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twenty-six

Saff

M y wings push out against the sweet granules underneath my baking body. With the two suns high, I can feel the bite on my scales sinking through to my blistering core.

It’s not often I receive this luxury. My keepers—the people with the long tails and slitted eyes—are a necessary animal I must work with in my isolation and salvation.

I must save my energy for my egg. The last of my younglings, kept in the hollow mountains where the golden people have taken residence. They weren’t there when we hid our young. Only after.

After the war the creators began.

There used to be more of my kind. My precious mate is now but a star in the sky. Gone within the void. Taken by the swimmers.

Puffs of smoke billow from my nostrils.

The tailed people promised to return my egg if I protected their territory. For centuries, I have safeguarded them, and barely a foe has touched this land since.

My creator banished and forgotten.

On my next inhale, an aroma hits my nostrils. It is small, minute. So trivial, the fragrance could be inconsequential… but—

This smell —I take a long inhale, nose flaring.

A rumble sets deep in my throat. Burnt sugar . The only other time I’ve smelt such an aroma was when I fired on the Silver Sands, creating glittering slabs of clear land.

So little the smell, it must originate from beyond the void, beyond this territory. Still, the smell sets my flickering embers alight.

My wings expand, aching to move with this new discovery.

Beating the sweet silvery sand across my clawed feet, I take off into the sky. My shadow glides below my large frame, and I bask in the strength within this freedom. I may not have my youngling yet, but soon… Soon, I will release this fire I’ve been building slowly, deliberately for my precious one. And when I have them safely within my grasp, we will live unbound to the land beneath us.

Purposely, I sail along the void to see if I can catch another trace of the intimate smell.

This time, I detect nothing but the salty air of the rocking sea below.