Lore

Cherub/Blend/Peacock





Holder of old Lore

While she'd been trained in the arts is stealth, war, the cruelty of other clans, and indeed, what had happened to her sister in no uncertain terms, the fae that had put a poisoned dagger to her throat at her entry to the clan burst into friendly (sounding) laughter. He flipped the knife between his claws, and shook his head.

"Oh, little sister." The way he said it sounded almost like he was referring to HER as HIS sister. "I'm gathering you're talking about Hime?"

An imperial, who, despite her HUGE size had been hidden amongst the rocks and snow curled her proud head up, "Goodness...the queen is going to be sorely irritated by this. Are you SURE you want to talk to Hime FIRST, or shall we take you to her majesty?"

This seemed a little strange, to know that the 'majesty' in this case, was a foul little tyrant and not a beautiful, noble creature like her mother and father.

But, recalling that there were proceedures, and it was likely that these...oddly stealthy dragons, for all they were white as snow, weren't going to LET her go see her sister.

They took her to a wide cave entrance, from which steam billowed. The fae remained by her side, while the female imperial had disappeared shortly after she concented to see the queen. It bothered her that she hadn't seen how the female had concealed herself, but considered it a matter of...well...not magic. She did have some rudimentary skill at SENSING magic (in terms of defense) but in THIS case, there was just...nothing.

Of course, at the threshhold of the looming cave, the fae cocked his head in a mild way, "I'll give you a tip little sister...you always have a third choice, even when you're offered two."

He fluttered away from her side, and something about the way he glittered and the way the light glittered, his form was lost from sight almost immediately. It was a little unnerving, and she felt herself pondering...did they have a magic she did not know?

But...no, there was...magic behind!

She turned, and before her was a tall, horrible black monster of a skydancer. Midori stood up proudly, noticing the 'dancing lights' that Zirka said was a mark of the one named "Bindersclaw."

"Ahh...and who might you be? His eyes were like horrible, searching depths, and the shadows jittered uneasily, and she felt them reach for the scroll. Zirka had mentioned he was upsetting, but she'd obviously not been TOUCHED by the magic he weilded. REgardless, she steeled herself and held up the scroll, repeating her earlier demand.

"Khoine brought you to the Shadowwalker base for a reason..." he hissed, rubbing a claw over the ribbon, thumbing the letter open. "Generally something they do when they know someone will be trouble."

The shadows shuddered and whispered horrible things, as the skydancer read the message. "Another princess...when will that clan get bored of us?"

"I'm here to establish..."

"relations." he finished for her, cutting her off with crisp words, "Oh, I know. Your big sister said that to herself quite often when she was losing her mind in that cave."

Midori bristled at the thought. "What you did to her was WRONG."

"What *I* did? Goodness, has the Princess Zirka LIED? I shouldn't think that of her. Perhaps you understood it incorrectly." For the briefest of moments, he had seemed angry, but his tone became cold and aloof once more, the shadows tittering with laughter around him.

The youngling paused, then carefully rephrased. "You made her make a choice."

"Oh...?"

"You offered to feed the bodies of her children to her son...unless SHE ate them herself."

Bindersclaw seemed slightly intrigued that the little skydancer managed to get the words out in such a determined tone. "A slight correction. I said I MIGHT do that, if she did not want to do it herself."

"WHY WOULD SHE WANT TO?"

"Oh, I don't really know." Bindersclaw had this horrible smile. This wicked, horrible smile. "But here's the real question...if she did not WANT to, why did she?"

"Because...you..." Midori was fuming, and then her mind recalled what the little white fae had said, "Because...she...didn't think she had another choice."

The shadows retreated. Certainly, they still made his figure wobble slightly, and it was then she realized that she was in a large circle of dragons. Her eyes flashed back and forth, where? How? WHEN? And then she saw the ONLY red dragon in the room, with VERY familiar wings. She looked haggard, tired, and angry.

Soft laughter filled the room again, and it was coming from only one dragon. A tiny, fat fae wearing a birdskull mask. "Did she have another choice, though?" Her voice was...strangely deep for a fae.

Midori felt her body warm in embarassment. And knew that her sister would see it. And knew that her answer was to the very queen she'd wanted to see. How much had Hime heard? Everything. EVERYTHING. She told herself. And she had no choice but to answer...if she wanted to be on her best foot with the queen.

Midori considered - what was the third choice that Hime had missed? Fight off the whole clan? Leave her last son to be possibly slaughtered or tortured until she returned? And the two choices she'd been given...precluded that there was a need for SOMETHING to be done with the bodies...she knew what Zirka would have done - but that wouldn't have solved much, if the bodies were buried or hidden, it was easy to assume they'd be returned and fed to her or her son. Hiding the bodies wouldn't have saved face in a clan like this, that tricked and tricked and tricked again.

And a creeping thought snuck into her mind. A thought that she tried to repress, because it was too awful, but it fit and it WORKED, and it was EXACTLY the strongest move Hime could have made. Finally she said, "If she'd been willing to give those sacrifices to the Shadowbinder, that they should be sent, WHOLE, to the war effort, no one would have eaten them."

A rustle of wings, and soft murmurs filled the air. Hime's eyes widened, and anger, REAL anger replaced her look of shock. She looked like she wanted to leave, but she did not, but she ALSO did not look at her sister again.

The little queen laughed. "Well, this letter does seem to be telling the truth. Not sending out naive little bubs any longer." She held the letter in her claws, goodness knows when she had recieved it from Bindersclaw. "So...what is your intent, little one? To see your sister? She is there. Still quite alive." She gestured at the mirror who could not help a soft growl from rumbling out of her. "Though, if this note is any indication, I should say that this is a test of their training? To see if it is possible to maneuver at the court level with your quiet trading partner?"

Midori blinked, and frowned. Were relations already established? She was supposed to negotiate trade...wasn't she?

"I see." The tiny queen said with a tilt of her head, "That you were not made aware of that. Dare I ask...who sent you?"

"My..." she paused. It was her mother, right? But...Aur HAD been the one to actually inform her of the 'important duty' that was 'still needed to be completed'. She knew the old mirror, and Hime's father, had been king...and he had spent time training her in close combat...but...

Her claws tapped against the ground. "I was sent by Aur."

"The King?"

"No. Deposed."

She saw Hime's puzzled look, and said, "Did Zirka establish the trade lines, then?"

The queen just laughed and laughed. And other dragons joined in. "In effect, she did. After her visit we did establish lines of trade and non-interference with Gimar. Were you not TOLD this?"

"I was not informed." Her lip curled in a snarl. "And at this point, I'm uncertain why I was sent."

"Perhaps your deposed king sought to use us against Gimar...not knowing that we were already allied." A pale Skydancer wearing a wolf's pelt cocked his head, "That would make the most sense."

"Indeed." The queen nodded. "So, what say you...? Shall we join your traitor king to overthrow your mother and father?"

"NO!" Midori gasped.

"Indeed." The queen considered something deeply, folding her claws together. She looked over at Bindersclaw, and waved her hand in a dismissing gesture. Suddenly, the vast majority of dragons that had been around them were gone once more. Hime's image remined a moment longer than the rest, before she turned her back and headed INTO the shadows...towards nests of eggs?

But the queen remained, flopping down beside the hatchling that only JUST dwarfed her. "While I would like to play more games with you, I think it is more wise we speak for a moment." The pale queen's dark eyes glittered. "If it is true that Gimar is divided, and this is NOT the first time we have thought it was the case, there is something you should know about your sister. She was not sent in an official manner EITHER. We did not know this when we played our games. As such, her betrayal and rebellion in this clan seemed more a personal insult sent from Gimar." She began to walk towards the unobscured cave entrance. Midori had a moment of insight - only the queen had COME to see her, the rest of the clan were either illusions or permitted to see what was happening through some magic. She walked with the little queen.

"It does not surprise me that the king who sent her is now deposed. Lisil and I have spoken, at length," she added with her deep voice rumbling, "about what Hime's intent was. We believed she had come of her own accord to see the world, and I have no reason to mistrust that she'd understood that from Aur." A dark chuckle, "He is shadow. But a fool."

She turned at the cave mouth - "I do not have issue with Gimar...and it would be wrong to see this as an attack...on anyone save your mother."

Midori's heart seemed to be tangled in her lungs. "Yes, I agree, your majesty." Where had the honorific come from? Why was the little tyrant being so...REASONABLE right now?!

"As such, I would like to invite you to join the clan. As a ranger. In part because we need trained rangers for the warm seasons, but also so that you can keep an eye on Gimar."

Midori felt her body flush again. A trap? A trick? The queen looked down at Midori's claws, clenched in the frosty dirt. She tried to relax them, but the queen nodded and walked away. "I understand. You would be acting in part as a spy for me. I will not lie about that. And do not think my concern is ANYTHING but selfish. Gimar being at war with itself, with rulers who do not know what is going on, that is a dangerous type of trading partner...especially if Hime's father is willing to further sabotage your mother to us."

Midori considered, "What would you have me do, then?"

"I wish for you to return to Aur and your mother. Inform your mother of the tretchery, but to keep silent about it. I want you to ALSO return to Aur...and inform him of a silent alliance we are willing to form with him. You may also tell you mother of this. Your mother may use this oppertunity to trap Aur before he causes harm to our trade."

Midori tried, once again, to see if she could figure out if she was being played. If she'd been sent officially...and there WAS no trade alliance, and this was ALL A LIE...the queen could be trying to cause civil war in Gimar. But to what end?

Nothing more than chaos. Perhaps. For a queen who enjoyed the misery of others, making her neighbor self-destruct might simply be a project.

It was plausible. So her choices were to believe the queen, go home, and possibly start a civil war. OR she could reject the queen's words, go home, NOT inform her mother about a possible building rebellion, and both Ovate AND Gimar would pay for Auir's duplicity.

"And the third choice?" She murmured aloud.

"Ahh, yes. Believe me. Don't. But the third choice is that you and I go back to Gimar...NOW. Before something ELSE happens." The queen, who barely looked air worthy, fanned her wings and fins in a stretch.

"My lady?" Came a deep voice to Midori's right, far enough away that she was not shocked by it. A calico-colored Guardian dropped down off the cave's roof.

"Yes, Henfire. I will go. The princess should know, however, that Henfire will wish to be with me. Her calling is my protection. But I leave her attendance in your claws."

Midori considered. "She may fly with us, but should not enter the chamber...unless my mother bids it."

The queen nodded sagely, and then fluttered up to Henfire's shoulder. Of course, Midori couldn't help but smile. She WASN'T airworthy after all.

But regardless the queen had given her MUCH to think about.

***
She is the second, and probably one of the last attempts at sending a royal to another clan.

***
A young skydancer stares you down, her eyes hard as she hands you a letter. "For you. Where's my sister, I was told she resides here."

The letter is neatly tied with a jade ribbon. When you open it, elegant handwriting greets you.

I have found out that Hime was not ready to be sent into the world. Because of this, we have changed our training to prepare them for anything. Our pups are no longer sheltered, they know of the horrors that await them if they are not careful. She has been trained in all fields, as have her most recent siblings.

Hopefully, my youngest may be more prepared to face the world.

Send my regards to Hime,
~Lisil

When Hime first arrived at Clan Ovate, she was found by a young mirror who cautioned her not to approach the queen. He begged her to help him in keeping the hatchlings alive, the "unworthy" of which were being used in profane rituals and experiments by higher ranking members of the clan.

Inspired by her outrage at this, Hime opted to stay to try and save as many of the little ones as she could.

What she didn't know was that the queen was quite aware of her presence and her betrayal.

As payment for going against the queen, Hime found herself forced to make choice after choice simply to remain in the clan, betraying herself, her mate, and eventually, even her own sense of right and wrong, as each betrayal came with a greater and greater sacrifice...which NEVER played out as she had hoped.

Finally, in disgust, even her own mate turned on her as a means to escape the cycle of self-betrayal Hime was locked into.

And now she is a prisoner of her own guilt, maddened by her own foolishness, and knowing that at this point, her own behaviour would make any other clan turn on her. Including her own.

After spiraling into despair, a chance visit from her sister snapped Hime out of her depression and gave her new purpose in life. while she is bitter and darkened by her experience, she cannot help herself - she is not going to let ANY hatchling of Ovate clan go uncared for. There are too many selfish dragons out there, who would lie and pretend that the world is not hard, and she will make sure that THIS clan has dragons prepared for the cruelties of life, even if SHE was not.

***

(original letter below)

***

Pure gen2. Born from my progens.
Nanobot87 accepts letters from hatchlings!

It seems a Princess of Gimar has been sent to your clan. The King and Queen believe it is time to forge bonds with blossoming clans of the Tangled Wood, to aid the younger Kings and Queens in any hardships they may face.
The Princess hands you a silk tied scroll.
Inside, in a neat scrawl, are introductions.

I have sent my daughter to be a representative of Gimar, so that we may continue relations later on.
Feel free to send a messenger with any requests or questions, we are very hospitable to our allies.

Best regards,
Queen Lisil of Gimar