Alteris tossed and turned in his sleep. The dragon was having yet another dream of the past. The petite red dragon was running through the mountain side, Alteris running after her. Many would have assumed that her size would have been a determent to her abilities, but if anything, they improved upon them. She was able to get through spaces that dragons of normal size would not be able to. Even Alteris, who was much smaller than other dragons, got a bit tangled up following her.

Then again, that is why he loved Jenna. She made her size work for her, she had a strong sense of justice, but she was always fair. At the same time, though, she was brash and reckless, typically jumping into the fray of things before getting the whole picture. She dove behind a rock. Alteris smiled and stepped forward, peeking around the edge.

What he saw though, was not his mate. He saw the elders, glaring wildly at him. He scrambled backwards out of surprise. This action replicated in real life into the flipping of his body into the wall.

“Ugh!” he screamed, eyes snapping open and gazing around the cavern he called home. Lorleigh was still fast asleep and Avia was wrapped around her. He took a deep breath in and focused on the calm sight before him.

His body relaxed from the fright he had just had, and he laid his head down on the cool rock of the cave. His eyes drifted and looked outside and saw that the sun was not yet to the horizon. Should he close his eyes and try to get some more sleep, or wake the girls up and start the trip early?

That was quickly answered as he saw the little human snuggle closer to his sister. The dragon could also feel his eyes drifting shut, reaffirming how tired he really was. This time, though, when his eyes shut he saw the happy child and his gleeful sister flying through the sky on their way to the future.

~`~

“Is it time to go yet? Shouldn’t we leave?” were the first things Alteris heard once he realized that someone was shaking him. His eyes fluttered open and his head turned to face the offender. As his vision focused he saw both Lorleigh and Avia taking turns shaking him, the little girl pushing with her hands and the female dragon headbutting him. He growled lowly and both girls stopped and looked over.

“Yay! You’re awake!” Lorleigh said. She stepped back and picked up the small bag of supplies she had. “Time to go now!”

Avia nodded and followed her out of the cave, marching in step with the little human. The grey dragon watched and rolled his eyes, head flopping back down onto the ground. What exactly had he got himself into? The two disappeared out the entrance and he reluctantly got up, stretching each leg out as he let out a long yawn.

The sun peaked out from the trees below, telling him that it was just after daybreak. Lorleigh was busy packing her satchel while Avia was stretching her wings out to warm them up. They seemed so eager to launch into the great unknown, so ready to run into the depths that would eventually try to fight back at them.

The small grey dragon walked to the edge of the cliff and looked out into the sky.The past few months had been a perfect for him. Lorleigh had filled the gap that was left in his hear, creating some semblance of family once again. With the return of his sister, he no longer felt alone or secluded from the rest of the world. These were all steps that he should have taken years ago, the back of his mind whispered.

He would not have been ready. This he knew. The pain of last love ones was to much to get over in a timely manner, it was all healing that needed to be done on its own.

He watched the girl put a pack onto his sister’s back, probably made up of her blankets and spare set of clothes. He sighed, realizing how unprepared they still were. The north would get much colder and Alteris was not sure if the extra blankets and clothes would be of much help at all. Hopefully this journey would not result in more pain and suffering on his part.

“Alteris!” the little girl exclaimed while running to him, “I think we have everything and can leave now.”

The sun had barely made it any higher in the sky, but both girls were ready to head off. “Clothes, food, drink?” he asked.

“Yes, brother, she got all of it together.” Avia said, turning her back to him so that he could view the amount of stuff she was carrying.

“I could take some of that for you,” he commented.

“You just carry her. I’m a little bigger, so if any of the material shifts it will not bother my flying as much.”

Alteris glared at her, despite knowing that she was right. Lorleigh was not a bad rider, either. She was able to sit still and knew when to lean as he turned in the sky. Avia’s tailed swished impatiently.

“Are we leaving or not?”

“Yeah, let’s get going,” the grey dragon said.
Lorleigh climbed onto his back, short legs straddling his neck and lanky arms wrapping around him. The dragon walked around for a few moments, allowing himself to grow accustomed to her weight and getting her to center herself properly. He looked over at his sister and nodded. She would take off first, making sure to look ahead and make sure that no dangers were lurking. They would switch who would be in front based on who had Lorleigh riding.

Once Avia was a comfortable distance away, Alteris turned his head back and looked to the girl. “Ready?” he questioned. She nodded her head and the two took off, riding into the distance, staying a few lengths behind Avia.

This was bound to be interesting, Alteris thought to himself as the girl laughed, the wind blowing through her hair.

---

A short chapter, but I felt as though it was done. This is for as part of an on going commission. I'm not going to make him pay for this one though since it took me so long to complete with school ^^

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