Xera

---

It was just past 1 in the morning when the sirens started to blare all throughout Clan AXQU's subterranean home. Few dragons knew about the Sandsurges, by design, but since Clan AXQU had always lived underground, there had been a select few on their diplomatic crew who'd had... run-ins... when the digging permits were late in coming.

Ever since the Clan had unionized and moved, there'd been a silent, unspoken fear of the Boss's union-busting thugs slinking in to call "His" employees back.

The former Matriarch's blood ran as cold as her Ice-native husband's ever had when she heard the distinct way the seismic alarm rolled. Stormcatcher's thugs. Her jaws clenched with a mix of rage and fear. Where were the Leaders? If her boy was running around like he was still a child...

"We got trouble! First and Second Company, you're in the caves, preparing for an assault from below! Rest of you, stay close; Where is Gio? Any of you finds him, send him to me."

Columbine needn't have worried, of course. Ajax had it covered. Her entire Clan had it covered. She'd built it that way.

"Columbine and Enchant, I want you out on the diplomatic patrol with Hezom. Let him talk; if there's any chance to solve this without blood, this is it." The young Clan leader split his four-eyed gaze staring down at his mother and far up at his towering Imperial father.

Ajax and his wife were the leaders of Clan AXQU. It was the decision Columbine herself would've made in his position. That didn't stop it from rankling the old mirror's pride that the boy she'd fed from her own crop was now barking orders.

"Hear me, Archmages?" Ajax demanded of his parents, a familiar spark of danger in his eyes. The same spark of promised consequences that Columbine herself had had, back when she commanded. Back when she could put her feelings aside.

Enchant's massive claw gently rested on her back, saying the words she could not. "Loud and clear, Clan Leader."

This was not the time for pride. Her weakness would erode the Clan's confidence in her boy when they needed it the most. Her crests sank as she let it go.

---

"So... you think they're gonna try to undermine us?" Enchant asked, tail swishing lightly in the wind as the diplomatic party flew out to meet the sandsurges. He glided effortlessly behind Hezom, while Columbine rode on his neck, right behind his head. The mirror's weight was extremely reassuring.

"Nah," Hezom answered from the front, then wiggled with excitement. Hearing again was still a novelty to the ridgeback, and his Lightning Sprite seemed to be excited too. "Just two is a scouting party. They're not gonna expect me and the little guy to side with you." The sprite's antennae wiggled at the phrase Little Guy, in case there was any doubt. "We should be coming up on... wait. Hang on. Something's not right. I can't sense any Lightning dragons. Col?"

Columbine shook her head. "Nope. None here."

Enchant huffed. "Ice. Two of them. Just below. Gonna haul 'em up."

Columbine spread her wings and just let her husband dive out from underneath her. Enchant hit the soft, powdery snow at an angle just shallow enough to dig in with his snout. When he came up, he dragged a large, struggling dragon with him by the horn. The sandsurge was large and putting up as much resistance as he could, but obviously not a fighter-- not even a match for a battlemage like Enchant, let alone one of Clan AXQU's physically-oriented warriors.

That brought the other Sandsurge up to the surface in short order. Her green-accented crests rattled in the breeze as she tearfully tugged at any part of Enchant she could reach. "Don't hurt him! Please don't hurt him! We're not gonna do anything to you! Please let him go!"

Enchant dropped his prize, and the female immediately rushed to her mate's side. "Xeno? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Don't move your neck yet, we need to see how damaged it is..."

The male sandsurge just coughed, flattening his crests in a submissive posture to the three stronger dragons around him. He bumped his mate's nose with his snout. "Fine, love. Shh." He gestured to Hezom, who looked like he wanted to speak. Both sandsurges settled on top of the snow together, legs and necks folded to show they didn't intend to bolt.

This would be Clan AXQU's first exposure to what they would eventually call the "Surge loaf." The Clan would agree later that this posture was cuter when the sandsurges were comfortable, rather than showing deference.

"So, ahh... what're you two doin' out here in union territory?" Hezom asked. "Seems a little odd for a couple sandsurges to just show up on our doorstep. No equipment, no luggage, hiding underground... you see how this looks, right?"

The female's tail swished. "Yeah, we know, but... we got fired. Twice."

Columbine gasped. That was the ultimate disgrace for a Sandsurge.

"I'm Xera. This is Xenolith. We, ah... well, we weren't always Sandsurges. It's kinda hard to explain. But, uh... I'm a plumber, and he's an insulation specialist. We met in the Sunbeam Ruins, got recruited for some work, and... got this exclusive opportunity to change ourselves. So we did! And the work was so much fun, rigging up infrastructure underground is a joy, but there was this kind of arranged marriage thing... turns out they didn't want us for our skills. And as soon as we had our first nest, they took the eggs and fired us. So we had nowhere else to go, and we hought we'd go home, and Xeno's always been a union man..."

Xenolith cracked a smile. "Sure am. Icefield Laborers' Global."

"...which is probably part of why, but Icefield unions don't have pull in the Sunbeam Ruins, so we thought we'd come South for a bit, and when we heard there was a strong union down here..."

Columbine grinned. "Sure is. AXQU, #109836. We do weapons manufacturing and R&D."

"...we thought, maybe I could join, but we're desperate and nobody's accepting sandsurges into a union 'cause they think we're spies or busters or pro-Stormcatcher or... something." Xera huffed.

Columbine looked up at Enchant.

"Not seeing any lies here," the Imperial told her. Then got a spaced-out look on his face for a few moments.

"Well?" Hezom asked. "What does Ajax say?"

Enchant grinned. "Clan-Leader Ajax was hesitant, but Clan-Leader Ashes apparently agrees with me. These two don't look like sandsurges. They're snowsurges. Totally different thing. Miss Xera here just misspoke is all."

"Having a dedicated onsite plumber would be so nice," Columbine told them with a wistful sigh. "And reworked insulation would make our home so much more comfortable."

Xenolith's head tilted. "Save power too."

Enchant gestured with one of his wings. "Come on back. Jury's still not out on you and we still need to clear you of potential spy activity, but informally? Boss says you're in."