Darkling

A Happy Ending

Scouting pairs went out the next day. Five Nyxians, plus myself, each of us with a Chiropteran partner. The former knew the area, while the latter had a better idea of what would best suit the people we were trying to rehome. Rhiannon came with me, and we covered a swath of land north of the village. We landed in the valley Ashtoreth and I had seen on our first trip north, taking a look around before making camp for the daylight hours.

I thought it looked like a perfect place. Rhiannon agreed, pointing out a few natural caves that felt much more comfortable to her than a house would. I nodded, reconsidering what we might be looking for. If most of the Chiropterans would be happier in caves rather than houses, it would mean a slightly different goal regarding location.

Whether we were building houses or enlarging caves was probably about the same amount of work but we needed different terrain for one or the other.

We headed back to the village just after sundown, and each group reported their findings. We ultimately came up with three possibilities, the valley Rhiannon and I had explored a bit one of them. From there, things began moving quickly. The Chiropterans seemed eager to let me do most of the decision making. I managed to get enough opinions that the valley seemed the best bet so I chose that location.

A few Nyxian's and all able-bodied Chiropterans moved north, getting to work immediately. The caves that were already in the steep cliffs hemming in the valley were looked over. Most were pronounced safe enough. Others were easily dug out further. And here and there a little bracing was put in to keep things safe. Each network of tunnels was given at least three exits to make sure there was good air flow and in case of emergencies.

While the living spaces were coming together, the valley was being transformed. The river running gently through the center provided plenty of water, so those Nyxian's with the know-how and resources got to work planting and teaching. Fruit tree saplings were added for the long term. Berries and mushrooms beneath the trees would grow in faster. And vegetables and herbs were scattered throughout, either growing compatibly with the other things or in containers closer to the living spaces.

I had expected close to a year. And while there was still some digging going on in the expectation that the population would grow, we were actually ready to move the children and elderly after a few months.

All the Chiropterans that had been taking refuge in the village eagerly gathered up their belongings. Trips had been made out to the original home of the band of thirty I had brought in to reclaim what hadn't been easy to carry the first time. And after hearing about one last family potentially hiding out, I had sent a messenger to find them. Their numbers had been somewhere around fifty before they had fallen out of contact years ago. The messenger brought back word that twenty would be making the trip to join the rest of us. All that was left of my people, including whoever was still holding fast to Yvaine's rule, barely numbered in the hundreds.

The day before we were to move the last Chiropterans out of the village, I sprawled in bed with my mate, enjoying her lips and fingers trailing across my skin. We were still catching our breath after the last rough tumble, but Ashtoreth was never too tired to smother me in affection.

"You know," she breathed across my shoulder, "they expect you to continue to lead them after tomorrow."

I hummed, shivering as her fingers teased up the bone structure of my wing. "I will." Her abrupt hesitation jarred me into actually thinking about her words instead of her touch and I twisted to look back at her. Her expression was carefully neutral. I knew better. "I'm not staying there with them. My place is here. With you."

She smiled, a tension easing out of her. She dropped featherlight kisses to my shoulder, trailing them across the back of my neck. Starting down my spine. "I am relieved. I'm sure we could make things work if you lived there and I remained here. But I would have missed you terribly."