Algodon

Algodon emerged from the mists around Shoredeep with one word in her mind: Change.

She began life, like many wet-blooded agents of the Tidelord before her, as a Guardian. The hard life of a nomadic clan in the early days called for sharp edges and left little room for frivolity or ornamentation. She had Lophii, she had her knife, she had her claws, and she had a thick-skinned body built for swimming. That seemed to be enough for her brashly single-minded companion, who threw himself into each new mundane task as if it was his whole life's purpose--mostly, trying to fell larger and larger undersea prey.

She could feel, though, that something was missing. There was an unabating uneasiness deep in her bones, only briefly overshadowed by the adrenaline when she would turn her eyes back from scanning the open waters to see that Lophii had taken the chance to dive deep and pick a fight with a mantarune twice his size.

After several months of travelling together, spending most of the day swimming and sheltering for the night in soggy caves, shoals, or islands, the pair had wandered near the Tangled Wood. With the wetlands near the shore and the pops of enticing purple and blue phosphorescence, it didn't take much convincing to get Lophii to follow her ashore. When a dark-scaled dragon that blended into the strange vegetation tried to ambush her, Lophii tackled the aggressor and had shredded her wing before Algodon even realized what had happened.

They returned to their familiar sea empty-handed. The encounter had unlocked a new protective streak in Lophii, their roles shifting whenever the pair were on another flight's land. On land, Algodon became the more easily distracted, while Lophii kept his head on a swivel--liable to pre-emptively attack anything that might be a threat.

This set the pattern for several fearful weeks, until their first venture into the Zephyr Steppes estuary.

Only about two miles inland and confronted with aggression from a member of the third flight in as many days, Algodon realized all at once the strategic advantage of their position in the middle of Sornieth: able swimmers that she and Lophii were, they could reach out to dragons of almost any other flight with ease. It was a position that could leave them constantly fighting every time they ventured inland, if they continued how they had been, and she knew that the pull within her, ever striving further from the mists towards something she didn't yet understand, would not let her stay safely in the waters forever. Their not-yet-clan would need to learn to make friends, if they hoped to survive.

She looked at Lophii, her self-appointed guardian and only permanent ally, currently trying to fight a flashy purple Spiral much faster than him. The challenger was doing circles around him, although he hadn't yet noticed her hidden in the reeds. Together, she and Lophii could take the lone dragon down--assuming he was alone.

Picking her way easily across the murky ground of the Zephyr Steppes shoreline, head held high, she could feel the mist within her shifting. "Who left you alone?" She called out, temporarily stalling the battle. She seemed to surprise both dragons.

"No one!" the stranger hissed, "I left." He tried to take a bite out of the distracted Lophii, but Algodon got her claws around his tail.

"We'll catch more fish together, you fool."

"I don't eat fish!" the Spiral insisted, even as his thrashing failed to free him from Algodon's grasp.

"Then you can show us how to catch whatever you do eat, or we can eat you. You're outnumbered. There's no reason for us to fight."

The spiral stopped thrashing for a moment. Algodon felt the change in his movements to something more rhythmic and let his green eyes size her up. "Your friend here attacked me first."

She looked to Lophii, bloody and frozen in confusion but without a touch of remorse, then back to the mostly-unscathed spiral. "That he did. Have you gotten your restitution? Can we call it even?"

The stranger tugged again with his tail, and this time Algodon let it slip through her claws.

And just like that, there were three.

Eventually, the Mistmaw Clan grew to a size where hopping between islands and taking only temporary shelter became unwieldy. The hurricane, in particular, had been hard on those that tended to fly, rather than swim, across the Sea of a Thousand Currents. The losses had many dragons clamoring for some kind of stability.

The clan built a dock near the Spiral Keep, where Algodon and Lophii had once emerged, and near which Algodon used to occasionally hear the whispers of the Tidelord but now heard only the sea itself. Abutting the Scarred Wasteland and the Tangled Wood, sites of many of their early battles with dragonkind, the sprawling dragonmade structure became a symbol of a new era for the clan. Drown, a Plague-born pearlcatcher that Pyre pulled, nearly dead, from the wreckage of the hurricane and Maracuja somehow reanimated, is a particularly important peacekeeper in spite of her unsettling mannerisms. The clan more frequently butts heads, still, with clans coming from the Tangled Wood, able to fend off threats with their numbers rather than any advanced diplomacy.

Nowadays, there are some who will claim that Algodon is the clan leader, mostly the older and more diplomatic dragons, or those whose relationship with the clan started when Lophii attacked and improved when Algodon came along behind to clean up the mess. There are an equal number of dragons, however, especially those living along the side of the docks closer to the Tangled Wood, who would claim the congenial, fearless Lophii as their leader.

Neither seems particularly concerned with the title, and their long history means they often butt heads but nonetheless present a unified front to the clan and the outside world. The two still go fishing together, the site of their personal relationship and most of the bickering that is necessary to plan the best path forward for the clan.

Lophii and Algodon have always been close friends. Each always has their teasing at the ready, and Lophii often initiates wrestling sessions that Algodon often ends. Lophii takes great joy in being what is, in his mind, a bit of a prankster: hiding the gadgets and accouterments Algodon carries (though never her prized knife), inventing absurd stories for his latest cuts and bruises, and swatting at her wings whenever he manages to sneak up behind her (which is rare). Algodon retaliates by leading him around calmer waters with the reflection that glints off her knife and by gossiping about him loud enough that he can hear it when he's just within earshot. She has embarrassed him in front of many a crush, while he's never managed to get a good read on who she might fancy.

As they've grown old together, their relationship has changed slightly, though not as much as some might think. Many who knew them, especially older dragons, said that it was inevitable they would fall in love, with how close they were. And, indeed, the first hatchlings they had were with each other. But that doesn't mean they were in love. It also doesn't mean they weren't. Their relationship stayed the same, in many ways--teasing, affectionate, and ready to defend each other claw and nail. They've always been there for each other, whenever the other needed reassurance or comfort or help. Sometimes, they nest together, and sometimes, they nest with others. It doesn't matter to them, for whom it's just one tiny part of a life spent together. And besides, those who know her best aren't sure Algodon has ever expressed romantic interest in anyone.

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Cheers to Lazlee for helping me get started. Quite a writer.