"Goooooooooood morning, Clan AXQU! This is your gracious host Merry speaking, here to get you First Shifters up and moving! The temperature outside is a balmy 35 degrees centigrade-- or 95, if you use Fahrenheit like all us regular non-scientific types-- and cloudy as always! Heads up to the gathering and warrior crews that the Stormcatcher has scheduled the rainy season to start next Tuesday so if you're planning on leaving the lair, do it in the next four days. Oskar has asked me to remind you all that Unity Day is fast approaching; August 17th comes up quicker than you think it does, so be prepared to party your butts off! With all that, this next number is a special request for Sapphire from a certain spiky purple gentleman; give it up for 'Love is a Warm Bug Pie' from the brand new band right out of the Viridian Labyrinth-- Wild Qiriqs!"

Meriadoc, or Merry, is an... odd one, to put it lightly. First son of Ceancarraig and Boann, he's something of oddball, not really particularly like either of them, or his sister. He is something of his father's son, nearly always contentedly happy, but lacking in the other... notable features of his old man.

Possessing some sort of sense for it, Merry always seems to know when someone is upset, or down in some way, and he is unerringly there to help them. Whether they need a distraction, some advice, or just an ear to be there and listen, he's happy to provide it.

He's proud of his family and loves them all dearly, but Merry knew that to become his own person, he had to leave them all. He's still young, and is using his salary as Clan AXQU's resident disc jockey and announcer to save up to change himself into who he's always felt he's meant to be. He can't wait to make himself as pretty as he's always imagined. If you can't define yourself, Merry reasons, what's the point in doing anything?

When he gets big blocks of time off, sometimes he goes to visit his parents and his old clan, particularly for Rockbreaker's in November.

He's found his other half in the notoriously vicious and aggressive scheduler, Oriole. Apparently, Merry is the only dragon whose future Oriole cannot see... but it was his respect of her boundaries and his relentless sweetness that won her over. He sees a sweet and loving side of her that nobody else sees, and they are disgustingly affectionate with each other in private. Merry has adopted Ori's sister Pthay as his own sister, and Oriole has adopted Ceancarraig and Boann as her parents. Merry is the only one in the clan allowed to touch Oriole (besides her sister), and she welcomes his touch with great enthusiasm. He loves his bitey wife more than anything else in the whole world.

Merry is a bright, curious, fun bright spot in Clan AXQU's rigorous structure, and his playful banter over the radio does a lot to keep the other members of Clan AXQU sane.


"Why are your eyes blue?"

The large, purple Imperial paused her work for a moment and glanced down at her feet. A baby tundra, barely the size of one of her claws, stared up at her with a bright smile on his face. He was very... pink. And green. He looked like a little fruit-- some sort of baby raspberry or something. The Imperial frowned and went back to working. "Because I'm Lightning flight." Something about his smile reminded her of the boy's father, but without the empty stare. There was a certain curiosity to him that Ceanncarraig had never had.

"Oh." The boy flapped his little wings-- he was just barely starting to fly and wasn't very good yet-- and crash landed in a heap on her work table. The imperial scooped him up and set him aside. "What're you doing now?"

"Making a poultice. We're going out fighting again today. No, you can't come."

"I don't wanna anyway." There was a rare, brief pause in the tundra's speech. "What's it like? Being Lightning?"

"A lot different. Earth magic is slow, deliberate, and unchanging-- very good for shields and walls. Lightning magic is sharp and quick. Good for precise, neat strikes, and good for technology. Earth magic is good for building things that will last for millennia; Lightning magic is good for advancements that will be replaced in a few years. In many ways, they're polar opposites."

It was the first time that the grouchy imperial had said more than a few words to him. "What's the Lightning world called? What's it like there? Why did you come here? What are your mommy and daddy like?"

The imperial paused a moment, considering, then began to talk. And talk. And talk. She set an enchanted quill to writing as she did, knowing that with the little boy's short memory, he'd forget half her words by sundown. She told him all about the Shifting Expanse, about how there was always cloud cover and the desert crackled with energy, and how the weather was scheduled. She told them about her old life-- her old friends, her old clan, her parents... her mother, a mirror like Boann. A great clan, unlike anything the little boy had ever seen, so different from their little sanctuary in the mountains. Entire breeds of dragons he'd not seen yet. Barsalla was from there too, although she'd been born in Wind territory, and so her eyes were green.

Meriadoc was absolutely enthralled. The fast pace of a Lightning clan fit the fast pace of his brain, and the thought of so many others in one place... it boggled the mind. Merry didn't remember the conversation, although the notes made their way into his memory book. But he sure as hell made it into Lightning territory... and ended up cementing the alliance between the clans just by working his dream job.