Flight 50
Cream Feyrilayt(Written by Efellai)
All her life, Feyrilayt had known that she was something special. She had directed her course with clearheadedness; she had plotted for years with her bond, the inestimable Griflath. She was also totally and kindly selfish. Her well-being had been the focus of her bond ever since she was hatched. All her life, she had been a wanted creature, desired, yearned-after—and utterly elusive.
Feyrilayt knew very well what the creatures around her desired. Her receptive powers were strong, and her eyes were not turned so far inward as to be utterly blind. It was just a matter of, well, caring. And she didn’t. The cream-colored dragoness was well aware of Griflath’s desperate jealousy and his ‘secret’ rage that Onurnmosoth would so much as eye her. It did distress her a little, but she did as she had always done, and tuned it out. He had been feeling this way about her since she was too small to understand. At this point, she figured that any opposite-gendered bonding was like this. The troublesome speck A’leil and his cronies were no help at all in understanding… Feyrilayt did not feel equipped to deal with her friend’s anxiety…or his lust. So, in typical Feyri’ manner, she blocked what she could and ignored the rest.
She didn’t particularly care about Onurnmosoth either. Oh, she’d play mindgames with the big stripy lunk, but he thought far too highly of himself, and far too little of her. Griflath, at least, was self-assured, but not self-obsessed. Onur’ was wrapped up in his own smugness, a congealed layer that disgusted her. Still, he was handsome, and he was paying attention to her, even though he didn’t have to.
Now, of course, there were suitors, and that was different. Suitors, now…. They were quite beautiful, her suitors. She would have liked to keep them around for a while, but as soon as she had acquired a trio, her hormones kicked into overdrive. It was the very next day after Chronith began to show an interest that a sudden episode of being ‘hot and bothered’ drove her into the cooling winds.
Her svelte flanks shone in the morning sun, a rich buttery hue that was none the worse as a lure for its lack of metallic hue. Indeed, the rarity of a cream’s flight was such that she had no lack of onlookers, even though her chasing field was slim.
Onurnmosoth and Griflath she already counted as being out of the running—they were filler material, truly, and were to be disposed of at the first opportunity. They were first, however, into the air, the big stripy silver-black and the small, determined blue leaving the ground almost in tandem. Ah, well, easier to reach them if they were the closest.
The other three, unusual and handsome as they were, were a bit slower on the uptake. First to notice was Chronith, who was a-wing with snakelike quickness. She admired his grace, and the smooth elegant lines of his body. He was quiet around her though. She never quite knew what he was thinking, which was disquieting. When one had been the tail-end of a six-way exchange of ideas, not knowing what was in someone else’s head was like flying into a wall.
The last two left almost in unison. They really were quite handsome, these chasers of hers! Rukareyth, in his black and yellow, practically glowed in her peripheral vision. Zoidar, in contrast, glittered like a piece of flung jewelry, his bronze and brown a blur as he catapulted forward. And those double wings were most intriguing…as were Rukareyth’s spiny ears. Yes, they were all very interesting, her bond and bond-brother notwithstanding. Feyrilayt tore through the herdbeasts like a dragon on fire, throwing back her head in an attempt to make the blood flow faster. Scarlet-splashed, she sped skyward once again, taunting her males as she tucked her claws against her heated belly.
Better take out the competition, boys, she said sweetly to Griflath and Onur’. She was high enough now, and they behind her, that they could tumble a bit without meeting the ground unexpectedly. Griflath only needed the word, hurling himself at his arrogant rival with rage in his eyes and blood already on his talons. Onur’, intent on the prize, snarled in surprised hurt as the blue raked his side with avenging claws. The silver-black buffeted his attacker with mighty blows of his big wings, but Griflath had a hold on him with those powerful forefeet, and was scraping his armored belly with his hind. They fell in a tangle of blue, black, and silver, too lost in the desire to harm each other to escape to their first desire.
Feyrilayt flickered in a satisfied S-curve through the next cloud, rather pleased with herself. This flight thing was easy enough, so far…
Something caught at her hinder portions, and she squealed in surprise, eeling out of the grasp with the swiftness of the startled. There was a shriek behind her as she felt the tip of her tail hit something hard enough to sting.
My EYE!! Chronith wailed, falling back to paw at it. He rolled right into the overconfident Rukareyth’s path, and the starlight dragon made a most undignified maneuver to avoid the stricken brown-black. Unfortunately, that was the jetstream going the wrong way. Rukareyth had lost too much ground by the time he recovered his wings to even hope to catch the so-elusive cream.
So now there was…one. Not being terribly athletic in the first place, Feyri’ was glad enough to let it end here, to surrender to this evident winner. At the moment, he seemed almost hypnotically attractive, and she swung around almost without conscious thought.
Zoidar burred his pleasure, but as they intertwined, he made it quite clear that the acrobatics weren’t even close to being over.