Lightning Strikes and Lessons Learned

Glimmering runes flickered around the young Singularity. This was not unusual. The little dragon had been born blessed by the element of Thunder. The runes were myriad, and many in languages unfamiliar to this region of the Chronoscape— but some were math. Calculations, plotting how precisely to enact their sliver of chaos. 

Aether hardly noticed. The two-toned wyrmling’s dual minds made it difficult to pick up on any thoughts they didn’t want exposed. While she hummed a song from her youth absent-mindedly and tinkered with adding just a bit more of an exotic new herb to her medicines, the young dragon’s calculations only expanded. She hardly noticed. But she still felt something amiss, enough to note Phantom’s faint concern emanating from within his starry miasma in the nearby shadows as he’d made himself scarce, and enough to realize that the Nightmare had taken to napping nearby, also making his best attempt to blend in with the night-shrouded conservatory. Stars. But she realized a sliver too late.

The already-wide eyes of the hatchling were expanding, the forked tail swished, and before she could reach to them physically or mentally, a bolt of lightning pierced the roof of the conservatory and struck the Nightmare. 

The change in the atmosphere of the room was instantaneous. The pupilless eyes of the Nightmare locked onto the small creature and shadows swept out from him to blanket the room. Discordant growls rumbled from each mouth. “Now listen here, you little worm,” he snarled as he rose to his feet. Aether could feel the two-toned hatchling’s minds finally coalesce in fear as they scrambled behind her. She spared half a glance towards the starry night sky now freely visible through the hole above, then turned to the Nightmare. His thoughts were steeped in nigh-incoherent churning anger and annoyance. She understood, honestly, but she put herself between the two all the same.

“The child needs to respect its elders.” The Nightmare snarled as its heads leered down at the cowering Singularity while the eyes on the tail fixed on Aether. “Do not coddle them. Your inability to handle this hatchling should not get me assaulted during my rest.” A colossal maw drew close to the hatchling and bared its fangs. Singularity pressed firmly into Aether’s leg with all of their forelimbs, practically trembling.

“I know,” she replied more calmly, glancing down at the child. “I apologize for that— I forgot how intensive keeping an eye on hatchlings could be. I can’t say I’m used to them doing this, either.” She gestures up towards the hole in the roof. “I will keep a closer eye on them. But it seems that they’ve learned their lesson for now, wouldn’t you agree? Much more and they’re going to faint.“ She tried to tug at the hatchling’s minds— to convey as much as possible that this was bad, and to be avoided. To not hurt the ones close to oneself. One must be gentle. She didn’t know if Singularity could understand that beneath the adrenaline, but she tried to impress it upon them anyway. 

The Nightmare snarled at the hatchling one last time for good measure, then withdrew, his rage abating somewhat. The shadowy miasma slowly coalesced back towards himself as he sat up. “Fine,” he huffed. “Just make sure you don’t allow this to happen again.”

She nodded her agreement and shuffled the hatchling onto her shoulder. Singularity scrambled to cling to her neck as they continued to watch the Nightmare warily. “Now, are you injured? That was… far more powerful than I expected from a hatchling. I can patch you up—“

The Nightmare groaned and gingerly moved a wing to expose a spot on his dripping side that was emitting a different miasma than normal and scorched a darker black. He expectantly stared at her.

Well, if he was anything like Phantom, maybe she had an idea of how to treat that. ‘Look, you two— you’ve hurt him. You have to be gentle.’ She tried to draw their awareness towards the wound as she turned to her medicines and grabbed a poultice and some bandages. As she knelt aside him to get a better look, the hatchling released their grip on her neck to look closer. She could have sworn she felt a genuine hint of remorse before she saw runes start to flicker around Singularity again. Kids. They could bounce back so quick from anything, she thought to herself. When she reached for the poultices though, she felt the Nightmare grow increasingly more defensive. She looked back up to myriad runes again surrounding Singularity, and she instantly pressed the notion of gentleness and nonviolence into their bond. The pair responded with something that might have been rough reassurance or acknowledgement before the runes disappeared and their spell took effect. The Nightmare’s flesh stitched back together and restored itself as if it were new.

Aether could only look in mild shock between the two dragons, and the Nightmare didn’t feel like he had much better of an understanding of this than her. Despite the appreciation she could feel faint within him, he grumbled and replaced his wing. “I suppose that will do as an apology, little wyrm.” He spared a moment to stare at Singularity for a little longer, then laid back down again in attempt to resume his nap.

Aether affectionately patted the little dragon. ‘Now, see, isn’t that better? Isn’t it more fun to be nice to friends?’ She was proud of the little fella, but she looked back up at in the hole in her roof. That would be a bit more annoying to fix— but it was a price she would gladly pay for this lesson, she thought to herself as the dragon’s relief, pride, and happiness filtered through to her. This hatchling was going to be a handful, weren’t they?