Flowers For The Sky

Sky's The Limit

The flight back to the trader didn't take too long, with everyone just enjoying the light after being in what was equivalent to hell for a bit. The dragons landed in front of the traders stand, but they were far enough away that the trader didn't really notice or care. Ruby and Shala took out the flowers that they'd collected and lied them out on the ground.

"Scarlet, Felix, would you like to do the honors?" Ruby asked. "With pleasure." Scarlet said. She started to blow smoke on the flowers, and Felix blew frost over them. They kept it up for a second before stopping, their gentle blast hanging in the air for a moment before clearing, revealing the full sized flowers.

Ruby and Shala gathered up the flowers and the group of four walked over to the trader. "Ah, ladies! What are you here for?" he asked. "We're here for your map to Caylus. We got the flowers." Shala said. Ruby and Shala set all the flowers down on his counter. The trader pondered for a moment.

"Well, this is nice, but..." he started to say. Ruby slammed her hands down on the counter. "We almost died multiple times! Give us the goddamn map!!" she shouted. Scarlet gave a low growl of warning. "Uh, right. Give me a moment." the trader said. He started to reach around below the counter.

Ruby and Shala exchanged glances before looking back over at the trader. He pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. "This is the map. You did what I asked, so here is your reward." he said, extending it towards Ruby. Ruby took it and unrolled it. Shala looked at the map over Ruby's shoulder.

Sure enough, it had Caylus marked. Ruby looked back up at the trader. "Thanks." she said. "Off you go. You've made your goals clear, and I'm guessing you want to get to Caylus as soon as you can." the trader said. Ruby nodded and got up on Scarlet. Shala got on Felix and they took to the air.

"Apparently, Caylus is only about four clicks west." Ruby said. "You got it." Felix said. The dragons turned west, and they soared over Edenor, with Ruby and Shala looking down at the land. "We just traveled all over, and now we're going to a city in the sky." Shala said.

"It's pretty crazy to think about." "Yeah, but we'll probably have more adventures there. It's a floating city for crying out loud." Ruby pointed out. "Fair enough. I'm gonna miss it down here, though." Shala said. "We can always come back. It's not that hard to fly down here." Felix said.

"And it won't take that long." Scarlet added. "Right." Ruby said. They continued to fly, with Ruby looking at the map every now and then to make sure they were going in the right direction. Eventually, they made it to where the map said Caylus would be. Felix and Scarlet hovered as Ruby looked around in confusion.

"This is where the map says it should be. Why aren't we there?" she asked. "Wait. Ruby, think back to Caylus. Caylus is a floating city, yes, but what was it above?" Shala said. Ruby thought for a moment before realization hit. "The clouds. It's above the clouds." she said.

"Right. So, we need to go up." Shala said. Felix started to climb, with Scarlet quickly following. They soared up into the sky, heading for the clouds as quickly they could. They broke through the cloud cover, and the dragons leveled out. Ruby and Shala looked at the view in front of them with awe.

A city floated in the sky, with dragons surrounding it. There were people on the dragons, soaring around the city. "This is it. Caylus." Shala said. "Home." Ruby said. Scarlet and Felix approached Caylus, with the feeling of home returning to all of them. "This is the home of the Dragon Whisperers." Scarlet said.

"The home of us." Felix added. Scarlet and Ruby, who weren't paying attention to where they were flying, almost ran into another Fire Dragon with an armored figure on its back. Both Scarlet and the other Fire Dragon stopped and hovered, with Shala and Felix coming to hover next to them.

"Sorry about that. We didn't notice you." Ruby apologized. The armored figure didn't respond, but stared at them. "Ruby?" he asked. His voice was slightly echoed and muffled through his helmet, but it was low. "Uh..." Ruby said. "Why do you know my name?"

The armored man moved his hands to his helmet, taking it off and resting it on his knee. He had amber colored eyes, crimson hair and a beard, and a gentle smile. Ruby's eyes slightly widened at the sight of him. "... Dad?" "Get up here." he said.

Ruby stood up on Scarlet and jumped up to her father, who embraced her in a hug. She returned the favor, and Shala looked on with a smile. Ruby's dad opened his eyes and looked over at Shala and Felix, giving a quiet gasp. He let go of Ruby, and she jumped back to Scarlet.

"Hey Eira!" Ruby's father called. "Come here! You're gonna want to see this!" An armored woman with a pale blue braid running down her back on an Ice Dragon flew over. "What is it, Adish?" she asked. Adish gestured to Shala, and Eira looked over. She gasped as she saw Shala, taking off her helmet to reveal deep blue eyes.

Shala blinked, recognizing her. "There's my daughter." Eira said. She spread her arms wide, and Shala jumped into them. They hugged before Shala got back on Felix. "It's been 12 long years since you two went missing. We never thought we'd see you again." Adish said.

"How did you two find each other and make it back here?" Eira asked. "That's... a long story." Shala said. "One that you have time to tell. Come with us. Ruby, your mother's going to be so happy that you're back. Same goes for your dad, Shala." Adish said.

The two adults and their dragons flew towards the city, with Ruby and Shala following. Scarlet and Felix tipped so they were flying diagonally, and Ruby and Shala took each other's hands, flying back to where they came from and where they were always meant to be.