Belorro

Belorro is not a young dragon, but until very recently, his contemporaries insisted on seeing him as immature anyway. Guardian instincts to go on Search usually kicked in when they were still shaking off the gangliness of adolescence, and Belorro hadn't been any different. But normally, a Search only lasts a few years before they find their Charge. Occasionally one gets a "late bloomer," where it takes a decade or so. Belorro's just... never showed up. The instinct never went away, and he traveled all across Sornieth many times over, but his Charge just... never manifested. Belorro lived a full life never staying in one place for more than a day, going from youngster to adult to venerable elder, but every Guardian he met tended to treat him like a child anyway. He even fathered a nest, although sticking around to raise the hatchlings nearly made him crawl out of his skin with the need to move.

He got so sick of the three reactions he always got: assertions that he wasn't trying hard enough, meaningless platitudes that he'd find something someday, and good old-fashioned pity. The constant belittling and condescension got to him after so long. Whatever his natural personality would've been otherwise, Belorro turned hostile toward other dragons almost on sight. The one exception was an oddball caravan he traveled with for a while through the Ashfall Waste. They taught him weaponsmithing and armorcraft. It took a while, but Belorro had time, and there were plenty of dragons along the way that needed their weapons and armor repaired.

He eventually parted with the caravan on good terms the first time they needed to repeat a route. The Search instinct was only growing stronger with time, and now he could make a living doing something he liked. Not adored with his entire being. But it was sure easier socially, moving from town to town, if he pretended his life's work was his Charge. He spent a bit of time in quite a few interesting places, including (briefly) a sort of halfway house for venerable middle-aged and elder dragons.

But there were rumors of a Clan in the Southern Icefield whose medical staff were doing specific research into Guardian Search and Charge instincts. When he reached out to them, they encouraged him to stay away. Apparently, they had a Clan member who (for some as-yet-unknown reason) tended to make Guardian instincts go haywire. That was the reason for the research, and they really did not need another one thrown into the toxic maelstrom he had following him at all times.

Good news was their head physician was willing to help. Better news was she was a Wildclaw, and her assistants were Wildclaws and Bogsneaks, so she didn't have any preconceived social notions as to what a Search ought to look like. She sent him a photorealistic lithograph print of a scowling fae whose head-crests were flared in an obvious aggressive display, his sword drawn for an attack. 'I know it sounds weird, but would you please describe the fae in this picture, and rate how much you'd like to approach him from 1-10?' she'd written.

Belorro replied with 'He looks like he wants to take my head off and is probably determined enough to do it. I have no idea what made him so angry but I'm staying out of his way. That sword needs some repair work. 1/10.'

He was promptly invited to come to Clan AXQU for additional testing. Apparently the lithograph was of their beleaguered clanmate, and all but two Searching Guardians she'd shown that image reacted positively, despite how menacing it looked. Millie ran a few more tests, and promptly diagnosed him with something called PSS - Perpetual Search Syndrome. It was extraordinarily rare and still poorly-understood, but essentially meant that the Search instinct was so powerful that it prevented the Guardian from ever settling and finding a Charge. There wasn't a cure as-such, but there were two possible management courses: coping skills, like he'd been doing, or a breed change.

Changing his whole being was not to be taken lightly, but now that Belorro had an answer, his anger redoubled at everyone who'd slighted him for something he literally could not control or help. He was tired. Tired of moving around, tired of the constant anxiety, tired of the scorn. If he'd ever liked or been proud of being a Guardian, the condescension and social pressure had killed it. Belorro did some research and opted to become a Mirror. Being able to see heat would be useful in his work, and he'd always loved the freedom of a good run.

Freedom was absolutely the word that came to mind when he woke up after the procedure. He felt like every scale had been pulled off and hammered flat individually (apparently normal) but the pressure and anxiety gnawing at the back of his head was gone. He wasn't a particularly emotive dragon by nature, but he sobbed like a hatchling when he awoke. It felt like his mind was his again for the first time since adolescence.

Belorro was asked to stay in the Clan for a few weeks to monitor his health after the procedure, and now that the broken instinct was gone, he actually enjoyed his stay. He set to work almost immediately cleaning up Clan AXQU's armory; it was pretty good for having been maintained by a bunch of educated warriors, but without a professional quartermaster, there was a lot of chaos that got overlooked. Their forgemasters were excellent at repairing the metal bits, but the leather and cloth was far more worn than he would have liked, and he set about fixing that too.

The social aspect was overwhelmingly different, too. The Clan-heads were Mirrors, and Clan Axqu's entire pack was delighted that he'd chosen to become one of them. Mirrors weren't a popular choice for breed changes. The metabolism was a bugbear to deal with and the new instincts were interesting, but Belorro found he already had a pack to run with and all of them were excited to show him the ropes. New to the breed? Doesn't matter, still a mirror. Social acceptance was new, and the heat-vision took some adjustment, but Belorro had never really had a happy friend group before.

Weeks turned into months before he knew it, and Belorro found himself surprised when one of the admin team told him he was being offered a permanent position with Clan AXQU. He found it perhaps more surprising how much he really did want to stay.

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