Amber

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"Hello! Who might you be? Glad to meet you! I'm Amber. What's your opinion on pineapple on pizza? Why might that be? Did you know that pineapples aren't actually fruit? They're just a bunch of berries stuck together! Isn't that interesting, don't you think? Actually, a lot of fruit that have the word 'berry' in their name aren't actually berries! Well, except blueberries. But that's not really the point. Either way, it's important to note that not everything is what you think it is when you hear about it! Does that make sense? Do you want a flower?"

Amber is a dragon with a bright personality, an endless stock of strange facts, and a seeming inability to shut up. Eager to please and more so to "spread knowledge", most dragons find her inconvenient at best and irritating at worst.

To add to her stock of trivia vitally important knowledge, Amber has taken up the habit of journaling and asking passerby their opinion on various "controversial" issues. No one seems to know anything about her past, though...

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. This dragon embarked on a trip across Sorneith during Brightshine Jubilee 2020 from June 21 to June 27. She is one of many who are traveling to various lairs and clans in the hopes of spreading love and joy to those they encounter. When it's over, they'll be able to look back at the adventures they had and dragons they met and remember the journey they went on. ____________________________________________ coding // graphics

Chatty and cheerful to a fault, Amber is absolutely one hundred per cent on board with handing out sunflowers to the lairs she visits. Just look at this one! It's the size of your head! A fae could totally fit inside it. She doesn't know any faes, though. If you know any faes, have they tried sleeping on the sunflowers? They look comfy.

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Today was the day that Amber met her match in Talkativity.

Her first stop was a smaller Clan in the Icewarden's domain. Among the Dragons here was a small, young Gaoler named Corviknight. Corvi had never seen flowers, growing up in the Icefields as she had. Amber made it her goal to give this little hatchling as much knowledge about flowers as she could during her short visit. They talked and talked and talked, even skipping meals.

When it was time for Amber to move on Corvi presented her with a surprise, a paw-drawn picture of one of the flowers Amber had spent so much time describing to her.




Amber attempted to leave the Signs Clan early in the morning but the Fortress of Ends had other plans for her. She'd barely lost sight of the cave when a sharp wind kicked up. Scant minutes later the wind was joined by heavy snowfall.

It's no use, she thought, I'm not going anywhere in this weather. She turned and retreated back to the cave.

She was welcomed back and quickly shown to a side room full of hotrocks. As she was relaxing and slowly stretching her frozen muscles, she heard Tembrae, the Hatchling Master, calling for hatchling chore time. Amber saw a chance to repay the Clan for the extra night of food and lodging.

A few minutes later she sat watching a young Imperial fighting with a washcloth bigger than herself. An idea occurred to her. Sunflower-based soap! It was genius on two levels: Everydragon needs to clean messes up sometimes and it could give sunflowers to Clans who lived where they don't grow naturally!

She pulled a piece of parchment from her bag and started writing...

Smolderpetal Plant Easier to gather than the speckled fire lily, this hardy flower tastes absolutely divine after a good roast. 37 4

Upon arriving a small village, Flos est Infernum, one such as Amber could immediately recognize a festival happening here. Although it wasn't one in celebration of the Jubilee, however, one could still spot sunflowers from building to building through the market area. The market area, in the meantime, was quite crowded despite the size of the village itself. Dragons of a variety of shapes and sizes ventured through, talking and laughing while being dressed up for the occasion. 'What are they celebrating?' the Spiral couldn't help but wonder, ready to pull another dragon to the side to repeat this question out loud.

"Ah! You must Amber!" A voice called out, causing the Spiral to turn her head quickly to see a Wildclaw of a sandy color coat of fur. He was decorated with orange and silver that somehow blended well with his natural color, while pale yellow flowers framed his hips and tail - even a sunflower could be seen within the body bouquet! "Oh, my apologies. I have become quite excited to even remember my manners." With a light chuckle, he gave her an apologetic bow of his head. "I am called Kydoimos and I am here to welcome you to our lovely home, Flos est Infernum. Despite the intimidating name, this village is actually a great place to relax and get away. There's quite a bit of history here, too, but..." He shook his head mostly towards the fact that he was getting carried away again. "You're not here for the history lesson. No. Instead, I want to show you our garden, which I am sure you'll appreciate."

As he guided her through the village, he explained to her that the festival that the village was currently celebrating was called The Bloom, which lasts the entirety of the month - there just happens to be more dragons in the area due to the Brightshine Jubilee. His excitement shined through his voice as he further explained how The Bloom was a reminder to the village on how far they have come, individually and as a whole - similar to a blooming flower after some rough hardships of growth. When the village had heard of sunflowers being the main theme for this year's jubilee, Kydoimos couldn't help but admit that many wished to be a part of this theme and grow many sunflowers this year.

"Here we are~" The Wildclaw paused in front of a large metal gate, which was clearly in front of the said garden he had mentioned earlier. With very easy ease, he pushed open the gate and urged her inside. "Take all the time you need to see the sights. We are very proud with all the work that has been put into this, so I hope that you, our dear guest, could enjoy it."

Without another word, Kydoimos left her be alone in the garden, allowing her eyes to gaze upon the beauty before her. Not only were there sunflowers, but there were many others to compliment the yellow flora. It seem that the Wildclaw was true to his word when he said that they had gone through so much for a display such as this one. Really makes one wonder what this village had gone through to be sure to have such a reminder of all that they have gone through...

_ _ _ _ The breeze swirls around you as you set food into the lush green steppes. "Oh! You must be Paradise. I'm Ostria. This way, we've been waiting for you!" a spiral giggles as she led you deeper and deeper into a bamboo forest. A flutter of birds frolick past, and beautiful tunes float in the air as you advance. Soon, you shift your gaze upwards and are amazed to see a magnificent palace. Not too massive, but the zephyr colour scheme and touches of glitter soothe your eyes. The spiral then gestures upwards to the many wind balloons bobbing about above, each attached to a corner of the palace with colourful streamers. Glancing around, you note that the hustle and bustle of dragon activity within all the cluster of bamboo surrounding the palace. The spiral smiles and nods. "Welcome to Melodies Whirling! Enjoy your stay here. Be sure to explore the entire clan, I'm sure everyone is more than excited to host a visitor." With that, she leaves with a little jingle of the bells on her satchels.

Amber was ecstatic. Her next stop had brought her to The Meandering Market, currently stationed in Dragonhome. To be met with the sight of so many dragons all sharing the same space, so many colors decorating the canvas ceilings of the market stalls, and so many different products she certainly knew a thing or two about was a welcome experience indeed. Thinking of all of the knowledge she had the potential to share as well as all of the dragons who would certainly be willing to have it shared with them, she forged ahead into the crowded streets.

It was not long before she came upon one of the market's guards standing at his post at the head of the plaza, observing each and every passerby with a keen eye. Towering and fierce, he held the position as the captain of the guard and it was apparent that he took his job very seriously. To Amber, it was also very apparent that he must be horribly bored standing there with nobody to talk to, a cruel fate that she could easily and happily rectify.

Twisting through the crowd and bouncing up to the imperial, sunflower in hand, she skidded to a halt so close to him that she was forced to crane her neck up an uncomfortable amount to be able to look him in the eye. Before she could speak, she was spoken to,
"State your purpose."

With those words, the invitation had been extended and the gate had been opened. Amber began enthusiastically,
"Hello! You can call me Amber! I'm travelling for the Brightshine Jubilee and delivering some sunflowers while I'm at it! Did you know that sunflowers are one of the only plants to display heliotropism? That means they always face the direction of the sun! And speaking of the sun, did you know it would take you about one hundred and seventy years to get there if you tried to fly to it right now? That's assuming you don't take any breaks of course. Or fly slower than the average dragon. Or faster! I didn't mean to make any assumptions about your flight speed. Speaking of which-"

Grand could count on one hand the amount of times he had been truly distracted from his duties. Today, he was forced to add another tally to that count. Finally turning his gaze away from the plaza and regarding the spiral beside him, he found her completely unafraid of his appearance. Instead of this revelation being threatening, he allowed this piece of information to be regarded as nothing that needed drastic action, as she was clearly no threat to anyone. Despite this, he was forced to stop her for a moment's time,
"Hold a moment. Wait here."

Amber watched him turn and walk away, disappointed to have lost her conversation partner, but also unwilling to disappoint him in turn by abandoning her post. Letting her curiosity take over, she took up the guard position he had previously occupied, testing out the process of keeping watch for herself. Needless to say, she was thrilled when he finally returned, this time with a gaoler. She wondered if this companion he had brought along with him was coming to join in on the conversation before she was whisked out of her spot and back to where she had been standing a few moments before.

The gaoler took the guard position next and the imperial, much to Amber's surprise, sat before her, offering a short nod of acknowledgement as well as permission to continue her speech,
"Go on. You were speaking of wind speeds."

It was an ideal match, truth be told. An old veteran of many battles with no interest in speaking befriending a young soul with every interest in speaking, sharing anything and everything she knew about whatever came to mind. Amber continued on for quite some time, responding ever enthusiastically to the imperial's occasional request for elaboration on a topic. She could have continued on for much longer than that, had the sky not chosen that moment to crack open with a clap of thunder, pouring down sheets of water in one of Dragonhome's few yearly rainfalls. Though her satchel was dampened, her spirits weren't and she quickly challenged the old guard to race her to wherever he was going to escape the rain, despite not knowing where that was to begin with.

Although he only graced her challenge with a faster-than-average walk, they soon made it to the guard encampment and found their way underneath one of the many canopies, typically used to protect from the sun, now used to protect from the rain. For the third time that day, she began to speak unrestricted, although her focus was occasionally diverted by the few guards that remained sparring in the clearing despite the inclement weather. Knowledge was knowledge after all, and combat was an area she had at least a little bit of experience in. By the time Amber eventually talked herself right to sleep, she had learned a few tricks from watching the others.

When morning came, the imperial was nowhere to be found. In his place was a small pouch of coins and a note that read simply,
Restock your supplies. Be cautious moving forward.
-Grand

Amber laughed at the note despite herself; all this time and she was only just now learning that his name was Grand! It struck her that she had also forgotten to give him the bundle of sunflowers amidst their conversation. Opting to leave the flowers just where the note had been, she set off into the market one last time to do as advised before the next segment of her journey.


A slender Skydancer met her at the edge of the trees where her next destination was supposed to be moored. "Hello," he said. "I presume you're Amber. My name is Dante. I'm here to greet you on behalf of the Clawdaunt Convent."

"Hi!" Amber said. "I thought I was in the wrong place. I couldn't see a clan. Actually, I still can't see a clan. Is it hidden? Are you going to show me where it is? I've heard that some dragons actually build their dens underground in big tunnel systems. They must get so strong from all that digging. Have you ever tried digging? It takes a lot longer than you expect."

Dante blinked in gentle bemusement as she continued her greeting, but waited patiently for an opening to continue. "Actually, I'm not showing you the clan. We're going on some errands instead. Do you mind accompanying me to the shore?"

"Oh, not at all!" She bounced after him. "I love the beach. I heard that being near the ocean is good for you! It helps balance your sleep patterns. Do you have a hard time sleeping?"

It was hard to talk over the growing roar of the ocean, but Dante seemed perfectly content to listen, even chipping in with his own remarks occasionally. He seemed to have his own wealth of facts, mostly philosophical—i]this famous dragon believed so-and-so or I once read that it's more ethical to such-and-such. Amber dutifully wrote it all down, even though his facts were a bit esoteric. He seemed to be so lost in his own world, he didn't quite understand how to explain things to other dragons.

They were searching for a specific potion ingredient, according to Dante; a type of mineral that had to be smoothed over by the ocean's current before it was usable. "Normally we trade for this," he remarked, "but since we're moored here, we can gather it ourselves."

The sands on the eastern coast of the Sunbeam Ruins were so pale and bright, they had to rest periodically in the shade of the grassy overhang that hung over the beach. But it turned out that the search was a lot of fun, especially with a conversation partner. Amber was particularly taken with a lost earring that she'd overturned.

"Look!" She held it up. "Someone must have lost it. Did you know that over five thousand pieces of jewelry are lost every day?"

"Perhaps if you keep looking, you'll find its partner," Dante said.

The sun was beginning to set by the time they'd uncovered enough small, blue stones to satisfy Dante. "Thank you for helping me," he said, tucking the last one into his pouch. "I suppose we should part ways."

"Oh! I have to give your clan their sunflowers, though!" Amber said.

Dante hesitated. "We're not allowed to bring visitors inside the Convent. You'll get in trouble."

"Well, then I'll give them to you and you can hand them out yourself." She passed him a small bouquet of them. "Being around flowers helps you think clearer! I'm sure your clan will enjoy them."

"Thank you," he murmured. "Ah... Amber, look at the sand to your left."

She did as he said and was delighted at the sight of the second earring.

"That's amazing!" She packed them carefully away. "Did you know losing an earring is an omen that someone is doing dark magic nearby?"

Dante gave her a strange, anxious glance. "I'm sure no one is doing dark magic around here," he said hastily.

"Oh, of course not. It's just a superstition!"

She couldn't help but notice the slight look of relief on his face as she took flight. "Thank you for the beach day, Dante! I had a lot of fun!"

"Thank you," he murmured. "So did I."