The decision of a lifetime

 Mahoko had always been busy tending to the needs of the other dragons. So much so that she sometimes seemed to forget she had personally given birth to three more who, in the beginning, had needed her much more than any of the dragons.

And, over the centuries, those children had forgotten it too.

They quickly learnt how futile it was to wait for their mother's acknowledgement or praise. Silence transformed from an old friend to a lifelong protector, and they each found ways to stifle the pain of a distance that could be both involuntary and self inflicted. In time, they discovered opportunities to speak up amongst those who truly heard at least a small part of who they were.

But the young dragons within them weren't so forgiving.

They held on tight to their rage even as it froze the fire beneath their scales and numbed the chambers of their hearts. Kazue heard that unhealed wound inside her as she released the hurt in a determined roar that shook both the heavens and earth alike. Small red flames accompanied the sound waves as she called for her sisters wordlessly over and over again.

Just as her throat began to feel like cracked glass and her grip on the egg threatened to crush it, a huge cherry blossom tree erupted from the fog several miles to her right and a path of pale pink petals flowed towards her like a river.

“Good idea, Takara,” said Kazue with a knowing smile.

She flew through them towards the tree, staying above the fog, and found her sisters crouched in its middle branches, scanning the skies intently. Their eyes lit up as soon as they spotted her but they waited for her to alight next to them.

“Hey, where did you go?” demanded Akemi, her eyes glossy as she crawled unsteadily across the wooden limbs.

“I didn't go anywhere,” coughed Kazue. “You're the ones who were gone as soon as I woke up.”

“We didn't go anywhere either!” she said indignantly, rubbing the top of her head under her elder sister's chin. “We thought something happened to you.”

“So did I,” replied Kazue. She glanced over at Takara, who balanced so well in the tree she had breathed to life she almost looked like an ancient branch that belonged to it. “But you're both okay, aren't you?”

Takara nodded. “It must be a trick of the forest itself. I guess the only reason I didn't lose Kemi too is because I bound her to me last night.

“Thanks for binding me too,” said Kazue with a wide grin that made the grey dragon glare affectionately at her. “It looks like that's the way forward then, right? If we're tied to each other, the fog shouldn't be able to mess with us.”

“We hope,” she added, bending her head and blowing out tendrils of air that solidified into vines. These, in turn, coiled around each of their right forelegs. “Should we fly or walk the rest of the way though?”

“Hmm, we don't know what the Sightless Plains are going to be like, so we should probably save our flying power for that,” said Kazue ponderously, squinting in the direction they were headed. “But it's going to be a pain in the tail to stay on track with all this fog in the way.”

“I can keep growing trees along the way,” offered Takara, taking the egg despite the disapproval in the black dragon's gaze. “So we can make sure we're going the right way.”

“That could work.” The latter nodded at her. “Good idea with this tree, by the way.”

“Good idea with the roaring,” chuckled Takara, “Is your throat okay?”

“You scared the spikes off me with all that, you know,” said Akemi emphatically. “I thought you were fighting something.”

“The only thing big enough to fight me now is one of you two,” pointed out Kazue. “Unless there's some other kind of monster hidden in this fog.”

“I'll take this then,” decided Akemi as she stole the core from Takara. “You two can protect me from any monsters, okay?”

Her older sisters laughed indulgently but both kept their eyes on the egg as they descended into the Lonely Forest once more.

~~~

After scrambling over rocks, squeezing between tree trunks, and losing sight of each other more times than they dared to admit, the three dragons finally made it to the edge of the Sightless Plain.

“Whoa,” they all breathed in unison, their voices holding various degrees of awe, concern, dread, and excitement.

The last cherry blossom tree disintegrated, showering them with wood dust and pink powder which mixed with the sand in front of them.

“I'm kind of angry at myself now,” said Kazue. “Why didn't I expect it to be a desert?”

“Honestly, I thought it was going to be somewhere volcanic,” said Takara. “I'm not sure which is worse.”

“Why is it called Sightless?” muttered Akemi, passing the core to her before rearing up and scanning her surroundings. “I can see everything, even without flying.”

“I guess we'll find out,” replied Kazue, testing the temperature of the sand. “Let's keep walking for as long as we can.”

Her sisters hummed apprehensively in agreement with her.

~~~

They out found a lot sooner than expected.

One moment, Kazue was flying above Takara, who had tried to hide the effects of the heat and was now dragging her feet in the dark dragon's extensive shadow. Akemi had been blowing water onto her dry scales like a reptilian fountain, but even her energy was starting to evaporate under the intimidating eye of the sun.

And then the scent of extra hot sand and something dustier swept over them like an underwater current, painless but still powerful.

“What the fang was that?” muttered Kazue, squinting into the wind right before the sandstorm struck them all a lot less considerately.

Akemi squeaked out a dragon curse that their mother would have judged her for and Takara's high pitch cry was stolen by the airborne debris as she curled herself around the blue dragon.

Where the flame did that come from? thought Kazue as she tried to fold her wings in and dive towards them.

But the sandstorm had other ideas.

It kept its grip on her wing bones and used them to hurl her away. She tried to right herself in the air and searched for her remaining family members. The sand, however, tried just as hard to form a thin veil over her eyeballs.

“Kemi!” she called out to them, coughing as the pale debris tickled her sore throat. “Kara!”

Twisting and turning, she finally managed to tuck her wings against her back and hit the ground like a boulder propelled by a volcanic eruption. With a groan, she crawled towards the spot where she had last seen them.

Wait, where's the core? The realisation that she didn't have it caught in her windpipe and she choked. Who was carrying it? Was it me? Kemi gave it to Kara after we left the forest, but did I take it from her after that when she got tired? Did I lose it? Does it matter who did?

She dug her empty claws into the sand and searched for the egg with her nose, intermittently lifting her head to blow dust out of her nostrils before calmly sweeping the ground before her once again.

It has to be here, she told herself silently. But what if I'm moving further away from it? When is this damned sandstorm going to end?

Just as she was about to attempt another full blooded roar, a voice reached her through the howling wind.

“Kazue?”

“Who's that?” she demanded, swinging her head from side to side, focusing through the darkness behind her eyelids.

“Kazue, Wielder of Flame, Eldest of the Original Sisters and First Heiress of the Original Dragon,” said someone with a loud yet soothing voice untouched by the flying sand. “Why are you so far from home?”

“Because the Original Dragon died without giving us a heads up,” she growled. “And I don't care about being the First Heiress.”

“All of her hope and dreams for this world exist in the title you are so keen to abandon,” said the speaker. “Does that not mean something to you?”

It was impossible to pinpoint their direction so Kazue started crawling, buffeted by sand and wind alike, in what she hoped was the right direction. The Sightless Plains were vast. If they truly lost track of each other, there was a chance that she would never see her siblings again.

“That's right,” she said, coughing in between her strained words. “Those were her hopes and dreams, not mine.”

“They were important to her though.”

“That makes sense,” she replied. “My hopes and dreams are important to me too.”

“And what are your hopes and dreams, Kazue?” asked the speaker who remained beyond her sight.

“I was already living my dream life before we started this journey,” she retorted. “And I hope this storms blows itself out fast so I can drop off that wretched egg, find my sisters, and get back to it as soon as I can.”

“But are you not the slightest bit curious?” they questioned. “About what the world of dragons would look like with you and your sisters taking care of it.”

“No.” She shook her head and caught a hint of something flowery in the air.

“Do you have no desire to witness the next era of dragons who would have not just one but three rulers of Original blood guiding its path and guarding its potential?” The speaker didn't seem to believe her.

“None at all,” she said, her tone hardening. “Do you really think we would have come this far if any of us wanted to see that? I can't see anything right now.”

“What do you think your sisters would say if I offered to show them the same thing? Do you believe they would be tempted by what they see? Would they change their minds, do you think?”

“Either way, I'm not going to change mine,” she said, the words half shredded by her pointed teeth. “But even if they did, that's okay. As long as they're doing it because they want to, not because they feel like they have to, I don't mind.”

“You honestly desire nothing but freedom and happiness for them, do you not, Wielder of Flame?” A smile softened the stranger's voice.

“Of course.” Kazue shrugged her wings. “And food. They both love food.”

“I hope all three of you gain everything you want from this world,” they said. “My daughters deserve nothing less.”

“What?” Kazue blinked and the sand vanished along with everything else, leaving her in a blindingly bright place. “Mahoko?”

The emptiness lingered for a brief moment, her surroundings engulfed by a soft golden glow that made her wonder if she had somehow followed her mother to the other side without realising it.

Kemi and Kara are going to kill me, she groaned to herself.

She blinked again and a huge building of the same colour appeared before her, along with the core that was suddenly nestled between her forepaws.

“Kazu?” said Akemi uncertainly and she nearly dropped their mother's spiritual remains as she turned to face her siblings.

They seemed both dazzled and dazed but otherwise unharmed as they stared back at her.

“Did you two –?” Her question trailed off when they nodded.

“ – Mahoko?” said Takara with a tired but wry grin.

“Yep.” Kazue swallowed and her insides didn't feel sore any more. “Should we –?”

“– put the core in the Chamber of Souls?” suggested Akemi, reached out to it.

“Yep.” She passed the egg to her little sister and a lifetime slid from her shoulders like well worn scales being shed after a particularly long century.

“What if she doesn't want to come back?” murmured the blue dragon.

“Then she shouldn't have left in the first place,” said Takara and Kazue at the same time.

The trio laughed shamelessly, wholeheartedly. The sound echoed down a long corridor ahead of them as they entered the Temple of Rebirth together and fled from an era that none of them had ever wanted to welcome.

The End