only shake your hands and not actually embrace you, just in case you weren’t comfortable with that level of intimacy from them, which was great relief actually for you as his parents agreed that was friendly and intimate enough, before you got to meet all the kids who called this place home as you felt so happy to kneel to be eye level with them as they asked you what the moon was like, because your name was Moonchild, so therefore you must have been a child of the moon which got you to laugh and smile.

“No, that’s just my name. I’ve never been to the moon. It’s too far away up in space for me to get to it. You see what you see from the ground, you see clouds right? Where that’s where my kind come from and where they call home. Is the clouds, then there’s low heaven just beyond that, then middle heaven, then high heaven and then the crystal angles who rule the crystal realm the covers the whole world and protect it from other words converging here or other aliens from other worlds coming here when there’s already 5 planets worth of peoples here on this one planet that has three planets all in one. During the summer solstice when my kind flies around the middle of the world over this line here…” You began before you pointed the map you had drawn out and pointed to the huge circles where middle earth could get their sunshine and then the core beyond that. Then you made a map of middle earth and then the core because during the spring and fall equinox, the three levels of the supersphere aligned and mouras could, literally fly straight through to the core, fly around the core and then fly out to the other side of the world in one straight shot with a small curve in the middle over the core that could be done in only an hour but it had to be that quick because so many partook in the flight because the window to fly it only lasted 12 hours and only 10,000 could ever fit through at a single time and usually at least a hundred thousand mouras partook in the flight, usually it was part of the rite of passages between the solstices and done as missile hawks because you needed the speed and agility. And was the only two times of the year that such great distances could be traveled so quickly.

“You can become a missile hawk?” The children all asked as Jenya translated their words so you could understand them as if they were actually speaking your language to you before you did so as they all gasped and giggled in delight as you flitted from one to an other, flying in circles around them, literally until they got dizzy and fell down on their butts before they all erupted into giggles on the ground as they rolled around and you didn’t care if the map was messed up. The kids were laughing as were the adults before you transformed back into yourself and helped them back up to their feet and helped dust them off.

“So did you fly here?” They asked you.

“Yeah, by accident, but yeah. As it wasn’t necessarily a flight as much as it was a crash.” You answered with a rub to your wings as you could still sense a few phantom pains.

“How?” The kids asked with thier big bright eyes.

“Well I’m from all the way at the other pole of the supersphere. And up there, we have Aurora borealis, it’s like your own southern lights but very different colors. And I was so distracted by them I dropped altitude and I got caught in the storm. And I got struck by lightning which why I glow right now. And then right before went splat like a bug, I balled up in my wings.” You answered.

“You can ball up?” They asked.

“Yup. Like this.” You began before you broke out into a run to gain momentum before you got into the ball formation with your outer wings with the armor and purposefully rolled around the dragons and their huge clutch of eggs between them before you rolled back around to them. Only this time, you were able to stop on your own feet instead of on your back on the ground.

“Like that.” You answered before all the kids tried to crawl into your arms so they could roll around in your wings with you.

“But then you’d get even more dizzy and you might throw up. And after helping my mom raise 16 younger siblings, trust me. Puke is the hardest thing to get out of wings.” You tried to gently discourage him.

“16?!” The whole family repeated.

“Yeah, And I have 8 more older siblings who helped raise me too.” You smiled happily before Thylo’s mother and sisters all made a gesture over themselves and said a prayer aloud to bless your mother and her patience to have so many children.

“So mouras don’t have anything like..birth control?” Sefhati asked.

“Oh we do. And trust me, we use a lot of it. We just like to have large families. Anything less than 6 or 8 is seen as a couple only wanting a very small family. Mouras usually have their kids by the dozen. So if you think 24 kids is a lot. My father’s cousin’s cousin who is still in the cloud realm, they were born the same year. But his second cousin is on kid number 46 or maybe 47 now. Because the gestation is a lot shorter in the clouds than it is on the ground, like ground mouras take on average of 10 months for gestation. But the heavenly moura only have half of that. And they don’t use any birth control up there.” You answered as Sefhati had to actually have her husband help her sit down to keep her from passing out.

“How?!” Thylo’s sister asked, as even she was having a hard time wrapping her head around that number.

“Only 4 and a half to five months gestation, and no breastfeeding, no potty training, just fully functional little beings with wings that can get all the sustenance they need from the sun itself straight from the womb. No hunger, no thirst. No need for clothing for the moura cloak provides all the clothing they would ever want or need. They don’t even have a painful birth. They just pop out a toddler the way we would burp or pass gas. Heavenly moura don’t even naturally develop breasts, because they never have nursing babes to nurse. But that doesn’t stop from heavenly moura women coming to the colonies to eat surface food just long enough to develop them just to fly back up the clouds for the pure aesthetic of breasts. Because to heavenly moura, when money is no object, when everyone can build mansions and castles and palaces out of the clouds themselves with their own two hands and two wings. With no slave, no master, only a king who holds that position in title only and doesn’t actually rule over them the way other kings on the surface do, all they have is their own vanity and drive to reproduce as much as physically possible.” You shrugged.

“Oohh,” they all said at the same time in understanding and realization.

“Ok, now those numbers are making sense.” Thylo admitted.

“Yeah, and the way heavenly moura look at beauty and judge it is…well…alien. Even to me. It makes no sense.” You admitted.

“What do they look for?” Manidore asked before you turned your back to him and fully extended your wings before flapping them a little for emphasis as you held and swayed with Thylo’s toddler of a niece in your arms as she was just completely enchanted by all the electrum glitter still on your face as you swayed with her in your arms since she reminded you of your own little sister Siremora.

“Symmetry of the wings. For them? It’s all about the wings. The proportions of the various sections of the wings.” You began as you concentrated and separated the various sections of the feathers for emphasis like a person spreading out their fingers and wiggling them.

“The size, shape and color of each individual feather on each wing. And yes, they actually do have the time to count and preen each and every single feather and if a feather slips out of place, they pluck it out themselves and then pluck the other corresponding one on the other wing to again- find a way to achieve perfect symmetry until the feathers can grow back in hopefully correctly the next time.” You explained before you folded them back in and turned back around.

“Otherwise, the only other thing they care about is pedigree. Who are your parents, your grandparents, great grandparents etc and specifically to make sure all those lines of parentage can be traced back to before the convergence on the homeworld.” You finished with a dismissive wave.

“But the mouras on the ground. It’s not that way for you?” Sefhati asked as you shook your head no adamantly with a happy smile.

“No, ground moura, once we eat surface food and engage our digestive tract for far denser surface food, it’s hard to stay in the clouds. And especially once a mother who is pregnant eats surface food, all of her children will need to nurse and eat surface food too. Which, that was found out the hard way. Because honestly besides sunshine, there’s ways you can make a food like substance out of the clouds. But it’s, very light and doesn’t really have much taste or any flavor to speak of. It tastes the way it smells up there. Which is light and fresh but no sweet, no sour, no spicy, no umami, no savory, no salty. None of that.” You continued to explain.

“Can you make us some?” The kids asked.

“Do you want to know what this barn tastes like? Because if I make some right this second. I pull the trace particles from the air to make it and we’re in a dragon barn. Do you want to taste dragon barn?” You asked.

“Yeah!” All the kids said.

“Really?” You asked them before you looked to their parents before looking at Thyla and then to Jenya who were all shaking their heads no.

“Yeah, they’re saying no. I trust the dragons. Because always, when in doubt, trust a dragon.” You tried to gently dissuade them.

“Please?!” All the kids begged.

“Ok, fine, only if all your parents will eat it too.” You offered.

“No!” All the mothers boomed.

“Oh but it would make the kids so happy. I’ll try it.” Manidore charmingly volunteered as all the adults slowly turned their heads to look at him like he had lost his mind.

“Ok. It’s gonna taste really gross but if that’s what you really want.” You grimaced as you moved little Alie to one side of your body and rested her on what was left of your hip before you raised your hand above your head and winced as you mentally called a coru cloud to your hand and opened your eyes to see that one had formed around your hand before you tentatively held it out to Minidore before he took a piece and took a bite before he coughed and sputtered and started to gag before he tried to pass it off to Nahlo or anyone else.

“It’s really good, you should try it.” Manidore coughed as his face flushed red before the kids pulled your hand down to all take a bite before they all shrilly squealed and made faces but laughed as they all agreed it was gross before you readily made it dissipate and wiped your hand off on your clothes.

“The morning dew is by far the tastiest and most refreshing of it if you’re gonna have any at all.” You amended.

“Can we have that tomorrow?” All the kids asked.

“Yes, but for now, we should get inside. It’s getting late and dark and the storms are coming in from the outer ring.” You suggested as you could feel them start to get closer before the whole family rushed to get you and everyone inside before the rain started and you turned your wings up to keep all the kids under them to keep them dry as you followed Thylo back into his parent’s house where dinner was being put together as even the mothers giggled as they took refuge under your wings too before you shook off the excess water before you pulled your wings all the way back inside your body as all the subadult dragons came around the house to poke their heads inside to still serve as translators for you and for everyone else as Jen ya gave each of the subadults the extra edge on how to translate like she was doing as Daer helped her pass down the entire marinai language to them so they could translate it as you said it so that to Nahlo and his family, it was like you were speaking thier language and they were speaking you.

“How do you do that?” Manidore asked in astonishment as he had held the inner door open while Thylo had held the outer door open to make sure you got inside before he did.

“How do you stand up?” You asked him as he had to stop and wrap his head around how to answer that with anything other than ‘I just do’.

“So what colors are the aurora borealis in your home?” Cadi asked you happily tried to help the others try to at least cook in the kitchen.

“All the other colors that aren’t your own.” You told her as you helped wash vegetables in the sink before you passed them off to be cut up and put into another pan over the fire because you didn’t trust yourself to touch anything metal, for fear it would all turn into electrum before the mother turned on a machine in the kitchen and the image of people came up on the screen as it was showing two people with floating, signs on it.

'What is that?’ You asked Thyla who currently had her head in the kitchen window.

‘The thing is called a TV and what is on the TV is the news that is broadcast all over the nation of islands.' Thyla told you as you could tell she was trying to concentrate on what they were saying as all the dragons were listening intently to what was being said so your mind was for once, quiet except for your own thoughts before there was an announcement, that a battery recharging system had been put into place and for the whole nation to bring any batteries that needed to be recharged to be brought back to the powerplant the next day.

‘Is that for me? To help me drain my excess power?’ You asked Thyla.

‘Yes!’ Thyla beamed happily before they reported that there had been a change to the island as they showed a view from above the nation how there was a mini aurora borialis that circled and swirled just immediately over your island before Nahlo was quick to turn the TV off. Just in case it turned bad.

“Woah! I’ve never seen those colors before.” The kids exclaimed.

“Well now you have.” You smiled as you tried to stamp down your nerves as the adults gave themselves questioning then meaningful looks to leave the subject alone as Sefahti immediately changed the topic of conversation to tell you all about the foods you were helping to make as the men of the family seemed to withdraw and talk to each other quietly in the other room while the other women in his family seemed to keep you distracted and talking to you enough that you barely noticed the other half’s absence.

“What are we gonna do if she’s found out? If they go to that island and see what she did to it. They’ll think she’s here to scope the place out for invasion. Everyone is going to think that every moura is like her and not realize that she’s one of a kind. Because while Isla as pull over her caretakers and over the other moura dragons. She doesn’t have that much pull or authority to Neveah as a whole.” Nahlo breathed anxiously to his family.

“Like it was so hard to just keep her concealed today. Even with our clothes, even as shy and skittish as she is. If they flip this and look at this under the wrong light, this could blow up in our faces. At the very least, she’ll be arrested, detained, imprisoned and she deserves better than that. We need to protect her and keep her here and keep her safe. She has every reason to be scared shitless that everyone is gonna turn on her. Hell if Neveah as a whole does. Half our dragons who are moura dragons will outright leave the country, with or without their clutches in tow. Then that’ll get spun into the mouras taking their dragons back by force and then hysteria will break out among the dragons and then the populous because everyone will think the spheres are un-converging or at the very least a war is on the horizon and then Neveah will put a shield up to not let anything in or out and be put on lockdown. We can’t have that.” Nahlo expounded.

“Agreed. From now on, she doesn’t go anywhere alone. All the subadult dragons stay with her at all times. I don’t care if I have to set up a cot for her in the barn or hide her in the basement or let all the subadults into the guest house, or into this one or whatever. She’s part of the family as far as I’m concerned. And even if we didn’t have half our dragons at risk. She is clearly innocent and just the victim of a tragic accident. From now on, no public outings. If we need to sneak her to the other farms to the other moura dragons, fine. But otherwise taking her to the plant to help recharge the batteries, that’s it. Until she can fully blend in with everyone else. I want her protected and chaperoned. And boys, hands off. I know she’s beautiful and practically enchanting, but this was the epitome of a fluke. But the sooner we can get her healed, and the sooner we can undo this, the better.” Undilla urged his sons and his sons in law.

“I tried to cover up her tracks on the island she crashed on. But there’s no way to get all that electrum glitter off. There was a ton of it all over.” Manidore explained.

“It’s not glitter. It’s her blood. What you saw was her blood all over that island.” Nahlo revealed.

“What?” Everyone asked.

“When the lightning hit her. And she crashed on that island and bounced around like a football, the moment she touched her own wounds, she turned the iron in her blood to electrum. And when it struck her the second time. It burned off everything except for the electrum. So all that electrum glitter you see on her, that’s her own blood that’s dried and crusted off of her. Grandma Isla tried to heal her insides from the electrum coursing through her heart, her lungs, her brain, all her vital organs, like having countless little needles or bullets in your bloodstream. It’s a miracle she’s alive and what I’m worried most about is if we find a way to reverse what happened to her- all the healing that the second bolt of lightning did to her. Will reverse and she won’t survive that. I think she’s stuck the way she is forever. She is the first of her kind. And she knows it and she is scared shitless." Nahlo explained.

"Why?" Undilla asked.

"Jenya and Isla both told me that she fears she’ll restart the Great Hunt her species has already endured. Because you saw for yourselves, she has magic and abilities that we can’t even fathom or understand yet. She and the moura dragons told us that the first three hundred years after the convergence, her kind was hunted, captured and enslaved by anyone and everyone- humans from earth doing so the most. All the great cities that now cover the world? Every. Single. One. Came into existence because the founders captured a moura. And then forced them to interbreed with themselves. Jenya told me that the reason why the ones who had endured that, and survived their captors- their halfbreed children couldn’t go up into the heavens with thier parents. Which is why there is now a moura country on the surface. And the one and only place any other moura takes refuge on the surface goes. Because even their own kind won’t let any halfbreeds back into the heavens, even when they were taken out of them by force and against their will. So if we hear reports about mouras being sexual deviants, know that they didn’t really have a choice.” Nahlo revealed lowly as he felt his anger boil and lick up his spine.

“And then to have our own dragons tell them that if they were to ever set foot on Neveahan soil that they would be met with the same treatment? That’s just adding insult to injury. It’s been almost 500 years since the convergence. I think if we were ever going to un-converge, it would have been by now. And with the moura’s home world being a waterworld where they and their children have no chance at living in? Aurava told me that none of the moura would ever go back, even given the chance. And honestly, if the chance to un-converge happened tomorrow. There would be plenty of space on our own homeworld for them. And I have no problems sharing a whole planet with literal embodiments of the heavens. Do any of you? Hell the moura dragons are, in a lot of respects, better in so many ways than our own even when we’re too proud to admit it. And honestly, they’ve found a way to not only survive but thrive, even despite all of that.” Nahlo ventured.

“I know I wouldn’t say no to them at least wanting to explore our homeworld if we or our grandchildren or whatever ever get a chance to go back.” Manidore readily admitted as the other single ones had to readily admit that you were, frankly, gorgeous and oh so sexy, even sick, even not at your “prime”.

“So it’s decided. She’s staying and even if we have to hold her hand all the way back home just to make sure she makes it home safe and sound. That’s what we’ll do.” Undilla decided before there was a round of nods before they went back in to set up the table.

The second dinner was actually wonderful. The food was delicious, the variety of wines were amazing and the family was so warm and inviting and you actually felt comfortable and welcome here as you could do nothing but laugh when all the metal utensils you touched turned to electrum. You tried to apologize but the family refused to hear of it and if anything, it became something of a neat party trick to the kids especially as Alie still wanted to be held by you and fed by you too. Which you didn't mind one bit.

The dragons actually slowly lessoned all the translating so that you all could at least start to learn the other’s language and numbers you used a pen to write out your alphabet and show the other kids your alphabet and system and how to read the letters and which combinations were used to make different sounds and parts of speech as you used the objects around the house to learn at least bits and pieces and the basic nouns as you were happy when you managed to wrap your tongue around their language pretty well while they had a hard time wrapping their tongues around yours and some of the subtle intricacies of it but it was a start.

After dinner, you managed to try to get the clothes back to try to mend them because you felt bad that there they tried to clothe you to help you blend in and you shredded the cloth off of you, even if it wasn’t intentional.

“How did you even cut it anyway?” Genemare, Nahlo’s sister asked you as you looked over the garments and put the garments flat over the now cleaned off kitchen table before you just barely let the edge of your wings leave your back to reveal how they- at that point had razor sharp edges.

“Mouras- during the Great Hunt, got blessed by the actual and real angels of heaven. They gave us better ways to defend ourselves when the phoenix fire failed to protect us from our predators who adapted to it. So they gave us weapons at our fingertips.” You explained before you reached behind you and pulled the second primary feather that was just like the first as the feather magically transformed into a sword of it’s own before you handed her the handle before the other family members came around to marvel at it as you mentally had to keep the feather in a sword shape because usually the moment the moura was not holding it, it usually transformed back into a primary feather.

“Quite the blessing.” Nahlo appraised as he marvled at the sword in his hand as the edge was indeed so sharp, just a simply napkin shredded itself over the edge once it was dropped over.

“But even this is no match for the new weapons that were used against us once our predators found this defense." You sighed.

“They would just pluck your feathers?” He guessed.

“They would put us into harnesses that even these blades could not cut or break. Also, this.” You said before you finally stopped concentrating and Nahlo watched in awe as it once again transformed to a large feather in his hands before he handed it back to you before you put it back into place before he sat next to you at the table as others looked over their houses for the right color threads to do the repairs.

“What in this world would that not cut?” Nahlo asked.

“Real, naturally occurring gold. The harnesses weigh anywhere from 100lbs to 200 lbs, just by themselves, depending on the thickness and solidity of the gold used.” You answered.

“Oh good God.” Nahlo coughed like he just got sucker punched in the gut as you used your own feather to make yourself a needle to begin to sew the garments back together.

“Wait, you’ve had to wear one?” He asked.

“I didn’t have to, I volunteered to.” You grinned.

“Why?” He asked.

“So, in Dorierra, which was the first moura city ever built by our once enslaved and then freed foremothers and forefathers, every single citizen is a soldier. As soon as children are fully weaned and can stand on their own two feet, they’re taught to fight, how to defend themselves. And then over the last 300 years, the training became a sport. They call it Kamoba. And they have games and championships in it. So, to make it extra difficult. It is played wearing the harnesses that once restrained and imprisoned our foremothers and fathers. So that we will know how to overcome any foe, any weapons used against us, even without any abilities we may possess. They have made special hindering collars, out of silver- that completely hinder any magical ability or power. So they basically turn us into humans from their homeworld of Earth. And those beings have no magic, no special abilities. And are just plain and simple flesh and blood but with a very highly creative and ingenious mind. The games are actually played with the silver collars, and the gold harnesses. It’s very hard, but very satisfying to know that even if you’re stripped of everything that makes you a moura. And you are reduced to our next closest genetic relative- humans, that now- instead of being helpless and relying solely on magic and abilities to get yourself and anyone else out of danger, that you can and that you will. It’s the only time when mouras will ever raise a sword or any other weapon against any other of the breathren. And the fighters must both be able to fight off their attackers, but still have the control to stop themselves from delivering a killing strike.” You revealed.

“And you competed?” He asked.

“I did.” You nodded with a laugh.

“How did you do?” He asked.

“Well, when the mouras do their summer solstice flight and land in Dorierra to rest, the mountain moura are invited to try and compete if we want to. So we learn the basics and the beginnings of the training. And are invited back to train more if we want to after the flight. And the visiting moura are put into small classes of their own of only 20-30 students per class and many, many classes make up a division. And then once you learn everything you can, then you are set against everyone else in the class until a class champion is determined and then that class champion is set against all the other class champions. And then the winner of the division is then set against the lowest rung of locals. And then there is nothing more humbling than getting your ass handed to you by an 8 year old.” You explained.

“Oof.” Nahlo frowned.

But Thyla showed him through your memories what it was like to do fight and compete and feel the strength and power drain from your body with the collar and then encumbered by the harness to the point you had to kneel because if you sat down or laid down, you were never going to get back up. And then what it was like to fight the others, using wooden weapons that wouldn’t cut but would definitely pack a wallop of a bruise before he saw how you won your class and even your division, only to lose to an 8 year old who had been training since he was 3 and was wearing a harness that was equal to his own body weight while he did so too.

Then Nahlo got to see more of the experience and how the other moura males seemed to want nothing to do with you, even in the flights. As the “prettier” girls were drooled over and even with you winning your division and having a trophy. Other than pleasant and polite congratulations, otherwise you were practically ignored otherwise because you had bested all the other males who had their own egos bruised by your superior skill and strength while the girls lost on purpose to help boost the male’s fragile egos to make themselves out to still be the ‘helpless, delicate, fragile, damsel’ as Nahlo frowned.

“What are you showing him?” You asked Thyla before Nahlo opened his eyes.

“After the championship, at the feast. How you had that trophy but the other guys got butt hurt that you bested them and couldn’t lose graciously. That was just plain insulting.” Thalo said.

“Can you drink hard alcohol?” He asked.

“Yup.” You nodded.

“Awesome.” He grinned as he got up and opened a bottle of whiskey for you as the other girls were happy to simply place the various threads on the table and leave the two of you there otherwise as even Nahlo got a needle and thread and helped you mend the garments too between sipping the whisky as you were pleasantly surprised by it's smoky but sweet flavors. It was wonderful and complex and delicious.

You were happy to talk about the differences in culture between the mountain moura, heavenly moura and Doreierran moura as it was clear that was once one peoples, had developed into over a hundred subspecies here and how it seemed like every day there were new ones being born with new characteristics because of the new ways the species as a whole intermingled with the other species and with each other.

“You know, if you put leather along these slits. Maybe they wouldn’t get shredded if you have to wear this again and your wings need to come out. At least on the shirts.” Nahlo realized.

“Yeah, actually that would be really smart.” You readily agreed.

“Give me one moment.” He held up a finger before he left as you stopped sewing the garment before he came back with a huge bag of leather and a case that had a special machine inside.

“What is that?” You asked him as he openned the case and revealed a special machine with a needle in it.

“It’s a sewing machine. But specifically, it’s one that was used for leather.” Nahlo admitted as he tried to measure the slits.

“Wouldn’t it be better to measure me?” You asked him.

“Uh, yeah I guess.” Nahlo before you changed your moura cloak into a backless garment that you usually wore so that the cloak itself wouldn’t have to constantly move and mold around the wings themselves before you turned in your chair and pulled your hair up to show how the lines came from the collar, down your back, along both sides of your spine before they then followed your butt, and thighs all the way down to just above your ankles. Nahlo blushed deeply as he tried to focus on the task at hand and batting Axera’s image of how your body usually looked like at full health, all petite, but plump and powerful and not so skinny where he could both see and practically feel your bones through a thin but powerful set of muscles.

“Yeah, I got the measurement.” He said.

“Oh, they also come out at an angle, should you measure that too?” You asked.

“Yeah..yeah I probably should.” He agreed as he took a special tool to measure at what angle they came out of you as he noticed the collar stayed on the neck and was made out of electrum.

“This is my moura collar. It’s what enables me to have the ability to have the wings and change shape. It used to be that the moura cloak and collar were two separate things. The cloak always stayed with the moura to serve as clothes and feathers depending what we want. But when the angles gave us the razor feathers, they changed the nature of the collar and the cloak only a hundred years after the convergence. So now the collar and the cloak are now one thing, instead of two things. Each one is unique to the moura, like a fingerprint.” You explained as you could feel his eyes stare at it in awe.

“Yeah you can touch it.” You invited before he really needed to say anything before he did as he was surprised when it both felt slightly metallic but also felt soft and warm like skin too. It looked like the most beautiful necklace he had ever seen and knew that not even the greatest artisan with the greatest technology could ever replicate something so divinely natural.

“Mouras usually trade collars when they take a moura mate. It’s what binds a couple together. Something similar to what you have with Thyla. But, still different and hard to describe.” You began.

“Once we started to get hunted. The king proclaimed that no one unmated who had already switched their collars with their mates could ever touch the ground or fly lower than the clouds because obviously the hunters went after the young, inexperienced and vulnerable first and usually women, seeing them as th weaker of the two sexes. So when a moura woman was captured and her collar was stripped from her, what the captors really got was her mate’s collar and were bound to him instead. So he would give his mate’s collar back to her so she could escape and fight to the death to get his own back from whoever was stupid and desperate enough to take it from her in the first place. And then he made a call to call all other moura in the area to come and help him. But they weren’t always successful. So then the men were targeted, trying to get the female collars from them because the women were seen as usually smaller and therefore weaker. So that’s when the split happened. Moura who swore off the surface and others who had no choice but to embrace it.” You revealed softly as Nahlo could only shake his head. Fearing that if Neveahan’s didn’t view mouras as enemies, they would start to see them as valuable and potentially prey too.

“Why’d they take the collars, does whoever wear it give them the powers?” Nahlo asked as he stepped back and sat down to write down the measurements as you sat next to him and took a sip of whisky from your glass while your moura cloak into something much more modest.

“Well that was the point of making the cloak and collar into one thing. Because a moura without a collar is not much better than a human. And while anyone could put on a moura collar, it may not do much of anything for them. Other than prolong their own lifetime and keep them free of sickness. Because so far, mouras are immune to all sickness and to a degree, can heal. But even mouras have limits to our powers and abilities. And it changes from individual to individual." You began.

"But?" Nahlo gently pressed as he sensed there was more to this.

"But the scariest thing is finding out that our genetics when mixed with others, has a very short half life. And now we have half mouras, who only grow half wings, half cloaks and half collars that barely cover the back of the neck at all. The wings aren’t really good for much other than gliding or giving the moura who has them just a bit more speed when running on their own two feet. We call them roof jumpers. Because while they may not be able to fly around the colonies, they can jump from rooftop to rooftop and travel a bit faster than those who choose to move on the streets themselves. But the truly vulnerable are the mouras who are now being born without the collar altogether. They’re moura by name and culture but not by heritage and gift. So to protect the most vulnerable of us, the colonies are now being built like mazes. Where streets naturally split off or deadend or twist and turn. It’s meant to confuse any would be invaders. But obviously is easy to navigate from above and easy to navigate if you're born into it. ” You answered.

“So what happens when colonies are invaded?” Nahlo asked as he began to pull out rolls leather strips to make the leather edges of the shirts.

“All those with collars take to the skies. They create coru clouds out of thin atmosphere and build sanctuaries in them for the others to take refuge in during the attack, out of what you first saw me wearing. The others that don’t have the collars have to go into the tunnels and hide in the bunkers under the colonies themselves. While the individuals who can transform into the mega-phoenixs guard the doors to the bunkers to burn whoever manages to find them to capture the collarless mouras and half mouras. And when they fail. The collarless half is usually ransomed to the collared half in the good scenarios." You revealed lowly as watched the golden liquid swirl in the glass.

"And in the bad ones?" He asked, his voice a soft murmur.

"In the bad ones, it’s either slaughter or slavery. Because a moura without a collar, even when they’re not born with one, is..comparatively speaking, practically helpless.” You revealed before you huffed a mirthiless laugh into your whiskey in the glass after you finished it off before you helped yourself to another glass of it.

“You know what’s really sad and so ironic it’s almost funny? Is that every class champion, they were blessed to be able to turn into mega- pheonixes, that are the same size as Jenya. To help protect their home colonies, specifically the bunkers of the collarless. So it was probably because I was gifted with that ability that kept the lightning from destroying me completely. Because I was already supercharged with power and magic and special abilities, very few have. But it just sucks because now, I don’t know if I still have that anymore, or if the lightning took that away from me along with…everything else, it both took from me yet gave me and changed about me. And now all I can do is pray that no invaders come to my colony because my post back home is to protect the collarless mouras in the bunkers and now, I don't know if anyone will be able to take up that post from me.” You admitted as you simply swirled the whiskey in the glass to help it breathe better.

“Well then we should really work on fully healing you and doing everything we can to help get you back home as soon as we can. Granted not that we necessarily want to see you go, because you’re awesome company to have. But if you being here means an entire city is now vulnerable. I don’t think any of us would forgive ourselves if anything happened to it because you weren’t there to protect it.” He offered.

“It would never be your fault. By now, I think everyone in my family simply assumes I met a guy on the flight and followed him home and are simply waiting for me to pick up my stuff when I get a chance, which may take a few years. Because usually when a moura has a post before their final flight, it’s not unusual for them to be replaced pretty easily from other mouras who had the same gift bestowed to them take their place that move to another colony following another home. So chances are, most have yet to even notice or care that I’m missing. And Neveah is too far away even for the dragons to communicate to the other dragons beyond. But even if they knew I was here, they would never risk an incident with- what we’ve been told- are a hostile people. Because we’ve been raised to always, always listen to and trust the dragons and that the dragons would and will never lie to us and communicate things to us that they see that we can’t.” You mused before you took the last of it in one gulp to help numb the pain of homesickness.

“Aurava, would you like a bath and get cleaned up?” Cadi asked.

“Yes, please.” You smiled before you got up and she showed you to the bathroom where a large bathtub was already filled with hot water before she showed you the various soaps and shampoos and conditioners, combs, brushes, hair conditioners, body scrubs, body oils and lotions. The only thing like it was the extensive and downright amazing bath houses in Dorierra.

You could only cry in sweet relief to dip into the soothing waters and watched, both in surprise and in morbid curiosity as the electrum glitter sloughed off of you like aadragon with it’s old dragon scales as the bottom of the bathtub now practically had a layer of it, like a superfine sand.

Now now that it had all settled to the bottom, you took your hand and soon swept over it before it all became one solid lump in your hand. Now you collect more of it so it would no longer be like a trail of breadcrumbs, always betraying where you were or where you had gone or where you were going to go from here.

You were so happy and relieved to finally be clean and felt refreshed before you began to feel sleepy. So you got out of the bathtub, careful to make sure you got every speck of electrum because you didn’t want it to ruin the plumbing here.

You got changed into the clothing that Cadi had put in here before you put on a robe and came out into the hallway where you heard Axera tell you to turn left because the bedroom was down that way and the second door. Where Axera was there already waiting beside your bed before you went in there and were greeted with such a lovely room.

“Before I go to bed. I need your help.” You told Axera.

‘Anything.’ Axera offered.

“Tell me how to say ‘thank you for saving my life’, in Neveahan.” You requested before Axera walked you through how to say it. But by the time you got it right, most had gone to bed.

“Where does Nahlo sleep?” You asked Axera.

‘Uh, let me ask.’ He said before he stuck his head out the window of the room and talked to Thyla.

“Ask Thyla to simply keep the window open to his room large enough that a small bird will be able to slip through. I want to thank him. It’ll only take a moment.” You told him.

‘On the other side of the house, second window from the edge of the house.’ Axera told you.

“Ok, I’ll be right back.” You told him before you transformed into a small hummingbird and flew around the house and found Nahlo’s room just as he was taking his shirt off to reveal his tattoos.

‘Hurry up before he takes off anything else.’ Thyla told you.

“Right.” You whispered before you flew in and gave Nahlo little warning other than to transform into your human form and hug him from behind.

“Thank you Nahlo, for rescuing me and saving my life. I would be lost without you.” You murmured as you pressed your face against his back as he looked down but couldn’t stop himself from smiling when he recognized your glowing arms around him, then to feel your wings surround him in their ethereal softness was like be embraced by heaven itself.

“You’re welcome. And I’m sure that if I had the great blessing of crash landing in a colony, that you and your family and your people would have done everything they could to help me.” He told you. Thanks to Thyla translating it for you.

“Without a heartbeat of hesitation.” You reassured him. Before you kissed the center of his back.

“Sweet dreams.” You whispered before you withdrew and flew out the window before you were in danger of saying or doing anything more.

#Monster March 2024 #Monster March 2024 Day 25 Harpy /Moura #Moonlight Moura Part 5 #Moonlight Moura #Moura

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