Eternal Ebony

Chapter 2

What a beautiful night sky! It was perfect for flying. A young dragon, with large wings and silver patterned scales, swooped through the air and did a few delighted flips. She scanned the landscape close by, a towering mountain range, and spotted her mother in her home cave. Ebon's skin crinkled near her pale pink eyes, and she darted toward the entrance. She landed with a large thud as her muscles flexed. Her mother, Nightshade, chucked her under the chin. "You're such a beautiful flier, darling! I could fly like you, when I was younger," she added under her breath. She smiled and breathed a dreamy sigh. "You get your sparkly scales and large wings from me. And that gorgeous smile, of course!" she prodded. Ebon immediately blushed and ducked away.

"Aw," a large, teasing voice said. Her father stepped into the light. "And you get your good looks from me. Look at those muscles!" he cried, squeezing Ebon's forearm. "She gets those from my side, obviously," he said, directing a teasing, smug look at Nightshade. She rolled her eyes with a large smile and shoved his shoulder playfully. Ebon's parents, Nightshade and Obsidian, came from a small island outpost in the North Sea. So they had a sense of humor, unlike all the snots that lived in the royal palace close by. She frowned at the thought. She never wanted to meet the three royal brats. She was so zoned out, she didn't realize that her parents were asking her a question. 

"Ebon?" Obsidian asked, shaking her into reality. "Thank goodness!" he breathed as she shook her head. "We thought you had gone to the moon. The night sky is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" Ebon pondered for a moment. "Yeah," she acquiesced in a silky voice. She was a beautiful singer, and had a rare gift for singing from soprano to tenor. Her mother's light notes and her father's low rumbling voice had mixed together to make the ranging texture. They meandered from side to side in the passageway, slowly wandering until they reached the huge hub that was the home cave. It was decorated warmly, and reminding Ebon of the huge winding libraries she had imagined in her head. Candles sat on lonely stalagmites, dripping white wax onto the rock below. Rugs padded the floor, huge ones, embroidered with pictures of the ocean and mountain peaks. Small tapestries hung from open swathes of the wall. Multiple staircases had been beautifully carved, and some claw marks could be seen, as though someone had scraped painstakingly through the stone to carve the eloquent stairs. Spaced nests of pillows, all ocean blue, lay in overlapping piles, with low wood tables nearby. Each table, along with small matching scroll racks, was stacked with scrolls collected slowly over the years. Large glow worms inched along the walls and ceiling, adding their strange green light to the orange of the candles. It smelled like roasted animals here and damp stone. The faint smell of smoke clung to the walls here. Ebon sighed, taking in how beautiful this one room was. Obsidian and Nightshade beckoned her into the dining hall where a large cauldron was filled with dripping meat and mushrooms.

"Take as much as you like," Nightshade explained. "There's enough here to feed us for two months, let alone two hours." she added, and Obsidian giggled under his breath. Ebon had always thought of her father as always being too handsome to work in an island outpost. His scales sparkled and winked, sending off bright silver spangles, as though he had them permanently laminated. Even his horns were wrapped in diamonds. Real diamonds. He explained to her once how expensive it was to get them set in his horns like that. How could a minimum-wage island outpost worker afford that, let alone buy the diamonds? She grabbed a large plate from a low table nearby and grabbed a hunk of deer. She sat down in the main hub by the largest wooden table, making room for her parents. They sat down, occasionally sharing small stories and loving looks, they ate their dinner in silence. It tasted delicious, and was toasted to perfection.

"Well done, mom," Ebon declared, waving at the food for emphasis. Nightshade grinned triumphantly, and Obsidian gave her a winning smile. Ebon sighed. She wished that someday, when she fell in love, she had a love like her parents'.