Flight 15
Foliage Avalonath and Rain Kleath

Avalonath indicated that she was ready. She wanted a good traditional flight, no taking off unexpected in the midst of night or the crack of dawn. No, she kindly alerted her chasers for an honest race, blooded two prey and then winked off, chasing her shadow as it fled before her on the ground.
Seemingly unphased, the three males chasing the green, or foliage, took off and pursued her, each wanting to catch her as much as the other. Due to the sudden readiness of Avalonath only three had been able to sign up. All of them were blues, or rains, as Avalonath had especially requested that. No strange-looking dragon would parent her babies and she would only allow the last one flying the privilege of catching her.
In the group of chasers, blue Eklith was up front, the rain of Saranna, one of the female finders, had already participated in a number of flights and felt confident. Behind him Kleath was bravely hanging on, equalling the tempo, but finding it hard to do so. Lastly, Blue Aviath, the rain of Sovyl, the male finder was trying to take a wait-and-see approach to catching Avalonath.
Aviath soon saw that this wasn’t a flight he could win on tactics alone. He became further and further behind the leading foliage and had to admit that he had judged her wrong. She was fast and loved the thrill of racing, he could feel that even now as she was dodging his fellow chasers. A bit disappointed, Aviath flew down and told his rider he would very much like to find a few candidates, maybe even for this future clutch.
Up front, Eklith was ready to make his move. Without much frill, he speeded toward Avalonath, extending his arms and grasping… nothing. Dazed, the rain looked back and saw only air. Where had the foliage gone so quickly? Had she gone elsewhere without him noticing it? The rain couldn’t believe that.
Avalonath, chuckling, plummeted back toward the ground from the sudden lift she had just made. Just like a blue to think that he could be just as swift as a green. She crashed into Eklith, sending him to the ground and quickly changed her direction to avoid being caught.
Eklith still couldn’t believe it when he barely avoided an unpleasant contact with the ground. Where had the foliage come from?
Up in the air, Kleath had caught up with the two. He looked at the falling Eklith and grinned: "I won’t fall for that trick, again." He said.
"It only took you eleven times to master it."
"It did, but today we meet again."
"Today indeed. Can you keep up with me now?"
"Can you keep running away from me?" he asked, "That battle took a lot out of you."
"So did the race take a lot out of you." Avalonath smirked.
"Let’s see who’s fastest!" Kleath called out.
Both dragons speeded of, following each other’s movements in a pattern of wild evasion in the sky. Slowly they came closer together until, finally Kleath, panting, grabbed hold of Avalonath’s tail. "Gotcha!" he called out happily.
"Shush, there’s time for victory boasting later."
On the ground, Ardi came toward Frodi. "I’m sure you hadn’t expected this." He stammered.
"I hadn’t. But I missed one vital variable when I guessed the outcome of this flight."
"Which was?"
"They like each other."
"How about us?" Ardi asked.
"I guess I could like you." Frodi shrugged before she dragged him away to her cavern

With a happy sigh Avalonath nuzzled the eggs in front of her and looked happily at Kleath.
"We have three precious eggs." she said.
"Only three?" Kleath asked.
"Had you expected there'd be more?" Avalonath asked surprised.
"Well... it was a hard flight, I had figured it'd be..."
"You'll never be happy will you?" Avalonath asked.
"As long as the babies are healthy..." he started.
"Good answer, maybe you'll learn something after all."
"But still I think I could have done better."
"Just prove that next time."