The next day dawned bright and early. The members of the Clan of the Lost Dragon were all returning home. They had gathered to save their world. Now they went their separate ways, many to not meet again until Mysteria was again in danger. Aidan and Flame Song said their goodbyes and started on their trip. Flame Song had chosen, as she usually did when traveling long distances with Aidan, to take the form of an aerian herself. Her white wings contrasted vividly with her flaming hair. The two flew off into a clear blue sky, headed for their home on Mysteria’s northernmost continent. They flew west first until they hit the coast of the eastern continent, and then followed the coast north. They took their time, spreading the trip out over several days. When they reached the northern cape where the distance across the sea was the shortest, they stopped and camped. Early the next morning they flew out over the open sea. Now the pace was no longer leisurely, and they didn’t take time to play aerial games along the way. Instead they pushed ahead as swiftly as possible, hoping to make the ocean crossing in a single day. Below them, the ocean was deep blue, dotted here and there with the icebergs that made sailing in these waters a challenge.

The sun had set and the moon had risen high by the time the pair, exhausted and hungry, reached the northern shore. They landed just north of the Great Barrier Mountains that stood between the more settled lands in the south and the far north where only they and the dwarves of Coppertop lived. They set down on a high cliff that overlooked an inhospitable shore where waves crashed and foamed over sharp rocks. No sailors landed here. The only accessible port in all of the northern continent lay far to the west, in Snowcap Village and even there, few ships came to call.

Flame and Aidan stopped there for the night, finding a sheltered spot a little bit away from the cliff and lighting a small fire. There was little snow on the ground, but it was bitingly cold. The far northern lands were dry enough that it seldom snowed more than a few inches at a time, but with the winters lasting half the year what snow there was could pile and drift into massive banks. It was now autumn, and the first snows had already fallen. Winter was well on its way. Flame Song and Aidan huddled together, close to the fire. Flame Song shifted, assuming the form that was her true shape. She looked like a white cat the size of a large tiger with vivid fire-orange stripes swirling in flame-like patterns across her thick fur. Aidan rested his head on her side and ran his fingers through her warm fur. Sleepily she murmured, “Don’t do that, your fingers are cold.” Aidan gave a soft chuckle and then all was silent as both of them drifted off to sleep.

The next morning they set off, headed inland and to the west now, aiming for their home just north of Coppertop. They didn’t push as hard as they had while crossing the ocean, but the cold of nearing winter hastened their flight and it was less than three days later that they sighted the distinctive dark walls and verdigrised tower of Coppertop ahead. Swooping over the dwarven fortress/town, they turned north again.

“I wonder if Belak has managed to reach home yet?” said Aidan, speaking loudly to be heard over the wind of their flight. Their fellow clan member and mutual friend, Belak was one of the Coppertop dwarves. He was the only other member of the Clan of the Lost Dragon north of the Barrier Mountains.

“I doubt it! This late in the year he’ll have a time getting a reliable ship to take him, and even then we might beat him back.” Flame Song laughed and looped a loop in the air. Aidan laughed back at her and did a double loop with a barrel roll at the end

“Show-off!” Flame accused with a grin. “Race you home!”

“You got it!” Aidan started winging north with all the speed he had, but he knew that despite the skill and experience that came from being an aerian, he didn’t stand a chance. Sure enough, a moment later a hawk came shooting by, flying faster than the much larger and less aerodynamic humanoid could ever hope to.

“Cheater!” He yelled after her, but he said it with a smile. Aidan loved his wife with all of his heart and soul, and no matter how he loved to tease her, and she him, he could never really be mad at her.

A few minutes later Aidan landed at the base of the hill that was their home. Following the firecat tradition, Flame Song had dug her house underground, tunneling backwards into the hillside. Flame had arrived just before him and had already ducked into the dark entry and was unlocking the front door. Inside the air was a little bit stale, and everything was dark. Flame Song went inside with Aidan close behind. She went to one of the oil lamps in brackets on the wall and, taking a match from a low table nearby, she lit it. She still had a bit of regret every time she used one of the sulfur matches for the lamps. Before coming to Mysteria she could have lit them with a touch. But considering all she had gained by coming here, including her husband, loosing her fire-starting gift was a good exchange.

The warm glow of the lamps showed that there was dust everywhere. They had only been away for a month or so, but dust gathers fast in an underground house. “Ugh. I was afraid of this. Right, first thing’s first, we need to do some cleaning.”

Aidan groaned. “We barely finished cleaning it up when we left. Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“No. I want to sleep in a clean house tonight, so hop to it.”

“Yes ma’am.”