Come home, my son.
You’ve been so confused and wayward.
Come home to me, my son.
I can teach you to be yourself again.

---

The tragedy of her family is decades old now, but not old enough for the memory to fade. The screams of her daughter piercing the sunrise skies as her son dug into flesh were the subject of many a nightmare and the sound of the thud of her mate's body against the ground sickens Dhrauhna to the pit of her stomach, even now. Yet she did not, and does not, blame Yrauhl for what happened. While she was cornered, sinking back against the boulder she slept by with nowhere to run, there was a flash of color in Yrauhl's eyes and a twitch in his snarl. His expression changed, ever so slightly, and he turned and fled from her like a frightened deer. Dhrauhna somehow knew, through little but a mother's understanding, that an evil spirit must have taken over her son.

Dhrauhna became convinced a piece of him broke through and did the only thing he could do to keep from killing her against his own will too- run. Unwilling to accept that he was lost to her as well, Dhrauhna became determined to find him at all costs. She refused to lose last of her family to the curse that stole her son away from her, and followed. For decades she tracked him. She followed at a distance long enough that she would not encounter him before she was ready, but close enough that his tracks would not age to the point of uselessness. She meticulously observed his actions, however gruesome they became, to learn about him and what ailed him. With a mother's love and a dragon's determination, she steeled herself for the encounter to come. Among glimmering gems and dripping stalactites of this dark cave, the time of that encounter was now. She would banish the curse from him, or die trying.

Today was the day she reclaimed her son.

---

A wonderful piece by Arty! This one took some time but ooh boy was it well worth it.