In freedom I
willingly serve; Epilogue.

Matthew
looked across the cave he and Thyna shared, his legs folded around a single
black egg. He was constantly checking the egg's temperature to make sure that
the egg was comfortable. He was happy with their current situation. It still
felt like yesterday that they were flying for their lives, fearing death. He
sadly remembered little of the flight apart from a few moments before he was
lucid, but the feeling when Thyna brought them over the mountain was still
lingering.

And now?
Well, it looked like they found paradise, an abandoned cave system in a
mountain large enough for their newly formed pack to grow into a clan and green
fields at the base of the mountain, in the valley. Each day Thyna came back
from the hunt; she was excited with the amount of wild gain she could hunt.

Matthew
placed a hand on the smooth black surface of the eggs and smiled down at it.
Their little mystery. There were two ways Thyna could have been gravid with the
eggs, both almost impossible. In the end, Matthew felt like it was his child,
too. Even if Gyrt was the father, it was still his and Thyna's egg. The
prospect of being a dad filled him with pride, while the prospect that he had
to raise another hatchling filled him with terror. Thyna had always been a
handful when she was little. He wondered how one of her hatchlings could be
like, especially when the hatchling was going to be raised wild and not like
those poor dragons whose only one moment of freedom was before their death.

In his worries,
he let his mind roam free, roaming until slowly his vision drifted, and they
replaced it with the vision of flying across a forest.

“Getting
bored," Thyna said through
their mental link. She instantly recognised the mind of her rider when it
joined hers. Since they achieved a state of singularity during her last heat,
Matthew has been dropping in on her mind during the hunt. Not that she minded,
she enjoyed having her love with her.

“Missing
the sounds of dragons around. It is always so quiet when you are all off on a
hunt." Matthew
replied, humming as he took in the forest's scent. Experiencing the world in
the heightened scenes of an apex predator.

“Well,
you know you are happy to join in any time. I just don't understand why you
insist on using English. We don't have to… I know what you are thinking."

Matthew
took a moment to reply. It made him feel uneasy to know that in this state, any
individuality dissolved. “You know why I don't like that state of mind." He
spoke.

“Yeah, although
sometimes I feel you would rather become dragon yourself if you could do so." Thyna quipped back, feeling how
Matthew's mind turned and twisted at her words. She gave a small snicker,
liking to tease her rider.

“Sometimes
Thyna, sometimes I wish I could just tie down your mouth."

“Promises,
promises love."
Thyna said back to Matthew. The forest changed to a field, casting the shadows
of five dragons on the grass plains. In the distance was a herd of unsuspecting
bucks grazing on the open fields. Matthew could feel the hunger, the lust for
the hunt rising within Thyna, and no words had to be spoken. The last bit of
their individuality melted away to become one mind in two bodies, regardless of
the distance.

They
changed speed, breaking away from the pack. It was time. The scent of fresh
grass and prey rushed strong on their nose while they closed the distance. The
herd of deer caught on with the situation and bolted. But one could not outrun
a dragon, especially when multiple dragons were now closing in from different
directions and driving the herd together into the open. The climax of the hunt
was them closing their wings and falling out into the sky towards the ground,
claws outstretched like a hawk.

With a loud
thumb and a cloud of dust they crashed into their prey. The deer shrieked and
bleated in fear while the rest of the herd ran away in all directions. It all
came crashing together when they sank their teeth into the neck of the deer and
delivered it from its pain. The metallic taste of blood sprang into their mind,
the lust for the hunt stilled, as it made the hunger increase.

Slowly
their minds drifted apart again, becoming two unique individuals again. Slowly Matthew
was brought back into his own world, panting while his heart was pounding in
his chest.

“I wish
I could join you on the hunt again." He said to Thyna. There was something about
it, something that made his blood boil. Something that made him feel alive.

“When
our little one grown up more, we can, I would love to ask some of the other
dragons to watch over the egg…but…" Thyna said but was interjected.

“You
can't lose a dragon or else, you don't get an effective hunt, I get it. Come
back, hurry, I am starving."

“We
will, just a few more and we are done." Thyna answered.

Matthew
slowly let the connection ebb away to have his senses take over, and the first
thing he noticed was a crackling sound in the cave. Something was happening and
in panic, he looked around. Was someone there? What about the egg? In fear for
his little mental adventure caused him to lose the egg. He looked down.

Shocked his
eyes widened when he saw a cracks like a spider web had formed across the top
of the egg down the sides. At the centre of the cracks the shell was moving out
periodically, budging out before more cracks appeared.

In
fascination he looked at the egg, it was not the first time he watched a
hatching, but this was filled with more joy, more energy than he had ever felt
before. A claw pushed through one of the sides, the dark scaled limb beyond
stretching. The little dragonette within the egg broke open more and more of
the shell, using its front claws to pry open bits and pieces of the shell.
Eventually the eggshell had weakened so that it split apart with some help of
Matthew.

The freed
dragonette had black scales with red swirls around its small body. It was not
like any dragon he had seen before. She was unique, not ever carrying its
mother's scales. Their eyes matched, the dragonette looking up at him. He never
knew what it was that made him sure that it was indeed his child, but something
in the eyes of the little dragonette just told him that instead it was his
blood.

“Hello,
little one." He cooed softly to the dragonette, letting her sniff his hand and
get familiar with his scent.

“Thyna,
cave now." He
called to Thyna.

“Matthew?"
She said back, some
undertones of worry in her voice. “What is wrong?"

“Our
child has hatched."
Matthew said with a barely restrained joy in his voice. He could not help
himself while he gazed down at his child, slowly pushing her head against his
palm. The reply he got from Thyna was not much a sentence, as it was a more
bundled motion of joy. She would be home quickly.

In the meantime,
Matthew was sitting with his child against his leg, looking down with a smile
at her sleek body. It was tired and lay down with her scales still wet from the
liquids from the egg, shivering slightly.

“Hold on
little one." He said, pulling his shirt from his body and using it to start to
dry off her scales from the liquid. Then, he carefully picked the little
dragonette up and carried her to their nest, taking a few blankets along the
way to keep the dragonette warm and comfortable against him. It was in this
state that Thyna discovered the two. She left her prey at the entrance of the
cave and rushed over to her love nosing him before anxiously moving down and
sniffing her child.

Matthew
slowly unwrapped the dragonette, protesting too much protest of the small
dragon, who mewled loudly at being removed from the warm and comfortable spot. Then
she looked up with interest at the new dragon in its vision. Thyna licked the
dragon, an instinct that she did even though I already cleaned the dragonette from
the mess that was hatching.

At first,
the dragonette was squirming and tried to get away. Thyna allowed none of it. Then,
as Thyna continued and finished, the dragonette put a paw on Thyna's nose, burbling
happily while it examined his mother. Thyna curled around the two, forming a
mother's embrace around her love and her child.

“She is
lovely." Thyna said
and a soft rumble.

“So, she
is a little dragoness. A dream come true for you." Matthew cooed to Thyna while rubbing her
snout. “You know what I am thinking."

“I
always know what you are thinking," Thyna quipped. “And I agree, Mistica would
be a perfect name for her."

Matthew
turned his attention to the little dragoness once more, slowly rubbing her head
with a single finger. “Hello little Mistica, I am Matthew, your dad."

Mistica
burbled happily, Matthew was not sure she understood, although the pleasant
fuzzy feeling her mind gave off emanated familiarity with what he said. He
sighed happily, letting himself fall back against Thyna's flank. A daughter.
The weeks of fleeing and searching for a home were worth it. They were safe;
they had a well-fed pack.

Matthew
gazed at the edge of their cave, seeing the other dragons peering into the
cave, curious about the new parents. No one dared to disturb the happy couple,
though.

This was
peace, this was tranquillity, he never imagined his dream to unfold like this,
but none the less he welcomed it with open arms.