There is much funny at the beginning of this one lol. It involves siblings being evil and family dynamics. The end is a very long awaited lecture, that I actually wrote when I was still writing the first part of this story, "The Dragon".

MINE.

~Angel~

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It was like trying to herd sparrows, every time he had one going towards the cavern another one would slip away and go back inside. He thought he had them out when they were concerned about their youngling but then the twinlings escaped from under their mother to run right up to Magnus and TOOK his food right out from under him to devour themselves.

That was when he snapped.

“OUT!!!” he bellowed at the four of them and scared the twingling devils into letting his cow carcass go.

“They're just hungry, Magnus,” Ethera said as she huddled them under her belly and nuzzled them to calm them down. “Xanthus.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Xanthus growled before snapping his jaw at his mate's backside. Magnus had to look away to keep from vomiting on his carcass. “I won't be long.”

“Why don't you all just GO and LEAVE to get something to eat?” Magnus suggested, gritting his teeth a bit and munched down his cow quickly before the twins changed their minds.

“I can't leave until my offspring comes back,” Ethera stated before picking up the twinlings by their tails and lying down on her side. “Eytan probably woke up early and went to get something to eat.”

His sister was trying to make sure she had to stick around. Her youngling probably told her where he was going and when, and now if he came back her mate was off hunting for his demon spawn to eat. She was giving herself time, waiting for mother to show up so she could be in his business. The worst thing about that was he couldn't seem to figure out how to actually get her to LEAVE. It was none of her business if his mother was coming, nor was it her business that his mate was pregnant with his offspring but for some unknown reason she thought it was supposed to be. He should have sacrificed his morning meal to just get them to leave!

“In any case we will be out of your mane soon,” Ethera concluded, although soon was looking like never to Magnus. “And Rayne is an interesting—catch for you to take.”

Magnus' eyes went bland, was she really going to play the older sister bit now? He really didn't care what she thought about anyone or anything.

“It's not your life, you shouldn't care,” Magnus declared, stretching his wings a bit as he began to pace around the chamber. Perhaps when Rayne was back she could convince them all to just stay away in a pleasant manner. “We don't usually see each other unless mother is involved. Why are you here?”

“To make sure that YOU are HAPPY,” Ethera responded with a growl. “You are my sibling, whether I like it or not.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Magnus assured her with a very cynical smile.

“MAH!” Eytan suddenly yelled, his head popping up over the ledge of the cave's opening. Magnus' eyes widened as his brows curved down, seeing Rayne sitting atop the youngling's head like she were riding a horse. Her paws were tight in his mane as she rested above his horns, her bow and quiver strapped around her shoulder and hip. “I'm back!”

“Where have YOU been?!” Magnus scowled as Eytan crawled up into the cool cave. Rayne shook her head and patted Eytan's mane lightly and like a beast of burden the youngling lowered his head for her to slip off his head and to the ground. He didn't even notice the bewildered expression on his sister's face until Rayne walked passed her.

“Out,” Rayne responded as she walked up to him and ran her paw along his own. The twinlings looked like they wanted to greet her, but they still saw Magnus as the bigger threat and kept close to their mother, good. He was beginning to make an impression.

“Where's dah?” Eytan asked his mother as he nuzzled under her head and letting the twinlings climb atop his back and head.

They heard the familiar flapping of large wings and Magnus felt relief go through him, Xanthus was back with food and they could be on their way out of his lair. But when the red scales shimmered and the black wings blocked out the mid-morning light, Magnus knew who came into his lair.

Arjun landed and stepped into the large entrance, although it looked narrow as he came through it. He lumbered in with his black webbed wings tight to his body but his snout had a quirked smile on it.

“Where be meh brats?!” he yelled which made Rayne jump against Magnus' paw, holding onto his arm. Aurous and Euros tumbled off their brother, letting out chortles and churrs of delight as they bound like great dogs up to the large male. One of the demons launched at his face while the other his shoulder and with a great display for dramatic effect, the bull dragon made a sort of straining death noise and flopped down onto his back, his eyes closing as he tensed like a dead rat. One twinling merely chewed heavily on his ear while the other looked down at him, front paws on Arjun's chin and staring at the white bull's face waiting. Arjun peeked through one eye before the little hatchling started to wiggle excitedly, licking his grandfather's muzzle which made Arjun chuckle deeply in his chest. With one great swoop of his arm he held both hatchlings up and rolled back onto his feet, letting the twinlings crawl all over him, chewing with their teeth and slapping with their tails.

“Daddy,” Ethera greeted with a large smile, which made Magnus groan in his throat. Magnus blinked a moment and when his eyes opened, Ethera was frozen, although it may have had to do with his father's latest hatchling, Sini, standing on her head.

Without any sign of provocation the large blue hatchling chomped down on his sister's ear and started bashing her grown in tail blade against Ethera's head like a hammer! Ethera yelled and roared, trying to swipe the blue scaled Sini off her face with her claws and wings and skidded around the main chamber before slamming her rear into the wall!

Magnus didn't know when he had started cackling, but at the moment he just couldn't stop! He was laughing so hard he was crying! Wiping away tears from his eyes with his claw before he fell forward and started cackling further!

“Shouldn't we stop this?” Rayne asked as she came up beside his shoulder and watched in mild horror although he could hear the laughter in her voice.

“No!” Magnus laughed heartily as Ethera backed into another wall, screaming. Arjun was nudging and greeting Eytan, completely ignoring his youngest offspring's attack on his eldest.

“YOU LITTLE VIPER!” Ethera roared as she tried to use her own tail to pry Sini from her face, but Sini then attached to her tail and started chewing around the tail blade's base! Ethera tried to slam her tail down but Sini was already climbing up between her wings! The little thing had gotten fast!

The flapping came again as his mother landed in the entrance and came in, jerking to a stop as Ethera stormed by with Sini on her other ear, cursing her little sister.

“SINI! STOP THAT!” his mother ordered sternly. Sini let go and slipped down her older sister's shoulder, gracefully landing at Magnus' paws and standing rather proudly with her tail swinging behind her. She focused on Rayne and perked up even more. His mother began to yell at his father for not stopping the little blue devil sooner, but Arjun didn't care.

“She can't DO that to elder dragons!”

“Oi, if Ethera can't defend herself to a little hatchling—”

“Daddy just let her BITE ME! I could've lost an eye!”

“I'm Siiiiniii,” his youngest sister announced to Rayne. “My dah said I'm bloody gorgeous.”

“SINI!” his mother butt in as if she wasn't having two other conversations and huddling Eytan under her wing in greeting. “You're too young for that language usage!” She turned back to Arjun and set her anger on him again. “You can't say things like that around her!”

“Why not? She's bloody gorgeous!”

And on and on the argument went. Xanthus had come in at that point with an ox in his fangs. He pushed through dragons and set it down while the twinlings proceeded to pull at legs and have a sort of tug-of-war contest.

“I can see that,” Rayne smiled at his little sister. “I'm Rayne.”

“I know, Dah says Magnus knocked you up,” Sini stated calmly, her head twisting in an inquisitive manner.

Odd, the complete chaos of a yelling family feud had gone eerily quiet. Magnus looked to his family who were staring at Sini, then at Rayne. Rayne slapped her hand over her eyes before they all started up like crows cawing again.

“Arjun!”

“What? It's bloody true! Magnus knocked her up! Isn't that what yeh WANTED?!”

“You see all this, my mortal mate?” Magnus questioned as he made a motion to his family. Rayne pulled her paw from her eyes and took in a deep breath before nodding. “This is why dragons don't live near each other.”

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Rayne didn't know how to react to all the yelling, she barely could follow the conversations that weren't about her. Now she could hear her name occasionally mentioned but who was saying it and when was anyone's guess. She rubbed her temples and leaned into Magnus' arm, a wave of heat going through her as she tried to keep from falling over. She didn't know if it was because the temperature had really started to rise within the room with all the large fire-breathing dragons present, or because she hadn't eaten anything hearty yet. Rayne bet they didn't even notice the temperature difference when they were all so close. Magnus' head curve around and nudged the end of his muzzle in her stomach but she was still trying to concentrate on standing.

“Is she not feeling good? Are you feeling bad?” Sini was up close to Magnus and using his muzzle to push up and peer closer at Rayne with her long neck. Magnus jerked her off but she didn't seem to really notice as she wiggled her way between them.

“Just—a little loud and warm in here,” Rayne tried to keep her smile genuine but it still felt hollow. Sini's brow drew down before she trotted up to all the dragons arguing and shouted,

“OI~!”

The voices stopped as Sini's tail thrashed around behind her.

“SHUT IT!” The blue hatchling yelled, before bouncing back over and taking over Rayne's vision. “Is that better?”

“Yes, thank you,” Rayne thanked her with a breathy voice, letting out a relieved sigh. Malandra's head peered over Sini, focusing on Rayne and nudging her hatchling out of the way.

“How are you feeling?” Malandra asked.

“Over whelmed and warm,” Rayne answered truthfully, a hollow laugh trailing the words.

“Magnus, take her back,” Malandra ordered, jerking her head towards their room. “I will be there shortly.”

Thankfully Magnus didn't seem to gripe about his mother's orders. He walked around his mother carefully and put his head down for Rayne to grab hold of his mane. She grasped his black hair and pulled herself up onto his neck and back, grateful to disappear from all the boisterous noise of dragon family dynamics. Hiding in her own room for a bit seemed to be a very good plan and she was glad Malandra had given her some sort of permission to do so.

“She'll get rid of them,” Magnus reassured her as he walked into their living quarters, the cavern far cooler than where all the voices were coming from. “Well, most of them anyway.”

“I don't think shouting 'Out' worked very well,” Rayne laughed a little, sliding off of his scales and going to one of the seats littered around the room. Rayne took off her bow and quiver, setting it aside and fell onto the closest one. She leaned her head back, feeling Magnus' breath on her body as his head hovered over her.

“Did you eat?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“Not very much, no,” She answered, but with the mention of food she suddenly grew very hungry. “But I could use something.”

“I saved watermelons,” He suggested, rubbing the tip of his muzzle on her vest slowly.

“That sounds lovely,” she praised him, opening her eyes and rubbing the guard scales along his muzzle.

“You seem tired,” he rumbled, his eyes taking hold of her own.

“I feel tired,” she nodded a little, “Was warm...now just very tired.”

“I will get food quickly then,” Magnus replied, “See if that makes you feel better.”

Rayne nodded slowly and let her hand fall from his muzzle, leaning her head back again and feeling the ground shake with his presence leaving. Not enough food and too much sun, she thought carefully, and a small hybrid dragon-cub growing away inside her. She was a little relieved to see the twinlings tail blades weren't really grown in yet, which helped some of her nightmarish visions disappear. She could feel the harsh steps even before Malandra entered the chamber, tilting her head up as she watched the large white maned head peek around the edge of the chamber archway.

“Where is Magnus?” she asked as she cautiously entered.

“He's getting me something to eat,” Rayne explained as she quickly realized Magnus wouldn't be able to really fit in here with his mother present. She filled up most of the open space and was careful not to knock anything over with her tail, winding it around her feet. Her ears were twitching, giving Rayne the impression she was listening to the extra heartbeat now, Magnus and Dracen's ears did the same thing.

“Its not a bat,” Rayne clarified as Malandra's silver eyes grew closer, the end of her snout bumping Rayne's knee. “Your sons kept thinking it was a bat.”

“Too quiet for a bat, but definitely there,” Malandra muttered before her head arched back. “Expose my son's scale, I need to touch it.”

Rayne's frown was evident, but she straightened her back and untied the top of her vest and shirt. Magnus' scale shimmered between fur, the mother-of-pearl essence reflecting in the torchlight of the back cave. Malandra wasted no time, lifting her paw and pushing one white claw onto the scale with a click.

It was an odd sensation, seeing nothing but feeling her muscles strain as her body surged with what she could only describe as fire magic. She had two other experiences with it, once she took the oath to Magnus and the other when he was in territorial dispute with Xipil. This time it was a slower process, the odd warmth searching in patches here and there in her body before it settled in her torso. Malandra made a noise of surprise as she pulled back, blinking in a bewildered manner as her head jerked to one side.

“Well,” Malandra replied, trying to sound pleasant. “You are definitely carrying something.”

Oh yes, that's exactly what Rayne wanted to hear. Something.

“Do you know what exactly?” Rayne pressed as she tied her shirt back up.

“No,” Malandra stated simply, “But it is always hard to see a form in the magics when something is this small.”

“What did you see?” Magnus' voice suddenly cut in, but he walked in as his tiger form, holding a cut up watermelon and something dried in a large wooden bowl. He looked up at his mother as he settled next to Rayne, offering her the whole thing. For a scary moment Rayne thought it wasn't going to be enough for her. She leaned into him a bit and started with a slice of watermelon.

“I saw white magic swirling around something,” Malandra answered. “Not tied to an element, well, yet I suppose.”

“Do you know how this happened? Did you find something before Dracen came to get you?” Magnus demanded as he put his arm around Rayne's shoulders.

“Well, yes,” Malandra admitted, “I think I found something...At least have an idea on how this happened. I stumbled upon an ancient text about the original oaths and what they were used for between mortals and dragon kind. Oddly enough, when you had Rayne take an oath to you she became something called a “vessel” and where there was no magic, you gave her some of your fire magic. Fire magic is somewhat chaotic but very picky about what it blends with, usually only other fire magic and it has to be under certain circumstances. Fire breathers usually can only have offspring with other fire breathers where as serpents and ice breathers can have offspring with just about any dragon species outside their own. But, the first step into this little problem came when you made her the same magic as yourself. Obviously you couldn't do anything to her as a dragon however, which brings us to the next step.

“The band is chaotic fluid magic, water. Water bonds with everything therefore it easily could change your form to what ever you wanted the spell to change it to. But if you chose to say, turn into a stork or a mole or something, Rayne wouldn't have become pregnant since her species couldn't blend with those types. But...you chose a tiger and gave the chaotic magic free reign to do what ever it pleased, making your seed easily potent enough to impregnate her.

“The third step, well, you know that. You copulated and let the chaotic magic have as much fun as it wanted. Where chaos reigns however, order also follows. The fire magic is most likely choosing the form, keeping the much more chaotic magic contained. Oddly enough usually the fire would cancel out the water if they met head on, but in this case it seems they are woven together—like a tapestry, if you will, different colors but blended to make an image.

“Now,” Malandra stopped her lecture, looking down at her son and Rayne with a wide grin on her muzzle, proud she had figured it out. “That is why I am the Keeper of Magic.”

“...So...what is it exactly?” Magnus asked as Rayne had nearly finished off the entire bowl of food by that point.

Malandra wilted a bit before scratching her guard scales along her muzzle.

“That,” she stated calmly, “I have no idea.”

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