Wintersun

20.88 m|14.6 m| 12,527.82kg 68.50ft|47.9ft| 27,619.11 lbs | 13.8t Claimed from the Cloudkeeper’s Dream Clan No bond placed Column Font From Font Meme Banner art by AngHuiQing Banner dividers by Georgianna Flight flags by Oseim

Wintersun Job Title. Quote about job. [img]Good Koji Bust resized in imgur to 150 on the narrow.[/img] Responsible. My mother is Cloudkeeper, the leader of this clan for three score generations and more. My father is Succour, a Valightine's dragon and an inspiration to the lair. I did not feel called to serve Glittermom, so while I was growing up, my parents looked for a lair to send me to as an ambassador. I always felt loved at Cloudkeeper's lair, not just by my parents but by all the dragons around me. Everyone doted on me. It was a very comfortable life, but I did not want to be merely comfortable all my days. I am a Guardian; I need something to protect, not to be protected and coddled by my parents and half-siblings and nieces and nephews. Amut's lair agreed to take me, and I went eagerly to my new home and new responsibilities. But I had not been gone even a week when my sister-in-law, Rose, wrote and asked me to return. "The Light festival is soon, and we could really use your help in preparing for it." I returned, though everything ran so smoothly that I hardly felt they needed me. But I did keep busy, training young dragons, setting up decorations, working for Baldwin to find components for the cauldron. Time passed, and the festival ended. I packed to return to Amut's. Long Drop Challenge Partners The Wintersun Quest BBCode: Pierrot Malachite

"Oh, Wintersun, please don't leave now," Clarity asked as I was nearly ready to go. "We're almost out of fish. Will you take the merfolk on an expedition to the sea for us."

"I thought Scholar was leading the sea expeditions?"

"He does, usually, but he's raising a clutch now, and after what happened with Roseknight's little one, we don't like to take hatchlings out in the deeps any more."

So I helped with the fishing until the stores were replenished, and then packed again. By then, the Lightning festival had begun, and Clio wanted me to stay to assist with that.

Then Scholar asked me to help reorganize the library's collection to accommodate a section for recent history, and then there was a problem with insect pantry, and then Fire festival. And the Bogsneak mutagen, which had everyone in a panic, and the Arcane festival right after.



One night during the Arcane festival, as I sat alone on the cliffs, staring southwest towards the Windswept Plateua, Byron set down next to me. "You still want to leave, don't you?"

"Yes!" My voice was full of longing. "I have a job! Or had, anyway. Who knows if they'll even still want me, after all this time? But ... there's always some reason not to go."

Byron swept his velvety dark tail against me, nudging me forward. "Just go."

"... what do you mean?"

"They're never going to let you leave if you wait for them to be ready. They'll just come up with more excuses. Trust me, I know. It's not that they're trying to stop you, per se. Everyone just wants you to know that you're loved. And wanted. And also that they will cling to you squeaking 'noooooo don't abandooooon meeeeee'."

I laughed at the last image, then sobered. "I don't want to abandon the lair, if I'm needed here."

"The lair can manage without you, whether they want to believe it or not," Byron told me. "Go find your own destiny. You needn't be chained to ours."

"Like ... right now?"

"That's what I'd do. Send a letter back to tell everyone goodbye. But just get out before someone thinks up another job to saddle you with, 'just for a little while'." Byron grinned at me.

I didn't even pack that time. I just went.

I reveled in my new freedom, of finally getting my life started, I angled my wings and followed the star paths to the Windsinger’s lands. But oh, Lightbringer, I sincerely forgot how large the distance was between the Sunbeam Ruins and the Windswept Plateau. My body was sore and my eyes tired by the time I spotted the distant fractures that made up the Reedcleft Ascent a night and two days of hard flying later. Putting on a last bit of strength I flew to where the Storm’s Eye Clan had last been bivouacked, a notch of stone pillars and swath of dark green grass in the leeward side of the Ascent.
As I landed on the grassy knoll and looked around, my mouth went dry and my heart felt as heavy as a stone.

And it was empty.

Not just empty, it had gone completely fallow, where the pavilions had been tacked, grew tall grass, waving gently in the breeze. The Clan had been gone a long time.

“Oh no.”… I said to the wind. I made rough shelter for myself, between a snug pair of boulders. I was exhausted, but the stone blocked the word of the wind and I was able to sleep.

The next day I was a little more clearheaded, but that didn’t help my current predicament. Namely that I’d flown far from home, no one but Byron knew where I’d gone, and I had arrived at nothing. I looked around for hints, clues…. Anything. But the Storm’s Eye had long practice in moving camp, and settling down the ground behind them. I could faintly smell residual magics, to help the latrines be absorbed and incorporated fully, there was a faint tingle of a warding line that died almost as soon as I crossed it. But that was it. I caught a sparrow on the wind, with a few mouthfuls of tart grass it made a disappointing breakfast. I waited for the thermals to rise up between the crags, took wing and headed back towards the Sunbeam Ruins.


Training Fields

False Leaf

Insect

When they hibernate in great quantities, false leaves can make bare trees appear lush.

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