Delen

When Delen first hatched, the other dragons of the lair could immediately tell that something wasn't quite right with her wings. Instead of flying or even walking, she seemed to have to crawl and wriggle to get where she needed to be. By the time Delen finally started walking, all of her hatch-mates were already fully grown. While the adults tended to whisper about her, she stridently ignored it all. There was nothing wrong with her. Nothing at all. It soon became clear to her, however, that her body, as soft and squishy as it was, couldn't support her wings, and, conversely, her wings, covered in gem-like growths that weighed her down, couldn't support her body. Soon after this discovery was made, other dragons in her clan began to talk about how to fix her, as if she was somehow broken. When it became clear that her voice was being ignored and her health was in the hands of everyone but herself, Delen left her birth clan, traveling to find somewhere that she could just exist without others making decisions on her body and how it should be "fixed".

After several years of traveling and never finding quite the right place, Delen finally encountered a Fae by the name of Colette, who impressed her in both her business dealings and the way that she treated her. Colette never asked her why she couldn't fly, or why she had to rest nearly every hour. They traveled together for some time, and eventually Delen felt comfortable enough to ask Colette where she had found her wings. Colette had, as always, been very forthcoming, explaining that her wings could support her for short distances, but that they had never grown quite right, and so she needed mechanical support. Her wings had been made by an artisan somewhere in the Shifting Expanse.