Seiro

Creative ✦ Whimsical ✦ Outgoing ✦ Impatient ✦ Nurturing

“Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars?”
― Nora Roberts

Front page 10/28/18!

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A large, shimmering Imperial dragon froze in place as he heard the sound of scuffling stones ahead of him. It was as a dark, nearly moonless, night in the unfamiliar Shattered Plain. His scales tightened against his hide as his bright pink mane stood at alert.

“Who’s there?” he whispered. Despite the softness of his tone, he heard a faint echo bounce off the walls of the crevice he was exploring.

No one answered, but he heard a stirring of more stones. A few fell off the ledge of the crevice, pitter-pattering against the ground as they landed. Seiro stretched his neck high and began focusing his magic as if he were preparing for a fight.

“Who’s there?” he asked again. “Show yourself,” he spoke in the most commanding tone he could muster.

He expected to be met with near-silence again, but this time as he heard footfalls against the pebbled ground he heard something else. At first it sounded like a tiny cry. A mew. Perhaps it was just an injured animal. He began creeping toward it as quietly as he could, wincing as one of his feet landed on a sharp stone.

“Hel-”

Screeeeeeeeech!

“-lo,” he spoke into a quit puff of breath. He looked around, trying to figure out what that stars-forsaken sound had been. It was the loudest, shrillest, most terrifying wail he had ever heard. It was the sound of… Seiro shook his head, not daring to consider what that sound might mean.

Suddenly, there was a loud flutter of wings behind him as something landed in the tufts of hair at his withers.

“Who - ahhhhhh!” He cried out as he felt something sharp as razors tear into the flesh of his wing. He jumped sideways, smashing against one wall of the crevice he still stood in. Whatever had taken hold of his wing was released upon impact, but the featherlight weight between his shoulders still tickled at his mane.

As he started to crane his head around to inspect this creature, he heard a soft, mewing cry again. This time it came from the tiny heap he’d thrown off his wing - where they lay crumpled on the floor. At the same time, the thing on his neck began hissing before it sank its teeth into the flesh of his neck.

“STOP THAT!” Seiro roared, having no idea if this little creature could understand his words or not. He spun a circle as he tried to free the tiny little daggers from his neck. Eventually his face butted into the creature with enough force to pry them off of him - though their little teeth raked across his thin-scaled skin in the process.

“Ouch,” came a sassy voice from the little bundle that had tumbled farther down Seiro’s back. “You’re mean.”

“Excuse me?” Seiro sassed back. “I’m mean? You dare to attack me in the middle of the night - after I offer you a friendly greeting - and you think I’m mean?”

“You are!” the little one spoke as she scampered back up his neck toward his face. He could see a glint of starlight reflecting off her eyes as she stared at him defiantly. “You hurt my brother.”

“Your brother?”

“Yeah. That one” she said as she nodded her head towards the still-mewing pile on the floor. “You made him cry!”

“That’s what he gets for slicing open my wing. You know, if you don’t want this sort of greeting perhaps you should work on a more tactful approach.” Seiro mentally rolled his eyes at how obnoxious these little hatchlings were.

“We didn’t me-”

“Where are your parents, anyway? Little ones like you shouldn’t be out alone at night.”

“We have no parents. I’m in charge.”

“You? But you’re… How can a baby be without parents?”

“Hey! I’m not a baby.”

“Well, okay, it is hard to tell with you Fae. You’re all pretty small. How old are you then?”

“Twenty five days.”

“Twenty five days?” Seiro burst out in laughter, sides quaking so hard he nearly rumbled the little Fae right off his shoulders.

“Yeah! Twenty five days. Almost twenty six now.”

“Sweetheart…” Seiro glanced between the Fae and her brother. “You are just a baby. You have no business being out here alone, especially since I’m assuming your brother isn’t any older.”

The Fae ruffled herself up and swatted at Seiro’s nose the second he turned back toward her. “I am not a baby! And neither are my brothers.”

“Brothers? As in...there’s more than two of you?”

“Yes. Three. The other one’s up there on the ledge. He’s kinda shy.”

“You don’t say.” Seiro spoke in a flat voice as he sighed. “It’d do you both some good to learn from him. You’re lucky I didn’t just...eat you!”

The Fae giggled. “You wouldn’t eat us.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I just am. You’re a nice dragon, even if you did hurt my brother.”

“I thought you said I was mean?”

“I changed my mind.”

Seiro chuckled. “Ah. Just a baby and already acting like a grown female.”

“Hey!”

“Alright, alright. Youngster, then. You can’t deny that you’re young.”

The Fae pondered that for a moment before nodding. “I guess. As long as you don’t call me a baby anymore.”

“I promise I won’t if you promise you won’t hurt me anymore.”

“Fine.”

“Fine. It’s settled.”

“Yep. Now you can go apologize to my brother.”

Seiro sighed but obediently spun around to find the injured hatchling. “Hey little guy,” he said as he approached the razor-clawed hellion cautiously. “I, uh, didn’t mean to hurt you. But you should really work on how you make an entrance. You’re honestly lucky you’re not de-”

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!

“What the stars is that?” Seiro asked as he looked towards the sound.

“My other brother,” the Fae answered in a tone that said it should have been obvious.

“That...sound...is your brother?”

“Yep.”

“Can you ask him to stop doing that? I can already feel an ache rising in my head.”

“He only did it ‘cause you scared him.”

“Scared him?”

“Yeah, you started to say ‘dea-’”

Screeeeeeech!

“Dead,” the Fae whispered as quietly as possible. “Like our brother.”

“He’s not d-”

“No! Not him. Our other brother.”

“Oh,” Seiro frowned. “I see. I’m...really sorry to hear that.”

The Fae shrugged. “It was a long time ago. We just need to move on.”

Seiro wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so he turned his attention back to the injured Fae on the ground. “Little fellow? Can you get up?” He gently nudged the hatchling with a toe - which was promptly shredded by ferocious little claws. “Hey! Stop! I can’t help you if you keep attacking me.”

He glanced back at the female. “Is he always like this?”

She shrugged again. “Pretty much.”

Seiro sighed for what felt like the millionth time during this unlikely encounter. He crouched down to murmur soothingly to the injured Fae. “Hey buddy? Friend? Pal? Can you let me help you get-” He stopped mid sentence as the crumpled Fae suddenly rocketed off the ground - straight up onto Seiro’s wing.

The Imperial winced as he felt claws dig in again, but he realized quickly that the Fae was only doing it in a desperate attempt to cling on. He gave the bundle of wings - the little guy really was nearly all wings - a nudge with the tip of his nose, shoving him up to the top of his wing as he folded it carefully against his back. “There,” he said softly, “you should be secure now.”

The chatty Fae trilled happily at him - or so he thought. Moments later, a third Fae landed right on top of his head and he wondered if perhaps she hadn’t been signaling to her brother.

“So,” he said as he tried to get used to having a little friend laying between his antlers. His mind quickly raced through a series of thoughts about what to do next. What did one do with hatchlings? Never yet having any of his own, he was utterly clueless when it came to caring for youngsters. But - there was one thing he was pretty sure every dragon needed.

“Who’s hungry?” he asked in a cheerful voice, trying to sound excited. “And for the love of stars - don’t screech!” he added, realizing exactly how the loud one might react.

“I thought you’d never ask,” the female said. “We’re all starved!” She sighed dramatically as she flattened her frills against her head. ”And I already told you. He only screeches when you scare him.”

“Very well,” Seiro said as he began carefully hiking his way out of the crevice, waiting to get out on the open plain before spreading his wings to the air. “You won’t find much to eat around these parts, I’m afraid. If you’ve been here long, I imagine you’re are starving. I’m going to have to fly us back to the Crystalspine. Hold on tight - but mind your claws, please.”

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Fun Facts!
The 'Sei' in Seiyssrial comes from Seiro's name! He was one the first of the four founding dragons Tuulith found on her journey to discover her fate. You can read more about the Tuulith and the founding on her page.

Seiro adopted the triplet Fae he met in Dragonhome. It turns out they were from the Starfall Isles originally, too, and he quickly found himself enjoying tutoring and caring for them. He eventually named them Scythe (the female), Scratch (razor-claws), and Screech (the screechy one). They're all grown up now, but still some of his closest companions.

Mahlah is a young Imperial he found sick, starving, and alone near Seiyssrial Spire. He knew it was fate because looking at the dragon was almost like looking in a mirror. He brought the young dragon home, fed him, and tended to his ails. The two quickly became the best of friends.

Recently, a traveling dragon name Zune found his way to Seiyssrial Spire. Someone else befriended him and jokingly said he'd have to meet Seiro - the two looked so similar he'd have thought they were twins if they hadn't been different breeds. Soon after being introduced, Seiro learned Zune was also originally from the Starfall Isles and began asking questions about his family. Imagine both dragons' shock when they realized they really are full brothers! (Born 10 RL months apart.)

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Connections!

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Scythe Adopted

Scratch Adopted

Screech Adopted

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Mahlah Best Friend

Zune Brother

Tessitura Sister