~Mirandiona💎

"Fyko!" Myka calls for the eighth time. "Will you please sit down!" The command does about as much good this time as it had the last seven.

Turning my attention from the pacing man I look back to Myka. "I don't think he heard you." I helpfully point out the fact he was ignoring her.

A green eyed glare is leveled at me but the other woman refrains from saying anything, already well aware that I was anxious and it made my tongue quicker than my temper. Instead she turns back to the limping gate of our pacing compatriot. "Fyko, you're injured. You can't look for them without putting yourself at risk. Just sit down and wait like the rest of us." Mykalah's voice wasn't unkind but there was a definite note of annoyance coloring her tone.

Fyko spins to face us with nothing short of a snarl on his face. "My leg is injured, I'm still perfectly capable of flying!" He shouts back. "There is reason I shouldn't be allowed out their to search-"

"How do plan to take off with only one leg?" I cut him off turning an incredulous scowl his way.

His snarl turns on me as he opens his mouth to retort.

Holding up a hand I stop him short and continue. "How do you plan to land? How do plan to be of assistance in any way that is not overshadowed by your hinderance when Katal and an entire team of guards are out looking for our missing partners?" I ask shooting down any argument he had.

Fyko only seemed to get angrier as he aggressively hobbled toward me. Myka jumps up between us with another guard nearby taking a step forward to do the same.

Flitting my wing at the guard to keep them back, I stand up from where I was sitting against a rock near the medical tents and meet Fyko's gaze head on.

He continues to bare his teeth at me over Myka's wing, but doesn't try to push past her as he hiss, "They aren't looking for Treale, they're looking for Serana! They don't care about Treale he isn't important enough!"

"Fyko, sit down," Myka tries again pushing on his chest.

"You're right." I agree readily. That seems to pull the man short as well as the woman trying to calm him. Both sets of eyes look on mine with a wide eyed stare. "Serana is more important to them and to me. I love her, and they know that. She is their first priority and I will not show remorse over that fact." My tone was growing sharper as I stalked forward, a steely glare on my face forcing Fyko to cower as I step around Mykalah. I bare my teeth in a snarl as I say the rest of my piece. "But Treale is important to Serana, so you can stop your anxious pity party because you and I both know that if they aren't together then one of them is dead."

Fyko noticeably winces at the force of the adjective and its implications. He squares his jaw and looks ready to continue the fight, but I was done. "Go sit down before I finish taking out your leg so you can't stand." I snap coldly, turning away sharply with a flick of my wing in dismissal.

My long clipped strides take me over to the lake's edge where many of the remaining lycans have gathered their own wounded. "Greetings your majesty." Chief Natamaoi calls tiredly, just barely lifting her head from where she was curled up at Sora's side.

Her son had taken three arrows to the torso from the looks of his bandages. Three heavy wrappings of gauze scattered from his right shoulder to his abdomen. The one on the left side of his chest was starting to bleed through which was worrying in no small part due to its position.

"Was he shot in the heart?" I ask as gently as possible, turning my gaze back to the tired woman.

Her black shaggy fur shook more than her head. "No, it missed by mere millimeters. But it did strike his lung." She informs solemnly. "Our doctors seem hopeful he will pull through, but his breathing is poorly and I worry I will lose him as well." Shiny yellow eyes turn back to her son in vigil.

Kneeling beside the woman I gently press my wing into her shoulder. Her words implied a loss and seeing as her mate had died over a decade ago I could reasonably assume it had been one of her children."I'm sorry."

Her ears pin back as she ever so slightly bows her head in my direction, a silent acknowledgment of the sentiment. "I could not help but hear part of your conversation with your friends." She speaks up swiftly changing the topic.

Shifting uncomfortably I draw my wing back to a more respectful position by my side. "Then I am sorry for that too." My voice had gained an edge and it made me cringe internally.

"Your friend is loud and irritable." She points out rather bluntly. "He is simply looking for a fight and found it in you." Her eyes don't stray from the labored rise and fall of Sora's chest as she speaks.

Turning to look over my wing I see Fyko and Myka sitting on the short boulder I had been on earlier. "I do not think he is accustomed to fighting with words and not teeth." I point out returning my gaze to the lycan's profile.

Her lip twitches in the barest hint of a smile before falling flat again. "And your words grow fangs while your heart is missing." Yellow eyes turn to fix on my own blues at this declaration.

Lifting a brow I cock my head just a little to portray my curiosity.

Natamaoi gives another wane smile. "The one with wings of blood and smoke who strays from your side even less than your gryph." She nods to said companion laid out on my other side. "I have known people like you before." She assures turning back to watch Sora.

Furrowing my brow I lean forward just a bit trying to get a better read on her face. "People like me?" I prompt when it seems like she isn't going to continue.

She doesn't look back as she answers, seeming almost to be speaking to her comatose son more than me. "People who keep their heart outside of themselves." She says as if that explained her cryptic words.

Frowning in confusion I gently shake my head, not understanding.

The chieftain apparently catches sight of the movement, as she starts to elaborate. "There are some people who give so much of their vulnerability to someone that losing them causes their kindness to be lost as well, their love, their compassion. It is not a bad thing." She assures, still not looking at me and for that I was grateful. "People like you love whole heartedly and unabashedly. And it is the most beautiful kind of love to bear witness to. But it is the most terrible in equal measure."

My chest was constricting in something like precognitive grief. Every word felt like an arrow to the heart as she described my love for Serana far better than I ever could. It was terrifying.

"To lose the most vulnerable part of yourself in losing that person unbridles a viciousness I have seldom witnessed in anything else." Natamaoi shifts and stands, turning darkened yellow eyes down on me. "Love like yours has fangs." The words struck me in the chest like a hammer on an anvil.

It was truly unnerving to be so seen for what I was. For it to be so apparent in my actions since Serana's absence from my side. Taking a shuttering breath I too rise to my feet and meet the lycan chieftain's gaze head on.

She stares back with hard eyes, dark and unmoving, until the reflected flash of metal glinting in the sun dances across her muzzle and turning yellow eyes gold for a brief moment. Her eyes soften and a gentle smile warms them again.

Thoroughly confused at the sudden shift in demeanor I visibly hesitate before her.

"And today you need not bare them any longer. Your heart has returned." She points with her muzzle back over my shoulder.

Turning sharply I'm assaulted by the chaos that has kicked up all around me. Hearing shouts for the medics attention draws my gaze towards the tents. I see Fyko and Myka on their feet looking up at the fast approaching group of guards with two burdened prel.

A flash of red catches my eye and has my heart seizing in my chest. She's okay! All the air rushes out of me as I catch sight of her flying between the two mounts.

Before I'm conscious of the decision my legs are carrying me back towards the medical tents. I fall in on Fyko's left side slipping my shoulder under his arm and wrapping my hand around his waist to take weight off his injured leg as all three of us hurry to meet the search party.

The man doesn't say a word as he puts half his weight on me while Myka strides ahead of us.

Practically pulling him after me I follow as quickly as I can around two tents and into the small clearing that was set up at the edge of the tents' area. Turning the last corner I see the party already on the ground and pulling Katal off one of the prel.

My breath catches in my throat as I see her limp body draped in the arms of a guard. Her armor was covered in mud and the boot on her right leg was badly dented. Slipping out from under Fyko I leave him to stride toward Katal and the guard holding her. "What happened?!" I demand reaching their side and tilting the general's face toward me.

Slipping my fingers under her helmet I quickly find her pulse point. My wings sag in relief as I find a strong and steady pulse and unlabored breathing. The call of my name has my attention jerking up just before a body collides with me. "Mira!" Stumbling at the sudden force I twist at the hip and wrap the smaller woman up in my arms and wings.

"Serana, thank the Drace. What happened?" I breathe out, tears already leaving trails on my cheeks as I crush the love of my life to my chest as much as the armor will let me.

Serana struggles in my hold until I allow her enough space to reach up and pull off her helmet. Vibrant orange eyes are all but glowing in the fire light around us as tears stream down her face. Serana opens her mouth to reply and a flood comes forth."Treale and I got caught in the blast from the shelf shattering, I was protected by a ledge and some lycans but the one on top was crushing me and he got caught in the blast and died, and then I got up and I found Treale and he's screaming because he's pinned to the ground by a shard of a tree as big as my leg, and it's in his wing and I have to pry it out and he's just bleeding so much, so I make a tourniquet and I put him on my back and start crawling, and I don't know how far I got but I passed out, and a cikier wakes me up and I put Treale on it's back so I can leave to go find help and fly into Katal, literally, and we get back and there's babbo surrounding the cikier trying to get Treale, and we have to run them off and the cikier is pissed off and it tried to go for Katal and she flew up but it still hit her, and Treale fell from its back and the tourniquet broke and he's lost so much blood and he's definitely losing his wing-"

"Whoa, whoa, okay hey," I pull back far enough to cup her face between my hands and force her to look up at me. "Hey it's okay, it's going to be alright. You did everything you could and then some and you got him back." I reassure her, running my thumbs across her cheeks to wipe away some of the tears. "That's more than anyone could have asked."

Tears are still pouring down her cheeks as her anxiety visibly unwinds itself. She gives me a jerky nod with a deep breath, obviously trying to calm herself down. "Skies I hate crying." She laughs humorlessly.

Giving her a weak smile in return I just keep stroking her cheeks until her breathing evens out. Once I'm sure she's calmed down for the most part I move my hands to her neck and lace my fingers. Keeping my voice low and gentle I lay out some goals for her to focus on. "Let's get you out of this armor, cleaned up, and checked out alright?" She gives me another jerky nod and pulls away from me completely.

A throat clearing draws both of our gazes to the side to find Myka a respectful distance away, clearly having been waiting on us. Looking over her wing I spot Fyko parked by the entrance of a tent with a lot of movement and shouting coming from it, presumably the one Treale was taken to. Turning back to the other woman I give her a questioning look.

She glances at me before turning to address Serana. "I wanted to thank you for bringing him back." Her voice is quiet and unusually meek. "We heard, or at least I heard, you tell her majesty what happened. So thank you." She bows and fans her wings out in a way I know hurts with all the bruising she has.

Serana sniffles before giving a small bow, mostly just her head, in return. "He's my best friend, I couldn't leave him behind."

Mykalah gives another, much shallower, bow and walks over to join Fyko in his vigil.

Slipping my hand under a scarlet wing I put pressure on the small of her back. "Come on, let's get you out of that armor." I remind her of our first goal.

Her shoulders and wings droop as she nods tiredly, clearly coming down from whatever adrenaline rush had been driving her. Ovah comes up to her other side and lowers his head to push her hand up and onto his beak. He clicks and purrs at her in a way I think was meant to cheer her up.

Serana laughs softly and scratches at the feathers on his head. "I missed you too."

Smiling softly I give her a gentle push to get her moving towards the waters edge. Once we're at the shore and her armor is off I can see just how much blood is caked onto her that the armor hid. None of it appears to be hers at first glance.

As she gets in the water and the blood starts to come away with each rinse, my first assumption seems to be correct. Letting out a relieved sigh I make sure to get all that I can out of her feathers, a task that was easier said than done since I couldn't tell what was blood and what was just her feathers.

At some point someone came by and grabbed Serana's armor for cleaning, and someone else brought us soap to get the most stubborn of the blood and grime out. After what had to have been a good few hours of cleaning, Serana was barely keeping her own head out of the water.

"Come on." I whisper stepping in front of her and crouching down to lift her legs onto my waist. "Can you wrap your arms around my neck darling?" It takes a moment for her to respond but eventually she complies with the request and firmly hugs my neck, burying her face between her own shoulder and my jaw.

Turning my head just enough to plant a kiss on her temple, I stand up straight pulling both of our soaked frames most of the way out of the water. Wading the short distance back to the shore I make my way back to the medical tents. Some of the doctors had clearly been waiting as I was immediately ushered into one of the tents by a woman with pale gray wings. "Set her on the bedroll, stomach down." She flicks her wing off to the left to indicate an empty roll about an arms length from another with an occupant.

Recognizing Katal's wings as she lays on her side facing away from me I feel my heart constrict at the sight. Her right leg was elevated and in a splint, clearly having been broken by the cikier's strike, there was bruising all across olive skin on her right side and a deep gash on her hip that had been stitched.

Kneeling next to the empty bedroll I try to remove Serana's legs from my waist, but she locks them and tightens her grip with a small whimper. Making a purr rumble in my chest, I nuzzle her ear and blow air out my nose sharply enough to tickle her wet skin.

She jerks away from my prodding but doesn't loosen her grip. Instead burrowing her face further into my neck and letting out a quiet whine.

The sound coupled with the desperate cuddling had my heart wrenching in my chest. Conceding that she wasn't letting me go, I shuffle onto the mat and lay down on my back which in turn forces her to release her legs around my waist in favor of a straddle.

Running the palms of my hands up and down the outside of her thighs, I try to make her relax again while warming up her chilled skin.

The gray winged doctor comes back into view standing over us. She takes one look at the way we're positioned before sighing with a small shake of her head. The woman's voice is gentle as she kneels beside us. "I take it she won't let go?" She doesn't look at me, instead beginning her inspection of Serana's wings and back.

The woman atop me whimpers again and presses herself even closer. "I didn't have the heart to really make her." I admit, moving my hands to her waist to try and stimulate blood flow there as well.

The other woman hums noncommittally and falls silent for a few moments as she continues her checkup. As she moving on to the arch of her right wing she speaks up again. "It is likely a trauma response. She has been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours. You are her mate, you make her feel safe. It's a reasonable and healthy response, I would be more concerned if she wasn't so openly upset." She assures, pausing in her evaluation to give me a reassuring look before her eyebrows quirked up. "I would also like to check her front so we will need to get her to turn over."

Letting out a soft huff of laughter I plant my palms on either side of Serana's ribcage with the heels of my hands pressing into her secondary pectorals. "You heard the doctor." I prod the woman on top of me gently pushing against her torso to encourage her to move. A whine bordering on a growl vibrates against my jaw as she reaffirms her hold on me. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise. You are going to be very lucky if I let you out of my sight ever again."

Serana groans but finally unlocks her arms and allows me to push her up. With the doctor's help we manage to get her on her back and against my chest. The moment she is resettled she turns her head and buries her nose under the curve of my jaw. I lean into her just as much, purring deeply in my chest.

It doesn't take long for the doctor to finish her check up, confirming that aside from severe bruising and exhaustion, Serana was physical fine. Her emotional state was quite obviously a different story but that could be felt with tomorrow.

Serana was passed out by the time the gray winged woman dismissed us, and I struggled to lift us both off the ground without waking her up. After a monumental effort I finally manage to find my feet and have Serana cradled in my arms, wings and torso pressed to my right arm leg draped over my left.

Stepping closer to Katal's prone form I lean sideways over her body to check on her before leaving. Light reflects off a barely open eye gazing back at me either having just woken up or fighting sleep.

Giving her a small but grateful smile I bow my head. "Thank you for bringing her back."

Katal gives me a wane smile in return. "When have I ever broken a promise to you?" Her voice is quiet and teasing but I heard the care and underlying pain.

"I can't think of any at the moment." I tease back. "I'll let you know if one comes to mind."

A chuckle vibrates in the general's throat as she closes her eyes fully. "I won't hold my breath then. Breath is too important a thing to hold after all."

The unexpected quote makes me laugh fully, loud enough to make Serana stir but it brought a grin to Katal's face so I didn't feel to bad about it. "Your tongue mustn't be very important at all then." I quote back the response.

That makes Katal laugh but not for long as she clutches her side clearly upsetting her injuries. "Take her to bed and leave me in peace you bloody droc." Katal half hisses half laughs.

Chuckling softly I turn toward the tent flap and do as I'm told.

~💠~