Cyanide

Cyanide's problems began the moment she opened her eyes. Massive amounts of light poured forth, and instantly, there was an outcry among her clanmates. Blessed. A baby born from the Frozen King and the Frozen Queen was blessed by the Lightweaver. Cyanide was soon whisked away from her home clan, to be raised by an entire university filled with priests and scholars. There were many others like her, with special eyes, who had never known their families. All of them were expected to become Light priests, because of their eyes. They were all given holy names.

The young bright-blue fae didn't want to answer to the name given to her by the priests. She picked her own out of a chemistry book and refused to answer to anything else. They called her defiant, saying she had a problem with authority. The more her tutors tried to force her into the clean, respectable image that a Light priest commanded, the more Cyanide regressed into a filthy, unkempt, absolute hellion of a dragon.

Priests of other flights were brought in to give the young acolights a more well-rounded education. It was here that Cyanide made her first connection with an older dragon. The Nature priest they'd brought in was an elderly Skydancer, and she instantly took a liking to the hissing, snarling, angry little creature that kept trying to blind anyone that came too close. The Nature priest closed her eyes, sat down next to Cyanide, and grinned. "I like your spirit. You're the only one in this room that would survive in the bog where I grew up."

Cyanide stopped snarling and started to listen.

"You remind me of my great-granddaughter. Sharp girl. Very wild. She's a first-rate swamp goblin." The term was affectionate. Proud, even. "If you like, I can teach you how to build a lil' swamp of your very own. It'll be hard without Nature magic but the plants will love your light. How about it?"

At first, Cyanide's teachers loved her new hobby. It was the first time anyone had ever gotten her engaged in anything, and they praised the Nature priest endlessly for finally getting Cyanide to study something. As one terrarium turned into forty, though, the priests started trying to get Cyanide to switch subjects. It wouldn't do for a Light priest to be so invested in Nature ideology. They'd lost control, and they knew it. The university immediately ended its cooperation with the other flights; they were all shooed out on suspicion of trying to steal the minds of the students.

Cyanide's mentor found the time to visit her before she was escorted out. "Girl, you don't belong here. I taught you survival skills for a reason. The chimney in the kitchens don't have a grate on it. Someone your size can fit easily. Good luck."

She made her escape that night with all the treasure she could loot from the offering tray. It was enough for a room at a tavern three towns over and a mug of stout beetle juice while she considered her next move. For the first time, she had to cultivate an appearance of respectability like the priests had taught her. She offered her services terrarium-building to the very wealthy, and over time gained enough distance from the university that nobody looked for her any more. She relaxed into a happy but lonely life in the woods, occasionally traveling to find new plants to incorporate into her designs.

It was on one of these trips that she met Peep. Peep scooped her up initially thinking she was an overlarge frog. After several apologies, they began talking-- Cyanide about her terrariums, and Peep about her frogs. Peep invited Cyanide to see the frogs and possibly build a terrarium to house one, and Cyanide found herself making endless excuses not to leave. The dragons in Clan AXQU liked her for what she could do, not for her eyes. Peep's look of delight in seeing the frogs happy became sort of its own reward; Cyanide didn't realize it yet, but she'd fallen in love with the snapper. Eventually, Cyanide moved in, and the clan is happier for it.