Rain and Night - A Glorybringer Story

Chapter 47

Glory didn't want to be in the hut. She didn't want to be surrounded by those repulsive, hateful NightWings. They hated her. To be honest, she hated them, too. But they were her subjects, or, at least, they used to. And they might be again one day if she showed that she still cared for them. 

So, she began to help cure some of the dragons. She had spent some time in the healer's hut after Deathbringer had gotten poisoned, and had picked up a few things. 

Glory selected three leaves from the crate and took it over to a very sick NightWing dragonet. The dragonet opened her eyes as she approached. Glory could sense that Deathbringer was right behind her, so that was comforting. 

"Hello there," Glory said with as much kindness as she could muster. The dragonet raised her head slightly. Her eyes were dull and her mouth was parched. "Eat these." The dragonet weakly grabbed the leaves and chewed on them before swallowing with a bit of a grimace. "What's your name?"

"I'm Visionspeaker," the NightWing whispered. 

"That's a good name," Glory replied. 

"She's been sick for two weeks," an older NightWing standing beside the bed commented. Glory didn't even notice him, she thought he was just a patient, too. He was eyeing Glory warily. "I'm Ashtalon. I'm her father." Of course he was. Otherwise why would he be watching over this sick dragonet?

"Well, she'll get better," she replied, looking down at Visionspeaker. "Don't worry." Then, Glory decided to talk to a few more NightWings. She didn't feel a burning need to, but it was the kind, empathetic thing to do. The thing that would perhaps make the NightWings hate a little less.

After grabbing three more leaves, she walked over to a sick, older NightWing who seemed to be in his early thirties. He had a dragonet and older female NightWing gathered around him. 

"Hello," Glory said a bit more carefully. Deathbringer was also quite tense. The unfamiliar NIghtWing was staring at her with a strange intensity. "What's your name?"

"Truthknower," he said slowly, still looking suspicious of them. 

"Eat these, they'll cure you," Glory said, handing him the leaves. He ate them and then lay back down. He didn't look like he wanted to talk with her or see her anywhere near him, so she simply went on to the next NightWing, a younger female around Glory's age. She had nobody near her, no parents or siblings or dragonets.

"Hi," the NightWing said as Glory walked closer. She had bright purple eyes and was more friendly than Glory was expecting. "I'm Shadowsight."

"Hello," Glory said regally. She gave her the leaves and she ate them obediently. "How are things in your village?"

"Well, as you know the sickness is really annoying," Shadowsight said with a carefree shrug and a weak smile. "But the orchards are doing great! And there's a lot more dragonets in the Wingery." A wistful expression appeared on her face but was gone. Perhaps Shadowsight wished she could have dragonets of her own. Glory thought about Amber, Firefly and Fern and how perfect they were, and a blossom of happiness bloomed inside her. 

"That's good news," She said with a nod. "Get better soon."

And that was how their time in the healer's hut was spent. Walking around. Talking with the sick patients. Occasionally receiving curious looks. Interacting with the NightWings for the first time in a while. All in all, Glory thought they did a good job. 

After around two hours, Glory and Deathbringer, plus the whole squad of bodyguards, was escorted back to RainWing territory. 

"So, that went pretty smoothly," Deathbringer commented with a proud smirk. Glory batted at him with her wing. 

"Sure did," she replied. Deathbringer gave her a smug grin, and she rolled her eyes. 

"Let's head for the Wingery!" Deathbringer said, and they swerved right, and then reached the small Wingery, where Amber, Firefly and Fern, as well as six other dragonets, were playing. And, to their surprise, Jambu was there, too. 

"Oh, hey!" Jambu said as Glory landed, Deathbringer right behind her. He turned to the dragonets. "Come on, you guys go hide. I won't peek." The dragonets scattered and hid themselves quickly. Jambu turned again to face Glory and Deathbringer. "Hello! How did the visit go?"

"Pretty good," Deathbringer answered, grinning. "What have you been doing?"

"Well, Amber, Fern and Firefly asked me to play hide and seek with them, and I decided maybe we could include the other dragonets at the Wingery as well," Glory's brother said. He shrugged and went on with the hide and seek game. Naturally, Firefly and Fern got found first, with no camouflage, but Amber lasted quite a long time until Jambu found her. Jambu caught her and then picked her up so she couldn't run away. "Found you!"

Amber giggled and wriggled out of his grasp, planting herself down on the ground excitedly. 

"Mommy, Daddy, can you play with us, too?" Amber asked hopefully. 

"Sorry, I think I have some queen stuff to do," Glory answered with a wink. She turned to Deathbringer. "Can you stay here and play with them?"

Deathbringer grinned. "Sure. Jambu, do you wanna stay here?"

"Oh, yes, I like being in the Wingery. It's pretty fun playing with the dragonets!" Jambu replied. "See ya, sis!" He waved as Glory flew away. 

"I'd better check on Slashingclaws," Glory muttered to herself. Soon, she was inside the healer's hut. Midnight and Mango came to greet her. 

"Hello, Your Majesty," Midnight said with a dip of his head. "Why are you here?"

Glory replied, "I came to ask Slashingclaws if he feels well enough to go back to the NightWing village. Now that they have the cure, he can go back to his own tribe if he wants."

"Alright," Mango said, as she led Glory to where the NightWing was lying down in a bored way. Slashingclaws sat up as she approached him. 

"Slashingclaws," Glory said with a nod of acknowledgement. "I came here to ask you whether you're feeling well enough to go back to the NightWing village."

Slashingclaws frowned slightly and looked torn. "I feel fine right now," he answered slowly. "But  I don't think I would be welcome back in my village, because I ran away without telling anyone."

Glory was surprised. She thought that his friends and family knew where he was. 

"Okay, then," she decided. "You can stay here in the RainWing village for as long as you like, until you feel it's safe to return to your tribe. But we're trying to make peace, so it could be soon."

She wished it were true. Hopefully it was true. 

(RANDOM SUDDEN END OF CHAPTER)