Orion

Named after her mother, Orion has seen many come and go in the clan, and she's never quite found her place to stay. She has dabbled in many things, but always felt uncertain how to proceed. Her own grandfather, the clan leader Cairne, has never offered her much direction though it is assumed that should he ever step down from the role she will take it.

For a time she pursued several frivolous flings with clan members - pursuing first Atticus (whom she successfully conquered much to her surprise) and then surrendering to Nash's wiles. None of these were longstanding or produced any revelations for her - in fact she found child rearing to be a chore and left most of it to the rest of the clan. Cairne reacted to none of it, so she sought other avenues of occupying herself.

She is a passable jeweler, and for a time took to making baubles and trinkets for clan members, spending time with some of the more vain members of the clan until she grew tired of their shallow desires. It was then Terrowin came to her, and tried to win a sympathetic ear for his plan of change. He wanted to close the Clan's borders and stop taking in unwanted hatchlings from other clans, to focus on promoting strength from within.

Uncertain, but wanting to trust a fellow Pearlcatcher and needing a place to belong that had purpose, Orion tentatively threw her lot in with the Dawnguard - though she is still in training for combat and patrol.

Training Exchange - Clan Lotuskite #7209
Greeted by Aviraleth with a simple daisy bracelet, Orion arrived in the sparsely furnished and rather rugged Lotuskite lair. Her first day was spent in the quiet Imperials company, being shown about the spartan den and given one on one introductions to those that could be bothered to speak to her. Her first night she spent alone in a private alcove of sorts. Initially, the seemingly detached mannerisms of the clan were grating and unfamiliar, shrouded in the silence that each individual kept about their pasts. As time wore on, she began to realize that while there were secrets, they weren't important to the dynamic which operated on mutual trust, communication, and emotional openness.

During her time spent under the ever-watchful gaze of the clan matriarch, Saraneth, she was stripped of her armor and her ties to her home, forced to fight with only the scales on her back and the magic at her disposal. After mornings and afternoons full of careful self-control and grueling territorial disputes, the only company she had when she returned from the patrols was the ever present male imperial; the others were too engulfed in performing their own tasks... she supposed that the imperial was as well; since his job was to watch her. It was rather inevitable that she would come to appreciate his presence; in a clan where connection and purpose is everything, how could she, an outsider, relate otherwise?

Avilareth was there to listen, to guide, to accept, to help, to heal, to confide in. Sometimes they'd sit in silence, other times they'd speak. Well, she did most of the speaking, but with only him to pass her free time with she managed to coax him into a conversation (a nearly impossible and most certainly trivial pursuit, but fulfilling nonetheless).

Days passed as she slowly grew comfortable in this strange oddly slow-paced place. Still, she looked forward to the day she would return home. She trained as a protector, learned from the resident geniuses, grew as a leader, and she started to learn how to appreciate the simplest things next to Avi. After the sun set on a particularly trying day, he snipped the flower off her wrist, replacing it with shimmering amethyst. They spent that night together and every night since. She would never admit she enjoyed the companionship.

It's still very safe to say she still doesn't care much for the raising of hatchlings, so it's a good thing that Avilareth did. Orion became the mother of three young dragons; Kalev, Mintaka, and Alnilam. She watched them grow up every night she returned from a hard days work, saw how Mintaka would light up at her arrival and spew out the facts that she learned, witnessed the quiet fire in Alnilams eyes, spectated the growth of Kalev as he looked more and more like her.

Unable to stand spending her last night with her family, she instead wandered out into the cool night of the Carrion Canyon. What was even the purpose of this switch anyway? What had she even learned? This was only to please Cairne anyway...

She stood, a lone silhouette in the dark landscape, for quite some time until she heard footsteps. She did not need to turn to know that they belonged to the ancient Saraneth. The Guardian plodded up next to her, scales and spines rattling against the armored crest of her head.

"I haven't changed in coming here. I've learned nothing. This hasn't helped me... It was pointless."

The large heavy dragon's response was nothing. Just like Cairne. How could a dragon be so infuriating and passive?! Things were changing, regardless of anyones effort or lack there of. The pearlcatcher fumed quietly, glaring back toward the looming Tempest Spire, back toward home.

"Was it?"

Orion turned in surprise, glancing up at the Guardian who stared at the tower as well. The clan matriarch regarded the smaller dragon with a cryptic look. The folds and creases in the scuffed and scratched scales screamed of her age, and yet her eyes were still sparking with a determination that the pearlcatcher could never expect from one so old. (or perhaps it was because she was so old...)

"Was it pointless?" Saraneth rumbled, turning her head back toward the Lord of the Storms home. "Every thing has a purpose, every wire, every strike of lightning, every action, every creature. That purpose can only be found through growth. Growth only occurs when outside forces put events into actions, no matter how small."

The Guardian closed her eyes with a deep breath "Every dragon in my clan has their own story and none of them are related by blood; blood means nothing here. We open our borders to those that need us and are in turn rewarded with a vast array of unique experiences so that we may grow..." She hmm'd as she shuffled back toward the lair, continuing to speak "I suppose it's a sort of give and take, as the young dragons say."

Orion watched the figure recede and, hesitating briefly, followed. She was leaving today; she may as well sleep while she could.

---

Return to Clan Cairne:
If anything, Orion returned to the Clan even more confused as to her duties than she originally left it. She no longer shared the Dawnguard's convictions, and this time when she gave up on the pursuit of joining them, it wasn't because she simply lost interest. Instead, she was uncertain that their methods and means were really the best way for the clan to move forward.

She wasn't even sure that the clan had to move forward at all.

When, several days later, Alnilam arrived, escorted to his mother by Captain Imbolc of the duskguard, she was furious. Her attempts to send him back to the rest of the family, or off on his own ultimately failed, however. Though her grandfather was absorbed in his own pursuits, it seemed he was not completely out of touch with clam goings-on, and when he discovered she was trying to cast out his own great grandson he would have none of it.