Zied

Zied was a plain young wildclaw, the son of two tea-makers in a small gardening clan in the Gladeveins. He always felt a connection to the forest, which his parents naturally encouraged, and would use his more camouflaged colouration to explore parts of the Viridian Labyrinth that few dragons had ever seen. He also made friends with a host of creatures that lived around their clan, most notably the kelpies who lived in the nearby swamps.

This became useful as he became older, and the residents of the forest would show him more magical, dangerous, and secluded places. On one of these adventures, while trying to dredge up a particularly rare species of bulrush, Zied drowned.

His friendship with the kelpies is what saved him, as they heard his shouts for help and did their best to save him. When they pulled up his already dead body, they enacted an old ritual that had been passed down from the Gladekeeper herself, that could revive a dead kelpie. It brought Zied back, but since it was designed for kelpies, he came back different. His feathers had grown into the long strings of a mane, his skin was eaten and warped, and his face was twisted to resemble that of a horse's.

Glad to be alive, but horrified at his new body, he resolved to stay in the swamps and join the kelpie herds there. Over time, he gathered rags that would keep his damp body from the worst of the cold, and armour that would protect him while hunting.

He met Beauty while roaming the Gladeveins one night. They were both equally shocked at another dragon that had already experienced death, and quickly became friends. At times he was jealous of Beauty's ethereal form, especially when he'd been cursed to look like a bog monster, but found that her inability to touch or affect the world was a painful experience for her. Not knowing when either of their afterlives will be over, the pair find solace in each other, and have resolved to live in the Gladeveins together, til death do them part.