Uther

Oh, Uther. Where do I begin to describe Uther? His entire family left to serve Som Partal without him when he was only a hatchling. This was in the early days of Clan Iochsi's existence, shortly after the Rockbreaker's Ceremony. Inconsolable, he cried for days, begging Crypt to send him after them. He's always been so afraid of being alone, of being abandoned. That, I suppose, is what drives him to all other abandoned things, often things better left abandoned and forgotten. He remained with Chi Fu and Khancilirem for quite some time, actually, until he very nearly entombed one of our young in crystal.

I had never heard Chi Fu raise his voice before that day. I thought he would rip Uther in two, but the young Tundra escaped his wrath. He hid for several weeks, after that, waiting for the clan to cool down. I think he forgot why he was hiding, though, and he grew into a kind of ghost, lingering like a shadow on the fringes of our settlement for months, practicing his magic, growing in strength, though not necessarily wisdom. Uther has forgotten more about the ancient curses of the cairns than anyone else living has ever known. He doesn't always remember what the spells he casts do, but he has a knack for using the right one most of the time, anyway. He can be truly terrifying, when he wants to be.

When Inywythyn came along, well, Uther fell in love the first time that accursed Wildclaw knocked him on his fluffy tail and gave him a horrid case of wing rot. When Inwythyn brought Simon to him later that day, Uther fell in love all over again. The three have been inseparable ever since. I wonder about it, sometimes. Does Uther remember them? Does he remember the hot and cold nature of his relationship with them, the vicious, hideous fights followed by trysts in their subterranean domicile so loud that Chi Fu has to cast muffling charms around the hatchery to protect the hatchlings' ears? Or does he only recognize Inwythyn by scent, by the sickly-sweet smell of death he wears like a cloak that leaves even the sturdiest of us retching, eyes watering, and Simon by the sharp snap of the peppermint oil he daubs under his jaw?

However he recognizes them, Uther is fiercely devoted to the pair, and I would not want to be the one who tries to harm either Inwythyn or Simon under Uther's watch. I have seen him grow crystals in grown dragons' stomachs that punch through their hides as easily as rice paper. They are a force to be reckoned with.

Eoimal Som Stigbal aste,

--Signed, Anthems, Prasenkatevat Zulemiochsi aste