Vermeil

V E R M E I L Will you still love me When I got nothing but my aching soul? ~ The Lover Caring • Determined • Heartbroken Dolomite Geode Minerals & Ores The crystal formations in this geode sparkle and create a pleasant glow when light shines through them. 81 Golden Silk Veil Apparel A fine piece of golden silk, elegantly draped to echo the movements of the dragon wearing it. 1600 Amber Minerals & Ores Legends say that most of the realm's amber was formed in an ancient battle between the Flamecaller and the Gladekeeper, where terrible forest fires polymerized resin within the trees in the Viridian Labyrinth. 45 Champion's Purse Chests A purse for the winner of an arena duel. 0 T H E M E / A L T

ABOUT. An elegant lady draped in silk Golden gems adorning her scales Who wouldn't fall for this sparkling miss She yearns for one dragon's kiss Starry-eyed looks at a never-still spiral Giving up money, time, everything for her Anything, to make her notice The thought of it made her heart go viral Bringing tomes of all sizes for affection All she receives is a generous soul Who doesn't see her true needs Of a heart whose story is untold The kind one offers love But not the kind the lover wishes one between her and another Not between them The gem-studded lady Who has treasure to purchase any Except the one she wants... +Frysa (243959) CURRENTLY. Vermeil is currently funding most of the excavation project. She had originally intended to simply invest in the project and leave, personal conflicts forced her to stay. TRIVIA. • In love with Ivtasa • Wealthy philanthropist who is partially funding the volcano project • Collects antiques

The silk was exquisite; soft as a morning mist and gold as an ancient jewellery. The edge was reinforced with a metallic thread and finished with a strand of crystal baubles. Vermeil nodded with approval.

"How much?" she asked the Snapper merchant who in return gave her a steep figure without batting an eyelid.

"Good," said Vermeil. "I’ll take three."

Vermeil was of the opinion, that if something was worth having, it was worth having in triplicate. The merchant packed up two sets of wing silks for Vermeil. The third one she draped around herself, the material looked on her black wings like a treasure placed on a soft velvet.

"Watch out!-" Crash!
Before Vermeil could see what was happening, she was lying on the ground with her face buried under a mound of books.

"I’m so terribly sorry! Are you alright?"

'Am I?' thought Vermeil excavating ‘The Short Description of the Shifting Expanse’ from between her feathers.

"I really shouldn’t be flying with so many books but I’m already late and … oh, Mather!"

Vermeil looked at the dragon that just crash-landed on her for the first time. A Spiral female was almost tying herself in knots trying to decide if she should be picking up the books or helping Vermeil. Her long, sleek body bore darker, Vipera markings against ivory-coloured scales, ending at her dark-brown underbelly. Her wings, that fluttered like a panicked butterfly, were orange-reddish and quite delicate-looking. Tucked between her horn and her ear was a single blossom of Heatherbed Lily. Vermeil had to admit that the Spiral was quite fetching even in her flustered state.

"You must be quite wealthy to afford all those books," said Vermeil handing the tome to the Spiral.

"Oh, um…Don’t tell my brother, but I blew our ‘rainy day’ fund for those. The hatchlings love the stories about distant lands and they go through those quickly."

"Hatchlings? Oh, I know. You’re Ivtasa the teacher," Vermeil began but was interrupted.

"Ivtasa! Come here quickly!" they heard in the distance.

"Uh-Oh! Please excuse me, I need to explain to my brother that we weren’t just robbed blind. Wish me luck."

"Good luck," said Vermeil shaking her head at the thought of this strange yet pretty Spiral that just spent a small fortune on books not for herself.

---

The next time Vermeil saw Ivtasa, the Spiral was sitting on a flat stone, surrounded by curious hatchlings, recognizing one of them as Aodh. A hefty tome in her hands, with pages as loose as fallen leaves, she was reading to the younglings. Her brown eyes were animated with a dancing spark of passion. However suddenly a strong gust of wind tore through the loose pages, blowing them in the air.

"Ah!" cried Ivtasa, starting from her place, chasing after the wind-kidnapped pages.

Not thinking much, Vermeil took to the skies, fishing one page after another and plucking them from the air. With armful of illustrated paper, she landed in front of Ivtasa. Suddenly embarrassed, she handed her the escapee book like a bouquet of exotic flowers.

"You saved them!" said Ivtasa smiling. "Thank you very much."

The spark from Ivtasa’s eyes seemed to put the warmth into Vermeil’s soul, like a sip of old, rich wine. It felt like being wrapped into a fur coat that was brought to you from the end of Sorineth to embrace your shoulders softly.

Vermeil didn’t know what to do with that feeling, that new-found fondness. Feelings were never her strong suit. Money, antiques, finery- those things she could understand. The solid, hefty objects that made her life comfortable. Surely there was something that she could buy, that made all this more familiar? Yes, there was! Ivtasa spent all her money for the books for her pupils, but what about books for her? Vermeil could get her books; expensive, old books only for her and as many as she could wish for!

---

For the next few days, Vermeil was busy finding and buying books. She cleared out the inventory of her usual Merchants. She sent for the tomes that were sold in various markets and bookshops. She hunted down private collectors and showered them with treasure until they agreed to part with their most beloved volumes.

At the end, Vermeil had a venerable library stashed in her quarters. Only then she felt that this was sufficient. She found a piece of paper and scrawled a hasty note, saying that these books were a gift from her to Ivtasa. Then she called for porter dragons to make a delivery. She needed four Snappers, overloaded like beasts of burden, to move the entire collection.

Ivtasa came to thank her in person.

"Thank you for all that books," she said excitedly. "The hatchlings are overjoyed! Now we have enough books to make a library. This is great!"

"A library?" said Vermeil. Couldn’t she see that the books were for her and her alone?

"Yes, a small one but well-equipped now," continued Ivtasa. "Oh, you’re such a great friend, Vermeil! Do you mind if I call you friend?"

'Yes!’ thought Vermeil. She minded very much that she was called a friend. She didn’t want to be Ivtasa’s friend, she wanted to be… she wanted to be more. She wanted to be Ivtasa’s lover!

The very thought stunned Vermeil into complete silence. She was still processing this discovery while Ivtasa kept talking.

"I need to do something for you. Especially after I dropped the books on your head and you helped to save the pages from being blown away. There must be something… Ah, love!"

"Love?" Vermeil said hoarsely. She felt like an electric current went ruffling through her feathers and buzzed from the end of her feelers to the tip of her tail. She heard her heart slowing down, a dull thudding sound reverberating in her chest. She dared to suck in the air in her lungs, but very slowly as if it was fire that would consume her from within.

Suddenly she knew that this moment is the one that would tip the universe over the ledge. The world will emerge from the state of vertigo changed beyond recognition- renewed, reborn.

"Love is what I do best," said Ivtasa, smiling. "I’m a great matchmaker. I shall find you a lover, a handsome dragon that will shower you with attention and give you the prettiest hatchlings in our clan!"

Vermeil looked at Ivtasa, at the kind, brown eyes burning with determination.

"You do that, friend," she said finally. "But you are going to look for a very long time, I’m afraid."

Forever.

Both of the dragonesses were stood in Ivtasa's infamous library, having moved towards a glowing fire that was slowly dying from all of the movement around it. Books littered the floor and the millions of desks around the cave, all of them about these creatures called "humans" and griffons and even a creature called a 'catweagle' from ancient mythology. Bookshelves undusted for decades sat randomly around the large space, housing thousands of old text, scrolls; everything one could think of among their cavernous, abyss-like shelves. The stained, hardened carpet whispered against their paws as they trotted around, looking for suitable books for the hatchlings waiting outside, and the curtain that hung around where an elderly wooden door used to be shushed it quiet constantly with the Windsinger's airy choir. There were no windows within this part of the labyrinth of knowledge, only torches - constantly lit by Eternal Fire gems - that were sat idly on the sides of the walls and the entrances of the rows of Oakwood book-houses.
Ivtasa had a tower of at least seven different books balancing on her tail and supported by her many wings, her Sweetpuff sitting cosily on top of them. Ivy had tried to get her soft fren to help, but she only tweeted at a furious speed and stared until her master had turned away and given up with trying to bribe her little birdy to help. She did sometimes, bringing letters and other bits of mail to Vermeil's friend's side day in and day out, but the Sweetpuff always knew what day she wouldn't work.
The dragoness beside her, at shelf "Mythics", sighed audibly. Ivtasa came up beside her to speak to the Obsidian-coated Skydancer. "Why are you refusing to tell me who this dragon is, Ver? It's not like I'm going to laugh."
She turned to see her spindly friend was staring hard into her own gold eyes, her gorgeous earth brown ones half the size with immense curiosity and irritation. She wore her usual beige-brown overcoat, her feathered hat inspire by this Robin Hood character she'd once read about and the Waterlily she usually carried in her mouth had falling to the floor through her irritation, but still protected by her thin, flexible body. Petals constantly floated around her on an invisible wind, bobbing up and down like ducks in the water, and her glasses were being twiddled about in her soft and tiny paws.The Sweetpuff was still on the pile of books she'd set aside on a fading redwood chair, unamused by the sudden talking as she eyed the pair with her beady brown eyes.
"Well?" she asked, her voice hitching on the last note of the question.
"I..." The Obsidian dragoness wanted to tell Ivtasa who she loved so badly that it had become painful in the last few weeks, but one thing stopped her from spilling out her confession of love; what would her friend respond with? She yanked her stare away from her friend, feeling her face flush.
"Vermeil, this is rediculous!" she called out, making Vermeil jump. She'd never been this demanding about this topic before. "Just tell me."
"I can't, okay?" Her golden-silk veil obscured her vision of the tweeting bird near her, probably screaming at her for snapping like that. She felt a soft, small pair of metatarsus land on her ebony-coloured antlers and start pecking at her gem-encrusted wings after moving another strip of golden silks out of her way. It didn't hurt her, but the sensation was weird enough for the bird to know that it made the Skydancer uncomfortable. A tugging sensation came from her left, causing her to move her head towards a golden-feathered griffon pawing at her flame cloak. "Not helping, Bone," she whispered at him. He stopped immediately, a sad look crossing his face. Ver knew that he was only trying to help, but it was a distraction from the situation at hand.
"Why? What's so bad that you can't tell someone you've known for years?" Ivtasa yelled, nearly stepping on her Lily.
"It's just--"
"STOP WITH THE EXCUSES! Who. Is. It?"
"I can't, Ivtasa! I want to, but--"
"SAY IT!"
Worry tore at the Skydancer's throat, but anger shot through like an arrow to the heart as she and her long-lost confession snapped free of its rope imprisonment. "IT'S YOU, ALRIGHT? There, I said it." She closed her fluorescent Light-flight eyes as tears of relief and the worry kept inside her sped free. Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours as she waited for her friend to yell, or to laugh hysterically at the idea. A feathered head stroked against her leg, moving her gold bracelet around her wrist. She couldn't tell whether it was Bone or Sweetpuff.
No response came after so long of waiting. No laughter, no growling. Just sullen silence.
"I--Ivtasa?" she stuttered, her eyes opening to a slit so she could see. No movement. She felt her heart sink towards her stomach. She's run off, she thought sadly as she lifted her head with her soft, feathered ears flattening slightly.
She didn't expect to look directly into her friend's eyes, much less to see shock in her dirt-brown eyes. And it wasn't just a small bit of shock either, but pure, full-on shock from one of the most all-knowing dragons in Igneous. She was chewing lightly on her recently-picked-up Waterlily with anxiety.
"Are you--" she began, keeping her voice low and soft.
"I don't know what to say, Ver," Ivtasa breathed. "It's been me, this whole time, and I haven't noticed?"
Vermeil just kept quiet, nodding sullenly.
"This isn't a joke, right?"
"...No."
"I--"
"Just... don't say anything," she sighed, interrupting her friend. "Okay?"
Vermeil silently hoped that Ivtasa would keep talking, would ask about it in some way as she steadied her breathing. She even hoped for a small confession from her, too, but nothing came. Her best friend just turned her back towards her, picked up the books and walked away without saying another word. As soon as she left, Ver collapsed towards the floor and sighed with more pain than she'd ever felt in her lifetime. "What do I do now?" she asked, partly to herself as she looked towards Sweetpuff and Bone - both of which were relaxed against her legs.
Sweet just chirped happily, flapping her tiny wings and landing on the Obsidian Skydancer's shoulder with Bone just staying on the hardening carpet below them all. He looked upset, staring at her with his large, golden eyes.
"I guess I better say sorry, huh boy?" Ver asked him, stroking his feathered head lightly before sorting out her bracelet and wing silks, being careful not to step on any of the floating petals around her. Standing up was a difficult task for the shaking female, but she managed it eventually and dusted herself off before heading towards the stairs leading out of the center of knowledge beneath the Igneous lair.
(Part 2)