Eclipse almost followed Sol into the air, jolting to a stop just before she was about to launch herself off the ledge. The movement made her lose her balance and she teetered on the crumbling stone platform for a second before scrambling backwards, watching Sol glide unsteadily to the ground as a jolt of envy tore through her heart.Sol gave a forced smile, opened his wings, and leapt into the air, shaking unsteadily as he soared before the jagged mouth of the cavern. He gave the shadowed desert one last glance before he entered the cavern. His own shadow stretching across the rocky sand, Sol could see his tormented heart obvious in his demeanor, but maybe that was a good thing- he could finally show weakness, could finally be a regular dragon with regular emotions and regular reactions. But this wasn't his regular self. No, his regular self was long gone, drowned in misery and hope he presumed to be false. But Sol let himself cling to the hope, the small spark claiming that Tobias was on his way, and that he was alive, and that- despite Sol's horrid, prominent emotions -all would be well.
It's fine Eclipse, you aren't grounded forever. Just don't push yourself. It's fine.
She dropped onto the rocky slope, opening her wings to help balance and slow her controlled sliding as she made her way down the incline, stopping on rocky clefts and boulders regularly on the way down. She lept off the slope several wing lengths from the ground, landing heavily in the sand and stumbling clumsily forward a little.
Eclipse blinked up at the late afternoon sun. The moons would be rising in a few hours, and her mind wandered again to the journey she had missed during Imperials full. The days had flown by with all the excitement and stress. She had thrown every bit of mental and physical energy into surviving and escaping the Den, and every night she had fallen asleep too fast to devote any time to random thoughts. As she turned to follow Sol into the dimly lit cavern, she couldn't help but wonder what her disappearance had done to Whitestar.
He'd probably come looking for me. But would he even know where to look? Would he immediately think the Scorpion Den had something to do with it?
She shuddered at the thought.
What if he did go there? What if he's there now? Would he get desperate enough to use his power to find out where I went? Or for anything else? Did another dragon find out? Queen Iceberg even? Or worse--the humans?
She stopped suddenly, just within the main cavern of the large cave, and turned to stare back down the tunnel toward the desert, panic rising in her chest.
Stop it Eclipse.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart and forcing the spines on her back to lie flat again.
He's probably still on the island. Or maybe he is on the continent. But he's probably safe.
I hope.