TLOS legend of the black dragon chapter 26 watching friends
here is then chapter 26. I really like this one however for some reason I feel the quility isn't so good, especially the last part. The battle with Flame I think is great and the scene afterwards I love. It gives more insight in the different characters. Also I liked making Spyro clueless for a chance. now you know why Georga wanted Ember to lose that battle. I also updated my character guide again and added a new feature as well, I think you will like it. From here on things are going to accelarate for my story. The time for lazyness is over and now things are going to get interesting.
Things are all fun now but the tournament can also bring things you don't expect. Suprising opponents or even painful situations.
The legend of Spyro
Legend of the black dragon
Chapter 26 watching friends
Ember and her friends landed near the gates of the citadel after the 13 minute flight from her house.
None of them spoke as they landed and they immediately sprinted up into the citadel, everyone was eager to view the match of Oxidus.
The group shot through the citadel and in no time reached the honour box.
As soon as they burst into the yellow honour box they all got to the edge and looked down, hoping they were not too late. They were only just in time; Oxidus was walking into the arena and the match was about to begin.
As he walked especially Georga observed him closely. Hoping very much to see even the tiniest amount of passion or excitement.
With Oxidus however there was nothing new. He was cold, strong, confident, empty and powerful. Exactly like he was yesterday.
A thing that was different from yesterday however was that Georga didn't feel her heart hurt from it at all. Well, at least not as much as it once did.
She didn't really know why it didn't hurt her, the high spirited Oxidus was still something she craved more than anything else.
That hadn't chanced at all. Georga wanted him back so badly, yet for some reason the sight of de gloomy Oxidus didn't hurt her anymore.
Georga shook her head to get the confusing thought out, and turned to the other way to inspect the dragon Oxidus was going to be fighting.
Oxidus' opponent was an middle aged male fire dragon. He had an orange body, yellow wings and large curled horns.
Georga let out a deep sigh. Was this going to be an interesting match for a change? Or be like usual: an instant win?
The two dragons collided tails and returned to their positions.
"Ready, get set, Fight!" Terrador declared.
The second the match started Oxidus used his high speed comet dash to try and make another instant win.
The dragon had seen some of Oxidus' previous matches. So, before he even saw Oxidus moving he already moved the right to try and avoid it.
However, this didn't helped him much as Oxidus, still moving at high speed just divert his course.
Still engulfed in flames, Oxidus jumped right towards the adult dragon's neck.
Everything just all happened so fast that the fire dragon had no idea of what was happening.
Like a flaming arrow Oxidus shot towards the head of his opponent. His body invisible behind a shroud of fire.
Before the fire dragon even managed to get a grip on the situation, Oxidus had already grabbed hold of his neck, and his tailblade was at his opponent's throat.
It was another instant win. This dragon also was no match for Oxidus.
"The winner is Volcano master Oxidus!" Terrador declared.
The earth guardian tried his best to keep his tone impressive and booming but even he had a sense of disapproval and even boredom in his voice.
Terrador, being a powerful warrior himself knew that this just wasn't right. This was not how a true warrior should fight a battle. He should enjoy it. Feel the thrill of combat and the pride of his victory. Not this cold and emotionless thing, like it all just, didn't matter.
Georga felt the same way as she watched Oxidus walk out of the arena, his posture not giving away even the slightest hint of pride from his victory. She felt bored as by the senseless battles of Oxidus. Senseless, that how it seemed.
There was no point or will in him to battle here. He just fought his battles and went home again.
She didn't even feel for it to go down and congratulate Oxidus with his win. He never responded to her anyway. It was a pointless effort now to even try it. Georga was sure she would just get the same response as yesterday.
"Hey, aren't you going down to congratulate him Georga?" Ember asked her surprised.
"It's pointless." Georga answered, sighing sadly. She didn't turn her head to look and just watched Oxidus disappear into the iron gate that closed behind him.
Ember reached out with her wing and grabbed Georga by the head. She then tugged Georga's face towards her. Georga felt no reason to resist it.
When she had made eye contact Ember looked deeply into her eyes "Georga," She said shaking her head. "It's never pointless, you must show him that you're there for him. Even if he doesn't respond." Ember said with a stern yet oddly caring voice, sounding almost like she thought she was Georga's mother.
Unlike the time when Georga tried it on her, Ember did succeed and really struck a nerve with Georga.
"You're right Ember." Georga decided, nodding her head. She had promised to support Oxidus and help him, no matter how many times he resented her. She couldn't just go back on her promise like that.
Now convinced, Georga hastily ran out of the honour box and headed towards Oxidus. She desperately hoped that she was not too late and he had already left.
As Georga sprinted through the corridors of the citadel she now started to feel a little bit afraid of going to meet him. So far every meeting with Oxidus had been a painful one for her in one way or another.
However those thoughts didn't stay with her for long as she spotted him standing in the exit, ready to go.
Having wasted time to decide she had only managed to catch up to him just in time. He already had his wings spread wide and looked like he was ready to flap them and fly away.
"Wait! Oxidus!" Georga shouted to stop him before he was gone.
To her surprise Oxidus indeed didn't flap his wings to take off.
He waited a few seconds but then folded his wings back in and turned around to face her.
Then just looked at her. He didn't say something to her and it looked like he was waiting for Georga to say what she wanted.
However Georga actually had no idea of what to say. She had come here to sort of prove her loyalty to him, not because there was something she wanted to say to him.
"Who is going to be your opponent tomorrow, Oxidus?" She asked as she had to at least say something.
"Blaze." Oxidus said in a monotone voice. He then turned around and opened his wings again to fly back home.
"Good luck." Georga said while she still had the chance.
Like usual Oxidus didn't reply to her and just flew away.
Georga just kept standing there and watched him disappear into the distance. "Oh Oxidus."
Going to him maybe wasn't such a good idea after all. It had brought back all the desperation and pain again.
"What can I do?" She asked herself.
However as soon as she recognised the thought she shook her head wildly to expel it "No! I can't go down that path again!" She shouted to herself.
A few dragons who were close looked down at her, drawn by her sudden cry but Georga paid them no mind. She was much too deep into her own thoughts to even notice them.
Georga had to keep her head up. Oxidus would come back to her eventually! She had to believe that. She had to!
Georga walked back to the honour box while forcing herself not to think about Oxidus.
It was a very tough thing for her. Just what could she do with it?
As she walked back inside the honour box Georga didn't feel like it anymore to watch the tournament.
The meeting with Oxidus had just completely shattered her good mood.
She coughed to gain the attention of her friends.
"I'm going home now, okay?" She said, once they had all turned around to face her.
"Okay." Frost said for the group.
"Aren't you going to watch the match of Flame?" Ember then asked curiously.
"No, I'm too tired." Georga used as an excuse. She faked a wide yawn, to further convince them.
"Too bad." Ember said a bit disappointed.
Georga felt a bit surprised that Ember just believed her like that. After all Georga could never fool her. Maybe she knew the real reason why Georga wanted to go home now.
However she didn't worry about it. How much Ember knew about this wasn't really important to her.
Georga walked out of the honour box and headed back home.
She wasn't going to watch the tournament anymore today.
After Georga had left the honour box Ember and Spyro got engaged in a spirited conversation about possible new battle tactics for her.
Ember really felt determined to find herself an alternative battle style to use besides her thermal coat. The counter that Inge had made against it really made her aware that she wasn't invincible and still had to improve.
Spyro was the legendary purple dragon, master of all elements. If anyone knew something about powers it would be him so she kept asking him everything she had doubts about.
However a large problem, that Ember in her excitement failed to spot, was that her level of skill with fire actually far surpassed Spyro's.
Ember was a pure fire dragon. She was well trained and had already fought hundreds of sparring matches. Spyro had to do his very best just to keep up with her.
He did his best to help her as much as he could but every time he suggested something Ember had already thought about it, and discarded it.
Also every time he brought up a fire move Ember had already mastered that move, or had mastered a comparable one that was of an even higher level.
"Ember sure knows her stuff." Spyro thought as he was amazed at the wide variety of the moves that Ember knew.
Ember seemed to truly know everything there was to know about fire; how it feels, how it's used, how it moves, how it does damage, truly everything. She knew everything he did and more.
"Well what could I do when I can't reach the opponent?" Ember's next question quickly snapped Spyro's attention back to her.
"I don't know Ember." Spyro said with a sense of defeat that he tried to hide "Maybe you could try to improve your speed?" Spyro offered her any suggestions he could think of.
"I don't believe that's the answer." Ember said in denial "My speed isn't high enough. The energy control slows me down way too much. My opponent can easily predict my moves and I can't push the energy input any higher. If I do then the risk that I would lose stability is too high"
Spyro looked at her wide-eyed as he only had understood half of that. He never had imagined that fire could be such a complicated thing. It was clear that with his few training sessions with Ignitus he had just barely scratched the surface.
Spyro had always been revered as a master in battle but it now seemed Ember outclassed him as she knew far more about battle than he did.
He felt it to be a bit embarrassed that he, the mighty purple dragon, was completely at a loss of battle tactics. It made him really feel inferior to Ember. Ember's innocent pink appearance didn't exactly make the embarrassment any less.
Spyro didn't want to disappoint her but he knew he couldn't be of any use to her. Ember already had gone way past his level so he decided to just admit it and make Ember stop asking.
"Ember?" Spyro started a bit shy.
"Yes Spyro?" Ember said excited, clearly expecting another battle plan.
"Ember, you have far more experience fighting dragons than I do and you also know way more about fire moves. I'm afraid there isn't much I can tell you that you don't already know already." He said honestly
"Oh." Ember now was silent and looked at him very surprised.
She appeared a bit hurt and even mildly shocked.
"Too bad." She said after a remarkable long time.
"Sorry." He said, though apologizing at this moment didn't make much sense. After all he had just praised her, not degraded her. Ember seemed disappointed because of some other reason.
"Hey, Flame's battle is starting!" In like a flash Ember's excitement returned and her voice shot up both in pitch and in volume.
Spyro looked at her a bit surprise by her sudden chance in mood.
Ember looked down into the arena highly spirited. Like she had already forgotten what she was thinking about.
However he felt glad that she didn't feel hurt by him.
Feeling her energy Spyro also felt his hearth to pump faster. Ember was a very excited dragoness when it came to battling. Along with her Spyro then looked down into the arena to see how the shy red dragon was going to do.
"Now the Inferno King Flame will face Sparkling Lumina Solaris!" Cyril declared as it was his turn now to be referee.
Ember watched Flame walk into the arena and grinned from happiness by how her friend was looking.
Flame was still walking with a slight slouch but his head was held high. Ember found him now look almost as strong as she knew he really was. Flame had surely made a lot of progress during the tournament with his amount of confidence.
Now Flame's opponent also walked into the arena, and not only Ember but everyone stared at her. She was unlike any dragoness they had ever seen before.
"Heh, fancy nickname" Ember heard Sparx say jokingly.
However Ember found the name very well chosen as couldn't think of it belonging to any other dragoness.
Solaris was a very bright fire dragoness. Ember had never seen another dragoness that had such a bright colour. The colour of her scales was even brighter than Oxidus. However what colour the scales actually were was difficult to make out, closest it came to was an orangey gold. It surely was very different from the crimson red that was usually found on fire dragons. The scales looked very much like solar rays. Most likely her name was also derived from that.
Solaris looked beautiful. It was heavily clouded now and Ember would guess that in bright sunlight she would look even more breathtaking.
However, despite her beauty, Solaris actually was surprisingly plain. She only had a couple of tiny frills at the point where her main body scales met her belly scales. Her body was well formed and very pretty. Despite the lack of decorations there still were a lot of curves and bends along her frame, especially along her hips. Everything merged and was perfectly in synch. There was nothing that interrupted the flow of her body texture, almost like she was grace itself.
One thing that also appeared, was that she was quite young, she was only one season older than Igüsa. But what surprised Ember the most of everything was that she couldn't spot any weapons on her at all. Solaris had very small horns that were curved backwards so much that they were practically useless. Her claws were tiny and she had a small yellow disc on the end of her tail, neither of those looked very threatening either.
"How will she fight?" Ember wondered. Solaris was one of the top 32 of the Igus cup meant she had to be a powerful dragon. Without any visible weapons on her and also without much visible muscle mass she had to have something special.
Ember looked at intensely and observed every detail although she had seen Solaris before. However never at one point had she ever thought about what Solaris' battle skills might be. It was already very surprising to see her even standing in the arena, let alone at this high level.
Suddenly Ember remembered that the same thing was also said about her. Many dragons were very surprised by how tough she really was. This meant that, just like Ember had her thermal coat this dragoness had some sort of special skill and Flame needed to watch out for that.
With that in mind Ember watched Flame walk towards the centre of the arena and Solaris approach him.
When they clashed tails and turned to head back to their positions Ember caught a glimpse of the expression of the dragoness.
Ember was very surprised by the warm smile dragoness wore. A smile of kindness was very unusual here in the arena. Almost all participants had a frowned and no nonsense face. They took every part of the battle very seriously. Ember knew that she did as well. Everyone was serious about the tournament and also were in a serious mood during battle.
However this dragoness did not have that serious and heavy look around her at all. Instead, around her she had a calm and pleasant aura. Her brightly coloured scales seemed to shine only with gentle and pleasant warmth. It was so much that even from all the way up in the honour box Ember could feel herself getting relaxed from it.
It was just so different. It looked surprising that this dragoness was about to battle, it sure didn't look like it.
Ember started to get a really good feeling about this battle. She didn't really know why or what was going to be good about it, her instinct just said to her that this was going to be a fun match to watch.
Flame and Solaris now had reached their positions and turned again to look at each other.
"Ready, get set, Fight!" Cyril declared.
Flame was the first to launch an attack by spitting up a repeated barrage of fire balls.
Solaris jumped up and she flapped her right wing to make herself spin around slowly. The movements she made appeared rather strange. They were beautiful to look at but in a battle a bit strange.
However, regardless of how strange her movements were Solaris dodged each and every one of the projectiles easily.
The beautiful rose then showed her deathly thorns as she whirled back around, and got Flame right in her sight. She counter-attacked with a quickly charged fireball. It looked like quite a powerful one considering the short charging time.
Flame jumped to dodge it but Solaris just launched another fireball and this one hit mark. Flame was knocked out of the air and made a full flip before landing hard on his back.
Solaris didn't bother looking for the effect of her attack and just moved her wings while landing perfectly on her feet.
Flame jumped back up to his feet and opened his mouth again. He shot a high speed fire stream towards her, but Solaris jumped again and dodged it. Then she turned around and prepared to launch her counter-attack.
Flame wouldn't fall for it again however and before she had even began to launch her counter-attack he already fired another high speed fire stream.
Solaris however seemed to be two steps ahead of him, not just one. Giving a powerful flap with her wings she jumped up even higher to dodge it. She did it so effortlessly that it almost looked like she was still standing on solid ground.
Countering again she fired a large barrage of low powered fireballs at the tiny dragon on the ground.
Flame countered the move with the same one and the attacks collided with a loud explosion.
A lot of smoke was created what for a short moment blocked the view.
Everyone expected the fight to temporarily stop until smoke had dissipated but that was not what happened.
Out of nothing Flame was hit hard by a powerful fire stream.
He kept on the ground this time and didn't fall but it was clear that he really felt that one.
Somehow Solaris had managed to attack him through the smoke even though he was so small.
Ember rethought her opinion about the fire dragoness. She may not have the build of a strong warrior like her mother had but she could very much hold her own in battle. The grace and agility of this dragoness were amazing.
And, despite her looks she really had more than enough power to do some serious damage.
Flame he used a comet dash to get closer. Apparently in standoff at long distance Solaris was much too elusive for him. He hoped that up close he might be able to gain an edge over her.
Solaris now used a comet dash of her own and the two headed straight for each other.
This was a very surprising move on Solaris' part. Surely she must have seen that in raw power Flame far exceeded her. Something was off.
They headed straight for each other, Flame's comet dash visibly going faster and packing far more power than Solaris'
Then, just as they were about to smash into each other Solaris' dash veered slightly off course and she passed Flame with just centimetres to spare.
Flame stopped his attack and turned around as quickly as he could.
However that still was not fast enough. Solaris had already stopped and jumped over him to disorientate her opponent.
Now behind him she gave Flame a hard swipe with her tail and as soon as it had made contact she jumped after the red dragon who was sent skidding across the arena.
Opening her wings to remain in the air she opened her mouth and unleashed an attack of a sort that Ember had never seen before.
It were no flames that came out but rather a sort of yellow orange light. It was still fire, that much she knew for certain but it seemed dissipated yet concentrated at the same time.
It was strange but it also seemed to be strong as Flame's feet gave way from underneath him and he fell on the ground. It was like an invisible force pushed him to the ground.
Solaris now dove at him and gave him another strong swipe with her tail.
Flame was knocked off his feet and smacked with his back hard against the wall.
He puffed down on the ground but luckily the damage was not all that great.
Getting back to his feet quickly he unleashed a barrage of fireballs at his opponent.
However Solaris jumped and got just above the main assault, to where there weren't as much fireballs.
She spun around and to everyone's amazement dodged every last one of them effortlessly.
It was incredible, this dragoness was untouchable.
As soon as she had the chance she unleashed her light attack again. And again, just like last time Flame's feet gave way and his head smacked against the ground.
He tried to get back up but it seemed the attack was too strong for him to overcome.
What kind of effect it actually had on Flame was difficult for Ember to make out from the honour box, but whatever it was it worked like a charm.
Solaris had landed now and started to walk up to him. She didn't stop breathing her light attack at him and kept Flame pinned to the ground.
She was now going to grapple him and make her win. That was obvious.
Flame wanted to resist but he was still pinned down by the powerful light. There seemed to be nothing he could do.
Solaris kept walking towards him, her speed a bit slowed to keep up her attack.
Then, all of a sudden something inside of Flame chanced. His pupils flared up with intense fire and his body filled with energy. The blaze in his eyes was stronger than any other in the world and his power supply seemed infinite. He was not going to lose this battle to a dragoness like Solaris!
Bracing his legs against the ground Flame forced himself up to his feet again, going right through the light attack like it wasn't even there. It looked like for no reason his strength had suddenly doubled.
Ember watched him and understood what this meant. Flame's mind was almost always clouded with doubt and uncertainty. This had always greatly lowered his power. Even though he looked confident when he entered this battle he still had many doubts in his head.
However now his mind was clear and focused. Ember had seen him like this only a couple of times before. She didn't know what it was and neither did Flame. The conclusion she upheld for herself was that it was his version of the mental state she was in during her thermal coat.
Solaris was very surprised by it but didn't stop drawing closer. However she did intensify her light attack to try and pin him down again.
She spotted his increase in power but didn't really think that it was a real danger. But in that she was wrong, and she now also was about to find out just how wrong.
Seemingly unaffected by the increase in the light attack Flame opened his mouth as if instinct was guiding him.
He inhaled and unleashed a fire stream of incredible size.
Solaris was stunned by the size of the attack and jumped and flapped her wings all her might.
By only a few tiny margins she dodged the attack but it was a close one for sure.
Now Flame braced himself and took a very deep breath. Ember gulped and instinctively braced herself, knowing what was to come. She now even felt sorry for the poor dragoness who was going to be on the receiving end of this.
Out of Flame's mouth came a gigantic stream of fire that shot towards Solaris, it was enormous. Easily 20 if not 30 metres high.
Against an attack of such a magnitude Solaris' agility was useless and she screamed as she was engulfed by the infinite sea of flames.
She was catapulted high into the air and then fell back down into the arena.
As soon as she fell down Flame did a comet dash and raced up to the point to where she was going to crash.
In what seemed less than a second Solaris was laying defeated on the floor and Flame had his tail dart at her throat.
It all had happened so fast, even Ember hadn't been able to see it.
Ember thought the display did look a lot like Oxidus. She felt really proud of Flame.
"The winner is Inferno King Flame!" Cyril declared, also a bit awed. He was very impressed by the level of power the shy little fire dragon possessed.
Flame gasped as it slowly started to come up to him what had happened.
Only after a few seconds did he notice the burned dragoness he was holding. He quickly jumped off and looked at her, very worried that he might have seriously injured her.
"Don't worry Flame, I'm okay." Solaris assured him before he had even asked it. She got back up to her feet and smiled down at him to assure him.
Seeing her warm smile Flame felt very relieved "Good." he said happy that he hadn't hurt her.
Solaris now turned around and walked away.
Flame remembered that he wasn't supposed to talk inside the arena so he also turned around.
As he started walking through the gate he was feeling tired but also still pumped by his performance just now.
He had really gotten in his battle rhythm now and was feeling confident and strong. He didn't care anymore what the other's thought of him. He now was the one in charge.
This had been his battle and his alone. He had won it.
"That was an awesome battle!" He thought as he walked into the crowd.
As if by fate he heard a familiar female voice "That was an awesome battle!" Ember said as she appeared from the crowd.
"Thanks Ember." Flame's mind was still so full of the battle he was feeling really proud of himself.
"That dragoness sure was strong don't you think?" Ember said excited.
"Yeah, she sure was." Flame agreed nodding his head.
"She was impressive." he said.
"Well, thank you!" Flame suddenly heard a familiar voice and turned to look.
He spotted Solaris walking up to him, her warm and gentle smile never leaving her face.
Flame also spotted a young fire dragoness walking next to her right front leg.
He was sure he had seen the fire dragoness before somewhere but he couldn't think up her name.
"Hi Ember." The dragoness said with a cheerful voice.
"Oh, hi Inge." Ember answered.
"Oh yeah, Inge." Flame now remembered her as a member of the gang of dragons that Ember was part of.
She was that dragoness who gave Ember such a hard time in her battle yesterday.
"That was a really great battle Flame." Solaris complimented him.
"Yeah, well, it went well, I guess." Flame said, he was starting to get a bit uncertain again as his excitement of the battle was wearing off. Also he hated it that so many dragonesses were around him. He now wanted nothing more than to get out of here.
"Don't be so humble with yourself." Solaris said encouraging.
"You were great out there and you defeated me fair and squire" she assured him.
"She's right Flame." Ember said.
"You fought a really great battle and made a victory you can be proud of!" Inge also added.
"Well, if they all say so..." Flame thought, though not speaking his thoughts out loud.
"Well I really ought to get home by now." Flame said as he didn't want to be around this many dragonesses, he had done what he needed so he wanted to go home now.
Solaris smiled and gestured him out with her wing.
Just as Flame had taken his first few steps he looked back and felt a bit surprised that Ember didn't object, nor wanted to escort him. Mostly he also didn't really want it but somewhere he felt a bit sad because of it.
However he didn't think about it for very long and flew back to the orphanage.
He still felt very proud now and was anxious to tell Grenada about the battle.
Back in the citadel Ember turned her attention to Inge.
Solaris had just turned around to leave and Inge was walking after her.
"Hey Inge! There is something I want to ask you!" Ember said before she was away.
"Huh? Oh sure." Inge said turning around to face her.
She then turned her head back again "I'll see you at home in a few minutes, okay mom?" Inge said to Solaris who apparently was her mother.
"Okay dear" Solaris said warmly as she walked out of the citadel and flew away.
"So what is it you want to talk about?" Inge asked when her mother had left.
"Well what I wanted to ask you was where did you learn that fire whip attack?" Ember asked her.
"I just wanted to have a move of my own to use during the Igus cup." Inge said shrugging.
"Just like me" Ember said to what Inge nodded.
"My talent has always been in holding fire and manipulating it, so I guess from one thing came another." Inge explained casually.
"It took me quite some practice to get it right. I couldn't yet use it in our first battle because the whip was still too unstable. I kept losing power when I swung it so I needed more practice. I only fully mastered it the day before our second battle."
"So how much time did you spend practicing on it anyway?" Ember asked.
"About a couple of days. I started practicing as soon as that little yellow thingy told me about the cup."
Who Inge meant with a little yellow thingy Ember could conclude easily.
"It went well, although one time I accidentally burned Cynder with it." Inge admitted.
"You did?"
"Yeah but she had no injury so all was well" Inge said.
"But how do you feel about your match of tomorrow?" Inge now asked Ember, her tone suddenly getting more serious.
Ember looked at her a bit clueless at her serious mood, not really getting the problem.
"You know, about your opponent." Inge hinted further.
"Opponent? Oh I haven't yet checked at it!" Ember said looking back in the direction of the main hall, as if she wanted to go right now and look it up.
"Well, let me spare you the trouble then." Inge said a bit sorry for her.
"The match of 12 o'clock tomorrow will be fought between Queen of Burns Ember and Infernal Diva Wilmfe." Inge said deliberately using the full terms.
"What?! I'm going to fight my mom?!" Ember exclaimed in disbelief.
"Well, yes." Inge said taking a step back, very surprised by Ember's shocked reaction.
Ember really looked shocked and what was in her large blue eyes almost was akin to fear. Her mouth was hanging open and she stumbled on her feet as if she had trouble to keep her balance.
"It was bound to happen at some point you know." Inge said hoping to console her. She also had the possibility to have faced her mother in the tournament
"Thanks for letting me know Inge." Ember said sadly. Her head dropped down and she didn't look at Inge anymore.
"Ember?" Inge was very surprised by the sudden drop in mood from her friend. What was wrong with her?
"I think that I better get home now, so why don't you do as well?" Ember said, her voice empty of emotion as she walked towards the exit and flew back home.
"Why was Ember so down all of a sudden?" Inge wondered as she was flying back towards her house.
Fighting your family of course isn't fun but Ember had always been very strong and cheerful. That she would respond like that was very surprising. Inge had thought that a dragoness like Ember could handle fighting her mother.
But maybe there was something else going on. Something with her mother that Inge didn't know about.
Inge thought about for a few more minutes but didn't really get to an conclusion or idea of why Ember acted the way she did.
"Ah, she must have her reasons" She said to herself to forget about it.
Because Inge's house wasn't very far from the citadel she reached it very quickly.
Like usual Inge landed in the garden and headed inside without knocking on the door.
As soon as she entered the house she was startled by a voice "Oh, there you are, took you long enough" the voice said annoyed.
Inge was a bit surprised by it at first but only a little.
The voice was clearly female but it was definitely not the one of a her mother.
It was so masculine that it could only have one owner.
"Hi there Flannery." Inge said cheerful even though she couldn't see her friend yet.
A second later she spotted the large and robust form of Flannery appearing from the kitchen and walking up to her.
Flannery never told Inge or her mother if and when she wanted to visit them. It also was not rare that even her own parents didn't know where she was.
"Come here to join at dinner again?" Inge asked her a bit rhetorically.
"What else?" Flannery replied shrugging.
Inge chuckled a little and walked towards the kitchen again, Flannery now by her side.
"So have you told your parents?" Inge asked her. "This time." She added a few seconds later.
"Maybe, maybe not" Flannery said grinning.
Inge knew very well that a 'Maybe' with Flannery meant in 90% of the cases no. However if she got punished or not was not her concern. She wasn't her mother after all.
"Would you girls like some mutton?" Her mother asked as she already come up with a dish full of sheep.
The delicious smell filled the room and Inge felt her stomach growling and her mouth filling with saliva.
Her mother now lowered the plate to the ground.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, -" Inge counted in her head.
The dish now was nearly touching the ground.
"4, 3, 2, 1, Now!" At that exact moment Flannery shot at the food. She dug her claws in as deeply. She dove her teeth into the animal and started ripping of large pieces as if the animal could still run away at any second.
Solaris let out a deep sigh and then started eating herself as did Inge, not paying too much attention to Flannery's lack of manners.
"So I heard that Ember is going to fight her mommy." Flannery said trying to start a conversation.
"Yeah, but she isn't really sure yet." Inge replied.
"I can believe that, boy you should have seen her. I'm thinking she would even ask her mother for permission if she needs to cough." Flannery said mockingly.
Inge rolled with her eyes. Flannery sure wasn't very fond of Ember.
"I think she will go and find a place to hide." Flannery said chuckling evilly.
"Maybe, I just hope she can do it." Inge said a bit sadly as she dug her snout back into the meat.
"Yeah, I am the only one who is going to kick her sorry tail!" Flannery stated, her voice spirited and filled with excitement.
"Well she is pretty tough you know." Inge said to her as in a warning, a piece of meat dangling from her mouth.
"Oh I know that for fact Inge." Flannery said chuckling evilly towards her "I have seen it with my own eyes." She said nudging towards her friend while she swallowed a large piece of meat.
"Well it just shows that you shouldn't underestimate her, Flannery." Inge huffed. "Ember is strong and you know it!" she said while she drew the meat back into her mouth.
"Yet she doesn't want to fight her mother." Flannery laid out before biting of another part.
"Well, yes." Inge admitted as she swallowed her meat.
"She sure is submissive to her mom, right?" Flannery poked Inge suggestively with her wing while she chewed on the meat.
"You've got a good point there Flannery. Working up the courage to fight her mother will be very difficult for her." Inge said just before ripping off another large chunk.
Inge had never heard Ember going against her mother. Ember never even considered it.
"I still think that I should have gotten that honour box seat." Flannery grumbled, changing the topic.
"I'm going to win it, so why not give me a front row seat?"
"I don't know, but it doesn't really matter" Inge said next. Trying to say to Flannery to be more careful was just a waste of time. Inge just agreed with Flannery about her ensured victory.
"You know, I've caught wind that Ember had Georga really riled up with some stage act." Flannery said, her voice dropping down to almost a whisper.
"According to the rumours she was going after that pathetic Oxus again."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Inge asked.
"Georga was so into him that she was starting to give up on him when he started to become depry and all that as well. So in order to snap her out of it Ember knocked her on her head pretty hard." Flannery said.
"Well then I think Ember really deserved that seat. She really did her best for Georga" Inge concluded. She believed what Flannery said as it really sounded like something Ember would do. Helpful and generous but also not afraid to use drastic measures in drastic times.
"Okay, maybe you're right, but she still isn't going to beat me. I will that beat pink hothead her sooner or later." Flannery said a bit grumbling.
Inge couldn't help but giggle at little, "I wonder who the hothead is in here." she whispered softly so that Flannery wouldn't hear it.
"Then again she might not even face me!" Flannery said, her voice rising to much in volume that she was almost yelling.
"Yeah if she faces you it will be in the finals." Inge said as she gestured Flannery to keep her voice down. The statement was true; Ember and Flannery were on the far sides of the match table so if they were going to battle it was going to be in the final match.
Inge bit of a large piece before turning her head around "Hey mom-" Her mother didn't bother them but Inge felt that she had to draw her into the conversation as well.
"Yes?"
"How do you feel now that we're both out?" Inge asked, that being the first thing to come to her mind.
"It's fine, I never really believed that I had the power to win anyway." Her mother shrugged.
"Well that's true." Inge said a bit too honest.
"What was that?!" her mother's voice and face all of a sudden changed drastically. She raised an eyebrow and looked sharply down at Inge.
Inge wanted to apologize but Flannery beat her to it "She said you're too weak." She said as if she wanted to clarify it.
Inge shot a murderous gaze towards Flannery who stuck her tongue out.
"Well you are very strong but some dragons just are even stronger." Inge didn't think that taking her words back was the right decision. She concluded that nuance it was a better plan.
"Well, maybe your right." Solaris said as she got back to eating, indicating for Inge that she was in the clear.
Now safe Inge bent her head closer to Flannery "You're supposed to support me Flannery!" she snapped.
"Not a chance." Flannery shot back to her.
Inge rolled with her eyes and just returned to her food.
After a few more minutes the food was gone and Solaris put the dish away.
Inge and Flannery played with a spinner to pass the evening.
Unlike some of her friends Inge did not have a toy shelf in her room. Instead they kept all of her toys in the living room.
Solaris didn't bother them and just let them do what they wanted.
Instead she picked out the mattress from the closet and put it down in Inge's room.
Flannery had never said that she was going to sleep over but she always did when she came in the evening, it didn't need to be mentioned.
After a few hours of playing Inge spun the top back to Flannery but it completely went into the wrong direction.
It flew into the air and it crashed into the open item box.
"Well, you dig it out of there Inge." Flannery said, having an innocent grin on her face.
Inge was the one who had thrown it in so she couldn't object to it. Growling she started sifting through all her stuff in search of the toy. With over 20 items in the box it surely was going to take some time.
"Inge, Flannery bed-time!" Inge heard her mother say.
She raised her head back out of her item box "Okay mom!"
Solaris nodded and walked away.
"Let's just leave it till tomorrow." Flannery suggested as she walked up to her.
"Sure." Inge said as she walked towards her room with Flannery following close behind her.
When they entered Flannery right away walked towards her mattress and puffed down on it. It seemed like all the energy she had just moments before had vanished.
Inge walked past her and laid down on her bed next to her. She was a bit waiting for what Flannery was going to do.
However Flannery didn't do anything except yawn as it seemed she just wanted to go to sleep.
Curling up into a sleeping position and she already closed her eyes and seemed to fall asleep. Not having the energy to start a conversation.
Inge was a bit surprised that Flannery was so tired all of a sudden but when she thought about it, it was understandable.
Flannery's opponent in her match today had been a hard one. It was against a really big and strong adult fire dragon. Flannery really had to pull out all the stops in order to win it.
At a few points Inge had even be afraid that she might not be able to do it. However in the end the dragon was no match for her friend.
"Good night, Inge." Flannery said, her normal gruff voice now suddenly soft and warm.
"Good night Flannery." Inge said back as she rolled up into a sleeping position as well to gather up a bit more warmth.
She twitched and turned somewhat but finally found herself a comfortable position on the soft straw.
Now that she was lying down on her soft and comfy bed Inge also started to feel a little sleepy.
For her today had been very unremarkable, just watching the battles of her friends. Flannery's match had been a good one and also Ember had been a fun one to watch.
Inge did feel a little bad about her loss to Ember yesterday. Now she was out of the tournament.
However Ember defeated her fair and square. Inge just wasn't powerful enough to win the Igus cup. However she never thought she could actually win it anyway. She already considered it quite an achievement that she had reached the victory tournament.
Now her mother also was out. However Flame had beaten her completely fair as well.
"Flame sure was impressive today" Inge thought. She had never thought that Flame could hide such power. He sure was full of surprises.
Inge now lifted up her head and looked at the large red form of Flannery who laid about a metre away from her.
Flannery was curled up with her back towards Inge so Inge couldn't see if Flannery was still awake or had already fallen asleep.
However judging by her slow breathing Inge concluded that Flannery was already asleep.
She smiled as she watched her friend.
Flannery had slept with her before many times and whenever she did Inge always felt more at peace than she normally was.
She didn't really know why, Flannery was everything but calm and gentle yet somehow she felt more safe to be together with her.
Whenever Flannery slept over Inge never had problems getting to sleep. With Flannery by her side Inge felt so relaxed that it just came by itself.
"Good night, Flannery." Inge whispered again before closing her eyes and drifting into happy dreams.