Blue Eyes Clear Skies

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Maaran had no idea what he expected when he arrived to the island that Anthia suspected his pupil to be on but seeing Azora being whipped and her blood being spilt made him incensed enough that he blasted apart the arena chain ceiling while his adrenaline made him able to pick her up and fly off with her to a safe distance away from the arena but unfortunately he couldn't fly her off the island and could only make it to the opposite side where an empty beach was. While she was smaller than him as she was just a juvenile, she was still big enough to present him with a challenge and he knew he would need help with carrying her. "Anthia," Maaran spoke to the tiny dragon that landed next to him as he gently laid Azora down upon the sand and sat next to her. "I need help with carrying Azora. Would you happen to know of any dragons that would be able to carry her to a more safe place? Her injuries are too severe for me to even think about trying to have her fly on her own and my own home is too far for me to carry her that long of a distance."

Anthia looked at the injured dragonling before nodding. "I may know of some but I am unsure of where they are." Anthia said in sadness. "I will fly and ask any dragon that is big enough if they would help fly her to a safer place." She flapped her wings and went into the air. "I'll try and be back as fast as I can!" She then flew off.

Maaran sighed before he looked at his young pupil and started to tend to her wounds. He was thankful that it was quickly becoming dark as humans would be unable to travel in darkness well so he would be able to care for Azora the best he could without much trouble. Gently, he licked her whipping injuries making sure that every single one was free of dirt to prevent infection and as he did this over the next hour or so, he thought back to his actions and the actions those humans did to his young pupil. He hadn't lost control of himself like that for a very long time but when he saw Azora being hurt and smelt her blood, his instincts demanded that he get her out of that situation as quick and as efficient as he could. He frowned and sighed as he admitted that if he hadn't had that temporary loss control, he most likely would have been captured and kept as a prisoner alongside Azora.

He finally finished the cleaning of her wounds before suddenly remembering what he called Azora to Anthia when he was searching for her and he realized that calling Azora his daughter just felt right. He became worried as he didn't want to take her biological fathers place in her life as her father had been the only good memory from her human life she had left and decided that he would speak to her on the matter once she awakens. He had discovered what had happened to her actual father when she was three. He went night  patrolling when he heard a story being told by pirated that were on a ship and so he stealthily snuck up on them to hear the story.

Apparently they came across him on a traders vessel as he was picking up a birthday gift to give his daughter and the pirates captured him and the traders as they raided the boat for anything truly valuable. The man had chosen a tiny golden locket that had her chosen name on it and when the pirates demanded to give it to them, he refused to give it up which in turn made the pirates torture him for hours at his insolence. The man was a rather stubborn man and a Viking to boot so he was quite large compared to them and refused to give them any cries of pain which made him a favorite to torture. The pirates remembered the man specifically because while he was tortured over and over again, he also held onto the treasure he was to give his daughter in his hand, never once letting the pirates pry it from him all while saying that he just wanted to see his wife and daughter again. After six months of torture and slavery, the pirates had finally put out of his misery by being tossed into the sea all while still holding onto the locket.

Maaran was truly heartbroken at the strength this father had and loyalty he gave to his family only to be put to death by his own kind just over a trinket. The next day he had sat Azora down and gently broke the news to Azora about her father though he left out the more gruesome details. She didn't speak to him for a week and instead of doing her lessons, she just sat by the fire in silent mourning making it evident that while she had changed into a dragon, her humanity would make her grieve and be affected by things deeper than a natural dragon would. Maaran didn't have to go through things like this when he had been turned as most of the people he cared about had passed in the war he was caught up in before the choice was given to him. While he felt his original parents loss for a time, he didn't feel the grief as badly as Azora did because he had learned to move on for a few years before being gravely injured.