Phoenix by Oridian

Phoenix

Oridian, Birth, Cock, Creampie, Dick, Dragon, Drake, Dream, F/M, Feathers, Flight, Griffin, Gryphon, Hermaphrodite, Humor, Innocence, Interspecies, M/F, Male/Female, Multiple Species, Penis, Pregnancy, Pregnant, Pussy, Quadruped, Rebirth, Regeneration, Respawn, Scales, Thought Provoking, Tragedy, Transformation, Vagina, Violence (Not In Yiff), Vulva, War, Wings, immortal

Griffins have a unique method of reproduction. Weary of her own people, a lonely hen turns to a dragon to help her father the next generation.

This story is self-contained and can be read alone. (22,989 words)

SUNFIRE/GRIFFIN

With measured beats of her wings, the griffin dropped out of the air and landed on the hillside. She touched down hard and almost tripped up, but at the last moment she barely managed to skip forward to avoid tumbling to the ground.

The griffin snapped her beak in annoyance. Once she would have been graceful and swift in the air, but no longer. Over the past few months, her strength had been waning and with each passing day she was finding it a greater and greater challenge to fly, but fortunately this was not a frustration that would remain for long. Soon, one way or another, she would be free.

The griffin's name was Sunfire, and she was very far from home.

Sitting down on all fours, Sunfire reached for the flight harness she was wearing and used her beak to open her shoulder pouch. Her flight harness was a grid of leather straps and pouches which helped her to carry objects while airborne. Whereas griffin-made harnesses were usually focused on highlighting their wearer's plumage and conforming to the latest fashions, the harness she was currently wearing had been manufactured by a winged civilization with an entirely different mindset. Her harness had a simple utilitarian design that was rugged yet also lightweight and comfortable--the pouches were sleek and conformed to her outline not to be stylistic, but because an aerodynamic design made for improved flight capability.

"Form follows function, I suppose," Sunfire muttered to herself. Taking out a small bar of dried fruits and nuts slathered with honey, she resealed her shoulder pouch and started pecking at her snack. The bar would give her enough energy to make it through the rest of the day, and hopefully by nightfall she had found her quarry. And if she hadn't--well, then she could always try again in a few decades.

The sun was climbing ever higher in the sky, and the midday heat made the griffin feel lethargic. After finishing her snack bar, Sunfire stood up and walked over towards one of the large trees that bordered the meadow she had landed in. It was essential that she complete her hunt as soon as possible, yet in such blazing weather surely she could be forgiven for waiting until the afternoon heat had died down. Regardless of her name, she was not immune to heat exhaustion. Perhaps a quick nap was in order--nothing excessive, just an hour or so to wait out the scorching heat and allow her strength to recover.

"Eee-yawk!"

However, Sunfire had barely closed her eyes when a loud squawking cry caught her attention, followed by a deep trumpeting roar that was unmistakable as it echoed of the hillside.

"Rraaww!!"

Sunfire's ears snapped up and she raised her head to watch the sky. Griffins could not roar, and regardless of that fact, she was far from the lofty mountain ranges where her people resided. No, what she had just heard were the calls of two different creatures entirely--the latter of which she had been trying to locate over the past few days.

"Oh, but I was just getting comfortable..." grumbled the griffin, and then she unfurled her wings and leapt into the sky.

As she climbed upwards and gained altitude, Sunfire quickly spotted the source of the noises she had heard--in the skies far above, a pair of winged creatures were engaged in a deadly battle for air supremacy, swooping and diving at each other and exchanging blows. Neither of them were griffins.

The first creature had leathery skin that was a mottled green-brown, and it had four wings which it was desperately flapping as it tried to outmanoeuvre its combatant. This was a vizriak hunter, and it was a large aerial predator which usually hunted in a pack. This vizriak was alone--perhaps it had strayed too far from its pack while roaming for prey, or perhaps it was a lone hunter searching for new territory to claim. Either way, it was paying dearly in blood.

Instead of feathers or leathery skin, the second creature was covered in scales of bright blue. Sunfire was too far away to see any close-up detail, but she knew that each scale was a smooth, flat, stretched hexagon that formed neat, geometric rows covering the creature's entire hide, even on its wings. This was a dragon, and he was winning.

As Sunfire watched, the dragon closed the distance and used his claws to viciously scratch at the vizriak hunter. The vizriak screeched in pain and tried to retaliate with a bite, but the dragon had already disengaged and pulled away before the counterblow could connect. Again and again the vizriak took hits--the dragon was methodical and persistent, never waiting too long and giving the vizriak the chance to flee, but never getting impatient and attacking when the vizriak might have an opportunity to effectively counterattack.

The fight lasted no more than a minute, by which time Sunfire had climbed to the duellers' altitude and was quickly approaching. She was hardly a fighter, especially in her weakened state, but perhaps she might provide some assistance in chasing off the vizriak. Dangerous pack hunters had no place roaming in the airspace of civilized creatures. Even though the nearby land was largely uninhabited, dragons were famously known for being territorial.

However, just as the griffin got close to the duelling pair, the blue-scaled dragon suddenly dove towards the vizriak again and smashed into its back. Instead of merely using his claws, the drake used his jaws to snap down hard on the vizriak's neck and make a violent wrenching motion. There was a single screeching cry, and then silence. "Yewrk...!"

Sunfire saw the vizriak hunter flap its four wings uncoordinatedly, as if it had suddenly lost all will to continue the fight. Then it dropped away, its wings going still as it descended and crashed into the forest. The impact was enough to knock aside a couple of trees--there would be no chance it had survived. Sunfire banked to circle around and get a closer look at the crash site, but then she glanced up again and realized that she had lost track of the dragon. Where had he gone? She should have been paying attention.

"RAAWWRRR!" Suddenly Sunfire heard that deep, trumpeting roar again and she saw the dragon approaching her from above, in a combat dive with claws extended.

"Eee! Hey! Hey! No, wait! Ahhhhh!" The griffin let out a panicked chirp and twisted her wings as fast as she could. Her whole body was briefly inverted as she spun around and whiffled, trading away her altitude to make a desperate evasive manoeuvre. The blue-scaled dragon shot past so fast that she could hear the air whizzing from his speed, but he did not hit her.

Sunfire had only a brief second to breathe a sigh of relief that the collision had been narrowly avoided, and then the wake turbulence from the dragon's dive swept over her wings and made her stall. "AHHhhhh!" The griffin tumbled through the air as she hurriedly attempted to stabilize her flight. She hadn't been at a very high altitude to begin with, and now she had mere seconds before she crashed into the forest. Her wings flailed about as she flapped with as much strength as she could possibly muster. It was a close thing, but she barely managed to recover from the stall before she hit the treetops.

"Ahhh! Why did you...? Ah! Ahhhhh!" Now that she was back in level (albeit low altitude) flight, Sunfire screamed a few more times just to get the terror out of her system. She raised her head to throw a furious glare at the dragon, who was flying leisurely a few hundred metres above her and watching with what she strongly suspected was a contemptuous expression. "Hello?" yelled Sunfire, "Listen, I just need to talk--ah! Oww!"

Sunfire found herself cut off as she crashed into the canopy of an extra tall tree which was protruding up from the forest. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!" screeched the griffin. She immediately got tangled up into the tree branches and tumbled from branch to branch as she plummeted the short distance to the forest floor. "Please-don't-hurt-please-don't-hurt-please-don't...!" she screamed as the ground rapidly approached, or maybe that was just in her head.

She hit the ground, and it hurt.

Today really was not her day.

"Aggrahh..." groaned the griffin as she lay on the forest floor. "I wish...I was...dead..." she gasped. Leaves were slowly falling through the air to land on and around her prone body, as if she was being mocked by the tree she had crashed into. Unfortunately, Sunfire realized, the impact hadn't been rough enough to kill her. In fact, she didn't even seem to have any broken bones or serious injuries--the pain wasn't excruciating enough to knock her unconscious, it was just extremely painful. She would have a few excellent bruises from this crash, not that it would matter.

Suddenly there was the sound of flapping wings, and then Sunfire heard the crunch of dried leaves as someone landed beside her. "Oh...ohh...arghhhh..." The griffin let out one last groan of pain, and then she raised her head and tried to push herself into a sitting position.

It was the blue-scaled drake, and seeing him up close allowed Sunfire to confirm her suspicion that he had been watching her contemptuously. Sunfire was used to seeing griffins with their feathered plumages of brown, black, or white, but this dragon was something else entirely. Although he shared the same basic four-legged, two-winged body plan as she did, the drake had a narrow, triangular muzzle instead of a beak, and his whole body was more slender and far thinner than hers. His neck and tail were longer than any griffins', but he stood upright with a proud, elegant grace. His wings were still held open, looking like two huge sails of blue, but then he furled them neatly onto his back. Just like Sunfire, the drake was also wearing a flight harness, except that his harness was more weathered and clearly had been patched up and repaired several times.

Sunfire sat back on her haunches and tried to look as dignified and regal as possible, although the effect was considerably lessened by her feathers all being in a mess. She inclined her head in a bow, dipping her head lower as was preferred in the drakken custom, instead of her usual greeting to other griffins. "Good afternoon," she began by saying.

"You are clearly not a vizriak," replied the drake in a calm, resonant voice that seemed to come from his chest just as much as his mouth. "Even vizriaks can fly well enough to avoid crashing into trees." And then he turned around and walked off, leaving the griffin sitting alone in the dirt.

"I...wha...what? Hey...HEY!" yelled Sunfire. She got to her feet, shook herself quickly to try and dislodge any leaves or branches which had gotten caught in her feathers, and then she scrambled after the drake who was strolling briskly away. "You...you come back here! Wait a second! Hey!"

The drake studiously ignored Sunfire, which greatly irritated her.

"Excuse me? Excuse me! You were the one who dove at me first! You can't just...I wouldn't have crashed into the tree if you hadn't..." sputtered Sunfire, trotting up to the drake's side and trying to get his attention. "Why, I never... This is completely... Gah! Whatever! Whatever! Alright, listen dragon--I've come a long way from home, and I don't want it to be for nothing."

"Good for you," replied the dragon. He carefully stepped around a large boulder and continued walking through the forest.

Sunfire walked around the other side of the boulder and hurried after the drake. "But aren't you...aren't you curious why I'm here? Don't you want to know why a griffin is flying so far into drakken territory?"

"Not at all," said the blue-scaled drake, weaving his way through a gap between two large bushes. Sunfire followed after him, and then she finally saw where he was headed. They had reached the nearby crash site where the vizriak had impacted the ground. Several trees had been knocked aside or damaged by the force of impact, and the winged predator was lying dead in a small depression in the ground. The dragon continued to ignore Sunfire completely; he walked over towards the vizriak's broken body and extended his claws to slash its throat, not that there was any doubt left that the beast was slain after his mid-air bite had torn open its neck.

Sunfire stood a short distance away; the sight of the carcass with all its blood and gore made her feel slightly nauseous. "I...uh...okay, maybe we got off on the wrong foot here. Even though you dived at me and made me crash, I'm sure that was just an accident. I imagine you thought I was another vizriak hunter or something like that. Mistakes happen, lessons learned. I accept your apology."

The drake was still ignoring her as he moved around the vizriak carcass. He was moving around the dead body to fold in the vizriak's wings and legs, tying up the whole creature using coils of rope he took from his flight harness. Sunfire felt her feathers fluff up in irritation at being ignored, but she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "Let's try this again. Hello there, my name is Sunfire, a griffin of the Southern Rasterin Mountains. It's a great pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Finally the dragon made a response, although not quite the one Sunfire had been hoping for. He snorted. "Pfft! You're called_Sunfire_? Of course you are. What a silly name."

Other than a few crest feathers spiking up, Sunfire didn't let her calm composure slip. "Yes, it's very nice to meet you too. I take it that you are the bounty hunter who has been assisting the nearby villages with chasing off vizriak hunter packs?"

"That is correct! Aren't you a clever little birdcat," muttered the dragon with a sarcastic tone. He walked over the vizriak's mouth and took some sort of metal tool out from his flight harness--either a pair of scissors or forceps--and then he began doing_something_with the vizriak's teeth.

"Yes, thank you. Now, I don't think I quite got your name...?" Sunfire said.

"Alstrom, a bounty hunter and freelancer of clan Erkotas, of the City of Wings. Neural magic." Alstrom make a sudden yanking gesture with his paws, and suddenly one of the vizriak's teeth came loose.

Sunfire had wanted to keep her conversation focused on her mission, but she couldn't help but get side-tracked at this sudden display of gore. "Oh! What...what are you doing with that thing? It's already dead."

"The fangs are the most important part of the vizriak--they're the proof that I've done my job. I can only collect my bounty by handing over the fangs. Getting the leather and the claws and everything else can wait till I get back to my camp," Alstrom explained. He yanked out the vizriak's other fang and placed both of the large, bloodstained teeth in a pouch of his flight harness, then he grabbed the ropes he had tied around the vizriak's body and swung the whole carcass onto his back between his wings. "Goodbye now." Then Alstrom turned around and left the crash site.

Sunfire took a deep breath and let it out a slow, prolonged sigh. For a few seconds she entertained the thought of abandoning about her mission--it would be so easy to just drop dead right now and forget about this whole thing, but she had come so far already! "Persevere! You can't give up now. Remember why you wanted to do this in the first place," the griffin thought to herself.

Dragons were notorious isolationists; as a whole, their civilization shunned any and all contact from the other sapient species. Most of their territory was bordered by insurmountable mountainous terrain or stormy ocean cliffs. Flying through lofty mountain passes was the only way to access drakken territory, but dragons would never allow another creature to ride on their backs and enter their homeland. Griffins were the only other species which they tolerated, partially out of respect for a fellow people who understood the majesty of flight, but mostly out of the (completely accurate) assessment that the fluffy birdcats posed no threat whatsoever to drakken high technology and their devastating mastery of magic. The two civilizations weren't close enough to be allies, but griffins were allowed to fly into drakken territory and even visit the famed City of Wings...if they could find it.

Sunfire had set out on her quest several weeks ago, leaving her home eyrie with her flight harness laden with food and other equipment for travel. Unfortunately she had grossly underestimated how much time it would take to make her way through the winding mountain passes to enter drakken territory. But now she had made it with just enough time to spare and even found the exact sort of dragon she was looking for, only to risk failure at the last moment because an antisocial drake was giving her attitude.No, she decided, it was going to take more than some unfriendliness to dissuade her. Sunfire determinedly trotted after Alstrom, who was already some distance away from her.

"You're following me," muttered the blue-scaled drake as the griffin came up beside him and matched his pace.

Sunfire immediately spotted an opportunity and took it. "That is correct!" she chirped, putting in all her effort into imitating Alstrom's highly sarcastic tone. "Aren't you just a clever little dragon?"

Surprisingly, Alstrom seemed amused by this remark rather than insulted. He actually chuckled--the first gesture he'd made towards Sunfire which could be considered even remotely friendly. "Ha."

"Do you need any help carrying that?" Sunfire asked, referring to the vizriak carcass which Alstrom was carrying on his back.

Flying creatures such as griffins, vizriaks, and dragons did not weigh as much as creatures which were confined to the ground. Yet even with its legs and wings bound up by rope, the vizriak hunter was still slightly larger than the dragon, but this added weight didn't seem to bother him at all. It certainly did not hinder him from strolling through the forest, presumably headed back towards his camp. "Do I_look_like I need help?" replied Alstrom.

"Not really, but I was just being polite," Sunfire admitted. She didn't want to get her feathers dirty carrying a carcass anyway. "Now as I was just saying: My name is Sunfire, and I need some help."

"Help? Are you lost?" Alstrom used the tip of his tail to point towards the right. "The Rasterin Mountain Range is in that direction. If you keep flying for about...four or five hundred leagues, you'll make it home before next month. Have a safe trip. Goodbye."

"No, no, I'm not lost," Sunfire said. "You see, I on a special mission--an experiment, I like to call it. I've been searching around for a dragon with a very specific skillset. So if what the drakken living in the nearby villages told me is correct, I believe you can help me out."

Alstrom shrugged his shoulders, bouncing the vizriak carcass on his shoulders. "If you're looking to become a bounty hunter like me, I regret to inform you that I'm not currently accepting internships. And after seeing your flight performance earlier, I highly recommend you reconsider your choice of career. If you can be shot down by a tree, you don't stand a chance against a vizriak hunter pack."

"Akkkgghhh..." Sunfire made a choked noise in the back of her throat, but she otherwise managed to ignore the implied insult to her flight ability. Griffins didn't place quite as much cultural and societal value on flight as the drakken did, but still she didn't like being told she was bad at such a basic skill. "I don't want to be a bounty hunter! I need your magic--I've been searching for a dragon who can use neural magic, but all the dragons in the nearby mining towns use stone magic. They told me to come find you, so here I am."

"If you want a dragon with neural magic, you should have gone further east towards the farming outposts--they use neural magic to control the livestock. Or even the City of Wings itself--you'll find dragons with every single type of magic there."

"I know, but I don't have time to fly all the way to the farming outposts or to Avaeria. I need a dragon with neural magic today, or latest by tomorrow. After that, it won't matter anymore. This is very urgent."

For the first time, Alstrom turned his head to stare at Sunfire as she walked beside him. His expression was no longer dismissive, but instead intrigued. "You have my curiosity. I do have neural magic, so tell me--what exactly do you want my magic for, griffin?"

Sunfire clicked her beak. "Right! Don't judge, just hear me out first. I have been searching for someone to create a_lifebond_ with; that is the griffin term, but as a dragon I think the closest comparison you would understand is_mate_. That is my quest. I am searching for a mate."

Alstrom snorted again. "Hmf, really? Are you so incredibly unattractive that no one from your entire civilization would choose to mate with you? And thus you have to turn to a dragon for companionship? That is...pitiable yet impressive. I commend you for your resilience! Most people would just learn to live with solitude."

Sunfire had been trying her best to stay calm and not let Alstrom annoy her, but it seemed like the dragon was doing his best to get on her nerves. "What?! No, I'm not ugly and I'm certainly not pitiable! It's not about being lonely. I am_not_ lonely!"

"Good, because I'm not interested in becoming your mate, Sunflower. Go bother someone else."

This time, the griffin's feathers all stood on end and she couldn't restrain her annoyance. "My name is not Sun_flower_! It's Sun_fire_! Just hear me out! It's not about companionship. I am literally looking for a mate--as in, someone to be a parent with."

"If that is the case, all the more reason you should have stayed with the griffins. Obviously a dragon cannot help you with becoming a parent," Alstrom said.

The dragon and the griffin entered a small clearing in the forest where a groundsheet, several equipment pouches, and a small tent were arranged around a burnt-out campfire. Sunfire realized that Alstrom must have been deliberately chasing the vizriak hunter so that he could bring it down near to his campsite, reducing the distance he would have to carry the carcass. If he had the skill to outfly a vizriak and intentionally herd it in one direction before taking it down, he was a highly impressive hunter.

Alstrom dropped the vizriak carcass just outside the camp and shrugged off his flight harness next to the campfire. He took a pouch of knives and other sharp tools to begin cutting up the vizriak carcass and stripping it for its meat, its skin, and other useful components. Sunfire sat down beside the blue-scaled dragon and watched him work. "What do you mean by obvious? If you would reject my offer and leave my experiment to fail by default, I would ask that you at least explain your reasoning," she requested.

"This is basic." Holding a knife in a forepaw, Alstrom gestured between the two of them. "You're a griffin, I'm a dragon. There is...equipment incompatibility. Two different species cannot crossbreed and hope to have some sort of hybrid...hatchling...chick_thing_that is half covered with scales and half with feathers. Even if I agreed to mate with you, my seed would not quicken in your vent and you wouldn't lay any viable eggs. It's impossible." Alstrom paused and frowned. "I don't think griffins even lay eggs."

Sunfire chuckled in amusement. "Hmf! No, we don't lay eggs. But you think I'm ignorant of biology? Certainly not!" She tilted her head and gave Alstrom a bemused look. "You are...uninformed, but that is not your fault. You clearly are aware of how dragons mate, but I'm not surprised that you have never heard of how griffins reproduce. After all, you are not a griffin. You are a dragon--a fine specimen, indeed--but you are not a griffin."

Alstrom did not return her cheery expression. He continued to deftly use his knife and his claws to cut apart and disassemble the vizriak carcass. He had carefully sliced open its belly and was tugging out the viscera. "Stop talking in circles and explain yourself immediately. I have better things to do than to have my time wasted. Thus far our discussion has been pointless."

The griffin let out a huff of annoyance. "Ffttt. Oh! You dragons live to be two hundred years old, yet you are always in such a rush! I do admire your industriousness, but just be_patient_."

The drake let out a soft growl in reply. "Rr. You still haven't explained yourself. From the few times I have spoken to griffins, I have come to the conclusion that they always talk too much and yet say too little. You are clearly no exception. Get to the point before I tire of this conversation."

"Alright, alright!" Sunfire said, some of her feathers ruffling up in agitation. "I'll explain, but it's a complex subject that will take some time. To begin--how old are you?"

Alstrom looked suspicious, but he answered the question. "Fifty-one years old."

Sunfire nodded. "Five decades is still young for a dragon, but griffins live on a different time scale. I have lived through thirty-two winters since I was born...but I will not live to see next year's snow. I will not even live to see next week. My death approaches today, or in at most in a few days." She paused to give Alstrom a chance to respond, but said nothing. His body language gave no indication whatsoever of what he was thinking as he continued to work at butchering the vizriak carcass. "Dragons can be so dispassionate! Would he be so calm if it was a fellow dragon who had said that she was dying?" Sunfire wondered. Nevertheless, the griffin shrugged her wings and continued her explanation. "Don't pull out your feathers mourning for me. My death will be normal for my people. The griffin cycle of life is different from all other peoples; it is unique amongst all the living creatures. We live for three decades, at most four if we are lucky, and then we die."

Alstrom finally replied. "What a short time."

"Ah, but it is not as short as you might think, comparing it to a drakken's lifespan. Three decades is more than enough time to know joy, sadness, anger, fear, and everything else. It is long enough to find love, to know hate, to feel disappointment, and to understand loyalty. Perhaps we live short lives, but they are full lives." Sunfire paused as she prepared to deliver the most important piece of information--the key difference that lay at the heart of her quest. "But the most important thing you must understand is that at the end of it,we do not die."

"You don't die?" asked the drake, his voice taking a faintly sceptical tone. "You believe that your soul is timeless and ascends to another plane to live immortal? I thought only the centaurs and the humans entertained such beliefs."

So Alstrom knew about the religion of the other sapient species? Perhaps this drake was more educated than she had assumed. Sunfire shook her head. "No. I mean it_literally_when I said I'm not going to die. Sort of. It's complicated! As we come to the end of our lives, our bodies prepare to create the next generation, which shall be my next life. Unlike you dragons who can produce eggs throughout your lives after you leave childhood, griffins only give birth once per life. My death will be directly linked to the birth of my offspring, and I will inevitably die during the process. But the juvenile griffin will have my memories, thoughts, and my personality in his or her head. I will die, but then I will live again in a new body. The old body perishes, but my mind lives on. Do you understand now?"

Alstrom no longer seemed interested in cutting up the vizriak carcass. Now he stared at Sunfire with an expression that was no longer just curious--he was fascinated. "What? Are you serious? I have heard stories...legends about griffins being long-lived, but your whole civilization is...immortal? That is incredible if true."

"It is true, but I think it is less immortality, and more like having very, very long memories." Sunfire's gaze went slightly distant as she recalled her memories stretching back further than she could even remember, if that made any sense. "Thirty-three years ago I had feathers that were snowy white in my past life. And tomorrow will be a new day, when I am reborn anew. It will be...different. That is all I know." The griffin gazed down at her current brown-feathered plumage, knowing that this would likely be her last day alive in this body.

"Living forever? To die but yet not die...that is..." said Alstrom, his voice trailing away as he thought through the concept. He didn't sound so arrogant anymore; now he sounded almost reverent. "If I never had to worry about death--if I knew that I would always just have a new body with my old memories..." The drake shook his head. "I don't know if I would do anything different. Perhaps I would? I have never really considered that one day I will die... One hundred and fifty years more seems like so much time, yet it seems like so recently I was only still a young fledgling. But you? If you really can just keep renewing yourself, then you must be...ancient. What stories you could tell."

Sunfire could not move her beak to express emotion as dragons or humans could with a smile, but she opened her wings and bowed slightly. "Alstrom, I'm not ancient. Over time, even the strongest of memories will fade and get replaced by new ones. New experiences, new opinions, new skills; all these replace older ones. If griffins held on to every single memory we ever had since time immemorial, we would forget how to live in the now. We would be nothing but...trees or dusty old books, filled with knowledge and wisdom but unable to act. But as for me? I can barely even recall what I ate for a meal last week. Dried fruit and nuts, probably." Sunfire tapped her talons against the grass, wondering how much of her current personality and memories would make it into her new body. Being reborn was like going to sleep, dreaming, and then waking up in a new body that was much smaller and more energetic, but which sometimes had trouble walking around at first. Even though she had died and been reborn countless times before, there was always the thought that one day she might die and not wake up.

Alstrom seemed lost in thought. It seemed like Sunfire had managed to get the idea stuck in his mind, and now the drake couldn't help but think through all the consequences of what she had just revealed. "What happens if... What about the male griffins? If the females griffins like you live again after they die giving birth, do the males just...die? Or do they live longer?"

Sunfire narrowed her eyes and raised her crest feathers--the gesture was the griffin equivalent of a pleased smile. Alstrom didn't seem smug or arrogant anymore; she had intrigued the dragon by explaining the truth about her own civilization. "Male griffins live for three to four decades, just like the females. But even when their bodies are expiring, their minds do not need to die unless they choose it. And if they wished to die, a griffin of any gender can commit suicide at any age, just like a dragon or a member of any civilization could. It's not exactly a complicated process. But such a thing is usually the result of serious mental disease."

"How do the males live on?" asked Alstrom. His voice was already quiet, but it got even quieter. "And what exactly does this have to do with me?"

"Mating is a...complex process. Almost all female griffins chose to become pregnant once we reach adult age. We carry inside us offspring who are fully developed and ready to be born--all that is necessary is for their empty minds to be filled. So for me, the reproductive process has already begun," explained Sunfire. "It was set in motion many years back when I mated with a griffin from a neighbouring eyrie about two and a half decades ago. He impregnated me, and for most of my life I there have been two juveniles waiting inside my womb."

"You've been gravid all your life?" asked Alstrom.

"I'm pregnant, not gravid. Gravid is for creatures who carry eggs," Sunfire said, correcting the drake. "But yes, the vast majority of griffins are female, and if they are adults, they are pregnant. This is how our species survives--if we somehow suffer injury or disease, we can immediately transfer our consciousness and be reborn in a new body, but usually we can wait till we have reached the end of our natural lives and our old bodies begin to fail."

"If you griffins are going around pregnant for most of your lives, it's no wonder you're all such bad flyers. You are carrying so much dead weight--or live weight, technically."

Sunfire let out an amused chirp. "Hm! I suppose that's one way to see it. But as for your question earlier about males--this same male griffin who mated with me all those decades ago was supposed to mate with me again one last time as we were dying, during which we would experience the_lifebond_--a unique magical and mental link which would transfer over our thoughts, our personalities, our memories; the entirety of our consciousness. And then we would both die and live again in young new bodies. It is the end of this life and the start of a new one."

"Then why are you not with this male? Why are you so far into drakken territory?" asked Alstrom. He glanced down towards the butchered vizriak carcass and made a few more small cuts with his knife, slicing off the leathery hide.

The feathers on Sunfire's neck and her back puffed up in anger at the thought of the male griffin. "I will not speak his name! He had...a change of heart, and instead he decided to perform the lifebond with my sister. Not that she is my sister in the way you dragons might think of siblings. She is actually me from the last generation, but in a different body." Sunfire quickly explained this concept. "If a female griffin performs the lifebond alone, both her two offspring will have identical copies of her mind. This is what I did in my previous life. I had two juveniles--myself, and my sister. This male griffin got us both pregnant, but he can only perform the lifebond with one of us, and apparently I was the less convincing choice. Rejection stings."

"Sounds like family politics would be far more complicated amongst griffins than drakken," Alstrom said.

"It is, Alstrom, it really is. Have I mentioned that griffins come in three different sexes, not two like you dragons?" Sunfire chuckled amusedly on seeing Alstrom's eyes get even wider. "We have males, females, and also herms, who have the genitals of both genders. Males can fertilize females and hermaphrodites. Females produce two offspring when fertilized by a male, but only one offspring when fertilized by a herm. Herms have similar reproductive capacity as females, but they can also produce seed like males. However, herms are less virile and they will only produce one offspring if they mate with a female, another herm, or if they self-fertilize. So a mating pair of one male and one female, one male and one herm, or one female and one herm will give a total of two offspring per pair--one for each of the parents, giving them continuity to the next generation. Male-male or female-female pairs don't work, but herm-herm pairs give up to_four_ offspring in total, which is more than you started with. You might therefore think that our population would stagnate without the herms, but that isn't true because the gender ratio isn't exactly equal--griffin females are by far the most common, followed by males, then herms. Did you manage to get all that?"

"I think I would need to write it down to understand all this," said Alstrom.

"And that's just for a monogamous pair of two griffins! If you have three or more griffins all mating together--which happens a lot--it's a real mess of an orgy. You have to keep track of who's been mating with who, and keeping a chart is not at all sexy."

Alstrom nodded slowly. "Wait, are you a herm? Because I'll be honest--if you have a penis, I am significantly less interested in mating with you, Sunflower."

"You...irritating... Ngggrhhh... My name is not Sunflower!" squawked Sunfire. Her exasperation bubbled into action and she jumped to her feet and ran over to shove Alstrom. She knocked her shoulder against his, trying to flip him over, but the dragon just shifted his weight and fended of her mock attack with ease.

"Hehehe, looks like I ruffled a few feathers," Alstrom said, chuckling with amusement.

Sunfire's feathers were definitely very ruffled. "Sunfire! Not Sunflower! Sunflowers are just some stupid yellow plants that like to point east! Sunfire refers to_stellar thermonuclear fusion_, the blazing power source which keeps the sun aflame! The ultimate source of all heat, light, and energy! Without the sun rising every morning we'd all freeze to death!" She made one last irritated attempt to shove Alstrom, and then she collapsed against his side. "Oh!"

"Calm down, Sunny." Alstrom chuckled again and used his wing to pat Sunfire's back. "Wow, your feathers are_really_ soft."

Besides the persistent misstating of her name, which was clearly deliberate, Sunfire also felt slightly offended on behalf of her past lives where she had been male. "And what do you mean you wouldn't mate with me if I had a penis? What's wrong with having a penis? You've got a penis, but you don't hear me complaining."

"There nothing wrong with having a penis, but I would not choose to mate with someone who has one. That is my preference."

"Well we're in luck then, because I don't have one. This here griffin is one hundred percent hen."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Do I look like a cock to you?" Right as she said it, Sunfire could tell that Alstrom was preparing a snarky retort. "Actually, don't answer that. Can we focus on the important part? The lifebond. You dragons are known for having all sort of different, exotic types of magic, but for griffins, the lifebond is our speciality. When a griffin transfers consciousness it is not a perfect process--maybe I'll end up calmer, or a bit more impatient, or less chatty, or more energetic, or more sombre, or I'll have a fear of snakes, or a new love for swimming, or whatever. I'm the same person, but just a bit different in numerous ways that may or may not be too subtle to even notice. And when you have two griffins performing a lifebond together--that is the most intimate possible experience. You have two linked minds, and sometimes a little bit of your partner goes into you."

Sunfire paused. "Uh, I meant that in a mental sense. Some of the memories or personality traits may end up copied, swapped around, or exchanged. I didn't literally mean a little bit of the other griffin ends up inside you--although when you mate, that is actually how you it works..."

"I am aware of how sex works," said Alstrom.

"Of course, of course. But I just thought..." Sunfire sighed softly. "Ever since I found out that I didn't have a partner to lifebond with for this cycle, I decided that I wanted to do something different. I could have found some other griffin to link minds with if I wanted, but that's exactly what I've been doing for the past hundred lifetimes, or thousand, or ten thousand. Or however far back the lineage goes, back until the primeval era when griffins first developed this...unique method of reproduction. I just thought that I wanted to do something different this time. Not always the same thing over and over."

Sunfire reached down and gestured towards the flight harness she was wearing. "This was a gift from an old friend of mine, another griffin. She bought it from a trader a few decades ago, but she never used it and the design has since gone out of style. But you dragons...you wear these for functionality, with appearance just as an afterthought. For us griffins, the opposite is true. Our two species are so similar that we can even share garments, yet in other ways we are so different. So that got me thinking about dragons and the lifebond, and I started wondering. Maybe...maybe a dragon could do it too. I have shared memories with thousands of griffins, but never have I seen the world from a dragon's perspective. What can you teach me, I wonder?

"So I left the eyrie and flew all the way to drakken territory to find out. I searched for a dragon with neural magic, hoping that maybe you could somehow make that sacred link that has only ever been done between two griffins. I don't even know if it could work, or if this been a waste of time and effort." Sunfire raised her head to look at Alstrom, and for the first time the griffin and the dragon truly saw each other. "By my feathers, this is madness. I've only just met you, but here I am asking to do a lifebond. You could have all sorts of mental problems, and I wouldn't know until I let you into my head."

Both of them were quiet for a moment, and then Alstrom picked up his knife and resumed slicing up the vizriak. Sunfire watched him work for a few seconds, then she moved away slightly, having realized just how close she was sitting to the dragon. Here she was so very far from her home, roaming through the territory of a different civilization in some mad quest, trying to experiment with the most crucial, sacred moment of her life using magic which she had no experience with. Perhaps of the two of them, she was really the one who was more insane for having suddenly poured out so much information about her species and herself.

Alstrom spoke up after a few minutes of shared silence. "I take back what I said about griffins speaking too much and saying too little. You have said very much, and it is...truly remarkable."

"So you believe me?" asked Sunfire.

"I think you couldn't make this much up if you tried," Alstrom said. "Everything you've said about griffins has been enlightening, so I shall share what I know about my own power. That's only fair."

"Tell me, then," said Sunfire.

The drake sat back on his haunches and used water poured from a bottle to wash his paws clean of the blood that stained them. Then he raised a paw and held it level before closing his eyes. "My inner affinity, my neural magic--I don't think it would work to link our minds. That's just not how it works." Suddenly a small bird fluttered down from the treetops and landed on his upraised paw. Alstrom opened his eyes again and turned to Sunfire, who was watching the little bird with awe. "My magic allows me to see and touch minds, but only those of animals. Sparrows, hawks, deer, boars, fish, spiders, ants;animals. I can see into their heads and read their thoughts, and they listen to me."

The bird perching on his paw suddenly broke out into song, chirping out a short, uplifting tune over and over. Sunfire realized that this wasn't the bird's usual mating call when Alstrom began to sing along in a quiet voice, harmonizing in tune with the chirping. It was a drakken folk song. "Whenever I try to fly, gravity pulls me straight down..." sang the drake.

"Ok, I'm impressed," admitted the griffin.

The small bird stopped singing and flew off quickly as Alstrom dropped his paw. "That's how I've always used my magic. I've always thought of it as a song. Every different animal has a...unique sound in their head--a special song that I can listen to and modulate. But that only works for lesser beings, and the more simplistic and unintelligent, the easier it gets. A spider sounds like a single note repeated over and over, but a bird or a deer is its own complicated little tune. Reading their minds is listening to the music of their heads, and controlling them is when I put my own music in. But if I try to use my magic on another dragon, the song in their head is like a cacophony of overlapping noise that is completely incomprehensible. I can't understand anything from other sapient creatures, let alone sending a message or somehow controlling them. My magic works on lesser beings only. Even a griffin has a mind too sophisticated for me to use my magic."

"Well..." Sunfire sighed. She felt very tired all of a sudden. Just a few months ago she had been healthy and fit, but now her life cycle was ending and her current body was starting to recycle itself. It was a process she was well familiar with. Muscles deteriorated and bones thinned as her body reclaimed nutrients and energy to bolster up her offspring's chances of survival. "But we won't know till we try, right? At least we can give it a shot. The lifebond is a unique form of magic like no other. In my death there forms a mental bridge which can connect two minds, but the question is if that bridge must be between two griffins, or if a dragon with cognitive magic can try to form a link as well. There's no harm in trying out this experiment." Then she paused as something he had said registered fully. "Wait, what do you mean by, 'even a griffin'?"

Alstrom grinned broadly. "Oh, I was insulting the intelligence of griffins, obviously."

Sunfire squawked indignantly, all her feathers standing up on end. "Oh! Oh! You...!" She had took a deep breath and resorted to a stronger form of language. "Fuuuuck you, dragon! Arrogant prick! Haughty asshole! You think your species is so much better than mine?"

"Yes, I do," said the arrogant prick, looking very amused at how annoyed Sunfire was.

The griffin huffed in annoyance. "Hmff! Well...it...isn't!" she retorted.

"But it is. You said it yourself just a few minutes ago--none but the drakken have access to arcane-class magical affinities. Healing, teleportation, puppeteering, and of course, cognitive magic--my magic," Alstrom said, sounding unbearably smug.

What he had said was factually true--drakken mastery of magic was unrivalled amongst all known civilizations, and this was the exact reason why Sunfire had chosen to attempt her experiment with a dragon instead of another one of the sapient species. Nevertheless, she refused to accept that this made dragons fundamentally superior to her own people. "Magic isn't everything!" she grumbled.

"Perhaps not. There is also technology, architecture, and industry--all of which the drakken are_vastly_superior at compared to your lesser civilization. We have a flying city, whereas you make decorative furniture and live in caves. Enough said."

This was also true--griffins liked to live carefree, comfortably happy lives, and many enjoyed being artisans, poets, or philosophers. In comparison, the drakken applied themselves to practical problems with more...dedication.

"Smug scale-face! Just because you dragons have a flying city you think you are so great? You aren't! There's culture and history and diplomacy and...and, uh..." Sunfire tried her best to take Alstrom down a peg or two. It didn't work.

"Culture?" Alstrom opened his wings and mimed swinging them forwards and back in rhythmic patterns. "I can play the wing-harp. Can you?"

"Yes, I can!" exclaimed Sunfire, although her victorious tone was hampered when she had to clarify her statement. "Well, uh, I could. A few lives ago. A half-dozen. But I could play then! I was great at it! A master!"

"If you say so."

The griffin fumed for a few seconds, trying to come up with a defence for her civilization. Finally she settled on saying, "The gryphon knows secrets that no one else, not even the drakken, know about!"

"Really? Such as?"

Sunfire was left nearly speechless. "I...I...but...they're secrets! If I told them to you, then they wouldn't be secrets!"

"Right."

Sunfire was left completely speechless. "..."

Alstrom tossed his knife in the air and spun around to catch it with the dextrous tip of his tail. He was showing off--unlike dragons, griffins could not use their tails to manipulate objects and they relied entirely on their paws to handle tools. "If you are feeling offended, feel free to leave my territory and fly away. Fly, fly away, you sunny little birdcat."

"Fuck you, scale-face! Fuck, fuck, fuck you." Sunfire hissed at the dragon, and then she shook her head and hissed again. "Psst. And fuck me too, because I think I'm beginning to like you."

"The feeling is mutual."

The griffin paused, this last remark having taken her by surprise. "My ears must be failing. Did I hear you wrongly? Was that actually a compliment? From you?"

Alstrom nodded. "It was. You are very welcome. Did I just make your day?"

"Dragon, if your ego grew any bigger it would blot out the sun."

"If you wish to insult me you are going to have to try harder than that."

"Alright!" Sunfire paused to try and think up her best possible insult, but she wasn't very good with wordplay. "You, uh, you...you suck. Scale...butt..."

Alstrom said nothing. The look on his face said enough.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" grumbled Sunfire. "Fuck it! Fuck this! I can't take this anymore--I'd rather drop dead right now than stare at your smug face for another second." The griffin reached down and pulled the release catches on her flight harness to tug off all the gear and let it fall to the ground. "Time to die. Lifebond--yes or no, Alstrom? Do you want to live forever?"

"I'm not ready to die. I'd rather stay in this body than trade it for immortality," said the drake.

"You won't die because you're not a griffin. At most you get copied over...I think. Best case scenario, you do something which no dragon had ever done before. Worst case scenario, nothing happens. So why not?"

"I still don't think this will work, but it couldn't hurt to try," Alstrom decided.

"That's the spirit! Let's go!" Sunfire closed her eyes and took a deep breath--one of her last, as she prepared to initiate the final process of death and rebirth. She reached deep within her and let her magic flow. Unlike normal spells, she needed no paw gestures or special incantations; all she had to do was stop subconsciously resisting and her innate magic would begin to burn her away.

Of course, Alstrom would have no idea what to expect. "What should I do? How do we link minds?" he asked.

Sunfire could already feel her magic beginning to take effect. Her whole body felt like it was tingling, but her thoughts came crisp and fast. "Use your neural magic and try to read my mind. Just keep trying."

The magic was burning hot through her body, even if on the surface it looked like nothing was changing. Sunfire kept her eyes closed, but she heard Alstrom reply. "Nothing. It's the same as usual. Loud and noisy when I try to read your mind. It's like talking to the crashing ocean."

"How about now?"

"Still nothing. I'm still trying, but there just...noise."

"How about now?" Sunfire asked again.

"No. This isn't working. The whole idea was ridiculous to start with. I'm sorry, but I told you that my magic doesn't--"

Sunfire suddenly snapped her eyes open and looked straight at Alstrom. No, she looked straight_into_ him, sending a burst of magic right at his mind like a lance meant to pierce armour. In a fraction of a second their consciousness became interlinked. "How about now," she repeated, except that her beak didn't move. "I hope you can hear me, dragon, because I can certainly hear you."

ALSTROM/DRAGON

Alstrom was taken speechless. Out of nowhere, everything seemed to fall into place and the incoherent noise representing Sunfire's consciousness turned into the clearest, cleanest, sound. He could hear Sunfire's mind just as he heard his own thoughts; not as a disembodied voice, but like a stream of ideas, feelings, and even exactly what she was experiencing of the world around her. His paw twitched, and the knife tumbled to the ground. Alstrom looked down to his chest, and for a moment he saw brown feathers instead of blue scales. It was astonishing.

"Astonishing? No, it the lifebond; or the beginning stages of one, at least. Are you impressed yet?"

The dragon didn't know what to say. "What happens--" he began to ask, but somehow Sunfire saw his question before he had vocalized it.

"I could tell you, but you will see soon enough. Keep linking your mind with mine." Sunfire's thoughts ran through his head so much faster than speech possibly could, but Alstrom understood every single syllable completely. He couldn't possibly mishear.

Alstrom could feel his magic running rich in a continuous flow towards Sunfire, but he let the power flow out of him instead of trying to restrain it. In step, both the dragon and the griffin walked towards each other. Instead of speaking, Alstrom threw his thoughts as Sunfire had thrown hers. "What happens now, Sunfire?"

"I know how a lifebond should function between two, or three, or even more griffins, but I do not know if the same will happen for us. Perhaps there is a limit, perhaps not," Sunfire said.

For Alstrom, the experience was like nothing else he had felt before. Never had his magic ever shown him anything so complex--the mind of another being who was just as sapient as he was. Despite what she had said earlier, Sunfire's mind felt vast and ancient, with strange echoing harmonics running underneath her higher thought processes. It was like he had entered an immense library, but without any reference or guide for what he was looking for. Alstrom found himself floating over a vast sea of information in which memories and concepts were all intertwined and twisted like cresting waves; linked to specific ideas, thoughts, or even in a manner that seemed almost random. Curious, he picked one of the waves at random and sent his mental probe there...

"...uld you like sugar with that?" asked the waiter.

"Yes please," Alstrom replied. He took the offered bowl and began adding heaped spoonfuls of sugar into his drink. Once he had added so much sugar than even the hot tea had become saturated, he raised the cup to his beak and started sipping.

_Wait, I don't have a beak._The view seemed to zoom out and take on a hazy quality. _This isn't my memory, this is Sunfire's._Alstrom glanced down, expecting to see feathers of brown instead of blue scales, but instead he saw feathers that were an ashen grey...

Then suddenly his perspective imploded completely, and Alstrom found himself standing back in his campsite. The griffin, Sunfire, was watching him with her head tilted. "No need to rush. You can't hope to access memory at random and find anything useful. I'm surprised you even managed to find something that could be coherently decrypted."

"That was... I was... I saw you, but you had...you were grey, not brown..." Alstrom shook his head and took a few steps back. Suddenly he felt incredibly vulnerable--if he could see Sunfire's memories, then surely she could see his. Instinctually he tried to pull back his magic, and the echoing song of the griffin's thoughts dulled to a quiet whispering tune.

"Take it easy, Alstrom. Don't panic," Sunfire told him, speaking aloud. "You're still in control of your own mind; you just need to get used to the lifebond. The bridge runs both ways and you can control it."

Despite her reassurances, Alstrom was finding it hard to remain calm. Sunfire was in his head! He wanted to close himself off and wall up his mind, but then immediately he realized that since the griffin could see his thoughts, she could anticipate this move and find a way around his defences. Everything he could think about was all exposed and visible. How could he outthink someone who had millennia of practice? The only way out was physical. He could fly away as fast as possible, or charge her and use his claws to do something...barbaric. Yet once again Alstrom realized that Sunfire would already know what he was thinking and she would attack him first and...

"You really are panicking. Maybe this was a bad idea." Sunfire sat back on her haunches and yawned leisurely. "Perhaps the barrier to performing a lifebond is not just magical, but mental. I guess dragons just don't have the fortitude to do what every griffin does."

She probably hadn't meant this to be an insult, but Alstrom felt a sting to his pride at the idea of backing away. Once again he worried that Sunfire was reading his mind and manipulating him somehow, but then he dismissed the thought and tried to refocus his magic. His panic faded away as he thought through what he knew--Sunfire wasn't reading his mind or stealing his thoughts, she was only seeing as much as he chose to send. It wasn't just about listening to the song echoing through her head, but also about controlling the song he was singing back to her. Slowly he opened up the link again, except now he was carefully observing to ensure that everything was in balance.

"Ah, there we go. For a moment I thought I would have to die alone," Sunfire said, switching back to throwing her thoughts instead of speaking aloud. "Keep your magic under control. If you broadcast every slightest emotion you will tire yourself out quickly, before we even have a chance to unpack the real memories."

"Sorry. About. That. It was. Unsettling," Alstrom replied, but his projected thoughts were initially slow and jarring as he carefully metered out the information. It wasn't easy, but with a bit of concentration he could control the mental link so he knew how much of his mind Sunfire could read, instead of just openly broadcasting every single thought. "You could have told me what to expect. It takes some getting used to."

"But I couldn't because I too do not know what to expect. We are in uncharted waters here, running an interspecies mental link. Every single griffin has done this countless times before, but you are different. Your magic is so similar, yet not quite the same." Sunfire slowly got to her feet, and when Alstrom did not object, she walked closer until she was standing beside the dragon again.

"So what now?" Alstrom asked.

"Exchange of information. Traditionally each partner in the lifebond would take turns requesting information and receiving it. We would show off the most memorable moments of our lives past and present, sharing that which we consider most important to pass on to another."

"Memorable...how?" asked Alstrom. He tried to reflect on his most treasured memories, but it was hard to decide which was the most important of his thoughts. How could he even begin to rank them?

"It falls to you to decide, really. I have so many memories from my fellow kin,"_Sunfire explained. _"It could be a beautiful sight you enjoyed while flying to the far reaches and exploring new territory. It could be a newfound understanding of some concept--be it philosophy, abstract mathematics, or a practical development in some way. It could even be a moment of personal development, or an interaction with another which you want to be remembered for some reason. I once had a griffin who sent a memory of being offended and annoyed after a human trader reneged on a deal; she was so angry that she gave me her memory so I could be angry too." Alstrom heard an echo of amusement run through the mental link. "I could even show it to you...but I think grudges should be forgotten."

"I...I still do not know what you consider memorable."

"Try to focus on things that you would consider unique to yourself, or even your civilization. Mundane thoughts I already know, but I need you to show me what I don't know," Sunfire said. "Tell me about your life, dragon!"

When Alstrom sent nothing over the link after yet another pause, Sunfire shrugged her wings. "Alright, perhaps I should take the lead and we can do a general exchange. But first--traditionally there is...ah...something else that happens..."

Alstrom heard a whisper of embarrassment in Sunfire's thoughts, as if she was afraid that he would judge her for something. "What is it? Tell me."

"Usually a lifebond involves mating. It's...going out with a bang." Sunfire slowly turned around, and she hesitantly let her tail swish from left to right, occasionally exposing her nether regions. "It is not technically necessary, so it's completely fine if you don't want to do it! You're a dragon and I'm a griffin, so I understand if you are reluctant to experience physical intimacy. I totally agree. But...uh...I mean...it's your choice... If you want to do it then I'm fine... Just saying..."

Alstrom paused. He glanced around, then he made a quick decision. "I'm already pushing boundaries playing around with my magic like this. We might as well go all the way, right? The full experience." He couldn't help but feel that there was something improper and indecent all this, but the closest dragon settlement was many leagues away; they were all alone in the wilderness, so why not indulge in some sexual deviancy?

Sunfire obligingly crouched down her forelegs and straightened her hindlegs, taking up a posture that Alstrom had seen many times before, but only with other dragons. "I'm about to mount a griffin. Today might be the strangest day of my life," Alstrom muttered aloud.

"Best not to overthink things," Sunfire replied. "I'm about to get mounted by a dragon who is also somehow sharing a lifebond. I don't think anything like this has ever been done in all history."

"And you would know, wouldn't you? Because your species shares memories. So if this has been done before, eventually the memory would be passed around and shared to everyone," Alstrom realized.

"Yes. If our experiment here today has any success, and it is increasingly looking like it will, you will become a legend amongst my people. Every griffin would be eager to see your memories. What stories we will tell!"

Alstrom wasn't sure if he wanted to be famous for such a strange, somewhat unnatural act, but it was too late for regrets anyway. He walked around and sniffed Sunfire's raised rear, then he darted his tongue out and licked her. His first impressions leapt across the mental link and made the griffin chuckle aloud.

"Not what you expected, is it?" she asked.

"Not at all, although I am not sure what I expected." Alstrom had mounted with other dragons many times before, and even been mounted himself by a few drakes (and one very bold drakka who could work wonders with her tail), but Sunfire was just different. The smell of her slit, and even her whole body was wrong--it wasn't unpleasant or overwhelming, but Alstrom couldn't help but be constantly reminded that he was about to mount someone who was of a different species than he was. She even looked and felt so different--Sunfire's feathers were soft and fluffy under his touch, not at all like the smooth scale plates of a dragon, and her genital slit was less of a slit and more of a circular hole. It wasn't unpleasant, just different. His mind was open to the experience, but his body wasn't sure how to react. "Just give me a moment," he said, reaching a paw down to touch his own genital slit and coax out his erection.

"A lifebond is not so time critical that it needs to be rushed, but once it has begun the magic cannot be halted; only slowed,"_Sunfire said. "_We don't have the time for foreplay, so hopefully this will suffice..."

Alstrom had only a second to try and wonder what Sunfire was talking about, then suddenly a wave of primal, desperate, arousal ran through his mind and made him gasp. "Whoa..." Warm heat seemed to rush through his body and blood surged into his phallus, making it quickly grow and push out of his genital slit. It was a forced intensity that rolled over his thoughts and replaced them with a more primal urge--the only comparison Alstrom could think of was when he had mated with a female dragon who had used a perfume imitating the scent of being in heat. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"It is simply a matter of having the right memory. Now that we have linked our minds, when I get aroused you will too," Sunfire replied.

Through the thick fog of arousal Alstrom could feel Sunfire's sudden curiosity, and his eyes turned downwards even though he already knew what he would see--his fully erect penis was a smooth, tapered organ which had a slight bulge right at the base. The surge of arousal had caused a drop of pre-ejaculate to begin beading at the very tip of his phallus, and slick liquid was also beginning to wet the base of his erection where it emerged from his genital slit. He could feel a deep urge to thrust his hips and repeatedly bury his length into someplace warm, wet, and soft.

"_That looks...different from what I am used to. Shall we find out if it will feel different too?"_Sunfire said.

Now that he was paying slightly more attention to the griffin's thoughts, Alstrom realized that he could sense her arousal through the mental link. It felt similar, yet it felt less like a desire to thrust into something, and more like an urge to have an empty hole filled...which he promptly did. He grabbed Sunfire's hips with his paws, lined himself up, and pushed his tip into her. The sensation was doubled up, and it was almost too much for him to take. There was that familiar but always welcome sensation of having gentle pressure and warmth surround his most intimate organ, and there was also all these new feelings that he was getting from Sunfire--he could feel his own erection slowly spreading her walls and filling her up, going deeper and deeper until he was fully penetrated. Feeling things from both perspectives--twice the sensations to get used to. For the next minute, neither griffin nor dragon said or did anything except thrust and moan like animals. Alstrom clutched at Sunfire and her back pressed against his chest against as they both savoured the delightful pleasure coming from each other's bodies.

SUNFIRE/GRIFFIN

After a few seconds of raw, desperate motion, Sunfire tried to send coherent thought instead of merely raw emotion. "I think you're bigger than a griffin down there, but you don't have any ridges so you feel smoother. An interesting experience."

"And you feel much like a female dragon does, except for all the feathers," Alstrom replied. "You're so soft! All this fluff might be the softest thing I've ever touched."

"Thank you. I work hard keeping my plumage well presented."

"It's so...soft. I could just hug you forever..." Alstrom clutched Sunfire closer to his chest, and his next thought was that she felt very different than from whenever he'd cuddled another dragon--almost as if she was a pillow.

In response, Sunfire let morbid amusement echo through their shared mental link. "Once I'm dead, feel free to pluck all my feathers and stuff them into a pillow."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. It's not like I'm going to need them, right?"

As their coupling continued over the next few minutes, Sunfire could tell Alstrom was growing distracted. The drake was physically enjoying the pleasure of mating with her, but she could feel that his thoughts were drifting towards what came next. It was just about time for them to get started, and for that they would need to finish up this brief exchange of cardinal pleasure--there were more intimate things for them to do.

She could have warned him, but instead she unpacked one specific memory and sent it over to the dragon--her memory of what an orgasm felt like, which would undoubtedly induce the actual thing. Alstrom stiffened, then he shuddered as raw, intense pleasure swept over his mind. "Sunfire! I'm going to...I'm...about to..."

Sunfire leaned back and rubbed her beak against Alstrom's chest--she had actually been aiming for his neck, but from nose-to-tail he had more length than most griffins. "I know. Do it."

Both of them gasped as their coupling came to a sudden climactic finish. Alstrom let out a roar as he felt the pleasure of sexual release, and Sunfire shared his satisfaction as it came washing across the mental link. In that one instant, their two minds were experiencing the exact same thing, and where one ended and the other began was impossible to discern.

When he was done, Alstrom slowly slid off her back and sat on the grass next to her. "Ok...so I've mated with a griffin. That was interesting."

Sunfire gave him a few minutes to bask in the afterglow, then she prompted him. "Alstrom, are you ready to begin the exchange? Do you have a specific set of memories planned?"

"I still do not know what exactly it is you seek."

"Very well then--I shall take the lead." Sunfire pulled on the magical link, and suddenly they were both flying over the sea of information and neural networks that made up her mind. She felt Alstrom's initial surprise, but almost immediately he realized that he was seeing into her mind again.

The drake glanced up and stared at the brown-feather griffin flying beside him, and in response Sunfire tilted her wings and darted around him far faster than she could have in real life. "Here, have a look at this memory..."

Sunfire climbed high above the world, beating her wings at a regular pace as she slowly circled the mountain. It had taken many hours of continuous flying, but finally she touched down on the mountain's snow-covered summit.

The place she was standing right now was the highest point of all the Rasterin Mountains, and the Rasterin Mountain Range was the highest mountain range known to any of the sapient species. With her paws buried in the thick snow, she was standing on top of the world.

It was so high up that Sunfire could just barely see how the land curved into a sphere, although with other mountaintops in the way it was hard to know if she was just imagining what she was seeing. The air was so thin and depleted of oxygen that only flying creatures could ascend to this mountain peak without the help of magic or technology to sustain their breathing. And even dragons would shiver and balk at the frigid temperatures, for their scales did not provide enough thermal insulation. But griffins could come to the top of the world whenever they pleased--as their wings took them high, their feathers kept them warm. It wasn't Sunfire's first time coming here, of course. In many a past life she had visited this spot just to take in the sight of the world and know that she currently stood higher than anyone else.

The griffin took a brief walk around the mountain peak, feeling the soft snow crunch beneath her paws as she walked. It was cold, but the icy sensation made her feel truly alive. This was her first time flying to the top of the world in her current life--weather conditions had to be safe for her to make such an attempt, and the thin air ensured it was always a physical challenge to fly so high. Today the skies had been clear and calm, yet she was the only one who had chosen to make the ascent.

Now she was all alone on the top of the world, above everything with no one who could judge her. Acting on a suddenly impulse, her stroll turned into a run. She unfurled her wings and flicked them around as she sprinted, spinning around and round, sending powder snow flying everywhere. She felt tired from her flight, but not tired enough to slow her down.

Sunfire danced in glee, celebrating the simple joy of being here. Even the smallest of her movements dislodged flakes of snow which would roll down the incline--slowly at first, but gaining speed as the snowballs picked up mass before reaching the sharp drop off from the mountain peak. Up on top of the world, there was nowhere to go but down.

Sunfire walked right up to the eastern cliff of the mountain peak, where the topography led to a large, sharp drop. Again acting on impulse, she slapped her wing against a slab of snow that jutted out from the rocky cliff edge, and then she watched as it slid down the slope and fell away. "Haha, there it goes..."

Then suddenly the ground started to shift. The snow under her paws began to slip, making Sunfire stumble onto her belly as the whole mountain top moved and she lost her footing. "What? No, no, no..." The snow moved like a liquid, shifting away from the edge of the rocky eastern cliff face but sliding towards the other edges of the summit.

It was impossible to see what was happening--the snow layer was beginning to pick up speed, throwing up a cloud of powder that obscured everything. Sunfire found herself tumbling, tossed around with nothing to grab to right herself. She desperately tried to kick hard and jump into the air, but there was nothing but soft snow to kick against. There was no time to panic--she had to get out now or be buried under tons of moving ice and snow. Fortunately her wings helped her avoid getting buried by the avalanche, and finally she managed to lift away from all the snow rolling down the mountain top.

In the air she was safe, flying above the avalanche as it barrelled down the mountain side with a rumble like thunder. Sunfire didn't dare to land again, but now the top of the world was far less snowy. She'd just knocked off the top of the world! "Wow. I almost died..."

ALSTROM/DRAGON

And then the memory faded away, and both dragon and griffin where sharing that blank mental space again.

Alstrom was still distantly aware that he was in his camp in the forest, sitting next to Sunfire, but his physical awareness faded as he saw through his mind's eye. "That was incredible. I could feel the snow and it felt so real, as if I was really there."

"Memories can be as realistic as you chose to make them. Half the detail comes from being observant, and the other half comes from being imaginative when you recall the memory. Come now, it is your turn. Let us take a looksee into your memories."

The mental space shifted again and the sea of information changed colour and pattern. Alstrom intuitively realized that they had left Sunfire's mind and he was seeing his own thoughts in a strange, abstract manner. "Is this what my mind looks like?"

_"That question has a complex response that would take hours to fully unpack. To be brief--no, this isn't really your mind. You can't see your mind. This ocean of thought we are visualizing is just an abstract higher-level interface created by the magical link we are sharing so we can communicate while maintaining only a slight disconnect from reality. But let's just focus on the memories, shall we?"_Still floating around without flapping her wings, Sunfire slowly did a spin as Alstrom watched.

"Very well. What memory should I send to you?"

"Let us start with something simple--show me what it means when you are_happy."_ Sunfire's last word seemed to echo through Alstrom's mind, and instinctually he found himself thinking of the things which made him feel satisfied and purposeful.

In the vast sea of knowledge, threads of information lit up as Alstrom pulled on the connections associated with happiness. Sunfire picked one of the brightest connections and reached out towards it, and then the memory washed over them both.

Alstrom beat his wings hard, feeling the air rushing over his scales as he read the wind instinctively. Such speed! He was an excellent flyer and he knew it. Now he was closing fast on his prey--a vizriak hunter--and it would not escape him. The vizriak clearly saw him now, and it screeched a challenge and turned to engage him as their flight paths approached intersection. Even as he closed the gap, Alstrom kept watch on the horizon in all directions; vizriaks were rarely alone. He could fight a single vizriak easily, and fighting a pair would be a good challenge, but taking on three or more at once would be a risk he could not accept.

Alstrom took a deep breath and roared, proudly declaring that this was the territory of dragons, and that they did not take kindly to visitors. His mind sharpened as he entered a battle trance--not quite thinking through what he was doing, but acting first on instinct then analysing as he was already following through.

There were few moments which compared to the sense of flow he experienced now, living in the moment and doing what he was good at. This was what he lived for. This was his job. Alone or sometimes with other bounty hunters, he roamed from village to village, hunting down vizriaks to keep the drakken lands secure. Air-to-air combat was quick and hurried--a single wrong manoeuvre could cost either opponent dearly, but there was no time to take things slow or gradual. Now he dove into action, and the battle began.

Again and again he attacked the vizriak, striking it from different directions and with varying techniques--swooping from above, or the side; scratching with his claws, or biting with his jaws. The vizriak fought back with animalistic strength and desperation, but it could not hope to match his skill. Gradually he herded it closer to the thicket of trees where he knew his camp was--he wanted to bring the vizriak down somewhere close by, to minimize how far he would have to drag its carcass.

The fastest of engagements could end just seconds after it had begun, if the first blow struck was lethal, but instead he took things with a measured speed and the fight dragged to almost a full minute. The vizriak was bleeding heavily now, and Alstrom could sense that his steady assault would conclude soon.

But then Alstrom took another sweep of his surroundings, and suddenly he spotted a fresh pair of wings rising from the forest. Another vizriak coming to try and defend its pack mate? But no--even a rudimentary glance told Alstrom that this new arrival was no vizriak. And it was no dragon, either; its wing ratios were all wrong. Could it be...a griffin? What business could a griffin possibly have so far out here?

Alstrom considered if this new development posed a risk, but he decided that the prime danger was still the vizriak. He dived one last time at the vizriak hunter, intending to end the fight quickly, and this time he bit as hard as he could and tried to rip open the arteries of vizriak's neck. Then he kicked down hard, shoving his prey towards the ground as its wings went still. As it plummeted out of the air and crashed into the forest floor, Alstrom made a quick note of its location, memorizing the relative position of several landmarks so he would be able to locate the crash site from the ground.

Then he turned to the griffin, who was circling over the forest at a lower altitude and appeared to be observing the vizriak crash site with a morbid curiosity. Acting on instinct, Alstrom dropped into a sharp dive, swooping down and angling his heading so that their flight paths would directly intersect. It was time to give a little "hello" and see how this griffin's reflexes compared against a dragon's.

Alstrom opened his jaws and roared again, and in response the griffin panicked and dodged away. Alstrom was still enthralled in his battle trance, or he would have laughed in amusement as the griffin's flight was destabilized by his close pass. He had done nothing more than one simple manoeuvre, but that was all that had been necessary to spook this unknown flyer. Just when he thought it couldn't get any better, the griffin failed to watch their flight path and crashed directly into a tree. Could there be anything more embarrassing than that?

"This birdcat is doing nothing to dispel the stereotype of griffins being featherbrained," Alstrom thought to himself. He descended and landed right next to the downed bird.

SUNFIRE/GRIFFIN

Then the world imploded and they were both soaring over the sea of information again. Now Sunfire knew they were in her mind once more, not in Alstrom's. "I knew it!" Her tone was victorious but annoyed."I knew it!"

"What?" asked Alstrom.

"You dove at me on purpose! You didn't mistake me for another vizriak hunter--you knew full well that I was a griffin, but you dove at me anyway just to scare me!"

"I never denied that. What of it?" replied Alstrom.

"You...you made me crash!"

"No I didn't. All I did was make you dodge. It was your fault that you didn't watch where you were going, and so ended up flying into a tree. But don't worry--maybe in your next life you'll have some of my memories about being able to fly, thus letting you suck less at it."

"Jerk," grumbled Sunfire, feeling a surge of irritation which faded away just as quickly as it had appeared. She had little time to dwell on Alstrom's casual discourtesy at their first meeting, what with how her magic was burning her away. "Rude but probably true, so let's move on. It's your turn now. What would you like to see from my memories?"

Alstrom paused, his wings appearing to freeze mid flap such that he merely floated over the sea of information, and then Sunfire could sense his decision being made. "What about the opposite of what you asked of me--sorrow? Show me that."

"Sorrow? A brave choice! Are you very sure you want to see_sorrow?_" Sunfire reflected back on all the memories she had accumulated over time immemorial. As her lives went by, good memories were created but would fade away relatively quickly, whereas bad memories could linger for much longer. Suffering, torment, or misery--all these were so much easier to remember compared to joy, elation, or pleasure. It was simply the natural way in which the mind of any creature worked--for most animals, remembering danger and pain was crucial to their long term survival. Griffins had learned to keep bad memories in their place, not forgetting them entirely, but merely storing them away so they did not interfere unless required.

All this Alstrom learned in an instant as Sunfire sent her thoughts to him, but his decision remained unchanged. "If you can live with these memories, then I will too," he said.

"Very well...but be wary." Inside the mind's eye, Sunfire led Alstrom far across the sea of information, so far that the crashing waves of memories seemed to grow cold and desolate, as if the water had turned into freezing, hostile ice. Patterns of memory lit up like lightning across the frigid sea, illuminating the darkest times she and her civilization had lived through. As Sunfire opened her mental vault, she felt a chill run down her body in real life. "Here. Pick what you want to see. But be warned--I cannot guarantee that I will show you everything. Some things I have long tried to forget, with limited success. There are some memories I will never choose to relive."

Sombrely, Alstrom flew over and pointed his mental probe towards one large wave that was illuminated. "Is this a memory you would share?" he inquired.

Sunfire followed him over, but her negative decision echoed through the mental link before she even turned her response into words. "Not that. That is an experience that was violent, disempowering, and very damaging. It is not something I would want you to see."

Alstrom turned and gestured towards another memory--this one was longer and spread over a greater period of time, but strangely illuminated with many conflicting emotions including sorrow, anger, guilt, but also pride and even excitement. "This?"

"That is appropriate. Terrible and tortuous, but it should not be forgotten. Yes, go ahead and read that memory."

The memory washed over them like a crashing wave.

The griffin ran as fast as she could, her talons digging into the ground to give her traction as she sprinted up the slope. Her white plumage was stained with soot and blood. All around her, the forest was on fire and in chaos.

She was flanked on both sides by three creatures with strange upright forms that were nothing like her own--humans. Even though they had to balance on only two thin legs, the human squad easily kept pace with the griffin. They even had time to turn around and fling firebombs before sprinting forwards again to catch up.

"Keep going! Keep going! Run or die!" bellowed the human, the sergeant, who was in charge of the squad. "Get over the hill!" Hoof beats echoed rhythmically from behind, undeterred by the fires set to slow them down.

"How far more?" asked one of the other soldiers.

"Shut the fuck up and keep running!"

Her legs were aching from all the nonstop exertion, but pure terror pushed the griffin to keep moving. She knew that she was slowing them all down--griffins, just like dragons, were meant for flying, not running. But there would be no flying until they passed over the top of the hill. The longer they took, the close their pursuers would come, and the more their chances of survival would dwindle.

Then suddenly they ground levelled out and the incline switched into a decline. "That's it! That's it! We've cleared the peak! All on and let's fly!" ordered the human sergeant. The griffin had no idea how the sergeant still had enough breath to bark out orders, but she immediately dropped to her belly and the three humans climbed up her flight harness and scrambled onto her back. They immediately began fastening their own harnesses to hers, using carabiners specially designed for such a function.

The griffin flipped her wings open and glanced backwards, sparing just a second to check that her flight feathers were intact. She could see motion rapidly approaching from the forest in the direction they'd come from. At first glance their pursuers resembled men on horseback, but in truth they were being hunted down by a far deadlier cavalry--the quick reactionary force of the centaur main vanguard. None could hope to outrun the centaurs, but perhaps they might outfly them.

"All secure and ready?" asked the griffin, reciting words as she had been drilled to do a hundred times before. She raised her head to take into the ambient wind directions, and an arrow whizzed past her beak and landed in the ground. A second arrow punched through her left wing, dislodging a few white feathers, but her flesh was untouched.

On her back, the humans were fastening themselves to her flight harness with desperate speed. With a practiced motion the soldier in the rear slapped the back of the man in front of him, who slapped the back of the sergeant, who slapped the back of the griffin's neck. "Go for takeoff! Go, go, go!"

"Go!" the griffin yelled. She lunged forward and leapt with all the strength she could muster. All her running had left her legs too weak to throw herself into the air, and carrying three humans on her back was too much mass for a normal takeoff, but the downwards slope of the hill allowed her some distance to glide downwards and pick up speed. The griffin was used to flying with one human, and flying with two humans was tiring but still possible, but flying with three humans required a serious exertion of energy to gain any altitude at all. She continued to hear the_swish_ of arrows and spears in the air around her even as she furiously beat her wings and tried to climb.

"Don't climb too high! Stay in the shadow of the hill or they'll target us with their counter-air engines! We need to get--" called the sergeant, then suddenly his voice was cut off by a faint thump.

The griffin didn't even dare to turn her head to see what had happened. All her focus was on putting as much distance as was possible between her squad and the attacking centaurs. But then suddenly some of the weight on her back shifted abruptly towards the right, and she felt something colliding against her right wing every time she raised it for a downstroke. With so much weight off-centre, her trajectory was thrown off course and she went into a rightwards spin. The humans on her back were yelling something, but the griffin couldn't hear their words over the rushing wind.

"...can't... o... pull him back up!"

"Need... cut the strap...!"

The griffin couldn't fly straight. Her right wing just couldn't provide enough lift to counter the weight imbalance--it was impossible to maintain level flight or hold altitude. The more she turned the closer she got to putting herself into the line of fire from the air defences of the centaurs, which were just behind the hill, but if she didn't turn then she would stall and crash. It had been difficult to carry three humans even without a weight imbalance, and now the trees were rapidly approaching as she spiralled downwards.

Then suddenly that off-centre weight vanished and her flight was balanced once more. The weight on her back was lighter than it should have been, but there was no time to mourn that loss or even ponder it. The griffin snapped back to the left and corrected her trajectory--by now she was out of range of the ground infantry who had been pursuing them, but the battlefield was ever changing.

On the other side of the valley, flags and banners of the newly formed Joint Alliance flew high even as death and destruction rained down on both sides. Dwarfen catapults spat metal and magical fury in support of human battalions charging across the gap, clad in plate armour and bearing weapons of war. The insectoid mantises swarmed against them, screaming war cries and slashing viciously with their forelimb claws even as they were cut down in the tens of thousands. A quartet of griffins soared across the battle field, carrying human on their backs who rained down explosives. Counter air engines spoke in reply, issuing booming thuds and black smoke as deadly magic filled the air.

Centaurs galloped across the battlefield in two separate but massive herds, weaving through combat formations and sweeping back and forth in strange patterns. Everywhere they went, the air filled with the thunder of hooves and screams of death. Centaur separatists slammed against the combined Joint Alliance army, only barely dissuaded by the heavy losses they suffered to pikes and projectiles. In return, centaur loyalists trampled mantises and used spears to crack their exoskeletons, brutally carving a way for other Joint Alliance forces to retreat or advance as needed. Yet the two centaur armies never touched each other--in their strange dance of death, no centaur would ever directly assault another centaur, even if this cost them far more blood to other non-centaur forces.

Centaur culture was strictly hierarchical and filled with rituals which, to other species, often seemed illogical or pointless. War had been sparked by disagreements between their matriarchal leaders over the formation of a joint alliance_--The_ Joint Alliance--between all the major civilizations. Some centaurs felt it was time to put aside their differences and cooperate with the other intelligent beings who shared the world, while others felt this was an absurd, blasphemous notion which would inevitably fail. For months there had been discussion and argument and military posturing and empty threats.

Then in the brief span of just a few days, the Centaur Civil Divide had escalated into the Centaur Civil War.

The white-feathered griffin tried to stay far away from the bulk of the fighting as she made her way back to the Joint Alliance deployment camp. She was not a fighter--she was merely a courier. From her back she could hear her human squad mates discussing the battle and whether it was going well for their side or not, but there were only two voices when there should have been three.

But right as she was coming in for final approach towards the camp, there was a flash of pain and the world around her seemed to explode with light and sound. And then she was spinning without control, and the ground approached with rapid finality.

When the griffin courier next awoke, she found herself being carried by two centaurs--each of the large creatures was holding one of her wings on their backs and dragging her between them. She was still in the Joint Alliance camp, but now she was being carried into a combataid station filled with tents. "Ynnrr..."

"You are safe. Do not attempt to panic." The centaur's voice was like a deep monotonous drum booming in her ears. "You have suffered injuries. A healing master will attend to you."

The courier was entirely powerless to resist. Her whole body was aching, and even at full strength she could not have fought off two centaurs. Griffins were lightweight creatures who were mostly all feathers and wings, whereas centaurs were heavily muscled and able to go days without resting. Each of the two centaurs easily weighed more than twice of the courier, yet their grip on her wings was gentle but firm.

There were numerous casualties receiving medical treatment--most were centaurs, and some were humans or dwarfs, but the griffin saw none of her own people. She was brought to an empty tent with field beds large enough for her form, and then the centaurs gently set her down. Their motions were not unkind, but as with all centaurs they refused to crouch or otherwise lower themselves--yet another of the seemingly pointless rituals which centaurs always observed. Even during the couple of hours every day when they needed to sleep, centaurs would remain standing.

"Mhnaaa..." The courier let out a tortured whimper as sharp pain blossomed from her right foreleg when it touched the field bed. The pain seemed to come from deep within her limb, and it was so intense it paralyzed her for a few seconds. She hadn't meant to make noise, but the pain was so bad that the whimper came out of her beak whether she wanted it to or not.

"You are suffering distress. A healing master will attend to you." The centaurs turned to go, and they marched off in unison before the courier could recover enough to try and stop them. Her mission--she needed to complete her mission! But what about her squad--where was her squad?!

Almost every single part of her body hurt in some way, but most of all her right foreleg. Gradually the pain faded back to an ache instead of an unbearable stabbing, but still there was something deeply wrong with the limb. She could feel it but she couldn't move it--as if her muscles simply weren't responding.

The courier slowly turned her head to try and look over her body. Her feathers had once been a pure white, but now they were all badly burnt and covered with soot that stained them grey. Her flight harness was a damaged, shredded mess, and the attachment points had been torn off where her squad mates would once have sat. She must have been hit by a blast from a counter air engine--what bad luck to make it all the way back to the Joint Alliance camp, only to be shot down right as she was on final approach. Or perhaps she was lucky to have even survived both the magical explosion and the crash landing which had inevitably followed.

A doctor came into the tent--not another human or a centaur, but finally someone of her own species--a griffin with feathers of tawny brown. The doctor immediately began looking her over and chattering nervously. "Oh, what is this now? Oh, oh, oh. Another failed attack run? But no, you are not wearing a bombing rig. You must be that courier who crash landed just in front of the defence line. Now where does it hurt? Here? Alright, alright. Be strong for me, I need to see the limb. Just take a deep breath..."

The courier let out another whimper of pain as the doctor examined her foreleg. "Oh, that is broken for sure. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Can you try and move it? Not at all? Alright. Alright. Let me put you in a splint. I do not think it cut through the skin, but I do not have time to trim away all your feathers to check. Anywhere else injured? Are your wings alright? You are very singed. Hmm. Blood pressure is bad. Very bad. Pulse rate is high enough to be in the clouds. Whew."

"My squad..." groaned the courier, as the doctor rapidly attached a splint which immobilized her fractured foreleg.

"What? Your quads? Are your hindlegs broken too? You might be better off doing a rebirth right now."

The courier seriously considered the suggestion. Her current body was six years old, and for more than a year now she had been pregnant. This was a key requirement for griffins to engage in battle, whether as frontline soldiers or supporting combat staff--they had to carry offspring so that even if they suffered grievous injury, they could hopefully attempt to transfer their consciousness into their next body before succumbing to their wounds. But if they could not do so, or if their next body was also wounded, then they would simply die. And if that happened, then this death would be no different from all the humans, dwarfs, centaurs, mantises, and all the other species who were slaughtering each other in the battle outside. What madness.

"Not yet... Not yet," she decided. Being reborn would end her current pain, and regardless she could not rejoin the fight with her injured body, but first she needed to find her squad and complete her mission. "My squad...the three humans who were with me... What happened to them?"

The doctor clicked his beak and made a hissing sound--a simple gesture for_negative_. "Tsk. I spoke with the human doctors. One of the soldiers was killed when you were hit by the counter-air, and the other died shortly after the crash landing. The third one must have fallen off your back somewhere."

The courier let out another soft groan as her worst suspicions were confirmed. Over the past few months she had come to her squad mates--they might have been humans, but they had also been her friends. She knew all their names and backgrounds, and they had spent much time chatting as they flew urgent messages to and from the frontlines, upholding chain of command and delivering strategic and tactical intelligence. Normally she took turns flying with only one of the humans at a time, but she'd chosen to try and carry all three when the command post at Upper Miritan had been overrun and they'd been forced to evacuate. But now they were dead--in one quick stroke she'd lost all three of her closest comrades.

"I need to speak with...the field marshal..." she insisted, pushing aside her sorrow and her loss. "I have an urgent message for him." This whole battle was still nothing more than a single piece out of the massive puzzle that was the Centaur Civil War. The war was being fought on multiple fronts, and communication between the different armies of the Joint Alliance was crucial if they were to be victorious.

"Do not even think about it," replied the doctor. He ruffled his chest feathers and gave a disapproving frown. "You should rest if you want to keep that body. Otherwise you should initiate your rebirth, and you can go see the marshal when you are done."

The courier tried to defiantly raise her own chest feathers, but they were all singed and didn't really move. She didn't have the time to learn how to walk and talk with her new body--that process would take at least an hour. "No. I need to speak to him now. Please, it's important."

"I really must advise against that. You are badly injured and I suspect you have internal bleeding. At this point you might not even have a choice of keeping your current body. Listen, what is your name?"

The courier shook her head. She tried to straighten her legs and stand up, but her freshly splinted leg was unwieldy and her whole body still felt lethargic. It took all her effort to even push herself up into a sitting position. "Fine! If you won't call him, I'll go to him myself..." she warned, although this seemed unlikely given her current state.

The doctor wasn't convinced either. "No you will not. You would be lucky to even make it out of this tent before collapsing. But if you tell me your name, I will go find the marshal and see if he wants to speak with you."

"Oh. Thank you. My name...my name is Jeanare," said the courier.

SUNFIRE/GRIFFIN

The memory faded away and was replaced by real life. Sunfire found herself back on the forest floor, with magic burning away her remaining life and a dragon staring at her. Even without checking through their mental link, she could obviously tell that Alstrom understood the seriousness of what she was showing him.

"Jeanare?" he asked.

"Did you think I used the same name for ten thousand years? No; names come and go, which is especially useful when there are two offspring with identical minds. It would have been confusing if my sister and I had both chosen to use the same name," replied Sunfire. "As my body changes, my name can change too. But enough about names; there is far more to that memory than what you just saw."

"Let us continue then."

JEANARE/GRIFFIN

It took so much energy to remain mentally coherent. Jeanare could feel her magic eating away at her insides, trying to pull her away and get her to transfer her mind into her new body, but she resisted the call of rebirth. First she needed to pass her message on. That was her job as courier.

After what seemed like far too long, the doctor finally returned, followed by a male griffin with feathers of black--the marshal.

Jeanare raised her wings and flicked them in a greeting, even though this gesture made her muscles ache. "Redwing! Damn, it's good to see you. It's been far too long since we spoke. I bring you an urgent message from high command. You may hear it, if the moment is convenient for you."

The marshal--Redwing was his name, though his wings had black feathers--strolled over towards the field bed. His posture was controlled and graceful. Even in wartime (_especially_in wartime) he looked dignified and commanding. "You have a message to deliver? Report, soldier."

"Not even a hello? Full of ice, aren't you?" Jeanare snorted and turned towards the doctor, who was weaving some sort of spell using quick paw gestures. He was probably trying to check her blood pressure again. "The marshal and I are actually good friends, believe it or not," Jeanare said.

Marshal Redwing also turned towards the doctor. "Is her condition stable?" he asked.

The doctor let his forepaws drop back to the ground, and his spellwork dissipated. "No. I am reasonably certain there is internal bleeding, far too severe for us to risk repairing. She needs to initiate the mental transfer. Her strength is failing."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily!" Jeanare muttered. Neither of the other two griffins responded to her quip.

"How long does she have?" asked Marshal Redwing.

"Not very long."

"Enough time for a message?"

"If it is brief."

"I will ensure it is so. Leave us."

"As you command." The doctor bowed his head, then he turned to Jeanare. "Pass your message, and then transfer your mind as soon as you can. Do not fall asleep or you will never wake up again." On that ominous note, he left the tent.

Once Jeanare and Redwing were alone with each other, their composures both shifted. Redwing's stony expression warmed up and he no long stood quite as rigidly formal. "Jeanare, it is very good to see you too. I've missed your presence greatly." He leaned in and nuzzled his beak against hers. "Are you in much pain?"

"Redwing..." Jeanare also dropped her act. Her false bravado dissolved and she dropped back onto her chest, no longer able to muster the energy to sit upright. All her cheery humour was gone in an instant. "Decimation--decimation on the northern fronts. We're being outmanoeuvred left and right. Our supply lines are in chaos. General Kilrian's forces are completely surrounded at Miritan, and the separatists are sieging the city as we speak. Your reinforcements aren't coming--they've been diverted to save Kilrian and fortify the city."

Redwing shook his head. "I need that support! We have momentum here--if I can just stay in the fight a bit longer, we can outflank the main separatist army and come to Kilrian's assistance with much greater strength and with an easy advantage. If that human was less of a coward, we could have decisive victory right here and now!" The griffin marshal squawked in irritation. He was a male, which meant he was not allowed to fight in the frontlines because of the risk that he could die, but he hated the idea of sending forces (from his own species and others) to kill and die while he sat safely in a command tent. "Awk! But instead the fight will continue for days, if not weeks. Maybe even more! The bloodshed will just drag on, here and elsewhere."

"Drag on...drag on..." Jeanare sighed. "The dragons will not help us either. Negotiations at Tiwani Harbour have failed."

"Faawk!" Redwing squawked again, or perhaps he'd been swearing. "The drakken would choose to sit around and do nothing? Curse them; if they threw their weight into this war it would have been over in a single day!"

Marshal Redwing's ears pricked up as there was the sound of running and yelling from outside the tent. A human officer wearing body armour rushed in, and Redwing turned to speak with him in quiet tones which Jeanare could not hear. Then the human ran off again.

"Bad news?" Jeanare asked.

The marshal nodded. "How many more setbacks can we suffer before this war is lost? Scouts have spotted mantis reinforcements coming in from across the valley. They'll be on us before sunset, and without our own reinforcements we'll be trapped and outnumbered. This battle is over and we've failed, but the war isn't over yet. I've ordered a full retreat to meet up with General Kilirian's forces. It's time to leave."

"Going so soon? But I just got here," Jeanare replied, trying to lighten the mood with a joke. Neither of them smiled.

"There is no feasible alternative. I have already given the command." The marshal let his wing gently rest around Jeanare's back. "All this negotiation, all this discussion, all this compromise...we worked so hard on that treaty, but in the very first year of this alliance we are already fighting a civil war. The humans hate the dragons, the dragons hate the humans, the centaurs hate themselves, and the mantises hate everyone. Yet here we are, shedding feathers and blood to try and hold this whole mess together."

"Don't tell me. I'm not a general, or a diplomat, or a hero--you might be, but I'm not. I'm just a courier... Just a little bird who flies..." Jeanare let her head rest against the bedding and her eyes slipped shut without her even intending it.

"No. No! Wake up! Jeanare!"

Jeanare blinked awake as she felt Redwing shaking her. "I'm not...not sleeping. I just have to...I'll..." Wispy streaks of magic began flowing up and down her body, a glowing bright golden colour that scorched her insides. "See? I'm doing the rebirth. Don't you worry about me. Go lead your troops, Redwing. Go fight the war. Bring us peace."

The marshal shook his head sadly. "What use is war? A war for peace? Ridiculous. Yet somehow they put me in charge. I don't want to go fight the war; I want to stay here with you."

"And what about your soldiers? Your responsibilities? Your command?"

"I've already given the orders and delegated the work. That's all I ever do--sit safely behind the lines while others go out and fight. While others go out and_die_. Others like you." Redwing gently tapped his beak against Jeanare's. "And now you are injured. I once made you a promise that we would share memories and perform the lifebond together, and I intend to keep that promise. No more delaying--I'll do it right now."

Jeanare laughed, which caused a stabbing pain in her chest. "Haha. I've been asking you that for the past three cycles, but I've listened to one hundred years of you making excuses. Now war has come and we're about to be overrun by mantises and centaur separatists, but finally you decide that_now_ is the right time?"

"I think facing tragedy and devastation has given me some perspective on what are the things and people I truly care about. Better now than never."

Jeanare was torn between wanting to have her wish finally fulfilled, and also the knowledge that Redwing was risking his life for her. "This is foolish. You should leave me behind and retreat with the rest of the army."

"No. I will not leave you, but we aren't being left behind. The army can function without me--the officers are competent enough for that. It will take a few hours to disassemble the camp and pull back our forces in an orderly manner. We can spare time for a quick exchange of memories, and then we will both be reborn and leave on the last flight out of here."

The marshal sat down beside the bed and raised his forepaw--magic started to wash over his form, the same golden strands that were beginning to cover Jeanare. Their magic twined and linked as they both prepared to die and be reborn. His next words came not as speech, but as shared thought. "I was a fool for turning you down in the past, so I shall be a fool now and be reborn with you, Jeanare."

Jeanare no longer felt pain--her suffering had faded away, replaced by a sense of closeness and guilty relief. She would not be alone. "Redwing..."

ALSTROM/DRAGON

The memory faded away, and Alstrom found himself once again floating over a sea of information and memory. "Incredible. That was... You fought in the Centaur Civil War? You led Joint Alliance forces? That was centuries ago!"

Sunfire was sombre. "I fought, yes. It was a time of great tragedy and strong emotion. I served as a courier and also a marshal--in mind and body I am a direct descendent of those two griffins whose memories you just saw."

Alstrom felt overwhelmed by all he had just seen and felt. The Centaur Civil War had been the last great conflict between the major civilizations--even though his own civilization had not been a participant, it was still well-known as a piece of history from many centuries ago. And this brown-feathered griffin in front of him had been a part of it. "You were a part of history--you saw it all happen!"

"I did, and now you have seen it too. But if you want to reflect on that memory, it must wait till after we are done with this rebirth. Time is precious, so show me one of your memories."

This time, Alstrom immediately knew what memory he wanted to send. "After all that seriousness about war and love and loss, I need something more light-hearted."

"Certainly. Show me what you wish."

Three young dragon fledglings scampered down a paved road leading to a large pool of water--the fledgling in the lead had bright blue scales, and the one sprinting just behind had scales of muted gold. The last fledgling had pale white scales, and she trotted at a moderate pace as if engaging in a race was beneath her.

Alstrom almost made it to the pool first, but then at the last moment someone tugged his tail and made him slip. "HEY! Cheater!" he yelled, scrambling back to his feet. This quick distraction was all it took for the golden-scaled fledgling to dash ahead of him and take his lead, leaping into the pool with a splash.

"Ha! I'm first! Too slow, losers!" said the gold-scaled fledgling.

Alstrom tried to growl, although he wasn't quite grown enough to pull this off and it sounded more like a purr. "Gmrrr! You are a dirty, cheating, miserable, sad, low-life, worthless--ahh!" His insults were cut-off when the white-scaled fledgling finally arrived, and she shoved Alstrom forward to push him into the pool. However, at the last moment he managed to wrap his tail around her forepaw and they both went tumbling into the water together.

The gold-scaled fledgling laughed and used his wings to flick a wave of water that splashed them both.

Alstrom blinked, and then he found himself once again flying over the vast sea of information that was his mind.

"What was that?" Sunfire asked, flying beside him.

"That? That was just me some messing around with childhood friends. Their names were Larisin and Jex. I must have been no older than ten, maybe twelve years old?"

"I have to... I want to see it again!" Before Alstrom could reply, Sunfire reached out and pulled on that same mental thread again, and the world exploded into colour and sound.

This time Alstrom found himself standing at the poolside, not as a fledgling but as how he appeared in the present--a fully grown dragon. The three young fledglings continued to splash about and play in the water--precisely as how Alstrom remembered playing with his friends.

Sunfire was standing beside him, yet none of the dragons swimming in the pool or walking by the sides seemed to pay any attention to the sight of a griffin. In real life, griffins were rare enough in the city that she would surely have gotten some surprised or curious looks, but this was merely a memory.

"Such...exuberance!" Sunfire murmured. They could both feel the simplistic joy Alstrom remembered from the memory, and the intensity of this emotion seemed to intrigue the griffin. "That's you! You were so...joyful. So much delight from such a simple activity."

Alstrom stared out at his younger self. "I was young--just a little fledgling, enjoying the innocence of childhood."

"You had so much energy and...life. As if even such simple joy was the most fun you'd ever had. Perhaps it really was the most fun you'd ever had, in your life so far." Sunfire sat down, and her next words came out slowly. "This...is...what I was looking for."

Alstrom didn't understand. "What? You were looking for this?"

"Memories like this one are what the griffin have forgotten. Every time we are reborn with new bodies, yet our memories and personalities stay so old. I have no idea what it's like to be young--to be so childish."

"For an adult to be called childish? That would be an insult amongst my people," Alstrom said.

"But amongst my people, it would make no sense."

SUNFIRE/GRIFFIN

Sunfire felt the imaginary world collapsing, and the poolside faded away. No more memories, no more visions of being in the mind space--they were back on the forest floor, back in real life.

Sunfire raised her forepaw. Wispy threads of golden coloured magic were dancing up and down the limb, and across her whole body. She tried to speak, but there was no breath in her lungs--she wasn't breathing anymore. Soon she would be dead, and then she would live again.

Alstrom was still sitting beside her, and as they both watched, the golden threads seemed to leap across to his body too. The magic touched the dragon, but it did not engulf him. "What's with all the light?" Alstrom asked.

"Magic. It is griffin regenerative magic, which will burn this old body away and charge my next body with life." Sunfire could still feel her mental link with Alstrom, as illuminated by the golden strands linking them, but time was so short. "We don't have time to fully enjoy any more memories together, but we can still exchange a few ideas and recollections to reflect on later."

"_So what--"_ Alstrom paused, then switched back to throwing his thoughts. "So what is left?What should we exchange?"

"The last thing you revealed--what it was like when you were young."_Sunfire felt herself running close to the end--her magic was eating her up, but she still needed to learn more from Alstrom."We have no children. To be youthful or elderly--these terms mean nothing to us. Show me more of these things. These are the things which dragons understand which griffins do not._"

"Very well. And you can show me...history. Show me events from the past which you have seen."

Sunfire nodded. There was nothing more to be said to Alstrom. Memories continued to jump between their minds, but she didn't have the time to fully process them; they would be stored away, to be fully unpacked and understood later on. And not just memories, but opinions and ideals and emotions--so much information that her conscious stream of thought turned into a blurry flicker of moving images, scenes, and sensations.

Even some of those secrets she had mentioned earlier managed to slip in, but Sunfire let them go. Dark secrets which were supposed to be covered up and lost to history, or hidden revelations about her own race or others. But after what Alstrom had taught her, she didn't mind letting him know a few things.

Even as they exchanged memories, the magic continued to wash over Sunfire, rapidly spreading until her whole body was covered under golden threads of energy. "You're really glowing now," Alstrom said.

Sunfire found it increasingly difficult to see, hear, or otherwise interact with the world around her. The only thing left was her mind, but even that was unravelling as she felt the process continue. "We're almost done now. Thank you for sharing your memories, Alstrom. I'll see you on the other side..."

ALSTROM/DRAGON

As Alstrom watched, glowing strands of magic began to envelope Sunfire. The magic grew brighter and brighter until Sunfire's body seemed to shine like the sun, forcing Alstrom to avert his eyes. He could feel intense heat radiating from her form, warming his scales even at a distance.

"Sunfire?" he tried to ask, but he wasn't sure if she'd heard. Their minds remained linked--even now, memories were still leaping between them in a rushing flow, but Sunfire's mind felt different than before. Those echoing, ancient harmonics seem to dominate her thought processes, taking control and overriding everything. The magic was so loud, so powerful that it seemed like they were deafening him too.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash, and then came darkness.

ALSTROM/GRIFFIN

Everything was too loud for his ears, too bright for his eyes, and too sharp against his scales. Opening his eyes even the slightest amount left him blinded by all the light, so Alstrom kept his eyelids clenched tightly shut. He wanted to run away and hide from it all, but there was nowhere to go. His body felt weak and useless as he endured the unbearable sensation, able to do nothing except shudder and twitch at the painful intensity of it all. Past and future were both meaningless--all that mattered was the suffering he was going through in the_now_.

Gradually, the deafening noise reduced and sharpened into usable sound. Someone was talking, but Alstrom couldn't recognize the voice. "--like I made it through in one piece."

"Was there a chance that you didn't?" asked another voice, also unrecognizable.

"Possibly, if your mind somehow interfered with the transfer," said the first voice. "Looks like I'm not the only one, though. What do we have here? Just a clone, or is there more in there?"

Alstrom felt someone roll him over from his side onto his belly, and for no reason he found himself so shocked by that sudden touch that he burst into uncontrollable sobs. His body heaved and gasped for breath as tears poured from his eyes.

"Uh, is that normal? The crying or the screaming or whatever...?" asked the second voice.

"Maybe. The old body can fire off all sorts of weird hormones and neurotransmitters as it burns away, which can have strong effects on the new body--or bodies," said the first voice. "Are those tears? I guess that means at least a fragment of you got transferred over--griffins don't cry."

"Bird-cat, you think your whole species is so tough and grizzled?"

"Not at all, scale-butt. What I meant was that literally we don't cry. Having tears come from your eyes during moments of extreme emotion is a side effect of using facial musculature to express your emotional state. Humans and dragons do that, but not griffins."

"Huh."

Alstrom was still too overcome to do anything--he couldn't move, speak, or even stop sobbing. But gradually over the course of several long minutes he started to get used to all the new sensations and he began to get things under control.

His breathing calmed and he managed to squint open his eyes--the world was still bright and intense, but now he could see without being blinded. He was in a forest, surrounded by blackened grass and loose feathers everywhere. Sitting in front of him were two quadrupedal creatures--a griffin with feathers of slate-grey, and a huge drake with scales of flat blue. The griffin looked to be about his size, but the drake seemed ridiculously large, bigger than any dragon Alstrom had ever previously met. But as he kept staring at this strange dragon, Alstrom found memories rushing into place as he suddenly remembered everything.

The griffin wasn't just any random griffin; she was Sunfire in a smaller body. And the dragon wasn't just any dragon, he was...himself. Which therefore meant that Alstrom (as he thought of himself) wasn't actually Alstrom--this fact was confirmed when he glanced down and saw that instead of scales, he had feathers of dark brown.

He was a griffin.

Sunfire took a few steps closer and raised several feathers that were running down the back of her neck in a crest. Alstrom somehow knew this gesture combined with her posture to indicate_encouragement_, but where this information had come from he could not discern. There were memories in his head that did not belong to him--so it seemed the transfer had somehow worked. He had been a dragon, who was now in a griffin's body, with some memories copied over from a real griffin.

Alstrom (the griffin) coughed, gasped, and tried to get his mouth working. "Ahhk...mmrff...nahhh..." He was struggling through an intense sense of dissociation. This blue-scaled dragon in front of him wasn't actually a big dragon--he was just a normal sized adult drake, which meant that_Alstrom_ was the one who was small. He was a fluffy little griffin kitten, and his damn beak wasn't working like his snout had used to. "Ahkk...gkk..."

"Is it trying to talk?" asked the dragon--the original Alstrom.

"Sounds like it," replied Sunfire. She sat down on her haunches, but leaned in towards Alstrom (the griffin). "Who's in there? Are you_me_, or are you him?" she asked, tapping her forepaw against her own chest, then gesturing to the huge blue-scaled dragon in turn.

"Akk!" Alstrom finally managed to get his throat clear. "Fuck!" he screamed.

Sunfire leaned back, her crest feathers drooping back down. "Really? Your first words ever for this new life, and that's what you choose?" She turned to the dragon. "Sounds like he's a copy of you, not me."

Alstrom struggled to his feet. His legs felt wobbly, but surprisingly enough he managed to remaining standing. "Eh? I'm a griffin...? I'm not a dragon anymore... I'm a damned birdcat! I'm Alstrom...but I'm not? I'm a_copy_. A copy put into a griffin's body?!"

Alstrom (the dragon) had a rather amused expression, and Alstrom (the griffin) suddenly had an intense desire to run up to his old body and slap that smug look off his face. Had he always been such a self-assured twat? "So it worked? Wow. What's it like in there?" asked the dragon.

"It's a damn--squawk--mess! I'm covered in feathers and everything sucks! Whose dumb idea was this anyway?" Alstrom paused as this thought confused him. "You were the one who agreed to this process," he said, pointing at the dragon who had he used to be. "But_I'm_the one in this body? Except that I was you? You're Alstrom...but so am I?"

"Whenever griffins have a fission of consciousness, we usually both take new names to help keep things from getting confusing," Sunfire suggested.

"Ah." Alstrom the dragon nodded as he had a sudden revelation. "So_that's_ why you griffins always have such stupid names like_Maplecray_or Giggledew! It's because you have to come up with new names every thirty years, but you can't reuse names from the past because the memories would get confusing! I get it now."

"Exactly!" agreed Sunfire. "Sunfire isn't a stupid name, though," she quickly added. "Besides, my consciousness wasn't split, so I can keep going by Sunfire. You two are the ones who need to figure out new names. At least one of you will have to change name; it's going to get confusing if you both go by Alstrom."

Alstrom the dragon shook his head. He pointed a paw towards the tiny griffin version of himself. "I'm not changing anything.He can be the one changing name since he's the griffin. It's like we're brothers now, except that I'm older than you, so I make the rules. How about we call you...uh...Tiny?"

Alstrom the griffin shook his head, but this gesture made him lose his balance and collapse back onto the forest floor. "What?! Don't you call me_Tiny_ you miserable, arrogant twat. This is all your fault. If we're brothers, then you're a horrible older brother."

The other Alstrom just looked amused. "You know what, I'll give you this much--you've got a lot of spunk for such a tiny little griffin. How about we call you,Spunk, instead?"

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you too, Spunk."

"If I might interrupt?" Sunfire said. "I have more experience with coming up with new names than you two. How about...Gale?"

Alstrom (the griffin) frowned, and he felt the feathers above his head rising up automatically. "Gale? Why?"

"Griffin and Alstrom makes...Galstrom, which shortens to Gale," Sunfire explained. She looked pleased with her solution.

Both Alstroms turned to stare at each other, then at Sunfire. "That's so stupid," they said in unison.

"But I'll take it," continued the newly-born griffin. "At least it sounds like something fast and powerful--Gale! Yeah, that's not so bad."

"Alright, so now what?" Alstrom asked.

"Now that we've got the names settled, we check the second most important part." Sunfire walked over to Gale, and before he could react she shoved him over onto his back.

"Hey!" he grumbled, but Sunfire ignored his complaint and pointed towards his underbelly.

"Well look at that--you lucked out and actually got a male body. I guess that should make it easier for you to adapt to your new life."

"Eh?" Gale stared at the space between his legs, feeling confused once more. Somewhat obscured behind all his feathers, a short tube of flesh dangled from his loins. "Is that my...it just dangles out? Male griffins don't have genital slits?"

"No. Males have what's called a sheath. And hey look, I've got one too." Sunfire raised a hindleg, revealing her underbelly, where she also had a penis.

Alstrom snorted. "So you're a he now."

"No, I'm not really picky about being called either a he or a she. Look at this..." With her (his?) hindleg still raised, Sunfire used a forepaw to gesture lower down on her underbelly. "I've got the female parts too, cause I'm a herm. That's what happens when you have male and female griffin children sharing a womb--the male's hormones makes the female grow a penis too. End result is a herm, with maximum compatibility for whatever you desire."

Gale couldn't help but stare at the griffin beside him. "That's so weird."

"Yeah, it is," Alstrom agreed.

Gale sat up straight, and he started using his paws to prod and explore his body. "Actually, now I kind of wish that this body was a herm, or even female. I wonder what sex would feel like..."

Alstrom chuckled. "You little pervert!"

"Hey, I'm you, remember? So you're a pervert too! Hey, Sunfire, how long do griffins take to grow up?"

"It'll be five years before we'll hit full maturity," Sunfire said.

Gale sat back on his haunches and grabbed his sheath with a paw. "So I have to wait five years before this thing works? Hm. That's a long time to be abstinent. At least it's better than waiting twenty years, like a dragon."

"No, no; you don't have to wait. It will be five years before you can reproduce and trigger a new lifebond, but if all you want is an orgasm you can do that right away," Sunfire replied nonchalantly, to which Alstrom and Gale both gave her shocked looks.

"Wait so I could just...rub myself off right now?" Gale asked.

"Yep. You won't be able to ejaculate for five years, but you can certainly masturbate." Sunfire rolled over onto her back and made a rubbed her own sheath a few times, then she moved her paws lower and pointed to an orifice which was partially covered by her grey feathers. "Or we can have sex, which works great to relieve stress. Uh...that offer is open to_you_--" She pointed at Gale, then at the dragon who was several times larger than them both. "--but not really to_you_, Alstrom. I mean, obviously you won't fit inside me. Sorry."

Alstrom glanced around and swallowed nervously. "This feels...wrong."

"Why? We were just having sex a short while ago. Surely you don't feel that griffins are_that_unappealing," Sunfire replied.

"No, it's not about your being a griffin. It's about you being all small and...child-like. It just feels wrong." Alstrom shook his head. "I don't know. Children are supposed to be pure and innocent, and sex is such a mature, adult thing. That's just a basic fact of drakken society--we treasure hatchlings and protect them, because they aren't ready to protect themselves. But I guess griffins don't think of children in the same way we do. Now you're a child...except that your mind is the same and you're mentally an adult, so... But I still think it feels wrong to think of you in that way."

"Oh? It makes you feel wrong?" Gale stood up and he tested his stance until he was sure that his legs could easily support him. In had only been a short time, but now he was able to move around surprisingly well for only just having been born. The tiny griffin trotted over to Alstom and started humping one of his hindpaws. "Does this make you feel awkward? Does it?"

"You really are a tiny little pervert!" Alstrom picked up a large feather from the ground and poked the little griffin's side with it, forcing him to stop under the tickling onslaught. "Sunfire, you must be a real deviant, because I'm a paragon of virtue and this behaviour can't have come from my duplicated mind alone."

Sunfire stretched out her wings and cleared her throat. "Ahem! No, this is all you."

Gale twitched as the feather tickled his side. "Ahk! Help! I'm being assaulted! No, more than that--I'm being...sexually...assaulted by this giant pervert dragon! Mmff!" His mock pleas for help were smothered as Alstrom grabbed even more loose feathers off the ground and dumped the over him.

Gale managed to burrow out of the feather pile just in time to see Alstrom glance around the forest clearing where his camp was. "So many feathers, but I expected more gore. What happened to your old body?"

"It burned away, converted into pure magic which powered the lifebond and transferred or copied our minds," Sunfire explained. "All that's left of my last life are all two young, healthy, possibly insane griffin fledges, and a whole mess of feathers."

It was true--hundreds of brown feathers were scattered around the clearing, spread out in a circular pattern around them. The ground was also slightly blackened from where the magic had burnt it.

"So what happens now?" Gale asked. He and Alstrom both turned to Sunfire for the answer.

"Well, the lifebond has been done and it seems to have worked. It'll be a few days before we have enough strength to fly, and then we can start heading back to my home eyrie." Sunfire nodded towards Gale. "That is, if you don't mind sticking with me for a while. I can introduce you to other griffins I know, and tell you more about our society to help you integrate in."

"I guess that's the plan," Gale agreed. "I'm a griffin now, so I don't expect I'd be very welcome back in Avaeria. Wow, this is really so strange. It's going to take a while to get used to this."

"Alright. First though..." Sunfire turned towards Alstrom, and she awkwardly pawed the ground as she prepared to ask him another favour. "Do you mind...uh...flying us back to the Rasterin Mountains? It's a long journey for two fledges."

"And now I'm forced into parenthood," Alstrom muttered, but he didn't sound upset. "Sure, I can fly you two over to the Rasterins. And I suppose you need food too?"

Sunfire nodded. "As you can see, griffin fledges are born far more ready to face the world than dragon hatchlings are, but you're definitely a_much_ better hunter than us."

"I know it." Alstrom walked over to the vizriak carcass, which had been partially scorched by the rebirthing magic, and was now looking crispy. "Go ahead, tuck in."

Gale and Sunfire trotted over.

END

Note: Edited to repair formatting, since Sofurry keeps messing up my border lines. With a story that features so many perspective and scene shifts, it gets a bit confusing without a clear indicator of a shift.

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