FSE

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Part 1

The wind flowed over the rolling hills in brief angry gusts followed by moments of calm stillness. The grasses and small wild flowers followed the breeze in rippling waves as they spent the last of their fluffy seeds and cast them into the air.

Flying insects busied themselves amidst the grasses and flowers as birds chattered amongst themselves from a dozen different branches. Grasshoppers chirped from their hiding spots between the tall grass stems, their calls combining with the bird song into a calming ambience to any intelligent creature who happened to be listening.

The morning sun was bright and warm even though the sky was hazy. Its light created a kaleidoscope of varied greens with a smattering of oranges and reds through the agitated leaves of the nearby woodland. A few of the dryer leaves came loose and drifted down to join their fallen brethren. Overlooking the woodland a rocky crag jutted out creating a cliff slightly sheltered by a single stubborn oak that had found purchase in the thinner soil many years ago.

Abruptly the bird song faded and all that was left were the sounds of insects. A green slightly wedge shaped head emerged from the shadows along the partially sheltered cliff. The concealed cave entrance was difficult to spot from the air. Brown feathers adorned the head and a pair of ridged ivory horns jutted out behind.

A pair of purple eyes blinked at the bright light and a wide toothy maw cracked open, purple tongue curling up inside. Rows of sharp dangerous fangs adorned the jaws and after the long yawn had finished, the creature licked its snout thoughtfully.

The dragon stepped fully out onto the small cliff and padded around it out of the shadow and into the morning sun. It scaled the gentle slope that led back and up behind the cliff, its green leathery hide almost the same shade as the forest canopy would be in mid summer. Another short yawn and it flopped down into the soft grass. Stretching out large feathery wings and then one by one four muscled green legs it sighed in contentment. Yogoloth liked this time of year.

It had been a couple of years since Natanii had revealed her big surprise to him. He had only just returned after a long journey to meet his feather and coming back to this lair she had found for them both had been wonderful.

It was hardly the way of gryphons to have isolated homes. Usually they would either live and work around a civilised town or city or perhaps live in one of the many colonies spread across the wilderness beyond. Gryphons were social creatures after all.

But Yogoloth was only half gryphon, his dragon half didn't feel comfortable being surrounded by so many others for long periods of time. His beautiful mate knew this well and had found this little spot, which was still within a day's flight of her colony and the nearby city of Stone Haven, but far enough away from both for him to feel unthreatened.

It was also a secret between the two of them. Although if any of Natanii's family or friends decided to use magic to seek her out while she was here, they might well come across it. Yogoloth wasn't worried about others knowing where their home was exactly, but it was the principle of it! A dragon should keep the location of their lair as secret as possible!

Which was why the hybrid had been practicing his magical shapes to try and place a ward on his home while his mate was here. A ward that would unravel magical shapes that could provide the location. If someone were to use magic to discover where someone was, and they were in or close to his lair, then it would unravel before it could return. But messages would still be delivered as normal.

Very few other creatures knew Yogoloth's unique signature, so he wasn't concerned about himself being spied upon, but gryphons like his mate were different. They tended to be far more trusting and shared them out far more readily. One relative or friend of Natanii's could innocently seek her out and then the lair's location would be compromised.

"Compromised.", he chuckled quietly to himself.

He wasn't anywhere near as concerned about discovery as he occasionally acted, It was more a force of habit or perhaps deeply rooted dragon instincts. In either case, it gave him a good excuse to practice some of the magical shapes he had been taught by his mother but hadn't mastered yet.

Yogoloth drew forth a thin strand of magic from his reserves and began to carefully shape it in his mind's eye. To an outside observer the dragon would simply appear to be basking in the sun, snoozing perhaps, but unseen to anything other than his own magical senses, he worked carefully on the complex shape.

After a time, the unfinished shape became weak and unstable then unravelled, the magic lost to the wind like the pollen from the wildflowers all around him. Yogoloth sighed at another failure. It was going to be one of those days, but that wasn't a bad thing, eventually he'd get it, he had all the time in the world.

---

Part 2

The sun had risen high in the sky, the haziness that came with the morning had gone and the temperature had climbed beautifully. Yogoloth felt very lazy as he practiced his shaping. He'd managed to form the shape best he could, but the moment he carefully slipped it into a nearby rock, it collapsed only seconds later. He'd already drained half of his magical reserves during his practice.

He wasn't disappointed as such, he could see that the shape he'd managed to create was a mess. It was like throwing a scrap of fur from a rat, a stick and a paw full of leaves into a dirty hole and calling it a nest. While technically it satisfied the requirements, the end result wasn't worth much.

Yogoloth began again with a fresh thread of magic, trying to decide if he should try something else for a little while, he'd been at this for hours now. His ear twitched as his magical senses revealed another source of magic nearby a shape heading his way.

He stretched out his senses and tried to snag the magic out of the air. It was something that he knew his mother could do, but he'd only ever been able to do this with his own magic. The shape slipped through and Yogoloth was left with another failed attempt at more advanced magic.

The unknown shape arrived and unravelled revealing another shape inside which immediately began to produce a sound. Yogoloth smiled as he recognised his mate's voice.

"I'm sorry to disturb you when I know you're having your dragon time, but I... well we need your help with- I mean the colony needs your help with something. Something a... dragon would be better suited for. I know you're not- well I know you are but, oh, I'm messing this up...", Natanii's voice paused for a moment and she sighed.

Yogoloth chuckled, but it was clear that something was bothering Natanii and despite his dragon instincts pushing him to be solitary right now, she was his mate and his friend, if she needed his help with something then he'd provide it.

"Yogoloth, just come meet me at the gryphon bathing pond just outside Stone Haven. We just need your advice, that's all."

Natanii's magical shape unravelled and Yogoloth was again left with the sounds of bird song and the calls of grasshoppers. He licked his snout which triggered a yawn a moment later. He supposed it would be a good idea to get up and do something today. He'd eaten yesterday, so there was no need to catch anything until tomorrow. A little flight would stretch his wings. Hopefully there were no other gryphons at the pond, there usually weren't.

Yogoloth stretched out his forelegs, then his hind legs individually before shaking himself to loosen any pollen, grass or insects that had become trapped in his feathers. He suddenly had the urge to preen, but that could wait until his talk with Natanii. With any luck, the pool would have enough water for him to have a good bath while he was there.

Powerful legs tore fresh clods of earth from the ground as Yogoloth ran towards the cliff. He leapt from the rocky outcropping and spread his wings wide to catch the air. He soared above the trees below the cliff and roared into the sky. It was a joyous sound, a sound that celebrated being alive and free.

A group of birds disagreed with the dragon's sentiment and scattered in different directions from one particular tree. Yogoloth laughed and he pumped his wings a few more times to gain some altitude. He closed the nictitating membranes across his eyes to protect them from the wind as he turned in the direction of the meeting place.

To think he would probably have spent the whole day on his back practicing his shaping. No, this was better. This got his heart pumping, his blood racing and filled his lungs with fresh cool air. If he could breathe fire then he'd be tempted to fill the sky with his exhilaration. Yogoloth took in a deep breath anyway, squeezed his fire glands and exhaled as hard as he could.

Nothing happened.

He gave a wry smile as he followed the landmarks which he knew would lead him to Stone Haven and the gryphon bathing pond. Theoretically he knew exactly how to breathe fire from what his mother had taught him, but his hybrid nature had left him without a number of things that other dragons took for granted. But he was young and healthy, that's all that mattered. He tilted a wing a little to adjust his course and his body fell into a familiar rhythm.

---

Part 3

A gryphon paced back and forth by the cool waters of a rocky pond. Her fur was middle brown which grew lighter towards her belly and the feathers on her wings. She thought herself to be a rather plain looking gryphon, but her mate apparently thought she was beautiful. She smiled at that for a moment before she turned and paced back the way she had come a moment before.

This place was small and isolated, the sort of place that was far busier in the past before the nearby village of Stone Haven had grown into the city it was today. Far better bathing facilities had been available to gryphons for decades now, maybe even close to a century.

But the pond remained, a smooth rocky pit dug out by gryphons long passed and fed by runoff from a nearby cliff and filtered clean through the rocks. It was large enough for a few gryphons at most and was shaded throughout the day so the rain water that gathered there took time to evaporate.

It was the sort of place that young gryphon couples could meet away from the eyes of disapproving parents or gryphon travellers who felt uncomfortable in cities could use to freshen themselves up before continuing their journey.

Yogoloth hadn't replied to her message, but she knew that he'd received it. Perhaps not as skilled nor as powerful as her mate, Natanii was more than capable with magic herself and was confident he'd come. Probably.

She'd be tempted to send him another message, perhaps one that would also tell her where he was in return. But she felt a little bad for disturbing him during his dragon time as it was.

The gryphoness loved her strange mate very much and part of that love meant accepting the strange traits he had. Although in many cases Yogoloth had either inherited a specific trait from his dragon heritage or a specific trait from his gryphon heritage, sometimes he got a conflicting mix.

For months at a time he might want nothing more than to be close to her, follow her around, fly, hunt, fuck, sleep, and even accept the odd meetings with random other gryphons who they happened to cross paths with. Then he'd grow quiet and thoughtful and wanted to be alone.

He wasn't depressed or sad, he just needed solitude and space. Yogoloth had this fascinating ability to simply do nothing and never get bored. He could sit on top of a hill and watch the sun rise, cross the sky and then set once more and seemingly never tire of it. To never grow restless. Natanii had dubbed this Yogoloth's dragon time.

Natanii assumed this was something that dragons simply did. Living on their own for the vast majority of their lives; lives which spanned hundreds of years as far as she could tell. They were just built differently to the shorter lived and more social gryphons and other two legged races.

If anything, gryphons were closer to the humans, wolves and cat people than... actually, she should probably use their proper names rather than comparing them to the mundane animals they vaguely resembled. The terrus, cavule and felite people. She supposed it didn't really matter while it was all in her head, but it never hurt to get into the habit of doing things right.

The beat of distant feathery wings drew her attention upwards and she spotted a shape in the sky coming in from the south. Her keen green and gold flecked eyes caught a glimpse of horns upon the creature's head and she smiled. Her handsome dragon mate.

He circled a moment before descending, hind paws touching down first and then trotting on all fours a few steps before coming to a stop a few feet away from her. They both smiled stupidly at each other before having the same idea and clashing together into a powerful hug.

The gryphoness pushed her head under Yogoloth's jaw line and nuzzled for a few moments as they both settled onto their rumps, their forelegs wrapping around each other. Yogoloth, having the larger wingspan, managed to encircle his mate and completely hide her from view. For a moment they both enjoyed the simple closeness after having been apart for a number of weeks.

Then with a single step forward Natanii twisted her body and slammed Yogoloth onto his side and swatted his rump with her talons. She kept her claws away from his flesh but the hybrid flinched in pain and surprise just the same.

"Ow!", Yogoloth yelped, rubbing his haunches with a paw, "What was that for?"

"For not replying to me and telling me if you were coming or not!", she pointed a single talon at the prone hybrid and jabbed it towards him as she spoke.

"Well of course I was going to come, why wouldn't I?", he replied, lifting himself back onto his haunches and raising his head feathers in protest.

"Ha! Because you've never missed a message before because you were fast asleep in the middle of the day."

Yogoloth's ears and head feathers dropped down a little, "I guess that may have happened once before."

"Twice actually.", Natanii folded her fore limbs across her chest and cocked her head to the side as if assessing him and finding him wanting. She couldn't help but smirk a little regardless.

"Maybe it happened twice.", Yogoloth admitted a little sheepishly.

"And I always thought you dragons were masters of magic! You could detect its presence in your sleep and create wonders!", the gryphoness gave a grand melodramatic gesture to the sky as she spoke. "Now I find out that even if you hear a message you'll probably just fall back to sleep and completely forget about it."

"Twice! Just twice before and only one of those times was because I fell asleep and forgot!"

Natanii laughed as she helped her mate off the rocky ground and began to preen his feathers, "You're filthy."

Yogoloth grinned, "I was so eager to see my sexy mate that I didn't get the chance to preen."

The gryphoness rolled her eyes, "Is that so? Well in that case you're forgiven."

"So... anyway...", Yogoloth cleared his throat and then decided the cool water nearby would feel lovely after his flight. "What's all this about?"

Natanii watched him turn around and admired his body for a moment. Part of her wanted to pounce on him and wrestle until he won and did whatever he wanted to her. She could feel the muscles in her hindlegs tense as if they approved of the idea. But they really didn't have time for that.

Instead she padded after him and swatted him playfully on the haunches and nipped at his tail with her beak. Yogoloth looked back at her with mischief growing in his eyes and then wiggled his rump. Natanii decided to loudly clear her throat before she got any more distracted.

"So! Dragons. I know you speak High Wyrm and Low Wyrm, anything else dragons might speak?", she began as she followed after him to the pond.

Yogoloth lapped at the pond for a few moments listening to Natanii and then began to wade into the cool clear waters. "I guess it depends on what languages our mothers know. I was taught High Wyrm, Low Wyrm, I think that's what all dragons are taught. The local gryphon tongue that my father taught her.", he paused for a moment, shaking some of the water from his wings.

"Anything else?"

"She taught me another tongue but that's from a race of people my mother apparently had dealings with when she was younger. I've no idea who actually speaks it or what it's called.", Yogoloth preened a few feathers and dunked his head below the surface before emerging again, rivulets of water dripping between the few scales that adorned his head and from his jaw back into the pond once more.

"The thing is,", Natanii replied, "The colony are having trouble with a dragon and-"

Yogoloth's eyes widened, "A dragon? You need help fighting it off? You should have-"

The gryphoness raised a fore leg and placed a single talon on Yogoloth's snout to quiet him, "No, no, nothing like that. Well, not now, she already dealt with that... ugh... it's a long story, but I think it's going to be easier if..."

Her voice trailed off as she placed her taloned fore leg back on the ground and shook her head. Yogoloth studied her face for a moment before placing his own paw on her talons to comfort her. She almost looked embarrassed. Frustrated.

"Natanii, just tell me straight. It doesn't matter what you've done."

"Me!?", the gryphoness laughed loudly, "I haven't done anything. It's those overgrown feather-brained idiot fledgelings who decided to bring a dragon hatchling into the colony instead of food like they were supposed to!"

"You have... a dragon hatchling... in your colony...", it was a statement rather than a question. Yogoloth just needed to sound the sentence out in his mouth to make sure he'd heard right.

"Yes."

---

Part 4

The flight to the gryphon colony was only a few hours and Natanii set a gruelling pace. Yogoloth was able to keep up, but it was definitely a good workout for his wing muscles.

They had passed over a large forested area which Yogoloth was already familiar with. Apparently it was one of the official hunting grounds where gryphons could hunt without getting into trouble with the governance of the city of Stone Haven. As long as the gryphon in question lived or worked in the city and was registered that is.

That forest had thinned out and now disappeared as the two of them flew to higher, more hilly areas. Now it was common to see jagged spires of rock jutting out from the ground surrounded by hardy grasses and stubborn evergreen shrubs of various colours.

Soon they found themselves in a shallow stoney valley with a trickling stream running through it. Grand forests of evergreen pines stretched on for as far as Yogoloth could see to the north and south beyond the valley.

When Yogoloth had visited his father years ago and many months of travel, it had been the first gryphon colony that he'd ever been allowed inside. Gryphons tended not to trust him or they saw him as a freak. Better to be denied entry and quickly forgotten about. However, he'd been able to send a message to his father just in time for him to intervene and had been let inside.

But he'd never visited his mate's colony before. It wasn't something he'd ever felt the need to do and Natanii obviously thought the same. It sounded an awful lot like too many gryphons and too much chance that a few of them might decide they didn't like the hybrid in their midst and take things into their own talons.

It also didn't help that in his youth he'd nearly been killed by gryphons from another colony just for being what he was. Sure, he'd technically been trespassing in their territory and hadn't followed the standard gryphon etiquette of landing a little ways out and walking the rest of the way.

Yogoloth hadn't even known such etiquette existed until much later. But that was all in the past now. But the memories of those injuries and the even darker memories that followed them still haunted him to this day.

Natanii turned her head and glided a little closer to her mate. She spoke loudly over the rush of air around them. "We're nearly there. We should probably land and go the rest of the way on foot. Gryphons have an etiquette that sta-"

Yogoloth laughed. "I know! Strangers even with escorts should land out of sight of the colony and proceed on foot otherwise it is seen as an act of aggression."

Natanii smiled and nodded. "Someone's been paying attention." But her smile soon faded as she thought about what was ahead of them.

She tipped a wing and began to descend towards the rugged ground below. It was getting late now, in a few more hours the sun would sink below the horizon and plunge the land into darkness. For now it cast golden rays across the land below, marking boulders, cliffs and trees with long shadows. It was both beautiful and slightly eerie here.

She knew her colony weren't particularly aggressive nor xenophobic. Visitors of other races were allowed in to trade on occasion and strange gryphons were rarely driven off without a good reason. But Yogoloth wasn't just a strange gryphon- well, he was a very strange gryphon, but that's not what she meant.

There was a difference between a random gryphon showing up at the colony and a half dragon. Natanii doubted anyone else at the colony even knew hybrids could exist, she certainly didn't realise either until she'd met Yogoloth. It all just seemed like a lot of fairy tales dissuading gryphons from tangling with dragons.

Not that anyone thought a dragon or a gryphon would even want to mate... she supposed that made her almost as strange as Yogoloth. The ground came up fast and Natanii picked a patch of darker grass to aim for. Her pads touched the ground with a soft thump and as she came to a stop on all fours her mate landed similarly nearby.

"Alright, if we follow the valley, it should take maybe half an hour to get there. But I expect we'll be spotted before then and someone will come meet us.", the gryphoness's voice was flat and a little distant.

Yogoloth pressed up against her flank and nuzzled the side of her neck. "You're worried about how they're going to react to me."

Natanii leaned back against his comforting weight and preened a couple of the feathers on his head. "That obvious, huh?"

"I know you well enough now to read your weird bird face.", Yogoloth gave a toothy grin as Natanii scowled and playfully shoved her shoulder into his flank. Briefly knocked off balance, he quickly recovered and returned to her side to preen a couple of her head feathers. "With you by my side, I'm sure it'll be fine. At least they're expecting us."

Shit.

The gryphoness quickly formed a shape from her magical reserves and wrapped it in another before speaking out loud, "Elder Kadaseer! I hope I'm not bothering you! I'm bringing a.. friend to help with our... erm... dragon problem. Could you send someone out to meet us in the valley to the east? My friend's a little... ugh... nervous around gryphons... other gryphons I mean...", Natanii wrapped the final shape and released it.

Yogoloth stopped, rolled his eyes and gave a deep sigh. "Really? Really!? And you get on my back for not sending you messages!"

"I'm sorry, alright? I'm stressed! No harm done. Kadaseer is a wise gryphon and very open minded about things. He speaks- well- I guess used to speak with the dragon who had territory far to the north of ours. He knows some High Wyrm, he's fluent in Low Wyrm and knows some dragon etiquette. I'm sure he won't judge you for..."

Natanii turned her head to face Yogoloth who had stopped in his tracks behind her, paying his mate no attention at all. She opened her beak to berate him but he raised a paw, pointing a single digit passed her shoulder to the sky ahead of them. "Natanii, I think your message was a little too late."

She turned to follow his gesture to see two rapidly approaching silhouettes in the darkening skies. Two gryphons from the colony had obviously spotted them and were coming to see who they were.

Shit.

---

Part 5

The two gryphons circled high, peering down at the pair of them. Yogoloth stared up at the unknown gryphons, his wings partly spread, muscles tensed, claws protracted out of his paws. The hybrid's heart pounded in his chest as he took in the potential threat. He didn't like being circled by strange gryphons. He snarled.

"Yogoloth, try to relax, they're just doing their job.", Natanii whispered.

Her words calmed him only slightly as he eyed the gryphons with distrust. He placed a feathered wing protectively over his mate. Yogoloth didn't think they would hurt her, she was one of them after all, but his protective instincts were kicking in full force.

They circled lower, squawking loudly in what Yogoloth could only read as a threatening manner. They were clearly not about to land and didn't seem to care that he was accompanied by one of their own.

"Natanii!? Are you hurt!?", one of them screeched.

She couldn't quite see who these two gryphons were from this distance. Both young males at a glance, she recognised the voice but couldn't quite put a name to it. Both were making this a lot more difficult than was needed.

The gryphoness ground her beak and grumbled under her breath. She wasn't about to have a conversation screeching into the air. "Just get your feathery asses down here at once!", she yelled at them.

They immediately swooped lower as if coming to land. One of them changed direction in the air and they began to circle in opposite directions bleeding altitude to gain a bit of speed. That wasn't a good sign. Yogoloth pulled his wing back away from his mate and took a step away tracking them in the air. He took a deep breath and roared.

"No, wait, he's not your enemy!", Natanii yelled at the two gryphons. Maybe she shouldn't have forgotten to message ahead.

The first gryphon touched down nearby and gave a loud screech towards the hybrid. He was smaller than Yogoloth and even a little smaller than Natanii. His fur was a rich luxuriant brown and his feather tips were edged with iridescent green. "Get away from her, monster!"

The second gryphon came down much faster to Yogloth's side and charged straight towards him. A similar size to his wingmate, but a paler brown with some grey feathers mixed into his wings. His beak was a dark ebony colour rather than the more common yellows and oranges.

Yogoloth hadn't been too distracted by Green-Tips' initial challenge, it was a common enough tactic. He pushed off the ground onto his hind legs and pumped his wings hard just in time for Black-Beak's charge to pass harmlessly in front of him. Lashing talons and gnashing beak all found nothing but air as the hybrid slammed back down with his horned head cracking into the side of the gryphon's haunches.

Black-Beak was spun sideways and knocked prone with a startled squawk. Yogoloth ignored him and charged towards the gryphon's wingmate while he had the chance. Green-Tips had begun to run forward to help his friend but the sight of an angry charging dragon made his eyes widen with uncertainty.

Natanii watched what was unfolding with a shocked gaping beak and wide fearful eyes. "Yogoloth! Please don't hurt them!"

Yogoloth was committed now, he wasn't going to take any shit from these two feather-brained upstarts. Green-Tips quickly reared up onto his hind legs, wings spread wide for balance, ready to meet the hybrid's charge with lashing talons. Something that would be more akin to how a dragon would fight head to head. It gave more mobility on the ground and more leverage to deflect an incoming attack, but it had its weaknesses.

Changing direction at the last moment, Yogoloth swept an outstretched wing towards the gryphon's hindlegs slamming into his ankles. Pain erupted through the hybrid's wing joint, but limbs designed to hold his weight in the air were more than strong enough to knock Green-Tip's legs out from under him. Wings weren't really designed to be used that way though. His wing joint was going to ache in the morning.

With a loud squawk the gryphon tumbled over onto his side with his limbs sprawled. In just a few breaths Yogoloth was upon him, forcing the smaller gryphon onto his back and with claws carefully sheathed he batted the gryphon hard across the head. Green-Tip's head was knocked sharply by the blow and struck the soft ground with force.

They battled briefly, talons sliced a few bloody marks on one of the hybrid's forelegs before the offending limb was pinned by one of Yogoloth's hind paws. Another blow against the gryphon's head turned it sharply the other way. A little blood appeared on his beak and he was left a little dazed from the impact. A third blow, this one against his beak seemed to knock most of the fight out of Green-Tips.

Yogoloth hadn't forgotten about the other gryphon and the hybrid was prepared to lash out with a hind paw as he got closer. As expected Black-Beak had recovered and was already running towards the pair of battling creatures. Fear, pain and desperation shone in his eyes, but that didn't seem to make him hesitate as he charged towards the monster beating up his friend.

But before Black-Beak could reach him, Natanii slammed her shoulder into the charging gryphon, knocking him prone with a cough as the air left his lungs.

"ENOUGH!", Natanii roared louder than Yogoloth had ever heard her speak before. A dragon would have been proud of the sound. "Are you all too balls-and-talons to think for just ONE MOMENT!?"

Yogoloth smiled as he finished pinning the dazed gryphon below him. He liked it when Natanii put people in their place. She looked his way.

"You too! Don't think for one second that you're off the hook!"

The hybrid's ears and head feathers drooped slightly and his smile faded. On no. "But I don't even have either of those body part-"

"Oh no! I'm not in the mood for your nonsense. You're in the MOST trouble!", she turned back to Black-Beak as he climbed to his feet. The look of shame and confusion had quickly replaced the look of anger and fear.

"Natanii, I thought you-", he began but the older gryphoness cut him off. She recognised this gryphon now that the chaos of the fight was over.

"No you didn't! That's the problem, Marasoon! You don't think! You didn't think when you let the rest of your group bring that dragon hatchling back to the colony, you didn't think when you knocked that wasp nest out of that tree when you were fledgeling thinking it contained honey and you didn't think before you attacked my friend here!"

With every anecdote, the gryphon's ears, wings and head feathers drooped lower and lower. The whole scene made Yogoloth smile again. His mate was putting this other gryphon in his place and he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. Black-Beak probably felt like a little fledgeling being berated by a strict parent. Well, apparently his name was Marasoon. Yogoloth preferred the name Black-Beak.

The gryphoness's ire wasn't spent yet as she turned back to her mate. "And you better not have hurt him too much.", she nodded towards the dazed gryphon Yogoloth still had pinned.

"Oh, I hope you're not too badly injured, Yogoloth. Oh those cuts look painful, Yogoloth, will you be alright?", the hybrid mocked, putting on his best high pitched Natanii impression.

"I sound nothing like that, and I know full well you're fine."

"Still, would it hurt you so much to ask if I was fine anyway?", Yogoloth murmured.

"Stop being such a hatchling. Is he alright or not?"

Yogoloth looked back down and the gryphon he had pinned was starting to recover from his beating. Green-Tips' deep orange eyes were beginning to focus again and he coughed a little before speaking up. "I'll be... fine... who's this fat lump on me?"

Yogoloth growled softly, "You want to go again Green-Tips? I'll even let you catch your breath first, isn't that nice of me?"

"Yogoloth! Enough!", Natanii snapped. "Just get off him and let him up."

The hybrid grunted in complaint but released the gryphon anyway and stood up. He shook his wings out and examined his injured foreleg. The talon cuts were painful but not too deep, nothing that wouldn't heal on its own. But regardless he carefully licked the cuts clean and slipped a magical shape into the wound to ensure it stayed uninfected.

Green-Tips blinked a few times before he decided to get up. He was a little wobbly on his feet but otherwise seemed to have suffered no serious injury. He sat down onto his rump and held a taloned paw to his throbbing head. Yogoloth opened his mouth to mock the gryphon, but thought better of it, he seemed to be in enough trouble as it was.

The sound of wind beats caught Yogoloth's attention as the adrenaline began to fade from his system. The sound gave him a nervous little boost as he looked up towards a silhouette in the sky. A single gryphon this time, coming from the same direction as Green-Tips and Black-Beak had originally.

Yogoloth wasn't sure he could beat three gryphons at once if the reinforcements decided to restart the fight.

---

Part 6

The new gryphon flew low and steady before coming in to land a little way off from the rest of the grounded gryphons. His fur was patchy and brown and he was big. In fact, Yogoloth realised that the new gryphon was almost as big as he was and well muscled. There was a confidence in this gryphon's movements as he approached.

"Naty!", the new gryphon exclaimed with a smile while at the same time not once taking his eyes off Yogoloth. "Elder Kadaseer asked me to come out here and escort you back to the colony. Who's your friend?"

Natanii sighed. There was that word again. Friend. "Hi there Daragun, and thank you.", she whispered as the two of them embraced in a hug. They parted after a brief moment, the gryphoness gestured with a taloned paw towards Yogoloth. "This is Yogoloth, he's..."

She almost said that word again. Friend. What was wrong with her? Ever since she'd met Yogoloth and she'd begun to speak of him to her friends and family, she'd always omitted the fact her mate was a hybrid. She'd spoken all the truths, such as how he'd been raised by his mother alone in the wilds and he didn't know many gryphon etiquettes. She let people assume he was just another gryphon like her.

Was she embarrassed of him? Of herself? Of her choice of mates? She loved Yogoloth with all her heart and would give up everything to spend the rest of her life with him if that's what it took for them to be together. But she was afraid that people's opinions of her mate would force her to make that very choice.

Was it so wrong that she wanted the best of both worlds? That she didn't want to take the risk? But it wasn't fair on Yogoloth either. Natanii wasn't sure he'd even picked up on his mate's inner turmoil. She took a breath.

"This is my mate, Yogoloth."

The two younger males looked at each other with wide eyes and one of them whispered something to the other. Daragun obviously picked up on whatever was being said and looked over to them with a stern eye.

"Stop gossiping, you two.", the larger gryphon turned to study them properly. Both of them had mussed up feathers and bruises starting to form under their fur. Dirt and dried grass has been caught in feathers and fur alike. One of them had a couple of red marks on his face that would no doubt become painful bruises in time. "You both look a mess."

"That's because Natanii's 'mate' beat the crap out of us!", Green-Tips squawked.

"I'm sure you both deserved it. Now fly back to the colony and make yourselves useful.", Daragun retorted and dismissed them with a flick of a taloned paw.

Green-Tips fluffed up his feathers in protest and for a moment looked as though he was about to say something more. But Black-Beak shoved him with a wing and they soon took to the air back the way they came.

Yogoloth called out to them, "Hey, Green-Tips! Maybe you should put some ice on that feather filled head of yours, maybe have a little nap too. I want you ready for our rematch!"

Daragun tried not to smirk but did anyway. He leaned in towards Natanii and whispered loud enough that Yogoloth could hear just fine. "They did deserve it, right?"

"Oh, they definitely deserved it. But the whole thing could have been avoided if-"

Yogoloth spoke up. "If you'd sent that message earlier."

"I was about to say; It could have been avoided if young males weren't always so eager to show off their strength at every opportunity.", she scowled towards her mate, but the expression softened quickly, "Thank you for not using your teeth and claws."

Yogoloth nodded and then turned to the big gryphon, "Daragun is it?". He stretched out a foreleg and lowered his head a little in a show of respect. Daragun smiled and tilted his bird-like head in mild surprise and returned the gesture.

"That's right, Natanii here is my aunt. It's nice to have finally met you. Naty has spoken highly of you for years and only now do we finally get to meet you.", the big gryphon laughed as he playfully shoved Natanii with a wing. "She's been keeping you to herself."

"Well, I'm not a fan of gryphon colonies. I guess I've had one good visit and one bad visit with past colonies."

"Is that so? Which category is ours so far?"

"I'm undecided.", Yogoloth smirked and then licked his snout before continuing. "Can I ask you a question though? You don't seem to care what I... what I look like."

"That's not really a question, but I'll tell you something for nothing.", Daragun turned and indicated for them to follow him towards the colony. "I've met a lot of people in my time, gryphons and non-gryphons, including a couple of dragons. There are good people and bad people in every race. So I figure I should just wait till I get to know someone before I judge."

"You make it sound so obvious, but I don't think many gryphons agree with you."

"Probably not. But I've seen scuffles between gryphons who show respect and those who don't. It didn't take Natanii to mention it for me to see you'd beat them without cutting them up.", he nodded down to the bloody wounds on Yogoloth's foreleg. "That means you're more than just some thick-headed brute."

"Oh, I am a thick-headed brute, but if I'd beat them up too badly, Natanii would have never forgiven me.", Yogoloth chuckled. "It's more than my life's worth."

"My aunt can be scary sometimes."

---

Part 7

"So our territory borders another territory to the north owned by a dragon. She's been there for as long as I can remember, but apparently she's not that old, maybe only a couple of centuries. Wow, that just feels weird saying... two hundred years isn't old...", Natanii's voice drifted off.

"So anyway.", Daragun continued, "There was some big fight that one of our hunting parties overheard. They described it as lots of roaring in the distance. We're on pretty good terms with the dragon, our Elders have spoken to her a few times, so the hunting party decided to go and see what was happening."

Yogoloth interjected, "She'd gotten into a fight with a rogue trying to take her territory?"

"Well I'm not sure if they were a rogue, but yeah, she'd killed another dragon and managed to get back to her lair before her injuries got to her. Apparently there was a lot of blood to follow. The hunting party found her curled in her nest and-"

"They entered a dragon's lair without permission?", Yogoloth laughed. "And I thought my gryphon etiquette was bad."

"Well, she couldn't exactly have given it, but yes, they're idiots.", Daragun shrugged. "Not what I would have done, but I wasn't there. Anyway, apparently she was curled around two hatchlings. Now one was dead and the other was weak with hunger."

Yogoloth frowned, "You said the hunting party heard the fight and followed right away?"

Daragun nodded, "That's right, it didn't make much sense to me either."

"I guess it's possible the rogue had been harassing her for days trying to get her to give up the territory. With hatchlings to feed, she wouldn't have abandoned it. Maybe she hadn't been able to hunt to feed them or... I dunno..."

Daragun shrugged again, "Whatever happened they should have just left it there."

Natanii squawked, "Don't say that, the poor thing would have died."

"He's right, Natanii.", Yogoloth placed a wing softly onto her back, "It sounds harsh but have any of you any idea how to raise a dragon for the decades and decades it'll take to get them self sufficient?"

"I know we eat the same things as dragons, we can teach them to talk, how to fly, we can teach them magic, how to hunt-"

Yogoloth cut her off, "How to speak fluent High Wyrm? How to hunt on their own? How to deal with other dragons? How to control their fire?"

"Yogoloth, you don't have any fire either. Surely it's just instinct anyway?", Natanii said as softly as she could.

"Oh, it is instinct.". Yogoloth couldn't help but let some of his frustration show in his voice and he became more animated as he spoke, "One day they'll be play-fighting with their nest-mates and then woosh, accidentally singed scales. Or in this case, they'd burn the fur and feathers off some poor gryphon fledgeling."

Daragun laughed, "We weren't going to throw it in with the colony young."

"Is that right?". Yogoloth began to rant, "Were you just going to keep them locked away in a hole on their own for the next half a century? Contrary to popular belief we dragons are very social creatures when we're young. We need that to learn all sorts of things. Like, I dunno, play-fighting and dominance and things like that. For that you need a full time parent and also preferably nest-mates."

Daragun didn't have anything to say to that. Natanii looked like she was about to say something but thought better of it.

"And the way you keep on referring to them as an 'it' suggests you don't even know if they're male or female!". The hybrid took a deep breath and sighed. Much of his frustration was now spent.

Yogoloth turned back to Natanii, lowering his voice a little, "And besides, I might not have the fire, but my mother still taught me how to do it. It's just that my fire glands don't work the way they're supposed to."

"I'm sorry.", Natanii whispered for his ears only then carefully preened a couple of his head feathers. "I wasn't sure how sensitive you were about that, I just sort of blurted it out without thinking."

"It's fine. Let's just focus on the hatchling."

"Anyway.". Daragun cleared his throat, "They brought it back and we gave it some meat and it seems to be eating. It's been a few days now. But it's very aggressive and hides and hisses...", the big gryphon looked down at a few healing puncture wounds on one of his forelegs."... and bites. We can't get near it."

Natanii interjected, "It seems to be speaking but even Elder Kadaseer can't communicate with it. He's one of the very few who actually knows some High Wyrm. More than I do. That's why I was asking you about dragon languages before."

"It's probably the way we all communicate as hatchlings. It's sort of a simple primer for High Wyrm. I guess you could call it Hatchling High Wyrm, but I never really thought of it as a proper language. There's often gestures that are part of it too."

Yogoloth tapped his nose with his paw and made a wet clicking noise with his tongue. "That means thank you for the food. But this...", he tapped his nose but with a single digit this time and hissed two tones, one after another. "... means my stomach hurts.".

Finally he rasped a couple of guttural syllables and pointed one of his toes downwards in the air. "That means I need to shit. It's easy enough to pick up. As a non-nesting male I never really thought I'd ever use it again. I sort of forgot about it."

"That's both really weird and oddly adorable.", Natanii laughed.

"Could you ask it not to bite me again please?", Daragun chuckled then nodded up ahead, "We're nearly there. We're keeping it in an old nesting cave on the east side of the colony. We won't need to wander through the whole colony to get there. It's just up this slope."

The nesting cave where they were keeping the hatchling wasn't too far from the rest of the colony. Yogoloth could see a number of other gryphons nearby on the other side of the valley. They were preening themselves on the rocky ledges and clearly taking an interest in the three of them as they approached the dark entrance.

Yogoloth had felt some magical energies as he'd begun to ascend the slope towards the cave. He'd stretched out his senses as they approached and found a complex shape placed into the rock. But until he'd reached the cave he wasn't able to identify it properly. He placed a paw on the rocky wall one side of the entrance and sensed the shapes within. He snarled.

"Really?", he exclaimed in disbelief.

"What is it?", Natanii asked as she too reached out her senses. "Is that some sort of ward?"

Daragun signed loudly, "There's supposed to be someone posted here to keep an eye on it. No one said anything about any wards. I'll find out who put it on so they can disable it."

Yogoloth growled softly, "There's no need.". Reaching out with a thread of his own magical power he punched against the shapes within the rock until they unravelled under the greater force. "A pain ward to keep your prisoner in their cell. No wonder they're biting people. Just... stay out of sight."

Yogoloth walked inside without waiting for a response.

---

Part 8

The cave was fairly spacious and during the height of the day, probably very bright and airy. Even as the day was closing, the last few streams of daylight filtered down through some gaps in the wall and through the wide entrance. It had once been a natural cave, but had been expanded at some point and the far wall was wide and relatively flat.

The two side walls were more natural. Smooth curves probably cut by millennia of filtered rainwater made almost organic shapes here. Small recesses and alcoves had been cut into the walls for storing small items or for water collection. Yogoloth couldn't be sure which.

Paints and engravings covered much of the far wall, the light still showing off colours that were once vibrant but now more muted with time. The engravings were still recognisable as the stylised shapes of gryphons and dragons in flight. The half dragon wondered if they'd picked this cave for that reason.

The floor was worn smooth and two shallow bowls had been carved into it by gryphons many years ago. Two places for nests. The furthest contained a few old furs and blankets haphazardly piled in the middle. It didn't look like they'd been used. There was no sign of any hatchling.

Yogoloth's ears pivoted around seeking any noises and his eyes scanned the room as they adjusted to the shadows created by the failing light streaming in. He saw a dark shape in the far corner of the room, against the furthest side wall. There was a narrow gap which, although far too small for the hatchling to squeeze into, obviously made the poor thing feel a tiny bit more protected.

It stirred from what Yogoloth assumed was a nap and their eyes locked. It was a small little thing, perhaps a third of Yogoloth's height. But it probably weighed noticeably less than an adult human. Its blue eyes and green scales reflected the light and its little ear fins flared out as it rose to its paws.

"Mother?". The little bundle of scales spoke in Hatchling High Wyrm as it saw a green snout and horned head approach from the light outside.

"No little one, I'm not your mother.", Yogoloth replied a little awkwardly, having not communicated this way for decades.

"Not mother!", it hissed, baring its fangs and unsheathing a multitude of tiny claws into the ground. Mantling its tiny underdeveloped wings and thrashing its tail completed what the hatchling could only imagine was the most terrifying of sights.

Yogoloth smiled slightly as he settled down onto his flank, not quite showing his belly to the little dragon, but enough to not look quite as imposing. He looked around the cave floor again and found a small stone nearby.

"It's getting late, little one. Let me make some light.", he spoke as he carefully slipped a shape into the rock and it began to glow a soft pure white light.

The hatchling blinked a few times as its eyes adjusted to the new light. Although Yogoloth could navigate well in the dim light, he wanted to get a better look at the hatchling and allow it to get a better look at him. Still in its ferocious pose the hatchling hissed again.

"Not mother! Go away! I want mother!", it yelled with a high pitched roar.

Yogoloth tilted his head this way and that and sniffed the air looking for a scent. The hatchling smelled of dirt and other things that hatchlings smelled of when they hadn't been cleaned for a few days. But Yogoloth was confident that this was a male.

"Your mother is gone. She's not coming back.", the hybrid stated as plainly as he could. There was no reason to give the little one any hope. Dragons, even hatchlings, dealt with truth and facts better even if it might seem kinder to be more gentle with white lies and the like.

"No! I want mother!", the defiant little thing continued.

"How did your mother tell you and your sibling apart?", Yogoloth asked hoping he'd get a reply. Although it was not in the nature of dragons to name their young nor even name themselves, a parent would still use descriptive words to attract attention from specific hatchlings.

The little one blinked a couple more times, his little legs beginning to wobble at the exertion of holding the terrifying pose. Moments passed before he yelled with pride. "I am Youngest. My sister is Eldest.". He looked down and his wings drooped a little.

Yogoloth pointed at the pile of furs nearby. "Isn't that nest more comfortable than the stone?"

"No! Smells of bird!", Youngest squeaked as though the answer were obvious to anyone.

Yogoloth chuckled and sniffed the furs himself. "You're right. They do smell of bird. You don't like the birds do you?"

The little hatchling settled his belly down and folded his little wings against his flanks, the terrifying pose having done its job. "No. Birds not mother. Birds make funny sounds."

"Do you prefer my sounds? Can I stay to keep the birds away?"

The hatchling slowly nodded to both questions. Youngest shifted side to side as though trying to get comfortable and tilted his head. "Eldest gone like mother?"

Yogoloth's heart sank a little as he replied, "Yes, I'm sorry. She's gone too."

The little green fins on the side of the hatchlings head flattened, his snout tilted down to rest on the ground and his wings sagged. "I want mother.", he murmured.

"I know, little one. Do you want to get away from the smell of bird?"

Again the hatchling slowly nodded. Yogoloth rolled fully onto his flank, exposing his chest and belly to the hatchling and spreading his wings behind him. He stretched his legs out along the floor towards Youngest and flicked his tail out of the way trying to make himself look as much like a pure dragon as possible. Focusing on his own belly he tried his best to warm it up in the way that dragons incubated their eggs.

"You can trust me to keep you safe.", Yogoloth tried to assure the hatchling, but otherwise didn't move or make any gestures. This had to rest on Youngest to bridge the gap and make the choice to trust the strange dragon before him.

Youngest climbed onto his paws and took a few hesitant steps forward, closing enough of a gap to be able to sniff at one of Yogoloth's forepaws. "You smell of bird."

"Do I? Are you sure?"

The hatchling nodded and sniffed at Yogoloth's other forepaw. "A little bit."

"I bet I smell a little bit like mother too.", the hybrid suggested tentatively.

"Nu uh! Smelly bird!", Youngest exclaimed a little louder, a hint of bright mischief flickering in his previously dull eyes. He took another few steps forward towards the crimson lines of blood on the hybrid's foreleg. "Did mean birds hurt you?"

Yogoloth carefully leaned forward and gave his wounds a brief lick. "We were just play-fighting. It was an accident.", he lied. Maybe the odd white lie was alright.

The hatchling watched with wide eyes as Yogoloth's far larger head came within a few breaths of his own tiny snout. They both sniffed at each other for a moment before Yogoloth curled his neck around and rested his head upon his outstretched forelegs.

For a moment the hatchling stared at the strange dragon that smelled a bit like a bird. First his forelegs and the shallow wounds that the mean birds made, then at his head with his strange fluffy brown ear fins, and then at his chest and belly scutes. Those were very much like mothers. He missed mother so much. He was very tired waiting for her to wake up and come take him back home.

Maybe if he went to sleep again she'd be there when he woke up and he could tell her how brave he was in scaring all the mean smelly birds away. She would tell him he'd been a good little dragon and then take him flying. He loved flying with mother.

Youngest padded towards the strange dragon's underbelly and gave it a couple of sniffs. It was really warm, like mother's belly, and it didn't smell too much like a bird. Only a little bit. Maybe just a little sleep. Then when he went flying with mother she could take him over the lake. The hatchling loved the way the sun sparkled on the water. It was one of his favourite things.

He curled up against not-mother's warm belly and only slightly flinched when he felt the larger dragon's tongue give him a comforting lick. A large forepaw gently rested around the hatchling's flank and pulled him slightly closer. Youngest closed his eyes and his jaws split wide in a tiny squeaky yawn, pink tongue curling up as he wiggled to get comfortable.

In just a few moments, Yogoloth heard the hatchling's breathing slow and his tense muscles relax as sleep claimed him. The hybrid could feel the tiny frantic heart start to return to what he assumed was a normal speed and his own far larger heart did the same.

He had no idea what to do now.