“Good morning, Mylady! I hope you have a great day!” Nimble’s voice drifted through my mind like it’d done every other day in the last week and a half, pulling me out of my sleep and leaving me more than a little bit grumpy. I really should have told him to wait to contact me till after breakfast, but how could I have known he was a morning pony? And now it was too late for that since I was still unable to respond mentally, so I couldn’t do anything about it.

I sighed and let my gaze wander to Illu, who still was cuddled up and sleeping peacefully against my side. I was really grateful that these new cork ear plugs were doing a really good job despite Mom and Kindling’s snoring, allowing him to sleep in our tent. His presence did well at improving my mood, and when I stretched out one claw to play with his ears, just a tiny little bit of course, I was also so generous as to bury my other claw in Bliz’s mane, massaging her head.

Her soft purring tickled my belly and reminded me that the world was good for the time being. At least until my mind turned back to the task that lay before me today. Yesterday we had arrived at Hundred Waters, a small town that got its name from the conversion of half a dozen local streams. This was insofar good, as we were able to stock up on supplies and get a tent for most of my kirins as well as one for Rythil. Who would believe Fortuna would send one of her priests to me without any suitable gear? Anyway, the downside of my current position was that there were two paths in the direction the Call was pulling me. The first was a very long and winding route through the Mountains. It was guaranteed that going this way would be exceedingly exhausting due to all our carriages, not to mention more than just a little dangerous. The other more or less implied path was through the swamps, which wasn’t much better.

And for once, the choice really was mine alone, since I was the one feeling the Call, therefore, was the only one able to tell which way was more fitting.

While was deep in thought, I felt something wet rubbing against my belly and gave Bliz a little slap behind the ears out of reflex. She pulled her tongue back where it belonged and returned to purring softly.

If I went with the Mountain path, we would surely lose a significant amount of time with how slow we would be, as well as be vulnerable to any kind of attack. Furthermore, an avalanche or even a rockslide could be disastrous. I mean, I like the mountains, we live in one, but still, traveling through them with my merriment was far different. The swamps however, well, they were swamps.

A slight growl of frustration escaped my lips. The first time I could decide something big regarding my merriment and it had to be something so tricky. Alerted by my growl, Bliz quickly moved upward and purred questiongly. This in turn woke up Seagail, who wasted no time in occupying the warm spot on my belly where Bliz’s head had been resting. Sneaky little thing.

“It’s alright.” My claw remained in Bliz’s mane and I continued to fondle her. “Go back to sleep.”

She took a moment to sniff at me, to check if I really was alright, before she sleepily tried to lay her head back on my belly, only to collide with Seagail. It was a bit of a silent back and forth, but in the end, her kundeel accepted that she had to make enough room for Bliz to get in touch with me again.

Though, in the end, it was all for naught. Unsettled and mildly awake, I was unable to fall back asleep. I tried, but all I accomplished was shifting in my bed sheets, and if I would have just kept laying there, I would have surely woken up Illu, or worse, everyone in the tent. Realising this, I decided to get up and take a little walk.

I slipped out of my blankets and slowly rose up, carefully not to make any noise. It was a very difficult task with Bliz and Illu cuddled up to me, but I managed. I had to take a moment though to show my fangs to Bliz when she, half asleep, tried to snuggle up to Illu now that I was gone. Once she realized what she was doing, and whose batfriend she tried to cuddle, she tucked her tail and got into a submissive, apologetic position.

Suppressing a growl, I rubbed my head against Illu’s cheek to mark my territory before turning around and leaving the tent.

Once I was outside, the first thing I noticed was my dad’s gaze hanging on me. He was laying comfortably by the firepit, having watched over the camp during his half of the night shift. However, even the smallest movement near the family tent caught his attention.

What caught me more than a little off guard though was when I shifted my gaze and saw my aunt cuddled up next to Dad with her head laying on his back.

As soon as our gazes met, she pulled back from Dad and put some space between them.

“You are up early today,” Dad quietly said when I approached them. He lowered his head to exchange some head rubs and gave me some parental purring.

“Yeah, I couldn’t fall back asleep after Nimble woke me today.” I pointed at my aunt. “What’s up with her?”

“I have no clue what you are talking about,” she retorted.

“You were cuddling with Dad.”

“I was not! I stand above such things.” She snorted and got up. “I have no need to cuddle with my brother.” With these words, she turned around and trotted away from us.

Watching her leave, Dad explained, “She is still a young hatchling. She needs some comfort now and then, despite being an azure.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Just don’t tell your mom about it. Your aunt wouldn’t like her to know.”

“I never expected azure dragons would be into cuddling with their siblings,” I confessed.

Dad just shrugged. “My mom cuddled with me like any other dragon parent does with their hatchling. I don’t see why azure hatchlings would be any different from non-azure’s in that regard. Cuddling is very important.”

“With Night being unsettled about not having his hoard with him and sleeping outside the lair, I would say Schimmerne Morgenröte’s holding up quite well by comparison.”

“More or less.” Dad shifted his attention to me and I saw that I’d underestimated just how much his sister had driven him into cuddling mode. With a quick move of his wing, he pulled me over and started to rub his head against my side and wings.

“A little bit of family cuddling doesn’t sound so bad,” I giggled. “Just be careful with the feathers, Dad! If you mess them up, Bliz will pester me all day long till I let her preen me!”

“What a terrible fate,” Dad retorted, ruffling my feathers even more. “You could also make it so that Illu would preen you.” He sniffed at me. “Since you already found a way to have some special alone time with him despite Fluffies best effort to hinder you.”

“Dad!” I started to blush.

“This nose knows,” he replied and poked me with said dragon-nose. “Good thing for you that Fluffy can’t smell as well as me.”

I gave him an angry stare. Then my own nose told me something too. “Papa!” I growled and pushed him out of my feathers. “You haven’t had any fun lately!”

His expression turned from mischievous to guilty.

“Mom will get grumpy if you two don’t have your alone time! No wonder she yelled at the saleszebra today!”

“I know, I know,” he tried to play it down. “Fluffy just isn’t in the mood at the moment, seeing as we are on the road. You know how she is. She doesn't want creatures to know that she is like a dragoness in that regard.”

“And that is a reason to put everycreature in danger? It's been nearly two weeks since we left home! The last time you and Mom didn’t have sex for this long was when she was on an adventure with aunt Daring! Don’t you remember what she was like when she was finally back? She even growled at Daring when she asked if she could stay the night!”

“Your…”

“No!” I flared my wings in indignation. “You have to take care of that Dad! I don’t want Mom to run around the campsite and growl at everykirin! As soon as the sun comes up, you and Mom need to fly ahead and scout the path ahead of us! And don’t come back without… resting a few times!”

At first it looked like he wanted to protest, simply due to the fact that I was trying to order him around, but after thinking about what I expected him to do, a little smile crept over his face.

“It would be beneficial for somecreature to scout ahead,” he agreed. “Though, I will not be able to convince your mom to leave you and Illu behind unsupervised.”

I sighed. “Mom should finally accept that I am half dragon. We kirins are supposed to be more naughty than a pony. If mom ever sees how Shakirin-La used to be back in the days, she’ll lock me up in the lair for the next five hundred years!”

“She very well might,” Dad giggled. “Fluffy occasionaly has some strange pony views on things, still, she is your mom.”

Well that was true, Mom was still Mom. I had to come up with something.

“Dad?” I tilted my head and looked up to him.

“Mhh?”

“Can I speak up to Mom about this?” I saw his displeasure and quickly added, “only this one time? Pleeease?” I stretched the word out while making my best hatchling eyes; trying my best to look cute, young and in need of support from my dragon parent.

“You know I do not approve of this,” Dad growled.

“But this is a matter about me being a kirin!” I rubbed my head against his chest. “You said yourself that Mom is a pony, and you are a dragon! It’s my kirin heritage we’re talking about! You and Mom both told me I could discover what that means for me as I grew up!” I pulled my head back to look him in the eyes once more while stretching a wing out to gesture towards the whole camp. “And you know,” my cheeks reddened even more, “you can smell that my merriment is engaging in naughty matters while we are on the road. Kirins are naturally more naughty than ponies!”

“And a dragon’s bornling doesn’t speak up to their mother. Being a kirin doesn’t change that.”

“I don’t want to speak up to Mom, but she is wrong and you know it.”

His gaze drifted to the side and he scanned the camp for a moment before replying. “I will not allow you to speak up to your mom, Fiery.”

“But Dad!”

“That being said, I will be taking Night for a hunt before we move on. We need to be well fed before we enter a more barren or swampy area.” His gaze returned to me. “We will be gone for a while.”

After a moment of processing what he had said, I smiled and gave him a hug. “Thanks Dad.”

“Don’t thank me, I assure you that I will be furious if I come back to find Fluffy angry at you for speaking up to her. If you do that, you better make sure you convince her to be on your side afterwards, or you are in serious trouble.”

“I will do my best.”

“I am serious about this, Fiery.” He rubbed his head against my back. “I will not tolerate you speaking up to your mother if I hear about it.” He paused for a moment. “So make sure Mom does not tell me.”

*

I stayed with Dad for a while, making sure he was well cuddled. Eventually though, I saw Autumn Blaze approaching us, and it was obvious she wanted to speak with me but didn’t dare interupt Dad and his cuddle time with his bornling.

Clever choice.

“What is it, Autumn?” I brushed my wing over Dad’s chest before trotting over to her. He snorted, but with Autumn being respectful and waiting till I moved over instead of interrupting us, he was generous enough to allow it without complaint.

“Well, I… I would like to ask you something.”

“Is it about Bliz again? I told her to leave you alone, if…”

“No, not about her. It’s about… my former village.”

“The Peaks of Peril?”

“Yeah, well, I was wondering if they would also be traveling to Shakirin-La. I’m pretty sure that that’s the case. Or at least, I have a strong feeling that they would be going. The question though is if they’re on their own or as a part of a merriment.”

“If you’re asking me if I know, I couldn’t help you, sorry. My azure abilities don't allowing me to know about other kirins across the sea.”

“It’s not about your azure abilities, but about what route we’ll take today. I looked at the maps, and from what I can see, the swamps would take us close to the route they would take, if they’re going that is. Or at least it is one of the possible paths they could take.” She looked at her hooves. “I know you are fonder and more familiar with mountains, but I was hoping we could, well, you know.” Her gaze lifted and she looked me straight in the eyes. “I just don’t want you to fight with them, they are my friends after all. So if they got claimed by somekirin else on their way…”

“I get it.” I placed my claw on her chest. “I wouldn’t want to fight my friends either. I was just lucky that Bliz was willing to submit and not in the mood for a real fight. Though, even if we take the swamps route, and find your former village inhabitants, it may be that they are already claimed.”

“I know. Still, the longer we wait, the more likely is it that they run into some azurekirin else. If every one of your kind is dragged towards it, the distance between you will diminish more and more.”

“True. Still, there’s the chance your friends are still back at The Peaks of Peril. As far as we know, normal kirins may not be forced to go if no azure is near enough to spread the Call.”

“Yeah, possible.” Her gaze wandered to the ground again, and she drew little circles in the ground with the tip of her hoof.

“No need to worry. If nokirin has a good reason for us to go over the mountains, we will take the swamp path to look for your friends.”

“Really?” She looked back up and suppressed a twinkle of hope from appearing in her eyes.

“Only if there isn’t a reason for us to not to go into the swamps. I will send some scouts ahead to make sure we know what to expect. I’ll wait to make my decision till I hear from them, though, I’ll keep in mind that you would prefer that we go through the swamp.”

She bursted forward and hugged me. “That is all I can ask for. Thank you, Fiery!”

I patted her back and was going to respond when a very familiar growl reached my ears. Oh, not my Dads, but my little brothers.

“Mine!” He shouted aggressively while quickly approaching us.

“I was not going to steal her from you, Night.”

He came to a halt in front of us and growled challengly. Normally I would reply in kind, but Autumn had already been declared to be a part of his personal treasure, so it was pointless. I suppressed a growl and gestured for Autumn to make some room between us. As soon as she stepped back, Night got between us and marked his territory by rubbing his side against his godmother.

“Mine!” he repeated.

“I know.” If I had a clue what else to say to put him back in his place without actually challenging his claim of Autumn I would have added it, but as it stood, I felt I should end it there.

Satisfied with my reaction, Night stopped his territorial behavior and turned to Autumn. Though, to his surprise, she crossed her forelegs and looked at him reproachfully.

“Can I at least talk with your sister without you getting jealous?”

“But you belong to me! I have to make sure my sister is not stealing you!” He tried to rub his head against her but she stepped back.

“I am your godmother, not part of your hoard, little dragon. If I want to talk with your sister, I should be able to do so without you growling and challenging her.” She took a seat and placed both hooves on the side of her belly. A bit like Mom would when scolding us. “If you keep behaving like this, I will talk with your Mom about it.”

Night hastily shook his head. “I don’t mean to annoy you. It’s… It’s… it’s a dragon thing between siblings.”

“Then you better…

“Would you excuse me,” I interrupted her. “It seems Winter Sun needs my attention.” With a nod, I made my escape from this conversation. I really don’t need to witness that one! If Autumn really was going to speak with Mom, and I got involved, it would only lower my chances to speak with her about Illu. No thank you!

So to avoid that, I made my way over to the outskirts of our camp, or to be more precise, to the little caravan that was modified to serve as a watch. Instead of a roof, this one had an elevated structure made out of wood and some ropes that served as an observation tower. This way, one kirin could watch out for threats while we were on the move without a Luftirin having to hoover above us all the time.

It had been Summer Moon’s idea. At this time of day though, it would be Winter Sun who would be watching over the camp.

“Everything as it should be?” I called out for her when I reached the observation tower.

“It seems so,” she replied and came to the edge of the tower to look down at me. “At least I don't see anything suspicious around here.” She nodded towards something left of me. “With the exception of your friend the luck dragon maybe.”

My gaze followed hers and I saw Rythil was already up and preparing everything for the morning prayer. Since he had settled down in my merriment, he had started to preach to my kirins about Fortuna and her doings. A few of them had taken an interest and joined him in his worship.

It felt a bit strange at first to have my kirins worshiping my godmother, though, I can’t really see a problem with it. As long as Fortuna doesn’t want the throne of Shakrin-La for herself, I see no conflict of interest here.

“Don’t worry about him,” I said with a smile. “He’s just doing his luck dragon stuff. Anything that keeps him busy and out of reach of Night is to his liking.”

“Hmm,” Winter Sun snorted agreeingly. “He doesn’t like the interest your brother is showing in his fur, that much is clear. Everytime your brother approaches him to inspect his fur, he seems kind of uncomfortable.”

“I know,” I giggled. “If he’s not careful, Night will make a blanket out of him sooner or later.”

“Mhh, makes me wonder, if at some point there was a dragon in your family born with fluff, would they be able to do anything other than cuddle themselves all day?”

“Probably not,” I smiled, “good thing not everycreature is as into cuddling.”

“Some creatures have to do their duty first, indeed.” Winter Sun replied. “I take my responsibility most seriously.”

“I have no doubt about that,” I said with a smirk while stretching my claw out for her.

“I’m not that interested in cuddling,” she tried to deny, but I could see from her waving tail and how her eyes widened how tempted she was.

With raised claw, I waited.

“And I am on duty, I have to keep watch as the night guard.”

“Mhh-mh.”

Slowly, Winter Sun moved along the railing, one step after another. Her gaze wandered over our surroundings, making sure everything was fine while keeping my outstretched claw in her peripheral vision.

“I am not into cuddling,” she insisted once more.

“I am aware of that,” I said while giving her a warm smile.

A little purr escaped her mouth, betraying her.

“You do seem to like it if I do it though,” I teased.

“I do not,” she replied, having already crawled halfway under the railing, only to go sliding down the side of the tower a second later. When she was on the ground again, she wasted no time in sneaking nearer, only stopping to make sure no creature was watching.

When she was close enough, I let my claw sink into her mane and started to stroke her around the neck. For her, the spot between the ears didn’t work for some reason.

“Who is a good kirin?”

She grumbled something under her breath but it was already being swallowed by her purring which was quickly raising in volume.

“You don’t like to be pat at all, obviously.”

“I… do… not like it,” she lied while her left hind hoof started to twitch.

“Of course not,” I agreed with a smirk.

She laid down and rolled on the side, happily purring under my affection. “Not a tiny bit,” she confirmed.

“Are you seducing my sister again?” Summer Moon appeared out from between the tents and strolled towards us. “You do know that she doesn’t like any affection.”

“I noticed,” I replied while Winter Sun rushed to her hooves and made her best attempts to look as unhappy as possible.

“Using your evil azure trick on my helpless sister, how dare you!” Summer Moon jokingly said while lowering her head to take the spot her sister had just left.

“I did not… I wasn’t, I…” Winter Sun tried to deny any accusations.

“It’s alright sis, I’ll take it from here.” With loud purring, Summer Moon appreciated the head pats and fondling through her mane. “I will take this evil azure tricks for you.”

With a huff and red cheeks, Winter Sun turned around and vanished in the direction her sister had just come from.

“Spoilsports,” I said.

“I would never,” Summer Moon replied with loud purring.

“Greedy Spoilsports,” I clarified.

***

“Mom,” I pushed the tent tarp aside and entered. “Mom, can we talk?”

“Sure, sweety.” Mom placed the map she was holding back on the table. “What is it?”

“I…” I looked around. “Is Kindling here? I haven’t see him for the last few minutes.”

“Your brother said he wanted to hang out with Wind Root and Raising Ebb while we wait for Big Softy and Night to come back. I assume they’re playing hoofball or something. Do you need something from him?”

“No, I was just curious if he was around.” I approached her and came to a halt next to the table. “Actually, I wanted to speak with you, without anycreature listening.”

“Oh?” I could see Mom's stance shifting from mildly interested to motherly curious. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“It’s about me and Illu…”

Mom's expression turned as impenetrable as stone. Well, for a dragon, stone was everything but impenetrable, but you get the idea.

“Mom,” I took a deep breath. “I am a full grown mare now. It is time for you and Dad to let me make my own decisions.” With these words out, my heart started to beat twice as fast, and I could feel my fur standing on end due to how nervous I was.

Mom however, took her time with her answer. She moved around the table till we stood eye to eye.

“I am all ears,” she simply said.

“I want you to,” my voice lost a lot of its force at this point and turned rather timid, “stop interfering with my love life.”

“I don’t have anything against your relationship with Illuminated Cavern,” Mom stated.

“Moooom,” I could feel how my cheeks reddened. “You know what I mean.”

“And you know what my thought are on it,” she replied.

“Yes, but you’re forcing me to adhere to your pony standards. I am not a pony, Mom, I am a kirin.”

“Which means you are half pony. And some things are not proper for either dragons or ponies.”

“But that’s for me to decide, not you.”

“I am responsible for your well being as well as your education on proper behavior. And getting too excited with your batfriend is really nothing you should do at your age.”

“You weren't much older when you and Dad…”

“Fiery!”

“It’s the truth. And opposed to you, Illu and I are using protection.”

Mom snorted loudly. “If we had known that Fortuna had her hooves in it we would have too! And just because I overstepped the line doesn’t mean you have to too!” She turned around and started pacing through the tent. “And even with protection, it’s not one hundred percent safe! You really don’t need to make me a grandmother just yet!” She came back and grabbed my claws. “Fiery, your dad and I are very grateful for having such wonderful kids, we wouldn’t trade you for anything in the world. But, a pregnancy is a serious thing, and more than just a bit frightening. More so with having a partner from a different species. I don’t mind your relationship with Illuminated Cavern at all. Just, I don’t want you to rush something, okay?”

“Illu and I are in love, Mom. We are not rushing anything. We just…” I couldn’t stand her gaze anymore and looked to the side, “we just want to… you know.”

Her voice turned a little bit sour, even though it was clear she tried her best to let it stay neutral. “Oh yes, I know exactly what you want to do.”

“Dad doesn’t mind,” I tried a different approach while keeping my gaze on the floor. “As long as we use protection that is.”

“Big Softy is used to,” she stopped mid sentence, let go of my claws and started again. “Dragons have a very different culture in that regard. For them, a relationship needs to be as much physical as it is mental. It wouldn’t work out for them without the cuddling and, that.”

“And I am half dragon Mom, it is important for me too.”

“It’s important to you to be a bad example for your brothers?” Mom countered. “Oh yes,” she went on when she saw my bewilderment. “Night is watching his big sister closely and how your Dad and I react to how you behave. If you get away with overstepping the line by being naughty with your batfriend, he very well may take that as an example and start to act more dragonlike in your merriment.”

“Night is too young for that, Mom. He wouldn’t go around my merriment and… you know.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh wouldn’t he? He is a full dragon, Fiery. And he is in his puberty phase. Big Softy already warned me about it.” She waved off with a hoof. “Of course he doesn’t mind at all, he is a proud father. But he knew I would mind if now two of my kids were getting naughty.”

“I, ehm… I don’t think Night would do anything in that regard that you would disapprove of.” Actually, I hadn’t thought about that before. Sure, Night is a dragon, they are naughty, but then again, hatchlings listen to their parents, and Night wouldn’t dare to act against Mom’s will. At least for the time being. In a few years that may change, but not now…

“He sure would,” Roary said. “If you ask Dad about it, he will surely tell you he started to be interested in dragonesses at that age.”

“Actually, pony stallions are not much different to be fair,” Calmy added. “Kindling may also start to take an interest in our merriment.”

“You two are not helping!”

“Night may be holding back because I tell him to, true. Though, he also knows your father does not disprove, so he may act on it eventually anyhow.”

“Mom, that’s not the point. I’m not responsible for Night's behavior.” I took a deep breath. “In contrast to you, as you know, he can smell if me and Illu have been having fun together, so if it had any effect on his behavior, it would already be happening.”

Mom went silent for a moment, while the information I’d just given her sank in. “Fiery! You want to tell me th…”

“And I can also smell what you and Dad are doing, or not doing!” I quickly added, believing that changing the topic would help me here.

Now it was Mom’s turn to blush. “What your father and I are doing is none of your business!”

“And what Illu and I are doing is none of yours either!”

“That's completely different!”

“It’s not! You expect me to travel over a continent or two and found a new empire, all while subduing my fellow azure kirins along the way and not want to do something that makes me happy? Not to mention that the gods are involved too, and may or may not try to stop or help me along the way. I’m old enough for all that, but not for a little naughty time with my batfriend?”

With a snort, Mom turned around. “You are not old enough for any of that. Not for conquering Shakirin-La, nor for having funny naughty times with Illuminated Cavern.” She sighed, turned back to me and grabbing me for a tight hug.

“What?”

“I know, Fiery! I know all that! You are barely eighteen and yet have to go on such a dangerous adventure! I don’t want you to have to do this, and I definitely don’t want you to have naughty times till you are at least a hundred and fifty!” She let go of me and took one step back. “And here I am, a mother who can’t stop either!”

“That means… you approve?”

“I do not approve, Fiery! Of course not, though,” a little growl escaped her mouth, “you're your father’s daughter. I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. So I’ll stop hindering you…”

I rushed forward, grabbed her for a hug and purred at her while rubbing my head against her side. “I am also your daughter! There’s a good chance I inherited this side from you and not Dad if grandma’s to be believed…”

I felt Mom tense up in my forelegs after this remark, luckily only for a moment before I could feel a giggle begin to develop in her belly before making its way out of her muzzle.

“If only somepony had told me what it was like to raise half dragon kids!” She yelled at the ceiling while giggling. “And you should know,” she leaned back so we could look eye to eye, “It was your grandma who told your Dad all the good tricks when we first visited my parents!”

Now it was my turn to be baffled. “You mean you know about that? Dad thinks it’s his best secret!”

“Fiery, I’m not an idiot.” She shook her head. “And I know my mother quite well. Nopony would think that Big Softy just happened to get all these new ideas coincidentally while we wereare at my parents house after he had some alone time with my Mom. And, to top it off, my parents most loved picture of me somehow found its way into our lair the day we returned from that trip! A picture that conveniently, neither of my parents have asked to have back, nor consider to have been stolen. It was clear to me my Mom and him had some sort of agreement.” Now a mischievous smile crossed over her muzzle. “And it occasionally comes in hoofy that your dad thought I didn’t know and was afraid I would find out. Gave me quite a few opportunities. Take that as motherly advice for your relationship.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You are the most sneaky pony of all, Mom!”

She smiled while faking blushing. “I have to be, I am dancing with dragons.”

Author's Note

The amazing artwork was a gift by Clarke Otterton

Edits : Schattendrache

Pre-read: QueenChryssalisForever & Schattendrache