Kaen

Kaen was born on a night like no other. The sky was filled with stars, so many it seemed their light was going to eat up the dark cosmos. And their shine was joined by dim light of silver runes on the body of a little dragon. The hatchling stared at the sky and was mesmerized, almost as if her very soul was marked by the beauty. The facination only grew as she got older. Soon, she began to draw maps - guides to stars and constellations. But she was limited by the expanse of her home. She was desperate, but too shy, too fearful to leave her home as much as she wished for it. Then she met Calahan and understood. There was nothing to lose and everything to gain. So she set off to see the world, to continue her quest of mapping the whole night sky and all its stars.

She followed the stars, losing sight of everything around her. She didn't notice when she drifted away from Calahan, nor when the temperature rose above freezing. Her eyes were glued on the sky and the vast space that held the stars. Kaen had never realized that the sky was so big.
It was day when she stopped to rest and when her eyes flittered open again, the sky was dark. But where were the stars?! She sat up, filled with an alertness she'd never known. Where had they gone? Her head shot back and forth looking around. Nothing but darkness. Where were the light twinkles that filled her memory? Panic began to set in and she launched herself into the air. The winds fought against her and she chided herself for being so impatient. There was a small dot of light in the distance, bouncing up and down subtly. She headed towards it.

Kaen looked down at the light, a small lantern sitting atop a table on a small ship. "Hello?" she called out. There was little movement around her, except for the waves crashing into the side of the ship. A spurt of water hit her wings and she shook them violently. She hated getting wet.
A moment later a dragon appeared, "Seeking a place to rest?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Yes, it's just so... dark," she answered, "where are all of the stars?"
The dragon let out a little snort, "Gone for the night I suppose. Hidden behind the clouds."
She looked down. Gone for the night? "Stay the night if you'd like," the dragon offered, returning below deck.

The sun was twice as bright as normal when Kaen opened her eyes, and everything seemed to be especially vibrant this morning. She grumbled. A night without stars. The ship bobbed up and down on the waves. She turned her head around, but it seemed as if her hostess had left her. She shrugged it off before jumping back to her feet and searching for more stars. ~QueenRed

Quite unintentionally she followed the skies back home to the Southern Icefield once again. When she noticed, as the temperature dropped quite noticably, she decided that popping back home can't hurt. She was delighted to see others and chatted with her friends from back then, found out that her parents left... that one was a surprise but Kaen took it well, as well as one can process this sort of thing.
She was feeling a bit blue so she was despite everything overjoyed to be reunited with Calahan. He seemed different, but better different. They got talking, exchanging stories. She was glad travels treated him well. In the end, they agreed to travel together for a bit. Who knows - maybe she'll even get him passionate about stars too!

Where the sea and icefields meet, Kaen made a stop in the port city of Brightwinter to resupply for her journey - and was delighted to learn of an observatory being constructed by the clan there. Finding kindred souls in the skydancers Hypatia and Cosmos, who themselves had painstakingly compiled many star charts and observations of the skies over their clan, she quickly befriended the two. Kaen was able to compare notes with them and make observations through their telescope, which quite curiously had been constructed of everlasting-ice rather than glass, and provided a spectacular view of not only the stars during the long winter night, but also the mysterious southern lights often seen dancing overhead.

After celebrating the festival of the winter lights with the Brightwinter clan, she decided to stay for a time and conduct a series of observations from the city's observatory. Though she has been provided with a room at the observatory, she can still frequently be found at the Lodge, compiling her notes over a morning cup of vanilla and orange blossom tea. She seems to be looking for a familiar face among the travelers that drift in and out so frequently. Who could it be?