Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 73: Revelations

I planned for every outcome I could think of, from a strange object they found to a dead body, and even some far-fetched things like 'hey, Mom, we found an abandoned hatchling' or 'look, we found the entrance to the place your kind came from!' What I didn't expect, however, was to be led into the forest quite a ways away from anybody else, assured that the dead body we passed was, in fact, not Moon despite whom it looked like, told briefly about how Nibbler truly lost her tongue, and finally brought before none other than Sprout.

Frankly, I didn't have it in me to even act surprised. Considering all the ridiculous crap our family has been through already, this didn't even register on my 'what the Hel is this' list. No, it was more along the lines of 'here we go again.'

I kept my eyes trained on the Scaleless awkwardly standing beside Nox. "Is it hostile?"

Vaskr hesitated. "I dunno."

"Has it made any obvious attempts to harm you?" I rephrased. Nibbler growled low in her throat, making me raise a brow and glance at her distrustful scowl. I couldn't tell if what that implied was true or just a response from her past with Scaleless.

"Not really...?"

I shifted my gaze to the young male dubiously. "You don't sound very sure about that." Either Sprout tried to harm him or didn't. It was a simple question with a simple answer and an equally simple decision on my part. To put it another way, this Scaleless's chances of surviving the next few minutes depended on what Vaskr said. It would be easy, considering Sprout's strange metal-claw lay discarded out of reach.

"Well..." He peeked at Nibbler, who still gave Sprout her best death glare, albeit from the safety of Vaskr's side. While she was apparently very hostile toward the Scaleless, she didn't seem brave enough to expose herself entirely. "I-I don't know. It hasn't really tried, but I don't know if it's being sneaky or something," he mumbled meekly.

Nibbler revealed a conflicting mess of information, namely her obvious anger yet hesitance to step fully out from behind Vaskr. Thankfully, Vaskr was easy to understand, and not only because he talked to me. He frequently peeked at Nibbler as if seeking approval for every word he said, and spoke as if stuck in the middle between yes and no, though his lack of hostility told me another story.

"You want me to tell you if it's trustworthy or not," I stated bluntly. Vaskr didn't want to incense Nibbler by not taking her side, but he wanted to trust the Scaleless, for whatever reason. "Why does it matter, anyway?"

Vaskr hesitated. "I think I know it."

How could Vaskr know a Scaleless? Did he meet one while we were separated? Or did he remember 'Astrid' back when he was merely a hatchling? I doubted it was the latter. What were the odds of the very same Scaleless somehow finding us again after all these season-cycles? I almost left it at that, but a stray thought gave me pause.

Stranger things have happened.

What if Sprout was Astrid? Nox, who was possessed by Lily at the time, had mentioned that Sprout's real name was 'boring,' so we never got its true name. And, if I wasn't mistaken, Astrid had been female—or so I was told—and Lily repeatedly insisted that Sprout was a 'she.' Not to mention, Astrid had a similar metal-claw as this Scaleless...

I cautiously approached the Scaleless, making it jolt and eye me nervously. Nox watched me like a hawk, almost as if Sprout was her hatchling that she wanted safe, yet open for all to see. Sprout didn't dare move an inch as I came close enough to ruffle its false furs with a huff. Circling it slowly, I tried my best to get a recognizable scent, but all I got was everything else. 

This Scaleless has been places, as proven by the myriad of scents clinging to it. Saltwater, trees, dragon, earth, faint traces of blood, burnt wood, the sharp tang of a plant Astra used often, but nothing I remembered Astrid smelled like. It didn't even smell like metal-claws, a scent I'd long since attributed to all Scaleless. It was all very... plain, almost dragon-like, but without the strong underlayer unique to dragons. Clearly, smell alone wouldn't provide me with an answer.