sacredpath | (Reply)

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[Hawke had told him about this, but honestly seeing it is a thousand times worse and triggers a memory of his own.

A memory of Ali, meeting his sister in a mountainside town. Of warning her that the cave she built her nest in is too close to a town.

Of his sister, Ria, telling him that the father of her eggs is already dead, and that she needs his help making sure they hatch safely.

Of a group of teenagers, looking for a place to go camping and stumbling across a nest of eggs and a protective dragon.

Of Ali trying to stop her, telling her they can move the eggs, but his words don't reach her and she flies out of the nest to go 'handle the problem'. Her instincts to protect her next being too strong to be overcome.

Of Ali trying to move the eggs as quickly as possible, but only being able to move one at a time due to their size, and he ends up only having time to move one before some adult humans come around and smash the rest of the eggs in the nest.

Of Ria struggling to fight back as humans damage her wings and knock her to the ground.

Of the way Ria cries out "Leave my babies alone!" in a language only Ali can understand.

Of how, in the end, Ali watches his own sister get decapitated. And how he can't even cry, because any emotion would make the humans notice that he's not human as well.

And finally, of how, decades later, Ali returned to that same town and found his sister's dead body stuffed and preserved in a museum about the glory of humans who protect the world from dragons.

He probably would have been fine without seeing Anders' memory, but now? Now he's trying to punch Anders in the face.]