Pebble

Pebble
The Rock Stacker

Pebble was born a grump, her mom used to tell her that she popped out of her egg with a furrowed brow, and that it must have stuck because she'd been grumpy ever since. Nothing ever made her happy, she would watch all of the other hatchlings frolic in the water, playing with one another, they'd try to include her and toss her a ball or toy and she'd always pop it or rip it in half, so the other dragons learned to avoid her. One thing she did tolerate though, was rocks, they were hard and unfeeling just like her, she would toss one between her hands back and fourth until they became polished from her rough pads, she'd find rocks of interesting textures and colors and polish them and hoard them away. After she grew up her clan kicked her out for not doing anything useful, no matter what job she was given she hated it and would stop doing it which the clan was not a fan of. She shrugged it off and took off walking, she couldn't often be bothered by flying, too much work. She walked and walked, taking naps as she went until she came across a river, she stopped to fish herself up some grub as she was in the water she saw the twinkle of a beautiful purple stone but as she reached for it a purple hand came and met hers and she grabbed it. She looked up and a young beautiful dragon dressed in all sorts of finery looked back at her, she quickly surfaced as did the other dragon. "Give me the stone." the beautiful dragon insisted. "No I found it first!" She tucked the rock into her pouch. The purple dragon wailed into the sky and a large black and orange guardian stomped out of the forest. "Daddy, she took my stone, tell her to give it back to me." Pebble stepped back clutching her bag. "Go back home precious." He pushed her into the trees and looked down at Pebble. She trembled and retrieved the stone from her bag and went to hand it over to him. He tilted his head and looked into her bag, seeing all the smooth shiny stones inside. He gestured his head for her to follow him and she cautiously did so. They passed through some thick wood and she didn't know if her grump was going to get her killed or what, soon they met the face of a cave and he walked inside. 'Well come on." She followed him through a room full of dragons, then through a covered entrance into another part of the cave, guarded by a beautiful emerald looking dragon. Through the door was a room filled with piles of gems and stones, most of them were rough and just strewn about in heaps. "Can you do that to these?" Darius gestured to the room. After picking her jaw off the floor Pebble nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes I sure can." She counted, organized and polished the stones and gathered scrolls detailing their properties and scientific names, learned where to go to find more stones. She even started fashioning them into jewelry for the clan. It was the only job she was actually able to enjoy, even if it was just a little.