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The plains and spires of Ayr, and the constant gusts that went between them were the perfect place for calm and melancholy reflection. Suluksati glided with ease among them, and her mind drifted away from the present along the paths of the past. Nostalgia was not, however, a comfort to the Aedaun.
Suluksati hadn't flown over Ayr in a long while, not since the months of the blood moon. Quite a lot had happened since then- she had met friends and enemies both, and had become very powerful in her own right. Yet, for all her power, she still found herself failing to protect her beloved dragons. Too often, it was her own claws that slew them, and their orbs were piled in a package at her campsite to prove it. She swore that their deaths would not be in vain. Someday she would avenge them upon the society that made it necessary. Someday.
In the meantime, their deaths lay bitterly upon her soul. In the quiet air she wondered, as she often did, whether there was any hope at all for her. She doubted that, despite her efforts, anybody had been convinced to her cause. She had made so many enemies. Even those who she tried to protect turned on her. Some days, like this one, she felt tired- so tired.
A shape below caught her eye. It was neither rock, nor was it one of the plants or animals that called the harsh windlands home. It was a dragon, a green Ysali slinking furtively through the brush, picking plants here and there and occasionally glancing up to watch the sky.
Suluksati circled around again, curious at the deja vu she was experiencing. The last time she was in Ayr, a Ysali had been present. It was late in the day, and fog was beginning to tip the tops of the spires. Just above the Ysali, though, the fog seemed to be held there in a cloudy, amorphous sphere. She could see white faces peering out, intent on the green shape below. She prepared to make another pass, but with a cry, three Ayrala Dragons leapt from the cloudbank and ambushed the Ysali. They were young- just hitting adulthood, and their eyes glittered with stormlike ferocity and assurance of their power.
Suluksati powered towards them as the Ysali broke their advance with a plant wall.
"Stop! I'm only passing through!" said the Ysali, flinching at their attacks, "I'll leave your territory! I swear it!"
"It says it swears, brothers!" laughed one of the ayrala, shoving the Ysali over onto it's back, "I say we make it seal that in its blood!"
The others roared in agreement and pounced upon the weaker dragon, claws raking away at the plant shield.
Suluksati's shield, however, defied them. The ysali looked up at the Adaun in surprise as she struck a heroic pose, wings outstretched and shining with magic.
"Unhand that dragon this instant!" she roared, loudly enough to make the plants nearby shudder with a shockwave.
"Another intruder?" said one of the Ayrala, "Why did we not see it?!"
"Its one of the feathered drakein. They can fly as silently as owls." observed another.
"She is powerful" observed the third, wary.
"No matter. Powerful or no, this drakein is an intruder. Let us deal with her first, then the plantkin." the dragon leered at the ysali, "it won't go far, will it brothers." There was snickering as they shot, powered by their magic, towards Suluksati. She blocked their first hits easily with her shield.
"I warn you!" she called over the din of their beating wings, "Stop attacking now. Retreat! I do not wish you harm!" But they only roared in response. Suluksati sighed. Of course they would not listen to her. She could play a primarily defensive game, but her shield was tiring to maintain in this way, especially airborne. She switched immediately to a ray of light, and blasted one of the Ayrala with it. It shimmered briefly, screamed, and disintegrated with a sparkling lightshow, it's orb dropping to the sands below. Suluksati was stunned. She hadn't realized that she had become so powerful. Grown, yes. But enough to blast the dragon to death in one shot?
The other dragons were wary now. They circled her, ever faster, until she could feel the air itself follow them.
They are trying to force me into a gyre she realized, as it became harder to fly. One roared at her, a painfully spiralling gale of biting wind ripping feathers out from her side. Instinctively she retaliated, charging in with claws outstretched to slash it across the chest. It's partner came in from behind, and she felt its claws rake her back. She healed the wound with shimmering magic as she twisted in the air and slashed it across the face at it retreated. It's partner clawed as well, but missed as she shot upwards with a powerful beat of her wings. She switched directions, diving down just as one of them tried to rise and meet her. She slammed into it, driving it to the ground, and her claws through its heart. It died, and the other hovered, uncertain.
Suddenly, the Ysali pounced, it's fangs glittering with something oily and opaque. It bit, the wound sizzling and spitting as the acid or poison, whatever it was, seeped into the Ayrala's body. The Ayrala roared again, blasting the Ysali into one of the rock spires where it lay stunned as the great white dragon advanced upon it. Suluksati pounced, her claws bringing it down finally.

(932 words)