Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Sacrificial Slams

:Just a heads up, guys? We can hear thoughts besides our own. I mean "our" as in us three. I think it's only, like, formed sentences they don't say aloud, but...: She shivered, glad that Alistair was gone. :It's not fun. You get emotional flavors, and if they're thinking something you don't like, it's... blech! I want to take a brain bath.:

   Her Brothers felt as queasy as she did. None of them knew whether it was the emotional flavor, as she called it, or the concept itself. Neither Brother wanted to experience it for themselves, and were just as glad they didn't talk to enough dragons to have "heard" and felt it firsthand.
   :If you find a way to invent the brain bath, sign me up. I only caught a sideways whiff of that guy when you thought about it just now, and I need one. Until then, I'm gonna close the, uh, brain door and try to forget that feeling.:

   :No offense, but I'm with Dwayne on that one. I know you can't not think about it for a while, so I'm gonna close my door, too. Knock if you need anything, 'kay?:

   And suddenly, instead of two weird, fleshy walls in her mind, there was a hallway with two doors. One was thick and rough-cut, the other carved with simple yet classic designs. Not that she saw actual designs, per se, but that was the general vibe of Trey's door. She guessed that one of her Brothers had this as a visualization, maybe both, and found it far more comfortable than what had been back there previously.
   Onnu felt it prudent to not mention the telepathy to Pannu. He was self-conscious enough as it was, without knowing she could hear some of the things he thought.
   She did, however, tell him what she knew, and thought, about Alistair.
   "You're not making more Holds," he said. "I forbid it. No, not like that. For your health, you just can't do that again. Please. I don't think I can handle it."
   Her scales barely rippled. She would've bristled at his wording, had he not added personal context. She thought on it for a bit.
   "I think... I think I could do it now. That's why our scales look like this, maybe. Harder? Shiny, like the crystals? As long as I don't land on my head like a bloody idiot, it should be doable."
   His jaw set, eyes flickered yellow.
   "Okay, how about a compromise? I'll ask if that's something we can do. And even then, I did say we'd send one of the centaurs to do a survey. I'm not just gonna drop a Hold when and where they say. In the end, it's up to the Big Guy, not me. He made the worlds, I don't wanna frack them up immediately."
   The disquiet left his eyes, but slowly. His jaw unclenched, wings shifted a few times to release the tension.
   "You don't have to say it, I know you don't like it. But remember, I can't do anything until the kids are fledged anyway. If one of the other local dragons needs a new Hold, I'll practice here if it gets the okay Above. Sound like a plan?"
   "Fine," he said with uncharacteristic force. "And no, I don't like it."
   "But I may have been designed for it. Perhaps that is just something Elder Dragons do. Maintaining the balance, or something. I don't know yet. Oh, I bet Dwayne could try! Wait, no, not without Trey to show him what happened. I don't want to have to..."
   She stopped herself before saying "I don't want to have to replace him already."
   "Yeah, it would suck to lose a brother type guy you've never actually met," he grumbled.
   "It wouldn't be prudent," she amended. "We don't know how long dragons take to grow, let alone Elder Dragons."
   "I guess not."
   The ground shook beneath their feet.
   "Seems the City's willing to find out, though."
   They looked to the north, and sure enough, a plume told them that another dragon had attempted what only an Elder Dragon could achieve.
   "Should we tell them?" he asked.
   "They'll know soon enough." The way she said it did not make him any less nervous. Since Alistair's visit that day, there had been two more crash landings in the north.
   "They aren't going high enough," she said of the fifth one, the next day.
   "What?" Pannu gasped.
   She looked up at him from where she lay with their hatchlings. "They have to leave atmo. If they don't, the Hold will be too shallow. Not enough of a crater for niches to form."
   He looked at her like she'd grown another head. "And you know this how?"
   She huffed a not-laugh. "How do we know anything, here? Observation. Deductive reasoning. What science I remember that might apply.
   "And maybe some sneaky influence from Above," she added, almost as an afterthought.
   "And you're more connected to Him than we are," he frowned. It didn't sit right with him that he couldn't Hear as well as an Elder Dragon could. Did he not pray? Did he not remind others to look up, before looking to them?
   Except he'd forgotten at the most important time, hadn't he? Liam had had to remind him. That didn't sit well with him, either.
   "I just hope Alistair gets them to listen to reason, before they lose half of their dragons."
   Pannu wasn't so sure. "If resources are the issue," he said slowly, "there would be fewer dragons to feed, which might balance out the increase in their little kin population. They could house a few dragons with hatchlings in the shallow holds, and free up more room for littles in the Holds they were in. It sounds callous, but if they're that desperate..."
   Onnu's eyes squinted into the dust. She was yet again vainly hoping that the City dragon had survived. "Now we're into territory I don't like. You're right, but yeah, if it's that dire in the City...
   "Except how could it get that bad, that fast? No way He'd set them up for failure! There had to be ample stores of resources nearby, so are they mismanaging them, or do they just not know where to look?"
   Pannu frowned. "You're right. How did that happen?"
   Onnu looked to the sky. "I'll see if He's got any feedback--tomorrow. The idiots upstairs have brought Charon to our door prematurely. Again."