Heart of Water

Chapter 15: Familiar Faces

An older Fastfin approached Huttsgalore looking for the rescue riders. And saw the Roost where there were three dragons and a human male looking at the entrance.

"Excuse me, are these the Rescue Riders?" She asked, looking free fly at the young human and the three dragons with him.

"Yes, yes it is." The human said with a bright smile. "I'm Dak. This is Winger, Cutter, and Burple."

"Oh good. I need your help. My name is Aquaria. I've been searching everywhere for my lost daughter. I lost her years ago. I heard you are good at helping dragons so I came hoping you could help." She said before looking around, "But I heard there were five and a half dragons and one and a half humans in your group. Though I'm not sure where the halves come from."

"That's actually why we're out here," Winger said, looking at the Roost. "My mom, Glow, found Dak and his sister Leyla in a shipwreck as children and adopted them. Something happened a couple years ago and she gained the ability to switch between human and a Fastfin named Riptide, making her half human half dragon. She, her mate, and a Fire/Water Fury hybrid named Aggro that is like a sister to them are currently in there. They found out how to make it possible for two females to have a child together, and now their eggs are about to hatch."

"And they kicked us out!" Cutter pouted with a soft sigh. "Why'd they do that? Is that normal?"

"Mated pairs usually do that," Aquaria smiled. "They want to make sure they are the first ones the children see. Though from what you said Dak and Winger are Riptide's brothers. Brothers and sisters are usually allowed in unless they do something stupid. They just need to stay further back."

This caused Burple and Cutter to laugh.

"Dak and Winger, though mostly Dak, are constantly trying to be an overprotective search brother and getting slapped down for it." Cutter explained.

"That would definitely do it," Aquaria said as the door opened and Aggro popped her head out.

"The children are here," Aggro smiled while flicking her tail from left to right. "And they say that you can come see baby Tempest and Sapphire."

With that the group headed inside and saw Summer and Riptide, each holding a child between their legs that looked like them. Tempest looks like Summer with sky blue streaks under her wings and tail and Sapphire is sky blue with green swirls under her wings and tail.

"Congratulations you two," Cutter said with a warm smile on his face. "They're really cute."

"Thanks Cut," Summer said before freezing when she heard a voice she hadn't heard in a long time.

"Summer? Is that you?" Summer, Riptide, and Aggro, all looked to the voice and saw it was Aquaria.

"MOMMY!" A loud yell screamed out before a blur tackled Aquaria to the ground, when it stopped it was revealed to be Summer.. "I missed you so much mommy. Here, I've got to introduce you to my mate and children."

Following her daughter, Aquaria and Summer found Tempest had somehow ended up between Aggro's legs and was looking at each other like 'how did I/you get here?' Before Aggro smiled and used her water powers to surround herself in a water version of a Fastfin and moving it to surround Tempest the same way Riptide was.

Aquaria smiled and patted over to see the little water dragon babies.

Riptide smiled and gave Aggro a grateful look. "Thanks Agg, Tempest really seems to like that."

"So, you must be Riptide, am I right?" Aquaria asked the sky blue Fastfin. "And you're also my daughter's mate?"

Riptide nodded her head with a small blush on her face. She flicked her tail from left to right, revealing a purplish mark near the base of her eel-like tail.

"Oh my alpha! What happened to your tail, darling?" Aquaria asked the younger water dragon, who just lowered her gaze and curled her tail around her front talons.

Summer walked up to Riptide and nuzzled her cheek. "That's a mark from the dragon hunters that will never fade." Summer told her mom with a somber expression. "She was poisoned by a Light Fury that had a poisonous bite."

"The Light Fury had been injected with Deadly Nadder venom. Well, at least, that's what the hunters told us anyway." Riptide added on with a small sigh and an anxious flick of her tail.

Aquaria paled before bending down to examine the purple bite mark. "You got very lucky little one," the older water dragon murmured with a soft smile. "It's a good thing that Fastfin's have fast healing capabilities."

"Along with the help of a water lily," Summer added with a shake of her wings. "I thought she was dead when Aggro and I had first come back to the wooden peace we had left her on, but it turns out that she was just unconscious."

Riptide crooned softly and gave her mate a loving nuzzle. "I would never leave you, Sum." She said with a firm nod of her head.

Summer smiled back and the two mates untwined their tails with a happy croon.

After Summer had finished speaking, an uncomfortable silence fell upon the group.

Eventually though, it was Dak who attempted to break the silence.

"Hey, Riptide, Summer, could I hold one of the babies?" He asked them, looking to both his sister and her mate for confirmation.

The two mates glanced to one another, a silent conversation passing between them before they nodded their heads in agreement.

Dak smiled softly and reached down and gently picked Tempest up in his arms.

"Wow!" Dak exclaimed with a wide grin forming on his face. "Tempest sure does look a lot like you, Summer." He added shortly afterwards while looking down at the small Fastfin.

"So, does that mean Tempest and Sapphire will end up dating when they're older?" He replied with a teasing grin forming on his face.

At that remark, both Summer and Riptide scowled and Aggro's scales were sizzling, her body glowing a faint orange, a sure sign of growing annoyance.

Riptide had just opened her mouth to speak but Tempest's crying made her freeze and she turned sharply to face her search brother.

"Hey, Aggro, could you please take Tempest from my search brother and calm her down?" The young fire dragon nodded and did as her friend had requested.

As Aggro clutched the baby dragon carefully in her claws, Dak pouted and blew a raspberry at the Fire Fury.

"Aw man! How is it fare that she likes you better than me?"

Summer and Riptide giggled and gave him a sideways glance.

"I dunno, Dak. Maybe it's because of that joke you made?" Riptide muttered with a scowl still on her face. "By the way, what you said wasn't cool at all!"

Summer and Aggro both nodded their heads in agreement.

"Oh come on guys!" Dak exclaimed, rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up in the air. "It wasn't that bad! I mean, come on! You have to admit that it was kinda funny!"

Before he could continue speaking, he was rewarded with Riptide, Summer, Aggro, and even Tempest and Sapphire shooting him in the face with a full-powered waterblast.

Aquaria blinked in surprise and turned to face her daughter and her mate with a confused look on her face.

"What was that all about, girls?" She asked them with a raised eyebrow. "Is this a usual thing that you three do to him?"

Summer, Riptide, and Aggro all nodded and stared up at her with evil grins and mischief shimmering in their eyes.

"Yup, we do it all the time!" Riptide said with a giggle. "It's kinda fun, and he deserves it for making that joke!"

Aquaria nodded her head in full agreement. "I agree with that last one," she said, giving a nod to Riptide, who gave her a cheeky cat-like grin.