Kuai

If being within a clan is suppose to be fulfilling and give someone a sense of purpose Kuai is the first one to argue the natural beauty of the world could offer the same thing if Dragon's stopped for five minutes to take in the natural beauty that was around them and just, stopped, even if it was only going to be for a moment to realize that there was more to the world than collecting little trinkets, fighting wars, or closing themselves off in a building to spend all day with their nose buried in a book.

Though as much as Kuai would be content to live his life in nature, he is well aware that there are benefits to living among a clan. Though when it came to his birth clan he stayed with them until he was an adult, where he was forced out of his clan to prevent over-crowding and fighting. Kuai wasn't interested in any positions within the clan hierarchy but he wasn't going to fight to stay when it had been made clear that he was no longer welcomed there, even chased out by his mother with a snarl and snap. There was no kindness and warmth there for him anymore, and that simply was just the way of the world. It had been the same for his mother and her birth clan, and so the same was for Kuai's birth clan.

While looking for a place to belong, wandering alone in the wilderness, Kuai found himself comfortable with nature. It was quiet and peaceful, and if there was danger it was straight forward and without the pretense of being a friend or family. Animals needed to eat as much as a Dragon did and he couldn't really blame them for that, but he wasn't going to lay down and let himself be killed. It simply was the way the world worked and there was no point in crying about what he couldn't have. It had been made clear that he was going to have to do things on his own and so he took a lazy approach to somethings, as he could do it on his own time and not worry about it bothering anyone else or listening to anyone complain about how he did it.

So on his travels, aimless and with no plans of ever setting a real destination, Kuai found himself wondering into the frozen lands of the Southern Icefields. It was quite different from the warm weather of the Shrieking Wilds, and for a moment the sudden change in temperature was a tad bit jarring, but he simply continued trudging forward. If the cold killed him, well then it killed him.

Kuai found himself wondering through the evergreen forests that thrived in the cold environment, enjoying the sound of silence that snow seemed to cause, occasionally hearing the sound of birds above his head and the crunching of snow beneath his feet while he walked. After falling into a lull of enjoyable silence the sound of running water and a distant, faint roar reached the Bogsneak's ears. He found the river that cut through the land and followed it, fascinated that the moving water did no allow ice to form like it did in most bodies of water here. Kuai would wager it was because it was moving water that prevented ice from forming. Once he reached the end of the river it dropped off into a beautiful waterfall, the spray of the water reflecting the light of the sun and forming a beautiful rainbow.

If Kuai was going to claim any place as home, he decided this would be the place that he would want to settle down. The forest added some cover from the falling snow, there was fresh water for him to drink and plenty of opportunities for food, depending on what he might feel like in the given moment. There would be no better a place, in Kuai's opinion, and he was alone and that was the most important thing or that was what he told himself.

He spent a few years living in his selected spot, alone and within nature he was comfortable and couldn't ask for more until the famine hit. A terrible winter blasted over the already cold land, animals that Kuai would normally hunt had succumbed to the cold, and the plants died as it was even too cold for them.

Kuai had agreed that nature was beautiful, and that he loved it, but he was aware that he would die if he did not find someplace to shield himself from the cold, and even more importantly someplace that had food he could either hunt, or steal. Some of the larger clans that had build up massive settlements would not trust a lone Bogsneak, given the rumors about his kind, he would need to either settle for a loan Dragon to make a meal or a smaller settlement that he could sneak into their food stores and help himself and sneak back out.

In that moment it seemed like a pretty solid plan to Kuai, who kept tabs on some of the clans in the surrounding area, mostly so that he could avoid them or scare them away from his make-shift home, not wanting to share his bounty or peace with anyone else.

It was then he remembered the small clan he had seen previously, though eight dragons could barely be called a clan, some of them did appear to have some hunting and fighting sense and he was still a lone dragon so he would need to be careful in his approach. He could probably take down one or three of them but there was no way he could take down all eight if they all decided that they wanted to gang up on him, much like how a Bogsneak clan might.

So he made the journey to the Frigid Floes, where he had seen the clan living within a large glacial cave, which was dangerous because eventually the floe it sat on would grow smaller with the ever rising water and air temperature, but he figured that wasn't something they were considering and who was he to care about what fate was waiting for them?

Though things did not go the way he had anticipated, and he would eventually learn that was how it was for any Dragon that joined this clan.

He had managed to sneak into the cave entrance, surprised to see there was no one standing guard. Most clans would have had a watch of some kind at the entrance, especially since Kuai had waited for the three that looked like fighters, to go out on patrol. He wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth if they were going to make this easy for him.

Though he was quick to discover this glacier cave was so much bigger and more complicated than Kuai had first anticipated. He realized he was wandering around and only finding more chambers; a makeshift infirmary, a library, the beginnings of what looked like a storage area but he was not finding any food and that was making him frustrated. He had wanted this to be a quick in and out and clearly that wasn't happening anymore.

He was not expecting to turn the corner and smack into a female Tundra and sending her falling to the ground with a cry.

Kuai swore under his breath, he had gotten so lost and turned around that he had forgotten to try and be quiet and sneaky, since there were still clan members milling about the home. Though when he expected her to scream to alarm the others or even prepare to fight herself, she apologized for bumping into him and not watching where she was going!

This had startled Kuai enough that he had forgotten about turning around and running, and his growling stomach was quick to give away his hunger. He watched her look down at his stomach and than back up to him before inviting the Bogsneak to follow her to the common area so that she could get him something to eat.

Kuai would say everything happened so fast and was almost a blur but he found himself, not only in the common area, but talking to the leader of the clan. A soft spoken and gentle Tundra that Kuai couldn't even understand how he was leader, he didn't look like he could defend the title if someone challenged him for it, but nevertheless the group followed him and before the end of their conversation he was offered an invitation to join.

Kuai figured what harm would there be in joining, at least for a little while? And at this point in the present, if asked why he still stayed he still could not give a proper reason. It was just someplace that seemed alright, and he could still journey out to be in nature whenever he wanted.