The Lost Riders ( On Hold, For Now )

Chapter 15: Spending time together ( Part 2 )

Rune and Beauty were on a beach on the other side of the island, Beauty was looking at the ocean longingly with a sad expression.

Rune: ( to Beauty: ) I know, girl... Maybe one day...

The two then heard something behind them, they hesitantly looked behind them, and Rune lets out a sigh of relief as they saw it was just Astrid and Stormfly.

Rune: Oh thank Thor. It's just you, Astrid. I thought there was a pack of wolves behind us.

Beauty roars happily at Astrid and Stormfly, greeting them.

Astrid: Yeah... I heard you screaming in terror from all the way to my hut. What are you two doing up so late?

Beauty whines before looking out to the ocean again, seemingly to be waiting for something.

Rune: ( sighs ) Waiting...for someone.

Astrid looks at Rune with confusion while Stormfly went to stand next to Beauty and looked at the ocean, seemingly trying to find out what Beauty was looking for. So Rune sits down on the sand and watches the two dragons looking at the ocean.

Astrid: Who are you waiting for?

Rune was hesitant, but they felt like they could trust Astrid enough to tell her some stuff about themselves.

Rune: We're waiting for... Beauty's mate. We wait for him by the ocean every night.

Astrid: She has a mate? How come he's not here with her now?

Rune: He... disappeared and we haven't seen him for about two years now. Beauty and I haven't given up hope that he'll find his way back to her.

Astrid looked at Rune with shock as she didn't take them as a romantic, but she then sat down next to them and began looking at the ocean with them and their dragons.

Astrid: What's he like?

Rune: His name was Paladin, and he was ( chuckles ) a bit of a hot head, but no dragon could be a better match for Beauty than him. Like her, he's not colored like any other Tide Glider you see, he's a bright orange with a yellow and red face. His wings and tail fin are red with black edges, and the tip of his tail fin was a very light shade of gray to almost white. And his brows were black, making him look like he's always pissed. ( laughs )

Astrid laughs slightly at the thought of the dragon Rune described.

Astrid: It sounds like you two got along with each other.

Rune: Yeah, both Beauty and him were kinda my dragons, but... He mostly only let me ride him because I basically raised Beauty.

Astrid: ( surprised: ) You raised her?

Rune: Yeah... I did. I was just a little kid, I took a walk in the woods to avoid my uncle and father arguing with each other. I saw Beauty with her mother...her mother rejected her, probably because of Beauty's color... Beauty's mother was about to attack her, and I... I took the hit to save Beauty's life.

Rune then moves the bang that was covering their scared eye, to reveal a huge and painful looking scar that showed barely any signs of their missing eye ever being there, it looked like that side of their face was melted by acid, making Astrid look at Rune in complete shock. Rune then had the bang cover their scar once again with a frown.

Rune: At the time, I didn't care about how much pain I was in, I just wanted to get the rejected baby tide glider somewhere safe. So, I picked her up, ran into the woods, and took shelter in a small, abandoned dragon den. She was so small and scared, and I... I just wanted to keep her safe, I didn't know why, but I just couldn't let her get killed by her own mother. Someone that's supposed to accept you no matter what...

Astrid saw the sadness in Rune's eye, and she placed her hand on their shoulder, Rune looks at her in surprise.

Astrid: It doesn't matter, you saw that she needed help and made a huge sacrifice to save her. I think what you did for her, was incredibly brave and honorable. That scar just proves it. She and Paladin are lucky to have you, especially her.

Rune blushed slightly before turning back to the ocean.

Rune: I just hope he's okay...

Astrid: If he loves Beauty as much as you do, he will.

Rune: Thanks, Astrid. Sorry, if my scream of terror from being chased by a pack of wolves, woke you up. I have no idea what is the deal with those wolves, we weren't even in their territory.

Astrid: It's alright, but... Why didn't you and Beauty run away instead of defending yourselves against the wolves? From what I've heard from Fig, and your scar, Tide Gliders can fired acid blasts.

Rune: Oh, me and Beauty aren't fighters. We prefer to not hurt any person or creature, we heal, not hurt. Heck, the thought of fighting makes me dizzy and want to pass out.

Astrid: Maybe you just need something to trigger your fighting spirit, you did risk your life to save Beauty.

Rune: Yeah, but I didn't attack her mother, I would be dead if I did.

Astrid: Yeah, but it shows that you are brave enough to protect others.

Rune: Yeah, I guess you're right. But I still don't think I will ever be more than a healer and a alchemist.

Astrid: We'll see.

The two riders and their dragons continued to watch the ocean as the moon was in the middle of the night sky.

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That's it for this original episode, I hope you like it

Feel free to comment on which moment of the two parts of this episode was your favorite.

Till next time my agents of mischief 😜