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Saphira's Mate

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Dragonscale

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The war had not been kind to Saphira. It had not been kind to anyone, but the young adult dragoness, growing more and more into herself and her body, for dragons grew throughout their entire lifetimes, even if it slowed as they aged, did not know where she fit in the world. Settling down on the edge of the mountains where she felt most at home, reminiscent of where she had first met the Varden all those years ago, the Eastern mountains held a different flavour to them, but were still comfortable for her. A little milder in the climate with more rains that were good for the ground, but there were still no dragons for her to spend her time with - no one that she felt at ease with.

The dragoness, resting by the fire, Eragon elsewhere, brooded, the light glinting off her blue scales, her head laid on the ground before her. She didn't need the fire to stay warm, of course, but it was comforting to her, reminding her of so many travels. It was more comforting than even Firnen had been, even after he had been made aware of what had happened between her and Shruikan.

Saphira trembled at the memory. No... Oh no. She would not think of that memory, not then, not while she was there, comfortable and safe. But that experience made it so that Firnen and her would never match up with one another. He was too young, but that would not have been an issue if he had at all been able to understand her experience.

There, with only her brooding thoughts for company, she slipped into a light, fitful sleep. Her rider shared the same qualms through their shared bond, the horrors of war weighing heavily on him too, but there was little they could do but try to deal with it in their own way.

The flow of her life on the currents of the winds, however, was set to change, as a month after their arrival in the foothills of the Eastern mountains, finding their life in the community there, a familiar face arrived. Whereas Saphira did not have much care for his rider, she tilted her head curiously at Thorn, the big, red drake that she had actively fought during the war. Of course, his life there had been servitude at best and slavery at worst, a tangle of sympathy wrapped up in reproach. Even then, she was wary, but...they had shared experiences, they had to admit.

Murtagh bowed respectfully to her and she did the same, though a light rain had begun, chasing many of the humans inside. Such weather changes, when they were not drastically inclement, did not bother dragons, however, and the two dragons sat side by side, contemplating the valley and the winding river that meandered down the length.

"It is a U-shaped valley," the red dragon commented softly, not raising his voice too much. "Formed from glacial activity. Murtagh read that to me, when I was much younger. I think I recognise the shape."

She glanced at him strangely.

"You do not sound like yourself, Thorn."

The dragon laughed shortly and shuffled as if he was going to get up and leave her well enough alone, though, to her surprise, he did not move away.

"What even is myself? I do not know... And something tells me that you do not know yourself."

That first day, with the company of another dragon, she watched twilight sweep in through the light rain, the richly fertile landscape offering plenty, though Eragon did not return to see her that night. With their mental link, she knew he was well and left that side of her mind well enough be.

Over the passing days, however, she found herself relaxing increasingly in the presence of another dragon, enjoying the companionship, even though she had not anticipated being as comfortable as she was with him. Of course, she was wary of him, but he was not the dragon that had slammed into her in mid-air during the heat and fury of battle: that was from another life and another time. If she could not be held accountable for the lives she had taken, in the name of the greater good, during wartime, could he be held to task too? It did not make sense either as they walked and flew together, relearning what their lives were to be.

And that was enough, for the time being, exactly as it was, devoid of pressure. Oh, there had been so much of that, too much of that, for far too long, since the moment she had hatched from her egg. Of course, she had known back then that she had a very important role in life the moment her rider had touched her eggshell, but it had still worn on the dragoness as she grew up and matured, becoming a version of an adult dragon and yet not the one that she would have been if she had not had to go through all that trauma.

It was not something that she could change, however, not as she hissed and snaked her tail back and forth across the cave floor, a manmade creation with a wide, open mouth that was formed for howling dragons. Her sleep was not kind to her, restless, snarling at nightmares, though that was not uncommon for her. In the dead of the night was her worst time, when she could not even control where her mind went, thrashing through nightmare after nightmare, chased through the darkness.

Yet when she awoke in a heaving, ready to fight, snarl of scales, she found another dragon there, the bulk of his red body offering her an escape from the cave if she wanted it and yet something more. He crooned to her, snaking his tail lightly against her side, speaking softly, rumbling as if in a purr, Thorn's eyes brimming over with worry, for the pain he saw in her was something that the drake had taken on in himself too, during the war, after the war.

"It's not real," he murmured, head waving back and forth like a dragoness trying to calm a hatchling, distracting them from something worrying. "It can't hurt you... I promise... It's not real... It's not there..."

She would not have thought that anyone would have been able to calm her from her nightmares of the dark dragon, but, somehow, he did. Somehow, the drake coaxed her in against him, sharing the heat of his body, settling the dragoness minute after minute, regardless of how much time passed, the quake of her soothing to a low murmur.

"Is it bad?" He said quietly, not raising his voice too much as if he was afraid to ask. "The...dreams?"

She shuddered.

"Yes. No one has seen that before."

The drake laid his head down next to hers, wing extending over her back, protective yet never blocking her exit from the cave, something that Saphira noticed. It would have been worse if Thorn had blocked her in, like _he_had all that time ago. Still, in the horrors of her mind, it still felt like yesterday.

Sighing, she leaned into him, letting the warmth of the drake seep into her, carrying her into a light sleep that, while not fulfilling, was soft enough to come without nightmares.

After that night, the drake and the dragoness were nearly inseparable, feeding together, sleeping together, bonding and healing after the war, though there was no correct way to do that. They could come to who they really were in any way needed, growing closer and closer, for their shared experience, at the very least, joined them in a way that no other two beings could be joined. At least not when they had fought as dragons.

Yet one thing that Saphira could not forget, even as they flew comfortably together, not speaking, wing tip to wing tip, was the rising need inside her. More than simple companionship, there was no secret in her body that it was ripe and fertile and that she wanted to mate, to have a mate, to experience that closeness and intimacy. But how could that ever even be a possibility for her after everything that had come to pass?

It was not a question that she knew the answer to, though the dragons drifted away from speaking of the war, sharing hopes and dreams instead. They had maps brought to them by the humans where they were not small enough to enter the buildings and storage areas themselves, poring over them for hours at a time, meandering through imaginary travel routes.

"I've always wanted to visit the ocean," Thorn said, tracing the tip of a claw over the map with the utmost delicacy. "To feel the water on my scales... I hear it is something quite unlike lake water, or even what flows through the rivers."

Saphira cocked her head curiously.

"Have you not been to the ocean before? I thought you had a stop-by there."

Thorn shook his head.

"Briefly, but I was in the camp the whole time. We never spent time down by the water. That was...a different time."

She understood that. A time of need, where every moment was dragged through need and necessity, what they had to do for the war, regardless of what side they were on. Without thinking, she swept her tail out, brushing it comfortingly against Thorn's.

"One day," she said. "We will go to the ocean together."

Closer and closer, the dragons knew one another inside out, weeks passing, turning into months, the spring season blurring into the height of summer, many humans out doing agricultural work, though caring for their animals took place all year round - it was only more visible during the warmer seasons. The grass and trees in the rich landscape bloomed furiously, giving the land an impression of vitality, as if it could never fall.

But they could not grow much closer without the inevitable coming up, the drake pressing in closer to her one dawn morning when the glow of sunrise spread across their favourite spot: a clearing in the trees where they could not be seen, dense forest surrounding them. Wildflowers scattered the mini glade that they had cared for and cultivated for themselves, allowing them a spot that was just for them, with no bad memories tied up in it.

Her body sang as he nuzzled down the length of her neck, crooning softly to her, testing her readiness, her willingness, even as she curled her tail, rather demandingly, around his ankle. She wanted him, Saphira did not allude to anything other than that, slipping gently onto her side as she lifted her tail back and away from her body, revealing the flushed line of her slit, just below the pucker under her tail.

"Saphira..."

He crooned softly to her, warmth in his tone, and, still, she quivered. Maybe it wouldn't be like before, Saphira told herself, even as the drake seemed to loom, as if he had become much larger than he actually was. Maybe it would be better than last time, something that would sweep everything away.

He was kinder to her, of course, nose dipping under her tail, tongue sliding out gently, bathing her slit. Saphira caught her breath, the tip of her tail twitching back and forth. It felt good, the teasing twitch of his slippery appendage, how it slithered inside her, the drake always keeping one eye on her to make sure she was okay with it. She murmured to him, encouraging him on, enough so that he jumped over her, her heart beating harder and faster, breath hitching in a bad way, the moment that his bodyweight pressed down over her.

Restraint.

Being held against her will.

Saphira's pupils dilated, his shaft bumping into her scales.

She couldn't help it.

The brush of his hard shaft against her scales sent the dragoness jolting into action, fighting to get away as if her life was on the line, snarling, teeth showing, buffeting him with her wings. She stomped over all the delicate wildflowers ringing their clearing that they had care for together without even knowing what she was doing, caught up in the past. All she could see was how he had loomed, how he had dominated, how he had taken what he wanted without any care or consideration for her feelings.

That Thorn was not him was not something that her mind could understand, not at that time, not with the past feeling like the present.

"Saphira!"

He cried out for her, reached for her, but she slashed at him, forcing the drake back, a raging ball of fire and teeth, using everything at her disposal. Beating the dragon back to the line of trees, the dragoness hissed and seethed, guts aching, wanting something that her mind told her she could not have, all because of what had happened to her all those years ago.

But it did not feel like it was a long time ago. It felt like it was yesterday. And that was the worst thing of all for her, the pain cutting through her, even if it was just a memory, whipping around, wheeling in fear: clawing, biting fear.

Out, out. She had to get out - out and up into the air, at all costs! Heaving her larger body to the air, for she was still a little larger than Thorn, as the red dragon had hatched after her, she howled out her fury, launching herself higher, wings pummelling the air.

He cried out after her, but Thorn did not see her again that day, not as Saphira flew and flew and flew, beating the adrenaline from her body, though neither body nor mind could understand that she was safe there, that there was nothing to run from. She had invited Thorn in closer to her, for the love of the heavens above...

But she could not stop the feelings from coming, guilt at attacking Thorn clawing at the pit of her stomach, bringing up other old memories, of war, the battlefield. Yet he was not like that anymore and neither was she, both with their prices to pay for what they had done.

Two days later, when she finally skulked with her tail between her legs back to her cave to rest, a shaking wreck of a dragoness, Thorn found her, saying nothing, offering comfort as he had that first night when he had rescued her from a nightmare. That was all she needed, no bad feeling between the two dragons, allowing him to touch her, only barely, settling in against one another's sides. Yet she could not lean into him until hours had passed, when the last vestiges of hidden tension had slipped from her muscles, bones locked in place as if Saphira had become frozen.

She didn't have to tell him what had happened, not as he slowed and deepened his breaths, allowing her to take things at her own place, staying with him or not, exactly as she pleased. Saphira clenched her jaw against her shame, but at the very least Thorn knew that something had happened to her, something that not even he could sympathise with. Some of what had happened to her, what he could only guess at, the horrors that her mind and her body had been put through, he could never truly understand.

Yet the drake could be there for her and support her, bringing her food, her favourite delicacies, a barrel of ale that made her chuckle, as it was nowhere near enough to get a dragon inebriated. That, at least, meant that they could enjoy the flavour of it more readily, letting it spill around their tongues as they settled together, Saphira finding the boldness, eventually, to creep out of the cave again, though her body still ached from the exertion that she had put it through.

"I still want to try," she told him, resting with her head on his foreleg, her tail linked possessively with his. "I still...want to be with you. To be your mate. To mate with you, if you would also still want me."

Thorn rumbled softly, nuzzling her neck.

"I can't take your pain away," he murmured. "But I will stay with you for as long as you will have me, whether mates or companions. I wish I could change the past, but that is far beyond the reach of any dragon."

She shivered against him, but, in their own way, they understood one another. And, so, the days could pass, getting back to their normal routine of feeding when it pleased them, of planning ahead, of finding ways to bring light and softness back to their lives.

And maybe all they had needed was a little more time, Thorn taking her down to the lake while the moon was high, a smile stretching his jaws just a little bit wider. The round of the moon, nearly full, shone on the perfect surface, not disturbed by a single ripple that could be seen from their vantage point in the air, mountains rising on either side as if they were protecting the dragons, cradled in their grasp.

Saphira's heart lifted and a cord of tightness, the link of a chain, that had been locked around it for so very long loosened - just a notch. The harshness was still there, the sense that her heart was being held in a giant set of claws, but she could breathe a little more easily there, setting down with Thorn some distance back from the water on a smooth, round bank of grass.

There, she took a deep breath - and the plunge.

Her neck embraced with his, despite the pounding of her heart, taking a more leading role that time, hoping against hope that it would be what she needed, that it would let her take one more step away from the past, from what had happened. She could only hope, but she would hope, with Thorn or someone else, until her dying day, pressing on, finding a way to be herself, to be true to the dragoness that she really was.

But it was not to be that difficult, not as they crooned and murmured and took things slowly, letting their scales rub up against one another, tails stroking, teasing around the sensitive flesh of their underbellies and inner legs, up close to where they joined to the bulk of their bodies. Saphira groaned, Thorn's teeth light and gentle on her neck, not to harm her but seeking out her sensitive spots, easing down, softly and sweetly, as if she was the most tender, most precious thing in the world to him.

Maybe she was. Maybe that was, truly, what being one's mate was all about.

His shaft slipped out and, again, that familiar twinge of panic clutched at her. That time, however, Saphira forced it down - to a place where it was better suited, a memory, not her reality. With her determination resolute, despite the shaking of her claws, she breathed as slowly and as evenly as she could, Thorn tenderly grooming her wings with his long tongue, tiny, electric shivers lancing through her body in a tingling rush.

"Mmm..." She groaned lightly, her head tipping back, exposing the vulnerable underside of her neck to Thorn in a display of trust. "Will you...lie on your back for me?"

"Of course."

He was eager to do as she willed, anything to make her more comfortable. It was the very least that he could do for her, tracing the line of her jaw affectionately with his snout, tongue flickering out to brush her cheek in a dragon's version of a kiss. Thorn settled back onto his back with a little difficulty, for it was not a natural position for a dragon to be in, the spines on his back, short and sharp, pressing into the ground. There was nothing out there on the grassy bank, however, that they had to worry about disturbing or cutting up, letting the two dragons play together, exploring one another, exactly as they pleased and needed.

Saphira crooned as she rumbled down him, feeling more in control, her natural confidence returning to her, the tip of her tail flicking back and forth. It was a discernible shift to have Thorn lying down on the grass before her, his tail lying out before him as if it was trying to direct a path up to his shaft, though, of course, his testes were held internally. She licked her lips, a flicker of something new pulsing through her heart, beating a little more quickly, but, that time, for the right reasons.

It was more of what she wanted to investigate him, to explore his scales while he allowed her to, his hind legs splayed apart a little where he tried to tuck them up closer to his body, the dragon's body not designed to stay in that position for long. But if it was what they needed they would find a way to make it work, Thorn snaking his head back and forth and licking his lips as Saphira, curiously, nuzzled his cock.

"Ohhhh..."

Oh, she liked that sound from him, she liked that sound very much, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she nuzzled his length, tongue flickering out to kiss the tip. The slick, smooth taste of him came tainted with a touch of spice, yet she leaned into it more hungrily than ever, her jaws parting, taking him, very carefully, into her muzzle.

It was a motion of control, one that put her in a position of dominance, though purely because it was what she needed, to feel safe and secure, her natural excitement swelling. It was a good feeling, cradling his cock very lightly within her maw, careful of her teeth, sweeping her long, sinuous tongue down his length again and again.

She just wanted to tease him, to see him squirm under her, to feel the closeness of a mate, a real mate, one that she chose for herself and someone who could understand her. And if the last couple of months had shown Saphira anything, it was that Thorn could relate to her in more ways than one, that he could see what she had been through and empathise with her, even if he did not know the full truth of it. Maybe, one day, she would tell him. But not that night, not when he had gone to such lengths to make everything perfect for her.

"Ohhh, Saphira..."

His groan was beautiful, the throbbing of his cock on her tongue as she curled the slim length around, emboldening her to do more, tail lashing the air. Still, she withdrew, licking his taste from her lips, something crisp and fresh and light that reminded her of how she felt when she was flying with him, her wings fully outstretched to catch the air, shaping the wind to her whim.

"Thank you for being so patient with me," she breathed, tail flicking back and forth. "But...I don't think that is going to be a problem anymore."

Thorn would have told Saphira that it had never been a problem in the first place, but she didn't give him the chance to, not as she climbed over him, careful of his legs, though there was a bit of a scrabble involved. It was not, after all, a normal position in which dragons mated, despite everything, a low groan trembling in the back of her throat as she lowered herself, the taste of him on her lips, tail swinging out, trying to feel out exactly where his cock was. It was trickier in such a position than she could have expected, but it was better for her to be on top, working out just how their bodies could come together in such a way.

In the end, it was all meant to be, Thorn murmuring to her, though he panted with need, the dragon's jaws hanging open even as he took her in, devotion shining in his eyes.

"You look beautiful," he murmured shyly, though they had spoken of far more intimate topics before. "In the moonlight... Ohhh..."

The drake obviously could not help but moan again, his cock throbbing up against the scales between her hind legs as Saphira purred and rolled her hips back into position. It was easier for her to feel when his cock sprang up against her sex and undertail, panting lightly, her jaws hanging open in a mirroring motion of him.

Pre-cum drooled from his cock as if Thorn could not resist her allure, as if he was so turned on by her that he could not help anything, his forepaws coming up to hold her gently, for he had more flexibility there. It was not any kind of restraint and Saphira leaned into his touch gratefully, enjoying the contact, the familiar warmth of him, the drake that she wished to take as her mate, softening through their connection.

She whimpered, tail swinging back and forth, but she had to have him, finally finding the right angle for the slimmer tip of his cock to press right up against her wet vent. The slit of her sex parted slightly in her arousal, flushed and heated, yet it was up to her as she sank onto him, shifting her feet, finding the right position, though it was never something that they were meant to take perfectly the very first time.

No, it was always meant to be more of a learning experience, two dragons coming together in passion for what might as well have been the first time for both, her sex parting to take his shaft deep. The dragons moaned, becoming one in the heat of the moment, tongues of fire flickering within Thorn's maw, though the drake was careful to turn his face from Saphira, not wanting to harm her with his fire at all.

He groaned, for her, however, seeking the words to tell her just how beautiful she was to him, how he knew that she had overcome so much to be there with him, heart surging. Yet it was enough just to be with her, to have her, to know that everything they had gone through was worth it, all for that moment and every moment between them that would happen henceforth.

She grunted, eyes bright, passionate in control, even if it was a far gentler kind of control than what Saphira was used to. It didn't have to be anything more than that, not when she took his thickness inside her, a pole of flesh that finally felt good as his cock sank into her. Of course, it was entirely up to her to rise and fall on his cock and her legs ached from the motion already, but it was all worth it to take him, to claim him as her mate.

And his claim on her, though it was a mateship and a claim that she entered into passionately, her body inadvertently squeezing around him, though she did not consciously feel in control of that action. She just needed to squeeze down, to let Thorn feel how happy he made her, though she was yet to tell the drake just how he had turned her life around.

Maybe afterwards, she thought dimly as she rode his cock, a haze of pleasure enveloping her. Maybe later, lying under the moon and the stars with her lover and her mate, she would tell him everything, the good parts, the parts that made her heart sing. For that was the most important thing of all, even if she needed to say it to him and not only think it.

His shaft fit perfectly inside her, smoothly, the hot length searing through her, burning her up from the inside out - but in a good way. In a way that had her scales tingling with a kind of sensation that Saphira had not thought could ever be hers, never for her, but Thorn had brought that all to the forefront for her, a long, low moan rolling from her lips.

There, with only the moon to bear witness, they mated, healing one another even as they took pleasure from each other's bodies. Her sex closed tightly around him, inner muscles rippling in sheer joy at their mating, their bodies coming together, everything better than Saphira could ever have imagined it, her body aching, driven by instinct and love, intertwined, claw in claw.

Yet feral need dictated that they finished the deed, Thorn shooting her a cheeky look as he snaked his tail up between her legs to rub against the outside of her sex. But the dragoness was already far gone as she rocked and ground on his cock, riding him furiously, the lewd squelch of his shaft disappearing into her hot vent filling the air.

"Yes... Thorn..." She panted heavily, the push of his tail sending a jolt through her. "Yes... Oh... So...so close..."

She thought it was just him that would reach that high, yet the moment was more wonderful than even she could have anticipated, twin draconian roars breaking the night. They shattered the peace and yet all for good cause, orgasm taking both drake and dragoness at the same time as they twisted and rocked in pleasure. Waves of ecstasy swamped the dragoness, clinging to her mate for fear of being swept away in the tidal wave of it, Thorn pressing his head to hers, muzzling to muzzle, sharing moans, the shudders of lust taking them.

Thick spurts of dragon seed poured into her, the pulse of each spurt tangible through the fat length of his member, though Saphira luxuriated in it, knowing that only good would come from their coupling. It was what she had needed, the ultimate moment of healing, and maybe, one day, she would be bold enough, herself enough again, to let Thorn take her from a "top" position, even if she had no reason, ever, to think he would hold her against her will.

For that was what taking a mate had always been about, her sex rippling faintly around him as she nuzzled him softly, warm in the afterglow, his cock ever so lightly softening inside her. She did not want to leave just yet, her sex a little sore from mating, though ready for more, ready to stay with her mate forever - whatever it was that pleased them both.

Breathing softly on her nose, sharing breath, Thorn licked the side of her snout, Saphira drawing back to lock her gaze with his.

She needed to tell him. And yet she didn't have the words, so simpler ones that conveyed the heavier, more potent message would have to do.

"I will always be with you."

Thorn's eyes glistened.

"And I with you."

There, in the moonlight, they found their mate.

And their lives would never be the same again.