Creatures Of Sonaria: Sands Of Time

Epilogue

       "You made it!"

       "Of course I did. Did you have doubts?"

       "No, not at all."

       "Good. I brought food."

       Dune had come through the entrance of the Groven Oasis carrying a dead elder Doragonix on her back that was carefully placed between the spines on her shoulders. It took a bit longer for her to get there because of it, but it was worth the effort.

       "Oh, I've never eaten a photovore," Aire said, walking up to Dune to quite literally lift the weight off her shoulders, her small jaws clamping around the back of it's neck. She used her tail to signify Dune to follow. She was happy to oblige.

       The Groven Oasis was a much prettier place. More colors, more flora, more everything. The flowers grow everywhere as well as large trees growing around the outside of the dome-like rock structure. 

       They eventually sat next to the lake to hang out. Aire sat down the doragonix and lowered to lay down on her back. Dune decided to join in by laying down on top of her despite Aire's protests. Dune realized that she was surprisingly soft as she rested her chin on Aire's chest. It was a struggle to make her limbs fit, but eventually she made it work.

       "You're heavier than I anticipated you would be," Aire pointed out, using her first front set of legs to awkwardly wrap around her lower neck. "I would've assumed you'd be lighter with how thin you look."

       "And your fur is soft," Dune replied, smiling. Dune's sight landed on a small yellow flower and reached for it. Once she had, she stuck the stem through two of the thick spines of the crown on the back of her head and sat up to look at her. "You're pretty when you have yellow on you," Dune complimented. 

       Aire reached one of her forearms to the flower to adjust it and smiled. "You really think so?" She asked, tilting her head.

       Dune leaned forward to press the end of her snout to hers. "I know so," she answered, wrapping her tail around Aire's. Her's was more flexible than Aire's and was able to wrap around her upper tail fin.

       Oh, I almost forgot! Dune thought, now reaching behind her to pull out a small clam shell from the lowest scale on her neck. "Here, it's a gift."

       She handed the grey shell to Aire, who carefully took it in her paws and inspected it. "Is it appetizers for the doragonix?" she joked.

       "No, no. Not food. I made something I thought would look pretty on you," Dune said, getting off of Aire and sitting down to her left. The anticipation was killing her though. Would she like it? What if it's ugly? Oh aereis, it's probably not even finished yet! What if I gave it to her unfinished?

        Many thoughts raced through her mind as she watched Aire open the shell. All the insecurities Dune had instantly vanished into nothingness as she looked at Aire's wide eyes and smile.

       Carefully, Aire lifted the looped item out of the shell with one claw as it hung there, droplets of glass gleaming as the sun shone on them. Aire used her paw to hold the lower hanging part where the glass was. 

       "Oh Dune it's absolutey beautiful!" Aire said, wrapping it around her paw. "How did you make this?"

       "Well, I got the droplets from Armolten when the had a lot of sand on her mane for some reason," Dune said as she stepped forward to take the creation and help put it around Aire's neck. "Then I asked a morinus if I could use some of its fur because it's the only creature I knew with really really long strings of fur. I carefully braided the fur and carved holes in the drops and put the fur through the holes until... well, tying it all together."

       The jewelry looked just as beautiful on her as the flower did. 

       Aire wrapped her forearms and wings around Dune tightly. "I love it," She said, easing Dune drastically.

       "So, are we gonna let our food rot or are we going to eat it?" Aire asked, gesturing one wing to the doragonix left in the grass. 

       "Of course not," Dune said, walking over to tear the tail off of the photo-carni. 

       After they had eaten as much of what filled them, they went on to talk and explore the Groven Oasis, meeting the locals and even the ruler, which was a saukuryn named Alsporos. 

       The rest of their day went well, and they decided to climb to the top of the Groven Oasis to watch the sky before having to head back to their oasis, Skeleton's Mesa.

       The two creatures were laying on their backs next to each other staring at the sky as it was painted with warm colors of reds, oranges and yellows as well as hints of purples and pinks. The higher up, stars could be seen fading in. Behind them, the moon was rising from behind the snowy mountains. 

       The silence wasn't as awkward as it would be. Aire's tail rested on top of Dune's.

      "Do you ever wonder what the future will look like once we aren't gone?" Aire asked, turning her head to look at Dune.

       Dune nodded. "Sometimes," she replied. "And it's usually out of our control."

       "Not all the time," Aire said, reaching a paw into the air and spreading her claws. "We can still control some things when we're alive."

       "But there's also some things we can't as well," Dune pointed out. "like change. Sure, you can control some types of change, but it's pretty hard to change some things."

       Aire shrugged. "Change is a complicated thing to control. There's just some natural changes that are just... a part of life. Such as the rising tides, the cyle of the sun and moon, and the weather."

       "What about minds?" Dune asked, glancing over at her. "Some creatures are hard to change. They have opinions and ambitions, and you can't always change those as easily as you think."

       "But it's possible," Aire said. "Like how I got to change Skirra, Amara and Rhias's way of thinking."

       "Yeah, well not Igiris's," Dune said, muttering Igiris's name with hatred. "That good for nothing, pompous sand eater only cared about power."

       Laughing, Aire sat up and nudged Dune's shoulder. "I know, right?" Aire agreed, resting her lower forearms on her knees. "Creatures like that can't be changed. At least, not as easily as others."

       "Mhm," Dune hummed in agreement. 

       Once again, they sat in silence. Now the sky was darker, and there were more stars that gleamed brightly like Aire's eyes. 

       After a few minutes, Dune spoke up again. "I'm also scared about what life will be like after we die. What new changes there will be."

       "So am I," Aire replied, reaching to grab Dune's larger talons with her smaller paws. "But at the same time, there's no point in worrying because we'll be gone, and it won't be our problem."

      "I hope I die next to you," Dune said, moving closer to rub her head against Aire's hood.

     "Agreed," Aire said, using her left wing to cover Dune up now that it was getting cold.

      

And I get my happy ending with the creatures I love.