Dapple

I Meant To Exalt Her But Then...

Dapple was never a particularly magical dragon, nor was she adept at combat.
She didn't create wonderous sculptures, nor did she have a mind for business or science.
Her scales didn't hold the wonders of the stars, nor did her wings change color in the light.
She was, in her mind, utterly and completely average in every way.

Dapple tried many things, hoping to find her calling- maybe if she worked at something, she would get good enough at it to find her place in the world.
She tried art, but no matter how much she created, it didn't feel right, so she moved on.
She tried magic, but even though she learned books full of spells, it didn't click, so she left.
She tried science, she tried fighting, she tried business, she tried exploring, she went and talked with disciples of each of the Great Drakes, but no matter what she did, and as interesting as it initially was, she still felt she could be doing something else.

Finally, with thoughts of perhaps just pledging herself to the local diety- the Windcaller- she began a slow trip home. On her journey, she came across a small settlement along a riverbank, around a waterfall.

They called it Underbrush Drop.

It included what they called Sunshimmer River, its waterfall, and the various caves that dotted the cliff-face. Though lovely, the locale didn't hold her- or at least, she didn't mean for it to.

Until the storm hit.

It was fierce, and prevented all flying, as well as water-travel up and down the river. She was stuck, and hid in with the other locals as well as the various travelers who were passing through in the caves and huts and towers in the settlement.

On her second day with them, she noticed the hatchlings- though obviously not fresh from the egg, they were still young, and her heart squeezed for them as she saw them huddled together with a ridgeback that seemed just shy of being a juvenile himself.

She went over.

"Why are there so many hatchlings, friend? Where is your family?"

The hatchlings shared nervous, apprehensive glances, before the barely-mature dragon spoke-
"We are all travellers, miss. I'm to travel downriver to the lands of the Gladekeeper to serve her, as I have nowhere else to go."

A small snapper spoke up, then, "I'm going to the Tidelord!"
Four mirrors- obviously nestmates- "We're going to the Windcaller!!"
A pale pink skydancer, whispering, "I'm going to the Plaguebringer"
And so it went, each hatchling telling her what god they were bound to- some with more enthusiasm than others.

Storm forgotten, Dapple listened as they shared what they had been told, or already knew, of where they were headed. As she listened, though, she found that many didn't understand- or only had a shaky grasp of- what would be required from them in their new homes.

The snapper said that the Tidelord would have him shaping the riverbeds to carry other dragons where they needed to go.
The mirrors all seemed to have a different idea of what the Windcaller enjoyed- one thought that it was collecting leaves that blew in the wind, while another thought it was bringing water up to the clouds when it needed to rain.
The skydancer, with a nervous crack in her voice, admitted that she thought the Plaguebringer was where bad hatchlings went when they were bad for the last time.

Dapple stared at these young dragons, and felt her heart twist for them. It was obvious that they didn't know what they were even going to do- and even more obvious that a few of them would be miserable with their chosen Diety.

So, she began to tell them stories of the dragons she had met- the ones that worked for the Windcaller, the Tidelord, the Gladekeeper, and then beyond that- the ones that worked for the Plaguebringer, the Shadowbinder, the Stormcaller, and so on and so on.

Each of the dragons had what seemed to be a million questions, and Dapple answered them all in turn, overjoyed when each one seemed to understand where they were going, and even more so when a few began to discuss going somewhere else instead.

The ridgeback thought he might like to travel to the lands of the Arcanist instead.
The snapper found himself wanting to stay in the lands of the Windcaller.
The mirrors all seemed to want to go somewhere else, and decided to split up into two groups- one to go to the Stormcaller, the other to the Lightbringer, and that they would visit each other often.
The nervous skydancer found that she wasn't afraid of the Plaguebringer anymore, and in fact wanted to go to pledge herself to her sooner- the work with tiny diseases sounded fascinating to her.

As the storm cleared, and each of the travelers set out in their own directions, Dapple went to a local dragon, and asked, "Are there many like that? Who pass through here, bound for places they don't know themselves??"

The dragon looked at her and nodded, "Yes, many do- though most dragons coming through here are bound for the Windcaller, this being the lands of Wind, many pass through here bound for other lands or places as well. There are often many hatchlings, who were found unfit to live in the clan of their birth, for whatever reason"

"And they just go where they're told?? Uninformed and alone?"

"Often, yes."

Dapple was horrified- there was great satisfaction in working for an Elemental God, but each was different, and every dragon should have the chance to choose where they go.

So, she stayed. One day, to see who would come, and found herself discussing engineering with a dragon off to the Southern Icefield to trade metals. Another, she would tell a young plague dragon that the Gladekeeper wound, indeed, have her. Yet another she found herself showing a room full of hatchlings just how to fold their wings to keep themselves from being blown away in a storm.

She learned many things, tried many more.

One day, she realized it had been a year, and she had been teaching and guiding travelers- though mainly hatchlings- for a full orbit around their star.
Laying down in the setting sun, she reflected- teaching had not felt right, in the way she imagined a calling would. She hadn't had an epiphany where she knew that this was the thing she wished to do with her life.

What had happened was that it was enough to take her from one day to the next- for how could she leave, when the next day more hatchlings could come by who needed her? Another traveler who, in exchange for how long it took to cross the Scarred Wasteland, and how much supplies he would need- would tell her about the make of the stones, and myths of magical gems of power, ancient and hiding.

Or a hatchling that needed to learn to glide?
Or a hatchling who had to be taught how to clean their scales??
Or a hatchling who had trouble sleeping, and who needed to be told stories until they could drift off??

She couldn't leave, nor did she want to.

Content, Dapple closed her eyes- she would teach and care for many more hatchlings- and full grown dragons- tomorrow, for Underbrush Drop was a busy settlement, and many passed through here.

They would need to be taught, and guided.

And she was the one to do it.