Brick

It was a miraculous hatching, everyone agreed on that. After years of trying, after years of failing, after three separate mates and several broken hearts, Thunderclaw laid eggs. Brick was the only one of his clutch born alive.

As a result of being the only survivor of an ill-fated clutch laid by a dragon who had long been presumed barren, Brick was spoiled outrageously by his clan- when they could get around his mother. Thunderclaw was not going to have anything happen to her precious, long-awaited baby, and sheltered him all his life. She had to be talked into letting him outside, but fortunately her mate's good sense and gentle prodding won through. He was allowed to go for walks, closely supervised by one of his parents, and sometimes he would accompany his father Yarrow on work trips judged to be safe enough for the poor dear.

Secluded as he was, Brick's friends were mostly in his books, which he got wherever he could. From friends, from family, from visitors, from his parents' workplaces, from anywhere and everywhere a book could be found. He devoured history and archaeology, mechanics and fantasy, poetry and astronomy, all with a burning passion. He began to accumulate first a notebook of random ideas he had about what he was reading, and gradually a stack of such notebooks, then a shelf, carefully detailed sketches alongside random questions on the nature of the universe. He couldn't be part of the world, so he learned everything he could about it, building in corners of understanding as he could. His mother was delighted with his new hobby and encouraged the clan to give him their old books and research texts, and so his collection grew.

He also interacted with the real world as much as he could, using his walks to visit friends or observe the archaeologists at their work, but learned most of what he now knows about the world from his books. When the clan announced that they would retain him and his friends Joyeaux and Charmides, as well as a peer of theirs named Sandmaster, as interns, Brick didn't have enough experience with the workings of his clan to know that they were the largest group of hatchlings who had been seen as valuable enough for the clan to keep in years. He was, however, delighted.

When the decision was made to keep Brick and the others with the clan, there was a great deal of confusion as to why Brick was included. His peers were much more competent at... nearly everything than he, and many wondered why he was seen as such an asset. There was even a rumor that he had only been kept around because Thunderclaw was on the Council of Elders and refused to let him go. This was not the case.

What Brick lacks in practical skills, he more than makes up for in knowledge. His sheltered upbringing gave him time to research things that many in the clan had never heard of, which makes him invaluable in figuring out the use for many of the artifacts discovered by the clan. When he begins, as he already has, to strike out away from his mother and into a life of his own, there is a spot for him among the historical and archaeological analysts of the clan.