Circe

Circe felt uncomfortable since the moment she poked her little head out of her egg. Her head felt too wide, her body too bulky, her wings too weak and small. Her siblings all relished the slow amble of a snapper, yet Circe yearned to be as quick and nimble as many of the other dragons in the lair. She often watched the coatls and skydancers flying in and out of the lair, doing their various errands around the Starfall Isles and beyond. Her favorites to watch were the small faes that often came to visit the clan. The way their strong, wide wings so easily catapulted their small, agile bodies into flight enchanted her. She would often sit and spread her small wings, just to feel the air under them and imagine what it would be like to fly. When her parents told her that she would never fly, no snapper ever had, something broke inside her. Seeing Circe so depressed, her mother, Walda, became determined to find some way to help her daughter fly. The traditional metal flight aides were not strong enough to make up for her daughter’s weight. She checked every book of magic her clan (and many of their neighbors) owned for a spell to enhance flight, to no avail. Facing failure, Walda began to despair. Yet, a glimmer of hope arrived with a visiting red-and-black fae, who offered to pay for a mage to read a breed-change scroll for the hatchling if Circe would join her clan. The young snapper jumped on the opportunity.

A rig was constructed to carry the small snapper for the short flight to the lair of the nearest mage. The fae, whose name they found out was Huarahi, used her wind magic to push hoist the rig onto a current of air and push it into a small lair on the outskirts of the Starwood Strand. They were greeted by a pink fae with runes flashing in the delicate membranes of her wings and crests. The two faes had a brief conversation in the fae tongue of rapid crest movements before Haurahi dropped a small pouch of coins into the hand of the other, who beckoned them into her lair. The pink fae reached into one of the many shelves full of scrolls, pulled one out and began to chant from the runes inscribed upon it. A thick, pink mist then enveloped Circe; when it receded Circe opened her eyes a fae. She examined one powerful wing, before catapulting herself into the air. For the first time in her life, she felt comfortable in her body.

As a fae, she felt not only the power of flight, but also the power of the magic she was now able to tap. She trained hard until she learned to use and channel her magic to the best of her ability, but it greatly drained her to harness the opposing wind magic of her home. Realizing the young dragon’s new dream to become a mage, the clan sent her off to train at the most renowned academy in the dragon world. When she returned, her wings and crests shimmered with runes, signifying her position as an official mage and recognizing her acheivements as one of the top in her class. She has since set up her cave in the lair to help others like her find their true forms and patterns by reading the ancient rune language of scrolls.