chernobyl

i was not caught, i crossed the line
i live among you, well disguised

The three of them arrived months ago… Arrived to nothing. With a newborn at her hip and promises fresh off of her dry lips she strides into familiar territory to find it barren of others, demoted to a common place among civilians. Rumors flew, talk murmured and eventually they were told of the Falls demise. Had she been away that long? She wouldn’t have saved anyone from disbanding, honestly. She would have been no asset to either motivation whether it be stay together or break apart, she would have only watched quietly when the God descended. “Sorry, my love.” Is all she could say at the time, eyes big and softly tilted to Murdock. And sorry she was, but with thoughts of her child she asks her lover to stay here for a while. “We can stay here until he is old enough, stronger; no one will bother us here.” She said to him, snuggling against him on some warm moon-filled night, hoping he would stay with her.

__________________

Early, breezy Tallsun came and went and so came the flowering later season, hot and dry. The rains of a newborn Orangemoon have settled now and the family has been here for quite a while. Chernobyl’s reptilian baby is no longer tiny, skinny and timid. Dresden has gained a little muscle, fitting his wings and mile-long legs a bit better than before. He is bold now, almost aggressively curious and always watching others with a keen emerald eye.

“Have you seen your father today?” Chernobyl’s stone voice carves through the cicada’s songs and tickle of wind-swept leaves to find her sons’s sharp ears. “No.” The boy shakes his head, “Nor yesterday.” He talks like his mother and even at just a young age, he has the same granite notes woven through his voice. His markings are starting to show themselves very faintly across his withers and back and a glittery metallic sheen is beginning to roan out against his inky black coat like nebulas birthing stars and gaseous ribbons of bright color. His wings are getting more vibrant in his first year and the once mottled patterns are morphing into defined white, black or iridescent. To the mother he is still tiny, plain and vulnerable. She would have never guessed herself to be such a type, but each step of his has her fearing for his safety, or worse, that he will lose his way somehow.

Quietly the pair picks and grazes at the various grasses, seedpods and even some berries – Orangemoon is a bountiful time for nutritious things like berries and seeds. She’s taught Dresden things like where to find each type of berry and when to get them before the birds and squirrels. The Falls roar behind them from across the open hills and the morning mists roll through, thick at first but slowly dissipating. Chernobyl keeps a hopeful eye out for Murdock while she leads Dresden along her usual route.