The Dragon Prince: A Dumb Lump and Salty Dragon

Fate

RK: This is in the past, just to avoid any confusion.
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Pyrrah sighed to herself as she lay on her stomach, sprawled out on a platform while the sun shone down on her back. Normally, the sun's rays would make her feel peaceful and happy, but today, they had no such effect. Today, she just felt sullen.

As she lay there, she heard someone approaching, but a sniff of the air told her it was just Scylne. The older dragoness moved slowly over to the younger one, and lied down beside her. "Afternoon Pyrrah."

"Scylne," the other sighed in acknowledgment.
The orange dragon tilted her head at that. "Something on your mind dear?"

"Nyfli's mated," Pyrrah muttered. "Heard this morning."

"Yes, so did I. And that has you in a sour mood?"

She turned her head further away from the elder dragon. "Yeah..."

"Why?"

"I dunno. I just...I just am," she grumbled.

Scylne smiled as she looked down at the basking dragoness. "Don't worry, your time will come soon. You're almost of age."

The younger one sat still for a bit, thinking over the words. "What's it like?"

"Mating?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's an honour. It's the honour all sun dragonesses aim for."

"But what's it like?"

The elder was silent for a bit, but then she spoke. "Well, when a male takes you, it's...it's like a fight you've been in all your life finally comes to an end. And you...you just accept your fate."

"And that's what you want me to do?!" she snapped, sitting up and snarling at the other. "I am one of the best fighters in the clan, and you want me to just give up when some male comes for me?!" She hissed, then turned away again with a sharp flick of her tail.

Scylne just frowned. "Pyrrah, this is the duty of all sun dragonesses."

"Well...maybe I don't want to be told what I have to do! Maybe I don't want to be mated!"

"Pyrrah..."

"You heard about Dalode? She was killed by her mate!" She stood up and turned to the other, growling deeply. "He killed her! Just because she went out hunting!"

"Dalode should have known better. She had hatchlings to look after, and she never should have left them alone."

"If he had been there, if he had hunted for her, she wouldn't have needed to go out and find food herself! And then he killed her because of it!" She snarled, pacing for a bit. "And what about Elmi? She almost lost the use of her wings because some male wanted to claim her!"

The orange dragoness just shook her head. "Pyrrah, this is the way things have always been."

"Well, I don't want it," she huffed, lying back down.

"Then what do you want?"

"I...I want to be able to choose who I have hatchlings with."

Scylne paused, then laughed coldly at her. "What do you think you are Pyrrah? A moon dragoness with a range of suitors looking for you, bringing you gifts so you can decide?" She gave another mocking laugh, then struck her with her tail. "No! You are a sun dragoness! And sun dragonesses don't choose! They are told. They are to mate with those stronger than them."

"And what if there isn't one stronger than me?"

The other smiled. "You know, your mother asked me the same thing."

At the mention of her mother, Pyrrah looked back. "M-my mother?"

"Methra was a fine fighter, a brilliant huntress, and one of the most beautiful and powerful dragons in the clan. I think every male in our clan got a scar from trying to claim her, but one never managed to finish the job. It made her wonder if she would ever find a mate." She looked down at the blue-eyed dragoness with a smile. "Then one day, while she was out hunting, she came across Sciatra. He was from a different clan and the son of an alpha. He wasn't the firstborn son, I think he was third or fourth, but still the son of an alpha nonetheless. And right there and then, they fought, and he won."

Pyrrah huffed and lay her head back down on the ground. "And then he left her..."

"He stayed for a while, and he saw her through her sleep."

"And then he left," she hissed. "As soon as he saw I was a female, he left us. I thought dragons were meant to stand by their mates..."

Scylne nodded. "Yes, they are. I do not know why Sciatra would choose to leave but...he did."

"And because of that, my mother had to hunt for us," she huffed, remembering her early years. "She had to go searching for food, and she'd take from the humans just to keep us both alive...She then began hunting humans, and because of that..."

"Because of that, the humans hunted her."

A sharp pain filled the dragoness' heart at the memory. Her mother, coming back to the clan with arrows and swords still jabbed into her scales, bleeding to death in front of her own daughter. "I hate humans...but I hate him more. He shouldn't have left us."

"Maybe one day, when you have a mate and hatchlings of your own, you will understand."

"I doubt it..."