Pallu

I. “Is he seriously going to do it?” one whispered.
“Shhh. He will.” The Pearlcatcher’s eyes gleamed.
The young Wildclaw stomped his foot. “What was that?”
“Nothing!” the first dragon sang. “Go on—break it!”
Bending over, Pallu sized up the boulder. He wished the truth-or-dare game hadn’t gone so awry, but he never, ever refused a dare. Brave warriors just didn’t.
He charged forward headfirst. For a breath, he almost expected the rock to break. Then he heard a crunch and sat back, howling.
The only thing louder was the older hatchlings as they cackled and walked away.
He sniffed loudly into his paws—big strong warriors never cried.
He was still massaging his sore head when a light weight settled onto his shoulder and began to rub it, too. The pain faded at once.
Blinking, he saw the bright, shining eyes of an ethereal creature, warm and dark brown like his own. The sprite giggled, too, but not in a mean way. To his surprise it fluttered and resettled onto his head like a hat.
Huh, he thought, dizzy. Must have flattened the top out, and now it thinks I’m a rock.
The sprite was still there after he awoke from a short concussion-induced coma, and that surprised him.

II. “That’s the third training dummy this week.” His instructor glowered down at him. “Training dummy—it’s part of the name. Not Slash-it-to-death dummy.”
The red-white rage that took over sometimes was there, howling in Pallu’s head and locking up his teeth.
“Out here—“ The words were hisses.
The Instructor was unimpressed.
Pallu tried again, ashamed. “Out here, I can’t go easy on them. I have to kill them or be killed.” His tone was calm, but his tail was lashing like a whip, and he couldn’t control it.
“Then your dummies can come out of your soldier’s pay.” The Instructor raised his brows. “Any questions?”
Pallu knew what he was thinking: you’re in here all hours of the day, never talking to anyone—you probably have all that treasure hidden beneath a mattress.
“Of course, sir.” Pallu nodded. A warning throb raced up his neck, into his head.

III. And this was why he trained all the time.
The invaders had come up suddenly as a storm cloud in summer.
He fought valiantly: enemy after enemy fell to his iron-strong claws, often while wailing in confusion. And yet—looking behind him revealed that his clan’s homes had caught flame. They were iridescent white-red beacons against the black night.
With a howl of rage, he charged back in, only to find the enemy retreating like a rolling wave. The damage was done. His clan was scattering into the night.
He lashed out. His claws cracked against something: a training dummy, hanging limp on the battlefield.
He watched the retreating enemies and felt the rage freezing in his chest.
With a huff, he strode toward the tree-line to find his clan. Cowards! he wanted to shout. Fools! We should have had them!
He found his clan cowering in the shadows of the dark pines that grew around the Hewn City. But before he could shout, he spied a quivering nest of Wildclaw hatchlings peering up at him with fearful eyes.
He must have looked like a blood-streaked demon. A hundred luminous gazes peered out of the gloom at him, including his sprite. Expectantly.
Nervousness coiled inside of him. “We — we should go after our enemies.”
“No,” a voice said back from the darkness. “We’re too weak and too few.”
“But we’re still in danger.” His voice sounded weak to himself. “We have to go fight them.”
The whispers turned to murmurs, then to shouts. Pallu stood strong and tried to stay silent. But he was shouting soon, too. The clan’s voices rose in a cacophony of grief and agony.
“Silence!” A voice rang out. They turned to see a stout Wildclaw female, dressed in an imposing coat, stalk slowly from the shadows
Her tail lashed out and struck Pallu across the chest. He fell silently.
“There is no need to continue fighting. In fact, there is greater strength in peace…”
Pallu watched helplessly as the clan’s eyes turned to the woman. His pride stung worse than the blow—she had simply knocked him over to gain the clan’s favor, for whatever purpose she wanted. She didn’t notice him lying there.
Shame overcame his anger. He skulked away and thought he’d made it unseen, until someone lightly tugged his talons.
The earth sprite apologetically fluttered onto his shoulders, and they vanished together into the night.

IV. On the Windswept Plateau, he found he could think. Without the pressure of protecting what he loved, without the blazing Hewn City sun in his eyes, he didn’t have to worry about being a brave, strong warrior.
He strode onward with the wind blowing freshly in his scales, thinking I don’t have to be angry all the time. I’m not a bad guy. I’m a bit hot-headed, is all…
He focused on feeding himself and fending off the elements, keeping his sprite safe from the wild monsoons with his wings. So intent was he on putting one foot in front of the other that he literally stumbled over the lightly-colored Coatl.
She had warm, creamy scales and honey-tinted wings. For the first time in his life, he was speechless.
She batted her eyelashes. “Well, I suppose you could stay with me for a while.”

V.
I do adore you, but…
But? His tail lashing to and fro, accidentally breaking her prize-winning painted plates. He held the shards of a blue one with white flowers and almost wept. Everything about her world was so delicate, fragile. Peaceful. Bright.
But it would never work. Your heart’s calling you to go back, isn’t it? And I don’t want to get in the way of that.

VI.
The walk back across the Windswept Plateau was much lonelier. In a way, though, it was comforting.
He had enjoyed his time with Suncatcher, but knew he was too wild for such a quiet, softspoken girl. It was comforting because he was able to let go of any anger toward her, and to know that his purpose was to protect his clan. Perhaps the best warrior didn’t always charge in. Perhaps they stayed back sometimes.
He strode into his home, found Daria waiting. He knelt before her, then laid his blade on the ground before her feet.
Nothing happened.
His tail twitched. Was he being excommunicated? Sent back out? Exiled?
When nothing happened, he finally looked up, to find her smiling.
She helped him stand. “Welcome home, Pallu.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you. What’s more, I’m in need of a general. Do you know anyone who might be interested?”
He blinked, then nodded and took up his sword. “Yes. Me.”
“I hoped so. We need you on the fields in fifteen minutes.”
He noticed there was a steeliness to her smile, and knew he daren’t disobey.

Bio by Caelyn


Personality
A wildclaw with a fierce but surprisingly gentle personality. Chosen as Daria's right hand, he is the commanding general of the clan's fighters and one who keeps them on their toes. He once tried to lead the clan when it was in chaos but his young and rash decisions at the time made for poor choices that only caused the clan to fall further into strife.

When Daria appeared on the scene he gave no opposition, letting the strong dragoness take the reins and whip the clan into shape around them. She gave him quite a few good tail lashings of her own for his young stupidity and slowly but surely morphed him into the responsible general he is today.

Pallu is a fierce fighter, shredding any enemy within his path with an iron claw. However, he has a surprisingly down to earth and caring side to him which he most commonly displays to the older seasoned warriors.

Many new recruits fear when his chocolate gaze falls upon them because they know they are in for a good lashing.



Interest

Pallu is always training. He believes a lack of training will lead to one's downfall and one can never know when their fighting skills would be needed. While their clan was in good standing with all those around him, you could never be too sure who would start a war.



Relations

Pallu is always accompanied by an earth sprite he met as a hatchling during the Rockbreaker's Ceremony. The sprite took a shine to the earth hatchling when Pallu tried to ram a rock and break it with his skull to show off for a group of older hatchlings.

It is spoken among the older dragons of the clan that General Pallu had a mate once from a neighboring clan at the Windswept Plateau. It has been a long while now since he has gone to see her and he no longer speaks of her. Many are curious but few are brave enough to ask.