Aemilia

---

A tiny black and pink Skydancer cowered between the large leaves growing from the bushes around her. Shivering, she stayed next to the red eggshells she had hatched from only a day before. A small squeak escaped her as a large, teal head entered her vision, kind green eyes locked with her frightened orange ones as the hatchling tried to scurry away from the large dragon, whose face was adorned with shimmering golden silks. "Don't be afraid, little one. Where are your parents?" the soft voice of the blue Guardian spoke. The slight smile on her face fell as she noticed the recently broken eggshells beside the tiny dragon and her heart ached. "I know how you feel, I didn't have parents either. But, how about I bring you to my clan and it could become your home?" the Guardian spoke, the smile returning to her face as she extended a paw for the hatchling to take. "My name is Kithan, by the way. I guess you will need a name as well then, how would Aemilia sound?" the Gurdian proposed as the tiny dragoness in front of her hesitantly placed her own paw into Kithan's.

The sight the rest of the clan was greeted with was an unusual one, as their leader returned with a tiny Skydancer in tow. Aemilia looked around her with wide eyes, worried about what these dragons would think of her, and wondering why she was in this situation. In her mind she had been doing well enough on her own for the past day and could continue to do fend for herself. The blue Guardian motioned for Aemilia to follow her into a small den. "Daknir, this is Aemilia, I found her out in the Shrieking Wilds all by herself." Kithan said to a blue Tundra that had been reading a book in one of the corners of the room. He looked up in confusion, but his gaze softened as his eyes found the tiny Skydancer half hidden behind his mate. "Hey, welcome to the clan, kiddo. I'm Daknir, you can come to me any time you have a question." the Tundra's deep voice echoed slightly in the small den and Aemilia decided that this might not be as bad as she first thought. "Why?" the tiny hatchling asked quietly, causing the older dragons to look at her in confusion. "Why did you take me into your clan?" she continued, her eyes counting the pebbles on the ground in front of her to avoid eye contact.

"Well, you don't have a place to stay, do you? This clan is a place for anyone in need of a home." Daknir chuckled and Aemilia looked up with a new determination. "Then I want to help out at least!" she declared, causing the older dragons to burst out laughing. "You don't have to help out, you're a hatchling! But if you want I could find someone to train you to fight, so you can help out when you're an adult." Kithan said after she composed herself. Aemilia nodded her head vigorously and exclaimed that she would become the best fighter the clan had ever seen. "Alright, come on then. Let's see if Marcius is up for another student." the blue Guardian said as she led the young hatchling out of her den and towards the training grounds. "Marcius!" Kithan yelled once a large, brown Guardian entered their view. He turned around from instructing a young Pearlcatcher to meet his leader's eyes. "Hello, Kithan. What brings you here today?" he said with a slight smile, that was only barely visible underneath the lion pelt he wore on his face. "I wanted to introduce you to your newest student. This is Aemilia and she is dead set on becoming the best fighter in the clan." Kithan chuckled as she motioned towards the small Skydancer beside her. "She is too young. Training is tough, I wouldn't want her to get hurt." Marcius said, looking down at the small black dragon. "I promise I can keep up! I will show you!" Aemilia exclaimed loudly, making the brown dragon chuckle. "I won't have you train with the rest, they might get rough, but I can give you some lessons after I am done with these kids." he sighed, motioning towards a bench with a black katana leaning against it, "How about you try and get used to how a sword lies in your paws and how to move with it?". And with that the small dragoness darted towards the black sword. "Are you sure you should leave her with that unsupervised?" Kithan asked skeptically. "That's the only way they learn. I can't be there at all times, so they need to learn their limits on their own." the old dragon said, as he turned back towards the rest of his students and, with one last look towards the newest addition to the clan, Kithan also made her way back towards her den, hoping that the small hatchling would return without injuries later that night.

Years went by and Aemilia's fighting skills grew to be among the best of her clan. She built a close bond with Marcius, who had trained her in private lessons after the rest of his students were done for the day. Aemilia had played with the thought of leaving the Viridian Labyrinth and heading to the Ashfall Waste to search for her parents, but always decided against it, since she felt like she owed Kithan and her clan the help she gave them by protecting the territory. Though Kithan has told her time and time again that she doesn't owe them anything, Aemilia disagrees and argues that she would have died if the Guardian hadn't found her that day. Besides, this was her home.

- lore by MaybeHuman

---