Wings of Evolution (WoF AU)

Chapter 41

Radiant light

Radiance was sad to hear the summons from Aurora, which surprised her, she didn't think she could get attached to the Kiaen so easily, but here she was less than a month after her arrival, bidding farewell with tears forming in her eyes.

Which was dumb, Icewings did not cry in front of others. Icewings were supposed to keep any feelings locked securely behind the vault of their minds, never to be seen by anyone, least of all themselves.

And yet, Radiance had grown soft surrounded by these oddly curious dragons, she'd grown soft enough that during this farewell, she spoke in their own language, over the weeks having learned enough from Esin to no longer need any type of translator.

Sometimes in the caves, Radiance felt like a child, the Kiaen knew so much about the deep that Radiance never would have guessed, it was amazing really, to watch them fish with the glowing fungus, or to see the way they navigated using the patterns of strata that lined almost every wall. Somehow they didn't seem to care that she didn't understand their ways even as their go through leader, they welcomed her with open wings and did everything they could to make her as happy as possible.

So with all that experience and love, Radiance bade them farewell one morning, unsure of what the Queen wanted, but prepared to beg to stay at Lenas, even though Radiance was very sure that Icewings did not beg.

No pleading, groveling, or blackmail either, it was below her station to resort to such methods. But Radiance was much more open to the idea of using clever wordplay to explain why it was the best idea to let Radiance stay at Lenas.

Besides, Drift hadn't been included in the summons, which either meant that Aurora had forgotten about him, or she only needed Radiance for whatever was happening. That was the only thing that made Radiance wonder if this was unrelated to reassignment.

So she said her farewells and migrated through the cave systems, taking three Kiaen with her by order of the queen. They used the detailed map based mostly on Uhar's original, it had one key difference though, this map was far more in depth, taking into account the ability to backtrack in some locations, somehow making the route itself more direct in the process. It was a pretty great map.

Using that, it was only a few hours before Radiance met the sky again.

After that, Radiance was finally able to remember all the things she'd missed about home, the sun foremost about them. Snow was another matter entirely, and after exiting the cave, her three companions watched awkwardly as Radiance flopped straight onto the powder covered ground and spread out all her limbs, trying to bask in both the sunlight and the snow at the same time.

It wasn't for another few moments that she remembered that she was supposed to be acting dignified. How would any dragon respect her if she never showed she deserved it.

Despite that memory, Radiance smiled up at the three Kiaen who were watching the world around them as if they'd just had a great revelation. They watched the world with opened eyed curiosity and excitement that reminded Radiance of newly hatched dragonets. Perhaps the Kiaen had never grown out of that curiosity, just like they had never finished growing.

Though that was a dumb thought, the Kiaen were done growing, and they were perfectly proportional, their claws weren't too big like most dragonets, and their minds and bodies were completely mature. It was only by the standards of the surface that they were anything less.

It almost worried Radiance when she realized that. If even she, an icewing who had lived among them long enough to learn their language, could think like that, what in pyrriah's scales would other dragons think of the Kiaen? Would they treat them as lesser just because they lived in caves and didn't grow as large?