History:

Soothe was tugged aside from her practice with the cubs, by Brittlebough, who was the rider of a pleasant green dragon. "You know that our dragons all talk to one another," she rolled her eyes as the dragon outside gave an indignant bellow. "Well mine thinks she's spotted a great place for you to find a bond of your own!"

Sooth should have been elated, but instead she felt a weird kind of longing. "Oh I.... oh."

"I know you've suffered loss," Brittlebough said, lowering her gaze. "I have been so very blessed, my whole family remains with me. I don't know what I'd do without them. But now - we have duties to the Holt, and we're your family now, too."

The younger elf pulled in a deep breath. "I suppose you're right, it's just... so much all at once. Sometimes even the sun still burns my eyes."

"We'll take you, Ashtoreth and I, if you want."

It was hard for Soothe to believe that in the time long before her own birth, this elfess was supposed to be quite the fire-brand and hot head. Now, perhaps it was her Recognition (oh that hurt the memories hurt) and her children (... it hurts too much! let it end!) or even their move to this hillside. But she was definitely a more mature, careful elf. Brittlebough chose her words well.

"It is time to move on. Your heart will always have them in it, but there's room to be made. You'll see, when you find your dragon-friend."

So it was that Soothe was packed up and ready to go, almost instantly - they hadn't had enough time to really gather a lot of extra things while here. There would be time for that, certainly. So the flight away from Abode was quick and easy, with a practiced ease that all teleporting dragons seemed to have, Ashtoreth took them through the frigid darkness between worlds.

Soothe swore she heard her lovemate's voice, and her baby calling to her... But they called with joy, not terror; with her eyes clenched shut but her mind wide open, Soothe knew that their suffering hadn't been as great as she felt it must, and now that they were reunited with their ancestors who wandered endlessly ... They were happy. They had nothing to worry about, now. So Soothe let them go, let them be happy, and hoped that she could be too.

She wouldn't be disappointed. The pale grey, feathered male dragon that approached her was unsteady on his feet, but would be sure eventually. It was the gentle touch of his muzzle against Soothe's hand that solidified their bond. "No more sadness," he said. His voice was young-sounding, nothing like she expected from a dragon. Airy, not wispy but like a breeze through fresh spring leaves.

"Oh how can I be sad when I've got you!" Soothe laughed, tears rolling down her face. They went almost immediately back to Bald Mountain, enduring the chill of between again, but it was far from unfriendly now.

In the eights that followed their return, Northwind's abilities began to grow strongly. While Soothe wasn't all that hot at riding (and prefered to remain safely on the ground) Northwind could create gentle winds, up to even gale-strength brief blasts, showing off in the air without a rider, and she did enjoy that. But what was more important was that his size was just perfect for elf-kind, particularly compared to other dragons from his homeworld. He seemed to like frolicking around in the winter's first snow, kicking up little bits of it that resembled the markings on his feathered hide!