“Are you sure you’re ready for this? I mean, the circumstances aren’t the best, and your body is going to be under a lot of pressure, and humans typically have to prepare themselves for doing this sort of thing weeks before they actually fly into No Man’s Land. I’m told that it has been compared to climbing Mount Everest, one of the tallest mountains on your first Earth. A- and the atmosphere was thin there, and it’s possible it will be even thinner in No Man’s Land, and I just want to make sure you’re okay…” Socrates rambled.
“Socks, relax,” Evelyn said, winking at them and opening their mouth, putting in a device not unlike the mouthpiece of a snorkel, and smiling. “With this respirator, I’ll be completely fine. No worries. I designed it with the help of a few other very smart humans. Trust me, will you?”
“I- I’ve only known you 2 months, though…” Socrates weakly said. They knew the argument was weak but they couldn’t help but feel nervous about the whole thing. This was the first time they’d be carrying someone into No Man’s Land, entirely by their own power. Needless to say, the added prospect of carrying someone unfamiliar to the Black Clan made a lump rise in their throat. But they swallowed it as much as they could, because they wanted their new friend to find a home in their family, since she certainly didn’t seem to have anyone who understood her on Cynosure.
Evelyn carefully climbed onto their back, and Socrates could feel the pressure between their wings that was so unfamiliar they almost bucked out of instinct. Almost. “O- okay. I -we- can do this. You ready?”
“Been ready, Socks. Let’s bust out of here, now that juvie won’t ever take me back!” Evelyn crowed.
Socrates lowered themselves to the ground, lifted their wings up, and leapt as high into the air as they could, using the slow but powerful strokes they had seen Rhodey use so many times before. Now they understood why they were so popular among the Black Clan. It was easy to lift oneself off the ground with a heavy load and you stayed higher longer. Evelyn was laughing, or at least screaming between Socrates’ stokes. They were careful not to hit her as they flew higher, and higher, until they could hear Evelyn’s breathing grow laboured and methodical, and they gave one last mighty shove before they found themselves able to not flap their wings and still stay up. Thank heavens for near 0 gravity. Socrates angled their direction to where they remembered the Black Clan staying, and flapped. Evelyn was still laughing albeit breathlessly on their back, and Socrates bent their neck around to see if she was all right. She gave him a big grin and two thumbs up. Socrates returned the smile and picked up speed, seeing a cluster of dragons in the distance and flying closer… closer… until they could hear the laughter and roughhousing that their family was doing. Everything got quiet when they approached. “H- hi, guys.” Socrates said, “I know I’ve been gone a while… b- but I brought a friend with me, that I’d like to introduce to everyone. I’ve been teaching her our language, so don’t worry if your English isn’t very good.”
The entire clan was silent. Not even Rhodey or Amythe said anything. Then, from somewhere in the clan, there was a peal of laughter. “Guys! Can you believe it?! Socrates brought a human here… and she’s their friend!”
The dragon continued to laugh, and soon others were joining them. Even Rhodey was smiling and shaking their head. Amythe was in tears. Evelyn tapped Socrates on the side of their head. “Is… is them laughing a good thing?” she whispered.
Socrates turned to her and shrugged. “I… I do not know. Is there a con- trac- tion there?”
“Don’t,” Evelyn offered. “You don’t know.”
Socrates nodded. “How about you… in- tro- duce yourself?”
“Uh… sure.” Evelyn carefully climbed off Socrates’ back, but didn’t shove away. “H- how does gravity work up here? I need to know I won’t fly away to some far off planet, Socks!”
Socrates offered their tail and Evelyn held onto it. Socrates whipped them up over their head and it was all Evelyn could do to hold on. She screeched. “Woah! Socks! Hang on!” Everyone was looking at Evelyn, and Socrates nodded for her to introduce herself. “U- um, hi. I’m Evelyn. Socrates and I met when I was done dealing with juvie. That’s juvenile detention, so I keep him trouble. I use she/her pronouns, so I suppose you can assume I’m a woman. I’m 18 now, so I’m an adult and this was my only place to go. I… It’s nice to meet you all.”
“Nice too meet you, too,” Rhodey said, flying up to the pair. “Your dragonic languages are good for one so young.”
Evelyn blushed and gave Rhodey a half-smile. “Thank you.”
“How do you think we should greet our new guest, everyone?” Rhodey called out. “Perhaps a dinner with them as the guest of honor is suitable?”
The clan cheered. Evelyn flushed. “Ah! Y… you don’t have to!” she assured.
“But we want to!” Rhodey said, evidently quite pleased. “And I’m sure that if Socrates likes you, you’ll be nothing but perfect for the clan!”
Evelyn laughed somewhat awkwardly. “Wow. Th- thank you. Really. That means so much.”
Rhodey smiled. “Come on, everyone! To the big moon for dinner!”
Evelyn was visibly unsure about how this might have happened. She was sitting next to Socrates on the largest moon orbiting Cynosure, surrounded by dragons who were actually amicable to her and rather accepting of her presence. As if she were always there, and no one ever saw her as just a no-good pirate. Rhodey settled in next to her on her left, and Amythe sat next to Rhodey. “So, then, Evelyn. How did you and Socrates meet? And be honest, it’s not like we can arrest you or anything,” Rhodey said with a light chuckle at the end.
“Ah, well, funny you should say that, because I was trying to get out of juvie, just to walk around, you know? Except, the thing is, I was almost caught. And not wanting to add on my sentence and get sent to an adult prison, I ran to try and find a place to hide. Now, this just place just so happened to be by the Stardust Dunes, right? And I ran through them, hoping they’d give up on looking for me. But they didn’t, not for ages. So I ran through the Dunes until I found these clay structures, like giant bowls or… or a small pool. I had no idea they were dragons’ nests, and no idea that they would be occupied. I ducked under the rim of one, and lo and behold there was a dragon there! And they knew English, which meant we could actually talk to each other, which helped immensely those first few weeks. Eventually I started to get the hang of speaking your language, and well, here I am,” Evelyn explained with a shrug.
Amythe smiled amicably at her and Rhodey snorted. “Socrates got themself into some deep, dark waters there. You sure you can handle it, young one?”
Socrates laughed awkwardly and said, “I’m not as young as I once was, I can handle myself. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Rhodey looked a bit skeptical but the smile never left their face. “I trust your judgment, young one, more than I trust others. If you say you can handle it, then I’m sure you could handle 5 humans.” Rhodey turned to Evelyn. “Socrates here can get a little self-deprecating. They don’t have a lot of confidence in their abilities.”
“Oh, believe me, I definitely noticed that,” Evelyn said. “But they’re always so quick to assure others that they’re doing their best and that’s fantastic. It’s really sweet.”
Socrates blushed next to them. “I’m just saying facts,” they mumbled. Usually by this point they would have disappeared, but they wanted Evelyn to be comfortable so they sat next to her while she and Rhodey dominated conversation.930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBItam2kxl
Amythe looked over at them and Socrates turned to them. “I think she’s a keeper,” they giggled.
Socrates turned self-conscious again and started to hide their face in their paws when Evelyn tugged on their leg. “Uh, Socks? You okay?”
“Oh, yeah, fine. Just thinking, you know?”
“Oh. ‘Course I do. I mean, look at who you’re talking to! I would space out all the time when we were talking!”
Socrates laughed, already recovering from the sudden embarrassment. “I never wanted to be rude and bring it up, but you did do that often.”
Evelyn giggled and nodded. “Yeah, sorry about that, Socks.”
Socrates waved her off. “Water under the bridge. Do not worry about it.”
Evelyn smiled. “I’m glad I got to meet your family. This is amazing!”
“You are welcome back any time,” Rhodey assured. “And you’re easily understood in our language, which only endears you to everyone else.”
Evelyn blushed and scratched the back of her neck. Socrates could tell she had enough attention for a while, even by her own standards. “Yeah, but Rhodey, I think she’s getting a little overwhelmed at the moment. I should probably take her down to the planet.”
“You sure you can handle that, young one?” Amythe asked.
Socrates smiled and nodded. “Absolutely. You ready, Ev?”
Evelyn nodded and gave them a huge grin. “You are confident. It’s a good look on you.”
Socrates chuckled. “Let’s go, you dork.”
Evelyn hopped on their back, and they left.
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