Valley of Cinders

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Once, it was a place of life, where the women of the surrounding villages came to give birth and nurse their children until they were old enough to wean. The caves that encircled it were filled with healing pools, so deep and blue that they looked as endless as the night sky. It had been a place of refuge and magic since before time was counted. Men did not go there. Not out of fear, but out of respect for the ancient life-giving power that dwelled in the very rocks. The magic that saw the women safely through their labors, and brought babies red and screaming into the world. It was a sacred place. That was before, though. Now, the valley is a place of nightmares; ashen bones and smoldering fires litter the ground. And those caves, no one dares enter those caves anymore.

...

Tanwin Ellert tossed in her bed, her thin blankets tangling around her ankles, adding to her irritation. Sleep had eluded her since she had laid her head down. Her eyes popped open of their own volition and she stared into the blackness towards the stone ceiling above. She had no idea if morning had yet arrived. "One of the many perks of living in a cave," she muttered to herself.

There were no voices echoing through the caverns, so she guessed it to still be night. Good, she thought, perhaps I can use this to my advantage. She rose from her bed and laid her bare feet on the ground. The cool stone felt soothing on her hot skin and she let out a small moan of pleasure. Her temperature had been spiking as of late, a sign of her approaching Change. Her mother supposed Tanwin had a month, two at most, before her life would be transformed forever, before she became something else, though no one would tell her exactly what that meant. So, she quickly dressed in a lightweight tunic and pants, and darted from her alcove into the tunnels.

The only sounds besides the padding of her feet, were the dripping of water and the gentle lapping of the pools, undulating from the underwater currents that kept them fresh and clean. She passed by the hollows where her sisters slept and crept on, towards the mouth of the cave system. Moonlight seeped in, the ethereal glow pulling on Tanwin with an urgent, undeniable magnetism that she didn't understand.

A few feet from the opening of the cave, Tanwin stopped, her heart thundering in her ears. She was close, so close, to the world outside, the world she had never seen, except for what was framed by the cave that had been her home since her birth. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, centering herself. She realized then that it wasn't what awaited her that she feared, but what she would leave behind. Her mother, her aunts and sisters, how would they feel when they found her bed empty? Would they come after her? She doubted it. They loved her, yes, but her family had scarcely left the cave, let alone the Valley, in generations.

Opening her eyes, Tanwin poked one of her bare feet into the light of the moon. Her near-translucent skin glowed like a pearl. Taking another step, her eyes struggled to adjust to the foreign light, so harsh compared to the warm light of the fires and torches within the cave. She looked up into that light, squinting, and her eyes widened involuntarily as she beheld the vast sky and its innumerable stars. Something stirred, deep in her chest, at the sight of the boundless sky, and tears filled her eyes. Behind her, a shuffling sound had her whipping around.

"Again, Tanwin? I thought we were past this." Her mother stood just within the shadows, arms crossed over her chest, her face painted with disapproval and exhaustion.

"Mother, I, uh, I...I'm sorry." Tanwin's voice was pleading. "You know I can't stay here."

"And you know I can't let you leave. It's not safe out there," her mother replied matter-of-factly.

"No one has left in decades, Mother. How do we know it's not safe?" Tanwin took a step forward, fists clenched at her sides, her frustration rippling off her.

"People don't change, Tanwin. Men don't change," her mother said with force.

"What does that even mean?" Tanwin spat. "Maybe if you and the Aunties wouldn't keep so many secrets, I might have a reason to change my mind." She stood heaving, waiting for her mother to respond.

"I have told you, over and over, we will tell you everything, after your Change is complete," her mother said, her voice softening.

"Why do I get the feeling that I will be trapped here once that happens? Then it won't matter either way." Her tone was accusing and her mother made no move to deny it. "No, Mother, I need to do this, I need to leave, I have to know what's out there."

"I know what's out there, my Daughter, and it's brutal and cruel, and the thought of you, alone out in the middle of all of it...I can't bear the thought." Her mother's voice cracked and she wrapped her arms around herself. "Please, come inside. I will convene your Aunties in the morning and we will discuss telling you what you want to know."

Tanwin didn't move. She felt like she had lived this moment a hundred times, always with the same end: her ending up back in the suffocating "safety" of the caves. She knew her plans were foiled for the night, though. Even if she went back to bed, her mother would be listening for her to try and flee again.

She looked into her mother's face and knew every line, had seen it in sadness and in joy, and her resolve cracked just a little. Tanwin knew her mother loved her immensely and that she would move mountains to protect her. But at what cost, Tanwin thought bitterly.

"I need things to change, I can't live like this," Tanwin said, squaring her shoulders. "Please make the Aunties see. I'm nearly seventeen, I am old enough to know the truth of things."

Her mother nodded, even as doubt swam in her eyes. Tanwin wondered what secrets the women of these caves had been keeping, and if it was for her protection, or their own.

As the moon reached its apex, mother and daughter walked back into the heart of the caves. The rustling of great wings stirred deep within, sending a musky breeze through their hair.

"It's late," Tanwin's mother said quickly, looking into the shadows, "let's get you back to bed."

Tanwin had heard that rustling sound every night for as long as she could remember. As a child, she had imagined it was a massive bird, waiting to fly her away to her destiny. Now, she still felt the sound was somehow tied to her fate, but that something far more sinister waited in the shadows.

...

The women of the Valley gathered as the first rays of dawn stretched across the sky, leaving blood red scratches across its grey face. Tanwin's mother, Gira, paced outside the innermost cavern where they held their meetings.

She had known the time would come when Tanwin would try to leave, would want answers. Gira had been the same at her age, they all had been. But she knew her daughter, and Tanwin would not give up. Even as a girl she had been headstrong and fearless, had questioned everything. As she grew, Gira could feel a chasm between them growing and stretching wider with each of those questions that she could not answer. She could only hope that her sisters would agree to go against decades of tradition and tell Tanwin the truth before she fled and risked exposing them all.

Gira ducked beneath the low entrance to the chamber and stepped within, as sixteen sets of milky pale-blue eyes fell on her. She had known these women since birth and considered them her sisters, though they each had different mothers, yet they still made for a formidable sight when they were all gathered together.

"Sisters," Gira said softly, toying with the white braid that fell over her shoulder to her waist, "I have convened this meeting to discuss Tanwin. She attempted to flee again last night, and I fear she will continue to do so until either she succeeds, or we tell her the truth."

They sat perched among the mounds and crevices of the rock surface surrounding a mirrored pool, considering her. She knew them to be kind and fair, but they were also fierce when it came to protecting their secrets and their Valley. Gira wondered how she would feel if it were her in their position.

"We knew this day would come, whether it was Tanwin or one of our other daughters," Sister Luva said from the back. "What we need to consider is the greater risk to us all, one way or the other."

The eldest Sister, Martanille added, "It is a risk either way. If she learns the truth too soon, she could flee anyway, or inform all the daughters and spark a mass exodus. If she leaves and leads someone back here, or worse, goes through her transformation with no one to guide her, we could all be wiped out. She just won't be able to understand until she experiences the Change."

The women nodded at that and began talking all at once.

After a few moments, Martanille raised a hand to silence the group. "Sister Gira, I know I speak for everyone when I say that your worry for Tanwin is one we all share, she is our daughter too. However, we cannot set a precedent that childish rebellion will get you your way." She crossed her hands in her lap decisively. "So, tradition stands. Tanwin will have to wait until the Change is upon her to learn the depths of our ways. Until then, it will be your responsibility to keep her here, for everyone's safety. Under no circumstances can we have a newly born Dragon wreaking havoc outside the Valley. Do you accept our decision?" Though it was a question, there was no room for disagreement.

Bowing her head in deference, Gira said, "Yes, I accept the wisdom of my Sisters."

Gira walked from the chamber to tell Tanwin, wringing her hands as she went. It hurt her to keep things from her daughter, and she could remember the anger and confusion she had felt when her own mother had denied her the truth. But Tanwin was determined and independent in a way Gira had never been. It scared and excited her in equal measure.

She reached Tanwin's chamber and peeked her head in. Still asleep, Gira thought lovingly. She padded over to kiss her daughter's forehead like she had when she was a child, but beneath the quilt she found nothing but wads of clothing.

Tanwin was gone.