"I love Spider-Man, I grew up on comic books. That used to be my dream job was like, comic book illustrator. Yeah. When they were filming the most recent Spider-Man, I went and visited Z (Zendaya) at her place in Atlanta while they were filming and got to see the set and stuff in their little bunker that Ned and MJ stay in and stuff. Yeah, I came by. And it was insane."
So… post-Imriel Trilogy, we know that Imriel and Sidonie have kids and Alais and Conor have three daughters. How close a relationship would the Sidonie’s kids and Alais’ kids have had to each other? I would expect them to be fairly close since Alais and Sidonie had a close relationship, but in Naamah’s Kiss it’s stated that two of Alais’ daughters joined the Maghuin Dhon eventually… So were Alais’ and Sidonie’s kids not that close after all?
Gale, Imriel and Azzura bounded down the forest trail, the large guardians jumped over fallen branches and rocks, stirring up leaves and undoubtedly trouble. But that wasn't important to the group of them, as they frolicked through the woods.
Gale leapt, his light gray scales dappled by the sun through the leaves and tackled his much larger brother, Imriel laughed as they rolled off the path into the bush, leaves crunching underneath them, Azzura slowed to wait for her cousins to reemerge from the woods. She shook her head, and spread her blue wings to catch a bit of the light, "are you two done rolling in poison ivy or not?"
Gale popped back out, leaves clinging to his armor and gray horns, he blinked at her with a friendly grin, "oh come on now Azzura." He flicked his massive steel wings to fling bits of foliage and bugs off, "we're just having fun."
"And probably rolling in poison ivy and who knows what else," she pointed out, as Imriel's midnight form slunk out of the shadows, clawing leaves off his horns and picking them off his hood.
Gale stuck his tongue out at her, "spoilsport. Look, we're just out here to train, but we can't seem to find anything to train against." He sat down heavily, mouth curled into a frown, he turned to Imriel, "Do you have any idea why everything is hiding?"
"Three large dragons charging through the woods? Can't imagine why everyone isn't out to greet us," Imriel remarked dryly, turning to their cousin as if to say 'this is why you're in charge.'
Gale huffed indignantly at his brother and lightly swiped at him, "whatever." He shook off, Azzura stepped back as it came flying towards her, feathers, bugs, various plant life and twigs. Gale grinned at her, pink eyes gleaming with amusement.
"You'd think a nature dragon would like this kind of aesthetic."
"You probably have ticks in your beard," she replied flatly, Gale's shriek made her grin, she jerked her head, and once her cousin had finished panicking, her rejoined her on the path, Imriel settling in on her other side.
"We should probably hunt down some food and then go back," Azzura glanced up at the sky, the sun was low in the sky, not setting yet, but if they wanted to make it back at a reasonable time they'd need to leave soon. She turned to Imriel, "I know you're good at sneaking, but how about we make it a competition?"
"Not much of one against my brother with lead feet over there."
"You two are so mean to me," Gale mockingly raised one paw to his forehead, "how will I ever bare it?"
"You'll live," Azzura rolled her eyes, but she couldn't quite hide the smile, and turned to Imriel, "what do you think though?"
"I mean we might as well, because together like this we aren't going to find anything," Imriel looked around the woods, "and as long as we stay in shouting distance we should be safe."
"I'm sure Gale can shriek if he runs into trouble," Azzura teased, Gale pouted at her, before he smiled, it was impossible for him to stay mad she was pretty sure, the permanent middle child, always teased but always happy to settle it.
"Yeah, yeah, see what happens if you get in trouble, I won't come bail you out!" He warned, waving one claw at them, Azzura turned away from him, they all knew that was a lie. They'd drop everything and anything for each other.
The trio spread out, almost immediately she lost sight of Imriel, for as large as he was, he simply vanished into shadows, it was amazing to watch. Or not watch.
Gale lumbered off, she loved him but Imriel was right, he walked like he was made of metal. She followed the path for awhile, long enough that she couldn't hear Gale's heavy tread, before she dropped into a crouch and slunk off the path. The woods reminded her of her childhood, roaming under massive trees, their roots tied together in gnarled knots, resembling a rocky cliff more than a forest floor. She wished she had a mirror's eyes, but she could make do with her own, she'd catch something easily out here.
She followed a trail in the leaves, something had passed through. With any luck it would be one of the stags, an easy catch for her, even as inexperienced as she was. With any luck.
Her tread was silent, eyes trained on the trail, which turned out to be a mistake.
She emerged from some bushes to find herself no longer in the woods. A clearing had opened up and she'd found what had left the trail. A group of druids turned to stare at her, obviously surprised at the sudden prescience of a dragon.
This was a mistake, was her first thought, as she squared her shoulders, watching the way the druid's leaves almost seemed to bristle like bird's feathers. She bared her teeth and let out a loud roar, one bound to summon her cousins from wherever they were.
The druids were readying their magic, slowly she stepped back, she would not turn her back on them but if she could get far enough back perhaps she could be safer. She could certainly use the trees for cover. There was no taking this many, not on her own, and not even with her cousins beside her. This was more than any team of dragons could handle.
Gale leapt out from the bushes, leaves once more caught on his horns, but pink eyes blazing with anger as he glared at the druids, snapping at those nearest to them, and took his spot at her left flank, wings raised to make him seem larger. At least if anything happened they'd told his parents where they were going.
The two dragons bared their teeth at the druids, who slowly advanced upon them, some with wicked grins, they'd had fought their kind earlier in the day, easy then when it was only two against the three young dragons, now it was impossible odds for her and Gale.
One druid darted forward, Azzura snapped her head towards it, in time for the druid to be caught by a slash of glowing pink claws. Imriel had appeared out of the shadows he'd once sank so easily too, melting out of them stripe by stripe.
"What are you doing just standing there? Run!" They didn't need to be told twice, the three dragons turning on their heels to sprint through the woods as they had earlier, magical bolts flying overhead.
Azzura ducked and avoid a particularly nasty looking bolt that took a chunk out of a tree, splinters raining down on her. Gale's heavy tread was easy to track, now on her right, while Imriel flickered in between trees.
They ran on, swerving around trees, ducking to avoid vines and branches, when Azzura heard a strange sound. She turned to look over, Gale threw his head back and laughed, before leaping forward over a tree trunk, Azzura couldn't help it, she had to laugh as well, as they raced back to the path, almost tripping over every tree root, but at the same time magic seemed to rush through her veins, pushing her on as they sprinted through the woods.
She could hear Imriel's deep laugh as well as they re-converged towards the path. She broke the treeline, in time for Gale to crash into her side, the two of them stumbling into Imriel, who toppled over, leaving them sprawled on the ground in a panting pile of scales, wings and limbs.
"Are they still chasing us?" She asked, lifting her head to peer over Gale behind them. It would seem they were safe now. Gale was still laughing, eyes bright with joy, "that was fun!"
"Asides from the part where you two wanted to take on every druid in the woods, sure," Imriel rested his head on Azzura's shoulders, he let out a winded chuckle, "what were you two thinking?"
"Hey, we didn't know where you were, surprise surprise," Azzura gave him a dirty look, “and I wasn’t about to turn my back to a hundred angry druids.”
“And I wasn’t going to leave Azzura!” Gale defended himself, Azzura reached over to pull a leaf off his horn.
“Thanks Gale.”
He smiled back at her, before flopping onto his side, grinning slightly, “glad you finally joined us down here in the poison ivy.”
At that Azzura could only laugh, falling back against Imriel, until all three of them were left laying on the forest floor, shaking with laughter as leaves fluttered around them.
