Mistress

mate:


The Leader
The Soldier
The Wise One

Mistress began life in the Viridan Labyrinth, in a land of growth and change. She began life a calm tundra, one that had the same traits as all; a short memory but a well meaning heart. She began life full of hope and intent on making the most of what she had. She began life hoping that one day she might have a mate, might have some place to call her own forever.

Life began for her in calmness, in stillness. She was perfectly fine in her role as a healer, perfectly fine in her role as someone who aided others as they were ailing. But before long, she found that not everyone was like that. Dragons were coming back more and more injured. Some were sick for days on end while others were crippled and wounded for life. Mistress felt hopeless, always waiting back at the clan to see how the dragons that went out to fight were.

So she demanded that she be taught to fight. Taught to defend. Taught to attack and battle and be the one to stand before those that could not and save them from death. Her family insisted that she not, that she instead focus on her knowledge as a healer. She ignored them and instead trained alongside the larger dragons, learning how to fight. She learned how to use her teeth and her speed and her sense of smell to pick out the enemy and eliminate them.

Mistress' clan came under attack by a neighboring one. She, along with all the other warriors, stood at the ready to stop the encroaching dragons. The fight was long and bloody and it is now muddled in her mind, full of the metal tang of blood and the pain and panic of war. She remembers falling, collapsing as the battle raged on around her, as hatchlings screamed for their parents and as the warriors screamed out of pain. She remembers the darkness enveloping her and she remembers being so tired and so ready for the end to come.

Mistress woke up in another clan, however. She learned that she had been dragged away from the fight and healed elsewhere. Alarmed, Mistress demanded to know what had happened.

She learned that both clans perished in that fight, that they had turned on one another like rabid dogs and torn one another apart.

Shocked and saddened, Mistress left, forging her own path out in the world, wanting to find a place where she could very much make her own stand, a place she could protect. She traveled over many miles, taking with her the heavy feeling of loss and grief.

It took her years to realize that she was clinging to memories, clinging to thoughts that would do her no good. So she shed them and instead took the lessen from the tragedy to heart; that blood spilled is blood spilled. Nothing much is gained from it and if one is not careful, it could spiral and turn terrible.

Mistress eventually found herself in the Shifting Expanse and by extension, in Meremornaug's clan. She had been wandering the border when she was taken in and brought before the leader. She was assigned to be a soldier, as Mistress told of her great exploits all over Sorneith and the fight that she had endured once before.

Mistress knew that Meremornaug needed to find someone strong, someone unafraid of taking control. She set out to prove that she was that dragon, a dragon willing to take the reigns of an operation and take the responsibilities and burdens that came with it.

One day, it was said that another clan was coming to attack. Mistress remembered her fight, so many years ago.

She demanded to be on the front lines. She demanded that she be put in charge. She said she knew. She said she could do it. And so she was allowed to.

Mistress remembers little of this fight as well, only that this time, the clash was less bloody. That words were exchanged by the end, that Mistress did not kill the leader of the other clan, even though she had the opportunity to. That she told Meremornaug to consider peace first, to consider a unity first.

In the end, Mistress had proven her worth. She had proven that she had wisdom and knowledge and she knew what to do. Meremornaug named her her mate, named her leader of the clan.

Finally, finally, she had found her home. Finally, she had found the dream she had wanted since she was born. She shares the burden with Meremornaug now, intent on making the clan as safe as ever.