Valin (Book 3 of the White Lily Trilogy)- first draft

The End

Dakelo would feel the cold wind of a spring morning nipping at his nose and biting at his paws. It still wasn't warm enough in the air, for winter was only just over for yet another year and the sun didn't linger enough in the early spring to heat the sky. At least when he took on the shape of a wolf the fur provided enough comfort from the bite and he could manage easily enough. 

     He continued to zip about the trees, noticing how most were starting to get their first buds of the spring, adding dashes of greens to the shades of brown that had dominated the skeletal last few months. When running through the forests in the winter he didn't get caught on as many bushes, and he could see far ahead, he spotted deer in the distance quickly turn and flee to see him approach, for this wasn't a hunt and he made no effort to be quite and stealthy. It wouldn't work well in the forest in winter, having such dark fur anyway gave him away. 

    He had a purpose to this run though as he ran in the shadow of the crystal mountain, still capped with the snow not yet melted. Though he did enjoy it for clearing his head, he had a set destination and that was to go to the northern edges of the mountains. He was told that's where she was going to this morning.

    He hopped up a set of rocks, noticing pink petals swirling in the wind past him, it was the signal to him that he was close to his destination. He looked up, seeing it above him. A tree decorated in a fluffy crown of pink petals. She's up there. He grunted as he scrabbled up the rocks, his claws scraped on the stone.  

   As he reached on the same level he took a few seconds to catch his breath and then looked up, there she was. She was laid out, stretched in the morning sun rising in the east, her head sat at the base of the tree, careful that her horns didn't get caught in the lower branches as petals fell onto her nose. It would have seemed that someone sculpted her from snow, if it wasn't for the fact she was breathing softly, for a dragon, for the sound was still like someone using bellows on a fire. 

   "Well, good morning," he said as he panted heavily,  his tongue out to catch his breath. He watched as her eyelids peeled open and her pupils narrow and contract to re-focus to the change of light. 

"Dakelo, good morning." she said, raising her head, just a little because of the tree.

    "You look tired." he noted as he sat down. "Bad night sleep?"

"I didn't want to miss the blossoms, it only blossoms for two days." she whispered, her eyes fixated on the falling petals, dancing in the wind. "It's so beautiful, i had to miss it last year for....obvious reasons."  She looked up at the tree for a moment, admiring the beauty.

"How was the ceremony last week?" he asked her. "I heard nearly half the whole kingdom turned out for it."

   "I'm confident he'll make a good King." she said. "I do feel so much more progress will be made."  She shuffled her body, the sound was like the rustling of autumn leaves. "There were many there that were cautious, afraid, to see me there, you could see it on their faces and smell it on their skin. The changes he will bring will take some getting used to, but soon there will be no walls or gates to separate us." 

"You did well." he said with a slight smile. "After so long, this is a step in the right direction."

   "Dismantling the old and building the new will take years," she explained. "The guild still needs an overhaul, weeding out the bad so to speak, so many lives were lost that day. Artimera will see to that as well, he'll come out of retirement just for a little bit to see for a new order." She let out a sigh, the steam rose in cloud from her hot nostrils. But, you are right." She concluded before she brought the mood down by overthinking. "At last, this is a step in the right direction. In a few weeks Both Ralamoa and Sazoloa will be coming up to visit, so there's that to plan for."