A human in Wings of Fire

25 - reunion

Ashley was sitting on a boulder, one hand on his chin. He was silent, his eyes looking into nothing. His face was dark. In front of him, four dragons were sitting in a circle.

He could hear the thundering storm outside the palace crashing against the isle. The light inside the cave flickered and flashed, illuminating the space at each lightning strike.

They had moved to another cave after Glory dragged Ashley back to the Dragonets. With a bit of 'persuasion', as Glory puts it, they managed to find a place in a higher cave, away from anything that could get flooded.

"So... uh... Ashley has a 'book' with me on its face, and he knew about an animus dragon in the Seawing tribe ?" Clay asked out loud, breaking the silence.

"That is exactly it." Glory flared.

"So what ?" Sunny asked. "What does it change ?"

"What does it change ?" Glory echoed. "Everything ! He lied to us." She pointed a claw to Ashley. "We can't trust him."

"How..." Every dragonet turned their head to Starflight. He was holding Ashley's book, trying to examine it from all angles, comparing its front page to Clay. "How do you come across such an accurate depiction of- one of us... before meeting us ?"

Ashley shivered, what could he possibly answer to that ? There was no easy way out of the situation. No, not this time. He had been caught on the spot, and out of every possible outcome, none would be good.

"It's-"

"How old is that ?" Starflight cut him, looking at the book, his eyes showing his usual fascination. "It looks like it was just made, yet it is soft like a scroll that had been folded and unfolded countless times." He passed his claws between the pages, careful not to scratch them.

Ashley raised his head, meeting glances with the Nightwing. He couldn't lie, whatever he said, they would know if it was the truth or not.

"I got it eight years ago." He resolved to say.

"It's older than us then..." Clay almost whispered.

Ashley could hear Sunny gulp with resentment, feeling betrayed and disappointed, probably.

"What haven't you told us ?" Glory demanded, she leaned forward, squinting her eyes at Ashley. "I have a feeling that it is a lot."

He breathed out then locked eyes with her. "You would be right."

Glory raised her eyebrows, surprised by the sudden confession, before getting back the her grumpy face.

"Is that animus story even true ?" Glory asked.

"Yes ! Yes, it fucking is !" Ashley answered almost angrily.

It's not, it isn't even remotely true. But I'm not spending three months trying to explain the reality to you and then trying to fix your mental state after learning it. Ashley stared fiercely into Glory's eyes. He could read on her face that she didn't believe him, yet she did not push further- almost as if she guessed why.

"Hey, let's not dispute it right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure all that doesn't negate all his previous statements, right? I mean, they still make sense," Sunny said. Glory rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"Except on one point." Starflight said, and Sunny twisted her neck to look at him with a wondering glance. "Do you remember the discussion we had the first day we flew above the sea ?"

"Oh yeah." Sunny responded, a shiver running down her spine. "It still gives me chills sometimes."

"Well, there are few things to say about it." Starflight began. "But first, such numbers are just not possible with the population of scavengers that we know."