I feel Bjorn’s vast roar of wonder, Ström’s joyful laughter, and Mikkel’s beautiful shock, at what they’re seeing with me in the cosmos. I feel Baldur’s bright elation that everyone is here, feeling what we’re feeling and seeing what we’re seeing, rather than just him and me trying to pass back through our bond’s shared memories what we’ve found.
Because my drakes and Lærke aren’t just sharing memories with me now; they’re sharing myactual poweras they Bloodwalk in the stars with me. Lærke is the most beautiful of all as a deep peace fills her.
Staring into the ancient cosmos and finding the vast love there.
Rikyava…
Voices in the stars make me turn suddenly, because I know them. As I turn, I see two other dragons here with me, inside the ring of star-stones.
A towering bright crimson drake with tattoos of silver, my father is here with me now; tears sting my dragon-eyes as I see him for the very first time since his death.
And my mother is here as well. A fiery ruby and white drakaina with flecks of gold throughout her scales, my mother’s towering splendor puts even the stars to shame as she surges forward now, right to me.
Wrapping her cosmic soul-dragon all around me from the stars, my mother holds me. Twining our gargantuan cosmos-bodies into each other now, we breathe together, as a tremor of love and heartbreak wracks me in the stars.
As my father moves forward also, wrapping us both in his scales, a feeling of wholeness finds me. As we rest foreheads together and my mother nuzzles me, I feel her deep love, and her sadness.
That we had so little time together as family.
Rikyava. You must listen now. For we have something of great importance to relay to you,my mother tells me kindly but firmly, as she kisses my cheek and pulls back to stare deep into my eyes. As my drakes and Lærke move closer around us, holding this powerful circle within the star-stones, I feel my family’s deep love for me.
And a message they have, that like with Maryse, I must hear.
My darling youngling,my father says as my mother pulls back so he can speak with me as well,hear us now, and remember this place. For this location you have found in the Void with your strong remembrance of kinship is a power spot among the stars. It will be useful in the coming days, as you figure out what you must do to best the Black Dragon, and the Rift that creates it.
Do you know what I need to do, to be successful?I ask now, already feeling this spontaneous Bloodwalking beginning to wane, knowing we have little time.
No.My mother shakes her head, though her gaze still presses into meas she grips one taloned hand around mine to impress her point.But you do. For it is already within you; a power already discovered, as yet unknown to your waking mind. Trust yourself; trust Maryse’s words to you. And do what she suggests… and we believe that all will be well.
What do you mean? What do I need to do?I ask now because even though something about my mother’s words rings true with me, all throughout my soul and back, I don’t understand them.
But even as I open my mouth, I feel the Bloodwalking falling apart. Before I can say goodbye to my parents, I’m thrust out of the stars.
Crash-landing upon some beach in the starry midnight.
11
POWER
Our Bloodwalking with Lærke was a spontaneous thing, and such things don’t last. As my drakes, Lærke, and I all crash-land out of the cosmos onto sandy cliffs with the ocean roaring all around, I shake my head, then shudder my scales to shiver sand from them.
Sadness and joy both roar through my heart, that I so suddenly found my parents but was also ripped from them. It aches like an open wound, though a beautiful love suffuses me as I get my bearings now, hearing the ocean pummel the cliffs all around.
As I finally come back, I see we’ve landed on a lonely stretch of rocks. Sea cliffs tower up beside us and all around; a tight cove with a rocky shelf about halfway up the cliffs, we’re in a spot that’s inaccessible from any place but the air, as we regain our wits and shift down from our dragons.
Naked in the sea wind, I shiver now, though the crowding of my drakes and Lærke around me helps me cease. They’re so warm in the night; for a moment, we all just hold each other, feeling our togetherness still resonate through us like it did in the skies, and far out in the cosmos.
We breathe together for a long moment. Then Mikkel laughs; I feel his bright joy, that Lærke has been brought into our circle as family.
Though it’s not a Bloodbond, I feel how her energy is part of us now. It’s different, not something I could use consciously with my Bloodwalker power like I do my drakes.
It gives our group so much heart now, however, as Ström’s beautiful chuckle echoes Mikkel’s. As a tremendous smile takes me, beaming right from my heart, I feel how right this is.
Lærke’s own laugh rolls out in a beautiful tirade, luminous and free, as she shines like the dawn over a sunny field of spring grass. Because that’s what I feel from her newly healed heart—luminousness and freedom—as she surges away now, launching to the edge of the cliffs.
Her spontaneous move breaks our huddle; everyone grins as Lærke roars her newfound wholeness out to the ocean with all her powerful dragon-tones in it, incredible.
I step over with her; together, my new sister and I roar at the ocean with all the power of our blazing hearts. My drakes join us, and we roar a third time, our voices united by the togetherness we’ve found.
