Zinfandel

Zinfandel was found on the outskirts of the clan's territory by MurkyWaters, unconscious and grievously wounded, and she immediately brought him back to the clan and to Panacea. While the healer never found the cause of his injuries, he soon had Zinfandel back on his feet and introduced as a proper member of The Hive.

Zinfandel was taken from his nest as an egg by a Harpy clan, and he was hatched and raised as one of their own. As soon as he was old enough to talk, they began to train him. Food, shelter, clothing, and ‘love’ were earned through uncovering the secrets and weaknesses of nearby clans. He was constantly torn up, scratched, and challenged to fights in an effort to toughen him up and make him impartial to pain. After years of this treatment and additional heavy manipulation, they had their perfect spy.

Zinfandel often disappeared for days at a time, telling no one where he was going and never notifying anyone that he had returned. While some found it odd, the general consensus was that he, like so many other dragons from the clan, simply went out exploring or adventuring. Yet as the seasons passed and summer turned to autumn, he suddenly pulled away from those who had come to call him friend, becoming cold and distant to everyone who approached him. While his behavior was alarming, the dragons simply brushed it off, and many even doubled down and became even nicer to him in turn.

The assignment was simple enough. Zinfandel was to infiltrate a nearby dragon clan in the Shrieking Wilds, take stock of the dragon population present and note how many warriors, mages, and healers were present. Any weaknesses of individual dragons were to be reported, as well as overall weaknesses to the structure of the clan itself. Infiltrating the clan had been hatchling’s play-an afternoon of reconnaissance had shown an unusually high number of Fae were present in the area, and so, without questioning it, he became one. Zinfandel asked his ‘sisters’ to rough him up a bit, planning on playing on the sympathies of the dragons, and if their claws and talons raked him deeper than need be, well…he just didn’t think about it.

It was mid-autumn, the beginning of Drakeharvest, when he began speaking strangely to others in the lair, asking many of them if perhaps they had ever considered moving to somewhere larger, or perhaps deeper within the Viridian Labyrinth. Zinfandel gave no reason as to why he asked this or what motivated him; but as the end of autumn grew closer, his requests became more insistent, to the point where he met with Zumurrud and tried to pressure her into moving the clan. His concerns were brushed away, and none of the dragons thought anything about it.

It would have been so easy, if only the dragons within this clan had treated him with the same suspicion, derision, and outright dislike that every other clan before them had. He would have felt no remorse in bringing the clan to its knees and letting his family reap the spoils had they not been so infuriatingly kind. His mother had warned him that they would be as she had broken his wing in sparring, that they would speak sweetly and offer him false love and acceptance, something that only his true family would ever be able to give him. But no amount of training had prepared him for the kindness, care and love that every member of the clan showed.

It was a bitterly cold day in late autumn when Gobi had his nightmare and sent the clan into a panic, transporting the weak, wounded, and young dragons to a new lair in the Behemoth itself, an endeavor that was going to take multiple weeks to ensure that all of the archives, food stores, water, and dragons were safely situated within the new lair. As the days passed and as the Winter Solstice grew closer Zinfandel began acting more and more erratic, before he finally burst into a clan meeting and absolutely demanded that they immediately evacuate their current clan, supplies be rotted, because if they didn't they would all be slaughtered. While his outburst was looked at with great alarm, Zumurrud decided to heed it, and the night before the solstice almost every dragon was in the new lair, save for the last few stragglers.

In the end it was the fault of the Harpy clans, really. They had been fool enough to trust him with the date and time of their attack. His own mother had always reminded him to never trust a soul, not even those he was raised to trust. And yet they made the mistake of trusting him.

The Harpies descended in force to find a mostly abandoned, resource empty lair, with only the fiercest fighters remaining behind. The battle was bloody but quick, and Zinfandel finally allowed himself a moment to breathe, a moment to consider that maybe he could make his home here. And then his mother screamed out his name, cursing him to the shade and back, and it wasn't his imagination that every eye was suddenly trained on him. As soon as the Harpies were defeated, Zinfandel found himself pinned to the floor by Aakesh, who very likely would have ended his life there and then if Panacea hadn't gotten in the way, arguing in a quiet, insistent tone until he was finally released. He didn't bother running as he was led to the new lair; there would have been no point at all in doing so.

The new lair offered Zinfandel no solace or pleasure, as he knew his own stay would be far too short to truly enjoy it. Freedom from those who had raised him was a poor prize in comparison to what he was surely about to lose. The heads of the clan had entered into discussions about what to do in regards to him on the very day he was brought to them, and they had proceeded for the next three days following that. A Mirror had informed him on the second day after much coercing that there was no form of punishment by death in the clan, which, to Zinfandel's ears, meant he would be banished from his newfound home.

He left before dawn on the fifth day of deliberations, and never once looked back. It was twelve days later on the border between the Sunbeam Ruins and the Shifting Expanse that another Fae suddenly fluttered down next to him, sitting daintily and staring out over the vast canyon as he himself had been. Plum, the tailor's son, had come for him, and after a great deal of talking and reassurance, convinced him to return to the clan with him.

While many viewed him with great suspicion on his re-arrival at the clan, Concerto displayed the same unwavering loyalty that Plum so often gave him, and welcomed him back with open arms. Even as the dust settled and his full situation was explained, he still never felt comfortable nesting in the giant roost of The Hive, instead choosing to sleep in Concerto's studio before eventually staking claim to a large but rather unusable den within the lair.


Zinfandel stepped into the role of Espionage Agent and Trainer easily, often going on dangerous covert missions to infiltrate various beastclans and discover when the next attacks would be had and which species would attempt them. While there is currently no complete spy guild within the Glade, he is quickly whipping together a matchless team of spies and informants, and has begun working in tandem with the warriors of the clan to teach them ambush tactics.

When not out on a mission or whipping new recruits into shape, Zinfandel can most often be found tucked into the studio that Concerto shares with Plum, who has set up his own little corner for his own work in perfuming and scent-making. The other dragons in the lair can always tell when Plum has perfected a new scent, as Zinfandel always leaves the studio smelling strongly of it.

While he still remains rather cold and aloof, he has managed to make tremulous relationships with the other dragons in the lair. It helped that he eventually spoke about the trauma and manipulation that he went through to Hadas and began to find some small amount of inner peace because of it.

He has nightmares often, and by now the other dragons in the lair have learned to ignore his tiny squeaks of terror in the night, as approaching him has only left him further terrified. Only Achalendra, the Nocturne who lives high above his den, still approaches him when he has his nightmares. Plum prefers to wait for Zinfandel to come to him, and he then buries him in blankets, affirmations, and steaming hot tea.

While some dragons (mainly Aakesh, really) remain highly suspicious of Zinfandel, on a whole he is trusted and well-liked in the lair, even if his attitude can often put people out. His decadent taste is well suited to Concerto's tailoring, and he seems to make Plum quite happy, and if Plum considers him a friend, so too does the lair.

While Zinfandel would have been perfectly content to simply remain friends with Plum, he apparently had other things in mind.