She had been aware that she was being tailed for a while and a smile warms Mazikeen’s expression when Malik finally calls out. When she turns to face him in the snow, she does her best not to let it falter. Looking at him becomes a little easier every day though it is still not easy. Although he seems to be no worse off for being raised by a darker version of herself and The Curse, she still mourns for what might have been and all the missed chances at getting to know him as he grew. All the bits she had learned and witness had been brushed off at the time but now she treasures those memories.

And the absence of Sickle weighs even more heavily on her when she is with him, all the worst because he does not know there is a twin to miss. The tangled mess of their lives may take years to sort out, if they ever manage it at all.

But you don’t have to do it alone, Mazikeen tells herself. She repeats this in her mind often, several times in a day. Whenever her thoughts turn treacherous and she wonders if it is better for her to run and leave them all behind. It takes little to send these impulses away - a smile, a gentle touch. Reminders that she does not enjoy being on her own, that she is glad that they decided to stay.

The bright expression in Malik’s eyes as he approaches gives her no time to brood. He announces that he’s been to the Mountain and her bright eyes widen in surprise. The interest she speaks with is not false “Oh yeah? How did it go?” He could still shift, which was something. So he was already off to a better start than she had been for her quest.

Mazikeen doesn’t know if it was anything more than luck that kept Malik and Bolder safe from her wrath, but she is grateful for whatever made it so he looks at her now with something other than fear.

Her smile deepens as she watches the feathers around Malik’s neck flare out. He is taller, getting closer to being grown, but she cannot help the way she reflects back on the first time he’d done that when he’d been so little. It doesn't matter how old he gets, she's still going to see her young son in him a little bit.

A soft laugh escapes her at Malik’s first choice for where he starts with his quest, but the sound is surprised and not mocking. She’s proud of this bold boy and his courage. It would be easy to gather things from animals they saw every day here in Hyaline. But Malik’s setting his sights a little higher.

Her expression turns thoughtful and she tilts her head a little to the side as she considers the parameters of his quest. “Does it have to be a wild one? Or would a dragon shifter work?” She’s not sure where they could find one that wasn’t her. Or, at least, she isn’t sure where they could go that they would be welcome.

These thoughts raise another question. “And do you need to take it by force, or can it be given?”

Her grin grows a little at Malik’s idea - it doesn’t surprise her at all that this was what he had been thinking. “Sure. If it’s a shifter it gets a choice, though.” She adds on, growing a little more serious. Malik’s friend Anath was a problem Mazikeen kept putting off. The challenge she had given the girl was just a way to keep her occupied, there had never been an intention of keeping her. It seemed cruel to delay the inevitable but for now it was a conversation she would avoid until she no longer could.

Just like the phoenix twins she had tricked and stolen.

Her stomach twists uncomfortably but Malik’s question earns a small laugh and Mazikeen shakes her head. “We’re not trading your sister. Your father on the other hand...” This joke costs her, though, and Mazikeen turns her head to scan the mountains in order to hide the shadows that pass over her face.

Maybe one day she'll be able to casually mention Gale but she should've known it wouldn't be yet. Not while everything is still so raw inside of her, all her returned emotions so bright and overwhelming.

When she turns back to Malik, there’s a sheen to her orange eyes but, she thinks she’s got the rest of her face under control as she offers up an idea. “I’ve ever seen a wild dragon. But we could check some of the caves near the sea? And then the common lands after that.”

There remains a small frown on Mazikeen’s face as Malik states that they will make the theoretical shifters stay if they choose otherwise. She doesn’t argue this point, not yet. This is a lesson that she imagines will be hard to get her son to unlearn. Whatever good Wishbone had done for him had been erased when he’d spend his second first-year of life here in Hyaline.

He does not remark on the shift in her mood after she had brought up his father, so Mazikeen thinks she's done a good job of covering up. It is easy to forget how observant she had been when she was Malik's age, noticing her mother's moods and choosing to wander on her own instead of pretending not to notice the way Agetta sank into quiet sadness.

Now Mazikeen is grateful for Malik's excitement and she lets it take root inside of her. Easing that too-bright look in her eyes and turning her smile more genuine than mask-like.

She could turn into a dragon now, and maybe it would be handy to be one to hunt its own kind, but she chooses the shape of an eagle instead. The shape of a golden eagle but her feathers are crisp and white, only her feet and the tips of her wings deepening to black. This is something strong but small enough to quickly dodge should they actually find what they seek. And she knows Malik will be able to pick this shape as well, if he wanted.

So with an encouraging yip she flaps her wings and takes off, heading north towards the sea. There are many nooks and crannies there, and once they arrive she encourages Malik to take the lead and look. She remains close, though - just in case he sticks his head in the den of an actual dragon.

Maybe she shouldn’t like the coast anymore, but she does. This isn’t so much ‘the last place she died’ as it is ‘where she was saved’. Or, part of where because that had really begun in the forest. A familiar, cautious hope flutters in her stomach as her wings move at a more slow, even pace. She is enjoying the flight with her son. Enjoying the idea of a hunt that will not end in blood. Or, not much. Hopefully.

The sea stretches before them and Mazikeen inhales deeply, letting a smile grow while her mind drifts. Her face brightens to see Malik twist into a dive over the waves and she releases a proud eagle-call when he pulls upwards at the last second, her grin growing a little more when she catches him glancing to see if she had noticed.

As they begin to search, she remains close, but not hovering-close. While Malik checks out the large cave she scopes out a few decent-looking cracks nearby, peering in and finding only a few disgruntled bats.

Malik’s startled cry has Mazikeen moving instantly. She twists backwards and is already shifting into a large white dragon as she enters the cave behind Malik. “Feline. Now.” Her voice is a soft growl as smoke curls from her nostrils. She wants him to be something quick and agile that will enable him to leap out of the way without the fragile bones in a wing. Without checking to see if he follows this instruction, she bellows a challenge to the wyvern clearly flustered by this turn of events.

Mazikeen hates to think that not very long ago, she would’ve hung back. She would have waited to see what Malik would do, and she might not have ever intervened. Not now, though. It is only defending its dinner but she is defending something far more precious to her. So she wrestles with the creature until she has it pinned, holding it down with her weight and a clawed arm at its throat.

“Malik? How do you feel about being able to turn into a wyvern?” She asks once she’s sure it won’t be able to slip easily out from her grasp, the words coming between heaving breaths as her orange eyes search the darkness for him.