Brazos

Born a basic/Ripple/Underbelly Mirror. Part of @Mindrop's Jak project.
Jak Project: Primal Water Male Pearlcatcher XXX Black Basic/Constellation/Glimmer



Protector of Voicim. He is devoted to her as his charge. Solid black at birth, constant use of the herb of the Beyond is beginning to mottle his coloration.

Lore: Wrong Eyes and Wrong Breed

Pintel and Giselle bent over their nest as the hatchlings emerged, anxiously awaiting the prophesied one. They were members of the KDK lair of the Light flight, but their Seer had received a vision of a black Pearlcatcher, with primal Water eyes. They were determined to be the ones to give him life in the waking world.

The first two of the nest, both Tundras, wriggled in the water and opened their eyes. The parents stifled out tiny sighs of disappointment, and then reached to cuddle the newborns. The third hatchling, a Mirror, opened a pair of eyes on his flank first. Then a pair on the tips of his wings. And then, all at once, neat rows of eyes opened along his sides and the edges of his wings.

"Another one?" Giselle exclaimed. Their nests had already been blessed with a Seer, who had been named Eqalussuaq and now served under Visionaire.

Pintel shrugged. "He will be welcomed as well," he said, reaching a now-damp paw for his third son. The little Mirror let out a playful growl, and leaped out of the nesting pool. "Look at that!" he said admiringly. "He inherited two of your patterns, Giselle."

The Mirror female sighed. "Yes, he's quite the lucky one, isn't he. It's a pity he wasn't luckier, though."

The small family of black dragons made their way out of the nesting cavern, where Balkan greeted them. "Congratulations on your new arrivals! Even if they weren't exactly what you hoped for, I'm sure that they will bring your clan fortune."

"One way or another," Giselle muttered.

Balkan pretended not to hear her. "Will you be leaving right away, or staying the night?"

Pintel glanced up at the sun, which was already low in the sky. "I think we'd better stay one more night--if it's not too much trouble."

"Your successors have not yet arrived, so there is plenty of room," Balkan agreed. "Will the cave you've been staying in suffice?"

"Yes, thank you," Giselle replied. "Come on, Jaklets. Let's get something to eat, and then bedtime."

As they made their way into the main cavern for dinner, the Tundra babies shyly clung to the shadow of their father's wings, but the Mirror seemed restless. He wove from parent to parent, blinking his many eyes and growling softly every so often. "What is it?" his mother asked, but he was still too young to tell her. The eyes darted from side to side, as if looking for something.

After eating, the family returned to the den where the parents had waited out the long incubation period. The Tundra babies began playfully scuffling, and their parents joined in, finally collapsing in a big fluffy heap. Giselle looked up, her laughter stilled. The Mirror boy was perched on the edge of the cave, staring intently into the darkness with all of his eyes.

"Come on, son, it's time for bed." She scooped him into the nice warm heap of Tundra fur and spread her large wing over the whole group. But far into the night, she could still see several eyes glinting at her.

The next morning, he was gone. Pintel put his nose to the ground and sniffed as hard as he could, trying to sort his new son's odors from the rest of the lair, but making little progress. Giselle rushed immediately to the clan Seer, Hecamar, who was in conference with Ku'ku'lcan.

"Congratulations," the Coatl said. "I heard that you and your mate were once again blessed by the Tidelord."

Giselle shook her head. "He's gone, we can't find him anywhere!" She glanced around the cave hopefully. "I was actually hoping to find him here maybe, since he will be a Seer, too..."

The Guardian, Hecamar, shook her head. "We haven't seen him."

Ku'ku'lcan agreed. "Not with this sight nor the other." He got to his feet, and stretched his wings. "But we'll help you look."

The entire clan turned out to search the caves and the surrounding beach. Tidewrath and her hunters went out in all directions, while each dragon searched their own sleeping caves and workplaces. The little multigaze Mirror was nowhere to be found.

"He can't have gone farther than this," the exhausted mother complained. "Where is he?"

Ku'ku'lcan stopped, and slapped a claw to his forehead. "I wasn't looking hard enough. I apologize; I know where he is."

"Let's go!" Giselle commanded, but the Coatl held up a warning claw. "You can't go. I'm the only one in the clan who can. I'll be back in a moment."

He spread his wings and soared up to a smaller opening in the rock, from whence issued a thin stream of smoke. He folded his wings with a rustle of feathers and looked in. In the back of the small cave, a blue-green Mirror female lay stretched from side to side. Her primary eyes were closed in sleep, but the rest of them were wide open and looking at him. Voices echoed.

"He is here," they muttered. Voicim, the Oracle of Clan Aquaurora.

A shallow trough was dug between the Mirror and the exit, in which burned a perpetual fire of particular herbs. And there, in front of the fire, lay the black Mirror pup. His eyelids fluttered, but he did not make a sound or move.

"Oh dear," Ku'ku'lcan sighed. "I guess I'll really have to go and get him, won't I?"

Voicim took on a tone that was laced with mirth. "You will. He is with us now," they replied.

The dark Coatl settled down in front of the fire. He breathed deeply of the smoke, letting his mind become empty and closing all of his eyes. He opened them onto a grassy meadow, where a small blue-green Mirror sat talking with a young black Guardian. They looked up as he approached them.

"Hi, Ku'ku'lcan," the Mirror said. "Look, I have a new friend now. He came all by himself to visit me! Wasn't that brave of him?"

Ku'ku'lcan smiled at her. "Yes, Vessel, it was. What's your name, young lad?"

"Brazos," the Guardian replied. "She is my Charge."

"I can see that," the Coatl said.

"He's going to make sure that no bad dragons come and hurt me," Vessel said. "Even though I told him that I've hardly seen anyone but you here."

"'Hardly'?" Ku'ku'lcan questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Only from a distance," Vessel said. "No one else ever talks to me."

"I'm here now," Brazos said. "And they can't make me leave."

Ku'ku'lcan coughed delicately. "Well...actually, Brazos, you'll have to come back with me."

"What! Why? I can't leave her!"

"Vessel is protected by Voicim. They and the ley-lines surround her body as it lies in the real world, preserving it and keeping it. You have no such protection, and without it, your body will quickly waste away and die. You must eat, drink, and sleep, and spend some time away from the smoke every day. While the herb grants us communication with others who have gone before, it is also toxic. It will kill you eventually."

The Guardian's face crumpled in grief. "But Vessel is my Charge!"

"I know," Ku'ku'lcan soothed. "And you will visit her as often as you can safely. And you will be magically changed into a Guardian in the other world as well, and you will guard her body and her cave with your life. No one will force you to leave this clan."

Brazos' head drooped. "Must I?"

"Yes," the Coatl was firm.

Vessel scooted up underneath his chin. "It's okay, Brazos. I'm alone most of the time anyway. I like the quiet. And when you come, it'll just be an extra-special treat."

He hugged her, as best he could with the size difference. Then he turned to Ku'ku'lcan. "Okay. If we have to go now, we have to go." A tear slid down his nose.

"Follow me," the Coatl said.

Awakening back in the cave, Ku'ku'lcan picked up the Mirror child, who protested and struggled weakly. "Come on," he soothed. "Remember what I told you in the Beyond. First we have to tell your parents. Then we have to find the right magical scroll to turn you into a Guardian. And then we have to figure out what is the best and safest way for you to visit her as often as you can."

The Mirror baby, still too young to really speak, only let out a despairing wail as Ku'ku'lcan soared down from the cave with him in his arms. The anxious parents hurried up to him.

Ku'ku'lcan hesitated, unsure of how to explain. "Your son...is not merely a Seer. He is also a Guardian."

The Tundra and Mirror looked at each other. "Don't be ridiculous," they said together.

The Coatl shrugged. "He found his Charge, and he's pretty upset that I had to separate them, even temporarily." The young Mirror continued to wail, despite his parent's attempts to soothe him. He struggled out of their arms and made a desperate attempt to climb up to the Oracle's cave before Ku'ku'lcan grabbed him again. "Er, do you know if Spiritus has a Guardian scroll in his treasury?"

They hurried to the treasury, Giselle shaking her head. "Emperor Alaglesia isn't going to like this."

Pintel reassured her. "He's a Guardian himself; so is Visionaire. They will understand."

---

Brazos is also the Guardian of other stories featuring Vessel/Voicim and himself.

Lancir's Adventure

Lancir stood on the edge of the Sea of the Thousand Currents, his snout wrinkled in puzzlement. He'd never seen a place where the ley lines were so faint. His bundle of sunflowers forgotten, he tapped his runed claws on the pebbles next to the beach.

"Hey! Are you our next guest?"

Another Skydancer approached him, clad in jester's motley and followed by an eager Hainu. "Hi, I'm Whiffle!" he said cheerily. "I was sent out to greet the next sunflower bearer. I'm so glad to meet you!"

Lancir raised his eyes to the heavens. He didn't welcome the interruption, particularly from someone so...excited. "Greetings from the Light Realm," he said, patiently, and passed a sunflower to Whiffle.

"Thanks! I'm supposed to be your guide today, so what would you like to do before we send you on your way?"

"I'm a ley-line researcher. Yours are rather...faint and confusing. Do you have any idea why?"

Whiffle shook his head. "I'm not very well acquainted with that type of magic. My specialty is healing. I'm a support mage for my mate, who is a warrior," he added proudly. He would have continued on, but the look in the other's eyes finally sank in. "Um...I'm not sure who we should ask? Maybe one of the Faes?"

"Faes do tend to have a sensitivity to ley-lines," Lancir admitted. "But so can Skydancers. Our antennae help us in that respect. Haven't you ever felt anything odd or out of the ordinary?"

"Once or twice." Whiffle fluttered his wings and began leading Lancir away from the caves. "I know the Arcane representatives would be a great help, but they're away nesting right now. Our adventurer Faes are out adventuring, so I'll take you to Kaimana. She might know; she's a Firstborn."

The Skydancers landed near a tidepool, which churned and erupted with half a dozen tiny spears. A rather frazzled looking Fae leaped from the water, scattering droplets everywhere. She let out the most horrid screech Lancir had ever heard. He winced and shook his head, but the spears disappeared.

"I'm sorry, you startled our Merfae pod," the blue and green Fae apologized in the typical monotone of her breed. "Hello, Whiffle, what do you need."

"We're here to ask about ley-lines," Whiffle piped up. "Do you know anything about why ours would be faint?"

The Guardian of the Tidepools shook her head. "My parlance is the pools, as you well know. But if you're searching for a magical answer, it might be closer to home than you might think." She looked pointedly at Whiffle, angling her fins.

The Skydancer looked clueless, so she sighed and flattened her fins in exasperation. "Where do your antennae sense the most distortion around here."

Whiffle's eyes widened. "Oh," he said in a small voice. His antennae drooped with sadness. "I see. Thanks." He turned abruptly, seeming like an entirely different dragon. "Come on, I'll take you to them."

"Them?" Lancir asked.

"Voicim," Whiffle said. "The Clan Oracle. If they are not the ones causing the problem in the first place, they will know what is wrong." He did not turn around. His Hainu pressed into his side for comfort.

They arrived at a small cave in the rockface, where an odd-smelling smoke filtered out. Whiffle stopped. "They are in there. You can go in and speak to them, but don't stay long. It'll make you sick. I can't go in at all."

He did look ill, Lancir thought, or perhaps he was just...his antennae twitched. Was that grief he was sensing in the other? He was sensing something else, too, many somethings. A flood of different emotions swept over him, so many that he shuddered, and thanked the Arcanist that he was not emotional himself. Cautiously, he stepped into the cave.

The thick smoke clouded his vision, and the acrid smell of burning herbs filled his nostrils. He squinted through the haze, head throbbing with physical and mental pain. He could vaguely see the elongated form of a female Mirror, stretched from side to side of the cave. Many, many blue eyes flickered open and closed through the smoke. "One comes," many voices said.

"He has questions," others replied.

"He wants to know where the ley-lines have gone."

"He has guessed, hasn't he? Yes, they are with us. We protect them and the clan that holds us safe."

"Who are you?" Lancir whispered.

"We are Voicim. We are the voices of those departed, here in the waking world. The ley-lines sustain us, and we sustain them."

Lancir had a thousand more questions to ask, but at this point he keeled over in a faint.

*****
"Wake up!"

Lancir jerked away from the burnt fish that had been shoved under his nose. He found himself lying out on the beach in the fresh air, with a cheerful black Coatl and a worried-looking Whiffle bending over him. "I thought you were stuck in the Beyond!" the Skydancer cried.

Lancir struggled to roll onto his stomach, and felt another wave of dizziness wash over him. "What happened?"

"The smoke was too much for you." The black Coatl winked at him with an eye on his shoulder.

Lancir stared. "Another multigaze?"

"Only multigaze dragons, with very rare exceptions, can tolerate it for long periods of time. Skydancers are very weak to it, weaker than others, due to their keen perception of auras."

"There's so much more I wanted to ask them," Lancir moaned.

"No more for today," the Coatl warned. "And you'll need to head out tomorrow to finish your mission, so you'll just have to wait. You'll be welcome to return at a later date if you'd like."

Lancir felt rebellious, but his head ached enough that he decided prudence was a virtue after all.

As he headed out the next morning, Whiffle followed him with a mournful look. "How was she?" he asked finally.

"She? I thought you said 'they' earlier."

"Not Voicim." Whiffle shook his head. "Vessel. Their host." He dropped his head. "My daughter."

"I...I don't know." An unfamiliar feeling filtered through Lancir's mind and heart. It might have been...pity? In any case, he softened toward the other Skydancer just a bit. "Here," he said, offering another sunflower. "Give this to your mate, and tell her from me that you both have a fine daughter, one to be proud of."

Whiffle brightened visibly. "Thank you!" he cried, taking the flower and whizzing off. Lancir watched him go, and almost smiled himself. Perhaps that was the point of spreading Brightshine joy, after all.