And just as the drakling made it home, creeping into the silent den, he felt something sticky under his paws. He began to tremble as he approached his nest. Something was stirring inside. He touched the moss only to find the most horrific of sights! All of his candied berries had melted under the heat of the fire! The heat had ruined them!
“That’s not scary at all, Kestrel,” Vivid said. She yawned in boredom and sat up from her place beside the crackling campfire. “I thought someone was going to be murdered.”
The two draki were in a massive cave that was usually lit with a dozen or so torches, though they had extinguished them all for a more ominous ambiance. A cooking fire in the center of the cave had been made larger until it roared like a beast and cast frightful shadows on the wall. All of the cooking supplies had either been charred or moved away in time, though it was more often the former.
“It’s a very scary story!” Kestrel stubbornly replied as he picked up one of the scorched pots and sniffed it before deciding it was good enough and putting it with the ‘keep’ pile. “If I took all your sweets and melted them, you’d be upset too, just like the drakling.”
“Kestrel, if you took my candies and melted them, you would be the one who needed to be afraid.”
Kestrel stood up and kicked dirt over the hissing fire with a huff until it was a more suitable size. “I was just trying to have some fun, you know, and you come and rain on my parade with your criticisms. So why did you even come here?”
Vivid narrowed her eyes slightly. “I live here, Kestrel.”
“And I’m your guest, so you should be nicer to me,” Kestrel affirmed with a snort.
“A guest that burned all my vegetables. By the way, are you going to help me forage for more?”
Instead of answering, Kestrel said, “Let’s go find those pumpkins that Kira was telling us about. I want to try carving them.”
An annoyed look passed over Vivid’s face. “Kira again?” She complained loudly, watching Kestrel’s face to judge his reaction. “Why do you always talk about her?” Frustration prickled her fur as she saw Kestrel shuffle his paws nervously.
“I like Kira. She’s always nice. You could take notes, you know.”
“I’m going to eat all of your candy tonight.”
“This is exactly what I mean.”
Vivid grumbled a bit before following her friend through the autumn-cloaked forest that composed their home. The broad maple leaves had already turned a deep, vibrant red, and the beech and hickory trees broke the crimson ocean with golden speckles. Birds chirped curiously down at the passing draki, and small rodents scurried through the thick undergrowth, but nothing disturbed the tranquil peace until dusk was beginning to creep across the sky.
“Hey.” Kestrel’s voice snapped Vivid out of her quiet reverie, and she looked up to see her friend holding a large gourd in both of his paws. He was inspecting it intently and shaking it softly. “Is this a pumpkin?”
“It’s a pumpkin, yes, but it’s kind of rotten.” Vivid pointed out as she approached. “Look on the back. There are some holes.”
“Well, yeah, I’m not that stupid,” Kestrel said indignantly. “Well, I mean, I’m stupid but not oblivious. I saw the holes. There’s, uh, just something weird.”
Vivid’s tail flicked once in annoyance. “Well, spit it out already. Are we playing a guessing game again?”
Kestrel looked Vivid dead in the eye, his golden eyes glinting, and turned the unusual gourd upside down. A tiny bundle of fur covered in slimy pumpkin innards hit the ground with a thwump! sound. Before Vivid could even ask what it was, the little bundle of fluff began to scream. Not just scream, but wail in such a way that Vivid thought her eardrums would explode from the pressure.
“Kestrel!” Vivid roared as she rushed over to the little furball and began trying to soothe it. Just as she feared, it was a little drakling. As she picked it up, however, she realized there were several problems.
First, this drakling was much too big. A typical baby should only take one paw to hold, but Vivid had to use both forepaws to keep the little one steady. Second, the markings on the drakling weren’t similar to any drakus living in the forest. And lastly, there was no mother around.
The little drakling was screaming still, but as Vivid inspected it, she found it was perfectly unharmed and had no tears in its eyes. More than that, it seemed to be thrilled despite its horrible screaming. It took a deep breath, licked Vivid’s nose, and resumed screaming.
Kestrel came up beside Vivid, inspected the drakling for a few seconds, then stuffed a pawful of goopy pumpkin innards into her mouth. The screaming stopped as the drakling began chewing loudly on the seeds.
“When his mother shows up, we’re dead,” Vivid said adamantly. “Do you see how big this baby is? Do you think it’s a warden?”
“No way.” Kestrel used two claws to shove more pumpkin seeds in the drakling’s mouth. “I mean, it’s not that big. I think. We could always ask Ardune, I guess.”
The two draki met each other’s gaze and cringed. “Absolutely not,” Vivid stated. “Maybe Rogue would know something about it? But her draklings are so much smaller than this one…” she trailed off and sat down on her haunches. “I don’t like this, Kestrel.”
“I think she’s kind of cute.” Kestrel shrugged. “Hey, she has the same colors as you, right? So we can raise her as our own.”
“Kestrel. I have known you for eight sun cycles, and that is definitely the most stupid idea you have ever had.”
“Hey!” Kestrel’s mane bristled slightly. “What about the time I suggested you flirt with that big gaoler so we could get some of his fruit? That was even worse.”
Vivid stared at Kestrel for a long moment before sighing. “You’re an idiot.”
“As you’ve said.” Kestrel scooped up the drakling and put it on his back, carefully balancing it between his shoulders. “Come on, let’s go find Rogue and see what she knows.”
Vivid picked up the destroyed pumpkin and inspected it. “Looks like we can’t carve this, by the way. The little one practically ate it.”
“We’ll find more!” Kestrel chirped. “Now, off to Rogue!” He bounded away with a laugh.
“You’re going the wrong way, Kestrel.”
The drakus whirled around and ran in the opposite direction. “I knew that!”
With a heavy sigh, Vivid followed after Kestrel and the drakling. They walked along the scarlet-strewn forest for a while, idly chatting about the leaves and occasionally giving the drakling more things to chew on so it wouldn’t scream. Eventually, Vivid got so annoyed with the screaming baby that she stopped, scooped the drakling up, and dropped it in a pile of leaves to muffle the cries.
“Hey- oh, that looks fun!” Kestrel said cheerily before leaping directly into the leaf pile. He frolicked for a while before rolling to his back and placing the drakling on his chest. It was giggling now, a nice change from the screaming.
Vivid blinked before shrugging. The baby is just like Kestrel. Or is he just childish? She amused herself with the thought, then threw a pawful of leaves at the pair. “Hey, kids, we need to continue. The moon is rising, and I want to get back home so we can give out candy to the draklings. It’s Hallow’s Eve, remember?”
“I know, I know, that’s why we were telling scary stories.” Kestrel rolled to his paws and placed the drakling on his back again.
“Not-so scary stories.” Vivid corrected, plucking a pear from a nearby tree and offering it to the drakling. It began gnawing on it with gusto.
Kestrel snorted and glanced over his shoulder at Vivid. “They were scary to me, at least. But, you know, if you keep being mean, I’ll give you the baby to carry.” He paused, then giggled. “Look at us; we’re practically a mated couple arguing about our baby!”
Vivid stared at Kestrel for a long moment before sighing. “We are a mated couple. That’s just not our baby.”
“Yes, but once we do have a baby, this will be exactly what it’s like.”
[Break]
“Well,” Rogue paused, clearly trying to pick her words carefully, “it certainly is a cute baby.” The mother drakus was gingerly holding the mystery drakling and glancing between Vivid and Kestrel with a dubious look.
“It’s not ours,” Vivid said bluntly. “I just need to know what to do with it.”
“But you thought it was ours for a moment, didn’t you?” Kestrel’s chest fur puffed up pridefully. “I told you it could work, Vivid.”
“This is a hybrid drakling,” Rogue interjected. “If it were Vivid’s child, it wouldn’t be yours too. It would be a warden’s.”
Kestrel deflated at once. “Oh.”
“‘Oh’ indeed.” Vivid sighed and sat down, tilted her head to the side as she watched Rogue gently rock the baby asleep. “So it’s a warden’s baby? I thought a warden and guardian would just produce more wardens and guardians.”
Rogue shook her head. “I’ve seen enough draklings to know this one isn’t either, but it’s far too small to be a sentinel. Hybrids like this are very rare, so I’m not surprised you haven’t- Monk! What are you doing?!”
Vivid glanced over her shoulder to see Monk chomping on his brother, Ranger’s, head. The little drakling was covered in gold-colored dye and had some sheep fur around his head like a lion’s mane. Ranger, however, was painted with stripes of black and orange – black dye that was now also smeared across Monk’s fuzzy mane.
“He ruined my costume!” Monk stomped his paws in a fit of rage before sitting down to sulkily glare at his brother. “All because mine was better!”
Ranger stuck his tongue out at Monk and wiped the excess dye off of his claws. “He stole my candy, so now we’re even.”
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
Rogue let out a sudden and loud roar that made both draklings stop their argument and look to their mother with guilt. She sniffed and approached. “You already went trick-or-treating. Why did you change costumes?”
“So we can go again, obviously!” Monk bounced to his paws. “Ranger said if we changed our costumes and went back out, we could get double the candy!”
Ranger cringed under his mother’s scorching look and turned to Vivid and Kestrel for help. Vivid met his gaze evenly, but Kestrel broke instantly.
“They’re just kids,” Kestrel said as he sidled up to Rogue. “Let them have some extra candy and some extra fun as well. We can take them this round since we need to find the hybrid’s parents anyway.”
Rogue looked unsure, so her sons gave her their widest, most begging stare, and she eventually sighed. “Fine. I want them back by midnight, Kestrel.” She glanced at Vivid almost pleadingly. “And Vivid is going too. I don’t trust you three alone, especially not with a baby.”
Vivid nodded once at her friend. “Naturally. Kestrel would lose all the draklings once they got to the first den. I’ll make sure they all come back in one piece.”
“Thank you.” Rogue sighed, then turned a death stare on her draklings. “If either of you does anything to cause trouble, I will have you eating mudfish for a moon. Understood?”
“Understood,” the boys muttered, though Monk was significantly more upbeat than his brother. Vivid got the distinct impression he would eat just about anything.
The trio-turned-quintet set off towards the nearest den of draki as Monk and Rogue chatted with Kestrel about what kind of candy they wanted – chocolate was Rogue’s answer, and “Lotsa good stuff” was Monk’s. Vivid felt her heart melt a little as she watched them, though irritation flickered in her chest every time the little one – which she ended up carrying so Kestrel could help hold the carved pumpkins full of candy – began to shriek.
“If I didn’t know any better,” Vivid told the drakling, “I would say you’re screaming just to scream.” The little one just chirped in her face before letting out another blood-curdling cry.
“Trick or treat!” Monk practically shouted at a drakus who had made a home upon a pile of fallen maple leaves. It almost looked like she was resting on a bed of blood, which complimented her vampire costume well. She gave each of the draklings a maple-shaped cookie before pretending to chase them off in a fit of play-rage. They ran away with loud giggles, and Kestrel hooted with laughter.
The rest of the night followed similarly: Monk and Rogue would hurry up to a den lit by a jack-o-lantern and ask for treats before racing back to Vivid and Kestrel to show off what they got. Monk even shared some of his chocolate with the baby hybrid, which amused Vivid as the drakling was a notorious little glutton who hated sharing.
Soon, though, moonhigh was arriving, and the night of fun came to an end. The little hybrid had finally fallen asleep, and Vivid had managed to corral the other three back to Rogue’s den. Now, Kestrel was trying to tell the draklings spooky stories before bedtime.
“I told you, that one isn’t scary.” Vivid sighed. “No one else finds disappearing candy a ghost story.”
“I do,” Monk said solemnly as he yawned. “But Ranger steals my candy all the time, so I have to deal with it in real life and nightmares.”
“Mo-om!” Ranger complained, struggling to keep his eyes open. “Monk is being mean again.”
Vivid snorted in laughter and gently nudged Monk. “Why don’t you two head to bed? You’re going to fall asleep on your paws out here.”
“One more story!” Ranger begged, perking up immediately. “We’re barely tired!”
“One more,” Rogue agreed and gave Vivid an amused look, “then off to bed. No complaining.”
Kestrel fluffed his fur out, eyes shining, and began again. “Okay. Once there was a drakling lost in the woods. For three days and three nights, the little drakling searched and searched for home but couldn’t find it. But on the fourth day… the sun didn’t rise!”
Vivid rolled her eyes with an amused snort and pulled the sleeping hybrid closer so it wouldn’t be too hot from the bonfire’s heat.
“The darkness enveloped the world,” Kestrel was saying, “and then the drakling saw it! A great big monster appeared in the shadows!” Then, just as the drakus moved to scare Monk, a shadow practically flew out of the edges of the trees and tackled Kestrel with a vicious snarl.
Chaos immediately erupted as Rogue let out a loud bugle of alarm and snatched up her draklings to haul away from the stranger. With a snarl, Vivid leaped up from where she was, the hybrid falling to the ground in the process and waking up with a loud shriek. Vivid felt terrible for the little one, but she was more preoccupied with sinking her fangs into whoever was attacking Kestrel.
Blood burst into Vivid’s mouth as she hit home on the attacker’s shoulder, and she wrenched her away from Kestrel with a savage cry. She watched as he scrambled away from the fight and stood in front of Rogue’s den to protect the entrance, blood dripping from his head and forelegs.
The attacking drakus backed away but arched her back into a threatening position. “You-”
Without waiting for the stranger to finish, Vivid slammed into her with full force and bowled her over. She snapped viciously at her neck and chest, trying to find the jugular. The stranger bugled in fear and kicked Vivid desperately until she was thrown off balance enough for her to squirm away.
“Hey!” The stranger gasped. “You kidnapped my sister, and now you’re attacking me! What kind of monster are you?”
“What?!” Vivid thundered. “You come to my forest and attack my mate, then act like I’m in the wrong?” She bared her teeth, now wet with blood, at the stranger.
“Um,” Kestrel approached meekly, glancing between the two, “did you say kidnapped? Do you mean the little hybrid?”
The stranger’s words finally registered in Vivid’s mind. “The drakling is your sister?!” Her tail began lashing. “Kidnap? We found her eating a pumpkin, and she’s been with us all night! Where is her – and your! – mother?”
Suddenly, the drakus looked uneasy. “My mom, um, well, you see…” She lowered her body until she was crouched in a submissive pose. “She has no idea we lost our sister, and she would be super mad if she found out. So can you, like, give her back?”
Vivid stared at the drakus for a long moment, feeling the sting of scratches on her shoulders and back where she had scratched her. Then, she said, “No. Fetch your mother, and then you may have her back. I don’t trust you.”
That’s how just before dawn after Hallow’s Eve, Vivid, Kestrel, and Rogue met Matsuno. The warden lowered her head deeply to them as she pressed the stranger – Tsukuyomi, as her name turned out to be – to the ground with one paw. “I’m in your debt for finding and caring for my daughter. And for knocking some sense into my daughter.”
“It was no trouble, really,” Kestrel said, then winced as Vivid pressed more herb-soaked bandages to his wounds. “Well, the little one was no trouble, at least.”
Matsuno nodded as she stood back up. “If you are ever in need of assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. If you will excuse us, though, I have a lot of words for my daughter.” Tsukuyomi pulled a long face but seemed to notice Vivid’s scorching stare finally and hurried after her mother quickly.
“Well,” Kestrel turned to Vivid and gently nuzzled her uninjured cheek, “that was an eventful Halloween. And look, now we get to be mummies!” He tugged at the bandages wrapped around Vivid’s forelegs and shoulders. “Isn’t that fun?”
Vivid sighed, cupped Kestrel’s face in her forepaws, and said, “Kestrel. I love you. But I am never coming out on Halloween ever again.”