The Curse's Claws

Chapter Five

Celni's assertive posture deflated like a balloon. "I... I didn't..." she hung her head.

"There's always two sides to a story." Lunar wrapped his wing around her and drew her close. "It breaks my heart what happened to your city, your people. But understand that I did what I did so that my people would be set free. That they would be home."

She watched the reuniting families. The sounds of laughter, joy, and relieved sobs filled her ears. She couldn't think of anything to say. Her heart panged with anger, sadness, happiness, and a million other emotions at the same time.

"I'm sorry, Celni. I really am." Lunar murmured.

"I am too," she whispered.

They let go and Lunar gazed at her with kind eyes. "If you need anything, any medical supplies, anything at all—you just say the word."

Celni nodded. "Thank you, but we're fine. You should get back to your patients."

He smiled and tapped her with his tail before padding back into the tunnel.

Celni sighed before turning the opposite way, stepping out into the moonlight of the open camp. She hated feeling this conflicted. It wasn't fair. Why did one side have to hurt while the other was flourishing? Everything was so off balance. Somehow it didn't seem right that she alone would have to fix it all. How was it even possible?

"Sotira!"

She turned her head and saw two water dragons coming up to her. The female was Sephina, one of the dragons she had grown to be friends with the past couple months. "Sephina," she said, letting out a pleased rumble. "It's good to see you!"

"It's so good to see you too!" Her eyes were shining as she brought forward the male water dragon that was next to her. "I want you to meet someone. This is my brother, Qualu."

"This is your brother? I didn't know you had a brother!" Celni turned her gaze to him, eyes wide. "It's so nice to meet you!"

Qualu dipped his head. "You as well." His eyes were bright with happiness too. He was pressed up against his sister as if they had been stuck together like glue.

Celni's eyes trailed down to his back, where there were two wing stumps. Her heart clenched. "I'm sorry about what happened," she said.

He smiled. "It's alright. I'd trade those old wings in any day if it meant I could be with Sephina again." The siblings rubbed heads together affectionately.

"Hey, have you seen any of the others? Were they part of the battle?" Celni asked.

Sephina shook her head. "Us younger warriors were all told to stay home. I've seen Zakten around here somewhere, but Kulliras is back at the forest village and Keltaril is in his cave."

Zakten, a venom dragon, and Kulliras, a forest dragon, were both dragons who had been in her training group. Keltaril was the fire dragon who had found her after she had first transformed into a dragon.

"He's still in his cave?" Celni's eyes narrowed. "Isn't his bullet wound healed already?"

When the humans had launched an attack on the dragon camp, Celni had been caught in a fight against Jahier and his newly engineered gun. Keltaril had jumped in front of her to protect her, but had taken a bullet in the process.

"It's... not that." Sephina sighed. "His father couldn't make it back. He's taken it hard."

Celni looked down at the grass between her claws. "Oh. That's... that's got to be difficult."

Sephina nodded. "Just... if you go to see him, avoid the subject."

"Will do."

Celni waved her wing at the siblings before taking off into the air. She rotated her wings to keep with the air currents as she moved in the direction of the volcano. She hovered as she got close to the bottom and saw the dark cave openings covering the sides. Which one was Keltaril's? She couldn't very well poke her head in each cave. It would be like walking through the front door of a house uninvited.