Two dragons sat looking at a bare and rather boring-looking patch of earth. There was absolutely nothing there, except for a rope fence surrounding it, and a sign in front that read “Construction Zone – Do Not Enter.” Not even a hammer or a brick lay in the boring patch.

As the two dragons questioned each other about who the new lair might be for, a guardian covered in dirt and dust ambled up to the bare construction site. He sat there for a minute beside the others, combing his beard with his claws in thought, before taking out a map of the clan and seeming to double-check that he was where he should be.

After this, he took more notice of the other two beside him, biding them to stand back a little further from the site. He cleared the fence with a few heavy wing beats, and before the others could ask any questions, the earth around the site began to tremble fiercely. The confused pair of onlookers scrambled to move farther away, looking back just in time to see a great surge of stone and earth erupting from the site like an impossibly dense dirt bubble. They half expected it to “pop,” to burst and crumble, but it rose high and settled firmly in place to create a dome.

Looking more closely, they could see the guardian sitting on top of the new stone dome, stroking his beard once again before making strained gestures with his arms. First a wide doorway appeared to carve itself out of the front of the stone, the excess rubble crawling up the sides of the opening as if alive to form a molded archway. A pair of large windows came next, with stones skittering up the walls to form sills. The guardian flew down from the top of the vast stone cavern, sipped some water out of a canteen before stroking his luscious beard still more, and disappeared inside. Several miniature earthquakes followed as internal structures and supports were no doubt forming inside.

The dusty guardian emerged, even dustier and dirtier than before, and he made his way back over to the spectating pair to gaze at the stone lair from a distance. He wiped the dirt from his face with a towel, and the pair could now see clearly that there were pebbles arranged around each glassy, amber eye. He was an Earth dragon, and one blessed with fine magical control of his element, apparently.

The guardian took out a series of blueprints, frowning and continuing to stroke his beard with his free paw. Just before the other two dragons were about to leave, he invited them to come inside for a second opinion on the interior.

They weren’t sure what to expect, but what they saw inside certainly wasn’t it. A hearth shaped like giant clam shell, walls with a rippling seafloor texture, support pillars with carvings of kelp and bubbles, and an enormous pool in the shape of the Tidelord’s face loomed in the house through the weak light of the windows.

“The blueprints were for a bubble house with ocean-themed fixtures. I’m worried that I didn’t get the Tidelord’s nose right, but I need to be certain of my part before the other builders come in to put up the lights and furniture and so on. What do you think?” the earth guardian inquired, managing not to stroke his beard in order to roll out the blueprints once more.

“Ah, this has got to be Shelly’s new house,” one of the others replied. “The Tidelord’s pool nose is slightly snubby, but she likes guys with snubby snouts, so I think you’ll be fine.”

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As of 01-16-2021, one of two total dragons among both active and exalted with this color combo.