An escarpment of basalt reached for the dark blue sky. The sun was rising, ultraviolet and huge, driving away the sparkles of stars. Winds blew hot, bringing the scent of sulfar.
~What are you showing me?~ I was with Rhaelgyr inside my head, and we were watching the scene together, like sharing a dream.
~This is where the Narvalein clan settled after the emancipation.~ Rhaelgyr was holding me close, the heat of his personality wrapped around me. ~We found a planet that Mother said would be perfect, just like our ancient homeworld.~
A dragon roared, and the scene shifted. We soared above the escarpment, drifting on the wind. The landscape glowed in florescent reaction to the dark sun. ~Why not go back to the original planet?~
~The Sidhehan destroyed it. It's easier to break the wills of people who have nowhere to go.~
~How horrible.~ I mentally snuggled closer, not sure if my body was following suit. ~I'm sorry.~
~Don't be. We are a stronger race because of our ordeals.~
There was pride in his voice. Dragons had survived slavery, full of unknown tortures. They were alive, and their former masters weren't. I understood how someone could take strength in that.
~There's Mother!~ he said suddenly, our point of view zooming in on a massive midnight blue dragon. She was roaring, the air echoing with her reverberating voice. Flames flickered at her feet as she drooled combustible saliva. Powerful wings spread almost a hundred feet, veins gleaming in the patagia.
She was huge, massive. Impressive. I quaked, glad this was only a memory, that I wasn't really faced with her.
~She looks just like you,~ I whispered.
~I look similar to her, but there's a lot of differences.~ His voice took on the tone of someone who'd given the same information time and again. ~Our racks are different, she's a lighter color, and she's scarred from her years in the pit.~
I felt a little guilty. It was a sign of ignorance and lack of observation to say something like that. It would be like an orc telling me I looked like Steven.
Yet not entirely, in this case. Rhaelgyr was overreacting, surely. This was his mother, so there was some resemblance. I kept my opinion to myself, not wanting to interrupt whatever he was showing me.
More dragons took up the cry. The entire plateau echoed with their voices until the air shook. Then the ground shook. Rhaelgyr's mother threw back her head, horns flashing under ultraviolet rays. She rose up on her back legs, continuing her cry.
My head swelled with the song, until I thought I might break apart. It was the basalt that gave, though, with a crack like a thousand thunder strikes.
~Beautiful, isn't it?~ Rhaelgyr was enrapt as lava rose from the wound in the stone. The crack became a gap, became a chasm, became a bubbling sea of molten rock. Small boulders floated on the tide, glowing as they melted. Steam and other gases filled the air, and dragon voices grew stronger.
~What are they doing?~ The magma seam splashed and danced, spumes jumping free. Each spume grew, rising higher, building into a tower.
~They're singing our home.~
