The dragon listened as an unusually warm autumn wind swept over the field and ruffled the leaves above him. The subtle din in the moment allowed his body to slack against the tree trunk. It had been too long since he’d felt a peaceful night such as this. With slack in his jaw, he let out a shallow yawn and sustained a small jet of fire in front of his face. The heat radiated and bounced off his scales, the source casting a dull red glow over the ground, bark, and branches above.
As the flames faded, the drake heard a hiss from above. “Some of us would like to rest, ‘ret.”
Unfazed, Leveret leaned his head back and stared up into the foliage. “Do you remember,” he inquired.
The world above was blank, save for the blanket of stars that sat in the distance and the dull green leaves, intermittent with shadows, that rest before it. The night was always beautiful in his eyes. So calming, so welcoming. “Remember what?” a flash of silver drew the dragon’s eyes to where the Abyssinian was perched above him. “'The day we meet?' Yeah, I remember.” The tom whistled and stretched, their collection of rings and bracelets jingling as they moved. “You bring it up every time there's a night like this. Not like I'd forget, it was only a few weeks ago.”
“It was mon-”
“Months, either-or.” He rotated his back off the branch and laid with his chest down, dangling his silver-trimmed boot in the air.
Scales scraped against the bark as the dragon lowered his head to look out over the field towards the horizon beyond. “No, not the day we met, Poussin.”
There was a pause above. “Remember what, then?”
“Before.”
The pause was longer this time.
Hanging over the gently swaying wild grass was the bright, brilliant moon. The wing swept over the field again, rustling some leaves from above. Leveret momentarily closed his eyes as one or two bounced off his face, tickling his nose and causing him to sneeze a spurt of flame. A few leaves, singed and smoldering, fell into his lap and onto the ground around him.
“Please don’t burn down my bed.”
“Well?”
A light, rhythmic thud came down the tree and echoed against the drake’s wings pressed against it. Leveret could tell the tom was patting his tail against the branch, but not whether it was out of frustration or stress. “No, not really.” The wind spun through the air, lazily rolling over a swathe of the prairie as it passed on its way. This mesmerized the dragon but hardly registered in the Abyssinian’s eyes. He’d never much cared for the night. “I remember… a weight. I don’t know why, or what.” A low whirring noise filled the air until Poussin addressed his companion. “Yer burnin’ fumes, mate. What's one your mind?”
From below came the sound of a bated breath being released. Its source confessed, “I, I think I saw something in my dream last night.”
“You mean yesterday afternoon?"
“Whatever, same difference.”
“What’d you see?”
“Chains. It was dark, and they were drifting there. Around me. I-” the dragon clinched his claws into his palms, “I don't know if I… if I saw them before or after the water we were in the water.”
A shorter silence followed, quickly broken from higher up. “Yeah. I’ve seen them too.”
“Poussin, do you think we might have been-” Leveret hesitated, “criminals?”
“We aren't now, are we?”
The stars twinkled in the sky, emitting a calm glow as they looked down on the pair. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we are.”
Leaves crunched and twigs snapped as the tom’s metal-clad boots sunk into the earth. The drake hadn't heard them shift off the branch above and startled briefly before seeing Poussin sit down against the tree trunk. “So we've been chased a few times, doesn't mean we've done anything wrong,” there was a pop as the drake’s mouth opened, “lately,” the Abyssinian concluded. He lightly tapped the dragon’s chin, causing them to close their mouth.
The grass in the field bowed as another gust traveled over it. A cloud crept across the moonlit sky, slowly covering the main source of light and dimming the area around the kindred creatures. They sat in the shadow at the base of the tree, one as a witness to the beauty in the night and the other in search of a quick nap. It was some time before the latter split the quiet. “I can't really recall anything before, but I have memories of a crown.”
The drake looked away from the moon as the cloud finally blocked out the last sliver of the moonlight, disguising the grey illusion of a unicorn’s head. He turned to the Abyssinian and asked, “What sort of memories?"
“How heavy it was. This, constant fear while I had it.”
“Did you steal it?”
“I don’t think so. Creatures knew I had it. So many creatures were watching me from every angle.”
“Even the air?” Leveret joked, flexing his wings.
The tom answered with a monotone “Yes.”
The drake tilted his head. “I didn’t know the Abyssinians could fly. Or had a king.”
“They can't and they don't,” Poussin answered with a shrug, “though I couldn’t tell you either way. It's all so… hazy.”
The cloud slowly released the opposite half of the moon. “I know what you mean…” the drake looked out to it just as the lighter face of the pair started to become visible.
The night slowly waltzed on while the two sat there together.
“It might have been a coup,” the dragon postulated.
“What?”
Leveret stood and unfurled his wings, stretching them to work out the sore spots from where they’d rested against the bark. He walked forward a short distance, Poussin patiently watching and waiting. The exposed moonlight glistened off the drake’s rose-tinted scales as he gesticulated. “You had a crown and neither of us can remember anything before we woke up in the water, wrapped in chains.”
“Were the chains really there? And what's a coup?”
The drake stilled his movement, save when his claws brushed together to make a snapping noise. “It's a, a…” Leveret peered into the distance for several moments before snorting out a fireball. “I just had it. It's, when someone's upset or, their weak,” he rubbed his temples between his palms as a frustrated, half-quelled snarl escaped his snout, “And they, they try to change that.” The dragon threw down his claws and turned to stare out over the field. The cloud was almost finished passing over the moon, and the pair could now see the majority of the shadowed pony’s silhouette looking towards its match. “They… try to change it. Through force.”
Poussin stood and slowly walked up behind Leveret. A paw, slowly as to not frighten him, was placed upon the drake’s shoulder as the tom spoke. “So a bunch of creatures didn’t like me, attacked us, and left us there, in the water?” The dragon nodded but added a shrug to the gesture in the next moment. They were both unsure about what had occurred. “But… there wasn’t anyone else there. We were alone. It was just you, I, the cold ocean waves, and those two.” A paw pointed out over the field towards the moon.
“What…” the drake paused.
“Fumes, brother.”
Stirred to speak, Leveret continued. “What if it was me. What if I was the one trying to…”
“Off me?” the tom completed his inquiry. “Then why fight so hard to get me out of the water?” Poussin’s paw found its way to his neck, one claw worming between the heavy silver necklace resting over his shoulder and the deep blue fur beneath it. He pulled the brooch out from under the folds of his jacket and presented the heavy ornament to the drake. “Moon knows I had plenty of weight to drag me down.”
“Why do you wear all that anyways?” The dragon’s wing pushed against Poussin’s wrist to softly nudge it off his shoulder. Leveret turned and walked back to the tree, leaning against it with an outstretched elbow.
The Abyssinian left a lingering gaze towards the moon before circling round to face the dragon. “It just feels right, I guess. Like all these little chats we have while I’m trying to enjoy some peace and quiet.”
Leveret glanced aside. “Sorry...”
“Don’t be,” Poussin approached the drake and gave his arm a playful punch in the shoulder, “it’s you and I. I don’t know who we were before that day, Leveret, but we’re here now. There wouldn’t be a peace to enjoy without you around.”
The drake stood up straight and pulled his arm from the trunk of the tree. In the same motion, Leveret dove his claw past Poussin’s paw and grasped the Abyssinian’s forearm. The tom answered in kind and the two shared an assured glance as their eyes met. A gust blew over the low hilltop and drew their attention away from the tree they stood under. The pair watched as the first shift in light occurred, a slowly spreading band of red-orange hues stretching out across the horizon. Releasing his grip, Leveret stretched his legs and declared “Breakfast then?”
Poussin nodded and the drake turned to walk towards the dusty road in the distance behind them.
The tom turned around to give a parting look at the night around him. A coy smile crossed his face at the sight of the Mares in the Moon. It was gone by the time he went to join Leveret.