Atlapalli

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The pair laid together in their nest, the large Coatl coiled protectively over his fragile Skydancer mate as he slept. Eviet let out a content sigh, looking through blurry eyes to the pile of clothes and armor that lay at their bedside. A glint of candlelight refracted off Atlapalli's chest piece and she smiled, feeling the warmth of his body pressed into her own tiny form. "Dearest?" She whispered, inspiring a small, sleepy mutter from her mate. "Yes, my sweet?"

Eviet ran her delicate claws through his crest feathers. "Why is it that you are the only one who hasn't come to me to have your story written?" Atlapalli, wrought from the bliss of a lover's sleep, muttered, "Because the past is not a thing I wish to dwell on." The Skydancer, curling her tail around her mate's, scoffed as she played with his feathers. "Raiya said the exact same thing." Atalpalli cringed, uncurling himself from Eviet as he moved to the side of their nest, "Please don't speak of the Matriarch at a time like this."

Shocked, Eviet slunk out of bed and put on her glasses, looking to her curled and sulking mate. "Why, by the name of the Icewarden, would the name of our Matriarch offend you so?" He looked over his shoulder to the Skydancer, "You've heard her story. You know why." Atlapalli growled, resting his head once more, "Her name has no place in our nest." Eviet, her heart fluttering at the sight of her beloved mate so upset, crawled into bed with him and curled her meager body around him, affectionately rubbing the feathers of her crest into his shoulders. "I know that you kept the company of Raiya's nest when the Rapture stole your clan and left the two of you for dead." She said in a small voice, closing her eyes as Atlapalli trembled beneath her. "I know that you are Minerva's father." She pressed her face into her mate's scales, a tear in her eye as she whispered, "And I know that she said you loved her." Altapalli growled, a stream of angry, pained tears flowing down his face as he turned to hold his mate tightly. They cried together, but only until the Coatl pushed her away and wiped his tears away on his discarded wing wraps. He sighed, picking the glasses off his mate's snout and cleaning them for her before handing them back. "Get your scrolls. I'll wait here."

When Eviet returned with the scroll her mate was hunched in their nest with her green scarf around is neck. She smiled warmly and he offered a half-hearted response. The Skydancer set up the scrolls and ink and then looked to Atlapalli, "Whenever you are ready, dear." The Coatl sighed heavily. "I might as well start from the beginning." He rubbed the scarf between his claws and sighed. "I do not remember much from my childhood. I was born to two Coatls who, although of no consequence, knew the ways of the Old Ones- the first of our kind. They named me as such and, I guess we were happy. Like I said, I don't remember. All I know is that one day they were there and then one day they weren't. I think there was a snowstorm. Yeah. A really big snowstorm. I woke up and I was in a strange cave with a pale Tundra dragoness at my side and the eyes of a Storm Seeker gazing upon me. The dragoness, Primi, said that I had been asleep for a fortnight and that her mate, Isaz, had found me under the snow when he was out hunting and the Storm Seeker he was chasing lead him to me. I named the bird Toptli, "the chest" for his chest-eye, and we have been close since. He is flying around the floes as we speak."

He laid down, "The clan was very different then. Only the two Leaders and their hoard of children, all adopted or orphaned save for Ivori." He closed his eyes. "Raiya was the last to come, just after me. I liked her, she was the only other hatchling that would listen to me and her ice spirit, Chir, got along with Toptli. It was a kind of peaceful time in our lives, Raiya was betrothed to her cowardly Briaz and they had a nest, I was happy for them of course, and I was charting the storms of the floes. It was... perfect. At least until that night." His voice grew small as he continued. "We woke up after the rapture to an empty cave. It was just like everyone had up and walked away. We were terrified. Raiya searched for Briaz for days, flying hours upon hours in the bitter cold until I pulled her from the sky in the middle of a snowstorm. She was made headstrong with grief and I wanted nothing but to make her happy again. She had always been so happy. So strong. I just wanted to be herself again. But we were both scared and over emotional and soon enough one thing lead to another and... we were in her nest. Later came the eggs. Five beautiful eggs and I thought that maybe the rapture had been a sign, maybe it had been fate. Like it was the Icewarden's way of pulling Briaz to the side so that we could be together. I told her that I loved her and she said that I was her best friend. Every day it was the same thing, until I stopped trying. She would never love me, so I let the hatchlings think I was their uncle. I stopped telling her that I loved her. I moved on. "

"When we decided to expand our cave and try to rebuild more than a home for us and a single child we picked our titles. Commander had a more suitable ring than leader and, besides, Raiya was always the head of the operation. When she sent me to pick you up from the Auction I had gone numb, new dragons were filtering in and all I could let myself think about was work. But you," He smiled warmly, "You were so beautiful. I felt something for you that I had never dreamed of ever feeling for Raiya. She had been a fling of desperation. But you," He stood, softly brushing the side of her face with his claws, "I loved you from the start.,"

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Bar / Okapi