Chapter 79. Mating flight

My wings beat to there own rhythm as I slowly gained altitude. Tarakona was close but she kept a little bit of a distance so I could figure it all out myself.

And figure it out I did.

The feeling of flying had me momentarily forgetting everything that was supposed to happen. The wind on my skin, or scales. The sun on my back, and everything else beneath me.

I could see why Dragons considered themselves apex creatures.

I let out a roar. A proper one that was all sound and not the golden beam I had done before.

[I would trade as many eggs as I had to if this could become your natural form.]

Tarakona came up in front of me and I inhaled her natural scent. Her lust was palpable but the chill that seemed to accompany her was unmistakably her in every way.

{I think Zeldi would disagree with you there.}

I tried to nip her while airborne and lost my stride. I fell a little before catching myself and rising back up, making sure I was just a little bit above Tarakona when I did.

My Dragon slowed her own flight to put herself below and ahead of me, seemingly happy with what I was doing.

[Then as a form you can switch to like I can.]

{I'll keep my eye out if that becomes an option.}

She purred and bent her neck around to look up at me while we flew. Her eyes were glazed.

[You are perfect my love. In whatever form, do not take my wanting of this one to mean I dislike your other.]

I tried to do the Draconic smile I'd seen her do a few times but it didn't quite turn out right. I got a laugh from Tarakona for my efforts.

[That being said you make a powerful Dragon. I don't think anyone would ever try to mess with your farm if this is what you could turn into.]

{No, but we would probably scare away any traders though.}

[Then you have no need for my eggs to sell. I'm sure if that were the case you could find another use for them? Perhaps fertilized and growing happily in a mountain of gold?]

That thought brought a happy growl out of my throat.

{Perhaps we should work on that now?}

Tarakona dove towards the ground as if avoiding a grab from me that never came before she straightened up.

[If we went for it now my love there would be very little left of the surrounding area. We will have to wait until we find somewhere of less concern to the locals to avoid anyone interrupting. Plus I would like somewhere a little more private. I do not wish to be seen.]

When she realized I wasn't going to grab her midair she rose back up to her position just below me, then she pointed her snout to the left.

[I smell the sea in that direction. If we can find an island big enough for the two of us that would be great. Otherwise we would be looking for a mountain that hasn't already been claimed or a cave. Both of them I would rather not if I had the choice.]

{I don't mind. Lead the way.}

I got another giggle in my mind from her as we banked to the left. My Dragon instincts were strangely okay with just copying Tarakona's movements at the moment.

{So Tarakona. I want to do this right, but I don't quite know what right is? Can you explain anything I need to do on this flight?}

Tarakona bent her neck again to look back at me.

[Well the first step is to find a female Dragon that wants to fly with you.]

{I hope I'm well past that step.}

[Then your next step would be to prove you can protect her. You did this when you died trying to get rid of those Dragon Hunters.]

That seemed like so long ago now.

[And now we fly. Usually to find a new lair but we have that at your farm. This flight is more for myself and just wanting to experience it.]

Tarakona dipped into a flip, then a barrel roll before coming back into her place.

I waited for her to continue.

[We would normally have to fly for several days to weeks even before we found somewhere suitable to land. We would do this without sleep as if the female ever thought her potential mate wasn't paying attention to her she would change directions and try to fake an escape. This would require the male to try capturing her.]

{Sounds like fun. Are you going to try and escape princess? Will I need to chase you at all?}

It didn't take a genius to notice the shiver that ran through her body at the thought.

[Potentially.]

She let the sentence hang between us.

[But only if you stop paying attention to me.]

I tried again to nip her tail and actually managed to get the limb in my mouth though I didn't fully close it. Just enough to tempt her with the thought. I was a bit nervous about the blade on the end but it remained nonthreatening.

{Never.}

I got a happy purr as a response.

[Then all you have to worry about is making sure you have enough energy for when we land. It would normally be the male providing the first meal from something he has hunted in the area of the new lair. If the female accepts they mate and begin their new life.]

{So you have to sample the cuisine first before you make a decision? Hope I can find something then.}

Tarakona dropped back slightly so that she could rub her head against my leg.

[We can skip that part my love. The flight itself is enough for me.]

I managed to extend a claw and give her neck a scratch, I was hesitant at first but when my claws didn't seem to harm her I grew bolder.

{Nonsense Tarakona. If it's part of your traditions I'll at least try it.}

I got another happy coo from her as she moved forward again right as we came apon the ocean. It was clear as glass with a few species playing or even fishing from the beach. There were also a few rafts and one large boat in the deep water.

There was a wave of fear that seemed to roll off them all as they noticed us but it quickly left as they figured out we were just passing through.

[You can breathe underwater my love. It's a ability gold Dragons have.]

Oh that was going to be interesting. I didn't feel like I had any gills.

[And before you ask. Yes I like seafood.]

I definitely didn't need any more hints as to what she ment by this.

We got lucky with an island not far from the mainland but far enough we couldn't see the shore we'd come from. It was primarily rock with a few trees but not enough to say it was a forest.

Tarakona landed first and began freezing over the rocks to create a more comfortable nesting place.

[Well then my love. I won't leave you in suspense as we will be mating soon but this would be the time that the male goes looking for food. If you would like to give it a go I will prepare our... Bed of sorts. It may be a bit chilly for you.]

{Just so long as you keep me warm.}

I butted my head against her in place of a kiss and stepped off the island into the water. I couldn't feel any temperature change but the water gave a lot more resistance that the air did.

Keeping in the shallows I dunked my head underwater and held myself there trying to will myself to take a breath. My new Draconic instincts were telling me it was fine but my human ones were screaming this was a bad idea. Hard to ignore them.

It took my lungs running out of air for me to take a breath of water and a Herculean effort not to just raise my head back into the air again but I succeed, and just like Tarakona had said the water ran past my throat and seemed to be expelled out of my neck somewhere. Seems I did have gills after all. Just hidden in my scales.

With a few more steady breaths to make sure it wasn't a fluke I pushed deeper into the ocean in search of something to gift to Tarakona. I wasn't worried about traveling too far as her scent was incredibly distinct and easy to follow. Especially with how needy she was right now.

As I decended into the depths the light never seemed to get darker. I could see down here just as well as I could in sunlight. Which was unfortunate for the whale like creatures I spotted as their skin was that perfect colour to match the surroundings in the darkness. It just didn't work on me.

They tried to do some type of clicking as I got closer, weather it was to communicate or to disrupt other creatures sonar abilities I didn't know. It just didn't effect me. When they realized this they tried to swim away together but one was too slow.

I grabbed the straggler with my mouth trying to find a way to kill it quickly without ripping chunks of it off but the blubber proved very resilient. It thrashed trying to shake me loose and almost succeeded, until I sent a beam of golden light through its head.

The water boiled around us and it cooked the meat in its head almost instantly, but it was dead. I had caught something for Tarakona.

Getting it to the surface was annoying but not hard and when I did it was so much easier to carry it while flying. If you ever want to go from water to air as a Dragon try lightly boiling the water to create an updraft. Works wonders.

By the time I'd located Tarakona's scent and tracked it back to the island my Princess had made a Draconic version of a throne with herself waiting calmly in the middle like a monarch awaiting her subjects. It was very fitting.

I tried to carefully drop my kill off but I'd made a bit of a mess with its head so it wasn't as clean as if hoped. Tarakona didn't mind and happily went over and started to eat.

She kept away from the head and all of the cooked parts, preferring the more raw and bloodied parts near the tail.

[This is amazing my love. But you have missed a part of this little ritual.]

I landed beside her and she stopped eating long enough to bump my leg, getting a little bit of the blood around her mouth on me.

{What did I miss?}

I tried to think back on everything she had told me and came up blank. I'd done everything she had said.

Tarakona hummed.

[You are such a gentleman. So caring and patient.]

She bumped me again and this time gave me a light nip on the leg. I growled in surprise at her and she brought herself lower with a playful grace.

[I forgot to mention that a male does not wait for the female to finish her meal if it is accepted. He will make sure that both her belly and her womb are full.]

She turned her head away from me and returned to her meal. This time I noticed how she was purposely bringing herself lower than she needed to.

[I may not be as young as Zeldi is but I promise you I am a lot more durable. Do not be gentle my love. I want my legs to hurt even more than they did after our first time.]

{As you wish Princess.}