Befilia

On one side of Clan _______'s island, a cluster of trees somehow clings to life. Twisted but thriving, they would have died as saplings if not for the efforts of one fae. She spends nearly all of her time in this grove, using her nature magic to both encourage growth and chase off anyone who attempts to fly between the trees.

Befilia looks very much like someone who'd dedicate her life to trees. She's nearly covered herself in enough leaves to count as one, after all. But for all she looks the part of one of Gladekeeper's most devoted followers, she doesn't really act like one. While she's definitely responsible for the growth of her grove, she doesn't seem to have the usual reverence of a Nature devout. She can be seen quite often kicking the trees in frustration, usually when one of them has decided to grow sideways instead of up, or has decided to try the bold new tactic of sprouting one big leaf instead of many small ones. The rest of the clan doesn't mind. She's trying her best, and that's what matters.

And for all arcane magic does to mess with her plants, Befilia's quite interested in it. Especially magic that makes things fly. No floating crystal is safe from being added to her hoard when she's around, whether it's 'naturally' occurring or purposefully made. Eventually, Cress offered to enchant something to fly for her, and he was nearly buried by the stack of technical diagrams she brought him later that day. The jury's still out on what that was about, because while the two have continued to work together since then, nothing seems to have been accomplished yet.

Maybe whatever they're working on is hidden in her grove? She doesn't let anyone near the trees, after all. For this reason, she's both Rhys's most and least favourite dragon. Befilia was the one to finally bring trees to the island, and he'll always love her for that. But to his endless frustration she won't let him get close to them. Every time he tries, she grows a wall of thorns to get in his way. He just wants to touch one of the trees, maybe hug the biggest one. Maybe hug all of them. But Befilia's having none of that. And Rhys is having none of her having none of that. It's a constant battle between the two, which so far tends to end with Rhys tied up by vines. He could easily slash his way free, but that would involve hurting a plant, and he would never do that. (It's not really a fair fight.)

Oddly, the one who gets closest to touching the trees is Theo. Not willingly on his part, but because if he ever goes near them, a tree branch suddenly whips down and steals his hat. Befilia definitely enjoys watching him struggle to get it back, but nobody has found a reason why she'd have a grudge against him.

---

Atop the Focal Point smouldered the wreck of what had recently been a pirate's airship. With a wooden hull like that of a seagoing ship, but held in the air by a combination of arcane magic and a really big balloon, it had terrorized the Isles for years. But now it was nothing but a ruin of wooden beams and sheets of canvas. Its final voyage had sent it crashing into the Observatory, leaving a sizable bit of one wall in ruins, though many dragons would later point out the damage was nothing compared to what Observatory dragons routinely inflicted on it during their experiments.

One end of the ship burned merrily, but nobody was around to watch. The pirates had fled, while the Observatory dragons had left to get salvaging equipment. None of them had noticed a particular lump among many under the remains of the balloon. That was understandable then, but now it was just beginning to move.

Under the canvas, Befilia struggled to regain consciousness. In the darkness, with a heavy weight above her, she was barely conscious of where she was. Enough of a survival instinct remained in the fae to get her crawling towards freedom, and as luck would have it she chose to head in the direction of said freedom instead of the flames.

When Befilia finally escaped the canvas and reached fresh air, she nearly let herself pass out again. But life as a pirate had taught her doing so was asking to be captured and imprisoned, so she pulled herself to her feet. Turning around, she saw the devastation of her ship, and nearly passed out again.

The ship! It was the only reason she'd signed onto Captain Theo's awful crew in the first place. Nobody else could see it for what it truly was, how special, how beautiful it was! Theo had stolen it from who knows where, and only saw it as a weapon. Such a brute didn't deserve it in the slightest. Befilia though, she would have done anything to live on that ship. And she had! She'd taken on the heinous life of a pirate, worked under a captain as awful as Theo, all for the sake of the ship. And now, now it was burning in front of her.

Suddenly, Befilia snapped out of her stupor. There was still a chance! Perhaps, deep in the wreckage, the heart had survived. If it had, Befilia needed to retrieve it. Now, before it burned. She took might might have been her last breath of fresh air, and flew back into the ruins of the ships hull.

Among smashed corridors and burning walls she flew, headed ever deeper. She dodged a burning plank as it fell, before flying up into the hole it left above her. Smoke was slowly filling the ruining hull, causing Befilia to panic while she worked her way to what Theo had foolishly thought of as the engine room. But the room Befilia entered was nothing like that. Working her nature magic, she caused a wooden panel to peel away, revealing the prize behind. A knot of wood, only about the size of her head, but beating with life stolen from the Behemoth. It was attached to the ship, of course, and she had to constantly remind herself that in the end it would suffer less if she took it than if it burned. Still, Befilia had to close her eyes, unable to watch herself tear the ship's heart free.

Pulsing in her claws, the wooden heart's beat filled Befila's ears. But as flames began to creep into the room, she had put it out of her mind and leave. Befilia tore off part of her garb and tied it around her face to keep the smoke out, before protectively wrapping her arms around the heart. With her eyes beginning to water, she flew as fast as she could, desperately hoping the ship wouldn't collapse around her.

Outside, the Observatory dragons returned with water to put the wreck out and machines to tear it apart, but not necessarily in that order. Thoughts of extensive riches of pirate treasure clouded their minds, as they eagerly discussed among themselves what research they'd fund with the spoils. Not one of them noticed the lone fae sneaking away with the real treasure.

---

After fleeing the wreck at the Observatory, Befilia was by herself for the first time in years. It was liberating, but at the same time very worrying. She didn't want to risk the local clans recognizing her as a pirate, and there was no way she'd be able to keep the heart if she fled back to the Viridian Labyrinth. Anyways, she'd grown to like the Isles. Befilia eventually decided to travel south, towards the Ice border, where Theo had only rarely raided. Most of the south-western clans were small and not worth his time, and the one that wasn't had quickly driven the pirates off with an oversized cannon.

That one was where she was heading. The ship had never made it very close to said clan's fortress, so there was no chance they'd seen her aboard. And they had more than enough space for her needs. Even better, it was so far away that Befilia saw no chance of ever having to deal with somebody from her old crew again. Now she only had to hope they were accepting new members...

Befilia's worries were unfounded — she probably could have flown in, declared herself a clan member, and nobody would have batted an eye. But instead, she spoke to various important clan members who seemed more than happy to have a few more nature dragons around, especially when Befilia claimed she was interested in growing some trees on their island. That was partially true, as since the island was made nearly entirely of pink chalcedony it was sadly lacking in plant life. But she had greater plans than that.

Befilia planted the heart in the centre of where her new grove would eventually grow. She wasn't quite sure how the process of making it grow a new boat around itself would work, but she was confident she had enough magic to pull it off. Keeping mostly to herself, she set out cultivating her unusual crop. At least when the trees grew, they'd hide the strange boat-flower or whatever it was she was going to create.

Everything went well for a few months, until suddenly the worst possible thing happened. A haggard-looking bogsneak arrived at the fortress, and unlike Befilia, he did just declare himself a new clan member and everyone accepted it. It was Theo! Somehow. Befilia feared he was hunting his old crew members at first, but it quickly became clear he was the one on the run from someone. Served him right. Without a ship, Theo was just an angry bogsneak that thought he was still a notorious and feared pirate.

Regardless, Befilia wasn't going to let him know she was here. She retreated into the saplings of her new grove, and when she emerged she had a hood covering her face and was covered in more leaves than most trees. No longer was she Befilia, airship engineer. Instead, she was Befilia, the most devout of Gladekeeper's followers.

Honestly, she could have put more work into the disguise. She even kept her old hat, but that was mostly because she didn't want the rest of Clan _______ to think she was actually plant-obsessed. Only Theo. The clan understood, and didn't question it. Well, some of them were probably fooled as well, but Befilia knew she'd have to deal with that.

And so, Befilia tends her grove, which has grown... up? Definitely up. Also a number of other directions, twisted by the arcane magic that has contaminated the very soil and can not be dispelled, no matter how many times Befilia has more soil brought in from outside the flight. Reluctantly, Befilia admits that's good enough. The crossing trunks and newly-grown leaves do a pretty good job at preventing anyone from seeing what's growing inside. Desperately, Befilia hopes that the arcane magic hasn't contaminated it, that the vaguely ship-shaped plant in the centre will blossom as gloriously as she imagines it will. There's nothing more she wants than to sail the skies in her living ship once again.