Hollyfin

"So you're a traveller... NAMED Traveller? For real? The first time you told me that, I just thought it was some kind of weird joke. My clan has never actually met a Coatl with a sense of humor before, so I guess I just kind of assumed it was something with your type."

"Hah, nah. My parents were just really on-the-nose when they named me. Everybody in my home lair could tell I wasn't gonna be held down in one place long, even since I was a little kid. Nobody could ever get me to sit still."

It had been about a month since Traveller had come to the Sunbeam Ruins and found the newest clan to house him -- The Purified Temple, a huge marble structure on the outskirts of the Hewn City -- and he had developed quite a friendship with Hollyfin, one of the clan's leaders alonside their mother. The two young dragons hung out together at the Trading Post a lot, Holly's favourite place due to their obsession with gambling at the raffle roulette, but today they had just decided to lounge around out in the sun.

Holly went quiet for a time, mulling about this new revelation of the Coatl's true name in their head. Finally, they spoke again. "Ya know, if it were me, I don't think I would be okay with that," they said flatly, "being named after the thing you do seems so... impersonal. What if you decide you wanna stop travelling someday? Now your name doesn't mean anything!"

Traveller hummed in agreement. "I suppose you have a point."

Hollyfin rolled over to look at their Coatl friend then, their face expressionless but somehow, simultaneously hardened with resolve. "So why don't you give yourself a new name?"

"I can do that?"

"Sure, sure. Plenty of dragons have done it before."

The Coatl strained his face a little bit, furrowed his brows deep in thought. He soon relaxed again, looking up at the sky a little hopelessly. "I dunno man, I don't think anything I could come up with would feel quite right. It's my name, y'know? It'd be changing a fundamental part of myself... I don't think I can do it."

The Fae pondered for a moment. Finally, something clicked in Holly's head, and they snapped their claw to declare the realization. "Then let me do it for you!" They flattened down their head frills then, a little bashfully. "If you're alright with it, that is."

The Coatl laughed, and snickered a bit at his Fae friend's enthusiasm. "Sure thing. Shoot."

"Ilex," they announced the name proudly. "You seem like an Ilex to me."

...Ilex, huh? The Coatl pondered the name for a moment... it seemed like it clicked into place perfectly with his identity. Ilex nodded in approval. "Yeah, Ilex. I like it."

...

A few weeks later, Ilex was adjusting nicely to his new name. Hearing dragons use it to refer to him -- and saying it himself -- just felt so natural. It was perfect. He bid a fond farewell to Holly and their ckan, but with a promise that should he ever end up in the area again, he'd come back to stay.