Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Departure

Onnu woke on the third day filled with dread and anticipation warring within her gut. Trey never had answered her question, but she could ask him in person, soon. Either that, or she could ask Him en route, but she wasn't sure she wanted to bother Him for something relatively minor, like mountain dragon mating habits.
   Her eyes swirled with a mix of blue and yellow, which looked nearly neon against her natural, unnatural color underneath. She told them all that she would miss them, until she was shooed away by the more rational kin. Pannu would've let her waver all day.
   She did not fight them. There was an undeniable pull toward the stars. Some of her hesitation was for show, so they would not think her eager to leave them. She wasn't so much eager to leave them as she was to see something new. It seemed she also had a bit of nomadic blood in her veins, which made sense if she was to help populate the other worlds.
   Populate and teach.
   Her wingbeats faltered in the ether. She'd forgotten how easily permeable her mind was, Above. She had also forgotten about her duty to teach, but it wouldn't be relevant until she moved to another planet. She thought there was some grace to be had.
   She was wrong.
   It would not take two weeks to populate the new world. The remaining thirteen days would be spent teaching them everything she could. She didn't know how she'd overlooked that detail, but in the ether, things became much clearer.
   How am I supposed to teach anyone everything they need to survive, in two weeks? she fretted. It had taken them years to learn what little they had! And what if the new planet didn't have the same resources?
   Trey.
   Right, she was supposed to be orienting on her Brother. A "tap" on her mind redirected her thoughts, though. Did she interpret his name wrong? Oh, right, she'd asked a question. That was His answer!
   :Wait, Trey will teach them after I leave? I thought he was supposed to travel.:
   There was no answer. It was perhaps too complex to be relayed with an idea or sentence. She mentally shrugged, and went back to trying to find her Brother.
   He'd been on the furthest planet from Tupino, but that was three days ago. Who knew where that was now? She didn't know where, or how, to focus her energies.
   Onnu tried simply thinking "brother", and "seeing" what happened. She looked out at the Verse, and a planet sort of nearby "lit up". She waited for a yea or nay from the Big Guy, and He gave neither. Without another course of action, she nudged herself in the direction of the planet that seemed to glow a bit more than the others. There was a sun between her and what she thought was her destination, but she knew how orbits worked in normal space. She would attempt to slingshot around it, and hope that it did the job.
   This thought earned her a mental "slap", light though it was.
   What, am I supposed to fly through the sun?
   She was reminded that they could not die, save by Charon. There were no words, of course. The reminder floated to the front of her mind, in lieu of words that could explode her brain if used too frequently.
   But that's a sun! Surely, the energy of a star is equivalent to being digested!
   So was falling from orbit, and yet, she had survived.
   Yeah, 'cause they prayed for me to come back. Otherwise...
   It felt like a wall stopped her thoughts from continuing. She was used to it, having been the recipient of such methods on Erdewaz, but it never stopped being weird. She sighed, and corrected her course to the sun that was between her and the world her Brother was on.
   This just never stops being weird, does it?
   The ether Above sort of... jiggled? The overall sensation was of silent laughter. Was God laughing at her? Eh, He works too hard. He could use a laugh. I'll take it.
   The closer she got to the sun, the slower she propelled herself. Even knowing she would survive, that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt. It was awfully hard to purposely inflict pain on oneself, even if God said it would be fine.
   The funny thing was... As she squinted her eyes closed and blindly flew into a sun... It didn't hurt. On the contrary, it felt... the fullest you'd ever be on pure energy? Like opening a solar panel directly next to an exploding star. She thought for sure she would burst from it.
   And then she was out the other side, her hide radiating loops and coils of pure plasma. Her horns glowed white-hot, claws nearly neon blue. The already unnatural color of her scales brightened to ultraviolet. It would have seared the retina of any creature who looked at her.
   Unless he was also an Elder Dragon, that is.
   :That was... kind of hot.:
   Onnu's eyes popped open. :Dwayne? I was supposed to be heading toward Trey. Whoops!: Then her brain filtered through what he'd said, and the pun was right there. :And yeah, I think that's the hottest anyone can get.: She laughed, but he didn't.
   Her momentum carried her right to him, until she flared her wings to slow and stop it. Flight was slightly different, in space. She didn't have to flap, just flare.
   :So that's what you look like. Hi, by the way.:
   Still, the large dragon in front of her neither moved, nor spoke.
   :Dwayne? You okay?: She snapped her talons in front of his face, and he flinched a little.
   :For what it's worth, I'm sorry, but I think this is supposed to happen.:
   And then the stoic, sturdy, very much taken Triplet reached to pull her in closer.