Stjarndis

Stjarndis tumbled into the Clan courtyard one day, broken, bruised and bleeding. This in itself wouldn't have been so odd - she came during the tail end of the last Beastclan War and wounded warriors seeking refuge and healing in the fortified Outpost were a common occurence.

The thing that made her particular entrance so memorable was the fact that she came careening out of a Rift in the sky, her wings already broken and useless as she crashed into the ground.

Not that most remembered that other than as an odd detail in their memories of the Rift.

It was... indescribable, really.

Not that it prevented people from trying, but no matter how many witnesses you listened to, you'd still get different answers from each and every one of them. The only thing that those who saw it can agree on is that it was... wrong. Or unsettling, at least.

Freyja was the first to react to Stjarndis' plight - being blind and relying on her Second Sight meant that while she distinctly sensed that something was wrong (laylines broken and twisted and turned on themselves, ambient magic welling out and being sucked away, twistingturningtearing-), she wasn't mesmerised and locked in place like the others to witness the Rift.

And it was fortunate she did, because it wasn't until Stjarndis was stabilised and healing under Freyja's frantic claws that the Rift closed and released the others present from its spell.

What with the odd effects even that short exposure to the Rift had on the dragons who saw it, the Clan really doesn't want to contemplate what would have happened if it had been open any longer.

It was a tense few days that followed as Stjarndis lay unconscious, recovering from whatever ordeal she has been through.

Part of it was due to the normal paranoia of a militaristic Clan - where had she come from? Why? How? What happened to trigger the Rift? Could it open again?

Another part of it, however, was that the Rift somehow seemed to linger around the unconscious Skydancer as dust on her fur and wings, a spark and ripple as she breathed, glimmering in time with her heartbeat.

And this dust evoked the same feelings as the Rift itself had done.

WrongwrongWRONG!

No. NononoNO!

Kill it, destroy it, rip it into shreds so it can never come back-

Run. Run. RUN!

It's dangerous, get away, don't come close, don't look, don't listen, it never happened just make it GO AWAY!!

Mesmerizing. Doesn't belong in this world. Beautiful and all mine, no-one else understands, only me, so it's mine mine MINE.

Turning, swirling, dancing. Can't you see? It's freedom and beauty and endless possibilities why are you taking it away from me why why WHY let me back, take it back GIVE IT TO ME!

Stjarndis had to have a constant guard of dragons that had not seen the rift, as they were less affected and mostly just felt it as an uneasy tingle in the back of their minds. To this day, Aghi, Itha and Torvindr still have a hard time being around her, because while time has given the Skydancer better control over the Rift, the memory of that day has not faded from their minds.

At first, the Clan thought that it had to be some kind of dark magic or curse and called in Nattr (who thankfully hadn't witnessed her initial arrival), but he refuted both theories. What he had to say wasn't entirely reassuring, though.

"It's... who she is. Time and space and... other spaces? Run through her like magic runs through other dragons. She's containing it remarkably well, considering her state and the enormous burden of it."

And sure enough: once she woke up, the Riftal presence around her faded a fair bit. Enough that those who had not witnessed the Rift only felt it when her emotions were running high or when they were in direct contact with her.

She was confused, at first, and that is probably the only reason anyone got any kind of backstory out of her at all, because she became notoriously tight-lipped about it later.

She had been in a battle of some kind. A terrible, terrible battle (and it said a lot about the current state of the world that that really didn't help narrow the field down by much - atrocities had been committed by both sides, and bloodbaths were common occurrences) that she had put an end to somehow. But not alone. She had help from someone. The Crow. Whatever they did, it resulted in her gruesome injuries and uncontrolled fall through through the Rift, and could have ended even worse if it wasn't for the Wolf. She had chased the Wolf. It had told her it had the Crow. She needed the Crow. The Wolf had led her here, so the Crow had to be here somewhere. Or he would be. So she would wait for the Crow here, because the Wolf tolf her to, and the Wolf sang so beautifully and sadly.

...she wasn't very coherent at that point, but she was adamant about the Crow and the Wolf, and that she'd get to stay with the Outpost until the Crow came for her.

They'd have dismissed it as fevered ravings, but...

Call them crazy, but while near her, they can sometimes see a brilliant shadow padding by in the corner of their eyes, or hear a soft growl behind their back.

Or sometimes, if they are particularly blessed on a starlit night, they'll catch a hauting wolfsong of sorrow and fierce pride.

• Stjarndis's name means "star goddess" or "star mist".