Wings of Fire Legends • The Blue Comet

Chapter Five

Sorry for the late chapter! Work was murder and I had to beat an old lady with a stick to edit this chapter (this is a reference, don't worry - no old ladies were harmed in the making of this update). I hope you enjoy!

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The headache gripped her skull like a vice, making flying difficult and forcing Pathfinder to stop frequently. She now perched on a random ledge of the ravine, gritting her teeth against the pain and trying to find the strength to stretch her wings again. Another night at work ended with the usual splitting headaches. Pathfinder barely had the mental capacity to fly home, much less decipher prophecies the universe seemed content to force on her.

     An image of a blue comet at dawn seemed burned into her mind, but she had no idea what it meant. Her head throbbed again.

     The sun was rising and Pathfinder's tiredness coupled with the headache threatened to make her collapse. She struggled to her talons and ambled along the ledge, which wrapped around the middle of the ravine and connected to three caves. None of them were hers, unfortunately, and when she recognized where she was she groaned. Still far, or at least it felt that way to her pain-addled state.

     When she reached the end of the ledge, Pathfinder rapidly blinked her eyes to focus them. Her home was built on a high ledge, close to the palace, and she could see it from where she stood. Her carved balcony stuck out of the ravine two ledges higher than her current position.

     She spread her wings to fly up, but another pang of the headache stopped her. Pathfinder rubbed her temples, growling softly, before steeling herself and taking off. She managed four flaps that took her home, and as she landed she was greeted by soft tinkling sounds coming from inside.

     Great. Just what she needed after a tough night in the palace.

     Pathfinder stepped through the open doors which led her into a wide room, bringing the offending sounds into loud focus. Across from the entrance sat her daughter, Lightcatcher, working on her noisy contraptions at the low table in front of her. The room was decorated to be pleasing and welcoming to guests, but Pathfinder found the colourful light refracting in her daughter's work obnoxious.

     Before she could voice her complaints, Lightcatcher lifted her dark head. A smile spread on her face and the young dragoness asked in a much too cheery voice, "Mother, you look so tired. Did you have a vision again?"

     Pathfinder shook her head, stalking into the room and stopping in front of the table. "Why do I need to remind you to take those annoying pieces of garbage down?"

     Lightcatcher stiffened. "This again. Mother, you know putting them away defeats the purpose of making my wind chimes." As if to prove her point (and annoy Pathfinder) the wind chimes that hung in the windows tinkled.

     "Then maybe... I don't know," Pathfinder snapped, glaring at Lightcatcher, "stop making them?"

     The headache returned and she reached for the table to ground herself. That put her talon close to the unfinished wind chime. She ripped it out of Lightcatcher's talons and waved it in her face. Two sticks, connected in a cross, threatened to come loose with how she waved them around. The coloured shards of glass knocked together, intensifying the pain of Pathfinder's headache. Still, she managed to hiss from clenched teeth: "Your job will never pay. Do something useful in the Palace, like me. No dragon wants to buy broken bits of glass and wire that make noise all day and night."

     "That's the point!" Lightcatcher insisted. She pressed her talons on the table, leaning forward and trying to take the contraption back. "They're supposed to bring music and light to an otherwise boring night!"