Chp.14: I am the one who decide my future!

No one said another word until they returned to the cave. There was nothing to say after all. Haku knew that no matter what he asked, the information he would get from his mother would be too fragmentary and not very detailed and would always end with the ruthless dragons' philosophy of 'you have to think only about yourself, and nobody else'. Therefore, from his point of view, it wasn't even worth asking questions. And without questions, he just didn't have anything to say to his mother, and in reality he didn't even want to talk to her.

For her part, Neytiri too had nothing to say to her children. After making it clear that there was no affection between them, it was pointless to continue pretending. She was answering Haku's questions because it was her role as a mother dragon, but if Haku wasn't asking questions, then there was no reason to try to have a conversation. What existed between them was nothing more than a link created by the laws of nature, a role that neither of them wanted to be in anymore but that by necessity they had to continue to fill. Nothing more.

Finally, Darbi stood at the end of the line, not saying a word. Haku hoped he wasn't too downcast by what happened that day. Even though they were dragons and had strong mental resistance, and Haku had promised Darbi to stay by his side, finding out how brutal the world they lived in actually was was enough to scare anyone. And knowing above all that they couldn't count on the support of their mother, the only strong figure they'd ever known, but rather that one day they would even have had to fear her, certainly didn't help.

When they arrived at the cliff, Neytiri took the two young dragons and flew towards the cave, and then she deposited them in the space in front of the entrance. Then she entered the cave without even glancing at them; now that they were safe, she had no further reason to worry about what they were doing. She lay down inside it and went to sleep as she used to.

Haku started to enter the cave as well, but Darbi stopped him by grabbing him by the tail. Haku turned a little annoyed, since feeling pulled by the tail wasn't a good sensation, but when he saw Darbi's serious face he understood that his brother wanted to talk to him. "What's up?" he asked him.

Darbi looked for a moment unsure what to say, then he spoke: "Haku, brother... don't get me wrong, I appreciate what you said, about how you would worry about all of us. But you don't have to do that" he said. "You are very generous, and I'm sure you would do anything for me, or for our brothers and sisters; but you heard what our mother said. We dragons can't live together. If you will try to keep us together, you will only meet to hardship and suffering. I don't want this for you. So thank you, thank you very much, I will never forget your gesture, but please, think to yourself from now on. Our future..."

"I am the one who decide my future!" Haku growled dryly. The anger pervaded him: how could Darbi surrender without even a fight? How could he have already embraced the brutal philosophy of the dragons so easily? His blood boiled. He was tempted to call him a coward, but he was able to hold back. "If there's no way for dragons to live together, then I'll build one myself. Don't you want my help? Whatever you want, but just know that I'll continue to take care of you anyway, just as I will continue to take care of all of our siblings, and nothing of what our mother said will change my mind! I'm not going to live as she says, it's a wrong way to live!"

Darbi backed away slightly, noting his brother's anger. It was rare for Haku to get angry, but when he did, he was able to scare everyone. Maybe because unlike him and their other siblings Haku didn't scream or roar, but expressed his anger through extremely sharp words. "Haku..." he tried to appease him.

But Haku didn't stop. He turned towards the cave entrance, within which the silhouettes of their siblings could be seen. Even though they were only shadows from his perspective, his keen eyesight allowed him to instantly recognize Tikka, Kotaru and Teramon, and he pointed at them with his tail. "According to our mother, you and I should abandon them to their fate and let them starve, just because a group of bipedal creatures is trying to hunt us. We should sacrifice our dignity, our pride and even our family! Does this make sense to you? Mh? Does it make sense?"

Darbi didn't know what to answer. Their mother's words had frightened him, but looking at their sisters he couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain in his heart. They wouldn't have survived, that was for sure. Darbi knew that if he embraced Neytiri's philosophy, he would have by no means left their sisters to die. What was the difference from killing them personally?

Haku snorted deeply, looking at him with eyes of fire. "Surrender if you want. Think of yourself, as our mother said. Build your own territory and drive your family out. Hide. Live as a fugitive. I don't intend to do that. But let me ask you something: if we bow to the cruel laws of this world and we think only of ourselves, what do you think will happen to us? How long do you think we will resist alone? You heard our mother, the dragons keep being hunted and the newcomers keep advancing. What will happen when every corner of the world will become theirs?"

Darbi fell silent. It was clear that he hadn't calculated that detail. "No dragon seems to calculate this detail" Haku thought angrily. If they had then the dragons wouldn't have been so divided. Or perhaps they had, but were too self-absorbed to care about what seemed to them the long distant future. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather die for something I believe in than hide like a rat and wait for death. Dragons are predators, not prey!" he growled. "If we split up, then our destiny will be to wait for the newcomers to come and kill us. But if we stay together we'll have more chances, and we might be able to live, and not just survive"

Darbi gaped at his brother's statement. "But Haku, what do you want to do? You heard our mother, there is no place in the world that can host us all, not without disturbing the newcomers. And the newcomers are thousands, maybe millions, while we are only seventeen"

Haku snorted. "I still don't know" he admitted. "But I'll find a way. And if I don't, at least I'll die as a dragon. Dragons don't hide, dragons fight! That's what I believe in"

Darbi lowered his head. In his eyes Haku saw that strange light again, the typical light that formed in the eyes of a living being when he admired the mastery and majesty of another one.

Haku decided he had nothing more to say him and turned away. Darbi tried to call him back, but the words died in his throat. When he entered the cave, his siblings looked at him curiously; surely they had noticed the argument between him and Darbi, and of course they were aware of the fact that Neytiri must have caught them breaking her rules. Haku ignored them and lay down in his favorite spot, starting to think. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Darbi come back in turn and some of his siblings step forward to ask him something, but his brother sent them away and in turn lay down in a lonely spot, as if he too wanted to think.

Haku didn't care. At that moment he had other things to think about. His brain began to work at full speed, devising a plan to obtain the information he wanted, calculating every weapon in his possession and every ability he knew his enemy possessed, evaluating the various contingencies, putting into taking into account all the variables… he had to prepare for everything, because he didn't know if he would have gotten a second chance. Fate had brought to the valley an easy way to gain knowledge about the outside world, and through that knowledge Haku perhaps would have had the chance to understand how to keep his precious family safe.

***************

Haku expected that he would have had to sneak out hunting as usual, as he doubted his mother would have allowed him to do it, but to his surprise the next day Neytiri made an unexpected announcement. "You've grown quite big by now, little ones, so it's time for you to go out. You have to learn how to live outside these stone walls. I'll take you out for a while while I hunt, so you can explore the outside world" was what the big dragon said, shocking all of her children.

By now the baby dragons had grown enough and they became enough strong and robust to be safe from almost all dangers of the outside world; all what they lacked was the experience to hunt. So it was time for Neytiri to take them out to make them more independent.

In a normal brood at that point at least a third of the litter should have already died, but thanks to Haku all the seventeen little dragons were alive and healthy, and they welcomed the idea of ​​finally being able to come out. Even those who feared the world outside the cave smiled at the idea: finally, they could see up close all those things that until then they had only observed from the small clearing outside the cave!

From Haku's point of view, he was glad that he wouldn't have had to sneak out ever again. If his mother would have took he and his siblings out regularly, he could do as he pleased without breaking any of her rules. This made his life easier.

The seventeen young dragons clambered upon their mother's legs and mounted upon her back; even though each of them was now very long and heavy, Neytiri was so big and strong that she could easily carry them all at once.

The great dragon flew up. As soon as she did it, Haku felt a gust of wind hit him, and his heart started pounding. For the first time in his life, Haku felt the thrill of moving in the sky; he suddenly wanted nothing more than to have a pair of wings of his own. The wind on the scales, the fresh current, the feeling of freedom and dominance over the whole valley, all extraordinary emotions that he wanted to experience all his life. Flying was truly something magnificent.

Neytiri glided towards the lake and landed on its shore. The animals that had been drinking gathered there ran away in terror at the arrival of the dragon. "You can stay here" Neytiri said. "Go ahead and explore the surroundings and have fun. I go hunting. I'll be back in the evening. If you need me, you know how to call me"

As soon as all the little dragons had descended, Neytiri took off and disappeared into the sky without looking back. Many of his siblings seemed happy and ran in all directions, and Haku couldn't blame them: he too the first time he came out of the cave was excited and playful like never before. After all, he and his siblings were still only babies that were discovering the world.

Their mother had probably taken them out to teach them to hunt, but Haku already knew how to do it, so he couldn't be interested. Rather, he had something else to attend to, something much more important, which could have sealed the fate of his survival and that of the rest of his family.

*******************

From the top of a cliff, Kalos carefully observed the valley below.

He had sensed that something had changed since the day before, when Neytiri had gone berserk destroying a part of the forest, so he had returned to check. He couldn't be happier that he did: finally, the litter was brought out from the nest! It was the opportunity he had been waiting for a long time!

Now he just needed to wait for the right moment and he could mow down all his sons, eliminating the annoying competition forever. Then he could finally return to his old territory. He couldn't help but smile at that perspective.