Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Rain

"Upstairs?" Pannu asked, brow ridge raised.
   She smiled. "The mountains probably raise the ground level, so yeah, upstairs."
   He laughed. "Fair enough."
   And then Michael was overhead, so they huddled over their hatchlings, and any littles who hadn't made it to a niche in time. That was a new practice they'd begun in the Hold capitol (which was the title being bandied around, at the moment). Since they were still in the process of setting things up, the kin weren't always in a position to reach a wall, let alone find a niche. Besides that, it was larger than the other Holds, which required more walking (or, in this case, running). Oft times, it was more expedient to duck under the nearest dragon.
   Today, she had to reach out and snatch a dwarf out of the air, or he'd have been sucked up.
   Sorry Michael, you can't have this one. There are plenty of dragons to the north, though. You'll feed well this day.

   This I know. I know not the cause, but the nutrients are appreciated.

   I know you're in a hurry, so I'll tell you later if you really want to know.

   It is of no concern to us.

   Fair enough. Well, enjoy the bounty.

   He didn't respond, and that was fine. She knew that there would not be much of a night cycle, with so much tempting food beyond their Holds. She would need to rest for as long as she could.
   Even when the Charon had moved on, she lay a while longer to gather her strength. This would be the first time she'd been Above since the Fall, as the kin were calling it.
   It didn't occur to her until she was halfway up that the term might have a dual meaning. Her wingbeats faltered, but she was not one to shirk her duties... or her punishments.
   When she reached His domain, she hovered and waited, like a child about to be reprimanded. Her scales shivered in the emptiness, which had never truly felt empty, until today.
   For what it's worth, I don't intend to do that again, she began, earflaps low. I'm not even sure what happened to us, or why, since all three of us are alive. I'm sorry.
   She waited, and nothing happened. She was not so foolish to believe that they'd been let off the hook. The fact that Between no longer felt like a father's embrace was proof enough of that. Or was His silence her punishment?
   Okay, we aren't talking about that. Fine. The kin have questions about Hold-making. I promised to ask You. Gonna guess the three of us are the only ones who can make them and survive, so maybe that's Your way of keeping the spread of dragons to a dull roar? Still not sure how the City managed to run out so fast. I know You'd have planned better than that.
   She waited some more. And Listened, legs tucked close to her body. It was cold Between, which was new. She didn't like it. As if she hadn't felt bad enough already, this was a new level of sorrow.
   I didn't want to know how Eve felt, she thought. Electric blue darkened to the blue of sadness, and tears slipped out of her eyes.
   As close as she was to the planet's atmosphere, the tears drifted into the upper layer and hovered, as she did. They caught her eye through the haze of moisture, and fascination briefly overcame sorrow.
   Onnu touched one of the drops, and it burst into many smaller droplets. Those droplets fell to firth as a gentle rain.
   She immediately regretted it. No, no, no. I'm not making rain. Nope. Rain follows Charon, we don't get real rain on Tupino. I did not just invent rain! I'll just leave--no no no, stop! Come back! There wasn't rain before. What have I done? Tupino wasn't designed to have regular rain!
   But the tears flew in every direction around the planet, faster than she could catch them. It was uncanny. It was unnatural.
   It was Him.
   Sorrow and fascination turned wry. You really have a flair for the dramatic, don't You? And how, pray tell (pun intended), do You want me to spin this one?
   Humor suffused the space Above. She got the feeling that not many would call Him on such things. She thought there were some examples in the Bible, but she wasn't a biblical scholar, so she wouldn't remember.
   Gather thy children, that thou mayest travel to the City. Tell them this:
   "I hath provided rain for thy crops, from the tears of My servant. We doth weep at thy callous regard for My most loyal children. Take, water thy crops, and waste not the lives of thy brethren. Be the stewards of the land, as ye did on Erdewaz."
   I will send a rainbow at the end of thy proclamation, as a promise to provide for My children who tend their flocks well. Every rainbow should be a reminder of My promise, and of theirs.
   She didn't think they'd promised anything, but if He said they had, then they had.
   They will.
   A shiver ran down her spine. It was said with both demand and certainty. She did not envy this Council. She momentarily forgot that she was to deliver the message. When she did remember, she worried about the time it would take to travel there, pass on His word, and return. There was no Hold to the north that was large enough to host her.
   Oh yeah, what's the word on that front, by the way?
   He didn't reply in tangible words. She got the idea that they should trust the centaurs and Elder Dragons' judgement.
   Okay, but is that part of our job? I don't want to assume, or take on too many tasks, but it... feels like maybe we could, or should?
   Again, she was urged to trust herself. She was possessed of instincts that He programmed personally, as He did all of the kin.
   Well yeah, but I'm afraid to just go on auto-pilot all the time. I like to check in on big things, make sure I'm not reading things wrong.
   Approval warmed the space Between once more, and she was subtly nudged back toward Tupino. She Felt that her Geas would be fulfilled tomorrow. Today, she was to prepare for the trip. He would hold the Charon at bay just long enough to do as she was bid, and then they would feed.
   It was the equivalent of holding back the sun, which she remembered being in the Bible somewhere. Couldn't remember why, or who, but it showed precedent. That alone might work to her favor with the Council.